Category Archives: Records, All

Gateway to ancient wisdom on verge of closing

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Education, Historical Links / Pre-Independence, Records, All

Lucknow:

Hindutva may be the flavour of the day, but there are no takers for Hindu mathematics in Lucknow University. This section of the Mathematics department of Lucknow University is virtually closed. It neither has expert faculty, nor students to carry forward research on invaluable transcripts on Astronomy and Algebra authored by great Hindu mathematicians till 1800 AD, which the world recognizes as masterpieces. Major reason for the faculty’s closure is that to study these documents one has to be well-versed in Sanskrit as well as a master of mathematics, which is a rare combination. Paucity of funds has just added to the woes.

Former section in charge Aruna Nigam who headed the department till 2009 says “the section has rare collection of work in mathematics. A lot of awareness is needed to revive the section.” She adds the last student of this department was Japanese national T Ohashi, who came a decade ago to study Indian astronomy. On how Hindu mathematics differs from Vedic mathematics, she said the former has been practiced from 2nd century AD while the latter dates only around 5,000 years Before Christ.

Present caretaker Poonam Sharma who took charge six months back said “these days nobody opts for Hindu mathematics because it does not fetch the kind of money other careers do.”

The section has a unique distinction in that it possesses around 52 priceless transcripts of original manuscripts written by Hindu mathematicians. There are three photocopies of the original work penned by Brahmagupta, ‘Sput Siddhanta’, in 620AD, brought from England and three microfilms in Bengali on algebra and mathematics. Formed in 1939 by A N Singh, the first Indian LU head of the math department, the section does not receive any grant, neither from the University Grants Commission nor state government.

Most transcripts are in Sanskrit and regional languages and they are on astronomy. “This was basically because the people then were particularly fascinated by Astrology and Astronomical wonders,” said Nigam. “That’s why we were world leaders in Astronomy till 1500AD, she said, adding arithmetic, algebra and geometry developed as byproducts of astronomy.

Some of the rare collections here are: ‘Aryabhattiyan’ by Aryabhatt (495 AD), Bahad Jatak by Varahmihir (6th century AD) and Sridharacharya’s Pati Ganit and Dholi Karma. Nigam said very few know there were two Bhaskaracharyas. Bhaskaracharya I (620 AD) was the astronomer and Bhaskaracharya II (1156 AD) the author of ‘Leelavati’. This was brought to light by English mathematician Colebrooke in the 18th century, she informed. She also challenged the popular belief that Leelavati was daughter of Bhaskaracharya II. “Bhaskaracharya used the name Leelavati for explaining mathematical problems, we have no proof weather she was an imaginary figure, disciple or daughter of the scholar”, she added.

Hoping that the section would be revived, former head of maths department, Ram Nivas informed “we had zero, decimal system concept of ‘infinity’ much before the world came to know about it.” Bodhayan derived Pythagoras theorem and calculated the value of pie in 800 BC. Through ‘Surya Siddhanta’ they had calculated distance of sun from earth. They knew about number of planets, their motions, causes of eclipses and trigonometry. ‘Theory of Indeterminants’ was in Indian mathematics since 5th century, while the world developed it after 13th century.

Aryabhatt (495 AD) was the first to discover that earth moves round the sun (west to east) by observing movements of boats. These scholars could read time accurately by measuring inclination of sun rays. They also knew about ‘principal governing observatories’, informed experts. Geometry was known as Dholi Sutra (since it was measured by threads) and arithmetic as ‘Dhool Karma’ and ‘Pati Ganit’ (since calculations were done on sand and wooden planks).

Nigam during her term took up the arduous task to translate these in English. Five books are already available in the department. “It’s unfortunately that the section is now closed,” she added.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Lucknow / by Isha Jain, TNN / September 01st, 2014

‘Ballia independence’ commemorated

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Historical Links / Pre-Independence, Records, All

Varanasi :

In order to commemorate the historic event when ‘Baghi Ballia’ had declared Independence from British rule in 1942, hundreds of local residents assembled at the district jail on Tuesday. The gate of jail was opened for a while. A procession was taken out across the town.

On August 19, 1942, thousands of people of Ballia proceeded to jail to free their leaders imprisoned during Quit India movement. They were armed with guns, lathis and spears. The gate of the jail was opened and the political prisoners were freed. It was the historic victory of Ballia. People had taken control of the town and they declared ‘Independence’ for Ballia on August 20, 1942. A government headed by Chittu Pandey was formed. Every year, on August 19, people carry out procession from the district jail and hold meeting at Bapu Bhawan to celebrate the victory.

