"Theyyam" ritual of Kerala

Practically every state of India has its special and peculiar folk rituals and ceremonies. Kerala has its Theyyam ceremony that is undertaken in many parts of the northern, or the Malabar, coast in the state. Much of it is bound up in myths and legends about some folk god, e.g. Muthuappan, or of some animist god, or it could be an invocation of a traditional god like Siva or Bhagavathy. The ritual takes several hours in preparation with the wearing of a special dress made up from coconut leaf fronds, many repetitive and stylized movements, chanting of "Mantras", offering of libation of wines, beating of drums and playing of other musical instruments, and so on.

Many scholars have held that the purpose was to enable a low caste priest progressively through the various stages of the ritual to assume the spirit and powers of the god who has been invoked and thus communicate the message of the gods to other persons also of lower castes - often on a one-to-one basis - thus helping bypass the prevalent caste restrictions and improving social intercourse.

Usually the theyyam ceremony is part of the rural life of northern Kerala and is held away from urban centres. The dress, the stylized dances, the drumming and music make for colourful yet solemn ceremony.

At long last, "at home" in India

As one works through one's life, all sorts of notes, observations, bric-a-brac and photographs tend to accumulate. Some have only a personal aignificance but a good number have archival imortance.

There are, for instance, the pictures and songs recorded in the "bachelors" dormitory among the Muria tribe in Bastar way back in 1970s. It is just not possible to get the original songs any more due to extensive change in the way of life of these tribes in recent years. Then there are the pictures of wildlife since 1972, when one could still walk about along the jungle paths and tracks. Many of these pictures in black and white are still appreciated by many.

Thanks to the personal interest of my good friend, Raza Kazmi, these notes, ranging from description of pale-geological sites going back about fifty million years to the Indus Valley sites that are just about five thousand years old, and the rock pintings starting from ten thousand years are now housed in the archives of the Ashoka Unversity. The link to this collection is at --https://archives.ashoka.edu.in/paper_details/96

Fort St. Angelo - a landmark in Kerala

Kerala has many things going for it. There is the great landscape, a wonderful culture and an interesting history. Tucked away somewhat far from the public eye and the usual tourist circuits, is the Fort St. Angelo located a little to the north of the town of Kannur, in North Kerala.

Following the visit of Vasco de Gama, the Portuguese navigator to that area, the local king granted land at the site to the Portuguese in 1505 and a wooden fort soon came up there. Afonso de Albuquerque became governor at the fort in 1509. This helped in the later Portuguese occupation of Goa. The original wooden fort was soon replaced by a fort built of laterite blocks and brick and mortar. Later in 1663, the fort was occupied by the Dutch and a few years later by the British. It remained as the principal British miltary centre on the Malabar coast till 1947.

This is a view of the Arabian Sea from the ramparts of the Fort Angelo. Since this is located quite near Kannur, one can take a bus or a vehicle to this site quite easily.

Sanchi - a wonderful Buddhist site

A good part of the history of India, and several of its neighbouring countries,such as Sri Lanka, Tibet and Myanmar, is inter-twined with the life and teachings of the Buddha. Fortunately, India has many places that are closely associated with the Buddha, both where he delivered his sermons and where some relics of the Buddha are enshrined in a "stupa", or a massive reliquery. One of the finest such "stupa" is located at Sanchi, which close to the city of Bhpoal in Madhya Pradesh. Besides its religious sanctity, Sanchi has some of the finest sculptual work, dating back to the 2nd century BCE.

This picture shows a a "torana"or a gateway to the stupa that has excellent carvings on it, some showing events from the life of the Buddha.

The details of this gateway show the large royal retinue that came to visit the Buddha and receive his blessings.

Walking around the stupa and enjoying the sculptures so finely made, one comes upon this statue of the Buddha deep in his meditations. It is a time to pause and think for a while on the teachings of the Buddha.

The Kinnaur Kailash in Himachal Pradesh - a fascinating journey

The month of October in 2012 saw me travelling with a group of friends to the Kinnaur Kailash region of Himachal Pradesh. The idea was to see some of the typical temples of that area besides making a visit to one the farthest outposts on the Indo-Tibetan border at Chitkul. We went initially by train via Kalka and Simla and then by road up the valley of the River Sutlej via Rampur Busheir, at one time one of the key points in Indo-Tibetan border trade.

