Showing posts with label History. Show all posts
Showing posts with label History. Show all posts

Tuesday, 21 November 2017

Rasagola

Controversy about Rasagola is now almost two and half years old after it started for the 1st time when Odisha twitter users started trending #RasagolaDibasa on 30th July 2015, on the tithi of #NiladriBije ritual after #RathaJatra in Puri Odisha.

After the twitter trend, Odisha Govt entered to it and made some committies to search the proofs if Rasagola originated in Odisha. Around 2016, the researchers found the mention of "Rasagola" in the 15th century Odia text "Dandi Ramayana" written by Balaram Das.

But the time passed, Bengal Govt prepared the documents for Banglar Rasogolla and in November 2017 got the GI tag for their product.
On the other side, Odisha Govt didnt apply at all for Odisha Rasagola. Not sure what was the reason. They are planning to apply now.

Though Bengal has got the GI tag for Banglar Rasogolla, not the Rasagola/Rasogolla/Rasgulla of the world as a whole, but many people in themainstream media in India and in US published that Bengal won Rasogolla War against Odisha and got the GI for Rasogolla and Odisha's claim was rejected.
Some articles corrected the fake news and published new articles but many media till date continue with the blasphemy. In 2016, the media in Odisha published the screenshots of the particular page of "Dandi Ramayana" which mentions "Rasagola". The mainstream media must be knowing this very well. But when they write their articles, either they create fake news or they intentionally hide the text of Dandi Ramayana. Some guys just divert it by giving a new angle that Portuguse might have brought it with them. But Dandi Ramayana was written much before Portuguese.

Those media who dont know about the Dandi Ramayana because it is written in Odia, please have a look here.
https://archive.org/stream/typicalselection01mazuuoft#page/n119/mode/2up



See how many times, the word "Chhena(Cheese)" is mentioned.
1) Dudha Chhena - Milk Cheese
2) Chhena Puri - Cheese Puri
3) Chhena Ladoo - Cheese Ladoo
4) Chhena Manda - Cheese Manda
5) Chhena Tarada - Cheese Tarada

So "Chhena(Cheese)" was in use in Odisha much before Portuguese, isn't it?

What about "Rasagola" then?
It is also clearly mentioned as "Rasagola" and Rasagola is prepared from Cheese.

Now another dimension given by some other people. Since Krishna's food habits does not include Chhena(Cheese), then for Jagannatha also, same concept applicable.
It clearly states that those persons have no idea about Jagannatha.
Vaishnavism entered Jagannatha temple only during the time of Ramanuj. Later Chaitanya propagated Jagannatha as Krisha. So whatever other sects got linked to Jagannatha , becomes invalid??? Tribal, Shakta, Saiba, Jaina and Boudha were linked to Jagannatha much before before Ramanuj or Chaitanya came to Puri Odisha. 
If only Krishna's reference is taken and told that usage of cheese was not there in Odisha before Portuguese, then it is a clear blasphemy. 
We have the 15th Century text "Dandi Ramayana" which mentions "Rasagola".

Now, someone asks a counter question, why Rasagola is not cooked inside Jagannatha temple? And the answer is "We are now mainstream Hindus" and some mainstream rules and thoughts also entered Odisha. But still, a ritual "Niladri Bije" happens yearly once and Jagannatha gifts Rasagola to Lakshmi. 

For unnecesary argument or blasphemy, we also have the answer. If someone takes the example of Krishna, then we give the example of Rama in Dandi Ramayana.
Krishna didn't take Cheese but Rama had Cheese and Rasagola in Odisha and so mentioned by Balaram Das in 15th century text Dandi Ramayana. Futher countering the blasphemy of some media, Rama is from Tretaya juga/yuga & Krishna is from Dwapara juga/yuga and you know which juga/yuga is earlier. 😉

Coming out of the blasphemy, we have the written proof about "Rasagola" in Dandi Ramayana which is a valid proof. While writing any article, the mainstream media should mention this. If they know and not writing, then it a clear-cut case of intentional information hiding.

