Cremation is the combustion, vaporization and oxidation of dead bodies to basic chemical compounds, such as gases, ashes and mineral fragments retaining the appearance of dry bone. Cremation may serve as a funeral or post-funeral rite that is an alternative to the interment of an intact dead body in a coffin or casket. Cremated remains, which do not constitute a health risk, may be buried or interred in memorial sites or cemeteries, or they may be retained by relatives and dispersed in various ways. Cremation is not an alternative to a funeral, but rather an alternative to burial or other forms of disposal.

 

In many countries, cremation is usually done in a crematorium. Some countries, such as India and Nepal, prefer different methods, such as open-air cremation.

 

HISTORY

ANCIENT

Cremation dates from at least 20,000 years ago in the archaeological record, with the Mungo Lady, the remains of a partly cremated body found at Lake Mungo, Australia.

 

Alternative death rituals emphasizing one method of disposal of a body - inhumation (burial), cremation, or exposure - have gone through periods of preference throughout history.

 

In the Middle East and Europe, both burial and cremation are evident in the archaeological record in the Neolithic era. Cultural groups had their own preferences and prohibitions. The ancient Egyptians developed an intricate transmigration of soul theology, which prohibited cremation, and this was adopted widely among other Semitic peoples. The Babylonians, according to Herodotus, embalmed their dead. Early Persians practiced cremation, but this became prohibited during the Zoroastrian Period. Phoenicians practiced both cremation and burial. From the Cycladic civilisation in 3000 BC until the Sub-Mycenaean era in 1200–1100 BC, Greeks practiced inhumation. Cremation appeared around the 12th century BC, constituting a new practice of burial, probably influenced by Anatolia. Until the Christian era, when inhumation again became the only burial practice, both combustion and inhumation had been practiced, depending on the era and location. Romans practiced both, with cremation generally associated with military honors.

 

In Europe, there are traces of cremation dating to the Early Bronze Age (c. 2000 BC) in the Pannonian Plain and along the middle Danube. The custom becomes dominant throughout Bronze Age Europe with the Urnfield culture (from c. 1300 BC). In the Iron Age, inhumation again becomes more common, but cremation persisted in the Villanovan culture and elsewhere. Homer's account of Patroclus' burial describes cremation with subsequent burial in a tumulus, similar to Urnfield burials, and qualifying as the earliest description of cremation rites. This may be an anachronism, as during Mycenaean times burial was generally preferred, and Homer may have been reflecting the more common use of cremation at the time the Iliad was written, centuries later.

 

Criticism of burial rites is a common form of aspersion by competing religions and cultures, including the association of cremation with fire sacrifice or human sacrifice.

 

Hinduism and Jainism are notable for not only allowing but prescribing cremation. Cremation in India is first attested in the Cemetery H culture (from c. 1900 BC), considered the formative stage of Vedic civilization. The Rigveda contains a reference to the emerging practice, in RV 10.15.14, where the forefathers "both cremated (agnidagdhá-) and uncremated (ánagnidagdha-)" are invoked.

 

Cremation remained common, but not universal, in both Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome. According to Cicero, in Rome, inhumation was considered the more archaic rite, while the most honoured citizens were most typically cremated - especially upper classes and members of imperial families.

 

Christianity frowned upon cremation, both influenced by the tenets of Judaism and as an attempt to abolish Graeco-Roman pagan rituals. By the 5th century, the practice of cremation had practically disappeared from Europe.

In early Roman Britain, cremation was usual but diminished by the 4th century. It then reappeared in the 5th and 6th centuries during the migration era, when sacrificed animals were sometimes included with the human bodies on the pyre, and the deceased were dressed in costume and with ornaments for the burning. That custom was also very widespread among the Germanic peoples of the northern continental lands from which the Anglo-Saxon migrants are supposed to have been derived, during the same period. These ashes were usually thereafter deposited in a vessel of clay or bronze in an "urn cemetery". The custom again died out with the Christian conversion of the Anglo-Saxons or Early English during the 7th century, when inhumation became general.

 

MIDDLE AGES

Throughout parts of Europe, cremation was forbidden by law, and even punishable by death if combined with Heathen rites.[6] Cremation was sometimes used by authorities as part of punishment for heretics, and this did not only include burning at the stake. For example, the body of John Wycliff was exhumed years after his death and cremated, with the ashes thrown in a river, explicitly as a posthumous punishment for his denial of the Roman Catholic doctrine of transubstantiation.

 

On the other hand, mass cremations were often performed out of fear of contagious diseases, such as after a battle, pestilence, or famine. Retributory cremation continued into modern times. For example, after World War II, the bodies of the 12 men convicted of crimes against humanity at the Nuremberg Trials were not returned to their families after execution, but were instead cremated, then disposed of at a secret location as a specific part of a legal process intended to deny their use as a location for any sort of memorial. In Japan, however, erection of a memorial building for many executed war criminals, who were also cremated, was allowed for their remains.

 

HINDUISM AND OTHER INDIAN ORIGN RELIGIONS

Religions such as Hinduism, Jainism, and Sikhism practice cremation. In Buddhism cremation is acceptable but not mandated. The founder, Shakyamuni Buddha was cremated. For Buddhist spiritual masters who are cremated, one of the results of cremation are the formation of Buddhist relics.

 

A dead adult Hindu is mourned with a cremation, while a dead child is typically buried. The rite of passage is performed in harmony with the Hindu religious view that the microcosm of all living beings is a reflection of a macrocosm of the universe. The soul (Atman, Brahman) is the essence and immortal that is released at the Antyeshti ritual, but both the body and the universe are vehicles and transitory in various schools of Hinduism. They consist of five elements - air, water, fire, earth and space. The last rite of passage returns the body to the five elements and origins. The roots of this belief are found in the Vedas, for example in the hymns of Rigveda in section 10.16, as follows:

 

Burn him not up, nor quite consume him, Agni: let not his body or his skin be scattered,

O all possessing Fire, when thou hast matured him, then send him on his way unto the Fathers.

When thou hast made him ready, all possessing Fire, then do thou give him over to the Fathers,

When he attains unto the life that waits him, he shall become subject to the will of gods.

The Sun receive thine eye, the Wind thy Prana (life-principle, breathe); go, as thy merit is, to earth or heaven.

Go, if it be thy lot, unto the waters; go, make thine home in plants with all thy members.

— Rigveda 10.16

 

The final rites, in case of untimely death of a child, is usually not cremation but a burial. This is rooted in Rig Veda's section 10.18, where the hymns mourn the death of the child, praying to deity Mrityu to "neither harm our girls nor our boys", and pleads the earth to cover, protect the deceased child as a soft wool.

 

SATI

The act of sati refers to a funeral ritual in which a widowed woman committed suicide on the husband's funeral pyre. While a mention of self-immolation by one of several wives of an Indian king is found in a Greek text on India, along with self-immolation by widows in Russia near Volga, tribes of Thracians in southeast Europe, and some tribes of Tonga and Fiji islands, vast majority of ancient texts do not mention this practice. Rare mentions of such cremations in aristocratic circles appear in texts dated to be before the 9th century AD, where the widow of a king had the choice to burn with him or abstain. Ancient texts of Hinduism make no mention of Sati; its early medieval era texts forbid it, while post 10th century medieval era texts partly justify it and criticize the practice. The practice of sati, grew after 1000 CE, becoming a particularly significant practice by Hindus in India during the Islamic wars of conquest in South Asia.

 

This practice was made illegal in 1829 during the British colonial rule of India. After gaining independence from British colonial era, India passed a series of additional laws. The Indian Sati Prevention Act from 1988 further criminalised any type of aiding, abetting, and glorifying of sati. In modern India, the last known case of Sati was in 1987, by Roop Kanwar in Rajasthan. Her action was found to be a suicide, and it led to the arrest and prosecution of people for failing to act and prevent her suicide during her husband's cremation.

 

BALI

Balinese Hindu dead are generally buried inside the container for a period of time, which may exceed one month or more, so that the cremation ceremony (Ngaben) can occur on an auspicious day in the Balinese-Javanese Calendar system ("Saka"). Additionally, if the departed was a court servant, member of the court or minor noble, the cremation can be postponed up to several years to coincide with the cremation of their Prince. Balinese funerals are very expensive and the body may be interred until the family can afford it or until there is a group funeral planned by the village or family when costs will be less. The purpose of burying the corpse is for the decay process to consume the fluids of the corpse, which allows for an easier, more rapid and more complete cremation.

 

ISLAM

Islam strictly forbids cremation. Islam has specific rites for the treatment of the body after death.

 

WIKIPEDIA

Gautama Buddha, also known as Siddhārtha Gautama,[note 3] Shakyamuni,[note 4] or simply the Buddha, was a sage[3] on whose teachings Buddhism was founded.[web 2] He is believed to have lived and taught mostly in eastern India sometime between the sixth and fourth centuries BCE.[4][note 5]

 

The word Buddha means "awakened one" or "the enlightened one". "Buddha" is also used as a title for the first awakened being in an era. In most Buddhist traditions, Siddhartha Gautama is regarded as the Supreme Buddha (Pali sammāsambuddha, Sanskrit samyaksaṃbuddha) of our age.[note 6] Gautama taught a Middle Way between sensual indulgence and the severe asceticism found in the Sramana (renunciation) movement[5] common in his region. He later taught throughout regions of eastern India such as Magadha and Kośala.[4][6]

 

Gautama is the primary figure in Buddhism and accounts of his life, discourses, and monastic rules are believed by Buddhists to have been summarized after his death and memorized by his followers. Various collections of teachings attributed to him were passed down by oral tradition and first committed to writing about 400 years later.Scholars are hesitant to make unqualified claims about the historical facts of the Buddha's life. Most accept that he lived, taught and founded a monastic order during the Mahajanapada era in India during the reign of Bimbisara, the ruler of the Magadha empire, and died during the early years of the reign of Ajatshatru who was the successor of Bimbisara, thus making him a younger contemporary of Mahavira, the Jain teacher.[7] Apart from the Vedic Brahmins, Buddha's lifetime coincided with the flourishing of other influential sramana schools of thoughts like Ājīvika, Cārvāka, Jain, and Ajñana. It was also the age of influential thinkers like Mahāvīra, Pūraṇa Kassapa , Makkhali Gosāla, Ajita Kesakambalī, Pakudha Kaccāyana, and Sañjaya Belaṭṭhaputta, whose viewpoints Buddha most certainly must have been acquainted with and influenced by.[8][9][note 7] There is also evidence to suggest that the two masters, Alara Kalama and Udaka Ramaputta, were indeed historical figures and they most probably taught Buddha two different forms of meditative techniques.[10] While the most general outline of "birth, maturity, renunciation, search, awakening and liberation, teaching, death" must be true,[11] most scholars do not consistently accept all of the details contained in traditional biographies.[12][13]

 

The times of Gautama's birth and death are uncertain. Most historians in the early 20th century dated his lifetime as circa 563 BCE to 483 BCE.[1][14] More recently his death is dated later, between 411 and 400 BCE, while at a symposium on this question held in 1988, the majority of those who presented definite opinions gave dates within 20 years either side of 400 BCE for the Buddha's death.[1][15][note 5] These alternative chronologies, however, have not yet been accepted by all historians.[20][21][note 9]

 

The evidence of the early texts suggests that Siddhārtha Gautama was born into the Shakya clan, a community that was on the periphery, both geographically and culturally, of the northeastern Indian subcontinent in the 5th century BCE.[23] It was either a small republic, in which case his father was an elected chieftain, or an oligarchy, in which case his father was an oligarch.[23] According to the Buddhist tradition, Gautama was born in Lumbini, nowadays in modern-day Nepal, and raised in Kapilavastu, which may either be in present day Tilaurakot, Nepal or Piprahwa, India.[note 1] He obtained his enlightenment in Bodh Gaya, gave his first sermon in Sarnath, and died in Kushinagara.

 

No written records about Gautama have been found from his lifetime or some centuries thereafter. One edict of Emperor Ashoka, who reigned from circa 269 BCE to 232 BCE, commemorates the Emperor's pilgrimage to the Buddha's birthplace in Lumbini. Another one of his edict mentions several Dhamma texts, establishing the existence of a written Buddhist tradition at least by the time of the Mauryan era and which may be the precursors of the Pāli Canon.[34][note 11] The oldest surviving Buddhist manuscripts are the Gandhāran Buddhist texts, reported to have been found in or around Haḍḍa near Jalalabad in eastern Afghanistan and now preserved in the British Library. They are written in the Kharoṣṭhī script and the Gāndhārī language on twenty-seven birch bark scrolls, and they date from the first century BCE to the third century CE.[web 10]The sources for the life of Siddhārtha Gautama are a variety of different, and sometimes conflicting, traditional biographies. These include the Buddhacarita, Lalitavistara Sūtra, Mahāvastu, and the Nidānakathā.[35] Of these, the Buddhacarita[36][37][38] is the earliest full biography, an epic poem written by the poet Aśvaghoṣa, and dating around the beginning of the 2nd century CE.[35] The Lalitavistara Sūtra is the next oldest biography, a Mahāyāna/Sarvāstivāda biography dating to the 3rd century CE.[39] The Mahāvastu from the Mahāsāṃghika Lokottaravāda tradition is another major biography, composed incrementally until perhaps the 4th century CE.[39] The Dharmaguptaka biography of the Buddha is the most exhaustive, and is entitled the Abhiniṣkramaṇa Sūtra,[40] and various Chinese translations of this date between the 3rd and 6th century CE. Lastly, the Nidānakathā is from the Theravāda tradition in Sri Lanka and was composed in the 5th century CE by Buddhaghoṣa.[41]

 

From canonical sources, the Jātakas, the Mahapadana Sutta (DN 14), and the Achariyabhuta Sutta (MN 123) which include selective accounts that may be older, but are not full biographies. The Jātakas retell previous lives of Gautama as a bodhisattva, and the first collection of these can be dated among the earliest Buddhist texts.[42] The Mahāpadāna Sutta and Achariyabhuta Sutta both recount miraculous events surrounding Gautama's birth, such as the bodhisattva's descent from Tuṣita Heaven into his mother's womb.Traditional biographies of Gautama generally include numerous miracles, omens, and supernatural events. The character of the Buddha in these traditional biographies is often that of a fully transcendent (Skt. lokottara) and perfected being who is unencumbered by the mundane world. In the Mahāvastu, over the course of many lives, Gautama is said to have developed supramundane abilities including: a painless birth conceived without intercourse; no need for sleep, food, medicine, or bathing, although engaging in such "in conformity with the world"; omniscience, and the ability to "suppress karma".[43][44][45] Nevertheless, some of the more ordinary details of his life have been gathered from these traditional sources. In modern times there has been an attempt to form a secular understanding of Siddhārtha Gautama's life by omitting the traditional supernatural elements of his early biographies.

 

Andrew Skilton writes that the Buddha was never historically regarded by Buddhist traditions as being merely human:[46]

 

It is important to stress that, despite modern Theravada teachings to the contrary (often a sop to skeptical Western pupils), he was never seen as being merely human. For instance, he is often described as having the thirty-two major and eighty minor marks or signs of a mahāpuruṣa, "superman"; the Buddha himself denied that he was either a man or a god; and in the Mahāparinibbāna Sutta he states that he could live for an aeon were he asked to do so.

 

The ancient Indians were generally unconcerned with chronologies, being more focused on philosophy. Buddhist texts reflect this tendency, providing a clearer picture of what Gautama may have taught than of the dates of the events in his life. These texts contain descriptions of the culture and daily life of ancient India which can be corroborated from the Jain scriptures, and make the Buddha's time the earliest period in Indian history for which significant accounts exist.[47] British author Karen Armstrong writes that although there is very little information that can be considered historically sound, we can be reasonably confident that Siddhārtha Gautama did exist as a historical figure.[48] Michael Carrithers goes a bit further by stating that the most general outline of "birth, maturity, renunciation, search, awakening and liberation, teaching, death" must be true.[11]The Buddhist tradition regards Lumbini, present-day Nepal, to be the birthplace of the Buddha.[49][note 1] He grew up in Kapilavastu.[note 1] The exact site of ancient Kapilavastu is unknown. It may have been either Piprahwa, Uttar Pradesh, present-day India,[32] or Tilaurakot, present-day Nepal.[50] Both places belonged to the Sakya territory, and are located only 15 miles apart from each other.[50]

 

Siddharta Gautama was born as a Kshatriya,[51][note 13] the son of Śuddhodana, "an elected chief of the Shakya clan",[4] whose capital was Kapilavastu, and who were later annexed by the growing Kingdom of Kosala during the Buddha's lifetime. Gautama was the family name. His mother, Queen Maha Maya (Māyādevī) and Suddhodana's wife, was a Koliyan princess. Legend has it that, on the night Siddhartha was conceived, Queen Maya dreamt that a white elephant with six white tusks entered her right side,[53][54] and ten months later[55] Siddhartha was born. As was the Shakya tradition, when his mother Queen Maya became pregnant, she left Kapilvastu for her father's kingdom to give birth. However, her son is said to have been born on the way, at Lumbini, in a garden beneath a sal tree.

 

The day of the Buddha's birth is widely celebrated in Theravada countries as Vesak.[56] Buddha's birth anniversary holiday is called "Buddha Purnima" in Nepal and India as Buddha is believed to have been born on a full moon day. Various sources hold that the Buddha's mother died at his birth, a few days or seven days later. The infant was given the name Siddhartha (Pāli: Siddhattha), meaning "he who achieves his aim". During the birth celebrations, the hermit seer Asita journeyed from his mountain abode and announced that the child would either become a great king (chakravartin) or a great holy man.[57] By traditional account,[which?] this occurred after Siddhartha placed his feet in Asita's hair and Asita examined the birthmarks. Suddhodana held a naming ceremony on the fifth day, and invited eight Brahmin scholars to read the future. All gave a dual prediction that the baby would either become a great king or a great holy man.[57] Kaundinya (Pali: Kondañña), the youngest, and later to be the first arahant other than the Buddha, was reputed to be the only one who unequivocally predicted that Siddhartha would become a Buddha.[58]

 

While later tradition and legend characterized Śuddhodana as a hereditary monarch, the descendant of the Solar Dynasty of Ikṣvāku (Pāli: Okkāka), many scholars think that Śuddhodana was the elected chief of a tribal confederacy.

 

Early texts suggest that Gautama was not familiar with the dominant religious teachings of his time until he left on his religious quest, which is said to have been motivated by existential concern for the human condition.[59] The state of the Shakya clan was not a monarchy, and seems to have been structured either as an oligarchy, or as a form of republic.[60] The more egalitarian gana-sangha form of government, as a political alternative to the strongly hierarchical kingdoms, may have influenced the development of the Shramana-type Jain and Buddhist sanghas, where monarchies tended toward Vedic Brahmanism.[61]Siddhartha was brought up by his mother's younger sister, Maha Pajapati.[62] By tradition, he is said to have been destined by birth to the life of a prince, and had three palaces (for seasonal occupation) built for him. Although more recent scholarship doubts this status, his father, said to be King Śuddhodana, wishing for his son to be a great king, is said to have shielded him from religious teachings and from knowledge of human suffering.

 

When he reached the age of 16, his father reputedly arranged his marriage to a cousin of the same age named Yaśodharā (Pāli: Yasodharā). According to the traditional account,[which?] she gave birth to a son, named Rāhula. Siddhartha is said to have spent 29 years as a prince in Kapilavastu. Although his father ensured that Siddhartha was provided with everything he could want or need, Buddhist scriptures say that the future Buddha felt that material wealth was not life's ultimate goal.[62]According to the early Buddhist texts,[web 11] after realizing that meditative dhyana was the right path to awakening, but that extreme asceticism didn't work, Gautama discovered what Buddhists call the Middle Way[web 11]—a path of moderation away from the extremes of self-indulgence and self-mortification, or the Noble Eightfold Path, as was identified and described by the Buddha in his first discourse, the Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta.[web 11] In a famous incident, after becoming starved and weakened, he is said to have accepted milk and rice pudding from a village girl named Sujata.[web 12] Such was his emaciated appearance that she wrongly believed him to be a spirit that had granted her a wish.[web 12]

 

Following this incident, Gautama was famously seated under a pipal tree—now known as the Bodhi tree—in Bodh Gaya, India, when he vowed never to arise until he had found the truth.[70] Kaundinya and four other companions, believing that he had abandoned his search and become undisciplined, left. After a reputed 49 days of meditation, at the age of 35, he is said to have attained Enlightenment.[70][web 13] According to some traditions, this occurred in approximately the fifth lunar month, while, according to others, it was in the twelfth month. From that time, Gautama was known to his followers as the Buddha or "Awakened One" ("Buddha" is also sometimes translated as "The Enlightened One").

 

According to Buddhism, at the time of his awakening he realized complete insight into the cause of suffering, and the steps necessary to eliminate it. These discoveries became known as the "Four Noble Truths",[web 13] which are at the heart of Buddhist teaching. Through mastery of these truths, a state of supreme liberation, or Nirvana, is believed to be possible for any being. The Buddha described Nirvāna as the perfect peace of a mind that's free from ignorance, greed, hatred and other afflictive states,[web 13] or "defilements" (kilesas). Nirvana is also regarded as the "end of the world", in that no personal identity or boundaries of the mind remain. In such a state, a being is said to possess the Ten Characteristics, belonging to every Buddha.

 

According to a story in the Āyācana Sutta (Samyutta Nikaya VI.1) — a scripture found in the Pāli and other canons — immediately after his awakening, the Buddha debated whether or not he should teach the Dharma to others. He was concerned that humans were so overpowered by ignorance, greed and hatred that they could never recognise the path, which is subtle, deep and hard to grasp. However, in the story, Brahmā Sahampati convinced him, arguing that at least some will understand it. The Buddha relented, and agreed to teach.After his awakening, the Buddha met Taphussa and Bhallika — two merchant brothers from the city of Balkh in what is currently Afghanistan — who became his first lay disciples. It is said that each was given hairs from his head, which are now claimed to be enshrined as relics in the Shwe Dagon Temple in Rangoon, Burma. The Buddha intended to visit Asita, and his former teachers, Alara Kalama and Udaka Ramaputta, to explain his findings, but they had already died.

 

He then travelled to the Deer Park near Varanasi (Benares) in northern India, where he set in motion what Buddhists call the Wheel of Dharma by delivering his first sermon to the five companions with whom he had sought enlightenment. Together with him, they formed the first saṅgha: the company of Buddhist monks.

 

All five become arahants, and within the first two months, with the conversion of Yasa and fifty four of his friends, the number of such arahants is said to have grown to 60. The conversion of three brothers named Kassapa followed, with their reputed 200, 300 and 500 disciples, respectively. This swelled the sangha to more than 1,000.For the remaining 45 years of his life, the Buddha is said to have traveled in the Gangetic Plain, in what is now Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and southern Nepal, teaching a diverse range of people: from nobles to servants, murderers such as Angulimala, and cannibals such as Alavaka. Although the Buddha's language remains unknown, it's likely that he taught in one or more of a variety of closely related Middle Indo-Aryan dialects, of which Pali may be a standardization.

 

The sangha traveled through the subcontinent, expounding the dharma. This continued throughout the year, except during the four months of the Vāsanā rainy season when ascetics of all religions rarely traveled. One reason was that it was more difficult to do so without causing harm to animal life. At this time of year, the sangha would retreat to monasteries, public parks or forests, where people would come to them.The first vassana was spent at Varanasi when the sangha was formed. After this, the Buddha kept a promise to travel to Rajagaha, capital of Magadha, to visit King Bimbisara. During this visit, Sariputta and Maudgalyayana were converted by Assaji, one of the first five disciples, after which they were to become the Buddha's two foremost followers. The Buddha spent the next three seasons at Veluvana Bamboo Grove monastery in Rajagaha, capital of Magadha.

 

Upon hearing of his son's awakening, Suddhodana sent, over a period, ten delegations to ask him to return to Kapilavastu. On the first nine occasions, the delegates failed to deliver the message, and instead joined the sangha to become arahants. The tenth delegation, led by Kaludayi, a childhood friend of Gautama's (who also became an arahant), however, delivered the message.

 

Now two years after his awakening, the Buddha agreed to return, and made a two-month journey by foot to Kapilavastu, teaching the dharma as he went. At his return, the royal palace prepared a midday meal, but the sangha was making an alms round in Kapilavastu. Hearing this, Suddhodana approached his son, the Buddha, saying:

 

"Ours is the warrior lineage of Mahamassata, and not a single warrior has gone seeking alms."

 

The Buddha is said to have replied:

 

"That is not the custom of your royal lineage. But it is the custom of my Buddha lineage. Several thousands of Buddhas have gone by seeking alms."

 

Buddhist texts say that Suddhodana invited the sangha into the palace for the meal, followed by a dharma talk. After this he is said to have become a sotapanna. During the visit, many members of the royal family joined the sangha. The Buddha's cousins Ananda and Anuruddha became two of his five chief disciples. At the age of seven, his son Rahula also joined, and became one of his ten chief disciples. His half-brother Nanda also joined and became an arahant.

 

Of the Buddha's disciples, Sariputta, Maudgalyayana, Mahakasyapa, Ananda and Anuruddha are believed to have been the five closest to him. His ten foremost disciples were reputedly completed by the quintet of Upali, Subhoti, Rahula, Mahakaccana and Punna.

 

In the fifth vassana, the Buddha was staying at Mahavana near Vesali when he heard news of the impending death of his father. He is said to have gone to Suddhodana and taught the dharma, after which his father became an arahant.

 

The king's death and cremation was to inspire the creation of an order of nuns. Buddhist texts record that the Buddha was reluctant to ordain women. His foster mother Maha Pajapati, for example, approached him, asking to join the sangha, but he refused. Maha Pajapati, however, was so intent on the path of awakening that she led a group of royal Sakyan and Koliyan ladies, which followed the sangha on a long journey to Rajagaha. In time, after Ananda championed their cause, the Buddha is said to have reconsidered and, five years after the formation of the sangha, agreed to the ordination of women as nuns. He reasoned that males and females had an equal capacity for awakening. But he gave women additional rules (Vinaya) to follow.Dhyana and insight[edit]

A core problem in the study of early Buddhism is the relation between dhyana and insight.[82][95][84] Schmithausen, in his often-cited article On some Aspects of Descriptions or Theories of 'Liberating Insight' and 'Enlightenment' in Early Buddhism notes that the mention of the four noble truths as constituting "liberating insight", which is attained after mastering the Rupa Jhanas, is a later addition to texts such as Majjhima Nikaya 36.[85][81][82]

Vienna Volksoper

The Volksoper is after the Vienna State Opera, the second-largest opera house in Vienna. The program will include operettas, operas, musicals and ballet.

(Pictures you can see by clicking on the link at the end of page!)

Seen from the Volksoper Währingerstraße from

History

Founding and time as spoken theater

The Jubilee City Theatre woodcut from the Leipzig magazine of 19 January 1899

1897 Karl Lueger was appointed mayor of Vienna. The architectural thought - ie the redesign of Vienna - was the prevailing social, economic and political trend in this as ring road time known era. In the same year the emperor anniversary Municipal Theatre Association (Kaiserjubiläums-Stadttheater-Verein) was founded by committed citizens of the City of Vienna to set up with the objective of the 50th Jubilee of Emperor Franz Joseph I in 1898 a theater for the performance of German speaking pieces in Waehring.

In addition to this club significantly involved was also the Christian Social dictrict leader of Währing Anton Baumann because the building until 1905 stood in the 18th District. The theater association commissioned the architect Alexander Graf with the implementation of the building, which together with the architect Franz Freiherr von Krauss built the Emperor's Jubilee City Theatre in just 10 months.

The total costs were estimated at 650,000 guilders before construction begins. This amount was financed through shares, which were sold like hot cakes. With some delay, the construction work was started in March, 1898. The high pressure of time led to a violation of the construction costs by approximately 25%, or 160,000 guilders. This missing amount was not subsidized by public authorities, but was imposed the director Adam Müller-Guttenbrunn in the form of a lease rate increase.

Another shadow over the opening on 14 December 1898 cast the fact that the emperor himself stayed away from the opening of the house, as his wife Elizabeth had been killed three months earlier. After this bad start of the theater followed after not yet five years in 1903, the first bankruptcy .

The musical theater from 1903 until the postwar years

The Jubilee City Theatre at the time of opening, 1898

On 1 September 1903, Rainer Simon took over the directorate. He for himself had completed his apprenticeship with famous singers such as Julius Stockhausen or composers like Engelbert Humperdinck. A clear goal in mind, although he would indeed continue the popular German speaking parts in the sense of its predecessor, but put the first steps towards musical theater. During the 1904/05 season - in which for the first time appeares in the subtitle Volksoper, too - Simons introduced the first comic operas. Due to the great public appeal, Simons already ventured 1906-1908 the leap to the big opera. From 1908 the venue operated only under the name Volksoper.

After many highly successful years, finally in 1925 the Volksoper massively had to fight with the effects of inflation. After some brief closures and various rescue attempts by the working groups Volksoper was closed on 5 July in 1928 and only on 5 November 1929 reopened as New Vienna Schauspielhaus. 1938 took over the city of Vienna the now Urban Vienna Volksoper (Städtische Wiener Volksoper) later renamed Opera House of the City of Vienna. Towards the end of the Second World War the Volksoper became, for several months, the second largest cinema of the city with 1,550 seats, since after 1 September 1944 for all theaters was ruling prohbition of theater performances and there were some Viennese cinemas already destroyed by air raids.

After the Second World War, the Volksoper served as temporary quarters for the destroyed Staatsoper. After the opening of the restored State Opera building in 1955, the People's Opera became again independent musical theater with operas, operettas and musicals. In the same year, the Volksoper was integrated into the Austrian Federal Theatre.

Recent history

Under the director Karl Dönch took place in 1973 a first major reconstruction of the theater house.

1979 Robert Jungbluth has initiated in his former role as Secretary General of the Federal Theatre Association for the Volksoper a guest performance in Japan. It was the first operetta which was performed in Japan. In 1984, followed an American tour.

September 1991 to June 1996, the Staatsoper and the Volksoper were under joint command. During this time singers were hired for both houses simultaneously. The season was, however, autonomous, since both platforms serve different priorities.

The People's Opera as stage house of the Austrian theater became with the Federal Law on the reorganization of the Federal Theatre (Federal Theatre Organisation Act) in 1998 a legally independent company. 1999 took place the establishment of the "Volksoper Wien GmbH" as a 100% subsidiary of the Federal Theatre Holding GmbH.

Since 1 September 2007 is the Volksoper Vienna conducted by Kammerschauspieler Robert Meyer as director and artistic director. Rainer Schubert acts as Deputy Director. At the same time Mag. Christoph Ladstätter was appointed Chief Financial Officer. Diethmar Strasser acts as artistic director of operations, and Gerrit Prießnitz is the musical director of studies.

Robert Meyer is pursuing a consistent policy of reform. Its goal is to position the Volksoper again as "the musical theater in Vienna" to enhance the operetta and to a wider audience.

Iron Curtain

An iron curtain of the Vienna Volksoper

On the Iron Curtain, the dedication of the house of the 50th anniversary of the reign of Franz Joseph I. By the two year figures 1848, on your left, and 1898, on your right, good recognisable. This was painted by Karl Schuller and Georg Janny.

The curtain is showing in the center front Vindobona. The man in the right half of the picture is supposed to symbolize the citizens of Vienna. By removal of the blindfold this one now should be able to see the beautiful muses, too.

Before the war, the curtain was cleared away and was then lost until it reappeared in the 1990s in the attic of the Theater an der Wien.

Facts and Figures

Spectators and house

Current seating plan of the Volksoper

At three different levels to visitors a total of 1261 seating and 72 standing places, and 2 wheelchair places are available. From September to June, there is, with few exceptions, every day a performance. The most important figures in recent years:

Season Performances Visitors avg seat utilization employees

2004/2005 [2 ] 287 293 695 75.41 % unknown

2005/2006 [3 ] 276 280 520 74.77 % 524

2006/2007 [ 4] 281 289 721 78.34 % 523

2007/2008 [ 5 ] 291 325 491 85.77 % 526

The for maintenance activities responsible federal-Holding has spent in the fiscal year 2006/2007 for a facade renovation of the historic building Volksoper EUR 1.1 million.

Specifications

Lighting and views to the orchestra pit at the Volksoper

The orchestra pit is equipped with two electrically powered lifting platforms. The load capacity is 500 kg/m² (front single podium, stage-sided double-decker panel) and is height adjustable from 0 to 2.65 feet below stage level.

The existing red velvet curtain head is hydraulically liftable and raff. The gathering speed is 0.15 to 3.0 m/s, the lifting speed is up to 2 m/s.

The sound curtain of aluminum frame also operates hydraulically. The additional capacity of 300 kg with a point load of 150 kg. The lifting speed as sound curtain is up to 0.8 m/s. The lifting speed as heavy truck is up to 0.5 m/s.

The hydraulically operated Schleierzug has a load capacity of 350 kg with a point load of 150 kg.

The stage area is 480 square meters with a maximum of 500 kg / m² load . The usable platform width is 17.2 meters and the depth of the stage from the front edge to the portal sliding gate are 19 meters.

Volksoper from the belt

The stage surface is made of a rotatable and raisable core disk having a diameter of 7.20 m in the middle, and a rotatable annular disc having an outer diameter of 15 meters of the core slices. Furthermore, there are three hand-operated, stationary personal meditations.

Organizational Structure

Since 1999, the Vienna Volksoper belongs to 100 % to the Federal Theatre holding just like the Staatsoper GmbH Vienna and Burgtheater GmbH. Another subsidiary is the theater GmbH which belongs to 51.1 % to the Federal Theatre Holding. The remaining 48.9% hold the three stage companies in equal parts (each 16.3%). Together with the Vienna State Opera, the Volksoper is subordinaded the independent consortium Ballet of the Vienna State Opera and Volksoper. Directors

Adam Müller- Guttenbrunn (1898-1903)

Rainer Simons (1903-1917)

Raoul Mader (1917-1919)

Felix Weingartner (1919-1924)

August Markowsky/Fritz Stiedry (1924 )

Hugo Gruder-Guntram/​​Leo Blech (1925 )

Frischler Hermann (1925-1928)

Jacob Feldhammer/Otto Preminger (1929-1931)

Leo Kraus (1931-1933)

Karl Funny-Prean/Jean Ernest (1934-1935)

Alexander Kovalevsky (1935-1938)

Anton Baumann (1938-1941)

Jölli Oskar (1941-1944)

Juch Hermann (1946-1955)

Salmhofer Franz (1955-1963)

Albert Moser (1963-1973)

Karl Dönch (1973-1986)

Eberhard Waechter (1987-1992, 1991-1992 also the director of the Vienna State Opera)

Ioan Holender (1992-1996, also the director of the Vienna State Opera)

Klaus Bachler (1996-1999)

Dominique Mentha (1999-2003)

Rudolf Berger (2003-2007)

Robert Meyer (from 2007)

Premieres

The Kuhreigen, Musical Theatre by Wilhelm Kienzl, 23 November 1911

Love chains, opera in three acts by Eugen d'Albert, 12th November 1912

The Testament, musical comedy by William Kienzl, on 6 December 1916

The lucky hand, drama with music by Arnold Schoenberg, on 14 October 1924

This is the first love affair, operetta by Eysler, 23 December 1934

On the green meadow, operetta by Jara Benes, on 9 October 1936

Spring Parade, operetta by Robert Stolz, on 5 March 1964

Felix. Or of someone who set out to learn to shudder, and jazz opera by Klaudia Kadlec (libretto ) and Max Nagl (music) after the fairy tale by the Brothers Grimm on 23 June 2002

Honorary members

Klaus Bachler

Franz Bauer-Theussl

Rudolf Bibl

Adolf Dallapozza

Otto Fritz

Hans Grötzer

Karlheinz Haberland

Johannes Heesters (since 1984)

Michael Heltau (since 2004)

Robert Herzl (since 1998)

Ioan Holender

Renate Holm

Mirjana Irosch

Wolfgang Schultze

Dagmar Koller

Erich Kuchar

Guggi Löwinger

Sigrid Martikke

Peter Minich

Sonja Mottl Dönch

Helga Papouschek

Herbert Prikopa (since 1986)

Harald Serafin

Wicus Slabbert (since 2005)

Christiane Sorell

Helmut Süß

Paul Walter Rudolf Wasserlof

de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volksoper_Wien

Gautama Buddha, also known as Siddhārtha Gautama, Shakyamuni, or simply the Buddha, was a sage on whose teachings Buddhism was founded. He is believed to have lived and taught mostly in northeastern India sometime between the sixth and fourth centuries BCE.

 

The word Buddha means "awakened one" or "the enlightened one". "Buddha" is also used as a title for the first awakened being in a Yuga era. In most Buddhist traditions, Siddhartha Gautama is regarded as the Supreme Buddha (Pali sammāsambuddha, Sanskrit samyaksaṃbuddha) of the present age. Gautama taught a Middle Way between sensual indulgence and the severe asceticism found in the śramaṇa movement common in his region. He later taught throughout regions of eastern India such as Magadha and Kosala.

 

Gautama is the primary figure in Buddhism and accounts of his life, discourses, and monastic rules are believed by Buddhists to have been summarized after his death and memorized by his followers. Various collections of teachings attributed to him were passed down by oral tradition and first committed to writing about 400 years later.

 

CONTENTS

HISTORICAL SIDDHARTA GAUTAMA

Scholars are hesitant to make unqualified claims about the historical facts of the Buddha's life. Most accept that he lived, taught and founded a monastic order during the Mahajanapada era during the reign of Bimbisara, the ruler of the Magadha empire, and died during the early years of the reign of Ajasattu, who was the successor of Bimbisara, thus making him a younger contemporary of Mahavira, the Jain tirthankara. Apart from the Vedic Brahmins, the Buddha's lifetime coincided with the flourishing of other influential śramaṇa schools of thoughts like Ājīvika, Cārvāka, Jainism, and Ajñana. It was also the age of influential thinkers like Mahavira, Pūraṇa Kassapa , Makkhali Gosāla, Ajita Kesakambalī, Pakudha Kaccāyana, and Sañjaya Belaṭṭhaputta, whose viewpoints the Buddha most certainly must have been acquainted with and influenced by. Indeed, Sariputta and Moggallāna, two of the foremost disciples of the Buddha, were formerly the foremost disciples of Sañjaya Belaṭṭhaputta, the skeptic. There is also evidence to suggest that the two masters, Alara Kalama and Uddaka Ramaputta, were indeed historical figures and they most probably taught Buddha two different forms of meditative techniques. While the general sequence of "birth, maturity, renunciation, search, awakening and liberation, teaching, death" is widely accepted, there is less consensus on the veracity of many details contained in traditional biographies.

