tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-66981603737579895492024-03-13T16:59:38.261+05:30ACKnowledgeTPHhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09956940336422524997noreply@blogger.comBlogger72125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6698160373757989549.post-33884816067507535992009-05-28T22:39:00.006+05:302009-05-28T23:06:11.402+05:30ACK-094:Pratibhashali Birbal<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(102, 0, 204);">After a long time a Hindi ACK is being scanned and posted by me to keep this blog alive which is facing trouble due to ego clash between one of its founder member and the revivor of this blog.</span></span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(102, 0, 204);">I seriously wish that everything settles between them and things are restored peacefully again.</span></span><br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlbTMZ4pIzfcobEGdALVjzyqHSj6NyNCpkLP9WdiWbufnglfHdK2b_xHB4bg5pHcGV12bTt4Ruy-bdc-hgcpfVo3UfT6YNaMUchTqNwdzQvn5ynWAQO9AeyZy3Z0PNJvadJnbaTlAAetQ/s1600-h/scan0001.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 287px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlbTMZ4pIzfcobEGdALVjzyqHSj6NyNCpkLP9WdiWbufnglfHdK2b_xHB4bg5pHcGV12bTt4Ruy-bdc-hgcpfVo3UfT6YNaMUchTqNwdzQvn5ynWAQO9AeyZy3Z0PNJvadJnbaTlAAetQ/s400/scan0001.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5340919828161763378" border="0" /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(102, 102, 102); font-weight: bold;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(102, 102, 102); font-weight: bold;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(102, 102, 102); font-weight: bold;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(102, 102, 102); font-weight: bold;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(102, 102, 102); font-weight: bold;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(102, 102, 102); font-weight: bold;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(102, 102, 102); font-weight: bold;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(102, 102, 102); font-weight: bold;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(102, 102, 102); font-weight: bold;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(102, 102, 102); font-weight: bold;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(102, 102, 102); font-weight: bold;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(102, 102, 102); font-weight: bold;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(102, 102, 102); font-weight: bold;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(102, 102, 102); font-weight: bold;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(102, 102, 102); font-weight: bold;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(102, 102, 102); font-weight: bold;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(102, 102, 102); font-weight: bold;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(102, 102, 102); font-weight: bold;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(102, 102, 102); font-weight: bold;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(102, 102, 102); font-weight: bold;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(102, 102, 102); font-weight: bold;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(102, 102, 102); font-weight: bold; "><a href="http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?toim2nnmmam">Download Comic</a></span><br /></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(102, 102, 102); font-weight: bold;"><br /></span></div>Comic Worldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06397258202160274792noreply@blogger.com37tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6698160373757989549.post-60701981882453034982009-03-20T07:40:00.005+05:302009-03-20T12:28:14.470+05:30ACK-093: Madhvacharya<div class="largetext" style="background-color: #cfe2f3; padding-left: 10px; text-align: right;"><i><span style="font-size: large;"><b>ACK Description:</b></span></i></div><div class="largetext" style="padding-left: 10px;"></div><br />
<div class="largetext" style="padding-left: 10px; padding-right: 10px;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_YdOSQaw5epY/ScLoqsOJu9I/AAAAAAAABnY/WERRHcX8PBk/s1600-h/ACK_Madhvacharya+(Cover).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_YdOSQaw5epY/ScLoqsOJu9I/AAAAAAAABnY/WERRHcX8PBk/s400/ACK_Madhvacharya+%28Cover%29.jpg" style="cursor: move;" /></a></div>Madhvacharya taught men to look upon the world of matter and souls as real instead of as illusory and unreal in a philosophical sense. He therefore put forward a fresh ontological classification of reality into two orders, Svatantra and Paratantra - independent and dependent. God alone is the one independent reality. Hence the name Dvaita (dualism) given to his system.<br />
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Madhva freed the concept of Bhakti from the clutches of blind faith and placed it in its right perspective as informed faith in, and love of God, both based on a right understanding of his glory. He also rescued it from the pitfalls of sentimentalism, eroticism and other maladies.<br />
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Madhva lived a robust life of 79 years. He was a prolific writer in Sanskrit prose and verse. He wrote thirty-nine works which are collectively known as Sarvamula. These include commentaries on Rig Veda, Upanishads, Gita, Brahmasutras, Mahabharata, Bhagawat and critical works on logic and metaphysics, rituals and sadachara (right conduct). He also wrote a number of devotional hymns.<br />
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The Chaitanya Sampradaya of Bengal is deeply indebted to Madhva's philosophy in many respects. It includes in its guruparampara Madhva and his successors, Jayatirtha and Vyasatirtha. The followers of Madhva are found on Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Andhra, Maharashtra, Goa and U.P.<br />
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Madhva's system has made a massive contribution to Indian philosophy through the writings of great commentators such as Jayatirtha, Vyasatirtha, Raghuthama, Vadiraja and Raghavendra, to mention only a few. The Haridasas of Karnataka, owing allegiance to Madhva philosophy, such as Purandara Dasa, Kanaka Dasa and Jagannatha Dasa have made equally significant contributions to Kannada religious literature.<span id="gtbmisp_42" style="background-attachment: scroll; background-color: transparent; background-image: none; background-position: 0% 0%; background-repeat: repeat; border-bottom-color: #000000; border-bottom-style: none; border-bottom-width: 0pt; border-left-color: #000000; border-left-style: none; border-left-width: 0pt; border-right-color: #000000; border-right-style: none; border-right-width: 0pt; border-top-color: #000000; border-top-style: none; border-top-width: 0pt; color: red; cursor: pointer; font-family: serif; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 100%; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0pt; margin-right: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; padding-bottom: 0pt; padding-left: 0pt; padding-right: 0pt; padding-top: 0pt; position: static; text-align: left; text-decoration: underline; text-indent: 0pt; text-transform: none;"><br />
</span><span id="gtbmisp_42" style="background-attachment: scroll; background-color: transparent; background-image: none; background-position: 0% 0%; background-repeat: repeat; border-bottom-color: #000000; border-bottom-style: none; border-bottom-width: 0pt; border-left-color: #000000; border-left-style: none; border-left-width: 0pt; border-right-color: #000000; border-right-style: none; border-right-width: 0pt; border-top-color: #000000; border-top-style: none; border-top-width: 0pt; color: red; cursor: pointer; font-family: serif; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 100%; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0pt; margin-right: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; padding-bottom: 0pt; padding-left: 0pt; padding-right: 0pt; padding-top: 0pt; position: static; text-align: left; text-decoration: underline; text-indent: 0pt; text-transform: none;"></span><br />
<span style="color: white;">.</span> </div><div class="largetext" style="padding-left: 10px; padding-right: 10px;"></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.mediafire.com/?byulnmyzdmi">Download ACK-093 "Madhvacharya"</a></span><br />
<b>(34 pages, 1200 px wide, 9.9 MB)</b><br />
<div style="color: white;">. </div><b style="color: blue;">Author: </b>Dr BNK Sharma<br />
<b style="color: blue;">Illustrator:</b> HS Chavan<br />
<b style="color: blue;">Cover: </b>C.M.Vitankar</div><div class="largetext" style="padding-left: 10px; padding-right: 10px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: white;">.</span> </div><div style="color: purple; text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">--------------------------------------------------------</span></b></div><span style="color: white;">.</span><br />
<div style="color: red; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Find more related information here:</b></span></div><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="5"><tbody>
<tr><td style="background-color: #f4cccc;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advaita">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advaita</a></td><td style="background-color: #f4cccc;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_YdOSQaw5epY/ScL352Pt2rI/AAAAAAAABng/j79Vs8s5atU/s1600-h/Madhvacharya001.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_YdOSQaw5epY/ScL352Pt2rI/AAAAAAAABng/j79Vs8s5atU/s200/Madhvacharya001.jpg" /></a></div></td></tr>
<tr><td style="background-color: #fce5cd;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_YdOSQaw5epY/ScL4HTfKoaI/AAAAAAAABno/8OUvDUcpPCs/s1600-h/Madhvacharya002.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_YdOSQaw5epY/ScL4HTfKoaI/AAAAAAAABno/8OUvDUcpPCs/s200/Madhvacharya002.jpg" /></a></div></td><td style="background-color: #fce5cd;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dvaita">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dvaita</a></td></tr>
<tr><td style="background-color: #fff2cc;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madhvacharya">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madhvacharya</a></td><td style="background-color: #fff2cc;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_YdOSQaw5epY/ScL4VRPn4oI/AAAAAAAABnw/vLAvE1_qtUo/s1600-h/Madhvacharya003.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_YdOSQaw5epY/ScL4VRPn4oI/AAAAAAAABnw/vLAvE1_qtUo/s200/Madhvacharya003.jpg" /></a></div></td></tr>
<tr><td style="background-color: #d9ead3;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_YdOSQaw5epY/ScL4d1T3LWI/AAAAAAAABn4/Wxu0T3K8Lsg/s1600-h/Madhvacharya004.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_YdOSQaw5epY/ScL4d1T3LWI/AAAAAAAABn4/Wxu0T3K8Lsg/s200/Madhvacharya004.jpg" /></a></div></td><td style="background-color: #d9ead3;"><a href="http://www.kamat.com/kalranga/hindu/holymen/3336.htm">http://www.kamat.com/kalranga/hindu/holymen/3336.htm</a></td></tr>
<tr><td style="background-color: #d0e0e3;"><a href="http://www.gosai.com/dvaita/madhvacharya.html">http://www.gosai.com/dvaita/madhvacharya.html</a></td><td style="background-color: #d0e0e3;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_YdOSQaw5epY/ScL4n0_5RlI/AAAAAAAABoA/hW0JFq00eRc/s1600-h/Madhvacharya005.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_YdOSQaw5epY/ScL4n0_5RlI/AAAAAAAABoA/hW0JFq00eRc/s200/Madhvacharya005.jpg" /></a></div></td></tr>
<tr><td style="background-color: #cfe2f3;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_YdOSQaw5epY/ScL419gNn_I/AAAAAAAABoI/PDXNPQjsv4Q/s1600-h/Madhvacharya006.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_YdOSQaw5epY/ScL419gNn_I/AAAAAAAABoI/PDXNPQjsv4Q/s200/Madhvacharya006.jpg" style="cursor: move;" /></a></div></td><td style="background-color: #cfe2f3; text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_YdOSQaw5epY/ScL419gNn_I/AAAAAAAABoI/PDXNPQjsv4Q/s1600-h/Madhvacharya006.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><a href="http://www.indiadivine.org/articles/46/1/Great-Teachers-Madhvacharya/Page1.html">http://www.indiadivine.org/articles/46/1/Great-Teachers-Madhvacharya/Page1.html</a></div></td></tr>
<tr><td style="background-color: #d9d2e9;"><a href="http://www.dlshq.org/saints/madhva.htm">http://www.dlshq.org/saints/madhva.htm</a></td><td style="background-color: #d9d2e9;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_YdOSQaw5epY/ScL5Ib4h55I/AAAAAAAABoQ/3QB__NjqJmA/s1600-h/Madhvacharya007.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_YdOSQaw5epY/ScL5Ib4h55I/AAAAAAAABoQ/3QB__NjqJmA/s200/Madhvacharya007.jpg" /></a></div></td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
<div style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">--------------------------------------------------------</span></b></div>TPHhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09956940336422524997noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6698160373757989549.post-74843957827176292092009-03-16T04:00:00.000+05:302009-03-16T04:00:00.348+05:30ACK-092: Padmini<div style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: #ffd966;">Rani Padmini of Chittorgarh</span></span></b></div><br />
<div style="background-color: #fce5cd; text-align: right;"><i><span style="font-size: large;"><b>ACK Description:</b></span></i></div><br />
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_YdOSQaw5epY/Sb0WfwPCEHI/AAAAAAAABnA/1WBzkqlC2AM/s1600-h/Padmini+%28cover-cw%29.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_YdOSQaw5epY/Sb0WfwPCEHI/AAAAAAAABnA/1WBzkqlC2AM/s400/Padmini+%28cover-cw%29.jpg" style="cursor: move;" /></a>In the history of India, Padmini of Chittor holds a very prominent position. She was a perfect model of ideal Indian womanhood. When the values cherished by her were threatened by Ala-ud-din Khilji, the mighty Afghan king of Delhi, she faced her problems with exceptional courage. A lesser woman would not have been able to face Ala-ud-din, but Padmini was no ordinary woman. She was a living example of virtuous womanhood.<br />
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It was this that inspired many a legend about her. This story of Padmini is based on Padmavat by the famous Sufi poet Malik Muhammed Jayasi and Gora-Badal by the poet Jaymal.<br />
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<br />
<div style="text-align: center;"> <a href="http://www.mediafire.com/?gj5ytiy2txk">Download ACK_Padmini</a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b>(34 pages, 1200 px wide, 8.45 MB)</b></div><div style="text-align: center;"></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b style="color: blue;">Author:</b> Yagya Sharma<br />
<b style="color: blue;">Illustrator:</b> Ram Waeerkar</div><div style="text-align: center;"><b style="color: blue;">Cover:</b> Ram Waeerkar </div><br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: purple; font-size: x-large;"><b>--------------------</b></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: white;">.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: #fff2cc; font-size: large;"><b>More information on Rani Padmini</b></span></div><br />
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_YdOSQaw5epY/Sb0UADYgYJI/AAAAAAAABmo/gpgJUMIcEZY/s1600-h/padmini1.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_YdOSQaw5epY/Sb0UADYgYJI/AAAAAAAABmo/gpgJUMIcEZY/s400/padmini1.JPG" style="cursor: move;" /></a><b> Rani Padmini</b> was the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Queen_regnant" title="Queen regnant">queen</a> of <a class="mw-redirect" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chittor" title="Chittor">Chittor</a> and the wife of King <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rawal_Ratan_Singh" title="Rawal Ratan Singh">Rawal Ratan Singh</a>.<br />
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The Indian Helen, as she is also known, Padmini is considered to be the epitome of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/India" title="India">Indian</a> woman-hood and a personification of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sacrifice" title="Sacrifice">sacrifice</a> and <a class="mw-redirect" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valour" title="Valour">valour</a>. Her story has been immortalized in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Padmavat" title="Padmavat">Padmavat</a>, an epic poem written by <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malik_Muhammad_Jayasi" title="Malik Muhammad Jayasi">Malik Muhammad Jayasi</a> in the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Awadhi_language" title="Awadhi language">Awadhi language</a> in the year 1540 <sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Pad_0-0"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rani_Padmini#cite_note-Pad-0" title="">[1]</a></sup>.<br />
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In the 12th and 13th centuries, the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delhi_Sultanate" title="Delhi Sultanate">Delhi Sultanate</a> dominated the political milieu of Northern India. The Delhi <a class="mw-redirect" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sultans" title="Sultans">Sultans</a> made repeated attacks against their Rajput opponents, especially the Sisodias of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mewar" title="Mewar">Mewar</a>, on one pretext or the other. The first sack of Chittor by <a class="mw-redirect" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ala-ud-din_Khilji" title="Ala-ud-din Khilji">Ala-ud-din Khilji</a> in 1303 AD is traditionally considered to have been the result of his infatuation with, and lust for, Ratan Singh's wife, Padmini. <sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Pad_0-1"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rani_Padmini#cite_note-Pad-0" title="">[1]</a></sup>. Ala-ud-Din Khilji received support for his annexation attempts from two of Ratan Singh's own courtiers, namely the brothers, Raghav and Chetan. The duo had initially enjoyed Ratan Singh's highest confidence and had been privy to many State secrets which they then threatened to betray if they were not paid well for their silence. Ratan Singh had recently married the beautiful Padmini, the daughter of King Gandharvasen (also known as Hamir Sank) of Sinhala Dvipa (present-day Sri Lanka) and his wife, Queen Champavati, <sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Padmini_1-0"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rani_Padmini#cite_note-Padmini-1" title="">[2]</a></sup> and had received a handsome and generous dowry from her parents. The brothers demanded a large portion of this dowry as payment for their silence. Furious at their exhortation, Ratan Singh had them banished from Chittor, with the understanding that they would be killed if they were ever found on his territory again. In revenge, the brothers went to Delhi and instigated Ala-ud-din Khilji to attack Chittor by inflaming both the Sultan's lust for beautiful women and his uncompromising greed for land and more territory.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_YdOSQaw5epY/Sb0UyN6-v_I/AAAAAAAABm4/Ot7sRMA02f8/s1600-h/padmini+palace.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_YdOSQaw5epY/Sb0UyN6-v_I/AAAAAAAABm4/Ot7sRMA02f8/s320/padmini+palace.jpg" /></a></div>Since Ala-ud-din found that he and his opponent were evenly matched in military capabilities, he decided to resort to treachery and diplomacy to conquer Chittor. He sent word to Ratan Singh that he was willing to offer friendship if he could only behold Padmini's face just once, further claiming that he considered Padmini to be his sister. The unsuspecting Ratan Singh asked Padmini to meet her newfound 'brother', but the Queen, suspecting a trap, refused. Instead, she insisted that her husband only permit the Sultan to look at her reflection in a mirror. Ratan Singh agreed and sent for Ala-ud-din, who arrived to meet the Queen, accompanied by his most trusted generals and soldiers. While Ala-ud-din waited impatiently to meet Padmini, his generals carefully examined the fort's defenses to help them plan their attack of Chittor. Padmini stood by a lotus pool as Ala-ud-din gazed at her reflection in a mirror, stunned by her beauty. When he was further informed that he would not be able to personally meet Padmini, despite his claims of new-found kinship with the couple, the Sultan felt both humiliated and cheated. As Ratan Singh accompanied him out of the fort, as a good host should, his men fell upon the King and took him prisoner to the Sultan's camp.<br />
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Ala-ud-din then sent a note to Padmini that if she wished her husband to be released unharmed, that she should forthwith become his mistress. The Rani responded that she would meet the Sultan the next morning. At the crack of dawn the following day, one hundred and fifty palanquins (covered carriages in which royal ladies were carried about in medieval times) left the fort and made their way towards Ala-ud-din's camps. 150 able-bodied soldiers, led by Padmini's brother, Badal, emerged from these carriages and fell upon the Sultan's unsuspecting men in a sudden and unexpected attack. The Rajputs then returned to the fort, having rescued their King, and temporarily scoring a major victory over the Sultan of Delhi.<br />
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Ala-ud-din responded by laying <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege" title="Siege">siege</a> to the fort of Chittor. After a long drawn out campaign, supplies within the fort gradually dwindled. Ratan Singh gave orders for the fort's gates to be flung open and an all-out attack be launched on the would-be invaders as they could not hold out any more. Padmini was aware that her her husband's troops were hopelessly outnumbered and that they would be defeated and dishonored. Rather than be raped and witness the Sultan's army pillaging Chittor, Padmini and her retinue of women decided to commit suicide. The children of the nobility were smuggled out of the fort with trusted aides and attendants in order to save them from the invaders.<br />
<a href="http://draft.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=6698160373757989549" id="Jauhar" name="Jauhar"></a><br />
<h2>Jauhar (Self Immolation)<br />
</h2><table align="right" border="0" cellpadding="5" cellspacing="0"><tbody>
<tr align="center"><td><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_YdOSQaw5epY/Sb0UczLmNPI/AAAAAAAABmw/9Fbr3q4nXXU/s1600-h/Jauhar+Place+of+Rani+Padmini.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_YdOSQaw5epY/Sb0UczLmNPI/AAAAAAAABmw/9Fbr3q4nXXU/s320/Jauhar+Place+of+Rani+Padmini.JPG" style="cursor: move;" /></a><br />
<div class="cap"><b style="color: red;">The Jauhar place of Rani Padmini</b></div></td></tr>
</tbody></table>At dawn on August 26, 1303, a huge <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pyre" title="Pyre">pyre</a> was lit in a room with a single door. The Queen and the noblewomen of her court, the wives, sisters and daughters of ministers and courtiers, bid their young children and menfolk farewell, dressed up in their wedding finery, went into the room with the pyre, locked the door behind them and jumped into the flames en masse. The men donned saffron robes, and threw open the gates of the fort. Almost all of the Rajputs perished in battle that day. The Sultan and his troops entered the fort, eager to rape and pillage, and were sorely disappointed when confronted with the evidence of the mass suicide.<br />
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Rani Padmini's life and death has the subject of many legends, ballads and even movies in recent years. Unfortunately, no images of her have been preserved although her courage and sacrifice continue to impress one today as they did during her lifetime more than seven centuries ago.<br />
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<div style="background-color: #fff2cc;">The above information has been taken from wikipedia source.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rani_Padmini" target="_blank"> (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rani_Padmini) </a></div><br />
<div style="text-align: center;"><b style="color: purple;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">----------</span></b></div>TPHhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09956940336422524997noreply@blogger.com28tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6698160373757989549.post-65445324927405516442009-03-12T14:13:00.001+05:302009-03-12T14:14:29.985+05:30Answer to Aditya's query.<a href="http://www.blogger.com/profile/09785567705223972819">Aditya (adibud34)</a> left a <a href="http://ack-india.blogspot.com/2009/03/ack-090-and-ack-091-battle-of-wits-and.html?showComment=1236733980000#c8177372526452008642">very good comment</a> on the <a href="http://ack-india.blogspot.com/2009/03/ack-090-and-ack-091-battle-of-wits-and.html">last post (Vasavadatta)</a> where he enquired about the later life of Udayan and Vasavdatta and response of Pradhyotha (father of Vasavadatta) to their marrying. That sent me in some qustioning myself. Why this tale was named after Vasavadatta, when she apparantly had no greater role in this story. She only appears like just another character in the story among some other equally important characters.<br />
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I searched and found some more information about this play and it proved to be a very exciting find and I felt thrilled by knowing the actual (and complete) story. What this ACK presented is only about 20% of the whole play.<br />
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The story of Udayan and Vasavadatta was well known and very popular among the general public in ancient India.It was made the subject of many plays and poems of that time. But most notably the great playwrite "Bhasa" compiled it in his greatest classic named "<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 100%;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Swapnavasavadatta".</span></span></span></span> Later other writers like Subandhu worked on the same theme and produced their versions of the story. During 5th century C.E., it appeared in Pali and Prakrut languages and it was present in Dhamma-pada-atthakatha. This ACK is based on this last source only.<br />
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Dear Aditya, for answer of your question, read the following paragraphs where Bhasa's "Swapnavasavadatta" is presented in condensed form.<br />
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<table align="center" border="1" cellpadding="8" style="background-color: #fff2cc; width: 550px;"><tbody>
<tr><td><div style="background-color: #ffe599; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;">SWAPNA VASAVA DATTA"</span> <span style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;">By</span> <span style="font-size: large;"><b>Bhasa</b></span></div><br />
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_YdOSQaw5epY/SbjH8l57g4I/AAAAAAAABmg/YkKSEZX6A_U/s1600-h/swapnavasavadatta_of_bhasa.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_YdOSQaw5epY/SbjH8l57g4I/AAAAAAAABmg/YkKSEZX6A_U/s400/swapnavasavadatta_of_bhasa.jpg" style="cursor: move;" /></a>Once upon a time “Vatsa kingdom was ruled by the great king Udhayana. He fell into love with a beautiful and striking young lady Vasavadatta, who is the daughter of a prominent King Prodhyatha. Udayana married Vasavadatta and made him his better half.The couple become illustration of made for each other and lead the way as “The greatest couple ”.<br />
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Once the neighbor King “ Aruni” attacked on Udayana, in the battle Udayana accepted the defeat. Yougandharayana - The intelligent Prime minister of Udayana, thought to regain the territory from the cloches of Aruni. He approached Vasavadatta to sacrifice her life for the sake of his nation. She accepted, The sacrifice is that - she has to sacrifice her husband in account to accept the second marriage for her husband with Padmavathi , sister of the renowned king Dharshaka, a King of Magadha. But people know him as not only loyal to the people but also with Wife.<br />
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To safeguard the prestige of King ,accomplished Yougandharayana propagate the queen Vasavadatta was no more. After hearing the death of Vasavadatta, King was so anguish and went into agony. Later Proficient prime minister clandestinely appointed Vasavadatta as Chelikatthe namely “ Avanthika” (House maid to Princess padmavathi) at Princess Anthapuram. Later King Udayana got second marriage with Padmavathi.<br />
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One day the King sees Vasavadatta(Avantika), at the moment she disappears, then the king thought that Vasavadatta came in his dream. Based on this situation, this drama named as “ Swapna Vasavadatta”<br />
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Later, King Udayana retaliated Aruni with the help of Dharshaka, subsequently Udayana regain his territory. All of a sudden, <i><b>one fine morning King Pradhyotha sent a big size caricature of Vasavadatta to King Udayana as mark of gift.</b></i> After watching the photograph of vasavadatta, Princess Padmavathi came to know that Vasavadatta alias Avanthika is other way wife of Prince. Then Padmavathi understood the sacrifice of Vasavadatta.<br />
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Padmavathi realize the sacrifice of Vasavadatta, She invite Vasavadatta to remain as wife of King Udayana and allow them lead their life as it was earlier.</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
So this clearly suggests that King Pradyotha had accepted Udayan as his son-in-law. We also get to know the reason why "Vasavadatta" was chosen as title. Really thrilling tale of great sacrifice by her though finally everything settled well.<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue; font-size: large;"><b>----- </b></span></div>TPHhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09956940336422524997noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6698160373757989549.post-48418414925706495982009-03-10T13:46:00.007+05:302009-03-10T13:58:20.152+05:30ACK-090 and ACK-091 "Battle of Wits" and "Vasavadatta"We are happy to present a double treat for our readers on the special occasion of Holi. Hope you find these interesting.<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: #fff2cc; font-size: x-large;"><b>ACK-090 "Battle of Wits"</b></span></div><br />
<div style="background-color: #d9ead3; text-align: right;"><i><span style="font-size: large;"><b>ACK Description:</b></span></i></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_YdOSQaw5epY/SbYfUlVmk2I/AAAAAAAABmQ/kqNeybZiNIY/s1600-h/ACK_Battle+Of+Wits+%28cover%29.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_YdOSQaw5epY/SbYfUlVmk2I/AAAAAAAABmQ/kqNeybZiNIY/s400/ACK_Battle+Of+Wits+%28cover%29.jpg" style="cursor: move;" /></a></div>All living creatures die to be born again, according to Hindu belief. Legend has it that several lifetimes as a Bodhisattva went into the making of the Buddha, the enlightened one.<br />
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The Bodhisattva came in many forms - man, monkey, deer, elephantom, lion. Whatever his mortal frame, he spread the message of justice and wisdom, tempered with compassion. This wisdom of right thinking and right living is persevered in the Jataka TAles.<br />
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We cannot assign a definite date to the Jataka Tales. Taking into account ardhaelogical and literary evidence, it appears that they were compiled between 300 B.C. and A.D. 500. They give us invaluable information about ancient indian Indian civilization, culture and thought.<br />
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According to Maha Ummagga Jataka, the Bodhisattva was once born as Aushadh Kumar, the son of Seth Shrivardhana of Yavamajjhaka. This Chitraa Katha recounts a few tales of the childhood of Aushadha Kumar.<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.mediafire.com/?kzmjyhqmjjk"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Download ACK-089 "Battle of Wits" </b></span></a><b style="color: blue;"><br />
</b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b>(33 pages, 1200 px wide, 8.9 MB)</b></div><div style="text-align: center;"></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b style="color: blue;">Script:</b> Yagya Sharma</div><div style="text-align: center;"><b style="color: blue;">Illustrations: </b>Ram Waeerkar</div><div style="text-align: center;"><b style="color: blue;">Cover: </b>Ram Waeerkar<br />
<span style="color: white;">.</span> </div><div style="text-align: center;"></div><div style="text-align: center;"> **********************************************************</div><br />
<div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><b><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;">ACK-091 "Vasavadatta"</span></b></span></div><br />
<div class="largetext" style="padding-left: 10px;"><div style="background-color: #d9ead3;"><i><span style="font-size: large;"><b>ACK Description:</b></span></i></div></div><div class="largetext" style="padding-left: 10px; padding-right: 10px;"><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_YdOSQaw5epY/SbYfYJ7wD3I/AAAAAAAABmY/gYvcTb00se4/s1600-h/ACK_Vasavadatta+%28cover%29.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_YdOSQaw5epY/SbYfYJ7wD3I/AAAAAAAABmY/gYvcTb00se4/s400/ACK_Vasavadatta+%28cover%29.jpg" style="cursor: move;" /></a></div>King Pradyota wanted to be considered greater than neighboring king Udayana who famous for his ability to cast a spell on elephants in the enemy army. Pradyota plants a white elephant in the forest at the common boundary of their rival kingdoms, tricking Udayana into coming to get it. Pradyota's men waiting inside the fake elephant, capture Udayana.<br />
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Chided by Udayana for unbecoming conduct, Pradyota offers to free him if Udayana teaches him how to cast a spell on elephants. Udayana demands homage due to a guru for the instruction. Pradyota considers it demeaning and asks Udayana to teach a hunchback instead. The hunchback is none other than his daughter Vasavadatta who is told that the guru is diseased and so they would be separated by curtains. In the course of this instruction, a verbal tiff between teacher and taught brings them face-to-face and the inevitable happens... <br />
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This old story has been narrated in Pali prose and Sanskrit verse and has provided plots for two Sanskrit plays.<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.mediafire.com/?anz2zy2tkgm"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Download ACK-091 "Vasavadatta"</b></span></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><span style="font-size: small;"> (35 pages, 1200 px wide, 8.85 MB)</span><br />
</b></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b style="color: blue;">Author:</b>Meena Talim</div><div style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="color: blue;">Illustrator: </span></b>Pratap Mulick </div><div style="text-align: center;"><b style="color: blue;">Cover: </b>Pratap Mulick</div></div><br />
