Indians ride gold price fall to import 162 t in May, as a lonely FM chases CAD goal with advice to banks |
Mumbai, Jun 6 (PTI): The surging imports of gold are unsustainable, Finance Minister P Chidambaram said on Thursday while advising banks to tell customers not to invest in the precious metal. “Banks have a role to play in dampening the enthusiasm for gold...I would urge all banks to please advise their branches that they should not encourage their customers to invest in or buy gold”, he said while addressing the annual general meeting of the Indian Banks' Association (IBA). He pointed out that the monthly average gold import in the current financial year is already 152 tonnes, against 80 tonnes a month last year. The Reserve Bank of India, Chidambaram said, has already “advised banks they should not sell gold coins...I hope a day will come when we regard gold as any other metal, it just shines a little more than copper or bronze.” With the spiralling gold imports putting huge pressure on the current account deficit (CAD), on Thursday the government had increased the import duty on gold to 8 per cent, from 6 per cent earlier. This was the second hike in the duty within six months. The government had last raised the import duty on gold from 4 per cent to 6 per cent in January. Expressing concern over rising CAD, Chidambaram said, “gold imports have been a major contributor of the CAD. With the sharp drop in gold prices, millions were happy. “I am afraid I was not among the millions. I told the (RBI) Governor that the drop in gold prices internationally is a bad news for India. Our fears came true,” he said. Gold imports surged in April and May following fall in prices in the international market. “In April we imported 142 tonnes of gold, in May we imported 162 tonnes of gold. Last year's monthly average was 70 tonnes of gold, this year in the first two months, the average is 152 tonnes of gold,” he said, questioning “how do we sustain? How can we finance these gold imports?” Chidambaram said that in view of the surging gold imports, both the RBI and government had no option but to take stronger measures. In order to check gold import, the RBI had put in place regulations under which gold can be imported on a consignment basis only to meet the genuine demands of jewellery exporters. It has also increased margin money to 100 per cent. The Finance Minister also expressed confidence that India would be able to finance its CAD from foreign investments without touching its reserves. ”I hope that in future also by encouraging foreign investment we will be able to finance the CAD without drawing down on our foreign exchange reserve,” he said. He was also hopeful that with fall in inflation other financial instruments would become attractive and “divert some of the disproportionate attention in gold to fixed income instruments”. Earlier this month, the government came out with the first issue of inflation-indexed bonds, which aims at discouraging gold investments. Chidambaram also asked banks to pass on the benefit of RBI rate cut to borrowers as inflation eases. ”As CPI inflation and deposit rates fall, I would urge Commercial banks to translate monetary policy to retail borrowers and firms through lower lending rates”. The Finance Minister said that both the wholesale price based inflation as well as core inflation have fallen sharply, even though the retail or CPI inflation is still high. ”Food inflation is still elevated, but I hope it will come down with the harvest of rabi crop,” he said. Referring to the decline in the fiscal deficit to 4.9 per cent of GDP in 2012-13, he said “it will be quite easy to achieve the fiscal deficit (target) of 4.8 per cent in 2013-14. We will have to be better than what we have targeted”. The minister, however said to bring down the deficit, government will not resort to expenditure compression. He said the finance ministry has asked other ministries to get approvals for their budgeted expenditures in the first quarter itself. Referring to the Cabinet Committee on Investment (CCI), Chidambaram said the high level body would speed up stalled projects in the coming quarters and this would revive investments. “We need to do a lot more to revive investment. The CCI in its four months has cleared projects worth 1.3 per cent of GDP,” he said. In wake of the “low” 4.8 per cent GDP growth in March quarter of the last fiscal, Chidambaram said the decline in growth should be seen in the context of fiscal tightening in the second half of 2012-13. |
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You don't get it, PC. Indian mothers do not trust SoniaG UPA to manage the financial system.
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Money laundering: US Justice Dept. pursues HSBC. Argentina invites money launderers. SoniaG UPA, Will you move to restitute India's black money?
Money Laundering
U.S. Justice Department chooses former prosecutor to be HSBC compliance monitor
Reuters, June 6, 2013
By Brett Wolf
Reuters, June 6, 2013
By Brett Wolf
The U.S. Justice Department on Wednesday said it has chosen a former New York County prosecutor who is known for his innovative pursuit of criminals to police HSBC’s efforts to clean up its anti-money laundering program.
The Department’s decision to announce its choice at a time when a federal judge’s hesitation to sign-off on its settlement with HSBC has raised questions over the settlement’s prospects suggests the move is an attempt to win the judge’s approval, compliance experts said.
Argentina rates rogue status for money laundering scheme
The Post and Courier, June 6, 2013
By Douglas Farah
The Post and Courier, June 6, 2013
By Douglas Farah
Argentina’s President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner has hit on a novel way to try to alleviate her self-inflicted economic free fall and acute shortage of hard currency — invite money launderers from around the world to put their dollars in Argentine banks with no questions asked.
That’s not, of course, the official plan. But this month’s move is the latest in a series of steps that seem more rooted in magical thinking than in economic reality that have pushed Argentina ever closer to financial ruin and international pariah status. The government-sponsored amnesty to allow any amount of dollars from anywhere in the world to find a home in Argentina, with no questions asked, was passed into law last week.
U.S. Justice Department chooses former prosecutor to be HSBC compliance monitor
Argentina rates rogue status for money laundering scheme
WASHINGTON — Argentina’s President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner has hit on a novel way to try to alleviate her self-inflicted economic free fall and acute shortage of hard currency — invite money launderers from around the world to put their dollars in Argentine banks with no questions asked.
That’s not, of course, the official plan. But this month’s move is the latest in a series of steps that seem more rooted in magical thinking than in economic reality that have pushed Argentina ever closer to financial ruin and international pariah status. The government-sponsored amnesty to allow any amount of dollars from anywhere in the world to find a home in Argentina, with no questions asked, was passed into law last week. The justification is the need for hard currency because the current economic policies have driven up the value of the black-market dollar to 10 pesos while the official exchange remains pegged at 5 pesos.
In recent months, the Fernández de Kirchner government has imposed import and export policies that have led to chaos, shortages, massive capital flight and a 20 percent fall in foreign reserves. The president has ramped up her attacks on the independent media while spending hundreds of millions of government dollars on advertising to shore up official media outlets, while moving aggressively to neuter the independent judiciary that has consistently blocked her worst impulses from becoming law.
In its foreign relations, Argentina, through expropriations and contempt for international law, has antagonized traditional allies such as Brazil, Spain and the United States — while growing ever closer to Iran, a U.S.-designated state sponsor of terrorism allied with Venezuela and Cuba. Argentina has become a major way station for Bolivian and Peruvian cocaine headed to West Africa and then onward to Europe, while the government’s anti-U.S. rhetoric has grown increasingly strident. The International Monetary Fund has threatened to suspend Argentina for falsifying economic data.
The architects of these unorthodox policies are a group of messianic young presidential advisers and government officials known as “La Cámpora,” who believe they are the vanguard of a transformational generation that will help Argentina regain its rightful place as a world leader. Their leader is Máximo Kirchner, the president’s son. One of the Camporista’s leaders is Cecilia Nahón, appointed ambassador to the United States at the end of last year.
The Camporistas take their name from Héctor José Cámpora, an unconditional ally of the late dictator Juan Domingo Perón and of the armed radical left wing of Peronist movement that became the Montonero guerrillas. Cámpora served as president for 49 days in 1973, just long enough to sign an amnesty to allow Perón, then living in exile, to return and run for president.
Most of the Camporistas cut their political teeth in radical university politics in the early 2000s as the country in 2001 defaulted on some $100 billion in sovereign debt and fell into chaos. Now they offer a blend of Marxism, fascism and utopian policies that has led to Argentina’s free fall rather than its rebirth. The group, with Máximo’s support and the president’s ear, has taken over many of the most important government revenue sources, including the national airline, Aerolineas Argentinas, which, since being re-nationalized, loses $2 million a day and operates with virtually no accountability or oversight, according to airline audits and investigative reports.
It is this casual disregard for the rule of law and the rules of economics that make the decision to open the financial sector to billions of dollars in suspicious money so alarming. Earlier this year, before the law was proposed, the State Department had already expressed concern that “money laundering related to narcotics trafficking, corruption, contraband and tax evasion occurs throughout the financial system.”
The president’s own auditor general asked the Senate not to pass the law “because of the opening it entails for the possibility of laundering,” he said, and called the measure a huge invitation for criminal groups to have their money “legitimized through fictitious companies.”
But with vital midterm elections coming up in October — and The Project, as the Camporistas call their long-term plan of political domination (their motto is “Let’s go for everything”), at risk — it is unlikely the Fernández de Kirchner government will modify its course. With her popularity sliding, corruption scandals simmering, and inflation rising, she is likely to continue to pour money into failed policies to stave of collapse until after that vote.
Fernández de Kirchner has decided to operate outside the rule of law and international standards of accountability and transparency. It is time for the U.S. and others to begin treating her government as the rogue state it has become.
Douglas Farah, a senior fellow at the International Assessment and Strategy Center in Alexandria, Va., is the author of the recent studies “Back to the Future: Argentina Unravels” and “La Cámpora in Argentina: The Rise of a New Vanguard Generation and the Road to Ruin.”WASHINGTON — Argentina’s President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner has hit on a novel way to try to alleviate her self-inflicted economic free fall and acute shortage of hard currency — invite money launderers from around the world to put their dollars in Argentine banks with no questions asked.
That’s not, of course, the official plan. But this month’s move is the latest in a series of steps that seem more rooted in magical thinking than in economic reality that have pushed Argentina ever closer to financial ruin and international pariah status. The government-sponsored amnesty to allow any amount of dollars from anywhere in the world to find a home in Argentina, with no questions asked, was passed into law last week. The justification is the need for hard currency because the current economic policies have driven up the value of the black-market dollar to 10 pesos while the official exchange remains pegged at 5 pesos.
In recent months, the Fernández de Kirchner government has imposed import and export policies that have led to chaos, shortages, massive capital flight and a 20 percent fall in foreign reserves. The president has ramped up her attacks on the independent media while spending hundreds of millions of government dollars on advertising to shore up official media outlets, while moving aggressively to neuter the independent judiciary that has consistently blocked her worst impulses from becoming law.
In its foreign relations, Argentina, through expropriations and contempt for international law, has antagonized traditional allies such as Brazil, Spain and the United States — while growing ever closer to Iran, a U.S.-designated state sponsor of terrorism allied with Venezuela and Cuba. Argentina has become a major way station for Bolivian and Peruvian cocaine headed to West Africa and then onward to Europe, while the government’s anti-U.S. rhetoric has grown increasingly strident. The International Monetary Fund has threatened to suspend Argentina for falsifying economic data.
The architects of these unorthodox policies are a group of messianic young presidential advisers and government officials known as “La Cámpora,” who believe they are the vanguard of a transformational generation that will help Argentina regain its rightful place as a world leader. Their leader is Máximo Kirchner, the president’s son. One of the Camporista’s leaders is Cecilia Nahón, appointed ambassador to the United States at the end of last year.
The Camporistas take their name from Héctor José Cámpora, an unconditional ally of the late dictator Juan Domingo Perón and of the armed radical left wing of Peronist movement that became the Montonero guerrillas. Cámpora served as president for 49 days in 1973, just long enough to sign an amnesty to allow Perón, then living in exile, to return and run for president.
Most of the Camporistas cut their political teeth in radical university politics in the early 2000s as the country in 2001 defaulted on some $100 billion in sovereign debt and fell into chaos. Now they offer a blend of Marxism, fascism and utopian policies that has led to Argentina’s free fall rather than its rebirth. The group, with Máximo’s support and the president’s ear, has taken over many of the most important government revenue sources, including the national airline, Aerolineas Argentinas, which, since being re-nationalized, loses $2 million a day and operates with virtually no accountability or oversight, according to airline audits and investigative reports.
It is this casual disregard for the rule of law and the rules of economics that make the decision to open the financial sector to billions of dollars in suspicious money so alarming. Earlier this year, before the law was proposed, the State Department had already expressed concern that “money laundering related to narcotics trafficking, corruption, contraband and tax evasion occurs throughout the financial system.”
The president’s own auditor general asked the Senate not to pass the law “because of the opening it entails for the possibility of laundering,” he said, and called the measure a huge invitation for criminal groups to have their money “legitimized through fictitious companies.”
But with vital midterm elections coming up in October — and The Project, as the Camporistas call their long-term plan of political domination (their motto is “Let’s go for everything”), at risk — it is unlikely the Fernández de Kirchner government will modify its course. With her popularity sliding, corruption scandals simmering, and inflation rising, she is likely to continue to pour money into failed policies to stave of collapse until after that vote.
Fernández de Kirchner has decided to operate outside the rule of law and international standards of accountability and transparency. It is time for the U.S. and others to begin treating her government as the rogue state it has become.
Douglas Farah, a senior fellow at the International Assessment and Strategy Center in Alexandria, Va., is the author of the recent studies “Back to the Future: Argentina Unravels” and “La Cámpora in Argentina: The Rise of a New Vanguard Generation and the Road to Ruin.”
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Ancient Egyptian Gerzeh nickel-iron bead 'from meteorite', say researchers
ba-ne-pe metal of heaven, iron
THE USE OF METEORITES BY THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS
Archeologists have found objects made from meteoritic iron in about a dozen Near Eastern localities that date from before the first millennium B.C.
Three of these are in Egypt.
| LOCATION | DATE (BC) | OBJECTS | ANALYSIS |
| Gerzeh (2 graves) | 3500-3300 | 9 Tubular Beads | 7.5% NI |
| Deir-el-Bahari (tomb) | 2050-2025 | Thin blade from amulet | Ni/Fe1/10 |
| Thebes (tomb-Tut) | 1340 | dagger blade; 16 miniature blades; model headrest |
Many are not aware that 18 items of meteoritic iron have been found in the tomb of Tutankhamen (item 3 above).
In the 1800's, Egyptologist Franz von Lauth proposed that the first iron that was worked into tools by the ancient Egyptians was of meteoritic origin. The Coptic word "banipe" (ferrum) first component "ba" he thought meant iron. Also the word "ne-pe" meant heaven and thus the word "ba-ne-pe" he said meant "metal of heaven, thus meteoritic iron.
In 1911 Wainwright discovered nine iron beads in two pre-dynastic Egyptian graves at Gerzeh, about 50 miles south of Cairo. Several years later, it was determined that they contained 7.5 percent nickel, thus of meteoritic origin.
Wainwright also said that the "Opening of the Mouth", a pre-burial ceremony, done by priests in pre-dynastic times, was done using a forked flint knife. Later in the early dynastic period this flint knife was replaced by a stone knife. Later they used a chisel called "the mdtft of biz", and that miniature ceremonial tools found in the tomb of Tutankhamen were chisel blades - replicas of the actual iron chisels employed in the rite. He suggested also that the widespread use of meteoritic iron preceded the coming of iron metallurgy. Let us quote Wainright.
"Thus, then, iron in Egypt as in many other countries was obtained from meteorites long before the Iron Age set in. Moreover, the word "biz" proves to have stood primarily for iron, or rather meteoritic material in general, whether iron, or stone, or a conglomerate of the two. From this proceed the uses to which "biz" was put by the priests, and the secondary meanings which the word took on.
" Others disagree with Wainwright's hypothesis. R. J. Forbes said that "Meteoritic iron could never be a great factor in the rise of metallurgy, for, in the absence of chemical knowledge, the connection between it and iron ores must have remained unknown. More scholars today tend to agree more with Forbes.
The Director of the Giza Pyramid Research Association, who has been a meteorite collector for years, tends to agree with Wainwright's hypothesis. We are not sure that the ancient Egyptian's did not have this chemical knowledge at that time or developed it due to the use of meteorites. Obviously, more studies need to be done and hopefully we will uncover more ancient objects in Egypt of meteoritic origin.http://www.gizapyramid.com/meteorite.htm
3 June 2013 Last updated at 14:39 GMT
Ancient Egyptian bead 'from meteorite', say researchers
Researchers used an electron microscope and X-ray scanner for analysisPublished May 31, 2013
Talk about heaven sent—a 5,000-year-old iron bead found in a grave in Gerzeh, about 43 miles south of Cairo, Egypt, has been analyzed and found to be made from a meteorite.
According to the journal Meteoritics & Planetary Science, the bead represents the earliest known use of iron in Egypt. "The sky was very important to the ancient Egyptians," Joyce Tyldesley, a co-author of the study, told Nature News. "Something that falls from the sky is going to be considered as a gift from the gods."
The few iron artifacts discovered previously were associated with high-status graves like that of the Pharaoh Tutankhamun. The Gerzeh bead was examined with optical imaging, as well as with an electron scanning microscope and a CT scanner. The nickel-rich areas in the virtual model (bottom, left) are colored blue and indicative of its meteoritic origin. http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2013/05/130531-egyptian-bead-meteorite-jewelry-science--gerzeh/
Analysis of an iron bead has proved ancient Egyptians created jewellery from meteorites, experts have said.
Researchers at the Open University and University of Manchester have made the claim following analysis of the bead, which dates from 3,350 to 3,600BC.
Previously, it had been claimed the 2cm bead was a product of smelting.
However, researchers found the bead had a "nickel-rich chemical composition [which] confirms its meteorite origins", a Manchester spokesman said.
The bead, which was excavated from a burial site south of Cairo in 1911, dates from around 2,500 years before the Iron Age and predates the rise of the Pharaohs by around 400 years.
The spokesman said the jewellery, known as the Gerzeh bead after the name of the site, was the "earliest discovered use of iron by the Egyptians".
'Unique fingerprint'
The bead forms part of Manchester Museum's Egyptology collection and was loaned to the University of Manchester and Open University for analysis.
It was suggested in a study in the 1920s that it may have come from a meteorite, but that was rejected by experts in the 1980s who said accidental early smelting could also have been the origin of the mix of iron and nickel.
Scholars from Manchester and the Open University used a combination of an electron microscope and an X-ray scanner to prove the mix of the metals could only have come from a meteorite, the spokesman said.
The University of Manchester's Professor Philip Withers said the composition was identifiable as "meteorites have a unique micro-structural and chemical fingerprint because they cooled incredibly slowly as they travelled through space".
He added that it was "really interesting to find that fingerprint turn up in Egyptian artefacts".
Dr Joyce Tyldesley, a senior lecturer in Egyptology, said meteorite iron would have had profound significance for the ancient Egyptians.
"Today, we see iron first and foremost as a practical, rather dull metal [but] to the ancient Egyptians, it was a rare and beautiful material which, as it fell from the sky, surely had some magical or religious properties," she said.
"They therefore used this remarkable metal to create small objects of beauty and religious significance which were so important to them that they chose to include them in their graves."
Egyptian bead made out of meteorite iron
![]( "Gerzeh iron bead, 3,350 to 3,600 B.C.")
There are Egyptian artifacts made out of iron that predate evidence of iron smelting in Egypt by thousands of years. The oldest of these are a group of nine tube-shaped beads found in a cemetery in the town of Gerzeh, about 44 miles south of Cairo, and now part of the permanent collection of University of Manchester’s Manchester Museum. They date to between 3350 and 3600 B.C. Since their discovery in 1911, the Gerzeh beads have been subject of studies to determine the source of the iron. In 1928, researchers determined that the beads had the high nickel content characteristic of meteorite iron. Scholars in the 1980s hypothesized that the artifacts may have been the products of accidental smelting. More recent studies found low nickel content on the oxidized bead surface which suggested a terrestrial origin.A new study by researchers at the at the Open University and the University of Manchester answers the question conclusively: the Gerzeh bead was made from a meteorite. They were not allowed to cut the bead open to test its innards, of course. Instead they used an electron microscope and an X-Ray CT scanner to collect data on the surface and interior of the bead. They found small pockets where the oxidized surface of the bead had crumbled giving them a glimpse into the metal inside. These “little windows,” as Diane Johnson, a meteorite scientist at the Open University in Milton Keynes, UK, calls them, revealed that the original, non-weathered metal was high in nickel content. As much as 30% of the metal inside the bead was composed of nickel, which strongly suggests a celestial origin.![]( "Gerzeh bead photograph (upper left), computed tomography model (bottom left), X-ray (upper right), CT scan (lower right)")
Researchers also found that the iron had a crystalline structure called a Widmanstätten pattern, a hallmark only found in meteorite iron that has cooled very slowly inside asteroids before breaking off into meteoroids. The team used computed tomography to create a 3D model of the bead with the high-nickel areas in electric blue and the oxidized surface in rust red. They plugged in the data collected from the scans and found that evidence that the bead had been made by hammering a fragment of iron into a thin plate and then curling it around into a cylindrical tube. No smelting, accidental or otherwise, needed.These early iron artifacts were accorded high value by the ancient Egyptians probably of their heavenly origin. They are only found in tombs of high-status people, including the tomb of pharaoh Tutankhamun. Metal that falls from the sky was seen as a gift from the gods, the kind of material which, when included among grave goods, could ensure the deceased makes a swift voyage to the afterlife. It’s possible they may have thought pieces of meteorite iron were pieces of the gods themselves. By the time of the pharaohs, religious texts note that gods have bones made out of iron.Co-author Dr Joyce Tyldesley, a Senior Lecturer in Egyptology at The University of Manchester, said: “Today, we see iron first and foremost as a practical, rather dull metal. To the ancient Egyptians, however, it was a rare and beautiful material which, as it fell from the sky, surely had some magical/religious properties. They therefore used this remarkable metal to create small objects of beauty and religious significance which were so important to them that they chose to include them in their graves.”
There are Egyptian artifacts made out of iron that predate evidence of iron smelting in Egypt by thousands of years. The oldest of these are a group of nine tube-shaped beads found in a cemetery in the town of Gerzeh, about 44 miles south of Cairo, and now part of the permanent collection of University of Manchester’s Manchester Museum. They date to between 3350 and 3600 B.C. Since their discovery in 1911, the Gerzeh beads have been subject of studies to determine the source of the iron. In 1928, researchers determined that the beads had the high nickel content characteristic of meteorite iron. Scholars in the 1980s hypothesized that the artifacts may have been the products of accidental smelting. More recent studies found low nickel content on the oxidized bead surface which suggested a terrestrial origin.A new study by researchers at the at the Open University and the University of Manchester answers the question conclusively: the Gerzeh bead was made from a meteorite. They were not allowed to cut the bead open to test its innards, of course. Instead they used an electron microscope and an X-Ray CT scanner to collect data on the surface and interior of the bead. They found small pockets where the oxidized surface of the bead had crumbled giving them a glimpse into the metal inside. These “little windows,” as Diane Johnson, a meteorite scientist at the Open University in Milton Keynes, UK, calls them, revealed that the original, non-weathered metal was high in nickel content. As much as 30% of the metal inside the bead was composed of nickel, which strongly suggests a celestial origin.
Researchers also found that the iron had a crystalline structure called a Widmanstätten pattern, a hallmark only found in meteorite iron that has cooled very slowly inside asteroids before breaking off into meteoroids. The team used computed tomography to create a 3D model of the bead with the high-nickel areas in electric blue and the oxidized surface in rust red. They plugged in the data collected from the scans and found that evidence that the bead had been made by hammering a fragment of iron into a thin plate and then curling it around into a cylindrical tube. No smelting, accidental or otherwise, needed.These early iron artifacts were accorded high value by the ancient Egyptians probably of their heavenly origin. They are only found in tombs of high-status people, including the tomb of pharaoh Tutankhamun. Metal that falls from the sky was seen as a gift from the gods, the kind of material which, when included among grave goods, could ensure the deceased makes a swift voyage to the afterlife. It’s possible they may have thought pieces of meteorite iron were pieces of the gods themselves. By the time of the pharaohs, religious texts note that gods have bones made out of iron.
Ancient Egyptians made jewelry from meteorites
Published June 01, 2013
LiveScience
An ancient Egyptian iron bead found inside a 5,000-year-old tomb was crafted from a meteorite, new research shows.
The tube-shaped piece of jewelry was first discovered in 1911 at the Gerzeh cemetery, roughly 40 miles south of Cairo. Dating between 3350 B.C. and 3600 B.C., beads found at the burial site represent the first known examples of iron use in ancient Egypt, thousands of years before Egypt's Iron Age. And their cosmic origins were suspected from the start.
'To the ancient Egyptians, it was a rare and beautiful material which surely had some magical properties.'
- Joyce Tyldesley, an Egyptologist at the University of Manchester
Soon after the beads were discovered, researchers showed that the metal jewelry was rich in nickel, a signature of iron meteorites. But in the 1980s, academics cast doubt on the beads' celestial source, arguing that the high nickel content could have been the result of smelting. [Fallen Stars: A Gallery of Famous Meteorites![]()
]
]Scientists from the Open University and the University of Manchester recently analyzed one of the beads with an electron microscope and an X-ray CT scanner. They say the nickel-rich chemical composition of the bead's original metal confirms its meteorite![]()
origins.
origins.What's more, the researchers say the bead had a Widmansttten pattern, a distinctive crystal structure found only in meteorites that cooled at an extremely slow rate inside asteroids when the solar system was forming, according to Nature![]()
. Further investigation also showed that the bead was not molded under heat, but rather hammered into shape by cold-working.
. Further investigation also showed that the bead was not molded under heat, but rather hammered into shape by cold-working.The first record of iron smelting in ancient Egypt comes from the sixth century B.C., and iron artifacts from before that time are quite rare, Nature reported.
"Today, we see iron![]()
first and foremost as a practical, rather dull metal," study researcher Joyce Tyldesley, an Egyptologist at the University of Manchester, said in a statement. "To the ancient Egyptians, however, it was a rare and beautiful material which, as it fell from the sky, surely had some magical/religious properties."
first and foremost as a practical, rather dull metal," study researcher Joyce Tyldesley, an Egyptologist at the University of Manchester, said in a statement. "To the ancient Egyptians, however, it was a rare and beautiful material which, as it fell from the sky, surely had some magical/religious properties."The iron beads' inclusion in burials also suggests this material was deeply important to ancient Egyptians, Tyldesley added.
Strange as the find may seem, it's not the first time scientists have uncovered the cosmic origins of an ancient artifact.
