Sunday, March 10, 2024

Ananathashayana Vishnu



This must be one of the most beautiful sculptures I have seen of Anantha-shayana - Vishnu reclining on the 'endless' serpent, Anantha

One of the largest of these Ananthashayana sculptures is at the Padmanabha-Swami temple in Thiruvananthapuram, a city which itself is named after the deity. At the sanctum of this temple, the reclining Vishnu is so large that he needs to viewed through three separate doors that open into a dark, mysterious looking chamber lit by oil lamps. 

This particular sculpture is much smaller and it is carved on the outer walls of the Dashavatara Temple temple located, surprisingly, in Deogarh, Uttar Pradesh. Surprising because - thanks to the ravages of the Islamic period - it is difficult to find any sculptures with their noses and limbs intact in all of North India. 

Built on the banks of the  Betwa river, bordering Madhya Pradesh, this lovely little temple built by the Gupta dynasty around 500 CE, is now in ruins. For some reason, this particular panel is mostly intact. 

On the foreground are six standing figures. Three to the left are armed male warriors displaying their heavy swords - heavy, broad-tipped battle swords drawn  for action. However the remaining three are unarmed, an look completely relaxed. The lone woman on the extreme right has an elaborate hair-do and seems to to be striking a pose, waving to the onlooker.


Above them is Vishnu reclining on the Anantha serpent, looking serious and meditative on his lotus-bed. His consort is gently holding up his ankle while she delicately tweeks his toe. Behind her is Shiva with a cobra wrapped around his neck like a muffler. A lady with a scar on her left breast, stands next to him with a mace (or is it a musical instrument?). On the top-most panel are six smaller figures, all seated on something or the other - a bird (swan or peacock), an elephant, a lotus bloom, a bull (seats two) and an unknown guy trailing along.

Who are these gods? Why is Brahmna depicted here in deep meditation on a lotus, with what seems like the carcass of a cow on his shoulder and chest??

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REFERENCES & LINKS

Deogarh - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deogarh,_Uttar_Pradesh

Ananthashayana Vishnu - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anantashayana_Vishnu




 

Sunday, February 04, 2024

On Diminishers and Illuminators

An interesting talk by David Brooks: 



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LINKS

* Thornton Wilder and The Angel That Troubled the Waters: A Plea for Physician Healing - "...Without your wound where would your power be? It is your very remorse that makes your low voice tremble into the hearts of men..."

* Michael Gerson on Depressionhttps://unitedbrainassociation.org/2019/03/28/the-importance-of-coming-out-bringing-mental-illness-into-the-light/

Saturday, February 03, 2024

Ramah, Ramou, Ramah!

Last week marked the political re-inauguration and 'consecration' of the Sri Rama temple at Ayodhya. 

While I am still trying to understand the complex ways in which this event was built ground-up from the community-level across most of north India - the house-to-house campaign with the "akshath", the all-day langar (community kitchen) that was set up across housing societies with live broadcast of the events taking place in Ayodhya that day, bright orange flags fluttering everywhere...it did bring back memories.

At school Sanskrit had been a compulsory subject for a few years. I hated it - especially because it brought down my (already pathetic) grades. We had to learn by rote a table with the various usages of the name, "Rama":


It was drilled into our heads so well that we could recite it anywhere, anytime! The only thing I never understood was why we were learning this. 

A few months ago, while trying to understand my mother's fascination for Sanskrit shlokas, as well as the ease with which she memorised poetry in complicated meters (eg., Shyamala Dandakam of Kalidasa), I stumbled on this YT series from the Chinmaya Foundation - Sanskrit for Shastra Study by Ved Chaitanya

This turned out to be fascinating. For the first time I began to understand why I had learnt Rama-Ramou-Ramah decades ago! 

I have not even reached half-way through this 53-session series but each session is nicely paced out. While in 7th grade perhaps my Sanskrit teacher did tell us that the Rama-series represents 'nominative cases for masculine nouns'. Even if she did I would not have understood. Thanks to this series and to CIF, a new, exciting world is opening up now!

