Kaveri River - drainage areas in Karnataka and Tamil Nadu

This video shows how I computed sub-basin areas for the Kaveri river in the Indian states of Karnataka (KA) and Tamil Nadu (TN). Data for drainage areas came from AQUASTAT and was processed in QGIS open source software. I then created this video using Flashback Express 5 screen recording software.



Process:

• Intersect layers for administrative boundaries and sub-basin areas to obtain sub-basin areas by state
• Extract sub-basin areas by state layers into two separate layers (KA and TN) 
• Dissolve the two layers to get total area by state

The values I computed for drainage areas: 35462 sq km (KA) and 44422 sq km (TN) India Water Resource Information System (India-WRIS) provides these values for drainage areas: 36240 sq km (KA) and 48730 km2 (TN)

The largest spiritual gathering of women in the world

Once a year, millions of women from all over India travel to Thiruvananthapuram to participate in what is considered the largest spiritual gathering of women in the world. The event centers around the offering of Pongala to goddess Bhadrakali, the fierce form of the Devi.

Worship during Attukal Pongala at Tippu Street, South Fort, Thiruvananthapuram

Sources:

Gingrich, J. (2018, September 05). The Festival Where Millions of Women Prepare a Feast for a Goddess. Retrieved September 9, 2018, from https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/indian-festival-all-women

Srinivas, R. (2007, April 08). Worship during Attukal Pongala at Tippu Street, South Fort, Thiruvananthapuram [Digital image]. Retrieved September 9, 2018, from https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Pongale1.jpg CC-BY-SA-3.0

Vedas and Upanishads

Here is a short video that I made that aligns the principal Upanishads with the Vedas.

Note that the alphabetization of English and Devanagari are different.

OCR tool for Sanskrit

Hi all,

This update from the Sanskrit at SOAS Facebook group showed up in my Facebook feed:

Sources:

SanskritCR. (n.d.). Retrieved August 10, 2018, from http://ocr.sanskritdictionary.com/ 

Wojtczak, L. (2018, August 10).  A new OCR tool for devanagari! Retrieved August 10, 2018, from https://www.facebook.com/groups/705791296265189/permalink/1069377789906536/

Buddhism: A Diagram

Have you ever gotten confused about the 3 jewels, 4 noble truths, the 8-fold path, and other enumerations in Buddhism?  Sabio Lantz has created this diagram that illustrates the relationships among these elements of Buddhism:

Sabio Lantz writes:

I created this diagram to assist my future posts on Buddhist themes.  Below are links and texts to help explain the outline.  It is my hope that this diagram aids the reader in visually organizing the dharma (the Buddha’s teachings) in a way that makes it easier to remember, question and discuss.

Sources:

Lantz, Sabio. “Buddhism: a Diagram.” Triangulations, 10 Aug. 2010, triangulations.wordpress.com/2010/08/10/buddhism-a-diagram/.

Lantz, Sabio. [Buddhism]. Triangulations, 10 Aug. 2010, triangulations.files.wordpress.com/2010/08/buddhism101b.jpg. 

Hindu Murthis & Vigrahams Smuggled Out of India

Ugra has assembled a collection of images of Hindu Murthis and Vigrahams Smuggled Out of India on Twitter.

Here is a statue of the child saint Sambandar that dates back to the Chola period:

Child Saint Sambandar

It is currently housed at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City.  According to the web page, here is the provenance of this statue:

Dr. J. R. Belmont , Basel (by ca. 1950, until 1966; sold to Ellsworth); Robert H. Ellsworth , New York (1966–2008; sold to Wiener); [ Doris Wiener , New York, 2008–10; gift and sale to MMA]

Therefore, we have no idea of its provenance prior to 1950 CE.

Sources:

[Child Saint Sambandar]. (n.d.). Retrieved May 27, 2018, from https://images.metmuseum.org/CRDImages/as/original/DP234672.jpg

A Compilation of Hindu Murthis & Vigrahams Smuggled Out of India. (n.d.). Retrieved May 27, 2018, from https://twitter.com/i/moments/999916482640232450

A compilation of priceless Hindu murthis which lay smuggled away in various museums across the globe. The murthis include some of the rarest & finest pieces which are not seen even in India. This thread is intended to raise awareness about it.