 

The times of Gautama's birth and death are uncertain. Most historians in the early 20th century dated his lifetime as circa 563 BCE to 483 BCE. More recently his death is dated later, between 411 and 400 BCE, while at a symposium on this question held in 1988, the majority of those who presented definite opinions gave dates within 20 years either side of 400 BCE for the Buddha's death. These alternative chronologies, however, have not yet been accepted by all historians.

 

The evidence of the early texts suggests that Siddhārtha Gautama was born into the Shakya clan, a community that was on the periphery, both geographically and culturally, of the northeastern Indian subcontinent in the 5th century BCE. It was either a small republic, in which case his father was an elected chieftain, or an oligarchy, in which case his father was an oligarch. According to the Buddhist tradition, Gautama was born in Lumbini, nowadays in modern-day Nepal, and raised in the Shakya capital of Kapilavastu, which may have been in either present day Tilaurakot, Nepal or Piprahwa, India. He obtained his enlightenment in Bodh Gaya, gave his first sermon in Sarnath, and died in Kushinagar.

 

No written records about Gautama have been found from his lifetime or some centuries thereafter. One Edict of Asoka, who reigned from circa 269 BCE to 232 BCE, commemorates the Emperor's pilgrimage to the Buddha's birthplace in Lumbini. Another one of his edicts mentions several Dhamma texts, establishing the existence of a written Buddhist tradition at least by the time of the Maurya era and which may be the precursors of the Pāli Canon. The oldest surviving Buddhist manuscripts are the Gandhāran Buddhist texts, reported to have been found in or around Haḍḍa near Jalalabad in eastern Afghanistan and now preserved in the British Library. They are written in the Gāndhārī language using the Kharosthi script on twenty-seven birch bark manuscripts and date from the first century BCE to the third century CE.

 

TRADITIONAL BIOGRAPHIES

BIOGRAPHICAL SOURCES

The sources for the life of Siddhārtha Gautama are a variety of different, and sometimes conflicting, traditional biographies. These include the Buddhacarita, Lalitavistara Sūtra, Mahāvastu, and the Nidānakathā. Of these, the Buddhacarita is the earliest full biography, an epic poem written by the poet Aśvaghoṣa, and dating around the beginning of the 2nd century CE. The Lalitavistara Sūtra is the next oldest biography, a Mahāyāna/Sarvāstivāda biography dating to the 3rd century CE. The Mahāvastu from the Mahāsāṃghika Lokottaravāda tradition is another major biography, composed incrementally until perhaps the 4th century CE. The Dharmaguptaka biography of the Buddha is the most exhaustive, and is entitled the Abhiniṣkramaṇa Sūtra, and various Chinese translations of this date between the 3rd and 6th century CE. The Nidānakathā is from the Theravada tradition in Sri Lanka and was composed in the 5th century by Buddhaghoṣa.

 

From canonical sources, the Jataka tales, the Mahapadana Sutta (DN 14), and the Achariyabhuta Sutta (MN 123) which include selective accounts that may be older, but are not full biographies. The Jātakas retell previous lives of Gautama as a bodhisattva, and the first collection of these can be dated among the earliest Buddhist texts. The Mahāpadāna Sutta and Achariyabhuta Sutta both recount miraculous events surrounding Gautama's birth, such as the bodhisattva's descent from the Tuṣita Heaven into his mother's womb.

 

NATURE OF TRADITIONAL DEPICTIONS

In the earliest Buddhists texts, the nikāyas and āgamas, the Buddha is not depicted as possessing omniscience (sabbaññu) nor is he depicted as being an eternal transcendent (lokottara) being. According to Bhikkhu Analayo, ideas of the Buddha's omniscience (along with an increasing tendency to deify him and his biography) are found only later, in the Mahayana sutras and later Pali commentaries or texts such as the Mahāvastu. In the Sandaka Sutta, the Buddha's disciple Ananda outlines an argument against the claims of teachers who say they are all knowing while in the Tevijjavacchagotta Sutta the Buddha himself states that he has never made a claim to being omniscient, instead he claimed to have the "higher knowledges" (abhijñā). The earliest biographical material from the Pali Nikayas focuses on the Buddha's life as a śramaṇa, his search for enlightenment under various teachers such as Alara Kalama and his forty five year career as a teacher.

 

Traditional biographies of Gautama generally include numerous miracles, omens, and supernatural events. The character of the Buddha in these traditional biographies is often that of a fully transcendent (Skt. lokottara) and perfected being who is unencumbered by the mundane world. In the Mahāvastu, over the course of many lives, Gautama is said to have developed supra-mundane abilities including: a painless birth conceived without intercourse; no need for sleep, food, medicine, or bathing, although engaging in such "in conformity with the world"; omniscience, and the ability to "suppress karma". Nevertheless, some of the more ordinary details of his life have been gathered from these traditional sources. In modern times there has been an attempt to form a secular understanding of Siddhārtha Gautama's life by omitting the traditional supernatural elements of his early biographies.

 

Andrew Skilton writes that the Buddha was never historically regarded by Buddhist traditions as being merely human:

It is important to stress that, despite modern Theravada teachings to the contrary (often a sop to skeptical Western pupils), he was never seen as being merely human. For instance, he is often described as having the thirty-two major and eighty minor marks or signs of a mahāpuruṣa, "superman"; the Buddha himself denied that he was either a man or a god; and in the Mahāparinibbāna Sutta he states that he could live for an aeon were he asked to do so.The ancient Indians were generally unconcerned with chronologies, being more focused on philosophy. Buddhist texts reflect this tendency, providing a clearer picture of what Gautama may have taught than of the dates of the events in his life. These texts contain descriptions of the culture and daily life of ancient India which can be corroborated from the Jain scriptures, and make the Buddha's time the earliest period in Indian history for which significant accounts exist. British author Karen Armstrong writes that although there is very little information that can be considered historically sound, we can be reasonably confident that Siddhārtha Gautama did exist as a historical figure. Michael Carrithers goes a bit further by stating that the most general outline of "birth, maturity, renunciation, search, awakening and liberation, teaching, death" must be true.

 

BIOGRAPHY

CONCEPTION AND BIRTH

The Buddhist tradition regards Lumbini, in present-day Nepal to be the birthplace of the Buddha. He grew up in Kapilavastu. The exact site of ancient Kapilavastu is unknown. It may have been either Piprahwa, Uttar Pradesh, present-day India, or Tilaurakot, present-day Nepal. Both places belonged to the Sakya territory, and are located only 15 miles apart from each other.

 

Gautama was born as a Kshatriya, the son of Śuddhodana, "an elected chief of the Shakya clan", whose capital was Kapilavastu, and who were later annexed by the growing Kingdom of Kosala during the Buddha's lifetime. Gautama was the family name. His mother, Maya (Māyādevī), Suddhodana's wife, was a Koliyan princess. Legend has it that, on the night Siddhartha was conceived, Queen Maya dreamt that a white elephant with six white tusks entered her right side, and ten months later Siddhartha was born. As was the Shakya tradition, when his mother Queen Maya became pregnant, she left Kapilvastu for her father's kingdom to give birth. However, her son is said to have been born on the way, at Lumbini, in a garden beneath a sal tree.

 

The day of the Buddha's birth is widely celebrated in Theravada countries as Vesak. Buddha's Birthday is called Buddha Purnima in Nepal and India as he is believed to have been born on a full moon day. Various sources hold that the Buddha's mother died at his birth, a few days or seven days later. The infant was given the name Siddhartha (Pāli: Siddhattha), meaning "he who achieves his aim". During the birth celebrations, the hermit seer Asita journeyed from his mountain abode and announced that the child would either become a great king (chakravartin) or a great sadhu. By traditional account, this occurred after Siddhartha placed his feet in Asita's hair and Asita examined the birthmarks. Suddhodana held a naming ceremony on the fifth day, and invited eight Brahmin scholars to read the future. All gave a dual prediction that the baby would either become a great king or a great holy man. Kondañña, the youngest, and later to be the first arhat other than the Buddha, was reputed to be the only one who unequivocally predicted that Siddhartha would become a Buddha.

 

While later tradition and legend characterized Śuddhodana as a hereditary monarch, the descendant of the Suryavansha (Solar dynasty) of Ikṣvāku (Pāli: Okkāka), many scholars think that Śuddhodana was the elected chief of a tribal confederacy.

 

Early texts suggest that Gautama was not familiar with the dominant religious teachings of his time until he left on his religious quest, which is said to have been motivated by existential concern for the human condition. The state of the Shakya clan was not a monarchy, and seems to have been structured either as an oligarchy, or as a form of republic. The more egalitarian gana-sangha form of government, as a political alternative to the strongly hierarchical kingdoms, may have influenced the development of the śramanic Jain and Buddhist sanghas, where monarchies tended toward Vedic Brahmanism.

 

EARLY LIFE AND MARRIAGE

Siddhartha was brought up by his mother's younger sister, Maha Pajapati. By tradition, he is said to have been destined by birth to the life of a prince, and had three palaces (for seasonal occupation) built for him. Although more recent scholarship doubts this status, his father, said to be King Śuddhodana, wishing for his son to be a great king, is said to have shielded him from religious teachings and from knowledge of human suffering.

 

When he reached the age of 16, his father reputedly arranged his marriage to a cousin of the same age named Yaśodharā (Pāli: Yasodharā). According to the traditional account, she gave birth to a son, named Rāhula. Siddhartha is said to have spent 29 years as a prince in Kapilavastu. Although his father ensured that Siddhartha was provided with everything he could want or need, Buddhist scriptures say that the future Buddha felt that material wealth was not life's ultimate goal.

 

RENUNCIATION AND ASCETIC LIFE

At the age of 29, the popular biography continues, Siddhartha left his palace to meet his subjects. Despite his father's efforts to hide from him the sick, aged and suffering, Siddhartha was said to have seen an old man. When his charioteer Channa explained to him that all people grew old, the prince went on further trips beyond the palace. On these he encountered a diseased man, a decaying corpse, and an ascetic. These depressed him, and he initially strove to overcome aging, sickness, and death by living the life of an ascetic.

 

Accompanied by Channa and riding his horse Kanthaka, Gautama quit his palace for the life of a mendicant. It's said that, "the horse's hooves were muffled by the gods" to prevent guards from knowing of his departure.

 

Gautama initially went to Rajagaha and began his ascetic life by begging for alms in the street. After King Bimbisara's men recognised Siddhartha and the king learned of his quest, Bimbisara offered Siddhartha the throne. Siddhartha rejected the offer, but promised to visit his kingdom of Magadha first, upon attaining enlightenment.

 

He left Rajagaha and practised under two hermit teachers of yogic meditation. After mastering the teachings of Alara Kalama (Skr. Ārāḍa Kālāma), he was asked by Kalama to succeed him. However, Gautama felt unsatisfied by the practice, and moved on to become a student of yoga with Udaka Ramaputta (Skr. Udraka Rāmaputra). With him he achieved high levels of meditative consciousness, and was again asked to succeed his teacher. But, once more, he was not satisfied, and again moved on.

 

Siddhartha and a group of five companions led by Kaundinya are then said to have set out to take their austerities even further. They tried to find enlightenment through deprivation of worldly goods, including food, practising self-mortification. After nearly starving himself to death by restricting his food intake to around a leaf or nut per day, he collapsed in a river while bathing and almost drowned. Siddhartha was rescued by a village girl named Sujata and she gave him some payasam (a pudding made from milk and jaggery) after which Siddhartha got back some energy. Siddhartha began to reconsider his path. Then, he remembered a moment in childhood in which he had been watching his father start the season's ploughing. He attained a concentrated and focused state that was blissful and refreshing, the jhāna.

 

AWAKENING

According to the early Buddhist texts, after realizing that meditative dhyana was the right path to awakening, but that extreme asceticism didn't work, Gautama discovered what Buddhists call the Middle Way - a path of moderation away from the extremes of self-indulgence and self-mortification, or the Noble Eightfold Path, as was identified and described by the Buddha in his first discourse, the Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta. In a famous incident, after becoming starved and weakened, he is said to have accepted milk and rice pudding from a village girl named Sujata. Such was his emaciated appearance that she wrongly believed him to be a spirit that had granted her a wish.

 

Following this incident, Gautama was famously seated under a pipal tree - now known as the Bodhi tree - in Bodh Gaya, India, when he vowed never to arise until he had found the truth. Kaundinya and four other companions, believing that he had abandoned his search and become undisciplined, left. After a reputed 49 days of meditation, at the age of 35, he is said to have attained Enlightenment. According to some traditions, this occurred in approximately the fifth lunar month, while, according to others, it was in the twelfth month. From that time, Gautama was known to his followers as the Buddha or "Awakened One" ("Buddha" is also sometimes translated as "The Enlightened One").

 

According to Buddhism, at the time of his awakening he realized complete insight into the cause of suffering, and the steps necessary to eliminate it. These discoveries became known as the "Four Noble Truths", which are at the heart of Buddhist teaching. Through mastery of these truths, a state of supreme liberation, or Nirvana, is believed to be possible for any being. The Buddha described Nirvāna as the perfect peace of a mind that's free from ignorance, greed, hatred and other afflictive states, or "defilements" (kilesas). Nirvana is also regarded as the "end of the world", in that no personal identity or boundaries of the mind remain. In such a state, a being is said to possess the Ten Characteristics, belonging to every Buddha.

 

According to a story in the Āyācana Sutta (Samyutta Nikaya VI.1) - a scripture found in the Pāli and other canons - immediately after his awakening, the Buddha debated whether or not he should teach the Dharma to others. He was concerned that humans were so overpowered by ignorance, greed and hatred that they could never recognise the path, which is subtle, deep and hard to grasp. However, in the story, Brahmā Sahampati convinced him, arguing that at least some will understand it. The Buddha relented, and agreed to teach.

 

FORMATION OF THE SANGHA

After his awakening, the Buddha met Taphussa and Bhallika — two merchant brothers from the city of Balkh in what is currently Afghanistan - who became his first lay disciples. It is said that each was given hairs from his head, which are now claimed to be enshrined as relics in the Shwe Dagon Temple in Rangoon, Burma. The Buddha intended to visit Asita, and his former teachers, Alara Kalama and Udaka Ramaputta, to explain his findings, but they had already died.

 

He then travelled to the Deer Park near Varanasi (Benares) in northern India, where he set in motion what Buddhists call the Wheel of Dharma by delivering his first sermon to the five companions with whom he had sought enlightenment. Together with him, they formed the first saṅgha: the company of Buddhist monks.

 

All five become arahants, and within the first two months, with the conversion of Yasa and fifty four of his friends, the number of such arahants is said to have grown to 60. The conversion of three brothers named Kassapa followed, with their reputed 200, 300 and 500 disciples, respectively. This swelled the sangha to more than 1,000.

 

TRAVELS AND TEACHING

For the remaining 45 years of his life, the Buddha is said to have traveled in the Gangetic Plain, in what is now Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and southern Nepal, teaching a diverse range of people: from nobles to servants, murderers such as Angulimala, and cannibals such as Alavaka. Although the Buddha's language remains unknown, it's likely that he taught in one or more of a variety of closely related Middle Indo-Aryan dialects, of which Pali may be a standardization.

 

The sangha traveled through the subcontinent, expounding the dharma. This continued throughout the year, except during the four months of the Vāsanā rainy season when ascetics of all religions rarely traveled. One reason was that it was more difficult to do so without causing harm to animal life. At this time of year, the sangha would retreat to monasteries, public parks or forests, where people would come to them.

 

The first vassana was spent at Varanasi when the sangha was formed. After this, the Buddha kept a promise to travel to Rajagaha, capital of Magadha, to visit King Bimbisara. During this visit, Sariputta and Maudgalyayana were converted by Assaji, one of the first five disciples, after which they were to become the Buddha's two foremost followers. The Buddha spent the next three seasons at Veluvana Bamboo Grove monastery in Rajagaha, capital of Magadha.

 

Upon hearing of his son's awakening, Suddhodana sent, over a period, ten delegations to ask him to return to Kapilavastu. On the first nine occasions, the delegates failed to deliver the message, and instead joined the sangha to become arahants. The tenth delegation, led by Kaludayi, a childhood friend of Gautama's (who also became an arahant), however, delivered the message.

 

Now two years after his awakening, the Buddha agreed to return, and made a two-month journey by foot to Kapilavastu, teaching the dharma as he went. At his return, the royal palace prepared a midday meal, but the sangha was making an alms round in Kapilavastu. Hearing this, Suddhodana approached his son, the Buddha, saying:

 

"Ours is the warrior lineage of Mahamassata, and not a single warrior has gone seeking alms."

 

The Buddha is said to have replied:

 

"That is not the custom of your royal lineage. But it is the custom of my Buddha lineage. Several thousands of Buddhas have gone by seeking alms."

 

Buddhist texts say that Suddhodana invited the sangha into the palace for the meal, followed by a dharma talk. After this he is said to have become a sotapanna. During the visit, many members of the royal family joined the sangha. The Buddha's cousins Ananda and Anuruddha became two of his five chief disciples. At the age of seven, his son Rahula also joined, and became one of his ten chief disciples. His half-brother Nanda also joined and became an arahant.

 

Of the Buddha's disciples, Sariputta, Maudgalyayana, Mahakasyapa, Ananda and Anuruddha are believed to have been the five closest to him. His ten foremost disciples were reputedly completed by the quintet of Upali, Subhoti, Rahula, Mahakaccana and Punna.

 

In the fifth vassana, the Buddha was staying at Mahavana near Vesali when he heard news of the impending death of his father. He is said to have gone to Suddhodana and taught the dharma, after which his father became an arahant.The king's death and cremation was to inspire the creation of an order of nuns. Buddhist texts record that the Buddha was reluctant to ordain women. His foster mother Maha Pajapati, for example, approached him, asking to join the sangha, but he refused. Maha Pajapati, however, was so intent on the path of awakening that she led a group of royal Sakyan and Koliyan ladies, which followed the sangha on a long journey to Rajagaha. In time, after Ananda championed their cause, the Buddha is said to have reconsidered and, five years after the formation of the sangha, agreed to the ordination of women as nuns. He reasoned that males and females had an equal capacity for awakening. But he gave women additional rules (Vinaya) to follow.

 

MAHAPARINIRVANA

According to the Mahaparinibbana Sutta of the Pali canon, at the age of 80, the Buddha announced that he would soon reach Parinirvana, or the final deathless state, and abandon his earthly body. After this, the Buddha ate his last meal, which he had received as an offering from a blacksmith named Cunda. Falling violently ill, Buddha instructed his attendant Ānanda to convince Cunda that the meal eaten at his place had nothing to do with his passing and that his meal would be a source of the greatest merit as it provided the last meal for a Buddha. Mettanando and Von Hinüber argue that the Buddha died of mesenteric infarction, a symptom of old age, rather than food poisoning. The precise contents of the Buddha's final meal are not clear, due to variant scriptural traditions and ambiguity over the translation of certain significant terms; the Theravada tradition generally believes that the Buddha was offered some kind of pork, while the Mahayana tradition believes that the Buddha consumed some sort of truffle or other mushroom. These may reflect the different traditional views on Buddhist vegetarianism and the precepts for monks and nuns.

 

Waley suggests that Theravadin's would take suukaramaddava (the contents of the Buddha's last meal), which can translate as pig-soft, to mean soft flesh of a pig. However, he also states that pig-soft could mean "pig's soft-food", that is, after Neumann, a soft food favoured by pigs, assumed to be a truffle. He argues (also after Neumann) that as Pali Buddhism was developed in an area remote to the Buddha's death, the existence of other plants with suukara- (pig) as part of their names and that "(p)lant names tend to be local and dialectical" could easily indicate that suukaramaddava was a type of plant whose local name was unknown to those in the Pali regions. Specifically, local writers knew more about their flora than Theravadin commentator Buddhaghosa who lived hundreds of years and kilometres remote in time and space from the events described. Unaware of an alternate meaning and with no Theravadin prohibition against eating animal flesh, Theravadins would not have questioned the Buddha eating meat and interpreted the term accordingly.

 

Ananda protested the Buddha's decision to enter Parinirvana in the abandoned jungles of Kuśināra (present-day Kushinagar, India) of the Malla kingdom. The Buddha, however, is said to have reminded Ananda how Kushinara was a land once ruled by a righteous wheel-turning king that resounded with joy:

 

44. Kusavati, Ananda, resounded unceasingly day and night with ten sounds - the trumpeting of elephants, the neighing of horses, the rattling of chariots, the beating of drums and tabours, music and song, cheers, the clapping of hands, and cries of "Eat, drink, and be merry!"

 

The Buddha then asked all the attendant Bhikkhus to clarify any doubts or questions they had. They had none. According to Buddhist scriptures, he then finally entered Parinirvana. The Buddha's final words are reported to have been: "All composite things (Saṅkhāra) are perishable. Strive for your own liberation with diligence" (Pali: 'vayadhammā saṅkhārā appamādena sampādethā'). His body was cremated and the relics were placed in monuments or stupas, some of which are believed to have survived until the present. For example, The Temple of the Tooth or "Dalada Maligawa" in Sri Lanka is the place where what some believe to be the relic of the right tooth of Buddha is kept at present.

 

According to the Pāli historical chronicles of Sri Lanka, the Dīpavaṃsa and Mahāvaṃsa, the coronation of Emperor Aśoka (Pāli: Asoka) is 218 years after the death of the Buddha. According to two textual records in Chinese (十八部論 and 部執異論), the coronation of Emperor Aśoka is 116 years after the death of the Buddha. Therefore, the time of Buddha's passing is either 486 BCE according to Theravāda record or 383 BCE according to Mahayana record. However, the actual date traditionally accepted as the date of the Buddha's death in Theravāda countries is 544 or 545 BCE, because the reign of Emperor Aśoka was traditionally reckoned to be about 60 years earlier than current estimates. In Burmese Buddhist tradition, the date of the Buddha's death is 13 May 544 BCE. whereas in Thai tradition it is 11 March 545 BCE.

 

At his death, the Buddha is famously believed to have told his disciples to follow no leader. Mahakasyapa was chosen by the sangha to be the chairman of the First Buddhist Council, with the two chief disciples Maudgalyayana and Sariputta having died before the Buddha.

 

While in the Buddha's days he was addressed by the very respected titles Buddha, Shākyamuni, Shākyasimha, Bhante and Bho, he was known after his parinirvana as Arihant, Bhagavā/Bhagavat/Bhagwān, Mahāvira, Jina/Jinendra, Sāstr, Sugata, and most popularly in scriptures as Tathāgata.

 

BUDDHA AND VEDAS

Buddha's teachings deny the authority of the Vedas and consequently [at least atheistic] Buddhism is generally viewed as a nāstika school (heterodox, literally "It is not so") from the perspective of orthodox Hinduism.

 

RELICS

After his death, Buddha's cremation relics were divided amongst 8 royal families and his disciples; centuries later they would be enshrined by King Ashoka into 84,000 stupas. Many supernatural legends surround the history of alleged relics as they accompanied the spread of Buddhism and gave legitimacy to rulers.

 

PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS

An extensive and colorful physical description of the Buddha has been laid down in scriptures. A kshatriya by birth, he had military training in his upbringing, and by Shakyan tradition was required to pass tests to demonstrate his worthiness as a warrior in order to marry. He had a strong enough body to be noticed by one of the kings and was asked to join his army as a general. He is also believed by Buddhists to have "the 32 Signs of the Great Man".

 

The Brahmin Sonadanda described him as "handsome, good-looking, and pleasing to the eye, with a most beautiful complexion. He has a godlike form and countenance, he is by no means unattractive." (D, I:115)

 

"It is wonderful, truly marvellous, how serene is the good Gotama's appearance, how clear and radiant his complexion, just as the golden jujube in autumn is clear and radiant, just as a palm-tree fruit just loosened from the stalk is clear and radiant, just as an adornment of red gold wrought in a crucible by a skilled goldsmith, deftly beaten and laid on a yellow-cloth shines, blazes and glitters, even so, the good Gotama's senses are calmed, his complexion is clear and radiant." (A, I:181)

 

A disciple named Vakkali, who later became an arahant, was so obsessed by the Buddha's physical presence that the Buddha is said to have felt impelled to tell him to desist, and to have reminded him that he should know the Buddha through the Dhamma and not through physical appearances.

 

Although there are no extant representations of the Buddha in human form until around the 1st century CE (see Buddhist art), descriptions of the physical characteristics of fully enlightened buddhas are attributed to the Buddha in the Digha Nikaya's Lakkhaṇa Sutta (D, I:142). In addition, the Buddha's physical appearance is described by Yasodhara to their son Rahula upon the Buddha's first post-Enlightenment return to his former princely palace in the non-canonical Pali devotional hymn, Narasīha Gāthā ("The Lion of Men").

 

Among the 32 main characteristics it is mentioned that Buddha has blue eyes.

 

NINE VIRTUES

Recollection of nine virtues attributed to the Buddha is a common Buddhist meditation and devotional practice called Buddhānusmṛti. The nine virtues are also among the 40 Buddhist meditation subjects. The nine virtues of the Buddha appear throughout the Tipitaka, and include:

 

- Buddho – Awakened

- Sammasambuddho – Perfectly self-awakened

- Vijja-carana-sampano – Endowed with higher knowledge and ideal conduct.

- Sugato – Well-gone or Well-spoken.

- Lokavidu – Wise in the knowledge of the many worlds.

- Anuttaro Purisa-damma-sarathi – Unexcelled trainer of untrained people.

- Satthadeva-Manussanam – Teacher of gods and humans.

- Bhagavathi – The Blessed one

- Araham – Worthy of homage. An Arahant is "one with taints destroyed, who has lived the holy life, done what had to be done, laid down the burden, reached the true goal, destroyed the fetters of being, and is completely liberated through final knowledge."

 

TEACHINGS

TRACING THE OLDEST TEACHINGS

Information of the oldest teachings may be obtained by analysis of the oldest texts. One method to obtain information on the oldest core of Buddhism is to compare the oldest extant versions of the Theravadin Pali Canon and other texts. The reliability of these sources, and the possibility to draw out a core of oldest teachings, is a matter of dispute. According to Vetter, inconsistencies remain, and other methods must be applied to resolve those inconsistencies.

 

According to Schmithausen, three positions held by scholars of Buddhism can be distinguished:

 

"Stress on the fundamental homogeneity and substantial authenticity of at least a considerable part of the Nikayic materials;"

"Scepticism with regard to the possibility of retrieving the doctrine of earliest Buddhism;"

"Cautious optimism in this respect."

 

DHYANA AND INSIGHT

A core problem in the study of early Buddhism is the relation between dhyana and insight. Schmithausen, in his often-cited article On some Aspects of Descriptions or Theories of 'Liberating Insight' and 'Enlightenment' in Early Buddhism notes that the mention of the four noble truths as constituting "liberating insight", which is attained after mastering the Rupa Jhanas, is a later addition to texts such as Majjhima Nikaya 36

 

CORE TEACHINGS

According to Tilmann Vetter, the core of earliest Buddhism is the practice of dhyāna. Bronkhorst agrees that dhyana was a Buddhist invention, whereas Norman notes that "the Buddha's way to release [...] was by means of meditative practices." Discriminating insight into transiency as a separate path to liberation was a later development.

 

According to the Mahāsaccakasutta, from the fourth jhana the Buddha gained bodhi. Yet, it is not clear what he was awakened to. "Liberating insight" is a later addition to this text, and reflects a later development and understanding in early Buddhism. The mentioning of the four truths as constituting "liberating insight" introduces a logical problem, since the four truths depict a linear path of practice, the knowledge of which is in itself not depicted as being liberating:

 

[T]hey do not teach that one is released by knowing the four noble truths, but by practicing the fourth noble truth, the eightfold path, which culminates in right samadhi.

 

Although "Nibbāna" (Sanskrit: Nirvāna) is the common term for the desired goal of this practice, many other terms can be found throughout the Nikayas, which are not specified.

 

According to Vetter, the description of the Buddhist path may initially have been as simple as the term "the middle way". In time, this short description was elaborated, resulting in the description of the eightfold path.

 

According to both Bronkhorst and Anderson, the four truths became a substitution for prajna, or "liberating insight", in the suttas in those texts where "liberating insight" was preceded by the four jhanas. According to Bronkhorst, the four truths may not have been formulated in earliest Buddhism, and did not serve in earliest Buddhism as a description of "liberating insight". Gotama's teachings may have been personal, "adjusted to the need of each person."

 

The three marks of existence may reflect Upanishadic or other influences. K.R. Norman supposes that these terms were already in use at the Buddha's time, and were familiar to his listeners.

 

The Brahma-vihara was in origin probably a brahmanic term; but its usage may have been common to the Sramana traditions.

  

LATER DEVELOPMENTS

In time, "liberating insight" became an essential feature of the Buddhist tradition. The following teachings, which are commonly seen as essential to Buddhism, are later formulations which form part of the explanatory framework of this "liberating insight":

 

- The Four Noble Truths: that suffering is an ingrained part of existence; that the origin of suffering is craving for sensuality, acquisition of identity, and fear of annihilation; that suffering can be ended; and that following the Noble Eightfold Path is the means to accomplish this;

- The Noble Eightfold Path: right view, right intention, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, and right concentration;

- Dependent origination: the mind creates suffering as a natural product of a complex process.

 

OTHER RELIGIONS

Some Hindus regard Gautama as the 9th avatar of Vishnu. The Buddha is also regarded as a prophet by the Ahmadiyya Muslims and a Manifestation of God in the Bahá'í Faith. Some early Chinese Taoist-Buddhists thought the Buddha to be a reincarnation of Lao Tzu.

 

The Christian Saint Josaphat is based on the Buddha. The name comes from the Sanskrit Bodhisattva via Arabic Būdhasaf and Georgian Iodasaph. The only story in which St. Josaphat appears, Barlaam and Josaphat, is based on the life of the Buddha. Josaphat was included in earlier editions of the Roman Martyrology (feast day 27 November) — though not in the Roman Missal — and in the Eastern Orthodox Church liturgical calendar (26 August).

 

Disciples of the Cao Đài religion worship the Buddha as a major religious teacher. His image can be found in both their Holy See and on the home altar. He is revealed during communication with Divine Beings as son of their Supreme Being (God the Father) together with other major religious teachers and founders like Jesus, Laozi, and Confucius.

 

In the ancient Gnostic sect of Manichaeism the Buddha is listed among the prophets who preached the word of God before Mani.

 

WIKIPEDIA

Gautama Buddha, also known as Siddhārtha Gautama, Shakyamuni, or simply the Buddha, was a sage on whose teachings Buddhism was founded. He is believed to have lived and taught mostly in northeastern India sometime between the sixth and fourth centuries BCE.

 

The word Buddha means "awakened one" or "the enlightened one". "Buddha" is also used as a title for the first awakened being in a Yuga era. In most Buddhist traditions, Siddhartha Gautama is regarded as the Supreme Buddha (Pali sammāsambuddha, Sanskrit samyaksaṃbuddha) of the present age. Gautama taught a Middle Way between sensual indulgence and the severe asceticism found in the śramaṇa movement common in his region. He later taught throughout regions of eastern India such as Magadha and Kosala.

 

Gautama is the primary figure in Buddhism and accounts of his life, discourses, and monastic rules are believed by Buddhists to have been summarized after his death and memorized by his followers. Various collections of teachings attributed to him were passed down by oral tradition and first committed to writing about 400 years later.

 

CONTENTS

HISTORICAL SIDDHARTA GAUTAMA

Scholars are hesitant to make unqualified claims about the historical facts of the Buddha's life. Most accept that he lived, taught and founded a monastic order during the Mahajanapada era during the reign of Bimbisara, the ruler of the Magadha empire, and died during the early years of the reign of Ajasattu, who was the successor of Bimbisara, thus making him a younger contemporary of Mahavira, the Jain tirthankara. Apart from the Vedic Brahmins, the Buddha's lifetime coincided with the flourishing of other influential śramaṇa schools of thoughts like Ājīvika, Cārvāka, Jainism, and Ajñana. It was also the age of influential thinkers like Mahavira, Pūraṇa Kassapa , Makkhali Gosāla, Ajita Kesakambalī, Pakudha Kaccāyana, and Sañjaya Belaṭṭhaputta, whose viewpoints the Buddha most certainly must have been acquainted with and influenced by. Indeed, Sariputta and Moggallāna, two of the foremost disciples of the Buddha, were formerly the foremost disciples of Sañjaya Belaṭṭhaputta, the skeptic. There is also evidence to suggest that the two masters, Alara Kalama and Uddaka Ramaputta, were indeed historical figures and they most probably taught Buddha two different forms of meditative techniques. While the general sequence of "birth, maturity, renunciation, search, awakening and liberation, teaching, death" is widely accepted, there is less consensus on the veracity of many details contained in traditional biographies.

 

The times of Gautama's birth and death are uncertain. Most historians in the early 20th century dated his lifetime as circa 563 BCE to 483 BCE. More recently his death is dated later, between 411 and 400 BCE, while at a symposium on this question held in 1988, the majority of those who presented definite opinions gave dates within 20 years either side of 400 BCE for the Buddha's death. These alternative chronologies, however, have not yet been accepted by all historians.

 

The evidence of the early texts suggests that Siddhārtha Gautama was born into the Shakya clan, a community that was on the periphery, both geographically and culturally, of the northeastern Indian subcontinent in the 5th century BCE. It was either a small republic, in which case his father was an elected chieftain, or an oligarchy, in which case his father was an oligarch. According to the Buddhist tradition, Gautama was born in Lumbini, nowadays in modern-day Nepal, and raised in the Shakya capital of Kapilavastu, which may have been in either present day Tilaurakot, Nepal or Piprahwa, India. He obtained his enlightenment in Bodh Gaya, gave his first sermon in Sarnath, and died in Kushinagar.

 

No written records about Gautama have been found from his lifetime or some centuries thereafter. One Edict of Asoka, who reigned from circa 269 BCE to 232 BCE, commemorates the Emperor's pilgrimage to the Buddha's birthplace in Lumbini. Another one of his edicts mentions several Dhamma texts, establishing the existence of a written Buddhist tradition at least by the time of the Maurya era and which may be the precursors of the Pāli Canon. The oldest surviving Buddhist manuscripts are the Gandhāran Buddhist texts, reported to have been found in or around Haḍḍa near Jalalabad in eastern Afghanistan and now preserved in the British Library. They are written in the Gāndhārī language using the Kharosthi script on twenty-seven birch bark manuscripts and date from the first century BCE to the third century CE.

 

TRADITIONAL BIOGRAPHIES

BIOGRAPHICAL SOURCES

The sources for the life of Siddhārtha Gautama are a variety of different, and sometimes conflicting, traditional biographies. These include the Buddhacarita, Lalitavistara Sūtra, Mahāvastu, and the Nidānakathā. Of these, the Buddhacarita is the earliest full biography, an epic poem written by the poet Aśvaghoṣa, and dating around the beginning of the 2nd century CE. The Lalitavistara Sūtra is the next oldest biography, a Mahāyāna/Sarvāstivāda biography dating to the 3rd century CE. The Mahāvastu from the Mahāsāṃghika Lokottaravāda tradition is another major biography, composed incrementally until perhaps the 4th century CE. The Dharmaguptaka biography of the Buddha is the most exhaustive, and is entitled the Abhiniṣkramaṇa Sūtra, and various Chinese translations of this date between the 3rd and 6th century CE. The Nidānakathā is from the Theravada tradition in Sri Lanka and was composed in the 5th century by Buddhaghoṣa.

 

From canonical sources, the Jataka tales, the Mahapadana Sutta (DN 14), and the Achariyabhuta Sutta (MN 123) which include selective accounts that may be older, but are not full biographies. The Jātakas retell previous lives of Gautama as a bodhisattva, and the first collection of these can be dated among the earliest Buddhist texts. The Mahāpadāna Sutta and Achariyabhuta Sutta both recount miraculous events surrounding Gautama's birth, such as the bodhisattva's descent from the Tuṣita Heaven into his mother's womb.

 

NATURE OF TRADITIONAL DEPICTIONS

In the earliest Buddhists texts, the nikāyas and āgamas, the Buddha is not depicted as possessing omniscience (sabbaññu) nor is he depicted as being an eternal transcendent (lokottara) being. According to Bhikkhu Analayo, ideas of the Buddha's omniscience (along with an increasing tendency to deify him and his biography) are found only later, in the Mahayana sutras and later Pali commentaries or texts such as the Mahāvastu. In the Sandaka Sutta, the Buddha's disciple Ananda outlines an argument against the claims of teachers who say they are all knowing while in the Tevijjavacchagotta Sutta the Buddha himself states that he has never made a claim to being omniscient, instead he claimed to have the "higher knowledges" (abhijñā). The earliest biographical material from the Pali Nikayas focuses on the Buddha's life as a śramaṇa, his search for enlightenment under various teachers such as Alara Kalama and his forty five year career as a teacher.

 

Traditional biographies of Gautama generally include numerous miracles, omens, and supernatural events. The character of the Buddha in these traditional biographies is often that of a fully transcendent (Skt. lokottara) and perfected being who is unencumbered by the mundane world. In the Mahāvastu, over the course of many lives, Gautama is said to have developed supra-mundane abilities including: a painless birth conceived without intercourse; no need for sleep, food, medicine, or bathing, although engaging in such "in conformity with the world"; omniscience, and the ability to "suppress karma". Nevertheless, some of the more ordinary details of his life have been gathered from these traditional sources. In modern times there has been an attempt to form a secular understanding of Siddhārtha Gautama's life by omitting the traditional supernatural elements of his early biographies.

 

Andrew Skilton writes that the Buddha was never historically regarded by Buddhist traditions as being merely human:

It is important to stress that, despite modern Theravada teachings to the contrary (often a sop to skeptical Western pupils), he was never seen as being merely human. For instance, he is often described as having the thirty-two major and eighty minor marks or signs of a mahāpuruṣa, "superman"; the Buddha himself denied that he was either a man or a god; and in the Mahāparinibbāna Sutta he states that he could live for an aeon were he asked to do so.The ancient Indians were generally unconcerned with chronologies, being more focused on philosophy. Buddhist texts reflect this tendency, providing a clearer picture of what Gautama may have taught than of the dates of the events in his life. These texts contain descriptions of the culture and daily life of ancient India which can be corroborated from the Jain scriptures, and make the Buddha's time the earliest period in Indian history for which significant accounts exist. British author Karen Armstrong writes that although there is very little information that can be considered historically sound, we can be reasonably confident that Siddhārtha Gautama did exist as a historical figure. Michael Carrithers goes a bit further by stating that the most general outline of "birth, maturity, renunciation, search, awakening and liberation, teaching, death" must be true.

 

BIOGRAPHY

CONCEPTION AND BIRTH

The Buddhist tradition regards Lumbini, in present-day Nepal to be the birthplace of the Buddha. He grew up in Kapilavastu. The exact site of ancient Kapilavastu is unknown. It may have been either Piprahwa, Uttar Pradesh, present-day India, or Tilaurakot, present-day Nepal. Both places belonged to the Sakya territory, and are located only 15 miles apart from each other.