After night halts at Sarahan, Rekong Peo and Kalpa it was on to Sangla, and then up the valley of the Baspa River for a quick visit to Chitkul, which was at about 11,000 feet. All along the way, the scenery was extremely beautiful, with snow-clad peaks showing up at almost every turn of the road, above and beyond the jagged hill ridges along the river valleys.

This was also the season for apples and other fruits, and one could pick them up from the road-side and fields with the permission of the land-holder, but only two or three at a time. Even baskets-full of apples were going cheaply in the local markets. An typical apple orchard may be seen below.

Considering the proximity of Himachal to the western edge of Tibet, it is small wonder that Buddhist "gumphas" and temples to Hindu gods and goddesses have co-existed in Himachal for long. One of the most fascinating temples was that of Bhimakali at Sarahan, with its unique architecture the picture of which is given below.

Another interesting temple was the Narayani at Kalpa. Of course, Chitkul, which was almost at the end of the valley of the Baspa had a special attraction.

So, this Kinnaur Kailash trip with its mix of wonderful scenery, excellent views of the Kinnaur Kailash from Kalpa, temples and plenty of fruits will be remembered for many years.

Bird-watching in Sattal, Kumaon Hills

A recent visit to Sattal, in the Kumaon Hills, located about 20 kilomteres from Nainital, for bird-watching was most enjoyable. While there are a number of lodges in the town (more a large village), the accommodation at the Kumaon Mandal Vikas Nigam was very central and not crowded at all. More to the point was the ease of access to some of the birding areas in and around Sattal. One of the notable features was the trusting nature of the birds in the neighbourhood. One Grey-winged Blackbird practically came upto my feet and was photographed with a 25 mm lens from about 4 feet away.

The White-throated Laughing Thrush was equally trusting (though laughing thrushes are generally quite suspicious of men) and came and sat on a branch of a tree near my head.

It is possible that a person sitting still does not usually disturb the birds and animals. Here a barking deer, normally a shy animal, stood at a distance of about 20 feet, without feeling nervous. This experience was quite enjoyable.

Corbett Tiger Reserve - Rare viewing of elephants

The Corbett Tiger Reserve in Nainital district, Uttarakhand, is one of the best places to see Indian wildlife in one of the finest natural settings.

The Park authorities in recent years have imposed restrictions on entry of private vehicles and have limited even safari vehicles registered with the Park authrities to about 25 or 30 every morning and afternoon at each of the four or five entry gates now functional. Further, entry permits may only be obtained "On-line" on the Tiger Reserve web-site on payment of the necessaey charges. Looking for a tiger at Corbett is more like searching for a needle in a hay-stack - it is largely a matter of luck, although having an experienced guide and safari driver certainly helps. Our trip to Corbett yeilded two tigers - but only just, as one was at some distance in some thickets and the other disappeared quickly in the grassland. Our luck with the other big game at Corbett, the elephant, held and we saw a magnificent male elephant with heavy tusks leading the way for our safari jeep for over a kilometre.

The next afternoon, we had a rare viewing of about twenty-five elephants in another area of Corbett - such large groups are not be frequently seen. They frolicked in a large water-hole with the baby elephants nearly submerging themselves in the water, the others spraying water over themselves and all having a good time - much like children at a sea-side!

Needless to say, one does not come by such sights every day and we enjoyed taking pictures of these elephants almost as much they enjoyed themselves in the water in the heat of the afternoon!

Darjeeling Himalayan Railway - A UNESCO Heritage Site

One of the fascinations of childhood on any visit to Darjeeling in North Bengal was the ride in the "toy train". A toy train it was with its narrow-gauge track just two feet wide. The small engine would huff and puff as the driver and helper would shovel coal into the small, tub-sized boiler. Strange-sounding stations would pass - Rongtong, Tindharia, Ghayabari, Tung, Sonada and then Ghum, in the middle of a rising mist that entered through the door-way and exited through a window. Great moss-laden trees and masses of fern would brush the coaches as the train chugged on. All the while local people would hop on and hop off as if riding a tram car. It is nice to know that the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway, or DHR, has been accorded UNESCO "World Heritage" status in 1999.

