Desicritics Category: Culture: History

Bhagvata Purana, Skandha 1

Dr Bhaskar Dasgupta — Tue, 2 Mar 2010 22:40:03 EST

I have to admit that I did not even know about this book till somebody told me that the Bhagvata Purana is also known as the fifth veda. I further saw references to this Purana in the Dharmasahastra book by Kane and then figured, it is high time that I actually take a look at this book praised by so many, but not discussed enough. And once I actually got my hands on a couple of copies, I think I figured out why this is relatively obscure (compared to the Vedas, Upanishads, Shruti’s and Smritis). Depending upon the version, the books range from 1500 to 2240 pages in length, containing north of thirteen thousand Sanskrit verses. One needs to be very dedicated or locked up for some serious time to really go through this. Nevertheless it is a beautiful book with lovely tales and I thought of reviewing it, as I really could not find any good reviews elsewhere.

Before I start, first some background and logistical points. I used the following books:
1. The Bhagavata Purana: v. 7 (Ancient Indian Tradition and Mythology) by J.L. Shastri and Ganesh Vasudeo Tagare (1994)
2. Bhagavat Purana by Ramesh Menon (2007)
3. A Study of the Bhagavata Purana or Esoteric Hinduism by Purnendu Narayana Sinha, 1901.
4. Srimad Bhagavata Puranam, Sanskrit, 2004.
5. Bhagavata Puranam, Sanskrit, 2006 (under revision)
6. Srimad Bhagavatam (Bhagavata Purana) by Swami A. C. Bhaktivedanta Prabhupâda.

Quite a lot of the versions are different in formulation, usage of English and the so on. If one wants to be true to the Sanskrit versions (which themselves differ a bit), then the Prabhupada version is good, as it has the original Sanskrit, a word by word translation and a summary. In any case, my knowledge of Sanskrit is barely intermediate and I wouldn't be comfortable in dealing with a review based upon that language based book. Reading Sanskrit is one thing, but reviewing in pure ancient Sanskrit? No Sir. If one wants to have a bit more colloquial English usage and more understanding as per modern usage, then I suggest the Menon version. Rest of them use a bit of archaic English and can be a bit difficult to digest. So this review uses the Menon version.

So how do you review such a monumental book? I was struggling with the answer. I could have reviewed the full book down in one long essay but then this would have missed out on giant parts. Doing a translation is simply out of the question. So after discussing it a bit, I hit upon the idea of writing a summary per Skandha (canto or book) and then highlighting any interesting points that popped up in my mind. This means twelve rather long essays, but I think I can live with that on my conscience that one has done justice to it. If you want to rather get a quick overview of the purana, then the wiki entry is a good place to start. Without further ado, lets crack on.

My first impression after I finished the book was that it was mainly about love, very very intense love. Extremely emotional love. Something that makes you weep uncontrollably. Not bawl, but weep. Not sure if you have experienced this, but it's like none of your emotions (speech, sight, touch, smell…) are able to express it and tears are the only way to do so. I felt like this when I first held my kids in my arms. Or when I used to dance in front of Ma Durga during Durga Puja back home with the Dhunuchis. This book is an expression of very intense love towards Vishnu or his incarnation Krishna. Have you read Rumi? The feeling I got was a bit like what I felt when I read Rumi. Rumi, though, is a bit more earthy and this is a bit more esoteric, although some parts of the purana are quite earthy. It is Bhakti personified.

The purana is roughly dated to between 500 to 1000 AD, but it has gone through so many changes, accretions, embellishments, etc. that it is tough to date it correctly. Plus let us not forget that these are stories and generations of scholars and teachers in a vast land have told these stories in a variety of locales and to a huge number of people. It is a miracle that we actually get to a version in the first place.

The first Skandha introduces the purana, which written by Veda Vyasa, who writes this after completing the vedas and Mahabharat. The main reason behind writing this was that the Vedas and Mahabharat do not satisfactorily deal with the highest goal of knowledge and that is devotion to God (Bhakti). Another reason for for writing it, is to assist us in handling the Kali Yug, which came into being when Krishna died. When people begged him to leave something of him behind so that they can cope with the Kali Yug, Krishna poured his essence into the Bhagwat Purana.

Narada Muni is a key participant in the beginnings of the BP. An interesting story is said about him. Narada is disconsolate, because he is wandering around in Kali Yug and is observing the breakdown of divine order. While wandering on the banks of the Yamuna, he notices a young woman sitting next to two very old sick men, while being surrounded with many other young women. The young woman turns out to be Bhakti and the two old sick men are Gyan (knowledge) and Vairagya (detachment or renunciation). The other young women are the sacred rivers such as Ganga, etc. who are trying to provide comfort to Bhakti. The Kali Yug has devastated her two sons even though it spared her. Narada blesses her by saying that Bhakti will be the only way to salvation and then tries to rescue her two sons by chanting the Vedas and Upanishads in their ears, singing the Bhagvad Gita to them. They improved, but not completely. On beseeching the Lord to provide him with some guidance, a voice from the skies tells him to go speak to certain Munis. On searching and leter finding them, Narada asks the Munis about how to cure the two sons of Bhakti? The Munis state that he has to recite the BP to them and since it contains the essence of Lord Vishnu, it will revive them. So he does and Bhakti and her two sons are also revived.

But this was not the first time that the BP had been recited. Thirty years after Krishna died, Vyasa’s son Suka recited the BP to King Parikshit, grandson of Arjuna, son of Abhimanyu, who succeeded Yudhistra to the throne of Hastinapur. But this story is for later. The second great recitation of the BP happened two hundred years after the Kali Yug had started by Gokarna Muni.

