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Designer unknown (佚名)
1949
Settle accounts resolutely
Qingsuan gu (清算固)
Call nr.: PC-1949-s-004 (Private collection)
More? See: chineseposters.net/themes/land-reform
After reading Simon's account of Eye and there being three Suffolks. I realise there are different Suffolks (and Norfolks) for me too. Although I lived in the area for the first 25 years of my life, and again for another half dozen upon leaving the RAF, I never really explored the area where I lived.
I know the main roads well, and the towns on or near them, as on signposts if little else. I may notice the occasional interesting building, like the school at Somerleyton, or the barn at Herringfleet, and even see there was a church or two (Herringfleet again or Haddiscoe). But my knowledge only went as far as I could see; so along the A146, the A143, the A12, the A149 and a handful of B roads and other unclassified roads I may have travelled down, and years later be able to point out every twist and turn, but for the towns and villages, I knew little.
Even large town like Beccles and Bungay I would go to, visit friends or call in at a shop, but in Bungay fail to notice that there are three churches side by side in the centre, or that Beccles church had a separate tower.
Thanks to the group her on Flickr, GWUK, I became aware that Norfolk and Suffolk were homes to a variety and number of churches that I was unaware of, and in parishes I knew I could not place on a map.
So it is, when I go up to visit Mum in Lowestoft, I try to call in at least one new church, just to see what it was like and learn about the history of the area, and in this I am endebited to Simon K for his wonderful East Anglian Churches website and his delightful prose regarding his visits, and in which is smuggles in the points of interest that can be seen.
I am learning myself, slowly, and can now see things that are rare or uncommon, but not really be able to write well or with authority about them.
St Mary here, became the first church I visited anywhere, where there was already a church snapper in attendance. I have been to churches where, because it is a cathedral or in a town or city centre centre, there might be other people walking around and snapping. But in a small rural church, seeing another snapper with a tripod, this was a first.
And he was deaf. As I wandered around calling out if I was in his shots, I was ignored. Meaning I thought him rude, he could just not hear me.
He took his time, and I rushed around, in fact I had little time as I had to be n Gorleston at just gone two, and so with one eye on the time I rushed round getting shots, waiting for my fellow snapper, and so missing loads of detail.
Before this day I had not heard of Horham, and maybe would struggle to find it on a map if I looked.
------------------------------------------
The first time I ever approached this village, it was across the fields from poor, battered Denham; typical agricultural high Suffolk, wide spaces with the hedgerows gone, fields of barley and rape. Just short of Horham, I crossed a long concrete expanse which stretched away from the road at an angle. This was, I realised, the former runway of the large WWII American airbase, all that remains of one of the biggest. It was the home of 95th Bomb Group; from here, the cities of Germany were bombed, and St Mary is one of several Suffolk churches that have become shrines to the memory of the former American presence here. Apart from that, you'd never know today.
I remember Horham with affection, because when I started exploring the county's churches in the 1990s, this was one of the first places I visited. North Suffolk seemed fairly exotic and foreign to me then, and I did not even know that Horham is pronounced, for an obvious reason, Horrum, rather than to rhyme with quorum. Having since found myself in just about all the backwaters and byways of East Anglia, it was a pleasure to come back and find that this is still a pretty and remote place, just as I had thought it then.
On the first entry for this church, I suggested that anyone interested in exploring the graveyard should beware of Horham's famous beehives, which stand among the graves. On this day in early June the graveyard was a riot of waist high wildflowers, and at first I couldn't spot them. I wandered out to the south-east corner. The weatherbeaten hives were still there, crumbling quietly. I didn't see any bees, and the only local honey sold at the shop across the road came from far off Cockfield.
Despite being some way off the pulse of medieval industrial Suffolk, this is a typically fine tower of the period, immediately on the eve of the protestant Reformation. The Jernegans were patrons, which may explain the extent to which no expense was spared. Simon Cotton has uncovered a large number of bequests: a 1489 bequest to "new" tower "when begun"; a 1496 bequest to the tower; in 1499, 10s bequeathed to the making of the new steeple; further bequests to the tower in 1503, 1504, 1510 and 1512. There was a bell bequest in 1514, which may link up with the earliest of the current bells, of which more in a moment.
A blocked Norman north doorway reveals the true age of the nave walls. The chancel is all Victorian, but the rest reveals evidence of 14th century rebuilding. The white rendering of the nave gives it an air of being a cottage with a tower and chancel built on. Rather lovely, in fact. Most curiously, it has been heightened without the introduction of a clerestory. Because of this, my eyes took some time on this sunny day to adjust to the interior. It is small, and rather charming; thoroughly Victorianised, but with a strong sense of continuity, of the Horhamers of the past.
The porch is placed towards the middle of the south wall, and you step into the middle of the nave to face the font set in a floor of pamment stones. No two village church interiors are identical, of course, but Horham is rather more idiosyncratic than most. There was a lot of money spent here in the 1630s - was this a particularly Laudian parish, one wonders? From this date, or more precisely November 29th 1631, came the screen, for this is inscribed on it. It has been reset, and behind it is a contemporary pulpit, not as elaborate as some Stuart pulpits, but in this small church it is quietly beautiful. A19th century replacement screen sits to the east.
A great curiosity is the tray which slides out underneath the seat of the 4th bench from the front on the south side. The guide says it is for candles; Mortlock thought that perhaps it was for the churchwardens' clay pipe. Although candles seem an unlikely option given their prohibition at the time for liturgical uses, we must remember that tapers were used for lighting (hence the prickholes in the bench ends) and were therefore a necessity.
However, it seems unlikely that the churchwarden would need to keep them under his seat (and if he did, why do no other churches have this tray?) and so perhaps Mortlock is right. There is a small hole in it, as if for cleaning, perhaps of ashes.
Horham is famous with bellringers, because it has the oldest ring of eight bells in the whole world. An 18th century graffito on the chancel arch reminds the ringers what is due to the Sexton for keeping them in order. A wooden roundel on the north wall depicts the Annunciation, and St Dunstan, the patron Saint of bellfounders. It remembers the American donations which paid for the restoration of the bells.
Another American touch is the straw eagle set in a glass case, two flags in its mouth, which is simple and moving. The 95th Bomb Group memorial is across the road from the church, in the shape of a plane tail. It stands on a pedestal marked with the runway layout, like that at Knettishall. I stood by it in the quiet sunshine, thinking about the terrible accident on the airfield here during the war, when two planes collided on the ground, resulting in more than thirty deaths. And I remembered reading about the armaments being transported here on the now-vanished Middy, the Mid-Suffolk Light Railway, which had a station here.
Hard to imagine all that now, in this peaceful place
My old FlickR account is suspended (not yet technically):
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I will upload my future photos only here. If you are a follower of my old account, please switch. I will upload the remaining photos later in a higher resolution.
Old account resolutions: 1024x768, 1500x1000 or 1800x1200
New account resolution: 2560x1701 (2560 width for 27inch displays. Unfortunately 2560 is not divisible by 3 without remainder).
I know you can exchange photos, but I have other reasons.
Bueno gente decidí cambiar de flickr, la única razón es que ya no me gusta el nombre de este y tampoco mi galería.
Por respeto a las personas que le han gustado mis fotos y las ha puesto como favorita*, no las eliminare lo dejare tal como esta.
Espero que me agreguen a mi nuevo flickr por que yo "sí" lo haré con ustedes :3 .
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MOVING TO THE ACCOUNT:
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new user name. VOCALMAKER
why because I wanted to re-start with a new style and with a new account I will post there what I think are my best covers and my brand new so please follow me there.
i have had a semi-private skype account for a long time but it was mostly limited to close friends and acquaintances and i do not use it very often.
i've been very antisocial lately (to be fair, when i get sick i don't always want to chat to people, but i know there are several people - friends and acquaintances - who have been wanting to chat to me) so as an experiment i decided to make a more public skype SN & try to leave it logged in as much as possible for the time being.
my skype SN is the same as my AIM account: xxleitanxx because the world is filled with more than one 'leitan'.
my contacts list is currently 100% blank on this acct so if you know me, feel free to send me a contact request!
if you don't know me, i have enabled accepting IMs from strangers and other people i don't know very well. so you can send me an IM even if you aren't my close or well-acquainted online/IRL friend. please don't feel intimidated if you want to talk to me for any reason but we're not familiar.
as with PMs, i do not always respond to messages promptly, but i do my best to respond to most messages people send me and if i completely ignore you, it's usually a mistake/oversight of my scattered mind and it's best to send me a second message a little later - i will tell you if you're actually being annoying but more often than not it's 100% impersonal when i don't respond to PMs/IMs in a reasonable timeframe. sometimes i need a reminder as i get distracted very easily, multitask a lot, and am prone to losing track of time.
TL;DR, internet experiment to try and get myself out of antisocial mode + there are a few of my friends who have been asking me "will you get on skype anytime soon?" and well.. i haven't, and that's nobody's fault but mine.
Do you have information about this picture? Recognize people, places or events? If so, please make a comment with this information (you will need to log in to Flickr to do this) OR you can contact archives@cincinnatistate.edu. Include the photo name/file number in your message.
Only a Pelican has use for a BIG BILL. Why not pay this one up or reduce it with a part payment TODAY?
The account of the battle between David and Goliath is given in 1 Samuel, chapter 17:
Saul and the Israelites are facing the Philistines at Socoh in Judah. Twice a day for forty days Goliath, the champion of the Philistines, comes out between the lines and challenges the Israelites to send out a champion of their own to decide the outcome in single combat, but Saul and all the Israelites are afraid. David is present, bringing food for his elder brothers. When told that Saul has promised to reward any man who will defeat the Philistine champion, David declares he is not afraid. Saul reluctantly agrees and offers his armour, which David declines in favour of his sling and five stones taken from a brook.
David and Goliath confront each other, Goliath with his armour and shield-bearer, David with his staff and sling, "and the Philistine cursed David by his gods." But David replies: "This day the Lord will deliver you into my hand, and I will strike you down, and cut off your head; and I will give the dead bodies of the host of the Philistines this day to the birds of the air and to the wild beasts of the earth; that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel, and that all this assembly may know that Yahweh saves not with sword and spear; for the battle is Yahweh's, and he will give you into our hand."
David then strikes Goliath in the head with a stone from his sling; the Philistine falls on his face to the ground. David seizes Goliath's sword and cuts off his head. The shocked Philistines flee and are pursued by the Israelites "as far as Gath and the gates of Ekron". David puts the armour of Goliath in his own tent, and takes the head to Jerusalem. Saul sends Abner to bring David before him, and the king asks whose son he is. "And David answered, 'I am the son of your servant Jesse the Bethlehemite'."
...i know David is the one who looks like a giant here, and who is the decapitated one also... but the time has changed a lot since then...
or no?!...
...taken at the Musée d'Art Moderne et Contemporain... sorry, i dont remeber the name of the artist who illustrated Michelangelo's David...
Strasbourg, France...
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(c) Dr Stanislav Shmelev
I am absolutely delighted to let you know that my new album, 'ECOSYSTEMS' has just been published: stanislav.photography/ecosystems
It has been presented at the Club of Rome 50th Anniversary meeting, the United Nations COP24 conference on climate change, a large exhibition held at the Mathematical Institute of Oxford University and the Environment Europe Oxford Spring School in Ecological Economics and now at the United Nations World Urban Forum 2020. There are only 450 copies left so you will have to be quick: stanislav.photography/ecosystems
You are most welcome to explore my new website: stanislav.photography/ and a totally new blog: environmenteurope.wordpress.com/
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Slimbridge War Memorial
The memorial was dedicated in May 1921. An account of the dedication was published in the Gloucester Citizen of 25 May 1921, p. 2. The version in the British Newspaper Archive has been digitised from microfilm, so is quite difficult to decipher (although the general meaning is clear).
Slimbridge.
WAR MEMORIAL DEDICATION.
In the presence of a very large gathering of parishioners and visitors, the memorial [erected?] in Slimbridge Parish Churchyard by [its?] parishioners, in memory of the 22 [?] men from the parish who fell in the war was dedicated on Sunday evening. The ex-Service men of the parish, headed by the Halmore Brass Band walked in procession to the church, where a short service was held, which was conducted by the Rev. A. S. Crawley, M.C., Diocesan Organising Secretary to the C.E.M.S. [the Church of England Men’s Society]. A procession was formed, headed by the choir, [illegible] the singing of the hymn, “O God, our help in ages past,” this proceeded to the [memorial?]. The memorial was unveiled by Mrs. [illegible] mother of one of the fallen men, and the [Rev.?] A. S. Crawley formally dedicated it. An appropriate address was given by the Rev. A. S. Crawley, and the impressive service was [illegible] with “Last Post.” A muffled peal was afterwards rung on the bells. Many [illegible] wreaths were placed on the memorial by [relatives?] of the fallen soldiers. The Rector of Slimbridge (the Rev. J. O. H. Carter) who [lost a?] son in the war was unable to attend [due to?] illness.
The Rev. Arthur Stafford Crawley (1876-1948) was the son of George Baden and Inez Crawley, and was educated at Harrow and Magdalen College, Oxford. He afterwards went to Cuddesdon and was ordained, serving in London parishes before moving to Benenden, Kent. In 1903, he married Anstice (Nancy) Gibbs, one of the children of Antony and Janet Gibbs of Tyntesfield. In 1915, Stafford Crawley volunteered to become an Army Chaplain, and served with the Guards Division on the Western Front and in Italy, being awarded the MC in 1916 for rescuing wounded soldiers while under fire. After the war he worked for the Church of England Men’s Society, then as vicar at East Meon, before taking up mainly administrative posts in York, Canterbury and St. Albans. He was appointed a canon of St George’s Chapel, Windsor in 1934, becoming a chaplain-in-ordinary to the King (George VI) in 1944. See: apps.nationalarchives.gov.uk/nra/lists/GB-0260-M.126.htm
The Panels (reading anticlockwise from front of memorial)
Panel 1:
In loving memory of the men from this parish who gave their lives for their country in the Great War, 1914-1918
Panel 2:
Albert C Brading -- Private Albert Brading (Service No: 8183), 1st Bn., Gloucestershire Regiment; died 16 September 1914; name recorded on the La Ferté-sous-Jouarre Memorial, Seine-et-Marne, France; [the Cheltenham Chronicle, 31 October 1914, p. 3, under “Berkeley Vale Gleanings”: “News has reached Halmore of the death of Private Albert Brading of the 1st Gloucesters, son of Mr. George Brading, of Halmore, who was killed in action in France. He was an Army Reservist, and had been married about a year. He resided at Slimbridge, and was in the employ of Mr. John Burnett, of Old Hurst Farm. A memorial service was held in the Slimbridge Parish Church, and was largely attended.” The Cheltenham Chronicle, 29 May 1915, p. 2, also reported on the death of his brother: “Two brothers from Rendcomb, near Cirencester, have lost their lives in the war. Private Albert Brading of the 1st Gloucesters, was killed in action at the battle of the Aisne on Sept. 16, and Corporal Henry Brading, of the 2nd Gloucesters, was killed in action on May 9 while helping a wounded comrade. They were brothers of Mrs. Taylor, of 34 Rendcomb-buildings, Rendcomb.”]: www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/877826/BRADING,%20ALBERT
Richard Brindle -- Private R. W. C. Brindle (Service No: 34657), 2nd Bn., Oxford and Bucks Light Infantry; died 1 October 1918; buried in Anneux British Cemetery, Nord, France (III. D. 12.): www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/187753/BRINDLE,%20R%2...
Walter G Browning -- Serjeant Walter G. Browning (Service No: 8001), 1st/6th Bn., Gloucestershire Regiment; died 9 October 1917, aged 33; name recorded on the Tyne Cot Memorial, West-Vlaanderen (Panel 72 to 75.); son of George and Elizabeth Browning, of Old Hurst, Slimbridge, Glos.; husband of Emma E. Browning, of Jasmine Cottage, Tilsdown, Dursley, Glos.; [Sergeant Browning was previously reported wounded in the Gloucester Journal, 24 June 1916; the Cheltenham Chronicle, 10 November 1917, p. 3, under Berkeley Vale Gleanings: “The local roll of honour is increased this week by the names of three more gallant soldiers, all killed on the Western Front. News reached Cam on Saturday of the loss of Sergeant Walter Browning. He belonged to the Regular Army, and had seen service on two battle fronts.”]: www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/843432/BROWNING,%20WA...
William J. Burnett -- Flight Sub-Lieutenant William Josiah Burnett, No. 1 Sqdn., Royal Naval Air Service; died 26 September 1917, aged 26; name recorded on the Arras Flying Services Memorial, Pas-de-Calais, France; son of John Francis Burnett, of Hampton House, Hardwicke, Gloucester; [From the Cheltenham Chronicle, 20 October 1917, p. 3, under Berkley Vale Gleanings: “The sacrifices in this war are not confined to one class; all classes are sharing in the sorrow which is resulting from the fighting. So far as our local Roll of Honour is concerned, it has grown rapidly during the past six months, and it is a melancholy task recording week after week some of the bravest and best of our young manhood. I mentioned last week that Flight Sub-Lieutenant W. J. Burnett, of the R.N.A.S., son of Mr. John Burnett , of Hurst Farm, Slimbridge, one of the best known farmers in the Vale, had been reported missing, and news has since come to hand which leaves no doubt that he has laid down his life for his country. He is another of the many Wycliffe College “old boys” who have died during the war, and will be remembered by many Stroud people as a former employee at Dudbridge Iron Works. “Willy” Burnett was a nice young fellow, and he will be mourned by many friends. “; the Gloucester Journal, 22 December 1917, p. 6: “KILLED OVER GERMAN LINES. Mr J. F. Bennett [sic], of Slimbridge, has received information from a German source to the effect that his son, Lieut. W. J. Bennett [sic], was killed whilst flying over the German lines. Some months ago he was reported missing. Deceased was a Wycliffe College boy, and prior to the war was engaged at Dudbridge Iron Works.”]: www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/743086/BURNETT,%20WIL...
Bernard R. H. Carter -- Second Lieutenant Bernard Robert Hadow Carter, Royal Flying Corps; died 7 November 1917, aged 19; buried in Slimbridge (St John the Evangelist) Churchyard; Son of the Rev. J. H. Carter and Mrs. Beatrice Helen Carter of Knowle Rd., Boscombe, Hants.; [a bellringer at Slimbridge; the Gloucester Journal, 24 November 1917, p. 6: “THE LATE SEC.-LIEUT. B. R. H. CARTER. Second-Lieutenant Bernard Robert Hadow Carter, R.F.C., third son of the Rev. J. O. H. and Mrs. Carter, of Slimbridge Rectory, Glos., who was killed on November 7th, was educated at Magdalen College School, where he was a chorister, and at St. Edward’s School, Oxford, where he was a Prefect, Captain of the Boats, and Sergeant in the O.T.C. He was also a very good swimmer. He attested while still at school, and at the earliest opportunity entered the Inns of Court O.T.C. From this he was transferred to the R.F.C. and had just earned his “wings.” Writing of his death the Captain of his squadron says: ‘He was engaged on special duty; having been selected as one of my best pilots to go on this special mission. It is of great grief to myself and to everyone in the squadron. Personally I had a very high opinion of your son, so much so that I had asked him to be posted to my squadron as an assistant instructor, and he had just been posted in that capacity.’”]: www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/358543/CARTER,%20BERN...