Child Saint Sambandar. (n.d.). Retrieved May 27, 2018, from https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/75960

Sambandar, the popular seventh-century child saint, is one of the muvar, the three principal saints of South India. Legend recounts that after receiving a gift of milk (represented by the bowl) from the goddess Uma, the infant Sambandar devoted his life to composing hymns in praise of Lord Shiva; his raised hand points to Shiva’s heavenly abode at Mount Kailash, in the Himalayas. The sculptor captured the saint’s childlike quality while also empowering him with the maturity and authority of a spiritual leader. This icon was intended for processional use during temple festivals celebrating gods and saints.

'via Blog this'

The Bahu of Bengal: Bengali and Devanagari scripts

And here are more graphics of Bengali and Devanagari scripts compared, complete with transliteration or romanization using the International Alphabet of Sanskrit Transliteration (IAST). See The Bahu of Bengal: Bengali and Devanagari scripts ('via Blog this'):

Vowels

Consonants

Sibilants

I am taking the online course Introduction to Sanskrit offered by the Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies.  Here are a couple of tools that I use to augment my study:

Google Input Tools. (n.d.). Retrieved May 24, 2018, from https://www.google.com/inputtools/

Google Input Tools makes it easy to type in the language you choose. I installed language packs for Sanskrit and Bengali , which I used to create the graphics above.

Transliteration Tool. (n.d.). Retrieved May 24, 2018, from https://www.ashtangayoga.info/sanskrit/transliteration/transliteration-tool/

The Transliteration Tool enables you to enter text in Devanagari and transliterate it into IAST. I use it to cross-check my homework.

Sacrilege in Gaza

From NPR Morning Edition:

INSKEEP: And we've also encountered Ahmed al-Bordani (ph), who is 19 years old, and when we saw him, was holding a homemade white kite.

AHMED AL-BORDANI: (Through interpreter) This is a kite that's going to go to the Jews.

INSKEEP: He said it's designed to float over the Israelis and catch fire. It was decorated with writing claiming Jerusalem for Palestinians and also with swastikas.

What does this thing mean to you? Why do you put that on there?

AL-BORDANI: (Through interpreter) The Jews go crazy for Hitler when they see it.

INSKEEP: "This is actually what we want them to know," he says, "that we want to burn them.” That is one of many views we've heard in the last few days in Gaza, where at least 60 people were killed yesterday in protests.

Wow. Just wow. Steve Inskeep didn't push back on al-Bordani's Jew-hatred.

And look at this sacrilege:

The "Palestinians" desecrate a Hindu/Jain swastika:

Sources:

Conricus, J. (2018, April 20). Moments ago, terrorist #Hamas sent a Molotov cocktail over the Gaza border into Israel. They flew it with their true colors. pic.twitter.com/LOexWD76lf. Retrieved May 18, 2018, from https://twitter.com/LTCJonathan/status/987316707516698624
File:Swastik4.GIF [Jain Swastika traditional symbol]. (n.d.). Retrieved May 18, 2018, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Swastik4.GIF
Inskeep, S., & Estrin, D. (2018, May 15). It's A Day Of Grieving And More Protests In Gaza. Retrieved May 18, 2018, from https://www.npr.org/2018/05/15/611213687/its-a-day-of-grieving-and-more-protests-in-gaza

Kaveri River dispute

The recent MLA election in Karnataka obscured pressing issues such as water. I stepped in to create maps of rivers.

Rivers of India

I champion open principles: open data, open software, and open standards.

Natural Earth is a public domain map dataset that provided data layers for shaded relief, internal administrative boundaries (states),water bodies, waterways, and populated places. The datasets are available at 1:10m, 1:50m, and 1:110 million scales. I chose datasets at 1:10 million, the most detailed that Natural Earth provides.

I processed the layers in QGIS, which is built on top of and is Free and Open Source Software (FOSS). QGIS uses the GNU General Public License (GNU GPL).The Free Software Foundation sponsors the GNU Operating System. FOSS software licenses grant the users rights to modify and re-use software product.

At the India extent, I applied labels for the states. Going on the premise that named waterways are more significant than unnamed waterways, I created separate layers for named and unnamed waterways. The named waterways were portrayed with a thicker line, while the unnamed waterways were portrayed in a lighter blue color and a thinner line. 