The BP then embarks on a long tale of how a childless Brahman begged for a boon of a child from a Sanyasi. The Sanyasi gives a blessed fruit to him and asks his wife to eat it, keeping a vow of truthfullness, kindness and charity for an entire year, not eating more than one meal per day, and if that is done, then a pure golden hearted pious son will be born. But his wife did not want to ruin her figure or go through the pain of childbirth so she hatched a plan with her sister. The fruit was given over to their cow while her sister’s new born baby was smuggled in to be shown as the Brahman’s son called as Dhundhukari. Three months later, the cow gave birth to a human child with golden skin and eyes like lotus petals, but with cow ears. Hence his name, Gokarna (or Cow Ears). Both grow up together, but Dhundhukari turns out to be a devil in disguise, a disgusting sinner, while Gokarna is pure as the snow on Mount Kailash. The Brahman is at his wits end and Gokarna advices him to cultivate dispassion and renounce the world, which he does. Gokarna also leaves on a pilgrimage. Dhundhukari commits terrible crimes, beats up his own mother, steals, whores and lies and at the end, the whores decide to kill him and they do. Unfortunately, Dhundhukari remains behind on earth after death as a spirit. Gokarna senses Dhundhukari’s death and the fact that he is not truly dead, but is still a tortured spirit. Gokurna performs a shraddha at every holy spot, but it does not release Dhundhukari from the earth and finally he returns to his hometown. Dhundhukari begs him for help to be released and Gokurna then embarks on a deep dhyan (meditation) to Surya Deva (Sun God) to learn how to address this. The Sun God advices him to recite the BP as that is the only way Dhundhukari’s soul will be released. So Gokurna starts the recitation with many many people attending the week’s worth of recitation and when he ends, Dhundhukari is released from his earthly bounds.

The others who were listening, though, do not get their sins washed away. Gokurna is told by the sages that Dhundhukari fasted for seven days and he listened to Gokurna’s recitation with all his faculties and might. This is the reason why Dhundhukari was released and not the others. When the others learnt this, they begged Gokurna to recite the BP again which he did. This allowed all the listeners to also be washed free of their sins by Vishnu who appeared after a great conch shell boom in a blaze of light.

Thus ends the first book. I had to consciously lay aside my erupting cynicism. The first book tries hard to explain why the BP is so important and how it helps to wash away the sins. I thought about self praise? However, as I kept on reading, I realised that I was reading it as perhaps a professor wanting to write a book review and not as a worshipper or a person of faith wanting to learn. That switch was not easy and I found myself slipping back into the cynical, doubting persona many times. The apparent inconsistencies about the origins of the purana bothered me as well till I spoke to my father. He told me, if Vishnu is indeed the world, then how does it matter if one manifestation or another wrote or spoke what? What matters is the content. And that made perfect sense.

What was also a bit frightening for a grown man like me was the underlying concept of letting go. Letting go of everything and with tan, man and dhan (body, mind and wealth) and concentrate on the pursuit of Bhakti, devotion to God. I am not sure if I have achieved that and am very far away from the ideal. It felt quite strange reading about people who can be so dispassionate that they are able to walk away from everything that they hold dear (for me it would be my family, my iPhone, my books, etc.) and devote their all and everything to being in love with Krishna. I am not sure if I can ever do that and it was very humbling to find that I do not have the courage or guts to do so.

What a fascinating journey into a wonderful book which is raising more questions than answering them.

India's Influence on The World History and Economy.

Sumanth — Mon, 1 Mar 2010 07:53:34 EST

The world often views India as a country with huge poverty and most people outside India probably blame India or Indians for the same. When L.N. Mittal took over Arcelor in France, there was a major controversy in Europe as the Indian went on a buying spree to become the biggest steel maker in the world. For many people in France, Germany and Europe, this came as a shock.

So, what is India then? And who are the Indian People? And what does it mean to have an Indian identity? Is it the software engineers working as code coolies? Is it Gandhi preaching non-violence? Is it just the rapid economic growth and the new Indian markets?

The present world mostly does not know what India is. To a great extent, just like many modern Indians, I too do not know what India is. Just recently, I asked the question: what was the GDP of India in 1500 A.D. and searched the Internet for the information? I would like you to ponder this question as you slowly go through the rest of the article on Indian National identity.

Buddha preached in India almost at the same time when Socrates had inquiry sessions with his disciples during 430 B.C. As Socrates changed the western world though his thoughts, Buddha’s “science of mind” influenced the east for ages to come.

In 332 BC, Alexander captures Gaza and Egypt. Next year, he captured prosperous Babylon. In 326 BC, he defeated a local Indian king Porus in Battle of Hydaspes, even as a much bigger Indian Army waited for him somewhere near Delhi. (Hydaspes, Alexander)

Greek Sources noted:

"As for the Macedonians, however, their struggle with Porus blunted their courage and stayed their further advance into India. For having had all they could do to repulse an enemy who mustered only twenty thousand infantry and two thousand horse, they violently opposed Alexander when he insisted on crossing the river Ganges also, the width of which, as they learned, was thirty-two furlongs, its depth a hundred fathoms, while its banks on the further side were covered with multitudes of men-at arms and horsemen and elephants. For they were told that the kings of the Ganderites and Praesii were awaiting them with eighty thousand horsemen, two hundred thousand footmen, eight thousand chariots, and six thousand fighting elephants. And there was no boasting in these reports. For Sandrocottus, who reigned there not long afterwards, made a present to Seleucus of five hundred elephants, and with an army of six hundred thousand men overran and subdued all India."

Just 10 years after Alexander’s conquests in the world, a massive Indian empire () rose into prominence. Chanakya was a young professor at University of Taxila(Taxila) during Alexander’s Invasion. Studying the Greeks and Persians, he realised the political dynamics of the world at that time and he went on to alert the biggest Indian Kingdom of Magadh. Later he crafted a Machiavellian strategy and created an army led by a young man to capture Magadh just 2 years after Alexander’s death at Babylon.

This young Indian man was later known in world history as the king “Sandrocottus”(Chandra-Gupta Maurya). Most Indians know that Chanakya employed massive networks of spies, information warfare and treacherous strategies during capture of Magadh.