<div style="text-align: center;">*******************************************</div><div style="text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_YdOSQaw5epY/SbYbmRrL3fI/AAAAAAAABmI/XXT8p9vGRik/s1600-h/holi.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_YdOSQaw5epY/SbYbmRrL3fI/AAAAAAAABmI/XXT8p9vGRik/s320/holi.jpg" style="cursor: move;" /></a></div><span style="font-size: x-large;">Wishing all the visitors and readers of this blog a very happy and colorful holi.</span>TPHhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09956940336422524997noreply@blogger.com20tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6698160373757989549.post-21183827022052019762009-03-09T06:57:00.007+05:302009-03-09T07:19:19.346+05:30ACK-089: Ramana Maharshi<div style="background-color: #fff2cc; text-align: right;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">ACK Description:</span></b></div><br />
<div class="largetext" style="padding-left: 10px;"><b></b></div><div class="largetext" style="padding-left: 10px; padding-right: 10px;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_YdOSQaw5epY/SbRqyjDX6mI/AAAAAAAABlo/qG3FbU9S9gg/s1600-h/ACK_Raman+Maharshi+%28cover%29.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_YdOSQaw5epY/SbRqyjDX6mI/AAAAAAAABlo/qG3FbU9S9gg/s400/ACK_Raman+Maharshi+%28cover%29.jpg" style="cursor: move;" /></a></div>Bhagwan Sri Ramana Maharshi was born Venkataraman Iyer in 1897 in the South Indian village of Tiruchuzhi. When he was young, he was sent to Madurai to study. He became spiritually awakened at the age of 16, after which he came to Tiruvannamalai where the sacred Arunachala Hill is located.</div><br />
<div class="largetext" style="padding-left: 10px; padding-right: 10px;">Ramana Maharshi was a saint, mystic and gyani. At Tiruvannamalai, thousands came to him from across the world, seeking spiritual guidance and solace. Even today, seekers of truth find a haven at Sri Ramanasramam, the ashram where he had lived for nearly three decades.</div><br />
<div class="largetext" style="padding-left: 10px; padding-right: 10px;">This Amar Chitra Katha follows the journey of young Venkataraman who learned to look deep within himself for all the answers and went on to become the renowned Bhagwan Sri Ramana Maharshi.<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><br />
<a href="http://www.mediafire.com/?jymwzmkyiz5"><b>Download ACK_Ramana Maharshi<br />
</b></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b>(32 pages, 1200 px wide, 9.4 MB)</b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
<b style="color: blue;">Author: </b>Gayatri Madan Dutt</div><div style="text-align: center;"><b style="color: blue;">Illustrator: </b>G. R. Naik</div></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_YdOSQaw5epY/SbRqyjDX6mI/AAAAAAAABlo/qG3FbU9S9gg/s1600-h/ACK_Raman+Maharshi+%28cover%29.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"> </a></div><br />
<div style="text-align: center;"></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b style="color: red;">----- x -----</b><br />
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</b></div><div style="text-align: center;"></div><div style="background-color: #cfe2f3; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;">Other information resources on Ramana Maharshi</span></div><br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_YdOSQaw5epY/SbRyn_xWSuI/AAAAAAAABmA/BDQjS9pzRXE/s1600-h/Ramana+Maharshi+Official+Site.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_YdOSQaw5epY/SbRyn_xWSuI/AAAAAAAABmA/BDQjS9pzRXE/s200/Ramana+Maharshi+Official+Site.jpg" style="cursor: move;" /></a><span style="background-color: #ffd966; font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: #f4cccc;">1. Official website by his devotees:</span></span><br />
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An excellently made and beautifully maintainted official website. <br />
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Check: <a href="http://www.sriramanamaharshi.org/" target="_blank">http://www.sriramanamaharshi.org/ </a><br />
(will open in a new tab/window) <br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_YdOSQaw5epY/SbRuC-vL-qI/AAAAAAAABl4/UP3eIfIK7jA/s1600-h/Ramana+Maharshi+Wikipedia+Page.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_YdOSQaw5epY/SbRuC-vL-qI/AAAAAAAABl4/UP3eIfIK7jA/s200/Ramana+Maharshi+Wikipedia+Page.jpg" style="cursor: move;" /></a><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: #f4cccc;">2. Wikipedia Page:</span></span><br />
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<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ramana_Maharshi" target="_blank">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ramana_Maharshi</a><br />
(opens in a new tab/window)<br />
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<b>Sri Ramana <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maharshi" title="Maharshi">Maharshi</a></b> (Tamil: ரமண மஹரிஷி)(December 30, 1879 – April 14, 1950), born Venkataraman <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iyer" title="Iyer">Iyer</a>, was an Indian sage. He was born to a Tamil <a class="mw-redirect" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hindu" title="Hindu">Hindu</a> Brahmin family in Tiruchuzhi, Tamil Nadu. After having attained <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moksha" title="Moksha">liberation</a> at the age of 16, he left home for <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arunachala" title="Arunachala">Arunachala</a>, a mountain considered sacred by Hindus, at Tiruvannamalai, and lived there for the rest of his life. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arunachala" title="Arunachala">Arunachala</a> is located in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tamil_Nadu" title="Tamil Nadu">Tamil Nadu</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_India" title="South India">South India</a>.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-0"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ramana_Maharshi#cite_note-0" title="">[1]</a></sup> Although born a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brahmin" title="Brahmin">Brahmin</a>, after having attained <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moksha" title="Moksha">moksha</a> he declared himself an "Atiasrami", a Sastraic state of unattachment to anything in life and beyond all caste restrictions<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-1"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ramana_Maharshi#cite_note-1" title="">[2]</a></sup>.<br />
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Sri Ramana maintained that the purest form of his teachings was the powerful silence which radiated from his presence and quieted the minds of those attuned to it. He gave verbal teachings only for the benefit of those who could not understand his silence.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-2"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ramana_Maharshi#cite_note-2" title="">[3]</a></sup> His verbal teachings were said to flow from his direct experience of Consciousness as the only existing reality.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-3"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ramana_Maharshi#cite_note-3" title="">[4]</a></sup> When asked for advice, he recommended <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-enquiry" title="Self-enquiry">self-enquiry</a> as the fastest path to <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moksha" title="Moksha">moksha</a>. Though his primary teaching is associated with <a class="mw-redirect" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Non-dualism" title="Non-dualism">Non-dualism</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advaita_Vedanta" title="Advaita Vedanta">Advaita Vedanta</a>, and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jnana_yoga" title="Jnana yoga">Jnana yoga</a>, he highly recommended <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bhakti" title="Bhakti">Bhakti</a>, and gave his approval to a variety of paths and practices.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-autogenerated6_4-0"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ramana_Maharshi#cite_note-autogenerated6-4" title="">[5]</a></sup><br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-autogenerated6_4-0"><span style="color: red; font-size: large;"><b>----- </b></span><br />
</sup></div>TPHhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09956940336422524997noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6698160373757989549.post-34996866996043140312009-03-05T05:00:00.006+05:302009-03-07T22:37:46.612+05:30ACK-088: Megasthenes<div style="background-color: #ffd966; text-align: right;"><b><i><span style="font-size: large;">ACK Description:</span></i></b></div><div class="largetext" style="padding-left: 10px;"></div><div class="largetext" style="padding-left: 10px; padding-right: 10px;"><br />
<div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_YdOSQaw5epY/Sa4TPl5uBrI/AAAAAAAABjM/PIBc3ixKmYk/s1600-h/Megasthenese.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_YdOSQaw5epY/Sa4TPl5uBrI/AAAAAAAABjM/PIBc3ixKmYk/s400/Megasthenese.jpg" style="cursor: move;" /></a></div>Megasthenes was among the first foreigners to have visited India in historical times and given an eyewitness account of conditions prevailing in this country during the fourth century B.C. He was the ambassador of Seleucus Nicator at the court of Chandragupta Maurya and he had the opportunity to travel extensively in the country and observe closely the proceedings at the royal court, various aspects of military and civil administration, the geography of the country, the social and economic conditions of the people and the political institutions. He put down his observations in four volumes entitled 'Indica'. 'Indica' in its original form has now been lost, but some later writers like Diodorus, Pliny, Strabo and Arrian have quoted from the work. Barring the few instances where Megasthenes had to rely on hearsay, his account of India is highly valued for its accuracy and authenticity. This story of Megasthenes is based on his own account of India of his times. For purposes of coherence and lucidity we have adopted a sequence of our own to this narration. However, historically the record is accurate.<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.mediafire.com/?jy4zwmymmmz"><span style="font-size: large;">Download</span></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b>(30 pages, 1200 px wide, 8.6 MB) </b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="color: blue;">Script:</span></b> Shubha Khandekar</div><div style="text-align: center;"><b style="color: blue;">Illustrations:</b> Souren Roy</div><div style="text-align: center;"><b style="color: blue;">Cover: </b>Ramesh Umrotkar<br />
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<div style="text-align: left;"></div></div></div></div><div style="color: purple; text-align: center;"><b>----- x -----</b></div><br />
<div style="background-color: #ea9999;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Info from Wikipedia</b></span></div>(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Megasthenes)<br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Megasthenes (Μεγασθένης, ca. 350 BC - 290 BC) was a </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Greece" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Greek</a><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"> traveller and </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geographer" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">geographer</a><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">. He was born in </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asia_Minor" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Asia Minor</a><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"> and became an ambassador of </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seleucus_I" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Seleucus I</a><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"> of </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syria" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Syria</a><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"> to the court of </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sandrocottus" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Sandrocottus</a><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"> (</span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chandragupta_Maurya" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Chandragupta Maurya</a><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">) of </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/India" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">India</a><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">, in </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pataliputra" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Pataliputra</a><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">. However the exact date of his embassy is uncertain. Scholars place it before 288 BC, which was the date of Chandragupta's death.</span><br />
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<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arrian" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Arrian</a><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"> explains that Megasthenes lived in </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arachosia" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Arachosia</a><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">, with the satrap </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sibyrtius" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Sibyrtius</a><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">, from where he visited India:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">"Megasthenes lived with Sibyrtius, satrap of Arachosia, and often speaks of his visiting </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sandracottus" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Sandracottus</a><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">, the king of the Indians." </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arrian" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Arrian</a><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">, </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anabasis_Alexandri" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Anabasis Alexandri</a><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"> </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Megasthenes#cite_note-0" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">[1]</a><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">We have more definite information regarding the parts of India which Megasthenes visited. He entered the country through the district of the Pentapotamia of the rivers of which he gave a full account (thought to be the five affluents of the </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indus_River" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Indus</a><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">, forming the </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Punjab_region" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Punjab region</a><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">), and proceeded from there by the royal road to Pataliputra. There are accounts of Megasthenes having visited </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madurai" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Madurai</a><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"> (then, a bustling city and capital of </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pandya_Kingdom" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Pandya Kingdom</a><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">), but appears not to have visited any other parts of India. His observations were recorded in </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indika" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Indika</a><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">, a work that served as an important source to many later writers such as </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strabo" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Strabo</a><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"> and </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arrian" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Arrian</a><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">. He describes such features as the </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Himalayas" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Himalayas</a><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"> and the island of </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sri_Lanka" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Sri Lanka</a><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">. He also described India's </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caste" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">caste</a><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"> system.</span><br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b style="color: purple;">-----</b><br />
</span></div>TPHhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09956940336422524997noreply@blogger.com15tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6698160373757989549.post-57404247419740141422009-03-03T05:00:00.017+05:302009-03-31T21:59:07.587+05:30ACK-087: Balram Ki Kathayen<div style="background-color: #f9cb9c;"><b>After a long time we are presenting a Hindi ACK. Some voices were heard demanding a Hindi version. So, lets enjoy this one.</b></div><br />
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_YdOSQaw5epY/Savw6z_O3EI/AAAAAAAABgc/brQXvkn5EA0/s1600-h/Balram+Ki+Kathayen.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_YdOSQaw5epY/Savw6z_O3EI/AAAAAAAABgc/brQXvkn5EA0/s400/Balram+Ki+Kathayen.jpg" /></a><span style="background-color: #fce5cd; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;"><i><b>Description:</b></i></span><br />
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Balarama was Krishna's elder brother and his mate in their joint exploits. Balarama is simple-minded and depends on his physical strength in combat.<br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Balarama's symbol was his plough. He used the plough to make a channel from the river Yamuna to a far-off dry land. It was the plough that procured for him the suitable bride Revati. </div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Balarama and Krishna jontly fought with Kamsa in their early years. But Balarama kept himself away from the later war of Kauravas and Pandavas.</div><br />
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<a href="http://www.mediafire.com/?jmnrumynjym">Download ACK-087: Balram Ki Kathayen</a><br />
<div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">(31 pages, 1000 px wide, 6.9 MB only)</div><br />
<b>Story:</b> Meera Ugra<br />
<b>Illustrations:</b> Raam Vaeerkar<br />
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<span style="background-color: #fce5cd; font-size: large;"><i><b>बलराम की कथाएँ</b></i></span><br />
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कृष्ण के बड़े भाई बलराम, कृष्ण के बचपन के साहसिक कार्य, युद्ध और उपलब्धि में सहभागी रहे. बल और वीरता में अद्वितीय होने के बावजूद रिश्तेदारों में युद्ध के विचार से भी उन्हें पीड़ा होती, इसलिए पांडवों और कौरवों के बीच हुए महाभारत के युद्ध में वे तटस्थ रहे.<br />
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बलदेव और बलभद्र भी बलराम के ही नाम हैं. इस अमर चित्र कथा में प्रस्तुत हैं कुछ उनके बचपन और उनके विवाह की कथाएँ.<br />
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<div style="background-color: #fce5cd; color: red; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><span style="background-color: white;">More information about Balram</span></b></span></div><br />
<div style="background-color: #f4cccc;"><span style="font-size: large;">1. From Wikipedia (condensed from the main source):</span></div>http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balarama<br />
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<div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b>Balarama</b> (<span lang="sa">बलराम</span>, <i>Balarāma</i>), also known as <b>Baladeva</b>, <b>Baldau</b>, <b>Balabhadra</b> and <b>Halayudha</b>, is the elder brother of the divine being, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Krishna" title="Krishna">Krishna</a> in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hinduism" title="Hinduism">Hinduism</a>. Within <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vaishnavism" title="Vaishnavism">Vaishnavism</a> and a number of <a class="mw-redirect" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Indian" title="South Indian">South Indian</a>, <a class="mw-redirect" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hindu" title="Hindu">Hindu</a> traditions Balarama is worshipped as an <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avatar" title="Avatar">avatar</a> of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vishnu" title="Vishnu">Vishnu</a>, and he is also listed as such in the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bhagavata_Purana" title="Bhagavata Purana">Bhagavata Purana</a>.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-0"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balarama#cite_note-0" title="">[1]</a></sup> Within both the Vaishnava traditions and Hinduism generally he is acknowledged as being a manifestation of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shesha" title="Shesha">Shesha</a>, the serpent on whom Vishnu rests.</div><br />
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<div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">The Bhagavata Purana describes <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Krishna" title="Krishna">Krishna</a> as the original Supreme Personality of Godhead from whom everything else emanates. As part of this divine 'emanation', Krishna's very first expansion is Balarama, and from Balarama all other incarnations of God then appear. Of the three transcendental elements described in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sanskrit" title="Sanskrit">Sanskrit</a> as <i><a class="mw-redirect" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Satchitananda" title="Satchitananda">sat, cit and ananda</a></i> (<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eternity" title="Eternity">eternity</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knowledge" title="Knowledge">knowledge</a> and bliss), Balarama is in charge of <i>eternity</i> and <i>knowledge</i>. Hence he worshipped as the supreme teacher or <i>Adiguru</i>.</div><br />
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<div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Balarama was born to <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vasudeva" title="Vasudeva">Vasudeva</a> and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Devaki" title="Devaki">Devaki</a>. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kamsa" title="Kamsa">Kamsa</a>, the brother of Devaki and an evil king, was intent upon killing all the children of his sister because of a prediction that he would die at the hands of her eighth son. Kansa thus threw his sister <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Devaki" title="Devaki">Devaki</a> and her husband <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vasudeva" title="Vasudeva">Vasudeva</a> into prison, and proceeded to kill each of their children as they were born. However, the seventh child was transferred miraculously from Devaki's womb to the womb of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rohini_Devi" title="Rohini Devi">Rohini</a>, who had desired a child of her own. Thus Balarama's other name is also <i><span lang="sa-Latn" style="text-decoration: none; white-space: normal;" title="International Alphabet of Sanskrit Transliteration">Saṃkarṣaṇa</span></i> which describes the transfer of the child from the womb. The child was formally named Rama, but because of his great strength he was called Balarama (Strong Rama), Baladeva or Balabhadra.</div><br />
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<div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Thus, Rohini actually gave birth to Balarama and raised him. Balarama spent his childhood as a cowherd boy with his brother <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Krishna" title="Krishna">Krishna</a> and friends. He later married <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Revati" title="Revati">Revati</a>, the daughter of King <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kakudmi" title="Kakudmi">Kakudmi</a>, ruler of <a class="new" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Kushasthali&action=edit&redlink=1" title="Kushasthali (page does not exist)"><span lang="sa-Latn" style="text-decoration: none; white-space: normal;" title="International Alphabet of Sanskrit Transliteration">Kuśasthalī</span></a> or <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anarta" title="Anarta">Anarta</a><sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-1"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balarama#cite_note-1" title="">[2]</a></sup></div><br />
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<div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-1"></sup></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Balarama famously taught both <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duryodhana" title="Duryodhana">Duryodhana</a> of the Kauravas and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bhima" title="Bhima">Bhima</a> of the Pandavas the art of fighting with a mace. When war broke between the Kauravas and the Pandavas, Balarama was equally affectionate to both parties and so decided to be neutral. Eventually when Bhima (of greater strength) defeated Duryodhana (of greater skill) by dealing a blow below the navel with his mace (a move against the rules of mace combat), Balarama threatened to kill Bhima. This was only prevented when Krishna reminded Balarama of Bhima's vow to kill Duryodhana by crushing the very thigh he exposed to his wife <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Draupadi" title="Draupadi">Draupadi</a>.</div><br />
<div style="background-color: #f4cccc;"><span style="font-size: large;">2. From Mythical Folklore </span><span style="font-size: large;">(condensed from the main source)</span><span style="font-size: large;">:</span></div>http://www.mythfolklore.net/india/encyclopedia/balarama.htm<br />
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<div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b>BALARAMA</b>. [Source: <a href="http://www.mythfolklore.net/india/courseinfo/books.htm#dowson">Dowson's <i>Classical Dictionary of Hindu Mythology</i></a>] (Balabhadra and Baladeva are other forms of this name.) The elder brother of <a href="http://www.mythfolklore.net/india/encyclopedia/krishna.htm">Krishna</a>. When <a href="http://www.mythfolklore.net/india/encyclopedia/krishna.htm">Krishna</a> is regarded as a full manifestation of <a href="http://www.mythfolklore.net/india/encyclopedia/vishnu.htm">Vishnu</a>, Balarama is recognized as the seventh <a href="http://www.mythfolklore.net/india/encyclopedia/avatar.htm">Avatara</a> or incarnation in his place. According to this view, which is the favorite one of the Vaishnavas, <a href="http://www.mythfolklore.net/india/encyclopedia/krishna.htm">Krishna</a> is a full divinity and Balarama an incarnation; but the story of their birth, as told in the <a href="http://www.mythfolklore.net/india/encyclopedia/mahabharata.htm">Mahabharata</a>, places them more upon an equality.</div><br />
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<div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">It says that <a href="http://www.mythfolklore.net/india/encyclopedia/vishnu.htm">Vishnu</a> took two hairs, a white and a black one, and that these became Bala-<a href="http://www.mythfolklore.net/india/encyclopedia/rama.htm">Rama</a> and <a href="http://www.mythfolklore.net/india/encyclopedia/krishna.htm">Krishna</a>, the children of <a href="http://www.mythfolklore.net/india/encyclopedia/devaki.htm">Devaki</a>. Balarama was of fair complexion, <a href="http://www.mythfolklore.net/india/encyclopedia/krishna.htm">Krishna</a> was very dark.</div><br />
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<div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">As soon as Balarama was born, he was carried away to Gokula to preserve his life from the tyrant <a href="http://www.mythfolklore.net/india/encyclopedia/kansa.htm">Kansa</a>, and he was there nurtured by Nanda as a child of <a href="http://www.mythfolklore.net/india/encyclopedia/rohini.htm">Rohini</a>. He and <a href="http://www.mythfolklore.net/india/encyclopedia/krishna.htm">Krishna</a> grew up together, and he took part in many of <a href="http://www.mythfolklore.net/india/encyclopedia/krishna.htm">Krishna</a>'s boyish freaks and adventures.</div><br />
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<div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">His earliest exploit was the killing of the great <a href="http://www.mythfolklore.net/india/encyclopedia/asura.htm">Asura</a> <a href="http://www.mythfolklore.net/india/encyclopedia/dhenuka.htm">Dhenuka</a>, who had the form of an ass. This demon attacked him, but Balarama seized his assailant, whirled him round by his legs till he was dead, and cast his carcase into a tree. Another <a href="http://www.mythfolklore.net/india/encyclopedia/asura.htm">Asura</a> attempted to carry off Balarama on his shoulders, but the boy beat out the demon's brains with his fists.</div><br />
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<div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"></div><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">When </span><a href="http://www.mythfolklore.net/india/encyclopedia/krishna.htm" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Krishna</a><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"> went to </span><a href="http://www.mythfolklore.net/india/encyclopedia/mathura.htm" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Mathura</a><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">, Balarama accompanied him, and manfully supported him till </span><a href="http://www.mythfolklore.net/india/encyclopedia/kansa.htm" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Kansa</a><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"> was killed. Once, when Balarama was intoxicated, he called upon the </span><a href="http://www.mythfolklore.net/india/encyclopedia/yamuna.htm" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Yamuna</a><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"> river to come to him, that he might bathe; but his command not being heeded, he plunged his ploughshare into the river, and dragged the waters whithersoever he went, until they were obliged to assume a human form and beseech his forgiveness. This action gained for him the title Yamunabhid and KaIindikarshana, breaker or dragger of the </span><a href="http://www.mythfolklore.net/india/encyclopedia/yamuna.htm" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Yamuna</a><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">. He killed </span><a href="http://www.mythfolklore.net/india/encyclopedia/rukmin.htm" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Rukmin</a><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"> in a gambling brawl. When </span><a href="http://www.mythfolklore.net/india/encyclopedia/samba.htm" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Samba</a><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">, son of </span><a href="http://www.mythfolklore.net/india/encyclopedia/krishna.htm" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Krishna</a><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">, was detained as a prisoner at </span><a href="http://www.mythfolklore.net/india/encyclopedia/hastinapura.htm" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Hastinapura</a> by <a href="http://www.mythfolklore.net/india/encyclopedia/duryodhana.htm" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Duryodhana</a><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">, Balarama demanded his release, and, being refused, he thrust his ploughshare under the ramparts of the city, and drew them towards him, thus compelling the </span><a href="http://www.mythfolklore.net/india/encyclopedia/kauravas.htm" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Kauravas</a><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"> to give up their prisoner. Lastly, he killed the great ape Dwivida, who had stolen his weapons and derided him.</span><br />
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<div style="color: purple; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b> -----</b></span></div>TPHhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09956940336422524997noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6698160373757989549.post-50815681346440999802009-02-28T15:40:00.007+05:302009-03-02T13:43:01.055+05:30ACK-086: Amrapali and Upagupta<div style="background-color: yellow;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_YdOSQaw5epY/SaqavyBAdZI/AAAAAAAABcs/_TeLZNdYxgU/s1600-h/ACK_AmrapaliUpaguta0000.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_YdOSQaw5epY/SaqavyBAdZI/AAAAAAAABcs/_TeLZNdYxgU/s400/ACK_AmrapaliUpaguta0000.jpg" style="cursor: move;" /></a><strong><span style="font-size: x-small;">[Update - 01 mar 2009, 7:45 PM IST]</span></strong><br />
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Apoorva has provided the link for a better cover of this comic (displayed on left here) The new cover can be downloaded by clicking on it (and then use right click and save image as option) and be added to the original link <br />
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<strike>I'll also update the download link soon for first time downloaders.</strike> New link has been provided now. Thanks a lot Apoorva.</div><br />
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<tr><td style="background-color: #fff2cc;"><div style="background-color: #f4cccc;"><span style="font-size: large;">ACK's Description:</span></div><br />
The story of Amrapali is told in the Maha-Parinibbana Sutta and in Malasarvastivadas. The garden which Amrapali gave up to Lord Buddha was still in existence when Fa-Hien visited during the Gupta age.<br />
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<div style="background-color: #ffd966; text-align: center;"><b>Author: Subba Rao</b><br />
<b>Illustrator: Souren Roy</b></div><br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.mediafire.com/?wgnymtmtf2e">Download ACK_Amprapali and Upagupta </a></div><div style="text-align: center;">(32 pages, 1200 px wide, 12.75 MB) </div></td><td style="background-color: #fff2cc;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_YdOSQaw5epY/SakJVayNo9I/AAAAAAAABcc/Hz3nCZbr2lI/s1600-h/ACK_AmrapaliUpaguta_cover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_YdOSQaw5epY/SakJVayNo9I/AAAAAAAABcc/Hz3nCZbr2lI/s320/ACK_AmrapaliUpaguta_cover.jpg" style="cursor: move;" /></a></div></td></tr>
