Hummingbird

Sunday, June 27, 2010

Divers explore ruins of Cleopatra’s palace

Business Line (May 27, 2010) carried a news from Associated Press titled "Divers explore ruins of Cleopatra's palace".

MSNBC carries the AP article and has a nice Slideshow: In search of Cleopatra’s palace. Being a western topic, I am sure this would excite the Western world. The tools and material support this expedition had is much superior to the Indian expeditions in the past on Dvaraka, some decades back. I was reminded about the exciting archeological work of Dr S.R. Rao in excavating "The Lost city of Dvaraka".

According to Dr. S R Rao - "The discovery of the legendary city of Dwaraka which is said to have been founded by Sri Krishna, is an important landmark in the history of India. It has set to rest the doubts expressed by historians about the historicity of Mahabharata and the very existence of Dwaraka city. It has greatly narrowed the gap in Indian history by establishing the continuity of the Indian civilization from the Vedic Age to the present day." In an interview with The Hindu (November 20, 2002), Dr Rao explains how they went about the Dwaraka work -

We had no experience in marine archaeology. It was a new discipline to India. The Indian National Science Academy (INSA) gave us some money and we went to the National Institute of Oceanography (NIO), Goa, as there were some divers there and started work in 1981. Real work started in 1982. We hired boats. First we found some evidence in Beth Dwaraka island because local tradition points to the antiquity of this compared to Dwaraka.

According to the Mahabharata Krishna built Dwaraka at Kushasthali - a fortress in the sea which is in ruins. Then he built another at the mouth of the Gomti river. AtKushasthali (Beth Dwaraka spelt Dvaraka) we found a wall (560 metres long) visible on the shore itself. Dating of pottery found here gave a date of 1528 B.C. So we were satisfied we were on the right spot. We unearthed an important find - a seal (mudra). The Mahabharata refers to how Krishna wanted every citizen to carry some sort of identity - a mudra.

ANCIENT FORTIFICATION: The long wall visible on the shore at Beth Dwaraka.

Besides plenty of pottery, we found an inscribed sherd with the following maha kacha shahapa (sea, king or protector). This is dated around 1600 B.C. while the mudra is dated to 1700 B.C. We found a 580 metre long wall.

The excitement came when we found the mudra and the inscription. That was the confirming factor as by mere date one could not say it is Dwaraka. The Mahabharata
mentions the city having 50 openings. We found about 25 or 30 bastions. There must be more because they must have protected the wall against currents. On the bastion invariably there are window openings. So that may be the reference.

Hindu wisdom info website (www.hinduwisdom.info) contains a nice compilation of Dwaraka related news items. Some excerpts from the website -

Sri Krishna is a towering personality and it is difficult to separate the human aspect of his life from the divine in Krishna concept. He is a grand mystery and everyone has tried to understand him in his own way, according to his spiritual light or vision. The Yogis considered him to be the absolute truth, the Gopis the highest object of love, the warriors as an ideal hero, Kamsa as an object of fear and Sisupala as an object of hate.

Whether one thinks of him as an object of love or hate, one attains him. Yudhishthira attained him through friendship and Narada by devotion. Krishna is the embodiment of intellectual and spiritual glory. No other single idea has so much influenced the course of India's religion, philosophy, art and literature as the life and personality of Krishna. As a child he was wonderful, as a youth he was physically most perfect and beautiful. as an intellectual he was the very embodiment of Vedic scholarship and his teachings in the Gita embody the immortal message of desire less action, knowledge and single-minded devotion. "As a fighter he was without rival, as a statesman most shrewd, as a social thinker very liberal, as a teacher the most eloquent, as a friend never failing, and as a householder the most idea." It is with his help that the Pandavas were able to overcome all opponents and win the battle of Mahabharata.

In the words of Annie Wood Besant (1847-1933) - "He (Krishna) is so fundamentally the God, who is human in everything, who bends in human sympathy over the cradle of the babe, who sympathizes with the play of the youth, who is the friend of the lover, the blesser of the bridegroom and the bride, who smiles on the young mother when her first born lies in her arms, everywhere the God of love and human happiness; what wonder that his winsome grace has fascinated the hearts of men."