I also created separate layers for rivers with a specified width and rivers with an unspecified width.  Those rivers that had a specified width were deemed more important than those that didn't: likewise, they had a thicker line.

Kaveri River

I then selected administrative boundaries for Goa,Karnataka, and Tamil Nadu; saved them to a new layer; and zoomed in on the layer.In addition to labeling the states, I labeled populated places. Natural Earth favors regional significance over population census in selecting populated places. I also selected segments for the Kaveri River (waterways named Kaveri), saved them to a new layer, and styled the layer with a thick blue line.

Sources:

Front Page - Free Software Foundation - working together for free software. (n.d.). Retrieved May 16, 2018, from https://www.fsf.org/

GNU Operating System. (n.d.). Retrieved May 16, 2018, from http://www.gnu.org/

Natural Earth. (n.d.). Retrieved May 16, 2018, from http://www.naturalearthdata.com/

QGIS. (n.d.). Retrieved May 16, 2018, from https://www.qgis.org/en/site/

Mesha Sankranti

Sankranti (Sanskrit: संक्रान्ति saṁkrānti) refers to the transmigration of the Sun from one Rāshi (zodiac constellation) to the next. There are 12 Sankranti in Hindu solar calendars.

Zodiac wheel

Mesha Sankranti (मेष संक्रान्ति) marks the beginning of the New Year in Hindu solar calendars. According to Vedic astrology, the sun enters Aries, or Mesha rashi on this day. Unlike Ugadi, which is based on the lunisolar calendar and varies from year to year, Mesha Sankranti usually falls on April 13th or 14th. Different solar calendars mark the first day of the year according to the exact time of the Sankranti.

Aries zodiac sign in Jaipur, India [© Yann Forget / Wikimedia Commons, from Wikimedia Commons]. (2014, August). Retrieved April 11, 2018, from https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Aries_zodiac_sign,_Jantar_Mantar,_Jaipur,_India.jpg

Regional celebrations of Mesha Sankranti:

• Odisha: Pana Sankranti
• Tamil Nadu: Puthandu
• Kerala: Vishu
• Bengal: Boishakh
• Assam: Bihu
• Punjab: Vaisakhi, which also marks the formation of the Sikh Khalsa.

Songkran refers to New Year festivals of April in Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, parts of Northeast India, parts of Vietnam and Xishuangbanna, China (borders Laos and Thailand), according to Mesha Sankranti observations.

Sources:
2018 Mesha Sankranti, Sankramanam Date and Time. (n.d.). Retrieved April 12, 2018, from https://www.drikpanchang.com/sankranti/mesha-sankranti-date-time.html 

 
Mesha Sankranti. (2018, March 07). Retrieved April 12, 2018, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mesha_Sankranti

Sankranti. (2018, April 10). Retrieved April 12, 2018, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sankranti  

Wise words from Tayumanavar

Tayumanavar By Arunankapilan (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0], via Wikimedia Commons

It is easy to tame the rogue elephant. It is easy to tie the mouth of a bear. It is easy to mount the back of a lion. It is easy to charm poisonous snakes. It is easy to conquer the celestial and the noncelestial realms. It is easy to trek the worlds invisible. It is easy to command the angelic heavens. It is easy to retain youth eternally. It is easy to enter the body of others. It is easy to walk on water and sit in burning fire. It is easy to attain all of the siddhis (yogic powers). But to remain still is very, very difficult indeed

- Tayumanavar (1706-1744), Tamil saint, mystic and poet

HT Hinduism Today Magazine. (n.d.). Retrieved March 21, 2018, from https://www.hinduismtoday.com/blogs-news/hindu-press-international/daily-inspiration/16182.html

Daylight Savings Time begins Sunday, March 11

For the benefit of those who call from India to the U.S. and vice versa:

Daylight savings time (DST) is the practice of advancing clock by one hour so that evening daylight lasts longer.

This year (2018), DST begins on Sunday, March 11 in the U.S. The time difference between India and U.S. time zones will decrease by 1 hour. IST is UTC +0530.

Daylight Savings Time (select image to enlarge)

Even simpler is to look at the widget in the right sidebar!