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<div style="background-color: #f4cccc; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i><span style="font-size: large;"> Info from Wikipedia:</span></i></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b>Ambapāli</b>, also known as "Ambapālika" or <b>"Amrapāli"</b>, was a <i><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nagarvadhu" title="Nagarvadhu">nagarvadhu</a></i> (royal <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Courtesan" title="Courtesan">courtesan</a>) of the republic of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vaishali" title="Vaishali">Vaishali</a> in ancient <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/India" title="India">India</a> around 500 BC. She is mentioned in the old <a class="mw-redirect" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pāli" title="Pāli">Pali</a> texts and <a class="mw-redirect" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buddhist" title="Buddhist">Buddhist</a> traditions. Legends surrounding her state the following:</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Ambapali or Amrapali was of unknown parentage, and received her name because at her birth she was found at the foot of a mango tree in one of the royal gardens in Vaishali.<br />
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(<a class="mw-redirect" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Etymologically" title="Etymologically">Etymologically</a>, the name, Ambapali or Amrapali, is derived from a combination of two <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sanskrit" title="Sanskrit">Sanskrit</a> words: <i>"amra"</i>, meaning <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mango" title="Mango">mango</a>, and <i>"pallawa"</i>, meaning young leaves or sprouts.)</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Ambapali grew to be a lady of extraordinary beauty, charm, and grace, and many young nobles of the republic desired her company. To avoid confrontations among her suitors, she was accorded the status of the state courtesan of Vaishali. Stories of her beauty traveled to the ears of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bimbisara" title="Bimbisara">Bimbisara</a>, who was then the king of the neighboring, hostile kingdom of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magadha" title="Magadha">Magadha</a>. He attacked Vaishali, and for some days as a traveller he took refuge in Amrapali house.<br />
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Bimbisara was a good musician, soon Amrapali and Bimbisara fell in love but after being identified as Bimbisara, the king of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magadha" title="Magadha">Magadha</a>, she requested him to go away & stop the war.Bimbisara who was in love really stopped the war. In the eyes of the folks of Vaishali, this incident made him a coward King. Later Amrapali bore him a son named Vimala Kondanna. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ajatashatru" title="Ajatashatru">Ajatashatru</a>, the son of Bimbisara took a revenge by invading Vaishali.</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Ambapali once desired to have the privilege of serving food to <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gautama_Buddha" title="Gautama Buddha">Buddha</a>. The Buddhist traditions state that Buddha accepted the invitation against the wishes of the ruling aristocracy of Vaishali. Ambapali received Buddha with her retinue, and offered meals to him. Soon thereafter, she renounced her position as courtesan, accepted Buddhist faith, and remained an active supporter of the Buddhist order.</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">On growing up, Vimala Kondanna too became a Buddhist monk.</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"></div><br />
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<tr><td><div>Till yesterday, I knew nothing about action scripts in photoshop. Since I am spending some time with the s/w of late, a host of features are opening up before me. The recent addition to my knowledge base is action scripts, as mentioned above. It is such a wonderful thing for performing repetitive jobs that are of essentially same nature. Now, I don't have to open each individual page and perform cleaning-brightning on them, what I've been doing all the way along till now. Using action scripts, the same function can be applied automatically to all the pages in the same folder. That saves a lot of time. One hour job can be done in two minutes.</div><br />
<div>That is a big discovery for me and I thought it would be appropriate to share the knowledge with all fellow scanners. After all we are all here to share, isn't it?</div><br />
Present comic is the first prepared using this technique.<br />
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- TPH </td></tr>
</tbody></table>TPHhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09956940336422524997noreply@blogger.com16tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6698160373757989549.post-92084065590272795402009-02-25T01:00:00.005+05:302009-02-26T22:17:59.329+05:30ACK-085: Jagadis Chandra Bose<div style="text-align: justify;"><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRFQwrzB0rF3ZCMQG4TGRx2-pJaruY16GDvhCCnG2LnFy4k2DLEfYMwDaS2VYkqHHZPvINQ8Ke0Hix298ptsVzwHEcYybVkSDHYteZzQitainvbaHRNKLgQMXqimMN0I32OwyG06wd6l4/s1600-h/01_Picture.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRFQwrzB0rF3ZCMQG4TGRx2-pJaruY16GDvhCCnG2LnFy4k2DLEfYMwDaS2VYkqHHZPvINQ8Ke0Hix298ptsVzwHEcYybVkSDHYteZzQitainvbaHRNKLgQMXqimMN0I32OwyG06wd6l4/s400/01_Picture.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5274967502312382178" border="0" /></a><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">ACK</span> #325 (#699)</span><br /></div><h4 style="text-align: justify;font-family:georgia;"><span><span style="font-size:100%;">Sir <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">Jagadis</span> Chandra Bose: Indian physicist, plant physiologist & <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">Science</span> fiction <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">writer</span> </span></span></h4> <span style="font-size:100%;"><strong style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4">Jagadis</span> Chandra Bose</strong><span style="font-family:georgia;"> was a physicist at Presidency College in </span><a style="font-family: georgia;" href="http://pheeds.com/info/guide/c/ca/calcutta.html?" title="Calcutta">Calcutta</a><span style="font-family:georgia;">, </span><a style="font-family: georgia;" href="http://pheeds.com/info/guide/i/in/india.html?" title="India">India</a><span style="font-family:georgia;">, who pioneered the investigation of </span><a style="font-family: georgia;" href="http://pheeds.com/info/guide/m/mi/microwave.html?" title="Microwave">microwave</a><span style="font-family:georgia;"> optics in the later 1800's. He invented radio communication before Marconi (check links: <a href="http://www.mediafire.com/?wj5l42oij04">1</a>, </span><a style="font-family: georgia;" href="http://www.geocities.com/mumukshu/bose.html">2</a><span style="font-family:georgia;">, </span><a style="font-family: georgia;" href="http://www.telegraphindia.com/1081011/jsp/nation/story_9953386.jsp">3</a><span style="font-family:georgia;">). Many of his instruments are still on display and remain largely usable now, over 100 years later. They include various antennas, <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_5">polarizers</span>, and waveguides, all of which remain in use in modern forms today.</span></span></div><p style="text-align: justify;font-family:georgia;"><span style="font-size:100%;"> He was also known as an excellent teacher who believed in the use of classroom demonstrations, a trait apparently picked up while studying with <a href="http://pheeds.com/info/guide/j/jo/john_william_strutt__3rd_baron_rayleigh.html?" title="John William Strutt, 3rd Baron Rayleigh">Lord Rayleigh</a> at <a href="http://pheeds.com/info/guide/c/ca/cambridge.html?" title="Cambridge">Cambridge</a>. He influenced many later Indian physicists, including <a href="http://pheeds.com/info/guide/s/sa/satyendra_nath_bose.html?" title="Satyendra Nath Bose"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_6">Satyendra</span> Bose</a> (no relation) who later went on to be an influential figure in 20<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_7">th</span> century physics.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;font-family:georgia;"><span style="font-size:100%;"> Later he turned his attention to plant physiology, where he gained a new sort of fame with continued claims that plants had nervous responses (of a sort) similar to those of animals. This led him to explore the effects of drugs on plants, and later, non-organic materials such as metals, which he claimed showed similar effects. Much of this was demonstrated through the use of a device he invented called the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_8">crescograph</span>, which magnified mechanical movements many times and allowed for the direct study of plant growth.</span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:georgia;">(~ From </span><a style="font-family: georgia;" href="http://knowledgerush.com/kr/encyclopedia/Jagadis_Chandra_Bose/"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_9">Knowledgerush</span>.com</a><span style="font-family:georgia;">)</span></span><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><h4 style="text-align: justify;font-family:georgia;"><span style="font-size:100%;">Life Summary<br /></span></h4><div style="text-align: justify;font-family:georgia;"><div style="width: 100%;" class="row1"><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size:100%;">1858 - Born on the 30<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_10">th</span> of November, in <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_11">Mymensingh</span> (now in Bangladesh), Bengal. Indian plant physiologist and physicist whose invention of highly sensitive instruments for the detection of minute responses by living organisms to external stimuli enabled him to anticipate the parallelism between animal and plant tissues noted by later biophysicists.<br /><br />1880 - He was later sent to a hostel in an English school in Calcutta. After his graduation from Sr. Xavier’s College in Calcutta, Bose left for England for further studies.<br /><br />1884 - Bose took his B.A. degree in the natural sciences with Physics, Chemistry, and Botany, from Cambridge, and simultaneously a B.Sc. degree from the University of London.<br /><br />1885 - Bose became the officiating Professor of Physics at the prestigious Presidency College in Calcutta.<br /><br />1895 - Bose designed a wireless telegraphy system with very sensitive receivers.<br /><br />1896 - Bose wrote <i><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_12">Niruddesher</span> <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_13">Kahini</span></i>, the first major work in <span class="mw-redirect"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_14">Bangla</span> science fiction</span>. Later, he added the story in the <i><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_15">Obbakto</span></i> book as <i><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_16">Polatok</span> <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_17">Tufan</span></i>. He was the first science fiction writer in the Bengali language.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jagadish_Chandra_Bose#cite_note-17" title=""><span></span></a><br /></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><br />1902-1906 - Sir <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_18">Jagadis</span> Chandra Bose had two of his pioneering books published. The first, Response in the Living and Non-Living was published and Plant Responses. He was the first Indian to get a US Patent (No: 755840) for "detector for electrical disturbances" in 1904.<br /></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><br />1917 - He set up the Bose Temple of Learning in Calcutta which trains international scientists even today.<br /><br />1920 - He was elected a fellow of the Royal Society.<br /><br />1937 - Died on November 23rd on <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_19">Giridih</span>, Bengal Presidency, British India.<br /><br />1997 - According to the June edition of the journal published by the U.S.-based Institute of Electronics and Electrical Engineers (<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_20">IEEE</span>), one of the most powerful radio telescopes in the world, installed at the National Astronomy Observatory in Tucson, Arizona, U.S., was built on a device originally developed by Bose.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:georgia;">Read about more at </span><span style="font-family:georgia;"><a href="http://banglapedia.search.com.bd/HT/B_0584.htm"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_21">Banglapedia</span></a>, </span><span style="font-family:georgia;"> </span><a style="font-family: georgia;" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jagadish_Chandra_Bose"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_22">Wikipedia</span></a><span style="font-family:georgia;">, </span><a style="font-family: georgia;" href="http://www.answers.com/topic/jagdish-chandra-bose">Answers.com</a><span style="font-family:georgia;">, </span><a style="font-family: georgia;" href="http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_gx5229/is_2003/ai_n19145089"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_23">Findarticles</span>.com</a><span style="font-family:georgia;">, </span><a style="font-family: georgia;" href="http://www.light-science.com/sirbose.html">Light-science.com</a><span style="font-family:georgia;">, </span><a style="font-family: georgia;" href="http://www.novelguide.com/a/discover/ewb_02/ewb_02_00801.html"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_24">novelguide</span>.com</a></span><br /><br /><a href="http://www.mediafire.com/?3zm0mixct1n"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Download Comics HQ</span> </a>(51.29)<br /><br /><a style="font-weight: bold;" href="http://www.mediafire.com/?gzznzzwhmiz">Download Comics</a> (8.42 MB)<br /><span style="font-size:100%;"><strong style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></strong></span>This <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_25">ACK</span> is contributed by <span style="font-weight: bold;"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_26">Apoorva</span></span> <span style="font-weight: bold;"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_27">Chandar</span></span>. All thanks & credits go to <span style="font-weight: bold;">him</span>.<br /></div></div></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com20tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6698160373757989549.post-79742350865945911632009-02-23T01:00:00.004+05:302009-02-23T02:31:45.564+05:30ACK-084: Thanedar Hasan Askari<div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCA321V3U9aKP56rn4aHwUUFsDa-6LzZyF2ndUXBOGhYB-QD8Kbb7rVkvrbqxNQlSdqbC31g55WUt9FTsGPWvBa3Bos6zw_497YXegBgHFB-P3PdlTgp3sXnMUEabJSNwzA3hSewRBw0A/s1600-h/01_Picture.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 301px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCA321V3U9aKP56rn4aHwUUFsDa-6LzZyF2ndUXBOGhYB-QD8Kbb7rVkvrbqxNQlSdqbC31g55WUt9FTsGPWvBa3Bos6zw_497YXegBgHFB-P3PdlTgp3sXnMUEabJSNwzA3hSewRBw0A/s400/01_Picture.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5305246809191985890" border="0" /></a><span style="font-weight: bold;">An out of print ACK #286<br /><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><div style="text-align: justify;"> Thanedar Hasan Askari, an issue devoted to an idiosyncratic, apolitical police inspector in Uttar Pradesh in the 1930s. This is the whole of what the introduction to the issue has to say about him:<br /><br />Sayyad Hasan Askari was born in an affluent and renowned family of Uttar Pradesh. After a brilliant record at the Police Training College, he became an instructor at the same institute. Fourteen years later he was transferred to Kanpur as a police officer. Askari distinguished himself as a man of principle. This Amar Chitra Katha brings a few episodes in the life of this extraordinary policeman<br />(inside front cover).<br /><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><div style="text-align: justify;">Thanedar Hasan Askari catches dacoits (the cover shows him leaping out at them from a palanquin in which he has been posing as a woman), and embarrasses his British superiors with his independence of mind. Once, to make an obscure point, he rides a horse into a courtroom. Later, he successfully practices homeopathy. He is loved by the people. Being too honest to curry favor, he retires as a lowly thanedar.<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEir4QMxuvWcZxSAvfegK8BQeRUL7e4GYGZPpypv1PmtrmL8_QMPDwfxYdFlb-h-jmYOkmFydMJM5bZN0gn9IH0kwnGKvHBye1cnb9cRsjKk-HGNUiCG7ISWAkbmj9oZBHdHCWTivKja2aY/s1600-h/22662.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 121px; height: 184px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEir4QMxuvWcZxSAvfegK8BQeRUL7e4GYGZPpypv1PmtrmL8_QMPDwfxYdFlb-h-jmYOkmFydMJM5bZN0gn9IH0kwnGKvHBye1cnb9cRsjKk-HGNUiCG7ISWAkbmj9oZBHdHCWTivKja2aY/s400/22662.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5305245614491674946" border="0" /></a><br /></div></div></div><br />Giriraj Shah also praised him in his book <span style="font-weight: bold;">Top Cops : Biographies of World’s Top Policemen </span>(New Delhi, Cosmo, 2002, 3 Vols., 861 p., (set). ISBN 81-7755-200-7.) .<br /></div><a href="http://www.mediafire.com/?qcuzdmtigdz"><br /></a><a href="http://www.mediafire.com/?qcuzdmtigdz"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Download Comics</span></a> HQ (50.5 MB)<br /><a href="http://www.mediafire.com/?gzzfyjkodjw"><br /></a><div style="text-align: left;"><a href="http://www.mediafire.com/?gzzfyjkodjw"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Download Comics</span></a> (9.26 MB)<br /></div><br />It's contributed by<span style="font-weight: bold;"> </span><span style="font-weight: bold;">Apoorva Chandar</span>. All thanks & credits go to <span style="font-weight: bold;">him</span>.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com23tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6698160373757989549.post-35601889449774026412009-02-21T15:00:00.000+05:302009-02-21T15:59:01.872+05:30ACK-083: The King in a Parrot's Body<div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcjdS3CzhvRU9FHq7P0bFJuW0El_nD-SEOJLSTJIo6kWPf5Gq-2WFZ-IfSWSZ7BNbeDHjc15tbqlxpbEid2W7WbAjjd_CUc8R13ShJKqRaBTK0i9YH105J2IoYgGAArJ-LjglM6FJ2Q9I/s1600-h/king0001.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 295px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcjdS3CzhvRU9FHq7P0bFJuW0El_nD-SEOJLSTJIo6kWPf5Gq-2WFZ-IfSWSZ7BNbeDHjc15tbqlxpbEid2W7WbAjjd_CUc8R13ShJKqRaBTK0i9YH105J2IoYgGAArJ-LjglM6FJ2Q9I/s400/king0001.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5305185402731995602" border="0" /></a><span style="font-weight: bold;">An out of print ACK #191<br /></span><br />Inside cover story<br /><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">Jain monks took a keen interest in the spiritual uplift of the common people. To make their difficult philosophy accessible to the layman, they used the medium of stories.<br /><br />Most of the stories teach that meritorious acts bring prosperity & evil acts untold misery. According to Jain philosophy, man is the master of his own destiny. He reaps what he sows. No outside force can help him get what he does not deserve, nor can it prevent him from getting what he does deserve.<br /><br />The story of King Shuklapaksha has an underlying allegory. Shuklapaksha literally means the bright half of a lunar month and Krishnapaksha, the dark half. The king symbolises ggod and the minister evil. The confrontation between the two, and the ultimate triumph of good over evil, is the subject of this story.<br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: left;"><a href="http://www.mediafire.com/?nvzumglm5zq"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Download Comics</span></a> (13.81 MB)<br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">It's contributed by<span style="font-weight: bold;"> </span><span style="font-weight: bold;">Anonymous</span> friend. All thanks & credits go to <span style="font-weight: bold;">him</span>.<br /></div></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com16tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6698160373757989549.post-23268998138143248412009-02-20T01:00:00.004+05:302009-02-20T01:00:00.507+05:30T-004: Tinkle #1<div style="text-align: center;"><b>Father of Amar Chitra Katha & Tinkle</b><br /></div><p style="text-align: justify;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFaROkBEvW2YMamOOxccvh0_nbhf7chm3Epl_ledJAPnX336mObB5us6ZJNqszb3zRRZVM5nvlAZaYspsMVLBs_PpC3UJ0khVLeWcxbke2wcJWlxUJTkV8mtsHfLNnNu0nz2czxjnNyCg/s1600-h/Uncle+Pai.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 283px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFaROkBEvW2YMamOOxccvh0_nbhf7chm3Epl_ledJAPnX336mObB5us6ZJNqszb3zRRZVM5nvlAZaYspsMVLBs_PpC3UJ0khVLeWcxbke2wcJWlxUJTkV8mtsHfLNnNu0nz2czxjnNyCg/s400/Uncle+Pai.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5304463860029732466" border="0" /></a><b>Anant Pai</b>, (born 17 September, 1929) popularly known as Uncle Pai, is a renowned educationalist and creator of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_comics" title="Indian comics">Indian comics</a>, in particular the <i><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amar_Chitra_Katha" title="Amar Chitra Katha">Amar Chitra Katha</a></i> series, which retold traditional Indian folk tales, mythological stories, and biographies of historical characters, and <i><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tinkle" title="Tinkle">Tinkle</a></i>, a children's anthology.</p><div style="text-align: justify;"><script type="text/javascript">//<![CDATA[ if (window.showTocToggle) { var tocShowText = "show"; var tocHideText = "hide"; showTocToggle(); } //]]> </script> </div><p style="text-align: justify;"><a name="Early_life" id="Early_life"></a></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><h2 style="text-align: justify;"><span class="editsection"></span><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:100%;" ><span class="mw-headline">Early life</span></span></h2><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;">Born in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karkala" title="Karkala">Karkala</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karnataka" title="Karnataka">Karnataka</a> to Venkataraya and Susheela Pai, he lost his parents at the age of two. At the age of twelve, he came to Mumbai, where he studied in Orient School, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mahim" title="Mahim">Mahim</a>. He studied chemistry, physics and chemical technology at the University of Bombay Department of Chemical Technology (UDCT now <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UICT" title="UICT" class="mw-redirect">UICT</a>) and was a dual degree holder from the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_Mumbai" title="University of Mumbai">University of Bombay</a> (now <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mumbai" title="Mumbai">Mumbai</a>). Endowed with a passion for publishing and comics, his failed attempt at creating a children's magazine (Manav, 1954) was followed by a career as a junior executive in the <i><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Times_of_India" title="Times of India" class="mw-redirect">Times of India</a></i> books division, putting him in the thick of affairs when Indrajal comics was launched by the Times Group. Indrajal featured reprints of popular American strip characters such as the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Phantom" title="The Phantom" class="mw-redirect">the Phantom</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mandrake_the_Magician" title="Mandrake the Magician">Mandrake the Magician</a>, and later, indigenous characters like Bahadur and Dara.</p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;"><a name="The_Amar_Chitra_Katha_years" id="The_Amar_Chitra_Katha_years"></a></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><h2 style="text-align: justify;"><span class="editsection"></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span class="mw-headline">The Amar Chitra Katha years</span></span></h2><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;">The idea behind starting a comicbook series devoted to Indian culture and history came to Pai from a quiz contest aired on <i><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doordarshan" title="Doordarshan">Doordarshan</a></i> in February 1967, in which participants could easily answer questions pertaining to Greek mythology, but were unable to reply to the question "In the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ramayana" title="Ramayana">Ramayana</a>, who was Rama's mother?". He left his job and started <i><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amar_Chitra_Katha" title="Amar Chitra Katha">Amar Chitra Katha</a></i> the same year, with the help of late G. L. Mirchandani of India Book House, when most other publishers from Allied Publishers to Jaico had rejected the concept. Later, he took on the role of writer, editor and publisher. The series went on to become a publishing milestone for the Indian comic book scene, selling over 86 million copies of about 440 titles.</p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;">In 1969, Anant Pai founded Rang Rekha Features, India's first comic and cartoon syndicate, and started the children's magazine <i><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tinkle" title="Tinkle">Tinkle</a></i> in 1980. His involvement with the above, and the rapport he shared with his readers earned him the title "Uncle Pai".</p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;"><a name="Other_works" id="Other_works"></a></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><h2 style="text-align: justify;"><span class="editsection"></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span class="mw-headline">Other works</span></span></h2><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;"><i>Ramu and Shamu</i>, <i>Kapish</i>, <i>Little Raji</i>, <i>Rekha</i>, <i>Fact Fantasy</i>, <i>Funland</i> and <i>Funtime</i> are some of the comic strips created by Pai, most of which continue to appear in newspapers and magazines. He has written and produced two video films, <i>Ekam Sat</i> (the Vedic Concept of God) and <i>The Secret of Success</i>, in English and Hindi.</p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;">Pai's other works include a number of books on personality development for children and teenagers, ("How To Develop Self-confidence", "How to Achieve Success", "How To Develop A Super Memory", <i>UBS Publishers</i>) and a series of audio book versions of <i>Amar Chitra Katha</i> stories, "Storytime with Uncle Pai" (<i><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universal_Music" title="Universal Music" class="mw-redirect">Universal Music</a> India, Dec 2001</i>), where he plays the role of narrator-storyteller.</p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;"><a name="Awards" id="Awards"></a></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><h2 style="text-align: justify;"><span class="editsection"></span> <span style="font-size:100%;"><span class="mw-headline">Awards</span></span></h2><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><ul style="text-align: justify;"><li><i>Karpoorchand Puraskar of Uttar Pradesh Bal Kalyan Sansthan (1994)</i></li><li><i>Yudhvir Memorial Award in Hyderabad (1996)</i></li><li><i>Maharashtra Rajya Hindi Sahitya Academy Award (1996)</i></li><li><i>Dr. T. M. A. Pai Memorial Award in Manipal (1997)</i></li><li><i>University of Bombay Department of Chemical Technology's Distinguished Alumnus Award (1999)</i></li><li><i>Millennium Konkani Sammelan Award, Illinois, U.S.A (2000)</i></li><li><i>Raja Rammohan Roy Library Foundation's Award (2001)</i></li><li><i>Priyadarshni Academy Award (2002)</i></li><li><i>Vishwa Saraswat Sammaan (2003)</i></li></ul>(~ From <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anant_Pai">Wikipedia</a>)<br /><br />Check following links:<br /><ol><li><a href="http://www.unclepai.com/">http://www.unclepai.com/</a> </li><li><a href="http://lambiek.net/artists/p/pai_anant.htm">http://lambiek.net/artists/p/pai_anant.htm</a><br /></li></ol><div style="text-align: center;">*****************************************************************<br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Do you remember the first Tinkle?</span><br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXxpSKh3NsZDb1G6UJLN4wRcwBzWgN0CNXvN-tLmuEUX0GXEuj4akdtshnFXIQInfUMNS8MTZWgIMfdr9Ci0E3iLHNp1Nj4jBH9lLg4eB-v42OaJU-Y7Iw-hLKiNDDMehnrlHsF9dmQws/s1600-h/tinkle-01.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 298px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXxpSKh3NsZDb1G6UJLN4wRcwBzWgN0CNXvN-tLmuEUX0GXEuj4akdtshnFXIQInfUMNS8MTZWgIMfdr9Ci0E3iLHNp1Nj4jBH9lLg4eB-v42OaJU-Y7Iw-hLKiNDDMehnrlHsF9dmQws/s400/tinkle-01.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5304461938234319602" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzPmod89B1hEri4UWawlEc7CZUzORHQ0WiFv3h-_EBLB4JdhuaBTaOf-0msjHST4a5Rk5_Mtel9DB_-YKx9qQ1FnG7BYBI88Qtp4TdE8fpA3nPuz8M-71wLuVJ8QMxc-1pSVVc3NRfSwY/s1600-h/tinkle-02.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 285px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzPmod89B1hEri4UWawlEc7CZUzORHQ0WiFv3h-_EBLB4JdhuaBTaOf-0msjHST4a5Rk5_Mtel9DB_-YKx9qQ1FnG7BYBI88Qtp4TdE8fpA3nPuz8M-71wLuVJ8QMxc-1pSVVc3NRfSwY/s400/tinkle-02.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5304461942895126450" border="0" /></a></div><p style="text-align: justify;"><a href="http://www.mediafire.com/?z2ymtzlnjjg"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Download Comics</span></a> (12.7 MB)<br /></p><p style="text-align: justify;">It's an Ajay's contribution. Many many thank to him.</p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com30tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6698160373757989549.post-11034630521004695662009-02-19T11:38:00.002+05:302009-02-19T13:20:25.682+05:30ACK-082: Tales of Yudhishthira<div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgi5WL-dntqDWqBadf5qMZtUQHkn0dO81LsruJPd0hyphenhyphenWliBUwvZPgra_tB4VRlxG_BYv1N5IfwsNGghyuDWepA7f9pvRs8lU6Gl5HyioDJkDSBOiXsKnMhgjE3nIvewZVBlCQdZuGtvKeM/s1600-h/01_Picture.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 278px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgi5WL-dntqDWqBadf5qMZtUQHkn0dO81LsruJPd0hyphenhyphenWliBUwvZPgra_tB4VRlxG_BYv1N5IfwsNGghyuDWepA7f9pvRs8lU6Gl5HyioDJkDSBOiXsKnMhgjE3nIvewZVBlCQdZuGtvKeM/s400/01_Picture.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5304381326272131138" border="0" /></a> <span style="font-weight: bold;">ACK #174 (703)</span><br /><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">Yudhisthira was also known as Bharata (Descendent of the line of Bharata), Ajatashatru (One Without Enemies), Dharmaraj. He always had good feelings in his heart even for his enemies.<br /><br />Virtues like patience, stability, humbleness, tolerance, kindness and love were his strengths. Because of his courteous nature and good conduct, Yudhishthir was extremely popular in his childhood.<br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">He was a master of the spear, and a maharatha, capable of combating 10,000 opponents at a time.<br /></div><br />**********************************<br /><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><strong>YUDHISHTHIRA</strong>.<!-- #BeginLibraryItem "/Library/dowson.lbi" --> <!