Thanks
Ashish Kumar Nayak

Sunday, 21 May 2017

Mahabalipuram, Tamilnadu

Mahabalipuram is a town in Kancheepuram district in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is around 60 km south from the city of Chennai. It is an ancient historic town and was a bustling seaport during the time of Periplus (1st century CE) and Ptolemy (140 CE). Ancient Indian traders who went to countries of South East Asia sailed from the seaport of Mahabalipuram.
By the 7th century it was a port city of South Indian dynasty of the Pallavas. It has a group of sanctuaries, which was carved out of rock along the Coromandel coast in the 7th and 8th centuries : rathas (temples in the form of chariots), mandapas (cave sanctuaries), giant open-air reliefs such as the famous 'Descent of the Ganges', and the Shore Temple, with thousands of sculptures to the glory of Shiva. The group of monuments at Mahabalipuram has been classified as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
It has an average elevation of 12 metres (39 feet). The modern city of Mahabalipuram was established during the British Raj in 1827.


According to local guides, the first name was Kațalmalai meaning "The land between the mountain and the sea" in Tamil. The second name was Mämalläpuram meaning "The land of the great wrestler" as the region was ruled by the Pallavan King Narsimhavarman who was known for his strength. The third name was and is still there is Mahabalipuram meaning "The land of Mahabali". According to legends, he was the grandson of the devotee Prahalada.
[The above details are taken from wikipedia.]

Sculptures at Mahabalipuram repesenting elephants, soldiers, monks, nagas, other citizens and some other animals.
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If you observe the left bottom of the pic, you can find that a person has joined his hands for respecting elephant.

Just below the elephants, you can see lotus petals like sculptures which were not fully carved.

Here are the Buddhist monasteries. Just above the pillars, you can see different types of sculptures which represent some temple/chaityagruha and stupa structures.
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A tank like structure near the monasteries.
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See the similarity and differences of Naga sculpture at Mahabalipuram(Tamilnadu) and Konark(Odisha).

The snake is 7 headed in both the sculptures but the tail portion is different. And the faces also differ as the sculptors of different places used to make it based on the faces of the kings or the people of that place.
4 - Nagas.jpg

Mucalinda Buddha statues too have 7 headed snake.


It is known locally as "Krishna's butter ball"...
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The structure of the tub shows how good the ancient drilling/sculpting technology was there.

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The marks show how the rocks were cut in old times.

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It is known locally as "Bhima's stove". As the saying goes:When Bhima (from Mahabharata) stayed here, he used to put the pan over these rocks and cook.

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View of Krishna's butter ball through Bhima's stove...

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Stairs carved on rock...

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Rayar Gopuram:
The pillar in this structure, contains the sculptures of Dasabataras.
Based on Puranas, the below are the abataras which depict the evolution of life.
1) Meena/Matsya/Machha - Fish (Living in water - Aquatic)
2) Kurma/Kachhapa - Tortoise (Living in land and water - Amphibious)
3) Sukara/Baraha - Boar (Living on land - Mammal)
4) Narahari - ManLion (Humanitarian Evolution)
5) Bamana - Dwarf man (He is considered as a early human who is a traveller or a wandering monk. So it means that he does not know how to kill and eat and so dependent on wandering and take what he gets)
6) Bhrugupati - Parasurama (Early human using Parasu Sastra (Weapons to be held in hand and not used for throwing purpose). He is represented as a saint who is a fighter as well)
7) Rama - A king and a fighter. Mark of civil society (He uses Bow and Arrow which is called Astra ("Weapons to be held in hand and then thrown" - the next step of weapons)
8) Haladhara - Balarama (A person who can do farming as well as fighting)
9) Buddha - A king and fighter who can change himself to a saint and preacher
10)Kalki - Final destoyer

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As the saying goes: While making the sculptures, the image of Haladhara/Balarama was made before Rama which is wrong.
The archer (for hunting) should be definitely before the farmer (for grain/food cultivation).
But the sequence of avataras became wrong and so they abandoned the complete structure.
This concept might be wrong.
But if it is true, then it tells that how perfectionist our ancient generation were.