Listen to The Bhagavad Gita podcast - By Michael Scherer - americanphonic.com.

Watch Scientific verification of Vedic knowledge.

Watch Lost / submerged city of Dwaraka – The Learning Channel video

***

Dwaraka has a special importance as one of the major Hindu pilgrim place, known as the capital of Lord Krishna's Kingdom. It is also an important historical monument. The region of the west coast, where Krishna was to settle the Yadavas was full of flowering and fruit-bearing trees. Here grew the nagacampas, grapes, coconut trees and many others. It was the land of the hunter Ekalavya. Dronacarya had also lived here. Krishna decided to built a new city here and laid the foundation at an auspicious moment. He named the new city Dvaravati. Much later the poet Magha in his Sisupalavadha, sarga2, describes in slokas 31 onwards, the city of Dwaraka, sloka 33 can be translated:
"The yellow glitter of the golden fort of the city in the sea throwing yellow light all round looked as if the flames of vadavagni came out tearing asunder the sea."

Literary texts like the Mahabharata, Harivamsha, Sijupdlavadha and Puranas contain traditions about foundation of Dwaraka, its planning and glory. Before the legendary city of Dwaraka was discovered some scholars were of the view that the Mahabharata being only a myth it would be futile to look for the remains of Dwaraka and that too in the sea. Others held that the Mahabharata battle was a family feud exaggerated into a war.

The Bhagavad Gita has influenced great Americans from Thoreau to Oppenheimer. Its message of letting go of the fruits of one’s actions is just as relevant today as it was when it was first written more than two millennia ago.

For more refer to chapter on Greater India: Suvarnabhumi and Sacred Angkor
Refer to Bhaja Govindam - kamakoti.org.

Listen to The Bhagavad Gita podcast - By Michael Scherer - americanphonic.com.

Watch Scientific verification of Vedic knowledge.

Watch Lost / submerged city of Dwaraka – The Learning Channel video

* * *

Excavations done by Dr. S. R. Rao at Dwaraka prove that the descriptions as found in these texts are not to be discarded as fanciful but are to be treated as based on actualities as seen by their authors. The architecture of the old Dwaraka of Shri Krishna is majestic and wonderful. The great poet Premanand has in his "Sudama Charit" described its splendid beauty and majesty. Dwaraka is mentioned as Golden City in Shrimad Bhagvad Gita, Skand Purana, Vishnu Purana and also in Harivansha and Mahabharat.

Dwaraka on mainland which was one of the busiest ports of the Mahabharata Period met a sudden end due to the fury of the sea. After the Mahabharata War Krishna lived for 36 years at Dwaraka. At the end, the Vrshnis, Bhojas and Satvatas destroyed themselves in a fratricidal feud at Prabhasa but Krishna did not interfere to save them. The portends of destruction seen by Sri Krishna who advised immediate evacuation of Dwarakaare stated in Bhagavata Purana. Dwaraka abandoned by Hari (Krishna) was swallowed by the sea. The submergence took place immediately after Sri Krishna departed from the world.

Interesting descriptions about its construction are found in Puranas.

"Fearing attack from Jarasangh and Kaalayvan on Mathura, Shri Krishna and Yadavas left Mathura and arrived at the coast of Saurashtra. They decided to build their capital in the coastal region and invoke the Vishwakarma the deity of construction. However, Vishwakarma says that the task can be completed only if Samudradev, the Lord of the sea provided some land. Shri Krishna worshipped Samudradev, who was pleased and gave them land measuring 12 yojans and the Lord vishwakarma build Dwaraka, a "city in gold".

This beautiful city was also known as Dwaramati, Dwarawati and Kushsthali. Another story says that at the time of the death of Shri Krishna, who was hit by the arrow of a hunter near Somnath at Bhalka Tirth, Dwaraka disappeared in the sea.

The information and material secured through underwater excavation off Dwaraka corroborates with the references to the City of Dwaraka, made in the Great Epic Mahabharata and various other Sanskrit literary works. In Mahabharata, there is a specific account about the submerging of Dwaraka, by the sea which reads thus:

Sculpture of Vishnu from onshore excavation, Dwaraka.