-- #EndLibraryItem -->The eldest of the five <a href="http://www.mythfolklore.net/india/encyclopedia/pandu.htm">Pandu</a> princes, mythologically the son of <a href="http://www.mythfolklore.net/india/encyclopedia/dharma.htm">Dharma</a>, the god of justice. </div><p style="text-align: justify;">With the Hindus he is the favourite one of the five brothers, and is represented as a man of calm, passionless judgement, strict veracity, unswerving rectitude, and rigid justice. He was renowned as a ruler and director, but not as a warrior. </p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;">Educated at the court of his uncle, <a href="http://www.mythfolklore.net/india/encyclopedia/dhritarashtra.htm">Dhritarashtra</a>, he received from the family preceptor, <a href="http://www.mythfolklore.net/india/encyclopedia/drona.htm">Drona</a>, a military training, and was taught the use of the spear. When the time came for naming the <a href="http://www.mythfolklore.net/india/encyclopedia/yuvaraja.htm">Yuvaraja</a> or heir apparent to the realm of <a href="http://www.mythfolklore.net/india/encyclopedia/hastinapura.htm">Hastinapura</a>, the Maharaja <a href="http://www.mythfolklore.net/india/encyclopedia/dhritarashtra.htm">Dhritarashtra</a> selected Yudhishthira in preference to his own eldest son, <a href="http://www.mythfolklore.net/india/encyclopedia/duryodhana.htm">Duryodhana</a>. A long-standing jealousy between the <a href="http://www.mythfolklore.net/india/encyclopedia/pandavas.htm">Pandava</a> and <a href="http://www.mythfolklore.net/india/encyclopedia/kauravas.htm">Kaurava</a> princes then broke forth openly. <a href="http://www.mythfolklore.net/india/encyclopedia/duryodhana.htm">Duryodhana</a> expostulated with his father, and the end was that the <a href="http://www.mythfolklore.net/india/encyclopedia/pandavas.htm">Pandavas</a> went in honourable banishment to the city of <a href="http://www.mythfolklore.net/india/encyclopedia/varanavata.htm">Varanavata</a>. </p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;">The jealousy of <a href="http://www.mythfolklore.net/india/encyclopedia/duryodhana.htm">Duryodhana</a> pursued them, and his emissaries laid a plot burning the brothers in their dwelling-house. Yudhishthira's sagacity discovered the plot and <a href="http://www.mythfolklore.net/india/encyclopedia/bhima.htm">Bhima</a> frustrated it. The bodies of a Bhil woman and her five sons were found in the ruins of the burnt house, and it was believed for a time that the <a href="http://www.mythfolklore.net/india/encyclopedia/pandavas.htm">Pandavas</a> and their mother had perished. </p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;">When <a href="http://www.mythfolklore.net/india/encyclopedia/draupadi.htm">Draupadi</a> had been won at the swayamvara, Yudhishthira, the eldest of the five brothers, was requested by his juniors to make her his wife, but he desired that she should become the wife of <a href="http://www.mythfolklore.net/india/encyclopedia/arjuna.htm">Arjuna</a>, by whose prowess she had been won. Through the words of their mother, <a href="http://www.mythfolklore.net/india/encyclopedia/kunti.htm">Kunti</a>, and the decision of the sage <a href="http://www.mythfolklore.net/india/encyclopedia/vyasa.htm">Vyasa</a>, the princess became the common wife of the five brothers. An arrangement was made that <a href="http://www.mythfolklore.net/india/encyclopedia/draupadi.htm">Draupadi</a> should dwell in turn with the five brothers, passing two days in the separate house of each, and that under pain of exile for twelve years no one of the brothers but the master of the house should enter while <a href="http://www.mythfolklore.net/india/encyclopedia/draupadi.htm">Draupadi</a> was staying in it. </p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;">The arms of the family were kept in the house of Yudhishthira, and an alarm of robbery being raised, <a href="http://www.mythfolklore.net/india/encyclopedia/arjuna.htm">Arjuna</a> rushed there to procure his weapons while <a href="http://www.mythfolklore.net/india/encyclopedia/draupadi.htm">Draupadi</a> was present. He thus incurred the pain of exile, and departed, though Yudhishthira endeavoured to dissuade him by arguing that the elder brother of a fatherless family stood towards his juniors in the position of a father. </p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;">After the return of the <a href="http://www.mythfolklore.net/india/encyclopedia/pandavas.htm">Pandavas</a> from exile and their establishment at Indraprastha, the rule of Yudhishthira is described as having been most excellent and prosperous. The Raja "ruled his country with great justice, protecting his subjects as his own sons, and subduing all his enemies round about, so that every man was without fear of war or disturbance, and gave his whole mind to the performance of every religious duty. And the Raja had plenty of rain at the proper season, and all his subjects became rich; and the virtues of the Raja were to be seen in the great increase of trade and merchandise, in the abundant harvests and the prolific cattle. Every subject of the Raja was pious; there were no liars, no thieves, and no swindlers; and there were no droughts, no floods, no locusts, no conflagrations, no foreign invasions, and no parrots to eat the grain. The neighbouring Rajas, despairing of conquering Raja Yudhishthira, were very desirous of securing his friendship. Meanwhile Yudhishthira, though he would never acquire wealth by unfair means, yet prospered so exceedingly that had he lavished his riches for a thousand years no diminution would ever have been perceived." </p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;">After the return of his brother <a href="http://www.mythfolklore.net/india/encyclopedia/arjuna.htm">Arjuna</a> from exile, Yudhishthira determined to assert his supremacy by performing the <a href="http://www.mythfolklore.net/india/encyclopedia/rajasuya.htm">Rajasuya</a> sacrifice, and this led to a war with <a href="http://www.mythfolklore.net/india/encyclopedia/jarasandha.htm">Jarasandha</a>, Raja of Magadha, who declined to take part in it, and was in consequence defeated and killed. </p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;">The dignity which Yudishthira had gained by the performance of the sacrifice rekindled the jealousy of <a href="http://www.mythfolklore.net/india/encyclopedia/duryodhana.htm">Duryodhana</a> and the other <a href="http://www.mythfolklore.net/india/encyclopedia/kauravas.htm">Kauravas</a>. They resolved to invite their cousins to a gambling match, and to cheat Yudhishthira of his kingdom. Yudhishthira was very unwilling to go, but could not refuse his uncle's invitation. <a href="http://www.mythfolklore.net/india/encyclopedia/sakuni.htm">Sakuni</a>, maternal uncle of <a href="http://www.mythfolklore.net/india/encyclopedia/duryodhana.htm">Duryodhana</a>, was not only a skillful player but also a dexterous cheat. He challenged Yudhishthira to throw dice with him, and Yudhishthira, after stipulating for fair-play, began the game. He lost his all, his kingdom, his brothers, himself, and his wife, all of whom became slaves. </p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;">When <a href="http://www.mythfolklore.net/india/encyclopedia/draupadi.htm">Draupadi</a> was sent for as a slave and refused to come, <a href="http://www.mythfolklore.net/india/encyclopedia/duhsasana.htm">Duhsasana</a> dragged her into the hall by the hair, and both he and <a href="http://www.mythfolklore.net/india/encyclopedia/duryodhana.htm">Duryodhana</a> grossly insulted her. <a href="http://www.mythfolklore.net/india/encyclopedia/bhima.htm">Bhima</a> was half mad with rage, but Yudhishthira's sense of right acknowledged that <a href="http://www.mythfolklore.net/india/encyclopedia/draupadi.htm">Draupadi</a> was a slave, and he forbade <a href="http://www.mythfolklore.net/india/encyclopedia/bhima.htm">Bhima</a> and his brothers to interfere. </p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;">When the old Maharaja <a href="http://www.mythfolklore.net/india/encyclopedia/dhritarashtra.htm">Dhritarashtra</a> was informed of what had passed, he came into the assembly, and declaring that his sons had acted wrongfully, he sent <a href="http://www.mythfolklore.net/india/encyclopedia/draupadi.htm">Draupadi</a> and her husbands away, imploring them to forget what had passed. <a href="http://www.mythfolklore.net/india/encyclopedia/duryodhana.htm">Duryodhana</a> was very wroth, and induced the Maharaja to allow another game to avoid war, the condition being that the losers should go into exile for thirteen years, and should remain concealed and undiscovered during the whole of the thirteenth year. The game was played, and loaded dice gave <a href="http://www.mythfolklore.net/india/encyclopedia/sakuni.htm">Sakuni</a> the victory, so the <a href="http://www.mythfolklore.net/india/encyclopedia/pandavas.htm">Pandavas</a> went again into exile.</p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;">During that time they rendered a service to <a href="http://www.mythfolklore.net/india/encyclopedia/duryodhana.htm">Duryodhana</a> by rescuing him and his companions from a band of marauders who had made them prisoners. When <a href="http://www.mythfolklore.net/india/encyclopedia/jayadratha.htm">Jayadratha</a>, king of Sindhu, was foiled in his attempt to carry of <a href="http://www.mythfolklore.net/india/encyclopedia/draupadi.htm">Draupadi</a>, the clemency of Yudhishthira led him to implore his brothers to spare their captive's life. </p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;">As the thirteenth year of exile approached, in order to keep themselves concealed, the five brothers and <a href="http://www.mythfolklore.net/india/encyclopedia/draupadi.htm">Draupadi</a> went to the country of <a href="http://www.mythfolklore.net/india/encyclopedia/virata.htm">Virata</a> and entered into the service of the Raja. Yudhishthira's office was that of private companion and teacher of dice-playing to the king. Here Yudhishthira suffered his wife <a href="http://www.mythfolklore.net/india/encyclopedia/draupadi.htm">Draupadi</a> to be insulted, and dissuaded his brothers from interfering, lest by so doing they should discover themselves. </p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;">When the term of exile was concluded, Yudhishthira sent an envoy to <a href="http://www.mythfolklore.net/india/encyclopedia/hastinapura.htm">Hastinapura</a> asking for a peaceful restoration to the <a href="http://www.mythfolklore.net/india/encyclopedia/pandavas.htm">Pandavas</a> of their former position. The negotiations failed, and Yudhishthira invited <a href="http://www.mythfolklore.net/india/encyclopedia/krishna.htm">Krishna</a> to go as his representative to <a href="http://www.mythfolklore.net/india/encyclopedia/hastinapura.htm">Hastinapura</a>. Notwithstanding Yudishthira's longing for peace the war began, but even then Yudhishthira desired to withdraw, but was overruled by <a href="http://www.mythfolklore.net/india/encyclopedia/krishna.htm">Krishna</a>. </p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;">Yudhishthira fought in the great battle, but did not distinguish himself as a soldier. The version of the <a href="http://www.mythfolklore.net/india/encyclopedia/mahabharata.htm">Mahabharata</a> given in Mr. Wheeler's work makes him guilty of downright cowardice. At the instigation of <a href="http://www.mythfolklore.net/india/encyclopedia/krishna.htm">Krishna</a> he compassed the death of <a href="http://www.mythfolklore.net/india/encyclopedia/drona.htm">Drona</a> by conveying to that warrior false intelligence of the death of his son <a href="http://www.mythfolklore.net/india/encyclopedia/aswatthaman.htm">Aswatthaman</a>, and his character for veracity was used to warrant the truth of the representation. His conscience would not allow him to tell an downright lie, but it was reconciled to telling a lying truth in killing an elephant named <a href="http://www.mythfolklore.net/india/encyclopedia/aswatthaman.htm">Aswatthaman</a>, and informing the fond father that <a href="http://www.mythfolklore.net/india/encyclopedia/aswatthaman.htm">Aswatthaman</a> was dead. </p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;">He retreated from a fight with <a href="http://www.mythfolklore.net/india/encyclopedia/karna.htm">Karna</a>, and afterwards reproached <a href="http://www.mythfolklore.net/india/encyclopedia/arjuna.htm">Arjuna</a> for not having supported him and <a href="http://www.mythfolklore.net/india/encyclopedia/bhima.htm">Bhima</a>. This so irritated <a href="http://www.mythfolklore.net/india/encyclopedia/arjuna.htm">Arjuna</a> that he would have killed him on the spot had not <a href="http://www.mythfolklore.net/india/encyclopedia/krishna.htm">Krishna</a> interposed. </p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;">After the great battle was over <a href="http://www.mythfolklore.net/india/encyclopedia/krishna.htm">Krishna</a> saluted him king, but he showed great disinclination to accept the dignity. His sorrow for those who had fallen was deep, especially for <a href="http://www.mythfolklore.net/india/encyclopedia/karna.htm">Karna</a>, and he did what he could to console the bereaved <a href="http://www.mythfolklore.net/india/encyclopedia/dhritarashtra.htm">Dhritarashtra</a> and <a href="http://www.mythfolklore.net/india/encyclopedia/gandhari.htm">Gandhari</a>, as well as the many other sufferers. </p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;">He was made king, and was raised to the throne with great pomp, he acting as ruler under the nominal supremacy of the old King <a href="http://www.mythfolklore.net/india/encyclopedia/dhritarashtra.htm">Dhritarashtra</a>. There, after an interval, he asserted his universal supremacy by performing the great <a href="http://www.mythfolklore.net/india/encyclopedia/aswamedha.htm">Aswamedha</a> sacrifice. </p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;">The death of <a href="http://www.mythfolklore.net/india/encyclopedia/krishna.htm">Krishna</a> at <a href="http://www.mythfolklore.net/india/encyclopedia/dwaraka.htm">Dwaraka</a> and regrets for the past embittered the lives of the <a href="http://www.mythfolklore.net/india/encyclopedia/pandavas.htm">Pandavas</a>, and they resolved to withdraw from the world. Yudhishthira appointed <a href="http://www.mythfolklore.net/india/encyclopedia/parikshit.htm">Parikshit</a>, grandson of <a href="http://www.mythfolklore.net/india/encyclopedia/arjuna.htm">Arjuna</a>, to be his successor, and the five brothers departed with <a href="http://www.mythfolklore.net/india/encyclopedia/draupadi.htm">Draupadi</a> to the Himalayas on their way to <a href="http://www.mythfolklore.net/india/encyclopedia/swarga.htm">Swarga</a>. The story of this journey is told with great feeling in the closing verses of the <a href="http://www.mythfolklore.net/india/encyclopedia/mahabharata.htm">Mahabharata</a>.</p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;">Yudhishthira had a son named Yaudheya by his wife Devika; but the <a href="http://www.mythfolklore.net/india/encyclopedia/puranas.htm">Vishnu Purana</a> makes the son's name Devaka and the mother's Yaudheyi. </p><p style="text-align: justify;">(~ From <a href="http://www.mythfolklore.net/india/encyclopedia/yudhishthira.htm">Mythfolklore.net</a>)<br /></p><p style="text-align: justify;">Read more about him: <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yudhisthira">Wikipedia</a><br /></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><a style="font-weight: bold;" href="http://www.mediafire.com/?1g93kzwj6dw">Download Comics</a> HQ (57.18 MB)<br /></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><a href="http://www.mediafire.com/?qnhnmzxmzmi"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Download Comics</span></a> ( 9.47 MB)</p><p style="text-align: justify;">This ACK is contributed by <span style="font-weight: bold;">Apoorva</span>. All thanks & credits go to <span style="font-weight: bold;">him</span>.</p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6698160373757989549.post-54206431956649403742009-02-15T01:00:00.003+05:302009-02-15T01:00:00.314+05:30ACK-081: Jasma of Odes<div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDBca7nMWHun_ZFw6gSdesGojhI38fDmuIfR-4bztXx74Z8uhuXWvUcCj6A_3tbRhMlCpKbCB12RjXGnDgbbtzZcD8y7cj4pa-cTxSLaBmwV81nlppcGDu7Ixbvh5zgOkEvxi_M0ai9I0/s1600-h/095.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 292px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDBca7nMWHun_ZFw6gSdesGojhI38fDmuIfR-4bztXx74Z8uhuXWvUcCj6A_3tbRhMlCpKbCB12RjXGnDgbbtzZcD8y7cj4pa-cTxSLaBmwV81nlppcGDu7Ixbvh5zgOkEvxi_M0ai9I0/s400/095.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5264450181082657986" border="0" /></a><span style="font-weight: bold;">An out of print ACK</span><span style="font-weight: bold;"> #095</span><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Inside cover story</span><br /></div><br />Jasma of the Ode Tribe of Gujarat is remembered for her royalty of husband, for fearless conduct in the face of the might of king Siddharaj jaisingh and for her love of the rugged life of the nomadic odes. many folk song sung about her, to this day, in Gujarat and Rajasthan.<br /><br />According to legend, in an earlier birth, Jasma was an Apsara (celestial nymph) and had been sent to earth by indra to distract the meditation of sage Nala. the engraged sage cursed her. " she would be born in the poor nomadic community of Odes and be forced to marry an ugly man". it was in fulfillment of this curse that she was married to Rupa, the ugly son of Bhalo Bhand.<br /><br />A wandering bard of king Siddharaj jaisingh's court chanced to see Jasma and described what he saw to his king when he returned to the Court. The king has to see the dazzling beauty. When he did, he was captivated by her beauty and offered to marry her to make her the queen of Gujarat. Jasma looked him in disdain, spured his offer and rebuked him for having cherished such evil thoughts. This dialogue between the king and Jasma forms, perhaps the most eloquent part of the folksongs and is sung with embrassment by the inspired villagers.<br /><div style="text-align: center;">****************************************************<br /></div><br />A Temple is built in her memory which is situated at Pattan railway station, near Baroda in Gujarat State, INDIA.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Odra or Ode caste</span><br /></div><br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;">During the medieval times, the state corresponding roughly with now-a-days Orissa passed under the various names such as: Utkala, Kalinga, and Odra (Udra) Desa. The state boundaries varied from time to time and were sometimes much larger. These land names are associated with peoples. The Okkala or Utkala, the Kalinga, and the Odra or Oddaka were mentioned in literature as tribes. Ancient Greeks knew the latter two as Kalingai and Oretes. Eventually the names got identified with the territories. The land was inhabited by semi-Hinduized tribes (shabaras) in the hinterland, a group of farming Brahmins (halua brahmuna) who practised invincible Tantra method near Jajpur area (the place of Goddess Biraja), and people of other castes and trades as well. For centuries before and after the birth of Christ, Kalinga was a formidable political power, extending from the Ganga river to the Godavari river. Approximately between the 11th and 16th centuries the name was twisted; the name Odra Desa was gradually transformed into Uddisa, Udisa, or Odisa, which in English became Orissa. The language of Odisa came to be known as Oriya. Ode tribe migrated to gujarat around 12th century for construction of temples in which they are more specialized. People who supplied stone and lime for construction work of temples. People from these region were called as Oddars, Vadderas and Waddars in Andhra, Tamil nadu and Karnataka. The important Deity of Odes is 'Jasma devi'.<br /></div><br /></div><span style="text-decoration: underline;"></span>(~ from <a href="http://www.nationmaster.com/encyclopedia/%0AJasma-Devi">Nationmaster.com</a>)<br /><br /><a style="font-weight: bold;" href="http://www.mediafire.com/?ytyqdyzt5ol">Download Comics</a> (9.23 MB)<br /><br />It's contributed by <span style="font-weight: bold;">Ajay</span>. All thanks & credits go to <span style="font-weight: bold;">him</span>.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com15tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6698160373757989549.post-60087305823526132582009-02-13T01:00:00.004+05:302009-02-13T11:25:42.639+05:30ACK-080:Tiruppan and Kanakadasa<div style="text-align: center;"><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:worddocument> <w:view>Normal</w:View> <w:zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:punctuationkerning/> <w:validateagainstschemas/> <w:saveifxmlinvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:ignoremixedcontent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:alwaysshowplaceholdertext>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:compatibility> <w:breakwrappedtables/> <w:snaptogridincell/> <w:wraptextwithpunct/> <w:useasianbreakrules/> <w:dontgrowautofit/> </w:Compatibility> <w:browserlevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel> </w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:latentstyles deflockedstate="false" latentstylecount="156"> </w:LatentStyles> </xml><![endif]--><style> <!-- /* Font Definitions */ @font-face {font-family:"Comic Sans MS"; panose-1:3 15 7 2 3 3 2 2 2 4; mso-font-charset:204; mso-generic-font-family:script; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:647 0 0 0 159 0;} /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-parent:""; margin:0cm; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";} @page Section1 {size:612.0pt 792.0pt; margin:2.0cm 42.5pt 2.0cm 3.0cm; mso-header-margin:36.0pt; mso-footer-margin:36.0pt; mso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} --> </style><!--[if gte mso 10]> <style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Обычная таблица"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0cm; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language:#0400; mso-fareast-language:#0400; mso-bidi-language:#0400;} </style> <![endif]--> <div style="text-align: justify;"><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3uU85xYNroMrfIveLlFKLiH3eU9rm-1x7SiMICUVxF9wk4cm8XdA-jz_7yPRHWu0LKSXxu9ShKAJFNo6YqeUSf2HPtKGkI88QUmhiX0-en7D2nb1YT5H8N-iwKsQTpPhP_scOwiW8AnA/s1600-h/186.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 291px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3uU85xYNroMrfIveLlFKLiH3eU9rm-1x7SiMICUVxF9wk4cm8XdA-jz_7yPRHWu0LKSXxu9ShKAJFNo6YqeUSf2HPtKGkI88QUmhiX0-en7D2nb1YT5H8N-iwKsQTpPhP_scOwiW8AnA/s400/186.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5296579738238674482" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family:georgia;"> </span><span style="font-weight: bold;">An out of print ACK #186</span><br /><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">This ACK is based on story of two great devotees for those God broke man made all boundaries:<br /><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family:georgia;"><span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:georgia;" >1. Tiruppan Alvar</span><span style="font-family:georgia;"> (10th century CE), an untouchable devotee of </span><a style="font-weight: bold; font-family: georgia;" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sri_Ranganathaswamy_Temple_%28Srirangam%29">Lord Ranganatha</a><span style="font-family:georgia;">, belonged to the low caste of panas or wandering bards, playing on the instrument known as yal. He was a native of Uraiyur and great devotee of Vishnu enshrined in </span><a style="font-weight: bold; font-family: georgia;" href="http://www.vegetarian-restaurants.net/India-Guide/IndianStates/Tamil-Nadu/Srirangam.htm">Srirangam</a><span style="font-family:georgia;">. Fully conscious of his low birth he did not dare cross the Kaveri into Srirangam, and it was his habit to sing the praise of Ranganatha in soulful melody from the river Kaveri. Tiruppan Alvar was insulted by a priest for standing (or sleeping) in the way to the temple. The temple doors did not open to the priest, but a voice came from within the sanctum sanctorum that unless the priest takes the Alvar on his shoulders and circumambulates the temple three times and brings him in the Lord’s presence, the doors would not open. The priest had to obey, and thereafter, Tiruppan Alvar was hailed as a great saint. </span></span><br /></div><br /></div></div></div></div>*************************************************<br /><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">2. </span></span><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:100%;" >Kanakadasa</span><p align="center"> </p> <p align="left"><!--webbot bot="PurpleText" PREVIEW="ContentBox.Begin" --> <!--webbot bot="PurpleText" PREVIEW="Template.Apply" --> </p> <p style="text-align: justify;">Saint-Poet <a style="font-weight: bold;" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kanakadasa">Kanakadasa</a> (c 1509-1609 A.D.) belongs to the tradition of Haridasa literary movement which ushered in an era of devotional literature in Karnataka. Scores and scores of Haridasa have composed songs in praise of Krishna (incarnation of Vishnu). 'Haridasa' stands for 'servant of Hari', is another epithet of god Krishna. Right from 14th century to 19th, we find several Haridasas who wrote devotional compositions which could be set to music with simple instruments like Tanpura, and Tala (cymbals). They wrote kirtans, bhajans, prayers, lullabies, festival songs, and house-hold-chore songs. Written in simple and spoken Kannada, they had universal appeal. </p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;">Purandaradasa and Kanakadasa are the foremost among Haridasas. Besides conveying <i>dvaita</i> (dualism) tenets, they preached kindness and equanimity in a world full of sorrows. They condemned superstitions, hollow rituals and upheld virtues of a pious life. </p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;">No biographical details of Kanakadasa are available. Tradition makes him a member of shepherd (Kuruba) community who was a chief (<i>nayaka</i>) of security forces under a local king. His family deity or the deity he worshipped was Adikeshava of Kaginele, presently in Haveri district. Kaginele, now a village, was a prosperous place and trading center in middle age<span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:130%;" ><span class="kLink" style="text-decoration: underline ! important; position: static;"><span style="font-weight: 400; position: static; color: rgb(176, 0, 0);font-family:serif;font-size:16;" ><span class="kLink" style="font-weight: 400; position: static; color: rgb(176, 0, 0);font-family:serif;font-size:16;" ></span><span class="kLink" style="font-weight: 400; position: static; color: rgb(176, 0, 0);font-family:serif;font-size:16;" ></span></span></span><span style="font-size:100%;">s</span>. </span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;">If Purandaradasa gave up trader's job and balance (<i>takadi</i>) for <a href="http://www.kamat.com/indica/music/2821.htm">tanpura</a> and cymbals, Kanakadasa threw away his sword when the "inner call" came. Purandaradasa is supreme or 'king' among composers. Kanakadasa is a poet among composers. He wrote about two hundred songs (kirtans, padas and mundiges or philosophical songs) besides five major works. </p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;">Kanakadasa's major works are: </p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><ol style="text-align: justify;"><li> <p>Nalacharitre (Story of Nala) </p></li><li> <p>Haribhaktisara (crux of Krishna devotion) </p></li><li> <p>Nrisimhastava (compositions in praise of Lord Narasimha) </p></li><li> <p> Ramadhanyacharite (story of ragi millet) and an epic </p></li><li> <p> Mohanatarangini (Krishna-river). </p></li></ol><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;">Kanakadasa rationalized <span class="glossary">bhakti</span> (devotion) by giving worldly similes. His writing has intimate touch that identifies the reader with the poet himself. His two famous compositions in translation are given below. One condemns caste system in a refined poetic way and the other wonders, at the colorful and baffling creation of God Almighty in child-like wonder. </p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;">His Nalacharite is based on the famous love-story of Nala and Damayanti, which appears in Mahabharata. Though a great devotee of Lord Krishna, Kanakadasa gives his own interpretation. Nala who is in love with Damayanti, exercises restraint svayamvara (choosing bride/bridegroom) ceremony to win over Damayanti by allowing Indra and other gods a chance to win over her. When he loses everything in a dice-game and goes to forest, stubbornly followed by Damayanti, he deserts her in sleep, hoping that she may go back to her parents and have better life. He later drives king Rituparna to second declared svayamvara of Damayanti, to see his wife married to a suitable person and be happy! Lord Krishna appears only once casually to rescue the caravan with which the hapless Damayanti was traveling and was attacked by wild elephants. </p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;">Haribhaktisara is essence of devotion to Lord Krishna as the name indicates. A work of one hundred and ten verses with chorus line 'deva rakshisu nammananavarata', it is a prayer song, sung by Madhva men and women in Karnataka while performing everyday chores. It teaches complete surrender to God. </p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;">Nrisimhastava is a work dealing with glory of god Narasimha (half man-half lion). </p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;">Kanakadasa's Ramadhanyacharite has quite an unconventional theme. It is about a battle of words between ragi (millet) and rice, each claiming superiority. They go to god Rama for justice. With the help of sages, Rama proves the superiority of <i> ragi</i> over rice. Ragi becomes blessed by absorbing quality of Raghava, another epithet of Rama. It is interpreted as poverty and humility being upheld by the poet above material wealth. Even today <i> ragi</i> is food of the poor. </p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;">Mohanatarangini, although a <i>kavya</i> (poem in classical style) written with all conventional eighteen descriptions, deals with eroticism. Pleasure-based eroticism of Shri Krishna with consorts and Aniruddha-Usha form the main theme. </p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;">It excels in depicting contemporary life. The description of Shri Krishna's Dwaravati (Dwaraka) is very similar to that of Vijayanagara, under Krishnadevaraya as noticed by foreign travelers. The market place with colorful stalls with various commodities, well demarketed lanes brimming with craftsmen, clients and merchants, royal garden parties and glory of the palace etc find place in Mohanatarangini. It echoes the contemporary Portuguese travelers' accounts. A drinking bout of men and women of working class is very picturesque. We feel as if Kanakadasa is providing a running commentary on an actually happening scene. I<span style="font-size:100%;">t is for such unconventional and down-to-earth descriptions as also for social awareness that the great poet-saint has become immortal.</span><br /></p><div style="text-align: center;"><img src="http://www.kamat.com/kalranga/karavali/udupi/11765.jpg" alt="The Kanaka`s Peephole, Udupi" title="The Kanaka`s Peephole, Udupi" width="300" border="1" height="450" /><br /></div><p style="text-align: center;"><b>The Kanaka's Peephole, Udupi</b></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;">Kanakana Kindi (window of Kanaka) enjoys a special place at the Shri Krishna temple of Udupi. There is a legend that Kanakadasa wanted to have a '<span style="font-weight: bold;" class="glossary">darshan</span>' (encounter) of the idol. He was not allowed into the shrine by orthodox Madhwas, as Kanakadasa was not a Brahmin by birth. Kanakadasa then started singing praise of Lord Krishna and was lost to the outside world in a corner outside the temple. Suddenly there was a breach in the wall, where Kanaka stood, and Lord Krishna offered full <i> darshan</i> bending towards poet. A small window was constructed at the breach later. The idol has still a bend! </p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;">Today that window stands as a tribute to the unique saint of Karnataka. Almost all devotees who visit Udupi Krishna temple try to have a peep at the idol, through the petty window wishing to relive the ecstasy Kanaka had at the divine '<i>darshan</i>'. It is also a memorial to Kanakadasa and eclectic Hindu belief that devotion, poetry and sainthood are above <a style="font-weight: bold;" href="http://www.kamat.com/indica/caste/">caste and creed</a> and certainty above orthodoxy.<br /></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size:85%;">( Information about </span>Kanakadasa <span style="font-size:85%;">from <a href="http://www.kamat.com/indica/faiths/bhakti/kanakadasa.htm">Kamat's Potpourri</a>)</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><a href="http://www.mediafire.com/?htcmytw9i5y"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Download Comics</span></a><a href="http://www.mediafire.com/?htcmytw9i5y"> </a>(13.57 MB)<br /><br />It's contributed by<span style="font-weight: bold;"> </span><span style="font-weight: bold;">Anonymous</span> friend. All thanks & credits go to <span style="font-weight: bold;">him</span>.</p></div></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6698160373757989549.post-91882793494787431752009-02-11T01:00:00.001+05:302009-02-11T02:13:57.897+05:30ACK-079 : Tachcholi Othenan<div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhS4Zk8Zmbamc7fdzn1yNrv74OCY3TwUvYeXvyU2a2bdgmwu-MWQjhc01de9cN__mHsLc8kjugcj3K59j0_bl8fk8hhvkn3oJRqKpeH5t6B1h3EXyq907_XVZrIEWckTsM3og98AtCVEg/s1600-h/109.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 292px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhS4Zk8Zmbamc7fdzn1yNrv74OCY3TwUvYeXvyU2a2bdgmwu-MWQjhc01de9cN__mHsLc8kjugcj3K59j0_bl8fk8hhvkn3oJRqKpeH5t6B1h3EXyq907_XVZrIEWckTsM3og98AtCVEg/s400/109.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5299256109787811250" border="0" /></a><span style="font-weight: bold;">An out of print ACK</span> <span style="font-weight: bold;">#109</span><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />Thacholi Meppayil Kunjhu Othenan (Udayana Kurup of Thacholi Manikoth House)<b> </b>or more popularly Thacholi Othenan or Tachcholi Othenan<b> </b> was the legendary hero of North Kerala, who is thought to have lived 500 years ago. He was born in the family of ‘Manikkoth’ in Thacholi, near Vadakara, located 48 km north of Kozhikode. Highly stylised songs and stories of his valour and chivalry abound. His real name was Udayana Kurup. He is praised about in <i>vadakkanpattu</i> (ballads of North Kerala).</div><p style="text-align: justify;"> Othenan was known for his dignified and fearless behavior even when he was a boy. He was a very helpful friend to all, but merciless to enemies. He was respected by all, including the Zamorin of Calicut. He defeated Mathiloor Gurukkal, martial art expert, and killed him. Othenan, the legendary warrior of Kerala, was killed at the tender age of 32 by one of the Gurukkal’s disciples. </p><p style="text-align: justify;"> Thacholi Manikkoth, the kalari center, where Thacholi Othenan practiced Kalaripayattu is a place worth visiting. Thacholi Manikkoth Temple, dedicated to Thacholi Othenan, situated in Vadakara, organizes a martial arts festival during March or April, which draws a large number of people from far and near.</p><p style="text-align: justify;"><a href="http://www.mediafire.com/?gtzmjijenbg"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Download Comics</span></a> (17.72 MB)</p><p style="text-align: justify;">It's contributed by <span style="font-weight: bold;">Anonymous</span> friend. All thanks & credits go to <span style="font-weight: bold;">him</span>.</p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com18tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6698160373757989549.post-33215560154282898792009-02-09T01:00:00.000+05:302009-02-09T01:00:00.927+05:30ACK-078: Narsinh Mehta<div style="text-align: justify;"><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSySEIosq-Om4GNMxX4JrDhtnmAXgyta4r7KsEblXpqkdhR7XYl1vzdMOkv9RRXLy0bKV5fokKB4dnkzG0aEcvhKJoSLjwMFU0W58yKi7FaY-gCuNJwPoAIfkhtKL9RZTiS-chmEx5owk/s1600-h/01.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 289px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSySEIosq-Om4GNMxX4JrDhtnmAXgyta4r7KsEblXpqkdhR7XYl1vzdMOkv9RRXLy0bKV5fokKB4dnkzG0aEcvhKJoSLjwMFU0W58yKi7FaY-gCuNJwPoAIfkhtKL9RZTiS-chmEx5owk/s400/01.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5272348397365651890" border="0" /></a><span style="font-weight: bold;">An out of print ACK #094</span> </div><br />He was born in Talaja (near Bhavnagar), in 1414(?), Vad Nagar Brahmin by caste.<br /><br />At an early age his mother, father and uncle died. He lived with his brother and sister-in -law. From an early age he liked the company of Sadhu-Sant, so heard and sang many Bhakti Songs (poems that are prayers). He had immense faith in God and social life was of no interest to him. Narsinh Mehta faced lot of difficulties in his life time. His wife Manek died at very early age, his son passed away in his young age, Kuvar Bai, his daughter become widow. He was left with his widow daughter in law, besides King Ramandlink always created problems Narsinh Mehta but Narsinh Mehta's life revolved in Bhakti.<br /><br />In his bad times the Almighty was always his rescue. Lord Krishna helped his daughter during her "Mameru". The Lord also helped his son during his marriage and at the time of Narsinh Mehta's father Shradh. Lord SriKrishna garlanded Narsinh Mehta in assembly of King Ram Mandlik.<br /><br />Narsinh Mehta has composed all these happenings in his poems, which became very popular later. Prabhatia, Bhajans, Paad, Sri Krishna Nee Baal Ras Dan Lila, Prabhu Nee Bhakti, Gyan Na Padhu, Sudama Charitya are some of his best compsitions, which are extremely striking. Bhakt ShriMadh Bhagwat and Geet Govind are also in his poems. His poems have carved a ninche on our minds and heart. He died at the age of 66 in 1480(?).<br /><span style="font-size:85%;"><br />(~ From <a href="http://gujaratonline.com/gen/narsinh.htm">Gujaratonline.com</a>)</span><br /><br />Read more about him:<br /><br />1. <a href="http://www.geocities.com/sachinketkar/narsinhmehta.html">NARSINH MEHTA : AN INTRODUCTION TO HIS LIFE AND WORKS</a><br /><br />2. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narsinh_Mehta">Wikipedia</a></div><br /><a style="font-weight: bold;" href="http://www.mediafire.com/?ziy315nw2jo">Download Comics</a><a style="font-weight: bold;" href="http://www.mediafire.com/?ziy315nw2jo"> </a>(15.55 MB)<br /><br />It's contributed by <span style="font-weight: bold;">AJNAABI</span>. All thanks & credits go to <span style="font-weight: bold;">him</span>.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com15tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6698160373757989549.post-65810927515569544332009-02-07T16:00:00.002+05:302009-02-07T16:00:00.973+05:30ACK-077: The Taming of Gulla<p style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnPLcFwR7ebNOi_mdO8AtycUkSRFGSwkVsz6NNouWf9nQZVYl8UfbOOB_t9UHcREpxXdHIe1rsc6drs5udEiu4dqtID4p2xHTw-NV3X-39rNFs5JkJqFhB0QnTTiakMczYA2wxgCmF9us/s1600-h/282.