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Shore temple:
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[Yet to be completed]

Cheers
Ashish

Saturday, 29 April 2017

Sri Jayadeba Pitha - Kenduli Sasan (Odisha)

"Kenduli Sasan" is a village in Odisha near Prachi river.
Indian literature refers to this place by the name
Kendubilwa/Kenduvilva/Kinduvilwa/Tinduvilwa etc etc...

One can reach the village by taking multiple routes.
One of the routes as below:-
Bhubaneswar Railway station > Rasulgarh > Naharakanta Road > Jagannathpur > Kurangsasan > Barahipur > KENDULI SASAN.

Google Map.jpg

Now the question comes:- What is important about this place?
And the answer is:- It is the birth place of Sri Jayadeba (Jayadev), the poet who composed the epic poem GEETA GOBINDA (Geeta Govindam / Geet Govind).

There was a long standing controversy on the birth place of Sri Jayadeba.
There is a village in West Bengal called Kenduli (Previous name: Kendubiloo).
Kenduli (West Bengal) was initially thought to be the birthplace.
But Odias believed the exact birthplace to be Keduli Sasan (Previous name: Kenduvilwa) in Odisha.
Recently when department of Archeological survey of India and the historians and scholars from Odisha and West Bengal gave their research report, Kenduli Sasan (Odisha) was accepted as the actual birthplace and it was inaugurated in 2004.

Please have a look at the below pics from the "Jayadeba/Jayadev Pitha".

Odisha tourism signboard and inauguration stone imprint...

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Entry gate to "Jayadeba/Jayadev Pitha"...

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Inside "Jayadeba/Jayadev Pitha"...

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Few stone imprints based on the works of Sri Jayadeba/Jayadev...

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The demarcation of the place where the original "Geeta Gobinda / Geeta Govindam / Geet Govind" was found...

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Stone images of Dasabatara (Dasavatar) based on Sri Jayadeba's
"Dasabatara/Dasavatar Stutee" at "Jayadeba/Jayadev Pitha"...

1) Meena/Matsya Abatara - Fish (Living in water - Aquatic)

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2) Kurma/Kachhapa Abatara - Tortoise (Living in land and water - Amphibious)

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3) Sukara/Baraha Abatara - Boar (Living on land - Mammal)

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4) Narahari Abatara - ManLion (Humanitarian Evolution)

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5) Bamana - Dwarf man (He is considered as a early human who is a traveller or a wandering monk.)

19.jpg


6) Bhrugupati - Parasurama [Early human using Parasu Sastra (Weapons to be held in hand and not used for throwing purpose). He is represented as a saint who is a fighter as well]

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7) Rama - A king and a fighter. Mark of civil society (He uses Bow and Arrow which is called Astra ("Weapons to be held in hand and then thrown" - the next stage of weapons)

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8) Haladhara - Balarama (A person who can do farming as well as fighting)

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9) Buddha - A king and fighter who can change himself to a saint and preacher

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10)Kalki - Final destroyer

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-Ashish

Sunday, 15 January 2017

My curation of weareBBSR twitter handle

     In the year 2017, I got a chance to curate the twitter handle @weareBBSR. And I started my curation with . How it went, please see below for the details.

SET1: 

A screenshot of the tweet in the beginning of the curation.
A request was there to fellow tweeples to provide some details of food, handicraft etc for the different districts of Odisha.

"Will start with d journey on waterway 4m Sambalpur.☺️ Plz post pics of d food,handloom etc 4m Sambalpur,Bargad,Jharsuguda,Sundargad."

Collected the below details:
NEXT:
Journey on & halt at Boudh. Like set1 dists,pls provide detailsOf food,handicraft etc4
"Boudh,Balangir,Nuapada,Subarnapur,Deogarh".

Collected the below details:

NEXT:
Journey on & halt at Nayagarh. Pls provide details of food,handicraft etc for "Nayagarh, Anugul, Dhenkanal, Kandhamal, Kalahandi".

Collected the below details:
NEXT:
Journey on & halt at Katak(Cuttack). Pls provide d details of food, handicraft, handloom etc for "Katak, Khordha, Jajpur".