Back in September, German researchers found that a heavy Buddha statue![]()
brought to Europe by the Nazis was carved from a meteorite between the eighth and 10th centuries. They even linked it to a specific space rock the Chinga meteorite, which scientists believe fell to Earth 10,000 to 20,000 years ago and left a scattering of space rocks around the Siberian and Mongolian border.
brought to Europe by the Nazis was carved from a meteorite between the eighth and 10th centuries. They even linked it to a specific space rock the Chinga meteorite, which scientists believe fell to Earth 10,000 to 20,000 years ago and left a scattering of space rocks around the Siberian and Mongolian border.The new research on the Egyptian bead was detailed on May 20 in the journal Meteoritics and Planetary Science.
Analysis of a prehistoric Egyptian iron bead with implications for the use and perception of meteorite iron in ancient Egypt
Article first published online: 20 MAY 2013
DOI: 10.1111/maps.12120
© The Meteoritical Society, 2013.
Abstract
Tube-shaped beads excavated from grave pits at the prehistoric Gerzeh cemetery, approximately 3300 BCE, represent the earliest known use of iron in Egypt. Using a combination of scanning electron microscopy and micro X-ray microcomputer tomography, we show that microstructural and chemical analysis of a Gerzeh iron bead is consistent with a cold-worked iron meteorite. Thin fragments of parallel bands of taenite within a meteoritic Widmanstätten pattern are present, with structural distortion caused by cold-working. The metal fragments retain their original chemistry of approximately 30 wt% nickel. The bulk of the bead is highly oxidized, with only approximately 2.4% of the total bead volume remaining as metal. Our results show that the first known example of the use of iron in Egypt was produced from a meteorite, its celestial origin having implications for both the perception of meteorite iron by ancient Egyptians and the development of metallurgical knowledge in the Nile Valley.
Introduction
The Gerzeh cemetery is a predynastic site on the west bank of the Nile, approximately 70 km south of Cairo; it dates from approximately 3600 to 3350 BCE (Stevenson 2006). Site excavation revealed 281 grave pits of prehistoric origin, of which two contained tube-shaped metallic (iron) beads: seven in tomb 67 and two smaller ones in tomb 133. The term bead is being used here to refer to a small object featuring a hole through it for the purpose of threading. The tombs also contained other unusual materials exotic to the locality, including obsidian, ivory, and shells from the Red Sea and Mediterranean Sea (Petrie and Wainwright 1912; Wainwright 1912). The celestial or terrestrial origin of ancient Egyptian iron, and when its usage became common are contentious issues, which are subject to debate; evidence is drawn from many areas, including architecture, language, and belief. The earliest potential archeological evidence indicative of iron smelting in Egypt dates in the 6th century BCE largely in the form of iron slag excavated in the delta region at Naukratis and Tell Defena (Petrie 1886). Copper smelting has been known to produce large quantities of iron slag, so this archeological evidence is not definitive proof of iron working and so the date of iron smelting by Egyptians could therefore be much later (Ogden 2009). This situation is complicated further by occasional finds, such as the plate of iron in Khufu's pyramid at Giza (approximately 2560 BCE), which has added to this great uncertainty (Petrie 1883).
The beads from Gerzeh tomb 67 were first analyzed in 1911 by Gowland, although it is not clear how many or which beads were analyzed. Their composition was reported to be as hydrated ferric oxide, with a note that the beads were completely oxidized, being 78.7% ferric oxide and 21.3% combined water, with traces of CO2 and “earthly matter” (Wainwright 1912). It was also suggested that the method of manufacture was through bending of a thin plate of iron into a tube shape. Subsequently, analysis on one of the beads was performed by Desch (1928) on behalf of the British Association for the Advancement of Science and found to be 7.5 wt% nickel, 92.5 wt% iron. Unfortunately, neither study gave analytical details of methods and conditions used, or how data were processed. Buchwald visually examined three of the beads held at the Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology; he noted them to be strongly oxidized and weakly magnetic, also noting that if Desch's analysis was correct, it appeared to be definitive proof of the beads being produced from an iron meteorite (Buchwald 1975).
A more recent study of the beads held at the Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology University College London employed electron microprobe analysis of material scraped from the surface. Most of these surface materials were identified as limonite, with low levels of nickel (up to 0.2 wt%) and traces of copper (up to 0.5 wt%) (El-Gayer 1995). Collectively, these data cast uncertainty upon the meteorite origin previously attributed to the beads. However, this study did not take into account that the beads had been subject to preserving treatment during their museum curation, which had visibly altered the surface, staining the surface oxides black. In addition, this tomb 67 also contained a copper harpoon, which could easily be a source of low level copper contamination, as the beads had been lying close to the harpoon when found (Fig. 1).
Figure 1. Original tomb card of tomb 67 Gerzeh cemetery showing position and contents of the tomb which included: the human remains, pots, limestone macehead, cosmetic “fish”-style palette, a copper harpoon (labeled by excavator on this diagram with a “12”), ivory pot, and beads. © The Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology, University College London.
The beads from the tombs at Gerzeh are older than any other iron artifact recorded in Egyptian history; they appear to be the most ancient example of worked metallic iron from a region and time with no known worked indigenous source of iron or contemporary record of trade in iron goods. Because previous analyses of the beads had been incomplete and noninvasive analytical methods were now available that would preserve the integrity of the artifacts, we decided to re-examine the Gerzeh beads with modern instrumentation that would yield a 3-D description of the structure and composition of the material. This would help assign a source for the metal from which the beads were manufactured, whether it be terrestrial or meteoritic.
Structure and Chemistry of the Bead
Sample
We analyzed a 1.8 cm length iron bead originating in Gerzeh tomb 67 (from the collection of The Manchester Museum, accession number 5303); the bead was examined as an intact specimen—it did not undergo any form of preparation (Fig. 2). Tomb 67 contained a single body, of a “fair sized boy” as described by the excavator. The body was arranged on its side in a contracted position, although the head positioned upright (Fig. 1) and one vertebra was displaced out of position, which led the excavators to believe that this was evidence of mutilation as a grave rite. Beads were present in two places on the body: around the neck and at waist level. By comparison with on-site photography documenting all beads recovered from tomb 67, the bead we analyzed in this study was identified as one that had originally been positioned at the waist level of the body (Fig. 3). Visual examination of the bead shows that areas of its outer surface were significantly altered, having incorporated sand from the tomb (Fig. 2).
Figure 2. Optical image of the Gerzeh bead analyzed in this study. The bead is held by The Manchester Museum, accession number 5303, scale bar 1 cm.
Figure 3. Photograph of several objects recovered from tomb 67 at Gerzeh cemetery including a fish-shaped palette, a limestone macehead, as well as two strings of beads. The upper ones were found across the waist region of the body, the lower set across the neck. The bead subject to analysis in this study is marked with an X. © The Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology, University College London.
Methods
Scanning Electron Microscopy
Analysis was performed with an FEI Quanta 200 3-D at 20 kV, 0.6 nA beam current, in high vacuum mode. Because the bead is of such archeological significance, it was not possible to coat the sample with a conductive layer prior to analysis; neither was it possible to polish any part of the bead, or take any material for destructive analysis for determination of minor or trace element contents. Oxide compositions were measured across approximate 250 × 200 μm areas. Metal composition was calculated by measuring a series of points as a traverse across metal fragments to ensure identification of data with minimal or no excitation of surrounding oxides, which would otherwise complicate the compositional metal analysis. Data are all quoted as normalized weight percent, to compensate for sample topography, geometry, hydration, and absence of a carbon coating. Composition was determined in situ via energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS) with an Oxford Instruments 80 mm X-Max detector using Inca software versus 4.13 in the Department of Physical Sciences at the Open University, UK.
X-Ray Microcomputer Tomography
To examine the internal structure of the bead, we performed X-ray microcomputer tomography (X-ray CT) with a Nikon 320 kV custom bay, 2501 projections were recorded at an X-ray voltage of 95 kV, spot size of 3 μm, producing a voxel size of 10 μm3. The resulting image data set was used to build a model using Avizo®Fire software at the Henry Moseley X-ray Imaging Facility, University of Manchester, UK.
Results
Scanning Electron Microscopy
Energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy of the surface identified it to be composed of hydrated iron oxides with 0.86 wt% average nickel content. On parts of the bead, this outer layer was missing, allowing direct analysis of the interior oxides and remaining metal. Here, the oxidized areas have average compositions of 47.5 wt% iron, 42.9 wt% oxygen, 4.8 wt% nickel, 0.6 wt% cobalt (see Table 1 for full results). The elements present at levels less than 1 wt%, such as sodium, magnesium, silicon, sulfur, and calcium are likely to be contamination from the sand that filled the tomb, in addition to the other grave goods (Figs. 1 and 3). An absence of arsenic was noted from data recorded in all areas. Fragmented bands of metal were found; a series of point spectra were recorded at 20 μm intervals across a linear traverse 800 μm length, crossing four metal bands (Fig. 4). The bands have a peak nickel content at approximately 30 wt%, coincident with the presence of metallic iron, as defined by an increase in iron content matching a decrease in oxygen content. The distribution of fragmented metal bands and oxides, plus the chemistry of the metal, are consistent with the distorted Widmanstätten pattern of a weathered iron meteorite, in which lineations of flattened nickel-rich taenite define the edges of broader kamacite bands, which subsequently oxidized.
| Elements | Surface oxides spectrum 1 | Surface oxides spectrum 2 | Surface oxides spectrum 3 | Interior oxides spectrum 1 | Interior oxides spectrum 2 | Interior oxides spectrum 3 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| C | 18.1 | 28.4 | 20 | — | — | — |
| O | 36.4 | 36.8 | 34.6 | 44.7 | 40.6 | 43.3 |
| Na | 0.1 | 0.7 | 0.4 | 0.6 | 0.4 | 0.5 |
| Mg | 0.3 | 0.4 | 0.5 | 0.5 | 0.5 | 0.6 |
| Al | — | 0.3 | 0.4 | 0.1 | — | 0.1 |
| Si | 0.7 | 0.9 | 1.2 | 0.9 | 0.7 | 0.8 |
| P | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.5 | 0.5 | 0.5 | |
| S | 0.1 | 0.2 | 0.1 | 0.2 | 0.2 | 0.2 |
| Cl | 0.2 | 0.7 | 0.5 | 1.1 | 1 | 1 |
| K | — | 0.2 | 0.1 | — | — | — |
| Ca | 4.1 | 1.7 | 4.8 | 0.6 | 0.6 | 0.6 |
| Fe | 38.4 | 28.5 | 36.3 | 45.4 | 50.1 | 47 |
| Co | 0.4 | 0.2 | 0.2 | 0.6 | 0.6 | 0.6 |
| Ni | 0.9 | 0.9 | 0.8 | 4.8 | 4.7 | 4.8 |
| Br | 0.3 | — | — | — | 0.1 | — |
| Totals | 100 | 100 | 100 | 100 | 100 | 100 |
Figure 4. Backscattered electron image and EDS data showing an array of taenite fragments (as indicated by small arrows). a) Backscattered electron image of bead surface with the surface oxide layer missing. Thin bands of nickel-rich metal form arrays across the area, some distortion is present because of cold working of this material. Large arrows note the start and end points of the linear traverse of data displayed in (b), small arrows mark the features coincident with features on (b). Scale bar is 200 μm. b) EDS point analysis results for Ni, Fe, O, recorded as a linear traverse across four metal bands, the start and end positions indicated in (a), the dashed vertical lines mark positions of the metal features.
The presence of Widmanstätten pattern within iron-nickel alloys of this composition is accepted as definitive proof of meteoritic origin. Then based upon the assumption of nickel-rich metal bands marking kamacite band edges, we estimate this meteorite band width to be less than 0.2 mm; therefore, the Gerzeh meteorite is a finest octahedrite. Distorted Widmanstätten patterns have been documented in other ancient meteorite iron artifacts. The prehistoric American Indian iron beads found in the Hopewell burial mounds, Illinois, approximately 400 BCE (Arnold and Libby 1951) were proved of meteoritic origin via structure and chemistry (Grogan 1948; Wasson and Sedwick 1969; McCoy et al. 2008). Of almost identical appearance to the Gerzeh beads, kamacite was found to be preferentially weathered, with readily recognizable, but distorted taenite bands.
Example artifacts with a similar weathering state to the Gerzeh beads are found in two Chinese bronze weapons with meteoritic iron blades of the early Chon dynasty approximately 1000 BCE (Gettens et al. 1971). They comprise of broad and dagger axe blades with iron meteorite chemistry and distorted weathered Widmanstätten, with metal chemistry in agreement with that recorded in points across metal bands in Gerzeh. The least weathered of all examples of this type of microscopic structure and chemistry were observed within pieces of the Cape York meteorite after being worked into tools by prehistoric Inuit of Greenland (Buchwald 1992).
Computer Tomography Results
The extent of metal preservation was assessed by X-ray CT (Figs. 5 and 6). Different phase densities in the CT scan correspond to the differing X-ray attenuations of individual components. Combining the images from the CT scan with the EDS results, and using 3-D modeling software (Yoshikawa et al. 2008), we were able to produce a semiquantitative characterization of the components present in the bead. Based on the CT model, we calculate the relative amounts of metal, nickel-rich oxides, and nickel-poor oxides at 2.4 vol%, 68.6 vol%, and 29.0 vol%, respectively.
Figure 5. Images of Gerzeh bead CT model showing oxide and metal components. With orange representing hydrated nickel-poor oxide, blue representing nickel-rich oxide, and white representing metal. a) The nickel-rich oxide patches visible where patches of the hydrated oxides are missing; b) the nickel-rich oxide structure only, deep fractures run throughout this oxide; c) the preserved metal fragments in the interior of the bead, scale bar 1 cm.
Figure 6. Virtual CT slice through width of the bead. The angular points in the highly attenuating bright band toward the center are noted by small arrows and represent points where the bead was bent into shape during manufacture, the large arrow marks the feature corresponding to the joining of the two ends of the flattened iron sheet mechanically merged; also present are significant fractures throughout the bead as the dark irregular bands, scale bar 1 mm.
Structurally, the bead shape was shown to be a hollow tube; successive virtual CT slices revealed bending points and a joining edge, suggesting production by beating flat a fragment of iron, followed by bending to produce the tube (Fig. 6). The model reconstruction from CT data clearly shows patches of nickel-rich oxides where the nickel-poor layer is missing (Fig. 5a), as well as the 3-D distribution of the remaining metal (Fig. 5c). As might be expected, upon oxidation, the tube structure has expanded macroscopically, leaving misaligned metal fragments within the bulk oxide. A fragment of the woven thread originally used to string the beads is also visible on virtual CT slices running through the center of the bead. One exposed end of this thread displays structures with the morphology of flax fiber cells as identified by scanning electron microscopy (Fig. 7).
Figure 7. Scanning electron microscopy secondary electron image of an exposed area of one fiber which exists through the center of the bead, the hexagonal shape is the remains of a cellular structure of the flax plant, scale bar 10 μm.
Meteorite Weathering Processes
The weathering effects on meteorites appear to be influenced by their environment and terrestrial age, in addition to individual meteorite chemistry and structure. Numerous studies have enhanced our knowledge of the alteration processes that take place within iron meteorites (Buchwald 1979; Bender and Buchwald 1994; Buchwald and Koch 1995). Most weathered meteorite materials are composed of nickeliferous iron oxides and oxyhydroxides γ-(Fe,Ni)2O3 (Tilley and Bevan 1998) and form via nickel substitution for iron, where little loss of nickel occurs during maghemite formation. Metals in iron meteorites undergo a chlorine precipitation process forming the mineral akaganéite, (β-FeO(OH,Cl)), which tends to accelerate the corrosion process (Buchwald and Clarke 1989; Tilley and Bevan 1998). But as akaganéite ages, it evolves into two major components, goethite (α-FeO(OH)) and maghemite (γ-Fe2O3) (Buchwald and Clarke 1989).
The Microstructure and Chemistry of Early Iron Smelting and Iron Meteorite Artifacts
Microstructural layering is sometimes observed within forged metal, such as Damascus steel, classically known for its use in Middle Eastern sword production, making use of wootz steel originating in India and Sri Lanka (Juleff 1996) from where it was exported to the Middle East from as early as the 3rd century ACE (Sinopoli 2003), where layers of metal were stacked, heated, and in some cases folded, producing microstructural phases of distinct composition (Sherby and Wadsworth 1985; Reibold et al. 2006). The nickel concentration in these Middle Eastern manufactured steels is significantly less than that of meteorite iron. A small number of manufactured nickel-enriched laminated iron artifacts of greater antiquity are also known of in well defined collections worldwide (Photos 1989). But complications exist in determining their exact methods of manufacture, many being analyzed at different times by different methods; studies detailing their microstructure and chemistry were generally found to be the most revealing. From these results, theories have been proposed to explain their nickel enrichment, some of which are too low in nickel to be interpreted simply as a worked iron meteorite. Others have high localized nickel content in the concentrations expected for meteorites, but this exists as layers frequently containing elevated levels of arsenic and cobalt between what are obviously manufactured bands of iron containing little or no nickel. These bands also bear evidence of industrial processing, such as slag inclusions, ferrite, and pearlite structures. The earliest example of this type being the Etruscan spearhead of 3rd to 4th century BCE Italy, which was extensively studied (Panseri and Leoni 1967) and concluded by the study authors to be components of a worked iron meteorite welded to form a very early version of laminated steel.
However, others have proposed alternative explanations for these types of materials, such as the use of rare minerals such as chloanite (FeNiCoAs)S2 to produce a high nickel content smelted iron layer (Piaskowski 1982). The exact method of manufacture for these types of artifacts, which are obviously at least partially manufactured examples of iron, is still subject to debate among archeometallurgists today.
Experimental archeology has failed to produce forged steel objects with layers of high nickel composition: whenever the nickel content exceeds approximately 3 wt%, the increased brittleness of the metal causes the nickel-rich fractions to fail and shatter (Photos 1989). This explains why almost all nickel-rich iron recorded within steel artifacts is within the range of 3–5 wt% nickel (Photos 1989), examples with higher nickel content are frequently those which required less working, such as bars of iron, although occasional examples are discovered that have been worked more heavily presumably by an expert ancient metalworker. Mycenaean iron artifacts have also occasionally been found with a slightly higher nickel content, up to approximately 10.7 wt% (Varoufakis 1982), but these examples never have Widmanstätten microstructure. Hence, the presence of the metallic taenite bands of the Widmanstätten structure within an artifact of an oxidized iron-nickel alloy is definitive recognition that the material has an extraterrestrial origin, and is not manufactured steel.
Ancient Text References to Iron and Meteorites
Within the near east, we find text references to iron and meteorites, but the exact origins of the words used for iron within the region are complex and despite many previous studies remain largely unproven. In the third millennium BCE, Mesopotamian references to KU.ANexist, which may be interpreted as iron, but tin is also possible (Maxwell-Hyslop 1972; Bjorkman 1973). The term AN.BAR (Maxwell-Hyslop1972; Bjorkman 1973) is found approximately 2000–1500 BCE, some slightly earlier use AN sign to mean iron (Bjorkman 1973). The Hittites also appeared to differentiate the quality or type of iron, for example the use of AN.BAR SIG meaning good iron (Siegelova 1984), but there is also evidence that the Hittites described the sky itself as iron (Reiter 1997). Thus, not all ancient references to iron and sky necessarily equate to meteorites—they sometimes may simply be descriptions of light, and a comparison of the color of the sky with the sheen and color of metallic iron.
Complex linguistic issues regarding difference in the reading of ancient Egyptian terms for copper and iron caused massive confusion in early translations. Some linguists made no acknowledgment of the difference; early distinctions defined one as copper, the other as “hard mineral” and numerous linguists considered the ideogram of the copper term to be a crucible (Harris 1961). The term biA eventually translated to mean iron; these early references to iron typically describe objects or aspects of the sky and so have a relatively broad meaning. As Egyptians at this time would not have understood the intricacy of iron metal chemistry, such early terms possibly reflected other iron-related materials, such as haematite or any material that had a visual resemblance to fresh or weathered iron.
However from the late 18th Dynasty, approximately 1300 BCE, the term biA-n-pt starts to be used, which literally reads iron from the skyand from this point onwards, it is applied to describe all types of iron (Bjorkman 1973), the term becoming synonymous with metallic iron in general. Reasons for the creation of this new word at this particular point in time are unknown, but it is possibly a literal description resulting from the observance of a major event by the Egyptian population; this would both create the specific need for a new term and for it to be used for all forms of metallic iron. The witnessing of a localized event would probably not be sufficient to influence the Egyptian literate minority (scribes) to make and use a new word so dominantly, whereas a larger event, such as a shower of meteorites or large impact event would leave little doubt to where the iron had originated and would be witnessed by many. One possibility, for example, might be formation of the 45 m diameter Gebel Kamil crater in southern Egypt, which was produced by the impact of an Ataxite iron meteorite within the last 5000 yr (Folco et al. 2010). The unpredictable nature of such an event may have been sufficient to require a new descriptor, and sufficiently significant for the term “iron from the sky” subsequently to be used indiscriminately for all metallic iron.
Other Examples of Ancient Egyptian Nickel-Rich Iron
Early examples of Egyptian iron exclusively take the form of high quality tomb goods, the nickel-rich objects having provenance based upon excavation from three locations: the Gerzeh cemetery, Deir el-Bahari, and the Valley of the Kings, the second two sites being on the west bank of ancient Thebes (modern Luxor). Nickel-rich iron makes up the blade of the pesesh-kef amulet recovered at Deir el-Bahari from the tomb of Ashait, a secondary wife of King Mentuhotep II, approximately 2055–2004 BCE (Winlock 1921; Brunton 1935). Pesesh-kef amulets have connections with the magic rituals involved in ancient Egyptian funerary customs, such as the opening of the mouth ceremony, which allows the mummy to receive food offerings. The blades may also represent those used to cut the umbilical cord (Roth1992), perhaps symbolically functioning in the tomb as a tool for rebirth.
The presence of iron in the tomb of King Tutankhamen, approximately 1327 BCE, reflects the fact that many rare and precious materials were employed in the manufacture of tomb goods, and iron was occasionally referenced in communications between royalty throughout the near east region at this time. A dagger blade, sixteen miniature blades, a miniature head rest, and an amulet all made of iron were discovered in Tutankhamen's tomb (Carter 1927, 1933); with the exception of the amulet, all were analyzed, and all were originally noted to be sufficiently rich in nickel to be attributed to a meteorite origin (Bjorkman 1973). All except the dagger are consistent with cold iron working by Egyptians unaccustomed to manufacturing hard, high temperature metals, such as nickel-rich iron. However, in the light of more recent studies of iron production in the near east at this time, we cannot assume that the Tutankhamen grave goods are meteorites without further microstructural analysis (Piaskowski 1982; Varoufakis 1982; Photos 1989). Interestingly, the most recent analysis of the dagger blade by XRF recorded a nickel content of 2.8 wt%, which is inconsistent with meteorite iron, although this study did not attempt to identify any possible microstructures (Helmi and Barakat 1995). Dagger blades made from iron appear to be a specialist product; within the near east, evidence suggests Mitanni or Kizzuwadna as places producing such items (Forbes 1950). Further studies are needed to understand iron production and methods of iron working in the region at this time. Within one of the Amarna letters (clay tablets found at the Amarna site documenting Egyptian diplomatic correspondence dating over an approximate 30 yr period until this capital city was abandoned at the start of Tutankhamen's reign) is a reference that Tushratta, King of Mitanni, sent as part of a dowry, to King Amenhotep III of Egypt a dagger blade of khabalkinu, which has been interpreted by some to mean steel (Mercer 1939) (the exact origin of this word is unknown, but based within ancient Hittite and not linked to the kaaba stone, where the name kaaba is from modern Arabic meaning cube and is not composed of iron). Given the rarity of such a material at this time, it is possible that this dagger was inherited by Tutankhamen either in life as a family heirloom (Amenhotep III is generally accepted to be a close relative of Tutankhamen, probably his grandfather) or on his unexpected death when suitable tomb goods were acquired. All other iron objects recovered from Tutankhamen's tomb are of symbolic form, such as the 16 miniature blades, again suggesting links to the opening of the mouth ceremony. It was speculated that iron was considered especially powerful in the context of gifts for the afterlife because of its relationship with meteorites and thunderbolts (Petrie and Wainwright 1912), but this hypothesis cannot be fully verified, as there is no indication of the contemporary state of Egyptian knowledge of meteorites at the time.
The Significance of Unusual Materials and Objects in Ancient Egypt
Unusual materials appear to have held a particular fascination for prehistoric Egyptians (Stevenson 2009) as can be seen in the Gerzeh tomb contents, which include shiny stones as well as rare materials from distant lands. Each item appears to carry its own special function or significance. The exact meaning and importance of the grave goods is difficult to define, but they may have been thought to possess beneficial protective properties or may have been indicators of social status. No clear evidence exists of iron being used functionally, such as tools or weapons until much later in Egyptian history, predominantly during the Egyptian iron-age from approximately the 6th century BCE.
In later times, certain materials were linked to the gods, such as gold representing the flesh of the gods and the “iron bones of Seth” as documented by the ancient historians Plutarch and Diodorus (Forbes 1950). Cult worship of stones, including potential meteorites, appeared to have occurred in ancient Egypt (Kemp 1991), as with other parts of the ancient and sometimes modern world. A prime example of this is the (now vanished) Benben stone of Heliopolis (now a suburb of Cairo). It was a cult site of solar worship and the Benben stone, thought to have had the shape of a mound or pyramid, was located in the solar temple, where it was displayed on the top of a tall pillar, providing a significant focus of worship (Remler 2010), this stone was named after the sacred mound of creation, which, according to ancient Egyptian cosmological theories dating back to the Old Kingdom (approximately 2686–2125 BCE), arose from the waters of Chaos where the creator god Atum (Lord of Heliopolis) appeared bringing light to the world (Tyldesley 2010). Explanations for why the Benben stone was considered so important include a meteorite origin (Budge 1926). Unfortunately, the original Benben stone was lost in antiquity, its origin is still a subject of debate.
Conclusions
The analysis described here of the bead from tomb 67 at Gerzeh shows that the earliest example of exploitation of iron in Egypt used meteoritic iron as the metal source. As such, this study is the first detailed scientific report of meteorite iron within Egyptian culture; it is also the first identification of preserved prehistoric metallic iron fragments by 3-D microstructural and chemical definition.
The remnant fragments of unaltered taenite grains form periodic bands that are traces of a Widmanstätten structure, the distance between the relic lamellae in the Gerzeh meteorite imply a classification of finest octahedrite. The chemical group of the meteorite is unknown, as nickel content cannot by itself be used to classify a sample.