 

Gautama was born as a Kshatriya, the son of Śuddhodana, "an elected chief of the Shakya clan", whose capital was Kapilavastu, and who were later annexed by the growing Kingdom of Kosala during the Buddha's lifetime. Gautama was the family name. His mother, Maya (Māyādevī), Suddhodana's wife, was a Koliyan princess. Legend has it that, on the night Siddhartha was conceived, Queen Maya dreamt that a white elephant with six white tusks entered her right side, and ten months later Siddhartha was born. As was the Shakya tradition, when his mother Queen Maya became pregnant, she left Kapilvastu for her father's kingdom to give birth. However, her son is said to have been born on the way, at Lumbini, in a garden beneath a sal tree.

 

The day of the Buddha's birth is widely celebrated in Theravada countries as Vesak. Buddha's Birthday is called Buddha Purnima in Nepal and India as he is believed to have been born on a full moon day. Various sources hold that the Buddha's mother died at his birth, a few days or seven days later. The infant was given the name Siddhartha (Pāli: Siddhattha), meaning "he who achieves his aim". During the birth celebrations, the hermit seer Asita journeyed from his mountain abode and announced that the child would either become a great king (chakravartin) or a great sadhu. By traditional account, this occurred after Siddhartha placed his feet in Asita's hair and Asita examined the birthmarks. Suddhodana held a naming ceremony on the fifth day, and invited eight Brahmin scholars to read the future. All gave a dual prediction that the baby would either become a great king or a great holy man. Kondañña, the youngest, and later to be the first arhat other than the Buddha, was reputed to be the only one who unequivocally predicted that Siddhartha would become a Buddha.

 

While later tradition and legend characterized Śuddhodana as a hereditary monarch, the descendant of the Suryavansha (Solar dynasty) of Ikṣvāku (Pāli: Okkāka), many scholars think that Śuddhodana was the elected chief of a tribal confederacy.

 

Early texts suggest that Gautama was not familiar with the dominant religious teachings of his time until he left on his religious quest, which is said to have been motivated by existential concern for the human condition. The state of the Shakya clan was not a monarchy, and seems to have been structured either as an oligarchy, or as a form of republic. The more egalitarian gana-sangha form of government, as a political alternative to the strongly hierarchical kingdoms, may have influenced the development of the śramanic Jain and Buddhist sanghas, where monarchies tended toward Vedic Brahmanism.

 

EARLY LIFE AND MARRIAGE

Siddhartha was brought up by his mother's younger sister, Maha Pajapati. By tradition, he is said to have been destined by birth to the life of a prince, and had three palaces (for seasonal occupation) built for him. Although more recent scholarship doubts this status, his father, said to be King Śuddhodana, wishing for his son to be a great king, is said to have shielded him from religious teachings and from knowledge of human suffering.

 

When he reached the age of 16, his father reputedly arranged his marriage to a cousin of the same age named Yaśodharā (Pāli: Yasodharā). According to the traditional account, she gave birth to a son, named Rāhula. Siddhartha is said to have spent 29 years as a prince in Kapilavastu. Although his father ensured that Siddhartha was provided with everything he could want or need, Buddhist scriptures say that the future Buddha felt that material wealth was not life's ultimate goal.

 

RENUNCIATION AND ASCETIC LIFE

At the age of 29, the popular biography continues, Siddhartha left his palace to meet his subjects. Despite his father's efforts to hide from him the sick, aged and suffering, Siddhartha was said to have seen an old man. When his charioteer Channa explained to him that all people grew old, the prince went on further trips beyond the palace. On these he encountered a diseased man, a decaying corpse, and an ascetic. These depressed him, and he initially strove to overcome aging, sickness, and death by living the life of an ascetic.

 

Accompanied by Channa and riding his horse Kanthaka, Gautama quit his palace for the life of a mendicant. It's said that, "the horse's hooves were muffled by the gods" to prevent guards from knowing of his departure.

 

Gautama initially went to Rajagaha and began his ascetic life by begging for alms in the street. After King Bimbisara's men recognised Siddhartha and the king learned of his quest, Bimbisara offered Siddhartha the throne. Siddhartha rejected the offer, but promised to visit his kingdom of Magadha first, upon attaining enlightenment.

 

He left Rajagaha and practised under two hermit teachers of yogic meditation. After mastering the teachings of Alara Kalama (Skr. Ārāḍa Kālāma), he was asked by Kalama to succeed him. However, Gautama felt unsatisfied by the practice, and moved on to become a student of yoga with Udaka Ramaputta (Skr. Udraka Rāmaputra). With him he achieved high levels of meditative consciousness, and was again asked to succeed his teacher. But, once more, he was not satisfied, and again moved on.

 

Siddhartha and a group of five companions led by Kaundinya are then said to have set out to take their austerities even further. They tried to find enlightenment through deprivation of worldly goods, including food, practising self-mortification. After nearly starving himself to death by restricting his food intake to around a leaf or nut per day, he collapsed in a river while bathing and almost drowned. Siddhartha was rescued by a village girl named Sujata and she gave him some payasam (a pudding made from milk and jaggery) after which Siddhartha got back some energy. Siddhartha began to reconsider his path. Then, he remembered a moment in childhood in which he had been watching his father start the season's ploughing. He attained a concentrated and focused state that was blissful and refreshing, the jhāna.

 

AWAKENING

According to the early Buddhist texts, after realizing that meditative dhyana was the right path to awakening, but that extreme asceticism didn't work, Gautama discovered what Buddhists call the Middle Way - a path of moderation away from the extremes of self-indulgence and self-mortification, or the Noble Eightfold Path, as was identified and described by the Buddha in his first discourse, the Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta. In a famous incident, after becoming starved and weakened, he is said to have accepted milk and rice pudding from a village girl named Sujata. Such was his emaciated appearance that she wrongly believed him to be a spirit that had granted her a wish.

 

Following this incident, Gautama was famously seated under a pipal tree - now known as the Bodhi tree - in Bodh Gaya, India, when he vowed never to arise until he had found the truth. Kaundinya and four other companions, believing that he had abandoned his search and become undisciplined, left. After a reputed 49 days of meditation, at the age of 35, he is said to have attained Enlightenment. According to some traditions, this occurred in approximately the fifth lunar month, while, according to others, it was in the twelfth month. From that time, Gautama was known to his followers as the Buddha or "Awakened One" ("Buddha" is also sometimes translated as "The Enlightened One").

 

According to Buddhism, at the time of his awakening he realized complete insight into the cause of suffering, and the steps necessary to eliminate it. These discoveries became known as the "Four Noble Truths", which are at the heart of Buddhist teaching. Through mastery of these truths, a state of supreme liberation, or Nirvana, is believed to be possible for any being. The Buddha described Nirvāna as the perfect peace of a mind that's free from ignorance, greed, hatred and other afflictive states, or "defilements" (kilesas). Nirvana is also regarded as the "end of the world", in that no personal identity or boundaries of the mind remain. In such a state, a being is said to possess the Ten Characteristics, belonging to every Buddha.

 

According to a story in the Āyācana Sutta (Samyutta Nikaya VI.1) - a scripture found in the Pāli and other canons - immediately after his awakening, the Buddha debated whether or not he should teach the Dharma to others. He was concerned that humans were so overpowered by ignorance, greed and hatred that they could never recognise the path, which is subtle, deep and hard to grasp. However, in the story, Brahmā Sahampati convinced him, arguing that at least some will understand it. The Buddha relented, and agreed to teach.

 

FORMATION OF THE SANGHA

After his awakening, the Buddha met Taphussa and Bhallika — two merchant brothers from the city of Balkh in what is currently Afghanistan - who became his first lay disciples. It is said that each was given hairs from his head, which are now claimed to be enshrined as relics in the Shwe Dagon Temple in Rangoon, Burma. The Buddha intended to visit Asita, and his former teachers, Alara Kalama and Udaka Ramaputta, to explain his findings, but they had already died.

 

He then travelled to the Deer Park near Varanasi (Benares) in northern India, where he set in motion what Buddhists call the Wheel of Dharma by delivering his first sermon to the five companions with whom he had sought enlightenment. Together with him, they formed the first saṅgha: the company of Buddhist monks.

 

All five become arahants, and within the first two months, with the conversion of Yasa and fifty four of his friends, the number of such arahants is said to have grown to 60. The conversion of three brothers named Kassapa followed, with their reputed 200, 300 and 500 disciples, respectively. This swelled the sangha to more than 1,000.

 

TRAVELS AND TEACHING

For the remaining 45 years of his life, the Buddha is said to have traveled in the Gangetic Plain, in what is now Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and southern Nepal, teaching a diverse range of people: from nobles to servants, murderers such as Angulimala, and cannibals such as Alavaka. Although the Buddha's language remains unknown, it's likely that he taught in one or more of a variety of closely related Middle Indo-Aryan dialects, of which Pali may be a standardization.

 

The sangha traveled through the subcontinent, expounding the dharma. This continued throughout the year, except during the four months of the Vāsanā rainy season when ascetics of all religions rarely traveled. One reason was that it was more difficult to do so without causing harm to animal life. At this time of year, the sangha would retreat to monasteries, public parks or forests, where people would come to them.

 

The first vassana was spent at Varanasi when the sangha was formed. After this, the Buddha kept a promise to travel to Rajagaha, capital of Magadha, to visit King Bimbisara. During this visit, Sariputta and Maudgalyayana were converted by Assaji, one of the first five disciples, after which they were to become the Buddha's two foremost followers. The Buddha spent the next three seasons at Veluvana Bamboo Grove monastery in Rajagaha, capital of Magadha.

 

Upon hearing of his son's awakening, Suddhodana sent, over a period, ten delegations to ask him to return to Kapilavastu. On the first nine occasions, the delegates failed to deliver the message, and instead joined the sangha to become arahants. The tenth delegation, led by Kaludayi, a childhood friend of Gautama's (who also became an arahant), however, delivered the message.

 

Now two years after his awakening, the Buddha agreed to return, and made a two-month journey by foot to Kapilavastu, teaching the dharma as he went. At his return, the royal palace prepared a midday meal, but the sangha was making an alms round in Kapilavastu. Hearing this, Suddhodana approached his son, the Buddha, saying:

 

"Ours is the warrior lineage of Mahamassata, and not a single warrior has gone seeking alms."

 

The Buddha is said to have replied:

 

"That is not the custom of your royal lineage. But it is the custom of my Buddha lineage. Several thousands of Buddhas have gone by seeking alms."

 

Buddhist texts say that Suddhodana invited the sangha into the palace for the meal, followed by a dharma talk. After this he is said to have become a sotapanna. During the visit, many members of the royal family joined the sangha. The Buddha's cousins Ananda and Anuruddha became two of his five chief disciples. At the age of seven, his son Rahula also joined, and became one of his ten chief disciples. His half-brother Nanda also joined and became an arahant.

 

Of the Buddha's disciples, Sariputta, Maudgalyayana, Mahakasyapa, Ananda and Anuruddha are believed to have been the five closest to him. His ten foremost disciples were reputedly completed by the quintet of Upali, Subhoti, Rahula, Mahakaccana and Punna.

 

In the fifth vassana, the Buddha was staying at Mahavana near Vesali when he heard news of the impending death of his father. He is said to have gone to Suddhodana and taught the dharma, after which his father became an arahant.The king's death and cremation was to inspire the creation of an order of nuns. Buddhist texts record that the Buddha was reluctant to ordain women. His foster mother Maha Pajapati, for example, approached him, asking to join the sangha, but he refused. Maha Pajapati, however, was so intent on the path of awakening that she led a group of royal Sakyan and Koliyan ladies, which followed the sangha on a long journey to Rajagaha. In time, after Ananda championed their cause, the Buddha is said to have reconsidered and, five years after the formation of the sangha, agreed to the ordination of women as nuns. He reasoned that males and females had an equal capacity for awakening. But he gave women additional rules (Vinaya) to follow.

 

MAHAPARINIRVANA

According to the Mahaparinibbana Sutta of the Pali canon, at the age of 80, the Buddha announced that he would soon reach Parinirvana, or the final deathless state, and abandon his earthly body. After this, the Buddha ate his last meal, which he had received as an offering from a blacksmith named Cunda. Falling violently ill, Buddha instructed his attendant Ānanda to convince Cunda that the meal eaten at his place had nothing to do with his passing and that his meal would be a source of the greatest merit as it provided the last meal for a Buddha. Mettanando and Von Hinüber argue that the Buddha died of mesenteric infarction, a symptom of old age, rather than food poisoning. The precise contents of the Buddha's final meal are not clear, due to variant scriptural traditions and ambiguity over the translation of certain significant terms; the Theravada tradition generally believes that the Buddha was offered some kind of pork, while the Mahayana tradition believes that the Buddha consumed some sort of truffle or other mushroom. These may reflect the different traditional views on Buddhist vegetarianism and the precepts for monks and nuns.

 

Waley suggests that Theravadin's would take suukaramaddava (the contents of the Buddha's last meal), which can translate as pig-soft, to mean soft flesh of a pig. However, he also states that pig-soft could mean "pig's soft-food", that is, after Neumann, a soft food favoured by pigs, assumed to be a truffle. He argues (also after Neumann) that as Pali Buddhism was developed in an area remote to the Buddha's death, the existence of other plants with suukara- (pig) as part of their names and that "(p)lant names tend to be local and dialectical" could easily indicate that suukaramaddava was a type of plant whose local name was unknown to those in the Pali regions. Specifically, local writers knew more about their flora than Theravadin commentator Buddhaghosa who lived hundreds of years and kilometres remote in time and space from the events described. Unaware of an alternate meaning and with no Theravadin prohibition against eating animal flesh, Theravadins would not have questioned the Buddha eating meat and interpreted the term accordingly.

 

Ananda protested the Buddha's decision to enter Parinirvana in the abandoned jungles of Kuśināra (present-day Kushinagar, India) of the Malla kingdom. The Buddha, however, is said to have reminded Ananda how Kushinara was a land once ruled by a righteous wheel-turning king that resounded with joy:

 

44. Kusavati, Ananda, resounded unceasingly day and night with ten sounds - the trumpeting of elephants, the neighing of horses, the rattling of chariots, the beating of drums and tabours, music and song, cheers, the clapping of hands, and cries of "Eat, drink, and be merry!"

 

The Buddha then asked all the attendant Bhikkhus to clarify any doubts or questions they had. They had none. According to Buddhist scriptures, he then finally entered Parinirvana. The Buddha's final words are reported to have been: "All composite things (Saṅkhāra) are perishable. Strive for your own liberation with diligence" (Pali: 'vayadhammā saṅkhārā appamādena sampādethā'). His body was cremated and the relics were placed in monuments or stupas, some of which are believed to have survived until the present. For example, The Temple of the Tooth or "Dalada Maligawa" in Sri Lanka is the place where what some believe to be the relic of the right tooth of Buddha is kept at present.

 

According to the Pāli historical chronicles of Sri Lanka, the Dīpavaṃsa and Mahāvaṃsa, the coronation of Emperor Aśoka (Pāli: Asoka) is 218 years after the death of the Buddha. According to two textual records in Chinese (十八部論 and 部執異論), the coronation of Emperor Aśoka is 116 years after the death of the Buddha. Therefore, the time of Buddha's passing is either 486 BCE according to Theravāda record or 383 BCE according to Mahayana record. However, the actual date traditionally accepted as the date of the Buddha's death in Theravāda countries is 544 or 545 BCE, because the reign of Emperor Aśoka was traditionally reckoned to be about 60 years earlier than current estimates. In Burmese Buddhist tradition, the date of the Buddha's death is 13 May 544 BCE. whereas in Thai tradition it is 11 March 545 BCE.

 

At his death, the Buddha is famously believed to have told his disciples to follow no leader. Mahakasyapa was chosen by the sangha to be the chairman of the First Buddhist Council, with the two chief disciples Maudgalyayana and Sariputta having died before the Buddha.

 

While in the Buddha's days he was addressed by the very respected titles Buddha, Shākyamuni, Shākyasimha, Bhante and Bho, he was known after his parinirvana as Arihant, Bhagavā/Bhagavat/Bhagwān, Mahāvira, Jina/Jinendra, Sāstr, Sugata, and most popularly in scriptures as Tathāgata.

 

BUDDHA AND VEDAS

Buddha's teachings deny the authority of the Vedas and consequently [at least atheistic] Buddhism is generally viewed as a nāstika school (heterodox, literally "It is not so") from the perspective of orthodox Hinduism.

 

RELICS

After his death, Buddha's cremation relics were divided amongst 8 royal families and his disciples; centuries later they would be enshrined by King Ashoka into 84,000 stupas. Many supernatural legends surround the history of alleged relics as they accompanied the spread of Buddhism and gave legitimacy to rulers.

 

PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS

An extensive and colorful physical description of the Buddha has been laid down in scriptures. A kshatriya by birth, he had military training in his upbringing, and by Shakyan tradition was required to pass tests to demonstrate his worthiness as a warrior in order to marry. He had a strong enough body to be noticed by one of the kings and was asked to join his army as a general. He is also believed by Buddhists to have "the 32 Signs of the Great Man".

 

The Brahmin Sonadanda described him as "handsome, good-looking, and pleasing to the eye, with a most beautiful complexion. He has a godlike form and countenance, he is by no means unattractive." (D, I:115)

 

"It is wonderful, truly marvellous, how serene is the good Gotama's appearance, how clear and radiant his complexion, just as the golden jujube in autumn is clear and radiant, just as a palm-tree fruit just loosened from the stalk is clear and radiant, just as an adornment of red gold wrought in a crucible by a skilled goldsmith, deftly beaten and laid on a yellow-cloth shines, blazes and glitters, even so, the good Gotama's senses are calmed, his complexion is clear and radiant." (A, I:181)

 

A disciple named Vakkali, who later became an arahant, was so obsessed by the Buddha's physical presence that the Buddha is said to have felt impelled to tell him to desist, and to have reminded him that he should know the Buddha through the Dhamma and not through physical appearances.

 

Although there are no extant representations of the Buddha in human form until around the 1st century CE (see Buddhist art), descriptions of the physical characteristics of fully enlightened buddhas are attributed to the Buddha in the Digha Nikaya's Lakkhaṇa Sutta (D, I:142). In addition, the Buddha's physical appearance is described by Yasodhara to their son Rahula upon the Buddha's first post-Enlightenment return to his former princely palace in the non-canonical Pali devotional hymn, Narasīha Gāthā ("The Lion of Men").

 

Among the 32 main characteristics it is mentioned that Buddha has blue eyes.

 

NINE VIRTUES

Recollection of nine virtues attributed to the Buddha is a common Buddhist meditation and devotional practice called Buddhānusmṛti. The nine virtues are also among the 40 Buddhist meditation subjects. The nine virtues of the Buddha appear throughout the Tipitaka, and include:

 

- Buddho – Awakened

- Sammasambuddho – Perfectly self-awakened

- Vijja-carana-sampano – Endowed with higher knowledge and ideal conduct.

- Sugato – Well-gone or Well-spoken.

- Lokavidu – Wise in the knowledge of the many worlds.

- Anuttaro Purisa-damma-sarathi – Unexcelled trainer of untrained people.

- Satthadeva-Manussanam – Teacher of gods and humans.

- Bhagavathi – The Blessed one

- Araham – Worthy of homage. An Arahant is "one with taints destroyed, who has lived the holy life, done what had to be done, laid down the burden, reached the true goal, destroyed the fetters of being, and is completely liberated through final knowledge."

 

TEACHINGS

TRACING THE OLDEST TEACHINGS

Information of the oldest teachings may be obtained by analysis of the oldest texts. One method to obtain information on the oldest core of Buddhism is to compare the oldest extant versions of the Theravadin Pali Canon and other texts. The reliability of these sources, and the possibility to draw out a core of oldest teachings, is a matter of dispute. According to Vetter, inconsistencies remain, and other methods must be applied to resolve those inconsistencies.

 

According to Schmithausen, three positions held by scholars of Buddhism can be distinguished:

 

"Stress on the fundamental homogeneity and substantial authenticity of at least a considerable part of the Nikayic materials;"

"Scepticism with regard to the possibility of retrieving the doctrine of earliest Buddhism;"

"Cautious optimism in this respect."

 

DHYANA AND INSIGHT

A core problem in the study of early Buddhism is the relation between dhyana and insight. Schmithausen, in his often-cited article On some Aspects of Descriptions or Theories of 'Liberating Insight' and 'Enlightenment' in Early Buddhism notes that the mention of the four noble truths as constituting "liberating insight", which is attained after mastering the Rupa Jhanas, is a later addition to texts such as Majjhima Nikaya 36

 

CORE TEACHINGS

According to Tilmann Vetter, the core of earliest Buddhism is the practice of dhyāna. Bronkhorst agrees that dhyana was a Buddhist invention, whereas Norman notes that "the Buddha's way to release [...] was by means of meditative practices." Discriminating insight into transiency as a separate path to liberation was a later development.

 

According to the Mahāsaccakasutta, from the fourth jhana the Buddha gained bodhi. Yet, it is not clear what he was awakened to. "Liberating insight" is a later addition to this text, and reflects a later development and understanding in early Buddhism. The mentioning of the four truths as constituting "liberating insight" introduces a logical problem, since the four truths depict a linear path of practice, the knowledge of which is in itself not depicted as being liberating:

 

[T]hey do not teach that one is released by knowing the four noble truths, but by practicing the fourth noble truth, the eightfold path, which culminates in right samadhi.

 

Although "Nibbāna" (Sanskrit: Nirvāna) is the common term for the desired goal of this practice, many other terms can be found throughout the Nikayas, which are not specified.

 

According to Vetter, the description of the Buddhist path may initially have been as simple as the term "the middle way". In time, this short description was elaborated, resulting in the description of the eightfold path.

 

According to both Bronkhorst and Anderson, the four truths became a substitution for prajna, or "liberating insight", in the suttas in those texts where "liberating insight" was preceded by the four jhanas. According to Bronkhorst, the four truths may not have been formulated in earliest Buddhism, and did not serve in earliest Buddhism as a description of "liberating insight". Gotama's teachings may have been personal, "adjusted to the need of each person."

 

The three marks of existence may reflect Upanishadic or other influences. K.R. Norman supposes that these terms were already in use at the Buddha's time, and were familiar to his listeners.

 

The Brahma-vihara was in origin probably a brahmanic term; but its usage may have been common to the Sramana traditions.

  

LATER DEVELOPMENTS

In time, "liberating insight" became an essential feature of the Buddhist tradition. The following teachings, which are commonly seen as essential to Buddhism, are later formulations which form part of the explanatory framework of this "liberating insight":

 

- The Four Noble Truths: that suffering is an ingrained part of existence; that the origin of suffering is craving for sensuality, acquisition of identity, and fear of annihilation; that suffering can be ended; and that following the Noble Eightfold Path is the means to accomplish this;

- The Noble Eightfold Path: right view, right intention, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, and right concentration;

- Dependent origination: the mind creates suffering as a natural product of a complex process.

 

OTHER RELIGIONS

Some Hindus regard Gautama as the 9th avatar of Vishnu. The Buddha is also regarded as a prophet by the Ahmadiyya Muslims and a Manifestation of God in the Bahá'í Faith. Some early Chinese Taoist-Buddhists thought the Buddha to be a reincarnation of Lao Tzu.

 

The Christian Saint Josaphat is based on the Buddha. The name comes from the Sanskrit Bodhisattva via Arabic Būdhasaf and Georgian Iodasaph. The only story in which St. Josaphat appears, Barlaam and Josaphat, is based on the life of the Buddha. Josaphat was included in earlier editions of the Roman Martyrology (feast day 27 November) — though not in the Roman Missal — and in the Eastern Orthodox Church liturgical calendar (26 August).

 

Disciples of the Cao Đài religion worship the Buddha as a major religious teacher. His image can be found in both their Holy See and on the home altar. He is revealed during communication with Divine Beings as son of their Supreme Being (God the Father) together with other major religious teachers and founders like Jesus, Laozi, and Confucius.

 

In the ancient Gnostic sect of Manichaeism the Buddha is listed among the prophets who preached the word of God before Mani.

 

WIKIPEDIA

The BBPA is committed to raising awareness of the tranquility that Branch Brook Park offers to the local community as a sacred, democratic space where people from diverse backgrounds can meet on common ground. BBPA and the Essex County Department of Parks, Recreation & Cultural Affairs are partners in improving this oldest of Essex County's parks, the crown jewel of the first County parks system in the nation and a tourist destination for visitors from around world.

Eva Selina Laura Gore-Booth (22 May 1870 – 30 June 1926) was an Irish poet and dramatist, and a committed suffragist, social worker and labour activist. She was born at Lissadell House, County Sligo, the younger sister of Constance Gore-Booth, later known as the Countess Markievicz.

 

Eva Selina Gore-Booth was born in County Sligo, Ireland, to Sir Henry and Lady Georgina Gore-Booth of Lissadell. She was the third of five children born to the 5th Baronet and his wife and the first of her siblings to be born at Lissadell House. She and her siblings, Josslyn Gore-Booth (1869–1944), Constance Georgine Gore-Booth (1868–1927), Mabel Gore-Booth (1874–1955), and Mordaunt Gore-Booth (1878–1958), were the third generation of Gore-Booths at Lissadell. The house was built for her paternal grandfather, Sir Robert Gore-Booth, 4th Baronet, between 1830 and 1835 and three generations of Gore-Booths resided there during Eva's childhood, including her paternal grandfather and her maternal grandmother Lady Frances Hill.

 

Eva and Constance had several governesses throughout their childhood, most notably Miss Noel who recorded most of what is known about Eva's early life. She learned French, German, Latin and Greek and developed a love of poetry that was instilled by her maternal grandmother. Eva was troubled by the stark contrast between her family's privileged life and the poverty outside Lissadell, particularly during the winter of the Irish Famine (1879) when starving tenants would come to the house begging for food and clothing. Esther Roper later remarked that Eva was "haunted by the suffering of the world and had a curious feeling of responsibility for its inequalities and injustices."

 

Eva's father was a notable Arctic explorer and, during a period of absence from the estate in the 1870s, her mother, Lady Georgina, established a school of needlework for women at Lissadell. The women were trained in crochet, embroidery and darn-thread work and the sale of their wares allowed them to earn a wage of 18 shillings per week. This enterprise had a great influence on Eva and her later women's suffrage and trade union work.

 

In 1894, Eva joined her father on his travels around North America and the West Indies. She kept diaries and documented their travels in "Jamaica, Barbados, Cuba, Florida, New Orleans, St Louis, San Francisco, Vancouver, Toronto, Niagara, Montreal and Quebec." On returning to Ireland she met the poet W.B. Yeats for the first time. The following year she traveled around Europe with her mother, sister Constance, and friend Rachel Mansfield and, while in Venice, fell ill with a respiratory condition. In 1896, while recuperating at the villa of writer George MacDonald and his wife in Bordighera, Italy, she met Esther Roper, the English woman who would become her lifelong companion.

 

The work of Eva Gore-Booth, alongside that of Esther Roper was responsible for the close link between the struggle for women's rights in industry and the struggle for women's right to vote. As a middle class suffragist representing Manchester, the work of Gore-Booth was mainly recognized in the Lancashire cotton towns from 1899 to 1913. Her struggle began when Eva became a member of the executive committee of the National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies. Carrying out work at the Ancoats settlement, Eva became co-secretary of the Manchester and Salford Women's Trade Union Council.

 

1902 saw Eva Gore-Booth campaigning at the Clitheroe by-election on behalf of David Shackleton, a Labour candidate that promised Eva he would show support for the women's enfranchisement. Shackleton was elected yet he did not act upon his promise made to Eva. This led to the founding of the Lancashire and Cheshire Women Textile and Other Worker's Representation Committee by Eva Gore-Booth, Esther Roper and Sarah Reddish. The setting up of this committee led to Eva Gore-Booth meeting Christabel Pankhurst who also felt strongly about women's rights. However, in 1904, Christabel caused some controversy in the Women's Trade Union Council as she attempted to force the council to make women's suffrage one of its aims to which they refused. This led to the resignation of Eva Gore-Booth from the council. Resigning from that particular council, Eva Gore-Booth alongside Sarah Dickenson who had also resigned, set up the Manchester and Salford Women's Trade and Labour Council. As part of this council, Eva and other suffragists used constitutional methods of campaigning. In the general election of 1906, they put forward their own candidate, Thorley Smith yet he was defeated. In May 1906 Eva was present in the suffrage deputation to Campbell Bannerman. Her true feeling of helplessness after the failure of this deputation was captured in two poems, which she wrote. These poems were titled 'Women's Trades on the Embankment' and 'A Lost Opportunity'.

 

In 1907 Eva Gore-Booth, reluctant to give up hope, contributed an essay "The Women's Suffrage Movement Among Trade Unionists" to The Case for Women's Suffrage. In this essay Eva gave a summary of reasons for the methods of the LCWTOW campaign to gain a vote for working women. In 1908 Eva was a delegate to the Labour Party Conference at Hull where she proposed a motion in favour of women's suffrage. This motion was defeated in favour of one for adult suffrage. The end of 1909 saw Eva Gore-Booth help to run the radical suffragist general election campaign at Rossendale where once again a candidate was put forward but was defeated. In 1910, Eva showed her support for the New Constitutional Society For Women's Suffrage and in 1911 with Esther Roper, she attended a meeting in London of the Fabian Women's Group. On November 17 of the same year Eva was a member of the deputation representing the working women of the north of England. This deputation called upon Lloyd George not to drop the Conciliation Bill. 1911 was also the year that Eva put herself in the shoes of the working women when she worked for a short time as a pit-brow lass to sample the working conditions for herself. However, as war broke out, Eva and Esther took up welfare work among German women and children in England. In December 1913, Eva signed the "Open Christmas Letter" to women of Germany and Austria. 1915 then saw Eva Gore-Booth become a member of the Women's Peace Crusade and in 1916 the No-Conscription Fellowship.

 

Eva Gore-Booth continued to work for peace, writing poetry and for a privately circulated journal, Urania, for the rest of her life.

 

When Eva was embarking on her writing career she was visited by W.B. Yeats who was very much taken with her work. In his own letters he states that he sent her a book to inspire her. Yeats was hoping that she would take up his cause of writing Irish tales to enchant and amuse. Instead Eva takes Irish folklore and put emphasis on the females in the story. Her widely discussed sexuality in later years is never declared but her poetry reflects it quite overtly. In her Triumph of Maeve she makes a minor scene between Maeve and a wise woman almost erotic. While in her legend of Deirdre she subverts the masculine nationalist identity of Ireland's heroic tales. In her early work she uses the same poetic devises that her male counterparts do such as writing a love poem to the goddess of Nature. In these she does not take a male voice though. She is writing love verse from one woman to another. Eva Gore-Booth was also one of a group of editors of the magazine Urania that published issues three times a year from 1916 to 1940. It was a feminist magazine that reprinted stories and poems from all over the world with editorial comment. A lot of prominent New Woman authors including Mona Caird were involved with the project. Each issue declared that sex was an accident and there were no intrinsic characteristics of the male or the female. Many New Woman issues were discussed such as gender equality, suffrage and marriage but Eva Gore-Booth went further than that to write poetry about women loving women. Even the title of the magazine Urania can refer to heavenly or Uranian another term for homosexual. Eva and Esther allowed their names to be used in connection with the periodical and Eva was considered to be an inspiration for Urania.

 

Meeting political activist Esther Roper in Italy in 1896, where Eva was sent to recover from respiratory ailments, was a deciding factor in Eva's active involvement in women's rights of the suffrage movement. The two women formed a strong attachment during the weeks spent together at the villa of writer George MacDonald and his wife in Bordighera which led to a partnership, privately and professionally, until Eva's death in June 1926. How intimate her relations were with Roper is controversially discussed, however, letters and poems Eva dedicated to Esther suggest a romantic love between the two women. One of those poems appears in a collection of Eva's poetic work "The Travellers, To E.G.R" which was published by Roper in 1929 in which Eva uses analogies of music and song to express how deeply she was struck by Esther's personality and charisma.

 

After years of playing a lead role in the Women's Suffrage Movement and fighting for equality of women's rights in the UK as well as staying true to her literary roots, Eva and Esther relocated to London from Manchester in 1913 due to Eva's deteriorating respiratory health. During World War I, Eva and Esther were actively involved in the British Peace Movement along with fellow suffragists, such as Sylvia Pankhurst and Emily Hobhouse. At the Women's International Congress which took place at the city of Hague in 1915, she jointly composed an open Christmas letter entitled "To the Women of Germany & Austria" urging to "... join hands with the women of neutral countries, and urge our rulers to stay further bloodshed ..." and appealing to a sense of sisterhood to prevent further atrocities and the war from escalating.

 

Just weeks after the 1916 Rising, Eva traveled to Dublin accompanied by Esther and was pivotal in the efforts to reprieve the death sentence of her sister Constance Markievicz awarded for her instrumental role in the 1916 Rising, which was successfully converted to a life sentence. Her poetry composed during this period reflect the personal trauma and horror she was exposed to visiting her sister in solitary confinement. She further campaigned to abolish the death sentence overall and to reform prison standards and attended the trial of Irish nationalist and fellow poet Roger Casement thus showing solidarity and support for the overturning of his death sentence.

 

During the remaining years of her life, which was claimed by cancer on 30 June 1926, she remained devoted to her poetry, dedicated time to her artistic talents as a painter, studied the Greek language and was known as a supporter of animal rights. Eva passed away in her home in Hampstead, London she shared with Esther until her passing.

(for further information and pictures please go to the end of page and by clicking on the link they are availabe!)

The Church of St. Othmar

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550-year anniversary | History on construction time | Wikipedia

Construction of the Othmar church

560 years ago

On 13th May 1454, the Monday after the feast of St. Pancras, the building of the late Gothic St. Othmar church was begun. Thereon reports the following inscription above the main entrance of the church.

Laying the foundation stone of St. Othmar

The 550-year anniversary was on 13th May 2004 celebrated in a festive vespers followed by a festive academy.

View of the main altar

You can approach a church as historically interested person, as art-historically committed tourist or as a believer. One will see different things.

The historically interested will impress on the Othmar Church in Mödling that since more than 1000 years at this point on the slope of the Calendar mountain (Kalenderberg) (= bare hithe - kahle Lände) are standing churches and that the current construction the seventh church in an unbroken sequence on this place is. He will think of the destruction of the Roman church in 1252 by the Hungarians and the horrors of the Turkish wars in 1529 and 1683.

Tourists who are interested in art and art history, see the in 1454-1523 built late Gothic hall church, the Baroque interior, the neo-Gothic windows and Stations of the Cross and the testimonies of contemporary art in the sanctuary.

For the believer the Othmarkiche makes the impression of a ship that has gone halfway between level and height at anchor to accommodate the people. Twelve pillars - the Twelve Apostles - wear its vaults. The base has a level.

This church is not a castle - defiant, dark and unwelcoming. Its bow goes into the distance. As Noah's Ark it gives refuge and security. It stands on this earth. Yet it has walls. But their higher regions are translucent, are light. The glory of heaven is guessable.

Two of the windows are of particular importance: the window in the east as the window of the creation and resurrection, and the window in the West as the window of the sunset, the Last Judgment. The world stands between Jesus' resurrection and his second coming. Every visit to the church, every church service to the community becomes an invocation to deal with God's creation and creatures that way that you don't need to fear his judgment.

The previous buildings

Mödling is ancient settlement with hilltop settlements of the Neolithic on the Jennyberg and the Hallstatt period on the Frauenberg as well as on the Calendar mountain (Calendar mountain culture).

Archaeological excavations in 1982 have shown that at the site of the present Othmar church since the 9th Century at least six predecessor buildings have been located.

More information about the predecessors ...

The present building

Start of construction 1454

As an inscription above the main entrance says, was on 13 May 1454, one year after completion of the hospital church, the construction of the present Othmar church started. It was the Monday after the feast of St. Pancras, whose feast on 12th May is observed. Pancras was the patron of the castle chapels of the castle Mödling and the castle Liechtenstein.

The 550-year anniversary of this laying of the cornerstone on 13th May 2004 was celebrated.

The dimensions of the church are for a market town that had at the time of the laying of the cornerstone 250 (mainly built of wood) Houses, huge: 54 m long, 23 m wide and 18 m high, the ridge height is 37 m. As a building material was, as for the St. Stephen's Cathedral in Vienna, Sarmatsandstein (Cerithiensandstein) used, a rough, deficient in fossils sandstone, which was born as a deposit of Neogene Sea at the edge of the Vienna Basin.

Pastor Hinderbach and Pius II

1449-1465 was Johannes Hinderbach pastor of St. Othmar (in some sources he is called Johann Hinderbach). He planned and thus began the construction of Othmar church. He was a diplomat, ambassador and secretary of Emperor Frederick III. at the court in Wiener Neustadt, together with Aeneas Silvius Piccolomini (Enea Silvio de' Piccolomini), who was good friends with Hinderbach. It is likely that Aeneas Silvius a few times was in Mödling on visit and was well informed about the plans of the new church.

In the tenure of Hinderbach also falls the presentation of the Mödlinger coat of arms by Frederick III.

Aeneas Silvius was for some years pastor in Laa an der Thaya (Lower Austria), 1458 he was elected Pope and took the name Pius II. He built from 1459 the cathedral of Pienza in the form of a hall church, which at that time was unusual for Italy. Models were hall churches in Austria, possibly the Othmar church under construction, however, this is historically not proven. Due to time constraints Aeneas Silvius may have seen from the Othmar church not more than the blueprints and the foundation walls.

Hinderbach and Aeneas Silvius were followers of the for the Gothic spirit characteristic attitude of mind of the light mysticism. A hall church is a suitable design to implement this principle: light-irradiated, large stained glass windows instead of walls painted with images that are prevalent in the Romanesque style.

In Him (Jesus) was life, and the life was the light of men.

And the light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not overcome it.

The true light that enlightens every man was coming into the world.

(Jn 1, 4 to 5.9)

1465-1486 was Hinderbach Bishop of Trent. Perhaps the Othmar church was originally planned as a bishop's church, but this is historically not proven. Hinderbach created one of the most important collections of music of the 15th Century, the so-called Trent codices.

For more information, in a speech by Dr. Gebhard König here ....

Completion 1523-1525

The year date 1499 on a buttress in the parish garden likely shows the toping-off ceremony, the year date 1509 on the north-eastern crossing pier, the completion of the vault.

After 69-year construction period (corresponding to the age of the saint Othmar), the church was completed in 1523. The above-mentioned Cathedral of Pienza, however, was already completed in 1462.

The progress has been hampered by numerous wars and confusions. In that time, the civil war between the Habsburg Emperor Friedrich III . and his brother, Archduke Albrecht VI. (until his death in 1463) and the conquest of Lower Austria by the Hungarian king Matthias Corvinus I., who resided in Vienna from 1485, falls.