Panel 3:
Percy C Cuff – Private Percy C. Cuff (Service No: 26302), 14th Bn., Gloucestershire Regiment; died 22 October 1917, aged 21; name recorded on the Tyne Cot Memorial, West-Vlaanderen (Panel 72 to 75.); son of William and Fanny Cuff, of Whitney Cottages, Cambridge; [also a bellringer at Slimbridge; the Cheltenham Chronicle, 10 November 1917, p. 3, under Berkeley Vale Gleanings: “The local roll of honour is increased this week by the names of three more gallant soldiers, all killed on the Western Front. […] Private Percy Cuff, of Slimbridge, another of the fallen, had previously served in Mesopotamia. From there he was invalided home, and afterwards sent to France. His major speaks of him as “a splendid fellow, always willing and energetic.”]: www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/842028/CUFF,%20PERCY%20C
Charles Fryer – Private C. W. Fryer (Service No: 18922), "B" Coy., 10th Bn., Gloucestershire Regiment ; died 4 April 1916, aged 26; buried in Maroc British Cemetery, Grenay, Pas-de-Calais, France (I. A. 21.); son of Edwin Henry and Elizabeth Ann Fryer; husband of Margaret Hill (formerly Fryer), of Slymbridge St., Cambridge, Stonehouse, Glos.; [there is another Charles Fryer (26921 Private Charles Christopher Fryer, 12th Bn., Gloucestershire Regiment), from nearby Frampton on Severn; there seems to be no report of Private Fryer’s death, but there is this curious account of a serious family dispute in the Gloucester Citizen, 11 April 1910, p. 6, under “Petty Sessions”: “Charles Fryer, a young man of Slimbridge, pleaded ‘guilty under great provocation’ to an assault upon his father-in-law, Edward Theyers. Complainant, answering the Clerk, said that he didn’t know that he was any relation to defendant, but “he married my daughter, that’s all!” (Laughter.) His account of the assault was that defendant came along on a bicycle, and, without any altercation, knocked him on the side of the head. The blow stunned him and he fell to the ground, injuring his arm. Some time ago they had “afew [sic] words” and complainant told Fryer he could leave his house – in which he lived with his wife. They left the same night. The row was over an accusation which defendant made concerning his conduct towards his (Fryer’s) wife. This complainant declared was untrue. He had not seen his daughter since she left the house two months ago – “nor don’t want to,” added Theyers. He had not spoken to Fryer since the night of the row until the assault. – Defendant questioned complainant as to his conduct towards his daughter, and Theyers denied the serious allegation made, or that his wife accused him in his (defendant’s) presence. Fryer told the magistrates that Theyers offered him a sovereign to settle the matter, but (indignantly added defendant) “if I dared I would tar and feather him for what he has done.” – P.C. White spoke to receiving a complaint from Fryer and his wife on February 14th concerning alleged indecent behaviour on the part of Theyers towards his daughter (defendant’s wife). – George Fryer also spoke on the same matter. – Defendant stated that he was married to complainant’s daughter in September of last year, and they lived comfortably at his father-in-law’s house at Cambridge until January last, when he had reason to complain of the conduct of Theyers towards his (Fryer’s) wife. Later he watched certain happenings through a window, and later his wife told him what had occurred on several occasions, and that she had been afraid to tell him before. He spoke to Theyers about it, and the latter ordered him to leave the house in a week. Witness said he would no stay there another night with him, and left at once. He promised complainant a thrashing, and considered he was justified in striking him. -- The Bench dismissed the case under the Probation of Offenders’ Act, but told defendant he must not take advantage of the lenient treatment to commit a further assault. Fryer said he would not strike him again.”]: www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/523057/FRYER,%20C%20W
Frederick C Hobbs – Private F. C. Hobbs (Service No: 57806), 2nd/7th Bn., Royal Warwickshire Regiment; died 9 August 1918, aged 18; buried in Aire Communal Cemetery, Pas-de-Calais, France (IV. A. 9.); additional Information:Son of Caleb and Susannah Hobbs, of Cambridge, Stonehouse, Glos.; [the Gloucester Journal , 7 September 1918, p. 6: “Private F. C. Hobbs, of Slimbridge, attached to the Warwickshire Regiment, has been killed in action in France. He was only 18 years old. He joined up last December, and formerly was employed at Cam Mills. He died in hospital following severe wounds.”]: www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/467090/HOBBS,%20F%20C
Frederick Medcroft – Lance Corporal Frederick Medcroft (Service No: 355878), 25th (Montgomeryshire and Welsh Horse Yeomanry) Bn., Royal Welsh Fusiliers; died 21 September 1918; name recorded on the Vis-en-Artois Memorial, Pas-de-Calais, France (Panel 6.): www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/1746695/MEDCROFT,%20F...
Edward S Morgan – Lieutenant E. S. Morgan, Royal Air Force, 211th Sqdn.; died 7 September 1918; buried in Dunkirk Town Cemetery, Pas-de-Calais, France (IV. C. 16.); [At the time of the 1911 Census, Edward Stanley Morgan was living at Churchend, Slimbridge with his widowed mother (Elizabeth Florence Morgan), three siblings, an aunt and a servant. The census describes him as an 18-year old auctioneer, and he had been born at Hambrook, Gloucestershire. Lieutenant Edward Stanley Morgan of 211 Squadron, Royal Air Force died on 7 September 1918 flying a D.H.9 with Lieut. R. Simpson as 2nd Observer on a bombing raid, being shot down and crashing into the sea north of Gravelines. Morgan’s part in a previous raid had resulted in the award of a Distinguished Flying Cross: Supplement to the London Gazette, 2nd November 1918, p. 12970; Flight, 7th November 1918, p. 1250: “Lieut. Edward Stanley Morgan. -- On August 16th this officer took part in a bomb raid on enemy docks--a well-guarded objective. The weather conditions were most unfavourable. A strong wind compelled the machines to move slowly, and high white clouds made them an easy target for anti-aircraft fire. On nearing the objective the flight leader was shot down and Lieut. Morgan assumed command. He was met by an intense barrage. A second machine was seen to fall, and the pilot of a third was severely wounded, but Lieut. Morgan, persisting in his attack, reached and successfully bombed the objective. The cool determination and gallantry displayed by this officer deserves high praise.”]: www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/617341/MORGAN,%20E%20S
Arthur Noad – Private A. Noad (Service No: 16052), 10th Bn., Gloucestershire Regiment; died 13 October 1915, aged 22; buried in Dud Corner Cemetery, Loos, Pas-de-Calais, France ; [a bellringer at Slimbridge; Arthur Noad’s enlistment in “Lord Kitchener’s Army” on 21st November 1914 was recorded in the Gloucester Journal, 28 November 1914, p. 6, listing his residence as Gossington, near Stonehouse.]:
Panel 4:
Samuel Redding -- Private Samuel Redding, Labour Corps
Joseph Robins – Corporal Joseph Robins (Service No: RMA/4190), R.M.H.Q. (Eastney), Royal Marine Artillery; died 31 January 1915, aged 41; buried in Slimbridge (St. John the Evangelist) Churchyard, Gloucestershire (new Ground); husband of Eliza Catherine Robins, of Cambridge, Gloucester: www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/358544/ROBINS,%20JOSEPH
Charles J Savage -- Lance Corporal Charles John Savage, 14th Bn., Gloucestershire Regiment
Frederick Simmons -- Corporal Frederick Mahone Simmons, 2nd Bn., Royal Berkshire Regiment
William Smart -- Driver William Smart, Army Service Corps
Frederick Tudor -- Private Frederick Henry Tudor, 7th Bn., Gloucestershire Regiment
Panel 5:
Alfred M Underwood -- Private Alfred M. S. Underwood (Service No: 6641), 1st Bn., Gloucestershire Regiment; died 23 October 1914, aged 30; name recorded on the Ypres (Menin Gate) Memorial, Ieper, West-Vlaanderen (Panel 22 and 34.); son of the late John Underwood, of Westend, Stonehouse; husband of Mary Louisa Underwood, of Cossington, Slimbridge, Stonehouse, Glos.: www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/1627280/UNDERWOOD,%20...
George E P Watts -- Private George Edward Watts, Army Veterinary Corps
Frederick A Wherrett – Private F. A. Wherrett (Service No: 40200), Worcestershire Regiment; died 20 June 1917, aged 22; buried in Slimbridge (St. John the Evangelist) Churchyard, Gloucestershire (new Ground); [The Cheltenham Chronicle, 30 June 1917, p. 3, under “Berkeley Vale Gleanings”: “The toll of the brave continues. Scarcely a day passes without the sad news, “Killed in action,” being recorded. Here in the Vale, as elsewhere throughout the land, there is a heavy toll being exacted of the best of our young manhood, and citizens generally will have a sympathetic thought for those who mourn husband, or son, or brother. […] Private Joseph Wherrett [sic?], son of the late Mr. Joseph Wherrett, of Hope House Farm, Slimbridge, died in a London hospital from wounds received in action in the Somme last November. In civil life he was a popular young farmer in the Vale, and a host of friends lament his death. The remains were brought to his native village on Saturday, and buried with full military honours. The family mourners included a brother who is at home receiving treatment for wounds received in action on the Somme.”]: www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/358545/WHERRETT,%20F%20A
Joseph Wherrett -- Private Joseph Wherrett, Royal Defence Corps; died 6 June 1920
James Williams
George Shipway -- Lance Corporal George Shipway, Labour Corps
Panel 6:
True love by life, True love by death is tried; Live thou for England, We for England died
Panel 7:
William D Porter
Henry J Granger
Ronald Brown
Arthur Wall
William J Workman
1939-1945
Panel 8: [Quotation from John 15:13]
Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends
It is easily crumbled to be added to a lit coal in an incense burner. There are a lot of other scents stored elsewhere.
The frankincense was of good quality.
Incense is aromatic biotic material that releases fragrant smoke when burned. The term refers to the material itself, rather than to the aroma that it produces. Incense is used for aesthetic reasons, and in therapy, meditation, and ceremony. It may also be used as a simple deodorant or insectifuge.
Incense is composed of aromatic plant materials, often combined with essential oils. The forms taken by incense differ with the underlying culture, and have changed with advances in technology and increasing number of uses.
Incense can generally be separated into two main types: "indirect-burning" and "direct-burning". Indirect-burning incense (or "non-combustible incense") is not capable of burning on its own, and requires a separate heat source. Direct-burning incense (or "combustible incense") is lit directly by a flame and then fanned or blown out, leaving a glowing ember that smoulders and releases a smoky fragrance. Direct-burning incense is either a paste formed around a bamboo stick, or a paste that is extruded into a stick or cone shape.
A variety of incense cones which thankfully were not overly sweet. I am sad to have likely lost this annual Toronto ON sconce of incense cones.
Incense is aromatic biotic material that releases fragrant smoke when burned. The term refers to the material itself, rather than to the aroma that it produces. Incense is used for aesthetic reasons, and in therapy, meditation, and ceremony. It may also be used as a simple deodorant or insectifuge.
Incense is composed of aromatic plant materials, often combined with essential oils. The forms taken by incense differ with the underlying culture, and have changed with advances in technology and increasing number of uses.
Incense can generally be separated into two main types: "indirect-burning" and "direct-burning". Indirect-burning incense (or "non-combustible incense") is not capable of burning on its own, and requires a separate heat source. Direct-burning incense (or "combustible incense") is lit directly by a flame and then fanned or blown out, leaving a glowing ember that smoulders and releases a smoky fragrance. Direct-burning incense is either a paste formed around a bamboo stick, or a paste that is extruded into a stick or cone shape.
HISTORY:
The word incense comes from Latin incendere meaning "to burn".
Combustible bouquets were used by the ancient Egyptians, who employed incense in both pragmatic and mystical capacities. Incense was burnt to counteract or obscure malodorous products of human habitation, but was widely perceived to also deter malevolent demons and appease the gods with its pleasant aroma. Resin balls were found in many prehistoric Egyptian tombs in El Mahasna, giving evidence for the prominence of incense and related compounds in Egyptian antiquity. One of the oldest extant incense burners originates from the 5th dynasty. The Temple of Deir-el-Bahari in Egypt contains a series of carvings that depict an expedition for incense.
The Babylonians used incense while offering prayers to divining oracles. Incense spread from there to Greece and Rome.
Incense burners have been found in the Indus Civilization (3300–1300 BCE). Evidence suggests oils were used mainly for their aroma. India also adopted techniques from East Asia, adapting the formulation to encompass aromatic roots and other indigenous flora. This was the first usage of subterranean plant parts in incense. New herbs like Sarsaparilla seeds, frankincense, and cypress were used by Indians.
At around 2000 BCE, Ancient China began the use of incense in the religious sense, namely for worship. Incense was used by Chinese cultures from Neolithic times and became more widespread in the Xia, Shang, and Zhou dynasties. The earliest documented use of incense comes from the ancient Chinese, who employed incense composed of herbs and plant products (such as cassia, cinnamon, styrax, and sandalwood) as a component of numerous formalized ceremonial rites. Incense usage reached its peak during the Song dynasty with numerous buildings erected specifically for incense ceremonies.
Brought to Japan in the 6th century by Korean Buddhist monks, who used the mystical aromas in their purification rites, the delicate scents of Koh (high-quality Japanese incense) became a source of amusement and entertainment with nobles in the Imperial Court during the Heian Era 200 years later. During the 14th-century Ashikaga shogunate, a samurai warrior might perfume his helmet and armor with incense to achieve an aura of invincibility (as well as to make a noble gesture to whoever might take his head in battle). It wasn't until the Muromachi period during the 15th and 16th century that incense appreciation (kōdō) spread to the upper and middle classes of Japanese society.
COMPOSITION:
A variety of materials have been used in making incense. Historically there has been a preference for using locally available ingredients. For example, sage and cedar were used by the indigenous peoples of North America. Trading in incense materials comprised a major part of commerce along the Silk Road and other trade routes, one notably called the Incense Route.
Local knowledge and tools were extremely influential on the style, but methods were also influenced by migrations of foreigners, such as clergy and physicians.
COMBUSTIBLE BASE:
The combustible base of a direct burning incense mixture not only binds the fragrant material together but also allows the produced incense to burn with a self-sustained ember, which propagates slowly and evenly through an entire piece of incense with such regularity that it can be used to mark time. The base is chosen such that it does not produce a perceptible smell. Commercially, two types of incense base predominate:
Fuel and oxidizer mixtures: Charcoal or wood powder provides the fuel for combustion while an oxidizer such as sodium nitrate or potassium nitrate sustains the burning of the incense. Fragrant materials are added to the base prior to shaping, as in the case of powdered incense materials, or after, as in the case of essential oils. The formula for charcoal-based incense is superficially similar to black powder, though it lacks the sulfur.
Natural plant-based binders: Gums such as Gum Arabic or Gum Tragacanth are used to bind the mixture together. Mucilaginous material, which can be derived from many botanical sources, is mixed with fragrant materials and water. The mucilage from the wet binding powder holds the fragrant material together while the cellulose in the powder combusts to form a stable ember when lit. The dry binding powder usually comprises about 10% of the dry weight in the finished incense. These include:
Makko (incense powder) made from the bark of various trees in the genus Persea (such as Persea thunbergii) Xiangnan pi (made from the bark of trees of genus Phoebe such as Phoebe nanmu or Persea zuihoensis.
Jigit: a resin based binder used in India
Laha or Dar: bark based powders used in Nepal, Tibet, and other East Asian countries.
Typical compositions burn at a temperature between 220 °C and 260 °C.
TYPES:
Incense is available in various forms and degrees of processing. They can generally be separated into "direct-burning" and "indirect-burning" types. Preference for one form or another varies with culture, tradition, and personal taste. The two differ in their composition due to the former's requirement for even, stable, and sustained burning.
INDIRECT-BURNING:
Indirect-burning incense, also called "non-combustible incense", is an aromatic material or combination of materials, such as resins, that does not contain combustible material and so requires a separate heat source. Finer forms tend to burn more rapidly, while coarsely ground or whole chunks may be consumed very gradually, having less surface area. Heat is traditionally provided by charcoal or glowing embers. In the West, the best known incense materials of this type are the resins frankincense and myrrh, likely due to their numerous mentions in the Bible. Frankincense means "pure incense", though in common usage refers specifically to the resin of the boswellia tree.
Whole: The incense material is burned directly in raw form on top of coal embers.
Powdered or granulated: Incense broken into smaller pieces burns quickly and provides brief but intense odour.
Paste: Powdered or granulated incense material is mixed with a sticky incombustible binder, such as dried fruit, honey, or a soft resin and then formed to balls or small pastilles. These may then be allowed to mature in a controlled environment where the fragrances can commingle and unite. Much Arabian incense, also called "Bukhoor" or "Bakhoor", is of this type, and Japan has a history of kneaded incense, called nerikō or awasekō, made using this method. Within the Eastern Orthodox Christian tradition, raw frankincense is ground into a fine powder and then mixed with various sweet-smelling essential oils.
DIRECT-BURNING:
Direct-burning incense, also called "combustible incense", is lit directly by a flame. The glowing ember on the incense will continue to smoulder and burn the rest of the incense without further application of external heat or flame. Direct-burning incense is either extruded, pressed into forms, or coated onto a supporting material. This class of incense is made from a moldable substrate of fragrant finely ground (or liquid) incense materials and odourless binder. The composition must be adjusted to provide fragrance in the proper concentration and to ensure even burning. The following types are commonly encountered, though direct-burning incense can take nearly any form, whether for expedience or whimsy.
Coil: Extruded and shaped into a coil without a core, coil incense can burn for an extended period, from hours to days, and is commonly produced and used in Chinese cultures.
Cone: Incense in this form burns relatively quickly. Incense cones were invented in Japan in the 1800s.
Cored stick: A supporting core of bamboo is coated with a thick layer of incense material that burns away with the core. Higher-quality variations have fragrant sandalwood cores. This type of incense is commonly produced in India and China. When used in Chinese folk religion, these are sometimes known as "joss sticks".
Dhoop or solid stick: With no bamboo core, dhoop incense is easily broken for portion control. This is the most commonly produced form of incense in Japan and Tibet.
Powder: The loose incense powder used for making indirect burning incense is sometimes burned without further processing. Powder incense is typically packed into long trails on top of wood ash using a stencil and burned in special censers or incense clocks.
Paper: Paper infused with incense, folded accordion style, is lit and blown out. Examples include Carta d'Armenia and Papier d'Arménie.
Rope: The incense powder is rolled into paper sheets, which are then rolled into ropes, twisted tightly, then doubled over and twisted again, yielding a two-strand rope. The larger end is the bight, and may be stood vertically, in a shallow dish of sand or pebbles. The smaller (pointed) end is lit. This type of incense is easily transported and stays fresh for extremely long periods. It has been used for centuries in Tibet and Nepal.
Moxa tablets, which are disks of powdered mugwort used in Traditional Chinese medicine for moxibustion, are not incenses; the treatment is by heat rather than fragrance.
Incense sticks may be termed joss sticks, especially in parts of East Asia, South Asia and Southeast Asia. Among ethnic Chinese and Chinese-influenced communities these are traditionally burned at temples, before the threshold of a home or business, before an image of a religious divinity or local spirit, or in shrines, large and small, found at the main entrance of every village. Here the earth god is propitiated in the hope of bringing wealth and health to the village. They can also be burned in front of a door or open window as an offering to heaven, or the devas. The word "joss" is derived from the Latin deus (god) via the Portuguese deos through the Javanese dejos, through Chinese pidgin English.