Implications of this study extend beyond this specific prehistoric Egyptian use of iron; 28 nickel-rich iron objects of Egyptian antiquity are known, collected from four tombs spanning some 2000 yr. Within this time period, iron seems to be used exclusively for high status funerary goods, implying that a particular importance was placed upon it, although alternative supporting evidence for the recognition of ancient Egyptian meteorites is lacking. The Gerzeh beads provide no evidence to support iron smelting either locally or imported to prehistoric Egypt.
Acknowledgments
We thank K. Exell (formerly of The Manchester Museum, now at UCL Qatar), B. Sitch (The Manchester Museum), and C. Price (The Manchester Museum) who made this study possible by loan of a Gerzeh iron bead; S. Quirke (Petrie Museum) who awarded access for visual examination of three Gerzeh iron beads; A. Stevenson (Pitt Rivers Museum) for advice on the Gerzeh site; G. Godenho (University of Liverpool and University of Manchester) for discussions of ancient linguistics; A. Tindle (Open University) for expertise in optical photographic imaging methods, including provision of the image used in Fig. 2. This work was supported by STFC (grant ST/I001964/1) and EPSRC (grants EP/F007906/1 and EP/F028431).
Editorial Handling
Dr. A. J. Timothy Jull
References
NATURE | NEWS
Iron in Egyptian relics came from space
Meteorite impacts thousands of years ago may have helped to inspire ancient religion.
The Gerzeh bead (top) has nickel-rich areas, coloured blue on a virtual model (bottom), that indicate a meteoritic origin.
OPEN UNIV./UNIV. MANCHESTER
The 5,000-year-old iron bead might not look like much, but it hides a spectacular past: researchers have found that an ancient Egyptian trinket is made from a meteorite.
The result, published on 20 May in Meteoritics & Planetary Science1, explains how ancient Egyptians obtained iron millennia before the earliest evidence of iron smelting in the region, solving an enduring mystery. It also hints that they regarded meteorites highly as they began to develop their religion.
“The sky was very important to the ancient Egyptians,” says Joyce Tyldesley, an Egyptologist at the University of Manchester, UK, and a co-author of the paper. “Something that falls from the sky is going to be considered as a gift from the gods.”
The tube-shaped bead is one of nine found in 1911 in a cemetery at Gerzeh, around 70 kilometres south of Cairo. The cache dates from about 3,300 bc, making the beads the oldest known iron artefacts from Egypt.
A study in 1928 found that the iron in the beads had a high nickel content — a signature of iron meteorites — and led to the suggestion that it was of celestial origin2. But scholars argued in the 1980s that accidental early smelting could have led to nickel-enriched iron3, and a more recent analysis of oxidized material on the surface of the beads showed low nickel content4.
To settle the argument, Diane Johnson, a meteorite scientist at the Open University in Milton Keynes, UK, and her colleagues used scanning electron microscopy and computed tomography to analyse one of the beads, which they borrowed from the Manchester Museum.
The researchers were not able to cut the precious artefact open, but they found areas where the weathered surface had fallen away, providing what Johnson describes as "little windows" to the preserved metal beneath.
Microscopy showed that the nickel content of this original metal was high — as much as 30% — suggesting that it did indeed come from a meteorite. Backing up this result, the team observed that the metal had a distinctive crystalline structure called a Widmanstätten pattern. This structure is found only in iron meteorites that cooled extremely slowly inside their parent asteroids as the Solar System was forming.
Using tomography, the researchers built up a three-dimensional model of the bead's internal structure, revealing that the ancient Egyptians had made it by hammering a fragment of iron from the meteorite into a thin plate, then bending it into a tube.
Gifts from the gods
The first evidence for iron smelting in ancient Egypt appears in the archaeological record in the sixth century bc. Only a handful of iron artefacts have been discovered in the region from before then: all come from high-status graves such as that of the pharaoh Tutankhamun. "Iron was very strongly associated with royalty and power," says Johnson.
Objects made of such divine material were believed to guarantee their deceased owner priority passage into the afterlife.
Campbell Price, a curator of Egypt and Sudan at the Manchester Museum who was not a member of the study team, emphasizes that nothing is known for certain about the Egyptians’ religious beliefs before the advent of writing. But he points out that later on, during the time of the pharaohs, the gods were believed to have bones made of iron.
He speculates that meteorites may have inspired this belief, the celestial rocks being interpreted as the physical remains of gods falling to Earth.
Johnson says that she would love to check whether other early Egyptian iron artefacts are of meteoritic origin — if she can get permission to study them.
- Nature
- doi:10.1038/nature.2013.13091
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Steady progress towards cattle protection -- SV Badri. This should be a model to be adopted all over India.
Steady progress towards cattle protection
SV Badri
7 June 2013
The issue of illegal transportation of cattle through Andhra Pradesh has assumed disturbing proportions in recent years. We at the People For Cattle In India have been working at grassroots level to document the extent of the traffic, and the action, and non-action, by police and other authorities in tackling the menace.
Recently, MVR Sastry, editor, Andhra Bhoomi (Deccan Chronicle Group) called some of us to speak to the Minister for Hindu Religious Endowments, Shri Ramachandriah, and Principal Commissioner, Local Administration, YR Krishna Rao.
Thereafter, the Minister called a special meeting on the issue at Hyderabad on May 31, at which senior officials of his Ministry, along with the Chief Secretary, Home Secretary, Animal Husbandry, Transport and Local Administration Departments were represented, to chalk out a comprehensive plan to put an end to this menace. The meet was also attended by Swami Svaroopanandendra of Sarada Peeth, Vizag; Sri Sri Sri Vrathadhara Ramanuja Jeeyar; Sri Kamalananda Bharathi; Swamy Svayam Bhagwan Das; and members of some Goshalas in Andhra Pradesh, and other volunteers.
Our group presented a documentary we had prepared last year: “Their Last Journey”. After extensive discussions, the Ministry decided upon some very fruitful steps to protect the cattle wealth of the State (and by extension, the nation).
In a landmark decision, the Endowment Ministry committed to launching one or two Goshalas in each district of Andhra Pradesh. Each Goshala would be created on a five acre plot in order to accommodate the necessary cattle and raise adequate fodder to feed them in situ.
Realising that the Government may not possess the skills to run Goshalas, it was decided that these would be run on the pattern of private-public partnership, with Government providing the land, building, shed and infrastructure, water and fodder. Each lease would be for a period of five years, to be renewed on the basis of the performance of each Goshala.
As Animal Husbandry is listed under the NREGA Scheme, the funds for labour for three months derived from this central scheme at begin with, after which the Goshala could generate its own revenues. The Government plans to provide each Goshala with a Gobar Gas plant to utilize the gobar. Each Goshala must eventually adopt one or two neighboring villages for organic farming and meet some of the power/gas needs of the villages. Once the concept takes off, it will be spread to more villages in a phased manner.
As a beginning, one Goshala will be set up on each on the five routes from Andhra into Tamil Nadu, at the border, to facilitate the easy accommodation of impounded animals, without further compounding their transportation trauma. Cattle from Andhra Pradesh are pushed into Tamil Nadu and thence onward to Kerala on such a vast scale that a huge meat industry and leather industry has spawned around this activity.
One of the ideas mooted at the meeting was that the Endowment Ministry set up a separate Department for Gosamrakshana with minimal staff and an annual budget of Rs 200 to Rs 300 Crores. Besides the internal audit by the Ministry, there should also be an annual external audit by a competent audit firm.
It was felt that besides the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam and Dwaraka Tirumala Goshalas that are run professionally, the Goshalas attached to various temples are not being run professionally. It was felt, therefore, that these Goshalas could be handed over to Hindu organizations and Hindu NGOs for greater competence, and Government could continue to support the Goshalas with fodder and costs.
Dr Venkateshwarulu, Director, Animal Husbandry, offered to expand the services of his department to the private Goshalas and said veterinarians would visit the Goshalas to attend to the animals, take care of vaccinations, medicines.
In the course of the discussions, the Deputy Secretary, Transport, revealed that when regional transport officers catch vehicles with an excess number of Cattle (almost all vehicles are grotesquely overloaded), they are fined Rs .2500/- to Rs. 3,000/- and let go. The transport department felt there was nothing further that it could do in law.
But the animal activists pointed out that as per sections 96 and 97(1) of Transportation rules, amended (2000), of the Prevention of Cruelty Act, 1960, the department had the power to cancel the license and permits of the vehicles thus caught.
This had a salutary effect on the officials. The Minister of Transports has now called a meeting of all RTOs in the third week of June, to chalk out a programme for thus taking stricter measures to safeguard the cattle.
The meeting also decided to promote Desi cows. The Endowment Ministry has decided that henceforth it will make all Temples accept only Desi cows as daanam. As a beginning, each Temple Goshala will strive to maintain certain specific numbers of the Desi breed, so that those wanting to give Godaanam pay money, obtain receipt and hand over these cows as gifts to the Goshala. This will help to bring back the Desi breed to its exalted position.
The Endowment Ministry will put Flexi Boards in all Temples in Andhra Pradesh highlighting Go-Samrakshana. The movement will be popularized amongst devotees through the distribution of pamphlets on Go-Samrakshana during Temple Festivals and Brahmotsavs of all Temples in Andhra Pradesh.
It was noted that while the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam runs a Goshala (actually a dairy farm), it does not accept cows that are seized (saved from slaughter). The temple rears cows only for milk forAbhishekham (offering) to the presiding deities of their various Mandirs, Ghee for lamps etc.
The activists urged that while this policy should not be tampered with in order to maintain the purity of the temple rituals, the TTD should be requested to start supporting Goshalas that take other animals like buffaloes, male calves, to protect them from slaughter. It could consider running special cattle rescue centres to house these animals. The matter is expected to be placed before the TTD Board in the coming weeks.
The author is a Trustee, People for Cattle in India, Chennai
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Judge Jeanine’s smackdown on the mother of the Boston jihadi bombers
MUST WATCH: Judge Jeanine’s EPIC smackdown on the mother of the Boston jihadi bombers
The Right ScoopYou definitely want to watch this one all the way to the end. Judge Jeanine doesn’t leave anyone guessing as to how she feels about statements that have been made by the mother of the Boston jihadid bombers:
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Tibetan youth movement reaffirms complete independence goal. Will SoniaG UPA support the Tibetan youth?
Tibetan youth movement reaffirms complete independence goal
(TibetanReview.net, Jun03, 2013) – The 15th General Body Meeting of the Tibetan Youth Congress (TYC), the largest exile Tibetan non-governmental organization, ended at Dharamsala Jun 1 with the election of Mr Tenzing Jigme from Minnesota, USA, as its new president. Tamding Sichoe from Pokhara, Nepal, and Tashi Lamsang from Dharamshala are the new vice-president and general secretary respectively. During its six-day meeting, the more than 130 delegates representing over 40 RTYC chapters reaffirmed the movement’s founding objective of struggling for Tibet’s complete independence from Chinese rule.
The reaffirmation, necessitated by demands by some regional chapters’ call for the TYC’s founding objective to be changed to the goal of the middle way policy, which is favoured by the Dalai Lama and being vigorously pursued by the exile Tibetan administration, was made by a majority vote on May 27, the meeting’s first day.
Voice of Tibet, Oslo-based Radio broadcast service, reported May 29 that despite the first day’s resolution, delegates representing eight regional chapters were still insisting that the TYC charter be amended to adopt the middle way policy. And although Tibetan news portals have been silent on the issue, timesofindia.indiatimes.com Jun 3 reported that 34 members representing the TYC chapters in Bangalore, Bylakuppe, Mundgod, Hunsur and Kollegal in south India, as well as those from Dalhousie, Pondoh and Ladakh refused to attend the meeting from the third day, insisting that the TYC’s founding objective be scrapped and the exile administration’s middle way adopted.
The middle way policy accepts Chinese rule in exchange for grant of autonomy under existing Chinese constitution for an ethnographic Tibet that includes the Tibet Autonomous Region and Qinghai Province as well as the historical Tibetan territories which China has currently made parts of its Gansu, Sichuan and Yunnan Provinces. China has repeatedly trashed this demand as a disguised campaign for Tibet’s independence and never agreed to discuss it despite 9-10 rounds of talks in with envoys of the Dalai Lama from Sep 2002 to Jan 2010.
On the meeting’s first day, outgoing President Mr Tsewang Rigzin make clear the TYC’s unequivocal faith in and obeisance to the Dalai Lama, and vowed that the youth independence movement would never cause any sort of offence to him. He expressed apologies to the Tibetan spiritual leader in case there had been any such unintended results from the TYC’s actions and statements and sought his forgiveness for them.
Mr Rigzin also expressed TYC’s continued support for the Central Tibetan Administration at Dharamsala.
The TYC’s website says it has 87 regional chapters, with 69 of them being in Asia, 13 in North America, four in Europe and one in Australia.
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Last updated on Jun 03, 2013 16:55:37
http://tibetanreview.net/news.php?showfooter=1&id=12255↧
CIC orders PMO to track Indira Gandhi's time capsule -- Madhu Purnima Kishwar
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PC, It ain't your job to tell banks how to do banking -- R. Jagannathan
Why FM is hemming and hawing on rupee, gold and rates
by R Jagannathan Jun 7, 2013Yesterday, the Finance Minister said many contradictory things: there is no cause for alarm on the rupee; and yet banks must discourage customers from investing in gold. Banks must also cut interest rates.
“There is no alarm bell on the rupee front. I think the rupee will soon find its stable level. (Foreign) inflows are good. In the past two months, it was extremely good,”DNA quoted him as sayng.
But the rupee hit 57 to the dollar yesterday (it is currently around 56.77), and the prognosis is that it is heading lower, perhaps even testing 60 at some point during the year if capital flows reverse. So why is there no alarm on the rupee?
In June so far, foreign institutional investors (FIIs) have been selling more than buying, with the minor positive flows in equity (Rs 840 crore) being more than cancelled out by huge debt outflows (Rs 3,994 crore).
His second statement effectively contradicts the first. Chidambaram has asked banks not to encourage investments in gold. He said: “Banks have a role to play in dampening the enthusiasm for gold… I would urge all banks to please advise their branches that they should not encourage their customers to invest in or buy gold”.
Quite apart from the fact that it is not the FM’s job to tell banks how to conduct their business, the point is his statements betray real alarm over the rupee. This is what he said about gold: “Gold imports have been a major contributor to the CAD (current account deficit). With the sharp drop in gold prices, millions were happy. I am afraid I was not among the millions. I told the (RBI) Governor that the drop in gold prices internationally is a bad news for India. Our fears came true.”
He acted on his fears yesterday by raising the import duty on gold by another two percent. This will raise domestic prices. The problem is Indians see gold in a positive light whether it is rising or falling. If it rises, it convinces them that gold is a good investment. If start buying more.
So what is Chidambaram saying? That he has no worries about the rupee, but many worries about gold, which will dent the CAD and impact the rupee. The higher the CAD, the greater the pressure on the rupee to decline.
But there are more contradictions in Chidambaram’s various statements yesterday. Another report says he has asked banks to cut interest rates, while pointing out that the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) “has already cut the repo rate by 125 basis points since early 2012, with commercial banks cutting rates by only 30 basis points over the period.” His advice to banks: “As CPI inflation and deposit rates fall, I would urge commercial banks to translate monetary policy to retail borrowers and firms through lower lending rates.”
The poser for the FM is this: if debt is no longer attractive, FII inflows will now stand on only one leg – equities. AFP
All three issues are closely related. A drop in interest rates can impact the rupee and dollar inflows negatively, just as an increase in gold imports is now doing – but Chidambaram managed to say all things.
The impact of falling rates is there for all to see. FIIs are packing their bags from the debt market as yields on government bonds are falling. The 10-year Indian government security currently offers a yield of around 7.2 percent, while the US-treasury bond of similar tenure is around 2-2.2 percent. Adjust for relative inflation rates, and the US dollar 10-year bond looks a better bet than rupee bonds.
Not surprisingly, The Economic Times reported yesterday that FIIs were heading for the exits. The newspaper said: “FIIs have sold Rs 11,300 crore worth of bonds in India for 10 trading days beginning May 22, the first time since they were allowed to buy fixed income securities in 1998…”. The sales will be higher now, since the FIIs sold Rs 1,476 crore more in the debt market on 5 June.
The logic is simple, as the newspaper explains: “The gap between the US treasury and India G-Secs has narrowed from nearly seven percentage points to around five percentage points. Global investors usually hedge against currency movements. With hedging cost at about 6.5 percent, an international investor in Indian bonds will end up losing money. A 2.2 percent return in US dollars is a more preferred option for FIIs.”
The poser for the FM is this: if debt is no longer attractive, FII inflows will now stand on only one leg – equities. And if, as he is urging, interest rates are cut further, there is even less reason for FIIs to invest in Indian debt.
The critical question is whether equity inflows will outweigh debt outflows. On that depends the answer to where the rupee is headed.
The pressure is clearly downwards, never mind the FM’s valiant efforts to talk it both the rupee and the stock markets up.
http://www.firstpost.com/economy/why-fm-is-hemming-and-hawing-on-rupee-gold-and-rates-850715.html↧
India is a Hindu country. Hindu dharma is an enquiry into truth. -- Maria Wirth
Saturday, May 11, 2013
When Germany is Christian, is India Hindu?
(Denying One’s Own Roots)
By Maria Wirth
Though I live in India since long, there are still some points that I find hard to understand - for example why many educated Indians become agitated when India is considered as a Hindu country. The majority of Indians are Hindus. India is special because of its ancient Hindu tradition. Westerners are drawn to India because of it. Why then is there this resistance by many Indians to acknowledge the Hindu roots of their country?
This attitude is strange for two reasons. First, those educated Indians seem to have a problem only with ‘Hindu’ India, but not with ‘Muslim’ or ‘Christian’ countries. In Germany for example, only 59 percent of the population are registered with the two big Christian Churches (Protestant and Catholic), however, the country is bracketed under ‘Christian countries’. Angela Merkel, the Chancellor, stressed recently the Christian roots of Germany and urged the population ‘to go back to Christian values’. In 2012, she postponed her trip to the G-8 summit for a day to address the German Catholic Day. Two major political parties carry ‘Christian’ in their name, including Angela Merkel’s ruling party.
Germans are not agitated that Germany is called a Christian country, though I actually would understand if they were. After all, the history of the Church is appalling. The so called success story of Christianity depended greatly on tyranny. “Convert or die”, were the options given not only to the indigenous population in America some five hundred years ago. In Germany, too, 1200 years ago, the emperor Karl the Great ordered the death sentence for refusal of baptism in his newly conquered realms. It provoked his advisor Alkuin to comment: ‘One can force them to baptism, but how to force them to believe?’
Those times, when one’s life was in danger if one dissented with the dogmas of the Church, are thankfully over. And nowadays many in the west do dissent and leave the Church in a steady stream - partly because they are disgusted with the less than holy behavior of Church officials and partly because they can’t believe in the dogmas, for example that ‘Jesus is the only way’ and that God sends all those who don’t accept this to hell.
And here comes the second reason why the resistance to associate India with Hinduism by Indians is difficult to understand. Hinduism is in a different category from the Abrahamic religions. Its history, compared to Christianity and Islam was undoubtedly the least violent as it spread in ancient times by convincing arguments and not by force. It is not a belief system that demands blind belief in dogmas and the suspension of one’s intelligence. On the contrary, Hinduism encourages using one’s intelligence to the hilt. It is an enquiry into truth, based on a refined (methods are given) character and intellect. It comprises a huge body of ancient literature, not only regarding Dharma and philosophy, but also regarding music, architecture, dance, science, astronomy, economics, politics, etc.
If Germany or any other western country had this kind of literary treasure, it would be so proud and highlight its greatness on every occasion. When I discovered for example the Upanishads, I was stunned. Here was expressed in clear terms what I intuitively had felt to be true, but could not have expressed clearly. Brahman is not partial; it is the invisible, indivisible essence in everything. Everyone gets again and again a chance to discover the ultimate truth and is free to choose his way back to it. Helpful hints are given but not imposed.
In my early days in India, I thought that every Indian knew and valued his tradition. Slowly I realized that I was wrong. The British colonial masters had been successful in not only weaning away many of the elite from their ancient tradition but even making them despise it. It helped that the ‘educated’ class could no longer read the original Sanskrit texts and believed what the British told them. This lack of knowledge and the brainwashing by the British education may be the reason why many ‘modern’ Indians are against anything ‘Hindu’. They don’t realize the difference between western religions that have to be believed (or at least professed) blindly, and which discourage if not forbid their adherents to think on their own and the multi-layered Hindu Dharma which gives freedom and encourages using one’s intelligence.
Many of the educated class do not realize that on one hand, westerners, especially those who dream to impose their own religion on this vast country, will applaud them for denigrating Hindu Dharma, because this helps western universalism to spread in India. On the other hand, many westerners, including Church people, very well know the value and surreptitiously appropriate insights from the vast Indian knowledge system, drop the original source and present it either as their own or make it look as if these insights had been known in the west.
Rajiv Malhotra of Infinity Foundation has done painstaking research in this field and has documented many cases of “digestion” of Dharma civilization into western universalism. He chose the term digestion, as it implies that that which is being digested (a deer for example) is in the end no longer there, whereas the ‘digester’ (a tiger) becomes stronger. Similarly, Hindu civilization is gradually being depleted of its valuable, exclusive assets and what is left is called inferior.
If only missionaries denigrated Hindu Dharma, it would not be so bad, as they clearly have an agenda which discerning Indians would detect. But sadly, Indians with Hindu names assist them because they wrongly believe that Hinduism is inferior to western religions. They belittle everything Hindu instead of getting thorough knowledge. As a rule, they know little about their tradition except what the British told them, i.e. that the major features are caste system and idol worship. They don’t realize that India would gain, not lose, if it solidly backed its profound and all inclusive Hindu tradition. The Dalai Lama said some time ago that already as a youth in Lhasa, he had been deeply impressed by the richness of Indian thought. “India has great potential to help the world,” he added. When will the westernized Indian elite realize it?
http://jagobangla.blogspot.in/2013/05/when-germany-is-christian-is-india-hindu.html
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IPL scam: Which cabinet minister’s son is involved in spot-fixing?
Which cabinet minister’s son is involved in spot-fixing?
7 June 2013, New Delhi, Mohit Sharma
Name of a cabinet minister’s son had come up during interrogation of a close friend of S. Sreesanth.
Investigating officers said they are analysing the tapped conversations to develop information to build a concrete case in the matter. ‘It is too early to contemplate. However, we are looking into all aspects and every information is being scrutinised minutely,’ a senior special cell official said. The special cell sources also revealed that a third team co-owner, apart from Royals and CSK, is also under cop scanner. ‘We have some tapped conversations which hint at involvement of another franchise co-owner,’ sources
saidhttp://www.millenniumpost.in/NewsContent.aspx?NID=29782
7 June 2013, New Delhi, Mohit Sharma
Name of a cabinet minister’s son had come up during interrogation of a close friend of S. Sreesanth.
Delhi Police special cell sources have revealed that the role of a powerful cabinet minister’s son and another IPL franchise co-owner is under scrutiny in connection with the IPL spot-fixing scandal. Sources said the name of a cabinet minister’s son had come up during interrogation of one of the close friends of former India bowler S Sreesanth.
saidhttp://www.millenniumpost.in/NewsContent.aspx?NID=29782
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Ancient Near East jangaḍ accounting for mercatile transactions-- evidence of Indus writing presented.
saṁghāḍa -- , °ḍaga -- m., °ḍī -- f. ʻ pair ʼ (Prakrit)(CDIAL 12859) సంగడి sangaḍi. n. A couple, pair (Telugu) cf. Pairing of two hieroglyphs into a composite ‘standard device’ (as shown in the diagram below).with two distinct components: lathe (gimlet) and (portable) furnace both denoted by lexeme: sangaḍ The word is read rebus for jangaḍ ‘good entrusted on approval basis’.
sãgaḍ ʻfloat made of two canoes joined togetherʼ (Marathi) (LM 417 compares saggarai at Limurike in the Periplus, Tamil. śaṅgaḍam, Tulu. jaṅgala ʻ double -- canoe ʼ) Si. san̆gaḷa ʻpairʼ, han̆guḷa, ang° ʻdouble canoe, raftʼ (CDIAL 12859). saṅghātanika -- in cmpd. ʻbinding togetherʼ (Pali)(CDIAL 12863).
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Ancient Near East jangaḍ accounting for mercantile transactions
Jangaḍ or Entrust Receipt is denoted by the 'standard device' hieroglyph read: sangaḍ 'lathe/gimlet, portable furnace'. Note: The meaning of ‘Jangaḍ’ is well-settled in Indian legal system. Jangaḍ means "Goods sent on approval or 'on sale or return'… It is well-known that the Jangaḍ transactions in this country are very common and often involve property of a considerable value." Bombay High Court Emperor vs Phirozshah Manekji Gandhi on 13 June, 1934 Equivalent citations: (1934) 36 BOMLR 731, 152 Ind Cas 706 Source: http://www.indiankanoon.org/doc/39008/
See: http://bharatkalyan97.blogspot.in/2012/04/heifer-lathe-hieroglyphs-on-indus-seals.html Young bull + lathe hieroglyphs on Indus seals
The terms jangad and karanika are represented as the most frequently used hieroglyphs on Indus writing. The hieroglyphs are: sangaḍa 'lathe, portable furnace' and kanka 'rim of jar' represented by the following glyphs: sangaḍa appears on the round as a ivory object together with other examples of specific glyphic features deployed on objects inscribed with Indus writing. kanka 'rim of jar' is shown on a circular Daimabad seal. The mercantile agents who were jangadiyo had received goods on jangad 'entrusted for approval'.
m1429 Mohenjo-dar tablet showing a boat carrying a pair of metal ingots. bagalo = an Arabian merchant vessel (G.lex.) bagala = an Arab boat of a particular description (Ka.); bagalā (M.); bagarige, bagarage = a kind of vessel (Ka.) bagalo = an Arabian merchant vessel (G.lex.) cf. m1429 seal. Ancient Near East bronze-age legacy: Processions depicted on Narmer palette, Indus writing denote artisan guilds The note presents many parallels between hieroglyphs used rebus on Indus writing and on ancient Near East artifacts. The names Dilmun, Magan and Meluhha appear on ancient cuneiform documents in the context of maritime trade, in particular with Sea-faring merchants from Meluhha (Mleccha, that is part of Indian sprachbund).