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LINKS & REFERENCES

* Chinmaya International Foundation - CIF - https://www.chinfo.org/ 

The first session (1/53):









Monday, January 22, 2024

Locavore



The yummiest Kachori's are sold in the back lanes of Khari Baoli. A small eatery in Khajuraho served the the best dry-mango pickle I have tasted, and some of the nicest meals I have had were served in tiny, family-run eateries in Kyoto...

Good food is often underrated, and very often served far from the world of frenzied reviews, tik-tok videos and reels. It often reminds me of Joshua Bell, one of the finest musicians in the world of western classical music, who once went busking as an experiment. At the busy entrance of a metro station in Washington, he played his violin for nearly an hour - six classical pieces from Bach, Massenet, Schubert and Ponce. Hardly anybody noticed, and even fewer stopped by to listen. From the people who did not recognise him he got about $20 in change. The very next night, he played at a fancy music concert where each ticket cost about $100!

Food and music was on my mind when I read this nice piece on Chef Thomas Zacharias. A chef for over 15 years, after training abroad and serving in leading restaurants, decided to travel the forgotten corners of the world to seek out ingredients, techniques, food traditions, folklores, stories and food recipes, from farmers and indigenous communities. 

What are some of the perspective-shifting foods he's discovered? Young sweet-potato leaves in Meghalaya, Atam (sour-fruit) from Goa, Thaavu (wild fern) from Chalakudy river basin in Kerala, and fire-ant chutney in Jharkhand! 

Thankfully for us, this chef's discoveries are being presented online: The  Locavore - a platform for spotting sustainable food practices around India!

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REFERENCES & LINKS

* Seth, Udbhav (2024): 'My trips taught me more than cookbooks ever did', Indian Express Eye, 7 Jan., 2024, URL - https://indianexpress.com/article/express-sunday-eye/chef-thomas-zacharias-indigenous-ingredients-9098402/ 

* The Locavore - https://thelocavore.in/ 


Saturday, January 20, 2024

The Balkh Connection - Resurrection of Persian


A carpet from Balkh adorns our living room. It is a constant reminder old assignments with the UN in Afghanistan, of traveling long dusty roads lined with the relics of various wars, of bustling markets and lovely lilt of Dari language.


Dari is a variant of Persian widely spoken in the country. I had always imagined that the Persian influence on Afghanistan dated back to the reign of kings ranging from Cyrus to Nadir Shah. Today, while communing back home on the metro listening to an episode of the Empire podcast, I realised the extent of my naivety.

There was a time when the Persians ruled most of the territory that extends from today's Punjab to Turkey and North Africa. The mighty Achaemenid kings - Cyrus, Darius, Xerxes - ruled from Persepolis (559 - 330 BC), until the empire was destroyed by Alexander. Then came the Seleucids (312 - 62 BC) who were contemporaries of Chandragupta  of the Maurya empire in India; the Parthians (247 - 224 BC) and the  Sasanians (224 - 651 CE).

Then came a time when the conquerors got conquered. The endless wars between two great empires, the Romans and the Persians, exhausted both and enabled a new kid on the block, the Arabs driven by the zeal of a brand new religion, to colonise  Persia. Over the next 200 years, Arabic took over as the official language, Persian language, culture and religion got subsumed. Amazingly some of the most prominent Vezirs appointed by the Arabs were the Barmakids, a clan of hereditary Buddhist priests ("Pramukh") from the Nawbahar monastry in Balkh who had converted to Islam!  

One of the few holdouts was Khorasan, an area which is mostly the provinces o Herat and present-day Afghanistan. 

It is under the patronage of the Saffarid kings of Khorasan that Persian language survived. The poet, Ferdowsi started writing the epic Shahname under their patronage. However, by the time he finished his magnum opus, the Saffarids had been defeated by the Ghaznavids, and the new king Mohammad of Ghazni was too busy plundering India and did not think much of Persian poetry. 

It is Persia that owes much to Afghanistan - not the other day around!

