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RE: Semmozhi Tamil- Ancient Archaeology findings

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30 ஆயிரம் ஆண்டுகளாக பனியில் உறைந்த தாவரத்தை மீண்டும் உருவாக்கிய விஞ்ஞானிகள்

மாஸ்கோ, பிப். 22- ரஷியாவின் சைபீரியா பகுதி பனிபிரதேசமா கும். இங்கு பல்லாயிரம் ஆண்டுகளுக்கு முன்பு 'சலேனே ஸ்டெனோ பில்லா' என்ற அரிய வகை தாவரம் இருந்தது. தற்போது அவை அழிந்து விட்டது. இந்த நிலையில் சைபீரியாவின் கொலிமா ஆற்றங்கரையில் ஒரு அணில் இறைக்காக நிலத் தில் தோண்டியபோது சலேனேஸ்டெனோபில்லா' குடும்பத்தை சேர்ந்த தாவரத்தின் விதைகள் கிடைத்தன.
அவற்றை உயிரி இயற் பியல் துறை விஞ்ஞானி டேவிட் கிலிசின்ஸ் தலை மையிலான குழுவினர் ஆய்வு மேற்கொண்டனர். இந்த தாவரம் அழிந்த நிலையில் சைபீரியா பனிக்கட்டிக்குள் 30 ஆயி ரம் ஆண்டுகள் உறைந்து கிடந்தது கண்டுபிடிக் கப்பட்டது. அதில் உள்ள பிளா சென்டல் திசுக் களை எடுத்து பரிசோதனை கூடத்தில் வைத்து விஷே சமான சத்துக்கள் நிறைந்த கலவையில் ஊறவைத் தனர். பின்னர் அவற்றை தரமான விதைகளாக மாற்றி மண்ணில் நட்டு பயிரிட்டனர்.

அதில், இருந்து செடி கள் முளைத்து அழகிய மலர்களாக பூத்தது. இதன் மூலம் 30 ஆயிரம் ஆண்டுகள் பனிகட்டிக் குள் உறைந்து கிடந்த தாவ ரத்துக்கு ரஷிய விஞ்ஞா னிகள் குழுவினர் உயிர் கொடுத்து மீண்டும் வளரசெய்துள்ளனர். இது உலக சாதனையாக கருதப்படுகிறது. இது குறித்து விஞ்ஞானி டேவிட் கிலிசின்ஸ் கூறும்போது, இந்த தாவரம் அதிக அளவிலான சர்க்கரை சத்து உடையது.

இத்தனை ஆண்டு காலம் பனிக்குள் உறைந்து கிடந்தாலும் அதுதான் இவற்றை உயிர் வாழ செய்துள்ளது என்றார். இந்த பரிசோதனை அழிந்து மண்ணுக்குள் புதைந்து கிடக்கும் பல தாவரங்களை மீண்டும் உயிர்ப்பிக்க தூண்டு கோலாக உள்ளது என் றும் அவர் தெரிவித்தார்

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Nagapattinam Buddha, Nagapattinam Pagoda

Published: December 25, 2011 03:01 IST | Updated: December 25, 2011 03:40 IST

Stunning indicators of Nagapattinam's Buddhist legacy

T. S. Subramanian

The seated Buddha is a masterpiece in metal with musicians playing various instruments around him. This bronze, about 52 cm tall, establishes that the Sellur Collection belongs to the Mahayana Buddhism. Photo: V. Ganesan

The Hindu The seated Buddha is a masterpiece in metal with musicians playing various instruments around him. This bronze, about 52 cm tall, establishes that the Sellur Collection belongs to the Mahayana Buddhism. Photo: V. Ganesan

45 Buddha artefacts were on display for the first time at Government Museum in Chennai

It is a Buddha sculpture in metal only 52 cm tall. But it is a masterpiece in the detail it contains.

The Buddha is seated on a throne, his right hand in the upadesa mudra and an umbrella high above his head. An “ushnisha” (flame of knowledge) is prominent on his head and the creepers around the umbrella signify the Bodhi tree. Around the Buddha, in the outer row, is a full “orchestra” — several men are playing the lute and other stringed instruments, a couple of them are playing percussion instruments like the “mridangam” and there is also a “rasika” with his hand stretched out and enjoying the music. In the inner circle are two “ganas,” four devotees, two of whom are standing and two kneeling, all with folded hands, and a pair of prancing Yalis. Four more devotees (not seen in the picture), each kneeling in a corner, bear on their shoulders the throne.

This masterpiece was among the 42 stunning Buddha bronzes and three Buddha artefacts in stone on display for the first time at the Government Museum, Egmore, Chennai, on December 21 and 22. T. Ramalingam, a farmer and son of Thambusamy Padayachi, found this priceless treasure-trove in 2004 when labourers were digging his plot to lay the foundation for his house at South Street, Sellur village, Kodavasal taluq, Tiruvarur district, Tamil Nadu. They are all datable to the 11 century C.E. to 13 century C.E. and belong to the Chola period.

The 45 artefacts form an impressive addition to the Nagapattinam Collection of 350 Buddha bronzes, which were discovered between 1856 and the 1930s at Vellipalayam and Nanayakkara Street in Nagapattinam, where Buddhism thrived in Tamil Nadu.

The Sellur artefacts range in height from 7 cm to about 52 cm. The collection includes three Maitreya figurines. Highly ornamented, the right hand in all the three is in the “abhaya mudra” and the left holds a “naga pushpa.” There are Lokesvara and Avalokitesvaras as well. (Avalokitesvara, also called Lokesvara, is a Bodhisattva — one who has nearly attained Buddhahood but prefers to serve the public, embodying the compassion of the Buddha. Maitreya is the Buddha who will appear in the world in the future). The Buddhas in stone include those in white marble and slate stone. There is a Buddha in metal, with an inscription in Tamil on the pedestal, datable to the Chola period. The script has not been read yet.

The 45 artefacts were till now in the Kodavasal taluq office. S.S. Jawahar, Commissioner of Museums, Tamil Nadu, initiated the steps to bring them to Chennai and display them to the public. “The exhibition was organised so that people will come to know what a wonderful collection of Buddha bronzes Tamil Nadu has,” R. Balasubramanian, Curator (archaeology), Government Museum, Chennai, said.

R. Nagaswamy, reputed iconographer and former Director, Tamil Nadu Archaeology Department, said the seated Buddha with musicians, followers and yalis around him was “an interesting and a very important find.” The entire Sellur Collection belonged to Mahayana Buddhism, which believed in worshipping the Buddha in form and portrayed Avalokitesvara, Lokesvara, Maitreya and others, and used more of Sanskrit, Dr. Nagaswamy explained.

Another bronze of extraordinary workmanship found in the Sellur collection is a votive stupa, about 30 cm tall. On the base of the stupa, around the four sides, are tales from the Buddha's life. On the one side is Nalagiri, the mad elephant kneeling before the Buddha on hearing his voice, and the Buddha calming it with his hand. On another side is the Buddha preaching his very first sermon, after his Enlightenment, in the Deer Park of Isipatana, now called Sarnath, near Varanasi. Below him is a Dharma Chakra, flanked by two deer and followers with folded hands. Below this panel is a standing Buddha, with an attendant holding a parasol with a tall stem above the Buddha's head. On another side is the Buddha in Maha Parinirvana, that is after his death. On the fourth side is a seated Buddha, with his right hand in “bhoomi sparisa” mudra. On top of this base is the circular “anda” and above it is the “harmika” or the tieredvimana. Lift the anda and the harmika and, lo and behold, there emerges a tiny seated Buddha.

“A rare votive stupa”

Mr. Balsubramanian called it “a rare votive stupa.” Its style and the Jataka tales sculpted on its sides had a “close affinity to the Maha Chaitya” found at Amaravathy, near Guntur, Andhra Pradesh.

“Perhaps, the Chola craftsman had visited Amaravathy before he did his piece in metal,” he surmised.

This votive stupa was another “clear-cut demonstration” that the Sellur collection belonged to Mahayana Buddhism, Dr. Nagaswamy said.

“The Sellur discoveries are definitely important and they increase our knowledge of Buddhism in Tamil Nadu,” Dr. Nagaswamy said.

The Buddha bronze, excavated at Sellur village near Kodavasal, Tiruvarur district, in Tamil Nadu in 2004, has an inscription in Tamil on its pedestal datable to the Chola period. Photo: V. Ganesan

http://www.thehindu.com/arts/history-and-culture/article2745233.ece?css=print

February 27, 2012

The Nagapattinam pagoda

My recent references to the Nagapattinam vihara has K.R.A. Narasiah adding more information citing Noboru Karashima, Y. Subbarayulu, Dr. D. Dayalan of the Archaeological Survey of India and, long before all of them, Walter Elliot writing in the Indian Antiquary . Elliot wrote that a strange shaped masonry tower called the Chinese Pagoda was demolished in 1867. In 1846 he had had a sketch of this tower prepared and this sketch later found a place in Dayalan'sArchaeological Sites and Evidences of Maritime Buddhism in South India (my illustrations today).

Karashima, that well-known Tamil scholar, wrote in a paper in 1992 that in an exhibition in Tokyo of Rockefeller-owned artefacts he had found a bronze standing Buddha similar to ones found in Nagapattinam which are now in the Government Museum in Madras. The Nagapattinam bronzes have been dated to the 11th Century. The bronze exhibited in Japan was on a lotus-shaped pedestal and it had a Tamil inscription that Karashima read:

1. Irajendra perumpalli akkasaip perumpalli alvar-koyilukutiruvavutsavam elundarula alvar ivvalvarai elundaralavittar cirutavur nalan kunakara udaiyar.

2. Svasti sri padinen-vishayattukum akkasaikal nayakar

and translated as follows:

1. (This is) the Alvar for a festival procession of the temple of Akkasalai-Perumpalli in Rajendra Chola-Perumpalli . This Alvar was set up by Nalan-gunakara-Udaiyar of Chiruthavur .

2. Let it be auspicious! (This Alvar called) Akkasaikal-nayakar is for all the Padienvishayam .

Narasiah says that ‘Padinen vishayam' is a merchant guild and linked as it is with Akkasalai (a mint or goldsmithy) was probably a guild of jewellers. They probably raised the palli (a Buddhist temple) in Rajendra Chola's time and installed this bronze, or one similar to it, as a deity in it.

Given what Chithra Madhavan contributed to this column on February 13, are we talking of two Buddhist Viharas in Nagapattinam?

http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-features/tp-metroplus/article2936365.ece

*Dr. G. Sundaram believes that the remnants of a Buddhist vihara might still be found in Nagapattinam and wants me to check it out. I hope someone will do it on my behalf. He thinks it was built by Rajaraja Chola for visiting Chinese sailors (Miscellany, January 30). He also tells me a story that I had not heard even a hint of before. Apparently the Chinese emperor had requested Rajaraja Chola and his son Rajendra Chola to send troops to quell rebellions in Tibet and Xinxian, “both problem areas still.” Problems areas they may have been for the Chinese for centuries, but I find it a bigger problem to accept the thought that Chola troops may have been expected to march almost upto the borders of Kyrgystan. But then again, I might be wrong; stranger things have happened in this world.
http://www.thehindu.com/life-and-style/metroplus/article2860453.ece

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Mayan civil27_02_2012_016_026

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oxygen in saturn04_03_2012_010_028

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CONNECTING THE DOTS
Latvia seeks common roots in Tamil goddess Mariamma

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Chennai: The pronunciation of the name,thelong blackhair and the symbolic milking of a cow are unmistakable.Although the faces and costumes do not match,there are several reasons to believe that the Tamil goddess Mariamma is the same as Latvian goddess Mara (pronounced maara ),say Latvian researchers studying cultural relationsbetween Europe andI ndia.
I was invited to a temple festival in Tiruttani,about two hours drive from Chennai.When they called out Mariammas name,it struck me.The idol and the pictures convinced me later.Latvian Maara is known to be a single woman and as the goddess of fertility, said Professor Sigma Ankrava,a research fellow at the Indian Council for Cultural Relations and head of literature and culture in the department of English studies at the University of Latvia.She was speaking at an international conference on cultural dialogue between India and Europe,organised by the University of Madras on Monday.
Having done extensive research in Indo-European cultural relations,Ankrava is convinced that Latvia shares a large part of its heritage with Aryans.Latvians,according to many historians,originated from the southern Urals.Their migration happened to the West and to the East over the Hindukush.So many cultures and traditions are similar, saysA nkrava.
She says Latvia,like other European countries,did not have a history of caste system,though in some societies like the Celtics there existed certain stratification that resembledthe varna system.
In Latvian culture there is an upper class called Bramanis whose characteristics and social behaviour resembled Brahmins of India. They were also known to be very rich,proud and a partof theupper class of the society.Now,this word stands for arrogance. WebelievethatGerman invadersexterminatedthem in the 13 th century, says Ankrava.The invaders destroyed many old places of pre-Christian worship,butthecountry is encouraging attempts to study their oldculture andtraditions.

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SRIPERUMPUDUR 09_03_2012_010_026

Sriperumpudur 3000 year old 09_03_2012_002_031

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Epigraphic and non-prejudiced approaches to Indus writing

March 9, 2012

As I read through Bryan K. Wells, 2011, Epigraphic approaches to Indus writing, Oxford and Oakville, Oxbow Books, some disturbing points emerge, related to academic prejudices in adjudicating a student’s contributions.

In the Foreword to the book, C.C. Lamberg-Karlovsky, makes some incisive observations and comments on how Bryan’s doctoral dissertation was dealt with in the academic setting of Harvard University: “Bryan Wells…came to Harvard as a graduate student intent on continuing his study of the Indus Civilization and its script…He was, and remains, committed to the idea that the Indus script represents writing and its decipherment will lead to an understanding of its texts and language. He did not think that at Harvard his dedication to this goal would meet with resistance. It did. This volume is a substantially revised edition of his doctoral dissertation. Bryan’s dissertation committee consisted of myself as Chair and Dr. Richard Meadow and Professor Michael Witzel. A near final drft of his dissertation was rejected by Meadow and Witzel. Bryan was required to return from Germany to confront and ostensibly to correct and address its shortcomings. The basic problem was tht Profesor Witzel, influenced by Steve Farmer, had concluded that the Indus script was neither writing nor representative of language. (See ‘The Collapse of the Indus Script Thesis: The Myth of Literate Harappan Civilization’ by Steve Farmer, Richard Sproat and Michael Witzel, 2004, http://www.safarmer.com/downloads.

Steve Farmer believes the Indus signs to be magical symbols.) In light of Professor Witzel’s strong commitment to the non-writing nature of the Indus script Bryan’s effort was deemed spurious and unacceptable. Richard Meadow, less strident in his view as to the nature of the Indus script, nevertheless advised Bryan to ‘tone down’ his view that the Indus represented ‘writing’. Approximately six weeks were spent as Professor Witzel balked at any mention of the Indus being a script and having a logo-syllabic nature. He insisted that Bryan sub statute the word ‘marks’ or ‘symbols’ for script. He was initially in opposition to the entire thesis. A Professor’s opinion, which, in this case is a minority view within the profession, should never be used to impose or prevent an alternative hypothesis from being addressed by a Ph.D. candidate. It was not as if Bryan was addressing an untenable, absurd hypothesis. He was to spend weeks of uncertainty, anxiety, and, in a state of near depression he puzzled over what to do. The consternation endured and expenses incurred effects his entire family. ” (pp. xiii-xv)

Lamberg-Karlovsky starts with a quote from Stephen Runciman: ‘In the battle between truth and prejudice, waged in the field of history books, it must be confessed that the latter usually wins.’ Referring to this quote, Lamberg-Karlovsky adds: ‘With the passing of time and considerable discussion, and contrary to the quote from Stephen Runciman, the quest for truth was to prevail over prejudice. Perhaps, in the context of the confrontation between a contingent of a dissertation committee and a doctoral candidate one may recall the more positive optimism voiced by John Milton in Areopagitica (1644): “Where there is much desire to learn, there of necessity will be much arguing, much writing, many opinions; for opinion in good men is knowledge in the making.” After several meetings of the dissertation committee, opinions gave way to reason.’

I can well understand the agony Bryan Wells should have gone through in his career in Harvard University as a doctoral candidate contending with prejudice of the arbiters of his thesis.