People uprising in Ballia began soon after the arrest of Congress leaders taking part in Quit India movement. On August 10, 1942, all the schools were closed and people continued to take out processions. On August 13, Bilthara Road railway station was attacked and the building was burnt. On August 16, Rasra treasury was attacked and two days later the police station at Bairia was attacked. The station officer had removed the Tricolour, which the freedom fighters hoisted on August 15. At least 20 persons were killed and several others injured in police firing.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Varanasi / TNN / August 19th, 2014

1000-year-old palm leaf manuscripts on Buddha’s life yet to be deciphered

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Historical Links / Pre-Independence, Records, All

Allahabad :

A treasure trove of 1000-year-old palm leaves manuscripts related to the life of Lord Gautam Buddha and around two lakh documents revealing 180 years of history of erstwhile princely Rampur State are still awaiting to get deciphered here at regional archive office (RAO) even after a gap of 60 years.

The palm leaves and hand-made paper manuscripts around 200 in numbers were recently put in an exhibition at a school here by the RAO but their contents could not be known as the visitors did not know about the language of the manuscripts.

“Efforts on the part of the government to decipher the language are lacking. Neither the officials nor academicians visiting here had any knowledge of the contents put on the display. If deciphered, the manuscripts may threw light on the life thousands of years back,” said one of the event organiser.

Amit Agnihotri, Regional Archive Officer said, “We came to know about the manuscripts related to Lord Buddha after seeing his picture on the leaves. The writing resembles with those that are prevalent in coastal India. So, we assumed it to be 1000-year-old. We do not know much more than that as only scholars can decipher the writing”. Similar is in the case of two lakh documents of erstwhile RampurState.

In the beginning of 2013, Regional Archive Office here had forwarded a proposal to the state government demanding recruitment of at least four Persian and English scholars who could read and decipher the files of Rampur state in its possession.

RAO already suffering from staff crunch, became active only after Rampur’s Raza Library—autonomous body of the Central government, wrote to the then governor BL Joshi for taking the documents in its possession for making them available for readers after deciphering them. But no progress has been made till date.

Amit Agnihotri said, “Very little is known about the Rampur state which had represented the Indian states in three Round Table conferences, Khilafat Movement and had maintained a close relationship with the Britishers. A deep study of the documents can reveal more about the socio-political, military and cultural aspects of the state which actively took part in the First War of Independence in 1857 and later continued to support the British during the Indian freedom movement.”

He further said Rampur state had represented other princely states on various occasions so the outcome from the study of the files would have definitely helped in putting the things in sequence in the history of Northern India.

Rampur princely state came into being in 1770 and was merged in India after independence in 1947. Its rulers had been the stooge of Britishers and did not play any role in the Indian freedom movements in the 20th century.

“The documents mainly comprising of correspondence with the Britishers, the princely states among others would give a detailed view on the political and military relationship it shared with them. The students, scholars and historians will be benefited a lot if the files gets catalogued,” added Agnihotri.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Allahabad / by Vinod Khanal, TNN / September 02nd, 2014

Octogenarian makes dictionary of bacronyms

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Education, Records, All, World Opinion

Agra :

For octogenarian BD Bhargava, playing with words is a passion. This toothless and frail, yet dynamic man has created what he calls the world’s first and only dictionary of bacronyms. According to Wikipedia, a bacronym is “a specially constructed acronym created to fit an existing word.”

Bhargava, who is a resident of Kamla Nagar, has more than 4,000 bacronyms in his collection. The man who runs several blogs which are being followed by many teachers and students, is now planning to take his magical world of ‘words’ a step ahead.

“After playing much with words, I am playing with pictures these days. I think picture speak much more than words. This is the reason why I am inculcating graphics and pictures in my bacronyms blog and it is more attractive and easy to grasp now,” he added.

Talking about the term backronym, Bhargava said it comes from a combination of the words “back” and “acronym,” because bacronyms are essentially acronyms in reverse. While acronyms list just the initial letter of a word phrase (e.g., “FBI”), a bacronym takes the letters of a word, and makes a word phrase using those letters.

“There are two necessary things about bacronyms. The first is that the word phrase should explain the meaning of the original word. The second is that the words must start with the letters of the original word in a sequential order. For example, EAR = Earliest Audio Receiver,” he said.

Talking about the idea behind creation of his bacronym dictionary, Bhargava said he got this idea from a book ‘crazy english’ by Richard Ledrerand. “The book was magical and hit my heart. It made me think that we have a lot to play with words. And I started playing with them. Initially, I worked on small sentences but my wife and kids motivated me to go ahead with what I started, somewhere in 1996 and since then I am making bacronyms,” he added.

His son-in-law created websites for Bhargawa and later, he also started writing his own blog which has caught the attention of academicians.