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BUT-SHIKAN  बुत-शिकनبت شکن

This word, meaning "iconoclast", is an honorific adopted by many Islamic rulers in India. Sikandar Shah Miri, a ruler of Kashmir was called Sikandar Butshikan for the zeal with which he destroyed many monasteries and temples.

So the question is - does 'but' refer to icons of the Buddha?

A friend who loves Urdu poetry insists that the word comes from Persian. So did the ancient Iranians also take delight in destroying temples? Turns out that they did - hundreds of years before Persia was overrun by conquering armies from Arabia under the banner of Islam, it was Zoroastrian rulers who destroyed buddhist monasteries and temples in the Khorasan region!

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REFERENCES & LINKS


Saturday, October 28, 2023

Gaza, Ukraine, Hypocrisy


How much of rage and resentment can one fit into the smallest possible space?


Since the so-called 'Al-Aqsa Flood' of 7 October, 2023, I have been trying to understand why a few hundred young men would barge into homes, kill, rape and kidnap children, women and the elderly, and then brace themselves for the bloody retribution that would inevitably follow.




Seen from this part of the world, the disputed land, which each side accuses the other of being an 'occupier', is amazingly small. Israel is half the size of Kerala, one of the smallest states in India, while the Gaza strip, a thin sliver of coastal land within Israel, is just about 6km wide and 41km long! - less than a marathon run, a land area 0.6% the size of Delhi NCR.

While Israel may seem like a Goliath compared to tiny Gaza, the comparison flips when you see how the jewish country is placed within a sea of Islamic nations. Whichever way you look at the historical events that led up to the latest carnage it is fact that this region has a disproportionate influence on global geo-politics. Life and death in this part of the world matters much more than in, say, East Asia, Africa or LatAm. 



Today is day-611 of Russia-Ukraine war and  day-22 of the Israel-Gaza war. Two weeks ago an article was published in the Atlantic titled, Israel is Walking into A Trap. Sure enough this seems to be playing out as predicted. Gaza is being reduced to rubble, hundreds are getting killed every day and a right-wing Israeli government is unable to draw back from its own rhetoric, to think beyond its own self-image of an uncompromising, muscular Zion.


Having once exchanged Gilad Shalit, a PoW for 1027 Palestinian prisoners, will it  release 6000 more to get back its ~200 kidnapped citizens?  


One of the most balance interviews I have come across on this topic is one with Dominique De Villepin, former Prime Minister of France on RMC. Thanks to @RnaudBertrand we have the English translation which is worth reading in full : 

