More JNU stuff frrom SABHA

No takers for JNU even in Bangladesh
According to the Feb 7 issue of the Hindustan Times, there are no takers for the seats offered by the Marxist bastion, Jawaharlal Nehru University, even in backward countries like Bangladesh.
The university scrapped the Dhaka exam centre last year because there weren’t many candidates.
This is not surprising, as JNU has never been known for academic excellence. Recently, JNU Teachers’ Association opposed the Indian tradition of respecting education. In 1989-90, JNU Students Union demanded that the minimum eligibility criteria for the junior research fellowship/lectureship examinations should be lowered from 55 percent to a level that would accommodate their intelligence.

Lot more gems on Amartya Sen, Sonia Gandhi, and Communists in the March report.

Uncanny Similarities

Many ancient civilizations have a flood story in their mythology. There is the story of Noah’s Ark in Judeo-Christian countries and Sumerians have the Epic of Gilgamesh. In Hinduism we have the story of Manu.
It is amazing that countries spread so far apart have such similar stories and it does not end there. Another similarity is in the stories of children who were floated in baskets down rivers. Yocheved put her son Moses in a small ark and placed it on the river in which the Pharaoah’s daughter bathed. In Mahabharata, Kunti did a similar thing and sent Karna floating down the river.
The book I am reading The Fourteen Dalai Lamas: A Sacred Legacy of Reincarnation has a similar story about King Nyatri Tsanpo, regarded as Tibet’s first recorded monarch. King Tsanpo was Indian by birth, descended from a Licchavi king. When he was born, he had many unusual signs in his body and hence his father put him in a casket and sent him river rafting down the Ganges. The child was rescued by a farmer, and later when he came to know his trip down the river, he was overcome with grief and fled to the Himalayas. He arrived at the Yarlung valley in Tibet and later became the King.

Missing Pakistanis

When India agreed to a Pakistani demand to allow people to travel to Kashmir based on some information scribbled on a napkin, the question we asked was “Can a PoK Kashmiri entering on this LoC Crossing Permit visit other parts of India?”. Our concern was that Pakistanis would enter and disappear into India without a trace.
Now that there is peace in the region and we are bending backwards as much as possible to show flexibility, India allowed many Pakistanis to visit to see the cricket matches. Now it seems 34 of them have vanished. And these are people who traveled with passports and visas.

The Intelligence Bureau is yet to begin a probe into the “disappearance” of 34 Pakistani nationals who had come to Mohali to watch the India-Pakistan cricket match.
The IB says that a probe will be conducted by the local police. “We will only take note of the report and monitor the developments,” an IB official said on Tuesday.
The immigration department located at the border has informed both the Punjab and the Central government that of the 2,754 Pakistani cricket fans who had come to Mohali, only 2,720 had returned back.
The MEA did not seem overly concerned about the matter either. The spokesman said the ministry was unaware of the disappearance of these Pakistani citizens. [Disappearance of Pak fans to be probed: IB]

I hope they keep an eye on Musharraf when he comes.

Gondophares

Based on the reports of Damis, a native of Mesopotamia, who was linguist and diarist, we have a detailed report of the life of Gondophares, an Indo-Parthian king in Taxila.

Damis’ diary informs us that the court of Gondophares was remarkably simple. The Greek philosopher, a follower of Zeno, the founder of the Stoic school, was pleased no end with the lack of display, a pleasant contrast to the pomp he had seen in Babylon and Persia. Damis tells us that the palace showed no “extraordinary magnificence, and was just like the house of any citizen of the better class”. There were no guards, a few servants and three or four persons waiting to speak with the king.
The guest waited as the king finished his business with the persons already in audience. Then sat down with the travellers and following the preliminaries Apollonius asked him about his “mode of life”. The king explained that as a vegetarian and a keen gardener, he grew his own vegetables and fruit. Damis does not say so, but it seems as if the visitors were given a glimpse of the garden, which might have been right outside the audience hall. One wonders if the king also tried his hand at the now barely remembered sungtara orange that grows to this day in the last surviving sungtara orchards just a kilometre from the king’s palace.
As for drinking, he drank most abstemiously. This temperance was an old Taxilian tradition for we hear from those who came here with Alexander that the people of Taxila frowned upon drunkenness. We are told that folks did appreciate a local rice wine, but were rarely found intoxicated. Taxilian society was evidently very cultured back then and we could surely learn a few things from it if we were to study it in any detail. But again I digress. [In the throne room of Gondophares via India Archaeology]