The octogenarian said he had delivered special lectures in schools and institutes based in New Delhi and even abroad, but has not yet been approached by schools of his own town. “I want to share this with school kids, its fun and easy to learn,” said Bhargava.

Commenting on the hard work needed in making up bacronyms, he said it takes him three to four days to select the best possible words to form one such acronym. Adding relevant pictures is also an uphill task for Bhargava, who is unable to concentrate on computer screen due to his old age.

“Nothing is said now that hath not been said before. I am not being modest. Most of what we say (or write) has been said (or written) before. The only claim to originality that I would like to make is about bacronyms. They are my idea and my creation. I can claim that my dictionary with more than 4000 bacronyms is the world’s first and only dictionary of its kind,” he said.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Agra / Ishita Mishra, TNN / August 31st, 2014

India, Japan sign MoU to develop Varanasi into ‘smart city’

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Green Initiatives / Environment, Nature, Records, All, Travel, World Opinion

Kyoto :

Varanasi, which Prime Minister Narendra Modi represents in the Lok Sabha, will be developed into a ‘smart city’ by using the experience of Kyoto, the ‘smart city’ of Japan, under a pact signed here on Saturday.

A partner city MoU was signed by Indian ambassador Deepa Wadhwa and Kyoto mayor Daisaka Kadokawa at a ceremony witnessed by Modi and his Japanese counterpart Shinzo Abe.
japanvaranasiLUCKNOW31aug2014
The MoU, which was signed soon after Modi’s arrival here on a five-day visit, provides for cooperation in heritage conservation, city modernization and cooperation in the fields of art, culture and academics, external affairs ministry spokesman Syed Akbaruddin told reporters.

This will serve as framework for smart heritage city programme between the two countries, he added.

Kyoto, which is a he​ritage city with Buddhist culture, provides special symbolism to the visit as the Prime Minister has the vision of “rejuvenating” Indian cities.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> India / PTI / August 30th, 2014

Admin steps in to restore Moti Jheel

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Agra :

The district administration has initiated steps to restore the Moti Jheel that is located behind Fatehpur Sikri fort complex, following the directions from the central government.

The project is aimed at rediscovering the beauty of this Mughal lake by preventing encroachments and settlements around it. The union tourism ministry wants the water body to be restored near the Unesco heritage site (Sikri fort complex) so as to promote tourism in the area.

Speaking on this aspect, district magistrate Pankaj Kumar said, “The Moti Jheel is a massive project. So, in the meantime we plan to build a pond nearby the fort. The biggest obstacles that would make the task of reviving the Jheel quite difficult, are the settlements and farm lands, surrounding it.”

“The work for constructing the pond will start in the next 15 to 20 days. As far as the Jheel is concerned, we have two options – either we compensate the villagers and ask them to vacate the land or convince them for the same. We are looking in to the matter,” Kumar added.

Sources said kumar recently conducted an inspection of the area along with a team of revenue and irrigation department officials to identify the area, where once this lake existed. The officials were asked to demarcate the lake area with the help of old maps. They were also directed to file a report on the size and appropriate depth of the lake.

The project has been gathering dust for the last two years, but revived once again during the visit of union tourism minister Shripad Naik, who instructed the ASI and the local administration to look into the feasibility of restoring the Moti Jheel.

An ASI official said, “It is the responsibility of the administration to restore the lake. There are historical evidences about the Jheel and about its tributaries. No doubt, it will take time to acquire land before restoration work can starts.”

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Agra / Aditya Dev, TNN / August 25th, 2014

British era police records to be preserved

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Historical Links / Pre-Independence, Records, All, World Opinion

Allahabad :

The Allahabad police has found police records of British era in which casts of Urdu alphabets were used to lodge FIRs as well as maintain records. Now, these records would be preserved for posterity with help from historians and experts of Allahabad museum.

The records, dating back to 1896, reveal that the Britishers had laid emphasis on maintaining history of each and every case systematically in Conviction Registers (CR).

Interestingly, every case registered in a CR had its serial number along with name of convict and number of history-sheet, percentage and caste, place and date of conviction, offence category, punishment awarded, place of crime committed outside village and remarks.

Apart from this, the records had other details also like notes on crime in the village with special references to fractions, land or water dispute, presence of criminal tribes or gang, occurrence of obstructions or damage to railway line within the village, special outbreaks of crime in the village.

SSP, Allahabad, Deepak Kumar said, “After collecting the old police records from different police stations, we have decided to preserve them technically and scientifically. Maintenance of records revealed that the Britishers were keen to compile special references to fraction village wise, land or water disputes as well as damage to railway line within a village.”

Interestingly, the police authorities have decided to consult Allahabad Museum experts and eminent historians to know more about the records and how to preserve them scientifically.