1525 the church was consecrated (year date above the organ).

Destruction 1529

In fall of 1529, six years after the end of construction, the church was destroyed by the hordes of Kassim Beg during the first Turkish siege. The collapsing roof penetrated the vault and the vault of the lower church. Likewise, the Burg (castle) Mödling was destroyed, which was not rebuilt since then.

According to the report of a parish visitation in 1544 was the kürchen (church) and pfarrhof (vicarage) sambt (along with) the gantzen Marckt Mödling (whole market) as well as the umbliegenden (adjoining) fleckhen (hamlets) of the 29th year verwüst (devastated) by the türkhen (Turks) in Grundt (to the ground) and burned.

The grooves and the rectangular holes in the central pillars on which they wanted attach figure niches with pinnacle baldachins and Kapitellsockeln (capital bases) as with the pilasters, therefore, remained to this day empty. At the times when the Othmar church was not usable, the hospital church served as a parish church.

From the interior decoration of the church from the time before the destruction of 1529 today only three items are present: the tabernacle, the head of the crucified and an embroidered image of Mary, which is today at the votive altar.

To 1540 begins on the eastern slope of the Anninger (small mountain) a pine to grow that later became famous under the name width pine (Breite Föhre).

Reconstruction to 1690

Rötelinschriften (red chalk epigraphs) next to the entrance, the south transept and north aisle next to the organ parapet indicate that work has been done on the church in 1556 again.

After 1555 the Peace of Augsburg had approved the principle that the ruler could determine the religious denomination of the subjects, reinforced Emperor Ferdinand I the Counter-Reformation to the recatholicization of the country. 1556 Ferdinand issued the so-called gift letter (Gabebrief). With this document he gave the community all possessions owned by the parish (church buildings, forests, vineyards, fields). He imposed the condition that instead of an Evangelical preacher a Catholic priest was responsible for the pastoral care again and that Mödling became Catholic. Still today the municipality bears the building cost for the ecclesiastical buildings (Othmar church, hospital church, Karner, rectory, sacristan apartment) and has a say in the appointment of a new pastor.

A son of Ferdinand I, Emperor Maximilian II, the famous castle Neugebäude had built.

One reason for the lengthy reconstruction of the church might have been the Reformation (1517 were the 95 theses of Martin Luther published) and the decline in the number of Catholics. Pastor Georg Müller from 1527 is first Protestant minister in Mödling, sometimes up to three Evangelical pastors in Mödling are active .

Mödling in 1560 among the 18 richest cities and markets in the country is in sixth place. 1576 there is again a Catholic priest. Of him it is said that he had not a good life in the market. The population flows to the Protestant clergies of the surrounding residences, and again and again come Protestant preachers to Mödling.

1582 the church possesses a shallow makeshift roof over a cross barrel vault, the vault is still preserved today. (However, the church in the plan of the Burgfrieden (civil peace) and the District Court market Mödling is represented by 1610 without a roof and called Old deserted churche. Alongside the Karner is shown with pointed conical roof.)

Still in 1605 is reported on the parish that most part is not Catholic and does run after foreign cure of souls.

In the course of the Counter-Reformation cardinal Melchior Khlesl in a decree calls for donations for the reconstruction of the church:

The with big heavy expenses respectable built God house of Mödling under Gebürg (mountain), then as such anno 1523 with all belonging to the city even built up, it is at once it in 6 years afterwards by the erbfeundt (hereditary friend) as he with all of his power invaded the land and besieged the city of Vienna, put on fire and and along with all churches ornat burned down.

Khlesl was originally Protestant, then converted, influential politician, since 1598 bishop of Vienna, 1615 the first Cardinal in Vienna, he died in 1630, tomb in saint Stephen's cathedral.

However, 1618 is also the beginning of the Thirty Years' War, whereby the construction progress was further delayed.

One hundred years after the destruction of the church, it is still worked on the restoration. 1629 a citizen of Salzburg donates the Märbelsteinpflaster (Salzburg marble) for the sanctuary. The top step in front of the high altar is still made ​​of old stones, the difference with the 1982 renewed stones is clearly visible. A commemorative plaque to the donator from Salzburg is located on the right column at the high altar:

Almighty God in praise, of St. Mary Mother of God in honor, has Florianus Ursprunger, citizen and Gastgeb (host) of Salzburg of present choir the Märbelpflastersteine handed on anno 1629.

A lightning strike shattered the windows and the tracery in 1643: here the weather has beaten in the main church, and both the windows and outmost grids anything shattered. 20 years later is reported a Corpus Christi Brotherhood, to which belongs one third of the population of Mödling.

In a report in 1664 six altars in the Othmar church (and one in the Pantaleon chapel) are enumerated by name. The church may have been thus completed for the most part.

1679 the pleague in Mödling breaks out.

1683 destruction and reconstruction

On 12th and 13th July 1683 suffers Mödling the conquest by the troops of Kara Mustafa. The church is partly destroyed and the vault is damaged.

The population is almost entirely eradicated. Many had sought in the crypt and the Karner (charnel house) refuge and were killed as a plate in front of the church reports. It is believed that, of the approximately 2000 inhabitants, only about 10% have survived, who had hidden in the woods.

After 1683 follows the rapid reconstruction of the church under Marktrichter (equivalent to mayor) Wolfgang Ignaz Viechtl, his home with a commemorative plaque stands on Liberty Square. As can be seen on the board, was Viechtl a miller (on the Fischermühle), so he on the outside of the west wall at high altitude had attached two millstones (see external view).

On 1st September 1688 is the vault restored, the executive master mason Brand for it receives according to Council minutes 1/4 bucket of wine (equivalent to approximately 14 liters). In 1690 the church was inclusively roof and truss restored (year date above the organ).

Baroquisation 18th century

The victory over the Turks initiates the second phase of the history of Othmar church. It is made in Baroque style (1690-1760). The windows are bricked up, the light mysticism of the Gothic becomes less important. The pulpit and seven baroque altars are built (see the high altar, Nepomuk altar, Anne altar, weekday chapel, votive altar). 1727 an organ is built. The hall of the Children of God turns into the throne room of the Heavenly Majesty.

Neo-Gothic restoration from 1875 to 1897.

The elevation of Mödling in 1875 as a city under Mayor Joseph Schöffel induces to a major renovation (1875 - 1897). They want the church according to the zeitgeist (spirit of the times) rebuilt in the neo-Gothic style. To do this, on 6th February 1875 at the request of Mayor Joseph Schöffel a church restoration club is founded.

The in the Baroque period bricked-up windows are laid open. This can be seen clearly on the frescoes on the Anne altar in the south transept. The grave stones lying in the soil are placed on the wall.

The figure niches and canopies on the pillars were replaced (except right behind the high altar). At Anne altar there are for unknown reasons no figure niches.

1904, a second gate is broken. The main entrance is getting a new stem, the in 1773 built Cross chapel is removed.

Renovation 1982 to May 1983

The renovation of 1982 restores the hall church (year date above the organ). The by the transept indicated cross in the ground plan of the church is satisfied that the Baroque interior in this cross takes the place of the stigmata. The liturgical ideas of Second Vatican Council are realized in works of contemporary art (folk altar and ambo).

Supplements

In 2008, the heating system was renewed.

Karner and church

Karner and church of the rest of St. John

Inscription on the laying of foundation stone 1454

Glass window

The glass window bears the inscription

Church restoration Club = 1895

Inscription 1499 (topping-off ceremony)

Buttresses in the garden

Inscription 1509 (vault completion)

Red chalk inscription 1558

Plan in 1610, Karner and Old deserted church

Commemorating plaque 1629

Commemorating plaque to the donor of the Märbelsteinpflaster 1629

Märbelsteinstufe (stone step) 1629 at the High Altar

Engraving after Merian 1649

St. Othmar and Karner

Engraving after Matthäus Merian 1649

Saints in figure niches

Lonely St. Anna - all other figure niches (they stem from the construction period 1454-1523) are empty or do not exist.

Choir stalls detail and consecration cross

Ceiling painting Holy Ghost Hole (1700 - 1750)

Consecration Cross: Twelve Apostle or consecration crosses are in the Othmar church, at those in 1525 at the fair were done prayers

Column

Twelve octagonal central pillars carry the vault

St. Anthony at a column

www.othmar.at/kirchen/st_othmar/st_othmar.html

2-16-08

 

My name is Lori Zarlenga- Blaquiere. I was born on September 14, 1961 in the state of Rhode Island. I am writing to you for your immediate help. My life is in immediate danger from orders issued by President George W. Bush and Rhode Island Governor Donald Carcieri to

assassinate/murder me. You can contact me at my email LoriZarlenga@gmail.com and

my space.com/lorizz Also, you can find me on “google” by entering my name as keyword. My case is legitimate. Please do not disregard my case.

 

I have evidence and tapes on top officials and law enforcement among others to support my

claims. The current Rhode Island Senators Sheldon Whitehouse , Senator Jack Reed and former Senator Lincoln Chafee, among others are covering up and will not help me.

 

I posted a diary on the Daily Kos website on August 12, 2007 with regard to my life being in immediate danger from orders issued by President George W. Bush and Rhode Island Governor Donald Carcieri to assassinate/murder me.

 

I continued to stay on the Daily Kos website until sometime after 5:00 am and received

comments from the Daily Kos members community. The Daily Kos has over 1 million

members on their website.

  

On August 12, 2007, I was uploading exhibits, photos, and evidence to the Daily Kos members that support my claims against the United States Government et al.

  

On August 12, 2007 at approximately between 5:00 am & 6:00 am a West Warwick

Police officer came out to my house at 101 Border Street West Warwick, R.I. and violently banged at the doors at my house and continued to violently bang at the doors of my house for a long period of time in a terrorizing manner. The West Warwick Police Officer was given orders to stop me from getting the truth out to the American public .

   

I Lori Ann Zarlenga state that on August 21, 2007, a West Warwick Police vehicle came

up behind the vehicle where I was located in the back seat with my 5 year

old granddaughter and my mother Victoria Zarlenga who was seated on the passenger

side and my son Michael Zarlenga who was driving the vehicle on Cowesett Avenue

West Warwick, R.I.

 

I Lori Ann Zarlenga state that the police officers proceeded to get out of their police

vehicles with their guns drawn and aimed at the vehicle where I was located in the back

seat of the vehicle along with my 5 year old granddaughter, my mother and son .

  

The Coventry police, East Greenwich Police, the Rhode Island State Police, and the West

Warwick Police were on the scene.

   

I Lori Ann Zarlenga state that a West Warwick Police Officer pulled me out of the

vehicle where I was located in the back seat near my 5 year old granddaughter, with my

mother and son in the front seat of the vehicle.

I Lori Ann Zarlenga state that the Police proceeded to slam me to the ground and force

handcuffs on me and force me in the back seat of the West Warwick Police Vehicle.

  

I repeatedly asked the West Warwick Police Officer why the police forced handcuffs on

me and forced me in the back seat of the police vehicle, but the West Warwick Police

Officer repeatedly ignored me.

   

I continued to ask the West Warwick Police Officer why the police forced handcuffs on

me and forced me in the back seat of the police vehicle, he then stated to me that he was

trying to protect me .

   

While I was in the West Warwick Police vehicle, I observed police officers saluting to

each other with regard to capturing me.

 

While I was in the back seat of the West Warwick Police vehicle, a West Warwick Police

Officer asked me if I was injured and if I needed to go to the hospital inorder to lure me

into consenting to go to the hospital.

  

I stated to the West Warwick Police officer that I did not need to go to the hospital.

The West Warwick Police Officer told me that the fire rescue was going to take me to the

hospital for a psych evaluation.

    

I stated to the West Warwick Police officer that I did not want to go to the hospital and

that I did not need a pych evaluation. However, the West Warwick Police Officer told me

that I had to get into the Fire Rescue and go to the hospital. As a result, I had no other

choice but be taken by fire rescue to Kent County Memorial Hospital for a psych

evaluation without my consent.

  

My mother told me that the police officers apologized to her and stated to my mother

that they made a mistake .

  

I was subsequently taken by ambulance and transferred

to Land mark Medical Center without my consent and held hostage in lock down mental

health unit against my will. All of the evidence that was in my favor was ignored

by the doctors, social workers, and psychiatrist at Kent County Memorial Hospital and

Landmark Medical Center. The doctors, social workers, and psychiatrist at Kent County

Memorial Hospital and Land mark Medical Center manipulated and skewed the true facts

to cause me harm in connection with helping law enforcement and United States

Government from preventing me from exposing the truth to the American people and

my case continuing on Appeal with regard to the criminal acts committed by law

enforcement and the United States Government.

  

My Mother stated to the psychiatrist and nurses at Landmark Medical Center that I was

not delusional or paranoid and that I have never been a danger to myself or others and

that I have no history of mental health, and that I have never had a history of being

prescribed psychiatric medication and that I did not need psychiatric medication

my complaints against law enforcement are legitimate.

However, Dr. Elahi disregarded my mother statements and proceeded to contact his lawyer to

discuss whether or not he should discharge me, despite all evidence in my favor.

  

My family member stated to me that nurses at Landmark Medial Center made

statements about being disgusted with Dr. Shahid Elahi for consulting with his lawyer

with regard to whether or not to discharge me and delaying my discharge.

   

The nurses at Landmark Medical Center stated to me that I did not belong at Landmark

Medical Center Mental Health Unit

  

I have never had a history of mental illness.

   

On September 4, 2007, I was discharged from Landmark Medical Center.

  

I have never had a history of being targeted by the United States Government, Federal

and State law enforcement, among others prior to my L-tryptophan lawsuit.

       

In August of 2007, I had an Appeal pending in the First Circuit United States Court of

Appeals with regard to my December 7, 2006 Complaint against the United States

Government et al. As a result, of being held hostage in the hospital from August 21, 2007

to September of 2007, along with intimidation from law enforcement, among others in

connection with the United States Government I was unable to respond important

deadlines set by the First Circuit United States Court of Appeals . As a result, my Appeal with the First Circuit United States Court of Appeals is in default/dismissed for lack of

diligent prosecution.

    

As a result of my ingestion of contaminated L-tryptophan manufactured by Showa

Denko K.K., I developed a disease Eosinphilia Myalgia Syndrome. There are

approximately 5,000 people who ingested contaminated L-tryptophan

manufactured by Showa Denko K.K., and developed a disease Eosinphilia Myalgia

Syndrome. There maybe more unreported cases of Eosinphilia Myalgia

Syndrome caused by ingestion of contaminated L-tryptophan .

   

The L-tryptophan problem is the fault of the FDA due to lack of enforcement of 172.320,

among other violations of the FDA rules. Therefore, the FDA permitted the continued

illegal use of L-tryptophan.

  

If the FDA had enforced action against Showa Denko K.K., for violation of the FDA

rules mentioned herein, then L-tryptophan would not have been on the market and sold

to the American Public and caused death and illnesses associated with the sales of L-

tryptophan .

    

On October 25, 1995, I filed a products liability lawsuit against the Defendants

Showa Denko, K.K., Showa Denko America, Inc. General Nutrition Centers (GNC), et al. in

the State of Rhode Island Superior Court.

  

My case was transferred to Rhode Island District Court, (Blaquiere v. Showa Denko, K.K.,

Showa Denko America, Inc. General Nutrition Centers (GNC), et al., C.A.No.1:95-629 ).

  

My case was subsequently transferred for discovery to (MDL) United States District Court

Columbia, South Carolina, C. A. No. 3:96-361-0.

  

My case (Blaquiere v. Showa Denko, K.K., Showa Denko America, Inc. General

Nutrition Centers (GNC), et al., (C.A.No.1:95-629 ) was remanded to Rhode Island

District Court in 2003.

 

I hired a lawyer Dennis S. Mackin in 2000/2001 who used my case to file discovery

motions in the(MDL) United States District Court Columbia, South Carolina, (C. A. No. 3:96-

361-0), damaging to the defendant ShowaDenkoK.K.,their lawyers,Cleary,Gottlieb,Steen,and

Hamilton, and the United States Government.

  

My former lawyer Dennis Mackin was paid off to withdraw from my case and to

not go forward with the discovery motions and depositions damaging to Showa

Denko K.K., their lawyers, and the United States Government.

       

The discovery sought in my case that my former attorney Dennis Mackin filed in 2001 in the(MDL) United States District Court Columbia, South Carolina, (C. A. No. 3:96-361-0) was to demonstrate that Showa Denko K.K. and its attorneys have been involved in a continuing conspiracy to not only circumvent the discovery process, but to manipulate any scientific examination of Showa Denko K.K.’s reckless and wanton conduct”.

 

The United States Government wiretapped my phones, hacked my computers, surviellanced me during my L-tryptophan litigation and to the present. The United States Government obstructed justice, unlawfully sabotage my case inside and outside of the court system at every level.

   

My former attorney Dennis Mackin stated in his October 12, 2001 Reply of Plaintiff to Defendant's Motion to Qaush Deposition of Kenneth Rabin , that "additional questions must be answered about political pressure brought to bear upon members of the South Carolina Congressional delegation."" What information was given to Senator Thurmond, Senator Hollings and Congressman Ravenell?"

   

Documents made by Showa Denko K.K. included a budget attached to their public

relation scheme which was an amount determined for congressional

contracts, including the South Carolina delegation which was for 16, 000.00.

   

My former attorney Dennis Mackin stated in his motions that, “ The research of

this Eosinophilia Myalgia Syndrome has been twisted by the endless

manipulations by Showa Denko K.K and their lawyers,Cleary,Gottlieb,Steen,and

Hamilton and their confederates”. “ Worst of all, the scientific literature now

contains representations by shills for Showa Denko K.K. that will cause erroneous

medical science in the future”.

 

The United States Government is involved in the cover up .

   

My former attorney Dennis Mackin informed me that a promoter of an EMS

 

support group was being surveillanced and that anyone that who was viewed as a

 

threat was being surveillanced and intelligence was gathered .

  

The defendant Showa Denko K.K. a corrupt corporate giant, their corrupt lawyers,

and the United States Government conspired with all the courts at every level to

sabotage my case and the L-tryptophan litigation.

 

Showa Denko K.K., their lawyers, and the United States Government view me as

a threat, since my lawsuit still remains open that is damaging against Showa

Denko K.K. and General Nutrition Centers (GNC), among others. Also, Showa Denko K.K., their lawyers, and the United States Government, President George W. Bush and Rhode Island Governor Donald Carcieri fear the threat of civil and criminal action against them for their unlawful criminal activities.

  

I pose a threat to Showa Denko K.K. and the United States Government since,

my L-tryptophan lawsuit could re-open previous settlements entered into by

2,000- 5,000 L-tryptophan litigants on the basis of fraudulent inducement and the

United States Government's involvement in the cover up.

 

They were entered into by L-tryptophan Plaintiffs who were unaware of the defendants fraudulent concealment and the United States Government's cover up.

 

Showa Denko K.K., the United States Government, President George W. Bush and

Rhode Island Governor Donald Carcieri fear a movie being made and publicizing

their criminal activities which has continued to date.

    

President George W. Bush's father former President George H. W. Bush Sr. was

President of the United States from 1989 to 1993 during the Eosiophilia Myalgia Syndrome epidemic.

  

I filed a Complaint on December 7, 2006 against the United States Government et al. in

the United States District Court of Rhode Island, CA. No. 06-534 ML. My complaint is

pending in the First Circuit Court of Appeals. The United States Government have hired

my family, among others as informants to surveillance and gather intelligence on me.

  

At the time that I filed my December 7, 2006 complaint against a number of defendants

who are employed by the United States Government, I was unaware of orders issued by

President George W. Bush and Rhode Island Governor Donald Carcieri to assasinate/

murder me.

   

I spoke to a state senator with regard to my circumstances of law enforcement on the state and federal level that have harassed, targeted, survillenced me and have come out to my house and follow me on a daily basis. Also, the West Warwick police have even parked at my grandchild’s school shortly after I exposed President George W. Bush orders to assassinate/murder me.

  

The state senator stated to me that federal law enforcement, the Attorney General of the United States, and the Department of Justice are employed by President George W. Bush.

 

Moreover, my case is not isolated by a small number of police and law enforcement targeting and surveillanceing me. There are to many law enforcement and police and government officials organized at the highest level on the federal and local level that have targeted and surviellanced me. The state senator stated that the orders to murder me are coming from the President George W. Bush .

 

Further, the Rhode Island State Police who have been targeting and surviellancing me are given orders from Rhode Island Governor Donald Carcieri

   

In June or July of 2007, President George W. Bush came to Rhode Island and went on a

private helicopter ride with Rhode Island Governor Donald Carcieri and had discussions.

      

Shortly after I filed my December 7, 2006 complaint against the United States

Government et al, two key defendants named in my complaint retired Captain Gregory

Johnson of the West Warwick Police Department and Supervisory Special Agent

Nicholas Murphy of the Federal Bureau of investigation of R.I., and there may be others

who have also retired.

  

I am targeted, followed, and surveillanced by police officers, among others in the towns and places I travel in the state of Rhode Island and out of the state of Rhode Island on a daily basis.

 

The level of intensity and the number of police targeting, surviellancing, and following me has increased after I filed my December 7, 2006 complaint. And now since I have exposed President George W. Bush who issued orders to assassinate/murder me, the level of intensity and the number of police surviellacing and following me has further increased.

  

My telephones are wiretapped. The United States Government is hacking my computers.

The Federal Bureau of investigation, among others covered up the investigation of the hacking of my computers.

  

The Federal Bureau of investigation, United States Attorneys Office , Attorney Generals office, Department of Justice, among others are covering up and aware of the fact that I was kidnapped and assaulted by a Warwick Police Officer Joseph Mee on January 22, 2006 that was organized at the highest level of United States Government to assassinate/ murder me.

   

Further, law enforcement, among others are covering up the fact that on December 15, 2005 and December 16, 2005, Captain Gregg Johnson and Officer Patrick Kelly and the Kent County Memorial Hospital Emergency Room Staff violated my constitutional rights and deprived me of liberty against my will and without my consent to cause me harm in connection with the United States Government and Showa Denko K.K.

  

On April 14, 2006, I spoke to Laura Lineberry who is Condalezza Rice's personal assistant. Laura Lineberry informed me that she could not help me with regard to my circumstances mentioned herein, and that I should leave a message with the Representative of Secretary of State. I left a message with the Representative of Secretary of State, but no one returned my call.

  

On April 14, 2006, I contacted the White House comments department in Washington, DC for help with regard to my circumstances mentioned herein, and spoke to a young lady number(77) who stated she would pass on my comments to her supervisor and that her supervisor would summarize my comments and give it to President Bush. On April 14, 2006, I was unaware that President George W. Bush issued orders to assassinate/ murder me.

  

President George W. Bush, Condalezza Rice's office , nor anyone associated with the White House, responded in any way shape or form to my plea for help with regard to my circumstances mentioned herein.

 

I have evidence of my telephone calls to the White House, among others.

 

The IP Addresses with regard to the hacking of my computers have been traced to Washington, D.C.

         

You can view my complaint at pacer.psc.uscourts.gov.

 

My login is: lz0129 My password is 3y6!pomz ( party name is under my married name of Blaquiere) December 8, 2006 thru December 8, 2007 is the date you would use to view my complaint, since December 8, 2006 is the date my complaint was entered by the United States District Court of Rhode Island.

 

The United States District Court of Rhode Island omitted my supporting exhibits on

Pacer website and have intentionally obstructed my case and deprived me of a fair judicial process, inorder to protect and insulate the United States Government et al.

   

UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT DOES NOT INITIATE ACTION AGAINST SHOWA DENKO K.K. FOR THE FOLLOWING VIOLATIONS:

    

The L-tryptophan problem is the fault of the FDA due to lack of enforcement of 172.320, among other

 

violations of the FDA rules. Therefore, the FDA permitted the continued illegal use of L-tryptophan.

  

If the FDA had enforced action against Showa Denko K.K.,for violation of the FDA rules mentioned

 

herein, then L-tryptophan would not have been on the market and sold to the American Public and

 

caused death and illnesses associated with the sales of L-tryptophan in violation of the FDA rule.

     

In 1970 FDA considered L-tryptophan (amino acids) , when used as nutrients or dietary supplements, to

 

be generally recognized as safe (GRAS) for those uses, and published that fact in the code of Federal

 

Regulations.

   

In 1972 FDA engaged in rule making to withdraw and remove approximately twenty amino acids

 

including L-tryptophan from the GRAS list ( generally recognized as safe) and to regulate them as

 

approved food additives that could not be sold without FDA's prior approval in the form of a food

 

additive petition, (37 Fed. Reg. 6938; April 6, 1972).

    

In 1973 FDA promulgated a binding substantive rule that is presently on the books, the Food additive

 

regulation that makes all amino acids, when used as components of dietary supplements,

 

unsafe food additives that violate the adulteration provisions of Act. 21 C.F.R. 172. 320.

    

In 1977, FDA seized L-tryptophan tablets on the grounds that the L-tryptophan that they contained

 

was an unapproved food additive. The court, however, found for the manufacturer of the tablets

 

because L-tryptophan was still on the FDA's GRAS list, (FDA had failed to remove it after the 1973

 

rulemaking), and the manufacturer was acting in accordance with the FDA's regulation.

   

In 1977, FDA deleted the listing of twenty amino acids that were the subject of the 1973 rulemaking

 

form the GRAS list, ( 42 Fed. Reg. 56720; October 28, 1977).

  

The FDA never renewed its regulatory action against dietary supplements containing L-tryptophan .

   

The food additive regulation that the FDA adopted in 1973 does not list (approve) L-tryptophan for

 

this use, and foods that contain unapproved food additive are deemed to be adulterated (21 U.S.C. 342

 

(a) (2) (c)).

  

FDA has not brought an action since 1977 against an L-tryptophan dietary supplement.

    

The FDA sought to enforce the rule prohibiting the use of amino acids in dietary supplements in two

 

seizure actions against products containing L-tryptophan. Those seizure actions were not successful.

 

The U.S. Government voluntarily dismissed the second lawsuit because the lawsuit was controlled by

 

a very hostile judge and the government feared that it would obtain an adverse ruling that would

 

insulate all dietary supplements from regulation under the food additive provisions of the act.

  

The FDA has not made any efforts to regulate amino acids since 1982. FDA ignored the food additive

 

regulations since 1982. In 1990, there was evidence showing that 30 amino acids other than L-

 

tryptophan were being sold by at least 22 companies.

    

The FDA has failed to date to bring charges against Showa Denko K.K. Showa Denko K.K. was in

 

violation of the FDA Food additive regulation that makes all amino acids, when used as components of

 

dietary supplements, unsafe food additives that violate the adulteration provisions of Act. 21

 

C.F.R. 172. 320. FDA should have gone after Showa Denko K.K. on an adulteration charge that the

 

L-tryptophan in the supplements is an unapproved food additive under 21 U.S.C. 342 (a) (2) (c).

 

Also, FDA failed to bring charges against Showa Denko K.K. with regard to L-

 

tryptophan being unfit for food, ( 21 U.S.C. 342 (a) (3). L-trytophan associated with illness

 

Eosinophilia Myalgia Syndrome, is unfit for food.

  

The FDA could have gone after L-tryptophan supplements as drugs. The FDA could have

 

developed evidence that L-tryptophan used for therapeutic purposes to combat sleeplessness and PMS

 

which is what L-tryptophan was advertized for is considered a drug and the FDA finding L-tryptophan

 

had not met the FDA's rational food supplement test would permit the FDA to bring drug charges

 

against the product under either 21 U.S.C. 321(g) (1) (B) or (c), National Nutritional Foods

 

Association v. Mathews, 557 F.2nd 325, 334 ( 2d Cir. 1977).

  

If the FDA had enforced action against Showa Denko K.K.,for violation of the FDA rules mentioned

 

herein, then L-tryptophan would not have been on the market and sold to the American Public and

 

caused death and illnesses associated with the sales of L-tryptophan in violation of the FDA rule.

       

On the Rhode Island ACLU website, there is a lawsuit against the United States

Government for Illegally surviellacing individuals attending a peace group in Rhode

Island and in other states.

 

The United States Government has files on these peace groups and have labeled these

peace group individuals as a threat because their simply anti-war.

 

The illegal acts of our United States Government is not an example of democracy, it is a

Dictatorship ruled by a dictator President George W. Bush who has committed crimes

against humanity and has violated our human rights.

  

Representative John Conyers Jr, was the Chairman re: the July 18, 1991 hearing on the FDA oversight of L-tryptophan. Representative John Conyers Jr, is currently the Chairman of the U.S.

House of Representatives Committee on the Judiciary who can call for an investigation and immediate congressional hearings into this matter.

  

Please help me by writing to congress and. to investigate and call for immediate congressional hearings into this matter. Also, contact Rhode Island Senator Sheldon Whitehouse and Senator Jack Reed to investigate and call for congressional hearings into this matter. If the American people place enough political pressure to investigate and call for congressional hearings into this matter, then an investigation into this matter will go forward and the truth will be exposed to the American people.

 

Also, please contact Senate Majority Leader, Senator Harry Reid, Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy of Vermont, Senator Arlen Specter, Senator Charles E. Schumer, Senator Joseph R. Biden Jr., Senator John McCain, Senator Hillary Clinton, Senator Barack Obama, and all members of the Senate to call for investigation and congressional hearings with regard to law enforcement engaged in an ongoing organized crime to assassinate/murder me by orders issued by President George W. Bush.

 

President George W. Bush has scammed the American people into believing that the Iraq

war is a "just war" and that the United States military are fighting for democracy,

freedom and for our safety here at home, and yet at the same time President George W.

Bush is committing the worst crimes in american history against innocent american

citizens.

    

Please expedite the above and contact me at my email: LoriZarlenga@hotmail.com

  

You can view documents and obtain information about L-tryptophan and Eosinophilia Myalgia Syndrome on the National EMS Support Group website at www.nemsn.org

  

You can find me at myspace.com/lorizz

  

Also, you can find me at my website www.tiptopwebsite.com/lorizz.

  

I posted a letter explaining in more detail on my website and on my space.com/lorizz

  

If you have any questions or want to view my exhibits that support my December 7, 2006 complaint filed in the United States District Court of Rhode Island, then you can e-mail me and I will send you attachments you can view .

    

Thank You, Lori Zarlenga

  

A sneak preview of the seventh in Tony Comstock’s ongoing Real People, Real Live, Real Sex documentary series, Brett and Melanie: Boi Meets Girl is an exploration of sexual pleasure in committed relationships and the problematic place of explicit sexuality in cinema. ”Brett and Melanie” depicts a butch/femme couple, and opens up questions about strength and vulnerability in the context of how we portray and interpret gender. Throughout Brett and Melanie’s interview, there is a constant dance of who is strong for whom, of who is vulnerable and who nurtures; and this dance continues when Brett and Melanie make love.

By including frank footage of Brett and Melanie’s lovemaking along with their candid testimony, the film also opens up questions about the meaning of reality in the context of documentary filmmaking, and explodes preconceptions about the place of sexuality and eroticism in cinema.

Curated with Colin Weatherby.

Tony Comstock has been a filmmaker and photographer for more than 20 years. In a world awash in sexualized imagery, why does so little of it speak to the common pleasurable reality of sex? He has explored this and other aspects of the human condition. Subjects of Comstock’s films have included love, sex, 9/11, indigenous fisheries, hurricanes, refugees, HIV/AIDS orphans, and the visualization of God. His current focus is the Real People, Real Life, Real Sex series. Reaction to these films has ranged from film festival laurels and critical and popular acclaim, to police raids on screenings and intimidation of DVD retailers.

Diana Cage is the managing editor of Velvetparkmedia.com and author of several books on sex and sexuality including, Girl Meets Girl: A Dating Survival Guide and Box Lunch: The Laypersons Guide to Cunnilingus. She is the former editor of On Our Backs, the only lesbian sex magazine made by women, and host of her own show on Sirius XM. Featured in the Here! Television series Lesbian Sex and Sexuality, she was also named one of GO magazines 100 Women We Love. Her newest book, A Woman’s Guide to Sexual Ecstasy, will be out next spring.

Lisa Vandever is co-founder and director of CineKink, an organization that recognizes and encourages the positive depiction of sexuality in film and television. She curates and oversees an annual film festival and touring series designed to promote and showcase such works. A producer and consultant with over twenty years of experience in film and television, Vandever was formerly the director of programming for a regional network of public television stations, worked as a development executive for two New York-based independent production companies and was associate producer of the Sundance award-winning feature film, “Songcatcher.”

Vandever holds an MFA in Film and Video from Northwestern University and a BA in Telecommunications and Film from the University of Oregon. She is currently producing and directing her own documentary, A Public Voyeur, a profile of fine-arts photographer Barbara Nitke and her landmark legal challenge against the federal government’s CDA obscenity law.

Gautama Buddha, also known as Siddhārtha Gautama, Shakyamuni, or simply the Buddha, was a sage on whose teachings Buddhism was founded. He is believed to have lived and taught mostly in northeastern India sometime between the sixth and fourth centuries BCE.

 

The word Buddha means "awakened one" or "the enlightened one". "Buddha" is also used as a title for the first awakened being in a Yuga era. In most Buddhist traditions, Siddhartha Gautama is regarded as the Supreme Buddha (Pali sammāsambuddha, Sanskrit samyaksaṃbuddha) of the present age. Gautama taught a Middle Way between sensual indulgence and the severe asceticism found in the śramaṇa movement common in his region. He later taught throughout regions of eastern India such as Magadha and Kosala.

 

Gautama is the primary figure in Buddhism and accounts of his life, discourses, and monastic rules are believed by Buddhists to have been summarized after his death and memorized by his followers. Various collections of teachings attributed to him were passed down by oral tradition and first committed to writing about 400 years later.

 

CONTENTS

HISTORICAL SIDDHARTA GAUTAMA

Scholars are hesitant to make unqualified claims about the historical facts of the Buddha's life. Most accept that he lived, taught and founded a monastic order during the Mahajanapada era during the reign of Bimbisara, the ruler of the Magadha empire, and died during the early years of the reign of Ajasattu, who was the successor of Bimbisara, thus making him a younger contemporary of Mahavira, the Jain tirthankara. Apart from the Vedic Brahmins, the Buddha's lifetime coincided with the flourishing of other influential śramaṇa schools of thoughts like Ājīvika, Cārvāka, Jainism, and Ajñana. It was also the age of influential thinkers like Mahavira, Pūraṇa Kassapa , Makkhali Gosāla, Ajita Kesakambalī, Pakudha Kaccāyana, and Sañjaya Belaṭṭhaputta, whose viewpoints the Buddha most certainly must have been acquainted with and influenced by. Indeed, Sariputta and Moggallāna, two of the foremost disciples of the Buddha, were formerly the foremost disciples of Sañjaya Belaṭṭhaputta, the skeptic. There is also evidence to suggest that the two masters, Alara Kalama and Uddaka Ramaputta, were indeed historical figures and they most probably taught Buddha two different forms of meditative techniques. While the general sequence of "birth, maturity, renunciation, search, awakening and liberation, teaching, death" is widely accepted, there is less consensus on the veracity of many details contained in traditional biographies.

 

The times of Gautama's birth and death are uncertain. Most historians in the early 20th century dated his lifetime as circa 563 BCE to 483 BCE. More recently his death is dated later, between 411 and 400 BCE, while at a symposium on this question held in 1988, the majority of those who presented definite opinions gave dates within 20 years either side of 400 BCE for the Buddha's death. These alternative chronologies, however, have not yet been accepted by all historians.

 

The evidence of the early texts suggests that Siddhārtha Gautama was born into the Shakya clan, a community that was on the periphery, both geographically and culturally, of the northeastern Indian subcontinent in the 5th century BCE. It was either a small republic, in which case his father was an elected chieftain, or an oligarchy, in which case his father was an oligarch. According to the Buddhist tradition, Gautama was born in Lumbini, nowadays in modern-day Nepal, and raised in the Shakya capital of Kapilavastu, which may have been in either present day Tilaurakot, Nepal or Piprahwa, India. He obtained his enlightenment in Bodh Gaya, gave his first sermon in Sarnath, and died in Kushinagar.

 

No written records about Gautama have been found from his lifetime or some centuries thereafter. One Edict of Asoka, who reigned from circa 269 BCE to 232 BCE, commemorates the Emperor's pilgrimage to the Buddha's birthplace in Lumbini. Another one of his edicts mentions several Dhamma texts, establishing the existence of a written Buddhist tradition at least by the time of the Maurya era and which may be the precursors of the Pāli Canon. The oldest surviving Buddhist manuscripts are the Gandhāran Buddhist texts, reported to have been found in or around Haḍḍa near Jalalabad in eastern Afghanistan and now preserved in the British Library. They are written in the Gāndhārī language using the Kharosthi script on twenty-seven birch bark manuscripts and date from the first century BCE to the third century CE.

 

TRADITIONAL BIOGRAPHIES

BIOGRAPHICAL SOURCES

The sources for the life of Siddhārtha Gautama are a variety of different, and sometimes conflicting, traditional biographies. These include the Buddhacarita, Lalitavistara Sūtra, Mahāvastu, and the Nidānakathā. Of these, the Buddhacarita is the earliest full biography, an epic poem written by the poet Aśvaghoṣa, and dating around the beginning of the 2nd century CE. The Lalitavistara Sūtra is the next oldest biography, a Mahāyāna/Sarvāstivāda biography dating to the 3rd century CE. The Mahāvastu from the Mahāsāṃghika Lokottaravāda tradition is another major biography, composed incrementally until perhaps the 4th century CE. The Dharmaguptaka biography of the Buddha is the most exhaustive, and is entitled the Abhiniṣkramaṇa Sūtra, and various Chinese translations of this date between the 3rd and 6th century CE. The Nidānakathā is from the Theravada tradition in Sri Lanka and was composed in the 5th century by Buddhaghoṣa.

 

From canonical sources, the Jataka tales, the Mahapadana Sutta (DN 14), and the Achariyabhuta Sutta (MN 123) which include selective accounts that may be older, but are not full biographies. The Jātakas retell previous lives of Gautama as a bodhisattva, and the first collection of these can be dated among the earliest Buddhist texts. The Mahāpadāna Sutta and Achariyabhuta Sutta both recount miraculous events surrounding Gautama's birth, such as the bodhisattva's descent from the Tuṣita Heaven into his mother's womb.

 

NATURE OF TRADITIONAL DEPICTIONS

In the earliest Buddhists texts, the nikāyas and āgamas, the Buddha is not depicted as possessing omniscience (sabbaññu) nor is he depicted as being an eternal transcendent (lokottara) being. According to Bhikkhu Analayo, ideas of the Buddha's omniscience (along with an increasing tendency to deify him and his biography) are found only later, in the Mahayana sutras and later Pali commentaries or texts such as the Mahāvastu. In the Sandaka Sutta, the Buddha's disciple Ananda outlines an argument against the claims of teachers who say they are all knowing while in the Tevijjavacchagotta Sutta the Buddha himself states that he has never made a claim to being omniscient, instead he claimed to have the "higher knowledges" (abhijñā). The earliest biographical material from the Pali Nikayas focuses on the Buddha's life as a śramaṇa, his search for enlightenment under various teachers such as Alara Kalama and his forty five year career as a teacher.