Gondophares, who ruled while Jesus Christ was alive, is also mentioned in early Christian texts, especially in connection with St. Thomas. Romila Thapar writes that, according to tradition, Thomas arrived at the court of Gondophares from eastern Mediterranean. John Keay notes that the word referred in the Acts of St Thomas was actually ‘Gudnaphar’ and it bears coincidental resemblance to Gondophares, the name found in the coins. John Keay also says that if this Thomas was really the Apostle or if he reached Punjab is really open to doubt.
References: Early India : From the Origins to AD 1300, India: A History

We are so flexible

After India allowed the bus service between Srinagar and Muzafarabad, where terrorists can show some information scribbled on a napkin as travel documents, the General is not happy. He wants India to show more flexibility. The General has uttered the word, flexibility, atleast a dozen times now. If he utters it a few more times, we might even give up Kashmir entirely. But that can create more problems.
So the next best option would be to invite him to India and make him the Chief Guest at one of the cricket matches. It was only recently that he put the words arch enemy, while refering to India. He is also the architect of the Kargil war against India. But then if the dictator demands, flexibility, you got to give it to him, lest he sneak in more jihadis. There will be photo ops, with all the democratic leaders of India competing to shake his hands. The media will be reporting on what he ate for breakfast and supper.
“Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh told parliament he hoped the president and his family would enjoy their visit”, according to the BBC. If Musharraf decides to visit Kochi for the one dayer, Malayalaees are only too happy about it. “It would be a great honour for Kerala to host him. I personally would do my best to ensure the general visits Kochi,” Chief Minister Oomen Chandy told reporters. Heard of something called self-esteem ?
We have to deal with the leaders of every country, especially our neighbors. But that should be done based on what we stand for. A democratic India had dealt with dictators and mass murderers like Saddam Hussein and Nicolae Ceausescu. But that does not mean giving them an opportunity to hog the limelight. The best way to treat Musharraf is how Bill Clinton did on his visit to Pakistan after visiting India. There was no photo op, no public handshake, and instead Pakistanis got a lecture on democracy which was televised live. A good reference for the Indian administration is The Acorn’s cheat sheet for leaders of the democratic world.
Now during his visit, if Musharraf asks as a joke that he be allowed to raise the Pakistani flag at Red Fort, we might even allow it – that’s how flexible we are.
Related Links: Dialogue with terrorists, Did Nawaz Sharif Know ?

Parallel rural civilization to Harappa

In 2004, a Harappan site was found in the small town of Bagasara in Gujarat. This site which dates back to 2500 B.C was found to have a shell making workshop, fortifications, and knives with bone handles.

Shell bangles have been found before but not a workshop with a such a concentration of shells. The presence of the workshop reveals that the shells were cut and polished into fine bangles. Several heaps of sacred conch shells along with thousands of shell circles systematically cut from these shells have been discovered. Workshops of faience and lapidary stone beads have also been found.
The latest findings in an area of 120 meters by 120 meters in Bagasra, about 70 km away from Morbi, is the result of nine years of excavation by a team of 20 experts. The location close to the sea indicates that the people exported their wares somewhere. A six-meter thick fortification made out of mud, brick and stones enables one to reach the conclusion that the products made in the industry were well preserved. Outside the fortification were residential units.
While an entrance gate for communication between these two segments have been located at the southern wall of the fortification, another gate, maybe the one that led towards the sea, of the fortified area, is yet to be unearthed.

Temple of Lav, founder of Lahore

Lahore, Pakistan, was founded by Loh (Lav), the son of Lord Rama and there is a temple in Lahore fort dedicated to him. After being closed for many years, the dungeons of Lahore fort and the temple are going to be opened for public.

The temple was named after Loh, a Hindu prince, the founder of Lahore and one of the two sons of Rama, the hero of Ramayana. Kush, Rama