Anyway, congratulations to Bryan for the book he has just brought out. It is brilliantly presented with a detailed exposition of the use of 958 signs in the corpora of Indus inscriptions. These 958 signs constituting his sign list are presented in Figure 3.9 and in an Appendix titled 'Detail description of sign record'. He makes no claim of decipherment but documents that the number of singletons in the Mesopotamian Proto-Cuneiform are almost identical to those of the Indus script, thus refuting the Witzel-Farmer duo’s prejudiced opinion.

The work of Bryan is a significant contribution to resolving the code of the Indus script as a writing system. Indus script is a phrase which has come to stay in the deliberations related to the civilization and there is no reason why Bryan should replace the word ‘script’ with ‘marks’ or ‘symbols’.

“Chapter 6. Indus Language…PDr (Proto-Dravidian) seems a poor fit to the morphology of Indus words…It is impossible to identify the Indus language with the data at hand, but the list can be narrowed to PM or X…The major conclusion of this chapter is that of the candidate languages considered, only Proto-Munda, Para-Munda and X cannot be eliminated from consideration. Proto-Munda and Para-Munda because the patterns of word construction are similar to those of the Indus script, and X because nothing is known about it other than words that arrive in the modern Indo-Aryan languages in addition to a few words in the Rg Veda. The elimination of the PDr from consideration is a major-step. Future research can then be focused on the reconstruction of Proto-Munda and Para-Munda and its comparison to the Indus texts and on the analysis of the words from Para-Munda and Language X.” (pp.60-61)

I have used the phrase Indian Hieroglyphs to declare Indus Script as perhaps the earliest writing system invented to complement the metallurgical inventions of the bronze-age. Many words read rebus to denote the hieroglyphs are words attested in Munda language: e.g., ranku ‘liquid measure’; ranku ‘antelope’. Rebus: ranku 'tin'.

There is another fact to which I shall allude before quitting this subject of academic prejudices or opinioated academics (I should be careful to avoid any prejudice which can be caused by my own work on decrypting the code of the writing system which may not agree with Bryan's observations).

Let me cite from Alex Burnes: “Arrian mentions a nation on the Indus, called "Sangada or Saranga," and d'Anville has supposed the country of the Sangada to be the same as the modern "Sangada, or country of the Sangarians,” whose modern capital, according to Rennell, is Noanagar, on the south coast of the gulf of Cutch, and who, further coinciding with d'Anville, conceives that the "Sangarians must have first removed from the western to the eastern side of the Indus, and afterwards must have also crossed the gulf of Cutch." In the province of Cutch, and about thirty, miles eastward of the Pharrdn river there is a town on the sea-coast, called Jacow, inhabited chiefly by a race of people, called Sungars, who have a well-founded tradition that they came from the west, and in Alexander's time they were perhaps westward of the Indus, and the same people whom Nearchus mentions to have encountered the Macedonian hero on his road to Gedrosia, between the rivers Indus and Arabias.” (Memoir on the Eastern Branch of the River Indus, Giving an Account of the Alterations Produced on It by an Earthquake, Also a Theory of the Formation of the Runn, and Some Conjectures on the Route of Alexander the Great; Drawn up in the Years 1827-1828, Lieutenant Alex Burnes, Transactions of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland, Vol. 3, No. 3 (1834), p.583)

koli, baria, sangada (Indian Hieroglyphs and rebus readings: kol, tiger; badhi, rhinoceros; sangada, lathe; rebus readings: smith, carpenter, furnace/lathe)

The Kolis of Gujarat have two sub-divisions, the Patanwadias and Talpadias. Among the Talpadias, there are several sub-divisions, the main ones being the Baria, Khant, Pateliya, Kotwal and Pagi. As Barias have the high status, the entire Talpadia Koli community have adopted the name Baria. The Baria are a Hindu found in the state of Gujarat in India. They are also known as Baria Patel. They are a sub-group within the Koli community, although they now claim a Rajput origin. They get their name from the town of Devgadh Baria, which was a stronghold of the tribe. The community now deny their Koli origin, and claim to be Rajputs. They speak Gujarati. The Baria consist of a number of clans, the main ones being the Baria proper, the Patel, Pagi, Damor, Khant, Parmar, Pandor, Sangada, Chauhan and Maliwad. ( People of India Gujarat Volume XXII Part One edited by R.B Lal, S.V Padmanabham & A Mohideen page 128 to 132 Popular Prakashan).

On demographics, the Encyclopædia Britannica states: "In the early 20st century the Kolis constituted about 20 percent of the population of Gujarat, nearly 10 percent of the population of Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan, and from 2 to 5 percent of the populations of Bengal and Orissa and Maharashtra."

Adding a comment on the Indus language, my opinion (prejudice?) can be reiterated to promote further deliberations.

The lexemes used for rebus readings of the hieroglyphs are attested in the languages of the Indian linguistic area (sprachbund). These glosses can be gleaned from the multi-lingual lexicon of over 25 languages constructed with over 8000 semantic clusters as Indian Lexicon.

S. Kalyanaraman, Ph.D.

Sarasvati Research Center

Kalyan97@gmail.com

PS: Bryan Wells' earlier graduate thesis may be read here. (Dept. of Archaeology, Calgary, Alberta, 1998) https://dspace.ucalgary.ca/bitstream/1880/25900/1/31309Wells.pdf

See also: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/indo-euro-americo-asian_list/message/23 Steve Farmer versus Bryan Wells
http://www.timesnow.tv/Spl-Will-the-script-be-revealed-soon/videoshow/4324250.cms Spl: Will the script be revealed soon?
http://indusresearch.wikidot.com/script Singletons
http://www.user.tu-berlin.de/fuls/Homepage/indus/help_onlinedatabase.pdf Documentation of the Online Indus Writing Database
http://www.thehindu.com/arts/history-and-culture/article44906.ece Tracking a script

http://varnam.nationalinterest.in/2009/12/the-harappan-volumetric-system/ The Harappan volumetric system

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Trefoil as an Indian hieroglyph: association with veneration of ancestors, sacredness (Kalyanaraman, March 10, 2012)

Thanks to Carlos Aramayo for the insights on links with Egyptian hieroglyphs. For a detailed discussion of Indian hieroglyphs from circa 3500 BCE, see:http://tinyurl.com/7rbcer2

Abstract

Sacredness connoted by the temple-priest explains the occurrence of the trefoil glyph on the two bases discovered in Mohenjo-daro, for holding śivalinga. Veneration of pitr-s (ancestors) is an ancient Indian tradition.

Use of ‘trefoil’ glyph is seen in Egyptian hieroglyphs, in Uruk and in Indus artifacts.

1) Heifer with trefoil inlays, Uruk (W.16017) c. 3000 BCE; shell mass with inlays of lapis lazuli, 5.3 cm long. Vorderasiatisches Museum, Berlin; cf. Parpola, 1994, p. 213.

2) Trefoil decorated bull; traces of red pigment remain inside the trefoils. Steatite statue fragment. Mohenjo-daro (Sd 767). After Ardeleanu-Jansen, 1989: 196, fig. 1; cf. Parpola, 1994, p. 213. Trefoils painted on steatite beads. Harappa (After Vats. Pl. CXXXIII, Fig. 2)

4)Trefoils Painted On Steatite Beads, Harappa.

5) Trefoil on the shawl of the priest. Mohenjodaro. The discovery of the King Priest acclaimed by Sir John Marshall as “the finest piece of statuary that has been found at Moenjodaro….draped in an elaborate shawl with corded or rolled over edge, worn over the left shoulder and under the right arm. This shawl is decorated all over with a design of trefoils in relief interspersed occasionally with small circles, the interiors of which are filled with a red pigment “. Gold fillet with ‘standard device’ hieroglyph.

Glyph ‘hole’: pottar, பொத்தல் pottal, n. < id. [Ka.poṭṭare, Ma. pottu, Tu.potre.] trika, a group of three (Skt.) The occurrence of a three-fold depiction on a trefoil may thus be a phonetic determinant, a suffix to potṛ as in potṛka.

Rebus reading of the hieroglyph: potti ‘temple-priest’ (Ma.) potR `" Purifier "'N. of one of the 16 officiating priests at a sacrifice (the assistant of the Brahman), यज्ञस्यशोधयिट्रि (Vedic)

...

Conclusion

The trefoil is a hieroglyph read rebus. It connotes potr(i). Orthographically, it consists of pot ‘hole’ + tr(i) ‘three’ and hence depicted as three circles with holes combined into a shape of trefoil.

pot ‘young animal’; hence, depiction of trefoil on the body of a young calf. pottia ‘wearing cloth’; hence, depiction of trefoil on the shawl shown over the shoulder and breast of the ‘priest’ statuette. In a metallurgical context, pot ‘jeweller’s polishing stone’. Hence, the depiction of ‘dotted circles’ on many Indus writing corpora objects, for example, surrounding a fire-altar used for melting metals or heating crucibles.

Rebus reading is: potri ‘priest’; poTri ‘worship, venerate’. Language is Meluhha (Mleccha) an integral component of Indian sprachbund (linguistic area or language union). The trefoil is decoded and read as: potr(i).

S. Kalyanaraman, Ph.D., Sarasvati Research Center, Kalyan97@gmail.com March 10, 2012 (Paper presented at Buffalo TAG 2012 is the fifth meeting of TAG-USA, May 18-19, 2012 Open, General Session http://www.cas.buffalo.edu/tag2012/program.shtml)

Read on...http://www.docstoc.com/docs/115863006/Trefoil-as-an-Indian-hieroglyph-association-with-veneration-of-ancestors-sacredness-(March-10-2012)

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Finding Plant Domestication in the Indian Subcontinent -- Dorian Q Fuller

Finding Plant Domestication in the Indian Subcontinent

Dorian Q Fuller

Current Anthropology , Vol. 52, No. S4, The Origins of Agriculture: New Data, New Ideas (October 2011), pp. S347-S362

Published by: The University of Chicago Press on behalf of Wenner-Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research

Article DOI: 10.1086/658900

Article Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1086/658900

FINDING PLANT DOMESTICATION IN THE INDIAN SUBCONTINENT

Dorian Q Fuller

Dorian Q Fuller is Reader in Archaeobotany, Institute of Archaeology, University College London (31-34 Gordon Square, London WC1H 0PY, United Kingdom [d.fuller@ucl.ac.uk]).

Recent research indicates that cultivation may have begun in as many as five regions of India before the introduction of exogenous crops and cultivation systems: South India, Orissa, the Middle Ganges, Saurashtra, and the Himalayan foothills of the Punjab region. These potential centers of crop origin have been triangulated from data on the biogeography of wild progenitors and a growing archaeobotanical database. Nevertheless, none of these centers provide unambiguous evidence for local domestication or evidence that domestication occurred entirely in the absence of introduced crops and food-production systems. One of the major lacunae is archaeobotanical evidence from hunter-gatherer sites or evidence of the transition to initial cultivation. In addition, documentation of the morphological changes accompanying domestication is available for only a few species. This paper reviews the arguments for local domestication in each of these five regions, paying particular attention to data that might document domestication processes. But an alternative hypothesis for several regions also can be considered in which agriculture arose as a result of secondary domestications of local species after an initial introduction of farming from outside. On the basis of these alternative working hypotheses, research priorities are identified for resolving these issues.

This paper was submitted 13 XI 09, accepted 09 XII 10, and electronically published 21 IX 11.

CA+ Online-Only Material: Supplement A

Introduction: Multiple and Overlooked South Asian Centers of Origin

Jump To Section...

Almost everywhere on earth, hunter-gatherers of prehistory have at some time given way to farmers or given up their bows for ploughs. In archaeological research, however, greater efforts have been expended on investigating the origins of agriculture in those few world regions that have long been accepted as having been likely “centers of origin” (see Harlan 1971; Harris 1990). However, as research into agricultural origins has tended to focus on accepted centers of origin with a shortage of research on other regions, this has meant that it is difficult to assess local origins of agriculture whether by introduction or local evolution. Such blanks on the map of research in turn help to reinforce the sense that there were very few widely spaced centers of origin. One of these areas that has long been a blank on maps of early agriculture is the Indian Subcontinent, and this paper reviews recent empirical research that indicates local domestication processes.

...http://bharatkalyan97.blogspot.in/2012/03/finding-plant-domestication-in-indian.html

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SRIPERUMPUDUR 09_03_2012_010_026

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சோழர் கால இந்துக்கோயில் சிதைவுகள் இந்தோனேசியாவில் கண்டுபிடிப்பு! (காணொளி)

சோழர் காலத்துக்கு உரிய சைவ ஆலயம் ஒன்றின் சிதைவுகள் அகழ்வு ஆராய்ச்சி நிபுணர்களால் இந்தோனேசியாவில் கண்டு பிடிக்கப்பட்டுள்ளதாக தகவல்கள் வெளியாகியுள்ளன.
இந்த ஆலயம் 1000 ஆண்டுகளுக்கு மேல் பழைமையானது என அறியப்படுகிறது.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=Mncl75e7THM

சிவபெருமான், விநாயகர் ஆகியோரின் சிலைகள் கண்டெடுக்கப்பட்டுள்ளதாக சர்வதேச செய்திகள் தெரிவிக்கின்றன.

இந்த ஆலயத்தை ஒத்த ஆலயங்கள் இதற்கு முன்னர் கண்டு பிடிக்கப்பட்டு இருக்கவில்லை.

இதனால் இது மிகவும் முக்கியத்துவம் வாய்ந்தது என நிபுணர்கள் விளக்கம் தருகின்றார்கள்.

-- Edited by Admin on Sunday 11th of March 2012 05:52:25 AM

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Vedic-era rock memorials found near city

D Madhavan TNN

Sriperumbudur: For thousands of years,history remained buried under boulders near a lake in Sriperumbudur.That changed recently when a team of archaeologists excavated the site after finding signs of human activity including marks that appeared to have been made by stone tools.
The archaeologists discovered that the boulders were a chain of animal-shaped memorials from the early Iron Age,dating back to around 1,000 BC.On Saturday,a team of experts from the Archaeological Survey of India visited the site and took samples as evidence.
The discovery was made on an elevated part of a lake in Vadamangalam near Sriperumbudur.The biggest of the memorials is a tortoise-shaped monument around 35 metres long and 20 metres wide.
The archaeologists also found several other memorials in animal forms and unearthed buried pots a few hundred metres from the tortoise-shaped monument.One of the buried pots contained a part of a corroded cleaver,a chisel and three smaller pots containing grains and another pot with some liquid.Pot burials,the archaeologists said,are common across ancient cultures that believed in life after death.The objects are placed with the body so the person could use them in the next world.
The presence of iron tools was not unexpected because last year we discovered a large iron smelting unit at Balanallur,some 4 km from here.What excited us were the animalshaped memorials, said geoarchaeologist S Rama Krishna Pisipaty.Archaeologists said the findings are the first evidence of animal-shaped memorials dating back to Iron Age in the country.Memorials from this period discovered earlier were human-shaped or stone circles.Most of the memorials are tortoise and reptile-shaped,exhibiting the influence of later Vedic period.The later Vedic period was succeeded by Early Iron Age.
The memorials could also have been built for the leader of atribe,the archaeologists said.
As the area has been extensively used by the sand mining industry,the ASI last week erected a board declaring the site as a monument of national importance under the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Sites and Remains Act of 1958 and 2010.
madhavan.d@timesgroup.com

TALES FROM PAST: Archaeologists found animal-shaped memorials dating back to 1,000 BC near a lake in Sriperumbudur

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LordBairavar 15_03_2012_006_005

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China fossils point to unknown human species

Skeletons Show Unusual Mix Of Features Of Bygone & Modern Man

Melbourne: The mysterious fossils unearthed in Chinese caves could be of a previously unknown type of human,as the skeletons possess a highly unusual mix of bygone and modern human features,researchers have claimed.
Surprisingly,the fossils are only between 11,500 and 14,500 years old.That means they would have shared the landscape with modern humans when Chinas earliest farmers were first appearing,the researches said.
These new fossils might be of a previously unknown species,one that survived until the very end of the ice age around 11,000 years ago, said lead researcher Darren Curnoe,palaeoanthropologist at University of New South Wales,Australia.
Alternatively,they might represent a very early and previously unknown migration of modern humans out of Africa,a population who may not have contributed genetically to living people, Curnoe was quoted as saying by LiveScience.
At least three fossil specimens were uncovered in 1989 by miners quarrying limestone at Maludong or Red Deer Cave near the city of Mengzi in southwest China.They remained unstudied until 2008.The scientists are calling them the Red Deer Cave People because they cooked extinct red deer in their namesake cave.
Carbon dating,a technique that estimates the radioactive decay of carbon in samples of charcoal found with the fossils helped establish their age.The charcoal also showed they knew how to use fire.
Stone artifacts found at the Maludong site also suggest they were toolmakers,they reported in the journal PLoS ONE.
Meanwhile,a Chinese geologist found a fourth skeleton,which looks very similar to the Maludong fossils,in a cave in southwest China in 1979.It stayed encased in a block of rock neglected in the basement of an archaeological research centre until 2009 when it was rediscovered by the team.PTI

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Mammals appeared before dinos died out

Sindhya N Bhanoo

It was long believed that mammals began to diversify and flourish only after dinosaurs died out in the mass extinction about 66 million years ago.
But a new study in the journal Nature suggests that some mammals diversified well before that.The story appears more complex, said study author Gregory Wilson,from the University of Washington.
Wilson and his colleagues studied the teeth of multituberculates,a group of rodentlike mammals that lived from 165 million years ago to about 35 million years ago.Some of the teeth were tiny: as small as four-hundredths of an inch across.
They found that over time,the mammals teeth evolved to have more patches,or bumps.In modern mammals,the greater number of patches you have,the more likely you are to have a diet of high-fiber or plants, Wilson said.NYT NEWS SERVICE

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Bulgarian Archaeologist Discovers World's Likely Oldest Sun Temple

Archaeology | December 16, 2010,

Archaeologist Ganetsovski might have found the world's oldest sun temple. Photo by BNT

Bulgarian archaeologist Georgi Ganetsovski has made a new hit discovering by unearthing what might be the world's oldest sun temple.

