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

Too many people visit Meerut’s govt libraries, but not for books

Arts, Culture & Entertainment

Meerut:

It was dark in the middle of the afternoon, the fans weren’t moving. Despite soaring temperatures, there was no drinking water. The fear of losing her vehicle was running at the back of her mind. Akanksha Verma, 22 finally decided to get out of one of the four government libraries in the city.

“One of my friends told me about this place (Raajkiya Swatantrata Sangraam Sangrahlaya). She said there was a library here. I visited it a couple of times with my friends for group studies but later gave up the idea as this place does not have electricity most of the time. It even lacks basic facilities such as clean drinking water and parking space,” she says.

The city has four government libraries: District library, Cantt library, Tilak library and the one in Raajkiya Swatantra Sangraam Sangrahlaya. All four lack basic infrastructure and facilities, and give you a feel of ancient times.

Interestingly, the bookshelves in these reading rooms look old and untouched. “That’s because the collection here hasn’t been updated for decades. It seems that the authorities don’t want people to read beyond freedom struggle and independence. I have also visited Tilak library, but only to prepare for CA and not for reading books,” says Akanksha.

A random visit to one of these libraries suggests that there is no dearth of students coming here. But very few of them actually get books issued or check out the collection. Achin Kumar, an SSC aspirant, who has been coming to Raajkiya Swatantra Sangraam Sangrahlaya for the last one and a half years, says, “The only reading material I require are competition books, which I have purchased already. The library has old books and I am not interested in them. So I bring my own books each time I come here.”

RK Chauhan, who is the librarian at Tilak library, which was established 128 years ago, claims that as many as 500 books come to the library every year. “But all of them are sent by the Nagar Nigam. Only a few of them interest today’s youngsters. The Nigam spends around Rs 80,000 for these books each year.”

However, there are some good private libraries in the city that are flocked by people from all age groups on a daily basis. “I have been a member here since I was eight years old. It has books for all sorts of people. I see a lot of kids and senior citizens coming and spending hours here,” says 22 years old Isha Tyagi at one of the popular private libraries.

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

100 grand years of glory

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

Lucknow :

The premises of Bengali Club are blessed. This Durga puja, the Club will mark 100 years of its association with the deity.

Elaborate celebrations would mark the momentous occasion for the Club which is the most sought after in the city during puja celebrations. One of the things that make Bengali Club unique is the platform over which Goddess Durga’s deity is installed.

“The kathamo (base) to install the deity has been here since 1914, when the tradition of puja started here,” says Arun Banerjee, the club’s general secretary. The kathamo is made of sakhu wood and has been repaired only twice in the past 100 years. Due to this connection, people feel the deity’s presence throughout the year.

Besides, this is the only pandal where the Durga idol is made on the same premises. From the bamboo skeleton to the clay structure to chiselling of contours and filling the idol with colourful expressions and draping the deity in accessories, the soil of Bengali Club sees the deity coming alive.

“The work begins about two months before the Puja and we work for more than eight hours every day,” says Niloy Pal, the chief artist who has been making idols for Bengali Club for 10 years.

Mother Durga never comes alone. Her children, Lakshmi, Saraswati, Ganesh and Kartikeya always accompany her. In most pandals, the idols are made separately and then brought together on the day of praan pratishtha.

“On our premises, they come and go together. Only a few puja samitis have kept this tradition alive till now,” says Manindra Nath Pal (Mantu Dada), the eldest and oldest member of Bengali Club.

The puja samiti has kept some age-old traditions such as sindur khela and darpan visarjan alive even now. One of the most interesting ones includes making the idol with a portion of clay from the doorstep of a prostitute. “Our artisans ensure that this message of social inclusion continues to be given even now,” claims Banerjee.

“It suggests inclusion of otherwise ostracised members of society. It is believed that this soil is virtuous because people visiting ‘houses of vice’ leave their virtues outside the door, making the soil here pure. Besides being a fertility ritual, the tradition is seen as a way to purge prostitutes of their “sins”. Finally, it is a way to honour ‘courtesans’ traditionally famed for their proficiency in the arts,” describes, Swapan Paul, an artisan who has closely studied puja and its rituals.

The Bengali Club has also picked up the best thing from Lucknow – its Ganga-Jamuni tehzib. Muslims play an important role in organizing the puja.