There is a remarkable statement in Tolkappiyam an ancient text of Sangam period:
பொய்யும் வழுவும் தோன்றியபின்னர்
அய்யர் யாத்தனர் கரணம் என்ப (தொல் காப்பியம் பொருள் அதிகாரம்)
When falsehood and deception came into vogue, the Brahmin scholars codified the accounting system.
An ancient Near East accounting system was jangaḍ. The system of jangaḍ simply meant 'goods on approval' with the agent -- like the Meluhhan merchant-agents or brokers living in settlements in ancient near East -- merely responsible for showing the goods to the intended buyers.
We are dealing with the times of Indus-Sarasvati civilization when goods were transacted without definitive settlements of purchase. Mercantile transactions took place on the basis of trust. This system of trust gets institutionalised in the trusteeship system which is the central regulating feature of śreṇi, artisan-merhant guilds. Actions such as criminal breach of trust or deception or criminal conspiracy were rare occurrences.
Goods were couriered and delivered by consignor on entrustment basis for the consignee to make the settlements AFTER the goods are finally sold to third parties. Such an accounting system was called jangaḍ.
The couriers who effect the delivery of the goods are called jangaḍiyo. In old Gujarati, the term jangaḍiyo ‘military guard who accompanies treasure into the treasury’. The term sanghāḍiyo 'a worker on a lathe' (Gujarati)
kanka ‘rim of jar’ (Santali) Rebus: khanaka ‘miner’ karṇaka ‘scribe’ (Skt.)
Goods taken from a shop – without definitive settlement of purchase
Some lexemes from Indian sprachbund:
जांगड [jāṅgaḍa] ad Without definitive settlement of purchase--goods taken from a shop. जांगड [ jāṅgaḍa ] f ( H) Goods taken from a shop, to be retained or returned as may suit: also articles of apparel taken from a tailor or clothier to sell for him. 2 or जांगड वही The account or account-book of goods so taken.
कारणी or कारणीक [kāraṇī or kāraṇīka] a (कारण S) That causes, conducts, carries on, manages. Applied to the prime minister of a state, the supercargo of a ship &c करणी [ karaṇī ] f (करणें) Presenting (in marriages) of cloths, ornaments &c. to the bridegroom and his party. v कर. (Marathi) కరణము [karaṇamu] karaṇamu. [Skt.] n. A village clerk, a writer, an accountant. వాడు కూత కరణముగాని వ్రాతకరణముకాడు he has talents for speaking but not for writing. స్థలకరణము the registrar of a district. కరణికము or కరణీకము karanikamu. Clerkship: the office of a Karanam or clerk. (Telugu)
கரணிகம் karaṇikam [Telugu. karaṇikamu.] Office of accountant. See கருணீகம். Loc. கருணீகம் karuṇīkam , n. < karaṇa. [T. karaṇikamu.] Office of village accountant or karṇam; கிராமக்கணக்குவேலை. கரணன் karaṇaṉ , n. < karaṇa. Accountant; கணக்கன். கரணர்கள் வந்தனர் கழல் வணங்கினார் (கந்தபு. மார்க்கண். 210).கரணம் karaṇam, n. < karaṇa. Accountant, karnam; கணக்கன். (S.I.I. i, 65.) கரணம்பலம் karaṇampalam, n. < id. + அம் பலம். Ancient name for the office of village headman; வரிதண்டும் உத்தியோகம். Rd. கரணியமேனிக்கல் karaṇiya-mēṉi-k-kal, n. A kind of metal-ore; கரும்புள்ளிக்கல். (W.) (Tamil) ஒற்றிக்கரணம் oṟṟi-k-karaṇam n. < ஒற்றி +. See ஒற்றிச்சீட்டு. ஒற்றிச்சீட்டு oṟṟi-c-cīṭṭu , n. < ஒற்றி +. Usufructuary mortgage deed; ஒற்றிப்பத்திரம். கரணகளேபரம் karaṇa-kaḷēparam, n. < karaṇa கரணத்தான் karaṇattāṉ , n. < id. Accountant; கணக்கன். இந்நகரக்கரணத்தான் (S.I.I. iii, 23). கரணத்தியலவர் karaṇattiyalavar, n. < id. + இயலவர். Account officers working under a king, one of eṇperu-n-tuṇaivar, q.v.; அரசர்க்குரிய எண்பெருந்துணைவருள் ஒருவராகிய கணக்கர். (திவா.)
It is significant that the word கரணம் is used. This word in old Tamil denotes the work of karaṇikaṉ ‘village accountant’.
For describing goods transacted under jangaḍ accounting, it was enough to detail the technical specifications of the goods. The quantities involved, the prices to be settled at the time of final sale and final settlement between the consignor and the consignee are subject to separate, later day transactions AFTER the final delivery on the entrustment note -- jangaḍ -- takes place to the final purchaser or owner of the goods.
The foundatio of jangaḍ accounting is trust in mercantile transactions and an honour system for processing the transactions between the producer and the final consumer.
The ancient, traditional mercantile transactions using jangaḍ accounting was adjudicated in Bombay High Court in 1938 where violations of the founding principles of jangaḍ were the principal causes for the litigation. A write-up on the case is appended. The judgement of Kania, J. notes the quote of an earlier judge in another case: "Assuming that jangad in Gujerati ordinarily means 'approval' there is no reason to assume that the goods entrusted jangad are goods to be sold on approval, rather than goods to be shown for approval." -- Madgavkar J. But, jangad also meant 'sale or return' in addition to the dictionary meaning 'approval'. The Judge adjudicated on the issues of 'good faith' involving diamonds/pearls adjudicating that the relation of a dealer and a broker or mercantie agent is that of a principal and agent and not of a seller and a buyer. The obiter dicta was: "If the person who takes [the property] on jangad, sells the property at a price in excess of that which he has agreed to pay to the seller, he keeps the difference and he does not have to account to the seller as an agent. On the other hand, if the purchaser from him does not pay, he is still liable to pay on his own contract with his seller."
The point made in this note is that jangaḍ accounting transactions for high-value goods like diamonds/pearls/metalsware were in vogue as evidenced on Indus writing and the tradition continued into historical times and are in vogue even today in a remarkable civilizational continuum.
A remarkable contract is recorded in Mesopotamian archives, attesting to the good-faith doctrine in financial or property transactions:
Contract for the Sale of Real Estate, Sumer, c. 2000 B.C.
This is a transaction from the last days of Sumerian history. It exhibits a form of transfer and title which has a flavor of modern business method about it.
Sini-Ishtar, the son of Ilu-eribu, and Apil-Ili, his brother, have bought one third Shar of land with a house constructed, next the house of Sini-Ishtar, and next the house of Minani; one third Shar of arable land next the house of Sini-Ishtar, which fronts on the street; the property of Minani, the son of Migrat-Sin, from Minani, the son of Migrat-Sin. They have paid four and a half shekels of silver, the price agreed. Never shall further claim be made, on account of the house of Minani. By their king they swore. (The names of fourteen witnesses and a scribe then follow.) Month Tebet, year of the great wall of Karra-Shamash.
Kalyanaraman
June 8, 2013
Bombay High Court
Amritlal Raichand Jhaveri vs Bhagwandas Fatehchand on 7 March, 1938
Equivalent citations: (1939) 41 BOMLR 609
Bench: Kania
JUDGMENT
Kania, J.
1. This case, which involves a sum of three thousand rupees only, has been contested as a test case to determine certain points in the diamond trade in Bombay. Plaintiffs, a firm dealing in diamonds, handed over to defendant No. 1 173 diamonds on or about November 8, 1934, on terms signed by him in the plaintiffs' book. That document runs in the following terms:
To.
Zaveri Amritlal Raichand,
Bombay, 8-11-1934.
Written by Shah Fatehchand Lallubhai.
I have this day received from you the goods specified below, for the below-stated purposes and on the below-stated conditions.
1. The goods have been entrusted to me for the sole purpose of being: shown to the intending purchasers.
2. The ownership of the goods is of you alone and I have no right to or interest in them.
3. I have no authority whatever to sell, mortgage the goods or to deal with them otherwise.
4. I am bound to return the goods whenever you make a demand for their return,
5. I am responsible for the return of the goods to you in the same condition in which I have received them. And so long as I do not return them to you, I am liable and responsible for them in all respects.
Particulars of the goods:
Diamond brilliants 173 in number, ratis 14, Rate up to Rs. 225/-
The Signature of Shah Fatehchand Lallubhai in respect of the "jangad" (goods taken on approval) by the hand of Bhagwandas.
Diamond Brilliants 58 in number, carat 5-5, Rate 15-3.
58 returned.
The signature of Shah Fatehchand Lallubhai in respect of the "jangad" (goods taken on approval) by the hand of Bhagwandas.
2. Plaintiffs not having received back the diamonds for some time called upon defendants Nos. 1 and 2 to return the same, but they were put off. Defendants Nos. 1 and 2 are partners and do business as brokers in diamonds. Defendants Nos. 3 and 4 are stated to be brokers in jewellery. The plaint states that on making inquiries the plaintiffs learnt that the defendants had conspired together to deprive them of the diamonds. The plaintiffs thereupon moved the police and the police recovered the diamonds from defendant No. 4's possession. Plaintiffs then filed a complaint for criminal breach of trust and conspiracy. In this suit the plaintiffs claim recovery of the diamonds on the following grounds : (1) That the defendants had entered into a criminal conspiracy to deprive the plaintiffs of the diamonds. (2) That defendants Nos, 1 and 2 had committed criminal breach of trust in respect of the diamonds and defendant No. 4 had obtained possession of the diamonds with notice that an offence had been committed in respect thereof. (3) That the plaintiffs were the owners of the diamonds and as such were entitled to recover the same from the defendant who was in possession of them. Defendants knew that none of them had authority to deal with the diamonds of which plaintiffs were the owners. (4) That the defendants held the diamonds in trust for the plaintiffs and the plaintiffs sought to' follow the same in the hands of defendant No. 4. The prayers are for the return of the diamonds or recovery of their value.
3. Defendants Nos. 1 and 2 admitted in their written statement that they had received the diamonds from the plaintiffs as brokers on the terms mentioned in paragraph 3 of the plaint. According to them they had returned the diamonds to the plaintiffs, who sold the same directly to defendant No. 3. They, therefore, contended that they were not liable to the plaintiffs at all.
4. In his written statement defendant No. 3 alleged that he received those diamonds from defendants Nos. 1 and 2 jangad and in his turn delivered over the same to one Hiralal Jivabhai, in order that Hiralal may sell the same to his customer. In that written statement it was urged that defendant No. 3 having merely passed on the diamonds he was not liable to the plaintiffs.
5. Defendant No. 4 denied the charges of conspiracy made in the plaint and also denied that he had any knowledge of any offence having been committed in respect of the diamonds. Against the plaintiffs' claim to recover the diamonds as the owners thereof, defendant No. 4 stated in paragraph 9 of his written statement that defendants Nos. 1 and 2, who were mercantile agents, were, with the consent of the plaintiffs, in possession of the diamonds and the same were sold by them, when acting in the ordinary course of business, to defendant No, 3 and therefore that sale was valid and binding as if it was expressly authorised by the plaintiffs. Defendant No. 4 contended that he purchased the said diamonds from defendant No. 3 in good faith, and at the time when he purchased them, he had no notice of the fact that defendant No. 1, 2 or 3 had no authority to sell them. He, therefore, contended that the plaintiffs were not entitled to recover anything from him.
6. On these pleadings defendants Nos. 1 and 2 raised five issues. After the case proceeded for a short time those defendants withdrew and the case thereafter proceeded against them ex parte. Defendant No. 3 did not appear at the hearing to defend or support his written statement. On behalf of defendant No. 4 ten issues were raised. At the commencement of the trial Mr. Desai for the plaintiffs intimated that he did not propose to establish any criminal conspiracy or allegations contained in paragraph 5 of the plaint. Issues Nos. 1 and 2 were, therefore, given up and are found against the plaintiffs.
7. Plaintiffs have to prove in the first instance that the 173 diamonds belonged to them. Amritlal, a partner in the plaintiff firm, gave evidence to support that claim. He produced his book in which defendant No. 1 had signed the entry containing the terms on which the diamonds were received by his firm from the plaintiffs. In his oral evidence Amritlal further stated that the diamonds were never sold and the entry in his book remains uncancelled. That supports the plaintiffs' case. He produced his sale book in which there was no entry in respect of the sale of 173 diamonds. In my opinion Amritlal's evidence satisfactorily establishes that the plaintiffs themselves never sold the 173 diamonds to defendants Nos. 1 and 2 or to defendant No. 3. The 173 diamonds produced by defendant No. 4 were identified by Amritlal as his diamonds and he was not cross-examined on that point at all. The result is that the plaintiffs established that the diamonds, which were put in as exhibit F, were plaintiffs' property and had not been sold by them.
8. In my opinion the evidence led on behalf of the plaintiffs does not establish any case of fraud or offence having been committed in respect of obtaining the diamonds from the plaintiffs. In Amritlal's evidence there is nothing to suggest that when defendant No. 1 received the diamonds from the plaintiffs he had any fraudulent or criminal intention. The sixth issue must, therefore, be found against the plaintiffs.
9. Defendant No. 4 denied that when he purchased the diamonds he had any, notice that defendant No. 1, 2 or 3 had no authority to deal with them or that the plaintiffs were the owners thereof. The evidence does not establish that when defendant No. 4 received the diamonds he had notice of want of authority in the defendants or any of them. The evidence does not show that at any stage defendant No. 4 knew that the diamonds had come to defendant No. 3's possession from defendant No. 1. The first part of the fifth issue should therefore be answered in the negative. As regards the second part, defendant No. 3 was called as a witness by the plaintiffs. According to him he handed over the diamonds to Hiralal Jivabhai and at that time had told Hiralal that he had received the diamonds jingad from defendants Nos. 1 and 2 and that they were plaintiffs' property. Defendant No. 3 had not handed over these diamonds to defendant No. 4. Plaintiffs have, therefore, failed to establish that defendant No. 4 was aware that the plaintiffs were the owners of the diamonds when they received the same. The second part of the fifth issue should, therefore, be answered also in the negative.
10. Although defendant No. 4 has raised no issue as regards the plaintiffs' claim to follow trust property in his hands, the evidence does not establish that there was any such trust created or that the plaintiffs were entitled to follow trust property.
11. The main contest between the parties is on the defence formulated in paragraph 9 of defendant No. 4's written statement. That is covered by issues Nos. 7 to 11. The defence is based on Section 27 of the Sale of Goods Act. The first question in that connection is whether there was a sale by defendant No. 3 to defendant No. 4. In his evidence defendant No. 3 denied that he had sold the diamonds to defendant No.4. That is contradicted by defendant No. 4 in his evidence. In support of his statement defendant No. 4 produced an endorsement made on the back of the counterfoil of his cheque (exhibit No. 4) to the effect that the same was paid in full settlement of the diamond account to defendant No. 3. In the whole counterfoil book produced by defendant No. 4 this is the only counterfoil on which there is an endorsement at all. Moreover the endorsement does not mention 173 diamonds. That is material because it is established by evidence that two lots of nineteen and twenty diamonds of Dalpatram Jashkaran were sold by Dalpatram to defendant No. 3 and the cheque for Rs. 2,715, counterfoil of which is exhibit No. 4, was handed over to Dalpatram, but the cheque was dishonoured. In further support of his case that there was a sale of 173 diamonds to him, defendant No. 4 produced a weighment memo, (exhibit No. 3). That memo, does not contain the name of defendant No. 4 but to the extent that defendant No. 4 produced the same it goes in his favour. The point is not thus free from doubt. If it is necessary to decide, in my opinion, defendant No. 4 has failed to establish that the diamonds were sold to him by defendant No. 3.
12. Even if a different view is taken, the material question is whether such a sale (even if proved) is valid and binding on the plaintiffs and is any answer to the plaintiffs' claim. Section 27 of the Sale of Goods Act deals with the transfer of title. The section incorporates the well-known rule that a person who is not the owner of goods and who does not sell them under the authority or with the consent of the owner cannot give to the buyer a better title than the seller himself has. In the present case there is no evidence to show that defendant No. 3 was the owner of the goods. On the other hand defendant No. 3 denied it, and, as I have pointed out, the evidence clearly establishes that the plaintiffs were the owners of the goods. The evidence also does not establish that defendant No. 3 sold the goods under the authority or with the consent of the plaintiffs. Amritlal of the plaintiff firm emphatically denied that he had authorised anyone to sell the diamonds on his behalf. Defendant No. 3 in his turn denied that he had any communication with the plaintiffs or had any authority to sell the same from the plaintiffs. Therefore, the fourth defendant can only rely on the proviso to that section for his defence. In paragraph 9 of his written statement he has only relied on the proviso and not on the body of the section for his defence. The proviso runs in the following terms:
Provided that, where a mercantile agent is, with the consent of the owner, in possession of the goods or of a document of title to the goods, any sale made by him, when acting in the ordinary course of business of a mercantile agent, shall be as valid as if he were expressly authorised by the owner of the goods to make the same ; provided that the buyer acts in good faith and has not at the time of the contract of sale notice that the seller has no authority to sell.
In support of his contention that the sale by defendant No. 3 was binding on the plaintiffs Mr. Amin for defendant No. 4 relied on Durgabai v. Sarasvatibai (1925) 31 Bom. L.R. 414, Oppenheimer v. Attenborough and Son [1908] 1 K.B. 221, and Folkes v. King [1923] 1 K.B. 282.
13. In my opinion this contention of defendant No. 4 entirely fails. Turning to the words of the proviso it is clear that if defendant No. 3 is considered a mercantile agent, he was not in possession of the goods with the consent of the owners. Plaintiffs who were the owners gave the goods to defendants Nos. 1 and 2 : they had not given the goods to defendant No. 3 and defendant No. 3's possession was therefore not with the consent of the owners. If on a construction of the terms contained in exhibit A defendants Nos, 1 and 2 are held to be mercantile agents within the meaning of the Sale of Goods Act, those defendants were in possession of the goods with the consent of the owners, but they had not sold the goods to defendant No. 4 or to anyone. In that view also the case is not covered by the proviso. Apart therefore from the question of good faith and notice, the words of the proviso do not cover the present case at all. Durgabai v. Sarasvatibai is not a case on this point. That case was decided under Section 178 of the Indian Contract Act the words whereof were different from the words of Section 27 of the Sale of Goods Act. The particular distinction which may be noted is that under Section 178 (as it stood when that decision was given) the word "person" found place in the section in place of "mercantile agent". On going through the judgment again it is clear that the learned Judge held that the person in possession was himself a dealer in diamonds. The decision proceeded on that footing as is clearly stated in the concluding part of that judgment. The learned Judge held that if a dealer was in possession of diamonds, and a purchaser or pledgee for value from him acted bona fide, such purchaser or pledgee had a good title and he could not be ordered to hand over the goods to the owner. Oppenheimer v. Attenborough was a case on the construction of Section 2 of the. Factors Act and dealt with the authority of a mercantile agent, who, having general authority, acted in the ordinary course of business. The decision was that if according to the ordinary course of business there was a general authority, any particular trade-custom could not restrict it. I am not concerned in the present case with an instance where the mercantile agent in the ordinary course of business had general authority to sell diamonds. My attention has been drawn to an unreported decision of the Appeal Court in Emperor v. Hiralal Jivraj(1936) Criminal Appeal No. 413 of 1935 where the term jengad came to be interpreted. I am told that it has considerably disturbed the position of diamond brokers and dealers and has created confusion in the trade. I am, therefore, particularly reluctant to express any opinion on the general relations of a: diamond broker and dealer in respect of the sale of diamonds through a broker, except to the extent it is essential to decide the present case. Plaintiffs handed over their diamonds to defendants Nos. 1 and 2 on terms which are reduced to writing and are found in exhibit A. Having regard to that position, I refrain from stating to what extent, if the facts were applicable, the decision in Oppenheimer v. Attenbarough would affect the diamond trade in Bombay.
14. The decision in Folkes v. King is equally inapplicable because there the owner of a car had delivered it to a mercantile agent for sale. The mercantile agent sold the car to a third party, who in his turn sold it to the defendant. No case of notice of fraud or want of good faith having been established, the Court held that the defendant has acquired a good title under the Factors Act. In the present case if defendants Nos. 1 and 2 had received the diamonds merely as brokers (without any writing as in exhibit A) and had sold them to defendant No. 4 directly or had sold them to defendant No. 3, who in his turn had sold them to defendant No. 4, the applicability of this case may have to be considered.
15. It will be useful to examine first the terms on which defendant No. 1 received the diamonds from the plaintiffs. They are in the form of a letter written by the firm of defendant No. 1 and defendant No. 2 and addressed to the plaintiffs. The opening words clearly set out, in express terms, the purpose and conditions on which the goods were delivered by the plaintiffs to) defendant No. 1. Taking the printed terms together, it is clear that defendants Nos. 1 and 2 admitted that they received the goods only for the purpose of showing them to intending purchasers; that defendant No. l's firm had no authority whatsoever to sell, mortgage or pledge the goods ; that the ownership of the goods remained all along in the plaintiffs and the first and/or second defendants had no right to or interest in them ; and that till the goods were returned in the condition in which they were received or if they were not returned, defendants Nos. 1 and 2 were liable and responsible for the same.
16. It is not disputed that defendants Nos. 1 and 2 are brokers in jewellery and are working as such for many years past. The first question to be considered is whether having regard to these terms they were mercantile agents under the Sale of Goods Act. The effect of these terms on the relation between the parties, and the possession of the goods in the hands of the broker, was considered by Madgavkar J. in an unreported judgment in Kanga Jaghirdar & Co. v. Fatehchand Hirachand (1929) O.C.J. Suit No. 1117 of 1928. At that time the relative section of the Indian Contract Act did not contain the expression "mercantile-agent" but only "person". On a consideration of the terms mentioned above the learned Judge came to the conclusion that the possession obtained under a document worded as aforesaid was not juridical possession within the meaning of Section 178 of the Indian Contract Act. As regards the term jangad used in the document the learned Judge observed as follows : "Assuming that jangad in Gujerati ordinarily means 'approval' there is no reason to assume that the goods entrusted jangad are goods to be sold on approval, rather than goods to be shown for approval." I respectfully agree with that conclusion about the meaning of the conditions found in exhibit A in this case. The relation of a dealer and a broker is that of a principal and agent and not of a seller and a buyer. The extent of the authority of the agent is to be found in the document under which the goods are delivered to him. As between the plaintiffs and defendants Nos. 1 and 2, therefore, it is clear that defendants Nos. 1 and 2 had no authority to sell the goods.
17. The next question to be considered is whether the addition of the word "jangad" in the signature made any difference. It was urged that when there were printed terms and written conditions the written conditions must prevail, and as the word "jangad" was written in manuscript, the effect of the document was that the diamonds were delivered to defendants Nos. 1 and 2 for "sale or return". The authorities clearly show that when in one document there are printed as well as written conditions, the Court's duty, as far as possible, is to reconcile all the terms ; but, when that is not found possible, the written conditions are to be given greater weight than the printed ones. The dictionary meaning of the word "jangad" is "approval". As stated by Madgavkar J. in the passage quoted above, having regard to the printed terms in this case, there appears no reason to assume that the diamonds were entrusted to defendants Nos. 1 and 2 to be sold on approval and not that they were given to them to be shown for approval. In my opinion taking the document as a whole, it is clear that they were given to defendants Nos, 1 and 2 to be shown for approval only. I am unable to accept the contention of defendant No. 4 that the term "jangad" means "sale or return" wherever the same is found. I am also unable to accept his contention that having regard to the term "jangad" used in the signature the printed terms should be given no meaning at all. In my opinion having regard to the terms on which the goods were delivered to defendants Nos. 1 and 2 they are not mercantile agents within the meaning of the Sale of Goods Act having general authority to sell. As I have pointed out, even if they were, the case does not fall under Section 27 of the Sale of Goods Act because they have not sold the goods to defendant No. 4.
1
8. The terms on which defendant No. 3 received the goods from defendants Nos. 1 and 2 are not clear on the evidence. Defendant No. 3 stated that he had received them on jangad. He did not say whether he had signed any writing like exhibit A or not. He further admitted that he was working as a broker in jewellery at the time. It is, therefore, clear that by the delivery of 173 diamonds to him, even on jangad terms, no property can pass to him under Section 24 of the Sale of Goods Act. On behalf of defendant No. 4 it was urged that in respect of 84 diamonds of the plaintiffs defendants Nos. 1 and 2 had acted as dealers. On the evidence I am unable to accept that contention. For this purpose it is necessary to bear in mind the terms on which the diamonds were originally handed over by the plaintiffs to those parties. According to the evidence of Amritlal, which stands uncontradicted, these diamonds were delivered to those defendants on terms similar to those found in exhibit A. The subsequent dealings with the diamonds and the entry in the plaintiffs' books, as if there was a sale to them, cannot affect the original relations established between the parties by the document, unless there was proof of a new contract. According to Amritlal defendants Nos. 1 and 2 informed him that the diamonds were sold, but as they did not disclose the name of the purchaser, in the plaintiffs' books the goods were debited to them. In answer to some leading questions put in cross-examination Amritlal did state that those diamonds were sold to defendants Nos. 1 and 2, but the remaining evidence quite clearly shows that the goods were not sold to them as merchants but the price was debited to them because they did not disclose the name of the purchaser and they were responsible for the price. I am, therefore, unable to consider that in respect of 84 diamonds defendants Nos. 1 and 2 had acted with the plaintiffs as dealers.
19. Under Section 19(3) of the Sale of Goods Act, passing of property is a question of intention. When the Indian Contract Act governed the sale of goods there were no express words of that kind in the Act. The rule found in Section 24 is to govern when there is no intention to the contrary. In considering the decisions given under the old sections of the Indian Contract Act this distinction has to be carefully remembered.