The team of Georgi Ganetsovski, an archaeologist from the Vratsa Regional History Museum, who specializes in paleolithic settlements, has uncovered a structure similar in function to the Stonehenge in the UK but is 3 000 years older than it.

The 8000-year-old structure has been found near the village of Ohoden, VratsaDistrict, Northwestern Bulgaria.

The ancient people used this sanctuary to track the movement of the sun in order to decide what is the best time for planting and harvesting their crops; furthermore, there they would offer gifts to the sun hoping for abundance of their harvests.

The floor of the sanctuary, which was uncovered from under tons of earth mass, was paved with cobblestones; the structure itself has the form of the Cyrillic letter "П", with its open end directed to the east.

"My research during the fall equinox and the measurements and tests that we made show that the shape of the structure is focused on the sunrise, and, what is more, taking into account the shifting of the magnetic poles of the Earth that occurred in the past 8000 years. Another interesting fact is that we found dozens of clay and stone discs at this spot," explained Ganetsovski as cited by the Bulgarian National TV.

In his words, in early agricultural societies the disc with a dot in the middle symbolized the sun disc, which indicates that the sanctuary is the oldest temple dedicated to the cult for the Sun god in Bulgaria, and possibly in the world.

Ganetsovski has recently presented his discovery at a prestigious archaeological forum in Romania with the participation of archaeologists from across the EU and the USA.

Ganetsovski has been excavating the site near Ohoden for years, which is believed to harbor important remains from the first agricultural communities in Europe; over the summer he found an 8000-year-old skeleton of a young man dubbed by the media "The First European."

Archaeology: 8000 year-old Sun temple found in Bulgaria In the summer of 2009, Ganetsovski spoke to Novinite.com (Sofia News Agency) and the Australian channel SBS TV about the troubles he had in dealing with raids by treasure hunters, who are a real plight for Bulgaria's archaeological heritage. He said that to avoid aggressive behavior on part of armed treasure hunters, he would let them search his sites because he knew that the paleolithic settlements had no metal, which is what the treasure hunters are after, and they would then leave him alone.

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Because the inertia of tectonic plates is negligible, plate velocities result from the balance of forces acting at plate margins and along their base¹. Observations of past plate motion derived from marine magnetic anomalies provide evidence of how continental deformation may contribute to plate driving forces^{2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8}. A decrease in convergence rate at the inception of continental collision is expected because of the greater buoyancy of continental than oceanic lithosphere^2, 3, but post-collisional rates are less well understood. Slowing of convergence has generally been attributed to the development of high topography that further resists convergent motion^7, 8, 9,10; however, the role of deforming continental mantle lithosphere on plate motions has not previously been considered. Here I show that the rate of India’s penetration into Eurasia has decreased exponentially since their collision. The exponential decrease in convergence rate suggests that contractional strain across Tibet has been constant throughout the collision at a rate of 7.03 × 10⁻¹⁶ s⁻¹, which matches the current rate. A constant bulk strain rate of the orogen suggests that convergent motion is resisted by constant average stress (constant force) applied to a relatively uniform layer or interface at depth. This finding follows new evidence that the mantle lithosphere beneath Tibet is intact¹¹, which supports the interpretation that the long-term strain history of Tibet reflects deformation of the mantle lithosphere. Under conditions of constant stress and strength, the deforming continental lithosphere creates a type of viscous resistance that affects plate motion irrespective of how topography evolved.

SUBJECT TERMS:

FIGURES AT A GLANCE

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right

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Coins in Tirupati temple traced back to pre-Christian era

Coins in Tirupati temple traced back to pre-Christian era

M T Saju, TNN | Mar 28, 2012, 04.37AM IST

Members of a numismatic scholars' committee have found that some of the earliest coins in the collection belonged to the Satavahana period and pre-Christian era.

CHENNAI: Members of a numismatic scholars' committee, formed to segregate the huge collection of coins in the famous Tirupati Tirumala temple, have found that some of the earliest coins in the collection belonged to the Satavahana period and pre-Christian era.

The panel, which included 20 numismatic scholars from the south, has segregated more than 36 tonnes of coins from the total 48 tonnes in three sessions.

We have segregated about 36 tonnes of coins so far. The earliest coins found in the collection belonged to the Satavahana period, pre-Christian and the Chola era. The remaining 12 tonnes will be segregated in a couple of months, said T Sathyamurthy, one of the members in the team and vice president of South Indian Numismatic Society.

Sathyamurthy said the gold coins accumulated in the hundi (temple collection box) are found to be embedded in the necklaces of the god. The temple administration has stored a huge amount of copper and lead coins in the nearby treasury. The temple is administered by the Tirupati Tirumalai Devasthanams.

It was in January 2011 that the administration decided to segregate the ancient coins from the collection due to lack of storage facility in the treasury.

The coins during the Nayak cover the major share. Others include coins of Bahmani, Khilji, Chatrapathi Sivaji, Qutub Shahi, Mysore Wodayars, Travancore kings, East India Company and Dutch India Company, Sathyamurthy said, adding that modern coins from as many as 60 countries, including the Middle-East, Africa, US, UK, Australia, Canada, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and the Philippines are also found in the collection.

We are planning to display the rare coins in the two museums here. We are actually working on how to do it, said J Vijayakumar, chief museum officer of the Sri Venkateswara Museum, Tirupati.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/chennai/Coins-in-Tirupati-temple-traced-back-to-pre-Christian-era/articleshow/12435361.cms

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New Human ancestor 30_03_2012_008_021

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African fossil foot signals new prehuman species

Offers Insight Into How Man Started Walking On 2 Feet

John Noble Wilford

Now it seems that Lucy shared eastern Africa with another prehuman species,one that may have spent more time in trees than on the ground.
A 3.4-million-year-old fossil foot found in Ethiopia appears to settle the long-disputed question of whether there was only a single line of hominins species more closely related to humans than to chimpanzees between four million and three million years ago.The fossil record for that period had been virtually limited to the species Australopithecus afarensis,made famous by the 3.2-million-year-old Lucy skeleton.
Of perhaps more importance the newfound foot not only belonged to a different species but also had evolved a distinctive mode of locomotion,which scientists described as equivocal. It clung to the trees and never adapted to terrestrial mobility outright.
The Lucy species had long before evolved almost human-like upright walking,bipedality,as attested by the Laetoli footprints in Tanzania from as early as 3.7 million years ago.This other species was still built for climbing trees and grasping limbs.It was capable of walking,though less efficiently and probably at an awkward gait.
At a pivotal period in prehuman evolution,the discoverers concluded,two lines of hominins practiced contrasting locomotion behavior.Their feet,mostly,told the tale: the divergent,opposable big toe,long digits and other bones of the newfound species did not match the feet of afarensis.Lucys foot had a strong arch and the big toe was lined up with the other four digits,much like the feet of modern humans and all critical for effective bipedality,while retaining some agility for climbing trees.
Yohannes Haile-Selassie,a paleoanthropologist at the Cleveland Museum of Natural History in Ohio,and his colleagues said the species the foot belonged to remains undetermined,for lack of any cranial or dental remains associated with the specimen.But they said the foot was strikingly similar to the earlier hominin Ardipithecus ramidus,nicknamed Ardi,which lived 4.4 million years ago,also in what is now Ethiopia.
Ardis foot also had a divergent big toe,similar to those of apes and gorillas,for tree climbing,though Ardi was an occasional upright walker.
Daniel E Lieberman,a human evolutionary biologist at Harvard wrote in a commentary for the journal that the hominin foot is a valuable addition to the fossil record as it extends the existence of Ardipithecus-like feet by a million years.
This and other recent discoveries,Lieberman said,indicate that there was more diversity in hominin locomotion than we had previously thought,and not all of it took place on the ground.
Donald C Johanson,the discoverer of Lucy,admired this new member of the fossil kingdom.Its a lovely little foot to have, he said,agreeing that its similarity to the Ardi suggested the existence of two parallel lineages in this long time period. NYT NES SERVICE

BURIED PAST: The 3.2m-year-old skeleton called Lucy.Now,it seems Lucy had company another prehuman that also walked,but spent more time on trees

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THE ROMAN CONNECTION
ROOTS OF HISTORY hold together eroding mound

New Interest In Arikamedu Prompts Pondy Govt To Make Tourism Plans

Nandini Sen Gupta | TNN

Puducherry: For nearly two thousand years Arikamedus name,which literally means eroding mound,pretty much marked its destiny.Now a resurgent Indias curiosity about its own heritage is triggering a new kind of interest in this scenic spot,4km south of Puducherry on the banks of the river Ariyankuppam.
Once,a bustling trading station with a rich and active link with Rome,modern day Arikamedu is turning into a tourist destination for European and Indian travellers.Arikameduhasdefinitely turnedinto a popular touristdestination and we have been getting a constant flow of tourists,particularly European groups,visiting the site, says Puducherry tourism department secretary A S Shivakumar.Itis alsobecoming quite popular withIndian tourist groups specifically interested in heritage and we are getting good response particularly from north Indian tourists.
The sites tourist pull has also prompted the Puducherry tourism department to acquire 100 acres of land surrounding thecore 66 acresthat areunder theArcheological Survey of India.The government planstotakeup tourism projects including a Roman sculpture park,a museum,an interpretation centre and a backwater resort, says Shivakumar.Objection from environmental groups has prompted the government to wait till the excavation is over before starting on its projects.These are at the proposal stage and will be taken up later, says Shivakumar.
Known for its local expertise in bead making (glass and stone ),Arikamedu once attracted a rich haul of goods from the Mediterranean.On display in the dusty shelves of Puducherry Museum is a collection of pottery shards retrieved during successive excavations here.This terra sigillata or arretine ware (which has only been reported here ) came to our shores from the farthest corners of the Roman empire from south of Spain to the Greek Rhodes Islands.
Arikamedu is among a handful of trading centres dotting the coastline of peninsular India which were among the most important globally in the ancient world, says art historian Benoy Behl.Textiles from India,mostly Deccan cotton woven in theentire region from Maharashtra toAndhra Pradesh,were one of the most important exports of the time contributing to the prosperity and fame of cities like Kancheepuram for instance. Like Arikamedu,there are similar Roman trading sites in Kerala and Andhra Pradesh and the attraction of Indian imports among its elite was a serious economic drain for Rome, says Behl.
Arikamedu came into prominence in the 1930 s and 40s following the excavations of a group of French,English and Indian archaeologists.First discovered by Frenchman Guillaume Le Gentil in 1760,it gained fame when excavations at the site began under Jouveau Dubreuil and A Aiyappan (curator of the Madras Museum ) in the late 1930 s.

LOOKING BACK

The sites tourist pull has also prompted the Puducherry tourism department to acquire 100 acres of land surrounding the core 66 acres that are under the ASI Arikamedu,which was once known for its bead making,attracted trade with the Mediterranean First discovered by Frenchman Guillaume Le Gentil in 1760,it gained fame when excavations at the site began under Jouveau Dubreuil and A Aiyappan (curator of the Madras Museum) in the 1930s

STANDING TALL: Arikamedu has become a popular destination for Indian and foreign travellers.Like Arikamedu,there are similar Roman trading sites in Kerala and Andhra Pradesh

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Historic find at Bujang Valley - Himanshu Bhatt

Historic find at Bujang Valley

Posted on 4 April 2012 - 05:29am

Himanshu Bhatt

newsdesk@thesundaily.com

Prof Mokhtar Saidin (L) explaining about the ancient stone, aged 1.83 million years old, to Prof Datuk Omar Osman (3rd, L) and Datin Paduka Zuraina Majid (2nd, L) while visiting the USM Archaeology Gallery, April 3, 2012. BERNAMA

GEORGE TOWN (April 3, 2012): The historical significance of the Bujang Valley in Kedah has intensified with the dramatic discovery of a structure that has existed there since 50 BC – making it the oldest man-made building to be found in South-east Asia.

The excavation was made late last year at the Sungai Batu archaeological area. The age of the site – a metal foundry – was recently confirmed through radiocarbon tests conducted by the Beta Analytic Inc laboratory in Florida.

In hailing the find, Prof Mokhtar Saidin, director of the Centre for Global Archaeological Research of Universiti Sains Malaysia, stressed that it pointed to an advanced civilisation on our shores as far back as 2,062 years ago.

"This will help us to rewrite history," he said. "What we have found is a centre for an iron industry together with a port that existed here during that period."

The foundry is among 97 ancient structures, all covered over time in mounds of earth, that have been detected within a 4 sqkm area at Sungai Batu.

Of these, only 29 have been excavated so far, Mokhtar said.

The structure also pre-dates a nearby 1,900 year old ritualistic monument built with detailed geometric precision, whose discovery was reported by theSun in March 2010.

Since then, other iron-smelting structures have also been found, dating back to 60AD, as well as a jetty.

Mokhtar was speaking after the opening of USM's Archaeology Gallery by Heritage Commissioner Prof Emeritus Datuk Zuraina Majid today. Also present was USM vice-chancellor Prof Datuk Omar Osman.

Zuraina said the government has allocated RM20 million through the National Heritage Department for the conservation of the Sungai Batu archaeological area.

The amount would include land acquisition of the oil palm plantations where the mounds have been found, and the development of an information gallery and visitors' trail.

Prior to the Sungai Batu archaeological project which began in 2009, excavations in other parts of the Bujang Valley during the 70s and 80s had recorded mostly Hindu-Buddhist structures and artefacts dated between the 8th century AD and 13th century AD.

It is understood that the system of metallurgy found here is similar to techniques used in ancient India.

The Sungai Batu finds pre-date other man-made structures in South-east Asia, including the Batu Jaya Site in Karawang, western Java (3rd century AD) and the Siva-Bhadresvara Temple in My Son, Vietnam (4th Century AD).

Earlier, Zuraina inspected three new scientific equipment acquired by USM, with a price tag of RM4.2 million, to facilitate studies on fossils and artefacts.

http://www.thesundaily.my/news/339238

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Antiquities at Chu Lai Museum

Last update 01/04/2012 02:00:00 PM (GMT+7)

Antiquities at Chu Lai Museum

VietNamNet Bridge – Thousands of Vietnamese antiques from the 18th to 19th centuries and hundreds of Cham cultural items are exhibited at the Chu Lai Museum in the central province of Quang Nam.