After Alexander’s death in 323 BC, Seleucus I Nicator got the largest area including Babylon, Indian territories near Indus River, much of Middle East, Syria and parts of modern turkey. Ptolemy I Soter declared himself as Pharaoh of Egypt. Cassander ruled Macedonia (modern day Greece). Antigonus I Monophthalmus had Turkey. (Diadochi, Seleucid_Empire )

Seleucus invaded India in 305 BC, confronting Chandragupta Maurya (Sandrocottos), founder of the Maurya empire near Indus River. It is said that Chandragupta fielded an army of 600,000 men and 9,000 war elephants. Seleucus lost and ceded large territories east of Indus to Sandrocottus.

It is generally thought that Sandrocottus married Seleucus's daughter, or a Greek Macedonian princess, to formalize an alliance. In a return gesture, Sandrocottus sent 500 war-elephants, a military asset which would play a decisive role at the Battle of Ipsus (in central Turkey) in 302 BC. In addition to this treaty, Seleucus dispatched an ambassador, Megasthenes, to Sandrocottus, and later Deimakos to his son emperor Bindusara, at the Mauryan court at Pataliputra.

However, it’s Ashoka (Greek name: Piodasses), the Grandson of Sandracottus, who influenced the rest of the world and world history. Ashoka was a ruthless military strategist and he consolidated and expanded the Mauryan empire to whole India. He had his last war in 261 against the democratic state of Kalinga, whose traders blocked his Kingdom’s access to many eastern sea ports. This was a bitter war with deaths of more than 100,000 people. (Kalinga War)

The Kalinga War was fought near this river (in Picture):

This war and the bloodshed deeply impacted him and he converted to Buddhism. He worked to propagate the principles and values to people in India and foreign countries. In the history of Buddhism, Ashoka is considered just after Gautama Buddha. Ptolemy II Philadelphus, the ruler of Ptolemaic Egypt sent an ambassador named Dionysius to the court of Ashoka.

The efforts of Emperor Ashoka to spread the Buddhist faith are described in the Edicts of Ashoka( 272- 231 BCE). The Edicts of Ashoka are a collection of 33 inscriptions on rock pillars or cave walls made by the Emperor Ashoka of the Mauryan dynasty during his reign from 272 to 231 BCE in different parts of the empire. (link,link)

Two edicts in Afghanistan have been found with Greek inscriptions, one of these being a bilingual edict in Greek language and Aramaic. This edict, Edict 13, found in Kandahar, advocates the adoption of "Piety" (using the Greek term Eusebeia for Dharma) to the Greek community.

In this rock edict, it is mentioned that Ashoka sent emissaries beyond his borders, as far as the Greek kings of the Mediterranean and it clearly mentions the names of the rulers of those times.

(amtiyoko nama yona-raja param ca tena atiyokena cature 4 rajani turamaye nama amtikini nama maka nama alikasudaro nama)

“King Priyadarshi considers moral conquest the most important conquest. He has achieved this moral conquest, repeatedly both here and among people living beyond the borders of his kingdom, even as far away as six hundred yojanas (3000 miles), where the Yona king Antiyoka rules (Antiochus II Theos), and even beyond Antiyoka in the realms of the four kings named Turamaya (Ptolemaios), Antikini (Antigonos ), Magas and Alikasudara (Alexander II of Epirus) and to the south among Cholas and the Pandyas....wherever conquest is achieved by Dharma, it produced satisfaction, Satisfaction is firmly established by conquest by Dharma.” (Antiochus II Theos,Ptolemy II Philadelphus,Antigonus II Gonatas,Magas of Cyrene,Alexander II Epirus)

The words used to describe Greeks (Ionia) are Yavanah, Yona in Sanskrit, Pali and some other ancient languages.

During 30 BC, the last Ptolemy Cleopatra of Egypt arranged the escape for her eldest son Caesarion to India from red sea port Berenice. The plan failed.

Ashoka’s son and daughter went to Sri Lanka to spread the Buddhist Principles. It is through the Central Asian sources that the Chinese got introduced to Buddhism and centuries later the Chinese monks travelled to India to get the principles of Buddhism and that finally take us to Shaolin Temple, the Martial arts, Vipassana, Zen Koans or Zazen Meditation. Buddhism also spread into South East Asia in later centuries (Suvarnabhumi). Ashoka ruled a highly prosperous country with a huge GDP compared to most other countries at that time. The volume of intellectual thought processes in any civilisation is a direct function of its prosperity.

The Indian traders were trading with Egypt, Persia and also with South East Asian countries and the Chinese. Indians and Chinese remained influential in the world economy for a very long time.

So, what was the GDP of India 2000 years ago?

From 1st Century AD till 1250 AD, India had the world’s largest GDP and it was somewhere between 25 to 30 percent of world’s GDP closely followed by China.
During 15th century (during Emperor Akbar, the Great), India’s GDP was 26% of world’s GDP and it was second largest in the world after China’s GDP. The Europe had a GDP of 21% of the world.

An estimate of India's pre-colonial economy puts the annual revenue of Emperor Akbar's treasury in 1600 A.D. at £17.5 million, in contrast to the entire treasury of Great Britain in 1800, which totalled £16 million. The gross domestic product of Mughal India in 1600 was estimated at about 22.6% the world economy, in comparison to Ming China's 29.2% share.

Annual revenue reported by the Emperor Aurangzeb's exchequer exceeded £100 million in 1700 (twice that of Europe then). Thus, India emerged as the world's largest economy, followed by Manchu China and Western Europe.

The GDPs of major countries of the world over the last 500 years (data by Angus Maddison):

Photo Essay: Saint George and the Dragon

Dr Bhaskar Dasgupta — Sat, 27 Feb 2010 17:16:16 EST

While tagging along with the family while they were out shopping in the St. Georges mall. (I am the official luggage and wallet carrier), I happened to glance up.