As is well-known the Darjeeling region came under the British administration in 1850 and the first tea garden began to to be set up in that area around 1858. While the "Hill Cart Road" had been built by about 1858, it was another twenty years before the setting up of a railway line was thought of. The Darjeeling Himalayan Railway was the first, and one of the most outstanding, example of a hill railway in India, the other two being in the Nilgiris in South India and in Kalka in the north. Opened in 1881, the DHR as it was popularly known was a marvel of design and engineering, in tackling a rise of about 2400 metres over a distance of about 88 kilometres, i.e. about 1: 25. This the train could do by way of a number of zig-zag reversing-forwarding and three loops, where the track looped around and went over a small bridge over the track it had just covered. Despite these measures, it was interesting that two persons usually sat at the front end of the ngine, throwing handfuls of sand on the tracks to improve the traction.

Now all the steam engines that had been built in the UK by Sharp, Stewart and Co, and later North British Locomotive Co. have been retired and the coaches are presently hauled by diesel operated engines built at the Chittaranjan Locomotive Works.

It was therefore very much a journey through "memory lane" recently to visit that area after so many years and to see the DHR still chugging its way around the loops and zig-zags and the tourists thoroughly enjoying themselves with the novelty of the experience. And certainly the names of Rongtong and Tindharia rang a bell. That felt good.

Some reflections on Ukraine

The recent invasion by Russia into Ukraine is most regrettable, and distressful on account of the inevitable loss of valuable human lives and the long streams of refugees. One is driven to ponder over whether in the second decade of the 21st century when the Planet Earth is facing the serious challenge of Climate Change besides the task of building up a more inclusive, equitable and humane society it is at all relevant and pertinent to hark back to Tsarist or Stalinist days that date back for more than a century. How does one really turn the clock back? Here the silver lining lies in rational and reasonable thought that human beings are still capable of, as exemplified by the address of the Kenyan ambassador to the UN at the UN Security Council on 25th February as per the link given here -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=78ec1_fzepc There have been many bilateral and multilateral peace treaties in the past only to have some one tear them up for some real or perceived grievance. India also had to suffer such aggression more than once in the last 70 years. https://www.bookgeeks.in/a-conflict-in-thin-air-prosenjit-das-gupta-book-review/ The Treaty of Versailles after World War I was no better, lasting for just about 20 years. At least the UN Charter that is subscribed to by over 200 countries has kept the peace for nearly 75 years.

Indian temple sculpture - social media in stone

It is fortunate that most Indian temples have sculptures of people at work or play, or about music and dance, or in some rituals, etc.. In the absence of the art and science of photography, which did not exist in those early times, it is from such sculptures that later historians can draw some sort of idea about the nature of dressing, ornaments, buildings and architecture, mode of transport, dancing, the plants and vegetation, presence of kings and many other things, of much earlier times.

Secondly, religion even in the ancient times, was not always confined to sages living in caves and forests, but was a part and parcel of everyday life. So even a place of worship, such as a temple was decorated with scenes from real life, such as music and dancing, or of battles, or royal processions, or a king sitting in court, etc. This will be evident from tyhe pictures from Khajuraho and the Konarak temples given here by way of illuatrsation.

Thirdly, it is possible that these beautiful carving also attracted the common folk to come to the temple to pray and also to enjoy the interesting carvings. It was was form of permanent visual copmmunication

Farm Laws Re-visited

Recently there was an interesting Webinar on the Farm Laws that have been repealed following protracted oppostion by many sections of farmers. The principal speaker expressed the view that government was intervening in many ways into the demand, suppy, prices, etc. in the farm sector, which would be better left to market forces and the pricing mechanism to sort out.

There were quite a number of questions put to the speaker, these broadly concerning -- (1) certain specific provisions of the Farm Laws that appeared contrary to the usual provisions for legal review; (2) whether with the imperfect knowledge about the supply and demand situation, the price mechanism would work well; (3) how would the farmers or the purchasers factor in uncertain weather conditions especially with extrme weather conditions due to Climate Change; (4) whether issues of rural indebtedness and strengthening of the rural credit network deserves due consideration; (5) whether the form of corporatization envisaged in the Farm Laws was the right way forward considering the huge numbers of small and marginal farmers in India, and so on.

The Webinar provided a useful opportunity for exchange of views on an important subject. While the principal speaker attempted to deal with these wide-ranging issues, it did seem at the end that there were a good number of unanswered questions on the Farm Laws.