 

Traditional biographies of Gautama generally include numerous miracles, omens, and supernatural events. The character of the Buddha in these traditional biographies is often that of a fully transcendent (Skt. lokottara) and perfected being who is unencumbered by the mundane world. In the Mahāvastu, over the course of many lives, Gautama is said to have developed supra-mundane abilities including: a painless birth conceived without intercourse; no need for sleep, food, medicine, or bathing, although engaging in such "in conformity with the world"; omniscience, and the ability to "suppress karma". Nevertheless, some of the more ordinary details of his life have been gathered from these traditional sources. In modern times there has been an attempt to form a secular understanding of Siddhārtha Gautama's life by omitting the traditional supernatural elements of his early biographies.

 

Andrew Skilton writes that the Buddha was never historically regarded by Buddhist traditions as being merely human:

It is important to stress that, despite modern Theravada teachings to the contrary (often a sop to skeptical Western pupils), he was never seen as being merely human. For instance, he is often described as having the thirty-two major and eighty minor marks or signs of a mahāpuruṣa, "superman"; the Buddha himself denied that he was either a man or a god; and in the Mahāparinibbāna Sutta he states that he could live for an aeon were he asked to do so.The ancient Indians were generally unconcerned with chronologies, being more focused on philosophy. Buddhist texts reflect this tendency, providing a clearer picture of what Gautama may have taught than of the dates of the events in his life. These texts contain descriptions of the culture and daily life of ancient India which can be corroborated from the Jain scriptures, and make the Buddha's time the earliest period in Indian history for which significant accounts exist. British author Karen Armstrong writes that although there is very little information that can be considered historically sound, we can be reasonably confident that Siddhārtha Gautama did exist as a historical figure. Michael Carrithers goes a bit further by stating that the most general outline of "birth, maturity, renunciation, search, awakening and liberation, teaching, death" must be true.

 

BIOGRAPHY

CONCEPTION AND BIRTH

The Buddhist tradition regards Lumbini, in present-day Nepal to be the birthplace of the Buddha. He grew up in Kapilavastu. The exact site of ancient Kapilavastu is unknown. It may have been either Piprahwa, Uttar Pradesh, present-day India, or Tilaurakot, present-day Nepal. Both places belonged to the Sakya territory, and are located only 15 miles apart from each other.

 

Gautama was born as a Kshatriya, the son of Śuddhodana, "an elected chief of the Shakya clan", whose capital was Kapilavastu, and who were later annexed by the growing Kingdom of Kosala during the Buddha's lifetime. Gautama was the family name. His mother, Maya (Māyādevī), Suddhodana's wife, was a Koliyan princess. Legend has it that, on the night Siddhartha was conceived, Queen Maya dreamt that a white elephant with six white tusks entered her right side, and ten months later Siddhartha was born. As was the Shakya tradition, when his mother Queen Maya became pregnant, she left Kapilvastu for her father's kingdom to give birth. However, her son is said to have been born on the way, at Lumbini, in a garden beneath a sal tree.

 

The day of the Buddha's birth is widely celebrated in Theravada countries as Vesak. Buddha's Birthday is called Buddha Purnima in Nepal and India as he is believed to have been born on a full moon day. Various sources hold that the Buddha's mother died at his birth, a few days or seven days later. The infant was given the name Siddhartha (Pāli: Siddhattha), meaning "he who achieves his aim". During the birth celebrations, the hermit seer Asita journeyed from his mountain abode and announced that the child would either become a great king (chakravartin) or a great sadhu. By traditional account, this occurred after Siddhartha placed his feet in Asita's hair and Asita examined the birthmarks. Suddhodana held a naming ceremony on the fifth day, and invited eight Brahmin scholars to read the future. All gave a dual prediction that the baby would either become a great king or a great holy man. Kondañña, the youngest, and later to be the first arhat other than the Buddha, was reputed to be the only one who unequivocally predicted that Siddhartha would become a Buddha.

 

While later tradition and legend characterized Śuddhodana as a hereditary monarch, the descendant of the Suryavansha (Solar dynasty) of Ikṣvāku (Pāli: Okkāka), many scholars think that Śuddhodana was the elected chief of a tribal confederacy.

 

Early texts suggest that Gautama was not familiar with the dominant religious teachings of his time until he left on his religious quest, which is said to have been motivated by existential concern for the human condition. The state of the Shakya clan was not a monarchy, and seems to have been structured either as an oligarchy, or as a form of republic. The more egalitarian gana-sangha form of government, as a political alternative to the strongly hierarchical kingdoms, may have influenced the development of the śramanic Jain and Buddhist sanghas, where monarchies tended toward Vedic Brahmanism.

 

EARLY LIFE AND MARRIAGE

Siddhartha was brought up by his mother's younger sister, Maha Pajapati. By tradition, he is said to have been destined by birth to the life of a prince, and had three palaces (for seasonal occupation) built for him. Although more recent scholarship doubts this status, his father, said to be King Śuddhodana, wishing for his son to be a great king, is said to have shielded him from religious teachings and from knowledge of human suffering.

 

When he reached the age of 16, his father reputedly arranged his marriage to a cousin of the same age named Yaśodharā (Pāli: Yasodharā). According to the traditional account, she gave birth to a son, named Rāhula. Siddhartha is said to have spent 29 years as a prince in Kapilavastu. Although his father ensured that Siddhartha was provided with everything he could want or need, Buddhist scriptures say that the future Buddha felt that material wealth was not life's ultimate goal.

 

RENUNCIATION AND ASCETIC LIFE

At the age of 29, the popular biography continues, Siddhartha left his palace to meet his subjects. Despite his father's efforts to hide from him the sick, aged and suffering, Siddhartha was said to have seen an old man. When his charioteer Channa explained to him that all people grew old, the prince went on further trips beyond the palace. On these he encountered a diseased man, a decaying corpse, and an ascetic. These depressed him, and he initially strove to overcome aging, sickness, and death by living the life of an ascetic.

 

Accompanied by Channa and riding his horse Kanthaka, Gautama quit his palace for the life of a mendicant. It's said that, "the horse's hooves were muffled by the gods" to prevent guards from knowing of his departure.

 

Gautama initially went to Rajagaha and began his ascetic life by begging for alms in the street. After King Bimbisara's men recognised Siddhartha and the king learned of his quest, Bimbisara offered Siddhartha the throne. Siddhartha rejected the offer, but promised to visit his kingdom of Magadha first, upon attaining enlightenment.

 

He left Rajagaha and practised under two hermit teachers of yogic meditation. After mastering the teachings of Alara Kalama (Skr. Ārāḍa Kālāma), he was asked by Kalama to succeed him. However, Gautama felt unsatisfied by the practice, and moved on to become a student of yoga with Udaka Ramaputta (Skr. Udraka Rāmaputra). With him he achieved high levels of meditative consciousness, and was again asked to succeed his teacher. But, once more, he was not satisfied, and again moved on.

 

Siddhartha and a group of five companions led by Kaundinya are then said to have set out to take their austerities even further. They tried to find enlightenment through deprivation of worldly goods, including food, practising self-mortification. After nearly starving himself to death by restricting his food intake to around a leaf or nut per day, he collapsed in a river while bathing and almost drowned. Siddhartha was rescued by a village girl named Sujata and she gave him some payasam (a pudding made from milk and jaggery) after which Siddhartha got back some energy. Siddhartha began to reconsider his path. Then, he remembered a moment in childhood in which he had been watching his father start the season's ploughing. He attained a concentrated and focused state that was blissful and refreshing, the jhāna.

 

AWAKENING

According to the early Buddhist texts, after realizing that meditative dhyana was the right path to awakening, but that extreme asceticism didn't work, Gautama discovered what Buddhists call the Middle Way - a path of moderation away from the extremes of self-indulgence and self-mortification, or the Noble Eightfold Path, as was identified and described by the Buddha in his first discourse, the Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta. In a famous incident, after becoming starved and weakened, he is said to have accepted milk and rice pudding from a village girl named Sujata. Such was his emaciated appearance that she wrongly believed him to be a spirit that had granted her a wish.

 

Following this incident, Gautama was famously seated under a pipal tree - now known as the Bodhi tree - in Bodh Gaya, India, when he vowed never to arise until he had found the truth. Kaundinya and four other companions, believing that he had abandoned his search and become undisciplined, left. After a reputed 49 days of meditation, at the age of 35, he is said to have attained Enlightenment. According to some traditions, this occurred in approximately the fifth lunar month, while, according to others, it was in the twelfth month. From that time, Gautama was known to his followers as the Buddha or "Awakened One" ("Buddha" is also sometimes translated as "The Enlightened One").

 

According to Buddhism, at the time of his awakening he realized complete insight into the cause of suffering, and the steps necessary to eliminate it. These discoveries became known as the "Four Noble Truths", which are at the heart of Buddhist teaching. Through mastery of these truths, a state of supreme liberation, or Nirvana, is believed to be possible for any being. The Buddha described Nirvāna as the perfect peace of a mind that's free from ignorance, greed, hatred and other afflictive states, or "defilements" (kilesas). Nirvana is also regarded as the "end of the world", in that no personal identity or boundaries of the mind remain. In such a state, a being is said to possess the Ten Characteristics, belonging to every Buddha.

 

According to a story in the Āyācana Sutta (Samyutta Nikaya VI.1) - a scripture found in the Pāli and other canons - immediately after his awakening, the Buddha debated whether or not he should teach the Dharma to others. He was concerned that humans were so overpowered by ignorance, greed and hatred that they could never recognise the path, which is subtle, deep and hard to grasp. However, in the story, Brahmā Sahampati convinced him, arguing that at least some will understand it. The Buddha relented, and agreed to teach.

 

FORMATION OF THE SANGHA

After his awakening, the Buddha met Taphussa and Bhallika — two merchant brothers from the city of Balkh in what is currently Afghanistan - who became his first lay disciples. It is said that each was given hairs from his head, which are now claimed to be enshrined as relics in the Shwe Dagon Temple in Rangoon, Burma. The Buddha intended to visit Asita, and his former teachers, Alara Kalama and Udaka Ramaputta, to explain his findings, but they had already died.

 

He then travelled to the Deer Park near Varanasi (Benares) in northern India, where he set in motion what Buddhists call the Wheel of Dharma by delivering his first sermon to the five companions with whom he had sought enlightenment. Together with him, they formed the first saṅgha: the company of Buddhist monks.

 

All five become arahants, and within the first two months, with the conversion of Yasa and fifty four of his friends, the number of such arahants is said to have grown to 60. The conversion of three brothers named Kassapa followed, with their reputed 200, 300 and 500 disciples, respectively. This swelled the sangha to more than 1,000.

 

TRAVELS AND TEACHING

For the remaining 45 years of his life, the Buddha is said to have traveled in the Gangetic Plain, in what is now Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and southern Nepal, teaching a diverse range of people: from nobles to servants, murderers such as Angulimala, and cannibals such as Alavaka. Although the Buddha's language remains unknown, it's likely that he taught in one or more of a variety of closely related Middle Indo-Aryan dialects, of which Pali may be a standardization.

 

The sangha traveled through the subcontinent, expounding the dharma. This continued throughout the year, except during the four months of the Vāsanā rainy season when ascetics of all religions rarely traveled. One reason was that it was more difficult to do so without causing harm to animal life. At this time of year, the sangha would retreat to monasteries, public parks or forests, where people would come to them.

 

The first vassana was spent at Varanasi when the sangha was formed. After this, the Buddha kept a promise to travel to Rajagaha, capital of Magadha, to visit King Bimbisara. During this visit, Sariputta and Maudgalyayana were converted by Assaji, one of the first five disciples, after which they were to become the Buddha's two foremost followers. The Buddha spent the next three seasons at Veluvana Bamboo Grove monastery in Rajagaha, capital of Magadha.

 

Upon hearing of his son's awakening, Suddhodana sent, over a period, ten delegations to ask him to return to Kapilavastu. On the first nine occasions, the delegates failed to deliver the message, and instead joined the sangha to become arahants. The tenth delegation, led by Kaludayi, a childhood friend of Gautama's (who also became an arahant), however, delivered the message.

 

Now two years after his awakening, the Buddha agreed to return, and made a two-month journey by foot to Kapilavastu, teaching the dharma as he went. At his return, the royal palace prepared a midday meal, but the sangha was making an alms round in Kapilavastu. Hearing this, Suddhodana approached his son, the Buddha, saying:

 

"Ours is the warrior lineage of Mahamassata, and not a single warrior has gone seeking alms."

 

The Buddha is said to have replied:

 

"That is not the custom of your royal lineage. But it is the custom of my Buddha lineage. Several thousands of Buddhas have gone by seeking alms."

 

Buddhist texts say that Suddhodana invited the sangha into the palace for the meal, followed by a dharma talk. After this he is said to have become a sotapanna. During the visit, many members of the royal family joined the sangha. The Buddha's cousins Ananda and Anuruddha became two of his five chief disciples. At the age of seven, his son Rahula also joined, and became one of his ten chief disciples. His half-brother Nanda also joined and became an arahant.

 

Of the Buddha's disciples, Sariputta, Maudgalyayana, Mahakasyapa, Ananda and Anuruddha are believed to have been the five closest to him. His ten foremost disciples were reputedly completed by the quintet of Upali, Subhoti, Rahula, Mahakaccana and Punna.

 

In the fifth vassana, the Buddha was staying at Mahavana near Vesali when he heard news of the impending death of his father. He is said to have gone to Suddhodana and taught the dharma, after which his father became an arahant.The king's death and cremation was to inspire the creation of an order of nuns. Buddhist texts record that the Buddha was reluctant to ordain women. His foster mother Maha Pajapati, for example, approached him, asking to join the sangha, but he refused. Maha Pajapati, however, was so intent on the path of awakening that she led a group of royal Sakyan and Koliyan ladies, which followed the sangha on a long journey to Rajagaha. In time, after Ananda championed their cause, the Buddha is said to have reconsidered and, five years after the formation of the sangha, agreed to the ordination of women as nuns. He reasoned that males and females had an equal capacity for awakening. But he gave women additional rules (Vinaya) to follow.

 

MAHAPARINIRVANA

According to the Mahaparinibbana Sutta of the Pali canon, at the age of 80, the Buddha announced that he would soon reach Parinirvana, or the final deathless state, and abandon his earthly body. After this, the Buddha ate his last meal, which he had received as an offering from a blacksmith named Cunda. Falling violently ill, Buddha instructed his attendant Ānanda to convince Cunda that the meal eaten at his place had nothing to do with his passing and that his meal would be a source of the greatest merit as it provided the last meal for a Buddha. Mettanando and Von Hinüber argue that the Buddha died of mesenteric infarction, a symptom of old age, rather than food poisoning. The precise contents of the Buddha's final meal are not clear, due to variant scriptural traditions and ambiguity over the translation of certain significant terms; the Theravada tradition generally believes that the Buddha was offered some kind of pork, while the Mahayana tradition believes that the Buddha consumed some sort of truffle or other mushroom. These may reflect the different traditional views on Buddhist vegetarianism and the precepts for monks and nuns.

 

Waley suggests that Theravadin's would take suukaramaddava (the contents of the Buddha's last meal), which can translate as pig-soft, to mean soft flesh of a pig. However, he also states that pig-soft could mean "pig's soft-food", that is, after Neumann, a soft food favoured by pigs, assumed to be a truffle. He argues (also after Neumann) that as Pali Buddhism was developed in an area remote to the Buddha's death, the existence of other plants with suukara- (pig) as part of their names and that "(p)lant names tend to be local and dialectical" could easily indicate that suukaramaddava was a type of plant whose local name was unknown to those in the Pali regions. Specifically, local writers knew more about their flora than Theravadin commentator Buddhaghosa who lived hundreds of years and kilometres remote in time and space from the events described. Unaware of an alternate meaning and with no Theravadin prohibition against eating animal flesh, Theravadins would not have questioned the Buddha eating meat and interpreted the term accordingly.

 

Ananda protested the Buddha's decision to enter Parinirvana in the abandoned jungles of Kuśināra (present-day Kushinagar, India) of the Malla kingdom. The Buddha, however, is said to have reminded Ananda how Kushinara was a land once ruled by a righteous wheel-turning king that resounded with joy:

 

44. Kusavati, Ananda, resounded unceasingly day and night with ten sounds - the trumpeting of elephants, the neighing of horses, the rattling of chariots, the beating of drums and tabours, music and song, cheers, the clapping of hands, and cries of "Eat, drink, and be merry!"

 

The Buddha then asked all the attendant Bhikkhus to clarify any doubts or questions they had. They had none. According to Buddhist scriptures, he then finally entered Parinirvana. The Buddha's final words are reported to have been: "All composite things (Saṅkhāra) are perishable. Strive for your own liberation with diligence" (Pali: 'vayadhammā saṅkhārā appamādena sampādethā'). His body was cremated and the relics were placed in monuments or stupas, some of which are believed to have survived until the present. For example, The Temple of the Tooth or "Dalada Maligawa" in Sri Lanka is the place where what some believe to be the relic of the right tooth of Buddha is kept at present.

 

According to the Pāli historical chronicles of Sri Lanka, the Dīpavaṃsa and Mahāvaṃsa, the coronation of Emperor Aśoka (Pāli: Asoka) is 218 years after the death of the Buddha. According to two textual records in Chinese (十八部論 and 部執異論), the coronation of Emperor Aśoka is 116 years after the death of the Buddha. Therefore, the time of Buddha's passing is either 486 BCE according to Theravāda record or 383 BCE according to Mahayana record. However, the actual date traditionally accepted as the date of the Buddha's death in Theravāda countries is 544 or 545 BCE, because the reign of Emperor Aśoka was traditionally reckoned to be about 60 years earlier than current estimates. In Burmese Buddhist tradition, the date of the Buddha's death is 13 May 544 BCE. whereas in Thai tradition it is 11 March 545 BCE.

 

At his death, the Buddha is famously believed to have told his disciples to follow no leader. Mahakasyapa was chosen by the sangha to be the chairman of the First Buddhist Council, with the two chief disciples Maudgalyayana and Sariputta having died before the Buddha.

 

While in the Buddha's days he was addressed by the very respected titles Buddha, Shākyamuni, Shākyasimha, Bhante and Bho, he was known after his parinirvana as Arihant, Bhagavā/Bhagavat/Bhagwān, Mahāvira, Jina/Jinendra, Sāstr, Sugata, and most popularly in scriptures as Tathāgata.

 

BUDDHA AND VEDAS

Buddha's teachings deny the authority of the Vedas and consequently [at least atheistic] Buddhism is generally viewed as a nāstika school (heterodox, literally "It is not so") from the perspective of orthodox Hinduism.

 

RELICS

After his death, Buddha's cremation relics were divided amongst 8 royal families and his disciples; centuries later they would be enshrined by King Ashoka into 84,000 stupas. Many supernatural legends surround the history of alleged relics as they accompanied the spread of Buddhism and gave legitimacy to rulers.

 

PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS

An extensive and colorful physical description of the Buddha has been laid down in scriptures. A kshatriya by birth, he had military training in his upbringing, and by Shakyan tradition was required to pass tests to demonstrate his worthiness as a warrior in order to marry. He had a strong enough body to be noticed by one of the kings and was asked to join his army as a general. He is also believed by Buddhists to have "the 32 Signs of the Great Man".

 

The Brahmin Sonadanda described him as "handsome, good-looking, and pleasing to the eye, with a most beautiful complexion. He has a godlike form and countenance, he is by no means unattractive." (D, I:115)

 

"It is wonderful, truly marvellous, how serene is the good Gotama's appearance, how clear and radiant his complexion, just as the golden jujube in autumn is clear and radiant, just as a palm-tree fruit just loosened from the stalk is clear and radiant, just as an adornment of red gold wrought in a crucible by a skilled goldsmith, deftly beaten and laid on a yellow-cloth shines, blazes and glitters, even so, the good Gotama's senses are calmed, his complexion is clear and radiant." (A, I:181)

 

A disciple named Vakkali, who later became an arahant, was so obsessed by the Buddha's physical presence that the Buddha is said to have felt impelled to tell him to desist, and to have reminded him that he should know the Buddha through the Dhamma and not through physical appearances.

 

Although there are no extant representations of the Buddha in human form until around the 1st century CE (see Buddhist art), descriptions of the physical characteristics of fully enlightened buddhas are attributed to the Buddha in the Digha Nikaya's Lakkhaṇa Sutta (D, I:142). In addition, the Buddha's physical appearance is described by Yasodhara to their son Rahula upon the Buddha's first post-Enlightenment return to his former princely palace in the non-canonical Pali devotional hymn, Narasīha Gāthā ("The Lion of Men").

 

Among the 32 main characteristics it is mentioned that Buddha has blue eyes.

 

NINE VIRTUES

Recollection of nine virtues attributed to the Buddha is a common Buddhist meditation and devotional practice called Buddhānusmṛti. The nine virtues are also among the 40 Buddhist meditation subjects. The nine virtues of the Buddha appear throughout the Tipitaka, and include:

 

- Buddho – Awakened

- Sammasambuddho – Perfectly self-awakened

- Vijja-carana-sampano – Endowed with higher knowledge and ideal conduct.

- Sugato – Well-gone or Well-spoken.

- Lokavidu – Wise in the knowledge of the many worlds.

- Anuttaro Purisa-damma-sarathi – Unexcelled trainer of untrained people.

- Satthadeva-Manussanam – Teacher of gods and humans.

- Bhagavathi – The Blessed one

- Araham – Worthy of homage. An Arahant is "one with taints destroyed, who has lived the holy life, done what had to be done, laid down the burden, reached the true goal, destroyed the fetters of being, and is completely liberated through final knowledge."

 

TEACHINGS

TRACING THE OLDEST TEACHINGS

Information of the oldest teachings may be obtained by analysis of the oldest texts. One method to obtain information on the oldest core of Buddhism is to compare the oldest extant versions of the Theravadin Pali Canon and other texts. The reliability of these sources, and the possibility to draw out a core of oldest teachings, is a matter of dispute. According to Vetter, inconsistencies remain, and other methods must be applied to resolve those inconsistencies.

 

According to Schmithausen, three positions held by scholars of Buddhism can be distinguished:

 

"Stress on the fundamental homogeneity and substantial authenticity of at least a considerable part of the Nikayic materials;"

"Scepticism with regard to the possibility of retrieving the doctrine of earliest Buddhism;"

"Cautious optimism in this respect."

 

DHYANA AND INSIGHT

A core problem in the study of early Buddhism is the relation between dhyana and insight. Schmithausen, in his often-cited article On some Aspects of Descriptions or Theories of 'Liberating Insight' and 'Enlightenment' in Early Buddhism notes that the mention of the four noble truths as constituting "liberating insight", which is attained after mastering the Rupa Jhanas, is a later addition to texts such as Majjhima Nikaya 36

 

CORE TEACHINGS

According to Tilmann Vetter, the core of earliest Buddhism is the practice of dhyāna. Bronkhorst agrees that dhyana was a Buddhist invention, whereas Norman notes that "the Buddha's way to release [...] was by means of meditative practices." Discriminating insight into transiency as a separate path to liberation was a later development.

 

According to the Mahāsaccakasutta, from the fourth jhana the Buddha gained bodhi. Yet, it is not clear what he was awakened to. "Liberating insight" is a later addition to this text, and reflects a later development and understanding in early Buddhism. The mentioning of the four truths as constituting "liberating insight" introduces a logical problem, since the four truths depict a linear path of practice, the knowledge of which is in itself not depicted as being liberating:

 

[T]hey do not teach that one is released by knowing the four noble truths, but by practicing the fourth noble truth, the eightfold path, which culminates in right samadhi.

 

Although "Nibbāna" (Sanskrit: Nirvāna) is the common term for the desired goal of this practice, many other terms can be found throughout the Nikayas, which are not specified.

 

According to Vetter, the description of the Buddhist path may initially have been as simple as the term "the middle way". In time, this short description was elaborated, resulting in the description of the eightfold path.

 

According to both Bronkhorst and Anderson, the four truths became a substitution for prajna, or "liberating insight", in the suttas in those texts where "liberating insight" was preceded by the four jhanas. According to Bronkhorst, the four truths may not have been formulated in earliest Buddhism, and did not serve in earliest Buddhism as a description of "liberating insight". Gotama's teachings may have been personal, "adjusted to the need of each person."

 

The three marks of existence may reflect Upanishadic or other influences. K.R. Norman supposes that these terms were already in use at the Buddha's time, and were familiar to his listeners.

 

The Brahma-vihara was in origin probably a brahmanic term; but its usage may have been common to the Sramana traditions.

  

LATER DEVELOPMENTS

In time, "liberating insight" became an essential feature of the Buddhist tradition. The following teachings, which are commonly seen as essential to Buddhism, are later formulations which form part of the explanatory framework of this "liberating insight":

 

- The Four Noble Truths: that suffering is an ingrained part of existence; that the origin of suffering is craving for sensuality, acquisition of identity, and fear of annihilation; that suffering can be ended; and that following the Noble Eightfold Path is the means to accomplish this;

- The Noble Eightfold Path: right view, right intention, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, and right concentration;

- Dependent origination: the mind creates suffering as a natural product of a complex process.

 

OTHER RELIGIONS

Some Hindus regard Gautama as the 9th avatar of Vishnu. The Buddha is also regarded as a prophet by the Ahmadiyya Muslims and a Manifestation of God in the Bahá'í Faith. Some early Chinese Taoist-Buddhists thought the Buddha to be a reincarnation of Lao Tzu.

 

The Christian Saint Josaphat is based on the Buddha. The name comes from the Sanskrit Bodhisattva via Arabic Būdhasaf and Georgian Iodasaph. The only story in which St. Josaphat appears, Barlaam and Josaphat, is based on the life of the Buddha. Josaphat was included in earlier editions of the Roman Martyrology (feast day 27 November) — though not in the Roman Missal — and in the Eastern Orthodox Church liturgical calendar (26 August).

 

Disciples of the Cao Đài religion worship the Buddha as a major religious teacher. His image can be found in both their Holy See and on the home altar. He is revealed during communication with Divine Beings as son of their Supreme Being (God the Father) together with other major religious teachers and founders like Jesus, Laozi, and Confucius.

 

In the ancient Gnostic sect of Manichaeism the Buddha is listed among the prophets who preached the word of God before Mani.

 

WIKIPEDIA

I got a chance to shoot these people again. I used my 70-200 f4 lens to see what it was like. Makes for great portraits, under the right circumstances! Any comments welcome and appreciated!

The super request for impeachment of Jair Bolsonaro (no party) filed this Wednesday (06/30), in the Chamber of Deputies, states that the president committed at least 21 crimes described in Law No. 1,079/1950 (Impeachment Law).

The request brings together the articulation of parties and parliamentarians with broad political orientations, from left to right, social leaders, collectives and popular movements, as well as individuals.

Check out what crimes Bolsonaro would have committed under the request:

 

1-Crime against the political existence of the Union. Act: fomenting conflict with other nations;

 

2-Hostility against a foreign nation. Act: xenophobic statements to Cuban doctors;

 

3-Crime against the free exercise of Powers. Act: Threats to Congress and Supreme Court;

 

4-Try to dissolve or impede the functioning of the Congress. Act: President's statements and participation in anti-democratic demonstrations;

 

5-Threat against some representative of the nation to coerce him. Act: he said that he would have to "get a beating" with senator Randolfe Rodrigues (Rede-AP), member of the CPI of COVID;

 

5-Oppose the free exercise of the Judiciary Power. Act: interference with the Federal Police;

 

6-Threat to embarrass judge. Act: attacks on the Supreme;

 

7-Crime against the free exercise of political, individual and social rights. Act: omissions errors in combating the pandemic;

 

8-Use authorities under your immediate subordination to abuse power.

 

9- Subvert or try to subvert the political and social order. Act: threat to institutions;

 

10- Inciting military personnel to disobey the law or infraction of discipline. Act: go to the demonstration in favor of military intervention;

 

11- Provoking animosity in the armed classes. Act: allies incited mutiny in the case of the policeman killed by other police officers in Salvador;

 

12- Violating social rights guaranteed in the Constitution. Act: Omissions and Errors in Combating the Pandemic;

 

13- Crime against the country's internal security. Act: omissions and errors in combating the pandemic;

 

14- Decree a state of siege without serious internal commotion. Act: compared the sanitary measures of governors during the pandemic (lockdown) with a state of siege;

 

15- Allow the violation of federal law of public order. Act: promote revolt against social isolation in the pandemic;

 

16- Crime against probity in administration. Act: pandemic management and attacks on the electoral process;

 

17- Issue orders contrary to the Constitution. Act: exchanges in the Armed Forces;

 

18- Proceed in a manner incompatible with the decorum of the office. Act: lies for political advantage;

 

19- Neglecting the conservation of national heritage. Act: financial management in the pandemic and delays in meeting the demands of states and municipalities in the health crisis;

 

20- Crime against compliance with court decisions. Act: not create a plan to protect indigenous peoples in the pandemic.

Gautama Buddha, also known as Siddhārtha Gautama, Shakyamuni, or simply the Buddha, was a sage on whose teachings Buddhism was founded. He is believed to have lived and taught mostly in northeastern India sometime between the sixth and fourth centuries BCE.

 

The word Buddha means "awakened one" or "the enlightened one". "Buddha" is also used as a title for the first awakened being in a Yuga era. In most Buddhist traditions, Siddhartha Gautama is regarded as the Supreme Buddha (Pali sammāsambuddha, Sanskrit samyaksaṃbuddha) of the present age. Gautama taught a Middle Way between sensual indulgence and the severe asceticism found in the śramaṇa movement common in his region. He later taught throughout regions of eastern India such as Magadha and Kosala.

 

Gautama is the primary figure in Buddhism and accounts of his life, discourses, and monastic rules are believed by Buddhists to have been summarized after his death and memorized by his followers. Various collections of teachings attributed to him were passed down by oral tradition and first committed to writing about 400 years later.

 

CONTENTS

HISTORICAL SIDDHARTA GAUTAMA

Scholars are hesitant to make unqualified claims about the historical facts of the Buddha's life. Most accept that he lived, taught and founded a monastic order during the Mahajanapada era during the reign of Bimbisara, the ruler of the Magadha empire, and died during the early years of the reign of Ajasattu, who was the successor of Bimbisara, thus making him a younger contemporary of Mahavira, the Jain tirthankara. Apart from the Vedic Brahmins, the Buddha's lifetime coincided with the flourishing of other influential śramaṇa schools of thoughts like Ājīvika, Cārvāka, Jainism, and Ajñana. It was also the age of influential thinkers like Mahavira, Pūraṇa Kassapa , Makkhali Gosāla, Ajita Kesakambalī, Pakudha Kaccāyana, and Sañjaya Belaṭṭhaputta, whose viewpoints the Buddha most certainly must have been acquainted with and influenced by. Indeed, Sariputta and Moggallāna, two of the foremost disciples of the Buddha, were formerly the foremost disciples of Sañjaya Belaṭṭhaputta, the skeptic. There is also evidence to suggest that the two masters, Alara Kalama and Uddaka Ramaputta, were indeed historical figures and they most probably taught Buddha two different forms of meditative techniques. While the general sequence of "birth, maturity, renunciation, search, awakening and liberation, teaching, death" is widely accepted, there is less consensus on the veracity of many details contained in traditional biographies.

 

The times of Gautama's birth and death are uncertain. Most historians in the early 20th century dated his lifetime as circa 563 BCE to 483 BCE. More recently his death is dated later, between 411 and 400 BCE, while at a symposium on this question held in 1988, the majority of those who presented definite opinions gave dates within 20 years either side of 400 BCE for the Buddha's death. These alternative chronologies, however, have not yet been accepted by all historians.

 

The evidence of the early texts suggests that Siddhārtha Gautama was born into the Shakya clan, a community that was on the periphery, both geographically and culturally, of the northeastern Indian subcontinent in the 5th century BCE. It was either a small republic, in which case his father was an elected chieftain, or an oligarchy, in which case his father was an oligarch. According to the Buddhist tradition, Gautama was born in Lumbini, nowadays in modern-day Nepal, and raised in the Shakya capital of Kapilavastu, which may have been in either present day Tilaurakot, Nepal or Piprahwa, India. He obtained his enlightenment in Bodh Gaya, gave his first sermon in Sarnath, and died in Kushinagar.

 

No written records about Gautama have been found from his lifetime or some centuries thereafter. One Edict of Asoka, who reigned from circa 269 BCE to 232 BCE, commemorates the Emperor's pilgrimage to the Buddha's birthplace in Lumbini. Another one of his edicts mentions several Dhamma texts, establishing the existence of a written Buddhist tradition at least by the time of the Maurya era and which may be the precursors of the Pāli Canon. The oldest surviving Buddhist manuscripts are the Gandhāran Buddhist texts, reported to have been found in or around Haḍḍa near Jalalabad in eastern Afghanistan and now preserved in the British Library. They are written in the Gāndhārī language using the Kharosthi script on twenty-seven birch bark manuscripts and date from the first century BCE to the third century CE.

 

TRADITIONAL BIOGRAPHIES

BIOGRAPHICAL SOURCES

The sources for the life of Siddhārtha Gautama are a variety of different, and sometimes conflicting, traditional biographies. These include the Buddhacarita, Lalitavistara Sūtra, Mahāvastu, and the Nidānakathā. Of these, the Buddhacarita is the earliest full biography, an epic poem written by the poet Aśvaghoṣa, and dating around the beginning of the 2nd century CE. The Lalitavistara Sūtra is the next oldest biography, a Mahāyāna/Sarvāstivāda biography dating to the 3rd century CE. The Mahāvastu from the Mahāsāṃghika Lokottaravāda tradition is another major biography, composed incrementally until perhaps the 4th century CE. The Dharmaguptaka biography of the Buddha is the most exhaustive, and is entitled the Abhiniṣkramaṇa Sūtra, and various Chinese translations of this date between the 3rd and 6th century CE. The Nidānakathā is from the Theravada tradition in Sri Lanka and was composed in the 5th century by Buddhaghoṣa.

 

From canonical sources, the Jataka tales, the Mahapadana Sutta (DN 14), and the Achariyabhuta Sutta (MN 123) which include selective accounts that may be older, but are not full biographies. The Jātakas retell previous lives of Gautama as a bodhisattva, and the first collection of these can be dated among the earliest Buddhist texts. The Mahāpadāna Sutta and Achariyabhuta Sutta both recount miraculous events surrounding Gautama's birth, such as the bodhisattva's descent from the Tuṣita Heaven into his mother's womb.

 

NATURE OF TRADITIONAL DEPICTIONS

In the earliest Buddhists texts, the nikāyas and āgamas, the Buddha is not depicted as possessing omniscience (sabbaññu) nor is he depicted as being an eternal transcendent (lokottara) being. According to Bhikkhu Analayo, ideas of the Buddha's omniscience (along with an increasing tendency to deify him and his biography) are found only later, in the Mahayana sutras and later Pali commentaries or texts such as the Mahāvastu. In the Sandaka Sutta, the Buddha's disciple Ananda outlines an argument against the claims of teachers who say they are all knowing while in the Tevijjavacchagotta Sutta the Buddha himself states that he has never made a claim to being omniscient, instead he claimed to have the "higher knowledges" (abhijñā). The earliest biographical material from the Pali Nikayas focuses on the Buddha's life as a śramaṇa, his search for enlightenment under various teachers such as Alara Kalama and his forty five year career as a teacher.

 

Traditional biographies of Gautama generally include numerous miracles, omens, and supernatural events. The character of the Buddha in these traditional biographies is often that of a fully transcendent (Skt. lokottara) and perfected being who is unencumbered by the mundane world. In the Mahāvastu, over the course of many lives, Gautama is said to have developed supra-mundane abilities including: a painless birth conceived without intercourse; no need for sleep, food, medicine, or bathing, although engaging in such "in conformity with the world"; omniscience, and the ability to "suppress karma". Nevertheless, some of the more ordinary details of his life have been gathered from these traditional sources. In modern times there has been an attempt to form a secular understanding of Siddhārtha Gautama's life by omitting the traditional supernatural elements of his early biographies.

 

Andrew Skilton writes that the Buddha was never historically regarded by Buddhist traditions as being merely human:

It is important to stress that, despite modern Theravada teachings to the contrary (often a sop to skeptical Western pupils), he was never seen as being merely human. For instance, he is often described as having the thirty-two major and eighty minor marks or signs of a mahāpuruṣa, "superman"; the Buddha himself denied that he was either a man or a god; and in the Mahāparinibbāna Sutta he states that he could live for an aeon were he asked to do so.The ancient Indians were generally unconcerned with chronologies, being more focused on philosophy. Buddhist texts reflect this tendency, providing a clearer picture of what Gautama may have taught than of the dates of the events in his life. These texts contain descriptions of the culture and daily life of ancient India which can be corroborated from the Jain scriptures, and make the Buddha's time the earliest period in Indian history for which significant accounts exist. British author Karen Armstrong writes that although there is very little information that can be considered historically sound, we can be reasonably confident that Siddhārtha Gautama did exist as a historical figure. Michael Carrithers goes a bit further by stating that the most general outline of "birth, maturity, renunciation, search, awakening and liberation, teaching, death" must be true.

 

BIOGRAPHY

CONCEPTION AND BIRTH

The Buddhist tradition regards Lumbini, in present-day Nepal to be the birthplace of the Buddha. He grew up in Kapilavastu. The exact site of ancient Kapilavastu is unknown. It may have been either Piprahwa, Uttar Pradesh, present-day India, or Tilaurakot, present-day Nepal. Both places belonged to the Sakya territory, and are located only 15 miles apart from each other.

 

Gautama was born as a Kshatriya, the son of Śuddhodana, "an elected chief of the Shakya clan", whose capital was Kapilavastu, and who were later annexed by the growing Kingdom of Kosala during the Buddha's lifetime. Gautama was the family name. His mother, Maya (Māyādevī), Suddhodana's wife, was a Koliyan princess. Legend has it that, on the night Siddhartha was conceived, Queen Maya dreamt that a white elephant with six white tusks entered her right side, and ten months later Siddhartha was born. As was the Shakya tradition, when his mother Queen Maya became pregnant, she left Kapilvastu for her father's kingdom to give birth. However, her son is said to have been born on the way, at Lumbini, in a garden beneath a sal tree.