The museum is built on five hectares in Tam Nghia commune, Nui Thanh district. This is the first private museum in this region.

The museum’s owner – Mr. Pham Xuan Long – says that he collected these antiques for nearly 40 years. Some items are worth millions of USD. “There are antiques that you cannot buy with money. There are items that I offered very high prices, but owners refused to sell until I told them that I bought the items to exhibit in my future museum. It turned out that they were afraid that I would sell antiques overseas,” Mr. Long says.

Inside the museum, antiques are displayed on different zones, including antiques of the Nguyen Dynasty, the Mac Dynasty, the Tay Son Dynasty, Late Sa Huynh culture, etc.

The museum has many ceramic items of 100-300 years old, weapons and tools used in the houses of mandarins and decorative items.

The most impressive zone is the one for ancient cannons, with more than 100 items. Cannons were very important weapon in fighting invaders of Vietnamese people from the Tran to the Nguyen dynasties (over 500 years). Mr. Ho Nguyen Trung of the Ho Dynasty was the inventor of the cannon. Cannon casting techniques were the best under the reign of King Gia Long and King Minh Mang of the Nguyen dynasty.

The area for Cham antiques is also very attractive to visitors.

Some antiques at the Chu Lai Museum:

Around 50 cannons are displayed at the museum.

Cannon bullets.

Ceramic dragons made in the southern province of Dong Nai in the 19th century.

Happiness-wealth-longevity statues made in Dong Nai.

Carp turns into a dragon – Dong Nai ceramic.

A rock which was displayed in the palace of the Ho Dynasty.

Antiques of the Nguyen Dynasty in the 19th century.

A gramophone of the 19th century.

Bicycles that were used by King Bao Dai.

Chairs and table of the 19th century.

Plates of the 18th century.

Bowls used by mandarins in the 18th century.

The hat of a Tay Son general in the 18th century.

Jars of the late Sa Huynh culture.

Cham items.

Dan Tri

http://english.vietnamnet.vn/en/vietnam-in-photos/20511/antiquities-at-chu-lai-museum.html

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Looking at the earth from above can reveal incredible secrets. delayed gratification

Archaeology is the study of the remains of the past but has long been predatory on the sciences and their ever-growing technologies. I was brought up as a student in 1970s Britain, when we learned of the wonderful revelations to be made through aerial viewing of almost any human landscape.

Today we have moved on to add, first, satellite imagery to our arsenal, and now the astonishing virtual globes any one of us can use to explore many of the most remote and difficult places in the world. This was never clearer to me than during the past two years, when I began finding thousands of prehistoric sites in the Middle East … from my desk in Perth, Australia, using Google Earth.

ARCHAEOLOGY FROM THE AIR

Aerial reconnaissance for archaeology – Aerial Archaeology – has been an indispensable part of fieldwork in most of north-western Europe for decades. Hundreds of flights are dedicated annually to archaeology, which provide access to millions of aerial photographs. It would not be overstating it to say this technique has been transformational for the discipline.

Click for a larger version. APAAME

Click to enlarge

Known sites and landscapes recorded cost-effectively, monitored routinely and mapped, as well as new discoveries, have all added to the database. In Britain, for example, the immense number of new sites recorded has transformed ancient landscape studies.

Although the Middle East witnessed important pioneering aerial reconnaissance in the 1920s and 30s it was largely confined to the British and French Mandates and ended with the Second World War and independence movements.

In the decades since, the landscape of the entire Middle East has been transformed through massive development, largely driven by a population explosion. In Jordan, for example, the population has increased by almost 2,000% since 1943, equivalent to an increase in Australia from the 7.5 million we had in 1947 to 150 million now. In short, the Middle East was deprived of one of the most powerful tools for discovery, recording, mapping and initial interpretation at the very time it was most needed.

But there have been a few glimmers of light.

GOOGLING THE PAST

It has always been relatively easy for archaeologists in Israel and Jordan to obtain aerial photographs and, since 1997, Jordan has supported me in an annual programme of aerial reconnaissance along with my colleague Dr Robert Bewley.

More recently still, the quality of available satellite imagery has improved significantly with the declassification of US military imagery from the 1960s onwards. And now we have virtual globes –Google Earth and Bing, providing extensive high-resolution imagery over large areas of the Middle East.

Click for a larger version. APAAME

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At a stroke and within a very short period of time, archaeologists who were accustomed to working without access to aerial imagery, have had immense landscapes opened up for exploration from their home office. For Syria, Lebanon, Israel, Palestine and Jordan there is extensive high-resolution imagery; for Saudi Arabia, Yemen and Oman, high-resolution coverage is more limited but increasing.

The consequences can be measured immediately, although it will be some years before the detailed impact is known.

At the very least, many archaeologists can see their site or area of interest in colour and useful detail. Many users now produce maps based on Google Earth imagery. In our Aerial Archaeology in Jordan project, Google Earth imagery is used routinely and symbiotically with our aerial reconnaissance.

Although even the best Google imagery cannot substitute for low-level aerial photographs, it does provide a superb photo-map offering vertical views hard to obtain easily from helicopters or aircraft. The major recent impact has been in Jordan’s Arab neighbours where aerial archaeology is not allowed and even access to archive aerial photographs is limited or impossible.

WHAT DID WE FIND?

Large parts of Syria, for example, have now come into sharp focus. One example of the change concerns the prehistoric stone-built structures called kites. French archaeologists reported fewer than 300 in 1995; today we have more than 900 including many in areas where none were previously known.

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The greatest potential impact will come in the Arabian Peninsula. Saudi Arabia has not normally given access to archive aerial photographs although they are the only viable means of exploring its immense area (2.15 million sq km) and often daunting landscape. Although Yemen and Oman have benefitted from more extensive ground work, both suffer from the same absence of a key tool.

Although 19th century travellers and recent archaeologists noted extensive remains, there was little scope for quantifying what survived. This was especially true of the stone-built structures the bedouin call “the Works of the Old Men”, which are all probably prehistoric.

Recent systematic interpretation of a single high-resolution “window” of Google Earth for an area near Jeddah underscores, counter-intuitively, the surprisingly rich archaeological remains even in the bleakest landscape.

Some 2,000 stone structures were recorded, many of them of a type familiar from eastern Jordan, but a local variant. In a second “window” we have recorded 281 Kites, many of them in forms different from those long-known in Jordan and southern Syria.

A third “window” has revealed a score of tracks leading to an ancient settlement, each flanked for an overall total of several kilometres by burial cairns, Pendants (a cairn with a “tail” of small cairns), keyhole, trumpet and various other shapes of what are probably burial places.

A NEW PERSPECTIVE

There is the potential now for much of “Interior Arabia”, from northern Syria to Yemen, to be explored systematically and its visible remains mapped. Preliminary interpretations can emerge from creating sites, analysing maps and setting the known data against a variety of backgrounds (geology, soils, hydrology, climate, fauna and flora etc).

Aerial Archaeology – whether working with aircraft or satellites, cannot answer many of the questions of interest to archaeologists. But it can be an indispensable tool for building the big picture and establishing the immensely enriched database available to archaeologists.

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The programme of Aerial Archaeology in Jordan will continue. It provides a rich database of low-level detailed imagery and a permanent record of sites that are often under threat. More than that, it can assist in the interpretation of data from the wider region where aerial reconnaissance is impossible and ground exploration harder or impossible. It will remain part of the increasingly rich mixture of tools for exploring these “works of the old men”.

The digital exploration of the Middle East can involve at least as much time as traditional aerial reconnaissance, but it gives us a new perspective on some of Earth’s most ancient sites.

Developments both in the field and at home can be followed on our blog.

http://theconversation.edu.au/googling-the-past-how-i-uncovered-prehistoric-remains-from-my-office-3569

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Italian Bishops 06_04_2012_002_015

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Amdavadi architect to recreate Angkor Wat. Celebrate Angkor Wat as sacred temple of the world.

Millions more, the entire population of the planet globe should visit and revisit the world heritage Angkor Wat. No replication can take away the grandeur and sanctity of this ancient, sacred monument for peoples' vision. There should be daily worship and prayers at this largest vishnu temple of the globe, together with celebration of periodic festivals by all Khmer people, according to age-old traditions.

Let architects recreate using varieties of architectural traditions. The heritage of Angkor Wat (Nagara Vatika) lives on and should stay sacred as a tribute to Paramatman.

Kalyanaraman

Amdavadi architect to recreate Angkor Wa

Bharat Yagnik, TNN Mar 31, 2012, 02.19AM IST

AHMEDABAD: Indians won't have to go all the way to Cambodia to see Angkor Wat, considered to be one of the biggest religious structures in the world, which was constructed in the 12th century. It is thronged by 2 million visitors every year. A replica of the entire temple is slated to be constructed in the Vaishali district of Bihar. The city will have a lion's share in executing the project as a city-based temple architect has been entrusted with the construction of the mega structure.

Piyush Sompura of Panna Craft, a city-based firm specializing in temple construction all over India, told TOI that ever since he had seen Angkor Wat, he had a dream to replicate it. The dream has been realized. "I was contacted by Bihar Mahavir Mandir Trust, the organization that was planning to make Virat Angkor Wat Ram Mandir," he said. "It will be a temple dedicated to Lord Ram, on the outskirts of Patna and I immediately joined the project."

Sompura said that the 900 feet long and 270 feet tall structure is expected to be finished in the next five years at the cost of Rs 150 crore, employing 900 masons. The temple, complete with sprawling campuses and gardens, will have 21 shikhars, he added. His son Dhruv will assist him in the task.

"The temple's main deity is Lord Ram and Sita along with Luv and Kush and sage Valmiki," said Sompura. "However, we are planning to construct temples of various incarnations of Vishnu, Shiva, Ganesha and Surya among others. Being true to the original form, the temple will have Dravidian and Nagar styles of architecture and it will be constructed with 2.5 crore cubic feet of Chunar stone of pink hue."

http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2012-03-31/ahmedabad/31265944_1_temple-construction-angkor-wat-bihar-mahavir-mandir-trust

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Young bull + lathe hieroglyphs on Indus seals

Correction. 10 April 2012

The seals with these hieroglyphs may be jangad 'for approval' process/trade transactions (say, between workers' platforms to warehouse or from warehouse to sales agents).

Since modern use of 'heifer' refers to a young cow, I would like to correct the meaning of koḍiyum (G.) as 'young bull, bull-calf'. The cognate term in Telugu: కోడియ [ kōḍiya ] Same as కోడె [ kōḍe ] kōḍe. [Tel.] n. A bullcalf. కోడెదూడ. A young bull.खोंड [ khōṇḍa ] m A young bull, a bullcalf.(Marathi) ['Heifer' may be derived from Old English heahfore; related to Greek poris calf, bull.]

Harappa h006 Seal and impression.

Many seals depict a hieroglyphic composition: (1) one-horned heifer with pannier and neck-rings; and (2) a gimlet/lathe on portable furnace. koḍiyum ‘young bull’ (G.) koḍ ’horn’ (Kuwi) koṭiyum ‘rings on neck; a wooden circle put round the neck of an animal’ (Gujarati.) खोंडा [khōṇḍā] m A कांबळा of which one end is formed into a cowl or hood (Marathi). kõdā ‘to turn in a lathe’(B.) कोंद kōnda ‘engraver, lapidary setting or infixing gems’ (Marathi) kũdār ‘turner, brass-worker’(Bengali) খোদকার [ khōdakāra ] n an engraver; a carver (Oriya). Glyph: sangaḍa ‘lathe’ (Marathi) Rebus: जांगड [jāngaḍ] ‘a tally of products delivered into the warehouse ‘for approval’ (Marathi). Rebus: koḍ ’artisan’s workshop’ (Kuwi) cf. खोट [ khōṭa ] f A mass of metal (unwrought or of old metal melted down); an ingot or wedge.(Marathi)

See: H جاکڙ जाकड़ jākaṛ [fr. S. यतं+कृ; cf. jakaṛnā], s.m. A deposit or pledge left with a vendor for goods brought away for inspection or approval; goods taken from a shop for approval, a deposit or pledge being left; a conditional purchase; articles taken on commission sale;—adv. On inspection, for approval:—jākaṛ-bahī, s.f. Account book of sales subject to approval of goods, &c.:—jākaṛ bećnā, v.t. To sell conditionally, or subject to approval:—jākaṛ le jānā, v.t. To take away goods on inspection, or for approval, leaving a deposit or pledge with the vendor. (Urdu)

Note: The meaning of ‘jangad’ is well-settled in Indian legal system. Jangad meand "Goods sent on approval or 'on sale or return'… It is well-known that the jangad transactions in this country are very common and often involve property of a considerable value." Bombay High Court
Emperor vs Phirozshah Manekji Gandhi on 13 June, 1934 Equivalent citations: (1934) 36 BOMLR 731, 152 Ind Cas 706 Source: http://www.indiankanoon.org/doc/39008/

Jangad sale is sale on approval and/or consignment basis (that is, taken without definite settlement of purchase).

Discussion of sales on jangad (approval) basis: http://www.lawyersclubindia.com/sc/INDRU-RAMCHAND-BHARVANI-AND-OTHERS-Vs-UNION-OF-INDIA-OTHERS-281.asp

http://indiankanoon.org/doc/1802495/?type=print

The effect of these terms on the relation between the parties, and the possession of the goods in the hands of the broker, was considered by Madgavkar J. in an unreported judgment in Kanga Jaghirdar & Co. v. Fatehchand Hirachand (1929) O.C.J. Suit No. 1117 of 1928. At that time the relative section of the Indian Contract Act did not contain the expression "mercantile-agent" but only "person". On a consideration of the terms mentioned above the learned Judge came to the conclusion that the possession obtained under a document worded as aforesaid was not juridical possession within the meaning of Section 178 of the Indian Contract Act. As regards the term jangad used in the document the learned Judge observed as follows : "Assuming that jangad in Gujerati ordinarily means 'approval' there is no reason to assume that the goods entrusted jangad are goods to be sold on approval, rather than goods to be shown for approval...The dictionary meaning of the word "jangad" is "approval". As stated by Madgavkar J. in the passage quoted above, having regard to the printed terms in this case, there appears no reason to assume that the diamonds were entrusted to defendants Nos. 1 and 2 to be sold on approval and not that they were given to them to be shown for approval. In my opinion taking the document as a whole, it is clear that they were given to defendants Nos, 1 and 2 to be shown for approval only...It is, therefore, clear that by the delivery of 173 diamonds to him, even on jangad terms, no property can pass to him under Section 24 of the Sale of Goods Act." [unquote]http://www.indiankanoon.org/doc/1749483/

Kalyanaraman
April 10, 2012

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Geography, Peoples and geodynamics of India in Puranas and Epics, A Geologist's interpretations (KS Valdiya, 2012)

http://www.docstoc.com/docs/118366790/valdiya-purana-geo
Geography, Peoples and geodynamics of India in Puranas and Epics, A Geologist's interpretations (KS Valdiya, 2012)

This book endeavours to demonstrate that the narratives by scholarly sages embodied in these ancient Sanskrit works do not represent figments of poetic imagination, but provide-if shorn of metaphors, idiomatic pharases and allegories-the kernels of truths-the revealing facts-and invaluable information on the geography and geomorphological layout.

Written by a geologist who read the texts of the puranas and the epics in conjunction with a mass of studies on geological history of the larger Indian continent and his own extensive field work in different parts of the country, this illustrated book endeavours to demonstrate that the narratives by scholarly sages embodied in these ancient Sanskrit works do not represent figments of poetic imagination...

http://www.docstoc.com/docs/118366790/valdiya-purana-geo

A revies by RN Iyengar of Valdiya's book on Puranic Geography April 9, 2012

Prof.Valdiya the famous geologist now settled in Bangalore has written
an interesting book
"Geography, Peoples,And Geodynamics of India in Purana and Epics".
Publ. Aryan Books, NDelhi, 2012 (Rs. 500/= Libr.Edn.Rs1500/-).

It is an easily readable book, illustrated very well in colour. It is
a good reference on the social and geographical relevance of Puranas
for the contemporary society. Such a book was expected by many like me
and Valdiya has eminently fufilled the wish of his admirers. After the
book by S.M.Ali on Puranic Geography, I had not seen a book of this
type written by an academic scholar.