PRODUCTION:
The raw materials are powdered and then mixed together with a binder to form a paste, which, for direct burning incense, is then cut and dried into pellets. Incense of the Athonite Orthodox Christian tradition is made by powdering frankincense or fir resin, mixing it with essential oils. Floral fragrances are the most common, but citrus such as lemon is not uncommon. The incense mixture is then rolled out into a slab approximately 1 cm thick and left until the slab has firmed. It is then cut into small cubes, coated with clay powder to prevent adhesion, and allowed to fully harden and dry. In Greece this rolled incense resin is called 'Moskolibano', and generally comes in either a pink or green colour denoting the fragrance, with pink being rose and green being jasmine.
Certain proportions are necessary for direct-burning incense:
Oil content: an excess of oils may prevent incense from smoldering effectively. Resinous materials such as myrrh and frankincense are typically balanced with "dry" materials such as wood, bark and leaf powders.
Oxidizer quantity: Too little oxidizer in gum-bound incense may prevent the incense from igniting, while too much will cause the incense to burn too quickly, without producing fragrant smoke.
Binder: Water-soluble binders such as "makko" ensure that the incense mixture does not crumble when dry, dilute the mixture.
Mixture density: Incense mixtures made with natural binders must not be combined with too much water in mixing, or over-compressed while being formed, which would result in either uneven air distribution or undesirable density in the mixture, causing the incense to burn unevenly, too slowly, or too quickly.
Particulate size: The incense mixture has to be well pulverized with similarly sized particulates. Uneven and large particulates result in uneven burning and inconsistent aroma production when burned.
"Dipped" or "hand-dipped" direct-burning incense is created by dipping "incense blanks" made of unscented combustible dust into any suitable kind of essential or fragrance oil. These are often sold in the United States by flea-market and sidewalk vendors who have developed their own styles. This form of incense requires the least skill and equipment to manufacture, since the blanks are pre-formed in China or South East Asia.
Incense mixtures can be extruded or pressed into shapes. Small quantities of water are combined with the fragrance and incense base mixture and kneaded into a hard dough. The incense dough is then pressed into shaped forms to create cone and smaller coiled incense, or forced through a hydraulic press for solid stick incense. The formed incense is then trimmed and slowly dried. Incense produced in this fashion has a tendency to warp or become misshapen when improperly dried, and as such must be placed in climate-controlled rooms and rotated several times through the drying process.
Traditionally, the bamboo core of cored stick incense is prepared by hand from Phyllostachys heterocycla cv. pubescens since this species produces thick wood and easily burns to ashes in the incense stick. In a process known as "splitting the foot of the incense stick", the bamboo is trimmed to length, soaked, peeled, and split in halves until the thin sticks of bamboo have square cross sections of less than 3mm. This process has been largely replaced by machines in modern incense production.
In the case of cored incensed sticks, several methods are employed to coat the sticks cores with incense mixture:
Paste rolling: A wet, malleable paste of incense mixture is first rolled into a long, thin coil, using a paddle. Then, a thin stick is put next to the coil and the stick and paste are rolled together until the stick is centered in the mixture and the desired thickness is achieved. The stick is then cut to the desired length and dried.
Powder-coating: Powder-coating is used mainly to produce cored incense of either larger coil (up to 1 meter in diameter) or cored stick forms. A bundle of the supporting material (typically thin bamboo or sandalwood slivers) is soaked in water or a thin water/glue mixture for a short time. The thin sticks are evenly separated, then dipped into a tray of incense powder consisting of fragrance materials and occasionally a plant-based binder. The dry incense powder is then tossed and piled over the sticks while they are spread apart. The sticks are then gently rolled and packed to maintain roundness while more incense powder is repeatedly tossed onto the sticks. Three to four layers of powder are coated onto the sticks, forming a 2 mm thick layer of incense material on the stick. The coated incense is then allowed to dry in open air. Additional coatings of incense mixture can be applied after each period of successive drying. Incense sticks produced in this fashion and burned in temples of Chinese folk religion can have a thickness between 2 and 4 millimeters.
Compression: A damp powder is mechanically formed around a cored stick by compression, similar to the way uncored sticks are formed. This form is becoming more common due to the higher labor cost of producing powder-coated or paste-rolled sticks.
BURNING INCENSE:
Indirect-burning incense burned directly on top of a heat source or on a hot metal plate in a censer or thurible.
In Japan a similar censer called a egōro (柄香炉) is used by several Buddhist sects. The egōro is usually made of brass, with a long handle and no chain. Instead of charcoal, makkō powder is poured into a depression made in a bed of ash. The makkō is lit and the incense mixture is burned on top. This method is known as sonae-kō (religious burning).
For direct-burning incense, the tip or end of the incense is ignited with a flame or other heat source until the incense begins to turn into ash at the burning end. The flame is then fanned or blown out, leaving the incense to smolder.
CULTURAL VARIATIONS:
ARABIAN:
In most Arab countries, incense is burned in the form of scented chips or blocks called bakhoor (Arabic: بخور [bɑˈxuːɾ, bʊ-]. Incense is used on special occasions like weddings or on Fridays or generally to perfume the house. The bakhoor is usually burned in a mabkhara, a traditional incense burner (censer) similar to the Somali Dabqaad. It is customary in many Arab countries to pass bakhoor among the guests in the majlis ('congregation'). This is done as a gesture of hospitality.
CHINESE:
For over two thousand years, the Chinese have used incense in religious ceremonies, ancestor veneration, Traditional Chinese medicine, and daily life. Agarwood (chénxiāng) and sandalwood (tánxiāng) are the two most important ingredients in Chinese incense.
Along with the introduction of Buddhism in China came calibrated incense sticks and incense clocks. The first known record is by poet Yu Jianwu (487-551): "By burning incense we know the o'clock of the night, With graduated candles we confirm the tally of the watches." The use of these incense timekeeping devices spread from Buddhist monasteries into Chinese secular society.
Incense-stick burning is an everyday practice in traditional Chinese religion. There are many different types of stick used for different purposes or on different festive days. Many of them are long and thin. Sticks are mostly coloured yellow, red, or more rarely, black. Thick sticks are used for special ceremonies, such as funerals. Spiral incense, with exceedingly long burn times, is often hung from temple ceilings. In some states, such as Taiwan,
Singapore, or Malaysia, where they celebrate the Ghost Festival, large, pillar-like dragon incense sticks are sometimes used. These generate so much smoke and heat that they are only burned outside.
Chinese incense sticks for use in popular religion are generally odorless or only use the slightest trace of jasmine or rose, since it is the smoke, not the scent, which is important in conveying the prayers of the faithful to heaven. They are composed of the dried powdered bark of a non-scented species of cinnamon native to Cambodia, Cinnamomum cambodianum. Inexpensive packs of 300 are often found for sale in Chinese supermarkets. Though they contain no sandalwood, they often include the Chinese character for sandalwood on the label, as a generic term for incense.
Highly scented Chinese incense sticks are used by some Buddhists. These are often quite expensive due to the use of large amounts of sandalwood, agarwood, or floral scents used. The sandalwood used in Chinese incenses does not come from India, its native home, but rather from groves planted within Chinese territory. Sites belonging to Tzu Chi, Chung Tai Shan, Dharma Drum Mountain, Xingtian Temple, or City of Ten Thousand Buddhas do not use incense.
INDIAN:
Incense sticks, also known as agarbathi (or agarbatti) and joss sticks, in which an incense paste is rolled or moulded around a bamboo stick, are the main forms of incense in India. The bamboo method originated in India, and is distinct from the Nepali/Tibetan and Japanese methods of stick making without bamboo cores. Though the method is also used in the west, it is strongly associated with India.
The basic ingredients are the bamboo stick, the paste (generally made of charcoal dust and joss/jiggit/gum/tabu powder – an adhesive made from the bark of litsea glutinosa and other trees), and the perfume ingredients - which would be a masala (spice mix) powder of ground ingredients into which the stick would be rolled, or a perfume liquid sometimes consisting of synthetic ingredients into which the stick would be dipped. Perfume is sometimes sprayed on the coated sticks. Stick machines are sometimes used, which coat the stick with paste and perfume, though the bulk of production is done by hand rolling at home. There are about 5,000 incense companies in India that take raw unperfumed sticks hand-rolled by approximately 200,000 women working part-time at home, and then apply their own brand of perfume, and package the sticks for sale. An experienced home-worker can produce 4,000 raw sticks a day. There are about 50 large companies that together account for up to 30% of the market, and around 500 of the companies, including a significant number of the main ones, including Moksh Agarbatti and Cycle Pure, are based in Mysore.
JEWISH TEMPLE IN JERUSALEM:
KETORET:
Ketoret was the incense offered in the Temple in Jerusalem and is stated in the Book of Exodus to be a mixture of stacte, onycha, galbanum and frankincense.
TIBETAN:
Tibetan incense refers to a common style of incense found in Tibet, Nepal, and Bhutan. These incenses have a characteristic "earthy" scent to them. Ingredients vary from cinnamon, clove, and juniper, to kusum flower, ashvagandha, and sahi jeera.
Many Tibetan incenses are thought to have medicinal properties. Their recipes come from ancient Vedic texts that are based on even older Ayurvedic medical texts. The recipes have remained unchanged for centuries.
JAPANESE:
In Japan incense appreciation folklore includes art, culture, history, and ceremony. It can be compared to and has some of the same qualities as music, art, or literature. Incense burning may occasionally take place within the tea ceremony, just like calligraphy, ikebana, and scroll arrangement. The art of incense appreciation, or koh-do, is generally practiced as a separate art form from the tea ceremony, and usually within a tea room of traditional Zen design.
Agarwood (沈香 Jinkō) and sandalwood (白檀 byakudan) are the two most important ingredients in Japanese incense. Agarwood is known as "jinkō" in Japan, which translates as "incense that sinks in water", due to the weight of the resin in the wood. Sandalwood is one of the most calming incense ingredients and lends itself well to meditation. It is also used in the Japanese tea ceremony. The most valued Sandalwood comes from Mysore in the state of Karnataka in India.
Another important ingredient in Japanese incense is kyara (伽羅). Kyara is one kind of agarwood (Japanese incense companies divide agarwood into 6 categories depending on the region obtained and properties of the agarwood). Kyara is currently worth more than its weight in gold.
Some terms used in Japanese incense culture include:
Incense arts: [香道, kodo]
Agarwood: [ 沈香 ] – from heartwood from Aquilaria trees, unique, the incense wood most used in incense ceremony, other names are: lignum aloes or aloeswood, gaharu, jinko, or oud.
Censer/Incense burner: [香爐] – usually small and used for heating incense not burning, or larger and used for burning
Charcoal: [木炭] – only the odorless kind is used.
Incense woods: [ 香木 ] – a naturally fragrant resinous wood.
USAGE:
PRACTICAL:
Incense fragrances can be of such great strength that they obscure other less desirable odours. This utility led to the use of incense in funerary ceremonies because the incense could smother the scent of decay. An example, as well as of religious use, is the giant Botafumeiro thurible that swings from the ceiling of the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela. It is used in part to mask the scent of the many tired, unwashed pilgrims huddled together in the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela.
A similar utilitarian use of incense can be found in the post-Reformation Church of England. Although the ceremonial use of incense was abandoned until the Oxford Movement, it was common to have incense (typically frankincense) burned before grand occasions, when the church would be crowded. The frankincense was carried about by a member of the vestry before the service in a vessel called a 'perfuming pan'. In iconography of the day, this vessel is shown to be elongated and flat, with a single long handle on one side. The perfuming pan was used instead of the thurible, as the latter would have likely offended the Protestant sensibilities of the 17th and 18th centuries.
The regular burning of direct-burning incense has been used for chronological measurement in incense clocks. These devices can range from a simple trail of incense material calibrated to burn in a specific time period, to elaborate and ornate instruments with bells or gongs, designed to involve multiple senses.
Incense made from materials such as citronella can repel mosquitoes and other irritating, distracting, or pestilential insects. This use has been deployed in concert with religious uses by Zen Buddhists who claim that the incense that is part of their meditative practice is designed to keep bothersome insects from distracting the practitioner. Currently, more effective pyrethroid-based mosquito repellent incense is widely available in Asia.
Papier d'Arménie was originally sold as a disinfectant as well as for the fragrance.
Incense is also used often by people who smoke indoors and do not want the smell to linger.
AESTHETIC:
Many people burn incense to appreciate its smell, without assigning any other specific significance to it, in the same way that the foregoing items can be produced or consumed solely for the contemplation or enjoyment of the aroma. An example is the kōdō (香道), where (frequently costly) raw incense materials such as agarwood are appreciated in a formal setting.
RELIGIOUS:
Religious use of incense is prevalent in many cultures and may have roots in the practical and aesthetic uses, considering that many of these religions have little else in common. One common motif is incense as a form of sacrificial offering to a deity. Such use was common in Judaic worship and remains in use for example in the Catholic, Orthodox, and Anglican churches, Taoist and Buddhist Chinese jingxiang (敬香 "offer incense), etc.
Aphrodisiac Incense has been used as an aphrodisiac in some cultures. Both ancient Greek and ancient Egyptian mythology suggest the usage of incense by goddesses and nymphs. Incense is thought to heighten sexual desires and sexual attraction.
Time-keeper Incense clocks are used to time social, medical and religious practices in parts of eastern Asia. They are primarily used in Buddhism as a timer of mediation and prayer. Different types of incense burn at different rates; therefore, different incense are used for different practices. The duration of burning ranges from minutes to months.
Healing stone cleanser Incense is claimed to cleanse and restore energy in healing stones. The technique used is called “smudging” and is done by holding a healing stone over the smoke of burning incense for 20 to 30 seconds. Some people believe that this process not only restores energy but eliminates negative energy.
HEALTH RISK FROM INCENSE SMOKE:
Incense smoke contains various contaminants including gaseous pollutants, such as carbon monoxide (CO), nitrogen oxides (NOx), sulfur oxides (SOx), volatile organic compounds (VOCs), and adsorbed toxic pollutants (polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and toxic metals). The solid particles range between ~10 and 500 nm. In a comparison, Indian sandalwood was found to have the highest emission rate, followed by Japanese aloeswood, then Taiwanese aloeswood, while Chinese smokeless sandalwood had the least.
Research carried out in Taiwan in 2001 linked the burning of incense sticks to the slow accumulation of potential carcinogens in a poorly ventilated environment by measuring the levels of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (including benzopyrene) within Buddhist temples. The study found gaseous aliphatic aldehydes, which are carcinogenic and mutagenic, in incense smoke.
A survey of risk factors for lung cancer, also conducted in Taiwan, noted an inverse association between incense burning and adenocarcinoma of the lung, though the finding was not deemed significant.
In contrast, epidemiologists at the Hong Kong Anti-Cancer Society, Aichi Cancer Center in Nagoya, and several other centers found: "No association was found between exposure to incense burning and respiratory symptoms like chronic cough, chronic sputum, chronic bronchitis, runny nose, wheezing, asthma, allergic rhinitis, or pneumonia among the three populations studied: i.e. primary school children, their non-smoking mothers, or a group of older non-smoking female controls. Incense burning did not affect lung cancer risk among non-smokers, but it significantly reduced risk among smokers, even after adjusting for lifetime smoking amount." However, the researchers qualified their findings by noting that incense burning in the studied population was associated with certain low-cancer-risk dietary habits, and concluded that "diet can be a significant confounder of epidemiological studies on air pollution and respiratory health."
Although several studies have not shown a link between incense and lung cancer, many other types of cancer have been directly linked to burning incense. A study published in 2008 in the medical journal Cancer found that incense use is associated with a statistically significant higher risk of cancers of the upper respiratory tract, with the exception of nasopharyngeal cancer. Those who used incense heavily also were 80% more likely to develop squamous-cell carcinomas. The link between incense use and increased cancer risk held when the researchers weighed other factors, including cigarette smoking, diet and drinking habits. The research team noted that "This association is consistent with a large number of studies identifying carcinogens in incense smoke, and given the widespread and sometimes involuntary exposure to smoke from burning incense, these findings carry significant public health implications."
In 2015, the South China University of Technology found toxicity of incense to Chinese hamsters' ovarian cells to be even higher than cigarettes.
Incensole acetate, a component of Frankincense, has been shown to have anxiolytic-like and antidepressive-like effects in mice, mediated by activation of poorly-understood TRPV3 ion channels in the brain.
I made a new flickr account..
www.flickr.com/photos/thismaniac/
Basically to encourage me to spend more time taking pictures and I get to start all fresh and stuff! :)
Would also really like y'all to add me as it's kinda lonely over there? :D
Also my shop updates will be there from now!
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I thought it was time that I updated flickr account a little so as you can see I have changed my name from S.W.E to Reclaimer Brick and made myself a logo. I will also update my header in the future.
When it comes to my builds I have some good news for you guys. I have 4 new Halo builds that I will try to post during the coming 2 weeks. I will post them in size order so the final post will be the my my biggest build yet (you know what I'm talking about). I will also try some new editing for now on and if it looks good I might re-upload my older Halo builds with that editing as well.
Hanuman was born to the humanoid creatures called the vanaras. His mother Anjana was an apsara who was born on earth as a female vanara due to a curse. She was redeemed from this curse on her giving birth to a son. The Valmiki Ramayana states that his father Kesari was the son of Brihaspati and that Kesari also fought on Rama's side in the war against Ravana.[10] Anjana and Kesari performed intense prayers to Shiva to get a child. Pleased with their devotion, Shiva granted them the boon they sought.[11] Hanuman, in another interpretation, is the incarnation or reflection of Shiva himself.
Hanuman is often called the son of the deity Vayu; several different traditions account for the Vayu's role in Hanuman's birth. One story mentioned in Eknath's Bhavartha Ramayana (16th century CE) states that when Anjana was worshiping Shiva, the King Dasharatha of Ayodhya was also performing the ritual of Putrakama yagna in order to have children. As a result, he received some sacred pudding (payasam) to be shared by his three wives, leading to the births of Rama, Lakshmana, Bharata, and Shatrughna. By divine ordinance, a kite snatched a fragment of that pudding and dropped it while flying over the forest where Anjana was engaged in worship. Vayu, the Hindu deity of the wind, delivered the falling pudding to the outstretched hands of Anjana, who consumed it. Hanuman was born to her as a result.[10][12] Another tradition says that Anjana and her husband Kesari prayed Shiva for a child. By Shiva's direction, Vayu transferred his male energy to Anjana's womb. Accordingly, Hanuman is identified as the son of the Vayu.
Another story of Hanuman's origins is derived from the Vishnu Purana and Naradeya Purana. Narada, infatuated with a princess, went to his lord Vishnu, to make him look like Vishnu, so that the princess would garland him at swayamvara (husband-choosing ceremony). He asked for hari mukh (Hari is another name of Vishnu, and mukh means face). Vishnu instead bestowed him with the face of a vanara. Unaware of this, Narada went to the princess, who burst into laughter at the sight of his ape-like face before all the king's court. Narada, unable to bear the humiliation, cursed Vishnu, that Vishnu would one day be dependent upon a vanara. Vishnu replied that what he had done was for Narada's own good, as he would have undermined his own powers if he were to enter matrimony. Vishnu also noted that Hari has the dual Sanskrit meaning of vanara. Upon hearing this, Narada repented for cursing his idol. But Vishnu told him not repent as the curse would act as a boon, for it would lead to the birth of Hanuman, an avatar of Shiva, without whose help Rama (Vishnu's avatar) could not kill Ravana.