Deben Bhattacharya - ethno-musicologist par excellence

Songs are the spontaneous human expressions of joy, invocation, sorrow or longing. They are the repositories of human emotions and of diverse cultural histories. One person attempted all his life to collect these fragments of the human experience from the desert, hills and rivers and piece together a shared heritage. He was popularly known as "Deben: The gypsy from Varanasi". He was Deben Bhattacharya, born in December 1921 in a traditional Bengali Brahmin family in Varanasi where he studied in a traditional Sanskrit “tol”. After considerable vicissitudes he was able to travel to London and after odd jobs rose to become an associate producer of Indian music for BBC radio programmes. For the next fifty years he devoted his time and energy to recording the folk music of different countries, from Romania, to Jordan and Syria, Mauritania in North Africa to Rajasthan, Bengal, Assam and Bangladesh on the Indian Sub-Continent.

His area of interest and passion were the songs of the desert, hills and rivers. The range of the work of the late Deben Bhattacharya, as much as an ethno-musicologist as that of a humanist, may be understood from (a) some of his films, e.g. "The Cosmic Dance of Shiva", "Painted Ballads of India, Krishna in Spring", "Faces of the Forest - The Santals of West Bengal", "The Mirror of the Sky, 1969 (the songs of the BAULS of Bengal for UNESCO", "Love Songs of Vidyapati", etc.; (b) the audio recordings - Bedouins of the Middle East 1955-60; Sounds of West Sahara – Mauritania; Maqams of Syria, River Songs of Bangladesh, The Mirror of the Sky – Songs of the Bauls of Bengal and so on. He was one of the first to have recorded the songs of Bauls of Bengal in 1956/57 and of the chants at the Buddhist monasteries. The last Deben Bhattacharya has left an irreplaceable patrimony of intangible heritage of several nations. December 2021 marks the Centenary of Shri Deben Bhattachraya.

Further particulars of his works may be seen at -- https://www.sublimefrequencies.com/products/625798-deben-bhattacharya-paris-to-calcutta-men-and-music-on-the-desert-road https://mubi.com/films/la-musique-selon-deben-bhattacharya https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/859487.The_Mirror_of_the_Sky There are several other sites also featuring the work of the late Deben Bhattacharya. Fortunately his collection of about 400 hours of folk music recording and many thousands of photographs are now housed in the Bibliotheque Nationale in Paris.

Re-visiting Synagogues in Kolkata - and an interesting find

Several families of Sephardim Jews from Iraq came to the city of Calcutta shortly after the advent of the British in 1757. Soon thereafter synagogues came up for both for their weekly prayers, periodic religious functions such as the "Pass-over" and social events like solemnizing marriages. It was interesting recently to re-visit the Jewish synagogues still to be seen in Calcutta they were first visited - more than once - in 1985-86 when preparing for the book "10 Walks in Calcutta".

The above shows the cover of the Bengali edition of the book titled as "Paye Paye Kolkata" published in 2018 by Ananda Publishers. The first synagoue to be revisited was the Beth-el Synagogue that had been built in 1856. This community of Jews provided an important link between the Jews in UK and Europe with those in the Middle East, e.g. Iraq and Sysria and Palestine and those farther east in South East Asia, upto Hong Kong.

This picture shows the interior of the Beth-el Synagogue. What was quite interesting was the wine cellar below the synagogue where wine that was used for certain ceremonies and made in the proper Jewish tradition had been prepared. Some of the jars for holding this ceremonial wine were evidently (as seen from the motifs on the jar) imported from China, which was known for long for its fine ceramics.

Following the visits to the Synagoues, there was time to visit a nearby Christian church and it was interesting to see this gravestone dedicated to one Sarkis de Agvally, who was from Armenia and Persia and had passed away in February 1736. It was evident that the Armenian community was among first of those from Europe who had settled down in Calcutta for trade and commerce.

The picture of the gravestone is as above.

Manas National Park - A re-visit after 35 years

The Manas National Park in western Assam has many feathers to its cap. It was among the "first batch" of Tiger Reserves in India way back in 1973.It is one of the very few wilderness areas in India that has been recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, together with Kaziranga National Park (also in Assam) and the Bharatpur (or Keoladeo) Bird Sanctuary near Agra. Manas is also home to the endemic Golden Langur, the Bengal Florican and the Pigmy Hog, besides many other wild animals like the one-horn Indian rhinoceros, wild buffalo, tiger, gaur, elephant and many other species.