(image source: The Lost City of Dvaraka - By S.R. Rao).

* * *

"The sea, which had been beating against the shores, suddenly broke the boundary that was imposed on it by nature. The sea rushed into the city. It coursed through the streets of the beautiful city. The sea covered up everything in the city. Even as they were all looking, Arjuna saw the beautiful buildings becoming submerged one by one. Arjuna took a last look at the mansion of Krishna. It was soon covered by the sea. In a matter of a few moments it was all over. The sea had now become as placid as a lake. There was no trace of the beautiful city which had been the favourite haunt of all the Pandavas. Dwaraka was just a name; just a memory."

The importance of the discovery of Dwaraka lies not merely in providing archaeological evidence needed for corroborating the traditional account of the submergence of Dwaraka but also indirectly fixing the date of the Mahabharata which is a landmark in Indian history. The Thermoluminiscence date of the pottery from Bet Dwaraka which is also connected with the Krishna legend is 3520 years Before Present. Identical pottery is found in the submerged city of Dwaraka. Thus the results have proved that the account in Mahabharata as to the existence of a beautiful capital city of Dwaraka of Sri Krishna was not a mere figment of imagination but it did exist.

* * *

The Dwaraka discovery doesn't find much mention in the Indian media. The mass media and the academic community would generally pass of Mahabharata and Sri Krishna as myth and poetic imagination. The same mass media would hold Cleopatra news as gospel truth. Because it is from Western world. Whether the academics accept or not and whether the Indian media accepts or not, for the common man and woman of this great land, Sri Krishna is no myth. HE continues to inspire millions in their day to day life.

Sunday, June 20, 2010

A riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma

Two articles on the Bhopal tragedy attracted my attention. One is the article titled "Bhopal’s many betrayals" by Salil Tripathi (Mint, June 9, 2010).

Some excerpts from the article -

The betrayal of Bhopalis is older: It began when nobody warned the city’s poor not to live so close to a chemical plant.

The people of Bhopal were betrayed by factory inspectors who were lackadaisical in checking the plant’s maintenance, which permitted a culture where safety was nobody’s priority.

And then, on that night in December 1984, when political parties were busy fighting elections, the gas escaped from the plant, silently killing more than 2,000 people within hours

Those who survived were betrayed again by their own government, which argued their case poorly while pursuing it in the US. .... Judge J.F. Keenan was swayed by the company’s arguments, and he sent the case to India ... saying he was “firmly convinced that the Indian legal system is in a far better position than the American courts to determine the cause of the tragic event and thereby fix liability. Further, the Indian courts have greater access to all the information needed to arrive at the amount of the compensation to be awarded the victims”.

Right—and that compensation turned out to be Rs74,000 per death, and Rs26,500 per case of personal injury. For, back in India, while the government sued for some $3.5 billion in damages, it then settled for $470 million. The Supreme Court approved the deal, quashing all proceedings.

On Monday, Union Carbide was fined: $11,000. Indra Sinha, who has campaigned for Bhopal victims, and whose novel about Bhopal, Animal’s People, was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize in 2007, calculates that at 55 cents per death. Sometimes life is that cheap.

Warren Anderson, former chairman of Union Carbide was arrested when he came to India in December 1984. He was granted bail and he left the country, never to return. Why and how he left the country has remained a mystery.

B.S. Raghavan in his excellent short article titled "A riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma" (Business Line, June 14, 2010) throws some light on how Warren Anderson escaped from India (or escorted out of India, depending upon how one views the incident).

Some excerpts from the article -

Adil Shahriyar, the son of Muhammad Yunus, who was almost a part of the Indira Gandhi family, and a mentor of both Rajiv Gandhi and Sanjay Gandhi, was tried in a US District Court by a jury, and convicted on an indictment of five counts ( including trying to blow up a ship, illegal possession of firearms and carrying them across State borders and drug trafficking) and sentenced in 1982 to 35 years hard labour in prison.