Apart from the geological/geographical synthesis of varied Sanskrit
texts (dispersed in hundred places) which only a geo-scientist like
him could do, personally I am impressed with his love for
Bhaarata-varsha. His frequent references to greater India and
pre-independence India is very apt. I wish this book will provoke the
younger generation to experience a sense of loss for the vibrant
Puranic-India that was senselessly partitioned.

I have attached a few pages from the book for information.

RN Iyengar

http://www.adityaprakashan.com/index.php?String=57814&p=sr&Field=bookcode&Exactly=yes&Format=detail

http://www.geosocindia.org/contents/2011/dec/p495-500.pdf

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Temple ruins throw up rare sculptures

M T Saju TNN

Chennai: When a team headed by veteran archaeologist T Satyamurthy visited the ruins of an ancient Pallava-era temple in Pandur village,12km from Vayalur in Kancheepuram district,they could see only bricks scattered all over the premises.But when they started digging the site,they found sculptures of Chandikeswara,Bhairava and a neatly carved Sivalingam under the ruins.The most surprising thing,however,was the finding of a broken Nandi,made of terracotta.
The temple belongs to late Pallava period (9century AD).An unearthed temple basement was found amidst cultivated fields.We found sculptures of gods like Chandikeswara and Bhairava.The style of the lingam and the broken terracotta Nandi were a clear sign of the late Pallava art, said Satyamurthy of the REACH Foundation,an NGO that works for heritage conservation.
Even though rebuilding the temple to its original form is not possible due to encroachment by private parties upon the premises,the heritage lovers in the village want a small temple to be built in the available space.From the bricks used for the construction,we can be sure that the temple was constructed during the late Pallava period.But now only a small portion of the original site is available due to encroachment by the local people upon the temple land.But still,we can build a small temple here without uprooting the Sivalingam, he said,adding that more excavations in and around the temple might help bring in more details of the temple and the Pallava era.
While some villagers are interested in the construction of a new temple in the premises,those who use the encroached land are against the renovation project.They also worry that if further excavation takes place,they may lose their land.
Since there was no one to take care of the temple for long,some influential people encroached up on its premises.Now they say its their property.We dont want to see the sculptures of gods lying scattered under the ruins.Its our duty to preserve it,for which at least a small temple must be built in the available place, said K Nagamuthu,a heritage-enthusiast in Vayalur.
mt.saju@timesgroup.com

CRYING FOR ATTENTION: The statutes found at the site of a Pallava-era temple in Kancheepuram district

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ROCKY PAST: The fossil of a mesosaurus an aquatic reptile is displayed in Pinamar,Uruguay,on Wednesday.The fossil is about 280 million years old

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12 billion-year-old white dwarf stars merely 100 light years away identified

Published: Thursday, Apr 12, 2012, 21:42 IST
Place: London | Agency: AN

In a new study, astronomers have identified two white dwarf stars considered to be the oldest and closest known to man.

A University of Oklahoma assistant professor and colleagues identified these 11-12-billion-year-old white dwarf stars only 100 light years away from Earth.

According to the OU researcher, these stars are the closest known examples of the oldest stars in the Universe forming soon after the Big Bang.

Mukremin Kilic, assistant professor of physics and astronomy in the OU College of Arts and Sciences and lead author on a recently published paper, announced the discovery.

“A white dwarf is like a hot stove; once the stove is off, it cools slowly over time.By measuring how cool the stove is, we can tell how long it has been off. The two stars we identified have been cooling for billions of years,” Kilic said.

Kilic explained that white dwarf stars are the burned out cores of stars similar to the Sun. In about 5 billion years, the Sun also will burn out and turn into a white dwarf star.It will lose its outer layers as it dies and turn into an incredibly dense star the size of Earth.

Known as WD 0346+246 and SDSS J110217, 48+411315.4 (J1102), these stars are located in the constellations Taurus and Ursa Major, respectively.

Kilic and colleagues obtained infrared images using NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope to measure the temperature of the stars. And, over a three-year period, they measured J1102’s distance by tracking its motion using the MDM Observatory’s 2.4m telescope near Tucson, Arizona.

“Most stars stay almost perfectly fixed in the sky, but J1102 is moving at a speed of 600,000 miles per hour and is a little more than 100 light years from Earth,” John Thorstensen, co-author of the study from Dartmouth College, said.

“We found its distance by measuring a tiny wiggle in its path caused by the Earth’s motion—it’s the size of a dime viewed from 80 miles away,” he said.

Piotr Kowalski of Helmholtz Centre Potsdam in Germany modelled the atmospheric parameters of these stars. Based on these temperature measurements, Kilic and his colleagues were able to estimate the ages of the stars.

“Based on the optical and infrared observations of these stars and our analysis, these stars are about 3700 and 3800 degrees on the surface,” Kowalski, co-author of the study, said.

The study will be published in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.

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Khirsara in Gujarat Emerges Prominent Harappan Site

Khirsara in Gujarat Emerges Prominent Harappan Site

PTI | AHMEDABAD | APR 16, 2012

After three years of extensive excavation by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), Khirsara has emerged as the prominent mature Harappan site in western Kutch, showing how advance the trade from this part of Gujarat used to be around 4,600 years ago.

"Khirsara has emerged as one of the most prominent mature Harappan settlements in Western Kutch. Earlier, Dholavira and Junikuren had emerged as prominent Harappan sites in Kutch," ASI's Superintendent Archaeologist, Vadodara, Dr Jitendra Nath said.

"The evidences found over last 3 years of excavation there show how advance trade used to be from this part of Gujarat around 4,600 years ago," he said.

Khirsara lies about 85 km Northwest of Bhuj on the Bhuj-Narayan Sarover State Highway. The site is locally known as 'Gadhwali Wadi' and is located on the south-eastern outskirts of the present village overlooking river Khari.

"The prime reason for Harappans to settle at Khirsara was perhaps the availability and easy accessibility to raw materials and minerals in the vicinity," Nath said.

"Khirsara produced a variety of objects for export such as various types of beads of semiprecious stones, steatite and gold, shell bangles, inlays etc," he said.

Discovery of a large number of drill bits and shells debitage indicates that these items were meant for export, the officer said.

During excavation, we have discovered a unique warehouse, a factory site, a citadel, seals, antiquities from the Indus Valley settlement at Khirsara, which is fortified and measures roughly about 310 x 230 metres, Nath said.

The super structure of warehouse seems to have been made of perishable items like wood or wattle and daub. The space in between the parallel walls might have served as a duct for circulation of fresh air to protect the stored material, he said.

The Harappan civilisation is sometimes called the Mature Harappan culture to distinguish it from earlier and later cultures existed in the same area of the Harappan Civilisation.

Khirsara's close proximity with river Khari might certainly have supported the maritime trading activities of its inhabitants, Nath said.

The citadel, a fortress overlooking a city or perhaps protecting a town, shows fortification and re-fortification which scholars reason that elite clan might have lived there. The rooms found there show finer structure, he said.

The factory site discovered during excavation had several products showing that it was utilised for manufacturing activity.

The presence of big furnaces, tandoor, storage jars, small water tanks and discovery of a hoard of gold beads, semi-precious and steatite beads, copper implements, seals, weights, shell objects and debitage indicate that this area (factory site) was once utilised for manufacturing activity, he said.

"Amongst prominent antiquities we have found 25-26 pieces of disk type gold beads from the factory site there. The gold beads are of disk type, globular and tubular," Nath said.

A variety of seals which include square, rectangular and bar types made of steatite, soap stone and sand stone have been discovered at Khirsara.

The bar type seals bear Harappan character only whereas the two rectangular seals represent figurines of unicorn and bison on the obverse, Nath said.

The analysis of botanical remains done by the Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeobotany, Lucknow reveals that the carbon dates for samples collected from the site fall in the range of 2600-2200 BC approximately, which is roughly 4,600 years old, Nath said.

Khirsara was first reported by the Department of Archaeology, Gujarat government in 1969-70. The site was revisited by a team of Excavation Branch of ASI Vadodara in July 2009 for a survey during which they observed a variety of Harappa artifacts and carried out further digging.

FILED ON: APR 16, 2012 11:31 IST
http://news.outlookindia.com/items.aspx?artid=759764

For decoding of inscriptions found at Khirasa, see the embedded document:

Indus writing: professional guild calling cards --(including decoding of Indus script epigraphs of Chanhujo-daro, Khirasara, Kish, Susa and 16 other sites)

http://www.docstoc.com/docs/118851672/Decoding-Indus-script-epigraphs-of-20-sites2

Decoding Indus script epigraphs of 20 sites2

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What is the offering on seal m1186? It is a bowl with spoons.

Set the browser to encoding Unicode (UTF-8).

Offering and adorant glyphs of Indus script

m1186

There are two seals of Indus script (m1186 and m0488) depicting a kneeling person with some offerings on a stool/tray. In a vivid orthographic analysis, John C. Huntington identifies the nature of the offering on m1186: it is a bowl with ladles. The offering kept on a stool on m0488 is likely to be a similar glyph, though analysis of a higher resolution image is not possible because the tablet with this glyph is worn-out.

m0488

On both the seals, the adorant making the offerings is shown with wide horns and (possibly, a twig as a head-dress) and wearing a scarfed-pigtail; the adorant is accompanied by a ram with wide horns.

I suggest that the orthography points to two spoons (ladles) in an offering bowl:

ḍabu ‘an iron spoon’ (Santali) Rebus: ḍab, ḍhimba, ḍhompo ‘lump (ingot?)’, clot, make a lump or clot, coagulate, fuse, melt together (Santali) ḍabe, ḍabea wide horns (Santali) Rebus: ḍhābā workplace (P.)

The stool on which the bowl is placed is also a hieroglyph read rebus:

Kur. kaṇḍō a stool. Malt. Kanḍo stool, seat. (DEDR 1179) Rebus: kaṇḍ 'stone (ore)' as in: ayaskāṇḍ 'excellent iron' (Panini)

dhaṭu m. (also dhaṭhu) m. ‘scarf’ (WPah.) (CDIAL 6707) Allograph: ḍato = claws of crab (Santali) Rebus: dhātu = mineral (Skt.), dhatu id. (Santali)

See the human face ligatured to a ram's body (an indication of the hieroglyphic nature of the orthographic composition):

mũh 'face' (Santali). Rebus: mũh metal ingot (Santali) mũhã̄ = the quantity of iron produced at one time in a native smelting furnace of the Kolhes; iron produced by the Kolhes and formed like a four-cornered piece a little pointed at each end; mūhā mẽṛhẽt = iron smelted by the Kolhes and formed into an equilateral lump a little pointed at each end; kolhe tehen mẽṛhẽtko mūhā akata = the Kolhes have to-day produced pig iron (Santali.lex.)

miṇḍāl 'markhor' (Tor.wali) meḍho 'a ram, a sheep' (G.)(CDIAL 10120)mēṇḍhaʻramʼ(CDIAL 9606).मेंढा [mēṇḍhā] m (मेष S through H) A male sheep, a ram or tup. मेंढका or क्या [ mēṇḍhakā or kyā ] a (मेंढा) A shepherd (Marathi) Rebus: meḍ 'iron' (Ho.) mēṇḍh 'gold' as in: मेंढसर [ mēṇḍhasara ] m A bracelet of gold thread. (Marathi)

मेढ [mēḍha] f A forked stake. Used as a post. Hence a short post generally whether forked or not. Pr. हातीं लागली चेड आणि धर मांडवाची मेढ.

I suggest that the orthography points to two spoons (ladles) in an offering bowl.

http://www.docstoc.com/docs/18075052/offering

See: http://bharatkalyan97.blogspot.in/2012/04/indus-script-corpora-and-business.html

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3,000-yr-old burial urn found in Trichy

Dennis Selvan TNN

Trichy: A burial urn dating back 3,000 years was unearthed near Lalgudi recently.The urn was on Tuesday officially added to the exquisite collection of the Trichy museum by district collector Jayashree Muralidharan.The district museum was set up in 1982 on the governments principle of providing museums to all districts,and it was the third in the state after Salem and Madurai.
In order to provide room to the increasing collection of sculptures,bronzes and fossils,the museum was shifted to the historical Rani Mangammal Durbar Hall in 1998 that had been built by Chokkanatha Nayak in 1666.
In fact,the 41-inch-tall burial urn with a circumference 104 inches at its widest portion with a conic bottom was first spotted on October 30 last year near a present day burial ground on a roadside poromboke land in the nondescript Pallividai,falling under Madakudi village panchayat.
Its VAO made arrangements to carefully excavate it without damaging it in any way.Pudukottai curator S Panneer Selvam who is also in charge of Trichy museum told TOI that he brought it to the notice of the commissioner of museums who directed the Trichy district collector take possession of the ancient artefact and restore it to the museum.Panneer Selvam said the urn belonged to the megalithic culture in which people used to keep the bones of the deceased,weapons and different food grains in such urns and bury them.The conic bottom stands testimony to the fact of it being buried underground.There were 10 types of burials and this practice was prevalent until AD 200,the curator said.

RARE FIND: The burial urn at the Trichy museum

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Afgan fossils 21_04_2012_010_021

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Chola-era Shiva lingam found in Madurantakam

D Madhavan TNN

Madurantakam: Villagers digging a trench for a local landlord on Sunday discovered a 600-year-old granite Shiva lingam in Madurantakam,77km southwest of Chennai.Archaeologists confirmed the historicity of the find,linking the lingam to the Later Chola period.
This is the second time in a decade that an ancient relic has been found in the area.The villagers,hired to dig a trench for the foundation of a Shiva temple on Surrakuttai Substation Main Road,struck something hard at a depth of 7 feet.I found it difficult to remove sand at the spot and even the excavator could not move the granite object, said S Kandan,one of the villagers recruited by the landlord to dig the trench.The workers informed the landlord,A Udayakumar,who makes stone sculptures for temples.He advised them to remove the object with caution so as not to cause it any damage.After painstakingly removing earth from the sides of the green granite monolith,workers lifted out it out with a crane.
The Shiva lingam was recovered complete and without damage to the icon.We will take steps to preserve the idol and request archaeologists to study the lingam, said Madurantakam municipality chairman K Malarvizhi.
The Shiva lingam,archaeologists said,appeared to belong to the Later Chola period.Based on its characteristics,the icon appears to have been made during the Later Chola period because that era produced lingams made from a single stone, said former deputy superintending archaeologist,state archaeological department,K Sridharan.
The name of the place,Surrakuttai,where the lingam was discovered also indicates that a pond may have existed there,a spot where villagers probably worshipped the lingam.Excavation of entire area could yield more rare objects.