Journey of faith:

1901: Atul Krishna Sinha comes to Lucknow for a job and sets up an institution promoting Bengali art and culture. It was called Bengali Youngmen’s Association and operated as a small group of like-minded people from a house in Sundarbagh and then from Shivaji Marg.

1914: The club procures the Hewett Road property and formally starts The Bengali Club. The association started organizing Durga Puja and other cultural events there.

1929: The Bengali Club and Bengali Youngmen’s Association merge and get registered under the Societies Act.

1938: Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose comes to the club and expresses happiness over the effort.

1964: The Club Starts the tradition of Mahalaya, the characteristic singing of Chandipaath.

Immortal stories

THE TOUCH OF TAGORE: In the early 1930s, Rabindranath Tagore came to Lucknow and visited his friend AP Sen, the president of Bengali Club. Poetry was the common thread between them. Tagore, who was slated to visit the Bengali Club but could not, also wrote a poem called Ashirwad for his friend.

BLESSED BY BOSE: The place has been touched by Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose. He visited the club as president of the Congress Committee in 1938. He spoke to them about the freedom struggle and appreciated the effort of the locals in preserving cultural roots.

TAKING PUJA TO COMMON DOMAIN: The city owes the tradition of Durga puja to Bengali Club. The present committees may be seen as offshoots of the Club. Till 1980, idols for all puja samitis were made on the premises of the Bengali Club. “It was an awesome sight to see dozens of Durga idols incarnating for a mega celebration,” recalls, Arup Sanyal, one of the oldest Club members.

THE DEVOUT PM: Former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee regularly visited Bengali Club including the time when he was PM. “When his security started clearing the crowd as per protocol, Vajpayee intervened and said everyone was equal in the eyes of the deity and went in as a commoner,” recalls, Arun Banerjee, who escorted him as general secretary.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Lucknow / by Shailvee Sharda, TNN / September 04th, 2014

Going Green’ to benefit weavers

Business & Economy, Green Initiatives / Environment, World Opinion

Varanasi:

In order to promote eco-friendly textile, particularly in handloom sector, ‘Green Textile Consultation’ has been started by Human Welfare Association, in collaboration with European Commission, Trade-Craft and All India Artisans Craft Welfare Association (AIACWA), New Delhi. The first consultation, under the banner of ‘Going Green’ was held on Thursday.

According to organisers, most weavers are not getting true value of their labour due to lack of specific branding. The weavers can get benefit in global market because of the concept of green textile, which was based on organic and natural colours and hand embroidery. They are demanding to link it with ‘Green Mark’ as a symbol of authenticity of the Indian handloom products.

“Chinese handloom machines are capturing the market and snatching the livelihood of traditional weavers, but if Green Mark is considered by the government, it will prove to be beneficial for weavers,” said Rajni Kant of HWA. Another aspect of ‘Going Green’ is that the artisans and weavers, who are involved in the handloom and craft sectors, also get attached with carbon credit. The use of natural things will not cause harm to the environment and through it, weavers can increase their financial stability. The powerlooms, using electricity and fuels for machines, pollute the environment by emitting carbon, while handloom sector does not use such polluting elements so they must be paid for saving the environment. He said that the Going Green concept has been launched in Lucknow, which is widely known for chikan embroidery and Varanasi known for its silk sarees. This programme already exists in Rajasthan.

According to Ravi Karka of AIACWA, Going Green project is a new initiative in Varanasi that will help the Banarasi handloom weavers in international market. Mayank Trivedi, research coordinator of AIACWA said that in the first phase, 5,000 weavers and craftsmen would be linked directly with the project.

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

Firag Gorakhpuri remembered

Arts, Culture & Entertainment

Gorakhpur:

Birth anniversary celebrations of Urdu poet Firaq Gorakhpuri were held at several places in the city on Thursday.

Members of Chitragupt Sabha garlanded the statue of Firaq Gorakhpuri in Daudpur and also organized a seminar in the evening in the conference hall of Chitragupt Mandir.

Social worker Ashok Srivastava garlanded the statue of Firaq. A seminar and a mushaira were also held.