He appealed to the 11th Circuit US Court of Appeals which rejected the appeal on November 21, 1983 saying, “We find that the evidence presented at trial was sufficient to support the verdicts and therefore affirm the district court's (judgment).”

When Rajiv Gandhi became the Prime Minister, it is not far-fetched to believe that he must have come under relentless pressure from Yunus to make the release of Adil from US jail his topmost priority, even if it be by using his position and broaching the matter directly to President Ronald Reagan.

It was just at that time — December 3, 1984 — the Bhopal tragedy shook the world. If Rajiv Gandhi's appeal to Reagan on Yunus' behalf were to succeed, it was imperative to make a gesture that would somehow make President Reagan deal with Rajiv Gandhi's request favourably.

Hey, presto! Warren Anderson is given VIP treatment and allowed to fly out of the country on December 7, 1984 and Adil Shahriyar is granted presidential pardon “as a goodwill gesture” and “for reasons of state” on June 11, 1985.

It certainly was a good bargain to exchange a convict undergoing a 35-year sentence for heinous offences in the US for an American corporate honcho, in order to oblige a long-time family friend.

And so that's how Warren Anderson escapes from India. The Indian media suddenly woke up after the judgement. Nani Palkhivala who was engaged by Union Carbide and who said it was gratuitous and slanderous to call the Indian legal system “deficient or inadequate” and who argued that the Indian system was capable of dealing with such a complex case, is dead. So is Rajiv Gandhi who let Warren Anderson go. Ronald Reagon who gave presidential pardon to Adil Shahriyar “as a goodwill gesture” and “for reasons of state” on June 11, 1985 is also dead. Warren Anderson is too old to stand trial and in any case what purpose would it serve anyway after all these years of apathy.

Thousands died due to the tragedy and several hundred thousands were affected with ailments and died a multiple deaths day after day. Life in India, is cheap, and to quote Indra Sinha it is 55 cents per death.. Other than shedding a few tears of sorrow and praying for the departed souls to rest in peace, we can't unfortunately do anything ...

Wednesday, June 16, 2010

Advertisements by PSUs and private sector companies - Part 2

In an earlier post on June 13, 2010, I had pointed out -

"...Strangely, all these PSUs issued colour advertisements. Two of them had politicians in their advertisements (ONGC & Central Bank). Syndicate Bank, PNB, SBI & REC did not have politician or Chairman on their advertisements.

I came across advertisements by two private sector companies on May 4, 2010 - JSW and HDFC, both of which were in black & white. The advertisements did not contain any politician or promoter photos...."

The very next day i.e., on June 14, 2010, Business Line carried this advt by YES Bank.

Well.. I stand corrected..

Tuesday, June 15, 2010

The World is Flat by Thomas Friedman

I enjoyed viewing this video (1 hour 49 minutes) of Thomas Friedman, New York Times columnist, speaking in September 2005 at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy at the National University of Singapore explaining how the flattening of the world happened.

Sunday, June 13, 2010

Freefall....!

Watched this wonderful talk by Nobel laureate Joseph E. Stiglitz in You Tube (around an hour). Joe Stiglitz presents his book "Freefall" (in Feb 2010). Excerpts from authors@google:

The current global financial crisis carries a made in America label. In this forthright and incisive book, Nobel laureate Joseph E. Stiglitz explains how America exported bad economics, bad policies, and bad behavior to the rest of the world, only to cobble together a haphazard and ineffective response when the markets finally seized up.

Drawing on his academic expertise, his years spent shaping policy in the Clinton administration and at the World Bank, and his more recent role as head of a UN Commission charged with reforming the global financial system, Stiglitz then outlines a way forward building on ideas that he has championed his entire career: restoring the balance between markets and government; addressing the inequalities of the global financial system; and demanding more good ideas (and less ideology) from economists.

Freefall is an instant classic, combining an enthralling whodunit account of the current crisis with a bracing discussion of the broader economic issues at stake. Winner of the 2001 Nobel Prize for Economics, Joseph E. Stiglitz is the author of Making Globalization Work, Globalization and Its Discontents, and The Three Trillion Dollar War with Linda Bilmes. He teaches at Columbia University.