RARE FIND: The 600-year-old granite Shiva lingam

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kharosti 'blacksmith lip, carving' and harosheth 'smithy'

kharosti 'blacksmith lip, carving' and harosheth 'smithy' Suniti Kumar Chatterjee suggested that kharōṣṭī may be cognate with harosheth in: harosheth hagoyim 'smithy of nations'. Etymology of harosheth is variously elucidated, while it is linked to 'chariot-making in a smithy of nations'. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harosheth_Haggoyim See also: http://bharatkalyan97.blogspot.in/2011/11/archaeological-mystery-solved-site-of.html Harosheth Hebrew: חרושת הגויים‎; is pronounced khar-o-sheth? Most likely, (haroshet) a noun meaning a carving. Hence, kharoṣṭī came to represent a 'carving, engraving' art, i.e. a writing system. Harosheth-hagoyim Harosheth-hagoyim is the home of general Sisera, who was killed by Jael during the war of Naphtali and Zebulun against Jabin, king of Hazor in Canaan (Judges 4:2). The lead players of this war are the general Barak and the judge Deborah. The name Harosheth-hagoyim obviously consists of two parts. The first part is derived from the root , which HAW Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament treats as four separate roots (harash I, II, III, & IV). The verb (harash I) means to engrave or plough. HAW Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament reads, "The basic idea is cutting into some material, e.g. engraving metal or plowing soil." Derivatives of this verb are: (harash), meaning engraver; (haroshet) a noun meaning a carving. This word is equal to the first part of the name Harosheth-hagoyim; (harish), meaning plowing or plowing time; (maharesha) meaning ploughshare; (harishi), a word which is only used in Jona 4:8 to indicate a certain characteristic of the sun - vehement (King James) or scorching (NIV). The verb (harash II) most commonly denotes refraining from speech or response, either because one is deaf or mute, or because one doesn't want to respond. None of the sources indicates a relation with the previous root, and perhaps there is none, but on the other hand, perhaps deafness was regarded in Biblical as either being marked or else cut or cut off. The noun (horesh) from root (hrsh III) occurs only in Isaiah 17:9 and has to do with a wood or forest. The noun (heresh) from root (hrsh IV) occurs only in Isaiah 3:3 and probably means magical art or expert enchanter, or something along those lines. The second part of the name, hagoyim, comes from the definite article (ha plus the common word (goy) meaning nation, people, gentile. This word comes from the assumed root (gwh), which is not translated but which seems to denote things that are surpassed or left behind. Other derivatives are: (gaw a and gew), meaning back, as in "cast behind the back," i.e. put out of mind (1 Kings 14:9, Nehemiah 9:26, Isaiah 38:17); (gewiya), meaning body, either dead or alive (Genesis 47:18, Judges 14:8, Daniel 10:6). The meaning of the name Harosheth-hagoyim can be found as any combination of the above. NOBS Study Bible Name List reads Carving Of The Nations, but equally valid would be Silence Of The Gentiles or Engraving Of What's Abandoned. Jones' Dictionary of Old Testament Proper Names reads Manufactory for Harosheth and "of the Gentiles" for Hagoyim. http://www.abarim-publications.com/Meaning/Harosheth.html khar 5 ख््र्, in khara-ponzu ख््र-पं&above;जु&below; । म्लिष्टरेखाः unmeaning scrawls in imitation of writing, made by untaught children, or the like.(Kashmiri)khār 1 खार् । लोहकारः m. (sg. abl. khāra 1 खार; the pl. dat. of this word is khāran 1 खारन्, which is to be distinguished from khāran 2, q.v., s.v.), a blacksmith, an iron worker (cf. bandūka-khār, p. 111b, l. 46; K.Pr. 46; H. xi, 17); a farrier (El.). This word is often a part of a name, and in such case comes at the end (W. 118) as in Wahab khār, Wahab the smith (H. ii, 12; vi, 17). khāra-basta खार-बस््त । चर्मप्रसेविका f. the skin bellows of a blacksmith. -büṭhü -ब&above;ठू&below; । लोहकारभित्तिः f. the wall of a blacksmith's furnace or hearth. -bāy -बाय् । लोहकारपत्नी f. a blacksmith's wife (Gr.Gr. 34). -dŏkuru -द्वकुरु‍&below; । लोहकारायोघनः m. a blacksmith's hammer, a sledge-hammer. -gȧji -ग&above;जि&below; or -güjü -ग&above;जू&below; । लोहकारचुल्लिः f. a blacksmith's furnace or hearth. -hāl -हाल् । लोहकारकन्दुः f. (sg. dat. -höjü -हा&above;जू&below;), a blacksmith's smelting furnace; cf. hāl 5. -kūrü -कूरू‍&below; । लोहकारकन्या f. a blacksmith's daughter. -koṭu -क&above;टु&below; । लोहकारपुत्रः m. the son of a blacksmith, esp. a skilful son, who can work at the same profession. -küṭü -क&above;टू&below; । लोहकारकन्या f. a blacksmith's daughter, esp. one who has the virtues and qualities properly belonging to her father's profession or caste. -më˘ʦü 1 -म्य&above;च&dotbelow;ू&below; । लोहकारमृत्तिका f. (for 2, see [khāra 3] ), 'blacksmith's earth,' i.e. iron-ore. -nĕcyuwu -न्यचिवु&below; । लोहकारात्मजः m. a blacksmith's son. -nay -नय् । लोहकारनालिका f. (for khāranay 2, see [khārun] ), the trough into which the blacksmith allows melted iron to flow after smelting. -ʦañĕ -च्&dotbelow;ञ । लोहकारशान्ताङ्गाराः f.pl. charcoal used by blacksmiths in their furnaces. -wān वान् । लोहकारापणः m. a blacksmith's shop, a forge, smithy (K.Pr. 3). -waṭh -वठ् । आघाताधारशिला m. (sg. dat. -waṭas -वटि), the large stone used by a blacksmith as an anvil.(Kashmiri) Allograph: khāra 2 खार (= ) or khār 4 खार् (L.V. 96, K.Pr. 47, Śiv. 827) । द्वेषः m. (for 1, see [khār 1] ), a thorn, prickle, spine (K.Pr. 47; Śiv. 827, 153)(Kashmiri) खरोष्टी kharōṣṭī , 'A kind of alphabet; Lv.1.29'. Often, there is an alternative (perhaps, erroneous) transliteration as kharōṣṭhī. The compound is composed of: khar + ōṣṭī (or, उष्ट 'mfn. burnt' (CDIAL 2386); uṣṭa -- ʻ settled ʼ (CDIAL 2385) ṓṣṭha m. ʻ lip ʼ RV. Pa. oṭṭha -- m., Pk. oṭṭha -- , uṭ°, hoṭṭha -- , huṭ° m., Gy. pal. ōšt, eur. vušt m.; Ash. ọ̈̄ṣṭ, Wg. ṳ̄ṣṭ, wūṣṭ, Kt. yūṣṭ (prob. ← Ind. NTS xiii 232); Paš. lauṛ. ūṭh f. ← Ind. (?), gul. ūṣṭ ʻ lip ʼ, dar. weg. uṣṭ ʻ bank of a river ʼ (IIFL iii 3, 22); Kal. rumb. ūṣṭ, uṣṭ ʻ lip ʼ; Sh. ō̃ṭṷ m. ʻ upper lip ʼ, ō̃ṭi̯ f. ʻ lower lip ʼ (→ Ḍ ōṭe pl.); K. wuṭh, dat. °ṭhas m. ʻ lip ʼ; L. hoṭh m., P. hoṭh, hõṭh m., WPah. bhal. oṭh m., jaun. hōṭh, Ku. ū̃ṭh, gng. ōṭh, N. oṭh, A. ō̃ṭh, MB. Or. oṭha, Mth. Bhoj. oṭh, Aw. lakh. ō̃ṭh, hō̃ṭh, H. oṭh, õṭh, hoṭh, hõṭhm., G. oṭh, hoṭh m., M. oṭh, õṭh, hoṭ m., Si. oṭa.WPah.poet. oṭhḷu m. ʻ lip ʼ, hoṭṛu, kṭg. hóṭṭh, kc. ōṭh, Garh. hoṭh, hō̃ṭ. (CDIAL 2563). In the context of use of the term kharōṣṭī for a writing system, it is apposite to interpret the compound as composed of khar + ōṣṭī 'blacksmith + lip'. "The Kharosti scrolls, the oldest collection of Buddhist manuscripts in the world, are radiocarbon-dated by the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO). The group confirms the initial dating of the Senior manuscripts to 130-250 CE and the Schøyen manuscripts to between the 1st and 5th centuries CE." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2006_in_archaeology "The Kharoṣṭhī script is an ancient Indic script used by the Gandhara culture of ancient Northwest South Asia(primarily modern-day Afghanistan and Pakistan) to write the Gāndhārī language (a dialect of Prakrit) and theSanskrit language. An abugida (or "alphasyllabary"), it was in use from the middle of the 3rd century BCE until it died out in its homeland around the 3rd century CE. It was also in use in Kushan, Sogdiana (see Issyk kurgan) and along the Silk Road where there is some evidence it may have survived until the 7th century in the remote way stations of Khotan and Niya...As preserved in Sanskrit documents the alphabet runs: a ra pa ca na la da ba ḍa ṣa va ta ya ṣṭa ka sa ma ga stha ja śva dha śa kha kṣa sta jñā rtha (or ha) bha cha sma hva tsa gha ṭha ṇa pha ska ysa śca ṭa ḍha ...

Paper strip with writing in Kharoṣṭhī. 2-5th century CE, Yingpan, Eastern Tarim Basin, XinjiangMuseum...The Kharoṣṭhī script was deciphered by James Prinsep (1799–1840), using the bilingual coins of the Indo-Greeks (Obverse in Greek, reverse in Pāli, using the Kharoṣṭhī script). This in turn led to the reading of the Edicts of Ashoka, some of which, from the northwest of the Indian subcontinent, were written in theKharoṣṭhī script...The study of the Kharoṣṭhī script was recently invigorated by the discovery of the Gandharan Buddhist Texts, a set of birch-bark manuscripts written in Kharoṣṭhī, discovered near the Afghan city of Hadda just west of the Khyber Pass in modern Pakistan. The manuscripts were donated to the British Library in 1994. The entire set of manuscripts are dated to the 1st century CE, making them the oldest Buddhistmanuscripts yet discovered." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kharosthi List of all known Gandhari inscriptions (20 edicts): http://gandhari.org/a_inscriptions.php  Salomon, Richard. New evidence for a Ganghari origin of the arapacana syllabary. Journal of the American Oriental Society. Apr-Jun 1990, Vol.110 (2), p. 255-273.  Salomon, Richard. An additional note on arapacana. Journal of the American Oriental Society. 1993, Vol.113 (2), p. 275-6.  Salomon, Richard. Kharoṣṭhī syllables used as location markers in Gāndhāran stūpa architecture. Pierfrancesco Callieri, ed., Architetti, Capomastri, Artigiani: L’organizzazione dei cantieri e della produzione artistica nell’asia ellenistica. Studi offerti a Domenico Faccenna nel suo ottantesimo compleanno. (Serie Orientale Rome 100; Rome: Istituto Italiano per l’Africa e l’Oriente, 2006), pp. 181–224.  "In general, some form or other of Bühler's essential thesis that Brâhmî was developed out of a Semitic prototype in pre-Mauryan India has been accepted by most scholars in the west, but rejected by the majority of South Asian experts, who generally argue for a separate and indigenous origin for the Indic scripts, often by way of derivation, direct or indirect, from the Indus script...The major conclusion shared by the studies of Fussman, von Hinüber, and Falk is that at least the Brâhmî script, and possibly also Kharo.s.thî, originated in the Mauryan period and not earlier. Although they disagree in specifics, especially with regard to the date of the development of Brâhmî, all three agree that Kharo.s.thî, which was a regional script of the far northwest, was older than the pan-Indian Brâhmî and influenced its formation...That the basic system of indication of post-consonantal vowels by diacritic marking was originally developed in and adapted from Kharo.s.thî seems well established...Kharo.s.thî itself almost certainly did predate Brâhmî, as argued by Falk et al., and probably dates back at least to the late 4th century, and ( contra Falk) quite possibly even before then...Nevertheless, it would be unwise to rule out surprises in the future, and we should leave the door open, as does Falk (p.340), to discoveries that could revive theories of an early development of Brâhmî. But we must also agree, if reluctantly, with his final sentence: "Zur Zeit erscheint dieser Fall jedoch kaum zu erwarten" (Trans. Currently, this case seems hardly to be expected.)(p.340)." On The Origin Of The Early Indian Scripts: A Review Article by Richard Salomon, University of Washington (via archive.org) http://web.archive.org/web/20060516000049/http://www.ucl.ac.uk/~ucgadkw/position/salomon.html The Journal of the American Oriental Society, Vol. 122, April-June, 2002. Kharosti and Brahmi by Hartmut Scharfe THE EMERGENCE OF WRITING (1) IN INDIA and the relation between the two early scripts, Brahmi and Kharosti, have received new attention in the last several years. (2) A consensus has emerged that challenges Georg Buhler's theories that had widely been accepted in Western scholarship for a century: that the Brahmi script was derived for commercial use in the eighth century B.C. from an Aramaic alphabet, and that later, during the Achaemenid domination of Northwestern India, a more modern Aramaic script was introduced into that part of India and subsequently modified under the influence of the Brahmi script. (3) Several Indian scholars (and some early European scholars) considered the Brahmi script an indigenous development, and some tried to derive it from the undeciphered script found on the seals of the Indus Valley Civilization that flourished before 2000 B.C. (4) One of the problems with Buhler's theory is the oddity that the Brahmi which is better equipped to write an Indian language, would have been replaced by the less apt Kharosti (which would see some secondary modifications under the influence of the Brahmi). Buhler refers to the introduction of the Arabic script after the Muslim conquest, but the parallel is not close: the massive influx of Afghans and Turks and the introduction of Islam and Quran study into India cannot be compared with the few Aramaic scribes who would have served the Persian overlords in the provinces of Gandhara and Sindhu. In fact no Aramaic documents of any kind have surfaced from the period of Achaemenid domination in India. Raj Bali Pandey (5) concluded from this lack of Aramaic documents that Kharosti could not be derived from Aramaic, and that perhaps "the Persians did not rule over India directly." But while no Aramaic inscriptions or other texts are known from the whole eastern half of the Achaemenid empire, the Aramaic inscriptions of Asoka, almost a century later, found in Eastern Afghanistan prove the importance of the Aramaic language and script in that border area. The distinctive features of both scripts are well known. The Kharosti is more cursive, the Brahmi more monumental. While the Kharosti is written from the right to left, does not differentiate between long and short vowels, and indicates initial vowels with similar signs, the Brahmi is written from left to right, distinguishes between long and short vowels, and uses distinctive letters for the initial vowels. Neither direction of writing offers distinct advantages--it is like driving either on the right side or the left side of the road. The other two features are now seen as improvements of the Brahmi over the Kharosti, but all is not well with the arguments offered. The Kharosti script used in the inscriptions of Asoka, the Sakas, and Kusanas does not differentiate between short and long vowels. Buhler, who considered the Kharosti essentially a clerk's script, spoke of the "lack of [signs for] the long vowels which are useless in everyday usage," (6) and Pandey argued that "The absence of long vowels in the Kharosthi is due to the fact that it was used for writing Prakrits which avoid long vowels ... not due to any Semitic influence." (7) While long vowels were usually shortened in all Prakrit dialects before a consonant cluster, long vowels in open syllables remained mostly unchanged. The contrast wasphonemic and could result in different meanings, e.g., dina "day" and dina "miserable." In the shorthand of accounting and of business notes the ambiguity could be tolerated. But the careful distinction of phonetic and phonemic qualities was essential for maintaining the correct recital of Vedic mantras, and the brahmin phoneticians and grammarians studied the distinctions with great care. The Brahmi script essentially differentiates between short and long vowels, but the distinction of i/i and u/u is not always observed, especially in the Asoka inscriptions at Kalsi and the inscriptions at Sohgaura, Piprawa, and Mahasthan. (8) In the more carefully executed inscriptions the strictly phonemic form of the Brahmi script is maintained: one letter for each phoneme (and only one phoneme for each letter). (9) The lack of differentiation of vowel length in the Kharosti (10) has nothing to do with the phonetic or phonemic reality of the Prakrit languages underlying these inscriptions. It derives ultimately from the technique of Semitic writing that essentially only wrote the consonants--with the occasional option to mark a vowel with the letter yod or waw (for /i/ or /u/), in the so-called plene writing. (11) It has been suggested--most recently by H. Falk--that these innovations are at least partially due to Greek influence. But R. Salomon has rightly countered that the Greek distinction of vowel length is very haphazard and incomplete, (12) whereas the Indian sound table and alphabet are strictly phonemic and well ordered. At the same time, the Indian scribes did not move on to a letter script (as later the Avestan scribes did, probably under Greek influence, in the fourth century A.D.) (13) but stayed with the semi-syllabic design. (14) The pattern of the phonemic analysis of the Sanskrit language achieved by Vedic scholars is much closer to the Brahmi script than the Greek alphabet. The modern analysis of the writing of initial vowels in the Kharosti script has been deeply flawed. "The full or initial vowel signs further differ from those of Brahmi in that they are all constructed from the basic vowel sign for a to which are affixed the postconsonantal vowel diacritics to form initial i, u, and so on: thus [LANGUAGE NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] = initial a/a, while [LANGUAGE NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] = initial i/i/." (15) This statement of Salomon's echoes similar statements by Buhler, (16) Charu Chandra Das Gupta, (17) and others. (18) As [LANGUAGE NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] (ta) with vowel diacritics denotes [LANGUAGE NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] (ti) and [LANGUAGE NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] (te) and [LANGUAGE NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] (tu), we have [LANGUAGE NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] (a), [LANGUAGE NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] (i), [LANGUAGE NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] (u), etc. All these scholars confused the "original" letter [LANGUAGE NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] (t) with the syllabic value /ta/ that it has in Kharosti. The vowel diacritics for /i,u,e/ "displace" the basic /a/ in creating syllabic signs for /ti/, /tu/, /te/, etc., and equally these vocalic diacritics are not attached to the "basic vowel sign for a"--they displace the /a/. Then what are these diacritics attached to? The answer has to come from the Semitic writing system, where the vowel onset, the Semitic aleph, is treated as a consonant--the aleph is phonemic in Semitic languages (cf. Arabic ra's "head," qur'an "Koran"). The Kharosti writing of initial vowels continues directly the Semitic way of writing (19) rather than "responding to a desire for simplification." (20) Why did the creators of the Brahmi go their own way in the denotation of initial vowels, creating discrete letters for each of them? (21) One could suspect Greek influence, but Greek influence cannot explain the precise notation of vowel length in Brahmi, and it would have failed to promote a true alphabetic script. As the notation of vowel length can be fully explained by the advances of Indian phoneticians and grammarians, we should look at these achievements for inspiration when trying to explain the initial vowel signs of the Brahmi. In the "semi-syllabic" Indian scripts (both in Kharosti and Brahmi) the vowels are marked on the preceding consonant: ka (by default), ki, ku, etc. (by diacritics). But how could an initial vowel be marked by a diacritic? The Kharosti simply followed the Semitic model, attaching the diacritic to the sign for the (consonantal) phoneme aleph. But the Brahmi is a phonemic script, and the vowel onset is not a phoneme in Sanskrit (or any Indian language). There could thus be no consonantal sign in the Brahmi for the vowel diacritics to be attached to. To write iyam "this" (the beginning of Asoka's Rock Edict I) it was necessary to create special letters for the vowels in initial position. Only in the second half of the first millennium A.D. do we come across letters for initial r and au--some with a unique design, and some based on the letter for/a/. Buhler pointed out that in modern Devanagari the letters for /o/ and /au/ (also for /r/!) are modifications of the letter for /a/ and that this trend continued in Gujerati where also the letters for /e/ and /ai/ are formed that way; but the innovation did not spread to the notation of initial /i/ or /u/. The need for letters for initial /r/, /ai/, and /au/ was negligible, since continuous writing made the notation of initial vowels less common than, e.g., in Greek or English--and words beginning with these vowels (i.e., r, ai, au) are not numerous to begin with. Buhler erred when he saw in this trend a parallel to the Kharosti notation of initial vowels--which is not a simplification of Brahmi writing but its forerunner. (1.) I leave aside here the undeciphered script of the Indus Valley Civilization of a much earlier time. (2.) Oskar von Hinuber, Der Beginn der Schrift und fruhe Schriftlichkeit in Indien, Abhandlungen der Akademie der Wissenschaften und der Literatur, 1989 nr. 11 (Mainz 1989); Harry Falk, Die Schrift im alten Indien (Tubingen 1993); Richard Salomon, Indian Epigraphy (New York 1998). (3.) Georg Buhler, Indische Palaeographie (Strassburg 1896), 18-21. (4.) Raj Bali Pandey, Indian Paleography, 2nd ed. (Varanasi 1957), 51. Pandey (57f.) denies also the derivation of Kharosti from Aramaic for which the evidence, though, is quite strong: CharuChandra Das Gupta, The Development of the Kharosthi Script (Calcutta 1958), 284-90. (5.) Pandey, 56. (6.) Buhler, 20: "das Fehlen der, fur den Gebrauch des taglichen Lebens unnutzen, langen Vocale..." (7.) Pandey, 56. (8.) Salomon, Indian Epigraphy, 31. (9.) It has been suggested (M. B. Emeneau, Language 22, PP. 86-93) that n in Sanskrit is not a phoneme, since it is predictably conditioned by its context (rajne, panca). But this is not true for Prakrit (anno, ranno). Panini includes n in his pratyaharasutra-s and uses it as a metalinguistic determinative; is this acceptance of n prompted by a desire for symmetry in the table of consonants or by acceptance of a sound that was phonemic in Prakrit? (10.) In later times, probably under the influence of Brahmi, Kharosti texts from Niya in Central Asia show notations of long vowels. E. J. Rapson (Kharosthi Inscriptions Discovered by Sir M. A. Stein, part III [Oxford 1927] pp. 298f.) wrote: "It was formerly supposed that the Kharosthi alphabet lacked the means of distinguishing long from short vowels; and the fact that such a means existed, even if it was not commonly used, was first made clear by evidence supplied by Niya documents. The lengthening of any vowel may be indicated by a short stroke written below the line, in form and position like the virama of the Devanagari alphabet; cf. a, 3." (11.) The Pehlevi script of the inscriptions and books of the Persian middle ages stayed closer to the Semitic pattern where only consonants were written and where virtually no word began with a vowel. Kharosthi innovated with the consistent use of diacritical markers to denote the vowel--but still not its length. (12.) The distinction of [LANGUAGE NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] and [LANGUAGE NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] (and o and [LANGUAGE NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII]) is one of vowel quality as much as length (lengthening of [LANGUAGE NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] is often written as [LANGUAGE NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII], of o as o[LANGUAGE NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII]), and there is no marking of different vowel length in the ease of [LANGUAGE NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] and [LANGUAGE NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII]. (13.) Though the Avesta script runs from right to left (like the Semitic scripts), it writes all sounds individually, including all vowels. The Avesta alphabet with its phonemic and phonetic distinctions exceeds the precision of the Greek alphabet: it observes the phonemic distinctions like the Brahmi and Devanagari alphabet, adding phonetic (allophonic) distinctions that were noted in India only in phonetic manuals of the Siksa, but were rarely expressed in the script. (14.) A rare exception in the Mahanistha is recorded by W. Schubring, Abhandlungen der Preussischen Akademie der Wissenschaften (1918), 13, 74ff. (15.) Salomon, Indian Epigraphy, 48. (16.) Buhler, Indische Palaeographie, 25. (17.) Charu Chandra Das Gupta, The Development of the Kharosthi Script, 3. (18.) Ahmad Hasan Dani (Indian Palaeography [Oxford 1963] 257) similarly writes: "While Brahmi has three basic forms of vowels, a, i and u, Kharoshthi has only one, the forms of the remaining vowels being obtained by the addition of diacritic strokes." (19.) Seen correctly by M. J. Halevy, Journal asiatique ser. 8, 6 (1885), 264. (20.) Buhler, Indische Palaeographie, 25: "einem Streben nach Vereinfachung zuzuschreiben." E. J. Rapson (Kharosthi Inscriptions, p. 297) remarks: "Hoernle has shown how the same principle tended to modify Brahmi when it was used for Khotanese in Central Asia, and how it has prevailed in the Tibetan alphabet which was borrowed from Khotan." Is it accidental that these trends were strongest in areas that were constantly exposed to the Semitic way of writing, i.e., the marking of the vowel onset? (21.) Only a a i u e o are attested in the oldest inscriptions. The letter a is a modification of the letter a, as the rare letters for initial i and u in later inscriptions are modifications of those for i and u. A treasure hunt in the paddy fields A STAFF REPORTER Monday, August 09, 2004 |Telegraph, Kolkata