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 294px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnPLcFwR7ebNOi_mdO8AtycUkSRFGSwkVsz6NNouWf9nQZVYl8UfbOOB_t9UHcREpxXdHIe1rsc6drs5udEiu4dqtID4p2xHTw-NV3X-39rNFs5JkJqFhB0QnTTiakMczYA2wxgCmF9us/s400/282.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5299226575613215474" border="0" /></a><span style="font-weight: bold;">An out of print ACK</span> <span style="font-weight: bold;">#282</span></p> <p style="text-align: justify;"><span>This ACK is based on a true stroy which </span>was written by an eminent Kannada writer Gorur Ramaswamy Iyengar.<br /></p> <p style="text-align: center;">******************</p> <p style="text-align: justify;"><b>Gorur Ramaswamy Iyengar</b> (1904 - 1991), affectionately known as <b>Gorur</b> was an eminent <a href="http://www.nationmaster.com/encyclopedia/Kannada" onmouseover="pv(event, 3)" onmouseout="unpv(3)" style="">Kannada</a> writer; well known for his humor and satire. He was one of the two iconic <a href="http://www.nationmaster.com/encyclopedia/Iyengar" onmouseover="pv(event, 4)" onmouseout="unpv(4)" style="">Iyengar</a> writers of <a href="http://www.nationmaster.com/encyclopedia/Kannada-literature" onmouseover="pv(event, 5)" onmouseout="unpv(5)" style="">Kannada literature</a> alongwith the great <a href="http://www.nationmaster.com/encyclopedia/Masti-Venkatesh-Iyengar" title="Masti Venkatesh Iyengar">Masti Venkatesh Iyengar</a>.<!--google_ad_section_end--><!-- google_ad_region_end=first_para --><span style="left: 515px; top: 316px; display: none;" class="preview" id="pv1"> 1904 (MCMIV) is a leap year starting on a Friday (link will take you to calendar). ...</span> <span style="left: 543px; top: 310px; display: none;" class="preview" id="pv2"> 1991 (MCMXCI) is a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar. ...</span> <span style="left: 384px; top: 334px; display: none;" class="preview" id="pv3"> Kannada - aptly described as sirigannada (known to few as Kanarese) is one of the oldest Dravidian languages and is spoken in its various dialects by roughly 45 million people. ...</span> <span style="left: 388px; top: 378px; display: none;" class="preview" id="pv4"> Iyengar (or Aiyangar) is the name of a community of Tamil Brahmins of South India whose members profess the Visishtadvaita philosophy codified by Ramanuja. ...</span> <span style="left: 559px; top: 366px; display: none;" class="preview" id="pv5"> The Kannada language belongs to the Dravidian family of languages and is the second oldest language currently spoken in India (next to Tamil). ...</span> </p> <div style="text-align: justify;"> </div> <p style="text-align: justify;">Gorur's most well known book is the humorous travelogue "Amerikadalli Goruru", 1979; which is based on the experience of the traditional <a href="http://www.nationmaster.com/encyclopedia/Iyengar" onmouseover="pv(event, 8)" onmouseout="unpv(8)" style="">Iyengar</a> in the techno-cultural world of the United States. The book had several memorable chapters like "Empire State Bhavana" (Empire State Building) and "Niagarada Manjukanye" (Maid of the Mist). Gorur also wrote several folk and fiction works like "Rasaphala", "Namma Oorina Rasikaru", "Puttamallige", "Bhoothayyana Maga Ayyu", "Hemavathi", "Garudagambada Dasaiah".<span style="left: 331px; top: 473px; display: none;" class="preview" id="pv7">age refers to the year 1979. ...</span> <span style="left: 443px; top: 483px; display: none;" class="preview" id="pv8"> Iyengar (or Aiyangar) is the name of a community of Tamil Brahmins of South India whose members profess the Visishtadvaita philosophy codified by Ramanuja. ...</span> </p> <div style="text-align: justify;"> </div> <p style="text-align: justify;">Gorur was born in the little hamlet of "Gorur" in <a href="http://www.nationmaster.com/encyclopedia/Hassan" onmouseover="pv(event, 10)" onmouseout="unpv(10)" style="">Hassan</a> district of <a href="http://www.nationmaster.com/encyclopedia/Karnataka" onmouseover="pv(event, 11)" onmouseout="unpv(11)" style="">Karnataka</a> in Southern India in a family of <a href="http://www.nationmaster.com/encyclopedia/Hebbar" onmouseover="pv(event, 12)" onmouseout="unpv(12)" style="">Hebbar Iyengars</a>. As a student he was influenced by the <a href="http://www.nationmaster.com/encyclopedia/Indian-Independence-Movement" onmouseover="pv(event, 13)" onmouseout="unpv(13)" style="">Indian Independence Movement</a> and became a staunch follower of <a href="http://www.nationmaster.com/encyclopedia/Mahatma-Gandhi" onmouseover="pv(event, 14)" onmouseout="unpv(14)" style="">Mahatma Gandhi</a>. He was jailed by the British administration in 1942 for his participation in the <a href="http://www.nationmaster.com/encyclopedia/Quit-India-Movement" onmouseover="pv(event, 16)" onmouseout="unpv(16)" style="">Quit India Movement</a>.<span style="left: 537px; top: 644px; display: none;" class="preview" id="pv16">The Quit India Movement was a call for immediate independence for India issued by MK Gandhi on August 8, 1942. ...</span> </p> <div style="text-align: justify;"> </div> <p style="text-align: justify;">Post Independence of India (1947), Gorur accepted employment in the Khadi Board Industries and later on began his glittering career as a pre-eminent Kannada writer. "Amerikadalli Goruru" won the acclaimed Sahitya Akademi award in 1979. "Bhoothayyana Maga Ayyu" was made into a blockbuster Kannada movie of the same name by noted director Siddhalingaiah, starring Vishnuvardhan, Lokesh and Shardha in 1975.<br /></p> <div style="text-align: justify;">Gorur had four sons and a daughter and he outlived all his sons. Towards the end of his life, he lived in <a href="http://www.nationmaster.com/encyclopedia/Bangalore" onmouseover="pv(event, 20)" onmouseout="unpv(20)" style="">Bangalore</a> alongwith his daughter. Gorur died peacefully in 1991, leaving behind legions of affectionate fans of <a href="http://www.nationmaster.com/encyclopedia/Kannada-literature" onmouseover="pv(event, 22)" onmouseout="unpv(22)" style="">Kannada literature</a>.<br /><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">(~ From <a href="http://www.nationmaster.com/encyclopedia/Gorur-Ramaswamy-Iyengar">Nationmaster.com- Encyclopedia</a>)</span><br /></div> <p style="text-align: justify;"><a href="http://www.mediafire.com/?wh0dtsimyjs"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Download Comics</span></a> (16.16 MB)<br /></p><p style="text-align: justify;">It's contributed by <span style="font-weight: bold;">Anonymous</span> friend. All thanks & credits go to <span style="font-weight: bold;">him</span>.</p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6698160373757989549.post-12398127602166155142009-02-05T14:00:00.001+05:302009-02-05T14:52:27.271+05:30ACK-076: Agastya<div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGbRlmFV05yU-12IVrDj4QgB-fW0Xy3jdCabOnwkEYfOTvWLD3iCW6wePduiGkcq7BWaP9QI9K85jjZ4Vpd0Wfx0SKBhuwPLoqfUvhA87hu2t4HFeJI-OHXc5D6EBcNM38lr-dqm2xLXY/s1600-h/069.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 295px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGbRlmFV05yU-12IVrDj4QgB-fW0Xy3jdCabOnwkEYfOTvWLD3iCW6wePduiGkcq7BWaP9QI9K85jjZ4Vpd0Wfx0SKBhuwPLoqfUvhA87hu2t4HFeJI-OHXc5D6EBcNM38lr-dqm2xLXY/s400/069.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5299223371220544962" border="0" /></a><span style="font-weight: bold;">An out of print ACK #69</span><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><strong><br />AGASTYA</strong>.<!-- #BeginLibraryItem "/Library/dowson.lbi" --> <!-- #EndLibraryItem -->A <a href="http://www.mythfolklore.net/india/encyclopedia/rishi.htm">Rishi</a>, the reputed author of several hymns in the Rigveda, and a very celebrated personage in Hindu story. </div><p style="text-align: justify;">He and <a href="http://www.mythfolklore.net/india/encyclopedia/vasishtha.htm">Vasishtha</a> are said in the Rigveda to be the offspring of <a href="http://www.mythfolklore.net/india/encyclopedia/mitra.htm">Mitra</a> and <a href="http://www.mythfolklore.net/india/encyclopedia/varuna.htm">Varuna</a>, whose seed fell from them at the sight of <a href="http://www.mythfolklore.net/india/encyclopedia/urvasi.htm">Urvasi</a>; and the commentator Sayana adds that Agastya was born in a waterjar as a fish of great lustre, whence he was called Kalasisuta, Kumbhasambhava, and Ghatodbhava. From his parentage he was called Maitravaruni and Aurvasiya; and as he was very small when he was born, not more than a span in length, he was called Mina. </p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;">Though he is thus associated in his birth with <a href="http://www.mythfolklore.net/india/encyclopedia/vasishtha.htm">Vasishtha</a>, he is evidently later in date, and he is not one of the Prajapatis. </p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;">His name, Agastya, is derived by a forced etymology from a fable, which represents him as having commanded the <a href="http://www.mythfolklore.net/india/encyclopedia/vindhya.htm">Vindhya</a> mountains to prostrate themselves before him, through which they lost their primeval altitude; or rather, perhaps, the fable has been invented to account for his name. This miracle has obtained for him the epithet Vindhyakuta; and he acquired another name, Pitabdhi, or Samudrachuluka, "Ocean drinker,' from another fable, according to which he drank up the ocean because it had offended him, and because he wished to help the gods in their wars with the <a href="http://www.mythfolklore.net/india/encyclopedia/daityas.htm">Daityas</a> when the latter had hidden themselves in the waters. </p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;">He was afterwards made regent of the star Canopus, which bears his name. The <a href="http://www.mythfolklore.net/india/encyclopedia/puranas.htm">Puranas</a> represent him as being the son of <a href="http://www.mythfolklore.net/india/encyclopedia/pulastya.htm">Pulastya</a>, the sage from whom the <a href="http://www.mythfolklore.net/india/encyclopedia/rakshasa.htm">Rakshasas</a> sprang. He was one of the narrators of "the <a href="http://www.mythfolklore.net/india/encyclopedia/puranas.htm">Brahma Purana</a> and also a writer on medicine. </p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;">The <a href="http://www.mythfolklore.net/india/encyclopedia/mahabharata.htm">Mahabharata</a> relates a legend respecting the creation of his wife. It says that Agastya saw his ancestors suspended by their heels in a pit, and was told by them that they could be rescued only by his begetting a son. Thereupon he formed a girl out of the most graceful parts of different animals and passed her secretly into the palace of the king of Vidarbha. There the child grew up as a daughter of the king, and was demanded in marriage by Agastya. Much against his wills the king was constrained to consent, and she became the wife of the sage. She was named <a href="http://www.mythfolklore.net/india/encyclopedia/lopamudra.htm">Lopamudra</a>, because the animals had been subjected to loss <em>(lopa) </em>by her engrossing their distinctive beauties, as the eyes of the deer, etc. She was also called Kausitaki and Varaprada. </p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;">The same poem also tells a story exhibiting his superhuman power, by which he turned King <a href="http://www.mythfolklore.net/india/encyclopedia/nahusha.htm">Nahusha</a> into a serpent and afterwards restored him to his proper form. </p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;">It is in the <a href="http://www.mythfolklore.net/india/encyclopedia/ramayana.htm">Ramayana</a> that Agastya makes the most distinguished figure. Ho dwelt in a hermitage on Mount Kunjara, situated in a most beautiful country to the south of the <a href="http://www.mythfolklore.net/india/encyclopedia/vindhya.htm">Vindhya</a> mountains, and was chief of the hermits of the south. He kept the <a href="http://www.mythfolklore.net/india/encyclopedia/rakshasa.htm">Rakshasas</a> who infested the south under control, so that the country was only gazed upon and not possessed by them.</p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;">His power over them is illustrated by a legend which represents him as eating up a <a href="http://www.mythfolklore.net/india/encyclopedia/rakshasa.htm">Rakshasa</a> named <a href="http://www.mythfolklore.net/india/encyclopedia/vatapi.htm">Vatapi</a> who assumed the form of a ram, and as destroying by a flash of his eye the <a href="http://www.mythfolklore.net/india/encyclopedia/rakshasa.htm">Rakshasa</a>'s brother, Ilvala, who attempted to avenge him. (See <a href="http://www.mythfolklore.net/india/encyclopedia/vatapi.htm">Vatapi</a>.) </p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;"><a href="http://www.mythfolklore.net/india/encyclopedia/rama.htm">Rama</a> in his exile wandered to the hermitage of Agastya with <a href="http://www.mythfolklore.net/india/encyclopedia/sita.htm">Sita</a> and <a href="http://www.mythfolklore.net/india/encyclopedia/lakshmana.htm">Lakshmana</a>. The sage received him with the greatest kindness, and became his friend, adviser, and protector. He gave him the bow of <a href="http://www.mythfolklore.net/india/encyclopedia/vishnu.htm">Vishnu</a>; and when <a href="http://www.mythfolklore.net/india/encyclopedia/rama.htm">Rama</a> was restored to his kingdom, the sage accompanied him to <a href="http://www.mythfolklore.net/india/encyclopedia/ayodhya.htm">Ayodhya</a>. </p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;">The name of Agastya holds a great place also in Tamil literature, and he is "venerated in the south as the first teacher of science and literature to the primitive Dravidian tribes;" so says Dr. Caldwell, who thinks " we shall not greatly err in placing the era of Agastya in the seventh, or at least in the sixth century B.C." Wilson also had previously testified to the same effect: "The traditions of the south of India ascribe to Agastya a principal share in the formation of the Tamil language and literature, and the general tenor of the legends relating to him denotes his having been instrumental in the introduction of the Hindu religion and literature into the Peninsula." </p><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size:85%;">(~ from <a href="http://www.mythfolklore.net/india/encyclopedia/agastya.htm" class="external free">Mythfolklore.net</a>)</span><br /><br /><a href="http://www.mediafire.com/?mzyz0fnkbjt"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Download Comics</span></a><a href="http://www.mediafire.com/?mzyz0fnkbjt"> </a>(13.57 MB)<br /><br />It's contributed by<span style="font-weight: bold;"> </span><span style="font-weight: bold;">Anonymous</span> friend. All thanks & credits go to <span style="font-weight: bold;">him</span>.<br /></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6698160373757989549.post-78153259240263016392009-02-04T10:00:00.004+05:302009-03-31T21:59:07.588+05:30ACK-075: Pradyumna<div style="text-align: center; font-weight: bold;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHptoPPuqradIJaHA-fjXsdGYtQobFbqTTfaS6WBiQ2cUmCP1-gcCESouYs4vua9yCT1LZXZRclUPrBChIktEl202up-PlgTobMwc8WemY7puAHXUA-3oQBc0XKOyUwUxL9oHHpUNjKik/s1600-h/107.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 292px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHptoPPuqradIJaHA-fjXsdGYtQobFbqTTfaS6WBiQ2cUmCP1-gcCESouYs4vua9yCT1LZXZRclUPrBChIktEl202up-PlgTobMwc8WemY7puAHXUA-3oQBc0XKOyUwUxL9oHHpUNjKik/s400/107.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5296578205299484674" border="0" /></a>An out of print ACK #107<br /></div><p style="text-align: justify;"><strong>PRADYUMNA</strong>.<!-- #BeginLibraryItem "/Library/dowson.lbi" --> <!-- #EndLibraryItem -->A son of <a href="http://www.mythfolklore.net/india/encyclopedia/krishna.htm">Krishna</a> by <a href="http://www.mythfolklore.net/india/encyclopedia/rukmini.htm">Rukmini</a>. </p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;">When a child only six days old, he was stolen by the demon <a href="http://www.mythfolklore.net/india/encyclopedia/sambara.htm">Sambara</a> and thrown into the ocean. There he was swallowed by a fish, which was afterwards caught and carried to the house of <a href="http://www.mythfolklore.net/india/encyclopedia/sambara.htm">Sambara</a>. When the fish was opened, a beautiful child was discovered, and <a href="http://www.mythfolklore.net/india/encyclopedia/mayadevi.htm">Mayadevi</a> or Mayavati, the mistress of <a href="http://www.mythfolklore.net/india/encyclopedia/sambara.htm">Sambara</a>'s household, took him under her care. The sage <a href="http://www.mythfolklore.net/india/encyclopedia/narada.htm">Narada</a> informed her who the child was, and she reared him carefully. </p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;">When he grew up she fell in love with him, and informed him who he was and how he had been carried off by <a href="http://www.mythfolklore.net/india/encyclopedia/sambara.htm">Sambara</a>. He defied the demon to battle, and after a long conflict slew him. Then he flew through the air with Mayavati, and alighted in the inner apartments of his father's palace.</p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;"><a href="http://www.mythfolklore.net/india/encyclopedia/krishna.htm">Krishna</a> presented him to his mother <a href="http://www.mythfolklore.net/india/encyclopedia/rukmini.htm">Rukmini</a> "with the virtuous Mayavati his wife," declaring her really to be the goddess Rati. </p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;">Pradyumna also married Kakudmati, the daughter of <a href="http://www.mythfolklore.net/india/encyclopedia/rukmin.htm">Rukmin</a>, and had by her a son named <a href="http://www.mythfolklore.net/india/encyclopedia/aniruddha.htm">Aniruddha</a>. </p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;">Pradyumna was killed at <a href="http://www.mythfolklore.net/india/encyclopedia/dwaraka.htm">Dwaraka</a> in the presence of his father during a drunken brawl. </p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;">Though Pradyumna passed as the son of <a href="http://www.mythfolklore.net/india/encyclopedia/krishna.htm">Krishna</a>, he was, according to the legend, a revival or resuscitation of <a href="http://www.mythfolklore.net/india/encyclopedia/kama.htm">Kama</a>, the god of love, who was reduced to ashes by the fiery glance of <a href="http://www.mythfolklore.net/india/encyclopedia/siva.htm">Siva</a>, and so the name Pradyumna is used for <a href="http://www.mythfolklore.net/india/encyclopedia/kama.htm">Kama</a>. </p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;">The <a href="http://www.mythfolklore.net/india/encyclopedia/puranas.htm">Vishnu Purana</a> puts the following words into the mouth of <a href="http://www.mythfolklore.net/india/encyclopedia/narada.htm">Narada</a> when he presented Pradyumna to <a href="http://www.mythfolklore.net/india/encyclopedia/rukmini.htm">Rukmini</a>: "When Manmatha (the deity of love) had perished, the goddess of beauty (Rati), desirous to secure his revival, assumed a delusive form, and by her charms fascinated the demon <a href="http://www.mythfolklore.net/india/encyclopedia/sambara.htm">Sambara</a>, and exhibited herself to him in various illusory enjoyments. This thy son is the descended <a href="http://www.mythfolklore.net/india/encyclopedia/kama.htm">Kama</a> ; and this is (the goddess) Rati, his wife. There is no occasion for any uncertainty; this is thy daughter-in-law." </p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;">In the Harivansa he has a wife named Prabhavati, daughter of King <a href="http://www.mythfolklore.net/india/encyclopedia/vajranabha.htm">Vajranabha</a>. When he went to see her for the first time, he changed himself into a bee and lived in a garland of flowers which had been prepared for her. </p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;">According to the <a href="http://www.mythfolklore.net/india/encyclopedia/mahabharata.htm">Mahabharata</a>, he was Sanatkumara, the son of <a href="http://www.mythfolklore.net/india/encyclopedia/brahma.htm">Brahma</a>.<br /></p><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size:85%;">(~ from <a href="http://www.mythfolklore.net/india/encyclopedia/pradyumna.htm" class="external free">Mythfolklore.net</a>)</span><br /><div style="text-align: center;">***************************************<br /></div><span style="font-weight: bold;">NOTE: Pradyumna</span> (Sanskrit:प्रद्युम्न) is one of 24 lord Keshava (Vishnu) names which praised in all poojas.<br /><div style="text-align: center;">***************************************<br /></div><br /><a href="http://www.mediafire.com/?yr0nmmjhmof"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Download Comics</span></a><a href="http://www.mediafire.com/?yr0nmmjhmof"> </a>(17.29 MB)<br /><br />It's contributed by<span style="font-weight: bold;"> Anonymous</span> friend. All thanks & credits go to <span style="font-weight: bold;">him</span>.<br /></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6698160373757989549.post-36618610670001264012009-02-03T04:09:00.002+05:302009-02-03T13:13:09.776+05:30ACK-074: The Story of a Scientist - Y. Subba Row<div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhO-VsK5xIUuSXeFLM6faY-tMwIf_sWRS8aAs5lTPCv-O4pUgPgbtBO2I4lOBSLVz18uUSR-O-SeEHbRbqZtsiM_aYJTQgcw3MR30XnsglymU_758H8np5r3CQGuBN8X6W67fCxF8yqXUI/s1600-h/306.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 285px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhO-VsK5xIUuSXeFLM6faY-tMwIf_sWRS8aAs5lTPCv-O4pUgPgbtBO2I4lOBSLVz18uUSR-O-SeEHbRbqZtsiM_aYJTQgcw3MR30XnsglymU_758H8np5r3CQGuBN8X6W67fCxF8yqXUI/s400/306.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5275355297118828802" border="0" /></a><span style="font-weight: bold;">An out of print ACK</span> <span style="font-weight: bold;">(#306)</span><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size:85%;">Following article was published in one of the best National Newspaper of India: <a style="font-weight: bold;" href="http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/seta/2003/03/13/stories/2003031300140300.htm">THE HINDU </a>(</span><span style=";font-size:85%;color:blue;" ><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Thursday, Mar 13, 2003 by</span> </span><span style="font-size:85%;">R.Parthasarathy)</span><br /></div><span class="storyhead" style=";font-size:130%;color:blue;" ><b><br /></b></span><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="storyhead" style=";font-size:130%;color:blue;" ><b>Discoverer of miracle medicines<br />- Y. Subba Row (1895-1948) </b></span></div><p> </p><p align="justify"> </p><p> </p><p align="justify"> YERLAGADDA SUBBA Row was born on January 12, 1895 at Bhimavaram in the old Madras Presidency. He passed through a traumatic period in his schooling at Rajahmundry and could eventually matriculate in his third attempt from the Hindu High School, Madras. </p><p align="justify"> He passed the Intermediate Examination from the Presidency College and entered the Madras Medical College, where his education was supported by friends and Kasturi Suryanarayana Murthy, whose daughter he married later. Following Gandhiji's call to boycott British goods he started wearing khadi surgical gloves; this incurred the displeasure of M.C.Bradfield, his surgery professor. Consequently, though he did well in the written papers, he was awarded the lesser LMS certificate and not the MBBS degree. </p><p align="justify"> Subba Row tried to enter the Madras Medical Service without success. He then took up a job as Lecturer in Anatomy at Dr.Lakshmipathi's Ayurvedic College at Madras. He was fascinated by the healing powers of Ayurvedic medicines and began to engage in research to put Ayurveda on a modern footing. </p><p align="justify"> A chance meeting with an American doctor, who was visiting on a Rockefeller Scholarship changed his mind. The promise of support from Satyalinga Naicker Charities, Kakinada and financial assistance raised by his father-in-law, enabled Subba Row to proceed to the U.S. </p><p align="justify"> He landed in Boston on October 26, 1923 and the real struggle started. </p><p align="justify"> A generous person, by name Dr.Strong, came to his rescue and met his immediate expenses. His medical degree would not qualify for a scholarship or get him internship in Boston Hospitals. He made up by taking on various odd jobs. </p><p align="justify"> Subba Row obtained the Diploma of the Harvard School of Tropical Medicine in June 1924. He then joined the Biochemistry Department and worked under the guidance of Cryrus Fiske in the area of muscle chemistry. </p><p align="justify"> He developed a method for estimation of phosphorous in body fluids and tissues. This got entry into the biochemistry textbooks in 1930s. He got his Ph.D degree the same year. </p><p align="justify"> Subba Row continued his research for a decade more at Harvard. His own independent contributions were hailed by his colleagues. </p><p align="justify"> But he was denied elevation to a regular faculty position. He moved to Ledrale Laboratories, then a little known pharmaceutical firm, in 1940. He embarked on a programme of developing new drugs: this opened new approaches for the treatment of nutritional infections and worm-transmitted diseases. </p><p align="justify"> He was Director of Research till August 1948: he was found dead (possibly due to coronary thrombosis) by his associates on a Monday afternoon. He was 53 years old. He was then in the prime of his research career. </p><p align="justify"> <span class="subsectionhead" style=";font-size:100%;color:red;" > Formulation of new drugs </span></p><p align="justify"><span class="subsectionhead" style=";font-size:100%;color:red;" > </span> </p><p align="justify"> Subba Row established a project for protecting American soldiers fighting in the Pacific, from malaria and filariasis. He developed the wonder drug Hetrazan. WHO spread its adoption as a key element in its worldwide campaign to eradicate filariasis. </p><p align="justify"> He employed Dr. Benjamin Duggar to screen thousands of soil samples for anti-biotic producing bacteria and fungi. In august 1945, an interesting golden yellow mould was seen in a culture dish inoculated with extracts from soil samples. </p><p align="justify"> This proved to be a potent antibiotic producer. The antibiotic was extracted in pure crystalline form, first in the tetra-cyline group. </p><p align="justify"> For the first time, a single drug called Aureomycin could be used for controlling both gram-positive and the gram-negative bacterial germs. Fleming's penicillin could battle only the former, whereas Waksman's streptomycin only the latter. </p><p align="justify"> Our nation owes a deep debt to Subba Row, for the antibiotics he discovered saved thousands of lives in 1995, when plague broke out in the states of Gujarat and Maharashtra. </p><p align="justify"> His colleague, George Hitchings who shared the Nobel Prize with Gertrude Elion (<i>The Hindu</i>, September 5, 2001), said: "Some of the nucleotides isolated by Subba Row had to be rediscovered years later by other workers because Fiske, apparently out of jealousy, did not let Subba Row's contributions see the light of the day" (<i>In Quest of Panacea by S.P.K. Gupta, 1999</i>). </p><p align="justify"> <span class="subsectionhead" style=";font-size:100%;color:red;" > Honours </span></p><p align="justify"><span class="subsectionhead" style=";font-size:100%;color:red;" > </span> </p><p align="justify"> American Cynamid honoured his memory with a plaque at its research laboratory and inaugurated the Subba Row library. A drug was named <i>Subbaromyces splendens</i>. </p><p align="justify"> A memorial postage stamp was released and a bust erected in Hyderabad. A.C. College of Technology, Guindy sponsored a seminar to commemorate his memory. </p><p align="justify"> The man who headed medical research during World War II, had to remain an alien, without the status of a green-card holder. </p><p align="justify"> Many may not have heard the name of a man: in the medical world his contributions made a dynamic impact. </p><p align="justify"> </p><a href="http://www.mediafire.com/?xmcjzxhntyy"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Download Comics</span></a><span style="font-weight: bold;"> </span>HQ (37.04 MB)<br /><br />or<br /><a href="http://www.mediafire.com/?w5m2ldzjwnm"><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Download Comics</span><span style="font-weight: bold;"> </span></a> (5.78 MB)<br /><br />It's an <span style="font-weight: bold;">Apoorva</span>'s contribution. All thanks & credits go to <span style="font-weight: bold;">him</span>.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6698160373757989549.post-33971229669146078822009-01-28T18:00:00.008+05:302010-01-17T16:34:29.146+05:30ACK-071, 072 & 073: Pinocchio, Valmiki & Shringabhuja<div style="text-align: justify;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCuE1xyqFQMbnfZLQWf4nfHDv_JHJenY1w2EQwr_1Gdg_CKQq14AmX1UOs0TJ5wY1gwiJVsg_awiewU5yNPQ5-eD-le3Z09M5jslAsLl_lGpT-PsI_90mKDDuYoyHQZpLTDXjcq932qzI/s1600-h/thank-you-rocks.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5296151603319554514" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCuE1xyqFQMbnfZLQWf4nfHDv_JHJenY1w2EQwr_1Gdg_CKQq14AmX1UOs0TJ5wY1gwiJVsg_awiewU5yNPQ5-eD-le3Z09M5jslAsLl_lGpT-PsI_90mKDDuYoyHQZpLTDXjcq932qzI/s400/thank-you-rocks.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; float: left; height: 300px; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; width: 400px;" /></a>This past year has been an exciting one for me and for the blog. Many changes.........<br />
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<span style="font-weight: bold;">I want to take a moment and say THANK YOU to all of you who have contributed & visited over the past 1 year.</span><br />
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<span style="font-weight: bold;">Special thanks to those friends who come forward with scans to survive this blog. Only due to such selfless friends this blog is running regularly & celebrating first anniversary </span><span style="font-weight: bold;">today</span><span style="font-weight: bold;">.<br />
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With bonus by TPH and promised post please continue celebration ……<br />
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</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAyD5YhSeYz3sP_YkSf8cpJ5hqZMe4G5Jg02D-iN-Iba9JPnDeyY3EUVDKIaYb5yJlt_UrTKSpB1e0x79pSx7tTvh18g9nET9O2qRY7CXUrmj-PMGrAfz1fRy51FCQXP0TFaZCR_1d9t0/s1600-h/Resize-Wizard-01.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5288638901620060786" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAyD5YhSeYz3sP_YkSf8cpJ5hqZMe4G5Jg02D-iN-Iba9JPnDeyY3EUVDKIaYb5yJlt_UrTKSpB1e0x79pSx7tTvh18g9nET9O2qRY7CXUrmj-PMGrAfz1fRy51FCQXP0TFaZCR_1d9t0/s320/Resize-Wizard-01.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; float: left; height: 320px; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; width: 245px;" /></a><span style="font-weight: bold;">An out of print ACK #9 (Hindi)</span><br />
</div>An Italian author, Carlo Lorenzini (November 24, 1826 – October 26, 1890) pen name <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carlo_Collodi" style="font-weight: bold;">Carlo Collodi</a>, wrote the famous children’s story <span style="font-weight: bold;">Storia di un burattino </span>("T<span style="font-weight: bold;">he story of a marionette</span>"), also called <span style="font-weight: bold;">Le Avventure di</span> <span style="font-weight: bold;">Pinocchio</span> ( <span style="font-weight: bold;">The Adventures of Pinocchio</span>) toward the end of his life. It is an archetypal fairy tale of the inward conflict associated with the process of change, growth, and development. It is also noteworthy that Pinocchio contains the prescription to remedy these human dilemmas.<br />
The entire story of Pinocchio symbolises a transition, via voluntary effort, from a purely material life to one incorporating the intangible, but more rewarding, spiritual dimension. The wooden boy, lacking a moral outlook, (crafted out of wood: a substance incorporating low-level life) is naturally prone to misjudgments which then require additional opportunities to prove himself. He returns again and again to his material condition, each time with a new set of surroundings and characters and opportunities.<br />
Like many classic stories, fables, and myths that have weathered the passage of time, it carries the symbolic blueprint for social and emotional conflict and the potential for resolution: Pinocchio has many unhappy adventures as he progresses from his wooden and dependent state to true independence as a real boy. He finally attains fulfillment and happiness when he completes his symbolic quest for the psychological foundations of courage.<br />
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Read <a href="http://www.pagebypagebooks.com/C_Collodi/The_Adventures_of_Pinocchio/">The Adventures of Pinocchio</a> online.<br />
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<a href="http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?itojokyqgbj"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Download Comics</span></a><a href="http://draft.blogger.com/goog_1249221516752"> </a><span style="font-weight: bold;">(13.25 MB)</span><br />
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</div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbm0bivzyqahYdkjZf51S9r5rTQHfd9wOOFfelUE6Zta64fP-zrTpcKhiNI3mqEzOOrqmGoJA3SxG49ZIJNc2o4ot7DUuqFpnxbR7TNxojT8SMhMn4hmO7H1DyFD3T-FDTdg1bWKM6EYU/s1600-h/46+%28579%29.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5296291029785497218" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbm0bivzyqahYdkjZf51S9r5rTQHfd9wOOFfelUE6Zta64fP-zrTpcKhiNI3mqEzOOrqmGoJA3SxG49ZIJNc2o4ot7DUuqFpnxbR7TNxojT8SMhMn4hmO7H1DyFD3T-FDTdg1bWKM6EYU/s400/46+%28579%29.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; float: right; height: 400px; margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; width: 294px;" /></a><span style="font-weight: bold;">ACK #46 (579) </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: 130%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Valmiki</span></span><br />
<span style="font-weight: bold;">The Great Sage & Author of The Ramayana</span><br />
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<div style="text-align: justify;">Maharshi Valmiki, the author of the great Indian epic <i>Ramayana</i>, was a Hindu sage who lived around the beginning of the first millennium B.C. He is referred to as the 'adikavi', the original creator of the Hindu 'sloka' - a verse form in which most of the great epics such as <i>Ramayana, Mahabharata, Puranas</i>, and other works are composed. <br />
</div><h3>How Valmiki Got His Name</h3><div style="text-align: justify;">He was a Brahman*** by birth belonging to the lineage of Bhrigu. Fate consigned him to a family of robbers which brought him up. Accidental contact with the Saptarsis - the Seven Sages and with the sage Narada changed his life. By the repetition of Ramanama or the name of Ram, he attained the supreme state of a 'maharshi' or great sage. Since a 'valmika' or an anthill had grown over his body during his long period of austerities and poised state of penance, he came to be known as Valmiki. <br />