20. In support of his contention that "jangad" meant 'sale or return' defendant No. 4 relied on an unreported judgment of Beaumont C.J. and N.J. Wadia J. in Emperor v. Hiralal Jivraj (1936) Criminal Appeal No. 413 of 1935. The accused Hiralal Jivraj (whose name was repeatedly mentioned in the evidence in this suit by defendant No. 3) had appealed against his conviction under Section 406 of the Indian Penal Code. After considering that the first charge framed was not sufficiently particular, the judgment proceeded to discuss the charge of criminal misappropriation of eighty-four diamonds given by Purshottam (defendant No. 3 in this case) to the accused. In the opinion of the Appeal Court the learned Chief Presidency Magistrate was in error in convicting the accused. It was stated that the diamonds were given to Purshottam on jangad and became the property of Purshottam, If Purshottam in his turn gave the diamonds to the accused, on jangad terms, they became the property of the accused and he could not be charged with criminal misappropriation of the same The evidence was that Purshottam received the diamonds "jangad" from one Shantilal and delivered them to the accused on jangad. The judgment thereafter runs in the following terms:
That being so, the property would pass to the accused under Section 24 of the Sale of Goods Act either when he signified his approval or acceptance to the seller or did any other act adopting the transaction, and if he did not signify his approval or acceptance to the seller but retained the goods without giving notice of rejection, then, if a time had been fixed for the return of the goods, on the expiration of such time, and, if no time had been fixed, on the expiration of a reasonable time. The learned Government Pleader has argued that the accused was a broker, but there is not a particle of evidence of brokerage. The transaction is stated to be a transaction on jangad. That places the parties in the relationship of seller and buyer, that is, principal and principal. If the person who takes [the property] on jangad, sells the property at a price in excess of that which he has agreed to pay to the seller, he keeps the difference and he does not have to account to the seller as an agent. On the other hand, if the purchaser from him does not pay, he is still liable to pay on his own contract with his seller.
21. This passage from the judgment clearly shows that, on the facts proved, the accused was not a broker and the diamonds were not delivered to him as a broker. Although the judgment does not record that the diamonds were delivered over to the accused as a buyer or had been received by Purshottam as a buyer on jangad from the previous holder or the owner, the relation of buyer and seller between all parties is assumed. The facts in that case also do not show that at the time of receiving the diamonds the parties had signed a document, like exhibit A in the present suit. That judgment therefore does not govern the facts of this case. I think the discussion in that judgment about the applicability of Section 24 of the Sale of Goods Act, when goods are received on jangad terms, requires an explanation. Goods or jewellery may be delivered by the owner to the buyer, with the intention that he may inspect the same and ultimately purchase it. The goods in such cases are stated to be delivered for approval, i.e. "jangad".
Section 24 of the Sale of Goods Act covers that situation. On the other hand, the owner of the goods may deliver the same to a mercantile agent, as defined in the Sale of Goods Act. According to that definition of a mercantile agent, in the customary course of business, he has authority to sell the goods. Goods may be handed over to such a mercantile agent also "jangad" meaning to be shown for approval to his customers. Under those circumstances, if the mercantile agent effects a sale, the title of the purchaser is protected under Section 27 of the Sale of Goods Act provided there is no want of good faith. On a comparison of the words of Section 24 and Section 27 of the Sale of Goods Act, it is clear that the mercantile agent who receives goods on jangad acquires no property by reason of Section 24, because he is not a buyer. He has, therefore, no title to pass on the property by reason of Section 24. This is important because if want of good faith is established, the sale can be avoided under Section 27. But if the case was governed by Section 24, no question of want of good faith arises and the property must pass. The third contingency is where the owner delivers goods to an agent (who is not a mercantile agent falling within the definition of that expression as given in the Sale of Goods Act) on terms arranged between the owner and the agent. As one of the terms of delivery the goods may be given jangad, i.e. for approval by a prospective customer or to be shown for approval. To such a case neither Section 24 nor Section 27 of the Sale of Goods Act applies, and the extent of the authority of the agent depends on the terms of his agency, and the provisions governing the relations of principal and agent as found in the Indian Contract Act. It is clear that in that case also no property passes from the owner to the agent under Section 24, nor is a sale by him protected under Section 27. If this authority enables him to sell the goods, the sale is authorised and binding on the owner. If the authority is exceeded, the question will have to be considered in the light of Sections 227 and 228 of the Indian Contract Act. The judgment of the Appeal Court which treats "jangad" as equivalent to sale or return must be read as applicable only when the goods are delivered to a buyer.
22. In addition to the above grounds I have grave doubts about the good faith of defendant No. 4 in the transaction. Defendant No. 4 is an undischarged insolvent and started doing business in Bombay on a small scale in August-September, 1934. The evidence shows that he had no money. His banking account shows that except a sum of about a hundred rupees or so he had no cash to buy diamonds worth any substantial amount at all. According to his own evidence when he purchased these 173 diamonds he had no means to pay, although he hoped to obtain loans from his friends and relatives. He produced no evidence to show that any arrangements were made to procure such loans or that any party had promised to give him any money. On the other hand his conduct in pledging these very diamonds on about November 18/19, 1934, with a Marwari firm and paying over the proceeds to satisfy his debts incurred in cotton speculation, negatives his good faith. He has produced his counterfoil cheque book which is in a very mutilated condition and about eight counterfoils have been found missing between November 14 and November 23, 1934. In the absence of those counterfoils it is difficult to ascertain for what purposes he had attempted to draw the cheques and for what amounts.
23. Defendant No. 4 did not impress me as a truthful witness, and unless his oral testimony was supported by clear documentary evidence, I do not accept his evidence as that of a truthful witness. It appears that about this time defendant No. 3, who was a very petty broker, defendant No. 4, and Hiralal Jivabhai, had dealings in various lots of diamonds and pearls. Barring the 173 diamonds in suit the rest of the jewellery has not been traced. Different merchants who had handed over their jewellery to brokers for sale, and which jewellery ultimately reached Hiralal or defendant No. 4 remained unpaid, because of the dealings of these three parties. Defendant No. 3 came to know defendant No. 4 at the residence of Hiralal. Neither side has called Hiralal as a witness, perhaps realising that his evidence would not be considered reliable. Amritlal gave his evidence in a straightforward and honest manner and I accept his oral evidence as that of a truthful witness. In order to meet the case of defendant No. 4 of a sale of the diamonds by the first and or second defendants to defendant No. 3, the plaintiffs called defendant No. 3 as their witness. As the case proceeded ex parte against defendants Nos. 1, 2 and 3 and contested by defendant No. 4, several statements in the evidence of defendant No. 3 have gone on record which would be hearsay evidence as against the other parties to the conversation. Taking the evidence in that light the case sought to be established by defendant No. 4 has not been established at all, and there is no evidence to prove that there was a sale of the diamonds by the first and/or second defendants to defendant No. 3. Defendant No. 3 was not a satisfactory witness, but I would prefer him to defendant No. 4, particularly on points where the oral evidence of defendant No. 4 was not supported by any document.
24. In addition to the want of means of defendant No. 4 and the manner in which he dealt with the 173 diamonds after he got possession, of the same, his evidence about the making-up of account of sale also shows considerable room for suspicion in this transaction. According to defendant No. 4 when the account of the sale was made up he deducted the full discount of six and a quarter per cent. and received credit for Rs. 25 by way of interest. Defendant No. 4 alleged that as the diamonds; were weighed on November 11, he was liable to pay the price fifteen to twenty days thereafter. He gave a cheque to defendant No. 3 on or about November 11, post-dated November 20. Therefore, at best he made a payment earlier by about five to ten days. Working out the figure of Rs. 25 as interest for that period, it shows that for obtaining a post-dated cheque defendant No. 3 (according to the case of defendant No. 4) gave credit at the rate of about three per cent. per month. It is really a matter of surprise that a dealer in diamonds would give credit for interest at thirty-six per cent. per annum for obtaining payment by a post-dated cheque five to ten days earlier. It is not suggested that this rebate of| Rs. 25 was given otherwise than for interest. If defendant No. 3 was a mercantile agent within the meaning of Section 27 of the Sale of Goods Act, this way of making accounts, in my opinion, indicates that in the matter of this sale he was not acting in the ordinary course of business of a mercantile agent. For these reasons, if necessary, I would hold that defendant No. 4 was not protected under Section 27 of the Sale of Goods Act because there was want of good faith on his part in the transaction.
25. In exhibit A at the time of putting his signature defendant No. 1 had added the word "jangad". It was contended that the word "jangad" meant "sale or return" and under Section 24 of the Sale of Goods Act the diamonds became the property of defendants Nos. 1 and 2. They had, therefore, title to pass on that property to defendant No. 3, by delivery on jangad terms, and defendant No. 3 in his turn could pass it on to defendant No. 4 by sale. When it was pointed out that this case was not pleaded in the written statement, Mr. Amin, for defendant No. 4, at the close of his final address, applied for an amendment of the written statement to raise this contention. In the present suit on the pleadings it is nobody's case that when defendants Nos, 1 and 2 received the diamonds they were the "buyers" of the diamonds. Defendants Nos. 1 and 2 have not alleged that case in their written statement. Nor is that case put forth in the written statement of defendant No. 4. This argument raises a question of fact, as to the position of defendants Nos. 1 and 2 when they received those diamonds. That question of fact not having been pleaded in the written statement, I do not think it is permissible to defendant No. 4 now to amend his written statement and raise that question. If the amendment was allowed, it would involve the re-opening of the bulk of evidence and calling further witnesses.. Mr. Amin's application for amendment is, therefore, rejected.
26. Mr. Amin next urged that defendants Nos. 1 and 2 having received the diamonds on the terms contained in exhibit A (including the word "jangad"), they had authority to hand over the same to defendant No. 3 on jangad. I repeatedly asked Mr. Amin if there was any authority for that proposition, but he failed to point out any. He urged that if defendants Nos. 1 and 2 had authority to sell, the authority to give possession to defendant No. 3 was a smaller authority and was therefore included in the larger one. In my opinion this argument is unsound. Under Section 190 of the Indian Contract Act an agent has no power to delegate his authority to any one except when it is done according to the custom of trade or from the nature of the agency it must be done. Neither of those contingencies are alleged in the pleadings nor suggested in the course of evidence. No issue has been raised on the point. Unless such a right to appoint a sub-agent was established, under Section 193 of the Indian Contract Act this act of the agent is not binding on the principal and he is entitled to repudiate the same. The authority of defendants Nos. 1 and 2 in the present case was defined by the writing which they executed. That writing did not give them any power to sell the goods. There is no authority express or implied in that writing to pass on the goods to a third party, with a power to the third party to deal with the same as if he was the owner. In my opinion if such a privilege was sought to be established, it had to be expressly pleaded and proved by evidence. The power goes to the root of the relations between principal and agent and cannot be lightly inferred because it was urged in the course of argument by counsel. The argument about passing of property to defendant No. 3 and the right of defendant No. 3 to sell is based on Section 24 which is assumed as applicable to an agent who received goods to sell. This is due to ignoring the fundamental distinction between a buyer and a seller and a principal and agent. In my opinion, therefore, the argument that defendants Nos. 1 and 2 had authority to pass on the goods to defendant No. 3 for any purpose is unsound and unwarranted on the evidence.
27. On behalf of defendant No. 4 it was urged that he had paid Rs. 1,324 and Rs. 950 for the price of these diamonds and, therefore, in any event, he should get the same back before the diamonds were delivered over to the plaintiffs. This contention is not pleaded in his written statement. Considerable evidence was led and lengthy cross-examination conducted to establish that defendant No. 4 had paid those two sums towards the price of the 173 diamonds to defendant No.
3. In my opinion the evidence does not justify that conclusion. Defendant No. 4 alleged that in respect of these diamonds at first he gave a cheque for Rs. 2,715 to defendant No. 3. The evidence of Dalpatram Jashkaran shows that this cheque of Rs. 2,715 was handed over to him for the price of two lots of nineteen and twenty diamonds sold by him to defendant No. 3. Me produced his pass-book showing that the cheque was handed over to his bank but was returned dishonoured. Defendant No. 3 in his evidence stated that this cheque for Rs. 2,715 was handed over to Dalpatram against his diamonds. It is not disputed that Dalpatram has not been paid in respect of his two lots of diamonds. Defendant No. 4 admitted that his cheque for Rs. 2,715 was dishonoured and that he had no funds at any time to meet the cheque. His case in the written statement is that after he gave this cheque to defendant No. 3, defendant No. 3 approached him on November 13 and asked for an immediate payment of Rs. 1,324. Defendant No. 4 accordingly gave to the third defendant a cheque dated November 14 for Rs. 1,324. The written statement is completely silent as to what was the agreement made about the balance. In his oral evidence defendant No. 4 alleged that he was to pay the balance afterwards, but as defendant No. 3 absconded from Bombay after a few days it was not paid. This explanation is entirely unsatisfactory because he met defendant No. 3 on November 18/19 and it is not suggested that at that time there was any conversation about it. The pass-book of defendant No. 4 shows that after November 14 he had never any funds to pay this balance. As against this defendant No. 3 denied that the cheque for Rs. 1,324 was received by him for the price of 173 diamonds at all. According to defendant No. 3 he received from Hiralal Jivabhai two cheques for Rs. 1,324 and Rs. 1,700, which was the price of 84 diamonds, and they were the cheques of defendant No. 4. These 84 diamonds originally belonged to the plaintiffs. Plaintiffs produced their cash-book showing that the cheque of Rs. 1,324 was received by them towards the price of their 84 diamonds. When the cheque for Rs. 1,700 was received, Amritlal presented it to the bank; but it was returned dishonoured. He thereupon gave it to defendant No. 1 and ultimately defendant No. 1 paid sixteen hundred and odd rupees in cash, which was the balance of the price payable to the plaintiffs. Defendant No. 3 in his evidence stated that when the cheque of Rs. 1,700 was dishonoured he was informed of it by defendant No. 1 and the cheque was given to him. He conveyed the information to Hiralal and Hiralal paid him Rs. 1,700 in cash, which he passed on to defendant No. 1. It is material to note in this connection that the price of these 84 diamonds as) shown by exhibit No. 2 was about Rs. 3,023. If defendant No. 4 had nothing to do with these 84 diamonds, it is surprising that on the same day he should give two cheques, which exactly make up the price of 84 diamonds, and the said two cheques should be passed on together to the plaintiffs, who were the owners of the diamonds. Defendant No. 4's explanation about the cheque of Rs. 1,700 was that he gave it for the price of certain pearls which he had purchased from defendant No. 3. The pearls belonged to one Ratahchand Bhaidas. According to defendant No. 4 after he gave the cheque of Rs. 1,700 on November 14 (but dated November 20) to defendant No. 3 when he met defendant No. 3 on November 18 or 19, he told him not to present the cheque for some days and paid him Rs. 950 in cash. In spite of this defendant No. 3 presented the cheque and the cheque was dishonoured. After defendant No. 3 absconded, he inquired who was the owner of the pearls, and having ascertained that Ratanchand was the owner, he paid Ratanchand Rs. 1,170 in full settlement of Ratanchand's claim for the pearls. According to the oral evidence of defendant No. 4 he claimed from Ratanchand credit for what he had paid to defendant No. 3 but that was refused. In my opinion this conduct of defendant No. 4 is very surprising if in the regular course of business he had purchased those pearls of Ratanchand and given his cheque for the price. In the first instance he would not have paid defendant No. 3 Rs. 950 without getting back the cheque for Rs. 1,700. Moreover, I do not see any reason why defendant No. 4 should be very anxious to trace the owner of the pearls and offer to pay him the price, if he had in fact given the cheque for Rs. 1,700 for the price of the pearls. Having regard to his means it is also difficult to believe that after paying Rs. 950 to defendant No. 3 towards the price of the pearls, he would pay in addition to Ratanchand Rs. 1,170 without consulting defendant No. 3 at all. These factors taken together, along with the fact that the amount of these two cheques exactly made up the price of 84 diamonds, leads me to believe that defendant No. 4 had given these cheques for the price of 84 diamonds and the cheque for Rs. 1,700 was not given for the price of Ratanchand's pearls.
28. It was urged on behalf of defendant No. 4 that the fact of the cheques being found in possession of the plaintiffs and Dalpatram Jashkaran did not prove that the payments were made in respect of the goods of those merchants. There would be force in that argument if that was the only coincidence. The other factors which I have noticed above and in particular the fact that the exact amount of Rs. 3,023 was the price of 84 diamonds lend support to the evidence of defendant No. 3 that those two cheques were received by him for the price of 84 diamonds. The co-existence of all the factors makes that conclusion highly probable. No witness in his oral evidence had stated in terms that defendant No. 4 had purchased those diamonds. The only witness who could say so is Hiralal, and he has not been called as a witness. The surrounding circumstances, however, are in my opinion sufficiently strong to justify the inference mentioned above. The attitude of defendant No. 4 in connection with the cheque of Rs. 1,700 is also significant. In the written statement he alleged that the cheque was given for the pearls and Rs. 950 were paid also for the pearls. After he filed his written statement he appears to have changed his attitude and in his affidavit dated March 18, 1936, alleged that Rs. 950 should be treated as paid towards the price of 173 diamonds. In fact he went further and on the counterfoil of the cheque which he alleged he had given for the price of the diamonds he endorsed "Cash Rs. 950" as if the same were paid towards the price of the diamonds. This was admittedly done after the suit was filed and savours of manufacturing evidence to urge this claim. The evidence shows that defendant No. 4 had no means to pay for the jewellery purchased by him from time to time, and if he finds it difficult to prove that he had paid those amounts towards the price of 173 diamonds, he has to thank himself for his habit of giving post-dated cheques, for the price, in different sums. Defendant No. 4's written statement does not show what arrangements were made for the payment of the balance and his oral evidence is equally vague on the point. In my opinion defendant No. 4 has failed to establish that he had paid anything towards the 173 diamonds in suit, and his claim to recover the two amounts fails.
29. At this stage Mr. Desai for the plaintiffs states that he does not press for a decree against defendants Nos. 1, 2 and 3. There will, therefore, be a decree for the plaintiffs against defendant No. 4 in terms of prayer (a) of the plaint. In due course the diamonds, exhibit F, would be handed over to the plaintiffs.
30. The allegations of conspiracy were not given up till the suit reached hearing and the plaintiffs led no evidence to establish the charges of fraud or offence, nor of notice to defendant No. 4. Having regard to this, I think defendant No. 4 should pay the plaintiffs the costs of the suit, less Rs. 500.
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Let's all be Hindu fundamentalists -- Maria Wirth
LET’S ALL BE HINDU FUNDAMENTALISTS
Religious fundamentalists are on the rise and that is bad for our societies. Most people will agree on this. Yet few examine who religious fundamentalists are. Obviously, such persons would want to stick to the fundamentals of their religion. They want to live a life that is advocated in their holy books and would please their God. Now, since religious fundamentalists pose a problem, does it mean that the fundamentals of religions are bad for our societies? Let’s look at the three biggest religions:
Concerning Christianity, fundamentalists believe that God has revealed himself in the Bible and sent his only begotten son to earth to save all mankind. They believe in the first commandment: ‘You shall have no other gods before me’. Therefore, all humanity has to believe in the God of the Bible and his only son, Jesus Christ. Those who do not do so, will end up in hell. “Go out into the world”, is a central tenet of the Christian faith and fundamentalists consider it as their duty to convert as many ‘heathens’ as possible to Christianity by whatever means.
Concerning Islam, fundamentalists believe that Islam is the only true religion and Allah the only true God who wants the whole world to submit to Him. Those who do not become Muslims will go to hell. It is a central tenet and keeps recurring in the Quran. Fundamentalists see it as their duty to make all of humanity accept Islam and often take literally commandments in the Quran like “Strike terror in the hearts of unbelievers.”
Concerning Hinduism, fundamentalists believe that Brahman (other names are allowed and in use) is the one true God. However, Brahman is not a personal God who saves those who believe in Him and damns all others. Rather, Brahman is the most subtle conscious essence that permeates everything and everyone, never mind, which religion he follows or whether he is an atheist. “Atman is Brahman” or “one’s own Self is God”, the Vedas proclaim.
Now, all religions claim that there is only one Highest, one ‘true God’ in English or one ‘Allah’ in Arabic or one ‘Brahman’ in Sanskrit. And of course there is only one Highest/ God – the almighty, all knowing presence that is responsible for the existence of the universe. How can it be otherwise? Hindus, however, often don’t understand that Christians as well as Muslims are really convinced that their one true God, respectively Allah, saves only the brothers and sisters of their own faith and sends all others as heathen or infidels into hell. This conviction is indeed difficult to understand for humans with a normal reasoning capacity. Yet if one grows up hearing repeatedly that only one’s own faith is true and other people are bad because they don’t accept this, it may actually make sense. It happened to me as a child – it made sense that only we Christians go to heaven, because we have been chosen by God…
So we have a situation in the world where Christianity and Islam, each one over a billion strong, rival with each other: “Our God alone is true! If you don’t believe it, you go to hell.” And the other group counters, “No. Our God alone is true! And if you don’t believe it you go to hell.”
One could laugh it off if it were not so serious. Fundamentalists stick to this belief – and unfortunately, the official clergy of both religions uphold it, as well. It is naturally a cause for great friction in the world.
Hinduism (or Sanatana Dharma, as it used to be called) does not take part in this one-upmanship. It is ancient. It was there long before Christianity or Islam appeared on the scene. In Hinduism, Brahman is not a male entity who watches over us from somewhere. It is inside everyone, conscious, living and loving. It will always give another chance until everyone realises his true being and merges in Brahman, which may take many lives. The Hindu scriptures proclaim, “Humanity is one family”. “Brahman permeates the smallest as well as the biggest.” “Thou art That.” “Brahman is not what your mind thinks but That by which the mind is capable to think.” “See God in everyone.” “Respect nature.”
And they lead us in prayer: “May we be protected together, may we be nourished together, may we work together with great vigour, may our study be enlightening, may no obstacle arise between us.” “Let noble thoughts come to us from all sides.” “May everyone be happy”, and so on.
Many Hindus, too, don’t know these fundamentals of their religion and believe it is all about rituals, worshipping their favourite aspect of God to get their wishes fulfilled and celebrating festivals. They don’t realise that Hinduism is the only religion that is all inclusive. It does not set one group of people against all the others. It is also not opposed to science and does not only allow using one’s intelligence but encourages to do so.
Maybe that is the reason why in the west, Hinduism is sometimes even missing when the world religions are listed, as for westerners, a religion is apparently not a religion if it is not based on unverifiable dogmas, especially the one that sets it apart from other religions and which is so harmful for a harmonious living together of all humanity. Is it not about time for us in the 21th century to scrap such unverifiable, harmful fundamentals that set up one group of people against another group?
http://mariawirthblog.wordpress.com/2013/06/06/lets-all-be-hindu-fundamentalists/
ABOUT CALLING A SPADE A SPADE
Observations by someone who grew up in the stifling atmosphere of dogmatic Christianity and appreciates the freshness and freedom of undogmatic Hinduism– and wonders why Hindus are so apologetic about their religion when it actually is the best bet for a fulfilling life.
Hindus used to say, “All religions are equal”. They did not want to see that the two biggies, Christianity and Islam, did not agree. Each of those religions claimed for itself, “We alone are the only true religion. Our God is the only true God.” They pitied Hindus that they might actually believe that by stating that all religions are equal, Hinduism would be elevated to their level. Of course, the ‘true religions’ will never allow this.
Now Hindus say, “We respect all religions. We teach it to our children. Our children hear a lot about Christianity and Islam and how good these religions are. We don’t want to offend anyone, so we teach very little about Hinduism and what we teach is only about superficial things, like festivals and customs and not about the deep philosophy and scientific insights which would portray Hinduism in a good light and might irritate other religions.”
Again, Hindus don’t want to see that Christianity and Islam do not respect Hinduism. The clergy of those religions don’t say it into their face, but to their own flock: “Hindus go to hell, if they don’t convert to the true religion. It is their own fault. We have told them about Jesus and his Father or the Prophet and Allah respectively. Still, they are so arrogant and foolish and hold on to their false gods. But God/Allah is great. He will punish them with eternal hellfire.”
In a variation of “We respect all religions” Hindus also say, “All religions teach the human being to be virtuous and good and lead him to God, the creator. Hindus attend Inter Faith Dialogues and try to find the communalities. Of course these are there. Hindus try to build on them. “Yes, all religions have good points. Yes, all religions have good people.” They keep repeating that all religions teach goodness, as if to convince themselves. However, deep down, Hindus know that this is not honest and lacks intellectual integrity. They know that Christianity and Islam have gone off track by preaching exclusiveness and hate to their flock. Those religions have encouraged persecution of others and brainwashed otherwise kind human beings into fighting for an imaginary god who supposedly hates all those ‘others’ who don’t believe, what they are told to believe. They have left a trail of bloodshed in history. But Hindus choose to ignore it. ‘Why provoke unnecessarily?’ they might feel, still betraying a psyche wounded by thousand years of oppression.
Is it not time that Hindus call a spade a spade? Swami Vivekananda has said that every Hindu who leaves his faith is not one Hindu less but one enemy more. He said this while India was ruled by the British, and Christians and Muslims were encouraged to feel superior to the “idol worshipping Hindu”. Hindus were not in a position to put the record straight, as their own elite put Hinduism down due to a malicious British education policy. Yet today, 66 years after independence, it is about time to tell the world loudly and boldly what Hinduism is about.
It is not about ruling the world. It is not about believing in unverifiable dogmas. It is not about being nice to those of one’s own faith and not nice to those of other faiths. But it is about discovering what we really are, apart from the ever-changing body and mind. The ancient rishis have discovered the oneness underlying the apparent multiplicity, long before western scientists did. This conscious, blissful oneness is not somewhere out there. It is permeating everyone (and everything) and can be felt as one’s own essence. This essence can be called God or Allah or Brahman, but the main thing is, that it is within everyone and within everyone’s reach. So, we truly are all children of the same God. We all belong to one big family. Vasudhaiva Kutumbhakam. This truth provides the basis for a harmonious world and it makes sense, or does it not?
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Ancient Near East 'scarf' hieroglyph on Warka vase, cyprus bronze stand and on Indus writing
Alternative: dalī ʻbundle of lighted sticks of pineʼ (WPah.) Rebus: ḍhāḷako ‘a large metal ingot’ (G.)
