Hindu civilization and Meluhha hieroglyphs

February 4, 2014, 7:23 pm

≫ Next: Not dharna, here’s 5 ways police reform can actually be done -- Shining.path.notperu

≪ Previous: Top bureaucrats take policy decisions, need protection from probe: Centre

$

0

0

I have no theories to offer. I merely say Meluhha (Mleccha) was a vernacular form of Indian sprachbund and glosses of the vernacular are identifiable matching hieroglyphs rebus (the cipher key). Call it writing system or proto-writing or what you will.

I don't want to straightjacket a large volume of evidence, say, 7000 Indus writing artifacts. It will be a leap of faith to call these the work of 'illiterates'.

I submit that attempts made in corpora to distinguish two categories of writing: 1. field symbols; and 2. signs resulted in a blind alley in understanding the meanings sought to be conveyed by the exquisitely crafted artifacts such as miniature seals, tablets, copper tablets, objects in the round, even inscribed metal objects, tools and weapons.

If a name is needed for the Meluhha study, it can be titled an applied google search in Cipher cryptanalysis related to Hindu civilization. It starts with Meluhha as a language and identifies a glossary of the spoken idiom.

I see the messages turning out to be communications among artisans of the bronze age.

Kalyanaraman

Sarasvati Research Center

February 5, 2014

---

Not dharna, here’s 5 ways police reform can actually be done -- Shining.path.notperu

February 5, 2014, 3:03 am

≫ Next: Young vedic pandits go missing from Iowa-based sponsoring organization -- Ela Dutt

≪ Previous: Hindu civilization and Meluhha hieroglyphs

$

0

0

Not dharna, here’s 5 ways police reform can actually be done

by Feb 5, 2014

The events that unfolded in Delhi last month culminating in the dharna, could have provided a great platform for all right-minded citizens, legislators, journalists and opinion-shapers to fix the spotlight firmly on the issue of police reforms. Unfortunately, it turned out to be yet another instance of white noise drowning out signal.

Be that as it may, as Siddarth Chatterejee and I had highlighted a few months ago (How to improve India's Police - A Roadmap), there is a crying need for the state governments to move ahead with Police Reforms and implement the Supreme Court's 7 directives (Prakash Singh & Others vs Union of India & Others, 2006). To reduce this issue to a game of political buzkashi - an emasculated and ill-trained police force being the proverbial goat's carcass - with worthies from all political parties mounted on steeds of self-serving power flying hither and thither, contributes not a whit towards structural reforms.

I recently picked Dr. Jayaprakash Narayan's brain on the subject of police reforms - reproduced below is the full transcript of the interview.

(Dr. Jayaprakash Narayan was a member of the Second Administrative Reforms Commission that was set up in August 2005 and which submitted its report - 5th Report titled ‘Public Order' - to GOI in June 2007)

Shining Path: Over the past 4 decades, there have been a multitude of Committees, Reports and Recommendations with clearly laid out roadmaps supported by detailed descriptions on the kind of design and overhaul that is needed. Also, we have the SC directives on Police reforms [Prakash Singh & Others vs Union of India & Others, 2006], that could have been a starting point towards change. Yet there has been very little action - what do you think are the chief hurdles in implementation?

Police reforms are possibly the hardest of governance reforms to accomplish in the Indian situation. First, there is deep institutional reluctance to make rule of law real, because much of the power of the executive in a centralized, dysfunctional system is derived from the control of police. 

Second, ours is a system of compensatory errors. The distortions of one segment or agency of government are set right or neutralized by perversions in another agency! Therefore, there is always fear of upsetting the applecart. 

And finally, there is no single step which symbolizes police reform. Many inter-related reforms are needed, and an intricate web of linkages and checks and balances should be in place. Our politicians and bureaucracy have lost the capacity for patient, systematic institution building. 

]Should the constabulary be separated from the investigative wing? Reuters

We want a quick fix - a law or a scheme, launched with big flourish. That simply will not work anywhere. Take the Right to Education Act, for instance. Our educational delivery is among the worst in the world. But we claim to have engineered a revolution!

Recent events in Delhi were pregnant with the possibilities of this issue being mainstreamed. Your views?

Not necessarily. The Delhi events are more about political drama and blame throwing. To the extent that they deal with the police administration, it is more a fight for wresting control from the Union to the UT. There is no real effort to restructure the police and make them effective instrument of rule of law.

Coming to the specifics now, from amongst the multitude of recommendations highlighted in various reports on Police reforms, could you enumerate the five that are the most important by way of impact/effectiveness?

First on my list would be separating crime investigation from the other wings of police dealing with law and order. While institutional linkages between them are necessary, crime investigation is about gathering and sifting evidence, and it has to be treated as a quasi-judicial function, and should be led by an autonomous, but accountable body.

Second, there should be checks and balances. An autonomous, rogue police force will be a disaster. Therefore, accountability and monitoring should be ensured by suitable institutional mechanisms.

Third, there should be radical change in personnel policies. In the investigation wing, the recruitment should be only at officer level, starting with ASI; and constabulary should be recruited only for riot police, and for repetitive, monotonous tasks. The overall police-population ratio is about 130 per one lakh population, and we need to enhance it at least by 50% to meet the challenges of growing urbanization. Every district should have a forensic laboratory, and we should rely on teams and tasks, with effective mobility and communication. Women police officers need to be recruited and should at least constitute 33% new recruitment. Neighbourhood watch groups and volunteer corps should be institutionally involved to deal with patrolling, petty crime and citizen safety.

Fourth, prosecution wing should be made independent. Each district should have a District Attorney drawn from judiciary, with a tenure of five years. All investigation and prosecution should be under the guidance and supervision of the DA. This will ensure autonomy, efficiency, protection of human rights and better coordination with the criminal courts.

Fifth, all small crime should be handled at the local police and neighbourhood level. The crime investigation wing, equivalent of CB, CID in most states now, should not be burdened with petty crime. All such petty offences should be tried in local courts - created for at least one per 50,000 population - by summary procedure. There local courts should function as an integral part of independent justice system, but must be able to render speedy justice inexpensively.

These five steps will radically and seamlessly restructure the police, and will yield dramatic outcomes. The challenge of India is to restore the culture of rule of law, and make police and justice accessible, effective and credible. The Administrative Reforms Commission gave a very practical road map.

Police being a state subject [with exceptions], are there any states that have taken the lead - relatively speaking - on implementing the specific reform measures, which the other state governments can benchmark themselves against?

]AAP's dharna wasn't really about police reform. Naresh Sharma/ Firstpost

Not really. A few states like Maharashtra, Kerala etc have made some efforts for some time. But much of the discussion is centred around the appointment of DGP. Most states pay lip sympathy to the Supreme Court directive (click here), but have learned to kill the spirit of it. There is no single silver bullet to change the culture of policing in India. A series of well-coordinated steps are required as outlined above.

Are there any global best practices pertaining to any aspect of Police administration that you would like to highlight?

There are a few important lessons to be learnt from experience elsewhere. In most advanced democracies, interference in crime investigation, and an effort to direct or influence investigation are treated as obstruction of justice, and punished severely. Nixon had to resign as the US President because his aides obstructed justice. 

In the UK, in the Campbell affair, the government took a partisan decision to withdraw prosecution, and it had to resign in 1924. Since then, no government or minister dared to interfere in crime investigation. We need strong legal provisions to deter politicians or bureaucrats from obstructing justice.

Many countries, while giving police autonomy, made sure that there are layers of accountability. New South Wales in Australia has at least two layers of independent, effective monitoring to prevent abuse of authority. Police is the only coercive arm of the State internally, and a rogue police force would be an unmitigated disaster. Autonomy, effective accountability and prevention of abuse of the powers of life and death that police often exercise should go together.

A transformative movement usually needs a widely respected and visible evangelist who changes the discourse on a certain issue and takes it in the direction that serves the cause the best. Do we have any such potential evangelists who can and should make it their single-point agenda to raise public consciousness on this issue across geographies and cross-sections of the population?

Law and order, crime investigation and police are state subjects in our constitutional scheme. Therefore one massive national movement will not help. Not can these reforms happen in one fell swoop. Detailed, intricate arrangements are needed. And we cannot suddenly erase existing structures.

The good news is, urban India is demanding better policing, protection of human rights and speedy justice. Rapid urbanization is sensitizing us to the need for fair, humane and effective policing.

We need a grand bargain. Judiciary, in some form should have greater legitimate say in crime investigation. Legislator should cease to function as disguised executive, and have greater say in legislation and oversight of government. The executive should regain control of policy and delivery, free from needless judicial shackles.

Do you think the Indian mainstream media, vibrant as it is, can play a slightly more constructive role by separating signal from the cackle of white noise on important issues pertaining to systemic reforms?

Mark Twain said: Often a hen that only laid an egg cackles as if she has laid an asteroid. This is particularly true of this day and age, when instant gratification and hyper stimulation of the senses seem to be the norm. But I am certain that viewers and readers are increasingly going to demand from government delivery, and from media a better public discourse.

As incomes rise and the young are exposed to the rest of the world, media will play a far more creative, mature role in reshaping our institutions of governance.

Dr. Jayaprakash Narayan (founding President, Lok Satta Party) is the MLA from Kukatpally, Hyderabad.  He earlier served as a Member, National Advisory Council to Govt. of India and a Member, 2nd Administration Reforms Commission (rank of a Union Minister of State). He also served in the IAS for 17 distinguished years in various capacities including as the Secretary to both the Chief Minister and Governor. He is a physician by training.

 

He can be contacted at: @JP_LOKSATTA [Twitter] or jp@loksattaparty.com [e-mail].

shining.path.notperu@gmail.com; @ShiningPath1

http://www.firstpost.com/blogs/not-dharna-heres-5-ways-police-reform-can-actually-be-done-1375247.html

Young vedic pandits go missing from Iowa-based sponsoring organization -- Ela Dutt

February 5, 2014, 3:37 am

≫ Next: New inscriptions confirm Manickavasagar built temple at Avudaiyarkoil

≪ Previous: Not dharna, here’s 5 ways police reform can actually be done -- Shining.path.notperu

$

0

0

See: http://bharatkalyan97.blogspot.in/2014/01/organised-racket-brokering-operation.html

Further updates:

WASHINGTON, January 28, 2014

Updated: January 28, 2014 23:42 IST

‘No complaints received on missing Vedic pandits’

Narayan Lakshman

Consul General Ausaf Sayeed said none of the pandits had sought any assistance from the Consulate for their repatriation to India.

The Indian Consul General in Chicago has said no complaints or information has been received either from the Iowa-based Maharishi Vedic City, or from any one of the 130 “Vedic pandits” or religious scholars brought here from India for studies and training. The pandits are said to have gone “missing” in the last seven months.

In an email to The Hindu, Consul General Ausaf Sayeed said none of the pandits had sought any assistance from the Consulate for their repatriation to India, and “the Consulate has no information on the current whereabouts of the missing pandits and whether they are working elsewhere.”

Dr. Sayeed further clarified: “The Maharishi University has also not deposited any passport of their missing employees with the Consulate.”

Earlier a Maharishi University official said the missing pandits were “in violation of [the] U.S. immigration law and it is therefore a federal matter, beyond the legal jurisdiction of local officials in Iowa or the Indian Consul General in Chicago,” however adding that “the prior Consul General has visited the Pandit campus in Iowa and expressed great pleasure at the program and facilities.”

Although Dr. Sayeed said the Consulate General was in the process of ascertaining the full facts of the case, what is evident is that unprecedented numbers of R-1 visa holders have been vanishing from the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi institutions since they began coming here for their training since 2006.

The Hindu contacted the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) regarding this matter, but their office in Minneapolis, which is dealing with the case, was closed owing to extreme weather conditions.

An ICE official however noted that missing person reports were generally not filed with the ICE; rather they had to be submitted to local law enforcement authorities and in the case of foreign nationals, with the government concerned.

In an email sent earlier, William Goldstein, Dean of Global Development and General Counsel to the Maharishi University of Management based in Fairfield, Iowa, said the Global Country of World Peace (GCWP), the U.S. organisation sponsoring the pandits’ R-1 visas and their stay in this country, had not received any prior communication from the scholars before they went “AWOL.”

http://www.thehindu.com/news/international/world/no-complaints-received-on-missing-vedic-pandits/article5625701.ece

Young Vedic Pandits Go Missing from Iowa-based Sponsoring Organization

By Ela Dutt

More than 100 “Vedic Pandits” have gone missing over the last few months after coming to the United States from India for their 2-year training at a campus in Iowa. The sponsoring organization says the priests may have been lured by employers who could be exploiting them.

The U.S. immigration authorities have been informed of the disappearances, according to the Global Country of World Peace (GCWP), the organization which has sponsored 2,600 priests over the last 7 years on the R-1 (religious) visa, William Goldstein, general counsel of the GCWP told Desi Talk.

Goldstein, who is also the Dean of Global Development at Maharishi University of Management in Fairfield, Iowa, said he has been closely involved with the Vedic Pandit program since its inception in 2002. He has worked closely with Indian authorities and the U.S. State Department to make it a reality starting 2006. Priests who have trained in India since childhood, and are above the age of 18, are eligible for the all-expenses paid 2-year program that brings them to the campus in Fairfield, Iowa, near the Maharishi Vedic University. However, the average age of the priests who have come to the U.S., is 26.5 years, Goldstein said, contrary to some news reports which described them as ‘teens’.

The GCWP is a non-profit which runs the Vedic Pandit program partly on tax-deductible donations that it seeks on its website. In an October 2012 entry on the site, the GCWP says, “In the last six years we have built with your help a Vedic Pandit campus consisting of a quarter million square feet of housing, dining, meditation halls, Vedic performance halls, recreation buildings, sports fields, lake and parks. We now have enough capacity on the Vedic Pandit campus to comfortably accommodate 1200 Vedic Pandits.” These pandits live in “Maharishi Sthapatya Veda housing” where they are “meditating long hours, eating high quality food prepared by their own Brahman cooks according to Vedic tradition, and spending many hours a day in Vedic recitations and study,” the GCWP says, adding that “All this has been made possible by over 15,000 separate donations,” the organization says.
Goldstein said that over the 6 to 7 years of the program, barely 30 priests had left it.. The recent surge was perplexing and he believed there may be “some kind of organized racket of employers who take these people and put them into sweatshops.”

“This is a relatively new occurrence. We are trying to figure it out,” Sandy Crowe, spokesperson for the Brahmananda Saraswati Foundation and Trust, which conducts the worldwide Vedic Pandit program and oversees the GCWP’s program, told Desi Talk. “It’s a sticky situation. We have to follow the law. We are really trying to find out why it is happening. This program means a lot to us,” Crowe added. “But we can’t detain them. We are not their jailers,” Crowe said, if the priests abscond.

Desi Talk contacted the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) office in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, but did not receive a response by press time. A spokesperson at a regional ICE office told Desi Talk there is very little the agency can do if someone goes missing. “If it is somebody who’se just left, it would not be our problem. It would be our concern if they were caught doing something,” said Shawn Neudauer, public affairs officer at the ICE Minnesota office.
Goldstein related one instance where 4 priests were recently found working in the bathrooms of a local Pakistani restaurant in Chicago. They were put on the first one-way flight back to India at the expense of the GCWP. The priests are not forthcoming when questioned about their motivations or about other priests, he said and insisted it was not premeditated on the part of the priests.
“My sense is this is something that happens after they (priests) come here. They have pressures back in India and with the rupee declining, they may think – if I work for a short while I could earn enough to help family back home,” Goldstein said.
The recent disappearances are not apparently hampering the Vedic Pandit program. “We have 400 pundits currently ready in India to depart for the U.S.,” Goldstein said.

http://newsindiatimes.com/young-vedic-pandits-go-missing-from-iowa-based-sponsoring-organization/

  

New inscriptions confirm Manickavasagar built temple at Avudaiyarkoil

February 5, 2014, 4:21 am

≫ Next: Corruption and CIA $ sucking using anti-corruption agenda. This is called double-dipping, Prashant Bhushan, Manish Sisodia, Arvind Kejriwal. Come clean.

≪ Previous: Young vedic pandits go missing from Iowa-based sponsoring organization -- Ela Dutt

$

0

0

Published: February 3, 2014 00:00 IST | Updated: February 3, 2014 06:11 IST

Inscriptions identify Manickavasagar as architect of temple at Avudaiyarkoil

B. Kolappan

Inscriptions found at Aavudaiyar Koil in Pudukottai district.

Legend has it the Manickavasagar, one of the four Saivite savants, constructed the temple at Avudaiyarkoil, known as Thiruperunthurai, in Pudukottai district.

Now the State Archaeology department has stumbled upon an inscription confirming that Manickavasagar, the Minister of Pandiya King Arimarthana Pandian, built the sanctum sanctorum and the kanagasabha mandapam.

“His contribution has been recorded in the form of a poem. The inscriptions, found in the Panchakshara mandapam of the temple built in the 16th century, also record that Thiruvachagam was inscribed on the walls,” said G. Muthusamy, registering officer of the department in Tiruchi region.

Manickavasagar belonged to the 9th century and was said to have used the money meant for buying horses for the cavalry to construct the temple at Thiruperunthurai, one of the ports of the Pandiya Kingdom. Manickavasagar penned Thiruvachagam and Thirupalliyezhuchi while camping in this temple and referred to it as Thiruperunthurai.

