Thursday, March 30, 2006

On saffron

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Today's feature article in Wikipedia is on Saffron, or kesavaram केसवरम. Saffron is derived from the stigma of the saffron crocus. It's fitting that today's article is on Saffron, as the crocus is a harbinger of spring.

In India, saffron is a specialty of Kashmir:
Theories explaining saffron's arrival in South Asia conflict. Traditional Kashmiri and Chinese accounts date its arrival anywhere between 900–2500 years ago. Meanwhile, historians studying ancient Persian records date the arrival to sometime prior to 500 BC, attributing it to either Persian transplantation of saffron corms to stock new gardens and parks or to a Persian invasion and colonization of Kashmir. Phoenicians then marketed Kashmiri saffron as a dye and a treatment for melancholy.[26] From there, saffron use in foods and dyes spread throughout South Asia. For example, Buddhist monks in India adopted saffron-coloured robes after the Buddha Siddhartha Gautama's death.

and
... Another premium saffron is the Kashmiri "Mongra" or "Lacha" saffron (Crocus sativus 'Cashmirianus'), which is among the most difficult and expensive for non-Indian consumers to obtain. It is even hard for Indian consumers to obtain, as most stores in India sell the cheaper Spanish saffron. This is due to repeated droughts, blights, and crop failures in Kashmir, combined with an Indian export ban. Kashmiri saffron is recognisable by its extremely dark maroon-purple hue, among the world's darkest, which suggests the saffron's strong flavour, aroma, and colourative effect.


The saffron crocus

Muslim cleric held over Varanasi blasts

From the Press Trust of India (PTI) via expressindia:
Muslim cleric held over Varanasi blasts

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Varanasi bomb blast victim leaves behind his eyes for others

From NewKarala.com, Varanasi bomb blast victim leaves behind his eyes for others. Ritesh succumbed to the injuries that he suffered in the Varanasi bomb blasts. Before dying, he pledged to donate his eyes. On March 28, doctors at Benares Hindu University transplanted his eyes to a girl, Nandini, and Devraji, an old woman.

Too often, the stories we get about India are about the cruelties and indifference in Indian society. That's why I post articles like this and the work of the bomb squad to defuse other bombs laid in Varanasi that show heroism.

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Deepa Mehta ... again

From The Australian, March 29, 2006, the article Plight of widows causes shock waves focuses on filmmaker Deepa Mehta, who resumed the shoot for Water 4 years after Hindu protesters destroyed the film set in Varanasi.

Deepa Mehta is yet another of those celebrities who trash India and are lionized as taboo breakers in western media. Others of her ilk include Arundhati Roy and Mira Nair (OK, I liked Mississippi Masala, but Kama Sutra was frankly pornography, despite good production values).

Friday, March 24, 2006

On ahimsa

Hinduism is often believed to be synonymous with ahimsa (अहिंसा); in fact, this article on Ahimsa from Wikipedia says it's at the core of Hinduism and cites the influence of the Bhagavad-Gita (भागवद् गीता) on Gandhi.

Michael Danino notes in his article The Gita in Today's World that:
To the West, there is either brute force or pacifism, either violence or non-violence ; to the Gita the truth is neither one nor the other, but the conscious use of force to protect dharma.
I would argue, however, that this duality is not (or perhaps no longer) exclusive to the West.

Danino concludes with this statement from Sri Aurobindo:
We will use only soul-force and never destroy by war or any even defensive employment of physical violence? Good, though until soul-force is effective, the Asuric force [from Asura असुर, or power-hungry being] in men and nations tramples down, breaks, slaughters, burns, pollutes, as we see it doing today, but then at its ease and unhindered, and you have perhaps caused as much destruction of life by your abstinence as others by resort to violence.

Thursday, March 23, 2006

Scalable maps now on this blog

I'm using Tagzania to create and document maps for places mentioned on this blog.

This scalable map shows the places I've marked to date:

New use for an old product: Japanese researchers produce vanilla from cow dung



The gentle cow gives milk and its dung is used variously as fertilizer and fuel for fire. In some places, cow dung is processed into biogas to generate electricity and the remains are used as a fertilizer.

Now comes news that Japanese researchers have produced vanillin from cow dung: for more, see cooltech.iafrica.com | coolscience Vanilla extracted from cow dung. Doubtful that this would qualify as prior art.