 

The day of the Buddha's birth is widely celebrated in Theravada countries as Vesak. Buddha's Birthday is called Buddha Purnima in Nepal and India as he is believed to have been born on a full moon day. Various sources hold that the Buddha's mother died at his birth, a few days or seven days later. The infant was given the name Siddhartha (Pāli: Siddhattha), meaning "he who achieves his aim". During the birth celebrations, the hermit seer Asita journeyed from his mountain abode and announced that the child would either become a great king (chakravartin) or a great sadhu. By traditional account, this occurred after Siddhartha placed his feet in Asita's hair and Asita examined the birthmarks. Suddhodana held a naming ceremony on the fifth day, and invited eight Brahmin scholars to read the future. All gave a dual prediction that the baby would either become a great king or a great holy man. Kondañña, the youngest, and later to be the first arhat other than the Buddha, was reputed to be the only one who unequivocally predicted that Siddhartha would become a Buddha.

 

While later tradition and legend characterized Śuddhodana as a hereditary monarch, the descendant of the Suryavansha (Solar dynasty) of Ikṣvāku (Pāli: Okkāka), many scholars think that Śuddhodana was the elected chief of a tribal confederacy.

 

Early texts suggest that Gautama was not familiar with the dominant religious teachings of his time until he left on his religious quest, which is said to have been motivated by existential concern for the human condition. The state of the Shakya clan was not a monarchy, and seems to have been structured either as an oligarchy, or as a form of republic. The more egalitarian gana-sangha form of government, as a political alternative to the strongly hierarchical kingdoms, may have influenced the development of the śramanic Jain and Buddhist sanghas, where monarchies tended toward Vedic Brahmanism.

 

EARLY LIFE AND MARRIAGE

Siddhartha was brought up by his mother's younger sister, Maha Pajapati. By tradition, he is said to have been destined by birth to the life of a prince, and had three palaces (for seasonal occupation) built for him. Although more recent scholarship doubts this status, his father, said to be King Śuddhodana, wishing for his son to be a great king, is said to have shielded him from religious teachings and from knowledge of human suffering.

 

When he reached the age of 16, his father reputedly arranged his marriage to a cousin of the same age named Yaśodharā (Pāli: Yasodharā). According to the traditional account, she gave birth to a son, named Rāhula. Siddhartha is said to have spent 29 years as a prince in Kapilavastu. Although his father ensured that Siddhartha was provided with everything he could want or need, Buddhist scriptures say that the future Buddha felt that material wealth was not life's ultimate goal.

 

RENUNCIATION AND ASCETIC LIFE

At the age of 29, the popular biography continues, Siddhartha left his palace to meet his subjects. Despite his father's efforts to hide from him the sick, aged and suffering, Siddhartha was said to have seen an old man. When his charioteer Channa explained to him that all people grew old, the prince went on further trips beyond the palace. On these he encountered a diseased man, a decaying corpse, and an ascetic. These depressed him, and he initially strove to overcome aging, sickness, and death by living the life of an ascetic.

 

Accompanied by Channa and riding his horse Kanthaka, Gautama quit his palace for the life of a mendicant. It's said that, "the horse's hooves were muffled by the gods" to prevent guards from knowing of his departure.

 

Gautama initially went to Rajagaha and began his ascetic life by begging for alms in the street. After King Bimbisara's men recognised Siddhartha and the king learned of his quest, Bimbisara offered Siddhartha the throne. Siddhartha rejected the offer, but promised to visit his kingdom of Magadha first, upon attaining enlightenment.

 

He left Rajagaha and practised under two hermit teachers of yogic meditation. After mastering the teachings of Alara Kalama (Skr. Ārāḍa Kālāma), he was asked by Kalama to succeed him. However, Gautama felt unsatisfied by the practice, and moved on to become a student of yoga with Udaka Ramaputta (Skr. Udraka Rāmaputra). With him he achieved high levels of meditative consciousness, and was again asked to succeed his teacher. But, once more, he was not satisfied, and again moved on.

 

Siddhartha and a group of five companions led by Kaundinya are then said to have set out to take their austerities even further. They tried to find enlightenment through deprivation of worldly goods, including food, practising self-mortification. After nearly starving himself to death by restricting his food intake to around a leaf or nut per day, he collapsed in a river while bathing and almost drowned. Siddhartha was rescued by a village girl named Sujata and she gave him some payasam (a pudding made from milk and jaggery) after which Siddhartha got back some energy. Siddhartha began to reconsider his path. Then, he remembered a moment in childhood in which he had been watching his father start the season's ploughing. He attained a concentrated and focused state that was blissful and refreshing, the jhāna.

 

AWAKENING

According to the early Buddhist texts, after realizing that meditative dhyana was the right path to awakening, but that extreme asceticism didn't work, Gautama discovered what Buddhists call the Middle Way - a path of moderation away from the extremes of self-indulgence and self-mortification, or the Noble Eightfold Path, as was identified and described by the Buddha in his first discourse, the Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta. In a famous incident, after becoming starved and weakened, he is said to have accepted milk and rice pudding from a village girl named Sujata. Such was his emaciated appearance that she wrongly believed him to be a spirit that had granted her a wish.

 

Following this incident, Gautama was famously seated under a pipal tree - now known as the Bodhi tree - in Bodh Gaya, India, when he vowed never to arise until he had found the truth. Kaundinya and four other companions, believing that he had abandoned his search and become undisciplined, left. After a reputed 49 days of meditation, at the age of 35, he is said to have attained Enlightenment. According to some traditions, this occurred in approximately the fifth lunar month, while, according to others, it was in the twelfth month. From that time, Gautama was known to his followers as the Buddha or "Awakened One" ("Buddha" is also sometimes translated as "The Enlightened One").

 

According to Buddhism, at the time of his awakening he realized complete insight into the cause of suffering, and the steps necessary to eliminate it. These discoveries became known as the "Four Noble Truths", which are at the heart of Buddhist teaching. Through mastery of these truths, a state of supreme liberation, or Nirvana, is believed to be possible for any being. The Buddha described Nirvāna as the perfect peace of a mind that's free from ignorance, greed, hatred and other afflictive states, or "defilements" (kilesas). Nirvana is also regarded as the "end of the world", in that no personal identity or boundaries of the mind remain. In such a state, a being is said to possess the Ten Characteristics, belonging to every Buddha.

 

According to a story in the Āyācana Sutta (Samyutta Nikaya VI.1) - a scripture found in the Pāli and other canons - immediately after his awakening, the Buddha debated whether or not he should teach the Dharma to others. He was concerned that humans were so overpowered by ignorance, greed and hatred that they could never recognise the path, which is subtle, deep and hard to grasp. However, in the story, Brahmā Sahampati convinced him, arguing that at least some will understand it. The Buddha relented, and agreed to teach.

 

FORMATION OF THE SANGHA

After his awakening, the Buddha met Taphussa and Bhallika — two merchant brothers from the city of Balkh in what is currently Afghanistan - who became his first lay disciples. It is said that each was given hairs from his head, which are now claimed to be enshrined as relics in the Shwe Dagon Temple in Rangoon, Burma. The Buddha intended to visit Asita, and his former teachers, Alara Kalama and Udaka Ramaputta, to explain his findings, but they had already died.

 

He then travelled to the Deer Park near Varanasi (Benares) in northern India, where he set in motion what Buddhists call the Wheel of Dharma by delivering his first sermon to the five companions with whom he had sought enlightenment. Together with him, they formed the first saṅgha: the company of Buddhist monks.

 

All five become arahants, and within the first two months, with the conversion of Yasa and fifty four of his friends, the number of such arahants is said to have grown to 60. The conversion of three brothers named Kassapa followed, with their reputed 200, 300 and 500 disciples, respectively. This swelled the sangha to more than 1,000.

 

TRAVELS AND TEACHING

For the remaining 45 years of his life, the Buddha is said to have traveled in the Gangetic Plain, in what is now Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and southern Nepal, teaching a diverse range of people: from nobles to servants, murderers such as Angulimala, and cannibals such as Alavaka. Although the Buddha's language remains unknown, it's likely that he taught in one or more of a variety of closely related Middle Indo-Aryan dialects, of which Pali may be a standardization.

 

The sangha traveled through the subcontinent, expounding the dharma. This continued throughout the year, except during the four months of the Vāsanā rainy season when ascetics of all religions rarely traveled. One reason was that it was more difficult to do so without causing harm to animal life. At this time of year, the sangha would retreat to monasteries, public parks or forests, where people would come to them.

 

The first vassana was spent at Varanasi when the sangha was formed. After this, the Buddha kept a promise to travel to Rajagaha, capital of Magadha, to visit King Bimbisara. During this visit, Sariputta and Maudgalyayana were converted by Assaji, one of the first five disciples, after which they were to become the Buddha's two foremost followers. The Buddha spent the next three seasons at Veluvana Bamboo Grove monastery in Rajagaha, capital of Magadha.

 

Upon hearing of his son's awakening, Suddhodana sent, over a period, ten delegations to ask him to return to Kapilavastu. On the first nine occasions, the delegates failed to deliver the message, and instead joined the sangha to become arahants. The tenth delegation, led by Kaludayi, a childhood friend of Gautama's (who also became an arahant), however, delivered the message.

 

Now two years after his awakening, the Buddha agreed to return, and made a two-month journey by foot to Kapilavastu, teaching the dharma as he went. At his return, the royal palace prepared a midday meal, but the sangha was making an alms round in Kapilavastu. Hearing this, Suddhodana approached his son, the Buddha, saying:

 

"Ours is the warrior lineage of Mahamassata, and not a single warrior has gone seeking alms."

 

The Buddha is said to have replied:

 

"That is not the custom of your royal lineage. But it is the custom of my Buddha lineage. Several thousands of Buddhas have gone by seeking alms."

 

Buddhist texts say that Suddhodana invited the sangha into the palace for the meal, followed by a dharma talk. After this he is said to have become a sotapanna. During the visit, many members of the royal family joined the sangha. The Buddha's cousins Ananda and Anuruddha became two of his five chief disciples. At the age of seven, his son Rahula also joined, and became one of his ten chief disciples. His half-brother Nanda also joined and became an arahant.

 

Of the Buddha's disciples, Sariputta, Maudgalyayana, Mahakasyapa, Ananda and Anuruddha are believed to have been the five closest to him. His ten foremost disciples were reputedly completed by the quintet of Upali, Subhoti, Rahula, Mahakaccana and Punna.

 

In the fifth vassana, the Buddha was staying at Mahavana near Vesali when he heard news of the impending death of his father. He is said to have gone to Suddhodana and taught the dharma, after which his father became an arahant.The king's death and cremation was to inspire the creation of an order of nuns. Buddhist texts record that the Buddha was reluctant to ordain women. His foster mother Maha Pajapati, for example, approached him, asking to join the sangha, but he refused. Maha Pajapati, however, was so intent on the path of awakening that she led a group of royal Sakyan and Koliyan ladies, which followed the sangha on a long journey to Rajagaha. In time, after Ananda championed their cause, the Buddha is said to have reconsidered and, five years after the formation of the sangha, agreed to the ordination of women as nuns. He reasoned that males and females had an equal capacity for awakening. But he gave women additional rules (Vinaya) to follow.

 

MAHAPARINIRVANA

According to the Mahaparinibbana Sutta of the Pali canon, at the age of 80, the Buddha announced that he would soon reach Parinirvana, or the final deathless state, and abandon his earthly body. After this, the Buddha ate his last meal, which he had received as an offering from a blacksmith named Cunda. Falling violently ill, Buddha instructed his attendant Ānanda to convince Cunda that the meal eaten at his place had nothing to do with his passing and that his meal would be a source of the greatest merit as it provided the last meal for a Buddha. Mettanando and Von Hinüber argue that the Buddha died of mesenteric infarction, a symptom of old age, rather than food poisoning. The precise contents of the Buddha's final meal are not clear, due to variant scriptural traditions and ambiguity over the translation of certain significant terms; the Theravada tradition generally believes that the Buddha was offered some kind of pork, while the Mahayana tradition believes that the Buddha consumed some sort of truffle or other mushroom. These may reflect the different traditional views on Buddhist vegetarianism and the precepts for monks and nuns.

 

Waley suggests that Theravadin's would take suukaramaddava (the contents of the Buddha's last meal), which can translate as pig-soft, to mean soft flesh of a pig. However, he also states that pig-soft could mean "pig's soft-food", that is, after Neumann, a soft food favoured by pigs, assumed to be a truffle. He argues (also after Neumann) that as Pali Buddhism was developed in an area remote to the Buddha's death, the existence of other plants with suukara- (pig) as part of their names and that "(p)lant names tend to be local and dialectical" could easily indicate that suukaramaddava was a type of plant whose local name was unknown to those in the Pali regions. Specifically, local writers knew more about their flora than Theravadin commentator Buddhaghosa who lived hundreds of years and kilometres remote in time and space from the events described. Unaware of an alternate meaning and with no Theravadin prohibition against eating animal flesh, Theravadins would not have questioned the Buddha eating meat and interpreted the term accordingly.

 

Ananda protested the Buddha's decision to enter Parinirvana in the abandoned jungles of Kuśināra (present-day Kushinagar, India) of the Malla kingdom. The Buddha, however, is said to have reminded Ananda how Kushinara was a land once ruled by a righteous wheel-turning king that resounded with joy:

 

44. Kusavati, Ananda, resounded unceasingly day and night with ten sounds - the trumpeting of elephants, the neighing of horses, the rattling of chariots, the beating of drums and tabours, music and song, cheers, the clapping of hands, and cries of "Eat, drink, and be merry!"

 

The Buddha then asked all the attendant Bhikkhus to clarify any doubts or questions they had. They had none. According to Buddhist scriptures, he then finally entered Parinirvana. The Buddha's final words are reported to have been: "All composite things (Saṅkhāra) are perishable. Strive for your own liberation with diligence" (Pali: 'vayadhammā saṅkhārā appamādena sampādethā'). His body was cremated and the relics were placed in monuments or stupas, some of which are believed to have survived until the present. For example, The Temple of the Tooth or "Dalada Maligawa" in Sri Lanka is the place where what some believe to be the relic of the right tooth of Buddha is kept at present.

 

According to the Pāli historical chronicles of Sri Lanka, the Dīpavaṃsa and Mahāvaṃsa, the coronation of Emperor Aśoka (Pāli: Asoka) is 218 years after the death of the Buddha. According to two textual records in Chinese (十八部論 and 部執異論), the coronation of Emperor Aśoka is 116 years after the death of the Buddha. Therefore, the time of Buddha's passing is either 486 BCE according to Theravāda record or 383 BCE according to Mahayana record. However, the actual date traditionally accepted as the date of the Buddha's death in Theravāda countries is 544 or 545 BCE, because the reign of Emperor Aśoka was traditionally reckoned to be about 60 years earlier than current estimates. In Burmese Buddhist tradition, the date of the Buddha's death is 13 May 544 BCE. whereas in Thai tradition it is 11 March 545 BCE.

 

At his death, the Buddha is famously believed to have told his disciples to follow no leader. Mahakasyapa was chosen by the sangha to be the chairman of the First Buddhist Council, with the two chief disciples Maudgalyayana and Sariputta having died before the Buddha.

 

While in the Buddha's days he was addressed by the very respected titles Buddha, Shākyamuni, Shākyasimha, Bhante and Bho, he was known after his parinirvana as Arihant, Bhagavā/Bhagavat/Bhagwān, Mahāvira, Jina/Jinendra, Sāstr, Sugata, and most popularly in scriptures as Tathāgata.

 

BUDDHA AND VEDAS

Buddha's teachings deny the authority of the Vedas and consequently [at least atheistic] Buddhism is generally viewed as a nāstika school (heterodox, literally "It is not so") from the perspective of orthodox Hinduism.

 

RELICS

After his death, Buddha's cremation relics were divided amongst 8 royal families and his disciples; centuries later they would be enshrined by King Ashoka into 84,000 stupas. Many supernatural legends surround the history of alleged relics as they accompanied the spread of Buddhism and gave legitimacy to rulers.

 

PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS

An extensive and colorful physical description of the Buddha has been laid down in scriptures. A kshatriya by birth, he had military training in his upbringing, and by Shakyan tradition was required to pass tests to demonstrate his worthiness as a warrior in order to marry. He had a strong enough body to be noticed by one of the kings and was asked to join his army as a general. He is also believed by Buddhists to have "the 32 Signs of the Great Man".

 

The Brahmin Sonadanda described him as "handsome, good-looking, and pleasing to the eye, with a most beautiful complexion. He has a godlike form and countenance, he is by no means unattractive." (D, I:115)

 

"It is wonderful, truly marvellous, how serene is the good Gotama's appearance, how clear and radiant his complexion, just as the golden jujube in autumn is clear and radiant, just as a palm-tree fruit just loosened from the stalk is clear and radiant, just as an adornment of red gold wrought in a crucible by a skilled goldsmith, deftly beaten and laid on a yellow-cloth shines, blazes and glitters, even so, the good Gotama's senses are calmed, his complexion is clear and radiant." (A, I:181)

 

A disciple named Vakkali, who later became an arahant, was so obsessed by the Buddha's physical presence that the Buddha is said to have felt impelled to tell him to desist, and to have reminded him that he should know the Buddha through the Dhamma and not through physical appearances.

 

Although there are no extant representations of the Buddha in human form until around the 1st century CE (see Buddhist art), descriptions of the physical characteristics of fully enlightened buddhas are attributed to the Buddha in the Digha Nikaya's Lakkhaṇa Sutta (D, I:142). In addition, the Buddha's physical appearance is described by Yasodhara to their son Rahula upon the Buddha's first post-Enlightenment return to his former princely palace in the non-canonical Pali devotional hymn, Narasīha Gāthā ("The Lion of Men").

 

Among the 32 main characteristics it is mentioned that Buddha has blue eyes.

 

NINE VIRTUES

Recollection of nine virtues attributed to the Buddha is a common Buddhist meditation and devotional practice called Buddhānusmṛti. The nine virtues are also among the 40 Buddhist meditation subjects. The nine virtues of the Buddha appear throughout the Tipitaka, and include:

 

- Buddho – Awakened

- Sammasambuddho – Perfectly self-awakened

- Vijja-carana-sampano – Endowed with higher knowledge and ideal conduct.

- Sugato – Well-gone or Well-spoken.

- Lokavidu – Wise in the knowledge of the many worlds.

- Anuttaro Purisa-damma-sarathi – Unexcelled trainer of untrained people.

- Satthadeva-Manussanam – Teacher of gods and humans.

- Bhagavathi – The Blessed one

- Araham – Worthy of homage. An Arahant is "one with taints destroyed, who has lived the holy life, done what had to be done, laid down the burden, reached the true goal, destroyed the fetters of being, and is completely liberated through final knowledge."

 

TEACHINGS

TRACING THE OLDEST TEACHINGS

Information of the oldest teachings may be obtained by analysis of the oldest texts. One method to obtain information on the oldest core of Buddhism is to compare the oldest extant versions of the Theravadin Pali Canon and other texts. The reliability of these sources, and the possibility to draw out a core of oldest teachings, is a matter of dispute. According to Vetter, inconsistencies remain, and other methods must be applied to resolve those inconsistencies.

 

According to Schmithausen, three positions held by scholars of Buddhism can be distinguished:

 

"Stress on the fundamental homogeneity and substantial authenticity of at least a considerable part of the Nikayic materials;"

"Scepticism with regard to the possibility of retrieving the doctrine of earliest Buddhism;"

"Cautious optimism in this respect."

 

DHYANA AND INSIGHT

A core problem in the study of early Buddhism is the relation between dhyana and insight. Schmithausen, in his often-cited article On some Aspects of Descriptions or Theories of 'Liberating Insight' and 'Enlightenment' in Early Buddhism notes that the mention of the four noble truths as constituting "liberating insight", which is attained after mastering the Rupa Jhanas, is a later addition to texts such as Majjhima Nikaya 36

 

CORE TEACHINGS

According to Tilmann Vetter, the core of earliest Buddhism is the practice of dhyāna. Bronkhorst agrees that dhyana was a Buddhist invention, whereas Norman notes that "the Buddha's way to release [...] was by means of meditative practices." Discriminating insight into transiency as a separate path to liberation was a later development.

 

According to the Mahāsaccakasutta, from the fourth jhana the Buddha gained bodhi. Yet, it is not clear what he was awakened to. "Liberating insight" is a later addition to this text, and reflects a later development and understanding in early Buddhism. The mentioning of the four truths as constituting "liberating insight" introduces a logical problem, since the four truths depict a linear path of practice, the knowledge of which is in itself not depicted as being liberating:

 

[T]hey do not teach that one is released by knowing the four noble truths, but by practicing the fourth noble truth, the eightfold path, which culminates in right samadhi.

 

Although "Nibbāna" (Sanskrit: Nirvāna) is the common term for the desired goal of this practice, many other terms can be found throughout the Nikayas, which are not specified.

 

According to Vetter, the description of the Buddhist path may initially have been as simple as the term "the middle way". In time, this short description was elaborated, resulting in the description of the eightfold path.

 

According to both Bronkhorst and Anderson, the four truths became a substitution for prajna, or "liberating insight", in the suttas in those texts where "liberating insight" was preceded by the four jhanas. According to Bronkhorst, the four truths may not have been formulated in earliest Buddhism, and did not serve in earliest Buddhism as a description of "liberating insight". Gotama's teachings may have been personal, "adjusted to the need of each person."

 

The three marks of existence may reflect Upanishadic or other influences. K.R. Norman supposes that these terms were already in use at the Buddha's time, and were familiar to his listeners.

 

The Brahma-vihara was in origin probably a brahmanic term; but its usage may have been common to the Sramana traditions.

  

LATER DEVELOPMENTS

In time, "liberating insight" became an essential feature of the Buddhist tradition. The following teachings, which are commonly seen as essential to Buddhism, are later formulations which form part of the explanatory framework of this "liberating insight":

 

- The Four Noble Truths: that suffering is an ingrained part of existence; that the origin of suffering is craving for sensuality, acquisition of identity, and fear of annihilation; that suffering can be ended; and that following the Noble Eightfold Path is the means to accomplish this;

- The Noble Eightfold Path: right view, right intention, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, and right concentration;

- Dependent origination: the mind creates suffering as a natural product of a complex process.

 

OTHER RELIGIONS

Some Hindus regard Gautama as the 9th avatar of Vishnu. The Buddha is also regarded as a prophet by the Ahmadiyya Muslims and a Manifestation of God in the Bahá'í Faith. Some early Chinese Taoist-Buddhists thought the Buddha to be a reincarnation of Lao Tzu.

 

The Christian Saint Josaphat is based on the Buddha. The name comes from the Sanskrit Bodhisattva via Arabic Būdhasaf and Georgian Iodasaph. The only story in which St. Josaphat appears, Barlaam and Josaphat, is based on the life of the Buddha. Josaphat was included in earlier editions of the Roman Martyrology (feast day 27 November) — though not in the Roman Missal — and in the Eastern Orthodox Church liturgical calendar (26 August).

 

Disciples of the Cao Đài religion worship the Buddha as a major religious teacher. His image can be found in both their Holy See and on the home altar. He is revealed during communication with Divine Beings as son of their Supreme Being (God the Father) together with other major religious teachers and founders like Jesus, Laozi, and Confucius.

 

In the ancient Gnostic sect of Manichaeism the Buddha is listed among the prophets who preached the word of God before Mani.

 

WIKIPEDIA

Continued from Part 1; www.flickr.com/photos/42093313@N00/50981745732/in/datepos...

 

When Patience Appeared

 

Hazrat Ali (ratu) was the same person whose poem about death is what I chose to place on the last page of “The Softest Heart.” Never had I heard such words related to an experience most deeply feared.

 

جزى الله عنا الموت خيرا فإنه

أبر بنا من كل بر و أرأف

 

May Allah reward death with only goodness from us,

For it was more kind and merciful than anything else.

 

Enmity, it seemed, had appeared to restore me. I became profoundly aware of that. How it was going to change my reaction I still did not know. But my door was now open and even I was not laughing I was now standing to welcome the trials. One element of the story above echoed in my mind constantly; the ability to forgive someone before they did something wrong, knowing that they would do it.

 

I always forgive after. I’m happy to do it most when there is an apology but of course that is beyond rare. I never get an apology. Still, if someone acts crazy, then starts acting normal, I forgive them even though they never asked for it.

 

I do it cleanly without holding a grudge. I love having them back in my life. Part of that is my resistance to change. I like things to be the same. Even when that’s never possible because people always become different. The trauma of life changes them forever. Still I manager to harbor hope that they can again be the same.

 

I asked Qari Sahib about Maula Ali’s (ratu) ability to forgive for an act yet to be committed. I knew each person’s reaction to be a function of the cause of the difficulty. In fact it was almost always directly related to that cause. Who was forgiven and who was punished? Who was allowed to stay in one’s life and who was banished forever?

 

For the same acts, the reactions were always a function of the instigator. That is what determined their fate. So how could one separate myself from that cause like Ghaus Pak (ra) instructed? That would dictate that the reaction would have to be the exact same for all. There could be no bias.

 

Qari Sahib reminded me that the answer had been given to me already.

 

مَا أَصَابَ مِن مُّصِيبَةٍ إِلَّا بِإِذْنِ اللَّهِ وَمَن يُؤْمِن بِاللَّهِ يَهْدِ قَلْبَهُ وَاللَّهُ بِكُلِّ شَيْءٍ عَلِيم

 

No calamity can ever befall someone unless it is by God’s leave.

Hence whoever believes in God guides his own heart towards this Truth.

And God has full knowledge of everything.

Surah At-Taghabun, Verse 11

 

“You have to remember this verse. And when you forget it and react to the person, then you have to remember it again. Everything is coming from God alone. The person is the means for delivery and deliverance. But it is true. For most of us, everything happens after the event. Then we have a choice. To forgive or not we leave it up to us. That is why reactions vary according to the person.

 

In the state of forgiving someone before they do something wrong, there is in fact no forgiving because there is nothing to forgive. The crime has not yet been committed. So then it means it is not about forgiveness. It is about not keeping bughs, grudge, hate, in the heart. Hazrat Ali (ratu) exemplifies that perfectly in this incident.

 

What the other person is doing that appears wrong to you is pre-destined. For them and for you. Like the slave is going to kill Maula e Kayinaat (ratu). That is what he is saying. He accepts what that man will do willingly and does not begrudge him for it because it is Allah’s Wish that He does it. So he has no difficulty in allowing him to continue working for him, seeing him day in an day out. It has no effect.

 

Only God makes such a reaction possible in a person. You cannot attain it except through Him. And your Spiritual Master, the one who is His true Khalifa, Vice-regent, in this world, whose ‘hand is His Hand’.”

 

I looked up the verse with him in the Tafseer e Jilani to understand the word “asaba,” the hardship. The first line itself was bewildering;

 

“Then said Allah Subhan Ta’ala to those who are steadfast in His Ma’rifat, Recognition, and Iqaan, lodging themselves firmly in certainty related to Him, who have surrendered in utmost submission and placed themselves in the field of trust entirely and only upon Allah, ‘Whoever it is that something comes upon and whatever it is, be it an incident of happiness or grief, it is according to His Will and what He has destined.’”

 

So for starters not just hardship; happiness and grief.

 

“The one who has Imaan, (inadequately translated in the English as merely ‘believes in God,’) is in fact the one who entrusts his matters to Allah, the one who accepts Him as the Disposer of his affairs and makes Him for himself sufficient and his only Caretaker. This person is the one who will then receive light in his heart, (guidance) and will then be made to see the signs of Oneness and surety (Truth).”

 

Again Imaan. That is what Hazrat Ali (ratu) possessed.

 

Qari Sahib continued, “So you might ask why should I exercise sabr? Why should I be patient? Why shouldn’t I feel badly for what is happening to me, especially when I don’t deserve it, when I didn’t do anything wrong? There is only one reason and one reason alone to do anything for the one who claims love for God. To seek His Pleasure!”

 

وَٱلَّذِينَ صَبَرُوا۟ ٱبْتِغَآءَ وَجْهِ رَبِّهِمْ وَأَقَامُوا۟ ٱلصَّلَوٰةَ وَأَنفَقُوا۟ مِمَّا رَزَقْنَـٰهُمْ سِرًّۭا وَعَلَانِيَةًۭ

وَيَدْرَءُونَ بِٱلْحَسَنَةِ ٱلسَّيِّئَةَ أُو۟لَـٰٓئِكَ لَهُمْ عُقْبَى ٱلدَّارِ

 

And those who observe patience in order to seek the pleasure of their Lord and establish prayer and spend secretly and openly from what We have given to them,

and respond to evil with good.

Those are the ones for whom there is fulfillment in the Hereafter,

Surah Ar-Rad, Verse 22

 

We moved to the next verse.

 

جَنَّـٰتُ عَدْنٍۢ يَدْخُلُونَهَا وَمَن صَلَحَ مِنْ ءَابَآئِهِمْ وَأَزْوَٰجِهِمْ وَذُرِّيَّـٰتِهِمْ ۖ وَٱلْمَلَـٰٓئِكَةُ يَدْخُلُونَ عَلَيْهِم مِّن كُلِّ بَابٍۢ

سَلَـٰمٌ عَلَيْكُم بِمَا صَبَرْتُمْ ۚ فَنِعْمَ عُقْبَى ٱلدَّارِ

 

the eternal gardens they enter, and those as well who are righteous from their fathers, spouses, and progeny. The angels will enter onto them from every gate and say,

“Peace on you for the patience you observed. So, how excellent is the ultimate abode.”

Surah Ar-Rad, Verse 23

 

Qari Sahib pointed out an amazing subtlety. “When a hardship appears the Quran directs one to be patient and pray and give charity and respond with goodness to harshness. But what is it that the angels present their “salam” upon the person for. It is not for the prayers or the spending or the reaction, responding in a goodly manner to evil. It is for the patience. ‘Peace on you for the patience you observed.’”

 

Every day after the condoling for my father began I whined about how I hated the ritual. And in every word I saw my pride and judgment. People came in casually and then left. They didn’t speak about him. How could they, they didn’t know him. They didn’t even really know me. My nafs was so fired up with righteous indignation, I was actually ashamed.

 

During those nights, every night I asked Allah to forgive me, prayed before Nabi Kareem (peace be upon him) to please ask His Lord to forgive me so I was certain that He had and pledged to not be crazy the next day. Day after day I found myself in a holding pattern and I knew why. I couldn’t control my tongue.

 

And Maulana Rum (ra) was saying even that was a gift. What I perceived as indifference in the others who visited me. It was a test. That I failed every single day. For the life of me, I could not escape it.

 

عَنْ عُقْبَةَ بْنِ عَامِرٍ، قَالَ:‏‏‏‏ قُلْتُ:‏‏‏‏ يَا رَسُولَ اللَّهِ،‏‏‏‏ مَا النَّجَاةُ؟

قَالَ:‏‏‏‏ أَمْسِكْ عَلَيْكَ لِسَانَكَ وَلْيَسَعْكَ بَيْتُكَ وَابْكِ عَلَى خَطِيئَتِكَ

 

As narrated by Hazrat Uqba Bin Amir (ratu):

I asked, ”Ya Rasool Allah (peace be upon you)! Where lies salvation?”

He replied, “Keep your tongue in control, have your home capable of holding you

and shed tears upon your mistakes.”

 

My aql, power of reflection, would tell me to be silence. My base self would tell me to keep speaking and I would acquiesce to the latter, only to regret it, sometimes while I did it. The words would leave my mouth and as I heard them I admonished myself but I kept speaking. It made me think of an incident from Ghaus Pak’s (ra) life from the Masnavi. It highlighted magnificently how the Chosen reacted to the same prompts of the nafs, crushing it.

 

“Hazrat Sheikh Abul Abbas (ra) narrates: ‘I heard from Ghaus Pak (ra) that for 40 years he prayed the morning prayer, Fajr, with the ablution from the night before at Isha’ and for 15 years, he stood on one foot and finished the Quran before the morning dawned.

 

One night he was climbing a ladder when his nafs, ego, said to him, “How I wish you would sleep for just a moment and then worship after.”

 

As soon as the thought entered his heart, Ghaus Pak (ra) stood on one foot and started reciting the Quran and stayed in that state till he finished it.”

 

I had also read of the wali Allah who jumped in an icy cold river when his nafs suggested perhaps a wudu, ablution, with warm water one day might be nice. Or the Friend of God who chose the longer, abandoned route to his destination over the shorter one with cities and places of rest and food when his nafs suggested the latter. These were one time suggestions.

 

The suggestions were not even evil or propelling towards “wrongdoing” yet their reactions were so swift and severe.

At least thing was clear. To discipline my nafs I had to do the exact opposite of everything it wanted. Was that ever going to be possible? Starting with the tongue, would it embrace silence?

 

I thought of a line from my video for Maulana Rum (ra);

 

"My staying awake was better than sleeping."

 

And made up one for myself;

 

Meri khamoshi merey bolney se behtar thi

 

My silence was always better than my speaking.

 

I realized that the tongue speaks when it shouldn’t out of pride, a sheer lack of humility. Those who are humble never react. Some may simply not like confrontation, that could be their reason. But the fact that they control their tongue or their tongue controls them, in this case, by forcing silence made them lucky compared to me.

 

Sometimes when I speak the truth in terms of warning someone, a universal truth that I myself was taught by others, I hear the pride in my voice. But when I ask a person to do something good, a deed that again I learnt through others, I sound gentle and people always thank me. It’s because in the former I invoke fear. That makes them withdraw.

 

In the latter I come from a place of softness, love, joy. They embrace me. The difference was so stark I stopped the former altogether. It is the mark of a Sufi that they never point out any person’s flaw. They just change hearts with a glance.

 

Subhan Allah!

 

I decided to study humility from the Quran. I had been seeking it as a gift for God from myself. It was the only thing Allah Ta’ala didn’t possess because He was Al-Mutakabbir, The Possessor of All Greatness. Perhaps that’s what made it His favourite quality in Mankind. On the Night of Ascension, when Nabi Kareem (peace be upon him) was asked by His Lord,

“What did you bring for Me?” he had answered, “My humility.” I knew then there was only one gift possible.

 

I found there are many verbs for the attribute in the verses; taddarra’, istaka’nu, haunan, leen, ruhamma. The ahadith were filled with the notion. I read many and my eyes lodged on one.

 

قَالَ: قَالَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ:

عَرَضَ عَلَيَّ رَبِّي لِيَجْعَلَ لِي يطحاء مَكَّة ذَهَبا

فَقلت: لَا يارب وَلَكِنْ أَشْبَعُ يَوْمًا وَأَجُوعُ يَوْمًا

فَإِذَا جُعْتُ تَضَرَّعْتُ إِلَيْكَ وَذَكَرْتُكَ وَإِذَا شَبِعَتُ حَمِدْتُكَ وَشَكَرْتُكَ

 

Nabi Kareem (peace be upon him) said, “My Lord - the Mighty and Majestic - gave me the choice that the valley of Mecca be filled with gold,

but I said: No, O Lord,

but, grant food to me one day, and hunger one day.

So when I am hungry, I humble myself before You and remember You,

and when I am full, I am grateful to You."

 

Hazrat Ali’s (ratu) words of wisdom that stunned me the first time I heard them were coming from his beloved master. “There are only two kinds of days in life; a day of sabr, patience and a day of shukr, gratitude.”

 

When I had heard the words I was left amazed that there wasn’t even a third kind of day. And I had also learnt through his qaul, saying, that all the other attributes that existed in the Universe therefore came under the umbrella of sabr and shukr. For there was no day of generosity and no day of forgiveness, only patience or gratitude. One or the other!

 

Maula Ali’s (ratu) expression of gratitude was as unique as they came. So much so that one particular incident of his giving revealed a verse of the Quran solely because of it.

 

One day the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) came to the Mosque. Some of the companions were standing and some were bowing down in ruku’ (bending so as to touch their knees with their hands).

 

There he saw a poor person and asked him, “Did someone give you anything?”

 

He replied, “Yes. A silver ring.”

 

The Prophet of Allah (peace be upon him) asked, “Who gave it to you?”

 

He pointed towards Maula Ali (ratu) and said, “That man who is now standing.”

 

The Prophet of Allah (peace be upon him) asked, “How did he give it to you?”

 

The man replied, “He was in ruku’.”

 

The Prophet (peace be upon him) smiled and recited the following verse:

 

إِنَّمَا وَلِيُّكُمُ اللَّهُ وَرَسُولُهُ وَالَّذِينَ آمَنُوا الَّذِينَ يُقِيمُونَ الصَّلَاةَ

وَيُؤْتُونَ الزَّكَاةَ وَهُمْ رَاكِعُونَ

 

Only are your true helpers Allah and His Messenger (saw)

and those who have attained to faith,

the ones who are firmly immersed in their prayers,

who give the charity that purifies,

while they bow in worship.

Surah Al-Maidah, Verse 55

 

For days after I read the story, when I bent in ruku’ in my prayers I played with my finger as if there was a ring in it and wondered how I might give it to someone. Fulfilling someone’s need we all have done. But doing it while praying was something else. Especially for someone who said,

 

لم اعبد ربا لم اره

 

Never did I pray before my Lord without seeing Him.

Who else was ever going to be giving charity while being in ruku’ in the Universe?

 

Qari Sahib said of the verse; “When the verse is revealed upon the incident, then the word “innama”, only and only, confirms that there are three wali for us, translated any way you like, guardian, patron, ally, helper, protector, friend; Allah, the Prophet (peace be upon him) and the one who have Imaan in their hearts, the Mo’mineen, of whom Maula e Kayinaat (ratu) is the perfect personification.”

 

It is not the only time a verse was connected to Hazrat Ali (ratu). Imam Abu Bakr Ahmed Bin Musa Al Asfahany also known as Ibn e Mardaway wrote a book, Manaqab Ali Ibn e Abi Talib, in which he associates 300 verses in the Quran with his person.

 

“300!” I made a mental note to study the book.

 

The words of Nabi Pak’s (peace be upon him) hadith declining the gold and asking for hunger instead revealed a most extraordinary jewel, previously unknown to me. All I had heard in every lecture of my life was that humility was only and only a consequence of the practice of gratitude. But here the words of Nabi Kareem (peace be upon him) were saying, that the hunger, the trial, its acceptance, the reaction of patience when an essential need was not met, made one humble.

 

I couldn’t stop thinking about it. Gratitude is practiced for the blessings one is bestowed. The thanks for the blessing is expressed by an act of goodness for another. Feeding the hungry is the best of those deeds. It was my chosen deed because it was Ghaus Pak’s (ra) chosen deed. So when I practiced gratitude, I was happy about something I had received from God, always undeservedly, and in turn I spread happiness by making someone else’s day. In a minor or major way. It was the easiest thing in the world.

 

But patience was much harder. Being on the receiving end of

pain and forgiving everyone everything, then not holding a grudge, not dying for the ordeal to end, not thinking of it as difficult. All of it was difficult and the fruit of it was humility. Gratitude made me humble in relation to my material possessions. It made me more generous, again only because I saw myself as the primary beneficiary from the peace of mind I derived. But patience, if I could practice patience, it would finally render me humble in my speech and therefore all of my behaviour.