About 20 feet up, there are these panels on the side. Very curious, I never noticed them before. I mean, you usually don't go about noticing stuff which is way over your head like that…specially when the mall corridors are crowded and you need to watch where you are going, where your bags are going, where your squirmy little girl is off to and where your ashamedtobewithembarassingparents teenage boy is slouching off to.

First of all, the panels reminded me of the carbonite panel in Star Wars when Captain Han Solo gets frozen into this block. Anyway, the panels describe the story of how St. George defeated the dragon.

The story goes as follows:. A dragon has made its nest near a stream and for the townspeople to get water, they have to provide a human sacrifice to the dragon. Here you see on the left that the dragon has got one of the human sacrifices and then on the right, it's playing with the meal.

One day, it was the turn of a princess (who is very strangely wearing a modern mid thigh dress???!!!) who was tied up to be the dragon’s lunch. On the left panel, you can see our man, St. George, getting all excited and coming closer and closer in the right panel to rescue the princess.

There is an almighty fight between the dragon and St. George, while the princess is sitting as if she is at the dentist’s. A big battle takes place.

Then the dragon is conquered, the king is suitably grateful and then converts from being a pagan into a grateful Christian. Check out the wiki entry here, the story behind this legend is enormously fascinating. Full slideshow.

Book Review: In an Antique Land

Kim — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 17:02:09 EST

In an Antique Land was a unique book for me, as its two threads focus on a small town that I grew up in for the first 20+ years of my life and a Country that I have lived in for the last 3 years. So I had a unique connect with this book.

Not so surprisingly, the description of my hometown did not ring a bell as it focused mostly on the town as it existed 800+ years ago. The description of rural Egypt created a veritable clang in my head as I kept thinking to myself "How true" or "Yes, I know someone who would have reacted the exact same way"

This is a book of non fiction. Amitav Ghosh chanced upon a letter between Abraham Ben Yiju, a Jewish merchant living in Mangalore, India, and Khalaf ibn Ishaq from Egypt, written in 1132AD. Part of this narrative focuses on Ghosh's search for more documents relating to Ben Yiju and part of the narrative tries to imagine the world that Ben Yiju lived in.

The other narrative in the book, covers Ghosh's stay in rural Egypt (Mashawy and Lataifa) and it was this section that I found infinitely more interesting and hence hope to pick up his book of essays The Imam and the Indian which promise to shed more light on this phase of his life.

It is in this second narrative that Amitav's gift of story telling is showcased, while in the first narrative it feels stilted, focused on facts and doesn't flow as naturally. Blending history with a a current travelogue is an art perfected by William Dalrymple and sadly in comparison, Ghosh didn't match up.

While Ben Yiju did spend time in Egypt and his letters were written to people living there and most of the surviving documentation came from the Geniza Documents cache from the Ben Ezra Synagogue in the Coptic Cairo area of modern day Cairo and Fustat of Ancient Cairo, this is the only point at which the two narratives seem to meet. For the rest of the book, they just continue parallel to each other.

In the final chapters, when Ghosh heads out towards the tomb of a Jewish Saint in rural Egypt venerated by Muslims and Jews alike, I hoped it would bring about a meeting of the parallel stories, but unfortunately it didn't.

Both narratives on their own are great and very illuminating, I just didn't see the point of putting them together.

Its a great read for someone visiting the Fustat area or interested in observations/revelations from the Geniza Cache or life in Rural Egypt.

Travel Review: Louisville, Kentucky - Bourbon, Ali, & Sluggers

Aaman Lamba — Sun, 14 Feb 2010 22:28:00 EST

Some towns are designed to be iconic landmarks. Whether its the people, the positioning, or the happy confluence of a variety of factors, the town becomes more than a mere blip on the interstates.

Louisville, Kentucky is one such place. Founded on the Falls of the Ohio River as a boat halt in the 1780s, it found rapid growth and become a central inland trading station. It had an active slave trade in the years before the Civil War, but was also a vital point in the Underground Railroad, with Indiana to the north being a free state and escaping slaves finding welcoming hands in Louisville.

The Civil War saw Louisville used as critical rallying point for Union forces and many hallmarks of the city date back to this period. It was after the War ended though, that the first of the famous Louisville attractions took ground in the Possibility City. Louisville is home to Churchill Downs, which hosts the Kentucky Derby each year in May, the first leg of the United States Triple Crown. The Louisville Slugger, a legendary baseball bat was also designed and manufactured here.

One of the most famous residents of the city is Muhammad Ali, born Cassius Clay in Louisville. The greatest boxer in the world has gone beyond being a sports icon to a globally respected figure, and this was recognized by having him light the Olympic torch in the Atlanta Olympics in 1996.

Louisville and Kentucky are also renowned for their variety of bourbons, most brewed in the state. This has given rise to a Whiskey tour of Louisville, where one visits a variety of classic bars and certifies this on a passport. Each bar carries over 50 varieties of bourbon, many over 18 years old.

I visited Louisville this weekend and was entranced by the city. The bohemian yet cosmopolitan downtown has a lot to offer, from the 4th Street Live Entertainment Complex to numerous museums in walking distance. As time was pressing, I could only cover the Muhammad Ali Center, but this was more than worth the visit.

After the Muhammad Ali Center, I began the Whiskey Trail. A return trip is on the cards to complete the other stops on the trail.

The Seelbach Bar in the Seelbach Hotel was the inspiration for F Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby, and is ranked as one of the 50 best bars in the world, as per The Independent.

The Maker's Mark Tavern is within the 4th Street Live entertainment complex and has over 150 fine bourbons. Their brewery is an hour away from Louisville and well worth a visit.

I'm looking forward to going back to Louisville. It is a city with character. There is much more ground to be covered and bourbons to be drunk.