The records also indicated that in British era, ‘gopniya patrikas’ (secret reports) were being prepared regarding public movements, i.e., dharna, demonstration and violence in which a senior police officer also put his remark. The main record was known as conviction register and contained details of criminal cases along with all details.

The Britishers had maintained area wise Village Crime Note Books (VCNBs) like Chowk, Colonelganj, Civil Lines. Each VCNB was divided into five sections. The conviction register was the main part of VCNB while other details were compiled in different sections. The Britishers also had a list of names of respectable persons (area wise), licenced arms holders, people of a particular caste, religion along with religious places.

The British era cops used to take pains to gather and note down all inputs about the people and the area under their jurisdiction and the seniors were putting the remarks once or twice in a year.

The police have also found the notes wherein special remarks were put regarding a particular incident. For instance, a paper wherein an inspector rank police officer had on August 8,1966 noted down his remark regarding an incident of public agitation over power crisis was also found.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Allahabad / Kapil Dixit, TNN / August 21st, 2014

Sound of Buddha’s teachings to see light of the day soon

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Varanasi :

Good days are ahead for Sarnath, the place where Lord Buddha delivered his first sermon after attaining enlightment. The UP Tourism department is planning to launch a sound and light show in the backdrop of Dhamekha Stupa. The Archaeological Survey of India too has given its nod in principle to the project.

In 2002-03, Union ministry of tourism had sanctioned Rs 352 lakh for a project based on Lord Buddha’s life that was to come up at the proposed Buddha Theme Park. Indian Tourism Development Corporation (ITDC) was assigned the project and in 2003-04, the fund for the light and sound show too was sanctioned. Sources claimed that despite floating repeated tenders, ITDC failed to attract bidders. A team of ITDC experts visited Buddha Theme Park in May 2011. However, the project continued to linger on.

In 2013, Union tourism minister Subodhkant Sahay and deputy secretary Vishal Gagan held a meeting with officials of ITDC and UP Tourism in Varanasi to discuss the delay in the project. Later, the ministry withdrew the funds from ITDC and returned it to the state government so that it could materialise the project.

After ITDC had delayed the project by decade, the UP Tourism department decided to shift the site to Dhamekha Stupa. Regional tourism officer Ravindra Mishra said that ASI had in principle agreed to allow the show near Dhamekha Stupa.

On the call of the ASI, Indian Institute of Technology, Banaras Hindu University (IIT-BHU) experts conducted a study to know the affect of sound and light show on the monuments including Dhamekha Stupa. Initially the team provided a brief report making it clear that there would be no harm to Sarnath monuments from this project.

Mishra said that the ASI demanded detailed study, so the IIT-BHU report was being revised and would be ready in a day or two. The UP Tourism headquarters would forward it to the Union government, through state government. As per the rough estimate prepared by the electricity division of Rajkiya Nirman Nigam (RNN), the cost of the new sound and light show project at Sarnath could go up to Rs 8 crore, said sources.

Officials of UP Tourism stopped pursuing the issue. Mishra said that the district administration and the tourism department had decided to go for fresh project. This time, officials also decided to change the venue and start the sound and light show near Dhamekha Stupa as this site is visited by pilgrims and tourists coming to Sarnath. The project will be forwarded to the state government to ensure that it is sanctioned in the current financial year, he added.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Varanasi / Rajeev Dishit, TNN / August 05th, 2014

Tributes paid to Shehnai maestro

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Varanasi:

Rich tributes were paid to Shehnai maestro Bharat Ratna Late Ustad Bismmillah Khan on his 8th death anniversary observed at Dargah-e-Fatman on Thursday.

A music lover and a fan of Ustad, Narendra Gupta from Delhi, paid tributes to him by reading Sunderkand of Ramcharitmanas and Hanuman Chalisa beside his grave. Gupta visits the city every year on birth and death anniversary of Ustad. Some music lovers also paid a musical tribute to him on the occasion.

They were disappointed to see that the grave of Ustad could not take a shape of a maqbara yet, and a music academy after his name also seemed to be a distant dream. A series of promises were made by the government after the death of Shehnai maestro but none of them have been fulfilled yet.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Varanasi / TNN / August 22nd, 2014

Jhansi soldier won Victoria Cross

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The 7th Light Cavalry, based in Babina in Jhansi was one of the unit that participated in the World War I.

As per records, the unit fought in two theatres of the war. It fought in France in European theatre and later in Middle East.

It won three battle honours in Persia, Marv and Afghanistan.

Not only this, one of the soldier of the unit, Lance Daffadar Gobind Singh was awarded Victoria Cross, the highest gallantry award during WW1 for his role in Battle of Cambrai

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Allahabad / TNN / July 28th, 2014