 

Perhaps that is why, on the eve of Maula Ali’s (ratu) birthday, Allah Subhan Ta’ala sent me a gift because of him. It was as if someone whispered softly in my ear, “Learn patience!”

 

Nabi Kareem (peace be upon him) said,

 

العقل اصل دینی

 

Aql, the power to reflect, is the essence of my religion.

And the Sufi Hazrat Haris al Muhasabi (ra) says,

 

لکلِّ شيئٍ جَوْهَرٌ،

وجَوْهَرُ الإنسانِ العقلُ،

وجَوْهَر العقل الصَّبْرُ

 

Everything has a core and the gist of the Insaan is the Aql,

and the essence of the Aql is sabr, patience.

 

I found the verbs for humility in many verses and then chose two to study the tafaseer from the Tafseer e Jilani with Qari Sahib. The first verse only because it was a personal favourite mainly due to its specificity of the mark of gentleness; walking on the ground softly. It was a personal trait I was told I inherited from my Uncle.

 

وَعِبَادُ ٱلرَّحْمَـٰنِ ٱلَّذِينَ يَمْشُونَ عَلَى ٱلْأَرْضِ هَوْنًۭا وَإِذَا خَاطَبَهُمُ ٱلْجَـٰهِلُونَ قَالُوا۟ سَلَـٰمًۭا

 

For the (true) servants of Allah are they who walk gently on the Earth

and who whenever the foolish address them, reply only with (words of) peace.

Surah Al-Furqan, Verse 63

 

Tafseer e Jilani: “Those who are going to be fortunate so as to be successful in their meeting with God and reaching the state of pleasing God, in this world which is a place of difficulty and trial and misfortune, they are humble in the physical being and inside their heart. They avoid unnecessary arguing with others, and are without pride and arrogance.”

 

But the action of humility on my part here was limited to the walking alone. I was not humble in my heart. The second verse confirmed exactly how far I was from attaining that state.

 

فَإِلَـٰهُكُمْ إِلَـٰهٌۭ وَٰحِدٌۭ فَلَهُۥٓ أَسْلِمُوا۟ ۗ وَبَشِّرِ ٱلْمُخْبِتِينَ

 

Your God is the one God so submit to Him.

And give good news to the humble of heart.

Surah Al-Hajj, Verse 34

 

Tafseer e Jilani: “Give glad tidings to them of great reward and higher ranks and success and the honour of Our meeting. To the ones who are obedient in their overt being and are humble in their inner being, i.e. those whose fire of their lusts and desires has been extinguished and has become ash because of the Awe of Allah.”

 

“Those whose fire of their lusts and desires has been extinguished and has become ash!”

 

The disappointment on my face must have been visible for Qari Sahib made me study a third verse. It didn’t make me feel much better but it did clearly highlight how difficult humility was to achieve for everyone.

 

وَاسْتَعِينُوا بِالصَّبْرِ وَالصَّلَاةِ وَإِنَّهَا لَكَبِيرَةٌ إِلَّا عَلَى الْخَاشِعِين

 

Seek help through patience and prayer.

Indeed it is difficult, except for the humbles ones.

Surah Al-Baqarah Verse 45

 

Tafseer e Jilani: “For the sake of nearness to God and attention from Him, stay away from the pleasures physical and all things lustful that are alluring. And seek detachment from everything except God through prayer. And do not think it easy or take it lightly. It is difficult for everyone except the khashiyeen, the ones whose hearts are humbly in surrender.”

 

But the exception also provided the first step. Surrender allowed for everything to become possible. I decided to come at my nafs from the opposite angle. Face the issue head-on so to speak and understand my pride instead. Luckily Qari Sahib was doing a series of lectures on Surah Luqman. One of those happened to focus on the element of pride.

 

“There are four main sources of pride, that make it appear in a human being; wealth, fame, power and lineage.”

 

I breathed a sigh of relief. I possessed none of those.

 

“And what are the causes that make pride exist? In whom does it appear? The denier of truth, the ungrateful, the one obedient only to their desire, the ones who deny the Afterlife, the envious.”

 

إِلَٰهُكُمْ إِلَٰهٌ وَاحِدٌ فَالَّذِينَ لَا يُؤْمِنُونَ بِالْآخِرَةِ قُلُوبُهُم مُّنكِرَةٌ وَهُم مُّسْتَكْبِرُون

 

Your God is the One God but, because of their arrogance, the hearts of those who do not believe in the Hereafter refuse to admit the truth.

Surah An-Nahl, Verse 22

 

He gave the example of the verse of the deniers of the Afterlife but my focus was elsewhere; “the one obedient to their desire,” caving to the nafs, being led by it.

 

“And lastly, how does one know that pride will come to exist in them for sure? They will leave the laws of the Sharia’ (Islamic Jurisprudence), they will give up worship, they will deny the ayaat, the Signs of Allah on this Earth, they will think of others as lowly. They will think what others received should have come instead to them.”

 

When he started listing the examples of the various expressions of pride in the Quran, I felt aghast at the words the disbelievers used in front of their Prophets. I imagined if I was there what I would do.

 

فَقَالَ ٱلْمَلَأُ ٱلَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا۟ مِن قَوْمِهِۦ

مَا نَرَىٰكَ إِلَّا بَشَرًۭا مِّثْلَنَا وَمَا نَرَىٰكَ ٱتَّبَعَكَ إِلَّا ٱلَّذِينَ هُمْ أَرَاذِلُنَا بَادِىَ ٱلرَّأْىِ

وَمَا نَرَىٰ لَكُمْ عَلَيْنَا مِن فَضْلٍۭ بَلْ نَظُنُّكُمْ كَـٰذِبِينَ

 

So said the chiefs of those who disbelieved from his people,

"We do not see in you anything but a mortal man like us,

and not we see you followed, except by those who they are the most lowly amongst us.

We do not think you could be superior to us in any way. On the contrary we think you are liars."

Surah Hud, Verse 27

 

Then others going on to say, “It should have been anyone but you.”

 

وَقَالُوا۟ لَوْلَا نُزِّلَ هَـٰذَا ٱلْقُرْءَانُ عَلَىٰ رَجُلٍۢ مِّنَ ٱلْقَرْيَتَيْنِ عَظِيمٍ

 

They also said, “If only this Quran was sent down to a great man from one of the two cities.”

Surah Az-Zukhruf, Verse 31

 

Or daring them to do things to prove themselves.

 

وَقَالُوا لَن نُّؤْمِنَ لَكَ حَتَّىٰ تَفْجُرَ لَنَا مِنَ الْأَرْضِ يَنبُوعً

أَوْ تَكُونَ لَكَ جَنَّةٌ مِّن نَّخِيلٍ وَعِنَبٍ فَتُفَجِّرَ الْأَنْهَارَ خِلَالَهَا تَفْجِيرً

أَوْ تُسْقِطَ السَّمَاءَ كَمَا زَعَمْتَ عَلَيْنَا كِسَفًا أَوْ تَأْتِيَ بِاللَّهِ وَالْمَلَائِكَةِ قَبِيلً

 

And so they say, “O Prophet of God, until you cause a spring to gush up from the earth,

Or unless you have a garden of date-palms and grapes and you cause rivers to gush through it abundantly.

Surah Al-Isra’, Verse 90

 

It reminded me of the incident of the Suleh Hudaibiya when the treaty was being signed between Nabi Kareem (peace be upon him) and the polytheists of Mecca.

 

“When the terms of the agreement were set, they were written down so that there would not be any room for denial after. Nabi Kareem (peace be upon him) asked Maula Ali (ratu) to pen the agreement. Maula Ali (ratu) wrote below on behalf of the Prophet (peace be upon him) “Muhammad, the Messenger of God.”

 

From the infidels Urwa Bin Masood raised an objection that if they had been willing to accept him as the Messenger of God then what would remain the contention between them. Hence he insisted that the words, “Messenger of God” be removed. Maula Ali (ratu) refused.

 

Finally the Prophet of God (peace be upon him) asked Hazrat Ali (ratu) himself to remove the words declaring his prophethood. “Write instead, Muhammad Bin Adullah.” Imam Ali (ratu) quietly responded, “I am not able to erase the words.” So Nabi Kareem (peace be upon him) said, “Show me where you have written it.” Then he erased the words himself.

 

“They are humble in the physical and in the heart. They avoid unnecessary arguing with others, and are without pride and arrogance.”

 

Of course it was Nabi Kareem (peace be upon him) again who showed me, in their entirety, all the aspects of the nafs.

 

بحديث رسول الله ( صلى الله عليه وآله وسلم ) إذ دخل على رسول الله (صلى الله عليه وآله) رجل اسمه مجاشع،

فقال: يا رسول الله ! كيف الطريق إلى معرفة الحق ؟ فقال (صلى الله عليه وآله) : معرفة النفس ،

فقال: يا رسول الله ! فكيف الطريق إلى موافقة الحق ؟ قال: مخالفة النفس،

فقال: يا رسول الله ! فكيف الطريق إلى رضا الحق ؟ قال: سخط النفس،

فقال : يا رسول الله ! فكيف الطريق إلى وصل الحق ؟ قال: هجر النفس ،

فقال: يا رسول الله ! فكيف الطريق إلى طاعة الحق ؟ قال: عصيان النفس،

فقال: يا رسول الله ! فكيف الطريق إلى ذكر الحق ؟ قال: نسيان النفس،

فقال: يا رسول الله ! فكيف الطريق إلى قرب الحق ؟ قال: التباعد من النفس،

فقال: يا رسول الله ! فكيف الطريق إلى انس الحق ؟ قال: الوحشة من النفس،

فقال: يا رسول الله ! فكيف الطريق إلى ذلك ؟ قال: الاستعانة بالحق على النفس

 

“How will I find the way to recognize God?” So he said, “Know your self.”

 

“How will one find the way to God?” “Oppose your nafs.”

 

“How can I find the pleasure of God?” “Make your nafs angry and Allah will become pleased.”

 

“How do I join with God?” “Separate yourself from your nafs.”

 

“How do I become obedient to God?” “Become disobedient to your nafs.”

 

“How do I find the way to remember God?” “Forget your nafs and you will remember God.”

 

“How do I find closeness to God?” Distance yourself from your nafs and you will become close to God.

 

Diametric opposites!

 

In these days I was listening to a series of lectures by Uzair and a hadith that I had used more than once in my writing came up so I was intrigued. Where would Uzair take it and what would he take away from it?

 

It was a hadith Qudsi. He began with the definition; “When Allah speaks from His Infinite Wisdom it is the Quran and when the words are His, infinite in their meaning, but it is the Prophet (peace the upon him) who chooses the words to express it so as to make it understandable, it is a hadith Qudsi.”

 

Allah (Mighty and Sublime be He) said: Whosoever shows

enmity to someone devoted to Me, I shall be at war with him. My servant draws not near to Me with anything more loved by Me than the religious duties I have enjoined upon him.

 

And My Servant continues to draw near to Me with supererogatory works so that I shall love him.

 

When I love him I am his hearing with which he hears, his seeing with which he sees, his hand with which he strikes and his foot with which he walks.

 

Uzair spoke about his being shook by the hadith because in all the monotheistic religions, Islam placed an emphasis on Tauheed, the One-ness of God, like nothing else. There were no images, there were no representations of Allah in any form.

 

“So when Allah says ‘I become his eyes and his ears and his tongue,’ I felt shocked. Is this the same God who otherwise says in the Quran, quite literally, that He can be compared to nothing.”

 

لَيْسَ كَمِثْلِهِ شَيْءٌ

 

There is nothing like Him.

Surah Ash-Shura’a, Verse 11

 

“The hadith is established as authentic and of course also the most studied and debated. But then these were scholars. They were people who also never felt this hadith as in they were never in the haal, the state, themselves where God took over their being. All they could do is discuss it. They could not shed a light upon it from personal experience. So I studied what those have to say about it that actually experienced this state.”

 

Uzair started with Hazrat Haris Al Muhasabi (ra): “The great Sufi speaks to the hadith Qudsi in his own particular way. He comes at it from two sides; tazkiya a nafs, the purification of the nafs, the self and tasfiya e qalb, the cleansing of the heart. How does he describe that that means in layman’s terms?

 

Tazkiya is the cleaning of the overt. Tasfiya is the cleaning of the inner. Let me try to explain with this example. When you wipe something dirty with a cloth, the dirt then becomes a part of the cloth once the thing is cleaned. When you now clean the cloth, you will immerse it in water and squeeze it. This squeezing of the cloth that had absorbed the dirt is tasfiya.

 

Muhasabi says that this hadith gives the seeker the tool to purify his nafs as well as his qalb through prayer; the nawafil and the faraiz. Without the supplication of both prayers, a Sufi cannot become a Sufi. This is how his argument starts. Allah has placed responsibility on the physical body as well as the heart. It is not just the heart and certainly never just the body. In fact, He has chosen the body to manifest the purity of the heart, to represent it.”

 

I was instantly reminded of a story from the Masnavi about Hazrat Ali (ratu) which manifested his purity in both, the body

and the heart:

 

از علی آموزِ اخلاصِ عمل

شیرِ حق را داں مطہر از دغل

 

Learn sincerity in deed from Maula Ali (ratu)

The Lion of God is free of all grudge.

 

“Once in a battle, Hazrat Ali (ratu) overpowered a wrestler. He pulled out his sword and pinned him with it. The man spat on his face, the countenance which is a source of honour for every Prophet and every Friend of God and before which even the moon fades.

 

Hazrat Maula Ali (ratu) extinguished the flames of his anger. He threw his sword to the ground and paused his attack. The wrestler was amazed by the unexpected forgiveness and mercy of the action.

 

He said, “You raised Zulfiqar, your sword, on me. Then why did you throw it and let me go? What did you think of that was better than fighting me? What has happened that your anger leaves you?

 

O Eagle of Paradise! You who is the best of hunters!

Tell me, what did you receive from God in that moment?”

 

Out of four pages on his response, I chose two couplets by Maulana (ra) to capture Maula Ali’s (ratu) response to his opponent.

 

گفت من از تیغ پئے حق میزنم

بندۂ حقم نہ مامورِ تنم

 

Maula Ali (ratu) replied, “I use my sword in the Way of God for God.

I am a slave of Allah, not of my body.

 

شیرِ حقم ، نیستم شیر ھوا

فعل من بر دین من باشد گوا

 

“I am the Lion of Allah, I do not cave to the desires of the self.

And my deeds will bear witness to my faith.”

I chose the couplet because of the last line; My deeds will bear witness to my faith.”

 

It was like Ghaus Pak (ra) summarized the one incident in his direction of how to be counted amongst those with Imaan:

“Follow the guidance of the Quran and the Sunnah and bring it into deed. Being sincere in the execution of that act is what makes that act become the witness of the claim of being of the faithful.”

 

Uzair says that purification is the foundation of faith. If deen, religion has to be summarized in a single word, it is tazkiya. Only the one who is pure, will be able to even touch the Quran. Touch here meaning understand, be guided by. Not just pure of body but also pure of heart!

 

لَّا يَمَسُّهُ إِلَّا الْمُطَهَّرُون

 

Which none but the pure of heart can touch.

Surah Al-Waqiyah, Verse 79

 

And there is only one that makes us pure.

 

لَقَدْ مَنَّ اللَّهُ عَلَى الْمُؤْمِنِينَ إِذْ بَعَثَ فِيهِمْ رَسُولًا مِّنْ أَنفُسِهِمْ يَتْلُو عَلَيْهِمْ آيَاتِهِ

وَيُزَكِّيهِمْ

وَيُعَلِّمُهُمُ الْكِتَابَ وَالْحِكْمَةَ

وَإِن كَانُوا مِن قَبْلُ لَفِي ضَلَالٍ مُّبِين

 

Allah was gracious to the believers by sending them a Messenger from amongst them, reciting to them His Verses, purifying them and teaching them the Book and Wisdom, though they were previously in clear error.

Surah Aal e Imran, Verse 164

 

I looked up just the word “Yukazzikihim, he purifies you.”

 

Tafseer e Jilani: “He is the one who will purify you from the wayward desires that come from the whisperings of Iblis and his followers. It is those desires that make you astray from the Path of God.”

 

The distinction in the tafseer was made clear. Iblis encourages the deeds forbidden but it is the choice of the Insaan to follow that command that then comes from the nafs to commit the act or to resist.

 

Hazrat Ali (ratu):

 

دواؤك فيه وما تشعر

وداؤك منك وما تبصر

 

Your cure lies within you but you don’t feel it.

And what ails you comes from you but you don’t see it.

 

For me it was a relief that there was no purifying one’s own self. In any case, those who claimed it were only exhibiting pride. For the intent behind the claim of purity, which had to be spoken again via the tongue, was showing off before others and likely lacked deed.

 

أَلَمْ تَرَ إِلَى الَّذِينَ يُزَكُّونَ أَنفُسَهُم بَلِ اللَّهُ يُزَكِّي مَن يَشَاءُ وَلَا يُظْلَمُونَ فَتِيلً

 

O Beloved (peace be upon you), have you not seen the ones who consider themselves pure?

Nay, but it is God who purifies whomever He wills.

Surah An-Nisa’, Verse 49

 

Uzair returned to the hadith Qudsi via Imaan. “The pivot of everything is having faith. Imaan is what allows for everything to happen for a human being. So it is important to understand what Imaan is.

 

The Fuqaha, Islamic jurists, define Imaan as this:

 

حقيقة الايمان هو تصديق بالجنان،

وإقرار باللسان،

وعمل بالأركان

 

Imaan is based on three elements; the tongue utters the Shahada; There is no God but Allah and I bear witness that Muhammad (peace be upon him) is His Messenger. The heart testifies to it and the body then acts in accordance to it.

 

Many take the hadith Qudsi literally, that Allah takes control of the people physically, their eyes and ears and tongue. But Muhasabi (ra) says it is not that. “La yaskunu Allahu fi abdihi” Allah does not take residence in them. It is in fact the epitome of obedience, with utmost willingness on their part towards their Lord, which makes God take control of their being.

 

Then their eyes only see what Allah wants them to see, their hands only touch that which Allah wishes, their legs only take them there where Allah desires them to be. The same for the tongue. It is the safeguarding of the Friend by his God, his “hifazat.” There is no independence of the person anymore, no choice. Allah is not residing in them, He is controlling them.

 

Zulnoon Misry (ra) says that this hadith is the highest aspiration of tasawuff, spirituality for the Sufi. It is the final frontier for them. In order to arrive there the Free Will, the choices granted by God, exactly those have to be sacrificed for God. It is an act of volition, it is not imposed upon one. Not everyone wants it so they don’t have to do it but those who do want their seeing and hearing to become God’s, they

willingly sacrifice their will for Allah’s Will.

 

And Hazrat Bayazid Bastami (ra) places the cherry on this same thought.

 

فشاء بي من شأت

 

Meaning, ‘This person is the one who can only and only wants that which Allah wants.’ Then he quotes the verse:

 

God said to Hazrat Bayazid Bastami (ra), ‘Leave your nafs and then come closer to Me. If you come with it, you cannot reach this rank (of becoming My Attributes).’

 

Every single Sufi has gone deeply into this hadith Qudsi. It has a central importance in spirituality. It is kind of a pivot upon which stands the structure of saintliness. To summarize, there are three elements in common in all; the important of farz and nafl in our worship, the purification of the nafs and the cleansing of the heart and lastly, the placement of a Khalifa, a Successor by Allah on this Earth. The Vice-regency of God is that the all the senses come into the control of God. The person becomes the property of God.”

 

I love knowing as much as I can about the highest states. The exalted ranks that are so far out of my reach that just the knowing of their existence itself makes me feel euphoria. That it happens for others makes me ecstatic. That it’s a possibility for all makes me weep.

 

The thing popping out for me at my kindergarten level was just the ratio of doing what the nafs wants to do versus what God wanted me to do. Zero to 100% was the beginning of course. What I didn’t do that He forbade was more a consequence of my environment that being consciously mindful of Him. But then as the ratio shifted or rather was made to shift, I knew now with certainty it came about for one reason alone; willing obedience! So that which was not happening for me was coming about as a result of its opposite; willing disobedience!

 

The ones who strive with sincerity are the ones who are shown the way.

 

وَالَّذِينَ جَاهَدُوا فِينَا لَنَهْدِيَنَّهُمْ سُبُلَنَا وَإِنَّ اللَّهَ لَمَعَ الْمُحْسِنِين

 

And those who strive hard in Our Cause, We will surely, guide them in Our Ways. And indeed, Allah is with those who do good.

Surah Al-Ankabut, Verse 69

 

I couldn’t help smiling to myself that I had ended up including the two times in the Quran, Allah uses the word ma’a, with: Allah is with the Sabireen, the patient. Allah is with the Muhsineen, the ones who do good.

 

Over the years I have come to understand what the Quran says in one of my most favourite Surahs, Al-Inshishira.

 

فَإِنَّ مَعَ ٱلْعُسْرِ يُسْرًا

 

For surely, with hardship comes ease.

 

Each trial is a means to test reaction, calibrate behaviour and strive for excellence in it. Evolve. Change reaction. Forgive one own self for being unforgiving, albeit unknowingly. Escape the trap by justification. Be free, start over!

 

After my father’s death one form of that ease, as it turns out, bizarrely appeared in the flip of how, me, the child was suddenly in control of their parent’s destiny where it mattered most because it was eternal; the Afterlife.

 

أَنَّ رَسُولَ اللَّهِ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ قَالَ إِذَا مَاتَ الْإِنْسَانُ انْقَطَعَ عَمَلُهُ

إِلَّا مِنْ ثَلَاثَةٍ مِنْ صَدَقَةٍ جَارِيَةٍ وَعِلْمٍ يُنْتَفَعُ بِهِ وَوَلَدٍ صَالِحٍ يَدْعُو لَهُ

 

The Prophet (peace be upon him) said, “When a human being dies, all of his deeds are terminated except for three types:

an ongoing sadaqah (the alms given voluntarily),

a knowledge (of Islam) from which others benefit,

and a righteous child who makes du'a for him."

 

And the line repeats itself.

 

فَإِنَّ مَعَ ٱلْعُسْرِ يُسْرًا

 

For surely, with hardship comes ease.

 

Tafseer e Jilani: “The pain and hardship that has come to you from people, with it is the ease from Allah, in parallel to the difficulty i.e. both come at the same time. It is just that you are focused on the difficulty and you do not consider the ease. First it only pricked you. Now that the pain has been increased from it, now the ease has come from Us, waiting behind it, following it. The way I want to join them.”

 

Then came the part I loved.

 

“Each time the word “usr,” hardship appears, it is with “al” as in specific, “the hardship.” But the word “yusr” appears without the “al” so it is not specific. Which means that the paths that bring difficulty are few and far between. And the paths that bring the ease and guidance are many more. Meaning, don’t become full of despair and hopelessness because of the difficulty that overshadows you sometimes. It has been destined so it will happen but only for a short time as compared to the ease. Which comes frequently and is attached to you at all times throughout all your states.”

 

Subhan Allah!

 

Qari Sahib said this about the verse to me; “We see things are either/or i.e. either we are happy or sad, distressed or calm. But Allah is saying look how I make them joined.”

 

“Everything returns to its origin.”

 

Quite literally when a person dies; earth to earth, soul to God. But even the world, I started noticing in my 40s as lives unraveled around me, that each person, who previously had little to do with their family, started to cling to them with dear life. And why not? It’s their origin.

 

Those of us who do not have families but want to be of the ones who possess Imaan, we return to God faster. We leave the world earlier for worldliness has to do with people. In my life I have learnt the purpose of the mirror in the other person.

 

When I asked them for something, big or small, I saw my reliance on them. In their answer to me, yes or no, I saw my expectation of them. In my reaction to them, especially when I was disappointed, I saw my judgment of them. The only ones who remain around the ones alone are those we are striving to be of service to. Relatively they are strangers. So we lose everything in this world and return to our asl, God!

 

“Indeed, in every hardship there is ease. In every hardship there is ease.”

 

Hazrat Muhyuddin Ibn e Arabi (ra) says that the relationship with God is one dimensional, one-way. He is ma’bood, the One worshipped. He is masjood, the One prostrated before. He is the Bestower of all things. But if there is one thing where the relationship with God is actually two ways, it is only in love. Only then is sometimes He the Lover and sometimes The Beloved.

 

I had to mark the moment I heard that thought as the most deeply romantic I had ever heard in my life. And one hadith about the one who possessed Imaan became my most favourite; for then they became a “house of love.”

 

قَالَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ :

الْمُؤْمِنُ آلِفٌ مَأْلُوفٌ وَلا خَيْرَ فِيمَنْ لا يَأْلَفُ وَلا يُؤْلَفُ ، خَيْرُ النَّاسِ أَنْفَعُهُمْ لِلنَّاسِ

 

The Mo’min is the one who loves and is loved.

And there is no goodness for the one who does not give love and receive love.

 

The best amongst people is the one who gives others benefit.

 

Whenever I marked the days and occasions in the lives of God’s Favoured, the birth, the death, for which I wrote pieces and made videos as gifts, I was acutely aware at all time, how the gifts were not really gifts for them. The words in my narrations were chosen from their words, from their books, their poetry, their prose. My imagery was almost always nature so it belonged to God.

 

The singing was not me and even Ustad Sahib’s voice was a bestowing. The putting together of each one, which no doubt took days and effort, was still, at the end of it, a consequence of taufeeq, ability. The same was true for my generosity. I was always only giving back that which I had been bestowed. The only thing that was from me was my love.

 

Sheikh ul Akbar (ra) says that everything is a reflection of Allah alone.

لا ملك سليمان ولا بلقيس ... لا آدم فى الكون ولا إبليس

 

صورة وأنت المعنى ... يا من هو للقلوب مقناطيس والكل في

 

There is no kingdom of Solomon (as) and none of Bilquis,

There is no Adam in in the Universe and no Iblis,

All are in shapes and forms and only You are their meaning,

O Being! who is the Magnet that attracts the hearts.

 

Thus in my life it dawned upon me that the path of purification has to go through sabr, patience. Which meant that it could only happen through hardship. Also for the first time in my life I understood why Hazrat Rabia Basri (ra) used to cry on the days she didn’t face a difficulty. She said on those days she felt like her Lord God forgot her.

 

I used to find that strange. I loved my days free of trial. They were happy, carefree. But now I understand why she was sad when she didn’t face a situation that tested her nature, her character, her behavior, her claim of love. For the tests were the reason the veils of which there are 70,000 dropped one by one for her, till they were all gone.

 

Uzair once spoke in a lecture that the potential of becoming a Vice-regent of Allah on Earth, “being in manner as the Attributes of Allah” was exactly where the infamous Free Will came to play. For there were in fact only two states of existence possible for all human beings;

 

“Either I will strive to acquire the Attributes of God and if I do not want to do that or try to do that, then I will automatically acquire the attributes of Iblis, Satan. For the reality of Man is always that he is fighting against non-existence, consciously or sub-consciously. Whatever I do is to negate the state of not being. The knowledge I acquire, the wealth I accumulate is to give myself validation. But there are only two states to be a part of, either God or Iblis.”

 

It was so strange to hear that. It meant that every single decision I made, that in fact defined my attitude, my behaviour, my manners, my being was either good or bad, right or wrong. Didn’t leave a lot of gray. So in that two way relationship only possible through love, the verse I have adored since the day I first heard it shed a new light on how Allah tested that claim of my love for Him.

 

قُلْ إِن كُنتُمْ تُحِبُّونَ ٱللَّهَ فَٱتَّبِعُونِى يُحْبِبْكُمُ ٱللَّهُ وَيَغْفِرْ لَكُمْ ذُنُوبَكُمْ ۗ

وَٱللَّهُ غَفُورٌۭ رَّحِيمٌۭ

 

Say (O Prophet (peace be upon you)), “If you love Allah, then follow me,

and Allah shall love you and forgive you your sins.

Allah is Most-Forgiving, Very-Merciful.”

Surah Aal e Imran, Verse 31

 

Tafseer e Jilani: Allah says, “O Beloved! Tell these people who are the ones that have been given the capability to be the Vice-regent of Allah and to be His Naib, Successor, but are drowning in waywardness and darkness, that if you claim love for God, the one who brought you in existence from nothing, if you want to walk on His Straight Path and reach His Doorstep, then His Command is that you follow me. If you are obedient to me, His will bestow you His Qurb, Closeness, and you will have the honour of meeting Him.”

 

Sheikh Nurjan said of the verse. “There is no opinion when it comes to obedience. How can you follow while holding onto your own opinion?”

 

Looking up the word “asaba”, hardship, also brought me to the following verse of the Quran often read mostly simply for what it states overtly; Anything good that happens, Allah says, comes from Him. And all things bad, come from me or any individual. But Ghaus Pak (ra) explains what the Sufis have always spoken of; there is no such thing as evil created by God. That everything is intrinsically only good.

 

مَّآ أَصَابَكَ مِنْ حَسَنَةٍۢ فَمِنَ ٱللَّهِ ۖ

وَمَآ أَصَابَكَ مِن سَيِّئَةٍۢ فَمِن نَّفْسِكَ ۚ

وَأَرْسَلْنَـٰكَ لِلنَّاسِ رَسُولًۭا ۚ

وَكَفَىٰ بِٱللَّهِ شَهِيدًۭا

 

Anything good that happens to you is from God and whatever evil happens to you is from yourself.

We have sent you as a Prophet to all people and it is good enough that God is your witness.

Surah An-Nisa’, Verse 79

 

Tafseer e Jilani: “The addressee here is Nabi Kareem (peace be upon him). These kinds of addresses are full of wisdom because they are only worthy of the Prophet’s (peace be upon him) personality and then through him, his tufail, this wisdom is passed on to his Ummah, nation.

 

Everything that is manifested in the Universe which is the reflection of Allah is by nature only good, khair. That goodness has then spread to everything and everyone through the medium of Nabi Kareem (peace be upon him). Whereas evil or wickedness, sharr, is the effect and result of the deeds of the self, nafs.

 

So Allah says, “When goodness comes to you that gives your heart peace and happiness, it is from Me. It is the Sunnah and Habit of Allah that He only appears in everything that exists with goodness and perfection. In the same way, when difficulty comes upon you, that makes you sad and full of pain, the cause of it is your self, your nafs, for in actuality, evil does not exist. In every single thing, there is only goodness.”

 

Then addressing His Beloved (peace be upon him), Allah says, “O Prophet (peace be upon you), We have sent you as a Messenger for all people. Therefore, all that you have been alerted to and blessed with, inform them of it. Allah is indeed Sufficient as the Witness to your spreading this Message.”

 

I already knew how true it was for me. When I did something wrong, raise my voice and get angry, become stingy for no reason, find excuses to be lazy in worship, I could feel it was my own nafs. Or it was Iblis. But to be brutally honest, for me it’s always more my own self than him. He whispered and left, stalking his next victim, and my nafs did what he suggested.

 

In those moments, if I peeled the layers of what was causing the behaviour, of leaning towards him rather than God, there was really just one word behind all of it; disobedience. I had been told to react a certain way and I chose not to or inadvertently ignored that direction because I wanted to do what I felt like doing.

 

“When one’s own desire and wishes are given up, only then the Attributes of God begin to enter that person’s being.”

The surrender is therefore of the Free Will. Hazrat Muhuyddin Ibn e Arabi (ra) says that the one who surrenders their Free Will is the most liberated person. Something all ordinary people think of in only the exact reverse manner.

 

That is how the West is indoctrinated. And the East can’t stop mimicking the West. The idea is singulrar; doing whatever one wants, being able to say whatever one wants is the definition of freedom. But Sheikh ul Akbar (ra) says, as Uzair explains it, is that is the opposite of it. For it’s an act of freedom, to give up freedom freely.

 

Hazrat Bayazid Bastami (ra), the King of the Gnostics said he polished his heart and fought his nafs for 23 long years. I can’t take that route. Not because I’m old but because I could live for 230 years and my nafs would still overcome me. My way can only be one as taught to me by my Spiritual Masters who learnt it from Allah’s Nur (peace be upon him) and all of relies on taufeeq, ability bestowed by The Creator.

 

Al Fath Ar Rabbani: “An incident goes that the people of Bani Israel once were faced with a suffering. They gathered and went to the Prophet of their time. ‘What can we do, O Nabi (as)?’ they asked him. “What is the deed that will please Allah and it becomes the means to deliver us from our hardship?”

 

The Prophet (as) prayed to Allah to unveil to him what that deed would be.

 

Allah Subhan a Ta’ala revealed to his Prophet (as), “Tell them! If you seek My Pleasure, become a cause to bring happiness to the needy. Thus if you bring ease to them, in their happiness I will become pleased with you. And if you displease them, I will remain displeased with you.”

 

Hazrat Ali (ratu) said, "90 percent of wisdom attained is bestowed upon a person as a result of their husn e akhlaq, excellence in behaviour towards other people."

 

Things are difficult and things are hard. Only the one in the state knows what it feels like. The rest is conjecture. The generosity of sharing the knowing of being in the Presence of God, that is the most extraordinary revelation a human being can make to another. For it is the epitome of love and beyond.

For us there is only source of that sharing when it was absolute.

 

وَمَا هُوَ عَلَى الْغَيْبِ بِضَنِين

 

And he, The Beloved of God, does not withhold what is revealed to him from beyond.

Surah Al-Takwir, Verse 24

 

In my last piece or perhaps the one before that I wrote about the woman who throw garbage upon the Prophet (peace be upon him) every single day. I wrote about how he never changed his route, went another way, prayed for her to not do that. Now I know why. He was sabr personified as Allah’s Essence of the attribute.

 

He never complained about her. He didn’t focus on her at all. He knew it was coming from His Lord and he surrendered to that Will. He didn’t think of it as a burden, he didn’t wish it to end. And it wasn’t just her. The mean uncles, the assassins, the countless who mocked and berated him, threw stones and him and rejected him, caused the deaths of his loved ones, were hypocrites till the end. He had nothing but concern for them. So much so that God finally had to say;

 

فَلَعَلَّكَ بَاخِعٌ نَّفْسَكَ عَلَىٰ آثَارِهِمْ إِن لَّمْ يُؤْمِنُوا بِهَٰذَا الْحَدِيثِ أَسَفً

 

So perhaps you will grieve yourself to death over their denial,

if they are not willing to believe in this Message.

Surah Al-Kahf, Verse 6

 

One of my favourite examples of that immeasurable depth of his sensitivity was his relationship with his uncle Abu Lahab, the one mentioned by name in the Quran as being cursed by God forever for his rudeness towards the Prophet (peace be upon him). Perhaps he was one of the ones for whom he still prayed so much so that Allah had to finally send the verse;

 

وْ لَا تَسْتَغْفِرْ لَهُمْ إِن تَسْتَغْفِرْ لَهُمْ سَبْعِينَ مَرَّةً

فَلَن يَغْفِرَ اللَّهُ لَهُمْ ذَٰلِكَ بِأَنَّهُمْ كَفَرُوا بِاللَّهِ وَرَسُولِهِ

وَاللَّهُ لَا يَهْدِي الْقَوْمَ الْفَاسِقِين

 

Praying or not praying for their forgiveness will not make a difference.

Even if you, O Beloved, were to pray 70 times for their forgiveness, Allah will not forgive them because they reject God and His Messenger (peace be upon him).

Allah does not guide those who are defiantly disobedient.

Surah At-Taubah, Verse 80

 

It was extraordinary, the love between Allah and His Beloved (peace be upon him). The Prophet (peace be upon him) won’t stop worrying and praying for the worst of humanity and The Creator won’t forgive them for rejecting His Nur (peace be upon him).

 

Once I was scared of the ones who throw garbage upon me in my life. I made up reasons to bear it and not say anything but all my reasons were false. The truth was I let them mistreat me and then just felt badly for years on end. Once when they approached me, my anxiety sky rocketed. But now when I hear from them and they pelt abuse at me, I feel calm.

 

I watch myself react with no reaction as if I am someone else outside myself. It is how I know that nothing about this new reaction is in fact my doing. I can’t even say when or why it happened. Then when they disappear I even wonder when they’ll return. I think about what might have happened to them. Mostly I just pray for the light of Nabi Kareem (peace be upon him) to enter their hearts for I know the sadness that is inside them. I had the same sadness inside mine.

 

I don’t knock on their door like my Prophet (peace be upon him) did although I would like to. Or clean their home, cook a meal for them, ask them if they’re ok. I don’t do that. I just pray for them, grateful that I have been given the ability to no longer be controlled by them. That in and of itself has placed

me in control.

 

And it was Hazrat Ali (ratu) who taught me how to be in that state;

 

إِذَا قَدَرْتَ عَلَى عَدُوِّكَ

فَاجْعَلِ الْعَفْوَ عَنْهُ شُكْراً لِلْقُدْرَةِ عَلَيْهِ

 

Whenever you gain power over your adversary,

be forgiving,

out of gratitude (to God), for the control you gained over them.

 

Sometimes Qari Sahib tells us things in class that he prefaces by saying, “This is a secret. But I am going to share it with you.” On one of these occasions, which was the Urs Mubarik of Khawaja Moieenuddin Chisiti Ajmeri (ra) earlier this month, he said this;

 

“The Chishti order gives faiz, the spiritual share, hissa, naseeb, to its followers in a most particular way. The disciple receives it in the first meeting, in the first sight, of their Spiritual Master. It happens at the time of the bayah’, the becoming of a disciple, placing their hand in the hand of the Master.

 

When the disciple realizes what that sharing is, how it happens, sooner or later, that is a different matter unique to each individual. But the granting is done in the first meeting.”

 

It was a comforting thought for those of us that belong to the Chishti silsila. Who knows what one was granted and when it would unveil itself. At least there was always something to look forward to. Since at the beginning of the path stands Hazrat Ali (ratu), there can only ascension.

 

إِنَّمَا وَلِيُّكُمُ اللَّهُ وَرَسُولُهُ وَالَّذِينَ آمَنُوا

 

Only are your true helpers Allah and His Messenger (saw)

and those who have attained to faith.

 

The journey of becoming one who wants to know Allah turns everything on its head. Everything from before becomes obsolete. Whatever I thought I knew was plain wrong. One might think that would be confusing, even debilitating but it is only calming. It’s how surrender begins. Be free, start over!

 

Then that utterance of the tongue, the heart finally begins to attest to it. Who knows, my deeds might just become witness to my claim of the Shahada, “the key to Paradise;” “There is no God except Allah and Muhammad (peace be upon him) is His Messenger.” Till then I notice all the forms my sighs and tears take. Of sadness, of joy, of hope, of gratitude, of patience and most of all, of longing.