Collected the below details:

NEXT:
Journey on &we reached Paradip port.Pls provide d details of food, handicraft, handloom etc for "Jagatsinghpur, Kendrapada, Puri".

Collected the below details:
NEXT:
Ppl of NorthEastOdisha now reached at . Pls provide d details of food, handicraft, etc for"Baleswar,Bhadrak,Mayurbhanj,Kendujhar".

Collected the below details:

NEXT:
Ppl of SouthOdisha reached at .Pls provide details of food,craft etc4"Ganjam,Gajapati,Rayagada,Nabarangpur,Koraput,Malkangiri".

Collected the below details:
NEXT:
The people from port started the voyage on & reached port.

NEXT:
Sadhabas 4m & ,started d voyage on &met Sadhabas of .[Probability of Chilika being a harbour].

So, During this long journey, people of different region have interacted with each other & the cultural integration happened.

Now,The Sadhabas(ancient biz class of civilization),at port,hv many items(in pic)with them to take during voyage.
[In this way, we covered all the districts of Odisha and some of the food, handicraft, handloom etc.. ]

Next few tweets as below

It was the time during when the Sadhabas used to start the voyage to Indonesian countries.
Next stop on was ,currently located in AndhraPradesh. Point2think how different lang gr interacted in that time!
Then,voyaging through ,Kalingas used2reach d coast of Pandya&Chola & then all used2 travel to Sinhala & then Java,Sumatra,Bali.
And then, Along with business, the architecture of ancient monuments in Indonesian islands got inspired from civilization.

[Some fellow tweeples tweeted on the Kalinga and the maritime history with the hashtag You can view those details by clicking on the hashtag.
The motive was to show how the river route and sea route was used by ancient Kalingas and how different people from different regions gathered together & how many different items they might have with them to eat and to sell in foreign land. ]

And here the set1 is concluded.

SET2: 

Some details were posted about Asuragarh.

There are the ruins of rectangular fort in Asuragarh in Kalahandi dist of Odisha. -1
On one side of the fort, there is a huge tank called Udaya Sagar and the river Salandi flows by the other side. -2
The fort was encircled by a moat with four gates. -3
The central part of the fort has a mount which is believed to be the palace of the King Gosinga Daitya.-4
At the gates, there are four deities like Budha raja, Baishnabi, Kalapahad and Gangadebi.-5
The presiding deity of the fort was Goddess Dokari. - 6
After excavation of area,in1st layer thr wer precious stones.door hinges,punch marked gold coins dating back to the 5th centAD.-7
In the 2nd layer, there were decorated poterry, ornaments of 1st and 2nd century AD. -8
The 3rd layer unearthed black poterry of very fine polished structure.-9
The 4th layer dates back to 250BC.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eZ1YxFj993I
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t4ipOyGCwJ4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eZ1YxFj993Ihttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eZ1YxFj993Ihttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eZ1YxFj993I-10


SET3: 

Some details were posted about Debagiri.

#Debagiri hill is located in the Rayagada district of Odisha.-1 #Debagiri means the hill abode of Gods & the hill rises about 400ft.-2 #Debagiri There is a Siba temple at the top of the hill.-3 #Debagiri Few yrs back, a devotee constructed the huge number of steps to climb the hill.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sKu-gLqNl1A … -4 #Debagiri The top of the hill is broad and flat.-5 #Debagiri Thr are 5 perennial pool of water on the hill named as Ganga, Jamuna, Saraswati, Bhargabi & Indradyumna.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zffLRRSZ2Qw … -6 #Debagiri Below d peak at d top of the hill, exists a cave looking like d opening of a jaw. -7 #Debagiri Outside the cave, there are some old stone and terracotta images & articles, usually associated with Siba temple are kept.-8 #Debagiri Just outside d cave near d entrance,thr is carving on floor which is partlyPictorial & partlyInscription,but not deciphered yet.-9 #Debagiri Lord Siba is the presiding deity of this temple. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b0t3HVuC4LY … -10

SET4: , , 
Some details were posted about 64 Jogin temple, Someswar, Titlagarh, Patnagarh.