“So far, we have only oral narration about the temple construction. The discovery proved beyond doubt Manickavasagar's role,” said Mr Muthusamy.

Even as the temple construction was in progress, King Arimarthana Pandian waited for days for the arrival of Manickavasagar and the horses. Later, he realised that the money was already spent and commanded Manickavasagar to bring along the horses without further delay.

According to tradition, Lord Siva transformed a pack of foxes into fine breed of horses. In the night, the horses became foxes and let out a deafening howl.

God appeared before the king and explained he was behind the mischievous drama.

The story of ‘nariyai’ (fox) ‘pariyakkuthal’ (horse) is still enacted during temple festivals in Madurai, the capital of Pandiyas.
http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/tp-tamilnadu/inscriptions-identify-manickavasagar-as-architect-of-temple-at-avudaiyarkoil/article5647315.ece

Published: February 3, 2014 01:46 IST | Updated: February 3, 2014 01:46 IST

New inscriptions confirm Manickavasagar built temple

B. Kolappan

FRESH EVIDENCE: Inscriptions found at Aavudaiyar Koil in Pudukottai district.

The Saivite savant of the 9th century used money meant for buying horses to construct the temple

Legend has it the Manickavasagar, one of the four Saivite savants, constructed the temple at Avudaiyarkoil, known as Thiruperunthurai, in Pudukottai district.

Now the State Archaeology department has stumbled upon inscriptions confirming that Manickavasagar, the Minister of Pandiya King Arimarthana Pandian, built the sanctum sanctorum and the kanagasabha mandapam.

“His contribution has been recorded in the form of a poem. The inscriptions, found in the Panchakshara mandapam of the temple built in the 16th century, also record that Thiruvachagam was inscribed on the walls,” said G. Muthusamy, registering officer of the department in Tiruchi region.

Manickavasagar belonged to the 9th century and was said to have used the money meant for buying horses for the cavalry to construct the temple at Thiruperunthurai, one of the ports of the Pandiya Kingdom. Manickavasagar penned Thiruvachagam and Thirupalliyezhuchi while camping in this temple and referred to it as Thiruperunthurai.

“So far, we have only oral narration about the temple construction. The discovery proved beyond doubt Manickavasagar's role,” said Mr Muthusamy.

Even as the temple construction was in progress, King Arimarthana Pandian waited for days for the arrival of Manickavasagar and the horses. Later, he realised that the money was already spent and commanded Manickavasagar to bring along the horses without further delay. According to tradition, Lord Siva transformed a pack of foxes into fine breed of horses. In the night, the horses became foxes and let out a deafening howl.

God appeared before the king and explained he was behind the mischievous drama. The story of ‘nariyai’ (fox) ‘pariyakkuthal’ (horse) is still enacted during temple festivals in Madurai, the capital of Pandiyas.

http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/tamil-nadu/new-inscriptions-confirm-manickavasagar-built-temple/article5646362.ece

Corruption and CIA $ sucking using anti-corruption agenda. This is called double-dipping, Prashant Bhushan, Manish Sisodia, Arvind Kejriwal. Come clean.

February 5, 2014, 4:37 am

≫ Next: NaMo in jana chetana sabha, Kolkata

≪ Previous: New inscriptions confirm Manickavasagar built temple at Avudaiyarkoil

$

0

0

Published: February 5, 2014 13:49 IST | Updated: February 5, 2014 13:49 IST

Delhi HC asks AAP to reply to PIL on foreign funding

PTI

The Delhi High Court on Wednesday sought responses from AAP and its founding members, including Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, on a plea for registration of a criminal case on the ground that the newly formed party allegedly received foreign funding in violation of various laws.

“Let a copy of this writ petition be supplied to Prashant Bhushan who appeared on behalf of Aam Aadmi Party. Let a response be filed four days prior to February 28, the next date of hearing,” a bench headed by Justice Pradeep Nandrajog said.

Mr. Bhushan, who has also been made a party in the petition besides AAP, accepted the notice and strongly opposed the earlier submissions of the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) that the party and its leaders have not responded to the queries on foreign funding.

“A misleading statement was made on behalf of the government counsel on the last date of the hearing that we have not responded to the queries. Each and every query has been responded to in great detail,” he said.

Additional Solicitor General Rajeeve Mehra, appearing for MHA, said, “I did not say that they (AAP) are not providing information. What I had said was that the information regarding the bank details was not provided.”

“You had said that,” the bench said and fixed the matter for further hearing on February 28. The Centre had earlier told the court that AAP leaders, including Mr. Kejriwal, had not provided the information sought by it on the funding received by the party.

Besides Mr. Kejriwal and Mr. Bhushan, petitioner advocate M.L. Sharma has made AAP leaders Manish Sisodia and Shanti Bhushan as parties in his PIL.

The bench earlier asked Mr. Sharma to also implead AAP as one of the respondents in his PIL.

The High Court said the Centre should look “afresh” into the accounts of AAP to find out the source of money received by it after its inception.

The order came after the Centre filed a report in which it said that an evaluation of the accounts of civil society of Team Anna was done in 2012 and a report was filed before another bench of the high court last year in a similar PIL filed by the petitioner.

The Centre earlier submitted before the court that the issue raised by the petitioner in his PIL was already investigated and a report was prepared on them by the government.

Mr. Sharma, in his plea, had cited some names including that of Mr. Kejriwal and sought that “a direction be issued to register a criminal case against the respondents (AAP members) under the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act (FCRA) and to conduct day-to-day trial proceedings under court supervision in the interest of justice”.

http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Delhi/delhi-hc-asks-aap-to-reply-to-pil-on-foreign-funding/article5656393.ece

AAP's Manish Sisodia under cloud for 'misuse' of NGO's foreign funds

Neeraj Chauhan,TNN | Feb 4, 2014, 03.00 AM IST

This time, the party's second-in-command and chief minister Arvind Kejriwal's close aide, Manish Sisodia, is alleged to have diverted foreign funds meant for his NGO, Kabir, for personal use. 

RELATED

• Don't leave, AAP’s Manish Sisodia tells Africans in south Delhi
• Manish Sisodia - from journalist to Arvind Kejriwal's man Friday
• Parents should be able to suspend teachers: Manish Sisodia
• Manish Sisodia on the beat, checks anganwadis at his constituency
• Most government schools have lost credibility: Manish Sisodia

NEW DELHI: Close on the heels of reports about law minister Somnath Bharti's alleged spamming days comes another embarrassment for the Aam Aadmi Party government that only a month ago was riding high on the promise of corruption-free governance.

This time, the party's second-in-command and chief minister Arvind Kejriwal's close aide, Manish Sisodia, is alleged to have diverted foreign funds meant for his NGO, Kabir, for personal use. Kejriwal is a governing body member of this NGO that works in the right to information (RTI) sphere.

The case is old and an inspection by the home ministry's controller of accounts in 2012 concluded: "In several cases, payments are not supported with relevant documents and are routed through Manish Sisodia in cash". The alleged irregularities include payment of rent to Sisodia's wife without receipts, unexplained travel expenses and even a "reimbursement" to Sisodia for servicing his car.

Kabir paid Rs 17.7 lakh to RTI activists throughout the country from 2008 to 2011-2012 but their agreements with it were not shown to the team. It also could not provide the inspection party any documentary evidence for salary and allowances paid to employees.

The NGO had received more than Rs 2 crore in foreign contributions between 2005-06 and 2010-11 and the inspection was done in accordance with the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act, covering the period from 2005-06 to 2011-12. Sisodia, talking to TOI, said they have been cleared by the court in this matter and it has been raked up to politically target him.

Sisodia, the inspection report states, ran the NGO from his residence in Pandav Nagar and his wife Seema was paid Rs 12,000 per month as rent for it but no rent receipt was made available. Kabir's rent agreement with her was not shown to the team. The NGO's cash books from 2006 to 2008 were missing and Sisodia told the team they had been lost while relocating the office.

The report states Sisodia was paid Rs 17,900 on July 11, 2008 for a trip to Dehradun but the bill shows vehicles were hired for a six-day Delhi-Bahraich-Delhi tour. Also, the purpose of the tour, number of travellers and the list of toll paid are not mentioned. "Prima facie, it seems an example of embezzlement," says the report.

Sisodia was paid Rs 6,656 on November 23, 2008 for a Delhi-Lucknow-Delhi tour but his co-travellers, Divya Jyoti and Bibhav Kumar, are not on Kabir's board. He was paid Rs 2,496 on April 23, 2008 for a visit to Chitrakoot but it is not clear whether the tour was official.

Sisodia "reimbursed" Rs 3,900 on August 11, 2008 for servicing his Alto car. "This again is an evidence of embezzlement of foreign grants for personal use," the report says.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/delhi/AAPs-Manish-Sisodia-under-cloud-for-misuse-of-NGOs-foreign-funds/articleshow/29832432.cms

NaMo in jana chetana sabha, Kolkata

February 5, 2014, 5:02 am

≫ Next: New Indian Ocean exercise by Chinese Navy. India should coastguard the Indian Ocean Sea Highway

≪ Previous: Corruption and CIA $ sucking using anti-corruption agenda. This is called double-dipping, Prashant Bhushan, Manish Sisodia, Arvind Kejriwal. Come clean.

$

0

0

Swapan Dasgupta‏@swapan55

The crowd in Kolkata. I estimate between 1.5 to 2 lakhs pic.twitter.com/Jc5OY6MNDp

•  Reply 
•  Retweet 
•  Favorite 
•  More

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1eHyqcDV8d8

Published: February 5, 2014 17:03 IST | Updated: February 5, 2014 18:18 IST

Modi takes on Third Front parties

PTI

• The HinduBJP Prime Ministerial candidate Narendra Modi addresses a party rally at Brigade Parade grounds in Kolkata on Wednesday. Photo: Sushanta Patronobish
• The HinduAn aerial view of the BJP rally at Brigade Parade ground in Kolkata on Wednesday. Party’s Prime Ministerial candidate Narendra Modi told the rally that States ruled by its constituents have remained backward and called upon the people to reject them. Photo: Ashoke Chakrabarty
• PTIBJP Prime Ministerial candidate Narendra Modi on Wednesday said States ruled by constituents of Third Front have remained backward and people should reject them. File photo

“Time has come to bid farewell to this idea of Third Front from Indian politics forever,” the BJP Prime Ministerial candidate told a party rally in Kolkata.

Making his debut in West Bengal in the campaign for the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, Narendra Modi on Wednesday launched a blistering attack on the Left parties and the Third Front, saying they will make India a “third-rate” country.

Trying to strike a chord with the Bengalis, he accused the Congress of denying Pranab Mukherjee the Prime Minister’s chair in 2004 even though he “deserved” it.

Mr. Modi was severe in his criticism of the Left parties and their partners, saying they have destroyed the eastern region of the country by their rule while western India has shown progress because they had never ruled that region.

“These people (Left and its associates) who do politics in the name of secularism practice the politics of vote-bank by misleading Muslims. They destroyed the eastern region. You must banish them from the Indian politics forever,” he said in a speech interspersed with some sentences in Bengali.

The BJP’s Prime Ministerial candidate was critical of West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee in the beginning, asking people if the promised poribartan (change) had come and do they feel whether things have changed. “People are still waiting for it.”

However, later he softened, saying after the Assembly elections you have an elected government under Ms. Banerjee. He said people can experiment by electing BJP candidates in all the 42 Lok Sabha seats. Let the TMC do the job in the State and the BJP at the Centre, he said.

“Bengal has always given direction to the country. You elect BJP candidates from all Lok Sabha seats. TMC government will do its job here. You hold them accountable for the work in the State and me for the work in the country. Let there be competition... West Bengal government alone cannot change the State’s fate. You will need Delhi’s help as well.

“It will be a win-win situation for you with me at the Centre, Mamata Banerjee in the State and Pranabda to supervise us,” he said.

Printable version | Feb 5, 2014 6:27:40 PM | http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/modi-takes-on-third-front-parties/article5656819.ece

In Bengal, Modi exposes third rate Third Front

By Sandhya Jain on

5 Feb 2014

Unveiling another layer of his agenda of development without differentiation, Narendra Modi lampooned political parties that favour a third alternative at the Centre for putting the States ruled by them in the third place; lambasted the sterile politics of secularism; and invoked Bengali pride and self-esteem to put the Congress’s ruling dynasty in the dock.

Addressing a swarming sea of humanity at the Bharatiya Janata Party’s Jana Chetana Sabha at the Brigade Parade Ground in Kolkata on Wednesday, the Gujarat strongman mused that there is a sharp and visible imbalance in the progress and development of western as opposed to eastern India, and a major reason for this dichotomy is that the eastern States have often been ruled by a component of the so-called Third Front (third front wala). “They are making India third rate,” he charged, and exhorted the people to “throw them out of politics”.

NaMo reminds Bengal of its true worth

Elaborating, he said that at election time, these people invariably remember the poor along with the mantra of secularism (garib ki mala japte hain, secularism ke geet gate hain). But these keepers (thekedar) of secularism and their vote-bank politics have only reduced the minorities, the Muslims in particular, to voters; they are not considered as citizens and the benefits of development do not percolate to them. Pointing out that the Communists have ruled West Bengal for 35 years, Narendra Modi said that the Muslim population of Gujarat is less as compared to West Bengal, but still, the Hajj quota for his State is 4800 and the number of applicants are a whopping 37,000. This, he asserted with pride, is a measure of the wealth of the community in Gujarat. In contrast, the West Bengal quota is nearly four-fold, 11,600, and the number of applications (12,000) is virtually equal, which is tangible proof of the lack of development.

Both Assam and West Bengal are States that face a serious problem of Bangladeshi immigrants, who are stealing the employment opportunities of our Indian youth, who have the first claim on our resources. That is why, he emphasised, “my view of secularism is nation first, my dharma is the Indian Constitution; I believe in rashtra bhakti and the Shakti of 125 crore people”. If we keep together, we will grow together, he promised.

Highlights of Jana Chetana Sabha in Kolkata

Exhorting the staggering crowds to give all 42 Parliamentary seats to the BJP in the forthcoming general election, Narendra Modi joked that this would yield a three-fold benefit. Having taken care to focus his ire on the Communist parties and to avoid harsh criticism of the Trinamool Congress and its failure to deliver the expected development to the State, he said that Mamata Banerjee would work for the people in the State; he (Modi) would work for the State in Delhi. “Ask Mamata to explain her performance in Kolkata, ask us in Delhi, and you will have sweets (laddoos) in both hands, he said, adding that the people should not elect any other party, for then “how will we be accountable?” Saying the time had come to wipe out the underdevelopment of the past 60 years, he joked that the triple benefit to Bengal is that “on top of us, Pranabda, is yours only”.

As the crowd roared in appreciation, Narendra Modi played the Bengali card to the hilt, pointing out that when Indira Gandhi was assassinated, Rajiv Gandhi returned from Kolkata and was sworn-in as Prime Minister, though as per convention the honour should have gone to the then senior-most Cabinet Minister, Pranab Mukherjee. Instead, such was the “kootniti” of the Gandhi family that not only was Pranabda denied his due, but he was also kept out of the Cabinet. Exhorting Bengalis “don’t forget this insult”, he recalled that in 2004 again, Pranabda was the senior-most leader who should not been given the post if Sonia Gandhi did not want to be Prime Minister herself, but Manmohan Singh was chosen; such, he said, are the doings (karnamas)  of the Gandhi family.

Congratulating the people of West Bengal for booting out the communist regime, he said that the expected benefits of growth and development were still to be realised, and for this a friendly government at the Centre would be an asset. West Bengal, he said, is a unique State that is blessed by both Goddesses Saraswati and Lakshmi, and yet it lags behind other States. Agriculture is languishing despite the availability of water and rains; and despite proximity to coal mines the scams in New Delhi were denying coal for electricity and thwarting development. Thus, the State that was the first in computers, where the country’s first ambassador car rolled out, has no employment opportunities in either industry or agriculture.

Continuing his theme of development of the bottom-most in society, Narendra Modi lamented the culture of respecting the rich and the blue collar workers and having little regard for those who earned their living from the sweat of their brow. The communists, he pointed out, had exploited the vote of the working class for decades without improving their lot; it is now time to consider labour as an asset and an investment and respect workers, “our economic outlook must change” he stressed.

---

Narendra Modi addressing Jana Chetana Sabha at Kolkata, West Bengal

---

Regretting that village schools are in the doldrums in a State that is renowned for its love of learning and still hosts some of the most famous schools in India, Narendra Modi said that schools must have electricity so that the youth can be given computer education; and lamented that to this day all schools do not have proper sanitation facilities for the girl child.

Quoting from Rabindranath Tagore, Narendra Modi said that his idea of India was Gurudev’s declamation that ‘true fearlessness can be attained only when one is reassured of security and peace, which means physical safety, rights, and economic well-being.” Tragically, what Bengal has seen instead is the flight of capital and a languishing economy. Recalling Bengal’s great sons like Bankim Chandra Chatterjee, Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, Syama Prasad Mookerji, Rabindranath Tagore, Swami Vivekananda, Narendra Modi reminisced that Gurudev’s brother had spent a lot of time in Gujarat and that Netaji had showcased his strength at the Haripura session of the Congress in Gujarat.