Check out the श्रीमद्भगवद्गीता #gita audio site

INDIA, March 1, 2018 (The Hindu): It is never too late to start learning Srimad Bhagavad Gita. Members of the team that built the website https://gitachanting.wixsite.com/gita believe in this as they add their attempt to numerous prior ones by so many others in bringing Bhagavan Sri Krishna's Kurukshetra upadesa closer to a seeker. What perhaps differentiates this free-online-access, user-friendly effort is the combination of features, in short, RSTU -- Repeat audio at a line-level instead of verse-level, Search Text at a letter-level in 10 scripts, Sandhi resolution between audio and text, create playlists Unique to your requirements. In its web version, indexed search-friendly text is available in Devanagari and eight other national scripts -- Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam, Gujarati, Bengali, Oriya, Gurmukhi -- in addition to two English transliteration schemes.

Source: Venkataramanan, G. (2018, March 01). This website takes you closer to Gita. Retrieved March 21, 2018, from http://www.thehindu.com/society/history-and-culture/website-with-a-difference-to-learn-bhagavad-gita/article22892544.ece

via Hinduism Today Magazine. (n.d.). Retrieved March 21, 2018, from https://www.hinduismtoday.com/blogs-news/hindu-press-international/this-website-takes-you-closer-to-gita/16184.html

Want to hear a sample from श्रीमद्भगवद्गीता #gita? This is Chapter 1:

Rembrandt and the Inspiration of India

"One of the most intriguing series in Rembrandt's oeuvre comprises his drawings made in the style of artists serving the Mughal court in India."

Shah Jahan and Dara Shikoh

The exhibition Rembrandt and the Inspiration of India, which juxtaposes Rembrandt's drawings with Indian paintings and drawings of similar compositions, opens March 13 at the Getty Museum in LA.

Picture credit:

Rembrandt Harmensz. van Rijn (Dutch, 1606 - 1669)
Shah Jahan and Dara Shikoh, about 1656–1661, Brown ink and gray wash with scratchwork
21.3 × 17.8 cm (8 3/8 × 7 in.)
The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles

Rani Abbakka: An Untold Legacy - HT Swarajya

Rani Abbakka Devi Chowta, a Tuluva queen from Karnataka drove away the Portuguese in the 16th century CE, and Karnataka recognizes her with a crude statue:

Rani Abbakka Devi Chowta

Source: Raghuram, M. “Rani Abbakka: An Untold Legacy.” Swarajya Read India Right, 8 Mar. 2018, swarajyamag.com/ideas/rani-abbakka-an-untold-legacy.

Bengali and Devanagari scripts

I think that if I look at these diagrams often enough, I'll learn the Bengali script ☺

While we are talking about scripts, check out Indian Type Foundry (ITF). ITF designs and distributes retail and custom Unicode-compliant digital fonts for both Indian and global markets. Unicode enables people around the world to use computers in different languages. Freely-available Unicode specifications and data form enable software internationalization in major operating systems, search engines, applications, and the Web.

Happy Holi!

Happy Holi!

Bhagavad Krishna and Radha celebrate Holi

Factoid: did you know that Radha was not mentioned by name in the Bhagavata Purana?  While he has a favorite gopi, she is never named.

Happy Holi!

Because it's not a matter if you've seen Sholay, but how many times you watched it.😉

Happy Holi!

A Glossary of Sanskrit Terms

I adapted the glossary for the online course Introduction to Hindu Philosophy – Vedanta and Samkhya from the Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies.  I added renderings in Devanagari, created cross-links, and grabbed an image showing a map of creation according to Samkhya, which I embellished with Devanagari renderings.

Glossary of sanskrit terms from Julie Binder Maitra

This session is almost over, but a new session begins on April 22, 2018.  For more offerings, see https://ochsonline.org/

Happy Makar Sankranti

Happy Makar Sankranti

According to Wikipedia (paraphrase follows),

Makar Sankranti refers both to a specific solar day in the Hindu calendar. It marks the first day of sun's transit into the Makara (Capricorn). It is one of the few Hindu festivals that is observed according to the solar cycle. The lunar cycle of the lunisolar Hindu calendar sets most Hindu festivals. Makar Sankranti falls on the same Gregorian date every year (January 14), except in rare years when the date shifts by a day, due to earth-sun relative movement. 

It is celebrated in many parts of India and is known by different names and celebrated with different customs in different parts of the region: for example, it is called Lohri in Punjab, Uttarayan in Gujarat, and Pongal in Tamil Nadu.

Lohri Bonfire