</div><h3>The Epic Vision</h3><div style="text-align: justify;">When the mythical sage Narada came to his hermitage, Valmiki who received him with due honor, posed a question - who was an ideal man? The reply came from Narada in the form of <i>Samkshepa Ramayana </i>which formed the foundation on which the magnificent 24,000 verse edifice was built by Valmiki. Then, immersed deep into this story, Valmiki left for the river Tamasa with his disciple Bharadwaj. The pleasant and placid river reminded the seer of the mature and modest quality of his hero. He visualized a pure and pious man's mind reflected in the deep waters. In the next instant he witnessed a heartless hunter mercilessly killing a male bird that was in love with its mate. The piteous wailing of the distressed female moved the heart of the sage so much that he spontaneously uttered a curse on the hunter. However, this curse came out of his mouth in the form of a 'sloka', a perfectly metrical composition, which surprised the sage himself: "No - You shall not command any respect in society for a long time as you have shot dead an innocent bird engrossed in love". The sage had turned into a poet. <br />
</div><h3>Lord Brahma's Command</h3><div style="text-align: justify;">His powerful emotions found equally powerful medium for their manifestation. It was a spontaneous outburst of his inner voice motivated by divine will. When he returned to his hermitage, Brahma (the fourfaced God, the creator), appeared to him and commanded him to compose an epic poem on the story of Ram as he had heard it from the great sage Narada, in his newly discovered metre. He also gave him the boon of the visions of all the incidents and the revelation of all the secrets connected with the story. Accordingly, Valmiki composed the epic, named it <i>The Ramayana</i> - the way or the conduct or the lifestory of Ram - the story of Ram's march in search of truth and righteousness. <br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">A contemporary of the heroes of the Ramayana, Maharshi Valmiki gives very little information about himself since he was a sage who had completely dedicated his life to contemplation on God and service to humanity. History has no account of his life except that he figures briefly and modestly on two occasions in the course of the epic he wrote: <br />
</div><h3 style="text-align: center;">Valmiki's Cameo in Ramayana</h3><div style="text-align: justify;">He is one of the first sages whose hermitage Ram visits along with his wife and brother on his way to Chitrakoot after leaving Ayuodhya. Valmiki welcomes them with love, affection and reverence and utters just one word 'asyatam' (be seated). He feels honored when Ram accepts his request and sits a while. <br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">The other occasion is when Ram banishes Sita, it is Valmiki that shelters her and rears up her twin sons Luv and Kush. When they recite the epic poem in his royal court, Ram invites Valmiki and requests him to bring Sita along so she can prove her chastity before the elders and sages. Valmiki is offended yet keeps his composure and says Sita would comply with Ram's wishes for he is her husband. While presenting Sita in the Mandapa (prayer hall) Valmiki utters words that highlight the penance and perseverance which Valmiki practiced his entire life.<br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><h3 style="text-align: center;">In His Own Words</h3><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"I am the tenth son of the sage Prachetas. You belong to the great dynasty of Raghu. I do not remember to have uttered any lie so far in my life. I say that these two boys are your sons. I performed penance for thousands of years. I shall not accept the fruit of all my penance if there is any blemish in Maithili (Sita). I never entertained any ignoble thought, I never wronged any person, and I never spoke any vulgar word - I shall derive the benefit thereof only if Maithili is void of sin."<br />
</div><h3 style="text-align: center;">A True Sage</h3><div style="text-align: justify;">Valmiki was truly a Maharshi. I Panduranga Rao describes Valmiki in these words: "He was purity, penance, benevolence and meditation personified and the sole object of his dedication and contemplation was Man, a man leaves his selfish existence and lives for others identifying himself with the composite culture of the cosmic creation." The only work available of the great sage-poet, The Ramayana, has established the poet's timeless fame. <br />
</div><h3 style="text-align: justify;">Bibliography</h3><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><ul style="text-align: justify;"><li>Makers of Indian Literature: Valmiki by I Panduranga Rao (Sahitya Akademi) 1994</li>
<li> Studes on Valmiki's Ramayana by GS Altekar (Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute) 1987</li>
<li> Maharshi Valmiki by Chalasani Subbaro (Machilipatnam) 1988</li>
</ul><div id="title"><div id="byline" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: 85%;">(~Author <a href="http://hinduism.about.com/mbiopage.htm" zt="18/1YF/Zf">Subhamoy Das</a> </span><span style="font-size: 85%;">of this article published at </span><span style="font-size: 85%;"> <a href="http://hinduism.about.com/od/gurussaintsofthepast/a/valmiki.htm">About.com</a>)</span><br />
</div><div id="byline" style="text-align: justify;">*** According to <a href="http://www.bolokids.com/2008/0542.htm">Dr. Nandini Sahu,</a> Valmiki was from Kirata Bhil (a tribal) community. Many other sources also say that he was from tribal community. As there is very little information available about him, point of view differs. But he was first poet of Sanskit mostly specialists agree.<br />
</div><div id="byline" style="text-align: left;"><a href="http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?jfamnwbljv4">Download Comics</a><span style="font-weight: bold;"> (15.96 MB)</span><br />
</div><div id="byline" style="text-align: left;">*************************************************************<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2TsiZ1QGns1thsCFZcUa9-DdrdgXoINInyzlxjPZq-HXf4QM_N_ZYROTzUSCklx-BlOdVrw6l7s66XbJfYWAkrmF9d_bCC8TZ6oH_5zJt78rMa6_XszKgT0UiRwAzCsiRRdSRJk1oia4/s1600-h/378.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5296291241451334946" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2TsiZ1QGns1thsCFZcUa9-DdrdgXoINInyzlxjPZq-HXf4QM_N_ZYROTzUSCklx-BlOdVrw6l7s66XbJfYWAkrmF9d_bCC8TZ6oH_5zJt78rMa6_XszKgT0UiRwAzCsiRRdSRJk1oia4/s400/378.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; float: left; height: 400px; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; width: 286px;" /></a><br />
</div></div></div></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">An out of print ACK #378</span><br />
<br />
Read about author & Kathasritsagara in earlier post.<br />
<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;"><a href="http://www.mediafire.com/?ndlniwt3nlj"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Download Comics HQ</span></a> <span style="font-weight: bold;">(41.91 MB)</span><br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.mediafire.com/?dytj2nw5emn"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Download Comics</span></a> <span style="font-weight: bold;">(8.6 MB)</span><br />
</div><br />
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<div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Contributors:</span><br />
<br />
ACK #9 - Ajay Misra<br />
ACK # 46 - Anon ( our old ACK conrtibutor friend who requested to not reveal his identity)<br />
ACK #378 - Apoorva Chandar<br />
<br />
All thanks & credits go these three friends.<br />
</div></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com21tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6698160373757989549.post-57077134380034331442009-01-28T09:35:00.004+05:302009-02-23T15:57:40.119+05:30ACK 70: BuddhaToday this blog has completed one full year of its journey. We are very excited to watch the progress made so far and extremely thankful to all the contributors who have kept the enthusiasm of visitors and creators alive by constantly fuelling the blog with their precious scans, some of them rare and hard to find even in the ack official site.<br /><br />When it comes to talk of team effort, we Indians are certainly not having the reputation to top the charts. But it is heartening to see so many known and unknown names coming forward and sharing their invaluable collection with others. Hopefully it continues the same way.<br /><br />---------------------------------------------------<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><span style=";font-size:large;color:orange;" ><b>Buddha</b></span></div><br /><i><b>ACK's description</b></i><br /><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_YdOSQaw5epY/SX_N0GsLKEI/AAAAAAAABbc/dnS3sI3tydA/s1600-h/ACK_Buddha_cover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_YdOSQaw5epY/SX_N0GsLKEI/AAAAAAAABbc/dnS3sI3tydA/s320/ACK_Buddha_cover.jpg" border="0" /></a>In the area on the present border of India and Nepal, there was a small kingdom in the 6th century before the Common Era. When the prince was born, fortune- tellers forecast that he would be either a great king or a great saint. The king took every care to keep him in a life of pleasure so he would become king, not saint. The prince grew to be a strong, handsome youth. Yet he was kind; he saved a bird struck by his cousin's arrow and so claimed the bird as his.<br /><br />One day, on a ride outside the palace through the city, he saw a sick, an old and a dead man. Their sight opened his eyes to the suffering in the world and set him thinking. One night, he left his wife, newborn son and the palace and went in search of knowledge to end suffering in the world.<br /><table style="width: 300px;" align="left" bgcolor="#ffe599" cellpadding="10" height="84"><tbody><tr><td><br /><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 229, 153);"><b> Writer:</b> Prof. S. K. Ramchandra Rao</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 229, 153);"><b> Artworks</b>: Souren Roy</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 229, 153);"><b> Cover Artist:</b> P. G. Sirur</div></td></tr></tbody></table>He traveled far and wide and went through many austerities but realized that, sorrow can be ended, not by starving t he body but by freeing oneself from desire. He set out teaching this. People called him Buddha ('the Enlightened'). He started preaching against animal sacrifice as the means to satisfy desires. Soon commoners and kings alike started listening to him. There were detractors too, but he came out unharmed through all their evil designs. Back to his town during his travels, he finally won over his own family to his teachings.<br /><br /><div style="background-color: rgb(252, 229, 205); text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.mediafire.com/?2zgmtldzyim"><span style="font-size:large;"><b>Download ACK Buddha</b></span></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b>(34 pages, 1000 px wide, 9.4 MB)</b></div>TPHhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09956940336422524997noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6698160373757989549.post-91485956481609529812009-01-25T17:00:00.028+05:302010-01-17T17:11:59.409+05:30ACK-067, 068 & 069: Deshbandhu Chittaranjan Das; The March to Freedom (2: A Nation Awakes & 3: The Saga of Indian Revolutionaries)<div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: 100%;"><span style="text-decoration: underline;"></span></span><a href="http://www.desicomments.com/"><img alt="Happy Republic Day" src="http://www.desicomments.com/dc/13/30530/30530.gif" /></a><br />
</div><div style="font-family: georgia; text-align: center;"><br />
<span style="font-weight: bold;">28 States & 7 Union Territories,</span><br />
<span style="font-weight: bold;">18 major languages,</span><br />
<span style="font-weight: bold;">More than 6 religions,</span><br />
<span style="font-weight: bold;">More than 6 ethnic groups,</span><br />
<span style="font-weight: bold;">29 major festivals &</span><br />
<span style="font-weight: bold;">1 country!</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-weight: bold;">Be proud to be an Indian!</span><br />
<span style="font-weight: bold;">Great REPUBLIC...</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 130%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Happy Republic Day!</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-weight: bold;">*********************************************************</span><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">On the eve of 60th Republic day (26 January) of India, like to recall some informations & facts about India:</span><br />
<br />
Few countries in the world have such an ancient and diverse culture as India's, stretching back in an unbroken sweep over 5000 years.<br />
<br />
<span style="font-weight: bold;">India</span> is the <span style="font-weight: bold;">largest</span><span style="font-weight: bold;"> </span><span style="font-weight: bold;">democracy</span>, <span style="font-weight: bold;">the </span><span style="font-weight: bold;">second-most populous country</span>, and the <span style="font-weight: bold;">seventh-largest country by geographical area</span> in the world.<b></b><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-weight: bold;">Capital:</span> New Delhi<br />
<span style="font-weight: bold;">Population :</span> Over 1 billion (2001 Census)<br />
<span style="font-weight: bold;">Area : </span>32,87,263 square kilometers<br />
<br />
<span style="font-weight: bold;">Geographical Location : </span>Lies between latitudes 8 ° 4' and 37 ° 6 ' north and longitudes 68 ° 7 ' and 97 ° 25' east<br />
<br />
<span style="font-weight: bold;">Coastal Length :</span> 7,600 kilometers<br />
<span style="font-weight: bold;">Languages : </span>18 major languages, 1,652 dialects<br />
<span style="font-size: 100%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Religions :</span> India is a secular country and has no state religion. Religions represented in India include Hinduism (</span><span style="font-size: 100%;">80.456</span><span style="font-size: 100%;">%), Islam (</span><span style="font-size: 100%;">13.434</span><span style="font-size: 100%;">%), Christianity (</span><span style="font-size: 100%;">2.341</span><span style="font-size: 100%;">%), Sikhism (</span><span style="font-size: 100%;"> 1.868</span><span style="font-size: 100%;">%), Buddhism (</span><span style="font-size: 100%;"> 0.773</span><span style="font-size: 100%;">%), Jainism (</span><span style="font-size: 100%;">0.411</span><span style="font-size: 100%;">%) and </span><span style="font-size: 100%;">religion not stated (0.07%</span><span style="font-size: 100%;">).<br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-weight: bold;">National Anthem :</span> Jan gana mana written by Rabindranath Tagore<br />
<span style="font-weight: bold;">Natioanl Emblem :</span> Replica of the Lion Capital of Sarnath<br />
<span style="font-weight: bold;">National Flag : </span> Horizontal tricolor in equal proportion of deep saffron on the top, white in the middle and dark green at the bottom. In the center of the white band is a wheel in navy blue color.<br />
<span style="font-weight: bold;">National Animal :</span> Tiger, Panthera tigris<br />
<span style="font-weight: bold;">National Bird : </span>Peacock<br />
<span style="font-weight: bold;">National Flower : </span>Lotus<br />
<span style="font-weight: bold;">National Tree : </span>Banyan<br />
<span style="font-weight: bold;">National Fruit : </span>Mango<br />
<span style="font-weight: bold;">National Currency : </span> Rupees (One Rupees=100 paise)<br />
<span style="font-weight: bold;">Political Structure :</span> Sovereign, Socialist, Secular, Democratic Republic<br />
<span style="font-weight: bold;">Indian Union :</span> 28 States and seven centrally administered Union Territories<br />
<span style="font-weight: bold;">Legislature :</span> Parliament, consists of President and the two Houses, known as Rajya Sabha (Council of States) and Lok Sabha (House of the People )<br />
<span style="font-weight: bold;">Executive :</span> Consists of President, Vice-President and Council of Ministers led by the Prime Minister<br />
<span style="font-weight: bold;">Judiciary : </span> Independent of executive<br />
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</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Physical Features</span><br />
</div><span style="font-weight: bold;">Location</span><br />
Lying entirely in the northern hemisphere, the mainland extends between latitudes 8°4' and <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhusC4Tgx-yZWqKnDfnic5CUZrnOkEroHNgYm9dJ6Fk0XFVGSAAtn8YoshOPdDiAuCh9BflU0DehV7dH9FaMzB3UNP2ebsGUtU-x3STHNnmtLDq5ChpxrqpH45w8E7SFI8g3tS9ThzKoEU/s1600-h/map.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5294307963805368770" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhusC4Tgx-yZWqKnDfnic5CUZrnOkEroHNgYm9dJ6Fk0XFVGSAAtn8YoshOPdDiAuCh9BflU0DehV7dH9FaMzB3UNP2ebsGUtU-x3STHNnmtLDq5ChpxrqpH45w8E7SFI8g3tS9ThzKoEU/s400/map.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; float: right; height: 400px; margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; width: 357px;" /></a>37°6' north, longitudes 68°7' and 97°25' east, and measures about 3,214 km from north to south between the extreme latitudes and about 2,933 km from east to west between the extreme longitudes. It has a land frontier of about 15,200 km. The total length of the coastline of the mainland, Lakshadweep Islands, and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands is 7,516.6 km. Andaman and Nicobar islands in the Bay of Bengal and Lakshadweep in the Arabian Sea are parts of India. It is bounded on the south west by the Arabian Sea and on the south east by the Bay of Bengal. On the north, north east and north west lie the Himalayan ranges. Kanyakumari constitutes the southern tip of the Indian peninsula where it gets narrower and narrower, loses itself into the Indian Ocean.<br />
<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"> Coastline: Claims and Boundaries</span><br />
</div>Coastline: 7,516.6 km<br />
Maritime claims (Contiguous zone): 24 NM<br />
Territorial sea: 12 NM<br />
Continental shelf: 200 NM or to the edge of the continental margin<br />
Exclusive economic zone: 200 NM<br />
<br />
<span style="font-weight: bold;">Neighbours</span><br />
India shares its political borders with Pakistan and Afghanistan on the west and Bangladesh and Burma on the east. The northern boundary is made up of the Sinkiang province of China, Tibet, Nepal and Bhutan. India is seperated from Sri Lanka by a narrow channel of sea formed by the Palk Strait and the Gulf of Mannar.<br />
<br />
Total Land boundaries 14,103 km.<br />
<br />
Border Shared With Countries<br />
<ol><li>Bangladesh 4,053 km </li>
<li> Bhutan 605 km </li>
<li> Burma 1,463 km </li>
<li> China 3,380 km </li>
<li> Nepal 1,690 km </li>
<li> Pakistan 2,912 km </li>
</ol><br />
<span style="font-weight: bold;">Physiographic regions</span><br />
The mainland comprises seven regions. (1) Northern Mountains including the Himalayas and the North Eastern mountain ranges, (2) The Indo Gangetic plain, (3) The Desert, (4) Central highlands and Peninsular plateau, (5) East Coast, (6) West Coast, (7) Bordering seas and islands.<br />
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<span style="font-weight: bold;">Mountain ranges</span><br />
They are seven. The Himalayas, the Patkai and other ranges bordering India in the north and north east, the Vindhyas, which separate the Indo Gangetic plain from the Deccan Plateau, the Satpura, the Aravalli, the Sahyadri, which covers the eastern fringe of the West Coast plains and the Eastern Ghats, irregularly scattered on the East Coast and forming the boundary of the East Coast plains.<br />
<br />
<span style="font-weight: bold;">Seas/Oceans: </span>Arabian Sea (West), Bay of Bengal (East), Indian Ocean (South)<br />
<br />
<span style="font-weight: bold;">Islands:</span> Lakshadweep Islands in Arabian Sea, Andaman and Nicobar Islands in Bay of Bengal<br />
<span style="font-weight: bold;"><br />
Terrain </span><br />
Upland Plain (Deccan Plateau) in South,<br />
Flat to Rolling Plain along the Ganges,<br />
Deserts in West,<br />
Himalayas in North.<br />
<span style="font-weight: bold;"><br />
Elevation extremes</span><br />
<br />
Lowest point Indian Ocean: 0 m<span style="font-size: 100%;"><br />
Highest point Kanchenjunga: </span>8,598 m<br />
<br />
<span style="font-weight: bold;">Natural resources </span><br />
Coal (fourth-largest reserves in the world), Iron Ore, Manganese, Mica, Bauxite, Titanium Ore, Chromite, Natural Gas, Diamonds, Petroleum, Limestone, Arable Land<br />
<br />
<span style="font-weight: bold;">Industries: </span><br />
Textiles, chemicals, food processing, steel, transportation equipment, cement, mining, petroleum, machinery.<br />
<br />
<span style="font-weight: bold;">Agriculture: </span><br />
principal crops- rice, wheat, oilseed, cotton, jute, tea, sugar cane, potatoes;<br />
livestock–cattle, buffaloes, sheep, goats, poultry;<br />
fish catch of about 3 million metric tons ranks India among the world's top 10 fishing nations.<br />
<br />
<span style="font-weight: bold;">Climate:</span> Varies from tropical monsoon in south to temperate in north Terrain Upland Plain (Deccan Plateau) in South, Flat to Rolling Plain along the Ganges, Deserts in West, Himalayas in North.<br />
<br />
Mainly tropical in Southern India but temperatures in the north range from sub-zero degrees to 50 degrees Celsius.<br />
<div style="font-family: georgia;">There are well defined seasons in the northern region :<br />
<br />
</div><div style="font-family: georgia;">Winter (Dec – Feb),<br />
<br />
</div><div face="georgia">Spring (Mar – Apr),<br />
<br />
</div><div face="georgia">Summer (May – Jun),<br />
<br />
</div><div face="georgia">Monsoons (Jul – Sep) and<br />
</div><div face="georgia">Autumn (Oct – Nov).<br />
</div><div face="georgia"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Time zone: </span><b style="font-weight: normal;">GMT +5,5 hours.</b><br />
<br />
</div></div></div></div><div style="font-family: georgia; text-align: justify;"><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: 100%;">***********************************************</span><br />
</div><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: 100%;"><br />
With a billion people, with a population nearly four times that of the United States, India modeled its government on the British parliamentary system, with a healthy dose of influences from the United States and the rest of Europe.</span><br />
<br />
The Constitution of India is the <span style="font-weight: bold;">longest written constitution</span> of any sovereign nation in the world, containing 395 articles, 12 schedules and 94 amendments, for a total of 117,369 words in the English language version.<br />
</div><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: 100%;"><a face="georgia" href="http://draft.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=6698160373757989549&postID=9148595648160952981" name="top"> </a></span><br />
<div style="font-family: georgia; text-align: justify;"><br />
It was the Lahore Session of the Indian National Congress at midnight of December 31, 1929 - January 1, 1930, that the Tri-Colour Flag was unfurled by the nationalists and a pledge taken that every year on <span style="font-weight: bold;"> </span>January 26, the "Republic Day" would be celebrated and that the people would unceasingly strive for the establishment of a Sovereign Democratic Republic of India. The professed pledge was successfully redeemed on <span style="font-weight: bold;">26 January, 1950</span>, when the <a href="http://indiacode.nic.in/coiweb/welcome.html" style="font-weight: bold;">Constitution of India</a> framed by the Constituent Assembly of India came into force, although the <span style="font-weight: bold;">Independence</span> from the British rule was achieved on <span style="font-weight: bold;">August 15, 1947</span>.<a href="http://draft.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=6698160373757989549&postID=9148595648160952981" name="top"></a><a href="http://draft.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=6698160373757989549&postID=9148595648160952981" name="top"></a><span style="font-size: 100%;"><a href="http://draft.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=6698160373757989549&postID=9148595648160952981" name="top"><br />
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</div><div style="font-family: georgia; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 100%;">The <span style="font-weight: bold;">National Flag of India</span> is in <span style="font-weight: bold;">tricolour ( TIRANGA) </span>of deep saffron (Kesari) at the top, </span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjv5ZH573N8wgC8NG3m7aJdv4Sx34X1NNMoufYP3XeyfSmJ7Bge4MpAkd01L_pxi0xyR_sp_U24-Up9BZyvCbNAQewDlRYCYMhxcm8yrGwkIgr9eSRc_v_Zh_46zaRgqXmkJsQ9KQ5UkuM/s1600-h/800px-Flag_of_India.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5292782704941837346" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjv5ZH573N8wgC8NG3m7aJdv4Sx34X1NNMoufYP3XeyfSmJ7Bge4MpAkd01L_pxi0xyR_sp_U24-Up9BZyvCbNAQewDlRYCYMhxcm8yrGwkIgr9eSRc_v_Zh_46zaRgqXmkJsQ9KQ5UkuM/s400/800px-Flag_of_India.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; float: left; height: 266px; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; width: 400px;" /></a><span style="font-size: 100%;">white in the middle and dark green at the bottom in equal propotions.<br />
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</div><div style="font-family: georgia; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 100%;"> </span><span style="font-size: 100%;">The </span><span style="font-size: 100%;">Indian flag is a horizontal tricolour in equal proportion of deep saffron on the top, white in the middle and dark green at the bottom. The ratio of the width to the length of the flag is two is to three. In the centre of the white band, there is a wheel in navy blue to indicate the </span><span style="font-size: 100%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Dharma Chakra</span></span><span style="font-size: 100%;">, the wheel of law (</span><span style="font-size: 100%;">a Buddhist symbol dating back to 200th century BC</span><span style="font-size: 100%;">) in the Sarnath Lion Capital.<br />
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</div><div style="font-family: georgia; text-align: justify;"></div><div style="font-family: georgia; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 100%;">Its diameter approximates the width of the white band and it has 24 spokes, which intends to show that there is life in movement and death in stagnation. The saffron stands for courage, sacrifice and the spirit of renunciation; the white, for purity and truth; the green for faith and fertility.<br />
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</div><div style="font-family: georgia; text-align: justify;"><a href="http://draft.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=6698160373757989549&postID=9148595648160952981" name="top"></a><a href="http://draft.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=6698160373757989549&postID=9148595648160952981" name="top"></a>The twenty four spokes in this chakra (wheel) represent twenty four virtues: <br />
</div><ul style="font-family: georgia;"><li>Love</li>
<li>Courage</li>
<li>Patience</li>
<li>Peacefulness</li>
<li>Kindness</li>
<li>Goodness</li>
<li>Faithfulness</li>
<li>Gentleness</li>
<li>Self-control</li>
<li>Selflessness</li>
<li>Self sacrifice</li>
<li>Truthfulness</li>
<li>Righteousness</li>
<li>Justice</li>
<li>Mercy</li>
<li>Graciousness</li>
<li>Humility</li>
<li>Empathy</li>
<li>Sympathy</li>
<li>Godly knowledge</li>
<li>Godly wisdom</li>
<li>Godly moral</li>
<li>Reverential fear of God</li>
<li>Hope/trust/faith in the goodness of God.</li>
</ul><div style="font-family: georgia; text-align: justify;"></div><div style="font-family: georgia; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 100%;">The design of the National Flag of India was adopted by India's constituent assembly on 22nd july, 1947. It's use and display are regulated by a code. </span><br />
</div><div style="font-family: georgia; text-align: justify;"></div><div style="font-family: georgia; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 100%;">The late Prime Minister Pandit Nehru called it a flag not only of freedom for Indians, but a symbol of freedom for all people.</span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhk7XiWcAKRrs0iF-bf8WIbyJYipzNvSu4qhc0zi7oN_Z0uZQI79ip0byLvIAXZVqKRiAZpV4ueu30TPwBBHcKltEbn6C4J54Xc-spFwDGm5_wjSv62-B2sfzXlm-Ad4rm1qnTfVyt_b5A/s1600-h/310px-Emblem_of_India_color.svg.png" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5292811890492926642" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhk7XiWcAKRrs0iF-bf8WIbyJYipzNvSu4qhc0zi7oN_Z0uZQI79ip0byLvIAXZVqKRiAZpV4ueu30TPwBBHcKltEbn6C4J54Xc-spFwDGm5_wjSv62-B2sfzXlm-Ad4rm1qnTfVyt_b5A/s400/310px-Emblem_of_India_color.svg.png" style="cursor: pointer; float: right; height: 400px; margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; width: 258px;" /></a><br />
</div><div style="font-family: georgia; text-align: justify;">The <span style="font-weight: bold;">National Symbol of India</span> comes from the Sarnath Lion Capital of Emperor Ashoka. Ashoka ruled the land from 272 BCE to 232 BCE. The original sculpture shows four lions on a pillar with an elephant, horse, bull, and lion separated by a lotus on the base. A Dharma Chakra (wheel of law) is also carved into the stone.<br />
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The emblem was adopted on January 26, 1950 by the Indian Government. The official symbol now shows three of the four lions with the Dharma Chakra ( the Wheel of Dharma) in the center of the base and a bull and horse on either side. The base is also engraved with the phrase "<span style="font-weight: bold;">Satyameva Jayate</span>" in the Devanagari script of India. This simple phrase represents a powerful idea for the Indian people: "<span style="font-weight: bold;">Truth alone triumphs</span>".<br />
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The origin of the motto is a well-known mantra 3.1.6 from the <span style="font-weight: bold;">Mundaka Upanishad</span>. Full mantra as follows.<br />
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satyameva jayate naanritam<br />
satyena pantha vitato devayanah<br />
yenaa kramantyarishayo hyaaptakaamaa<br />
yatra tat satyasya paramam nidhaanam<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYly679M-wiPearq56wUqXWTliFaCQF_A2idIbNiotcWXztoOA4VJNaDBnlipPUv4fnjpjan7xARp2HrCKMC-6Z7ikAsq1PF8SkVsC9_HNP6VSAWkWmV0bgoQ5TOFLw6dCj_9RUokO_6U/s1600-h/anthemHindi.gif" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5292811897060715938" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYly679M-wiPearq56wUqXWTliFaCQF_A2idIbNiotcWXztoOA4VJNaDBnlipPUv4fnjpjan7xARp2HrCKMC-6Z7ikAsq1PF8SkVsC9_HNP6VSAWkWmV0bgoQ5TOFLw6dCj_9RUokO_6U/s400/anthemHindi.gif" style="cursor: pointer; float: right; height: 400px; margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; width: 291px;" /></a><br />
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Meaning:<br />
Truth alone triumphs; not falsehood.<br />
Through truth the divine path is spread out by which<br />
the sages whose desires have been completely fulfilled,<br />
reach where that supreme treasure of Truth resides<br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Indian national anthem</span> :"<span style="font-weight: bold;">Jana gana mana adhinayak jayahe"</span> was first sung by Rabindra Nath Tagor in 1911. The song is adopted as national song in 24 January 1950.There are total five stanza in this anthem and total duration is 52 seconds.<br />
</div><div style="font-family: georgia; text-align: justify;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrafib0oVKaiaVpjM5XhPSijeNIlYhd3mq2BpyrLKw7QrGiuakpieEuGZutLZvcugmoo2TfiOJTHKdFZFMVcNzw973WLpof4MyAD7QoAWGddcaqtQ_AlvT92K8eCXiHPFVKXwJsd_AoBw/s1600-h/peacocknew.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5292783254367475394" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrafib0oVKaiaVpjM5XhPSijeNIlYhd3mq2BpyrLKw7QrGiuakpieEuGZutLZvcugmoo2TfiOJTHKdFZFMVcNzw973WLpof4MyAD7QoAWGddcaqtQ_AlvT92K8eCXiHPFVKXwJsd_AoBw/s400/peacocknew.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; float: left; height: 225px; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; width: 169px;" /></a>The <span style="font-weight: bold;">National Bird</span> is the <span style="font-weight: bold;">Indian peacock</span> (Pavo cristatus). Peacocks symbolize grace, pride, and beauty. They are a sign of joy for all who see them. Peacocks are often used in Indian mythology and folk stories. This bird is about the size of a swan, with a long neck and a fan-shaped array of feathers. Male peacocks are brightly colored, with blue fronts and green-bronze feathers. The female (peahen) is smaller and brown in color. The <br />
</div><div style="font-family: georgia; text-align: justify;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7Zar1HVy5Ck_SxMeKujuh2Drr9HO_TBOZgYqge0o5AnalGRgV4j_hPutOzM-4rBdSTvNC3nbj1CCI7JctKU2z2oFVBNdhQYa3JTIbBYhVkZJQiRDC0VIv0XrNcdYufnm0G4NZLCZlHFs/s1600-h/391.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5292821674002261762" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7Zar1HVy5Ck_SxMeKujuh2Drr9HO_TBOZgYqge0o5AnalGRgV4j_hPutOzM-4rBdSTvNC3nbj1CCI7JctKU2z2oFVBNdhQYa3JTIbBYhVkZJQiRDC0VIv0XrNcdYufnm0G4NZLCZlHFs/s400/391.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; float: right; height: 400px; margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; width: 315px;" /></a><br />
</div><div style="font-family: georgia; text-align: justify;">peacock may be found throughout India, especially south and east of the Indus River. It is heavily protected under the Indian Wildlife Protection Act of 1972. It also enjoys great sentimental protection from the nation at large.<br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">The <span style="font-weight: bold;">National Animal</span> is the<span style="font-weight: bold;"> tiger</span>, officially known as Panthera tigris. It is respected in India for its strength and grace, as well as its incredible power. The Indian tiger is also called the Royal Bengal Tiger.<br />
</div><div style="font-family: georgia; text-align: justify;">Indians are conscious of the threat that hunters and others pose to this special animal. Although once popularly killed for its skin, there is now a movement to protect the tiger population. To this end, the government began "Project Tiger" in 1973. The project is also supported by the World Wildlife Federation. This project has created a network of tiger reserves throughout the country and implemented a plan to help tigers and humans coexist. India is working hard to preserve its national animal, but sadly, only 2,000 to 2,500 tigers remain.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNObx_tF4CwTd2E6mAF1WAAHQxJjqmdGG5s3yXQObIUSbipX5-9jsconK-rnLBGATbQE6zMUzPxpRzeBT2UuTYZlYcJWhrRkC3W-lOgPKy3JjTXR76Z64aUiNVx1b7hWa6quWMSOb5pTA/s1600-h/lotus2.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5292783713105704546" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNObx_tF4CwTd2E6mAF1WAAHQxJjqmdGG5s3yXQObIUSbipX5-9jsconK-rnLBGATbQE6zMUzPxpRzeBT2UuTYZlYcJWhrRkC3W-lOgPKy3JjTXR76Z64aUiNVx1b7hWa6quWMSOb5pTA/s400/lotus2.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; float: left; height: 175px; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; width: 115px;" /></a>The<span style="font-weight: bold;"> lotus</span> (Nelumbo Nucifera) is the <span style="font-weight: bold;">official flower of India</span>. It represents long life, honor, and good fortune. It is also a symbol of triumph, since the lotus is rooted in the mud and can survive to regerminate for thousands of years. Even though it grows in mud, it remains pure and produces beautiful flowers. Thus, it symbolizes purity of heart and mind.<br />