Moreover, it was Dr. Syama Prasad Mookerji who had the vision to realise that the nation would not flourish under the Congress, and hence he launched an alternative political party. Swami Vivekananda wanted India to reclaim her status as teacher to the world (Vishwa Guru) but this is only possible when Bengal takes her place as Rashtra Guru. The time has come, he said, to set aside the 60 wasted years and realise the basic issues of development such as village roads, electricity, education, and employment. He urged the people to shun the negativities of the past, the corruption, the goonda raj, the hartals and vote for their common aspirations.

BJP president Rajnath Singh said Bengal is the land of innumerable revolutionaries and heroes, the land that gave India her national anthem and national song, and the right to travel to Jammu and Kashmir without a permit. But three decades of communist rule had sapped the vitals of the State in all spheres of life, turning the City of Joy into a land of rape and rapine, debt, despair and lack of growth.  He promised that if voted to power the BJP would honour Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s request to the Centre for a three-year moratorium on the servicing of the State’s debt, which currently stood at Rs 28,000 crore per annum, which burden the State could not shoulder in an environment of low growth and low investment. He said BJP should defeat the divisive forces at work in the State and would return the land of the Nandigram farmers.

Other speakers included former Jharkhand Chief Minister Arjun Munda, state unit chief Rahul Sinha; former state unit presidents Tapan Sikdar and Tathagata Roy, spokespersons Shahnawaz Hussain and Siddharth Nath Singh; and singer Bappi Lahiri who sang a line – BJP we love you – to the delight of the crowd. Others on the dais included party general secretary Varun Gandhi; magician PC Sorcar junior; Ashim Ghosh, Sukumar Banerjee; Satyavrat Mukherjee and a number of senior retired IAS and IPS officers.

http://www.niticentral.com/2014/02/05/in-bengal-modi-exposes-third-rate-third-front-187151.html

New Indian Ocean exercise by Chinese Navy. India should coastguard the Indian Ocean Sea Highway

February 5, 2014, 9:01 am

≫ Next: Meluhha hieroglyphs. 4,000 year-old seal and weight unearthed in Rajasthan -- VN Prabhakar, ASI

≪ Previous: NaMo in jana chetana sabha, Kolkata

$

0

0

India should take the initiative to constitute Indian Ocean Community, a United States of Indian Ocean to promote development and peace.

Kalyanaraman

The four straits of Hormuz, Malacca, Sonda and Lombok are indicated above by yellow rings, gateways to the Indian Ocean from the East.

Published: February 5, 2014 21:48 IST | Updated: February 5, 2014 21:50 IST

New Indian Ocean exercise shows reach of China's Navy

Ananth Krishnan

This also marked the first deployment of the Changbaishan, China's largest landing ship which is equipped with advanced weapons systems, in a drill of this kind.

The Chinese Navy has conducted rare exercises in the Lombok Strait in the Indian Ocean near Indonesia, with the drills seen by analysts as underlining China's expanding capabilities in carrying out operations in waters far beyond its borders.

A three-ship flotilla of the South Sea fleet, which included the large amphibious aircraft Changbaishan and two destroyers, conducted 10 exercises, including anti-piracy, search and rescue, and damage control drills, over a five-day exercise starting January 29, based out of the Lombok Strait, a narrow strip of water that runs from the Java Sea, near Indonesia, and is north of Australia.

On Monday, the ships left the Indian Ocean for drills in the West Pacific Ocean, the official Xinhua news agency reported. The Lombok drills also included simulations for warfare to test the response of command systems and soldiers'“combat skills”. The drills aren't China's first in the Indian Ocean: the People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) has carried out 16 drills, but mostly in the western Indian Ocean near the Gulf of Aden. As with the Gulf of Aden exercises, the drills focused on anti-piracy and search and rescue measures.

However, last week's drills were seen by analysts as being significant by breaking new ground in several ways. This was the first drill of this nature in the Lombok Strait, and also marked the first time the PLAN had, in its drills, charted a new route from the South China Sea to the Indian Ocean. In earlier drills, ships sailed up the much-traversed Malacca Straits, a significant waterway for global trade that opens out near the Andaman Sea, and is a crucial link between the Indian Ocean and East Asia. This also marked the first deployment of the Changbaishan, China's largest landing ship which is equipped with advanced weapons systems, in a drill of this kind.

Srikanth Kondapalli, an expert on the Chinese military at Jawaharlal Nehru University, said the drill may have been a signal from China about the dispute over the South China Sea, whose waters and islands are contested by a number of countries. “The drill took place in Lombok, which is beyond the nine-dotted line [that reflects China's claims]. This is something new,” he said, and suggested that the PLAN may be demonstrating its capabilities to access the disputed region from another direction “from behind”.

A second signal was tied to the Malacca Straits, which are a key route for China's energy imports. The dependence on the narrow strait led former leader Hu Jintao to warn of China's “Malacca dilemma”, triggering fresh initiatives by Beijing to establish alternate routes for imports, such as through ports in Myanmar and on-going projects in Bangladesh and Pakistan. “A third message,” Professor Kondapalli added, “is that they can come closer to the Andaman & Nicobar joint command through Lombok, and not just through Malacca”.

He said the drill could be seen as “a preliminary attempt” by the PLAN to see how they can fare in operations far away from China's borders in the Indian Ocean, where they lack bases for logistics and support. China has recently pushed commercial ties with several littoral states, and is also involved in port projects in a number of countries neighbouring India.

Last year, a Chinese think-tank released a first “blue book” or policy advisory on the Indian Ocean, stressing that Beijing should be driven by commercial, rather than military, objectives, considering the importance of the Indian Ocean Region to its energy security. At the same time, it called for “a clear development strategy in the Indian Ocean Region” which would “not only [be] a sign of China's self-confidence [but] also a clear demonstration of China's strategic interests.”

http://www.thehindu.com/news/international/new-indian-ocean-exercise-shows-reach-of-chinas-navy/article5657362.ece

Meluhha hieroglyphs. 4,000 year-old seal and weight unearthed in Rajasthan -- VN Prabhakar, ASI

February 5, 2014, 5:33 pm

≫ Next: Bitter Maidan Mishti for Didi -- Devadeep Purohit reads into NaMo's speech

≪ Previous: New Indian Ocean exercise by Chinese Navy. India should coastguard the Indian Ocean Sea Highway

$

0

0

4,000-Year-Old Seal & Weight Unearthed in India

Wednesday, February 05, 2014

(Courtesy The Archaeological Survey of India)

RAJASTHAN, INDIA—A seal and a weight were unearthed at a Harappan-period site in northwestern India. “The seal consists of two Harappan characters, with a typical unicorn as the motif and a pipal leaf depicted in front of an animal. There is a knob behind the seal,” Archaeological Survey of India archaeologist VN Prabhakar told the Hindustan Times. Prabhakar added that the presence of the seal and the weight, which date to the peak of the Harappan civilization (2600 B.C. to 1900 B.C.), indicate that commercial transactions were taking place at the site.

http://www.archaeology.org/news/1791-140205-india-harappan-seal

Harappan-era seal found in Rajasthan

Vanita Srivastava , Hindustan Times
New Delhi, February 01, 2014

The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) last week unearthed a Harappan seal from Karanpura in the Hanumangarh district of Rajasthan. “The seal consists of two Harappan characters, with a typical unicorn as the motif and a pipal leaf depicted in front of an animal. There is a knob behind the seal,” says VN Prabhakar, superintending archaeologist, who led the ASI team.Maintaining that the discovery ‘confirms’ that the site belongs to the mature Harappan period,  the time when the civilization was at its peak (2600 BC to 1900 BC), he said: “A cubicle chert weight was also unearthed in a different house complex. Both the seal and the weight establishes that the people of this area participated in commercial  transactions.”

We are collecting charcoal sample to date  the habitation through radio carbon dating, he said.   The excavation at Karanpura, which started in 2012, had earlier brought to light two broad cultural levels, namely the early and the mature Harappan age. 

Besides artefacts, house complexes built of mud bricks of early Harappan and mature Harappan periods were also unearthed.

http://www.hindustantimes.com/StoryPage/Print/1178990.aspx

Using Meluhha rebus cipher to read the inscription on Rajasthan seal

While awaiting more details of provenience and other finds in the site, the writing on the seal can be read rebus in Meluhha (Mleccha) vernacular. [Many rebus readings and the cipher framework are detailed in from Meluhha -- a visible language (2013).]

Background notes for reference to be reviewed after dull details of the provenience are released by ASI on the remarkable finds of the seal and what is referred to as a 'weight':

The one-horned young bull which appears on the Rajasthan seal. Based on a frequency distribution of occurrence of hieroglyphs on seals, one would expect to find a 'standard device' in front of the young bull. (The 'standard device' read rebus as sangaḍa is a depiction of ligatured parts showing 1. a gimlet with hatched lines indicating turning motion and 2. a portable furnace with a standard or staff). Rebus: sangaḍa‘lathe’ (Gujarati) 

Rebus readings of one-horned young bull with a characteristic pannier:  kondh ‘young bull’. खोंड [ khōṇḍa] m A young bull, a bullcalf. (Marathi) ‘Pannier’  glyph: खोंडी [ khōṇḍī] f An outspread shovelform sack (as formed temporarily out of a कांबळा, to hold or fend off grain, chaff &c.) Rebus: kõdā‘to turn in a lathe’ (Bengali) kũdār ‘turner, brass-worker’. कोंद kōnda‘engraver, lapidary setting or infixing gems’ (Marathi) 

On the Rajasthan seal, the hieroglyph of 'ficus leaf' takes the place of the expected 'standard device' (an example shown below).
 
Hieroglyph: loa = a species of fig tree, ficus glomerata, the fruit of ficus glomerata (Santali) Rebus: lo‘iron’ (Assamese, Bengali); loa ‘iron’ (Gypsy). rebus: loh‘metal’ (Sanskrit) Rebus: lo‘copper’. Alternative reading: kamaḍha = ficus religiosa (Skt.); kamaṛkom‘ficus’ (Santali) rebus: kamaṭa = portable furnace for melting precious metals (Telugu); kampaṭṭam = mint (Tamil) 

The deployment of 'ficus leaf' hieroglyph is vivid on a seal from Mohenjo-daro m0296 which shows 9 leaves.

The count of nine 'ficus' hieroglyphs can be seen as a phonetic determinant reinforcing the reading of the leaf as 'loa' in Meluhha of Indian sprachbund. Rebus readings for the count of nine: lo, no‘nine’ (Bengali); loa‘ficus religiosa’ (Santali)

There are at least two hieroglyphs which are comparable to the 10 hieroglyphs of Dholavira Signboard. 

Hieroglyph: arā‘spokes’ Rebus: arā‘brass’. ] Hieroglyph: era, er-a = eraka = ?nave; erakōlu = the iron axle of a carriage (Kannada.Malayalam); cf. irasu (Kannada) Rebus: eraka, era, er-a = syn. erka, copper, weapons. Rebus: er-r-a = red; eraka = copper (Kannada) erka = ekke (Tbh. of arka) aka (Tbh. of arka) copper (metal); crystal (Kannada) eraka, er-aka = any metal infusion (Ka.Tu.); erako molten cast (Tulu) agasāle, agasāli, agasālavāḍu = a goldsmith (Telugu) cf. eruvai = copper (Tamil)

 The following is a segment of the 3-hieroglyphs is the left-most set depicted on the Dholavira signboard.

The 'harrow' hieroglyph of the Rajasthan seal is comparable with one of the two seals found at Altyn-depe (Excavation 9 and 7)  found in the shrine and in the 'elite quarter’.( Masson, VM, Seals of a Proto-Indian Type from Altyn-depe, pp. 149-162; V.M. Masson, Urban Centers of Early Class Society, pp. 135-148; I.N. Khlopin, The Early bronze age cemetery in Parkhai II: The first two seasons of excavations, 1977-78, pp. 3-34 in:  Philip L. Kohl (ed.), 1981, The Bronze Age Civilization in Central Asia, Armonk, NY, ME Sharpe, Inc.) Hieroglyph: aḍar‘harrow’ Rebus: aduru = gaṇiyindategadu karagade iruva aduru = ore taken from the mine and not subjected to melting in a furnace (Kannada. Siddhānti Subrahmaṇya’ Śastri’s new interpretation of the AmarakoŚa, Bangalore, Vicaradarpana Press, 1872, p.330); adar = fine sand (Tamil); ayir – iron dust, any ore (Malayalam) Kurku. adarthe waste of pounded rice, broken grains, etc. Maltese. adru broken grain (DEDR 134).

Alternative: H. dãtāwlī f. ʻ rake, harrow ʼ. (CDIAL 6162). Ku. danīṛo m. ʻ harrow ʼ; N. dãde ʻ toothed ʼ sb. ʻ harrow ʼ; A. dãtīyā ʻ having new teeth in place of the first ʼ, dãtinī ʻ woman with projecting teeth ʼ; Or. dāntiā ʻ toothed ʼ; H. dãtī f. ʻ harrow ʼ; G. dã̄tiyɔ m. ʻ semicircular comb ʼ, dãtiyɔ m. ʻ harrow ʼ. (CDIAL 6163). G. dã̄tɔ m. ʻ a kind of rake or harrow ʼ (CDIAL 6153). Pk. daṁtāla -- m., °lī -- f. ʻ grass -- cutting instrument ʼ; S. ḍ̠andārī f. ʻ rake ʼ, L. (Ju.) ḍ̠ãdāl m., °lī f.; Ku. danyālo m. ʻharrowʼ danyāw   (y from danīṛo < dantín  -- ); N.dãtār ʻ tusked ʼ (← a Bi. form); A. dãtāl adj. ʻ tusked ʼ, sb. ʻ spade ʼ; B. dãtāl ʻ toothed ʼ; G. dãtāḷ n., °ḷī f. ʻ harrow ʼ; M. dã̄tāḷ ʻ having projecting teeth ʼ, dã̄tāḷ, °ḷē, dãtāḷ n. ʻ harrow, rake ʼ.Garh. dãdāḷu ʻ forked implement ʼ, Brj. dãtāl, dãtāro ʻ toothed ʼ, m. ʻ elephant ʼ. (CDIAL 6160). On a Mohenjo-daro seal, ayo 'fish' read rebus ayas 'metal'; Allograph: ḍangar'bull' Rebus ḍhangar 'blacksmith' (Hindi) ṭhākur ʻblacksmithʼ (Maithili)

With this background and comparable readings of the Meluhha hieroglyph corpora, the Rajasthan seal hieroglyphs can be read as a Meluhha message using more than one 'meaning' to a particular gloss (in the context of the bronze age competence which is independently corroborated by the metallurgical studies of the type done by Paul Yule).

Hieroglyph 1: 'young bull + pannier + horn'

kondh, 'young bull'khōṇḍī'pannier sack' Rebus: kōnda'engraver, lapidary'

koḍa ‘one’ (Santali) kōṭu (in cpds. kōṭṭu-) horn (Tamil); kōḍ (pl. kōḍul) horn (Pargi) 

 (DEDR 2200); goṭa‘numerative particle’ (Mth.Hindi)(CDIAL 4271)  koṭu curved, bent, crooked (DEDR Rebus: P. khoṭ m. ʻbase, alloyʼ   M.khoṭā   ʻalloyedʼ (CDIAL 3931) koḍ‘artisan’s workshop’ (Kuwi) koḍ  = place where artisans work (Gujarati) Sad. koṭhi) 'the smelting furnace of the blacksmith'. koṭe ‘forged (metal) (Santali) koṭe meṛed = forged iron (Munda) खोट [ khōṭa ] f A mass of metal (unwrought or of old metal melted down); an ingot or wedge. (Marathi) ācāri koṭṭya = forge, kammārasāle (Tulu) Kuwi (Isr.)  koṭoli mallet. koṭṭu-k-kaṉṉār , n. < கொட்டு² +. Braziers who work by beating plates into shape and not by casting

Hieroglyph 2: 'ficus' leaf

Alternative reading 1: kamaḍha = ficus religiosa (Skt.) Rebus: kamaṭa = portable furnace for melting precious metals (Telugu); kampaṭṭam = mint 

Alternative reading 2: loa = a species of fig tree, ficus glomerata, the fruit of ficus glomerata (Santali) Rebus: loh ‘metal, copper’ (Sanskrit)

Hieroglyph 3: 'harrow'

Alternative reading 1: danīṛo 'harrow' Rebus: ḍhangar 'blacksmith' 
Alternative reading 2: aḍar ‘harrow’ Rebus: aduru 'native metal ore' 

Hieroglyph 4: 'spokes, nave of wheel'

Alternative reading 1: arā ‘spokes’ Rebus: arā ‘brass’. 

Alternative reading 2: eraka = ?nave of wheel Rebus: eraka'molten cast copper'

Read together, the message refers to a metalsmith, metals turner lapidary, working with native metal ore, and competence in molten cast copper and brass alloy.  It also indicates that the artisan has a workshop and a mint.

Artefacts link Karanpura with Harappan civilization

TNN Aug 7, 2013, 01.15AM IST

JAIPUR: Artefacts unearthed form Karanpura of Hanumangarh district in Rajasthan has established that trade links of the region extended up to Afghanistan during the Harappancivilization. The discovery of rhino bones, which is very rare in this part, has been excavated from Karanpura by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI).