The narrative of the vase is that ingots of tin and iron are conveyed into the treasury (of minerals and metal ingots) from smithy/forge.
dhatu 'scarf' Rebus: dhatu 'mineral
m453B. Scarf as pigtail of seated person.Kneeling adorant and serpent on the field.
khaṇḍiyo [cf. khaṇḍaṇī a tribute] tributary; paying a tribute to a superior king (Gujarti) Rebus: khaṇḍaran, khaṇḍrun ‘pit furnace’ (Santali)
paṭa. 'serpent hood' Rebus: pata ‘sharpness (of knife), tempered (metal). padm‘tempered iron’ (Kota)
Seated person in penance. Wears a scarf as pigtail and curved horns with embedded stars and a twig.
mēḍha The polar star. (Marathi) Rebus: meḍ ‘iron’ (Ho.) dula ‘pair’ (Kashmiri); Rebus: dul ‘cast (metal)’(Santali) ḍabe, ḍabea ‘large horns, with a sweeping upward curve, applied to buffaloes’ (Santali) Rebus: ḍab, ḍhimba, ḍhompo ‘lump (ingot?)’, clot, make a lump or clot, coagulate, fuse, melt together (Santali) kūtī = bunch of twigs (Skt.) Rebus: kuṭhi = (smelter) furnace (Santali) The narrative on this metalware catalog is thus: (smelter) furnace for iron and for fusing together cast metal. kamaḍha ‘penance’.Rebus 1: kaṇḍ ‘stone (ore) metal’.Rebus 2: kampaṭṭa‘mint’.
m0311 The composite hieroglyph shows a 'tiger + woman' ligatured to a scarf as a pigtail, ram's horns and a twig on the head.kola 'woman'; kol 'tiger' Rebus: kol 'working in iron'. dhatu 'scarf' Rebus: dhatu 'mineral' tagara 'ram' Rebus: tagara 'merchant'; tagara 'tin'. kūtī = bunch of twigs (Skt.) Rebus: kuṭhi = (smelter) furnace (Santali) The narrative is that of a (smelter) furnace for iron, merchant tin mineral.
m1186A Scarves as pigtails on standing and kneeling persons. The kneeling adorant is shown in a posture comparable to that shown on the persons offering prayers to the rising sun on Sit shamshi bronze. ![]()
Sit Shamshi 12th century BCE Tell of the Acropolis, Susa http://www.louvre.fr/en/oeuvre-notices/sit-shamshi The eight blobs flanking the ziggurat are comparable to the eight 'knobs' on palm-tree on a cylinder seal presented in the following section. It appears that the Sit shamshi bronze is a narrative related to making the alloy of arsenical bronze using dhatu 'minerals' denoted by dagoba (syn. ziggurat).derived from dhatu + garbha 'tope of embedded minerals'. ḍaṭhā m. ʻstalkʼ (Hindi)(CDIAL 5527). Rebus: dhatu 'mineral'. kolmo 'three' Rebus: kolami 'smithy/forge'. dala 'petal' Rebus: tāḷa 'yellow arsenic'.
Alternatives: Aḍaru twig; aḍiri small and thin branch of a tree; aḍari small branches (Ka.); aḍaru twig (Tu.)(DEDR 67). Aḍar = splinter (Santali); rebus: aduru = native metal (Ka.) Vikalpa: kūtī = bunch of twigs (Skt.) Rebus: kuṭhi = furnace (Santali) ḍhaṁkhara— m.n. ʻbranch without leaves or fruitʼ (Prakrit) (CDIAL 5524) Rebus: ḍhangar‘blacksmith’ (H.) ḍāḷ= a branch of a tree (G.) Rebus: ḍhāḷako = a large ingot (G.) ḍhāḷakī = a metal heated and poured into a mould; a solid piece of metal; an ingot (G.)
er-agu = a bow, an obeisance; er-aguha = bowing, coming down (Kannada) Rebus: eraka ‘copper’ (Kannada)dhatu 'scarf' Rebus: dhatu 'mineral. khaḍā ʻstanding' (Marathi) Rebus: khaḍḍā f. Hole, mine, cave (CDIAL 3790). khaṇḍiyo [cf. khaṇḍaṇī a tribute] tributary; paying a tribute to a superior king (Gujarti) Rebus: khaṇḍaran, khaṇḍrun ‘pit furnace’ (Santali) dhatu 'scarf' Rebus: dhatu 'mineral er-agu = a bow, an obeisance; er-aguha = bowing, coming down (Kannada) Rebus: eraka ‘copper’ (Kannada)The narrative points to a pit-furnace at a mine. The mineral taken out the mine is indicated by the ficus religiosa leaves stylized as a tree around the standing person. loa 'ficus' Rebus: loh 'copper'. The reference is to a copper mine. The kneeling adorant is in front of the tagara 'antelope' Rebus: tagara 'tin'. The narrative is thus a reference to a pit-furnace for copper and tin dhatu or tin 'mineral'.
Mohenjo-daro seal m1175. Composite animal with scarves on neck. 
m1179 Mohenjo-daro seal. Markhor or ram with human face in composite hieroglyph with neck-bands or scarves. mũhe ‘face’ (Santali) Rebus: mũh metal ingot (Santali) mũhã̄= the quantity of iron produced at one time in a native smelting furnace (Santali) mleccha-mukha (Skt.) = milakkhu ‘copper’ (Pali)
miṇḍāl ‘markhor’ (Tōrwālī) meḍho a ram, a sheep (G.)(CDIAL 10120); rebus: mẽṛhet, meḍ ‘iron’ (Mu.Ho.) [‘scarf’ glyph is ligatured on the neck of markhor. Scarf [read rebus as dhaṭu m. (also dhaṭhu) m. ‘scarf’ (WPah.) (CDIAL 6707) Rebus: dhatu ‘minerals’ (Santali); dhātu ‘mineral’ (Pali)].
Wavy(curved) lines glyph is relatable to: kuṭi— in cmpd. ‘curve’ (Skt.)(CDIAL 3231). kuṭhi‘smelting furnace‘ (Santali) koṭe ‘forged (metal) (Santali)
The narrative reds: tagara 'antelope' Rebus damgar 'merchant', ḍaṅgara ʻcattle ʼrebus: ḍhangar ‘blacksmith’ (Hindi) dealing with tam(b)ra 'copper'eruvai dhatu 'copper mineral' stone,
Thus, merchant/blacksmith dealing with copper mineral stone and copper (metal) are depicted on this segment of the narrative on Warka vase.
Bull hieroglyph:
dāmṛa, damrā ʻ young bull (Assamese)(cdial 6184). glyph: *ḍaṅgara1 ʻ cattle ʼrebus: ḍhangar ‘blacksmith’ (Hindi)ṭhākur ʻ blacksmith ʼ (Maithili)
Palm-tree hieroglyph:
tamar, ‘palm tree, date palm’ the rebus reading would be: tam(b)ra, ‘copper’ (Pkt.)
Reed+scarf hieroglyph: eruvai dhatu 'copper mineral'.
eruvai European bamboo reed (Tamil) straight sedge tuber. Ma. eruva a kind of grass. (DEDR 819). Rebus 1: eruvai ‘copper’. dhaṭu ‘scarf’ (WPah.). Rebus: dhatu ‘mineral’ (Santali).
The frames of buildings used in the glyphic composition are hieroglyphs: sã̄gāḍā m. ʻ frame of a building ʼ (M.)(CDIAL 12859) Rebus 1:jangaḍiyo ‘military guards who accompanies treasure into the treasury’’ (G.) Rebus 2: sanghāḍo (G.) cutting stone, gilding (G.); san:gatarāśū = stone cutter; san:gatarāśi = stone-cutting; san:gsāru karan.u = to stone (S.) san:ghāḍiyo, a worker on a lathe (G.)
tagara ‘ram’ (Ta.) Rebus: tamkāru, damgar‘merchant’ (Akk.)
The palm-tree hieroglyph on Warka vase compares with the palm-tree glyph of goat-fish ligatured hieroglyph on a ritual basin of Susa:
Susa. Ritual basin with goat-fish hieroglyphs flanking palm-tree hieroglyph. Jacques de Morgan excavations, 1904-05 Sb 19 Loure Museum. http://www.louvre.fr/en/oeuvre-notices/ritual-basin-decorated-goatfish-figures
tamar, ‘palm tree, date palm’ the rebus reading would be: tam(b)ra, ‘copper’ (Pkt.)
Tin and iron ingots delivered to the temple with ligatured ‘reed-scarf’ standard:
tagara 'antelope' Rebus: tagara 'tin' + kola 'tiger' Rebus: kol 'iron'.
Scarf is a ligature hieroglyph on Ishtar's (aka Inanna's?) pair of reeds (gi[reed]) of Warka vase. Warka was known as Uruk to the ancient Sumerians. The reeds are also described as two looped temple poles or "asherah," symbolising entrance to a temple.
kole.l was a temple, the same lexeme was used for a smithy (Kota language). A cognate was kwala.l in Toda language. The mudhif shown on other artifacts of Sumer has the reed atop the roof. The mudhif is comparable to a Toda mund. I suggest that Toda mund is a cognate of mudhif.
The vase was discovered as a collection of fragments by German Assyriologists in their sixth excavation season at Uruk in 1933/1934. The find was recorded as find number W14873 in the expedition's field book under an entry dated 2 January 1934, which read "Großes Gefäß aus Alabaster, ca. 96 cm hoch mit Flachrelief" ("large container of alabaster, circa 96 cm high with flat-reliefs"). The vase, which showed signs of being repaired in antiquity, stood 3 feet, ¼ inches (1 m) tall. The vase has three registers – or tiers – of carving.
- Kleiner, Fred S.; Mamiya, Christin J. (2006). Gardner's Art Through the Ages: The Western Perspective – Volume 1 (12th Edition ed.). Belmont, California, USA: Thomson Wadsworth. pp. 20–21. ISBN 0-495-00479-0.
- Ralf B. Wartke, "Eine Vermißtenliste (2): Die "Warka-Vase" aus Bagdad", Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung 26 April 2003, Nbr 97, page 39. English translation. (The author is a deputy director of the Berliner Vorderasiatischen Museums). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warka_Vase
height: ca. 105; upper diam.: 36• material: stone (alabaster)• date: (ca. 3000 BC)• description:
vase, relief decoration in four registers, showing (bottom to top) rows of plants, sheep (make and female), nude males carrying baskets or jars, and a cultic scene, in which the ruler of city of Uruk delivers provisions to the temple of the goddess Inanna, represented here by two reed bundle standarts--symbols of the goddess--and a woman, probably her priestess ); rim broken; repair piece inserted in antiquity (holes drilled for repair). http://oi.uchicago.edu/OI/IRAQ/dbfiles/objects/14_2.htm
dalī ʻbundle of lighted sticks of pineʼ (WPah.) Rebus: ḍhāḷako ‘a large metal ingot’ (G.)
1. Associated quadrupeds:
koḍiyum ‘heifer’ (G.) [ kōḍiya ] kōḍe, kōḍiya. [Tel.] n. A bullcalf.. k* దూడA young bull. Plumpness, prime.తరుణము. జోడుకోడయలుa pair of bullocks.kōḍe adj. Young. kōḍe-kāḍu. n. A young man.పడుచువాడు. [ kārukōḍe ]kāru-kōḍe. [Tel.] n. A bull in its prime. खोंड[ khōṇḍa ]mA young bull, a bullcalf. (Marathi)గోద[ gōda ] gōda. [Tel.] n. An ox. A beast. kine, cattle.(Telugu) koḍiyum (G.) Rebus: koḍ artisan’s workshop (Kuwi). tagara 'antelope' Rebus: tamkāru, damgar ‘merchant’ (Assyrian);
dala 'petal' Rebus: tāḷa 'yellow arsenic'.
Eight petals (daḷa) denote 8 parts of copper alloyed with one part arsenic, daḷa to create the brass alloy. are‘eight’ (Mu.). Sa. baha`flower, blossom, to flower'.Mu. tarai-ba(A) `a kind of marsh-flower'. ~ baa(H) ~ baha(N) `flower, blossom, to flower'.Ho ba `flower, blossom, to flower'.Bh. baha `flower, blossom, to flower'. KW baha|Cf. So. ba'a `to blossom'.@(V021,M111)
Rebus:``^make'':Sa. bai `to make'.Mu. bai `to make'.KW bai @(M100).
WPah.kṭg. dhàṭṭu m. ʻ woman's headgear, kerchief ʼ, kc. dhaṭu m. (also dhaṭhu m. ʻ scarf ʼ, J. dhāṭ(h)u m. Him.I 105). dhaṭu m. (also dhaṭhu) m. ‘scarf’ (WPah.) (CDIAL 6707) dhaṭu ‘scarf’ (WPah.). Rebus: dhatu ‘mineral’ (Santali). dhātu ‘mineral (Pali) dhātu ‘mineral’ (Vedic); a mineral, metal (Santali); dhāta id. (G.) H. dhāṛnā ‘to send out, pour out, cast (metal)’ (CDIAL 6771).
There are two Mohenjo-daro tabletw which show a procession of standard bearers. A drawing of the four standard bearers is also presented. The second standard-bearer from the right carries a scarf on a pole. The scarf is comparable to the reed+scarf hieroglyph on Warka vase.
The first standard bearer from r. may be carrying the glyph 347
or maybe a bead.khōṭ ‘blob atop standard’ Rebus: khōṭ ‘alloyed ingots’ -- dhatu ‘mineral (ore)’.eruvai ‘copper’.
eruvai European bamboo reed (Tamil) straight sedge tuber. Ma. eruva a kind of grass. (DEDR 819). Rebus 1: eruvai‘copper’ (Tamil). Alternative: kã̄ḍ काण्डः m. the stalk or stem of a reed, grass, or the like, straw. In the compound with dan 5 (p. 221a, l. 13) the word is spelt kāḍ. kã̄ḍ m. ʻ stalk of a reed, straw ʼ (Kashmiri); kã̄ḍ n. ʻ trunk, stem ʼ (Marathi); Or.kāṇḍa, kã̄ṛ ʻ stalk (Oriya); kã̄ṛā ’stem of muñja grass (used for thatching) (Bihari); kānã̄ m. ʻ stalk of the reed Sara ʼ (Lahnda)(CDIAL 3023). Rebus: Tu. kandůka, kandaka ditch, trench. Te. kandakamu id. Konḍa kanda trench made as a fireplace during weddings. Pe. Kanda fire trench. Kui kanda small trench for fireplace. Malt. kandri a pit.(DEDR 1214).khaṇḍaran, khaṇḍrun ‘pit furnace’ (Santali) Rebus 2: khāṇḍā ‘metal tools, pots and pans’.
A pair (of reeds): dula‘pair’. Rebus: dul‘cast (metal)’.h097 Pict-95: Seven robed figures (with pigtails, twigs) dhatu ‘scarf’.(WPah.) Rebus: dhatu ‘mineral’.(Santali)
?ea ‘seven’ (Santali); rebus: ?eh-ku ‘steel’ (Telugu)
kola 'woman' Rebus: kol 'pancaloha, alloy of 5 metals' (Tamil) bahula_ = Pleiades (Skt.) Rebus: bagala = an Arab boat of a particular description (Kannada);
Sumerian mudhif facade, with uncut reed fonds and sheep entering, carved into a gypsum trough from Uruk, c. 3200 BCE (British Museum WA 120000). Photo source.![]()
See also: Expedition 40:2 (1998), p. 33, fig. 5b
Uruk trough. The carving on the side shows a procession of sheep (a goat and a ram) approaching a reed hut (of a type still found in southern Iraq) and two lambs emerging. The mudhif (Toda mund) is shown symbolised by a a prif of reeds with a hanging scarf atop either side of the roof.
Six circles decorated on the reed post are semantic determinants of hieroglyph: bhaṭa‘six’. Rebus: bhaṭa‘furnace’.The association of the reed (with a curved loop) and a scarf hanging from the pole is thus emphatically associated with a temple, a mudhif (Toda mund) . The procession of quadrupeds emerging out of the mudhif are seen to represent pasara 'cattle' rebus: pasra 'smithy, forge'.
Glyph: ‘petal’: దళము [daḷamu] daḷamu. [Skt.] n. A leaf. ఆకు. A petal. A part, భాగము. dala n. ʻ leaf, petal ʼ MBh. Pa. Pk. dala -- n. ʻ leaf, petal ʼ, G. M. daḷ n.(CDIAL 6214). <DaLO>(MP) {N} ``^branch, ^twig''. *Kh.<DaoRa>(D) `dry leaves when fallen', ~<daura>, ~<dauRa> `twig', Sa.<DAr>, Mu.<Dar>, ~<Dara> `big branch of a tree', ~<DauRa> `a twig or small branch with fresh leaves on it', So.<kOn-da:ra:-n> `branch', H.<DalA>, B.<DalO>, O.<DaLO>, Pk.<DAlA>. %7811. #7741.(Munda etyma) Rebus 1: தாளம் tāḷam Yellow orpiment (Tamil) తాళకము [ tāḷakamu ] tāḷakamu. [Skt.] n. Yellow orpiment. Yellow sulphuret of arsenic. హారిదళము, తొగరిమన్ను. Pa. haritāla -- m. ʻ yellow orpiment ʼ, Pk*. hariāla -- , haliāra -- m.n.,(CDIAL 13987). hartāl हर्ताल्।हरितालकम् f. (sg. dat. hartāli हर्तालि), orpiment, sulphuret of arsenic, yellow arsenic, ratsbane. హరిదళము [ haridaḷamu ] or అరిదళము hari-daḷamu. [from Skt. హరితాళమ్.] n. Yellow orpiment, Arsenicum flavum. వేషగాండ్రుమూతికిపూసుకొనేటిది. స్వర్ణతాళము gold coloured orpiment, auri-pigmentum.
Glyph: ḍāla1 m. ʻ branch ʼ Śīl. 2. *ṭhāla -- . 3. *ḍāḍha -- . [Poss. same as *dāla -- 1 and dāra -- 1: √dal, √d&rcirclemacr;. But variation of form supports PMWS 64 ← Mu.] 1. Pk. ḍāla -- n. ʻ branch ʼ; S. ḍ̠āru m. ʻ large branch ʼ, ḍ̠ārī f. ʻ branch ʼ; P. ḍāl m. ʻ branch ʼ, °lā m. ʻ large do. ʼ, °lī f. ʻ twig ʼ; WPah. bhal. ḍā m. ʻ branch ʼ; Ku. ḍālo m. ʻ tree ʼ; N. ḍālo ʻ branch ʼ, A. B. ḍāl, Or. ḍāḷa; Mth. ḍār ʻ branch ʼ, °ri ʻ twig ʼ; Aw. lakh. ḍār ʻ branch ʼ, H. ḍāl, °lā m., G.ḍāḷi, °ḷī f., °ḷũ n. 2. A. ṭhāl ʻ branch ʼ, °li ʻ twig ʼ; H. ṭhāl, °lā m. ʻ leafy branch (esp. one lopped off) ʼ. 3. Bhoj. ḍāṛhī ʻ branch ʼ; M. ḍāhaḷ m. ʻ loppings of trees ʼ, ḍāhḷā m. ʻ leafy branch ʼ, °ḷī f. ʻ twig ʼ, ḍhāḷā m. ʻ sprig ʼ, °ḷī f. ʻ branch ʼ. (CDIAL 5546).
Glyph: dálati intr. ʻ cracks, splits ʼ Suśr., dalayati tr. Dhātup. dala2 n. ʻ piece split off, fragment ʼ Suśr., ʻ a half ʼ VarBr̥S. [~ dara -- 2. -- Cf. dala -- 1. -- √dal1]Pk. dala -- n. ʻ piece ʼ; K. düjü f. ʻ small piece of cloth, small plot of ground (e.g. seed -- bed) ʼ; S. ḍ̠aru m. ʻ a breadth of cloth ʼ; WPah.jaun. dalī ʻbundle of lighted sticks of pineʼ; B. dal ʻ fragment, thickness (of a board, &c.) ʼ; M. daḷ n. ʻ half ʼ (CDIAL 6213, 6216). దళించు dalinṭsu. v. t. To cut, split, divide. ఖండించు, భేదించు. దళనము daḷanamu. n. Breaking, cutting, severing. ఖండించుట, భేదించుట. Rebus: ḍhāḷako ‘a large metal ingot’ (G.)
sangāḍo a lathe (G.); śaghaḍi = a pot for holding fire (G.)
sangāḍo a lathe (G.); on sãgaḍ part of a turner's apparatus (M.); sã̄gāḍī part of a turner's apparatus by which the piece to be turned is confined (Tu.)(CDIAL 12859). sāṅgaḍa That member and steadied. सांगडीस धरणें To take into linkedness or close connection with, lit. fig. (Marathi) सांगाडी [ sāṅgāḍī ] f The machine within which a turner confines and steadies the piece he has to turn. (Marathi)
sanghāḍo (G.) cutting stone, gilding (G.); san:gatarāśū = stone cutter; san:gatarāśi = stone-cutting; san:gsāru karan.u = to stone (S.) san:ghāḍiyo, a worker on a lathe (G.)
A note on Ziggurat and Dageba
Ziggurat evolves into dageba which should originally have been a square structure multiplied.
![]()
As both construction technology and the importance of the stupa as a religious form developed, the single square base multiplied and the mound was raised even higher on several tiers. The stupa above, found in Pagan, Burma, is a good example of this. The three multiplied square bases are comparable to the ziggurat structure shown on Sit Shamshi bronze.
A note on Ziggurat and Dageba
Ziggurat evolves into dageba which should originally have been a square structure multiplied.
As both construction technology and the importance of the stupa as a religious form developed, the single square base multiplied and the mound was raised even higher on several tiers. The stupa above, found in Pagan, Burma, is a good example of this. The three multiplied square bases are comparable to the ziggurat structure shown on Sit Shamshi bronze.Related links:
http://bharatkalyan97.blogspot.in/2013/06/ancient-near-east-jangad-accounting-for.html Ancient Near East jangaḍ accounting for mercatile transactions-- evidence of Indus writing presented.
http://bharatkalyan97.blogspot.in/2013/06/ancient-near-east-bronze-age-legacy_6.html Ancient Near East bronze-age legacy: Processions depicted on Narmer palette, Indus writing denote artisan guilds
http://bharatkalyan97.blogspot.in/2013/06/ancient-near-east-art-indus-writing.html Ancient near East lapidary guilds graduate into bronze-age metalware
http://bharatkalyan97.blogspot.in/2013/06/indus-writing-in-ancient-near-east-on.html An ancient Near East proto-cuneiform tablet with Indus writing
http://bharatkalyan97.blogspot.in/2013/06/indus-writing-on-dilmun-type-seals.html Indus writing in ancient Near East (Failaka seal readings)
http://bharatkalyan97.blogspot.in/2013/05/indus-writing-on-gold-disc-kuwait.html Indus writing on gold disc, Kuwait Museum al-Sabah collection: An Indus metalware catalog
http://bharatkalyan97.blogspot.in/2013/05/did-indus-writing-deal-with-numeration.html Did Indus writing deal with numeration? No. The writing dealt with metalware accounting as technical specs. in bills-of-lading.
http://bharatkalyan97.blogspot.in/2013/05/tokens-and-bullae-evolve-into-indus.html Tokens and bullae evolve into Indus writing, underlying language-sounds read rebus
http://bharatkalyan97.blogspot.in/2013/05/see-httpbharatkalyan97.html Indus writing in ancient Near East (Dilmun seal readings)
http://bharatkalyan97.blogspot.in/2013/05/bahrain-digs-unveil-one-of-oldest.html Bahrain digs unveil one of oldest civilisations -- BBC
http://bharatkalyan97.blogspot.in/2013/05/indus-writing-as-metalware-catalogs-and_21.html Indus writing in ancient Near East as metalware catalogs and not as agrarian accounting
http://bharatkalyan97.blogspot.in/2013/05/on-perceiving-aryan-migrations-by.html On perceiving aryan migrations by Witzel misquoting vedic ritual texts. Explaining mleccha vācas in Indian sprachbund.
http://bharatkalyan97.blogspot.in/2013/05/ancient-ivory-metal-traces-on.html Indus writing and ancient Ivory. Metal traces on Phoenician artifacts show long-gone paint and gold
http://bharatkalyan97.blogspot.in/2013/05/functions-served-by-terracotta-cakes-of.html Functions served by terracotta cakes of Indus civilization: Like ANE tokens for counting metal and alloy ingots
http://bharatkalyan97.blogspot.in/2013/04/bronze-age-writing-in-ancient-near-east.html Bronze-age writing in ancient Near East: Two Samarra bowls and Warka vase
http://bharatkalyan97.blogspot.in/2013/04/bronze-age-glyphs-and-writing-in.html Bronze-age glyphs and writing in ancient Near East: Two cylinder seals from Sumer
http://bharatkalyan97.blogspot.in/2013/04/indus-writing-in-ancient-near-east.html Indus Writing in ancient Near East: Corpora and a dictionary and Akkadian Rising Sun: two new books (April 2013)
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Advani quite BJP posts. He didn't say if he continues to work as a loyal, ordinary member of the Party.
Organiser to primary member
Pradeep Kaushal Posted online: Tue Jun 11 2013, 03:14 hrs
New Delhi : He charted the BJP’s growth from bit player to ruling party. Along the way, he also sought a makeover in image from hardliner to moderateAs the RSS mentored the growth and expansion of the Jana Sangh, two people stood out for their fluency in English: Lal Krishna Advani and K R Malkani. The Sangh nurtured both. Malkani, who wrote well, ended up being the editor of the party newspaper, The Motherland. Advani, erudite, articulate and gifted with extraordinary organisational skills, became president of the party.
Using those skills, Advani gradually acquired a complete RSS mandate to run and control first the Jana Sangh, and later its more liberal reincarnation, the BJP. It was a task he accomplished with a remarkable sense of ability. He built the organisation, took it to the farthest ends of the country, gave it a distinct ideological profile and firmly established it as a second pole opposite the Congress in the Indian polity. The credit for building the BJP into the second largest party — from two Lok Sabha seats to 182 in 1999 — goes entirely to Advani, agree those who have worked with him.
Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Advani between themselves provided a dual leadership, which came to be known as the Atal-Advani jodi in BJP folklore. Vajpayee, however, generally showed very little interest in organisational affairs and left that part to Advani. Though seen as rivals, the two worked mostly in tandem, with Advani faithfully playing a slight second to former prime minister Vajpayee. There was no room for a third person at the top. If anyone did showed any such ambition, as Murli Manohar Joshi did, they would get together to cut him to size.
Advani, 85, has fought many political battles since 1947 when he, barely 20, became the secretary of the Karachi unit of the RSS. He never lacked in ideas or the guts to slug it out. When V P Singh tried to outmanoeuvre his adversaries by implementing the Mandal report, Advani took him on with his counter-mass mobilisation movement through the Ram Rath Yatra. If he saw the BJP fall short of a majority even under Vajpayee, he cobbled together an alliance, the NDA, even if it forced the party to put its key ideological issues on the backburner.
Today, a leader cast in such a mould has resigned all party posts, choosing to staying as a primary member of the party. The provocation is not just the appointment of Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi as the chairman of the party’s campaign committee for the 2014 Lok Sabha elections. Advani had given his consent to the move when party chief Rajnath Singh had met him ahead of the Goa national executive.