Birth place[edit]Multiple places in India are claimed as the birthplace of Hanuman.
According to one theory, Hanuman was born on 'Anjaneya Hill', in Hampi, Karnataka.[13] This is located near the Risyamukha mountain on the banks of the Pampa, where Sugreeva and Rama are said to have met in Valmiki Ramayana's Kishkinda Kanda. There is a temple that marks the spot. Kishkinda itself is identified with the modern Anekundi taluk (near Hampi) in Bellary district of Karnataka.[citation needed]
Anjan, a small village about 18 km away from Gumla, houses "Anjan Dham", which is said to be the birthplace of Hanuman.[14] The name of the village is derived from the name of the goddess Anjani, the mother of Hanuman. Aanjani Guha (cave), 4 km from the village, is believed to be the place where Anjani once lived. Many objects of archaeological importance obtained from this site are now held at the Patna Museum.
The Anjaneri (or Anjneri) mountain, located 7 km from Trimbakeshwar in the Nasik district, is also claimed as the birthplace of Hanuman.[15]
According to Anjan Dham, Hanuman was born on Lakshka Hill near Sujangarh in Churu district, Rajasthan.[16]
Childhood[edit]
Hanuman Mistakes the Sun for a Fruit by BSP PratinidhiAs a child, believing the sun to be a ripe mango, Hanuman pursued it in order to eat it. Rahu, a Vedic planet corresponding to an eclipse, was at that time seeking out the sun as well, and he clashed with Hanuman. Hanuman thrashed Rahu and went to take sun in his mouth.[17] Rahu approached Indra, king of devas, and complained that a monkey child stopped him from taking on Sun, preventing the scheduled eclipse. This enraged Indra, who responded by throwing the Vajra (thunderbolt) at Hanuman, which struck his jaw. He fell back down to the earth and became unconscious. A permanent mark was left on his chin (हनुः hanuḥ "jaw" in Sanskrit), due to impact of Vajra, explaining his name.[10][18] Upset over the attack, Hanuman's father figure Vayu deva (the deity of air) went into seclusion, withdrawing air along with him. As living beings began to asphyxiate, Indra withdrew the effect of his thunderbolt. The devas then revived Hanuman and blessed him with multiple boons to appease Vayu.[10]
Brahma gave Hanuman a boon that would protect him from the irrevocable Brahma's curse. Brahma also said: "Nobody will be able to kill you with any weapon in war." From Brahma he obtained the power of inducing fear in enemies, of destroying fear in friends, to be able to change his form at will and to be able to easily travel wherever he wished. From Shiva he obtained the boons of longevity, scriptural wisdom and ability to cross the ocean. Shiva assured safety of Hanuman with a band that would protect him for life. Indra blessed him that the Vajra weapon will no longer be effective on him and his body would become stronger than Vajra. Varuna blessed baby Hanuman with a boon that he would always be protected from water. Agni blessed him with immunity to burning by fire. Surya gave him two siddhis of yoga namely "laghima" and "garima", to be able to attain the smallest or to attain the biggest form. Yama, the God of Death blessed him healthy life and free from his weapon danda, thus death would not come to him. Kubera showered his blessings declaring that Hanuman would always remain happy and contented. Vishwakarma blessed him that Hanuman would be protected from all his creations in the form of objects or weapons. Vayu also blessed him with more speed than he himself had. Kamadeva also blessed him that the sex will not be effective on him.So his name is also Bala Bramhachari.[citation needed]
On ascertaining Surya to be an all-knowing teacher, Hanuman raised his body into an orbit around the sun and requested to Surya to accept him as a student. Surya refused and explained claiming that he always had to be on the move in his chariot, it would be impossible for Hanuman to learn well. Undeterred, Hanuman enlarged his form, with one leg on the eastern ranges and the other on the western ranges, and facing Surya again pleaded. Pleased by his persistence, Surya agreed. Hanuman then learned all of the latter's knowledge. When Hanuman then requested Surya to quote his "guru-dakshina" (teacher's fee), the latter refused, saying that the pleasure of teaching one as dedicated as him was the fee in itself. Hanuman insisted, whereupon Surya asked him to help his (Surya's) spiritual son Sugriva. Hanuman's choice of Surya as his teacher is said to signify Surya as a Karma Saakshi, an eternal witness of all deeds. Hanuman later became Sugriva's minister.[10][19]
Hanuman was mischievous in his childhood, and sometimes teased the meditating sages in the forests by snatching their personal belongings and by disturbing their well-arranged articles of worship. Finding his antics unbearable, but realizing that Hanuman was but a child, (albeit invincible), the sages placed a mild curse on him by which he became unable to remember his own ability unless reminded by another person. The curse is highlighted in Kishkindha Kanda and he was relieved from the curse by the end of Kishkindha Kanda when Jambavantha reminds Hanuman of his abilities and encourages him to go and find Sita and in Sundara Kanda he used his supernatural powers at his best.[10]
Adventures in Ramayana[edit]The Sundara Kanda, the fifth book in the Ramayana, focuses on the adventures of Hanuman.
Meeting with Rama[edit]
Rāma and Lakṣmaṇa meeting Hanumān at RishyamukhaHanuman meets Rama during the Rama's 14-year exile.[20] With his brother Lakshmana, Rama is searching for his wife Sita who had been abducted by Ravana. Their search brings them to the vicinity of the mountain Rishyamukha, where Sugriva, along with his followers and friends, are in hiding from his older brother Vali.
Having seen Rama and Lakshmana, Sugriva sends Hanuman to ascertain their identities. Hanuman approaches the two brothers in the guise of a brahmin. His first words to them are such that Rama says to Lakshmana that none could speak the way the brahmin did unless he or she had mastered the Vedas. He notes that there is no defect in the brahmin's countenance, eyes, forehead, brows, or any limb. He points out to Lakshmana that his accent is captivating, adding that even an enemy with sword drawn would be moved. He praises the disguised Hanuman further, saying that sure success awaited the king whose emissaries were as accomplished as he was.[20]
When Rama introduces himself, the brahman identitifies himself as Hanuman and falls prostrate before Rama, who embraces him warmly. Thereafter, Hanuman's life becomes interwoven with that of Rama. Hanuman then brings about friendship and alliance between Rama and Sugriva; Rama helps Sugriva regain his honour and makes him king of Kishkindha. Sugriva and his vanaras, most notably Hanuman, help Rama defeat Raavana and reunite with Sita.
In their search for Sita, a group of Vanaras reaches the southern seashore. Upon encountering the vast ocean, every vanara begins to lament his inability to jump across the water. Hanuman too is saddened at the possible failure of his mission, until the other vanaras and the wise bear Jambavantha begin to extol his virtues. Hanuman then recollects his own powers, enlarges his body, and flies across the ocean. On his way, he encounters a mountain that rises from the sea, proclaims that it owed his father a debt, and asks him to rest a while before proceeding. Not wanting to waste any time, Hanuman thanks the mountain and carries on. He then encounters a sea-monster, Surasa, who challenges him to enter her mouth. When Hanuman outwits her, she admits that her challenge was merely a test of his courage. After killing Simhika, a rakshasa, he reaches Lanka.
Finding Sita[edit]
Hanuman finds Sita in the ashoka grove, and shows her Rama's ringHanuman reaches Lanka and marvels at its beauty. After he finds Sita in captivity in a garden, Hanuman reveals his identity to her, reassures her that Rama has been looking for her, and uplifts her spirits. He offers to carry her back to Rama, but she refuses his offer, saying it would be an insult to Rama as his honour is at stake. After meeting Sita, Hanuman begins to wreak havoc, gradually destroying the palaces and properties of Lanka. He kills many rakshasas, including Jambumali and Aksha Kumar. To subdue him, Ravana's son Indrajit uses the Brahmastra. Though immune to the effects of this weapon Hanuman, out of respect to Brahma, allows himself be bound. Deciding to use the opportunity to meet Ravana, and to assess the strength of Ravana's hordes, Hanuman allows the rakshasa warriors to parade him through the streets. He conveys Rama's message of warning and demands the safe return of Sita. He also informs Ravana that Rama would be willing to forgive him if he returns Sita honourably.
Enraged, Ravana orders Hanuman's execution, whereupon Ravana's brother Vibhishana intervenes, pointing out that it is against the rules of engagement to kill a messenger. Ravana then orders Hanuman's tail be lit afire. As Ravana's forces attempted to wrap cloth around his tail, Hanuman begins to lengthen it. After frustrating them for a while, he allows it to burn, then escapes from his captors, and with his tail on fire he burns down large parts of Lanka. After extinguishing his flaming tail in the sea, he returns to Rama.
Shapeshifting[edit]In the Ramayana Hanuman changes shape several times. For example, while he searches for the kidnapped Sita in Ravana's palaces on Lanka, he contracts himself to the size of a cat, so that he will not be detected by the enemy. Later on, he takes on the size of a mountain, blazing with radiance, to show his true power to Sita.[21]
Also he enlarges & immediately afterwards contracts his body to out-wit Sirsa, the she-demon, who blocked his path while crossing the sea to reach Lanka. Again, he turns his body microscopically small to enter Lanka before killing Lankini, the she-demon guarding the gates of Lanka.
He achieved this shape-shifting by the powers of two siddhis; Anima and Garima bestowed upon him in his childhood by Sun-God, Surya.
Mountain Lifting[edit]
Hanuman fetches the herb-bearing mountain, in a print from the Ravi Varma Press, 1910sWhen Lakshmana is severely wounded during the battle against Ravana, Hanuman is sent to fetch the Sanjivani, a powerful life-restoring herb, from Dronagiri mountain in the Himalayas, to revive him. Ravana realises that if Lakshmana dies, a distraught Rama would probably give up, and so he dispatches the sorcerer Kalanemi to intercept Hanuman.[22] Kalanemi, in the guise of a sage, deceives Hanuman, but Hanuman uncovers his plot with the help of an apsara, whom he rescues from her accursed state as a crocodile.[22]
Ravana, upon learning that Kalanemi has been slain by Hanuman, summons Surya to rise before its appointed time because the physician Sushena had said that Lakshmana would perish if untreated by daybreak. Hanuman realizes the danger, however, and, becoming many times his normal size, detains the Sun God to prevent the break of day. He then resumes his search for the precious herb, but, when he finds himself unable to identify which herb it is, he lifts the entire mountain and delivers it to the battlefield in Lanka. Sushena then identifies and administers the herb, and Lakshmana is saved. Rama embraces Hanuman, declaring him as dear to him as his own brother. Hanuman releases Surya from his grip, and asks forgiveness, as the Sun was also his Guru.
Hanuman was also called "langra veer"; langra in Hindi means limping and veer means "brave". The story behind Hanuman being called langra is as follows. He was injured when he was crossing the Ayodhya with the mountain in his hands. As he was crossing over Ayodhya, Bharat, Rama's young brother, saw him and assumed that some Rakshasa was taking this mountain to attack Ayodhya. Bharat then shot Hanuman with an arrow, which was engraved with Rama's name. Hanuman did not stop this arrow as it had Rama's name written on it, and it injured his leg. Hanuman landed and explained to Bharat that he was moving the mountain to save his own brother, Lakshmana. Bharat, very sorry, offered to fire an arrow to Lanka, which Hanuman could ride in order to reach his destination more easily. But Hanuman declined the offer, preferring to fly on his own, and he continued his journey with his injured leg.
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Patala incident[edit]In another incident during the war, Rama and Lakshmana are captured by the rakshasa Mahiravana (or Ahiravan), brother of Ravana, who held them captive in their palace in Patala (or Patalpuri) --the netherworld. Mahiravana keeps them as offerings to his deity. Searching for them, Hanuman reaches Patala, the gates of which are guarded by a young creature called Makardhwaja (known also as Makar-Dhwaja or Magar Dhwaja), who is part reptile and part Vanara.
The story of Makardhwaja's birth is said to be that when Hanuman extinguished his burning tail in the ocean, a drop of his sweat fell into the waters, eventually becoming Makardhwaja, who perceives Hanuman as his father. When Hanuman introduces himself to Makardhwaja, the latter asks his blessings, but fights him to fulfill the task of guarding the gate. Hanuman defeats and imprisons him to gain entry.
Upon entering Patala, Hanuman discovers that to kill Mahiravana, he must simultaneously extinguish five lamps burning in different directions. Hanuman assumes the Panchamukha or five-faced form of Sri Varaha facing north, Sri Narasimha facing south, Sri Garuda facing west, Sri Hayagriva facing the sky and his own facing the east, and blows out the lamps. Hanuman then rescues Rama and Lakshmana. Afterwards, Rama asks Hanuman to crown Makardhwaja king of Patala. Hanuman then instructs Makardhwaja to rule Patala with justice and wisdom.
To date Chandraloak Devpuri mandir is located at Dugana a small village 17 km from Laharpur,Sitapur district,Uttar Pradesh. A divine place where Chakleswar Mahadev situated.
Honours[edit]
Hanuman showing Rama in His heartShortly after he is crowned Emperor upon his return to Ayodhya, Rama decides to ceremoniously reward all his well-wishers. At a grand ceremony in his court, all his friends and allies take turns being honoured at the throne. Hanuman approaches without desiring a reward. Seeing Hanuman come up to him, an emotionally overwhelmed Rama embraces him warmly, declaring that he could never adequately honour or repay Hanuman for the help and services he received from the noble Vanara. Sita, however, insists that Hanuman deserved honour more than anyone else, and Sita gives him a necklace of precious stones adorning her neck.
When he receives it, Hanuman immediately takes it apart, and peers into each stone. Taken aback, many of those present demand to know why he is destroying the precious gift. Hanuman answers that he was looking into the stones to make sure that Rama and Sita are in them, because if they are not, the necklace is of no value to him. At this, a few mock Hanuman, saying his reverence and love for Rama and Sita could not possibly be as deep as he implies. In response, Hanuman tears his chest open, and everyone is stunned to see Rama and Sita literally in his heart.
Hanuman Ramayana[edit]
Hanuman beheads Trisiras-from The Freer RamayanaAfter the victory of Rama over Ravana, Hanuman went to the Himalayas to continue his worship of the Lord Rama. There he scripted a version of the Ramayana on the Himalayan mountains using his nails, recording every detail of Rama's deeds. When Maharishi Valmiki visited him to show him his own version of the Ramayana, he saw Hanuman's version and became very disappointed.
When Hanuman asked Valmiki the cause of his sorrow, the sage said that his version, which he had created very laboriously, was no match for the splendour of Hanuman's, and would therefore go ignored. At this, Hanuman discarded his own version, which is called the Hanumad Ramayana. Maharishi Valmiki was so taken aback that he said he would take another birth to sing the glory of Hanuman which he had understated in his version.
Later, one tablet is said to have floated ashore during the period of Mahakavi Kalidasa, and hung at a public place to be deciphered by scholars. Kalidasa is said to have deciphered it and recognised that it was from the Hanumad Ramayana recorded by Hanuman in an extinct script, and considered himself very fortunate to see at least one pada of the stanza.
After the Ramayana war[edit]After the war, and after reigning for several years, the time arrived for Rama to depart to his supreme abode Vaikuntha. Many of Rama's entourage, including Sugriva, decided to depart with him. Hanuman, however, requested from Rama that he will remain on earth as long as Rama's name was venerated by people. Sita accorded Hanuman that desire, and granted that his image would be installed at various public places, so he could listen to people chanting Rama's name. He is one of the immortals (Chiranjivi) of Hinduism.[23]
Mahabharata[edit]Hanuman is also considered to be the brother of Bhima, on the basis of their having the same father, Vayu. During the Pandavas' exile, he appears disguised as a weak and aged monkey to Bhima in order to subdue his arrogance. Bhima enters a field where Hanuman is lying with his tail blocking the way. Bhima, unaware of his identity, tells him to move it out of the way. Hanuman, incognito, refuses. Bhima then tries to move the tail himself but he is unable, despite his great strength. Realising he is no ordinary monkey, he inquires as to Hanuman's identity, which is then revealed. At Bhima's request, Hanuman is also said to have enlarged himself to demonstrate the proportions he had assumed in his crossing of the sea as he journeyed to Lanka and also said that when the war came, he would be there to protect the Pandavas. This place is located at Sariska National Park in the Alwar District of the State of Rajasthan and named as Pandupole(Temple of Hanuman ji).Pandupole is very famous tourist spot of Alwar.
During the great battle of Kurukshetra, Arjuna entered the battlefield with a flag displaying Hanuman on his chariot.[23] The incident that led to this was an earlier encounter between Hanuman and Arjuna, wherein Hanuman appeared as a small talking monkey before Arjuna at Rameshwaram, where Rama had built the great bridge to cross over to Lanka to rescue Sita. Upon Arjuna's wondering aloud at Rama's taking the help of monkeys rather than building a bridge of arrows, Hanuman challenged him to build a bridge capable of bearing him alone; Arjuna, unaware of the vanara's true identity, accepted. Hanuman then proceeded to repeatedly destroy the bridges made by Arjuna, who decided to take his own life. Vishnu then appeared before them both after originally coming in the form of a tortoise, chiding Arjuna for his vanity and Hanuman for making Arjuna feel incompetent. As an act of penitence, Hanuman decided to help Arjuna by stabilizing and strengthening his chariot during the imminent great battle. After, the battle of Kurukshetra was over, Krishna asked Arjuna, that today you step down the chariot before me. After Arjuna got down, Krishna followed him and thanked Hanuman for staying with them during the whole fight in the form of a flag on the chariot. Hanuman came in his original form, bowed to Krishna and left the flag, flying away into the sky. As soon as he left the flag, the chariot began to burn and turned into ashes. Arjuna was shocked to see this, then Krishna told Arjuna, that the only reason his chariot was still standing was because of the presence of Himself and Hanuman, otherwise, it would have burnt many days ago due to effects of celestial weapons thrown at it in the war.
According to legend, Hanuman is one of the four people to have heard the Bhagwad Gita from Krishna and seen his Vishvarupa (universal) form, the other three being Arjuna, Sanjaya and Barbarika, son of Ghatotkacha.
1958 KAILUA SHARK ATTACK
ON DECEMBER 13, 1958, a large shark believed to be Galeocerdo cuvieri, the tiger shark, was responsible for the death of 15-year-old William (Billy) Weaver in water about 12 feet in depth off Lanikai on the windward (east) coast of the island of Oahu, Hawaii. Although the story of the tragedy was well covered in the local newspapers, a condensed version has been prepared which includes information of interest to scientists who are concerned with factors motivating shark attack. In preparing the account which follows, conflicting stories have been resolved and additional information has been obtained by correspondence and interview with several of the persons directly or indirectly involved. Additional information on shark identification, shark fishing, erc., was supplied by the staffs of the Board of Agriculture and Forestry, Division of Fish and Game, and the Bureau of Commercial Fisheries , Pacific Oceanic Fisheries Inv estigation.
DESCRIPTION OF THE INCIDENT
A party of six boys including the victim (Billy Weaver) and five friends (Terry Oakland, age 14; Tom Replogle, 14; Garrett Goo, 13; Brook Collins, 10; and Charles Collins, 9) were swimming and surfing about noon off a reef near Twin Islands (Mokulua Island) about % mile off Lanikai (Fig. 1). They had three surfboards which were light green, red and “natural” in color, three air mattresses which were red on one side and blue on the other, and an 8-foot sailboat, without mast or sail, which was white in color and anchored near the reef.
1 Contribution No. 125 of the Hawaii Marine Laboratory, University of Hawaii. Manuscript received April 6, 1959. 2 Department of Zoology and Entomology, University of Hawaii.