Remains that were found by a team of ASI suggested that despite being a small city during that period, it was among a major hub of trade. "The site was not exactly located at any major river and was on the tributary of Ghaggar River. They were not even big in sizes as compared to Kalibunga (now in Ganganagar district) or Rakhigarhi (Haryana). Even then, they were participating in a long-distance trade and had wide economic activities going on with the restof Harappan settlement," said V N Prabhakar, the superintending archaeologist.

ASI, however, is still searching for what could be goods and items that were being traded from the region.

Another unique thing which came out from the area is four complete bones of rhino. This discovery has been very rare in the whole study of Indus Valley Civilization so far.

"It is a very unique thing what we found here. Presence of rihno bones suggests that this region was probably suitable for habitation of this animal which otherwise are found mostly in marshy areas. It has been a very rare discovery of that period as we found such such signs only at few places," Prabhakar said.

Unearthing of copper mirror also made the site very interesting for the archaeologists. Shinny surface of copper and bronze were used as mirrors during early times but remained a rare antiquity in Harappan culture. Apart from it, a lot of potteries with graffiti-like etched jars, pots, bowls, dishes, cups and miniature vessels were discovered during the excavation. The painted motifs include the typical mature Harappan varieties of intersecting circles and peepal leaf.

Archaeologists are also indicating presence of preceding culture in the region which later came in contact with Harappas. Presence of pottery of the previous period, though in very less quantity strengthen this belief.

"The presence of a structural phase pre-dating early Harappans cannot be ruled out here as observed from the remains of mud-brick walls of sizes not fitting to any ratio. This indicates complexes built of both early and mature Harappan periods," Prabhakar claimed.

The archaeological remains at Karanpura were first discovered in 2010 and the excavation branch started work in December 2012. The work continued till May 2013 and may resume soon next year.

http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2013-08-07/jaipur/41166984_1_harappan-karanpura-prabhakar

Harappan era artefacts found in Hanumangarh

Published on:06 Aug, 2013

Artefacts dating to the Harappan era have been excavated in Karanpura of Hanumangarh district in Rajasthan, the first time remains of the Indus Valley Civilisation have been found in this part.

“The excavation has brought to light house complexes built of mud bricks of both Early (3300-2600 Before Common Era) and Mature (2600-1900 BCE) Harappan periods. Even though scattered remains and fragments of baked bricks are available, it was not found in any building,” said Archaeological Survey of India superintending archaeologist V.S. Prabhakar in a lecture at the India International Centre here Monday.

“The presence of bichrome ware consisting of red ware, decorated with black and white-coloured painted motifs, is also noticed from the Early Harappan period, a few of which continues during the Mature Harappan period,” he added.

“Presence of rhinoceros bones point to the marshy environment the Harappans were accustomed to,” said Prabhakar.

Harappan pottery along with terracotta bangles, grinding stone fragments, beads of agate and an animal terracotta figurine were excavated.

Numerous copper artefacts reveal trade ties people here had with other civilisations.

Apart from motifs like circles, pipal leaves on various items, graffiti on pottery and artefacts like the spindle whorls are distinguished features.

The Indus Valley civilisation is one of the earliest urban civilisations and also known as the Harappan civilisation.

Karanpura is located on the right bank of Drishadvati river, now Chautang, in the upper reaches and is located between Siswal, Haryana (upstream) and Sothi, Rajasthan (downstream). The river is dried up now.

The archaeological remains at Karanpura were first discovered in 2010 and the excavation branch started work in December 2012. The work will end soon.

http://www.business-standard.com/article/news-ians/asi-unearths-a-slice-of-harappa-in-north-rajasthan-113080601028_1.html

New Findings of Harappan Civilisation

---

Rann was covered by sea in Harappan times

A report published in December 2013 claimed that the barren Rann of Kutch was navigable during the Harappan times. The scientists and marine archaeologists from National Institute of Oceanography (NIO) in Goa have concluded that the sea covered the area where the Rann exists today.
In their recent research there is evidence of change in morphological conditions in the lower Sind area, which was responsible for the westward shift of River Indus.This evidence shows that the gulf extended beyond the Rann and must have been navigable even during the early centuries of the Christian era. What's more, the Little Rann of Kutch was navigable even as late as 16th century AD.
"Thus, the environmental as well as morphological conditions must have been different than those existing at present. There are several evidence of change in morphological conditions in lower Sind area, which was responsible for the westward shifting of the River Indus," claims further.

Harappan Artefacts found in Karanpura in Rajasthan

Artefacts dating to the Harappan era were excavated in Karanpura of Hanumangarh district in Rajasthan, the first time remains of the Indus Valley Civilisation have been found in northern part of Rajasthan, reported in August 2013.
The excavation was brought to light house complexes built of mud bricks of both Early (3300—2600 Before Common Era) and Mature (2600—1900 BCE) Harappan periods. Even though scattered remains and fragments of baked bricks are available, it was not found in any building.
The presence of bichrome ware consisting of red ware, decorated with black and white—coloured painted motifs, is also noticed from the Early Harappan period, a few of which continues during the Mature Harappan period. Presence of rhinoceros bones point to the marshy environment the Harappans were accustomed to.
Harappan pottery along with terracotta bangles, grinding stone fragments, beads of agate and an animal terracotta figurine were excavated.
Numerous copper artefacts reveal trade ties people here had with other civilisations. Apart from motifs like circles, pipal leaves on various items, graffiti on pottery and artefacts like the spindle whorls are distinguished features.
Karanpura is located on the right bank of Drishadvati river, now Chautang, in the upper reaches and is located between Siswal, Haryana (upstream) and Sothi, Rajasthan (downstream). The river is dried up now. The archaeological remains at Karanpura were first discovered in 2010 and the excavation branch started work in December 2012.

Khirsara a major industrial hub of Harappan era

January 2, 2011 was a golden day in the second season of excavation at Khirsara village, 85 km from Bhuj town, Gujarat. Nearly 30 trenches had been dug that season, each 10 metres by 10 metres. One of them yielded two miniature pots. “They were gold beads,” announced the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI). One of the pots contained 26 disc-shaped beads, micro beads and a ring, all made in gold, and steatite beads.
“Gold beads are not found in big quantities in the Harappan sites. Some disc-shaped gold beads had been found at Lothal, another famous Harappan site in Gujarat,” said the ASI on April 19, 2013.
The excavations with 120 trenches dug at Khirsara from December 2009 have established Khirsara as “a major industrial hub” that belonged to the mature Harappan period. It overlooks the Khari river and flourished for 400 years from circa 2600 to 2200 BCE.
Carbon dating at the Birbal Sahni Institute of Paleobotany, Lucknow, for the botanical remains collected from Khirsara’s trenches falls in the range of 2565 to 2235 BCE.
Khirsara has everything to be called a mature Harappan site: systematic town planning, a citadel complex where the ruling elite lived, a factory complex, habitation annexes, a warehouse, drainage system, and massive fortification walls. All the structures were built of sandstone blocks set in mud mortar. Excavations have yielded 11 bar, circular and square seals, standardised bricks in the ratio of 1:2:4 and a staggering variety of pottery including reserve slip ware. While the bar seals have only the Harappan script, others have carvings of unicorn and hump-less bulls with the Harappan signs.
The seals, especially the circular seals, are the main characteristic by which Khirsara can be categorised as a mature Harappan site. Pottery and structures such as the citadel, the factory and the warehouse are the hallmarks by which this site could be said to belong to mature Harappan phase.
More than 4,200 years ago, Khirsara was an important trading outpost in western Kutch in Gujarat on the way to Sind in present-day Pakistan. Its “factory” manufactured enormous quantities of beads from cornelian, agate, jasper, lapis lazuli, steatite and chalcedony; bangles and inlays from conch shells; copper artefacts such as bangles, rings, beads, knives, needles, fish-hooks, arrowheads and weights; and terracotta rattles, toy-carts and gamesmen. One trench alone threw up 25,000 exquisite beads made of steatite.
Khirsara’s factory have yielded a bonanza of Harappan ceramics — painted pottery, the reserve slip ware used by the elite in society, sturdy storage jars, globular pots, perforated jars, basins, dishes, bowls, beakers, dish-on-stand and incense burners. The painted pottery with occasional animal motifs, have geometric designs of broad bands, crosses, spirals, loops, arches and zigzags. The profusion of miniature pots that the site has revealed is puzzling.
Archaeologists have found furnaces and a tandoor. There is evidence of copper-working and ash. They have found huge quantities of steatite beads and some seals made of steatite. From all this, we have identified it as a factory site.”
An extraordinary feature about Khirsara’s Harappan settlement is that it not only had an outer fortification wall around it but every complex inside had its own fortification wall, be it the citadel, the warehouse, and the factory with its habitation annexe. The fortification walls for the warehouse and the factory had guard rooms and salients for mounting watch.
Even the potters’ kiln, which lay outside the outer fortification walls, had its own fortification wall. The outer fortification wall, 310 metres by 230 metres and more than 4,400 years old, still stands in several places.
This is the first time in the Harappan context that they have found separation fortification walls for each complex on the site, and their purpose is to ensure the safety of its residents and the goods manufactured.
A massive warehouse, measuring 28 metres by 12 metres, excavated had 14 parallel walls, with an average length of 10.8 metres and 1.55 metres breadth. Its superstructure was made of wood and daub. The space between the parallel walls enabled circulation of fresh air to protect the stored goods. It must have been multipurpose warehouse for storing goods for export or those that have been imported. Its proximity with river Khari is to support the maritime trading activities of the Khirsarans. A warehouse is a rare type of structure found in a few Harappan sites. It indicates a state of surplus economy.
The houses in the citadel, where the elite lived, had verandas, interconnected rooms, floors paved with multicoloured bricks and a rock-cut well. A five-metre paved lane separated the citadel from the factory. The citadel was deliberately built adjacent to the warehouse so that the rulers could keep a watch on the manufacturing and trading activities.

Climate change killed Harappan civilization

 A research conducted between 2003 and 2008 by American researchers reported in May 2012 that climate change may be the main culprit behind the collapse of the Indus Valley Civilization around 4,000 years ago, says a new study, which also claims to have resolved the long-standing debate over the source and fate of the Saraswati, a sacred river in Hindu mythology.
The study, combining the latest archaeological data along with state-of-the-art geoscience technology, suggested that decline in monsoon rains led to weakened river dynamics, and played a critical role both in the development and the fall of the Harappan culture, which relied on river floods to fuel their agricultural surpluses.
The international team, which published their findings in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, used satellite photos and topographic data to make and analyse digital maps of landforms constructed by the Indus and other neighbouring rivers, which were then probed in the field by drilling, coring, and even manuallydug trenches. Collected samples were used to determine the sediments' origins, whether brought in by rivers or wind, and their age, in order to develop a chronology of landscape changes.
"Reconstructed the dynamic landscape of the plain where the Indus civilization developed 5,200 years ago, built its cities, and disintegrated between 3,900 and 3,000 years ago," said a geologist with Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in the US. "The study suggests that the decline in monsoon rains led to weakened river dynamics , and played a key role both in development and the fall of Harappan culture."
The research also claimed that the mythical Saraswati river was actually not fed by glaciers in the Hymalayas as believed. Rather, it was a perennial monsoon-supported watercourse and aridification reduced it to short seasonal flows, the researchers said. 