Advani had suggested to Rajnath that he “give some responsibility” — such as the election management committee — to Nitin Gadkari, something which Rajnath apparently was not keen on.
Among various things understood to have put Advani off, one is the way Modi works. A feeling has gained ground in the BJP ranks that Modi would now use his new post to muscle his way through and style himself as the prime ministerial candidate of the BJP, with or without the approval of senior party leaders, or the endorsement of NDA partners. This is essentially Advani’s last battle to hold the line. The feeling is that while he seems to have given up, Advani is actually fighting on.
In the wake of Modi’s rise and Advani’s apparent sidelining, several critics believe the latter is reaping what he had himself sown. It was his Ram Rath Yatra, they point out, that had stoked the communal fires that went on to provide the backdrop for the Gujarat riots of 2002.
Advani, meanwhile, had been using the successful NDA experiment to try turning a new leaf, an effort highlighted by his comments on Mohd Ali Jinnah in the course of his tour of Pakistan in 2005. His description of Jinnah as a secular leader during a visit to his mausoleum misfired and a livid RSS punished him by ousting him from the party presidency. The Sangh, however, got over this and finally agreed to his projection as the prime ministerial candidate in 2009. But this time, the outcome went against him.
Most politicians tend to get out of the scene at Advani’s age, either due to illness or irrelevance. Advani does not suffer from either drawback. “The only health problem I have is it is very good,” Advani once said. Compared to the younger BJP leaders, who are all in their early sixties, Advani does not need pills to control his blood pressure or sugar levels.
And as the tallest leader in their ranks, he remains the most acceptable to coalition partners. His presence continues to make the more ambitious BJP leaders fidgety that he might finally emerge the first choice of NDA partners, both present and future, for the prime ministerial candidacy — hence the impatience with him.
The demonstration by a handful of Modi loyalists outside Advani’s home to make him give up his opposition to the latter’s ascendancy is symbolic of this feeling. “Was this tamasha the only thing left for us to see now?” a despondent aide of Advani said in response to telephone calls of senior BJP leaders from Goa. Advani himself never came on the line.
The RSS directive to the BJP is to persuade Advani to withdraw his resignation. But that is unlikely without the RSS itself stepping in and and tilting the scales either way. Or even keeping them level.
MILESTONES
1947
Elected as secretary of RSS in Karachi
1951
Member of Bharatiya Jana Sangh, president in 1975
1975-77
Jana Sangh merges into Janata Party, formed after Emergency. After polls, Advani becomes I&B minister in Morarji Desai government
1979-80
Leaders with Jana Sangh roots quit Janata Party, which later disintegrates. BJP formed
1986
Advani becomes BJP president
1989
BJP helps V P Singh’s Janata Dal to power; Advani launches Ram Janmabhoomi movement
1992
Advani’s rath yatra, followed by Babri structure demolition later that year
1998, 1999-04
NDA in power; Advani made home minister, later deputy prime minister. This phase sees Kargil conflict as well as allegations of alleged payments through hawala brokers; Advani later discharged by Supreme Court
2004
NDA loses, Advani becomes leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha. This phase sees rebellion by Uma Bharti and Madan Lal Khurana, besides criticism of Advani by Murli Manohar Joshi
2005
Visit to Pakistan, praise for Jinnah. Opens up rift between Advani and RSS. Advani steps down as BJP president, Rajnath Singh takes over
2007
Projected as BJP’s PM candidate
2009
NDA loses, Advani steps aside for Sushma Swaraj to become leader of opposition in Lok Sabha
His yatras
Ram Rath Yatra
September-October 1990
Taken out amid the mandir-masjid dispute, it was meant to conclude at Ayodhya. It took off from Somnath on September 25, 1990, but never completed its planned 10,000-km journey till October 30. Advani was arrested on October 23 in Bihar, while the UP government stopped the yatra.
Janadesh Yatras
September 11-25, 1993
Four simultaneous yatras that converged in Bhopal, a campaign against two bills moved by the government. Advani led the yatra from Mysore, while the other three were led by Bhairon Singh Shekhawat from Jammu, Murli Manohar Joshi from Porbandar, and Kalyan Singh from Kolkata.
Swarna Jayanti Rath Yatra
May 18-July 15, 1997
Advani crisscrossed the country on this yatra, held in celebration of 50 years of independence. A second objective of the yatra, according to an entry on Advani's website, was that “I wanted to project the BJP as a party committed to good governance”.
Bharat Uday Yatra
March 10-April 14, 2004
Held ahead of early elections called towards the end of the NDA regime, Advani’s 33-day, 8,500-km yatra covered 121 Lok Sabha constituencies in two stages: Kanyakumari to Amritsar (March 10 to 25) and Rajkot to Jagannath Puri (March 30 to April 14).
Bharat Suraksha Yatras
April 6-May 10, 2006
THE TWIN yatras took up a variety of issues including terror, “minority politics”, corruption and price rise. Advani took off from Dwaraka while Rajnath Singh, in his previous term as BJP president, travelled from Jagannath Puri. The two yatras converged in Delhi.
Jan Chetana
Yatra
October 11-November 20, 2011
Travelling through 22 states on a yatra that comprised a number of legs, Advani raised issues such as corruption, black money and price rise, while projecting the BJP as a party that would bring in good governance.
IN HIS OWN WORDS
“The saddest day of my life”
About the Babri demolition of 1992; a statement he has repeated a number of times
“(Mohd Ali Jinnah’s) address to the Constituent Assembly of Pakistan on August 11, 1947, is really a classic and a forceful espousal of a secular state... My respectful homage to this great man”
June 4, 2005, entry in visitors’ book at Jinnah mausoleum
“Had I known how it would end, I wouldn’t have gone to Ayodhya... but I’d still have gone to Pakistan”
September 2010
“What the court has said today vindicates our demand that Hindus be allowed to build a temple at the birthplace of Lord Ram (but) doesn't justify the demolition”
October 2010, after Allahabad HC verdict on Ayodhya
title suits
“One of the distinctive traits of Narendra Bhai's leadership in Gujarat has been his imaginativeness”
November 2010
“I feel overwhelmed whenever I come to Madhya Pradesh and see Shivraj Singh Chouhan come up with new schemes and think this is how an ideal chief minister should be”
March 2013
Using those skills, Advani gradually acquired a complete RSS mandate to run and control first the Jana Sangh, and later its more liberal reincarnation, the BJP. It was a task he accomplished with a remarkable sense of ability. He built the organisation, took it to the farthest ends of the country, gave it a distinct ideological profile and firmly established it as a second pole opposite the Congress in the Indian polity. The credit for building the BJP into the second largest party — from two Lok Sabha seats to 182 in 1999 — goes entirely to Advani, agree those who have worked with him.
Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Advani between themselves provided a dual leadership, which came to be known as the Atal-Advani jodi in BJP folklore. Vajpayee, however, generally showed very little interest in organisational affairs and left that part to Advani. Though seen as rivals, the two worked mostly in tandem, with Advani faithfully playing a slight second to former prime minister Vajpayee. There was no room for a third person at the top. If anyone did showed any such ambition, as Murli Manohar Joshi did, they would get together to cut him to size.
Advani, 85, has fought many political battles since 1947 when he, barely 20, became the secretary of the Karachi unit of the RSS. He never lacked in ideas or the guts to slug it out. When V P Singh tried to outmanoeuvre his adversaries by implementing the Mandal report, Advani took him on with his counter-mass mobilisation movement through the Ram Rath Yatra. If he saw the BJP fall short of a majority even under Vajpayee, he cobbled together an alliance, the NDA, even if it forced the party to put its key ideological issues on the backburner.
Today, a leader cast in such a mould has resigned all party posts, choosing to staying as a primary member of the party. The provocation is not just the appointment of Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi as the chairman of the party’s campaign committee for the 2014 Lok Sabha elections. Advani had given his consent to the move when party chief Rajnath Singh had met him ahead of the Goa national executive.
Advani had suggested to Rajnath that he “give some responsibility” — such as the election management committee — to Nitin Gadkari, something which Rajnath apparently was not keen on.
Among various things understood to have put Advani off, one is the way Modi works. A feeling has gained ground in the BJP ranks that Modi would now use his new post to muscle his way through and style himself as the prime ministerial candidate of the BJP, with or without the approval of senior party leaders, or the endorsement of NDA partners. This is essentially Advani’s last battle to hold the line. The feeling is that while he seems to have given up, Advani is actually fighting on.
In the wake of Modi’s rise and Advani’s apparent sidelining, several critics believe the latter is reaping what he had himself sown. It was his Ram Rath Yatra, they point out, that had stoked the communal fires that went on to provide the backdrop for the Gujarat riots of 2002.
Advani, meanwhile, had been using the successful NDA experiment to try turning a new leaf, an effort highlighted by his comments on Mohd Ali Jinnah in the course of his tour of Pakistan in 2005. His description of Jinnah as a secular leader during a visit to his mausoleum misfired and a livid RSS punished him by ousting him from the party presidency. The Sangh, however, got over this and finally agreed to his projection as the prime ministerial candidate in 2009. But this time, the outcome went against him.
Most politicians tend to get out of the scene at Advani’s age, either due to illness or irrelevance. Advani does not suffer from either drawback. “The only health problem I have is it is very good,” Advani once said. Compared to the younger BJP leaders, who are all in their early sixties, Advani does not need pills to control his blood pressure or sugar levels.
And as the tallest leader in their ranks, he remains the most acceptable to coalition partners. His presence continues to make the more ambitious BJP leaders fidgety that he might finally emerge the first choice of NDA partners, both present and future, for the prime ministerial candidacy — hence the impatience with him.
The demonstration by a handful of Modi loyalists outside Advani’s home to make him give up his opposition to the latter’s ascendancy is symbolic of this feeling. “Was this tamasha the only thing left for us to see now?” a despondent aide of Advani said in response to telephone calls of senior BJP leaders from Goa. Advani himself never came on the line.
The RSS directive to the BJP is to persuade Advani to withdraw his resignation. But that is unlikely without the RSS itself stepping in and and tilting the scales either way. Or even keeping them level.
MILESTONES
1947
Elected as secretary of RSS in Karachi
1951
Member of Bharatiya Jana Sangh, president in 1975
1975-77
Jana Sangh merges into Janata Party, formed after Emergency. After polls, Advani becomes I&B minister in Morarji Desai government
1979-80
Leaders with Jana Sangh roots quit Janata Party, which later disintegrates. BJP formed
1986
Advani becomes BJP president
1989
BJP helps V P Singh’s Janata Dal to power; Advani launches Ram Janmabhoomi movement
1992
Advani’s rath yatra, followed by Babri structure demolition later that year
1998, 1999-04
NDA in power; Advani made home minister, later deputy prime minister. This phase sees Kargil conflict as well as allegations of alleged payments through hawala brokers; Advani later discharged by Supreme Court
2004
NDA loses, Advani becomes leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha. This phase sees rebellion by Uma Bharti and Madan Lal Khurana, besides criticism of Advani by Murli Manohar Joshi
2005
Visit to Pakistan, praise for Jinnah. Opens up rift between Advani and RSS. Advani steps down as BJP president, Rajnath Singh takes over
2007
Projected as BJP’s PM candidate
2009
NDA loses, Advani steps aside for Sushma Swaraj to become leader of opposition in Lok Sabha
His yatras
Ram Rath Yatra
September-October 1990
Taken out amid the mandir-masjid dispute, it was meant to conclude at Ayodhya. It took off from Somnath on September 25, 1990, but never completed its planned 10,000-km journey till October 30. Advani was arrested on October 23 in Bihar, while the UP government stopped the yatra.
Janadesh Yatras
September 11-25, 1993
Four simultaneous yatras that converged in Bhopal, a campaign against two bills moved by the government. Advani led the yatra from Mysore, while the other three were led by Bhairon Singh Shekhawat from Jammu, Murli Manohar Joshi from Porbandar, and Kalyan Singh from Kolkata.
Swarna Jayanti Rath Yatra
May 18-July 15, 1997
Advani crisscrossed the country on this yatra, held in celebration of 50 years of independence. A second objective of the yatra, according to an entry on Advani's website, was that “I wanted to project the BJP as a party committed to good governance”.
Bharat Uday Yatra
March 10-April 14, 2004
Held ahead of early elections called towards the end of the NDA regime, Advani’s 33-day, 8,500-km yatra covered 121 Lok Sabha constituencies in two stages: Kanyakumari to Amritsar (March 10 to 25) and Rajkot to Jagannath Puri (March 30 to April 14).
Bharat Suraksha Yatras
April 6-May 10, 2006
THE TWIN yatras took up a variety of issues including terror, “minority politics”, corruption and price rise. Advani took off from Dwaraka while Rajnath Singh, in his previous term as BJP president, travelled from Jagannath Puri. The two yatras converged in Delhi.
Jan Chetana
Yatra
October 11-November 20, 2011
Travelling through 22 states on a yatra that comprised a number of legs, Advani raised issues such as corruption, black money and price rise, while projecting the BJP as a party that would bring in good governance.
IN HIS OWN WORDS
“The saddest day of my life”
About the Babri demolition of 1992; a statement he has repeated a number of times
“(Mohd Ali Jinnah’s) address to the Constituent Assembly of Pakistan on August 11, 1947, is really a classic and a forceful espousal of a secular state... My respectful homage to this great man”
June 4, 2005, entry in visitors’ book at Jinnah mausoleum
“Had I known how it would end, I wouldn’t have gone to Ayodhya... but I’d still have gone to Pakistan”
September 2010
“What the court has said today vindicates our demand that Hindus be allowed to build a temple at the birthplace of Lord Ram (but) doesn't justify the demolition”
October 2010, after Allahabad HC verdict on Ayodhya
title suits
“One of the distinctive traits of Narendra Bhai's leadership in Gujarat has been his imaginativeness”
November 2010
“I feel overwhelmed whenever I come to Madhya Pradesh and see Shivraj Singh Chouhan come up with new schemes and think this is how an ideal chief minister should be”
March 2013
http://static.indianexpress.com/m-images/Tue%20Jun%2011%202013,%2003:14%20hrs/M_Id_392495_Ram_Rath_Yatra.jpg![]()
NEW DELHI, June 10, 2013
Advani quits BJP posts
2,3&4BHK flats@Metrozone - in Anna Nagar, Chennai from 1.63 cr Phase 1 handover in progresswww.metrozone.in/heartofchennai
Senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader L.K. Advani on Monday resigned from all posts in the party, a day after Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi was appointed as the chief of the party’s election campaign committee.
Senior BJP leader L.K. Advani. File photo
Mr. Modi’s elevation was announced at the three-day meeting of the BJP national executive in Goa which Mr. Advani skipped, citing health reasons. It was for the first time in his more than four-decade-long political career that Mr. Advani had given the national executive of the party a miss, apparently in a bid to express his displeasure over elevation of Mr. Modi.
BJP president Rajnath Singh called on Mr Advani at his Prithviraj Road residence in the national Capital on Monday afternoon but failed in his attempt to appease him
In his one-page resignation letter to the party president, Mr Advani said: “For some time, I have been finding it difficult to reconcile either with the current functioning of the party, or the direction in which it is going... most leaders of ours are now concerned just with their personal agendas.’’
A founder-member of the BJP, Mr. Advani, 85, resigned from all main bodies of the party --- Parliamentary Board, National Executive and Election Committee.
In his resignation letter Mr. Advani lamented that the BJP was no longer the “same idealistic party’’ created by Shyama Prasad Mookerjee, Deendayal Upadhyaya, Nanaji Deshmukh and Atal Behari Vajpayee. Mr. Advani recalled that all his life he had found working for the Jana Sangh and the BJP ``a matter of great pride and endless satisfaction for myself.’’
With Mr. Advani’s resignation, the internal rift in the BJP has come out in the open as also the unease which some of the party leaders had been feeling over the elevation of Mr. Modi who would now be the face of the party to take it through the 2014 Lok Sabha elections.
Interestingly, Mr. Modi had tweeted on Sunday: “Spoke to Advani ji on the phone. He gave me his blessings.’’. Clearly, that joyous note turned out to be a hollow one.
PTI adds:
Advani attends meeting ahead of resignation
The BJP patriarch on Monday attended a meeting of Parliamentary Standing Committee of Home Affairs, raising many eyebrows.
Mr. Advani was in the meeting presided by another party leader M Venkaiah Naidu for almost an hour, a member of the panel said, adding that the BJP veteran did not speak at the meeting.
The meeting lasted for some three hours as the Committee discussed the problems facing the North East development.
Mr. Advani attended the meeting before submitting his resignation from the party’s key posts to BJP President Rajnath Singh.
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Narendra Modi vs Sonia Gandhi will clash in 2014 -- Sandhya Jain
Narendra Modi as PM will usher in a new era: Swamy
Press Trust of India | Posted on Jun 10, 2013 at 04:22pm IST
New York: The appointment of Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi as chairman of campaign committee of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) will ensure the victory of NDA in the 2014 General Elections ushering in a new era, Janata Party President Subramanian Swamy has said.
He said the choice was a happy development for the nation and was welcomed by all sections of the community in India and abroad.
"Modi is an experienced politician and had conducted three elections in Gujarat state winning all of them. He has an unblemished track record in Indian politics and has proved to be an able administrator," Swamy said on the sidelines of a function in Long Island near here.
Janata Party President Subramanian Swamy says Narendra Modi will ensure BJP's victory in 2014 Lok Sabha polls.
The decision has sent shock waves in the Congress camp and its senior leaders are spending sleepless nights as Modi could ensure a clean sweep for BJP in the ensuing elections, he said.
When asked about the dissension within the NDA, he said Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar is the only leader who is not favouring Modi at this point of time. Also Kumar is also not clear now and he may back Modi nearer to the election date. Out of seven members of NDA, six support Modi, he said.
http://ibnlive.in.com/news/narendra-modi-as-pm-will-usher-in-a-new-era-swamy/397694-37-64.html
Narendra Modi vs Sonia Gandhi will clash in 2014
By Sandhya Jain on
One impact of the Gujarat Chief Minister’s elevation as the Bharatiya Janata Party’s election campaign committee chief will be the quiet retreat of the Amethi MP as his main challenger; the Congress president will be forced to lead the electoral battle in 2014 and search for a new surrogate-PM should the party be in position to head a new coalition Government.
Rahul Gandhi’s obvious reluctance (read inability) to take on Narendra Modi in the race to Delhi puts Congress at a clear disadvantage vis-à-vis the BJP. This is why, despite the near certainty that the party is heading for a rout in 2014, Sonia Gandhi must desperately find a surrogate with whom Rahul Gandhi can establish a dyarchy should opportunity invite Congress to lead a third coalition.
With the road thus clear for Narendra Modi’s ultimate projection as the BJP’s Prime Ministerial candidate in 2014, a brief analysis of this spectacular development would be in order. Narendra Modi is independent India’s first Chief Minister to be projected by his own party as a future Prime Minister. While former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Vishwanath Pratap Singh did become Prime Minister, he had to break away from the Congress and form the National Front coalition to do so. Similarly, former Karnataka Chief Minister HD Deve Gowda was selected to be Prime Minister in 1996 when some non-Congress non-BJP parties joined hands to form the United Front government after the Congress headed by PV Narasimha Rao lost the elections.
Modi’s elevation follows grim opposition from stalwart LK Advani who, like the blind king Dhritarashtra, refused to give up the throne he regarded as rightfully his, even after his beloved son(s) had come of age. Ironically the decision, forced by the chief ministers, cadres, and vocal public opinion, marks a decline in RSS domination of BJP affairs, something Advani forcefully advocated at the Chennai national executive meeting in September 2005, when he repudiated the ‘umbilical cord’ between the two organisations and spoke of a ‘symbiotic relationship’. He also rebuked the RSS for day to day meddling in the party’s affairs, warning that this would ‘do no good either to the party or to the RSS.”
Modi is fear factor for Congress: BJP
The pigeons have now come home to roost. This statement warrants a brief explanation. It is no secret that the RSS set up the Jana Sangh as its political arm, a slot later taken by the BJP. Hence its domination of the party, which often worked to the detriment of ambitious leaders who tried to challenge RSS favourites. Deen Dayal Upadhyaya famously told one stalwart to move out of the BJP if he could not get along with Atal Bihari Vajpayee. Advani similarly was deeply entrenched in the Parivar set up, which rendered challengers like Murli Manohar Joshi infructuous.
So well supported was Advani by the Parivar stalwarts that the then Sarsanghachalak KS Sudarshan was forced to retract his statement that Vajpayee and Advani should retire from politics after the 2004 defeat. Even after Advani’s startling praise of Mohammad Ali Jinnah while in Pakistan in June 2005, RSS had a tough time getting him to step down as party president. He was replaced by Nitin Gadkari, a provincial who failed to make a mark in Delhi, but continued to manipulate the levers of power, imposing himself as the party’s Prime Ministerial hopeful in the 2008 election, and refusing to call it a day even after being soundly rejected by the electorate.
What makes Goa 2013 different is the opposition to the sustained mismanagement of the party by the central leadership in Delhi, and this includes the RSS. After the Rajasthan election was narrowly lost in 2008, Haryana surrendered in 2009, and the recent trashing in Karnataka after the humiliation and forced exit of BS Yeddyurappa, the State unit leaders (Chief Ministers and potential Chief Ministers) clearly felt that enough was enough and that BJP could not be left to the whims of non-vote-catchers.
These grassroots leaders clearly decided to call the shots and together with Rajnath Singh – who was never allowed to settle down in his first tenure, and never made a wrong move in his second innings – called Advani’s bluff. When he gracelessly refused to read the writing on the wall and bless the rising star in Goa, he was allowed to write himself into oblivion.
Rajnath Singh had indicated the way the wind would blow when he spontaneously invited Modi back into the parliamentary board. Among State leaders, Vasundhara Raje was first to make her preference clear during her recent yatras, and Manohar Parrikar was explicit that Modi could attract the floating vote that often decides the fate of an election.
Regarding Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh, it needs to be said that like Raman Singh, he is an honest and excellent leader with the capacity to win his State again and again. It is no slur on their abilities, however, to say that they lack the cross-State appeal of Modi and both have wisely recognised this.
Advani quits all BJP posts, says party not same as before
All these grassroots leaders have risen to the occasion and ensured that Delhi is not sacrificed to coterie politics. RSS has wisely allowed the party to assert this autonomy. It would do well, however, to rein in the Vishwa Hindu Parishad which is trying to muddy the waters by raising issues that cannot be resolved through elections. Also, since the VHP has done precious little to advance its supposed agenda in the past two decades, this is not the time to polarise opinion or people. Some issues are best left to time and history.
It bears recalling that the assertion by some politicians and media persons thatthe BJP rose from two seats in 1984 (post Indira Gandhi’s assassination) and captured power at the Centre in less than two decades because of the leadership of Vajpayee and Advani is simply incorrect. Both men were fully backed by the RSS and owed their power to that association. The Ram Janmabhoomi movement was an RSS movement, and was first mooted at Palampur when Murli Manohar Joshi was party president. BJP used it to rise to national eminence, and then arrive in Delhi.
It bears recalling that an Advani crony who loves to describe himself as an RSS ideologue wrote a column in a daily newspaper on the tenth anniversary of the Babri demolition stating that the Ram Mandir movement was only a stratagem to garner public support and votes for the BJP, and there was never any intention to build the temple. This led Sushma Swaraj to call Rama Janmabhoomi an ‘encashed cheque’. After not protesting all these years, VHP cannot now make this its priority number one. It reeks of dishonesty and must stop.
Now that Narendra Modi has been anointed as the BJP’s primus inter pares, he should not be made to waste his energies in futile obstacle races. The task ahead is formidable enough.
Footnote: Unable to digest the rise and rise of Narendra Modi, Advani has peevishly resigned from all party posts, viz, national executive, parliamentary board, and election committee. Rajnath Singh has rejected the resignations, but it is fairly certain that the octogenarian will no longer attend party meetings, so they may well let him go.
Advani has not resigned his Lok Sabha seat from Gandhinagar, won courtesy Narendra Modi in 2008, a mistake for which the Gujarat Chief Minister has paid dearly in subsequent years.
The impact of his tantrums on public opinion will be less than minimal. Those who doubt this assessment may recall that Advani was almost trounced by Rajesh Khanna in New Delhi in 1991, and had since relied onNarendra Modi to get elected from Gandhinagar. After the souring of relations between the two, he began searching for a safe seat outside Gujarat for 2014. He reportedly honed in on Bhopal, and hence his praise for Shivraj Singh Chouhan.
In other words, a man who needs a State stalwart to win his own Parliamentary seat is not much of a vote-catcher anyway.
http://www.niticentral.com/2013/06/10/narendra-modi-vs-sonia-gandhi-will-clash-in-2014-88038.html
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Narendra Modi economically opportunistic, ideologically hawkish -- Stephen Cohen in Shooting for a Century (Book)
Named by the World Affairs Councils of America as one of America’s 500 most influential people in foreign policy, South Asia expert Stephen P. Cohen has been cultivating a 50-year relationship with the region. In Shooting for a Century, Cohen explores the history, the current-day dynamics and potential future of tensions between India and Pakistan. He posits with conditional pessimism that normalization is unlikely. Is cataclysmic conflict inevitable for these two rivals?
Excerpt:
For Pakistanis, the notion of a perpetual conflict means finding a way to live with a more powerful and still-threatening neighbor, strengthening the one technology that assures Pakistan that India will not seek a military victory—nuclear weapons.
When I broach the idea of normalcy to Indians and Pakistanis, as well as Americans, I receive three kinds of responses. Many Americans and some Pakistanis and Indians believe that nothing can be done, that this is an eternal strategic rivalry, what I have called an intractable paired minority conflict. The policy prescription that flows from this judgment is to avoid involvement and hope that time will alleviate some problems. For Indians, this means waiting Pakistan out, avoiding a major conflict, and hoping that the political process in Islamabad will eventually produce a leadership that is willing to address Pakistan’s identity crisis and consider a compromise over Kashmir and other issues. Pakistan’s identity as an Islamic state still threatens Indian pluralism, and when it is given muscle by Pakistan’s intelligence agencies, it becomes a domestic political problem for India, leaving aside the ambivalence of some Indian Muslims.