The Manas River (or the Beki, as it is called in the lower reaches - shown above) and the rugged hills of Bhutan to the north define the National Park to a signicant extent. Thus Manas offers a variety of wildlife habitats, from riverine forests, to heavy rain-fall and moist deciduous forests, besides extensive grasslands.

Over the years, Manas has witnessed ups and owns, but now the wildlife has made a good come-back. The local settlements have grown and Barpeta Road, once just way-station, is now a bustling town with fly-overs and shopping malls. A number of lodges have come up locally (where there were once only government rest houses), and a variety of facilities are on offer, including river rafting, wilderness walks and jeep safaris in the forest.

Manas National Park is conveniently accessible by train via the rail head of either New Bongaigaon or Barpeta Road, or by air from Guwahati City.

Wet Bengal celebrates Durga Puja

The Durga Puja of West Bengal, the Navaratri of Northern and Western India and Dussehra in both North and South India coincide and is the cause of wide-spread celebrations. This marks the close of the Monsoons and the beginning of the harvesting season for rice. The Durga Puja combines the idea of Uma, the other name for Durga, returning to earth much as married daughters of the house return to visit their ancestral homes at around this time, and the concept of the victory of good over evil, exemplified by Durga slaying the demon, Mahishasur, on the day of Vijaya Dashami. It all starts months earler with the making of the image of the goddess usually at the community-based making of such images at Kumartuli in North Calcutta.

This picture above shows the finished, regular "daker saaj" or the traditional image of the goddess Durga as she is invoked at the celebrations. Another image from some older temples where worship of the goddess takes place on a regular basis, given below, is somewhat different.

Rural Bngal also participates fully in the celebration of the Durga Puja. This picture is of a small puja in a village near Santiniketan, where the image is once again in traditional style.

An old map of Calcutta

Ever since the British East India Company started their commercial operations in Calcutta some times in the last decade of the 17th century they have attempted to study and document the many facets of the city through maps, sketches and paintings. People often refer to the map of Calcutta drawn up in 1792/93 by Upjohn and the one prepared in 1828 by Capt. Prinsep.

Shown above is the Upjohn map of Calcutta.

The Prinsep map is shown above. A chance look at a book on Calcutta by Lord Curzon revealed yet an older map, as surveyed and prepared by Lt. William Wyllie in 1753. That makes it nearly forty year older to that of Upjohn.

This map of Calcutta naturally raises a number of questions. For instance, it shows the famous Dalhousie Square Tank, also known as "Lal Dighi", as being of a rectiangular shape. The position of some of the building such as the Court House, the Church of St. Anne and the original Fort William itself are to be seen in this map. Of course much changed following the attack on Calcutta in 1756 by the forces of Nawab Siraj-ud-daula.

Afghanistan - Hopes for a fresh start?

The latest developments in Afghanistan with the Taliban swiftly taking over the reins of power in that country have put the minds of many people in a tizzy. It is of course too early to say, but watching the body language during interviews and press conferences by Taliban leaders on 16th and 17th August, as also the use of phrases, suggest a certain sobriety in attitude and hence a glimmer of hope that things may be somewhat different this time. Somethings had changed - the twenty years since 2001 had possibly not gone entirely wasted. The TV footage, at least in major cities like Kabul, Herat, Kunduz, Mazar-i-Sharif and others over the last one year or so suggest the rapid steps that the people of Afghanistan have taken to turn this once backward country on the path to modernity. More women , more children are getting educated, better health facilities are coming up. And most interesting of all, if Afghans are playing cricket, there is hope yet. If 2021 is not the same as 2001 for Iran, Iraq, Turkey and Saudi Arabi, then there is little reason to believe that it would go in a contrary direction for Afghanistan. Even though there has been panic, especially in the Kabul airport, there have been no reprisals, no bloodbath, as on date. More than one TV journalist reported that things were fairly quyiet in Kabul, and interestingly some women-folk took out a protest to assert their demands in front of some Taliban militia. All said and done, it is the people of Afghnaistan who will have to decide - and this will take some years - in which direction they would like to take their country free of non-Afghan interference. One is strongly reminded of the repeated demands of Mahatma Gandhi in the 1930s and 40s to the British to leave India free to decide on her way ahead.