The sky was clear but the water was rough with whitecaps and good-sized waves. The boys kept together; never was one more than 75-100 feet from the others.
About 1 p.m. Brook Collins was resting in the boat with his surfboard across it; Charles Collins was resting on his surfboard beside the boat, holding on to the anchor line-he was afraid of the waves after “pearl diving” on one. The four older boys were surfing off the reef. Garrett Goo and Terry Oakland, on air mattresses, and Tom Replogle, on the light green surfboard, caught a wave and rode a short distance. Billy Weaver, on an air mattress, failed to catch the wave. When about 50 yards away, the boys noticed that Weaver was clinging to the mat, apparently in difficulty. On hearing a feeble cry for help, Goo swam over, saw blood in the water, and realized that Weaver had lost a leg. The three boys attempted to support the victim and called to Brook Collins to bring the boat over. After some difficulty in freeing the anchor from the coral, Brook Collins hauled it up and started rowing. As the boat was coming too slowly, Garrett Goo swam to it, climbed aboard, and pushed the surfboard off the boat to make more room for rowing. Brook Collins, standing up in the boat, saw a large shark surface 30 feet away, and screamed “Shark.” The two boys supporting the victim pushed him toward the reef, and swam frantically to the boat. By the time they reached the boat he had disappeared. As they could not approach the spot where he had been last seen without risk of swamping the boat in the waves, the boys rowed to shore and summoned help.
A Fire Department rescue squad arrived at 2:30 p.m. and sped to the scene in a borrowed 25-foot Chris-Craft boat. Local residents in other boats joined in the search. The body was finally located by a helicopter crew from Kaneohe Marine Air Station in a hole in the reef seven feet deep, and it was recovered by a local resident, John G. Ferreira, by skin diving. The shark , variously estimated at 15 to 25 feet in length, was still cruising nearby, its dorsal fin about 1 1/2 feet out of the water. Attempts to revive the boy with artificial respiration both on board the boat and on shore were unsuccessful. A deputy coroner stated the shark bite at the knee had completely removed the right leg from the knee joint. The victim died from loss of blood, drowning, shock, or a combination of all three .
On December 14, 1958, attempts were made by employees of the Division of Fish and Game and by local residents to capture the shark. The Fish and Game employees set an 8-hook shark set line in the shallow water off the reef where the incident had taken place but without success. In the meantime, Piper Cub pilots searching the area spotted two schools of sharks in the adjacent waters of Kailua Bay (Fig. 1). One group of three large sharks was reported cruising just off Flat Island, 200 yards offshore from the public beach. The second school of about a dozen sharks was spotted on the north end of the bay. Local residents converged on both areas hoping to kill the sharks with high-powered rifles but were unsuccessful.
From December 15 through December 17, 1958, under the personal direction of C. Eric Reppun, President, Board of Agriculture and Forestry, and Michio Takata, Director, Division of Fish and Game, the Division’s research vessel “Makua” fished a 24-hook set line (flag line or buoyed longline) offshore from the reef in about 70-80 feet of water (Fig. 1). The catch consisted of three tiger sharks and two sand sharks. Two of the tiger sharks were 12.feet in length and weighed 750-800 pounds; the third was 11 feet in length and weighed 410 pounds. The two sand sharks (Eulamia menisorrah?) were eight to nine feet in length and weighed about 350 pounds
IDENTITY OF THE SHARKS
It seems most likely that the fatal attack was by a large tiger shark (Galeocerdo cuvieri). One of the searchers described the shark. (to Herbert Mann, Bureau of Commercial Fisheries) as having blotches on its sides and a blunt nose, thus eliminating most other local species including the great white shark (Carcharodon carcharias). Moreover, in the recent six months of shark fishing to assess local abundance, the Division’s ship “Makua” has caught only two species by setline in inshore water (50-120 feet in depth) 34 tiger sharks and 33 sand sharks. The largest tiger shark taken during this period, 14 feet in length and 1,200 pounds in weight, approaches the reputed size of the Lanikai killer. However, an element of uncertainty is introduced by Brook Collins’ observation that the dorsal fin of the shark appeared black along the edge, suggesting some species other than the tiger.
COMMENT ON SHARK ATTACK
It is noteworthy that the fatal attack occurred before the swimmers were aware that a shark was in the vicinity. If the boys had been skin diving, rather than surfing, they may have discovered its presence. If the shark surfaced prior to the attack, its dorsal fin must have passed unnoticed in the rough surface water. It is noteworthy that three of the four boys exposed to attack were using air mattresses. Manipulation of the mattress in pushing, boarding, and paddling, requires much more activity than does a surfboard. It is possible that the shark was attracted to the area by this unusual commotion. The vicitm is likely to have been threshing his arms and legs extensively while attempting to catch the wave which carried away his companions. Tom Replogle reported that he had seen coconut floats, such as are used to mark fish traps, near the scene of the tragedy. A turtle was also observed nearby. It is possible that the shark was attracted to the area by fish caught in the traps or by the turtle.
Although there is no on-the-spot record of water temperature, it was probably about 23 This temperature was recorded at the time of the tragedy for the salt water system at the Hawaii Marine Laboratory, Kaneohe Bay, some five miles distant. The water is pumped continuously from a depth of about 10 feet.
Although quantitative data are not available over a sufficient period of time to measure changes in shark abundance, observations by fishermen and skin divers indicate the abundance has increased in the last few years. This has been attributed to several possible causes:
(1) Cessation of shark fishing because of a recent law (Hawaii Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act, 1941) requiring the labelling of ingredients in Japanese-style fish cake. Although most of the sharks used for this purpose were taken in- cidental to tuna longlining, which is still active, it is possible that the fishermen now cut the leader line when a shark is captured, allowing it to go free. This practice would speed up the handling of the gear when using the recently introduced automatic hauler.
(2) Reduction in the inshore fish population , inducing sharks to frequent shallow waters and to become bolder in their search for food. There is not much doubt that the reef fish population is at a low level of abundance because of both commercial and sport fishing pressure. The latter must have increased greatly with the in- troduction of SCUBA diving gear.
(3) Increase in shark population for some unknown reason. Possibly an increase in abundance occurred following the war period of reduced effort in the longline fishery.
There appears to have been an increase in shark attacks during the past 10 years as com- pared with a previous 60-year period. Of the 5 (perhaps 6) known fatalities since 1886, 3 (including the present) have occurred in the last 10 years. Of the 11 incidents involving injury by sharks since 1886, 5 have occurred in the last 10 years. Whether the increase is due to the increased number of swimmers and consequent increased number of exposures is unknown.
PUBLIC REACTION
There was immediate and widespread concern PACIFIC SCIENCE, Vol. XIV , April 1960 over the shark incident, together with public demand for action to reduce the hazard. Bounties were offered by a private individual (Bill Wills, $20 each for 10 sharks) and by a radio station (KPOA, $100 per shark over 15 feet, $25 per smaller shark for sharks caught until the end of December in the vicinity of the tragedy ). An action program for reducing shark abundance on a continuing basis was proposed by the Board of Agriculture and Forestry and endorsed by several windward Oahu associations on December 18, 1958. Its activation is contingent on funds to be raised by public subscription . The plans call for a one-vessel, scientifically directed shark fishing program embracing all inshore waters of Oahu. Should this become a reality, efforts will be made to not only control the local shark population but at the same time to gain information on the species composition, abundance, distribution, life history, and behavior of the sharks.
The Billy Weaver Shark Control Program was started April 1, 1959, using the vessel “Holokahana I” with Fred J. Inouye as master. Using three units of 24-hook long-line gear, 595 sharks were caught from the inshore waters of Oahu during the remainder of the year. Of these, 71 were tiger sharks.
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(Courtesy of www.kuykendall.info/abraham.htm)
The most fascinating account is that of Abraham, whose life spans the colonial, revolutionary, and frontier eras of the United States. Even more intriguing are the mystery of a pot of buried gold and tales of Abraham's ghost still said to haunt a creek called Pheasant Branch near Flat Rock, North Carolina. Born in Deerpark and baptized on October 18, 1719, Abraham moved to the Minisink area with his parents, then south into Pennsylvania, then down into western North Carolina through the famous Cumberland Gap. He married his first wife, Elizabeth, about 1743 and fathered eleven children between 1755 and 1792.
Abraham's story begins with the Revolutionary War, during which he mostly served in civil rather than military roles. Listed as a member of the North Carolina Militia in 1770, he was also a member of the Safety Committee for Tryon County, North Carolina, from July 26, 1775. Historical records of Tryon County list Abraham as Captain Kuykendall on and after July 1776. Very little of the war was fought in North Carolina and records suggest Abraham served in procuring supplies in North Carolina and sending them to Washington's army farther north. Shortly after the war began, he was also appointed Commissioner of Tryon County, responsible for building a courthouse, prison, and stocks, and for establishing a boundary line between Tryon and Mecklenburg Counties. He also became Justice of the Peace of Tryon County in December of 1778, and continued in these roles when Rutherford County was formed during or after the Revolutionary War. These appointments show Abraham to be a man held in high regard by his fellow citizens.
He stayed in this area east of what is now Asheville until about 1800 when, for unknown reasons, he moved further west to sparsely populated Henderson County, closer to Asheville. By this time he was over eighty and having lost his first wife Elizabeth, he had quickly remarried a young, attractive woman named Bathseba. As a veteran of the Revolutionary War, he was given a grant of land of six hundred acres by the State of North Carolina in an area that was primarily virgin timber. In time, he came to own over one thousand acres, including all of the Flat Rock community. There he established a tavern to accommodate travelers along the Old State Road used by people driving herds of cattle, horses, and mules from Kentucky and Tennessee to the markets in lower South Carolina and Georgia. It was a busy road because it was one of the few that linked the mountain areas of western North Carolina and eastern Tennessee to towns further east.
Abraham built the tavern and holding pens for livestock; we are told the inn was unusually large and its accommodations better than the average pioneer inn offered in those days. Family tradition also makes much of his beautiful young wife Bathseba who bore him four sons and helped entertain travelers. He had a reputation for serving good food and drinks of strong, raw whiskey made at his own still. The tavern was established sometime between 1800 and 1804, and its reputation for good lodgings made Abraham a rich man. He insisted travelers pay in gold or silver coins and only accepted gold when selling parts of his huge tract of land. Soon the old soldier-pioneer innkeeper had accumulated quite a fortune and began to fear for its safety. There were no banks in this remote area or anywhere in the state of North Carolina, so valuables were kept in strong boxes, large trunks made of thick white oak, held together with strips of iron and locked with large padlocks. These precautions did not satisfy the aging Abraham, especially since his young wife had a habit of spending her husband's treasure on frivolous goods brought in by pack peddlers. Family tradition maintains that Bathseba liked to dress in bright colors and wear lots of rings, bracelets, necklaces, and earrings. The peddlers served as traveling department stores, bringing all kinds of goods to frontier women in isolated areas, and they must have realized what a good customer Abraham's young wife was, with all her husband's wealth at her disposal.
One dark night, old Abraham secretly transferred his gold and silver coins from his strong box to a large iron wash pot, an item common to pioneer households. He then awoke two of his slaves who were very strong and young. He blindfolded them and ordered them to carry the pot down the road and into the forest with only a pine knot torch lighting the way. He guided them through the dense forest where he removed their blindfolds and told them to dig a hole under a bent white oak tree near a clear sparkling branch. When it was deep enough to satisfy him, Abraham had the two slaves bury the pot, covering the spot with leaves and brush to hide it. Again he blindfolded the young men and led them back to the inn. On pain of death he warned them never to tell a soul a single word of what they had done for him that night.
Some time after, when Abraham was 104 years old, he set out alone to get some of his treasure for a business deal. Taking a shovel, he left the inn, never again to be seen alive. When he failed to return, a search begun and he was found dead, lying face down in a mountain stream that flowed through the forest. Those who found him concluded that he had stumbled or tripped while trying to cross the branch, probably hitting his head. Either badly dazed or unconscious, he had rolled into the stream and drowned. Only then did it become common knowledge that Abraham had buried his wealth in a large iron pot. The two frightened slaves told the family what they could of that strange night, but all they could tell was that the money was beneath a large white oak near a mountain stream. Thus began frantic searches along the banks of Pheasant Branch where Abraham was found, and some still search today.
Soon after the old man's death, stories began to be told at campfires and hearths around Flat Rock. People traveling at night during the full moon told of seeing the figure of a bent old man frantically digging first in one place and then another. Those brave enough to go after the phantom recalled how it disappeared before their very eyes. Stories persisted and grew. One terrified traveler on horseback told of crossing Pheasant Branch just as he heard the rattling of a wagon just ahead and then saw a solitary figure of an old man in a one horse wagon, beside which sat a large black wash pot. As the traveler drew along side, the wagon, horse, man and wash pot suddenly vanished.
Soon only the most foolhardy traveled after dark near the vicinity of Pheasant Branch, and family traditions kept the story of the gold and the ghost alive. Many have searched in vain for the treasure, including descendants of the two slaves Abraham blindfolded and led through the woods to bury the pot, but none of it has ever been found.
I am very proud to be descended to this man. He fought for our freedom from England in the Revolutionary War and became a surveyor, a father of eleven children, a taven owner, a large land owner and so much more. He is the reason I started doing my family history in the 8th grade.
The SPAR Great Ireland Run 2013 was held in the Phoenix Park, Dublin, Ireland on Sunday 14th April 2013 at 13:10 and 13:30 respectively. The Great Ireland Run is now probably the largest 10KM running event in Ireland. The race also incorporates the AAI National 10km Championships. This category is for club athletes in Ireland only. However, there is also the main field race where anyone, regardless of being with an athletic club or not, can enter and race. The elite women and club women's race started at 13:10 whilst the male club and main field event started at 13:30. The race starts on Chesterfield Avenue and takes a clockwise route - first over to the Blackhorse Avenue sid of the park, crossing Chesterfield avenue again. The race then descends down the Kyber pass before the runners must take the challenge of the famous S-Bends on the Chapelizod side including a steep climb at 7KM. Finally the race winds its way around the Furry Glen, before finishing very close to the starting point of the race.
These photographs are taken at the 7 KM marker on Chapelizod Hill. They are from the time period 13:35 (leading elite women) until all waves have passed this point (approximately 14:42). There are no start or finish line photographs.
Elite Womens and Irish Womens National Championship field: Flickr set is here [http://www.flickr.com/photos/peterm7/sets/72157633232150933/]
Elite Men, Irish National Championship, and the main field: Flickr set is here [http://www.flickr.com/photos/peterm7/sets/72157633240224417/]
I really enjoyed taking these photographs. It is the first time in a long time where I have been able to photograph a race I was not participating in. It was a really great experience. Despite the tough course and the horrible head winds I got so many nods and "hellos" from hundreds of runners I knew there and from thousands of others I have yet to get to know ;-) It is a really great event.
PLEASE NOTE! These are completely unofficial SPAR Great Ireland Run 2013 photographs. We are not affiliated in any way to the organisation of the Great Ireland Run. These photographs are not for commercial use nor are they provided here on Flickr for commercial usage. If you require commercially available photographs please use the weblinks provided below here to find more information.
Overall Race Summary
Participants: Approximately 10,000 people
Weather: Dry, cold, with very strong head wind
Course: Completely traffic free course - all on excellent tarmac roads. The course is undulating from 4KM to about 9KM giving a real test of 10KM strength.
Refreshments: No refreshments - goody bags provided to all participants.
Some links, related to this race, which you might find useful:
Great Ireland Run Homepage: www.greatirelandrun.org/Default.aspx
Boards.ie Athletics Discussion Thread on this race: www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2056907184
Great Ireland Run Facebook Page: www.facebook.com/greatirelandrun
Please note: that we cannot be responsible for the content of any external links (outside of ourown Flickr account) as we have no control over them. Links are provided for your information only. Responsibility lies solely with the operators of those websites.
How can I get a full resolution copy of these photographs?
All of the photographs here on this Flickr set have a visible watermark embedded in them. All of the photographs posted here on this Flickr set are available, free, at no cost, at full resolution WITHOUT watermark. We take these photographs as a hobby and as a contribution to the running community in Ireland. We do not know of any other photographers who operate such a policy. Our only "cost" is our request that if you are using these images: (1) on social media sites such as Facebook, Tumblr, Pinterest, Twitter,LinkedIn, Google+, Google Orkut etc or (2) other websites, web multimedia, commercial/promotional material that you provide a link back to our Flickr page to attribute us. This also means the use of these images for Facebook profile pictures. In these cases please make a wall post with a link to our Flickr page. If you do not know how this should be done for Facebook or other media please email us and we will be happy to help suggest how to link to us.
Please email petermooney78 AT gmail DOT com with the links to the photographs you would like to obtain a full resolution copy of. We also ask race organisers, media, etc to ask for permission before use of our images for flyers, posters, etc. We reserve the right to refuse a request.
In summary please remember - all we ask is for you to link back to our Flickr set or Flickr pages. We are not posting photographs to Flickr for commercial reasons. If you really like what we do please spread the link around, send us an email, leave a comment beside the photographs, send us a Flickr email, etc.
I ran the race - but my photograph doesn't appear here in your Flickr set!
As mentioned above we take these photographs as a hobby and as a voluntary contribution to the running community in Ireland. Very often we have actually ran in the same race and then switched to photographer mode after we finished the race. Consequently, we have no obligations to capture a photograph of every participant in the race. However, we do try our very best to capture as many participants as possible. But this is sometimes not possible for a variety of reasons:
You were hidden behind another participant as you passed our camera
Weather or lighting conditions meant that we had some photographs with blurry content which we did not upload to our Flickr set
There were too many people - some races attract thousands of participants and as amateur photographs we cannot hope to capture photographs of everyone
We simply missed you - sorry about that - we did our best!
You can email us petermooney78 AT gmail DOT com to enquire if we have a photograph of you which didn't make the final Flickr selection for the race. But we cannot promise that there will be photograph there. As alternatives we advise you to contact the race organisers to enquire if there were (1) other photographs taking photographs at the race event or if (2) there were professional commercial sports photographers taking photographs which might have some photographs of you available for purchase. You might find some links for further information above.
If you want to contribute something for these images?
We do not charge for these images. We take these photographs as our contribution to the running community in Ireland. If you feel that the image(s) you request are good enough that you would ordinarily pay for their purchase we would suggest that you can provide a donation to any of the great charities in Ireland who do work for Cancer Care or Cancer Research in Ireland.
Don't like your photograph here?
That's OK! We understand!
If, for any reason, you are not happy or comfortable with your picture appearing here in this photoset on Flickr then please email us at petermooney78 AT gmail DOT com and we will remove it as soon as possible.
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new account: www.flickr.com/photos/71817921@N03/
I had to make a new account, only because I filled up the hole 200 photos! so pleas feel free to check out me new page!
Friends, Romans, countrymen, it has been wonderful to share photos and memories with you during all these years, and I was one of the first to start using social media, as an extension of memory – a memory shared with you. I loved how it allowed me to re-live some of the nice moments, and to remember them and let you be part of them. A time has come now to say goodbye to that wonderful era. The French Government has announced that, as of the 1st January 2019, it will start massive surveillance of our personal data online, and it will use some Artificial Intelligence software, of questionable quality and inference power, to make most probably false and most certainly unsolicited assumptions about our lives. I have therefore proceeded to deletion of all my content on this account.