http://iasmaker.com/contents/display/harappan-civilisation-2013/

Remains of Harappan Cultures

May 7, 2013 Ministry of Culture The Minister of Culture Smt. Chandresh Kumari Katoch has said that Archaeological Survey of India is at present carrying out excavation of Harappan site at Khirsara, District Kachchh, Gujarat and Karanpura district Hanumangarh, Rajasthan. In a written reply in the Lok Sabha today she said, the three season’s excavations at Khirsara, District Kachchh, Gujarat, have yielded mature Harrapan period structures made of coarse stones consisting of house hold rooms, kitchen, bath-room, steps and fortification. The antiquarian finds include beads, stone weights, terracotta animal figurines, toys, ornaments, household’s objects etc. Beads made of gold, copper, semi-precious stones like carnelian, agate, chert, chalcedony, jasper, lapis lazuli, faience, steatite, shell and terracotta have been found. Square, rectangular and bar type seals, made of steatite, soap stone and chert have been discovered. Weights made of agate, quartz, basalt, chert, and sand stone were excavated. The terracotta objects consists of rattles, gamesmen, sling balls, hopscotches, objects of amusement, figurines representing bulls and birds. Besides this, toy cart frames of both varieties, painted and plain, have been recovered in good numbers. Objects of copper, stone tools, saddles and querns, pounders are also recovered. Smt. Katoch said, the excavation at Karanpura, District Hanumangarh, Rajasthan, has produced early and mature Harappan pottery and house complexes built of mud bricks of both the early and mature Harappan period. The other important artefacts consist of copper arrow heads, mirror, bangle, rings and fish hooks. Beads made of steatite and semi-precious stone of agate, faience, carnelian and terracotta and spindle whorls were also found excavated. Besides a large quantity of animal bone fragments and a few varieties of grains were also unearthed.  http://pib.nic.in/newsite/erelease.aspx?relid=95708 Rare Indus seal discovered in Cholistan Wednesday 8 February 2012 Source: Dawn. The archaeologists team leader said the excavation revealed a circular platform at Sui-Vihar built with sun-dried bricks and a number of supporting walls to hold the platform and the cylindrical structure. The Punjab University (PU) archaeology department has discovered a rare Indus Valley seal in steatite material with carved figure of Ibex with two pictographs from Wattoowala, Cholistan (چولستان), during a survey of different sites near Derawar Fort along the ancient bed of River Hakra. The seal dates back to 2500-2000 BC. The seal has been discovered by a six-member team of archaeologists headed by PU archaeology department chairman Dr Farzand Masih (فرزند مسیح !), who has just concluded a Unesco-funded US $26,000 project Sui-Vihar Excavations and Archaeological Reconnaissance of southern Punjab. Dr Masih told Dawn that the discovery would open new dimensions for scholars. The seal has a perforated boss in the back with variant style from Harappan seals showing the regional influence and perhaps a separate identity in the Harappan domain. The seal is almost square in shape and slightly broken from the right side but figure of Ibex is almost intact. The muscles, genitalia, hooves and tail of the Ibex were engraved artistically with high proportion of skill and craftsmanship. Under the project, Dr Masih said the PU team had also taken up the gigantic task of exploring the sites along the Hakra River in spite of the inhospitable climatic conditions. He said the team surveyed different sites including the Mihruband, Derawar Ther, Charoyanwala, Sunkewala, Pararewala, Sheruwala, Ganwariwala, Siddhuwala and Wattoowala. He said the cultural material collected from various mounds witnessed the presence of Early, Mature and Late Harappan settlements. Under the project, Dr Masih said the team also conducted excavations at Sui-Vihar, which was the only existing example of Sankhya doctrines in Pakistan. He said the tablet on the stupa consecrated by Balanandi in the 11th regal year of Kanishka-I suggested that the Vihara was constructed to impart the philosophy of Sankhya/Samkhya to the devotees. He said the Sankhya was one of the six Hindu orthodox philosophy attributed to sage Kapila. The Sankhya doctrines were based on the renunciation of the worldly affairs and to undertake severe penances to perform yoga to attain the nirvana. The Vedic cosmological-ritual, mysticism and the philosophical views of the six darsanas were the stages for the liberation (moksa) from the sequence of birth, death and re-birth (samsara). The archaeologists’ team leader said the excavation revealed a circular platform at Sui-Vihar built with sun-dried bricks and a number of supporting walls to hold the platform and the cylindrical structure. He said the remnants of a votive stupa suggested that the place might had been converted to Buddhist establishment when Kanishka-I embraced Buddhism. In spite of this, he said, Kanishkas had great respect for other faiths and beliefs. There was religious toleration and fraternity amongst the believers of different religious cults. «The plan laid bare by the team is understudy and likely to shed more light on the architectural grandeurs of Kushana period», he added. Dr Masih said the team had also combed the Cholistan desert in the vicinity of Derawar Fort. Prior to that, he said, Sir Aural Stein and Henry Field had conducted the survey in 1941 and 1955, respectively. After the Independence, he said, Dr Muhammad Rafique Mughal had conducted an extensive survey during 1974-77 and discovered altogether 424 settlements on a 24-32 km wide strip on both sides of the dry bed of Hakra River. Derawer Fort at Cholistan Desert Cholistan Desert 30 km from Bahawalpur, Punjab, Pakistan and covers an area of 26,300 km². It adjoins the Thar Desert extending over to Sindh and into India. The word Cholistan is derived from the Turkish word Chol, which means Desert. Cholistan thus means Land of the Desert. (Photo: Atif Gulzar) He said the Mughals’ work in Cholistan had established a new dimension in the understanding of Indus cultures in Cholistan but unfortunately any indigenous or foreign scholar could not precede his work further even after three decades. Consequently, he said, the PU took the gigantic task of exploring the sites in spite of the inhospitable climatic conditions and surveyed some 25 sites in Cholistan Desert, which eventually led to the discovery of the rare Indus seal. During explorations in Cholistan, the archaeology department chairman told Dawn that the team had also recorded flagrant violation of the Antiquities Rules to the cultural mounds which had been subjected to the worst human vandalism. «The land grabbers and other mafias have brutally murdered the cultural heritage while sinking tube wells on the mounds and ploughing the mounds to convert them into farm lands», he said. Dr Masih said the private land owners had sold the land including the cultural mounds and now the attitude of the new buyers towards the heritage was very hostile and it was feared that if no concrete steps were taken to safeguard the relics of the past, it might meet the fate of ruins of Harappa that suffered colossal damage during the laying of Lahore-Multan railway track. «The entire scenario shows the dexterity of the investors and the pathetic attitude of the agencies responsible for cultural heritage of Pakistan», he observed. See online : The Inscriptions of the Indus Civilization 1 Message Rare Indus seal discovered in Cholistan11 August 2012 08:26, by john booth dear sir, 30 years ago, i was attempting to make the red pottery with black patina one observes in the assemblages in Indus river pottery. i used tree sap as the carbon reduction. who said the ancient greeks invented this first is telling a big lie. Now i also, see in the encyclopedia brittanica, under india, indus river, "Craft and Technology, a mention of a pottery that is said to be glaze ,faience. Is this actually faience or as i suspect a terrasigillata of three colours "cloiscent, sparkly green red black and possiblie blue.? the english scholars seem to wish to call this faience but roger moorey oxford, (passed on 2003) calls this terrasigillata. "Polychrome". I also have created this patina. You see i believe that the pheonicians, came from india. originally. Radha , worshipped on ancient Crete, Solomon’s fleet the sailors call them selves Radanites, took jews to kerala coast. I have a book on indian classical dance, in it , it says David king of the jews would dance the Chavitu Kuthu. This association implied the pheonicians bought indian customs to the jews. the one i love the best is the son of alexnder the great to roxana, or roshana lived in india, and eventually sailed with indians to indonesia. Minangkabau people. in 1985 my chakras rose. i began meditation, recalling past lives. my guru died last year. i have a deep love of indian culture. i am an aussie , with a romantic soul. yours john booth. http://www.fravahr.org/spip.php?breve1182 ASI unearths a slice of Harappa in north Rajasthan New Delhi, August 6, 2013 Artefacts dating to the Harappan era have been excavated in Karanpura of Hanumangarh district in Rajasthan, the first time remains of the Indus Valley Civilisation have been found in this part. "The excavation has brought to light house complexes built of mud bricks of both Early (3300-2600 Before Common Era) and Mature (2600-1900 BCE) Harappan periods. Even though scattered remains and fragments of baked bricks are available, it was not found in any building," said Archaeological Survey of India superintending archaeologist V.S. Prabhakar in a lecture at the India International Centre here Monday. "The presence of bichrome ware consisting of red ware, decorated with black and white-coloured painted motifs, is also noticed from the Early Harappan period, a few of which continues during the Mature Harappan period," he added. "Presence of rhinoceros bones point to the marshy environment the Harappans were accustomed to," said Prabhakar. Harappan pottery along with terracotta bangles, grinding stone fragments, beads of agate and an animal terracotta figurine were excavated. Numerous copper artefacts reveal trade ties people here had with other civilisations. Apart from motifs like circles, pipal leaves on various items, graffiti on pottery and artefacts like the spindle whorls are distinguished features. The Indus Valley civilisation is one of the earliest urban civilisations and also known as the Harappan civilisation. Karanpura is located on the right bank of Drishadvati river, now Chautang, in the upper reaches and is located between Siswal, Haryana (upstream) and Sothi, Rajasthan (downstream). The river is dried up now. — PTI  http://www.tribuneindia.com/2013/20130807/nation.htm#15 See the list of sites in Hanumangarh District: Locality Index: Archaeological Settlements, mostly in Sarasvati River Basin RAJASTHAN: GANESHWAR PERIOD DISTRICT: SIKARBaleshwar 27.44N - 75.51E Balwar 27.35N - 75.38E Baneti 27.48N - 76.07E Banher 27.50N - 76.07E Barnagar 27.33N - 76.07E Basri 27.38N - 75.45E Beed-Ki-Jodhi 27.36N - 76.09E Bhabra 27.28N - 76.01E Bhadwari 27.34N - 75.40E Bhaikhri 27.34N - 76.07E Bhainsalana 27.39N - 76.05E Bhakhtawar-Ki-Dhani 27.51N - 76.06E Bihar 27.52N - 75.57E Biharipura 27.54N - 75.54E Bhojpura 27.33N - 75.35E Bhukha Bhar 27.37N - 76.10E Buchara 27.33N - 75.58E Burha 27.54N - 75.58E Butholi 27.41N - 75.46E Chardera 27.51N - 76.06E Chaudhri-Ka-Nangal 27.53N - 76.07E Chiplata 27.34N - 75.34E Dariba 27.41N - 75.54E Dilpura 27.50N - 76.04E Ganeshar 27.40N - 75.49E Ghata 27.35N - 75.51E Hothoka (Mothoka) 27.49N - 75.05E Hovra 27.55N - 75.59E Jodhpura 27.55N - 75.59E Khera 27.55N - 75.59E Kolyara 27.44N - 75.00E Malawali Dhani 27.43N - 75.46E Mando 27.44N - 75.00E Nimki 27.35N - 75.36E Pandtpur 27.36N - 76.03E Paragpura 27.36N - 76.03E Partheri 27.33N - 75.45E Purani Partheri 27.37N - 76.09E Rajnotha 27.36N - 76.10E Ranasar 27.44N - 75.43E Ram Jhalara 27.35N - 76.09E Sarohi 27.43N - 75.44E Sedoda 27.39N - 75.49E Somanya-Ki-Baoli 27.32N - 75.56E Thikria 27.32N - 76.06E Thoi 27.32N - 76.45E UTTAR PRADESH (HARAPPAN PERIOD) DISTRICT: SAHARANPUR Asan Wali 30.02N - 77.36E Badgam 30.00N - 77.32E Baundki 30.04N - 77.37E Bazidpur 30.03N - 77.36E Chhajpura 29.59N - 77.37E Chhapar Heri 29.54N - 77.30E Chilhera 30.02N - 77.39E Chuehti Shekh 29.54N - 77.43E Daudpur 30.05N - 77.36E Fahtepur (Gujar) 29.53N - 77.32E Fahtepur Jat 29.53N - 77.32E Ghana Khandi 30.04N - 77.36E Hulas Khera 29.42N - 77.22E Kabirpur 30.05N - 77.38E Kailaspur 29.59N - 77.39E Krishni 29.55N - 77.30E Mohiuddinpur 30.00N - 77.38E Mohiuddinpur 30.00N - 77.28E Matki Jharauli 30.04N - 77.35E Nawan Gaon 29.53N - 77.26E Piki 30.02N - 77.36E Pilakhni 30.01N - 77.29E Pinjaura 29.56N - 77.33E Rangel 29.56N - 77.40E Reri Malakpur 29.55N - 77.29E Salepur 29.56N - 77.21E Sarkari Sheikh 30.00N - 77.36E Sherpur (Gujar) 29.53N - 77.39E Tikrol 29.44N - 77.22E DISTRICT: MEERUT Alamgirpur 29.00N - 77.30E Gulistanpur 28.30N - 77.30E HARYANA (HARAPPAN PERIOD DISTRICT: AMBALA Dukheri 30.16N - 76.53E DISTRICT: KURUKSHETRA Ratta Kher Khuram 30.07N - 76.27E DISTRICT: KARNAL Bahola 29.48N - 76.46E Bindrala 29.29N - 76.35E Dikadla 29.13N - 77.04E Jalmana 29.35N - 76.44E Maudi 29.47N - 76.46E Pujam 29.51N - 76.55E Urlana Khurd 29.22N - 76.43E DISTRICT: JIND Balu 29.40N - 76.22E Bata (Rani Ran) 29.43N - 76.19E Dhakal 29.35N - 76.10E Ghatouli 29.11N - 76.23E Jind (Bir Band Ban) 29.19N - 76.19E Kalait 29.40N - 76.16E Kharal-3 29.42N - 76.03E Pauli 29.05N - 76.28E Ritauli 29.25N - 76.30E DISTRICT: SONIPAT Chhapra 29.07N - 76.32E Garhwal 29.11N - 76.32E DISTRICT: ROHTAK Baliana 28.53N - 76.43E Lohat 28.32N - 76.50E DISTRICT: BHIWANI Mitathal 28.52N - 76.11E DISTRICT: HISSAR Banawali 29.36N - 75.25E Barki 29.17N - 75.46E Bhirrana 29.32N - 75.32E Chanat-1,2,3 29.14N - 75.55E Chimun 29.40N - 75.40E Garhi 29.04N - 76.07E Gular Wala 29.43N - 75.46E Hansi 29.04N - 76.59E Kharar 29.08N - 75.54E Kirtan 29.08N - 75.33E Kunal 29.38N - 75.43E Masaudpur 29.14N - 76.00E Mirchpur 29.18N - 76.11E Nathwan 29.07N - 75.35E Pali-I 29.08N - 76.05E Rajpura 29.11N - 76.07E Rakhi Garhi 29.17N - 76.07E Ratta Theh 29.44N - 75.45E Satrod Khurd 29.06N - 75.47E Sisai - III 29.10N - 76.00E Siswal 29.13N - 75.30E PUNJAB (HARAPPAN PERIOD DISTRICT: AMRITSAR Vadalan 31.49N - 76.48E DISTRICT: KAPURTHALA Bhatrpura Kalan 31.01N - 75.31E Domeli 31.20N - 75.46E DISTRICT: JULLUNDAR Dhogri 31.23N - 75.40E DISTRICT: ROPAR Kotla Nihang 30.56N - 76.32E Kotli 30.53N - 76.29E Ropar 30.58N - 76.31E DISTRICT: PATIALA Dharm Heri 30.07N - 76.19E Gheora -12 30.07N - 76.16E Nagwan 30.07N - 76.23E Sasi 30.07N - 76.20E DISTRICT: SANGRUR Budan 30.31N - 75.46E Jandali 30.38N - 75.51E Rohira 30.38N - 75.50E Kalian 30.35N - 75.43E Moholi 30.38N - 75.45E DISTRICT: LUDHIANA Kanganwal 30.51N - 75.56E Malaud 30.38N - 75.57E Sanghol 30.47N - 76.24E Talwara 30.55N - 75.44E DISTRICT: FARIDKOT Inewala Theh 30.33N - 75.25E Raja Sirkap 30.39N - 74.46E DISTRICT: FEROZPUR Amiwala Theh 30.20N - 75.15E DISTRICT: BHATINDA Ali-Da-Theh 30.20N - 75.20E Alipur Mandran 29.50N - 75.28E Bagliean-Da-Theh 29.56N - 75.29E Chhoti Mansa 29.59N - 75.26E Dale Wala-1,2 29.50N - 75.25E Dalewan 30.02N - 75.33E Gumi Kalan 29.59N - 75.33E Hassanpur 29.59N - 75.33E Hirke -I 29.44N - 75.22E Karanpura 29.52N - 75.23E Lakhmir Wala 29.52N - 75.22E Lallian Wali 29.52N - 75.20E Lalu Wala 29.59N - 75.27E Naiwala Theh 29.50N - 75.30E RAJASTHAN (HARAPPAN PERIOD) DISTRICT: HANUMANGARH Baror 29.10N - 73.20E Bhagwansar 1 29.22N - 73.53E Bhagwansar 2 29.23N - 73.53E Binjor -I 29.14N - 73.07E Binjor 3 29.00N - 77.12E Bugian 29.22N - 73.38E Chak-11 29.19N - 73.36E Chak-15/3 29.19N - 73.36E Chak-21 29.16N - 73.33E Chak 43 29.10N - 73.29E Chak 50 29.10N - 73.29E Chak 71 29.14N - 73.17E Chak 72/3 29.11N - 73.19E Chak 75 29.11N - 73.18E Chak 80 29.12N - 73.15E Jogiason Chak -1 29.10N - 74.45E Kalibangan 29.29N - 74.08E Karoti 29.10N - 74.52E Mallawala-Tioba Mathula 29.14N - 74.34E Motasar Tibba -1 29.09N - 73.23E Motasar Tibba -2 29.09N - 73.27E Nohar 29.10N - 74.45E R.D -92/89 29.10N - 73.04E Sardar Garh -2 29.23N - 73.45E Sher Pura 29.10N - 75.15E Sothi 29.11N - 74.50E Tarkhana Wala Dera 29.14N - 73.14E GUJARAT (HARAPPAN PERIOD) DISTRICT: KUTCH Chitrol 23.24N - 70.40E Desalpur 23.29N - 69.10E Dholvira (Kotadi) 23.58N - 70.12E Gadhwaliwadi 23.30N - 69.03E Gunthai 23.28N - 69.09E Jatavadar 23.45N - 70.40E Kanthkot 23.29N - 70.29E Kerasi 23.40N - 70.44E Khakhra Dera 23.34N - 70.29E Khari-Ka-Khanda 23.27N - 70.19E Khedoi 23.03N - 69.57E Kotada Bhadli 1 23.22N - 69.26E Kotada Bhadli 2 23.22N - 69.26E Kotada 23.17N - 70.06E Kotadi 23.58N - 70.12E Kotara-Juni-Karan 24.00N - 69.45E Lakhapar 23.33N - 70.28E Lakhpat 23.50N - 68.47E Morvo 23.50N - 70.42E Narapa 23.34N - 69.05E Nenu-Ni-Dhar 23.51N - 69.44E Pirwada 23.20N - 70.00E Pabunath 23.38N - 70.31E Rampara (Vekera No Timbo) 23.30N - 70.45E Ramvav 23.32N - 70.28E Samaghoga 22.55N - 69.40E Selari 22.42N - 70.37E Surkotada 23.37N - 70.50E Todio 23.05N - 69.55E Vada 23.34N - 69.03E DISTRICT: BANASKANTHA Atarnes 23.40N - 71.20E Benap 24.05N - 71.25E Jhekada 23.50N - 71.25E DISTRICT: MEHSANA Dudka 23.32N - 71.46E Kuwar 23.32N - 71.37E Lalara 23.33N - 71.47E Mahudi 23.30N - 72.45E Pirozpur 23.30N - 71.43E Bolera 23.30N - 71.45E Khandia 23.32N - 71.45E Manverpur 23.35N - 71.54E Dhanora 23.31N - 71.55E Dantisana 23.30N - 71.54E Sushiya 23.28N - 71.53E Ervada 23.25N - 71.53E Panchasar 23.25N - 71.49E Panva 23.23N - 71.49E Sibpur 23.33N - 71.46E Sujnipur 23.53N - 72.05E DISTRICT: JAMNAGAR Ambaliala 22.56N - 69.44E Bedwarka 22.28N - 70.26E Bhayakhakharia 22.10N - 71.50E Chanderwara 21.51N - 69.24E Kotda 23.14N - 70.21E Lakhan Timbo 22.29N - 70.26E Mulpadar 21.56N - 69.44E Saudevalio 22.00N - 69.44E Tarana 22.43N - 70.27E DISTRICT: JUNAGAH Savani 20.58N - 70.28E DISTRICT: RAJKOT Bhut Kotada 22.35N - 70.45E Dad 22.50N - 70.55E Dhutapur 21.50N - 71.00E Dumaini 21.45N - 70.20E Dungarpur 22.71N - 71.31E Gadhada -1 22.26N - 70.36E Gadhada -2 22.26N - 70.36E Gadhada -3 22.26N - 70.36E Jhikri 21.55N - 70.50E Jodhpur 22.40N - 70.53E Karmar 21.50N - 70.53E Khankhara Bela -1 22.29N - 70.36E Khankhara Bela -2 22.29N - 70.36E Khareda-No-Timbo 22.05N - 70.48E Lukhela 21.50N - 70.00E Malgodh 22.00N - 70.34E Padar 21.59N - 70.50E Pal 22.18N - 70.43E Pithad 21.57N - 70.44E Pithadia 21.48N - 70.49E Rajathali 21.55N - 70.01E Taraghada 21.50N - 71.28E Timaram 21.53N - 70.30E Vadasada 21.47N - 70.30E Vegadi 21.47N - 70.30E DISTRICT: AMRELI Bhatiwadi 21.45N - 70.50E Dhankanio -2 21.47N - 70.55E Dhuapino 21.27N - 71.49E Vadera 21.36N - 71.06E DISTRICT: BHAVNAGAR Gheolo Bund 21.58N - 71.27E Khodiyar 21.24N - 71.09E Lakhavav 21.30N - 71.55E Valpura 21.57N - 71.42E DISTRICT: SURENDRA NAGAR Chashiana 22.25N - 71.50E Goni Timbo 22.27N - 71.55E Kaero Timbo 22.24N - 71.55E Khanpur 22.32N - 71.58E Rangpur 22.20N - 71.55E Samadhiala 22.19N - 71.42E DISTRICT: AHMEDABAD* Bhimnath 22.15N - 71.55E Chhabasr 22.46N - 72.16E Devganga 22.18N - 71.50E Hadmatala 22.30N - 72.03E Kanasutaria 22.47N - 72.16E Lothal 22.31N - 72.15E Metal Maha No Timbo 22.47N - 72.14E Talwandi No Timbo 22.45N - 72.20E DISTRICT: KHERA Kerisima No Timbo 22.28N - 72.31E Sai No Tikro 22.28N - 72.31E DISTRICT: BHARUCH Manar 21.42N - 72.47E DISTRICT: SURAT Navagam 21.16N - 72.56E CHOLISTAN DESERT, PAKISTAN Bhawalpur area : archaeological sites in the Cholistan or Rohi desert, along 300 miles of the dry bed of the Hakra River (10-15 mile-wide-strip), the stretch of the Sarasvati river in Bahawalpur province adjoining the Rajasthan State (Marusthali or Thar desert) (414 sites including Ganweriwala Ther, Gamuwali, Dunkkian, Wariyal, Sandhanawala) [cf. Rafique Mughal, Ancient Cholistan, 1997] Principal Sites: Arabian Sea Bet Dwaraka island Gulf of Khambat (Cambay) Prabhas Patan (Somnath) Rojdi 21.50N 70.45E Lothal 22.31N 72.15E Marusthali Jodhpura 27.31N 76.05E Ganeshwar 37.40N 75.51E Rann of Kutch Kotada Timba, Kotadi (Dholavira) 23.58N 70.12E Surkotada 23.37N 70.50E Pabumath 23.38N 70.31E Desalpur 23.29N 69.10E Sarasvati River Gamanwala Ganweriwala Ther 28.50N 71.10E (Cholistan or Rohi Desert) Khirsara, Khera-sara (Netra) Tarkhanawala-dera 29.14N 73.14E Sandhanawala-thera (Near Fort Abbas) Mohenjodaro (Island between W. Nara Loop-- Sarasvati river and Sindhu river) Kalibangan 29.29N 74.08E Banawali 29.37N 75.23E Rakhigarhi 29.17N 76.07E Alamgirpur 29.00N 77.30E Hulas 29.42N 77.22E Rohira 30.38N 75.50E Chandigarh 30.45N 76.47E Ropar 30.58N 76.31E Godavari river Daimabad 19.31N 74.42E Sindhu river Gharo Bhiro (Nuhato) Allahdino Bala Kot Amri Chanhujo-daro Nindowari-damb Lohumjo-daro KotDiji Naru-waro-daro Jhukar Mohenjo-daro Nausharo Sibri-damb Pirak Rahman-dheri Tarakai Qila Harappa Oman Ra’s al-Hadd Ra’s al-Junaya Persian Gulf Tell Abraq Bahrain Failaka Tigris-Euphrates rivers Ur Tello Umma Susa Nippur Kish Tell-Asmar (Eshnunna) Luristan Tell as-Suleimani Caspian Sea Tepe Gawra Makran Tepe Yahya Bactria Shortugai Turkmenistan Altin Tepe http://www.hindunet.org/hindu_history/sarasvati/html/locality_index.htm Ghaggar river flowing through Panchkula in Haryana in North India Ghaggar river, near Anoopgarh,Rajasthan in the month of September The site of Karanpura is between Kalibangan and Ganweriwala on the border of Haryana-Rajasthan, in Hanumangarh district. Vedic River Sarasvati, a reconstruction.