Wednesday, March 22, 2006

The lost culture of Afghanistan

Afghan museum- Afghanistan - Kaboul - 1963 - Hadda - Head  of Buddha, stucco (1st-2nd Century A.D.) Photo:UNESCO/Cart
Afghan museum- Afghanistan - Kaboul - 1963 - Hadda - Head of Buddha, stucco (1st-2nd Century A.D.) Photo:UNESCO/Cart

I was inspired to add additional resources about the pre-Islamic culture of Afghanistan after posting Did Saudi engineers help destroy Bamiyan Buddhas?:
And here is a web site on Hindus and Sikhs of Afghanistan: Afghan Hindus and Sikhs

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Monday, March 20, 2006

Final California Board of Education Decision on Hinduism in Textbooks

"Better Than Expected"

SACRAMENTO, CALIFORNIA, March 9, 2006: The California State Board of Education approved a few additional changes to the proposed textbooks for social studies at the conclusion of its meeting today. They took public testimony on a proposed slate of change, or "edits," which was the result of a committee meeting of February 27 (see HPI, here for the complete background). An excellent presentation by Janeshwari Devi of the Vedic Foundation, which had spearheaded the effort to revise the books along with the Hindu Education Foundation, resulted in 14 additional corrections of contradictions and outright errors in the list of edits approved February 27. These included, significantly, changes regarding the Aryan Invasion theory. According to InsideBayArea.com (here), "The board also instructed the commission to add lines in the textbooks stating that the Aryan invasion -- the controversial theory that traces the roots of Hinduism to a migration of people from Central Asia -- is disputed." In all, most of the edits Hindus sought were granted, while controversial ones regarding caste, women's rights and other issues were not. These edits were opposed by a group of Indian leftists and non-Hindu American academics. The Hindu American Foundation testified at the meeting that the process of consideration of the edits by the Board failed to follow State guidelines and that they were considering suing the Board over these lapses. A lawsuit could hold up production of $300 million worth of social studies books by a dozen publishers for California schools. - from Hinduism Today

Update: Hinduism Today reports on the suit filed in State court by the Hindu American Foundation and a suit filed in Federal court by California Parents for the Equalization of Educational Materials (CAPEEM) charging that the textbook adoption procedure violates the federal rights of Hindus in California.

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Sunday, March 19, 2006

Did Saudi engineers help destroy Bamiyan Buddhas?


Bamiyan Buddha prior to destruction (1970)

Before their conversion to Mohammedanism [Islam] they used to imbibe the learning and culture of the countries they conquered, and by assimilating the culture of other countries would try to propagate civilization. But ever since they became Mohammedans, they have only the instinct of war left in them; they have not got the least vestige of learning and culture; on the contrary, the countries that come under their sway gradually have their civilization extinguished. In many places of modern Afghanistan and Kandhar etc., there yet exist wonderful Stupas, monasteries, temples and gigantic statues built by their Buddhist ancestors. As a result of Turkish admixture and their conversion to Mohammedanism, those temples etc. are almost in ruins, and the present Afghans and allied races have grown so uncivilized and illiterate that, far from imitating those ancient works of architecture, they believe them to be the creation of super-natural spirits like the Jinn. - Swami Vivekananda

Pakistan's Daily Times references an interview of a local Afghan who said that the Bamiyan Buddhas were destroyed with the assistance of Saudi and Pakistani engineers. (found via LGF)

Taliban minister of information Qudratullah Jamal said in a statement later, “The destruction work is not as easy as people would think. You can’t knock down the statues by dynamite or shelling as both of them have been carved in a cliff. They are firmly attached to the mountain.”

Note that Muslim leaders stated that by destroying the statues, the Taliban was hurting the image of Islam, not that it was wrong to destroy the statues. Iconoclasm has a long history in Islam, beginning with the prophet's destruction of the 360 idols in the Ka'aba.


Scalable map showing Bamiyan, Afghanistan

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Friday, March 17, 2006

More on Bloody Borders

The Bloody Borders Project has been expanded to include a map indicating the percentage of national population that is Muslim. When this map is overlaid with the Bloody Borders map, interesting information about the distribution of terrorist attacks is revealed: for more, see The Umma's Involuted Border.



Terrorist attacks are most severe in Kashmir. As "Baron Bodissey" notes:
The nature of the “bloody border” is astonishingly clear in this map. With the exceptions of Iraq and Afghanistan, the highest concentrations of terrorist attacks occur along the edges of the Umma [the worldwide Muslim community], where it meets the areas of lower (but significant) Muslim population.
Kashmir certainly qualifies as the "edge of the Umma." I am not totally convinced by the Baron's efforts to explain how the borders of the Umma have been involuting (that is, turning in on themselves) since 2002, when foreign troops intervened in Afghanistan and Iraq.

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Arise Arjuna: Varanasi women get fatwa issued

Excellent commentary from Arise Arjuna: Varanasi women get fatwa issued:
The bad part is justifying "fatwa" culture. Please understand. "Fatwa" is or should be illegal in a democratic country. For good or bad, please absolve of this fatwa culture.