A paddy field dug up for Chandraketugarh relics. Picture by Aranya Sen The beaten track snaking through fields of paddy and jute leads to a mango grove, where two pits have been dug up that could easily be mistaken for ponds. The foliage is so thick and luxuriant the smell of green comes strong. Concealed behind the shrubs is another pit, freshly dug but quite as deep. It looks like a huge cake from which a giant has taken a large helping, exposing the layers of clay with what is definitely a stratum of brickwork sandwiched in between. A young farmhand exclaims: “People lease land and dig it.” Why do they do it? He has no reply. But a village homoeopath, who was walking his cycle down the path, says they do to look for artefacts sometimes found even after scratching the surface of what was once Chandraketugarh, a huge fortified township dating back to 4th/3rd century BC. They confirm what Dilip Maite, a man considered a local guardian of this priceless heritage, has been crying himself hoarse about all these years. He has been collecting artefacts since the 50s. Berachampa, a bustling little town, is the name by which this area, 25 km off Barasat, is better known as today. And it has suddenly come into the limelight after Hutch, the mobile telephone company, started digging up a spot, a few metres away from Khana-Mihirer Dhipi or Baraha-Mihirer Dhipi, a site that the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) has taken under its wing. Hutch had planned to set up a communication tower there, and the digging had reportedly yielded valuable artefacts. Six men were arrested, thereafter, including Rishi Singh, the labourer engaged by Sadhu Khan, the man on whose land Hutch was erecting the tower. They are out on bail now. Work at the Hutch site has stopped. It would be hardly surprising if artefacts were found at the site. It is common knowledge that ever since Kunjagobinda Goswamy of Calcutta University’s Asutosh Museum, after pioneering excavations in 1956-57, had established the antiquity of the site, Chandraketugarh is there for everybody to plunder. Gautam Sengupta, state director of archaeology and museum, says that as a student, when he had first visited the site covering several km in 1974, children would offer Chandraketugarh objects for sale, and he had bought a tiny plaque for eight annas. Now they command a price of anything between £1,000 and £5,000. The treasure hunt had started soon after they became increasingly hard to get, and they began to command astronomical prices in international sale-rooms. Slivers of Chandraketugarh are so much in demand that there is already a flourishing cottage industry of producing fakes. Terracotta artisans from Bishnupur are hired to produce replicas of the relics. They are adept at reproducing the Kharosti script inscribed on pottery. Arun Hazra, officer-in-charge of Deganga police station, says the area is being patrolled regularly for they are aware that there is a huge racket in rare artefacts operating at Kalitala, Tetultala and the fields of Chandraketugarh. The racket operates from Calcutta, Mumbai and Bangladesh. Hadipur 1 panchayat members allege that Putul Samad, Habibur, Pintu and Bhola are the key players in this racket. They allegedly have private collections of artefacts which they sell to go-betweens. They often con these go-betweens by handing out fakes. Historian Bratindra Nath Mukherjee says Chandraketugarh was named after a legendary king. Excavations had first revealed a continuous sequence of cultural remains dating from 4th/3rd Century BC. “The history of lower Bengal began to be rewritten soon after these excavations. The names of kings were revealed and also the fact that a confederacy was converted into a royalty,” he says. The Kharosti and Brahmi-Kharosti scripts were discovered, along with clay seals of ships bearing cargoes of horses. Mukherjee has authored a book entitled Kharosti and Kharosti-Brahmi Inscriptions in West Bengal (India), Indian Museum Bulletin, Vol 25, 1990. ASI had excavated two sites in Chandraketugarh — the rampart, about a km from Berachampa on the road to Haroa, and the other at Khana-Mihirer Dhipi, on the left, in the middle of the market. Mukherjee stressed that the entire area should be excavated both horizontally and vertically. If required, the area should be acquired. Gautam Sengupta says Chandraketugarh was an early settlement in a relatively new geographical formation and is linked with the pan-Indian process of urban development. Its historical worth cannot be overstressed. “Large-scale problem-oriented multi-disciplinary excavation is very essential. Excavation by archaeologists is not adequate. A whole range of disciplines has to be involved. A national register of Chandraketugarh artefacts is also a must,” he said. Bimal Bandyopadhyay, superintending architect of the ASI, Calcutta circle, says the ASI executed trial trenching in 1999-2000 at the rampart but had to abandon it due to the high level of water.

“History is quite clear now. Archaeological excavation is not treasure-hunting. We excavate with an objective,” he asserts. “Now we know about the development of an urban centre during the advent of the historical period. I have written to the administration several times to alert it about the illicit diggings. Hadipur is the centre of most of this activity. It is not possible for ASI to protect the entire area for certain areas are quite densely populated,” he adds. http://www.telegraphindia.com/1040809/asp/calcutta/story_3530329.asp Kharosti inscriptions discovered by Sir Aurel Stein in Chinese Turkestan. Transcribed and edited by A.M. Boyer, E.J. Rapson, and E. Senart. Published under the authority of His Majesty's Secretary of State for India in Council (1920) http://archive.org/details/kharostiinscript00boyeuoft http://www.scribd.com/doc/77892585/Kharosti-Inscriptions-of-Niya-Slates Kharosti inscriptions of Niya statesKharosti Inscriptions of Niya Slates

http://www.scribd.com/doc/77892585/Kharosti-Inscriptions-of-Niya-Slates

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Mathuranthakam sivalingam 23_04_2012_155_038

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4bn-year-old asteroid pieces found in US

London: A meteor hunter has stumbled on two marble-sized nuggets of an asteriod that detonated after colliding with the Earth,worth 10 times as much as gold,said scientists.
The tiny stones were found in northern Californias Sierra foothills,part of the asteroid that exploded with a third of the force of Hiroshima atomic bomb,scientists say.
Each rock weighs about 10g,said John Wasson,professor at University of California.Talking of his discovery,Robert Ward of Arizona,said he instantly knew hed found a rare meteorite CM carbonaceous chondrite.He suspects both rocks of being part of the same meteorite.
Experts say the rock fragments come from a flaming meteor which dates from the early formation of the solar system around four to five billion years ago.IANS

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ஆதிவரலாற்றைக் கூறும் ஆதிச்சநல்லூர்

திருநெல்வேலியிலிருந்து திருச்செந்தூர் செல்லும் வழியில் 17 கி.மீ. தொலைவில் தாமிரபரணி ஆற்றின் கரையில் ஆதிச்சநல்லூர் என்ற ஊர் உள்ளது. இது ஓர் இடுகாடு. இறந்தவர்களைப் புதைத்த இடம். இதன் பரப்பளவு 114 ஏக்கர். இங்கு 4 அடிக்கு ஒருவர் வீதம் தாழிகளில் இறந்தவர்களை வைத்துப் புதைத்துள்ளனர். தாழி என்றால் பானை என்பது பொருள். இவ்வாறு புதைக்கப்பட்ட பானைகளை முதுமக்கள் தாழி என்றும் ஈமத்தாழி என்றும் கூறுவர். தென்பாண்டி நாட்டில் இத்தாழிகள் ஏராளம் உண்டு. ஆதிச்ச நல்லூரில் ஆயிரக்கணக்கான தாழிகள் வரிசை வரிசையாகக் கிடைக்கின்றன. இதுதான் உலகிலேயே மிகப்பெரிய இடுகாடாகும். அது மட்டுமல்ல பத்தாயிரம் ஆண்டுகளுக்கு முன்னர் இவர்கள் புதைக்கப்பட்டுள்ளனர் என்பதும் இங்கே குறிப்பிடத்தக்கது.

இந்த ஆதிச்ச நல்லூர்.......ஏறத்தாழ பத்தாயிரம் ஆண்டுகளுக்கு முன்பாக நமது மக்கள் நாகரீகத்தோடு வாழ்ந்த ஊர்.ஆச்சரியமாக இருக்கிறதா?.. ஆம் அதுதான் உண்மை ...