The Book of Curiosities of the Sciences and Marvels for the Eyes

Dr Bhaskar Dasgupta — Sun, 14 Feb 2010 19:10:09 EST

This book review is a tad late compared to the time the book was published. It is estimated that the book is a copy of an original work compiled and copied by unknown authors somewhere in the 11th century in Egypt. This copy is roughly dated to approximately 12th or 13th century and refers to work done by a variety of astronomers, historians, scholars, travellers, cartographers and scribes from the 9th to the 11th century. It is currently available in the Bodleian Library at the University of Oxford, UK and its reference shelf mark number is Bodleian Library, Dept. of Oriental Collections, MS. Arab. c. 90.

The original book contained 5 separate books, only two of which have been copied in the current book. The first book relates to astronomy and has 10 chapters. The second book relates to the earth and has 25 chapters. Totalling 96 pages, it measures 324 x 245 mm. Unfortunately, there have been some losses of chapters in the second book. The paper used is brownish and black ink has been used to write the text and red ink for the headings. There are also other versions and copies of the original book in various other places such as in Cairo, Milan, Mosul, Algiers and another copy in the Bodleian Library.

Here is the full table of contents. As can be seen, book 1 talks about the celestial sphere, zodiacal signs, constellations, stars with occult influences, comets, stars with bad and good influences, planets and their influences / properties, lunar aspects etc.

Here’s a screen shot of the celestial sphere. The sections on the outermost circle relate to constellation signs like Aries, Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn, etc. Left is the eastern horizon and the right side is the western horizon (remember the centre for the writer is Cairo). Then the next circle inside relates to the major stars, constellations, and bodies such as Ursa Major, Cepheus, Lupus, Orion, etc. Then comes what looks to me like a monthly cycle around zodiacal signs and then the central circle talks about the earth’s seven climes which are aligned to the zodiacal signs. I have absolutely no idea about this detail, but it looks quite impressive.

This page shows details of comets and their properties.

Book 2 talks about the depiction of the earth and time zones, lands beyond the equator, the Arabian Peninsula, cities, seas, islands and other geographical entities, the cities and forts along the Indian ocean, the eastern Mediterranean sea and the cities/forts along the sea shore, the Caspian Sea, various other islands, lakes, rivers, fishes and animals of the seas, and then wondrous waters, plants and animals.

This is how the ancients looked at the world. This is the world map.

You have to put aside your current cartographic perspective to read this map. In the old days, a particular spot which was well known then, would become the centre of the map. So for example, Jerusalem was, for many many centuries, the centre of the map and everything else would be drawn with reference to that single location. Also, cartographically speaking, you will not measure distances and locations by latitude or longitude but by the distance travelled from the centre. As with everything, accuracy of places and diagrams was maximum closer to the centre. This map is actually somewhat oriented with geographical south in the top. In the centre you have the Nile Delta and the River Nile flowing up into the Mountain of the Moon and the Sudan. On the far right is Morocco. The bit in the bottom right quadrant is Europe with Constantinople, Spain, France, and Italy marked out. On the bottom left quadrant is Asia and Central Asia. See the two round fingers in the top left quadrant? They are supposed to be the Arabian Gulf with Mecca and the second finger is a mix of India and Iran. The round spot between the 2 fingers is Sri Lanka. The little edge on the far left is China. The blue lines indicate rivers. Deserts are marked and so are mountains. Pretty fascinating.

The text also has lots of maps of the Indian Ocean, Mediterranean, Caspian, Scicily, Madina, Tinnis, Cyprus, Aegean Bays, etc., and then maps of rivers. Some of the explanations of marvelous sea creatures are very fascinating such as:

فهولا المشوهه خلقهم من تلك الامم فمنهم امة سكان بحر / برهاندين [؟] في بحر الهند ي15سُود الوُجُوه كخلق عادية واقدامهم من خلف أعقابهم مقدار الذراع شمط الشعور مرد الوجوه / طوالها ياكلون من وقع ياليهم من الرجال ويستبقون النسا ي

English translation:
Of these nations, the deformed peoples are the following: Creatures in the Sea of Barhāndīn [?]7 in the Indian Ocean. They have black faces, like normal humans, but their feet are turned backwards and are a cubit long. Their hair is grey, and their faces long and beardless. They eat any man who falls in their hands, and they share their women.

The map of the Indian Ocean was brilliant

It talks about two cities in India, Thaneswar, Dipalpur and then 3 additional unnamed cities. All these cities are separated by various rivers which rise in various mountains. They even mention Manila in here, showing how far the Arab sea farers fared in their voyages. It was difficult for me to conceptualise and mentally visualise these maps. It's so foreign to me, the current cartographic framework so settled in my mind, with the globe and Mercator projections that this kind of 2 dimensional, directionally challenged mapping was just so strange.

Interestingly they also talk about the infidel Turks. I am guessing they are referring to the Turks and Mongols. I think the Mongols heard that the Muslims in Fatimid Cairo were calling them Infidels and in 1258, the Mongols invaded the Arab lands pretty much destroying the Arab civilisation. Many draw the decline of Muslim civilisation from that event.

Here’s a circular map now:

South is at the top, West to the right and East to the left. Remember this is following on from ancient Egyptian times. The Nile River is one of the very few rivers in the world which flow to the north, for some strange reason, most rivers flow east / west or to south, very few flow to the north. So when the Egyptians would look at the river which provided them with their water, life and sustenance, they would look south. So for them the south direction was most important. Hence “Upper” Egypt. All Egyptian maps, till recently, were all oriented South on top. Sort of made me have a cricked neck, but it is a fascinating exercise to think how we are so accustomed to think north is top, and when something like this happens, you get all confused. It's like seeing the water circle the other way around when going down the toilet when you are in the south. You look at it but dont know what’s wrong.

The website is seriously flaky in term of performance, although it is well laid out. It took me 2 days to complete this review and this was after trying to connect over 20 times. I was not very happy with it but still, one day I will go to Oxford and see if I can sniff at it. There is something about old books and their smell which appeals to me. All in all, this document which is now free and freely accessible to everybody in the world with a net connection (when the site is up of course), is one of the world’s treasures. I strongly suggest you go take a peek at the book here.