"Hamas has set a trap for us, and this trap is one of maximum horror, of maximum cruelty. And so there's a risk of an escalation in militarism, of more military interventions, as if we could with armies solve a problem as serious as the Palestinian question. There's also a second major trap, which is that of Occidentalism. We find ourselves trapped, with Israel, in this western bloc which today is being challenged by most of the international community. [Presenter: What is Occidentalism?] Occidentalism is the idea that the West, which for 5 centuries managed the world's affairs, will be able to quietly continue to do so. And we can clearly see, even in the debates of the French political class, that there is the idea that, faced with what is currently happening in the Middle East, we must continue the fight even more, towards what might resemble a religious or a civilizational war. That is to say, to isolate ourselves even more on the international stage. This is not the way, especially since there's a third trap, which is that of moralism. And here we have in a way the proof, through what is happening in Ukraine and what is happening in the Middle East, of this double standard that is denounced everywhere in the world, including in recent weeks when I travel to Africa, the Middle East, or Latin America. The criticism is always the same: look at how civilian populations are treated in Gaza, you denounce what happened in Ukraine, and you are very timid in the face of the tragedy unfolding in Gaza. Consider international law, the second criticism that is made by the global south. We sanction Russia when it aggresses Ukraine, we sanction Russia when it doesn't respect the resolutions of the United Nations, and it's been 70 years that the resolutions of the United Nations have been voted in vain and that Israel doesn't respect them. [Presenter: Do you believe that the Westerners are currently guilty of hubris?] Westerners must open their eyes to the extent of the historical drama unfolding before us to find the right answers. [Presenter: What is the historical drama? I mean, we're talking about the tragedy of October 7th first and foremost, right?] Of course, there are these horrors happening, but the way to respond to them is crucial. Are we going to kill the future by finding the wrong answers... [Presenter: Kill the future?] Kill the future, yes! Why? [Presenter: But who is killing whom?] You are in a game of causes and effects. Faced with the tragedy of history, one cannot take this 'chain of causality' analytical grid, simply because if you do you can't escape from it. Once we understand that there is a trap, once we realize that behind this trap there has also been a change in the Middle East regarding the Palestinian issue... The situation today is profoundly different [from what it was in the past]. The Palestinian cause was a political and secular cause. Today we are faced with an Islamist cause, led by Hamas. Obviously, this kind of cause is absolute and allows no form of negotiation. On the Israeli side, there has also been a development. Zionism was secular and political, championed by Theodor Herzl in the late 19th century. It has largely become messianic, biblical today. This means that they too do not want to compromise, and everything that the far-right Israeli government does, continuing to encourage colonization, obviously makes things worse, including since October 7th. So in this context, understand that we are already in this region facing a problem that seems profoundly insoluble. Added to this is the hardening of states. Diplomatically, look at the statements of the King of Jordan, they are not the same as six months ago. Look at the statements of Erdogan in Turkey. [Presenter: Precisely, these are extremely harsh statements...] Extremely worrying. Why? Because if the Palestinian cause, the Palestinian issue, hasn't been brought to the forefront, hasn't been put on stage [for a while], and if most of the youth today in Europe have often never even heard of it, it remains for the Arab peoples the mother of all battles. All the progress made towards an attempt to stabilize the Middle East, where one could believe... [Presenter: Yes, but whose fault is it? I have a hard time following you, is it Hamas's fault?] But Ms. Malherbe, I am trained as a diplomat. The question of fault will be addressed by historians and philosophers. [Presenter: But you can't remain neutral, it's difficult, it's complicated, isn't it?] I am not neutral, I am in action. I am simply telling you that every day that passes, we can ensure that this horrific cycle stops... that's why I speak of a trap and that's why it's so important to know what response we are going to give. We stand alone before history today. And we do not treat this new world the way we currently do, knowing that today we are no longer in a position of strength, we are not able to manage on our own, as the world's policemen. [Presenter: So what do we do?] Exactly, what should we do? This is where it is essential not to cut off anyone on the international stage. [Presenter: Including the Russians?] Everyone. [Presenter: Everyone? Should we ask the Russians for help?] I'm not saying we should ask the Russians for help. I'm saying: if the Russians can contribute by calming some factions in this region, then it will be a step in the right direction. [Presenter: How can we proportionally respond to barbarism? It's no longer army against army.] But listen, Appolline de Malherbe, the civilian populations that are dying in Gaza, don't they exist? So because horror was committed on one side, horror must be committed on the other? [Presenter: Do we indeed need to equate the two?] No, it's you who are doing that. I'm not saying I equate the faults. I try to take into account what a large part of humanity thinks. There is certainly a realistic objective to pursue, which is to eradicate the Hamas leaders who committed this horror. And not to confuse the Palestinians with Hamas, that's a realistic goal. The second thing is a targeted response. Let's define realistic political objectives. And the third thing is a combined response. Because there is no effective use of force without a political strategy. We are not in 1973 or in 1967. There are things no army in the world knows how to do, which is to win in an asymmetrical battle against terrorists. The war on terror has never been won anywhere. And it instead triggers extremely dramatic misdeeds, cycles, and escalations. If America lost in Afghanistan, if America lost in Iraq, if we lost in the Sahel, it's because it's a battle that can't be won simply, it's not like you have a hammer that strikes a nail and the problem is solved. So we need to mobilize the international community, get out of this Western entrapment in which we are. [Presenter: But when Emmanuel Macron talks about an international coalition…] Yes, and what was the response? [Presenter: None.] Exactly. We need a political perspective, and this is challenging because the two-state solution has been removed from the Israeli political and diplomatic program. Israel needs to understand that for a country with a territory of 20,000 square kilometers, a population of 9 million inhabitants, facing 1.5 billion people... Peoples have never forgotten that the Palestinian cause and the injustice done to the Palestinians was a significant source of mobilization. We must consider this situation, and I believe it is essential to help Israel, to guide... some say impose, but I think it's better to convince, to move in this direction. The challenge is that there is no interlocutor today, neither on the Israeli side nor the Palestinian side. We need to bring out interlocutors. [Presenter: It's not for us to choose who will be the leaders of Palestine.] The Israeli policy over recent years did not necessarily want to cultivate a Palestinian leadership... Many are in prison, and Israel's interest - because I repeat: it was not in their program or in Israel's interest at the time, or so they thought - was instead to divide the Palestinians and ensure that the Palestinian question fades. This Palestinian question will not fade. And so we must address it and find an answer. This is where we need courage. The use of force is a dead end. The moral condemnation of what Hamas did - and there's no "but" in my words regarding the moral condemnation of this horror - must not prevent us from moving forward politically and diplomatically in an enlightened manner. The law of retaliation is a never-ending cycle. [Presenter: The "eye for an eye, tooth for tooth".] Yes. That's why the political response must be defended by us. Israel has a right to self-defense, but this right cannot be indiscriminate vengeance. And there cannot be collective responsibility of the Palestinian people for the actions of a terrorist minority from Hamas. When you get into this cycle of finding faults, one side's memories clash with the other's. Some will juxtapose Israel's memories with the memories of the Nakba, the 1948 catastrophe, which is a disaster that the Palestinians still experience every day. So you can't break these cycles. We must have the strength, of course, to understand and denounce what happened, and from this standpoint, there's no doubt about our position. But we must also have the courage, and that's what diplomacy is... diplomacy is about being able to believe that there is light at the end of the tunnel. And that's the cunning of history; when you're at the bottom, something can happen that gives hope. After the 1973 war, who would have thought that before the end of the decade, Egypt would sign a peace treaty with Israel? The debate shouldn't be about rhetoric or word choice. The debate today is about action; we must act. And when you think about action, there are two options. Either it's war, war, war. Or it's about trying to move towards peace, and I'll say it again, it's in Israel's interest. It's in Israel's interest!"