Here in the U.S., we've had the spectacle of Muslim organizations backing a fatwa condemning attacks on innocent persons - four years after 9-11. The same bon-bon, Qur'an 5:32 (rather, a partial quote divorced from context), was used as the basis for condemning attacks on "innocents." As noted by Robert Spencer in Jihad Watch, the fatwa doesn't address statements by Muslims to the effect that civilians in various places are not innocent, and are not to be distinguished from combatants.

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Wednesday, March 15, 2006

Bloody Borders in India

From Infidel Bloggers Alliance: Bloody Borders in India:


Terror attacks in India since September 11, 2001

Visit the Bloody Borders Project for more, including a time-lapsed animation.

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Bangladesh discovers ancient fort city - Yahoo! News

From Reuters, Bangladesh discovers ancient fort city

By Nizam Ahmed
Wed Mar 15, 5:59 AM ET

Archaeologists in Bangladesh say they have uncovered part of a fortified citadel dating back to 450 B.C. that could have been a stopping off point along an ancient trade route.

So far, a moat round the citadel has been uncovered along with parts of an ancient road at Wari, 85 km (53 miles) northeast of the capital Dhaka.


Scalable map showing location of Wari, Bangladesh

"The citadel and a raft of artifacts may help redefine history of India," [italics added] said Sufi Mostafizur Rahman, head of the department of archaeology at Jahangirnagar University, near Dhaka.

"The well-planned road with even manholes proves that the citadel was managed by a very efficient administration," Mostafizur added.

"I am confident further excavation will lead us to residue of a palace," he said.

Archaeologists have been excavating the ancient roads and unearthing artifacts for several years. Tests by a Dutch university revealed the objects dated to around 450 B.C.

Artifacts from Wari site

Artefacts found in the 600 x 600 meter (1,800 x 1,800 ft) include metal coins, metallic chisels, terracotta missiles, rouletted and knobbed pottery, stone hammers and bangles. Ornaments suggested Buddhism dominated life in the urban centers. Mostafizur said the citadel was believed to be a part of Harappan civilization and a prime trade center might have flourished there, possibly serving as a link between contemporary South Asian and Roman civilizations.

The Harappan civilization flourished in the Indus and Ganges valleys between 2,700 B.C. to 700 B.C.

Archaeologists hope the citadel and surrounding area yield many more surprises.

In Wari and the nearby Batteswar village there are 47 raised areas and archaeologists are planning to excavate all of these as well.

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Tuesday, March 14, 2006

Varanasi honours bomb disposal squad

The eleven members of the bomb disposal squad who defused other bombs on March 7 were honored at the Mata Annapurna temple in Varanasi - from Sify.com

According to the report Terror evening in Varanasi leaves at least 20 dead, "Four live bombs were defused near Dashaswhamedh Ghat, two kilometres away from the Kashi Vishwanath temple."

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Names of 14 people killed in Varanasi released

The Hindu News Update Service publishes the names of 14 who died in the March 17 blasts at Sankat Mochan temple and Cantonment railway station in Varanasi. They are:

1.Harish Bijlani, Varanasi

2.Shyam Sunder, Sidharth Nagar

3.Prabhakar Dwivedi, Varanasi

4.Manohar Lal, Varanasi

5.Shivangi, Varanasi

6.Manmohan, Varanasi

7.Subhash Das, Orissa

8.Ashok Kumar Verma, Ballia

9.Lal Chandra, Varanasi

10.Hargovind Sharma, Bihar

11.Mohit, Bihar

12.Subhash, Bihar

13.Ramnath Pal, Pratapgarh

14. Shringari devi, Bihar.

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Safe Color Powders for Holi


Colours of Holi

March 15, or 24 Phalguna (२४ फाल्गुन), 1927 Saka Era, according to the Indian National Calendar, is Holi.

Hindu Press International notes that some schools in Ranchi have banned Holi over the use of dangerous chemical powders. Subhamoy Das has an article Play Holi...Naturally! at hinduism.about.com, which provides recipes for safe colored powders.

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Friday, March 10, 2006

Bomb targets Hindu temple in Indonesia

Bomb targets Hindu temple in Indonesia

The event took place the morning of March 10, 2006 in Poso, on the island of Sulawesi. A guard was injured in the blast.



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Tuesday, March 07, 2006

Terror evening in Varanasi leaves at least 20 dead


Doctors attend a child injured in a bomb explosion, at the District Hospital in Varanasi, India, early Wednesday, March 8, 2006 (AP)

Terror evening in Varanasi leaves at least 20 dead - Sify.com

Bomb blasts in Varanasi, Hinduism's holy city.


Resizeable map showing the location of Varanasi

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