Photo Essay: Hotel Russell in London

Dr Bhaskar Dasgupta — Mon, 8 Feb 2010 00:02:03 EST

In my opinion this is a terracotta monstrosity. The colour jumps out and beats you up as soon as you heave to sighting distance. Something that should be restricted to tiles and pots has transmogrified into this giant crenulated, over engineered, full of nooks and crannies and bits hanging off building. As I described it to my sister, this is a Gothic monstrosity which seems to be a combination of a mad Ludwig Castle, the Lubyanka Prison and the Adams Family Mansion. As it so happens, the building with about 380 rooms was constructed in 1898 by the same firm which was also involved in the building of the Titanic. I am surprised that this building hasn't sunk as well, but apparently the ballroom has similar fittings as that of the Titanic. I did not get a chance to go inside the hotel, but from outside, I think it looks really weird. The architect was Charles Fitzroy Doll. It was bomb damaged during the second world war, but has been restored now. But enough of history, lets get to the photographs.

As you come around the exit of Russell Square Tube Station and then turn left to go to the British Museum, your eyes are drawn to this Lubyanka Prison look. This is the back end of the hotel and I ask you, doesnt this look like a prison? All manky, leprous, with mould growing and worse – green slimy moss hanging off the ledges. At the far end, you can see a square tower, apparently this was modelled after Italian plaza towers. It is just bizarre to see this strange building with various bits almost like bolted on.

You walk on and see one of the side entrances. It has all kinds of strange stuff hanging off it. The panel above the arch says Russell Rooms and the date 18 on the left column and 98 on the right, meaning that this was constructed in 1898.

Very sad looking cherubs on the left and a strange looking sculpture on the right. Looks like a cherub emerging from an exploded sea shell.

Then you keep on walking and your eyes fall on this strange balcony with slender columns with hardly any space between the columns and the wall inside. So it will be almost impossible to walk on that balcony. So is this for the window washers? Surely it's an overkill to have this over sculpted nonsense? The balcony also has a frieze running on the top with shields representing various countries.

By this time you have come to the corner of Bernard Street and Russell Square and you notice a distinct change in the building - the architecture changes, the stone changes, the silhouette changes, everything changes. It is almost like somebody else made the corner, no continuity at all.
Turn the corner and you see the silly balcony extending down the front.

Here’s the front of the Hotel. Now I ask you. Just look at it. It has square frontage, it has round frontage, it has roundels, it has ledges, it has statues, it has shields, it has a balcony, it has round bright green copper triangular Dutch roofs, it has French chateau triangular roofs on the side and then it has couple of limp flags hanging. Welcoming? I think it is about as welcoming as a dank dripping cave in Siberia.

Out of the blue (or terracotta even), there are four statues of four British Queens, sculpted by Henry Charles Fehr, looking glumly down at the street and at the guests who are entering the hotel. Now why on earth would you suddenly hoist these up to look down on your guests? I have no idea. It is not like they stayed at this place or they will be entertaining the guests or anything like that. Very bizarre. And then besides the dirty and dusty look, they are covered with anti pigeon mesh nets, which makes them look even more jaundiced and miserable.

This is at the top of the arch. Its a representation of the Royal Coat of Arms of the United Kingdom with a lion and a unicorn.

The top of the arch has a representation of the shield itself with a bunch of supine lions. Although why on earth are the lions and unicorns being rude and sticking out their tongues I dont understand.

The row of shields which represent various countries continues around the front as well and were designed by W.J Neatby although they are now a bit ragged and miserable. Plus I am sure most of the nations represented would have long since gone or merged or something after the series of wars, boundary and political system changes in the 20th century.

Keep on walking to the end and peek around expecting things to get better, but they do not. Same old. Same old boring miserable looking building. With the juxtaposition of the winter trees, it really really looks gloomy.

See the perspective? its dark, dingy, over engineered, small windows, and just looks hugely gothic and ghostly.
Is that the end of surprises? Nope, there are four busts of British Prime Ministers along a line. Now why on earth would you have something like this? Very strange. So would I stay in this place? No way, Jose. But I never thought that I will hate a building, but this comes close to it.
Here is the full slide show

Hindu Nationalism in UK and the VHP

Dr Bhaskar Dasgupta — Fri, 5 Feb 2010 00:56:49 EST

This was a very curious paper that I read. It was even more curious, because just a day before I got this paper, I read this note which was published in Outlook. I have to admit that I am in some sympathy with the views of Roover, but how it is taught in the west is something that I find a bit strange. At the very least, I would have expected some reasonable facsimile and similarity in the ways it is taught compared to Judaism, Christianity, etc., but this is specially in the USA, much less in the UK. I have personally had several experiences of this. Anybody saying anything good about Hinduism or its philosophy or any thing like that is almost automatically considered to be a raving Hindutva casteist rage boy. I have seen this happen far too many times. I strongly suggest you read that article and here’s a quote:

In one sense, then, the picture for students of India is even grimmer than the one Tripathi sketches. In another sense, there is hope, because times of turbulence also hold the potential for intellectual change. As students of India, we will have to take seriously the growing discontent among Hindus about the ways in which their traditions have been depicted. Some of this is inspired by an attempt to sanitise the Hindu traditions according to the model of Islam and Christianity and the prudishness of middle-class morality. However, other strands express a deep sense of grievance towards the secularist hegemony and the academic allergy to Hinduism. As long as reasonable and well-educated minds do not address these grievances, Hindu nationalism will be able to tap into the growing anger among Hindus and manipulate this to its own benefit. To address such problems, one needs to work towards a climate of intellectual freedom that has too long been absent from the study of India.

