Gana is derived from “to count” or “numbers.” It meant rule by numbers or a republican form of governance. “Bharat Ganarajya” means Bharat whose state is a “gana” i.e. a republic. The Hindi word for a republican form of government is “gana-tantra.”

Gana is first mentioned in Rig Veda in 46 places. Its exact meaning in Vedic texts is interpreted variously, as tribes, as tribal republics or republican form of governance.

Prof. Altekar of BHU wrote, “even if we grant that these were tribes, they also had a republican form of government. It can be proved beyond doubt that gana indicated a certain type of state, sharply distinguished from monarchy.” In any case, by the 6th century BCE, the association of ganas with republican states is well established in historical records.

Source: A S Altekar, “State & Government in Ancient India”
R. S. Sharma, “Aspects of Political Ideas and Institutions in Ancient India”
K. P. Jayaswal, “Hindu Polity”

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This is the Parsvanath temple in Khajuraho which also has a Jain temple complex. There are temples for Parsvanath, Adinath and Shantinath. The Parsvanath temple is one among the largest Jain temples. The temple architecture is similar to that of the other temples in Khajuraho, especially the Lakshmana Temple. Its sculptures show a predominance of Vaishnava themes, with sculptures of Parasurama, Balarama with Revati, Rama, Sita and Hanuman.

Source: “Khajuraho,” Krishna Deva, ASI

Picture Credit: Ramanujam SR

Gujarat follows a luni-solar calendar like many others. However, the Gujaratis start the new year on the first day of the Kartika month. In some areas of Gujarat like Kutch & Saurashtra, the new year starts on the first of the Ashadha month (June/ July). Bestu Varas is the Gujarati New Year’s Day and people greet each other, saying “Nutan Varsha Abhinandan” or “Saal Mubarak”. This day starts by bursting plenty of firecrackers, starting as early as 4 am. Young boys gather and sell raw salt, calling it “Sabras,” meaning, “all tastes.” People decorate their homes with aaso palav and marigold torans or door hangings and draw colorful rangolis at their doorstep.

Source: The Hindu New Year – Flavors of Celebration, www.dollsofindia.com

Picture Credit: Sam Panthkay, Mint

Buddha taught the essentials of Buddhism to his first five disciples in Sarnath. He called his teaching Dhamma in the Pali language in which he preached (Dharma in Sanskrit). This event is called dharma-chakra-pravartna – turning of the wheel of law, by his followers. Why did he choose a place so far away from where he lived? It is said that the five disciples were the ones who had abandoned him earlier and had settled in Sarnath and he wanted to win them back. Kashi like now, was a magnet for holy men even then. The earliest Buddhist texts call Sarnath ‘Isipatana’ – a place where holy men landed. True to its name, it remains a centre of pilgrimage for Buddhists, Jains & Shaivites. The word Sarnath itself is related to Saranganath which means Lord of the Deer, an epithet of Lord Shiva. The Buddha also preached his first sermon at a deer park.

Picture Credit: Varanasi Tourism

Lt Gen Sadul Singh, veteran of World War II, was  a nationalistic voice in the Chamber of Princes. In April 1947, he wrote a secret note to his fellow princes titled “ The Time for Right Decision : An Appeal to the Princes.” The letter was brilliantly argued, mapping out all scenarios including the dangers of a Communist takeover. He was equally impassioned, “… the people of the (Princely) States feel equally in regard to their own Mother Country – India… We would be straining their loyalty, if we take a step considered unpatriotic by our people.” Historians consider this letter quite significant in helping the vacillating princes make up their mind.

Source: Sandeep Bamzai, “Princestan”

Picture: National Virtual Library, Sardar with the Maharajah of Bikaner

Kabandha is a demon whose face and neck were crushed into his stomach. His mouth was in the belly and he had no legs. He was blessed with arms 13 kms wide with which he used to grab and devour everything around him. When he tried to eat Rama and Lakshmana, they remained calm and Rama cut off his arms. This released Kabandha from his curse and he advised Rama on where to find Sabri who will in turn lead him towards Sugreeva. The grotesque sculpture is that of Kabandha which is now revered as Basavanna. Locals believe Basavanna held on to the demon who became part of his body.

Source
Footsteps of Rama, Vikrant Pande and Neelesh Kulkarni.

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Speaking Tree

Raja Venkoji was the step brother of Shivaji. He conquered Thanjavur on behalf of Bijapur Sultanate in 1676, but then established his own independent State. Thanjavur was an extremely fertile coastal plain with its own sea ports. It was a prize acquisition.

Shivaji and Venkoji met during the conquest of South. Venkoji died a year after Shivaji’s death.

The Thanjavur state was placed under the control of Nawab of Arcot who was appointed by Mughals. The Marathas liberated Thanjavur in 1740. The Nawabs retook it soon but in turn came under British. Thanjavur became a subsidiary of British in 1775. Under Doctrine of Lapse it came within British provinces in 1855.

Under Maratha rule, Thanjavur was the fountainhead of culture, music, drama and literature for over a century. The rajas, especially Serfoji, were true patrons of arts.

The picture is that of the Bell Tower in Thanjavur Palace which was built by the earlier Nayak rulers.

Picture Credit: P Jegannathan, Wikimedia Commons

Ghaffar Khan, also called Baadshah Khan or Bacha Khan, was a leader of Pashtuns who live mostly in what was the North West Frontier Province of Pakistan. A great pacifist like Gandhi, he is sometimes referred as the Frontier Gandhi. He raised the Khudai Khidmatgars (Servants of God) or Red Shirts, a 100,000 strong organization wedded to non violence and strict discipline. Gandhi called it a miracle as the Pashtuns were considered to have a code of revenge of violence.