LetsKnow something abt #JoginiCult & in Odisha. Jogini/YoginiCult is tantra itself with primitive magical rituals,soundEtc-1 If we look at the origin, it appears that it must be a simple village cult related to Grama Debi/Debata, later changed to #JoginiCult.-2 The structure (on ground) is called "Panthei".-3
Pic courtesy: Tapas

Similar structure "Panthei" is also made during a festival "Prathamashtami"
https://ashishkumarnayakodisha.blogspot.in/2016/03/prathamashtami-parba-in-odisha.html … -4 "Panthei" looks a square shaped ditch and a circular one inside it. Not sure if anyone knows the reason behind this structure.But later...-5 ...when the Jogini chakra was developed, it got somewhat inspired from Panthei, -6
Later when the was constructed, it might be based on the chakra, but with a change "square structure inside circular one".-7
Few details about in this blog. http://www.bcmtouring.com/forums/threads/odisha-orissa-hirapur-chausathi-64-jogini-yogini-temple-hypaethral-structure.62568/ … -8 The 1st temple at Hirapur,Khordha dist & 2nd #64JoginiTemple is located at Ranipur-Jharial, Balangir dist, Odisha https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1UyBR221LEw … #Someswar Below the hillock of #64JoginiTemple (Ranipur-Jharial, Balangir dist), on d bank of d tank, there is Someswar temple.-A #Someswar The temple was built by King GaganSiba in 9th century AD. -B #Someswar is d largest cluster of temple on d hillock. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FxPh9t4H_-c … -C #Titlagarh one of the ancient cities of BharataBarsha, is located in d Balangir dist of Odisha. - A1 #Titlagarh The video tells "Titlagarh boasts to be d birthplace of PANINI,the great grammarian of 5thCenturyBC. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bPxJmgO7Zrk … - A2 #Titlagarh Near d town, close to d railway station, thr is a hill called "Kumuda hill". - A3 #Titlagarh Inside naturally formed caves & hills, a Siba linga is enshrined. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fT2om_UN3hU … - A4 #Titlagarh At d peak of the hill, thr is a temple "Rangei deula" which has folk tale, concerning Tantrik activities of ancient India. - A5 #Titlagarh Rangei deula has three images/idols inside it. - A6 #Titlagarh Thr r few more temples near kumuda hill. Thr is a huge tank called as "Deo bandha" meaning "Royal tank". - A7 #Titlagarh On d other side of tank, thr is a rock named "Tangri donga", probably meaning "Bald hill". - A8 #Titlagarh At d foot of kumuda hill,thr r ruins which suggest,thr might b many temples or a huge temple existed. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gONN5SeoTnU … -A9 #Patnagarh is located in the Balangir dist of Odisha. -B1 #Patnagarh The protective area was surrounded by a wall with 4gates at 4sides "Singha Dwara, Sonepur Dwara, Churna Dwara, Khasian Dwara".-B2 #Patnagarh As d tales say, anybody entering through Churna dwara, was considered as enemy.-B3 #Patnagarh The huge gates are not existing anymore.Only a few ruins r found scattered here&there.-B4 #Patnagarh Around d wall, there was a wide moat, filled with water from the river Swarnarekha/Subarnarekha. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OREiuWF-F_c … -B5 #Patnagarh was the capital of the Kingdom of Patna since the 12th century. -B6 #Patnagarh was such an important city that one can say,d history of western dists is closely associated with it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2XwDcbrz2-M … -B7 Not sure whether #Patnagarh or #Titlagarh,thr is temple4 #Rishabanath. The image is 3.5ft tall & nicely carved. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GfrWidd9AzI … - B8 Nearby, there is another temple for #Tirthankara s. The worship is mainly done by tribes. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_usCwTB0rE0 … - B9

SET5: , :





SET5: There was some discussion on laguages and different accents of Odisha. And on a ligther note, there were some posts on food etc with help of fictional characters   in Odisha story books.




















The time passed & my curation cycle got over.

Thanks to the admin of @weareBBSR for giving this opportunity.


Thanks
Ashish