Raghupati Sahai, known by his pen name, Firaq Gorakhpuri, was born on August 28, 1896 in Miyan Bazaar area in Gorakhpur. Azim Farooqi, a research scholar of Urdu, said: “People remember Firaq as a great Urdu poet but very few know that he was a freedom fighter too. He left his position of deputy collector and became member of Congress and went jail in 1920 along with Jawaharlal Nehru. He also contested in election with Shibbon Lal Saxena Party in 1952 against Mahant Digvijay Nath, the then head priest of Gorakhnath temple.”

Chitragupt Sabha president Atul Srivastava said: “Bahut pehle se un qadmon ki ahat jaan lete hain, Tujhe ai zindagi hum door se pehchan lete hain. Firaq Gorakhpur was a genius and great poet. Firaq Sahab is known for Urdu poetry but he was also English lecturer in Allahabad University. He passed ICS examination but resigned and joined freedom struggle. He was awarded Gyanpeeth Award, Sahitya Academy Award and Padam Bhushan Award in 1969 for his creation ‘Gule Nagma’.”

Pravir Arya of Madan Mohan Malviya Technical University said: “He was a prolific writer of Urdu and English. He added Gorakhpur in his name. We can proudly say that we belong to the place where Firaq used to live. He gave an international recognition to Gorakhpur.”

Speaking on the style of Firaq’s writing, poet Mohammad Husain Qayal said: “Firaq was an institution in himself. He has command over Urdu, Persian, Hindi and English. He was a great poet but a loner as his personal grief is reflected in his poetries. He had a troubled married life and his children also died.”

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Varanasi / by Arjumand Bano, TNN / August 28th, 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

Mohani Tea shows how to crack distribution network in remote areas

Business & Economy, Leaders

When Ramesh Chand Agarwal went for a holiday to Darjeeling after his graduation little did he know that it would decide the course of his future. As he visited the tea plantations in North Bengal and saw tea auctions in the open market, he felt that this was going to be his calling. Ramesh instantly bought a small consignment of tea to test out his potential and there has been no looking back since.

mohaniLUCKNOW31aug2014
Initially Ramesh was just testing the waters by being involved in trading operations for bulk tea. But then one incident changed his perspective. Ramesh shares, “It so happened that once while I was sitting with a retailer of loose tea a customer came complaining about the quality of tea and wanted to return what she had bought from the retailer a few days back. That was the flash point for me and I made up my mind to launch my own packet tea with affordable pricing and good, consistent quality that will reach small villages where large packers like Brooke Bond or Lipton did not reach.” With the help of his three brothers, Ramesh got into the production of tea under his own brand, Mohani Tea, to solve the problem of people in remote areas.


How it works
Though tea is a seasonal product, people consume it throughout the year. From procuring the samples from different states, including Assam, North Bengal, Tamil Nadu and Kerala to getting out the final product is nothing less than a Herculean task. Once they procure samples from different agents, it goes through a standard and blind calibration check, after which they place their order. The entire product from different agents is then brought to their facility at Kanpur where it is again tested and processed. At present, they have a team of experts which oversees the entire supply chain and delivers the product within three months.


Challenges
Like any consumer facing product they had to face huge challenges when it came to distribution. Rural population was a big market but reaching them was a challenge. Ramesh says, “As we started our backyard operation to produce packet tea in Kanpur, we realized that distribution and reaching to far flung areas in UP was a huge challenge that we had not anticipated. Being a new brand, it was difficult to find distributors. Everyone wanted credit. Off-take was low so shopkeepers did not have much confidence in the product. However, persistence and perseverance finally paid off and Mohani Tea started gaining acceptance with consumers in smaller towns.”

What had been their biggest challenge slowly became their strength. They have overcome most competition from other local players as well. Ramesh adds, “There are a number of regional players in the market who either dominate a small area, or number of districts and often compete on pricing and schemes. Since our key focus is villages, small towns and suburban area, we are not directly competing with large national players like Unilever or Tata. But the regional and local competition is very intense. There are no technology entry barriers as such and it is primarily the strength of distribution, branding, trust of the consumers and supply chain that give us the competitive edge over other players.”