---

Bitter Maidan Mishti for Didi -- Devadeep Purohit reads into NaMo's speech

February 5, 2014, 8:37 pm

≫ Next: SoniaG Agusta scam. Antony tries to bail out SoniaG? He should go and depose in Italian court.

≪ Previous: Meluhha hieroglyphs. 4,000 year-old seal and weight unearthed in Rajasthan -- VN Prabhakar, ASI

$

0

0

Modi dishes out laddoos too bitter for Didi to swallow before polls Public offer of give and take

DEVADEEP PUROHIT, Feb. 6, 2014

Calcutta, Feb. 5: Narendra Modi today saw something that no BJP leader had ever seen from a party platform in Bengal: over 1.5 lakh people. Then he proceeded to address a single individual who was present not at the Brigade but across the river. The aspirant for Prime Minister told Mamata Banerjee, who was at her 14th-floor chamber at Nabanna, through a long-distance message everything that any chief minister would want to hear after the general election but not before polling is over. Modi tried to convince Mamata that she could realise her dream of Bengal’s progress only if there was a friendly government at the Centre. The BJP leader’s maiden public rally in Calcutta was largely shorn of the fireworks usually associated with his performances. The absence of pyrotechnics reaffirmed the unspoken moral of the story: you need a reviled rival to make the rhetoric, and Modi was not looking for an opponent but a potential ally. Modi broached the topic with the finesse of a salesman who knows the art of playing with a customer’s aspiration. After complimenting the audience for ending 34 years of Left “misrule”, Modi asked: “Parivartan aaya hai? Parivartan mahsoos ho raha hai? Parivartan dikhai de raha hai?(Has the change come? Can you feel the change? Can you see any change?)” “Nahi (no),” the audience thundered in chorus. The questions were initially construed as a veiled criticism of Mamata but the real —and a very different — picture emerged soon after. “For a real change in Bengal, the state government is not enough. You also need help from Delhi,” said Modi, pitching himself as the next Prime Minister who would walk the extra mile to help Mamata. Between Modi and BJP president Rajnath Singh, suggestions were dropped that a future NDA government at the Centre would accept almost all the demands of Bengal that the UPA had expressed inability to concede. Such an assurance after the general election may have armed Mamata with a development-oriented and secular excuse to forge an understanding with a BJP-led Centre, though many in Trinamul feel any such arrangement will be “suicidal” in the next Assembly polls. But the immediate focus is on Modi’s public offer, which has been seized upon by the Left to reopen the debate about which way Mamata will tilt after the Lok Sabha polls. Such a question assumes significance because of the influential minority vote that accounts for as high as 28 per cent in Bengal. Although there was no formal reaction from Trinamul, insiders conceded that if the Left succeeded in creating an impression that Mamata was open to doing business with Modi after the elections, it could exact a price in the Lok Sabha polls itself. Modi, too, appeared to be aware of the local implications. He did not talk about any alliance with Trinamul as he set a target of winning all the 42 seats in the state. He pitched his case as an attempt to improve the Centre-state relationship, explaining that he would extend all possible help to Bengal if he got support in accomplishing the BJP’s 272-plus-seat mission. The Centre-state card is significant as Mamata and her cabinet colleagues have been blaming the Congress-led UPA government for not releasing funds to the state. “The Bengal Assembly polls are not due. A government is here and you can wait for three years. I request you to give us all the 42 seats,” Modi said. “If West Bengal accepts the BJP, I promise that I will fill up all the potholes created in the last 60 years.” He had been equally careful during his last visit to Calcutta in April 2013 — when he addressed members of the chambers of commerce — as he had steered clear of comparisons between Gujarat and Bengal and criticised the Left. Mamata, however, has always been critical of the BJP in public. During the January 30 rally at Brigade, the chief minister did not name Modi but made it clear that she did not want to see dangar mukh (the face of riots) in Delhi after the Lok Sabha polls. But Modi is persisting with his efforts. “Give me a chance to serve West Bengal. This will have double, triple benefits… Mamataji will work for development, I will work for development, and above me, there will be Pranab-dada, who is one of you,” said Modi. Rajnath, the BJP chief, went a step further and supported Mamata’s demand for a three-year moratorium on payment of interest on loans incurred during the Left regime and repayment of a part of the principal, besides echoing her demand for a bailout package for Bengal. In a significant departure from the withering tone adopted by state-level BJP leaders towards the Mamata government, Modi and Singh steered clear of any adverse reference to the chief minister. Instead, the two leaders, especially Modi, launched an offensive on the proposed third front, some of whose constituents met in Delhi today as part of their efforts to stitch together a non-Congress, non-BJP alliance. “The idea behind the third front is to make India a third-rate country…. The eastern Indian states have remained backward, as the third front parties have ruled them sometime or the other. The time has come to bid farewell to this idea of a third front from Indian politics forever,” Modi said. This statement should be music to Mamata’s ears as the Left parties are active third front spearheads and have cast a cloud on her plans for a federal alliance. Modi singled out the Left, holding the group responsible for Bengal’s decline and echoing a pet theme of Mamata. The Gujarat chief minister spoke of non-availability of round-the-clock power supply in Bengal and lack of toilet facilities in girls’ schools (only 60 per cent, according to Modi). His claims, however, could not be corroborated. Latest reports on the power sector suggest that Bengal is a surplus state and power is available 24x7 to consumers, unlike in Gujarat where farmers can access power only for 12 hours a day. The education department was also quick to issue a release that said 82.8 per cent schools in the state had separate toilets for girl students. A tweet from Trinamul, too, rebutted the claims, saying the “Gujarat chief minister was let down by his research team”. The mood at the end of the day captured the irony: the Left was happy that it was the target of Modi’s attack and Trinamul appeared to be miffed that he was kind to Mamata. http://www.telegraphindia.com/1140206/jsp/frontpage/story_17905782.jsp#.UvMQhGKSzCc

SoniaG Agusta scam. Antony tries to bail out SoniaG? He should go and depose in Italian court.

February 5, 2014, 8:49 pm

≫ Next: Indonesians -- proud of their roots -- Dilip Kr. Singh

≪ Previous: Bitter Maidan Mishti for Didi -- Devadeep Purohit reads into NaMo's speech

$

0

0

See: http://bharatkalyan97.blogspot.in/2014/02/sonia-gandhi-ahmed-patels-corruption.html

'F A M' in Agusta Papers Stands for Ex-Air Chief's Kin: Antony

By Express News Service - NEW DELHI

Published: 06th February 2014 08:25 AM

Last Updated: 06th February 2014 08:36 AM

• Photos

• Antony’s attempts to establish that ‘F A M’ stood for Tyagi’s kin have coincided with the emergence of an unsigned, typed document purportedly from another middleman Christian Michel. | File/PTI

In the wake of the Opposition onslaught against Congress supremo Sonia Gandhi in the AgustaWestland VVIP chopper scam, Union Defence Minister A K Antony on Wednesday tried to bailout Sonia saying that the ‘F A M’ acronym, which appeared in the Agusta documents, stood for the family of former IAF chief S P Tyagi, who has been chargesheeted by the CBI.

And the Defence Minister revealed this while making a suo motu statement in the Rajya Sabha.

“During the hearing in the Italian court, one unsigned handwritten paper was produced, which had headings ‘A F’, ‘B U R’, ‘P O L’ (under which A P is recorded), ‘F A M’ etc,” he said.  The middleman Guido Haschke, from whom the document was recovered, had been cross-examined on this and a transcript of the deposition was received by the Ministry of Defence(MoD)through the Indian Consulate in Milan.

“It is seen during the course of cross-examination of Haschke, in response to a specific question by the Italian public prosecutor as to the meaning of ‘F A M’, Haschke replied that ‘F A M’ is family,” Antony said.

Significantly, Antony’s attempts to establish that ‘F A M’ stood for Tyagi’s kin have coincided with the emergence of an unsigned, typed document purportedly from another middleman Christian Michel to an individual identified as Peter Hulett, which asked the latter to focus on seven key Congress politicians including Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who were close to Sonia.

Michel’s missive, which too was presented in the Italian court and reported first by the local media, also mentioned that it was Sonia Gandhi, who would no more use the existing Russian-origin Mi-8 VIP choppers, indicating that the helicopters were being primarily bought for her travel.

However, the Defence Minister told Parliament “the authenticity of these documents was not proved” and the case is currently being heard by the Italian court.

Also read:

• Agusta, Finmecannica Bookings For Defexpo Scrapped
• MoD Decision on Blacklisting Agusta Soon
• Mysterious Shadow Looms Over VVIP Chopper Scam
• Government Chops Rs. 3,727-crore Agusta Copter Deal  
• http://www.newindianexpress.com/nation/F-A-M-in-Agusta-Papers-Stands-for-Ex-Air-Chiefs-Kin-Antony/2014/02/06/article2040900.ece#.UvMTumKSzCc

Indonesians -- proud of their roots -- Dilip Kr. Singh

February 6, 2014, 1:18 am

≫ Next: ASI stumbles upon rare 'ancient mint city' in Haryana

≪ Previous: SoniaG Agusta scam. Antony tries to bail out SoniaG? He should go and depose in Italian court.

$

0

0

LEARN FROM INDONESIANS  --  PROUD OF THEIR ROOTS 

  
Though declared a Muslim Country, with max Muslim population in the world), Indonesia is still connected with its Roots ! 

IT IS HIGH TIME ALL OUR CITIZENS ALSO ACCEPT  THEIR ROOTS & BE PROUD OF THE SAME...BE INDIANS FIRST & ALWAYS.

As we all know, Indonesian Currency is Rupiah (although their currency is weak compared to Indian rupee). Though Indonesia has the largest Muslim population in the world (India has the second largest Muslim population) and has been declared as Islamic country, yet on their 20,000 rupiah note, you will find Lord Ganesha picture(just like Mahatma Gandhi on Indian rupee). 

  



When Indonesian President visited USA, he gifted a wooden carved statue of Goddess Saraswati (With Veena in her hand.)



Their national Airline's name is GARUDA (one can see the logo of Garutmantha) and their domestic airlines is JATAYU AIRWAYS (One can see Jatayu with broken wing bleeding.)

They all know Ramayana better than many Hindus in India. On their National TV, Ramayana is aired once in a week.



Their main shopping mall in Balikpapan is RAMAYANA PLAZA.



Most of the ships or supply vessels' names are Draupadi, Nakula, Sahadeva, Udhistar, Laxmana, Arjuna like that.

70% of Rudraksha comes from Bali, not from Himalayas in India or from Nepal. Nepal and Himalayan foot hills produce only 30% Rudraksha. But best quality of Eka Mukha, Dwi Mukha, Pancha Mukha, Astha Mukha Rudraksha comes from Bali.



Government of Indonesia pays salaries for Hindu Priests along with Muslim Priests and Christian Priests. 

Most of the Muslims in Indonesia still have Hindu names like Hendra (Indra) or WAHYU (Vayu).

So names borrowed from Arabia/Persia that pre-existed are not a must to be a Muslim.

-- 

CA. DILIP KR. SINGH          

              B.Com, FCA      

Addendum:

Many Indonesian ladies too have classical Hindu names like Vidyasthuthi, Kanchana Mala, Mrignayani & Katyayini!

The main roundabout of Djakarta the capital city is adorned by a huge statue of famous GEETOPADESH – Lord Krishna on a chariot drawn by four white horses expounding the GEETA to Arjuna. 

Jayashankar Venkataraman
Feb. 6, 2014

ASI stumbles upon rare 'ancient mint city' in Haryana

February 6, 2014, 6:17 am

≫ Next: तैत्तरीय उपनिषद् - Inquirer's oath administered by the guru

≪ Previous: Indonesians -- proud of their roots -- Dilip Kr. Singh

$

0

0

ASI STUMBLES UPON RARE ‘ANCIENT MINT CITY’ IN HARYANA

Tuesday, 04 February 2014 | Archana Jyoti | New Delhi

The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) has discovered a rare ‘ancient mint city’ of 7th to 10th Century at Majra in the Haryana’s Rohtak district that may get wiped out soon because of the rapid ongoing real-estate construction activity at the site.

With the excavation at the site yielding over 31 coin moulds and ten crucibles besides pottery in just one day itself on Sunday, the ASI is all set to write to the State Government to temporary halt construction activity in the region so as to enable it to unearth the valuable ruins before they are demolished. There are sufficient evidences which show that the site was particularly used for minting coins of various metals during the period ruled by king Mihir Bhoja of the Gurjar Pratihara dynasty, Indo-Sassanian dynasty and Shahi dynasty during 7th to 10 century.

“However, unfortunately, the ongoing heavy construction activity at the site is all set to damage the remnants of this important dynasty,” said Dr BR Mani, Additional Director General of the ASI, a premier organisation for the archaeological researches and protection of the cultural heritage of the nation. Dr Mani along with the ASI team had visited the site on Sunday and recovered over 31 coin moulds, ten min crucibles used to pour melted metal in the moulds and remains of bigger crucibles used for melting metals.

He said that Haryana Government will be requested to issue order to halt the construction activities at some idenitified area at the site so that it can salvage more leftover historical items before they get demolished. In fact, thanks to the three huge electricity towers erected at the site that the region is still spared from getting demolished.

“The three towers have proved lucky for us as most of the artifacts that have been recovered from the mound have been explored below these towers at an area of 100X100 metres. We are hoping to recover more from this area,” said archeologist expert Manmohan Kumar who was instrumental in intimating the ASI about the historically important remains.

“The excavation hold importance as this would shed more light on the history of the periods of Gurjar Pratihara, Indo-Sassanian and Shahi Dynasties. In Mihir Bhoja time Gurjar Partihara Dynasty was at its zenith and peak of prosperity. He was undoubtebly one of the outstanding political figure of India in ninth century and ranks with Dhruva and dhampala as a great general and empire builder.

Dr Mani added that as a matter of fact, it is not possible to seek permanent ban on construction at the site and declare it as excavation site of national importance. “We can only salvage the leftover artifacts from the site.” 

http://www.dailypioneer.com/nation/asi-stumbles-upon-rare-ancient-mint-city-in-haryana.html

तैत्तरीय उपनिषद् - Inquirer's oath administered by the guru

February 6, 2014, 5:25 pm

≫ Next: Carbon dates cast doubt on Near East's role in human migration

≪ Previous: ASI stumbles upon rare 'ancient mint city' in Haryana

$

0

0

Like the Hippocratic oath for medical practitioners, this should become the oath for all inquirers. Veda is inquiry. Not a myth. So, add an explanatory phrase: do not try to trace origins of myths with non-falsifiable methods and evil intent to break the imperative of abhyudayam. Dharmam-Dhammam cara -- do your duty -- for attainment of abhyudayam.