So while I am quite interested to read about the scholarship that is done about Hinduism and India, I am not 100% sure about the academy. Do not get me wrong, I think the Hindutva chaps are a bunch of goons themselves and they come up with serious stinkers. In any case, they and their bunch of merry men are most certainly against academic freedom (witness the cases against the beef book, etc. etc., read my friend’s book on this issue. I can't say much more than this, as I think I am biased in favour of Salil’s book.

Usually my net scraper for the “Hinduism” keyword throws up very few scholarly alerts but this article piqued my interest. The author is assessing the role of Hindu nationalism in the development of Hindu identity in Britain. And to do that, he delves into the VHP UK organisation. After some 10-15 pages, I am not very sure where he ends up. This is the abstract:

This paper assesses the role of Hindu nationalism in the development of Hindu identity in Britain. Some accounts argue that the authoritarian network of Hindu nationalist organisations apparent in India is reproduced in Diaspora contexts, especially in the west. The paper argues that this degree of organisational intentionality is not always borne out by evidence in the UK. Although Hindu nationalist organisations have achieved some success in establishing their presence, in national arenas they frequently give way to umbrella organisations such as the Hindu Forum of Britain (HFB) and the Hindu Council UK (HCUK). The paper argues that Hindu nationalist organisations nevertheless operate vigorously in multilocal contexts, fuelling a 'Hindutva effect' which has a broader ideological influence. The paper examines some of the positions taken by the HFB and HCUK to demonstrate how this influence is played out in national arenas, before reflecting more broadly on the implications of these dynamics for the development of diaspora identities.

There was one event that the VHP organised 20 years ago, but since then, it has been remarkably quiescent. Their website is basic, its members aren't represented in the organisations which deal with civil society, etc. So he talks about all this and then says that the VHP is a serious organisation spreading a nebulous underground version of Hindutva. He called the VHP arranged sammelan as a tamasha. That was a cheap shot frankly, not worthy.

Then the chap starts talking about conversion. And I am seriously surprised that the author does not understand the importance of conversion to a Hindu. I mean, isn't this obvious? We are talking about a religious identity, and a factor which goes directly against this identity and reduces it will be considered to be a threat. So when the Hindu elders in the UK were raising their concerns about Muslim gangs converting Hindu (and Sikh) girls, the British Police considered that as a legitimate problem. But the author thinks that this objection to conversion is an expression of Hindu Nationalistic thought. Erm, no!

Then furthermore, he goes forward and says that this is a subterranean inflection towards Hindutva. I totally disagree. This is going to the core of a Hindu’s identity and it has no political leanings at all. So I am not sure where he is getting the subterranean bit from or where he is seeing Hindutva. It's like seeing a commie under every bed.

The next result that he finds is that to protect against the threat of conversion, one has to “wake up” Hindu Unity. This apparently demonstrates the presence of Hindu nationalist ideology. Again, this is a massive over reading into the word “wake up”. If I say that we need to do jagran, then it is the same. It is making visible, bringing up, to awaken, to rise up. Obviously he doesn't link this to Swami Vivekananda who said, “Arise, Awake! And stop not until the goal is reached”. Or how about his poem? I quote:

The Song of the Sannyasin

Wake up the note! the song that had its birth
Far off, where worldly taint could never reach
In mountain caves and glades of forest deep,
Whose calm no sigh for lust or wealth or fame
Could ever dare to break; where rolled the stream
Of knowledge, truth, and bliss that follows both.
Sing high that note, Sannyasin bold! Say –
    ‘Om tat sat, Om!’
Strike off thy fetters! Bonds that bind thee down,
Of shining gold or darker, baser ore;
Love, hate; good, bad; and all the dual throng,
Know, slave is slave, caressed or whipped, not free
For fetters, though of gold, are not less strong to bind;
Then off with them, Sannyasin bold! Say –
    ‘Om tat sat, Om!’
Let darkness go! the will-o’-the-wisp that leads
With blinking light to pile more gloom on gloom.
This thirst for life, for ever quench; it drags
From birth to death, and death to birth, the soul
He conquers all who conquers self. Know this
And never yield, Sannyasin bold! Say –
    ‘Om tat sat, Om!’
‘Who sows must reap,’ they say, ‘and cause must bring
The sure effect; good, good; bad, bad; and none
Escape the law. But whoso wears a form
Must wear the chain.’ Too true; but far beyond
Both name and form is Atman, ever free.
Know thou art That, Sannyasin bold! Say –
    ‘Om tat sat, Om!’
They know not truth who dream such vacant dreams
As father, mother, children, wife and friend.
The sexless Self! whose father He? whose child?
Whose friend, whose foe is He who is but One?
The Self is all in all, none else exists;
And thou art That, Sannyasin bold! Say –
    ‘Om tat sat, Om!’
There is but One – The Free, The Knower – Self!
Without a name, without a form or stain.
In him is Maya, dreaming all this dream.
The Witness, He appears as nature, soul.
Know thou art That, Sannyasin bold! Say –
    ‘Om tat sat, Om!’
Where seekest thou? That freedom, friend, this world
Nor that can give. In books and temples vain
Thy search. Thine only is that hand that holds
The rope that drags thee on. Then cease lament,
Let go thy hold, Sannyasin bold! Say –
    ‘Om tat sat, Om!’
Say, ‘Peace to all: From me no danger be
To aught that lives. In those that dwell on high,
In those that lowly creep, I am the Self in all.
All life both here and there, do I renounce,
All heavens and earths and hells, all hopes and fears.’
Thus cut thy bonds, Sannyasin bold! Say –
    ‘Om tat sat, Om!’
Heed then no more how body lives or goes,
Its task is done. Let Karma float it down;
Let one put garlands on, another kick
This frame; say naught. No praise or blame can be
Where praiser praised, and blamer blamed are one.
Thus be thou calm, Sannyasin bold! Say –
    ‘Om tat sat, Om!’
Truth never comes where lust and fame and greed
Of gain reside. No man who thinks of woman
As his wife can ever perfect be;
Nor he who owns the least of things, nor he
Whom anger chains, can ever pass thro’ Maya’s gates.
So give these up, Sannyasin bold! Say –
    ‘Om tat sat, Om!’
Have thou no home. What home can hold thee, friend?
The sky thy roof, the grass thy bed; and food
What chance may bring, well cooked or ill, judge not.
No food or drink can taint that noble Self
Which knows itself. Like rolling river free
Thou ever be, Sannyasin bold! Say –
    ‘Om tat sat, Om!’
Few only know the truth. The rest will hate
And laugh at thee, great one; but pay no heed.
Go thou, the free, from place to place, and help
Them out of darkness, Maya’s veil. Without
The fear of pain or search for pleasure, go
Beyond them both, Sannyasin bold! Say –
    ‘Om tat sat, Om!’
Thus, day by day, till Karma’s powers spent,
Release the soul for ever. No more is birth,
Nor I, nor thou, nor God, nor man. The ‘I’
Has All become, the All is ‘I’ and Bliss.
Know thou art That, Sannyasin bold! Say –
    ‘Om tat sat, Om!’
— Swami Vivekananda