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LINKS & REFERENCES


* Ibish, Hussain (2023), The Atlantic - https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2023/10/israel-hamas-war-iran-trap/675628/


* X @RnaudBertrand - https://x.com/RnaudBertrand/status/1718201487132885246

Saturday, October 14, 2023

Indole-nt



One of the most remarkable things I learnt this week is about an organic compound called Indole.

The topic came up randomly on X through a Business Insider video titled, "Why is Jasmine Oil so Expensive?".  A firm in Tamil Nadu was being featured for being one of the largest exporters of Jasmine oil in the world. 

While it is interesting to know the kind of effort that goes into the extraction process (about 5000 hand-plucked jasmine buds in 1kg; and 1000kg of buds to extract 1kg of jasmine oil costing over $5000!), what struck me is a somewhat quirky fact - you get the amazing fragrance of Jasmine only when the oil is around 2% concentration. Once you exceed this concentration the same oil first smells like rotten leaves, and then like shit!

This is because of one key ingredient in Jasmine oil - Indole - which is found in faeces in higher concentrations. 

So the trick is to capture the fragrance at the right moment, which is soon after the Jasmine sambac flowers bloom, and then to blend and dilute it in such a way that you get perfumes such as Doir's J'Adore fragrance.

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REFERENCES & LINKS

* Business Insider - https://youtu.be/Rt16uOqImI0  

* M.Hainey - Perfume Design - https://www.mizubrand.com/blogs/news/the-story-of-indole-in-natural-perfumery-white-florals