For Pakistanis, the notion of a perpetual conflict means finding a way to live with a more powerful and still-threatening neighbor, strengthening the one technology that assures Pakistan that India will not seek a military victory—nuclear weapons—while searching for a way to overhaul the economy. From an orthodox Pakistani position, normalization will come if and when India backs off on the key symbolic and strategic issues that have been there for sixty-five years, notably Kashmir. Meanwhile, the Pakistani state will continue to endorse and support elements of the Pakistan identity that make it distinctive, including hatred and fear of India, with a few hawks still arguing that India, not Pakistan, is an artificial state and that Pakistan need only wait until India comes apart.
…India-Pakistan relations have reached a hurting stalemate that strongly resembles the cold war, during which both sides endured decades of crisis and a terrific arms burden until the Soviet Union crumbled.
If the future is to be “more of the same,” then meetings between Indians and Pakistanis will come to the conclusion that nothing can be done, because individually neither side is willing to do anything, and that both sides prefer, as they have for sixty-five years, to wait and watch. Foundations should insist that any Track II dialogues that they fund actually go beyond current government policies and publicly offer new ideas—otherwise they are a waste of time and money.
The second response that I have received—largely from some Americans and Indians—is that Pakistan is a fatally wounded state trying to meet the challenges of the modern era. Normalization will have to be postponed indefinitely. The present era is massively different from the years in which Pakistan was first imagined and then enjoyed substantial international support. It is undergoing complex and unpredictable transformations brought about by global revolutions in the movement of people, goods, and ideas. When faced with these developments, Pakistan, with its 1930s-style identity and emphasis on religion as the tie that holds Pakistanis together, becomes a dysfunctional state. Some Pakistanis understood the significance of the loss of East Pakistan, but the army and the Islamists dismissed it as the result of India’s machinations and Pakistan’s failure in attempting to impose true Islam on its population. This has opened the door to more totalitarian strands of Islamic thinking. Pakistan’s political domination by the India-obsessed military, with its clumsiness at governing a complex state, seals its fate. It may last five years or more, but the end point is evident. Some Pakistanis have already reached this conclusion, as have more and more Indians; the former are looking for careers and homes outside of the country in increasing numbers, while the latter watch with trepidation. A few Indians believe that they only need to wait until Pakistan collapses and then can pick up the pieces.
In the event, India would become the dominant power of Southern Asia. However, many Indians understand that a collapsing Pakistan could also prove fatal to their country. In this view, India-Pakistan relations have reached a hurting stalemate that strongly resembles the cold war, during which both sides endured decades of crisis and a terrific arms burden until the Soviet Union crumbled. Any Indians who think that the rest of the world would manage a “soft” landing for a decaying Pakistan are, I believe, sorely mistaken and gambling on the future of India as well as Pakistan. Still, there remains the naïve hope that Pakistan will somehow vanish, or be peacefully reunited with India in ten or twenty years, the view of a former Supreme Court judge, Markanday Katju, the chair of the Press Council of India. Terming Pakistan a “Jurassic park” or a madhouse, he blamed Jinnah for creating a theocratic state and suggested that Jinnah was an agent of the British, who are to blame for India’s Hindu-Muslim conflicts. Name-calling may be gratifying, but it does not wave away the fact that Pakistan remains a potent and potentially dangerous state as far as India is concerned.
'Narendra Modi ideologically hawkish but economically opportunistic'
WASHINGTON: Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi is "ideologically hawkish, but economically opportunistic", a noted American scholar writes in a new book.
In his latest book "Shooting a Century" which hit book stores this week, Stephen P Cohen says that Modi epitomises a certain ambivalence toward Pakistan, which is the also case with Congress President Sonia Gandhi and her son Rahul Gandhi.
"Narendra Modi, the Chief Minister of Gujarat and a rising star in the BJP, epitomises a certain ambivalence toward Pakistan," wrote Cohen in his book.
Cohen is currently a senior fellow in Foreign Policy at the Brookings Institute, a Washington-based eminent think-tank.
"Ideologically hawkish, but economically opportunistic, Modi was associated with "several communal atrocities", yet he is one of the most effective of India's politicians, at least in his home state, which borders Pakistan," Cohen writes in his book, which is mostly focused on the India-Pakistan relationship.
"On the one hand, he (Modi) regularly excoriates it (Pakistan) for supporting terrorism and has been vehement regarding other states, notably America, for the lack of clarity on their stand on Pakistan-based terrorism. His strong views here may reflect America's refusal to give him a visa, but his attacks on Pakistan please the RSS component of the BJP establishment," Cohen wrote.
"During a trip to China - seeking Chinese investment - Modi took an appropriately hard line on the role of Chinese troops in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir. But undoubtedly the Chinese told Modi that they favoured good India-Pakistan relations, and Gujarat, bordering Pakistan, would benefit enormously from trade with that country," he said.
"His requests for Chinese investment balance out his concern for Pakistani-based extremism, so he has not come out directly or strongly on the India-Pakistan normalisation process, except to criticise the Congress and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for softness," the author wrote.
According to Cohen, the views of Sonia Gandhi are conspicuous for their blandness.
"While publicly supporting the initiatives of Prime Minister Singh, she does not seem to hold very strong views on Pakistan one way or another. Sonia speaks publicly of giving a "fitting reply" to any Pakistani aggression, but that is conventional Indian obfuscation," he wrote.
"Meanwhile, Rahul seems to hold standard Indian liberal views toward Pakistan. In August 2012 he publicly accepted an invitation to visit Pakistan from Bilawal Bhutto, the Pakistani President's son and co-leader of the Pakistan Peoples Party," Cohen says.
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NSA, US surveillance operations
Obama pressured over NSA snooping as US senator denounces 'act of treason'
Information chiefs worldwide sound alarm while US senator Dianne Feinstein orders NSA to review monitoring program
Officials in European capitals denounced the practice of secretly gathering digital information on Europeans as unacceptable. Photograph: Evan Vucci/AP
Barack Obama was facing a mounting domestic and international backlash against US surveillance operations on Monday as his administration struggled to contain one of the most explosive national security leaks in US history.
Political opinion in the US was split with some members of Congress calling for the immediate extradition from Hong Kong of the whistleblower, Edward Snowden. Butother senior politicians in both main parties questioned whether US surveillance practices had gone too far.
Dianne Feinstein, chairman of the national intelligence committee, has ordered the NSAto review how it limits the exposure of Americans to government surveillance. But she made clear her disapproval of Snowden. "What he did was an act of treason," she said.
Officials in European capitals demanded immediate answers from their US counterparts and denounced the practice of secretly gathering digital information on Europeans as unacceptable, illegal and a serious violation of basic rights. The NSA, meanwhile, asked the Justice Department to open a criminal investigation and said that it was assessing the damage caused by the disclosures.
Daniel Ellsberg, the former military analyst who revealed secrets of the Vietnam war through the Pentagon Papers in 1971, described Snowden's leak as even more important and perhaps the most significant leak in American history.
Snowden disclosed his identity in an explosive interview with the Guardian, published on Sunday, which revealed he was a 29-year-old former technical assistant for the CIA and current employee of the defence contractor Booz Allen Hamilton. Snowden worked at the National Security Agency for the past four years as an employee of various outside contractors, including Booz Allen and Dell.
In his interview, Snowden revealed himself as the source for a series of articles in the Guardian last week, which included disclosures of a wide-ranging secret court order thatdemanded Verizon pass to the NSA the details of phone calls related to millions of customers, and a huge NSA intelligence system called Prism, which collects data on intelligence targets from the systems of some of the biggest tech companies.
Snowden said he had become disillusioned with the overarching nature of government surveillance in the US. "The government has granted itself power it is not entitled to. There is no public oversight. The result is people like myself have the latitude to go further than they are allowed to," he said.
"My sole motive is to inform the public as to that which is done in their name and that which is done against them."
As media interest intensified on Monday, Snowden checked out of the Hong Kong hotel where he had been staying, and moved to an undisclosed location.
Reacting to Snowden's revelations, Paul Ryan, the former Republican vice-presidential nominee, raised questions about whether privacy was being unduly threatened. "I'm sure somebody can come up with a great computer program that says: 'We can do X, Y, and Z,' but that doesn't mean that it's right," he told a radio station in Wisconsin. "I want to learn a lot more about it on behalf of the people I represent," he added.
Pressure was growing on the White House to explain whether there was effective congressional oversight of the programmes revealed by Snowden. The director of national intelligence, James Clapper, said in an NBC interview that he had responded in the "least untruthful manner" possible when he denied in congressional hearings last year that the NSA collected data on millions of Americans.
Clapper also confirmed that Feinstein had asked for a review to "refine these NSA processes and limit the exposure to Americans' private communications" and report back "in about a month".
In Europe, the German chancellor Angela Merkel indicated she would press Obama on the revelations at a Berlin summit next week, while deputy European Commission chief Viviane Reding said she would press US officials in Dublin on Friday, adding that "a clear legal framework for the protection of personal data is not a luxury or constraint but a fundamental right".
Peter Schaar, Germany's federal data protection commissioner told the Guardian that it was unacceptable that US authorities have access to the data of European citizens "and the level of protection is lower than what is guaranteed for US citizens." His Italian counterpart, Antonello Soro, said that the data dragnet "would not be legal in Italy" and would be "contrary to the principles of our legislation and would represent a very serious violation".
In London, the British foreign secretary William Hague was forced to defend the UK's use of intelligence gathered by the US. In the House of Commons, Hague told MPs that British laws did not allow for "indiscriminate trawling" for information. "There is no danger of a deep state out of control in some way," he said.
But Hague was reluctant to go into detail on how Britain handled information offered by US intelligence agencies, as opposed to information requested, or whether it was subject to the same ministerial oversight, including warrants.
Civil liberties groups ask for review of 'secret law'
The Obama administration offered no indication on Monday about what it intended to do about Snowden. The White House did however say he had sparked an "appropriate debate" and hinted it might welcome revision of the Patriot Act, legislation introduced in 2001 which it claims gives legal authority for the programmes carried out by the National Security Agency.
"If [congressional] debate were to build to a consensus around changes [to the Patriot Act] the president would look at that," said spokesman Jay Carney. "Although this is hardly the manner of discussion we hoped for, we would still like to have the debate."
The first polls since the leak stories first broke indicated that the majority of Americans oppose the government scooping up their phone data. According to the Rasmussen poll just 26% of voters are in favour of the government's collection of data from Verizon while 59% are opposed. In total 46% of Americans think that their own data has been monitored. But a poll by the Pew Research Center, asking a more general question, said 56% respondents approved of the NSA surveillance program.
The ACLU and Yale Law School's Media Freedom and Information Clinic filed a motion on Monday asking for secret Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court opinions on the Patriot Act to be made public in the light of the Guardian's revelations.
The motion asks for any documents relating to the court's interpretation of the scope, meaning and constitutionality of Section 215 of the Patriot Act – which authorises government to obtain "any tangible thing" relevant to foreign intelligence or terrorism investigations – to be published "as quickly as possible" and with only minimal redaction.
"In a democracy, there should be no room for secret law," said Jameel Jaffer, ACLU deputy legal director. "The public has a right to know what limits apply to the government's surveillance authority, and what safeguards are in place to protect individual privacy."
There was support for Snowden among civil liberty activists. Ellsberg wrote for the Guardian: "In my estimation, there has not been in American history a more important leak than Edward Snowden's release of NSA material – and that definitely includes the Pentagon Papers 40 years ago".
The Electronic Frontier Foundation, an internet rights group, called for a "new Church committee" to investigate potential government infringements on privacy and to write new rules protecting the public. In the wake of the Watergate affair in the mid-1970s, a Senate investigation led by Idaho senator Frank Church uncovered decades of serious abuse by the US government of its eavesdropping powers. The committee report led to the passage of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act and set up the Fisa courts that today secretly approve surveillance requests.
Both Snowden and the Obama administration appeared to be considering their options on Monday. Hong Kong, which has an extradition treaty with the US, is unlikely to offer Snowden a permanent refuge. But Snowden could buy time by filing an asylum request, thanks to a landmark legal ruling that has thrown the system into disarray.
The Foreign Correspondents' Club of Hong Kong said the case could be a "strong test" of the Chinese province's commitment to freedom of expression. "The FCC will watch closely how the SAR [Hong Kong] government handles his case, and in particular how it responds to any pressure from authorities both in Washington and Beijing to restrict his activities or to impede access by the media," it said in a statement.
In New York, the mayor, Michael Bloomberg, cancelled at very short notice a planned photo opportunity with the Hong Kong chief executive, Leung Chun-ying. "It would have been a circus, so we decided to catch up with him another time," a mayoral spokesman told the Guardian.
Additional reporting by Matt Williams and Tom McCarthy in New York.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/jun/10/obama-pressured-explain-nsa-surveillance/print
Edward Snowden: saving us from the United Stasi of America
Snowden's whistleblowing gives us a chance to roll back what is tantamount to an 'executive coup' against the US constitution
In my estimation, there has not been in American history a more important leak thanEdward Snowden's release of NSA material – and that definitely includes the Pentagon Papers 40 years ago. Snowden's whistleblowing gives us the possibility to roll back a key part of what has amounted to an "executive coup" against the US constitution.
Since 9/11, there has been, at first secretly but increasingly openly, a revocation of the bill of rights for which this country fought over 200 years ago. In particular, the fourth and fifth amendments of the US constitution, which safeguard citizens from unwarranted intrusion by the government into their private lives, have been virtually suspended.
The government claims it has a court warrant under Fisa – but that unconstitutionally sweeping warrant is from a secret court, shielded from effective oversight, almost totally deferential to executive requests. As Russell Tice, a former National Security Agency analyst, put it: "It is a kangaroo court with a rubber stamp."
For the president then to say that there is judicial oversight is nonsense – as is the alleged oversight function of the intelligence committees in Congress. Not for the first time – as with issues of torture, kidnapping, detention, assassination by drones and death squads –they have shown themselves to be thoroughly co-opted by the agencies they supposedly monitor. They are also black holes for information that the public needs to know.
The fact that congressional leaders were "briefed" on this and went along with it, without any open debate, hearings, staff analysis, or any real chance for effective dissent, only shows how broken the system of checks and balances is in this country.
Obviously, the United States is not now a police state. But given the extent of this invasion of people's privacy, we do have the full electronic and legislative infrastructure of such a state. If, for instance, there was now a war that led to a large-scale anti-war movement – like the one we had against the war in Vietnam – or, more likely, if we suffered one more attack on the scale of 9/11, I fear for our democracy. These powers are extremely dangerous.
There are legitimate reasons for secrecy, and specifically for secrecy about communications intelligence. That's why Bradley Mannning and I – both of whom had access to such intelligence with clearances higher than top-secret – chose not to disclose any information with that classification. And it is why Edward Snowden has committed himself to withhold publication of most of what he might have revealed.
But what is not legitimate is to use a secrecy system to hide programs that are blatantly unconstitutional in their breadth and potential abuse. Neither the president nor Congress as a whole may by themselves revoke the fourth amendment – and that's why what Snowden has revealed so far was secret from the American people.
"I know the capacity that is there to make tyranny total in America, and we must see to it that this agency and all agencies that possess this technology operate within the law and under proper supervision, so that we never cross over that abyss. That is the abyss from which there is no return."
The dangerous prospect of which he warned was that America's intelligence gathering capability – which is today beyond any comparison with what existed in his pre-digital era – "at any time could be turned around on the American people and no American would have any privacy left."
That has now happened. That is what Snowden has exposed, with official, secret documents. The NSA, FBI and CIA have, with the new digital technology, surveillancepowers over our own citizens that the Stasi – the secret police in the former "democratic republic" of East Germany – could scarcely have dreamed of. Snowden reveals that the so-called intelligence community has become the United Stasi of America.
So we have fallen into Senator Church's abyss. The questions now are whether he was right or wrong that there is no return from it, and whether that means that effective democracy will become impossible. A week ago, I would have found it hard to argue with pessimistic answers to those conclusions.
But with Edward Snowden having put his life on the line to get this information out, quite possibly inspiring others with similar knowledge, conscience and patriotism to show comparable civil courage – in the public, in Congress, in the executive branch itself – I see the unexpected possibility of a way up and out of the abyss.
Pressure by an informed public on Congress to form a select committee to investigate the revelations by Snowden and, I hope, others to come might lead us to bring NSA and the rest of the intelligence community under real supervision and restraint and restore the protections of the bill of rights.
Snowden did what he did because he recognised the NSA's surveillance programs for what they are: dangerous, unconstitutional activity. This wholesale invasion of Americans' and foreign citizens' privacy does not contribute to our security; it puts in danger the very liberties we're trying to protect.
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Archaeology of early Bauddham -- Robin Coningham
![Buddhism]()
Archaeology of Early Buddhism
Introduction
The archaeology of Buddhism has been portrayed as the excavation of individual monuments and the chronological review of regional style. Reports focus on isolated monuments, and practitioners expose only the brick or stone walls of monuments. Technical studies relate architectural phasing to the exclusion of associated ceramic, small find, and specialist analyses, and there is a divergence of technique when comparing the excavation of Buddhist monuments and prehistoric sites. As a result, scholars in other disciplines rely on textual sources purporting to represent the social and economic context of early Buddhism rather than trying to interpret the results of excavations. This reliance is by no means new, as colonial pioneers also utilized archaeology to provide evidence for assumptions based on those early textual sources. Many early encounters were amateurish, but their founding assumptions persist, limiting the sophistication of our understanding of early practice. However, the archaeology of Buddhism offers the opportunity of tracing divergences between early precept and practice and investigating the social and economic transformations that accompanied its establishment. Indeed, Buddhism emerged at the same time as statehood and urbanization, as well as the creation of mercantile and urban elites, whose needs did not match established Brahmanical belief or the caste system. Furthermore, although much has been written on the life of the Buddha, we have little evidence from this early period, and the date of his death as well as the identity of his childhood home are still debated. The archaeology of Buddhism can readdress these lacunae but only through fresh excavations at key sites using advanced techniques. Such techniques can also be applied to examine monuments within their landscapes in order to understand their position and function within the networks of social and economic relationships that unified cityscapes with hinterlands. Finally, reference must be made to the potential represented by Buddhist ethnographies, which have recorded individual and collective motivations of communities, both lay and sacred. These allow us to develop analogues for the past as well as demonstrating that, far from being conservative, Buddhism has been adaptive, which explains its spread and resilience. In conclusion, the archaeology of Buddhism can provide more than the description of individual monuments as it alone can shed light on the physical character of early ritual practice; it alone can demonstrate how Buddhism interacted with its contemporary social, economic, and ritual context; and it alone can shed light on what early Buddhists actually did.
General Overviews
For a broad overview, part 1 of Mitra 1971 offers a review of the life of the Buddha, part 2, a historical review, and part 3, a regional review. While the addition of another volume on Buddhist monuments in 1971 was not innovative in view of the tradition of Brown 1956 and Dutt 1962, it was striking that the volume was authored by a field archaeologist. Mitra’s approach remains differentiated from subsequent art historical and architectural reviews (Dehejia 1997) because it was written from an archaeological perspective. It is equally striking that, four years later, de Jong wrote that “Buddhist art, inscriptions and coins have supplied us with useful data, but generally they cannot be understood without the support given by the texts” (de Jong 1975, p. 14). This position was taken by many, relegating archaeologists to the production of data and leading to a state of affairs whereby it was possible to reconstruct the date of the Buddha without reference to archaeology (Gombrich 1992, cited under the Dating of the Life of the Buddha), but this imbalance led to a reaction led by a textual scholar, Gregory Schopen. Schopen 1997 notes the difference between the two evidence sets available to scholars of early Buddhism, characterizing them as either edited, canonical texts recording “what a small atypical part of the Buddhist community wanted that community to believe or practice” or physical archaeological and epigraphic material that reflected “what Buddhists . . . actually practiced and believed” (p. 1). Schopen demonstrates that whiles the former set may have been in ascendency, the latter indicated the presence of different past behaviors. Whereas archaeologists continued to augment the sequences of different regions, the questioning of the nature of Buddhist archaeology itself and archaeological attempts to engage with the archaeology of early Buddhism by archaeologists commenced only later. However, this led to a wider consideration of the state of the archaeology of Buddhism in 2001 during which the evidence for the earliest years of Buddhism and the date of the Buddha was questioned before moving on to questioning many of the generalizations and typologies of Buddhist archaeology (Coningham 2001). Reviewed after ten years (Coningham 2011), it is clear that more archaeologists are engaging, particularly from a landscape perspective, but that the archaeological exploration of the beginnings of Buddhism has barely begun.
- Brown, Percy. Indian Architecture: Buddhist and Hindu Periods. 3d ed. Bombay: D. B. Taraporevala Sons, 1956.This volume contains over five hundred photographs, plans, sections, and reconstructions of key monuments within south and Southeast Asia from the Mauryan period onwards. Brown uses sculptural base-reliefs and rock-cut monuments to aid the conjectural reconstruction of timber monuments of the early Buddhist period.
- Coningham, Robin. “The Archaeology of Buddhism.” In Archaeology and World Religion. Edited by Timothy Insoll, 61–95. London: Routledge, 2001.A thematic review of the state of the archaeology of Buddhism that questions and confronts many of the traditionally accepted generalizations associated with Buddhism and its archaeology, with a focus on material culture.
- Coningham, Robin “Buddhism.” In The Oxford Handbook of the Archaeology of Ritual and Religion. Edited by Timothy Insoll, 934–947. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2011.Ten-year thematic review of the state of the archaeology and “rematerialization” of Buddhism, examining its monuments and landscapes. The main drive of the chapter is to place monuments within their immediate and wider landscape and stress the need to consider their social and economic roles as well as their ritual ones.
- Dehejia, Vidya. Discourses in Early Buddhist Art: Visual Narratives of India. New Delhi: Munshiram Manoharlal, 1997.A study of the development of Buddhist visual narratives on key monuments from the 1st centuryBCE to the 6th century CE and beyond, with special reference to the sites of Bharhut, Sanchi, Amaravati and Ajanta, and the region of Gandharan.
- de Jong, Jan Willen. “The Study of Buddhism: Problems and Perspectives.” In Studies in Indo-Asian Art and Culture. Vol. 4. Edited by Perala Ratnam, 7–30. New Delhi: International Academy of Indian Culture, 1975.Powerful review of the study of Buddhism that advocates a predominate focus on textual sources in order to understand the role of “Buddhist art, inscriptions, and coins” in the development of early Buddhism.
- Dutt, Sukumar. Buddhist Monks and Monasteries of India: Their History and Their Contribution to Indian Culture. London: Allen & Unwin, 1962.A comprehensive historical review of the Buddhist sangha and its monuments using textual, architectural, and archaeological sources from the earliest times to 1200 CE.
- Mitra, Debala. Buddhist Monuments. Calcutta: Sahitya Samsad, 1971.A comprehensive overview containing a study of the development of Buddhist monuments within South Asia from the earliest times and a valuable regional-based description of key sites. Although still an essential source, its sequences and regional reviews are substantially out of date.
- Schopen, Gregory. Bones, Stones and Buddhist Monks: Collected Papers on the Archaeology, Epigraphy and Texts of Monastic Buddhism in India. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1997.A collection of Schopen’s key challenges to the ways in which literary material has dominated the study of early South Asian Buddhism. His work utilizes architectural and epigraphic materials to demonstrate the importance of what monks, nuns, and laypeople actually did and demonstrates the difference between early practice and precept.
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Mission for 272. -- Shashi Shekhar. Capture power. Throw-out SoniaG UPA.
LK Advani’s resignation is a betrayal of our India dream
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Indonesia gifts U.S. a Saraswati statue
WASHINGTON, June 10, 2013
Indonesia gifts U.S. a Saraswati statue
PTI
PTIA 16-foot statue of godess Saraswati was installed in Washington DC. It was recently gifted by Indonesia to the U.S. government .
“The statue symbolises values that parallel key principles of Indonesia-U.S. relations”
Indonesia, the country with the largest Muslim population in the world, has gifted an imposing 16-foot-high statue of Saraswati, the Hindu goddess of education and wisdom, to Washington DC.
The goddess’ statue, on top of a lotus, stands tall a block away from the Indian Embassy in front of a statue of Mahatma Gandhi.
Hindus constitute just three per cent of the Indonesian population. A little over a mile from the White House, the statue is yet to be formally inaugurated, but has already become an attraction for city residents and large number of tourists who visit the city every day.
“Devi Saraswati is one of the Goddesses in Hinduism, the primarily practised religion among Balinese people in Indonesia, which itself is the world’s biggest Muslim-majority country. Yet, her representation at the Indonesian Embassy was not decided out only of any religious grounds, but more on its symbolised values that parallel with several key principles of Indonesia-U.S. relations under comprehensive partnership, in particular education and people-to-people contact,” a spokesperson at the Indonesian Embassy told PTI.
The construction of the statue began in mid-April, and was built by five native Balinese sculptors led by I. Nyoman Sudarwa, who wrapped up the job in five weeks.
A fitting message to all the pseudo-secularists who protest for anything associated with Hindu gods and goddesses.Here is a muslim dominated country gifting a statue of a Hindu Goddess -Saraswati associated with learning and knowledge to proclaimed Christian nation .Paradoxically we in India cannot put into practice any such sentiment for fear of hurting others sentiments .So much for our freedom of expression and tolerance of the majority !!
from: Ramani
Posted on: Jun 10, 2013 at 11:29 IST I am not surprised at this gesture by the Indonesian Government. I have lived in Indonesia for few months & have traveled there many times. You will find the statue of Lord Ganesh in many places like hotel lobby etc. During one time, the 20,000 Rupiah note carried the image of Lord Ganesh in it. Not sure about it now.
In the city Centre of Jakarta you will find a huge statue depicting Geethopadesam, featuring Arjun, his rath, Lord Krishna etc. One can also find wooden carvings etc. depicting Ramayana, Mahabhratha in many places. Most Indonesian citizens know about Ramayana & Mahabharatha very well.
One never gets a feeling of alienation of being a Hindu when in Indonesia. They have high regards Indians & Indian culture.
from: V.Govindarajan
Posted on: Jun 10, 2013 at 11:18 IST It is very commendable for Indonesia to put this ststue of Devi Saraswathi in Washington. It symbolises the importance of knoweldge. India should learn from this incident. There is nothing worng to hilighting ones own culture. When Murali Mahohar Joshi was trying to impart some knowledge in Indian culture during NDA rule how much commotion was created by media!! Here between Indonesia and US we have a perfect example of secularism practiced.
from: Ayyappa
Posted on: Jun 10, 2013 at 11:13 IST The Indonesian Govt. is communal. The Hindu should write about how it
has fallen from Secular values.
from: Gajanan Netravali
Posted on: Jun 10, 2013 at 07:16 IST ↧