Composed at Thousand Island Park, New York, July 1895.

I mean, if just the term “waking up” got him so excited, I wonder what he will do with the song of the Sanyasin? Will he consider Swamiji as a raving Hindutva militant revolutionary? He also says that the 1993 Global Vision 2000 conference in Washington DC was “ostensibly” a centenary celebration of Vivekananda’s visit to the USA, but he thinks this was a key moment in the development of the US Hindu nationalist movement. But he does that without any follow-up explanation, and we are supposed to swallow it.

In other words, the author simply does not prove that Hindu identity is nationalism at all and even lesser are the links to the VHP. There might well be Hindutva effects, but he does not consider the other factor which in many ways is more powerful than the Hindu identity factor. This is the linguistic/cultural factor. Hindus in the UK are more defined by their Asian Gujerati or Punjabi background or their Indian background, rather than something that is a broad based tent. For example, there is a shed load of professional (doctors, accountants, nurses, technology professionals, etc.) Indians who have come over directly from India who do not belong to any of these groupings of Punjabi or Gujerati chaps.

So no, I am not impressed with the forced identification by the author. There is no such thing as an overarching British Hindu identity. The Hindu organisations in the UK are primarily religious and cultural, and very rarely do they step into the political area and for the author to try to attribute Hindutva to this society is simply not borne out by the facts that he quotes. The people on the left and in the academy must realise that they really cannot go about publishing pap like this. Like the climate science academic research imbroglio brewing, their reputation is suffering significantly.

Book Review: Victoria And Abdul

Deepti Lamba — Thu, 4 Feb 2010 04:51:10 EST

Shrabani Basu's book Victoria and Abdul takes us into a world of love, companionship, untamed ambition, colonial grandeur, petty human emotions and fall from grace that leaves a broken heart.

Shrabani weaves the last ten years of Queen Victoria and her relationship with Abdul Karim, her Indian secretary ( also called Munshi) with brisk yet detailed narration. The love the Queen bore for Abdul caused great deal of fur flying not only in her household but also became a cesspit of gossip for the court and a source of irritation for top brass of the British bureaucracy ruling India.

Initially one may get the impression that the opposition Abdul Karim faced from the Queen's household, nobility and even her children was based on racism and social discrimination but Shrabani delved deeper and showed that Abdul's shameless desire to elevate his status and that of his family to the level of royalty was one of the main causes for his unpopularity amongst the Queen's entourage and amongst the Royalty.

Unfortunately as Shrabani points out after Queen Victoria's death most of the letters that were written between Victoria and Abdul Karim were destroyed on King Edward's command such was his shame regarding his mother's relationship with Adbul and his resentment against the Munshi.

To be fair to those who hated the high handed ambitious Mushi the Queen's preferential treatment towards her Scottish gillie John Brown in the near past made them fear that the same routine would be played out with the young Abdul Karim.

To be fair to the Queen as well, her love for Abdul Karim was that of a mother and her childlike dependence on him was probably a sign her advancing age. And despite pressure from the household, her children and despite the hawk eyed surveillance that was done of Karim's movements both within Britain and India he remained in their midst and the Queen's constant companion till the end of her days.

The rise of Abdul Karim from a vernacular clerk at the Agra Jail to being the Queen's urdu tutor and a gentleman who hobnobbed with Kings and Queens made him a darling of the press both within the country and in Europe and inflamed his enemies even further.

The skirmish between the Queen and her household continued for ten years and the go between the Queen and her employees was Dr Reid who obviously suffered the worst casualty in the war of words and veiled threats. His personal diary in fact was filled only with the pall of gloom that lay over the Queen's household over this issue.

Apart from showing the close relationship the Queen had with her Munshi Shrabani also provides detailed insight into the intricate social protocols of the time that existed amongst the highest echelons of the British Empire and how Abdul and even the Queen blundered and broke many of the sacred rules and ruffled the feathers of the lords.

The detailed research that Shrabani Basu did for this book both in Britain and in Agra has also been narrated in a matter of fact yet delightful manner.

The book till the end was intense and hard to put down. Its a must buy even for those who are not interested in history.

Poem: The Dance of Solitude

Kashkin — Tue, 2 Feb 2010 18:17:50 EST

The solitude and its silence
Stands there, the grand empires
Built from dreams of the past
The old chaos of times
From distant corners,
Come they to examine
To see, how this life, spent
Through opium years to its magic
Hear they not, the deafening soul

The rapturous routines
The old peaceful moments
Built for the dreams of future
From distant corners
Come they to examine
Their own past and the colours
Through the years of violence
Hear they not, the drowning heart

The perpetual existence
In time and its space
In this grand scheme of life
From distant corners,
Travel they far, to examine
Themselves and the light
Through years of creation
To the end of time, hear they not
The Dance of Solitude!