இந்த இடுகாடு கி.மு பத்தாம் நூற்ராண்டுக்கும் முந்தையது. இன்றைய ஆய்வுகள் மேலும் ஒரு ஆயிரம் வருடங்களை பின்னுக்குத் தள்ளலாம் என்று தெரிவிக்கின்றன. நாம் அறிந்த எந்த இந்திய சரித்திர காலகட்டத்துக்கும் முந்தைய காலகட்ட மக்களின் இடுகாடு இது. தமிழ்க்குடியின் தொன்மைக்கான முதற்பெரும் தொல்பொருட் சான்றும் இதுவே. ஏறக்குறைய கிருஸ்து பிறப்பதற்கு எண்ணூறு வருடங்கள் முன்பே இங்கு நாகரீகம் மிகுந்த மக்கள் வாழ்ந்திருக்கிறார்கள். இதனை முதன் முதலில் கண்டுபிடித்தவர் ஜெர்மனி நாட்டைச் சேர்ந்த டாக்டர். ஜாகர் என்பவர்தான். 1876 -ஆம் ஆண்டு இந்த பகுதியில் ஆராய்ச்சிக்காக வந்த அவர் கண்டுபிடித்ததுதான் இந்தத் தொல் தமிழர்களது நாகரீகம். அந்த ஜாகர் தான் கண்டுபிடித்தவற்றில் பலவற்றை ஆதாரத்துக்காக ஜெர்மனுக்கே எடுத்துச் சென்றுவிட்டார். அப்பொருட்கள் இன்னமும் ஜெர்மனியில் உள்ள பெர்லின் அருங்காட்சியகத்தில் இருக்கிறது

பிரஞ்சு நாட்டைச் சார்ந்த லூயி வேப்பிக்கியூ என்ற அறிஞர் 1903 ஆம் ஆண்டு ஆதிச்ச நல்லூர் வந்து சில தாழிகளைத் தோண்டி எடுத்தார். அப்போது மண்வெட்டி, கொழு முதலியன கிடைத்தன. ஆதிச்ச நல்லூரில் அகழ்வாய்வில் கிடைத்த அந்தப் பொருள்களை அவர் பாரிசுக்கு எடுத்துப்போய்விட்டார். இவ்வாறு ஆதிச்ச நல்லூரில் கிடைத்த மிகத்தொன்மை வாய்ந்த பொருள்கள் மேல் நாட்டிற்கு எடுத்துச் செல்லப்பட்டன. அந்த புதைபொருள் சின்னங்கள் கிடைத்தால் ஆதிச்சநல்லூரின் தொன்மையான வரலாறு நமக்குத் மேலும் தெரியும்.

1905 ஆம் ஆண்டு சென்னை அருங்காட்சியக மதிப்புறு துணைக் கண்காணிப்பாளர் அலெக்சாந்தர் ரீயா அவர்கள் ஆதிச்சநல்லூர் வந்து மிகவும் நுணுக்கமாக அகழ்வாய்வு செய்து ஒரு பட்டியல் தயாரித்துக் கொடுத்ததோடு அகழ்ந்தெடுத்த பொருள்கள் அனைத்தையும் சென்னை அருங்காட்சியகத்தில் இடம்பெறச் செய்தார்.

இவரும் இங்குள்ள மக்கள் பயன்படுத்திய முதுமக்கள் தாழி, ஆபரணங்கள், எழுத்துக்கள் போன்றவற்றை அகழ்வாராய்ச்சி மூலம் ஆராய்ந்து பார்த்து விட்டு அதிர்ச்சியில் உறைந்து போனார்...

இதிலென்ன அதிர்ச்சி இருக்கிறது? என நினைக்கிறீர்களா?..அந்த அதிர்ச்சிக்கு காரணம் அந்த அகழ்வாராய்ச்சியில் கண்டுபிடிக்கப்பட்ட அன்றைய மக்கள் பயன்படுத்திய இரும்பால் ஆன கருவிகள்தான்.”மூவாயிரம் ஆண்டுகளுக்கு முன்பே இங்கு வாழ்ந்த தமிழர்கள் இரும்பைப் பயன்படுத்தி இருக்கிறார்கள் என்றால், அதை உருக்குவதற்கான உலைகளை எங்கு வைத்திருந்தார்கள், அதை செதுக்குவதற்கும் சீராக்குவதற்கும் எத்தகைய தொழில் நுட்பங்களைக் கையாண்டார்கள், அப்படியாயின் இவர்களது நாகரீகம்தான் மற்ற அனைத்து நாகரீகங்களுக்கும் முற்பட்ட நாகரீகமாக இருந்திருக்க வேண்டும் அல்லவா?.

பத்தாயிரம் ஆண்டுகளுக்கு முன்பே தமிழர்கள் இரும்பைக் கண்டுபிடித்து தேன் இரும்பு, வார்ப்பு இரும்பு, எஃகு இரும்பு ஆகியவற்றை உருவாக்கி இருக்கின்றனர். பயிர்த்தொழில்,சட்டிப்பானை வனையும் தொழில், நெசவுத் தொழில், கப்பல் கட்டும் தொழில் போன்றவற்றை இரும்புக் கருவிகள் மூலம் திறம்பட வளர்த்து கடல் வாணிபம் செய்து உலகப் புகழ்பெற்றவர்கள் தமிழர்கள் என ஆதிச்சநல்லூரில் கிடைத்த அகழ்வாய்வுச் சின்னங்கள் உறுதிப்படுத்துகின்றன. திராவிடர்கள் குறிப்பாக தமிழர்கள் வெளிநாட்டிலிருந்து இங்கு வந்தார்கள் என்ற கருத்துக்கு இந்த அகழ்வாய்வுச் சின்னங்கள் முடிவு கட்டியது குறிப்பிடத்தக்கதாகும்.

மிகத் தொன்மையான காலத்திலிருந்தே இரும்பைப் பிரித்தெடுத்து அதை பல பொருள்களாகச் செய்து பயன்படுத்துவதில் தமிழர்கள் கைதேர்ந்தவர்கள் என்று அறியமுடிகிறது. சங்க இலக்கியத்தில் இரும்பினால் செய்யப்பட்ட பொருள்கள் உவமையாகக் கூறப்பட்டுள்ளன.

மிகத் தொன்மையான காலத்திலேயே தமிழர்கள் எகிப்து,ஆப்பிரிக்கா, சுமேரியா, கிரீஸ், மெக்சிகோ முதலிய நாடுகளுக்கு இரும்புப் பொருள்கள் ஏற்றுமதி செய்து வந்தனர். எகிப்தியர்களும், கிரேக்கர்களும் இந்திய நாட்டில் இருந்துதான் இரும்பை உருக்கி பயன்படுத்தும் முறைகளை அறிந்தனர் என்று கூறப்படுகிறது. 1837ஆம் ஆண்டு இராயல் ஏஷியாட்டிக் சொசைட்டியில் சமர்ப்பித்த ஆய்வுக்கட்டுரை ஒன்றில் அறிஞர் ஹீத் என்பவர் தென் இந்தியாவில் செய்யப்பட்ட எஃகுப் பொருள்களே எகிப்துக்கும், ஐரோப்பா கண்டத்திற்கும் ஏற்றுமதி செய்யப்பட்டன என்று எடுத்துக்காட்டியுள்ளார்.

மெக்சிகோ நாட்டிலுள்ள பிரமிடுகளில் தமிழனின் கைவினைக் கலைகளைக் காணலாம். அண்மையில் எகிப்தில் கிடைத்த தமிழ் பிராமி கல்வெட்டிலிருந்து சாத்தன், கண்ணன் என்ற இரண்டு தமிழர்கள் கடல் பயணம் செய்து எகிப்து நாடு சென்று அங்கே கொல்லன் பட்டறை ஒன்று நிறுவி, பணி செய்ததாக கல்வெட்டு அறிஞர் ஐராவதம் மகாதேவன் குறிப்பிட்டுள்ளார். பிரமிடுகள் கட்டப் பயன்படுத்திய கற்களை செதுக்குவதற்குரிய உளிகள் இந்த கொல்லன் பட்டறையில் உருவாகி இருக்க வேண்டும். தமிழனின் இரும்பு நாகரிகத்தை வெளிப்படுத்தியது இந்த ஆதிச்ச நல்லூர்தான்.

அதனைத் தொடர்ந்து சகர்மேன் என்ற அறிஞர் ஆதிச்சநல்லூரில் கிடைத்த மண்டைஓடுகள் பற்றி ஒரு நூல் வெளியிட்டார். ஆதிச்ச நல்லூரில் அகழ்ந்து எடுக்கப்பட்ட மண்டை ஓடுகள் திராவிடர்களின் மண்டை ஓடுகள் என்றும்,ஒன்று மட்டும் ஆஸ்திரேலிய பழங்குடி மக்களின் மண்டை ஓடு என்றும் அவர் கூறியுள்ளார். எனவே திராவிடர்களின் முன்னோர்கள் ஆஸ்திரேலிய நாட்டு பழங்குடி மக்களோடு தொடர்பு கொண்டிருந்தனர் என்று தெரியவருகிறது. அங்குள்ள பழங்குடி மக்கள் பேசும் மொழியில் தமிழ்ச் சொற்கள் இடம் பெற்றுள்ளமை இங்கே குறிப்பிடத்தக்கது. ஆஸ்திரேலியா தென் இந்தியாவோடு இணைந்திருந்தது என்ற கருத்தை மட்டுமல்ல குமரிக் கண்ட கோட்பாட்டையும் இது உறுதி செய்கிறது என்றும் கூறலாம். ஆஸ்திரேலிய பழங்குடி மக்கள் பயன்படுத்திய பூமராங் என்னும் ஒருவகை ஆயுதம் தமிழகத்தில் கிடைத்துள்ளதும் இங்கே குறிப்பிடத்தக்கது. பகைவர் மீது எறிந்தால் அவர்களைத் தாக்கிவிட்டு வீசியவர்கள் கைக்கு திரும்ப வரும் ஒருவகை ஆயுதம்தான் பூமராங்.

ஆதிச்சநல்லூரில் கிடைத்த தாழிகளில் மண்வெட்டி,கொழு, நெல், உமி, பழைய இற்றுப்போன பஞ்சாடை ஆகியவை கிடைத்துள்ளன என்பது குறிப்பிடத்தக்கது. ஆதிச்ச நல்லூரில் புதைக்கப்பட்டவர்கள் தாமிரபரணி கரையில் நெல்,பருத்தி ஆகியவற்றை விவசாயம் செய்தது மட்டுமல்ல நெசவுத் தொழிலும் செய்து வந்தனர் என்று அறியமுடிகிறது. ஆதிச்சநல்லூரில்அகழ்வாய்வு செய்ததில் டாக்டர் கால்டுவெல்லுக்கும் முக்கியமான பங்கு உண்டு. தாழியில் சில அரிய பொருட்களை அவரே கண்டெடுத்து அவற்றைப் பற்றிய செய்திகளை வெளியிட்டுள்ளார். ஆதிச்சநல்லூரில் வாழ்ந்த மக்கள் நாகரிகம் மிக்கவர்கள் என்ற கருத்தை டாக்டர் கால்டுவெல் வெளியிட்டார்.

ஆதிச்சநல்லூரின் மண்ணுக்குள் புதையுண்டு கிடக்கும் பூமியில் ஒரு பரபரப்பான நகரமே இயங்கிக் கொண்டிருந்திருக்கிறது. அங்கு வாழ்ந்த மனிதர்கள் வெள்ளி, செம்பு, தங்கத்தால் ஆன ஆபரணங்களைப் பயன்படுத்தி இருக்கிறார்கள். அழகிய மதிற்சுவர்கள் இருந்திருக்கின்றன. ஆனால் இன்றைக்கு அது யாரும் கேள்வி கேட்பாரற்ற பொட்டல்காடு.

ஏனிந்த நிலைமை என்று பார்த்தோமானால்..

”எல்லாம் அந்த பாழாய்ப்போன அரசியல்தான்”

எல்லாம் இந்த வடக்கத்தியர்களுக்கு தமிழன் மேல் உள்ள காழ்ப்புணர்ச்சிதான்.

இதுதான் இன்றைய ராமேஸ்வரம் மீனவன் முதற்கொண்டு ஈழம் வரை நடந்து கொண்டிருக்கிறது.

இந்த ஆய்வுகளை ஒப்புக் கொண்டால் உலகின் தொல் நாகரீகமே தமிழர்களுடையது என்றாகிவிடுகிறது. அப்படியாயின் வெள்ளையர்களும் வடக்கத்தியர்களும் கண்டுபிடித்தவை எல்லாம் இதற்குப் பிந்தைய நாகரீகங்கள்தான் என்பதை ஒப்புக்கொண்டதாகி விடும். இதுதான் பிரச்னை. இப்போது இங்குள்ள 150 ஏக்கர் நிலத்தை மத்திய அரசின் தொல்லியல் துறை சுற்றி வளைத்து கையகப்படுத்தி வைத்திருக்கிறது. 2005 ஆம் ஆண்டு அத்துறை செய்த ஆய்வுகளின் முடிவுகளைக் கூட இன்னமும் வெளிவிடாமல் வைத்திருக்கிறது. வேறு யாரும் இங்கு ஆய்வுகளை மேற்கொள்ளக் கூடாது என்று ஓர் உத்தரவையும் போட்டிருக்கிறது. இதுதான் இன்றைய சோகம்.

இதைச் உலகறியச் செய்யவேண்டியது மத்திய அரசு, செய்ய வலியுறுத்த வேண்டியது தமிழக அரசு.

Admin · Guru

Rare Gilgit Lotus Sutra manuscripts to be published

Archana Khare Ghose TNN

New Delhi: The Gilgit Lotus Sutra Manuscripts,discovered by cattle grazers in Gilgit in a Buddhist stupa in 1931,are set to be released in a facsimile edition in New Delhi on Thursday.
The rare manuscripts,housed with the National Archives of India,date back to 5th-6 th century AD and are perhaps the only body of Buddhist manuscripts discovered in India.This is not just the oldest surviving manuscript collection in India but also one of the oldest manuscripts in the world.The facsimile edition of the manuscripts is the exact replica published in the form of a book designed to reach wider readership.
The first set of the Gilgit Lotus Sutra Manuscripts was found in a wooden box inside a circular chamber of a Buddhist stupa in Gilgit in 1931,now in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.Sources at the National Archives informed that the ancient manuscripts had managed to survive for centuries due to two vital reasons the near-zero temperatures of the region and the fact that the manuscripts were written on the bark of the Bhoj (birch) tree that does not decay.Upon discovery,the manuscripts were sent to Srinagar where the reputed British archaeologist Sir Aurel Stein knighted for his discovery of rare Buddhist manuscripts at the Mogao Caves in China in 1907 studied them and announced the big find to the world.
The Lotus Sutra is one of the most revered scriptures of the Mahayana Buddhism and represents the discourse delivered by the Buddha towards the end of his life.The sutra was originally written in the Buddhist form of Sanskrit in the Sharada script and known by its Sanskrit title,Saddharma Pundarika Sutra,which when translated in English means Sutra of the White Lotus of the Sublime Dharma.It is popularly referred to as the Lotus Sutra and was first translated from Sanskrit to Chinese by scholar Zhu Fahu (Dharmaraksha) in 286 CE.It is one of the most important texts discovered in the corpus of Gilgit manuscripts.All the texts in the Gilgit corpus throw significant light on the evolution of Sanskrit,Chinese,Korean,Japanese and Tibetan literature.

ANNALS OF HISTORY

Admin · Guru

OTZI THE ICEMAN
Worlds oldest human blood found in 5,300-year-old Iceman mummy

Washington: Scientists have discovered what they say the oldest red blood cells ever identified in the body of Otzi the Iceman,a 5,300-year-old mummy found in the Alps in 1991.
The new finding,published in the Journal of the Royal Society Interface,is a first for Otzis mummy,which has been under scientific scrutiny since a pair of hikers stumbled over the body frozen in ice on the Austrian-Italian border.
And the research could also help confirm the story of the ancient mans death,the researchers said.It was very surprising,because we didnt really expect to find compete red blood cells, study leader Albert Zink,a biological anthropologist at the European Academy of Bozen,was quoted as saying by LiveScience.
We hoped to find maybe some remnants or shrunken red blood cells,but these are looking like a modern-day sample;the dimensions are the same, Zink said.
The Iceman was so well preserved that scientists could estimate his age (about 45),his health,his last meals (that included red deer meat with herb bread) and even his probable cause of death,an arrow wound to the shoulder that sliced an artery.But no one ever found blood cells in his corpse.
In the study,Zink and his colleagues took tissue samples from Otzis arrow wound and from an earlier wound on his hand.Using a light microscope,they identified round objects that looked a bit like red blood cells,Zink said.But to be sure,the researchers needed more advanced technology.They used atomic force microscope,which works by feeling rather than seeing an object,and found that the roundish shapes were indeed red blood cells.
They have the typical form,this kind of doughnut-like shape of red blood cells,Zink said.PTI

Admin · Guru

Samanar padugai 04_05_2012_104_042

Admin · Guru

Dinosour 20120503aK014100008

New Indian-Chennai News + more

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Author

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Disclosure Statement

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