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The lotus holds additional significance for Hindus, as it is a symbol of God and used often in religious practices.<br />
</div><div face="georgia" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
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</div><div face="georgia" style="text-align: justify;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2r5kaZ5WE1LRCGnkUEuFMlNskcmtbacz-g7aeReKMBcIlDLT_r5OgwdIrRW63zd0Y7twTmlaS9szCnuhFA27SDvgFj_QD8x27ywrGieCoQ05G-PwrgCUkiV9OXVSFt3t25jvoHr42uWo/s1600-h/banyan2.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5292783931388384466" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2r5kaZ5WE1LRCGnkUEuFMlNskcmtbacz-g7aeReKMBcIlDLT_r5OgwdIrRW63zd0Y7twTmlaS9szCnuhFA27SDvgFj_QD8x27ywrGieCoQ05G-PwrgCUkiV9OXVSFt3t25jvoHr42uWo/s400/banyan2.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; float: right; height: 275px; margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; width: 400px;" /></a><br />
</div><div face="georgia" style="text-align: justify;">The <span style="font-weight: bold;">National Tree of India</span> is the <span style="font-weight: bold;">banyan</span>. This huge tree towers over its neighbors and has the widest reaching roots of all known trees, easily covering several acres. It sends off new shoots from its roots, so that one tree is really a tangle of branches, roots, and trunks. The banyan tree regenerates and lives for an incredible length of time - thus it is thought of as the immortal tree.<br />
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Its size and leafy shelter are valued in India as a place of rest and reflection, not to mention protection from the hot sun! It is still the focal point and gathering place for local councils and meetings. India has a long history of honoring this tree; it figures prominently in many of the oldest stories of the nation.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXjH7o2AGWoZ-__vZsG3gqHYJj7V7rUoazZrUhfVKv1QMm0Vs2qPf-7fkc73pj_LdK0fSxxqqbC5x5tosD5g84SKHPx6PmP1EiQr3lPZKN4KdwTqRrYHigGCMPtKn1X2sT-WFxR_P3MvA/s1600-h/mango.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5292784337978705650" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXjH7o2AGWoZ-__vZsG3gqHYJj7V7rUoazZrUhfVKv1QMm0Vs2qPf-7fkc73pj_LdK0fSxxqqbC5x5tosD5g84SKHPx6PmP1EiQr3lPZKN4KdwTqRrYHigGCMPtKn1X2sT-WFxR_P3MvA/s400/mango.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; float: left; height: 275px; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; width: 206px;" /></a>The<span style="font-weight: bold;"> mango</span> is the <span style="font-weight: bold;">national fruit</span>. It has been cultivated in India since time immemorial. There are over 100 varieties of mangos in India, in a range of colors, sizes, and shapes. Common in the tropical part of the world, mangos are savored for their sweet juice and bright colors.<br />
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People in India eat mangos ripe, or prepare them green as pickles or chutneys. They are rich in vitamin A, C, and D.<br />
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</div><div style="font-family: georgia; text-align: justify;"><a href="http://draft.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=6698160373757989549&postID=9148595648160952981" name="top"></a><br />
<span style="font-weight: bold;">The Polity</span>: India, a Union of States, is a Sovereign Socialist Secular Democratic Republic. The Constitution of India, which came into force on January 26, 1950, provides for a parliamentary system of Government and a federal structure. India comprises 28 States and 7 Union Territories. There is a bicameral parliament and three independent branches of Government: the Executive, the Legislature and the Judiciary. The President of India is the Constitutional Head of Executive of the Union. The Constitution provides for a Council of Ministers headed by the Prime Minister to aid and advise the President who shall in exercise of his functions, act in accordance with such advice. The real executive power thus vests in the Council of Ministers which is collectively responsible to the lower house of Parliament (Lok Sabha). Similarly, in states, Governor is the head of the executive, but it is the Council of Ministers headed by the Chief Minister in whom the real executive power vests. The Council of Ministers of a State is collectively responsible to the State Legislative Assembly.<br />
<div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">*********************************************************</span><br />
</div><div style="font-weight: bold; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 100%;">Presidents of India</span><br />
</div><table class="wikitable sortable" id="sortable_table_id_0" style="text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="color: red; font-weight: bold; vertical-align: top;"><span style="font-size: 85%;">#<br />
</span><br />
</td><td style="color: red; font-weight: bold; vertical-align: top;"><span style="font-size: 85%;">Name<br />
</span><br />
</td><td style="color: red; font-weight: bold; text-align: center; vertical-align: top;"><span style="font-size: 85%;">Portrait<br />
</span><br />
</td><td style="color: red; font-weight: bold; vertical-align: top;"><span style="font-size: 85%;">Took office - Left office<br />
</span><br />
</td><td style="color: red; font-weight: bold; vertical-align: top;"><span style="font-size: 85%;">Vice President</span><br />
</td><td style="color: red; font-weight: bold; vertical-align: top;"><span style="font-size: 85%;">Note<br />
</span><br />
</td></tr>
<tr> <td>1<br />
</td> <td><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rajendra_Prasad" title="Rajendra Prasad">Dr. Rajendra Prasad </a><br />
</td> <td><a class="image" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Dr.Rajendra.Prasad_%28enhanced%29.jpg" title="Dr.Rajendra.Prasad (enhanced).jpg"><img alt="" border="0" height="98" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/2/2c/Dr.Rajendra.Prasad_%28enhanced%29.jpg/70px-Dr.Rajendra.Prasad_%28enhanced%29.jpg" width="70" /></a><br />
</td> <td>26 January 1950 - 13 May 1962<br />
</td> <td><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarvepalli_Radhakrishnan" title="Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan">Dr. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan</a><br />
</td> <td style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 85%;"><b>Bharat Ratna (1962) Dr. Rajendra </b></span><span style="font-size: 85%; font-weight: bold;">Prasad</span><span style="font-size: 85%;"> was the first President of independent India.</span><span style="font-size: 85%;"> A lawyer turned journalist, </span><span style="font-size: 85%; text-decoration: underline;"> </span><span style="font-size: 85%;">He was also an independence activist of the Indian Independence Movement. He served as President of the Constituent Assembly that drafted the constitution India. </span><span style="font-size: 85%;">He was unanimously elected president in 1950 and, after the first general election (1952), was chosen by an overwhelming majority of the new electoral college; in 1957 he was elected to a third term. Prasad was the </span><span style="font-size: 85%; font-weight: bold;">only president who took oath 26 January & elected for three terms</span><span style="font-size: 85%;"> in office.</span><br />
</td> </tr>
<tr> <td>2<br />
</td> <td><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarvepalli_Radhakrishnan" title="Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan">Dr. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan</a><br />
</td> <td><a class="image" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:SRadhakrishnan.jpg" title="SRadhakrishnan.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" height="99" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/4/48/SRadhakrishnan.jpg/70px-SRadhakrishnan.jpg" width="70" /></a><br />
</td> <td>13 May 1962 -13 May 1967<br />
</td> <td><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zakir_Hussain_%28politician%29" title="Zakir Hussain (politician)">Dr. Zakir Hussain</a><br />
</td> <td style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 85%;"><b>Bharat Ratna (1954) </b></span><span style="font-size: 85%; font-weight: bold;">Dr. Radhakrishnan</span><span style="font-size: 85%;"> was a prominent philosopher, writer, a </span><span style="font-size: 85%;">Knight of the Realm</span><span style="font-size: 85%;"> and also held the position of </span><span style="font-size: 85%;">vice chancellor</span><span style="font-size: 85%;"> of the Andhra University and Banaras Hindu University. He was also made a Knight of the </span><span style="font-size: 85%;">Golden Army of Angels</span> by Pope Paul VI.<br />
</td> </tr>
<tr> <td>3<br />
</td> <td><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zakir_Hussain_%28politician%29" title="Zakir Hussain (politician)">Dr. Zakir Hussain</a><br />
</td> <td><a class="image" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Dr_Zakir_Hussain.jpg" title="Dr Zakir Hussain.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" height="101" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/e/e9/Dr_Zakir_Hussain.jpg/70px-Dr_Zakir_Hussain.jpg" width="70" /></a><br />
</td> <td>13 May 1967 - 3 May 1969<br />
</td> <td><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/V._V._Giri" title="V. V. Giri">Varahagiri Venkata Giri</a><br />
</td> <td style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 85%;"><b>Bharat Ratna (1963)</b></span><span style="font-size: 85%; font-weight: bold;"> Dr. Zakir Hussain</span><span style="font-size: 85%;"> was vice chancellor of the Aligarh Muslim University and a recipient of Padma Vibhushan and Bharat Ratna.</span><span style="font-size: 85%; text-decoration: underline;"> </span><span style="font-size: 85%;">He died before his term of office was ended.</span><br />
</td> </tr>
<tr style="background-color: wheat;"> <td><br />
</td> <td><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/V._V._Giri" title="V. V. Giri">Varahagiri Venkata Giri</a> *<br />
</td> <td><a class="image" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:VVGiri_Portrait.JPG" title="VVGiri Portrait.JPG"><img alt="" border="0" height="94" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/1/12/VVGiri_Portrait.JPG/70px-VVGiri_Portrait.JPG" width="70" /></a><br />
</td> <td>3 May 1969 - 20 July 1969<br />
</td> <td><br />
</td> <td style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 85%; font-weight: bold;">Giri</span><span style="font-size: 85%;"> was appointed as acting president following the death of Hussain. He resigned in a few months to take part in the presidential elections.</span><br />
</td> </tr>
<tr style="background-color: wheat;"> <td><br />
</td> <td><a class="mw-redirect" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muhammad_Hidayatullah" title="Muhammad Hidayatullah">Muhammad Hidayatullah</a> *<br />
</td> <td><a class="image" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Muhammad_Hidayatullah.jpg" title="Muhammad Hidayatullah.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" height="88" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/f/f5/Muhammad_Hidayatullah.jpg/70px-Muhammad_Hidayatullah.jpg" width="70" /></a><br />
</td> <td>20 July 1969 - 24 August 1969<br />
</td> <td><br />
</td> <td style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 85%; font-weight: bold;">Hidayatullah</span><span style="font-size: 85%;"> served as the Chief Justice of India, and was a recipient of the Order of the British Empire. He served as acting president until the election of Giri as the President of India. He was also the Vice-President of India for one complete term.</span><br />
</td> </tr>
<tr> <td>4<br />
</td> <td><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/V._V._Giri" title="V. V. Giri">Varahagiri Venkata Giri</a><br />
</td> <td><a class="image" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:VVGiri_Portrait.JPG" title="VVGiri Portrait.JPG"><img alt="" border="0" height="94" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/1/12/VVGiri_Portrait.JPG/70px-VVGiri_Portrait.JPG" width="70" /></a><br />
</td> <td>24 August 1969 - 24 August 1974<br />
</td> <td><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gopal_Swarup_Pathak" title="Gopal Swarup Pathak">Gopal Swarup Pathak</a><br />
</td> <td style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 85%;"><b>Bharat Ratna (1975)</b></span><span style="font-size: 85%; font-weight: bold;"> </span><span style="font-size: 85%; font-weight: bold;">Varahagiri Venkata Giri</span><span style="font-size: 85%;"> is the only person to have served as both an acting president and president of India. He was a recipient of the Bharat Ratna, and has functioned as Indian Minister of Labour and High Commissioner to </span><span style="font-size: 85%;">Ceylon</span><span style="font-size: 85%;"> (Sri Lanka).</span><br />
</td> </tr>
<tr> <td>5<br />
</td> <td><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fakhruddin_Ali_Ahmed" title="Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed">Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed</a><br />
</td> <td><a class="image" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Dr_fakhruddin_ali_ahmed.jpg" title="Dr fakhruddin ali ahmed.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" height="87" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/3/3d/Dr_fakhruddin_ali_ahmed.jpg/70px-Dr_fakhruddin_ali_ahmed.jpg" width="70" /></a><br />
</td> <td>24 August 1974 - 11 February 1977<br />
</td> <td><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basappa_Danappa_Jatti" title="Basappa Danappa Jatti">Basappa Danappa Jatti</a><br />
</td> <td style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 85%; font-weight: bold;">Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed</span><span style="font-size: 85%;"> served as a Minister before being elected as president. He died in 1977 before his term of office ended, and was the second Indian president to have died during a term of office.</span><br />
</td> </tr>
<tr style="background-color: wheat;"> <td><br />
</td> <td><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basappa_Danappa_Jatti" title="Basappa Danappa Jatti">Basappa Danappa Jatti</a> *<br />
</td> <td><a class="image" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:B_D_Jatti.jpg" title="B D Jatti.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" height="88" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/e/ed/B_D_Jatti.jpg/70px-B_D_Jatti.jpg" width="70" /></a><br />
</td> <td>11 February 1977 - 25 July 1977<br />
</td> <td><br />
</td> <td style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 85%; font-weight: bold;">Jatti</span><span style="font-size: 85%;"> was the vice president of India during Ahmed's term of office, and was sworn in as acting president upon Ahmed's death. He earlier functioned as the Chief Minister for the State of </span><span style="font-size: 85%;">Mysore</span><span style="font-size: 85%;">.</span><br />
</td> </tr>
<tr> <td>6<br />
</td> <td><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neelam_Sanjiva_Reddy" title="Neelam Sanjiva Reddy">Neelam Sanjiva Reddy</a><br />
</td> <td><a class="image" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Neelam_Sanjeeva_Reddy.jpg" title="Neelam Sanjeeva Reddy.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" height="78" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/a/a0/Neelam_Sanjeeva_Reddy.jpg/70px-Neelam_Sanjeeva_Reddy.jpg" width="70" /></a><br />
</td> <td>25 July 1977 - 25 July 1982<br />
</td> <td><a class="mw-redirect" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muhammad_Hidayatullah" title="Muhammad Hidayatullah">Muhammad Hidayatullah</a><br />
</td> <td style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 85%; font-weight: bold;">Reddy</span><span style="font-size: 85%;"> was the only Member of Parliament from the Janata Party to get elected from Andhra Pradesh.<sup>th</sup> President of India.</span> He was unanimously elected Speaker of the Lok Sabha on 26 March 1977 and relinquished this office on 13 July 1977 to become the 6<br />
</td> </tr>
<tr> <td>7<br />
</td> <td><a class="mw-redirect" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giani_Zail_Singh" title="Giani Zail Singh">Giani Zail Singh</a><br />
</td> <td><a class="image" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Zail_Singh2.jpg" title="Zail Singh2.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" height="85" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/0/04/Zail_Singh2.jpg/70px-Zail_Singh2.jpg" width="70" /></a><br />
</td> <td>25 July 1982 - 25 July 1987<br />
</td> <td><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R._Venkataraman" title="R. Venkataraman">Ramaswamy Venkataraman</a><br />
</td> <td style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 85%; font-weight: bold;">In</span><span style="font-size: 85%;"> March 1972, Singh assumed the position of chief Minister of Punjab, and in 1980, he became Union Home Minister.</span><br />
</td> </tr>
<tr> <td>8<br />
</td> <td><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R._Venkataraman" title="R. Venkataraman">Ramaswamy Venkataraman</a><br />
</td> <td><a class="image" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:R_Venkataraman.jpg" title="R Venkataraman.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" height="85" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/f/ff/R_Venkataraman.jpg/70px-R_Venkataraman.jpg" width="70" /></a><br />
</td> <td>25 July 1987 - 25 July 1992<br />
</td> <td><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shankar_Dayal_Sharma" title="Shankar Dayal Sharma">Dr. Shankar Dayal Sharma</a><br />
</td> <td style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 85%; font-weight: bold;">In</span><span style="font-size: 85%;"> 1942, Venkataraman was jailed by the British for his involvement in the India's independence movement.</span> After his release, he was elected to independent India’s Provisional Parliament as a member of the Congress Party in 1950 and eventually joined the central government, where he first served as Minister of Finance and Industry and later as Minister of Defence.<br />
</td> </tr>
<tr> <td>9<br />
</td> <td><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shankar_Dayal_Sharma" title="Shankar Dayal Sharma">Dr. Shankar Dayal Sharma</a><br />
</td> <td><a class="image" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Shankar_Dayal_Sharma.jpg" title="Shankar Dayal Sharma.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" height="88" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/1/19/Shankar_Dayal_Sharma.jpg/70px-Shankar_Dayal_Sharma.jpg" width="70" /></a><br />
</td> <td>25 July 1992 - 25 July 1997<br />
</td> <td><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/K._R._Narayanan" title="K. R. Narayanan">Kocheril Raman Narayanan</a><br />
</td> <td style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 85%; font-weight: bold;">Dr. Sharma</span><span style="font-size: 85%;"> was Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh, and the Indian Minister for Communications. He has also served as the governor of Andhra Pradesh, Punjab and Maharashtra.</span><br />
</td> </tr>
<tr> <td>10<br />
</td> <td><a class="mw-redirect" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kocheril_Raman_Narayanan" title="Kocheril Raman Narayanan">Kocheril Raman Narayanan</a><br />
</td> <td><a class="image" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:KRNatWSF2.jpg" title="KRNatWSF2.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" height="83" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/d/d6/KRNatWSF2.jpg/70px-KRNatWSF2.jpg" width="70" /></a><br />
</td> <td>25 July 1997 - 25 July 2002<br />
</td> <td><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Krishan_Kant" title="Krishan Kant">Krishan Kant</a><br />
</td> <td style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 85%; font-weight: bold;">Narayanan</span><span style="font-size: 85%;"> served as India's ambassador to Thailand, Turkey, China and United States of America. He received doctorates in Science and Law and was also a chancellor in several universities. He was also the vice-chancellor of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jawaharlal_Nehru_University" title="Jawaharlal Nehru University">Jawaharlal Nehru University</a>.</span><br />
</td> </tr>
<tr> <td>11<br />
</td> <td><a class="mw-redirect" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A._P._J._Abdul_Kalam" title="A. P. J. Abdul Kalam">Dr. A. P. J. Abdul Kalam</a><br />
</td> <td><a class="image" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:A_P_J_Abdul_Kalam.jpg" title="A P J Abdul Kalam.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" height="103" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/a0/A_P_J_Abdul_Kalam.jpg/70px-A_P_J_Abdul_Kalam.jpg" width="70" /></a><br />
</td> <td>25 July 2002 - 25 July 2007<br />
</td> <td><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bhairon_Singh_Shekhawat" title="Bhairon Singh Shekhawat">Bhairon Singh Shekhawat</a><br />
</td> <td style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 85%;"><b>Bharat Ratna (1997) Dr. </b></span><span style="font-size: 85%; font-weight: bold;">A. P. J. Abdul Kalam</span><span style="font-size: 85%;"> is a scientist who played a leading role in the development of India's ballistic missile and nuclear weapons programs.<br />
</span><br />
</td> </tr>
<tr> <td>12<br />
</td> <td><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pratibha_Patil" title="Pratibha Patil">Pratibha Patil</a><br />
</td> <td><a class="image" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:PratibhaIndia.jpg" title="PratibhaIndia.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" height="120" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/1f/PratibhaIndia.jpg/70px-PratibhaIndia.jpg" width="70" /></a><br />
</td> <td>25 July 2007 ~ till today<br />
</td> <td><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mohammad_Hamid_Ansari" title="Mohammad Hamid Ansari">Mohammad Hamid Ansari</a><br />
</td> <td style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 85%; font-weight: bold;">Patil</span><span style="font-size: 85%;"> is the </span><span style="font-size: 85%; font-weight: bold;">first woman</span><span style="font-size: 85%;"> to become the President of India. She was also the </span><span style="font-size: 85%; font-weight: bold;">first female Governor of Rajasthan</span><span style="font-size: 85%;">.</span><br />
</td> </tr>
</tbody></table><ul><li><span style="font-size: 85%; font-weight: bold;">The symbol (*) with a light brown background indicates an acting president </span><span style="font-size: 85%;">(<span style="font-weight: bold;">therefore not numbered.).</span></span></li>
</ul><span style="font-size: 85%;">(~ Based on information from <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Presidents_of_India">Wikipedia</a> & Government of India sources.)<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">*********************************************************</span><br />
</div><div align="justify">Top present functionaries of Government of India are:<br />
</div>President: <b>Mrs. Pratibha Patil<br />
</b>Vice-President: <b>Mr. Mohammad Hamid Ansari</b><br />
Prime Minister: <b>Dr. Manmohan Singh<br />
</b>Speaker (Lower House): <b>Mr. Somnath Chatterjee<br />
</b>Chief Justice of India: <b>Mr. Justice K.G. Balakrishnan</b><br />
<div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">*********************************************************</span><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Civilian Awards in India<br />
</span></span></b><br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4o3_-JDLAH7bFjmA62amVafI-8C5qfPgbsVS0jj3ArGr-r9Bdo2WCZBweWeyNvPA-rPkf1GV3NpptoQl2XHSuzC9ZV-JSfUtWrW0eaZHdbxq0kebyvh-SbXu3YlKCu6N-Ra4wkTulnUs/s1600-h/800px-Am3331y.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5293561076812366354" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4o3_-JDLAH7bFjmA62amVafI-8C5qfPgbsVS0jj3ArGr-r9Bdo2WCZBweWeyNvPA-rPkf1GV3NpptoQl2XHSuzC9ZV-JSfUtWrW0eaZHdbxq0kebyvh-SbXu3YlKCu6N-Ra4wkTulnUs/s400/800px-Am3331y.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; float: left; height: 300px; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; width: 400px;" /></a><b><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">1. Bharat Ratna</span></span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-weight: normal;">Bharat Ratna (translates to Jewel of India or Gem of India in English) is India’s highest civilian award, awarded for the highest degrees of national service. This service includes artistic, literary, and scientific achievements, as well as “recognition of public service of the highest order.” The award was established by the first President of India, Rajendra Prasad, on January 2, 1954. The honour has been awarded to forty persons, a list which includes two non-Indians and a naturalized Indian citizen. Tamil Nadu and Uttar Pradesh are the states with the most number of awardees (8 each). The actual award is designed in the shape of a peepul leaf and carries the Hindi-written words “Bharat Ratna” on the front. The reverse side of the medal carries the state emblem and motto. The original statutes of January 1954 did not make allowance for posthumous awards (and this perhaps explains why the decoration was never awarded to Mahatma Gandhi), though this provision was added in the January 1955 statute. Subsequently, there have been ten posthumous awards, including the award to Subhash Chandra Bose in 1992, which was later withdrawn due to a legal technicality, the only case of an award being withdrawn.</span></b> <b></b> <b><span style="font-weight: normal;">While there was no formal provision that recipients of the Bharat Ratna should be Indian citizens, this seems to have been the general assumption. There has been one award to a naturalized Indian citizen — Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu, better known as Mother Teresa (1980); and two to non-Indians — Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan (1987) and Nelson Mandela (1990).</span></b> <b></b> <b><span style="font-weight: normal;">No one has been conferred with Bharat Ratna since 2001.</span></b><br />
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<b><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">2.Padma Vibhushan</span></span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-weight: normal;">The Padma Vibhushan is India’s second highest civilian honour. It consists of a medal and a citation and is awarded by the President of India.</span></b> <b></b> <b><span style="font-weight: normal;">It was established on January 2, 1954. It is awarded to recognize exceptional and distinguished service to the nation in any field, including government service.</span></b> <b><span style="font-weight: normal;">As of Feb 2008, 235 people have received the award.</span></b><br />
<b></b> <b style="font-weight: bold;"></b><b><span style="font-weight: normal;"> <span style="font-weight: bold;">3.Padma Bhushan</span><br />
This is awarded to recognize distinguished service of a high order to the nation, in any field. It stands third in the hierarchy of civilian awards. As of 2008 Feb, 1003 people have received the award.</span></b><b style="font-weight: bold;"><br />
<br />
</b><span style="font-weight: bold;">4.</span><b><span style="font-weight: normal;"> <span style="font-weight: bold;">Padma Shri</span><br />
This award is given by the Government of India generally to Indian citizens to recognize their distinguished contribution in various spheres of activity including the Arts, Education, Industry, Literature, Science, Sports, Social Service and public life. (Padma = Lotus, in Sanskrit). As of 2008 Feb, 2095 people have received the award.</span></b><b><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br />
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</span></b><br />
<div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">*********************************************************</span><br />
</div></div><b><span style="font-weight: bold;">Indian Armed Forces</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-weight: normal;">India maintains the world's third largest armed forces (after China & USA).</span> <span style="font-weight: normal;">The President of India serves as the de jure commander-in-chief of the armed forces while the de facto executive power is held by the Union Government headed by the Prime Minister of India.</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">Components</span> </b><br />
<ul><li><b><span style="font-weight: normal;">Indian Army (second largest army in terms of military personnel after China)</span></b></li>
<li><b><span style="font-weight: normal;">Indian Air Force (fourth largest air force in the world)</span></b></li>
<li><b><span style="font-weight: normal;">Indian Navy (world's fifth largest navy)</span></b></li>
<li><b><span style="font-weight: normal;">Indian Coast Guard</span></b></li>
<li><b><span style="font-weight: normal;">Paramilitary Forces of India (PMF)</span></b></li>
<li><b><span style="font-weight: normal;">Strategic Nuclear Command </span></b></li>
<li><b><span style="font-weight: normal;">Integrated Space Cell</span></b></li>
</ul><div style="font-style: italic;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiB495s_tYvloLS9SfB-_rOWoNzqU-HhMkykSOiDkBFCyAItjHgR8qbwekQstmACBLspbJ2sp16OYZfmp5Ju_TNAQ4I7YEQiqxvgTMLiEYOm8EUeXJ-jqij6u0-IxjI3mKNAEW9AI3dp3c/s1600-h/PVC_Medal.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5293569397066903090" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiB495s_tYvloLS9SfB-_rOWoNzqU-HhMkykSOiDkBFCyAItjHgR8qbwekQstmACBLspbJ2sp16OYZfmp5Ju_TNAQ4I7YEQiqxvgTMLiEYOm8EUeXJ-jqij6u0-IxjI3mKNAEW9AI3dp3c/s400/PVC_Medal.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; float: left; height: 165px; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; width: 97px;" /></a><b><span style="font-weight: bold;">Gallantry awards</span></b><br />
</div><b><span style="font-weight: normal;">The highest wartime gallantry award given by the Military of India is the Param Vir Chakra (PVC), followed by the Maha Vir Chakra (MVC) and the Vir Chakra (VrC). Its peacetime equivalent is the Ashoka Chakra.<br />
</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-weight: normal;">The highest decoration for meritorious service is the Param Vishisht Seva Medal.</span><br />
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</div><a href="http://draft.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=6698160373757989549&postID=9148595648160952981" name="top" style="font-family: georgia;"></a><a href="http://draft.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=6698160373757989549&postID=9148595648160952981" name="top" style="font-family: georgia;"></a><a href="http://draft.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=6698160373757989549&postID=9148595648160952981" name="top" style="font-family: georgia;"></a><a href="http://draft.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=6698160373757989549&postID=9148595648160952981" name="top" style="font-family: georgia;"></a><a href="http://draft.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=6698160373757989549&postID=9148595648160952981" name="top" style="font-family: georgia;"></a><span style="font-family: georgia; font-weight: bold;">States & Union Territories </span><span style="font-family: georgia;">(administered directly by the central Government) </span><span style="font-family: georgia; font-weight: bold;">of India</span><span style="font-family: georgia;">:</span><a href="http://www.desicomments.com/desi/republic-day/" style="font-family: georgia;"><br />
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<table border="0" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1"><tbody>
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<li><span style="font-size: 100%;">Andaman & Nicobar (UT)</span> </li><br />
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<li><span style="font-size: 100%;">Haryana</span> </li><br />
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<li><span style="font-size: 100%;">Mizoram</span></li><br />
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<li><span style="font-size: 100%;">Andhra Pradesh</span></li><br />
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<li><span style="font-size: 100%;">Himachal Pradesh</span> </li><br />
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<li><span style="font-size: 100%;">Nagaland</span></li><br />
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</td> </tr>
<tr> <td><br />
<br />
<br />
<li><span style="font-size: 100%;">Arunachal Pradesh</span></li><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
</td><td><br />
<br />
<br />
<li><span style="font-size: 100%;">Jammu and Kashmir </span> </li><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
</td><td><br />
<br />
<br />
<li><span style="font-size: 100%;">Orissa</span></li><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
</td></tr>
<tr> <td><br />
<br />
<br />
<li><span style="font-size: 100%;">Assam </span></li><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
</td> <td><br />
<br />
<br />
<li><span style="font-size: 100%;">Jharkhand</span></li><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
</td> <td><br />
<br />
<br />
<li><span style="font-size: 100%;">Puducherry (UT)</span></li><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
</td> </tr>
<tr> <td><br />
<br />
<br />
<li><span style="font-size: 100%;">Bihar</span></li><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
</td> <td><br />
<br />
<br />
<li><span style="font-size: 100%;">Karnataka</span> </li><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
</td> <td><br />
<br />
<br />
<li><span style="font-size: 100%;">Punjab</span></li><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
</td> </tr>
<tr> <td><br />
<br />
<br />
<li><span style="font-size: 100%;">Chandigarh (UT)</span></li><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
</td> <td><br />
<br />
<br />
<li><span style="font-size: 100%;">Kerala</span> </li><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
</td> <td><br />
<br />
<br />
<li><span style="font-size: 100%;">Rajasthan</span></li><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
</td> </tr>
<tr> <td style="font-family: georgia;"><br />
<br />
<br />
<li><span style="font-size: 100%;">Chhattisgarh</span></li><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
</td> <td><br />
<br />
<br />
<li><span style="font-size: 100%;">Lakshadweep (UT)</span> </li><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
</td> <td><br />
<br />
<br />
<li><span style="font-size: 100%;">Sikkim</span></li><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
</td> </tr>
<tr> <td><br />
<br />
<br />
<li><span style="font-size: 100%;">Dadra and Nagar Haveli (UT)</span></li><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
</td> <td><br />
<br />
<br />
<li><span style="font-size: 100%;">Madhya Pradesh</span> </li><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
</td> <td><br />
<br />
<br />
<li><span style="font-size: 100%;">Tamil Nadu</span></li><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
</td> </tr>
<tr> <td><br />
<br />
<br />