We the Computer Scientists, have failed you. We have failed ourselves and our civilization, because we were naïve. We’ve worked to create great tools for sharing and communication. But we did not do enough to ensure decentralization and privacy. Instead of empowering humans with technology, we’ve empowered ignorants with tools of mass surveillance. What was supposed to be a dream-come-true for Computer Science, turned out to be a nightmare for Freedom. I hope that the work that is still to be done in Computer Science will allow to correct this, so that we can share again.
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Occupy Oakland: The news accounts haven't mentioned how great the atmosphere was. All these different people coming together and realizing what they have in common.
The Ajanta Caves (Ajiṇṭhā leni; Marathi: अजिंठा लेणी) in Aurangabad district of Maharashtra, India are about 30 rock-cut Buddhist cave monuments which date from the 2nd century BCE to about 480 or 650 CE. The caves include paintings and sculptures described by the government Archaeological Survey of India as "the finest surviving examples of Indian art, particularly painting", which are masterpieces of Buddhist religious art, with figures of the Buddha and depictions of the Jataka tales. The caves were built in two phases starting around the 2nd century BCE, with the second group of caves built around 400–650 CE according to older accounts, or all in a brief period of 460 to 480 according to the recent proposals of Walter M. Spink. The site is a protected monument in the care of the Archaeological Survey of India, and since 1983, the Ajanta Caves have been a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
The caves are located in the Indian state of Maharashtra, near Jalgaon and just outside the village of Ajinṭhā 20°31′56″N 75°44′44″E), about 59 kilometres from Jalgaon railway station on the Delhi – Mumbai line and Howrah-Nagpur-Mumbai line of the Central Railway zone, and 104 kilometres from the city of Aurangabad. They are 100 kilometres from the Ellora Caves, which contain Hindu and Jain temples as well as Buddhist caves, the last dating from a period similar to Ajanta. The Ajanta caves are cut into the side of a cliff that is on the south side of a U-shaped gorge on the small river Waghur, and although they are now along and above a modern pathway running across the cliff they were originally reached by individual stairs or ladders from the side of the river 35 to 110 feet below.
The area was previously heavily forested, and after the site ceased to be used the caves were covered by jungle until accidentally rediscovered in 1819 by a British officer on a hunting party. They are Buddhist monastic buildings, apparently representing a number of distinct "monasteries" or colleges. The caves are numbered 1 to 28 according to their place along the path, beginning at the entrance. Several are unfinished and some barely begun and others are small shrines, included in the traditional numbering as e.g. "9A"; "Cave 15A" was still hidden under rubble when the numbering was done. Further round the gorge are a number of waterfalls, which when the river is high are audible from outside the caves.
The caves form the largest corpus of early Indian wall-painting; other survivals from the area of modern India are very few, though they are related to 5th-century paintings at Sigiriya in Sri Lanka. The elaborate architectural carving in many caves is also very rare, and the style of the many figure sculptures is highly local, found only at a few nearby contemporary sites, although the Ajanta tradition can be related to the later Hindu Ellora Caves and other sites.
HISTORY
Like the other ancient Buddhist monasteries, Ajanta had a large emphasis on teaching, and was divided into several different caves for living, education and worship, under a central direction. Monks were probably assigned to specific caves for living. The layout reflects this organizational structure, with most of the caves only connected through the exterior. The 7th-century travelling Chinese scholar Xuanzang informs us that Dignaga, a celebrated Buddhist philosopher and controversialist, author of well-known books on logic, lived at Ajanta in the 5th century. In its prime the settlement would have accommodated several hundred teachers and pupils. Many monks who had finished their first training may have returned to Ajanta during the monsoon season from an itinerant lifestyle.
The caves are generally agreed to have been made in two distinct periods, separated by several centuries.
CAVES OF THE FIRST (SATAVAHANA) PERIOD
The earliest group of caves consists of caves 9, 10, 12, 13 and 15A. According to Walter Spink, they were made during the period 100 BCE to 100 CE, probably under the patronage of the Satavahana dynasty (230 BCE – c. 220 CE) who ruled the region. Other datings prefer the period 300 BCE to 100 BCE, though the grouping of the earlier caves is generally agreed. More early caves may have vanished through later excavations. Of these, caves 9 and 10 are stupa halls of chaitya-griha form, and caves 12, 13, and 15A are vihāras (see the architecture section below for descriptions of these types). The first phase is still often called the Hinayāna phase, as it originated when, using traditional terminology, the Hinayāna or Lesser Vehicle tradition of Buddhism was dominant, when the Buddha was revered symbolically. However the use of the term Hinayana for this period of Buddhism is now deprecated by historians; equally the caves of the second period are now mostly dated too early to be properly called Mahayana, and do not yet show the full expanded cast of supernatural beings characteristic of that phase of Buddhist art. The first Satavahana period caves lacked figurative sculpture, emphasizing the stupa instead, and in the caves of the second period the overwhelming majority of images represent the Buddha alone, or narrative scenes of his lives.
Spink believes that some time after the Satavahana period caves were made the site was abandoned for a considerable period until the mid-5th century, probably because the region had turned mainly Hindu
CAVES OF THE LATER OR VAKATAKA PERIOD
The second phase began in the 5th century. For a long time it was thought that the later caves were made over a long period from the 4th to the 7th centuries CE, but in recent decades a series of studies by the leading expert on the caves, Walter M. Spink, have argued that most of the work took place over the very brief period from 460 to 480 CE, during the reign of Emperor Harishena of the Vakataka dynasty. This view has been criticized by some scholars, but is now broadly accepted by most authors of general books on Indian art, for example Huntington and Harle.
The second phase is still often called the Mahāyāna or Greater Vehicle phase, but scholars now tend to avoid this nomenclature because of the problems that have surfaced regarding our understanding of Mahāyāna.
Some 20 cave temples were simultaneously created, for the most part viharas with a sanctuary at the back. The most elaborate caves were produced in this period, which included some "modernization" of earlier caves. Spink claims that it is possible to establish dating for this period with a very high level of precision; a fuller account of his chronology is given below. Although debate continues, Spink's ideas are increasingly widely accepted, at least in their broad conclusions. The Archaeological Survey of India website still presents the traditional dating: "The second phase of paintings started around 5th – 6th centuries A.D. and continued for the next two centuries". Caves of the second period are 1–8, 11, 14–29, some possibly extensions of earlier caves. Caves 19, 26, and 29 are chaitya-grihas, the rest viharas.
According to Spink, the Ajanta Caves appear to have been abandoned by wealthy patrons shortly after the fall of Harishena, in about 480 CE. They were then gradually abandoned and forgotten. During the intervening centuries, the jungle grew back and the caves were hidden, unvisited and undisturbed, although the local population were aware of at least some of them.
REDISCOVERY
On 28 April 1819, a British officer for the Madras Presidency, John Smith, of the 28th Cavalry, while hunting tiger, accidentally discovered the entrance to Cave No. 10 deep within the tangled undergrowth. There were local people already using the caves for prayers with a small fire, when he arrived. Exploring that first cave, long since a home to nothing more than birds and bats and a lair for other larger animals, Captain Smith vandalized the wall by scratching his name and the date, April 1819. Since he stood on a five-foot high pile of rubble collected over the years, the inscription is well above the eye-level gaze of an adult today. A paper on the caves by William Erskine was read to the Bombay Literary Society in 1822. Within a few decades, the caves became famous for their exotic setting, impressive architecture, and above all their exceptional, all but unique paintings. A number of large projects to copy the paintings were made in the century after rediscovery, covered below. In 1848 the Royal Asiatic Society established the "Bombay Cave Temple Commission" to clear, tidy and record the most important rock-cut sites in the Bombay Presidency, with John Wilson, as president. In 1861 this became the nucleus of the new Archaeological Survey of India. Until the Nizam of Hyderabad built the modern path between the caves, among other efforts to make the site easy to visit, a trip to Ajanta was a considerable adventure, and contemporary accounts dwell with relish on the dangers from falls off narrow ledges, animals and the Bhil people, who were armed with bows and arrows and had a fearsome reputation.
Today, fairly easily combined with Ellora in a single trip, the caves are the most popular tourist destination in Mahrashtra, and are often crowded at holiday times, increasing the threat to the caves, especially the paintings. In 2012, the Maharashtra Tourism Development Corporation announced plans to add to the ASI visitor centre at the entrance complete replicas of caves 1, 2, 16 & 17 to reduce crowding in the originals, and enable visitors to receive a better visual idea of the paintings, which are dimly-lit and hard to read in the caves. Figures for the year to March 2010 showed a total of 390,000 visitors to the site, divided into 362,000 domestic and 27,000 foreign. The trends over the previous few years show a considerable growth in domestic visitors, but a decline in foreign ones; the year to 2010 was the first in which foreign visitors to Ellora exceeded those to Ajanta.
PAINTINGS
Mural paintings survive from both the earlier and later groups of caves. Several fragments of murals preserved from the earlier caves (Caves 9 and 11) are effectively unique survivals of court-led painting in India from this period, and "show that by Sātavāhana times, if not earlier, the Indian painter had mastered an easy and fluent naturalistic style, dealing with large groups of people in a manner comparable to the reliefs of the Sāñcī toraņa crossbars".
Four of the later caves have large and relatively well-preserved mural paintings which "have come to represent Indian mural painting to the non-specialist", and fall into two stylistic groups, with the most famous in Caves 16 and 17, and apparently later paintings in Caves 1 and 2. The latter group were thought to be a century or more later than the others, but the revised chronology proposed by Spink would place them much closer to the earlier group, perhaps contemporary with it in a more progressive style, or one reflecting a team from a different region. The paintings are in "dry fresco", painted on top of a dry plaster surface rather than into wet plaster.
All the paintings appear to be the work of painters at least as used to decorating palaces as temples, and show a familiarity with and interest in details of the life of a wealthy court. We know from literary sources that painting was widely practised and appreciated in the courts of the Gupta period. Unlike much Indian painting, compositions are not laid out in horizontal compartments like a frieze, but show large scenes spreading in all directions from a single figure or group at the centre. The ceilings are also painted with sophisticated and elaborate decorative motifs, many derived from sculpture. The paintings in cave 1, which according to Spink was commissioned by Harisena himself, concentrate on those Jataka tales which show previous lives of the Buddha as a king, rather than as an animal or human commoner, and so show settings from contemporary palace life.
In general the later caves seem to have been painted on finished areas as excavating work continued elsewhere in the cave, as shown in caves 2 and 16 in particular. According to Spink's account of the chronology of the caves, the abandonment of work in 478 after a brief busy period accounts for the absence of painting in caves such as 4 and 17, the later being plastered in preparation for paintings that were never done.
COPIES
The paintings have deteriorated significantly since they were rediscovered, and a number of 19th-century copies and drawings are important for a complete understanding of the works. However, the earliest projects to copy the paintings were plagued by bad fortune. In 1846, Major Robert Gill, an Army officer from Madras presidency and a painter, was appointed by the Royal Asiatic Society to replicate the frescoes on the cave walls to exhibit these paintings in England. Gill worked on his painting at the site from 1844 to 1863 (though he continued to be based there until his death in 1875, writing books and photographing) and made 27 copies of large sections of murals, but all but four were destroyed in a fire at the Crystal Palace in London in 1866, where they were on display.
Another attempt was made in 1872 when the Bombay Presidency commissioned John Griffiths, then principal of the Bombay School of Art, to work with his students to make new copies, again for shipping to England. They worked on this for thirteen years and some 300 canvases were produced, many of which were displayed at the Imperial Institute on Exhibition Road in London, one of the forerunners of the Victoria and Albert Museum. But in 1885 another fire destroyed over a hundred paintings that were in storage. The V&A still has 166 paintings surviving from both sets, though none have been on permanent display since 1955. The largest are some 3 × 6 metres. A conservation project was undertaken on about half of them in 2006, also involving the University of Northumbria. Griffith and his students had unfortunately painted many of the paintings with "cheap varnish" in order to make them easier to see, which has added to the deterioration of the originals, as has, according to Spink and others, recent cleaning by the ASI.
A further set of copies were made between 1909 and 1911 by Christiana Herringham (Lady Herringham) and a group of students from the Calcutta School of Art that included the future Indian Modernist painter Nandalal Bose. The copies were published in full colour as the first publication of London's fledgling India Society. More than the earlier copies, these aimed to fill in holes and damage to recreate the original condition rather than record the state of the paintings as she was seeing them. According to one writer, unlike the paintings created by her predecessors Griffiths and Gill, whose copies were influenced by British Victorian styles of painting, those of the Herringham expedition preferred an 'Indian Renascence' aesthetic of the type pioneered by Abanindranath Tagore.
Early photographic surveys were made by Robert Gill, who learnt to use a camera from about 1856, and whose photos, including some using stereoscopy, were used in books by him and Fergusson (many are available online from the British Library), then Victor Goloubew in 1911 and E.L. Vassey, who took the photos in the four volume study of the caves by Ghulam Yazdani (published 1930–1955).
ARCHITECTURE
The monasteries mostly consist of vihara halls for prayer and living, which are typically rectangular with small square dormitory cells cut into the walls, and by the second period a shrine or sanctuary at the rear centred on a large statue of the Buddha, also carved from the living rock. This change reflects the movement from Hinayana to Mahāyāna Buddhism. The other type of main hall is the narrower and higher chaitya hall with a stupa as the focus at the far end, and a narrow aisle around the walls, behind a range of pillars placed close together. Other plainer rooms were for sleeping and other activities. Some of the caves have elaborate carved entrances, some with large windows over the door to admit light. There is often a colonnaded porch or verandah, with another space inside the doors running the width of the cave.
The central square space of the interior of the viharas is defined by square columns forming a more or less square open area. Outside this are long rectangular aisles on each side, forming a kind of cloister. Along the side and rear walls are a number of small cells entered by a narrow doorway; these are roughly square, and have small niches on their back walls. Originally they had wooden doors. The centre of the rear wall has a larger shrine-room behind, containing a large Buddha statue. The viharas of the earlier period are much simpler, and lack shrines. Spink in fact places the change to a design with a shrine to the middle of the second period, with many caves being adapted to add a shrine in mid-excavation, or after the original phase.
The plan of Cave 1 shows one of the largest viharas, but is fairly typical of the later group. Many others, such as Cave 16, lack the vestibule to the shrine, which leads straight off the main hall. Cave 6 is two viharas, one above the other, connected by internal stairs, with sanctuaries on both levels.
The four completed chaitya halls are caves 9 and 10 from the early period, and caves 19 and 26 from the later period of construction. All follow the typical form found elsewhere, with high ceilings and a central "nave" leading to the stupa, which is near the back, but allows walking behind it, as walking around stupas was (and remains) a common element of Buddhist worship (pradakshina). The later two have high ribbed roofs, which reflect timber forms, and the earlier two are thought to have used actual timber ribs, which have now perished. The two later halls have a rather unusual arrangement (also found in Cave 10 at Ellora) where the stupa is fronted by a large relief sculpture of the Buddha, standing in Cave 19 and seated in Cave 26. Cave 29 is a late and very incomplete chaitya hall.
The form of columns in the work of the first period is very plain and un-embellished, with both chaitya halls using simple octagonal columns, which were painted with figures. In the second period columns were far more varied and inventive, often changing profile over their height, and with elaborate carved capitals, often spreading wide. Many columns are carved over all their surface, some fluted and others carved with decoration all over, as in cave 1.
The flood basalt rock of the cliff, part of the Deccan Traps formed by successive volcanic eruptions at the end of the Cretaceous, is layered horizontally, and somewhat variable in quality, so the excavators had to amend their plans in places, and in places there have been collapses in the intervening centuries, as with the lost portico to cave 1. Excavation began by cutting a narrow tunnel at roof level, which was expanded downwards and outwards; the half-built vihara cave 24 shows the method. Spink believes that for the first caves of the second period the excavators had to relearn skills and techniques that had been lost in the centuries since the first period, which were then transmitted to be used at later rock-cut sites in the region, such as Ellora, and the Elephanta, Bagh, Badami and Aurangabad Caves.
The caves from the first period seem to have been paid for by a number of different patrons, with several inscriptions recording the donation of particular portions of a single cave, but according to Spink the later caves were each commissioned as a complete unit by a single patron from the local rulers or their court elites. After the death of Harisena smaller donors got their chance to add small "shrinelets" between the caves or add statues to existing caves, and some two hundred of these "intrusive" additions were made in sculpture, with a further number of intrusive paintings, up to three hundred in cave 10 alone.
A grand gateway to the site, at the apex of the gorge's horsehoe between caves 15 and 16, was approached from the river, and is decorated with elephants on either side and a nāga, or protective snake deity.
ICONOGRAPHY OF THE CAVES
In the pre-Christian era, the Buddha was represented symbolically, in the form of the stupa. Thus, halls were made with stupas to venerate the Buddha. In later periods the images of the Buddha started to be made in coins, relic caskets, relief or loose sculptural forms, etc. However, it took a while for the human representation of the Buddha to appear in Buddhist art. One of the earliest evidences of the Buddha's human representations are found at Buddhist archaeological sites, such as Goli, Nagarjunakonda, and Amaravati. The monasteries of those sites were built in less durable media, such as wood, brick, and stone. As far as the genre of rock-cut architecture is concerned it took many centuries for the Buddha image to be depicted. Nobody knows for sure at which rock-cut cave site the first image of the Buddha was depicted. Current research indicates that Buddha images in a portable form, made of wood or stone, were introduced, for the first time, at Kanheri, to be followed soon at Ajanta Cave 8 (Dhavalikar, Jadhav, Spink, Singh). While the Kanheri example dates to 4th or 5th century CE, the Ajanta example has been dated to c. 462–478 CE (Spink). None of the rock-cut monasteries prior to these dates, and other than these examples, show any Buddha image although hundreds of rock-cut caves were made throughout India during the first few centuries CE. And, in those caves, it is the stupa that is the object of veneration, not the image. Images of the Buddha are not found in Buddhist sailagrhas (rock-cut complexes) until the times of the Kanheri (4th–5th century CE) and Ajanta examples (c. 462–478 CE).
The caves of the second period, now all dated to the 5th century, were typically described as "Mahayana", but do not show the features associated with later Mahayana Buddhism. Although the beginnings of Mahāyāna teachings go back to the 1st century there is little art and archaeological evidence to suggest that it became a mainstream cult for several centuries. In Mahayana it is not Gautama Buddha but the Bodhisattva who is important, including "deity" Bodhisattva like Manjushri and Tara, as well as aspects of the Buddha such as Aksobhya, and Amitabha. Except for a few Bodhisattva, these are not depicted at Ajanta, where the Buddha remains the dominant figure. Even the Bodhisattva images of Ajanta are never central objects of worship, but are always shown as attendants of the Buddha in the shrine. If a Bodhisattva is shown in isolation, as in the Astabhaya scenes, these were done in the very last years of activities at Ajanta, and are mostly 'intrusive' in nature, meaning that they were not planned by the original patrons, and were added by new donors after the original patrons had suddenly abandoned the region in the wake of Emperor Harisena's death.
The contrast between iconic and aniconic representations, that is, the stupa on one hand and the image of the Buddha on the other, is now being seen as a construct of the modern scholar rather than a reality of the past. The second phase of Ajanta shows that the stupa and image coincided together. If the entire corpus of the art of Ajanta including sculpture, iconography, architecture, epigraphy, and painting are analysed afresh it will become clear that there was no duality between the symbolic and human forms of the Buddha, as far as the 5th-century phase of Ajanta is concerned. That is why most current scholars tend to avoid the terms 'Hinayana' and 'Mahayana' in the context of Ajanta. They now prefer to call the second phase by the ruling dynasty, as the Vākāţaka phase.