Along with Gandhi, he was the most inveterate opponent of partition. Unlike Gandhi, he survived partition by 40 years. He spent the post partition years working for the rights of Pashtuns and was viewed with suspicion by the Pakistan government. He boycotted the 1947 referendum in the province since it did not provide an option of independence or joining Afghanistan. He was twice nominated for the Nobel price for peace and was awarded the Bharat Ratna in 1987.

One of his biographers J Bright wrote that he was so wedded to non violence that Gandhi should be called the ‘Indian Khan’ and not the other way round.

Source: The Print, thefrontiergandhimovie.com.

Picture: The Wikimedia image shows Ghafar Khan with Gandhi and Kasturba.

The most common number is 64. The Chausat Yogini temples, considered to be associated with tantric sects, are found in eastern India. The most well known are in Bhedaghat (near Jabalpur), Hirapur (near Bhubaneswar) and Mitaoli (near Gwalior). The circular Mitaoli temple is popularly considered as an inspiration for the Parliament building, though there is no firm evidence for it.

The simplest and common usage of the term Yogini is as the female counterpart of Yogi. She is a woman who follows the path of yoga bodily and spiritual discipline. They are also often interpreted as sorceress who are feared.

The picture is of Mitaoli temple near Morena and Gwalior in Madhya Pradesh

Source: The Yogini Temples of India. Vidya Dehejia

Picture Credit: S R Ramanujam

Popularly called Astavinayak temples, the group of eight Ganapati temples are around the Pune and Konkan region. The deities are monolith and are also Swayambhu, self formed and not man made. Astavinayak is a popular pilgrimage that many pilgrims cover in two or three days. It is a commonly held belief that if a pilgrim visits any one of the 8 temples, they must visit the others as well to receive the full benefit of the pilgrimage.

Source: Temples and Legends of Maharashtra, Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan

PicureCredit: Scoutmytrip.com

Vallabhacharya, ( 1479 – 1531 CE), founded the devotional sect Pushtimarg ( “way of flourishing”). Born to a Telugu Brahman family, Vallabha made Mathura his centre of his activities. He undertook several pilgrimages throughout India, propagating his doctrine of bhakti (devotion) to god Krishna. It was near Mathura, at the foot of Mount Govardhana, that Vallabha discovered the central devotional object of the sect, the deity of Krishna called Shri-Nathaji. While in flight from the Mughals, the chariot carrying the deity broke down at Nathdwara, where it was given protection by the local Rajput chief. Pushtimarg has lot of adherents in Gujarat even today

Source: https://www.britannica.com/topic/Shri-Nathaji

Picture Credit: Business Today

Alfonso is named after its Portuguese cultivator in India, Nicolau Alfonso. Little else is known of the creator.

The famous varieties over which Indians squabble so much, started appearing only after the Portuguese introduced grafting. This technique was then patronized by Mughal rulers. Nicola Manucci, an Italian traveler in Aurangzeb’s court, notes that Portuguese created many varieties which carried the names of individual cultivators. These mangoes were a favourite of Emperor Shahjahan, who had a dedicated supply from Mazgaon to Delhi. Today, it is grown in the Konkan region and is the one of the prized exports from India.

Picture Credit: Joquim, pixabay

Baghor is within 100 kms of Ganga and very close to Prayagraj. In 1982, a team of archaeologists found a heap of discarded stones on a circular rubble platform. In the middle of the rubble was a bright stone with concentric triangles, but broken. They found most of the broken pieces near the rubble itself. When the workers saw the unusual stone they dropped the tools and stopped digging. “This is our Devi!” they said. The excavating team did not take them seriously. But the local people too immediately recognised the rubble and the stone as their Devi. One was upset that the digging team had broken the stone. When they told him that they had actually dug this out and it is ancient, he immediately fell on the ground and did a pranam to the stone.

The site watchman took the team to his house. He had built a small shrine for Devi near his house which looked exactly like the one they had discovered. A sandstone rubble; a bright stone with concentric triangular pattern in the middle. Then the team also saw a temple called Kerai ki Devi which had a similar form of worship. As they looked around, they saw more and more of similar forms of worship in the area.

The team then recognised the significance of what they had found. They had known that the Baghor site is very ancient. It belonged to a period between two other layers which had been dated. This gave a time period of 9000 BC to 8000 BC to the Devi shrine. A practice of worship that was prevalent 11,000 years ago and which continues till date.

The picture that you see here, with the answer, is the present day shrine, which looks remarkably similar to what was unearthed.

Source: Archaeology and World Religion-Routledge (2001) DK Chakrabarti.

Interview with Prof Jagannath Pal, Ex Allahabad University

Antiquity. An Upper Paleolithic Shrine in India? J.M. Kenoyer, J.D. Clark, J.N.Pal, G.R. Sharma

Picture Credit: J.M. Kenoyer

Buddha’s mother was Mayadevi and his father was Suddhodana, who was an elected leader of the Sakya republic at Kapilavastu in northern Bihar with the title of Raja. His mother was on her way to her parents’ home to give birth, and Buddha was born en-route, under a sal tree at Lumbini in Nepal. An Asokan inscription at the site identified it as the Buddha’s birthplace. Mayadevi died in childbirth and Buddha was brought up by his maternal aunt, Prajapati who married his father. Later, Mahaprajapati would be the first woman to become a Buddhist nun. It was at her insistence that Buddha reluctantly allowed women into the Buddhist monastic order

Picture Credit: Ko Hon Chiu Vincent, UNESCO

Odisha celebrates its new year on April 14 or 15, following the solar calendar. Pana is made during the festival. It is a drink made with bel fruit pulp (wood apple) or sweet mango. Milk or yoghurt and coconut water are the other ingredients. Open the fridge and look for Pana now.

Picture Credit: Kamalakanta777, Wikimedia Commons