Future
At present, Ramesh claims to have achieved around five percent market share in North India, primarily in UP, MP, Punjab, J&K, Bihar and Jharkhand. Looking at the future, Ramesh says he is looking forward to reach at least Rs 1000 crore in turnover from their current turnover of around Rs 300 crore in the next five years.

source: http://www.yourstory.com / Your Story / Home> Yourstory.com / Aditya Bhushan Dwivedi / August 29th, 2014

Indian Industries Association organizes ‘Uttar Pradesh Udyami Mahasammelan 2014’

Business & Economy

Lucknow :

Indian Industries Association (IIA) is organizing ‘Uttar Pradesh Udyami Mahasammelan-2014’ with the support of department of MSME and Export Promotion, government of Uttar Pradesh on September 20, 2014 at Indira Gandhi Pratisthan, Vibhuti Khand, Gomti Nagar, Lucknow.

The main objective of organizing this mega event is to speed up the growth of Micro, Small and Medium enterprises (MSMEs) in the state of Uttar Pradesh. At present, 31 lakh MSMEs exist in Uttar Pradesh and this number is the biggest in the country compared to other states.

MSMEs contribute about 50 percent of the total gross domestic production in the state and are feeding about 40 million people which is about one fourth of the total population of the state. As such MSMEs play an important role in the socio-economic development of the State.

Keeping in view the contribution of MSME sector in the development of the state, government of Uttar Pradesh have announced several new industrial policies which contain provisions for the development of MSMEs. There is a need to make MSME entrepreneurs aware about these policy provisions at the same time to provide feedback to the government regarding implementation status.

Keeping in view the initiatives of the government, IIA have planned to organize this mega event which will be attended by more than 1000 entrepreneurs from all over Uttar Pradesh. Uttar Pradesh’s CM, AKhilesh Yadav has given consent to be the chief guest for this mega event.

Also, Bhagwat Sharan Gangwar, the minister of state (independent charge) MSME and Export Promotion, government of UP and Alok Ranjan, chief secretary, UP will be the guests of honour. Apart from more than 1000 industrialists from all over the state, the Mahasammelan will be attended by senior officials related to industrial development in the state as well as Central government.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Lucknow / Priyanka Singh, TNN / August 27th, 2014

AU prof deciphers Gupta dynasty inscription

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

Allahabad :

A faculty member of the department of Ancient History of Allahabad University has managed to decipher and identify a rare 5th century copper plate inscription discovered in a village near Mahasthan in Bogra district of Bangladesh.

The 1,500-year-old single copper plate is the first of the Imperial Gupta dynasty (CE 320-550) to come to light in the past three decades and is expected to throw new light on the empire whose political and cultural history is mainly based on 58 published inscriptions engraved on stones, copper plates, iron pillar and clay tablets, besides 42 inscriptions.

The accomplishment of cracking the inscription has been achieved by D P Dubey, associate professor in the department of Ancient History. Dr Dubey said, “This is the 59th inscription of the dynasty and second copper plate charter of king Vainyagupta who reigned from CE 499-500 to CE 507-08. The inscription is engraved on both sides of a single sheet of copper, measuring 22.5 cm x 11cm and weighs 850 grams and there are 26 lines of writing on it.”

“A circular seal is attached to it, which bears the legend in two lines si (read shri) paramabhattaka Vainyaguptadhikaranasya. The language of the inscription is Sanskrit and the record dates back to the Gupta year 180 (which means CE 499-500) and supplies the day and month as 9th day of the month of Jyeshtha (May-June),” informed Dubey.

He further said that King Vainyagupta, who succeeded Gupta king Budhagupta (CE 476-77 to CE 499-500), was known from his Nalanda seal and his Gunaighar (Comilla district of Bangladesh) copper-plate grant of Gupta Era 188 was published in 1930. It is known that in GE 157, Budhaguta ascended the throne but his last date has been speculative because the date read as 180 on one of his coins is doubtful. This new inscription shows that Budhagupta was dead well before Jyeshtha month in GE 180.

Dubey also claimed that this is the only inscription or source referring to maladministration in the time of a Gupta king in the empire, particularly in North Bengal (modern Bangladesh) in GE 157. The high provincial officer named Mahamatra was not heard after the Maurya rule in Indian history and for the first time in Gupta history, his existence is now known again, otherwise he is unknown in the Gupta history.

This inscription is also important because of the fact that it refers to king Vainyagupta as paramabhattaraka, a titled used for Maharajadhiraja in the Gupta period. But many historians think that Vainyagupta of the Gunaighar grant and the Nalanda sealing are identical. However, the evidence from the present inscription puts this controversy at rest, said Dubey.

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