CAVES
CAVE 1
Cave 1 was built on the eastern end of the horse-shoe shaped scarp, and is now the first cave the visitor encounters. This would when first made have been a less prominent position, right at the end of the row. According to Spink, it is one of the latest caves to have been excavated, when the best sites had been taken, and was never fully inaugurated for worship by the dedication of the Buddha image in the central shrine. This is shown by the absence of sooty deposits from butter lamps on the base of the shrine image, and the lack of damage to the paintings that would have been happened if the garland-hooks around the shrine had been in use for any period of time. Although there is no epigraphic evidence, Spink believes that the Vākāţaka Emperor Harishena was the benefactor of the work, and this is reflected in the emphasis on imagery of royalty in the cave, with those Jakata tales being selected that tell of those previous lives of the Buddha in which he was royal.
The cliff has a more steep slope here than at other caves, so to achieve a tall grand facade it was necessary to cut far back into the slope, giving a large courtyard in front of the facade. There was originally a columned portico in front of the present facade, which can be seen "half-intact in the 1880s" in pictures of the site, but this fell down completely and the remains, despite containing fine carving, were carelessly thrown down the slope into the river, from where they have been lost, presumably carried away in monsoon torrents.
This cave has one of the most elaborate carved façades, with relief sculptures on entablature and ridges, and most surfaces embellished with decorative carving. There are scenes carved from the life of the Buddha as well as a number of decorative motifs. A two pillared portico, visible in the 19th-century photographs, has since perished. The cave has a front-court with cells fronted by pillared vestibules on either side. These have a high plinth level. The cave has a porch with simple cells on both ends. The absence of pillared vestibules on the ends suggest that the porch was not excavated in the latest phase of Ajanta when pillared vestibules had become a necessity and norm. Most areas of the porch were once covered with murals, of which many fragments remain, especially on the ceiling. There are three doorways: a central doorway and two side doorways. Two square windows were carved between the doorways to brighten the interiors.
Each wall of the hall inside is nearly 12 m long and 6.1 m high. Twelve pillars make a square colonnade inside supporting the ceiling, and creating spacious aisles along the walls. There is a shrine carved on the rear wall to house an impressive seated image of the Buddha, his hands being in the dharmachakrapravartana mudra. There are four cells on each of the left, rear, and the right walls, though due to rock fault there are none at the ends of the rear aisle. The walls are covered with paintings in a fair state of preservation, though the full scheme was never completed. The scenes depicted are mostly didactic, devotional, and ornamental, with scenes from the Jataka stories of the Buddha's former existences as a bodhisattva), the life of the Gautama Buddha, and those of his veneration. The two most famous individual painted images at Ajanta are the two over-life size figures of the protective bodhisattvas Padmapani and Vajrapani on either side of the entrance to the Buddha shrine on the wall of the rear aisle (see illustrations above). According to Spink, the original dating of the paintings to about 625 arose largely or entirely because James Fegusson, a 19th-century architectural historian, had decided that a scene showing an ambassador being received, with figures in Persian dress, represented a recorded embassy to Persia (from a Hindu monarch at that) around that date.
CAVE 2
Cave 2, adjacent to Cave 1, is known for the paintings that have been preserved on its walls, ceilings, and pillars. It looks similar to Cave 1 and is in a better state of preservation.
Cave 2 has a porch quite different from Cave one. Even the façade carvings seem to be different. The cave is supported by robust pillars, ornamented with designs. The front porch consists of cells supported by pillared vestibules on both ends. The cells on the previously "wasted areas" were needed to meet the greater housing requirements in later years. Porch-end cells became a trend in all later Vakataka excavations. The simple single cells on porch-ends were converted into CPVs or were planned to provide more room, symmetry, and beauty.
The paintings on the ceilings and walls of this porch have been widely published. They depict the Jataka tales that are stories of the Buddha's life in former existences as Bodhisattva. Just as the stories illustrated in cave 1 emphasize kingship, those in cave 2 show many "noble and powerful" women in prominent roles, leading to suggestions that the patron was an unknown woman. The porch's rear wall has a doorway in the center, which allows entrance to the hall. On either side of the door is a square-shaped window to brighten the interior.
The hall has four colonnades which are supporting the ceiling and surrounding a square in the center of the hall. Each arm or colonnade of the square is parallel to the respective walls of the hall, making an aisle in between. The colonnades have rock-beams above and below them. The capitals are carved and painted with various decorative themes that include ornamental, human, animal, vegetative, and semi-divine forms.
Paintings appear on almost every surface of the cave except for the floor. At various places the art work has become eroded due to decay and human interference. Therefore, many areas of the painted walls, ceilings, and pillars are fragmentary. The painted narratives of the Jataka tales are depicted only on the walls, which demanded the special attention of the devotee. They are didactic in nature, meant to inform the community about the Buddha's teachings and life through successive rebirths. Their placement on the walls required the devotee to walk through the aisles and 'read' the narratives depicted in various episodes. The narrative episodes are depicted one after another although not in a linear order. Their identification has been a core area of research since the site's rediscovery in 1819. Dieter Schlingloff's identifications have updated our knowledge on the subject.
CAVE 4
The Archeological Survey of India board outside the caves gives the following detail about cave 4: "This is the largest monastery planned on a grandiose scale but was never finished. An inscription on the pedestal of the buddha's image mentions that it was a gift from a person named Mathura and paleographically belongs to 6th century A.D. It consists of a verandah, a hypostylar hall, sanctum with an antechamber and a series of unfinished cells. The rear wall of the verandah contains the panel of Litany of Avalokiteśvara".
The sanctuary houses a colossal image of the Buddha in preaching pose flanked by bodhisattvas and celestial nymphs hovering above.
CAVES 9-10
Caves 9 and 10 are the two chaitya halls from the first period of construction, though both were also undergoing an uncompleted reworking at the end of the second period. Cave 10 was perhaps originally of the 1st century BCE, and cave 9 about a hundred years later. The small "shrinelets" called caves 9A to 9D and 10A also date from the second period, and were commissioned by individuals.
The paintings in cave 10 include some surviving from the early period, many from an incomplete programme of modernization in the second period, and a very large number of smaller late intrusive images, nearly all Buddhas and many with donor inscriptions from individuals. These mostly avoided over-painting the "official" programme and after the best positions were used up are tucked away in less prominent positions not yet painted; the total of these (including those now lost) was probably over 300, and the hands of many different artists are visible.
OTHER CAVES
Cave 3 is merely a start of an excavation; according to Spink it was begun right at the end of the final period of work and soon abandoned. Caves 5 and 6 are viharas, the latter on two floors, that were late works of which only the lower floor of cave 6 was ever finished. The upper floor of cave 6 has many private votive sculptures, and a shrine Buddha, but is otherwise unfinished. Cave 7 has a grand facade with two porticos but, perhaps because of faults in the rock, which posed problems in many caves, was never taken very deep into the cliff, and consists only of the two porticos and a shrine room with antechamber, with no central hall. Some cells were fitted in.
Cave 8 was long thought to date to the first period of construction, but Spink sees it as perhaps the earliest cave from the second period, its shrine an "afterthought". The statue may have been loose rather than carved from the living rock, as it has now vanished. The cave was painted, but only traces remain.
SPINK´S DETAILED CHRONOLOGY
Walter M. Spink has over recent decades developed a very precise and circumstantial chronology for the second period of work on the site, which unlike earlier scholars, he places entirely in the 5th century. This is based on evidence such as the inscriptions and artistic style, combined with the many uncompleted elements of the caves. He believes the earlier group of caves, which like other scholars he dates only approximately, to the period "between 100 BCE – 100 CE", were at some later point completely abandoned and remained so "for over three centuries", as the local population had turned mainly Hindu. This changed with the accession of the Emperor Harishena of the Vakataka Dynasty, who reigned from 460 to his death in 477. Harisena extended the Central Indian Vakataka Empire to include a stretch of the east coast of India; the Gupta Empire ruled northern India at the same period, and the Pallava dynasty much of the south.
According to Spink, Harisena encouraged a group of associates, including his prime minister Varahadeva and Upendragupta, the sub-king in whose territory Ajanta was, to dig out new caves, which were individually commissioned, some containing inscriptions recording the donation. This activity began in 462 but was mostly suspended in 468 because of threats from the neighbouring Asmaka kings. Work continued on only caves 1, Harisena's own commission, and 17–20, commissioned by Upendragupta. In 472 the situation was such that work was suspended completely, in a period that Spink calls "the Hiatus", which lasted until about 475, by which time the Asmakas had replaced Upendragupta as the local rulers.
Work was then resumed, but again disrupted by Harisena's death in 477, soon after which major excavation ceased, except at cave 26, which the Asmakas were sponsoring themselves. The Asmakas launched a revolt against Harisena's son, which brought about the end of the Vakataka Dynasty. In the years 478–480 major excavation by important patrons was replaced by a rash of "intrusions" – statues added to existing caves, and small shrines dotted about where there was space between them. These were commissioned by less powerful individuals, some monks, who had not previously been able to make additions to the large excavations of the rulers and courtiers. They were added to the facades, the return sides of the entrances, and to walls inside the caves. According to Spink, "After 480, not a single image was ever made again at the site", and as Hinduism again dominated the region, the site was again abandoned, this time for over a millennium.
Spink does not use "circa" in his dates, but says that "one should allow a margin of error of one year or perhaps even two in all cases".
IMPACT ON MODERN INDIAN PAINTINGS
The Ajanta paintings, or more likely the general style they come from, influenced painting in Tibet and Sri Lanka.
The rediscovery of ancient Indian paintings at Ajanta provided Indian artists examples from ancient India to follow. Nandlal Bose experimented with techniques to follow the ancient style which allowed him to develop his unique style. Abanindranath Tagore also used the Ajanta paintings for inspiration.
WIKIPEDIA
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The Ajanta Caves (Ajiṇṭhā leni; Marathi: अजिंठा लेणी) in Aurangabad district of Maharashtra, India are about 30 rock-cut Buddhist cave monuments which date from the 2nd century BCE to about 480 or 650 CE. The caves include paintings and sculptures described by the government Archaeological Survey of India as "the finest surviving examples of Indian art, particularly painting", which are masterpieces of Buddhist religious art, with figures of the Buddha and depictions of the Jataka tales. The caves were built in two phases starting around the 2nd century BCE, with the second group of caves built around 400–650 CE according to older accounts, or all in a brief period of 460 to 480 according to the recent proposals of Walter M. Spink. The site is a protected monument in the care of the Archaeological Survey of India, and since 1983, the Ajanta Caves have been a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
The caves are located in the Indian state of Maharashtra, near Jalgaon and just outside the village of Ajinṭhā 20°31′56″N 75°44′44″E), about 59 kilometres from Jalgaon railway station on the Delhi – Mumbai line and Howrah-Nagpur-Mumbai line of the Central Railway zone, and 104 kilometres from the city of Aurangabad. They are 100 kilometres from the Ellora Caves, which contain Hindu and Jain temples as well as Buddhist caves, the last dating from a period similar to Ajanta. The Ajanta caves are cut into the side of a cliff that is on the south side of a U-shaped gorge on the small river Waghur, and although they are now along and above a modern pathway running across the cliff they were originally reached by individual stairs or ladders from the side of the river 35 to 110 feet below.
The area was previously heavily forested, and after the site ceased to be used the caves were covered by jungle until accidentally rediscovered in 1819 by a British officer on a hunting party. They are Buddhist monastic buildings, apparently representing a number of distinct "monasteries" or colleges. The caves are numbered 1 to 28 according to their place along the path, beginning at the entrance. Several are unfinished and some barely begun and others are small shrines, included in the traditional numbering as e.g. "9A"; "Cave 15A" was still hidden under rubble when the numbering was done. Further round the gorge are a number of waterfalls, which when the river is high are audible from outside the caves.
The caves form the largest corpus of early Indian wall-painting; other survivals from the area of modern India are very few, though they are related to 5th-century paintings at Sigiriya in Sri Lanka. The elaborate architectural carving in many caves is also very rare, and the style of the many figure sculptures is highly local, found only at a few nearby contemporary sites, although the Ajanta tradition can be related to the later Hindu Ellora Caves and other sites.
HISTORY
Like the other ancient Buddhist monasteries, Ajanta had a large emphasis on teaching, and was divided into several different caves for living, education and worship, under a central direction. Monks were probably assigned to specific caves for living. The layout reflects this organizational structure, with most of the caves only connected through the exterior. The 7th-century travelling Chinese scholar Xuanzang informs us that Dignaga, a celebrated Buddhist philosopher and controversialist, author of well-known books on logic, lived at Ajanta in the 5th century. In its prime the settlement would have accommodated several hundred teachers and pupils. Many monks who had finished their first training may have returned to Ajanta during the monsoon season from an itinerant lifestyle.
The caves are generally agreed to have been made in two distinct periods, separated by several centuries.
CAVES OF THE FIRST (SATAVAHANA) PERIOD
The earliest group of caves consists of caves 9, 10, 12, 13 and 15A. According to Walter Spink, they were made during the period 100 BCE to 100 CE, probably under the patronage of the Satavahana dynasty (230 BCE – c. 220 CE) who ruled the region. Other datings prefer the period 300 BCE to 100 BCE, though the grouping of the earlier caves is generally agreed. More early caves may have vanished through later excavations. Of these, caves 9 and 10 are stupa halls of chaitya-griha form, and caves 12, 13, and 15A are vihāras (see the architecture section below for descriptions of these types). The first phase is still often called the Hinayāna phase, as it originated when, using traditional terminology, the Hinayāna or Lesser Vehicle tradition of Buddhism was dominant, when the Buddha was revered symbolically. However the use of the term Hinayana for this period of Buddhism is now deprecated by historians; equally the caves of the second period are now mostly dated too early to be properly called Mahayana, and do not yet show the full expanded cast of supernatural beings characteristic of that phase of Buddhist art. The first Satavahana period caves lacked figurative sculpture, emphasizing the stupa instead, and in the caves of the second period the overwhelming majority of images represent the Buddha alone, or narrative scenes of his lives.
Spink believes that some time after the Satavahana period caves were made the site was abandoned for a considerable period until the mid-5th century, probably because the region had turned mainly Hindu
CAVES OF THE LATER OR VAKATAKA PERIOD
The second phase began in the 5th century. For a long time it was thought that the later caves were made over a long period from the 4th to the 7th centuries CE, but in recent decades a series of studies by the leading expert on the caves, Walter M. Spink, have argued that most of the work took place over the very brief period from 460 to 480 CE, during the reign of Emperor Harishena of the Vakataka dynasty. This view has been criticized by some scholars, but is now broadly accepted by most authors of general books on Indian art, for example Huntington and Harle.
The second phase is still often called the Mahāyāna or Greater Vehicle phase, but scholars now tend to avoid this nomenclature because of the problems that have surfaced regarding our understanding of Mahāyāna.
Some 20 cave temples were simultaneously created, for the most part viharas with a sanctuary at the back. The most elaborate caves were produced in this period, which included some "modernization" of earlier caves. Spink claims that it is possible to establish dating for this period with a very high level of precision; a fuller account of his chronology is given below. Although debate continues, Spink's ideas are increasingly widely accepted, at least in their broad conclusions. The Archaeological Survey of India website still presents the traditional dating: "The second phase of paintings started around 5th – 6th centuries A.D. and continued for the next two centuries". Caves of the second period are 1–8, 11, 14–29, some possibly extensions of earlier caves. Caves 19, 26, and 29 are chaitya-grihas, the rest viharas.
According to Spink, the Ajanta Caves appear to have been abandoned by wealthy patrons shortly after the fall of Harishena, in about 480 CE. They were then gradually abandoned and forgotten. During the intervening centuries, the jungle grew back and the caves were hidden, unvisited and undisturbed, although the local population were aware of at least some of them.
REDISCOVERY
On 28 April 1819, a British officer for the Madras Presidency, John Smith, of the 28th Cavalry, while hunting tiger, accidentally discovered the entrance to Cave No. 10 deep within the tangled undergrowth. There were local people already using the caves for prayers with a small fire, when he arrived. Exploring that first cave, long since a home to nothing more than birds and bats and a lair for other larger animals, Captain Smith vandalized the wall by scratching his name and the date, April 1819. Since he stood on a five-foot high pile of rubble collected over the years, the inscription is well above the eye-level gaze of an adult today. A paper on the caves by William Erskine was read to the Bombay Literary Society in 1822. Within a few decades, the caves became famous for their exotic setting, impressive architecture, and above all their exceptional, all but unique paintings. A number of large projects to copy the paintings were made in the century after rediscovery, covered below. In 1848 the Royal Asiatic Society established the "Bombay Cave Temple Commission" to clear, tidy and record the most important rock-cut sites in the Bombay Presidency, with John Wilson, as president. In 1861 this became the nucleus of the new Archaeological Survey of India. Until the Nizam of Hyderabad built the modern path between the caves, among other efforts to make the site easy to visit, a trip to Ajanta was a considerable adventure, and contemporary accounts dwell with relish on the dangers from falls off narrow ledges, animals and the Bhil people, who were armed with bows and arrows and had a fearsome reputation.
Today, fairly easily combined with Ellora in a single trip, the caves are the most popular tourist destination in Mahrashtra, and are often crowded at holiday times, increasing the threat to the caves, especially the paintings. In 2012, the Maharashtra Tourism Development Corporation announced plans to add to the ASI visitor centre at the entrance complete replicas of caves 1, 2, 16 & 17 to reduce crowding in the originals, and enable visitors to receive a better visual idea of the paintings, which are dimly-lit and hard to read in the caves. Figures for the year to March 2010 showed a total of 390,000 visitors to the site, divided into 362,000 domestic and 27,000 foreign. The trends over the previous few years show a considerable growth in domestic visitors, but a decline in foreign ones; the year to 2010 was the first in which foreign visitors to Ellora exceeded those to Ajanta.
PAINTINGS
Mural paintings survive from both the earlier and later groups of caves. Several fragments of murals preserved from the earlier caves (Caves 9 and 11) are effectively unique survivals of court-led painting in India from this period, and "show that by Sātavāhana times, if not earlier, the Indian painter had mastered an easy and fluent naturalistic style, dealing with large groups of people in a manner comparable to the reliefs of the Sāñcī toraņa crossbars".
Four of the later caves have large and relatively well-preserved mural paintings which "have come to represent Indian mural painting to the non-specialist", and fall into two stylistic groups, with the most famous in Caves 16 and 17, and apparently later paintings in Caves 1 and 2. The latter group were thought to be a century or more later than the others, but the revised chronology proposed by Spink would place them much closer to the earlier group, perhaps contemporary with it in a more progressive style, or one reflecting a team from a different region. The paintings are in "dry fresco", painted on top of a dry plaster surface rather than into wet plaster.
All the paintings appear to be the work of painters at least as used to decorating palaces as temples, and show a familiarity with and interest in details of the life of a wealthy court. We know from literary sources that painting was widely practised and appreciated in the courts of the Gupta period. Unlike much Indian painting, compositions are not laid out in horizontal compartments like a frieze, but show large scenes spreading in all directions from a single figure or group at the centre. The ceilings are also painted with sophisticated and elaborate decorative motifs, many derived from sculpture. The paintings in cave 1, which according to Spink was commissioned by Harisena himself, concentrate on those Jataka tales which show previous lives of the Buddha as a king, rather than as an animal or human commoner, and so show settings from contemporary palace life.