Dholavira - Now a UNESCO World Heritage Site!

Although some of the well-known Indus Valley Civilization sites such as Harappa and Mohenjo Daro have come within Pakistan since the Partition in 1947, India herself has a number of excellent examples of the IVC in places such as Lothal, Kalibangan, Dholavira, Ropar, Rakhigarhi and others. Of these Dholavira, which has been dated to about 3000 BCE, has justly been included recently as one of the UNESCO World Heritage Sites. Situated in the northern fringes of the Rann of Kutch in Gujarat, about 200 kilometres from the town of Bhuj, Dholavira is approached by a drive of about 4 hours across almost endless salt-flats. On the way, one may well find one of the nomadic families of the Rann on their way to a new destination.

It is best to leave quite early in the morning, as otherwise the drive and the walking around at the site can become quite tiresome. Dholavira is fairly large, somewhat square shaped with one side over 700 metres long, and the other over 600 metres. It is located on a low hillock with its central citadel in the middle and with dwellings on either side somewhat lower down.

Just below the citadel, on the western side, will be found this board with a number of the IVC lettering as specimens. While several scholars have attempted to decipher this, no commonly accepted version has yet been generally ackowldged. The most interesting part of Dholavira are the "step-tanks" at the bottom of the hillock for storing water, partly from the nearby stream, and partly from the rain-water run-off from the top of the hillock, for which stone channels had been made.

All in all, Dholavira fully justifie its designation as a World Heritage site, and hopefully more people will become aware of it and try and visit the location.

Covid Pandemic in India - some useful data

In the week just past, some useful data on the Covid pandemic has emerged from the Indian Council of Medical Rsearch. The first is a clear description of the some of the typical symptoms of Covid. The ICMR study, which seems limited to just about 680 case of Covid infection, apparently found that a total of 482 cases (71%) were symptomatic with one or more symptoms, while 29% had asymptomatic, of the type "SARS-CoV-2" infection. The study indicates that fever (69%) was the most consistent presentation followed by body ache, including headache and nausea (56%), cough (45%), sore throat (37%), loss of smell and taste (22%), diarrhoea (6%), breathlessness (6%) and 1% had ocular irritation and redness. Thus, the warning signs seem to be a relatively low-intensity fever of about 100/101 deg. C for 3 or 4 days accompanied by severe body and joint pain and headache, while the other symptoms may or may not be there in any notable fashion. Obviously a larger sample population for the study would have been even more useful. The other information that has energed indicates that as of 16.07.2021, India has been able to vaccinate about 400 million persons, of whom 79 million have duly received the necessary two dozes of the vaccine.If therefore at least 75% of the total population of about 1.2 billion are to be vaccinated (including children 3/4 years or more) then in the next 5 months, the nation will have to vaccinate about 3 million people per day. That will surely call for a concerted effort. More to the point, in the meantime for the next three or four months each and all of the states will have to follow the Covid precautions rigorously, especially with respect to stricly avoiding any assembly of people, ensuring that wearing the face-mask and hand sanitization are followed scrupulously.

Jaisalmer - A Jewel of Rajasthan

Jaisalmer was not so much in the public eye before the film "Sonar Kella" by the famous director, Satyajit Ray, in 1974 brought it to popular notice. Set as it is at the extreme western extremity of Rajasthan, about 300 kms from the city of Bikaner and about 280 km. from the great fortress city of Jodhpur, Jaisalmer has not been easy of access. Only in the last decade or so, has it been connected by rail directly to Delhi and even later by flights to Delhi and Jaipur. Of course, the Jaisalmer Fort, the famous "sonar kella" or the golden fort, gleaming in the sun with its yellow sandstone construction is the main attraction. Inside the fort, the palace halls and pavilions have their own attraction, and change colours with the shifting sun-light.

But, equally, one often pauses to listen to the playing of the stringed "ravanahatta" by the local musicians to accompany their lilting folk songs. But most people look forward to the drive to and roaming around or taking a camel-ride amid the sand dunes at Sam that are a couple of hours travel from the city. That is an experience all by itself.