वेदमनूच्याचार्योऽन्तेवासिनमनुशास्ति
सत्यं वद, धर्मं चर, स्वाध्यायान्मा प्रसदः
आचार्याय प्रियं धनमाहृत्य प्रजतन्तुं मा व्यवच्छेत्सीः
सत्यान्न प्रमदितव्यम्, धर्मान्न प्रमदितव्यम्
कुशलान्न प्रमादितव्यम्, भूत्यै न प्रमादितव्यम्
स्वाध्यायप्रवचनाभ्यां न प्रमदितव्यम् ॥ १ ॥
देवापितृकार्याभ्यां न प्रमदितव्यम्
मातृदेवो भव, पितृदेवो भव
आचार्यदेवो भव, अतिथिदेवो भव ॥ २ ॥
यान्यनवद्यानि कर्माणि, तानि सेवितव्यानि
नो इतराणि, यान्यस्माकगं सुचरितानि
तानि त्वयोपास्यानि, नो इतराणि ॥ ३ ॥
ये के चास्मच्छ्रेयाणो ब्राह्मणाः
तेषां त्वयाऽऽसनेन प्रश्वसितव्यम् ॥ ४ ॥
श्रद्धया देयम्, अश्रद्धयादेयम्
श्रिया देयम्, ह्रिया देयम्
भिया देयम्, संविदा देयम् ॥ ५ ॥
अथ यदि ते कर्मविचिकित्सा वा वृत्तविचिकित्सा वा स्यात्
ये तत्र ब्राह्मणाः सम्मर्शिनः, युक्ताः आयुक्ताः
अलूक्षा धर्मकामाः स्युः, यथा ते तत्र वर्तेरन्
तथा तत्र वर्तेथाः ॥ ६ ॥
अथाभ्याख्व्यातेषु, ये तत्र ब्रह्मणाः सम्मर्शिनः
युक्ताः आयुक्ताः, अलूक्षा धर्मकामाः स्युः
यथा ते तेषु वर्तेरन्, तथा तेषु वर्थेथाः ॥ ७ ॥
एष आदेशः, एष उपदेशः, एषा वेदोपनिषत्
एतदनुशासनम्, एवमुपासितव्यम्
एवसु चैतदुपास्यम् ॥ ८ ॥

vedamanuuchyaachaaryo.antevaasinamanushaasti
satya.n vada, dharma.n chara, svaadhyaayaanmaa prasadaH
aachaaryaaya priya.n dhanamaahRRitya prajatantu.n maa vyavachchhetsiiH
satyaanna pramaditavyam, dharmaanna pramaditavyam
kushalaanna pramaaditavyam, bhuutyai na pramaaditavyam
svaadhyaayapravachanaabhyaa.n na pramaditavyam (1)
devaapitRRikaaryaabhyaa.n na pramaditavyam
maatRRidevo bhava, pitRRidevo bhava
aachaaryadevo bhava, atithidevo bhava (2)
yaanyanavadyaani karmaaNi, taani sevitavyaani
no itaraaNi, yaanyasmaakag.n sucharitaani
taani tvayopaasyaani, no itaraaNi (3)
ye ke chaasmachchhreyaaN^so braahmaNaaH
teShaa.n tvayaa.a.asanena prashvasitavyam (4).
shraddhayaa deyam, ashraddhayaadeyam
shriyaa deyam, hriyaa deyam
bhiyaa deyam, sa.nvidaa deyam (5)
atha yadi te karmavichikitsaa vaa vRRittavichikitsaa vaa syaat
ye tatra braahmaNaaH sammarshinaH, yuktaaH aayuktaaH
aluukshaa dharmakaamaaH syuH, yathaa te tatra varteran
tathaa tatra vartethaaH (6)
athaabhyaakhvyaateShu, ye tatra brahmaNaaH sammarshinaH
yuktaaH aayuktaaH, aluukshaa dharmakaamaaH syuH
yathaa te teShu varteran, tathaa teShu varthethaaH (7)
eSha aadeshaH, eSha upadeshaH, eShaa vedopaniShat 
etadanushaasanam, evamupaasitavyam 
evasu chaitadupaasyam (8)

Always speak the truth, do your duty, never swerve from the study of the Veda-s, do not discontinue your family's line of descendants, after giving the perceptor the fee he desires; never deviate from truth, never fail to perform your duty, never overlook your own welfare, never neglect your prosperity, never neglect the study and the propagation of the Veda-s (1). Never swerve from your duties towards Gods and towards the departed souls; may your mother be a God to you, may your father be a God to you, may your perceptor be a God to you, may your guest be a God to you (2). Let only those actions be done which are free from blemishes, and not others; may you follow only those virtuous which are blameless, and not others (3). May you offer seat to superiors and worship them with acts of respect and love (4). Gifts should be given with faith and never without faith; it should be given in plenty, with modesty and sympathy; while offering gifts, let there be feelings of affection (5). In case of any doubt regarding your acts or conduct in life, you should act exactly as those brahmana-s who are thoughtful, experienced, not influenced by others, not cruel, and are devoted to righteousness (6). With regard to those who are falsely accused of some crime, you should rule yourself exactly as those brahmana-s who are thoughtful, experienced, not influenced by others, not cruel, and are devoted to righteousness (7). This is the command, the teaching, the secret of the Veda-s, the commandment; and this should be observed. Having understood this fully, one must act accordingly, till the last (8). 

[ This is the essence of Veda-s that the perceptor enjoins the disciples. (तैत्तरीय उपनिषद् - taittariiya upaniShad, यजुर्वेद - yajurveda) ] 

http://samskrutam.com/samskrit/sanskrit-texts/upanishat-mantra.aspx

Carbon dates cast doubt on Near East's role in human migration

February 6, 2014, 5:58 pm

≫ Next: Cultures use myths, scholars misuse them -- Shivaji Singh. OUP, withdraw Witzel's book.

≪ Previous: तैत्तरीय उपनिषद् - Inquirer's oath administered by the guru

$

0

0

Carbon dates cast doubt on Near East's role in human migration

January 28th, 2014 in Other Sciences / Archaeology & Fossils

Beads from the site of Ksar Akil (Lebanon) found closely associated with the skeleton of an early modern human girl dating to between 39-41 thousand years ago.

The traditional view is that the first humans with anatomy like ours evolved in Africa, then from about 50,000 years ago started to spread into the Near East before continuing into Asia and Europe.

But the new study suggests they may have settled the Near East a lot later than previously thought, and that therefore the region may not be the single vital crossroads through which early humans passed on their way to colonising the whole Eurasian landmass. If so, the story of our spread out of Africa may need to be rewritten. Instead of colonising the Levant then moving into Europe, our distant ancestors may have first settled in the central Asian steppes before turning west again.

'Since the 1930s, many prehistorians have believed the Levant was a major strategic point for people moving from Africa into the Middle East and Europe,' says Dr Katerina Douka of the University of Oxford, who led the research. 'It sounds a straightforward and obvious idea, but these early humans didn't necessarily follow the maps of today.'

She adds that the region has received comparatively little attention from archaeologists, so theories tend to rest on a very small base of evidence - the Near East is the least-dated area of the Palaeolithic world. On top of this, the region's hot dry conditions make scientific archaeology difficult - for example, the climate tends to destroy the collagen on which radiocarbon dating of bones depends.

One of the most important sites in the region is Ksar Akil in modern-day Lebanon. Here, several fragments of ancient humans have been found over the years, crucially including a small part of a fossilised human known as Ethelruda, and another buried individual, whom archaeologists call Egbert.

The excavations at Ksar Akil in 1938, with workers digging 17m below the surface.

These have generally been seen as supporting the broader narrative of humans moving through the Near East into Asia and Europe. But until now, researchers hadn't used radiocarbon dating to check how long ago these people lived. The authors of a new study, published inPLoS ONE, set out to remedy that.

They used modern carbon-dating techniques on material found in the same archaeological layers as Egbert and Ethelruda at Ksar Akil - mostly beads made from sea shells, which were used as jewellery and are often considered a sign of complex symbolic behaviour akin to modern humans. They couldn't radiocarbon-date the remains themselves - for one thing, both went missing in the twentieth century, although part of Ethelruda's jawbone recently turned up again. For another, the collagen in the bones has degraded too far to be used in dating.

Analysis of the results shows the remains are considerably younger than archaeologists had assumed - between 40.8 and 39.2 thousand years ago for Egbert and between 42.4 and 41.7 thousand for Ethelruda. This means Egbert is about the same age as the oldest directly-dated human found in Europe, at the Pestera cu Oase in Romania, and younger than the oldest modern human teeth, found at Cavallo in Italy.

Comparison of the modelled ages obtained for Egbert and Ethelruda by the authors of the recent study with age estimates of anatomically-modern humans from other Palaeolithic sites between 50,000-30,000 years ago.

Douka says more research is needed on other possible routes by which humans could have dispersed into Europe and Asia. She's currently working on several projects in central Asia and Siberia - areas she thinks could form part of one such route.

'The traditional view is around the start of the Upper Palaeolithic, there was a movement out of Africa, through the Levant and into Europe,' she explains. 'But if you look further East, there's evidence for much earlier colonisation - sites that we can date as older than 50,000 years, which is the limit of how far back we can go with radiocarbon dating  My own view is that modern humans had probably already populated central Asia and modern-day Russia before colonising Europe in one or more waves of expansion.'

She's working on a European Research Council-funded project (PalaeoChron) that uses another technique, known as optically-stimulated luminescence dating, which can go much further back into history - around half a million years.

Provided by PlanetEarth Online

This story is republished courtesy of Planet Earth online, a free, companion website to the award-winning magazine Planet Earth published and funded by the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC).

"Carbon dates cast doubt on Near East's role in human migration." January 28th, 2014. 

http://phys.org/news/2014-01-carbon-dates-east-role-human.html

Cultures use myths, scholars misuse them -- Shivaji Singh. OUP, withdraw Witzel's book.

February 6, 2014, 6:05 pm

≫ Next: An aerialview of NaMo rally in Kolkata. Mamata, SoniaG, Leftists, see and weep

≪ Previous: Carbon dates cast doubt on Near East's role in human migration

$

0

0

Cultures use myths, scholars misuse them

by Shivaji Singh

on 07 Feb 2014

Myths are integral to any culture; they give life and vibrancy to the cultures in which they are created. Philosopher-historian Peter Munz observed, “Myths and their motifs invariably constitute the leaven of theweltanschauung of a culture and permeate its fabric and identity in the way matter and form inform the world of reality. But like matter again myths, in their own world, cannot be related to time and space. Ipso factoahistorical, they impart meaning to the intractable mass of unaccounted and unaccountable past by selection, by focusing a few bits of the past which thereby acquired relevance and universal significance” – ‘History and Myth’, Philosophical Quarterly, VI: 1-6, 1956

In fact, cultures are sets of images (Bimba-vidhaana). A culture is, therefore, best defined in terms of the metaphors, symbols and images that it uses, and myths play the lead role in the formation of the mental templates that shape these signs and signals.

Myths, motifs, and mythology

But what are ‘myths’? Myths are legends that relate to divine or semi-divine beings, popular stories describing exploits of gods and goddesses and supreme human beings. They are handed down from earlier times and their truth is accepted without any scrutiny.

Two other categories of legends do not pertain to divinities. One is saga (folk tales), the other marchen (a German word, popularised by folklorists, for fairy tales). These also contribute to the formation of a mythology, but it is mostly and primarily out of myths that mythologies are made. That justifies the name ‘mythology’ and also explains why mythology, the discipline dealing with myths, is called Devasaastra in India.

The ideas and themes that go to make a myth are called its motifs. Myths are culture specific, but motifs – the building blocks of myths – very often transcend cultural boundaries. The motifs, ‘Sky father, Earth mother’, ‘Cosmic Egg’, ‘The Great Flood’, etc., are found equally in Indian mythology and the mythologies of Greece, Egypt, Babylonia, and other countries to various extents.

From mythology to comparative mythology

This observed commonality of mythological motifs gave rise to comparative mythology. In the 19th century, comparative mythological studies became greatly fashionable, mainly to buttress support to the so-called Aryan invasion theory. This theory, as we know, is in crisis today and despite being reformulated again and again by substituting ‘migration’, ‘trickle-in’, in place of invasion, its validity remains extremely doubtful. However, comparative mythology still continues as a convenient weapon to fight ideological battles. The latest in this genre is Harvard Professor Michael Witzel’s recently published The Origins of the World’s Mythologies (Oxford University Press, 2012).

This is a lengthy offering (686 pages), well organised, with clear-cut thematic chapters, copious references and a systematic bibliography. The concept of myth is tolerably well analysed. The author’s previous work in the field is summarized and the manner in which his approach differs from that of his poorvasuuris explained. But there is an hidden agenda, perhaps originating from the author’s ideological and psychological aberrations and a few other drawbacks such as a demonstrably uncalled for attempt on the part of the author to venture into a field for which he is ill-equipped.

Michael Witzel is currently in a precarious situation. The fast flowing anti-Hindu and pro-AIT winds on which he has been flying his kites high have slowed down considerably. He can either step back and admit that he has been talking nonsense all these years, as some think is advisable, or he can move on.

He has chosen the latter course, thanks to a new development in western academics. The growing corpus of work of archaeologists, geologists and population geneticists has contributed to growing knowledge about the prehistoric past and transformed the atmosphere in the Humanities and Social Science departments of universities. Scholars are now more interested in pre-3000 BCE than in the post-3000 BCE era. Witzel has seized this opportunity to shift to an earlier chronological horizon, and hence the study of the origins of the world’s mythologies.

The problem is that he lacks the academic abilities and expertise for this complex field. Witzel chose mythology under the impression that myths are ahistorical and their space-time coordinates can therefore be easily manipulated. But though the time-frame of myths are unknown, they cannot be pushed back in time beyond a limit, a fact that he clearly did not realise as he set out on his academic adventure.

For instance, leave aside 50 to 60 thousand BCE horizons when our earliest ancestors, Homo sapiens sapiens,started moving out of Africa; coming down to as late as the beginning of the Neolithic Age around 10 to 12 thousand BCE, we find that the father-mother relation was unknown. The women folk had the impression that they become pregnant because of bathing in a particular pond or sitting under a certain tree. How could a ‘Sky-father, Earth-mother’ motif develop before that time? Thus there is indeed a time limit beyond which the origin of a specific motif cannot be placed.

Mythology was a poor choice for Witzel if he desired to roam in the misty pre-10,000 BCE world. The origins of language might have been a better choice, given his claimed linguistic expertise, to investigate how Palaeolithic man’s speaking skills developed over time in tune with tool manufacture and such things.

In The Origins of the World’s Mythologies, Witzel misses no opportunity to point out that Gondawana peoples were inferior to Laurasians (present western world), a fact he claims is demonstrated by mythology! This is the genesis of his hatred for Indian traditions - Indians are a Gondwana people!

The Harvard Professor may be excused for his wrong assumptions relating to myths and mythology, he may be pardoned for using discarded models in analysing mythological inter-relationships, but should he be spared for sharing racist ideas? If considering dark-skinned Gondwana peoples as a whole to be inferior to white-skinned Laurasians is not racism, what is racism? Oxford University Press needs to explain its decision to publish such a book.

The author is former Professor and Head, Dept. of Ancient History, Archaeology and Culture, University of Gorakhpur
http://www.vijayvaani.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?aid=3101

---

An aerialview of NaMo rally in Kolkata. Mamata, SoniaG, Leftists, see and weep

February 6, 2014, 6:16 pm

≫ Next: A clay manuscript with cuneiform signs from very different periods -- Cécile Michel

≪ Previous: Cultures use myths, scholars misuse them -- Shivaji Singh. OUP, withdraw Witzel's book.

$

0

0

http://tinyurl.com/n6opyp4

A clay manuscript with cuneiform signs from very different periods -- Cécile Michel

February 6, 2014, 6:38 pm

≫ Next: Determining Cultural Continuity since Vedic and Epic Eras - Seminar 23, 24 Feb. 2014

≪ Previous: An aerialview of NaMo rally in Kolkata. Mamata, SoniaG, Leftists, see and weep

$

0

0

Centre for the Study of Manuscript Cultures (CSMC)

10/2013manuscript of the month

A clay manuscript with cuneiform signs from very different periods

A clay tablet which was inscribed during the 7th century BCE contains a standard list of cuneiform signs in use at the beginning of the 2nd millennium BCE and their supposed corresponding archaic forms in use at the end of the 4th millennium BCE. Why did a scribe of the 1st millennium BCE write down such old signs?

This clay tablet is known because two fragments forming 80% of the original tablet survive. However, their inventory numbers indicate that they were discovered at two different sites. The first fragment (ND 4311), which is preserved in the Iraq Museum in Baghdad, was discovered in 1955 by the archaeological team of Max Mallowan (Agatha Christie’s second husband) in Nimrud, the ancient city of Kalhu, on the Upper Tigris in Iraq. It was found together with 300 tablets in the ruins of the Temple of Nabû, the scribes’ god. This library was established by the Assyrian King Adad-nērārī III (798 BCE), and later enlarged by King Assurbanipal (668-627 BCE).
The second fragment (K. 8520) presumably originates from Kujunjik, the main hill of the ancient city of Niniveh, which is located forty kilometres north of Kalhu on the Tigris. It was brought to the British Museum by George Smith (1840-1876 CE), who was the first scholar to decipher the flood tablet of the Gilgameš epic. How can two fragmentary clay tablets, which presumably originate from two different sites, belong to one and the same manuscript? George Smith went to Niniveh several times between 1873 and 1876. He also visited Kalhu and found several historical texts there. The tablets he brought back to London were all thrown together before reaching the museum, where they were given inventory numbers later on. All tablets were marked with the letter “K”, suggesting that they had been excavated at Kujunjik (Niniveh).