In general the later caves seem to have been painted on finished areas as excavating work continued elsewhere in the cave, as shown in caves 2 and 16 in particular. According to Spink's account of the chronology of the caves, the abandonment of work in 478 after a brief busy period accounts for the absence of painting in caves such as 4 and 17, the later being plastered in preparation for paintings that were never done.
COPIES
The paintings have deteriorated significantly since they were rediscovered, and a number of 19th-century copies and drawings are important for a complete understanding of the works. However, the earliest projects to copy the paintings were plagued by bad fortune. In 1846, Major Robert Gill, an Army officer from Madras presidency and a painter, was appointed by the Royal Asiatic Society to replicate the frescoes on the cave walls to exhibit these paintings in England. Gill worked on his painting at the site from 1844 to 1863 (though he continued to be based there until his death in 1875, writing books and photographing) and made 27 copies of large sections of murals, but all but four were destroyed in a fire at the Crystal Palace in London in 1866, where they were on display.
Another attempt was made in 1872 when the Bombay Presidency commissioned John Griffiths, then principal of the Bombay School of Art, to work with his students to make new copies, again for shipping to England. They worked on this for thirteen years and some 300 canvases were produced, many of which were displayed at the Imperial Institute on Exhibition Road in London, one of the forerunners of the Victoria and Albert Museum. But in 1885 another fire destroyed over a hundred paintings that were in storage. The V&A still has 166 paintings surviving from both sets, though none have been on permanent display since 1955. The largest are some 3 × 6 metres. A conservation project was undertaken on about half of them in 2006, also involving the University of Northumbria. Griffith and his students had unfortunately painted many of the paintings with "cheap varnish" in order to make them easier to see, which has added to the deterioration of the originals, as has, according to Spink and others, recent cleaning by the ASI.
A further set of copies were made between 1909 and 1911 by Christiana Herringham (Lady Herringham) and a group of students from the Calcutta School of Art that included the future Indian Modernist painter Nandalal Bose. The copies were published in full colour as the first publication of London's fledgling India Society. More than the earlier copies, these aimed to fill in holes and damage to recreate the original condition rather than record the state of the paintings as she was seeing them. According to one writer, unlike the paintings created by her predecessors Griffiths and Gill, whose copies were influenced by British Victorian styles of painting, those of the Herringham expedition preferred an 'Indian Renascence' aesthetic of the type pioneered by Abanindranath Tagore.
Early photographic surveys were made by Robert Gill, who learnt to use a camera from about 1856, and whose photos, including some using stereoscopy, were used in books by him and Fergusson (many are available online from the British Library), then Victor Goloubew in 1911 and E.L. Vassey, who took the photos in the four volume study of the caves by Ghulam Yazdani (published 1930–1955).
ARCHITECTURE
The monasteries mostly consist of vihara halls for prayer and living, which are typically rectangular with small square dormitory cells cut into the walls, and by the second period a shrine or sanctuary at the rear centred on a large statue of the Buddha, also carved from the living rock. This change reflects the movement from Hinayana to Mahāyāna Buddhism. The other type of main hall is the narrower and higher chaitya hall with a stupa as the focus at the far end, and a narrow aisle around the walls, behind a range of pillars placed close together. Other plainer rooms were for sleeping and other activities. Some of the caves have elaborate carved entrances, some with large windows over the door to admit light. There is often a colonnaded porch or verandah, with another space inside the doors running the width of the cave.
The central square space of the interior of the viharas is defined by square columns forming a more or less square open area. Outside this are long rectangular aisles on each side, forming a kind of cloister. Along the side and rear walls are a number of small cells entered by a narrow doorway; these are roughly square, and have small niches on their back walls. Originally they had wooden doors. The centre of the rear wall has a larger shrine-room behind, containing a large Buddha statue. The viharas of the earlier period are much simpler, and lack shrines. Spink in fact places the change to a design with a shrine to the middle of the second period, with many caves being adapted to add a shrine in mid-excavation, or after the original phase.
The plan of Cave 1 shows one of the largest viharas, but is fairly typical of the later group. Many others, such as Cave 16, lack the vestibule to the shrine, which leads straight off the main hall. Cave 6 is two viharas, one above the other, connected by internal stairs, with sanctuaries on both levels.
The four completed chaitya halls are caves 9 and 10 from the early period, and caves 19 and 26 from the later period of construction. All follow the typical form found elsewhere, with high ceilings and a central "nave" leading to the stupa, which is near the back, but allows walking behind it, as walking around stupas was (and remains) a common element of Buddhist worship (pradakshina). The later two have high ribbed roofs, which reflect timber forms, and the earlier two are thought to have used actual timber ribs, which have now perished. The two later halls have a rather unusual arrangement (also found in Cave 10 at Ellora) where the stupa is fronted by a large relief sculpture of the Buddha, standing in Cave 19 and seated in Cave 26. Cave 29 is a late and very incomplete chaitya hall.
The form of columns in the work of the first period is very plain and un-embellished, with both chaitya halls using simple octagonal columns, which were painted with figures. In the second period columns were far more varied and inventive, often changing profile over their height, and with elaborate carved capitals, often spreading wide. Many columns are carved over all their surface, some fluted and others carved with decoration all over, as in cave 1.
The flood basalt rock of the cliff, part of the Deccan Traps formed by successive volcanic eruptions at the end of the Cretaceous, is layered horizontally, and somewhat variable in quality, so the excavators had to amend their plans in places, and in places there have been collapses in the intervening centuries, as with the lost portico to cave 1. Excavation began by cutting a narrow tunnel at roof level, which was expanded downwards and outwards; the half-built vihara cave 24 shows the method. Spink believes that for the first caves of the second period the excavators had to relearn skills and techniques that had been lost in the centuries since the first period, which were then transmitted to be used at later rock-cut sites in the region, such as Ellora, and the Elephanta, Bagh, Badami and Aurangabad Caves.
The caves from the first period seem to have been paid for by a number of different patrons, with several inscriptions recording the donation of particular portions of a single cave, but according to Spink the later caves were each commissioned as a complete unit by a single patron from the local rulers or their court elites. After the death of Harisena smaller donors got their chance to add small "shrinelets" between the caves or add statues to existing caves, and some two hundred of these "intrusive" additions were made in sculpture, with a further number of intrusive paintings, up to three hundred in cave 10 alone.
A grand gateway to the site, at the apex of the gorge's horsehoe between caves 15 and 16, was approached from the river, and is decorated with elephants on either side and a nāga, or protective snake deity.
ICONOGRAPHY OF THE CAVES
In the pre-Christian era, the Buddha was represented symbolically, in the form of the stupa. Thus, halls were made with stupas to venerate the Buddha. In later periods the images of the Buddha started to be made in coins, relic caskets, relief or loose sculptural forms, etc. However, it took a while for the human representation of the Buddha to appear in Buddhist art. One of the earliest evidences of the Buddha's human representations are found at Buddhist archaeological sites, such as Goli, Nagarjunakonda, and Amaravati. The monasteries of those sites were built in less durable media, such as wood, brick, and stone. As far as the genre of rock-cut architecture is concerned it took many centuries for the Buddha image to be depicted. Nobody knows for sure at which rock-cut cave site the first image of the Buddha was depicted. Current research indicates that Buddha images in a portable form, made of wood or stone, were introduced, for the first time, at Kanheri, to be followed soon at Ajanta Cave 8 (Dhavalikar, Jadhav, Spink, Singh). While the Kanheri example dates to 4th or 5th century CE, the Ajanta example has been dated to c. 462–478 CE (Spink). None of the rock-cut monasteries prior to these dates, and other than these examples, show any Buddha image although hundreds of rock-cut caves were made throughout India during the first few centuries CE. And, in those caves, it is the stupa that is the object of veneration, not the image. Images of the Buddha are not found in Buddhist sailagrhas (rock-cut complexes) until the times of the Kanheri (4th–5th century CE) and Ajanta examples (c. 462–478 CE).
The caves of the second period, now all dated to the 5th century, were typically described as "Mahayana", but do not show the features associated with later Mahayana Buddhism. Although the beginnings of Mahāyāna teachings go back to the 1st century there is little art and archaeological evidence to suggest that it became a mainstream cult for several centuries. In Mahayana it is not Gautama Buddha but the Bodhisattva who is important, including "deity" Bodhisattva like Manjushri and Tara, as well as aspects of the Buddha such as Aksobhya, and Amitabha. Except for a few Bodhisattva, these are not depicted at Ajanta, where the Buddha remains the dominant figure. Even the Bodhisattva images of Ajanta are never central objects of worship, but are always shown as attendants of the Buddha in the shrine. If a Bodhisattva is shown in isolation, as in the Astabhaya scenes, these were done in the very last years of activities at Ajanta, and are mostly 'intrusive' in nature, meaning that they were not planned by the original patrons, and were added by new donors after the original patrons had suddenly abandoned the region in the wake of Emperor Harisena's death.
The contrast between iconic and aniconic representations, that is, the stupa on one hand and the image of the Buddha on the other, is now being seen as a construct of the modern scholar rather than a reality of the past. The second phase of Ajanta shows that the stupa and image coincided together. If the entire corpus of the art of Ajanta including sculpture, iconography, architecture, epigraphy, and painting are analysed afresh it will become clear that there was no duality between the symbolic and human forms of the Buddha, as far as the 5th-century phase of Ajanta is concerned. That is why most current scholars tend to avoid the terms 'Hinayana' and 'Mahayana' in the context of Ajanta. They now prefer to call the second phase by the ruling dynasty, as the Vākāţaka phase.
CAVES
CAVE 1
Cave 1 was built on the eastern end of the horse-shoe shaped scarp, and is now the first cave the visitor encounters. This would when first made have been a less prominent position, right at the end of the row. According to Spink, it is one of the latest caves to have been excavated, when the best sites had been taken, and was never fully inaugurated for worship by the dedication of the Buddha image in the central shrine. This is shown by the absence of sooty deposits from butter lamps on the base of the shrine image, and the lack of damage to the paintings that would have been happened if the garland-hooks around the shrine had been in use for any period of time. Although there is no epigraphic evidence, Spink believes that the Vākāţaka Emperor Harishena was the benefactor of the work, and this is reflected in the emphasis on imagery of royalty in the cave, with those Jakata tales being selected that tell of those previous lives of the Buddha in which he was royal.
The cliff has a more steep slope here than at other caves, so to achieve a tall grand facade it was necessary to cut far back into the slope, giving a large courtyard in front of the facade. There was originally a columned portico in front of the present facade, which can be seen "half-intact in the 1880s" in pictures of the site, but this fell down completely and the remains, despite containing fine carving, were carelessly thrown down the slope into the river, from where they have been lost, presumably carried away in monsoon torrents.
This cave has one of the most elaborate carved façades, with relief sculptures on entablature and ridges, and most surfaces embellished with decorative carving. There are scenes carved from the life of the Buddha as well as a number of decorative motifs. A two pillared portico, visible in the 19th-century photographs, has since perished. The cave has a front-court with cells fronted by pillared vestibules on either side. These have a high plinth level. The cave has a porch with simple cells on both ends. The absence of pillared vestibules on the ends suggest that the porch was not excavated in the latest phase of Ajanta when pillared vestibules had become a necessity and norm. Most areas of the porch were once covered with murals, of which many fragments remain, especially on the ceiling. There are three doorways: a central doorway and two side doorways. Two square windows were carved between the doorways to brighten the interiors.
Each wall of the hall inside is nearly 12 m long and 6.1 m high. Twelve pillars make a square colonnade inside supporting the ceiling, and creating spacious aisles along the walls. There is a shrine carved on the rear wall to house an impressive seated image of the Buddha, his hands being in the dharmachakrapravartana mudra. There are four cells on each of the left, rear, and the right walls, though due to rock fault there are none at the ends of the rear aisle. The walls are covered with paintings in a fair state of preservation, though the full scheme was never completed. The scenes depicted are mostly didactic, devotional, and ornamental, with scenes from the Jataka stories of the Buddha's former existences as a bodhisattva), the life of the Gautama Buddha, and those of his veneration. The two most famous individual painted images at Ajanta are the two over-life size figures of the protective bodhisattvas Padmapani and Vajrapani on either side of the entrance to the Buddha shrine on the wall of the rear aisle (see illustrations above). According to Spink, the original dating of the paintings to about 625 arose largely or entirely because James Fegusson, a 19th-century architectural historian, had decided that a scene showing an ambassador being received, with figures in Persian dress, represented a recorded embassy to Persia (from a Hindu monarch at that) around that date.
CAVE 2
Cave 2, adjacent to Cave 1, is known for the paintings that have been preserved on its walls, ceilings, and pillars. It looks similar to Cave 1 and is in a better state of preservation.
Cave 2 has a porch quite different from Cave one. Even the façade carvings seem to be different. The cave is supported by robust pillars, ornamented with designs. The front porch consists of cells supported by pillared vestibules on both ends. The cells on the previously "wasted areas" were needed to meet the greater housing requirements in later years. Porch-end cells became a trend in all later Vakataka excavations. The simple single cells on porch-ends were converted into CPVs or were planned to provide more room, symmetry, and beauty.
The paintings on the ceilings and walls of this porch have been widely published. They depict the Jataka tales that are stories of the Buddha's life in former existences as Bodhisattva. Just as the stories illustrated in cave 1 emphasize kingship, those in cave 2 show many "noble and powerful" women in prominent roles, leading to suggestions that the patron was an unknown woman. The porch's rear wall has a doorway in the center, which allows entrance to the hall. On either side of the door is a square-shaped window to brighten the interior.
The hall has four colonnades which are supporting the ceiling and surrounding a square in the center of the hall. Each arm or colonnade of the square is parallel to the respective walls of the hall, making an aisle in between. The colonnades have rock-beams above and below them. The capitals are carved and painted with various decorative themes that include ornamental, human, animal, vegetative, and semi-divine forms.
Paintings appear on almost every surface of the cave except for the floor. At various places the art work has become eroded due to decay and human interference. Therefore, many areas of the painted walls, ceilings, and pillars are fragmentary. The painted narratives of the Jataka tales are depicted only on the walls, which demanded the special attention of the devotee. They are didactic in nature, meant to inform the community about the Buddha's teachings and life through successive rebirths. Their placement on the walls required the devotee to walk through the aisles and 'read' the narratives depicted in various episodes. The narrative episodes are depicted one after another although not in a linear order. Their identification has been a core area of research since the site's rediscovery in 1819. Dieter Schlingloff's identifications have updated our knowledge on the subject.
CAVE 4
The Archeological Survey of India board outside the caves gives the following detail about cave 4: "This is the largest monastery planned on a grandiose scale but was never finished. An inscription on the pedestal of the buddha's image mentions that it was a gift from a person named Mathura and paleographically belongs to 6th century A.D. It consists of a verandah, a hypostylar hall, sanctum with an antechamber and a series of unfinished cells. The rear wall of the verandah contains the panel of Litany of Avalokiteśvara".
The sanctuary houses a colossal image of the Buddha in preaching pose flanked by bodhisattvas and celestial nymphs hovering above.
CAVES 9-10
Caves 9 and 10 are the two chaitya halls from the first period of construction, though both were also undergoing an uncompleted reworking at the end of the second period. Cave 10 was perhaps originally of the 1st century BCE, and cave 9 about a hundred years later. The small "shrinelets" called caves 9A to 9D and 10A also date from the second period, and were commissioned by individuals.
The paintings in cave 10 include some surviving from the early period, many from an incomplete programme of modernization in the second period, and a very large number of smaller late intrusive images, nearly all Buddhas and many with donor inscriptions from individuals. These mostly avoided over-painting the "official" programme and after the best positions were used up are tucked away in less prominent positions not yet painted; the total of these (including those now lost) was probably over 300, and the hands of many different artists are visible.
OTHER CAVES
Cave 3 is merely a start of an excavation; according to Spink it was begun right at the end of the final period of work and soon abandoned. Caves 5 and 6 are viharas, the latter on two floors, that were late works of which only the lower floor of cave 6 was ever finished. The upper floor of cave 6 has many private votive sculptures, and a shrine Buddha, but is otherwise unfinished. Cave 7 has a grand facade with two porticos but, perhaps because of faults in the rock, which posed problems in many caves, was never taken very deep into the cliff, and consists only of the two porticos and a shrine room with antechamber, with no central hall. Some cells were fitted in.
Cave 8 was long thought to date to the first period of construction, but Spink sees it as perhaps the earliest cave from the second period, its shrine an "afterthought". The statue may have been loose rather than carved from the living rock, as it has now vanished. The cave was painted, but only traces remain.
SPINK´S DETAILED CHRONOLOGY
Walter M. Spink has over recent decades developed a very precise and circumstantial chronology for the second period of work on the site, which unlike earlier scholars, he places entirely in the 5th century. This is based on evidence such as the inscriptions and artistic style, combined with the many uncompleted elements of the caves. He believes the earlier group of caves, which like other scholars he dates only approximately, to the period "between 100 BCE – 100 CE", were at some later point completely abandoned and remained so "for over three centuries", as the local population had turned mainly Hindu. This changed with the accession of the Emperor Harishena of the Vakataka Dynasty, who reigned from 460 to his death in 477. Harisena extended the Central Indian Vakataka Empire to include a stretch of the east coast of India; the Gupta Empire ruled northern India at the same period, and the Pallava dynasty much of the south.
According to Spink, Harisena encouraged a group of associates, including his prime minister Varahadeva and Upendragupta, the sub-king in whose territory Ajanta was, to dig out new caves, which were individually commissioned, some containing inscriptions recording the donation. This activity began in 462 but was mostly suspended in 468 because of threats from the neighbouring Asmaka kings. Work continued on only caves 1, Harisena's own commission, and 17–20, commissioned by Upendragupta. In 472 the situation was such that work was suspended completely, in a period that Spink calls "the Hiatus", which lasted until about 475, by which time the Asmakas had replaced Upendragupta as the local rulers.
Work was then resumed, but again disrupted by Harisena's death in 477, soon after which major excavation ceased, except at cave 26, which the Asmakas were sponsoring themselves. The Asmakas launched a revolt against Harisena's son, which brought about the end of the Vakataka Dynasty. In the years 478–480 major excavation by important patrons was replaced by a rash of "intrusions" – statues added to existing caves, and small shrines dotted about where there was space between them. These were commissioned by less powerful individuals, some monks, who had not previously been able to make additions to the large excavations of the rulers and courtiers. They were added to the facades, the return sides of the entrances, and to walls inside the caves. According to Spink, "After 480, not a single image was ever made again at the site", and as Hinduism again dominated the region, the site was again abandoned, this time for over a millennium.
Spink does not use "circa" in his dates, but says that "one should allow a margin of error of one year or perhaps even two in all cases".
IMPACT ON MODERN INDIAN PAINTINGS
The Ajanta paintings, or more likely the general style they come from, influenced painting in Tibet and Sri Lanka.
The rediscovery of ancient Indian paintings at Ajanta provided Indian artists examples from ancient India to follow. Nandlal Bose experimented with techniques to follow the ancient style which allowed him to develop his unique style. Abanindranath Tagore also used the Ajanta paintings for inspiration.
WIKIPEDIA
This is an entry in the Town Chamberlains account book, 1586-1606. It includes the items bought for the purpose of executing a witch.
This document is part of our palaeography practice. A transcription will be revealed on 14th May 2020 on our blog.
Date: 1590
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