<li><span style="font-size: 100%;">Daman and Diu (UT)</span></li><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
</td> <td><br />
<br />
<br />
<li><span style="font-size: 100%;">Maharashtra</span> </li><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
</td> <td><br />
<br />
<br />
<li><span style="font-size: 100%;">Tripura</span></li><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
</td> </tr>
<tr> <td><br />
<br />
<br />
<li><span style="font-size: 100%;">Delhi (UT)</span></li><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
</td> <td><br />
<br />
<br />
<li><span style="font-size: 100%;">Manipur</span></li><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
</td> <td><br />
<br />
<br />
<li><span style="font-size: 100%;">Uttar Pradesh</span></li><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
</td></tr>
<tr> <td><br />
<br />
<br />
<li><span style="font-size: 100%;">Goa</span></li><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
</td> <td><br />
<br />
<br />
<li><span style="font-size: 100%;">Meghalaya</span></li><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
</td> <td><br />
<br />
<br />
<li><span style="font-size: 100%;">Uttarakhand </span></li><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
</td></tr>
<tr> <td><br />
<br />
<br />
<li><span style="font-size: 100%;">Gujarat</span></li><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
</td> <td><span style="font-size: 100%;"><br />
</span><br />
</td> <td><br />
<br />
<br />
<li><span style="font-size: 100%;">West Bengal</span></li><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
</td></tr>
</tbody></table><a href="http://www.desicomments.com/desi/republic-day/" style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="font-size: 85%;"><br />
(~ from </span></a><span style="font-size: 85%;"><a href="http://goidirectory.gov.in/stateut.htm" style="font-family: georgia;">GOI Directory</a></span><span style="font-family: georgia;">)</span><span style="font-family: georgia; font-weight: bold;"><br />
<br />
Some more facts about </span><span style="font-family: georgia; font-weight: bold;">States & Union Territories of India</span><span style="font-family: georgia;">:</span><br />
<ul><li><span style="font-family: georgia;"> Rajasthan is the biggest state. </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: georgia;">Uttar Pradesh is the highest populated state. </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: georgia;">West Bengal is the most dense state.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: georgia;">The highest per capita income in Maharashtra.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: georgia;">The fastest growth per capita income in Gujarat</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: georgia;">Chandigarh is both the capital of Haryana and Punjab, and a separate Union Territory of itself. </span></li>
</ul><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">*********************************************************</span><br />
</div><div align="justify" style="font-family: georgia;">There are many diverse <a href="http://www.webindia123.com/india/people/people.htm" style="font-weight: bold;">ethnic groups</a> among the people of India. The 6 main ethnic groups are as follows.<br />
</div><ol face="georgia"><li> <br />
<br />
<div align="justify">Negrito <br />
</div><br />
<br />
</li>
<li> <br />
<br />
<div align="justify">Proto - Australoids or Austrics <br />
</div><br />
<br />
</li>
<li> <br />
<br />
<div align="justify">Mongoloids <br />
</div><br />
<br />
</li>
<li> <br />
<br />
<div align="justify">Mediterranean or Dravidian <br />
</div><br />
<br />
</li>
<li> <br />
<br />
<div align="justify">Western Brachycephals <br />
</div><br />
<br />
</li>
<li> <br />
<br />
<div align="justify">Nordic Aryans <br />
</div><br />
<br />
</li>
</ol><span style="font-family: georgia;">Also read </span><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: 100%;">more about<span style="font-weight: bold;"> Ethnic groups in South Asia</span>: </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethnic_groups_of_India" style="font-family: georgia;">Wikipedia</a> <br />
<div style="font-family: georgia; font-weight: bold; text-align: center;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">*********************************************************</span><br />
</div><div style="font-family: georgia; font-weight: bold; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 100%;">Population</span><br />
</div><div style="font-family: georgia; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 100%;">The <b><span style="color: red;"> population in India as at 0:00 hours on 1st March 2001 stood at </span></b></span><span style="font-weight: bold;">102,70 ,15, 247 </span><span style="font-size: 100%;"><b><span style="color: red;"> persons.</span></b> With this, India became only the second country in the world after China to cross the one billion mark. ( India is the 2nd most populated country in the world). </span><span style="font-size: 100%;">Although India occupies only <span style="font-weight: bold;">2.4%</span> of the world's land area, it supports over <span style="font-weight: bold;">15%</span> of the world's population.</span><br />
</div><div style="font-family: georgia;">Population growth rate: <b>1.95 per cent (1991 – 2001)</b><br />
</div><div face="georgia">Population density: <b>324 persons per square kilometre</b><br />
</div><div align="left" style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="font-size: 100%;"><b>India's estimated population </b></span><span style="font-size: 100%;"><b>in July 2007: </b></span><span style="font-size: 100%;"><b> 1,129,866,154 .</b></span><br />
</div><div style="font-family: georgia; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 100%;"> India's population rose by 21.34 % between 1991 - 2001. The sex ratio (i.e., number of females per thousand males) of population was 933, rising from 927 as at the 1991 Census. Total literacy rate in India was returned as 65.38%. </span><br />
</div><b><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Life expectancy:</span> 60.4 years (male: 61.8 years, female: 59 years)</span> </b><br />
<div style="font-family: georgia;"><b><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Literacy rate:</span> 65.38 %</span></b><br />
</div><div face="georgia" style="text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-weight: normal;">(Kerala has the highest literacy rate of 90.92 %. As per 2001 census all state and Union Territories have achieved a male literacy rate of 60 % and most of the states have attained a female literacy rate of over 50 %).</span></b><br />
</div><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 100%;">(<span style="font-size: 85%;">Source: Provisional Population Totals : India . Census of India 2001, Paper 1 of 2001</span>)<br />
<br />
</span><br />
<div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">*********************************************************</span><br />
</div><div style="font-family: georgia; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Languages spoken: </span>The official language of the Republic of India is Hindi, and its subsidiary<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvo6ra-_wVwOa6sWgrsEp-Eh_8Aph9mxcse1n0b0lQKeiRT-Rwqke5vXbHQI8pG_n31djhzvwPfJnsaOeI8K8TLPuUm-mPGhHoeXIm7eqtZLF5E-9kK7OyuxbsRnx9d8QfDXbdczX_9cA/s1600-h/hindi.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5292811891230586642" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvo6ra-_wVwOa6sWgrsEp-Eh_8Aph9mxcse1n0b0lQKeiRT-Rwqke5vXbHQI8pG_n31djhzvwPfJnsaOeI8K8TLPuUm-mPGhHoeXIm7eqtZLF5E-9kK7OyuxbsRnx9d8QfDXbdczX_9cA/s400/hindi.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; float: right; height: 121px; margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; width: 163px;" /></a> official language is English. The individual states can legislate their own official languages, depending on their linguistic demographics. <br />
</div><div style="font-family: georgia; text-align: justify;"><b style="font-weight: normal;">India is a multilingual society with <span style="font-weight: bold;">18 principal languages</span> recognised by the constitution. <span style="font-weight: bold;">Hindi</span> is the language of a large percentage of people (40 percent), while <span style="font-weight: bold;">English</span> is the preferred business language.</b><span style="color: maroon; font-size: 130%;"><u><br />
</u></span><br />
</div><div face="georgia" style="text-align: justify;">Languages<span style="font-weight: bold;"> </span><b style="font-weight: normal;">recognised by the Indian constitution:</b><br />
</div><ol style="font-family: georgia;"><li><span style="font-size: 85%;"><b> Assamese. </b></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 85%;"><b> Bengali. </b></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 85%;"><b> Gujarati. </b></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 85%;"><b> Hindi. </b></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 85%;"><b> Kannada. </b></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 85%;"><b> Kashmiri. </b></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 85%;"><b>Konkani. </b></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 85%;"><b>Malayalam. </b></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 85%;"><b>Manipuri. </b></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 85%;"><b>Marathi. </b></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 85%;"><b>Nepali. </b></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 85%;"><b>Oriya. </b></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 85%;"><b>Punjabi. </b></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 85%;"><b>Sanskrit. </b></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 85%;"><b>Sindhi. </b></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 85%;"><b>Tamil. </b></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 85%;"><b>Telugu. </b></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 85%;"><b>Urdu.</b></span></li>
</ol><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">*********************************************************</span><br />
</div><div style="font-family: georgia;"><b></b><br />
</div><div style="font-family: georgia; text-align: center;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Classic Dances of India</span><br />
<br />
</div><div align="justify" class="hbtext" style="font-family: georgia;">Kathak Dance<br />
<br />
Bharata Natyam Dance<br />
<br />
Kathakali Dance<br />
<br />
Kuchipudi Dance<br />
<br />
Odissi Dance<br />
<br />
Chau Dance<b><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><br />
<br />
</span></b><br />
<div align="justify" class="hbtext1"><div style="text-align: center;"><b>Folk Dances of India</b><br />
</div><b><br />
</b><span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">Dances of Rajasthan</span><br />
</div><div align="justify" class="hbtext1a">- Kalbelia Dance<br />
- Chari Dance<br />
- Ghoomar Dance<br />
- Fire Dance<br />
- Kachhi Gori<br />
</div><br />
<div align="justify" class="hbtext1" style="font-style: italic;"><b>Dances of Gujarat</b><br />
</div><div align="justify" class="hbtext1a">- Garba Dance<br />
- Dandiya Dance<br />
</div><br />
<div align="justify" class="hbtext1" style="font-style: italic;"><b>Dances of Punjab</b><br />
</div><div align="justify" class="hbtext1a">- Bhangra<br />
- Gidda<br />
</div><br />
<div align="justify" class="hbtext1" style="font-style: italic;"><b>Dances of Manipur</b><br />
</div><div align="justify" class="hbtext1a">- Manipuri Dance<br />
<br />
</div><div align="justify" class="hbtext1" style="font-style: italic;"><b>Dances of Maharashtara</b><br />
</div><div align="justify" class="hbtext1a">- Tamasha/Lavani Dance<br />
- Dindi Dance<br />
</div><br />
<div align="justify" class="hbtext1" style="font-style: italic;"><b>Dances of Assam</b><br />
</div><div align="justify" class="hbtext1a">- Bihu Dance<br />
<br />
</div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">*********************************************************</span><br />
</div></div><div face="georgia"><span style="font-weight: bold;">International airports: </span><b style="font-weight: normal;">Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad, Kochi, Kolkata, Mumbai, New Delhi, Thiruvananthapuram, Ahmedabad, Goa, Amritsar, Guwahati.</b><br />
</div><div style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Major ports of entry: </span><b style="font-weight: normal;">Kandla, Mumbai, Mormugao, New Mangalore, Kochi, Tuticorin, Chennai, Vishakhapatnam, Paradip, Kolkata, and Haldia.</b><br />
<b> </b><br />
</div><div style="font-family: georgia; text-align: center;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">*********************************************************</span><br />
</div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">THE INDIAN ECONOMY</span><br />
</div><div face="georgia" style="text-align: justify;">India is today the <span style="font-weight: bold;">second fastest growing economy</span> of the world. The country <span style="font-weight: bold;">ranked fourth in terms of Purchasing Power Parity (PPP) in 2005</span>. The business and regulatory environment is evolving and moving towards constant improvement. A highly talented, skilled and English-speaking human resource base forms its backbone. Far-reaching measures introduced by the government over the past few years to liberalise the Indian market and integrate it with the global economy are widely acknowledged. The tenth five year plan document targets a healthy growth rate of above 8% for the Indian economy during the plan period 2002 – 07. According to some experts, the share of the US in world GDP is expected to fall (from 21 per cent to 18 per cent) and that of India to rise (from 6 per cent to 11 per cent in 2025), and hence the latter will emerge as the third pole in the global economy after the US and China. By 2025, the Indian economy is projected to be about 60 per cent the size of the US economy. The transformation into a tripolar economy will be complete by 2035, and India is likely to be a larger growth driver than the six largest countries in the EU to become the third largest economy with a share of 14.3 per cent of global economy by 2015 and graduate to become the “third pole” and growth driver by 2035.<br />
<br />
A growth rate of above 9 % was achieved by the Indian economy during the year 2006-07 and 8.6 % in 2007-08. Many factors are behind this robust performance of the Indian economy since in 2001. High growth rates in Industry & Services sector and a benign world economic environment provided a backdrop conducive to the Indian economy. Another positive feature was that the growth was accompanied by continued maintenance of relative stability of prices.<br />
<br />
<span style="font-weight: bold;">ECONOMIC PROFILE:</span><br />
GDP at current prices: US$ 1005 billion (2007-08)<br />
Composition of GDP: Services 56%, Agriculture 22% and Industry 22%<br />
Estimate of GDP growth: 8.8 percent (2007-08)<br />
Cumulative FDI inflow: US$ 38.9 million (upto March 2006)<br />
Foreign exchange reserves: US$ 262.4 billion (October 2007)<br />
Exchange rate: Rs 39.32 per US$ (November 2007)<br />
Foodgrain production: 211.8 million tonnes (2006-2007)<br />
Buffer foodgrain stock: 17.73 million tones (March 2007)<br />
<br />
<span style="font-weight: bold;">Principal exports:</span> Traditional exports include cotton yarn and textiles, readymade garments, leather goods, gems and jewellery and agricultural and processed food products. However, chemicals, pharmaceuticals, engineering goods, automotive components, transport equipment, software, electronic goods and manufactured metals constitute the rapidly growing export segments.<br />
</div><div face="georgia" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
<span style="font-weight: bold;">Principal markets for exports:</span> USA, Canada, UK, Germany, Japan, Russia, Belgium, Iran, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Chile, Argentina, Brazil, Mexico, China, Hong Kong, Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia and Sri Lanka.<br />
<br />
<span style="font-weight: bold;">Imports: </span>US$ 140 billion (2007-08)<br />
<br />
<span style="font-weight: bold;">Principal imports:</span> Capital goods, crude oil, lubricants and other petroleum products, precious and semi-precious stones, chemicals, edible oils and fertilizers.<br />
</div><div style="font-family: georgia; text-align: justify;"><br />
<span style="font-weight: bold;">Principal markets of imports:</span> USA, UK, Japan, Germany, Nigeria, Iran, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Brazil, Chile, Egypt, Ghana, South Africa, China, Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand.<br />
<br />
</div><span style="text-decoration: underline;"></span><br />
<div style="text-align: center;">*****************************************************************<br />
</div><div style="text-align: center;">*****************************************************************<br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Many ACKs were published which reflects about British period of India. Some of these are already posted, many are coming soon. To understand why these people or movements were so important for Indians, read following <a href="http://www.sscnet.ucla.edu/southasia/History/British/BrIndia.html" style="font-weight: bold;">article</a> by <a href="http://www.history.ucla.edu/people/faculty?lid=51" style="font-weight: bold;">Vinay Lal</a> (ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR, UCLA Department of History, Los Angeles). Do you find any similarity with contemporary period? Is it history of only old India? Is it history of only India?<br />
<br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Think about it. <br />
</div><div style="text-align: center;">***************************************<span style="font-weight: bold;">**************************</span><br />
<br />
</div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">BRITISH INDIA</span><br />
<br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">The British presence in India dates back to the early part of the seventeenth century. On 31 December 1600, Elizabeth, then the monarch of the United Kingdom, acceded to the demand of a large body of merchants that a royal charter be given to a new trading company, "The Governor and Company of Merchants of London, Trading into the East-Indies." Between 1601-13, merchants of the East India Company took twelve voyages to India, and in 1609 William Hawkins arrived at the court of Jahangir to seek permission to establish a British presence in India. Hawkins was rebuffed by Jahangir, but Sir Thomas Roe, who presented himself before the Mughal Emperor in 1617, was rather more successful. Two years later, Roe gained Jahangir's permission to build a British factory in Surat, and in 1639, this was followed by the founding of Fort St. George (Madras). Despite some setbacks, such as the Company's utter humiliation at the hands of the Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb, with whom the Company went to war between 1688-91, the Company never really looked back.<br />
<br />
In 1757, on account of the British victory at Plassey, where a military force led by Robert Clive defeated the forces of the Nawab of Bengal, Siraj-ud-daulah, the East India Company found itself transformed from an association of traders to rulers exercising political sovereignty over a largely unknown land and people. Less than ten years later, in 1765, the Company acquired the Diwani of Bengal, or the right to collect revenues on behalf of the Mughal Emperor, in Bengal, Bihar, and Orissa. The consolidation of British rule after the initial military victories fell to Warren Hastings, who did much to dispense with the fiction that the Mughal Emperor was still the sovereign to whom the Company was responsible. Hastings also set about to make the British more acquainted with Indian history, culture, and social customs; but upon his return to England, he would be impeached for high crimes and misdemeanors. His numerous successors, though fired by the ambition to expand British territories in India, were also faced with the task of governance. British rule was justified, in part, by the claims that the Indians required to be civilized, and that British rule would introduce in place of Oriental despotism and anarchy a reliable system of justice, the rule of law, and the notion of 'fair play'. Certain Indian social or religious practices that the British found to be abhorrent were outlawed, such as sati in 1829, and an ethic of 'improvement' was said to dictate British social policies. In the 1840s and 1850s, under the governal-generalship of Dalhousie and then Canning, more territories were absorbed into British India, either on the grounds that the native rulers were corrupt, inept, and notoriously indifferent about the welfare of their subjects, or that since the native ruler had failed to produce a biological male heir to the throne, the territory was bound to "lapse" into British India upon the death of the ruler. Such was the fate of Sambalpur (1849), Baghat (1850), Jhansi (1853), Nagpur (1854), and - most tragically - Awadh (1856). The Nawab of Awadh [also spelled as Oudh], Wajid Ali Shah, was especially reviled by the British as the worst specimen of the Oriental Despot, more interested in nautch girls, frivolous amusements - kite-flying, cock-fighting, and the like - and sheer indolence than in the difficult task of governance. The British annexation of Awadh, and the character of the Nawab, were made the subjects of an extraordinary film by Satyajit Ray, entitled The Chess Players ("Shatranj ke Khilari").<br />
<br />
Shortly after the annexation of Awadh, the Sepoy Mutiny, more appropriately described as the Indian Rebellion of 1857-58, broke out. This was by far the greatest threat posed to the British since the beginnings of their acquisition of an empire in India in 1757, and within the space of a few weeks in May large swathes of territory in the Gangetic plains had fallen to the rebels. Atrocities were committed on both sides, and conventionally the rebellion is viewed as marking the moment when the British would always understand themselves as besieged by hostile natives, just as the Indians understood that they could not forever be held in submission. If in the early days of the Company's rule a legend was constructed around the Black Hole of Calcutta, so signifying the villainy of Indians, the Rebellion of 1857-58 gave rise to an elaborate mythography on both sides. Delhi was recaptured by British troops in late 1857, the Emperor Bahadur Shah, last of the Mughals, was put on trial for sedition and predictably convicted, and by mid-1858 the Rebellion had been entirely crushed. The East India Company was abolished, though John Stuart Mill, the Commissioner of Correspondence at India House, London, and the unacknowledged formulator of British policy with respect to the native states, furnished an elaborate but ultimately unsuccessful plea on behalf of the Company. India became a Crown colony, to be governed directly by Parliament, and henceforth responsibility for Indian affairs would fall upon a member of the British cabinet, the Secretary of State for India, while in India itself the man at the helm of affairs would continue to be the Governor-General, known otherwise in his capacity as the representative of the monarch as the Viceroy of India.<br />
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The proclamation of Queen Victoria, in which she promised that she and her officers would work for the welfare of their Indian subjects, ushered in the final phase of the British Raj. Among Indians, there were debates surrounding female education, widow remarriage, the age of consent for marriage, and more generally the status of women; and in the meanwhile, with increasing emphasis on English education, and the expansion of the government, larger numbers of Indians joined government service. There was, similarly, a considerable increase in both English-language and vernacular journalism, and in 1885 the Indian National Congress, at first an association comprised largely of lawyers and some other professionals, was founded in order that educated Indians might gain something of a voice in the governance of their own country. However, nationalist sentiments could not be confined within the parameters set by a gentlemanly organization such as the Congress, and both in Maharashtra, where the radicals were led by Bal Gangadhar Tilak, and in Bengal armed revolutionaries attempted to carry out a campaign of terror and assassination directed at British officials and institutions. In 1905, on the grounds that the governance of Bengal had become impossible owing to the large size of the presidency, the British partitioned Bengal, and so provoked the first major resistance to British rule and administrative policies in the aftermath of the Rebellion of 1857-58. It is during the Swadeshi movement that Indians deployed various strategies of non-violent resistance, boycott, strike and non-cooperation, and eventually the British had to agree to revoke the partition of Bengal. The partition itself had been attempted partly with a view to dividing the largely Muslim area of East Bengal from the western part of Bengal, which was predominantly Hindu, and the communalist designs of the British were clearly demonstrated as well in their encouragement of the Muslim League, a political formation that came into existence in 1907, on the supposition that the interests of the Muslims could not be served by the Indian National Congress. The capital of the country was shifted as well from Calcutta to Delhi, where a new set of official buildings designed to reflect imperial splendor led to the creation of New Delhi.<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><div style="text-align: justify;">During World War I, when Britain declared that India was at war with Germany as well, large number of Indian troops served overseas, and the declaration by the Secretary of State Montagu in 1917 to the effect that it would be the intent of the Government of India to increase gradually Indian participation in the administration of the country was seen as an encouragement of Indian ambitions of eventual self-rule. But following the conclusion of the war, the British sought to introduce draconian legislation to contain the activity of people presumed to be political extremists, and the Punjab disturbances of 1919, including the notorious massacre by General Dyer of nearly 400 unarmed Indians at the Jallianwala Bagh in Amritsar in April, marked the emergence of a nation-wide movement against British rule. The events of 1919 also brought to the fore Mahatma Gandhi, who would henceforth be the uncrowned king of the Indian nationalist movement. Gandhi led the non-cooperation movement against the British in 1920-22, as well as a campaign of civil disobedience in 1930-31, and in 1942 he issued the call to the British to 'Quit India'. Negotiations for some degree of Indian independence, led by Gandhi, first took place in 1930 at the Round Table Conferences in London, but shortly thereafter the Congress decided to adopt a resolution calling for purna swaraj, or complete independence from British rule. Meanwhile, relations between the Hindus and Muslims had deteriorated, and during the latter years of World War II, when the leaders of the Congress, including Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru, and Sardar Patel were incarcerated, the Muslim League, which declared itself in support of the British war effort, had a free hand to spread the message of Muslim separatism. When, in the aftermath of the war, and the triumph of the Labor party, the British Prime Minister Clement Atlee declared that the British would grant India its independence, negotiations were commenced with all the major political parties and communities, including the Sikhs, the Congress, and the Muslim League. In launching Direct Action Day in 1946, which led to immense communal killings in Calcutta, the Muslim League sought to convey the idea that an undivided India was no longer a possibility; and the eventual attainment of independence from British rule on 15 August 1947 was accompanied not only by the creation of the new state of Pakistan, comprised of Muslim-majority areas in both the eastern and western parts of India, but by the unprecedented horrors of partition. At least 500,000 people are estimated to have been killed, and many women were abducted or raped; and it is estimated that no fewer than 11 million Hindus, Muslims, and Sikhs crossed borders, which to this day remains the single largest episode of migration in history.<br />
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</div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYd1_C5jcBa_dwEvDRcS7fhFEtd4Hh9LbC6UYTYnpbCMsqlulmiDX5Dxb_WG2hWnKTwPHUufrCeNWokaBIwjnPGaAUC8xgf1V3qMFivXUShxaYbAedr5z2whafAvo6xpWgk0M3BSqTsG8/s1600-h/344.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5293951587372209698" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYd1_C5jcBa_dwEvDRcS7fhFEtd4Hh9LbC6UYTYnpbCMsqlulmiDX5Dxb_WG2hWnKTwPHUufrCeNWokaBIwjnPGaAUC8xgf1V3qMFivXUShxaYbAedr5z2whafAvo6xpWgk0M3BSqTsG8/s400/344.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; float: left; height: 400px; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; width: 294px;" /></a><b>ACK # 344 (#738)</b><br />
</div><div style="text-align: center;"><b>Deshbandhu Chittaranjan Das (1870-1925)</b><br />
</div><div align="justify">Chittaranjan Das, a revolutionary freedom fighter, was endearingly called ‘Deshabandhu’ (Friend of the Nation). Born on 5 November 1870 in Calcutta, he belonged to an upper middle-class family of Telirbagh, in Dacca district. <br />
</div><div align="justify">Chittaranjan’s patriotic ideas were greatly influenced by his father, Bhuban Mohan Das, a reputed Solicitor of the Calcutta High Court. It was Bankim Chandra who influenced him in his political ideas. It was not before 1917 that Das came to the forefront of nationalist politics. In that year he was invited to preside over the Bengal Provincial Conference held at Bhowanipore. His political career was brief but meteoric. In the course of only eight years he rose to all-India fame by virtue of his intense patriotism, sincerity and oratorical power. <br />
</div><div align="justify">He wanted "Swaraj for the masses, not for the classes". To him, "Swaraj is government by the people and for the people". An advocate of communal harmony and Hindu-Muslim unity, Das effected, in 1923, the Bengal Pact between the Hindus and Muslims of Bengal, though opposed by a section of the Congress. A champion of national education and the vernacular medium, he felt that the masses should be properly educated to participate in the nationalist movement. He deprecated the prevalent western system of education that would only promote "a kind of soulless culture". His religious and social outlook was liberal. He was against caste-discrimination and untouchability. A believer in women’s emancipation and widow re-marriage, he supported the spread of female education and widow remarriage.<br />
</div><div align="justify">Great as a jurist, and dynamic as a leader of Bengal, Chittaranjan was an apostle of Indian nationalism. In the words of Rabindranath Tagore<i></i> (1913 <i>Nobel Prize</i> Laureate in Literature), " the best gift that Chittaranjan left for his countrymen is not any particular political or social programme but the creative force of a great aspiration that has taken a deathless form in the sacrifice which his life represented".<br />
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</div><div style="text-align: justify;">The country lost one of its great sons in the passing away of C.R. Das on 16 June 1925. The funeral procession in Calcutta was led by <span style="font-weight: bold;">Mahatma Gandhi</span>, who said:<br />
</div>"Deshbandhu was one of the greatest of men... He dreamed... and talked of freedom of India and of nothing else... His heart knew no difference between Hindus and Mussalmans and I should like to tell Englishmen, too, that he bore no ill-will to them."<br />
<a href="http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?t4nxdyjzsoq"> Download Comics HQ</a> <span style="font-weight: bold;">(42.23 MB)</span><br />
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<a href="http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?gnpmd8zjwyc"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Download Comics</span></a> <span style="font-weight: bold;">(8.44 MB)</span><br />
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Read some more details at <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chittaranjan_Das">Wikipedia</a><br />
<div align="justify">There are contributed by <span style="font-weight: bold;">Apoorva</span>. All thanks & credits go to <span style="font-weight: bold;">him</span>.<br />
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</div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Out of print ACKs #356 & #360</span><br />
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</div><div align="justify"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOPKDd5KCuLLL9cjbH6UllLf1iBPUwviNJgKUGPAgAqYHsoF4FdYJCqXaFio2y-dOhKsPxJwnJoQsFHsd3QffrRw4cDZl96bsg0NckS-VBbkn6Ce8Sf806kj_tApZctfgSGOSp7WSLpSE/s1600-h/356.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5293957402515613362" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOPKDd5KCuLLL9cjbH6UllLf1iBPUwviNJgKUGPAgAqYHsoF4FdYJCqXaFio2y-dOhKsPxJwnJoQsFHsd3QffrRw4cDZl96bsg0NckS-VBbkn6Ce8Sf806kj_tApZctfgSGOSp7WSLpSE/s400/356.jpg" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgu6WcdnbS5_EBxUeeYiZeWpejdp7z3icGGxsfuic8PETMxLrTiXp09eJmj5qr_qe96rQi3sdQvBSS90SjiQve9q1rxzzAqhDf-fpOIRfllbnJ2UkuE0zU-VgJW4jtmZVW57JE9uF9mTlE/s1600-h/360.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5293957393232194418" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgu6WcdnbS5_EBxUeeYiZeWpejdp7z3icGGxsfuic8PETMxLrTiXp09eJmj5qr_qe96rQi3sdQvBSS90SjiQve9q1rxzzAqhDf-fpOIRfllbnJ2UkuE0zU-VgJW4jtmZVW57JE9uF9mTlE/s400/360.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; height: 400px; width: 285px;" /></a><br />
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</div><div align="justify"><a href="http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?zbrxlmdjojt"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Download Comics HQ</span></a> ACK 356 <span style="font-weight: bold;">(42 MB)</span><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br />
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</div><div align="justify"><a href="http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?9qk2nq0umql"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Download Comics HQ</span></a> ACK 360 <span style="font-weight: bold;">(23.64 MB)</span><br />
</div><div align="justify">or<br />
</div><div align="justify"><a href="http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?tbqxtytm2o0"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Download Comics</span></a> ACK 356 <span style="font-weight: bold;">(8.51 MB)</span><br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?tbgfdegzezb"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Download Comics</span></a> ACK 360 <span style="font-weight: bold;">(4.54 MB)</span><br />
</div><div align="justify">There all ACKs are contributed by <span style="font-weight: bold;">Apoorva</span>. All thanks & credits go to <span style="font-weight: bold;">him</span>.<br />
</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com23