Figure 1. Reproduction of ND 4311 + K. 8520, recto and verso (according to Michel 2011, p. 248, photo montage: Martine Esline) > Enlarge

The tablet, which was presumably written during the 7th century BCE, contains a list of cuneiform signs in use under the reign of Hammurabi of Babylon (18th century BCE) and their supposed form at the very beginning of writing. Writing appeared in southern Mesopotamia around 3400 BCE and resembled a succession of more or less figurative pictorial signs corresponding to words (pictograms). As the signs were drawn on fresh clay which was later dried in the sun, they evolved into a more angular form and looked like mixed wedges, hence the name “cuneiform writing”. This type of writing was used for more than three millennia throughout the Near East to write a dozen of different languages. The Sumerian language was written with logograms (signs representing a word) at end of the 4th millennium BCE. For Akkadian, a Semitic language, a developed form of the Sumerian signs that were used syllabically (middle of the 3rd millennium BCE) were borrowed. The text on our clay tablet belongs to the category of syllabaries (lists of signs corresponding to syllables) and lexical texts that were used as school texts by Mesopotamian scribes. This manuscript shows a list of signs following syllabary “A” (starting with “A” = “water” in Sumerian), as it was used from the middle of the 2nd millennium onwards. The sequence of the signs is based on their graphic forms, phonetic permutations, semantic associations, and even on phonetic similarities of their translations in Akkadian, which means that later lists lost the order of their Sumerian ancestors. This tablet is the third of a series of four tablets (similar to modern book pages) of syllabary “A”.

Figure 2. Copy of the fragment ND 4311 by D. J. Wiseman, published in Wiseman / Black 1996, CTN IV, no. 229 > Enlarge

Such lists were very useful to learn cuneiform writing; they were memorized by students and reproduced. However, the use of very ancient signs suggests that this tablet was not written for the curriculum, but by an erudite scholar, who was fascinated by the long history of cuneiform script and wished to study antique texts. Indeed, the manuscript simultaneously shows two different forms of this writing separated by more than a millennium. Signs are written in four columns (three of them are visible) on each side with each column being separated in two: On the left, pictograms were incised on clay using a pointed tool; on the right, cuneiform signs were imprinted using the angle of a reed stylus.
In order to understand what motivated the scribe who wrote this manuscript, it is important to find out whether the list was the result of a careful historical investigation or whether the pictograms drawn on the tablet were only figments of the scribe’s imagination. When compared with the signs written down on archaic tablets recovered at Uruk (south of Mesopotamia), which date back to the end of the 4th millennium, the pictograms of our manuscript are slightly similar, but they are most often mirror inverted so that their corresponding reading is systematically wrong. They rather look like a speculative image of what the signs of ancient times may have looked like. Maybe our scribe had access to ancient originals but did not understand them. Or he simply imagined the form and meaning of the ancient ancestors of the writing he had inherited and used for his daily work. Over centuries scribes used to copy ancient historical, literary, or scientific texts to keep them in libraries, sometimes adapting them to their own norms. As they were aware that the writing system they used was the result of a long development, some scholars of the 1st millennium – as the scribe of these two fragments – thus tried to recover the most ancient form of the signs. They reinvented them and used them as if they were their own. Indeed, another tablet from the same period even testifies to the attempt to write down a false historical text by using such invented signs!

Figure 3. Reproduction in red clay of the fragment ND 4311 by C. Michel, recto and verso 
(April 2010; Photo: Martine Esline) > Enlarge

References

CAVIGNEAUX, Antoine (1983): “Lexikalische Listen A”. In Reallexikon der Assyriologie, 6, 609-641.

MALLOWAN, Max E. L. (1966): Nimrud and its remains, vol. 1, London: Collins.

MICHEL, Cécile (2011): “Une liste paléographique de signes cunéiformes. Quand les scribes assyriens s’intéressaient aux écritures anciennes…”. In F. Wateau (ed.), with the collaboration of C. Perlès & Ph. Soulier: Profils d’objets, Approches d’anthropologues et d’archéologues, Colloques de la Maison René-Ginouvès 7, Paris: De Boccard, 245-257. > Link

WISEMAN, Donald. J. / BLACK, Jeremy. A. (1996): Literary Texts from the Temple of Nabû, Cuneiform Texts from Nimrud (CTN) IV, Oxford: British School of Archaeology.

Description
Two fragments of an unbaked clay tablet with pictograms and cuneiform signs
Dimensions: ND 4311 (IM 59264) : 11 × 7.5 cm and K. 8520 : 13.3 × 7.6 cm
Provenance: Library of the Nabû Temple, Kalhu (modern Nimrud, Iraq)
Conservation: K. 8520 : British Museum (London) and ND 4311 (IM 59264) : Iraq Museum (Baghdad)
Time of redaction: 8th or 7th century BCE

---

Text by Cécile Michel, CNRS, Histoire et Archéologie de l’Orient Cunéiforme (UMR 7041), Nanterre, France.

©: Fig 1+3: Martine Esline Fig 2: D.J. Wiseman

Determining Cultural Continuity since Vedic and Epic Eras - Seminar 23, 24 Feb. 2014

February 6, 2014, 7:37 pm

≫ Next: Two Akkadian cylinder seals with Meluhha hieroglyphs: ficus, bovid, lion, hill

≪ Previous: A clay manuscript with cuneiform signs from very different periods -- Cécile Michel

$

0

0

Determining Cultural Continuity since Vedic and Epic Eras

Through Sequential Dating of Astronomical References and other Corroborating

Scientific Evidences

[International Seminar to be held on 23rd - 24th February, 2014 in Delhi organized by the Institute of Scientific Research on Vedas (I-SERVE Delhi Chapter)]

.......ATTACHED

http://www.docstoc.com/docs/166632688/international-seminar-pre-invite

international seminar pre-invite

Two Akkadian cylinder seals with Meluhha hieroglyphs: ficus, bovid, lion, hill

February 6, 2014, 11:06 pm

≫ Next: Why is SoniaG UPA spinning lies? 2007 Samjota Express terror was LeT operation -- UN Security Council.

≪ Previous: Determining Cultural Continuity since Vedic and Epic Eras - Seminar 23, 24 Feb. 2014

$

0

0

"Cylinder Seal with King or God and Vanquished Lion" (Old Akkadian)  Greenstone. Diam: 13/16 in. (2.1 cm) The Walters Art Museum.  Accession  Number: 42.674 The scene on this seal features a central motif of a leaf stylized as a tree. On one side, a bearded hero is holding an inverted bovid; on the other, a bull man is holding an inverted lion. There are cuneiform inscriptions running through the scene in two places.

With Naram-Sin, the king not only being called "Lord of the Four Quarters (of the Earth)", but also elevated to the ranks of the dingir (= gods). There is a Meluhha cognate: ṭhākur with variants ḍhangar 'blacksmith'. On this seal, the bull is the hero (hieroglyph ḍangar bull is rebus: ḍhangar 'blacksmith')  subduing lion. (hieroglyph aryeh‘lion’ rebus: arā  ‘brass’). 

The centerpiece hieroglyph is: kuṭi ‘tree’ rebus: kuṭhi‘smelter furnace’ (Santali) kamaṛkom = fig leaf (Santali.) kamarmaṛā (Has.), kamaṛkom (Nag.); the petiole or stalk of a leaf (Mundari) kamaḍha 'ficus religiosa' (Sanskrit) Rebus: kammaṭa‘coiner, mint, a portable furnace for melting precious metals (Telugu) kampaṭṭa ‘mint’ (Ma.) kampaṭṭamcoinage, coin (Tamil); kammaṭṭam, kammiṭṭam coinage, mint (Malayalam); kammatia coiner (Kannada)(DEDR 1236) kammaṭa = coinage, mint (Ka.M.) kampaṭṭa-k-kūṭam mint; kampaṭṭa-k-kāraṉ-coiner; kampaṭṭa- muḷai die, coining stamp (Tamil)

Cylinder seal impression, Mesopotamia. The bulls/bullmen flank a mountain topped by a leaf. British Museum No. 89308 ḍāngā = hill, dry upland (B.); ḍã̄g mountain-ridge (H.)(CDIAL 5476). Rebus: dhangar‘blacksmith’ (Maithili) ḍangar‘blacksmith’(Hindi) loa ‘ficus religiosa’ Rebus: lo ‘copper’. dula‘pair’ Rebus: dul ‘cast (metal)’. Thus, a cast (metal) coppersmith. 

Thus, the central message: kamaḍha 'ficus religiosa' (Sanskrit) Rebus: kammaṭa ‘coiner, mint' (Telugu).

See: Meluhha hieroglyphs. 4,000 year-old seal and weight unearthed in Rajasthan -- VN Prabhakar, ASI (February 2014 report) of the find. http://bharatkalyan97.blogspot.in/2014/02/4000-year-old-seal-and-weight-unearthed.html for the locus of Meluhha metallurgists on Sarasvati River Basin. The above cylinder seals are two examples of takṣat vāk 'incised speech'.

I suggest that the writing system using Meluhha hieroglyphs read rebus was a celebration of the bronze age with Meluhha artisans revolutionizing the interaction area of two doabs -- Mesopotamia and Sarasvati-Sindhu doab -- with alloying and lost-wax casting techniques in metallurgy. 

S. Kalyanaraman

Sarasvati Research Center

February 7, 2014

Why is SoniaG UPA spinning lies? 2007 Samjota Express terror was LeT operation -- UN Security Council.

February 7, 2014, 1:43 am

≫ Next: Emilie, sahadharmini of Subhas. Congress leaders spread calumny about Netaji -- Madhuri Bose

≪ Previous: Two Akkadian cylinder seals with Meluhha hieroglyphs: ficus, bovid, lion, hill

$

0

0

http://www.un.org/sc/committees/1267/NSQI27109E.shtml

Security Council Committee pursuant to resolutions
1267 (1999) and 1989 (2011) concerning Al-Qaida
and associated individuals and entities

 

QI.Q.271.09. ARIF QASMANI

Date on which the narrative summary became available on the Committee’s website: 14.09.2009

Arif Qasmani was listed on 29 June 2009 pursuant to paragraphs 1 and 2 of resolution 1822 (2008) as being associated with Al-Qaida, Usama bin Laden or the Taliban for “participating in the financing, planning, facilitating, preparing or perpetrating of acts or activities by, in conjunction with, under the name of, on behalf or in support of”; "supplying, selling or transferring arms and related materiel to" or "otherwise supporting acts or activities of" Lashkar-e-Tayyiba (QE.L.118.05) and Al-Qaida (QE.A.4.01).

Additional information:

Arif Qasmani is the chief coordinator of Lashkar-e-Tayyiba’s (LeT) (QE.L.118.05) dealings with other organizations and has provided significant support for LeT terrorist operations. Qasmani has worked with LeT to facilitate terrorist attacks, including the July 2006 train bombing in Mumbai, India, and the February 2007 Samjota Express bombing in Panipat, India. Qasmani utilized money that he received from Dawood Ibrahim Kaskar (QI.K.135.03), an Indian crime figure and listed terrorism supporter, to facilitate the July 2006 train bombing in Mumbai, India. Qasmani also conducted fundraising activities on behalf of LeT in late 2005.

Arif Qasmani has also provided financial and other support to Al-Qaida (QE.A.4.01). As of late 2006, Qasmani provided funding to Al-Qaida members and facilitated the return of foreign fighters to their respective countries. Between 2004 and 2005, Qasmani provided Al-Qaida with supplies and weapons and facilitated the movement of Al-Qaida leaders in and out of Afghanistan. In return for Qasmani’s support, Al-Qaida provided him with operatives to support the July 2006 train bombing in Mumbai, India, and the February 2007 Samjota Express bombing in Panipat, India. Qasmani also facilitated the movement of Al-Qaida personnel out of Afghanistan in 2001. In 2005, Arif Qasmani provided Taliban leaders with a means to smuggle personnel, equipment and weapons into Afghanistan.

Related listed individuals and entities:

Al-Qaida (QE.A.4.01), listed on 6 October 2001
Lashkar-e-Tayyiba (QE.L.118.05), listed on 2 May 2005
Dawood Ibrahim Kaskar (QI.K.135.03), listed on 3 November 2003
Hafiz Muhammad Saeed (QI.S.263.08), listed on 10 December 2008
Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi (QI.L.264.08), listed on 10 December 2008
Haji Muhammad Ashraf (QI.A.265.08), listed on 10 December 2008
Mahmoud Mohammad Ahmed Bahaziq (QI.B.266.08), listed on 10 December 2008
Mohammed Yahya Mujahid (QI.M.272.09), listed on 29 June 2009
Hafiz Abdul Salam Bhuttavi (QI.B.307.12), listed on 14 March 2012
Zafar Iqbal (QI.I.308.12), listed on 14 March 2012

‘The Caravan’ magazine carried a report, said to be given by Swami Asseemanand, with baseless allegation, on involvement of RSS Chief in the blasts carried out in Samjhauta Express. 

“This is a political conspiracy. Aseemanand has clarified he never said this. We have to see the timing," said RSS leader Ram Madhav. 

"We condemn this attempt to bring back the false allegations. Such false allegations were made earlier to defame RSS leadership but they were proved to wrong. Aseemanand, in the court and outside, denied making such statements. Questions arise on the authenticity of the interview. The timing of the interview poses a political conspiracy.

Senior RSS functionary MG Vaidya said that allegation by a media about Aseemanand ji’s statement is baseless. “All of it is a lie, imagination. Such acts will not be done by RSS. The Sangh does not tell someone to explode bombs; its job is character building, creating history. It has no connection with terror”, he said.

NIA sources say during probe Aseemanand did not name any senior RSS leader. 

Aseemanand's lawyer J S Rana had issued a statement on Wednesdaycategorically stating that the content of the article was a bundle of lies. The lawyer also said that his client denied having given any such interview and threatened to take legal action against the magazine and its correspondent.

--
Posted By VSK, Chennai to Vishwa Samvad Kendra - Chennai at 2/06/2014 05:25:00 PM

Swami Aseemanand fallout: Hindu Sena protests outside Caravan office

by 56 mins ago

The Caravan magazine, which has created a furore with its latest cover story on jailed RSS activist Swami Aseemanand, is seeing protests outside its New Delhi office, with workers from the RSS and Hindu Sena shouting slogans and burning copies of the magazine's latest issue. 

Earlier Caravan Executive editor Vinod K Jose tweeted  that both its Delhi and Mumbai offices have been receiving threatening calls.

Threat calls to @thecaravanindia in the Delhi and Bombay offices

- Vinod K. Jose (@vinodjose) February 7, 2014

 

]The Caravan cover story

In the story, Aseemanand is quoted as saying that some of the worst recent terror attacks in India, including the bombing of the Samjhauta Express in 2007, which collectively killed more than 100 people, were sanctioned by the RSS. And even worse, he says that RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat was in the know and had given the plans a tacit nod of approval.

The report says:

According to Aseemanand, both RSS leaders approved, and Bhagwat told him, “You can work on this with Sunil. We will not be involved, but if you are doing this, you can consider us to be with you.”

Aseemanand continued, “Then they told me, ‘Swamiji, if you do this we will be at ease with it. Nothing wrong will happen then. Criminalisation nahin hoga (It will not be criminalised). If you do it, then people won't say that we did a crime for the sake of committing a crime. It will be connected to the ideology. This is very important for Hindus. Please do this. You have our blessings.'”

Both the BJP and RSS have completely denied the veracity of the report. The BJP has called the story a Congress sponsored plot to take votes away from the party ahead of the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, and the RSS have said that the interview never actually happened as claimed by the Caravan journalist.

Aseemanand for his part has issued a handwritten statement in which he has claimed that he did not give any interview to the Caravan magazine. He claimed that a reporter disguised as a lawyer came to meet him on a few occasions but he never took the names of Mohan Bhagwat name or RSS leader Indresh Singh, reported CNN-IBN which has accessed the letter.

Aseemanand in the letter has described the sequence of events and said that she had approached him on various occasions, but he had always denied speaking to her. He also said that she approached him to talk about the social work he was involved in.

Caravan magazine has stood by its article and released two audio recordings of the interview, both of which can be accessed here, where Aseemanand recollects the discussion he had held with the top RSS leaders when they came to visit him in Shabari Dham, Gujarat.

Executive editor Jose has also strongly defended the post. He tweeted, "4 interviews. 9 hr 26 mint long interviews. no sting. no entrapment. genuine, meticulous, persuasive, old-school investigative journalism. Aseemanand has over 20 lawyers in 5 terror cases in 5 states. I hope TV journalists are vetting these lawyers enough. Interviews are genuine. Check our records. Check the jail register. And listen to our tapes.No entrapment/sting. We believe in the real old-fashioned methods of going to people and documents without hiding our identity."

People attributing motives to @thecaravanindia should know the Cong is so guarded to even commit to an investigation http://t.co/taDezkYVx0

- Vinod K. Jose (@vinodjose) February 6, 2014

http://www.firstpost.com/politics/swami-aseemanand-fallout-hindu-sena-protests-outside-caravan-office-1378539.html