 

گفتَم، چشمَم، گفت، بہ راہَش می دار

گفتم، جگرم، گفت، پُر آہَش می دار

گفتم، کہ دِلَم، گفت، چہ داری در دل

گفتم، غمِ تو، گفت، نگاہَش می دار

 

I said, “My eyes.” He said, “Keep them on the way.”

I said, “My liver.” He said, “Keep it filled with sighs.”

I said, “That my heart.” He said, “What is in your heart?

I said, “Only grief (from your separation and love).”

He said, “Look after this.”

 

Continued from Part 1; www.flickr.com/photos/42093313@N00/50981745732/in/datepos...

 

Uzair's lecture: Quran Ka Insaan www.youtube.com/watch?v=w7ChaVixlCQ

 

Uzair's lecture: What is worship: www.youtube.com/watch?v=MCbXtXlUlfM

 

Same image as earlier, only this time in blue. I made this image first, then decided I wanted it to be some other color than blue. But now, here it is. There is something compelling about blue. A number of studies have been done about the psychological impact of colors, and a google search will turn up a many of them. Here is one bit I pulled of the web:

 

Blue is the overwhelming "favorite color." Blue is seen as trustworthy, dependable and committed. The color of sky and the ocean, blue is perceived as a constant in our lives. As the collective color of the spirit, it invokes rest and can cause the body to produce chemicals that are calming; however not all blues are serene and sedate. Electric or brilliant blues become dynamic and dramatic, an engaging color that expresses exhilaration. Some shades or the overuse of blue may come across as cold or uncaring. Blue is the least "gender specific" color, having equal appeal to both men and women.

  

How the color blue effects us physically and mentally

* Calming and sedate

* Cooling

* Aids intuition

 

Is blue addictive? Is there a reason I had to post this version? It is in control? I feel better now that I posted it. I am calm and sedate. I am in a good place. Me and the blue image.

August 17-24, 2022, VA Deputy Secretary Donald M. Remy spoke at the National Association of State Directors of Veterans Affairs NASDVA meeting in Honolulu, after which continued on to the island of Guam where he toured the Spark M. Matsunaga Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center and Vet Center, meeting Veterans and VA counselors.

 

Photo: Remy said, "It was an honor to sit amongst the fine men and women on Guam who have served this country in the past and present. One thing I stressed to everyone I encountered is that VA is committed to doing all we can to serve these Veterans, but that we are also stronger together. Efforts to improve care on the island of Guam is a community effort and I’m looking forward to working with all parties to find practicals solutions". (VA photo/Damian Mcgee)

Winston-Salem State University Athletics Department to Lend Coaching Skills to Josh Howard Celebrity Flag Football Game

  

NBA star and hometown favorite Josh Howard has enlisted Winston-Salem State University’s Athletic Director Bill Hayes, the University’s head football and basketball coaches Connell Maynor and Bobby Collins, respectfully, and former WSSU Ram and NFLer Yancey Thigpen to coach the two teams playing in “The Josh Howard Celebrity Flag Football Game.” The game, which will be played at Howard’s alma-mater Wake Forest, at Kentner Stadium, will be held next Saturday, July 30.

 

“The Josh Howard Celebrity Flag Football Game” will feature celebrity and athlete guests including Washington Wizards’ John Wall and Trevor Booker, Utah Jazz’s Devin Harris, Sacramento Kings’ Marquis Daniels, Atlanta Hawks’ Josh Powell, Dallas Cowboys’ Dez Bryant, Actor Lamman Rucker, Actress Kellita Smith, BET’s Alesha Renee, Football Wives’ Chanita Foster, Love & Hip Hop’s Olivia, Basketball Wives’ Royce, Radio Personalities B-Daht, Kyle Santillion, Tap Money and Big Moe from 102 JAMZ , Personality Busta Brown and Councilman Derwin Montgomery. The Josh Howard Foundation has donated game tickets to the Salvation Army Boys & Girls Club and to Goodwill Industries for complementary attendance for select guests; general admission for the game is $5.

 

Howard’s flag football game is one of the featured events held during the fifth annual “Josh Howard Celebrity Weekend,” (July 27-31) which includes “The Josh Howard Basketball Drills & Life Skills Camp,” a live concert featuring rapper Doug E. Fresh, and a private reception hosted by Howard and Winston-Salem’s Mayor Allen Joines that kicks off the 2011 National Black Theatre Festival. Media interested in covering the events should contact Crystal Howard at cjhoward21@gmail.com or 917-805-7448.

 

The purpose of the Josh Howard Celebrity Weekend is to raise funds for the Josh Howard Foundation: all money generated will not be for profit, but used by the foundation to continue its mission. In addition to his Winston-Salem events, Josh hosted a celebrity weekend in Dallas, Texas for the fifth year, featuring a youth basketball camp, adult comedy show and a celebrity basketball game. He also co-hosted a 5on5 tournament with Wizards’ teammate Trevor Booker in Mauldin, S.C. for the first time.

 

ABOUT THE JOSH HOWARD FOUNDATION

The Josh Howard Foundation is dedicated to helping to improve the quality of life of economically challenged communities - including Dallas, Texas, Washington, D.C. and Winston-Salem, N.C. - by utilizing programs and services that focus on academic improvement, community outreach, and athletic and fitness training. It is committed to having an active role in uplifting the community. it’s innovative programs help youth to become well-rounded citizens, and enhances the quality of life of senior citizens and the community as a whole.

   

Media Contact:

Crystal Howard, cjhoward21@gmail.com / 917-805-7448

Gautama Buddha, also known as Siddhārtha Gautama,[note 3] Shakyamuni,[note 4] or simply the Buddha, was a sage[3] on whose teachings Buddhism was founded.[web 2] He is believed to have lived and taught mostly in eastern India sometime between the sixth and fourth centuries BCE.[4][note 5]

 

The word Buddha means "awakened one" or "the enlightened one". "Buddha" is also used as a title for the first awakened being in an era. In most Buddhist traditions, Siddhartha Gautama is regarded as the Supreme Buddha (Pali sammāsambuddha, Sanskrit samyaksaṃbuddha) of our age.[note 6] Gautama taught a Middle Way between sensual indulgence and the severe asceticism found in the Sramana (renunciation) movement[5] common in his region. He later taught throughout regions of eastern India such as Magadha and Kośala.[4][6]

 

Gautama is the primary figure in Buddhism and accounts of his life, discourses, and monastic rules are believed by Buddhists to have been summarized after his death and memorized by his followers. Various collections of teachings attributed to him were passed down by oral tradition and first committed to writing about 400 years later.Scholars are hesitant to make unqualified claims about the historical facts of the Buddha's life. Most accept that he lived, taught and founded a monastic order during the Mahajanapada era in India during the reign of Bimbisara, the ruler of the Magadha empire, and died during the early years of the reign of Ajatshatru who was the successor of Bimbisara, thus making him a younger contemporary of Mahavira, the Jain teacher.[7] Apart from the Vedic Brahmins, Buddha's lifetime coincided with the flourishing of other influential sramana schools of thoughts like Ājīvika, Cārvāka, Jain, and Ajñana. It was also the age of influential thinkers like Mahāvīra, Pūraṇa Kassapa , Makkhali Gosāla, Ajita Kesakambalī, Pakudha Kaccāyana, and Sañjaya Belaṭṭhaputta, whose viewpoints Buddha most certainly must have been acquainted with and influenced by.[8][9][note 7] There is also evidence to suggest that the two masters, Alara Kalama and Udaka Ramaputta, were indeed historical figures and they most probably taught Buddha two different forms of meditative techniques.[10] While the most general outline of "birth, maturity, renunciation, search, awakening and liberation, teaching, death" must be true,[11] most scholars do not consistently accept all of the details contained in traditional biographies.[12][13]

 

The times of Gautama's birth and death are uncertain. Most historians in the early 20th century dated his lifetime as circa 563 BCE to 483 BCE.[1][14] More recently his death is dated later, between 411 and 400 BCE, while at a symposium on this question held in 1988, the majority of those who presented definite opinions gave dates within 20 years either side of 400 BCE for the Buddha's death.[1][15][note 5] These alternative chronologies, however, have not yet been accepted by all historians.[20][21][note 9]

 

The evidence of the early texts suggests that Siddhārtha Gautama was born into the Shakya clan, a community that was on the periphery, both geographically and culturally, of the northeastern Indian subcontinent in the 5th century BCE.[23] It was either a small republic, in which case his father was an elected chieftain, or an oligarchy, in which case his father was an oligarch.[23] According to the Buddhist tradition, Gautama was born in Lumbini, nowadays in modern-day Nepal, and raised in Kapilavastu, which may either be in present day Tilaurakot, Nepal or Piprahwa, India.[note 1] He obtained his enlightenment in Bodh Gaya, gave his first sermon in Sarnath, and died in Kushinagara.

 

No written records about Gautama have been found from his lifetime or some centuries thereafter. One edict of Emperor Ashoka, who reigned from circa 269 BCE to 232 BCE, commemorates the Emperor's pilgrimage to the Buddha's birthplace in Lumbini. Another one of his edict mentions several Dhamma texts, establishing the existence of a written Buddhist tradition at least by the time of the Mauryan era and which may be the precursors of the Pāli Canon.[34][note 11] The oldest surviving Buddhist manuscripts are the Gandhāran Buddhist texts, reported to have been found in or around Haḍḍa near Jalalabad in eastern Afghanistan and now preserved in the British Library. They are written in the Kharoṣṭhī script and the Gāndhārī language on twenty-seven birch bark scrolls, and they date from the first century BCE to the third century CE.[web 10]The sources for the life of Siddhārtha Gautama are a variety of different, and sometimes conflicting, traditional biographies. These include the Buddhacarita, Lalitavistara Sūtra, Mahāvastu, and the Nidānakathā.[35] Of these, the Buddhacarita[36][37][38] is the earliest full biography, an epic poem written by the poet Aśvaghoṣa, and dating around the beginning of the 2nd century CE.[35] The Lalitavistara Sūtra is the next oldest biography, a Mahāyāna/Sarvāstivāda biography dating to the 3rd century CE.[39] The Mahāvastu from the Mahāsāṃghika Lokottaravāda tradition is another major biography, composed incrementally until perhaps the 4th century CE.[39] The Dharmaguptaka biography of the Buddha is the most exhaustive, and is entitled the Abhiniṣkramaṇa Sūtra,[40] and various Chinese translations of this date between the 3rd and 6th century CE. Lastly, the Nidānakathā is from the Theravāda tradition in Sri Lanka and was composed in the 5th century CE by Buddhaghoṣa.[41]

 

From canonical sources, the Jātakas, the Mahapadana Sutta (DN 14), and the Achariyabhuta Sutta (MN 123) which include selective accounts that may be older, but are not full biographies. The Jātakas retell previous lives of Gautama as a bodhisattva, and the first collection of these can be dated among the earliest Buddhist texts.[42] The Mahāpadāna Sutta and Achariyabhuta Sutta both recount miraculous events surrounding Gautama's birth, such as the bodhisattva's descent from Tuṣita Heaven into his mother's womb.Traditional biographies of Gautama generally include numerous miracles, omens, and supernatural events. The character of the Buddha in these traditional biographies is often that of a fully transcendent (Skt. lokottara) and perfected being who is unencumbered by the mundane world. In the Mahāvastu, over the course of many lives, Gautama is said to have developed supramundane abilities including: a painless birth conceived without intercourse; no need for sleep, food, medicine, or bathing, although engaging in such "in conformity with the world"; omniscience, and the ability to "suppress karma".[43][44][45] Nevertheless, some of the more ordinary details of his life have been gathered from these traditional sources. In modern times there has been an attempt to form a secular understanding of Siddhārtha Gautama's life by omitting the traditional supernatural elements of his early biographies.

 

Andrew Skilton writes that the Buddha was never historically regarded by Buddhist traditions as being merely human:[46]

 

It is important to stress that, despite modern Theravada teachings to the contrary (often a sop to skeptical Western pupils), he was never seen as being merely human. For instance, he is often described as having the thirty-two major and eighty minor marks or signs of a mahāpuruṣa, "superman"; the Buddha himself denied that he was either a man or a god; and in the Mahāparinibbāna Sutta he states that he could live for an aeon were he asked to do so.

 

The ancient Indians were generally unconcerned with chronologies, being more focused on philosophy. Buddhist texts reflect this tendency, providing a clearer picture of what Gautama may have taught than of the dates of the events in his life. These texts contain descriptions of the culture and daily life of ancient India which can be corroborated from the Jain scriptures, and make the Buddha's time the earliest period in Indian history for which significant accounts exist.[47] British author Karen Armstrong writes that although there is very little information that can be considered historically sound, we can be reasonably confident that Siddhārtha Gautama did exist as a historical figure.[48] Michael Carrithers goes a bit further by stating that the most general outline of "birth, maturity, renunciation, search, awakening and liberation, teaching, death" must be true.[11]The Buddhist tradition regards Lumbini, present-day Nepal, to be the birthplace of the Buddha.[49][note 1] He grew up in Kapilavastu.[note 1] The exact site of ancient Kapilavastu is unknown. It may have been either Piprahwa, Uttar Pradesh, present-day India,[32] or Tilaurakot, present-day Nepal.[50] Both places belonged to the Sakya territory, and are located only 15 miles apart from each other.[50]

 

Siddharta Gautama was born as a Kshatriya,[51][note 13] the son of Śuddhodana, "an elected chief of the Shakya clan",[4] whose capital was Kapilavastu, and who were later annexed by the growing Kingdom of Kosala during the Buddha's lifetime. Gautama was the family name. His mother, Queen Maha Maya (Māyādevī) and Suddhodana's wife, was a Koliyan princess. Legend has it that, on the night Siddhartha was conceived, Queen Maya dreamt that a white elephant with six white tusks entered her right side,[53][54] and ten months later[55] Siddhartha was born. As was the Shakya tradition, when his mother Queen Maya became pregnant, she left Kapilvastu for her father's kingdom to give birth. However, her son is said to have been born on the way, at Lumbini, in a garden beneath a sal tree.

 

The day of the Buddha's birth is widely celebrated in Theravada countries as Vesak.[56] Buddha's birth anniversary holiday is called "Buddha Purnima" in Nepal and India as Buddha is believed to have been born on a full moon day. Various sources hold that the Buddha's mother died at his birth, a few days or seven days later. The infant was given the name Siddhartha (Pāli: Siddhattha), meaning "he who achieves his aim". During the birth celebrations, the hermit seer Asita journeyed from his mountain abode and announced that the child would either become a great king (chakravartin) or a great holy man.[57] By traditional account,[which?] this occurred after Siddhartha placed his feet in Asita's hair and Asita examined the birthmarks. Suddhodana held a naming ceremony on the fifth day, and invited eight Brahmin scholars to read the future. All gave a dual prediction that the baby would either become a great king or a great holy man.[57] Kaundinya (Pali: Kondañña), the youngest, and later to be the first arahant other than the Buddha, was reputed to be the only one who unequivocally predicted that Siddhartha would become a Buddha.[58]

 

While later tradition and legend characterized Śuddhodana as a hereditary monarch, the descendant of the Solar Dynasty of Ikṣvāku (Pāli: Okkāka), many scholars think that Śuddhodana was the elected chief of a tribal confederacy.

 

Early texts suggest that Gautama was not familiar with the dominant religious teachings of his time until he left on his religious quest, which is said to have been motivated by existential concern for the human condition.[59] The state of the Shakya clan was not a monarchy, and seems to have been structured either as an oligarchy, or as a form of republic.[60] The more egalitarian gana-sangha form of government, as a political alternative to the strongly hierarchical kingdoms, may have influenced the development of the Shramana-type Jain and Buddhist sanghas, where monarchies tended toward Vedic Brahmanism.[61]Siddhartha was brought up by his mother's younger sister, Maha Pajapati.[62] By tradition, he is said to have been destined by birth to the life of a prince, and had three palaces (for seasonal occupation) built for him. Although more recent scholarship doubts this status, his father, said to be King Śuddhodana, wishing for his son to be a great king, is said to have shielded him from religious teachings and from knowledge of human suffering.

 

When he reached the age of 16, his father reputedly arranged his marriage to a cousin of the same age named Yaśodharā (Pāli: Yasodharā). According to the traditional account,[which?] she gave birth to a son, named Rāhula. Siddhartha is said to have spent 29 years as a prince in Kapilavastu. Although his father ensured that Siddhartha was provided with everything he could want or need, Buddhist scriptures say that the future Buddha felt that material wealth was not life's ultimate goal.[62]According to the early Buddhist texts,[web 11] after realizing that meditative dhyana was the right path to awakening, but that extreme asceticism didn't work, Gautama discovered what Buddhists call the Middle Way[web 11]—a path of moderation away from the extremes of self-indulgence and self-mortification, or the Noble Eightfold Path, as was identified and described by the Buddha in his first discourse, the Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta.[web 11] In a famous incident, after becoming starved and weakened, he is said to have accepted milk and rice pudding from a village girl named Sujata.[web 12] Such was his emaciated appearance that she wrongly believed him to be a spirit that had granted her a wish.[web 12]

 

Following this incident, Gautama was famously seated under a pipal tree—now known as the Bodhi tree—in Bodh Gaya, India, when he vowed never to arise until he had found the truth.[70] Kaundinya and four other companions, believing that he had abandoned his search and become undisciplined, left. After a reputed 49 days of meditation, at the age of 35, he is said to have attained Enlightenment.[70][web 13] According to some traditions, this occurred in approximately the fifth lunar month, while, according to others, it was in the twelfth month. From that time, Gautama was known to his followers as the Buddha or "Awakened One" ("Buddha" is also sometimes translated as "The Enlightened One").

 

According to Buddhism, at the time of his awakening he realized complete insight into the cause of suffering, and the steps necessary to eliminate it. These discoveries became known as the "Four Noble Truths",[web 13] which are at the heart of Buddhist teaching. Through mastery of these truths, a state of supreme liberation, or Nirvana, is believed to be possible for any being. The Buddha described Nirvāna as the perfect peace of a mind that's free from ignorance, greed, hatred and other afflictive states,[web 13] or "defilements" (kilesas). Nirvana is also regarded as the "end of the world", in that no personal identity or boundaries of the mind remain. In such a state, a being is said to possess the Ten Characteristics, belonging to every Buddha.

 

According to a story in the Āyācana Sutta (Samyutta Nikaya VI.1) — a scripture found in the Pāli and other canons — immediately after his awakening, the Buddha debated whether or not he should teach the Dharma to others. He was concerned that humans were so overpowered by ignorance, greed and hatred that they could never recognise the path, which is subtle, deep and hard to grasp. However, in the story, Brahmā Sahampati convinced him, arguing that at least some will understand it. The Buddha relented, and agreed to teach.After his awakening, the Buddha met Taphussa and Bhallika — two merchant brothers from the city of Balkh in what is currently Afghanistan — who became his first lay disciples. It is said that each was given hairs from his head, which are now claimed to be enshrined as relics in the Shwe Dagon Temple in Rangoon, Burma. The Buddha intended to visit Asita, and his former teachers, Alara Kalama and Udaka Ramaputta, to explain his findings, but they had already died.

 

He then travelled to the Deer Park near Varanasi (Benares) in northern India, where he set in motion what Buddhists call the Wheel of Dharma by delivering his first sermon to the five companions with whom he had sought enlightenment. Together with him, they formed the first saṅgha: the company of Buddhist monks.

 

All five become arahants, and within the first two months, with the conversion of Yasa and fifty four of his friends, the number of such arahants is said to have grown to 60. The conversion of three brothers named Kassapa followed, with their reputed 200, 300 and 500 disciples, respectively. This swelled the sangha to more than 1,000.For the remaining 45 years of his life, the Buddha is said to have traveled in the Gangetic Plain, in what is now Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and southern Nepal, teaching a diverse range of people: from nobles to servants, murderers such as Angulimala, and cannibals such as Alavaka. Although the Buddha's language remains unknown, it's likely that he taught in one or more of a variety of closely related Middle Indo-Aryan dialects, of which Pali may be a standardization.

 

The sangha traveled through the subcontinent, expounding the dharma. This continued throughout the year, except during the four months of the Vāsanā rainy season when ascetics of all religions rarely traveled. One reason was that it was more difficult to do so without causing harm to animal life. At this time of year, the sangha would retreat to monasteries, public parks or forests, where people would come to them.The first vassana was spent at Varanasi when the sangha was formed. After this, the Buddha kept a promise to travel to Rajagaha, capital of Magadha, to visit King Bimbisara. During this visit, Sariputta and Maudgalyayana were converted by Assaji, one of the first five disciples, after which they were to become the Buddha's two foremost followers. The Buddha spent the next three seasons at Veluvana Bamboo Grove monastery in Rajagaha, capital of Magadha.

 

Upon hearing of his son's awakening, Suddhodana sent, over a period, ten delegations to ask him to return to Kapilavastu. On the first nine occasions, the delegates failed to deliver the message, and instead joined the sangha to become arahants. The tenth delegation, led by Kaludayi, a childhood friend of Gautama's (who also became an arahant), however, delivered the message.

 

Now two years after his awakening, the Buddha agreed to return, and made a two-month journey by foot to Kapilavastu, teaching the dharma as he went. At his return, the royal palace prepared a midday meal, but the sangha was making an alms round in Kapilavastu. Hearing this, Suddhodana approached his son, the Buddha, saying:

 

"Ours is the warrior lineage of Mahamassata, and not a single warrior has gone seeking alms."

 

The Buddha is said to have replied:

 

"That is not the custom of your royal lineage. But it is the custom of my Buddha lineage. Several thousands of Buddhas have gone by seeking alms."

 

Buddhist texts say that Suddhodana invited the sangha into the palace for the meal, followed by a dharma talk. After this he is said to have become a sotapanna. During the visit, many members of the royal family joined the sangha. The Buddha's cousins Ananda and Anuruddha became two of his five chief disciples. At the age of seven, his son Rahula also joined, and became one of his ten chief disciples. His half-brother Nanda also joined and became an arahant.

 

Of the Buddha's disciples, Sariputta, Maudgalyayana, Mahakasyapa, Ananda and Anuruddha are believed to have been the five closest to him. His ten foremost disciples were reputedly completed by the quintet of Upali, Subhoti, Rahula, Mahakaccana and Punna.

 

In the fifth vassana, the Buddha was staying at Mahavana near Vesali when he heard news of the impending death of his father. He is said to have gone to Suddhodana and taught the dharma, after which his father became an arahant.

 

The king's death and cremation was to inspire the creation of an order of nuns. Buddhist texts record that the Buddha was reluctant to ordain women. His foster mother Maha Pajapati, for example, approached him, asking to join the sangha, but he refused. Maha Pajapati, however, was so intent on the path of awakening that she led a group of royal Sakyan and Koliyan ladies, which followed the sangha on a long journey to Rajagaha. In time, after Ananda championed their cause, the Buddha is said to have reconsidered and, five years after the formation of the sangha, agreed to the ordination of women as nuns. He reasoned that males and females had an equal capacity for awakening. But he gave women additional rules (Vinaya) to follow.Dhyana and insight[edit]

A core problem in the study of early Buddhism is the relation between dhyana and insight.[82][95][84] Schmithausen, in his often-cited article On some Aspects of Descriptions or Theories of 'Liberating Insight' and 'Enlightenment' in Early Buddhism notes that the mention of the four noble truths as constituting "liberating insight", which is attained after mastering the Rupa Jhanas, is a later addition to texts such as Majjhima Nikaya 36.[85][81][82]

64. Dream Arena

by Nicky Carvell

 

Nicky Carvell was born in Hertfordshire and now lives and works in London. She graduated from the Royal Academy Schools 2009. Nicky’s work celebrates commercial visuals that may be considered stylistically outdated, but still command a powerful presence.

Her 2012 exhibitions include, ‘Red, White and Blue – Pop/Punk/Politics/Place’, Chelsea Space, London and ‘RAINBOW REV’, 3rd Ward, Brooklyn, New York. In 2009 she was awarded The Land Securities Studio Prize – a residency on Oxford Street, London; and in 2012 she was the 3rd Ward Open Call Grand Prize Winner, receiving a residency in New York.

Nicky’s work explores “Suburban Leisure Signage which embodies dreams for people in grotty small towns – looking past the dreary everyday into a fantastical colour realm!” And Dream Arena is certainly no exception to that kaleidoscopic journey.

“Dream Arena began with the spray painted pastel gradient which forms a ‘Sky Space’, upon which abstract ‘Clouds’ of dynamic signs are suspended.” Nicky used a high gloss, vinyl-wrapped finish on the egg, coaxing onlookers into a fantasy zone. The work echoes the way in which she too was dazzled as a child when she was brought from a small Hertfordshire town to see the energy and spectacle of Covent Garden.

As for the name, “It is entitled Dream Arena as I hope to spark viewers’ imaginations with visions of alternate realities; encouraging a new, brighter world for our aspirations to exist within.”

 

Lindt is proud to join

THE BIG EGG HUNT 2013

in support for Action For Children

 

Our fun family event starts in London, Covent Garden on Shrove Tuesday and promises to delight all; from the exciting egg-hunts and giant chocolate bunnies to the uniquely designed eggs by leading artists and celebrities, for all to awe at – and hopefully buy!

 

Most importantly it is a unique opportunity for us all to raise significant money to support vulnerable and neglected children in the UK.

 

Established in 1869, Action for Children is committed to helping the most vulnerable and neglected children in the UK. Working directly with more than 250,000 children, young people and their carers each year, we run over 600 services which tackle abuse, neglect, help young carers and provide fostering and adoption services.

 

Lindt believes in the magic of families, which is why the Lindt Gold Bunny is proud to join Action for Children in The Big Egg Hunt and support the great work they do to improve the lives of children & families in the UK.

ROMA ARCHEOLOGICA & RESTAURO ARCHITETTURA 2022. Aggiornamento, Maggio 2022. “Roma, gli scavi Danesi nel Foro di Cesare: 3000 anni di nuove testimonianze archeologiche alla luce.” Testo in Danese e Inglese; in: The Past / London (17/05/2022) & The Carlsbergfondet, Denmark [with additional Facebook & You-Tube links] (18/05/2022). Anche Foto di: “Roma, Il Foro di Cesare” in: and.lezzi / Instagram (18/05/2022).

wp.me/pbMWvy-2Gx

 

Foto: Roma - Il Foro di Cesare, I Fori Imperiali & Via dei Fori Imperiali; in: and.lezzi / Instagram (18/05/2022).

www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/52084141678

 

1). ROMA - Scavare il Foro di Cesare: tremila anni di vita quotidiana a Roma.

The Past / London (17/05/2022).

 

Riassunto - Fresche tracce di vita urbana di quasi tre millenni stanno venendo alla luce nel centro di Roma. Nuovi scavi italo-danesi hanno portato alla luce molto di più del progetto monumentale del forum di Cesare. Scavando attraverso strati archeologici, viaggiando indietro nel tempo dalle costruzioni di Mussolini degli anni '30, Jan Kindberg Jacobsen, Eva Mortensen, Claudio Parisi Presicce e Rubina Raja districano la complessa stratigrafia urbana della Città Eterna.

 

Foto: The Past / London (17/05/2022)

www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/52084363139

  

ROME - Digging Caesar’s Forum: three thousand years of daily life in Rome. The Past / London (17/05/2022).

 

Abstract - Fresh traces of urban life spanning almost three millennia are coming to light in central Rome. New Danish-Italian excavations have uncovered far more than Caesar’s monumental forum project. Delving through archaeological layers, while travelling back in time from Mussolini’s 1930s constructions, Jan Kindberg Jacobsen, Eva Mortensen, Claudio Parisi Presicce, and Rubina Raja disentangle the complex urban stratigraphy of the Eternal City.

 

Foto: The Past / London (17/05/2022)

www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/52084142673

 

For some years, the buzzing sound of mechanical digging has been emanating from a green-screen enclosure standing beside Rome’s monumental avenue, the Via dei Fori Imperiali. This is because an excavation site lies entrenched between the broad avenue and the adjacent portion of Caesar’s Forum, which is open to the public as part of an archaeological park. There, in the south-eastern section of the complex, heavy mechanical excavators and trucks operate alongside archaeologists, conservators, geologists, and radiocarbon specialists, who are committed to figuring out what was going on here in the past. Inside the enclosure, two trenches are cordoned off with plastic fences that proclaim there are ‘lavori in corso’: works in progress. Sure enough, our team has reached deep into the archaeological layers, revealing an incredible amount of new knowledge about the long history of Rome.

 

Foto: The Past / London (17/05/2022)

www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/52084119366

 

This work is taking place in the heart of the city. The Roman Forum lies close at hand, while the remains of the imperial fora established by the emperors Augustus (reigned 27 BC to AD 14), Nerva (reigned 96-98), and Trajan (reigned 98-117) are visible on the far side of the Via dei Fori Imperiali. Over the recent winter months, trowels and buckets were stowed away, and the Bobcat excavator rested, surrendering the site to restoration specialists and architects. Meanwhile, the archaeologists, finds specialists, and soil scientists headed indoors to study the excavated material and process a wealth of samples. Together, their findings can lead us from the 20th century AD back to the 6th century BC.

 

Clean up first, then demolish

Our journey starts on 28 October 1932, when the Via dei Fori Imperiali, which today leads people from Piazza Venezia to the Colosseum, was inaugurated by Benito Mussolini. Back then it was called the Via dell’Impero, a parade street that simultaneously celebrated the ideology of the fascist regime and physically connected it to Rome’s ancient and glorious past.

 

Foto: The Past / London (17/05/2022)

www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/52084142693

 

The street cut through the late Republican Forum of Caesar and all of the imperial fora. When this new thoroughfare was first planned, though, most of the Roman-era remains were obscured beneath a densely inhabited residential area known as the Alessandrino Quarter. Its housing blocks were razed together with five churches, causing about a thousand families to be evicted and rehomed in newly built neighbourhoods on the outskirts of Rome. Once exposed, most of Caesar’s Forum was excavated, alongside portions of the other fora. Speed was the defining quality of this work, though. After just a year and a half of demolition and excavation, the centre of Rome lay transformed. Afterwards, its appearance before this intervention by the fascist regime was soon largely forgotten, with most modern visitors never realising that the ruins looked radically different less than a century ago. Fortunately for us, the area currently being excavated in Caesar’s Forum was not dug out at that time. Neither was it overbuilt by the parade street, because Mussolini needed a turning space for his grandiloquent parades.

 

Foto: Our excavations revealed remains of a residential unit that was once home to the Alessandrino Quarter’s last inhabitants.

The Past / London (17/05/2022).

www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/52084142723

 

The Alessandrino Quarter had a long pedigree. It was first established in the second half of the 16th century, meaning that its three- to four-storey high housing blocks had accommodated part of Rome’s fast-growing population for over three centuries. While it has always been possible to get a sense of the Alessandrino Quarter from photographs, historic maps, and written sources, prior to our excavations very little was known about the material culture of daily life. Indeed, even then it has not always been easy to bring its former inhabitants into sharp focus. Not only did they take their possessions with them when they vacated their homes, but they also scrupulously swept the floors – even though the buildings were about to be torn down. This compulsion for cleanliness was not just a matter of pride. Instead, it can be explained by a pending inspection from the state architects, who were brought in to make precise measurements of the apartments. This was important for the families, in order for them to receive the correct compensation from the state, after being forced to leave their homes.

 

Foto: Various different types of floors were found in the Alessandrino Quarter building complex. Here we see pebble flooring (right), hexagonal cementine tiles (centre bottom), and rectangular tiles with a geometric decoration (centre top). A toilet once occupied the hole in the upper left-hand corner. The Past / London (17/05/2022).

www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/52084618495

 

Naturally, such sprucing up did not extend to hidden spaces like underground sewers and channels, allowing traces of the last inhabitants to survive there. Systematic excavation and recording of these spaces is granting an insight into the residents’ domestic activities, social standing, and even their diet. Pieces of jewellery and shirt buttons made of bone probably entered the sewers accidentally when washing clothes, whereas plates, forks, and glasses must have come from one or more kitchens above. Animal bones, mostly from pigs, alongside the many mussel shells and chicken eggs found, tell us about the dietary habits of the inhabitants. In addition, the excavations allow us to understand the practical manner in which the buildings were demolished and the rubble discarded – often packed into sewers or used to level off cellars. We even found tools and personal belongings of the workmen who carried out the demolition.

 

Foto: Furthest down in the large trench, the granite columns from the eastern portico of Caesar’s Forum were uncovered together with architectural elements and statue bases in marble. Below them are the openings of the draining channels that directed the water away from the central square of the forum. The Past / London (17/05/2022).

www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/52084363259

 

The remains of some rooms in the housing blocks were also preserved. Here, the floors are of interest, as, far from being uniform, different materials were employed and different patterns created. These allow us to chart shifts in architectural fashions and the impact of modernisation over the course of three centuries. From these floors emerges a narrative whereby Renaissance houses were rebuilt during the second half of the 19th century to install modern commodities, including electricity and flushable toilets. While we lack small finds from the rooms, the floors are still a great help when it comes to deducing what these spaces were used for. After all, the different demands of domestic living quarters, kitchens, and laundries often result in distinctive flooring.

 

Contagion

Though the thorough clean-up makes it difficult to peek into the daily lives of those living on top of Caesar’s Forum in the first three decades of the 20th century, finds from the Alessandrino Quarter do bring us closer to some earlier residents. One such discovery was made in 2021. Objects recovered from a short stretch of sewer testify to one or more infectious diseases spreading through the area in the second half of the 16th century – that is at just the time housing blocks were first sprouting in what was then Rome’s newest neighbourhood.

 

Foto: The Past / London (17/05/2022)

www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/52084142743

 

The sewer contained numerous intact and broken vessels, including fragments of around 30 uroscopy flasks. Such receptacles were used by medics from the medieval period through to the 18th century in order to study the colour, smell, consistency, and even taste of human urine when diagnosing a range of diseases. Today, we view uroscopy as essentially a pseudoscience, but in the 16th century it was a cornerstone of many medical practices. Small, intact terracotta containers found in the sewer also offer an insight into healing, as they were used to hold various types of medicine during the Renaissance. At first sight, the numerous broken plates also recovered from the conduit seem a less obvious fit with healthcare. When we examined the plates more closely, though, it became apparent that they had been discarded intact. Why? During this period, it was well understood that some diseases could be caught by touching objects handled by the infected. One solution was simply to throw away patients’ possessions when they died. Sure enough, traces of this approach have been found associated with hospitals in Italy.

 

Foto: The Past / London (17/05/2022)

www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/52084142753

 

It is interesting to ponder how material suited to a hospital-style setting ended up in a residential sewer. If a hospital had existed in the excavation area we would know about it from the written sources, but they are silent on the matter. However, it is possible that the objects had been transported some distance from a hospital in central Rome, before being chucked into the sewer. An overview of the material should give a sense of the number of patients concerned. If we allow for one plate per patient, then the belongings of 23 deceased individuals were dumped in the sewer. An additional, poignant, detail is provided by the presence of at least two terracotta figure toys, indicating that one or more of the victims were children.

 

Foto: The Past / London (17/05/2022)

www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/52084142758

 

Farming central Rome

Moving further back through time brings us to the era before the Alessandrino Quarter developed. Archaeologically, this period was marked by a thick mud layer, which fits neatly with the contemporary name for the area: i Pantani or ‘the swamp’. The origins of this expanse of boggy ground can be traced to the breakdown of earlier drainage systems. Back in the Roman period, water from the entire forum area drained directly into the River Tiber via the large Cloaca Maxima sewer. By the 10th century AD, though, this sewer was no longer being properly maintained. Eventually it became blocked, leaving the area at the mercy of the elements. It would not have taken long for living conditions to suffer. Our mud deposit accumulated between the 11th and 15th centuries, and may well contain valuable information about how the people of medieval Rome interacted with their changing environment. Micromorphological analyses and radiocarbon dating hold the promise of further clarifying this story, as well as the speed with which the area silted up in the centuries leading up to the construction of the Alessandrino Quarter in the 16th century.

 

Foto: The Past / London (17/05/2022)

www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/52083088117

 

Below this thick, informative mud lay a very different version of central Rome: an area of vegetable gardens, orchards, vineyards, and small farm houses. Excavations conducted in the southern part of Caesar’s Forum between 1998 and 2000 had already revealed that a peasant society developed in the heart of the ancient city. Badly preserved and poorly built farmhouse walls and floors were also detected in the new excavations. These medieval farms are called domus terrinee, with each house consisting of a single room. Reused architectural elements from earlier periods are a common feature of these humble dwellings, leaving column parts and marble blocks, so-called spolia, randomly jutting from the walls.

 

Foto: The Past / London (17/05/2022)

www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/52084142778

 

Another layer of muddy soil emerged below the medieval farmhouses. Here, too, there was evidence for the reuse of fine architecture from the Roman Imperial period: heaps of marble had been chopped up into football-size pieces, most likely in preparation for burning in lime-kilns. The quicklime this produced could be slaked with water and used as building material, allowing the marble of the imperial fora to live on in a very different guise among the constructions of Late Antique Rome. Fortunately, the fragments we found avoided this fate, telling us not only about an important episode of recycling, but also providing an example of the sumptuous marble decorations that once graced the fora.

 

Splendours of Caesar

Before the end of the 2021 season, our excavations in the main trench along the Via dei Fori Imperiali reached Caesar’s Forum. In Antiquity, this was known as the Forum Julium, and Gaius Julius Caesar took care to site it next to the Roman Forum – the great public space at the heart of civic life, where speakers’ platforms, stores, markets, administrative buildings, and temples could be found. To put it another way, by initiating his grand forum project, Caesar radically reimagined the fabric of urban life in Rome.

 

Foto: The Past / London (17/05/2022)

www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/52084618515

 

He pleased as well as vexed with his investment, which according to the ancient authors was the most expensive land-acquisition and building project of its time. One reason why the plot commanded such a high price was that it contained the residences of socialite Romans. Their homes were duly demolished, and the ground levelled as part of the forum project. This created a space covering approximately 100m by 50m, which was paved with slabs of travertine stone. It was enclosed by three porticoes, formed of granite columns rising from marble steps. A bronze equestrian statue of Caesar took pride of place in the centre of the forum, while the northern end of the square was dominated by a temple of Venus Genetrix, which stood on a 6m-high podium. This choice of deity allowed Caesar to advertise his divine ancestry: Venus was the mother of the Trojan hero Aeneas, whose son Julus (also known as Ascanius) was claimed as an ancestor by the Julian family.

 

Foto: The Past / London (17/05/2022)

www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/52084363244

 

Construction work on the forum began in 52 BC, with Caesar inaugurating it in 46 BC, even though the complex was still unfinished. As it transpired, Caesar did not live long enough to see the full splendour of his building project. Instead, his adoptive son Octavian – later Emperor Augustus – brought the building project to fruition and also made a few tweaks to the original architectural plans. These amendments were geared towards making the forum even more grandiose than Caesar had originally conceived. The end result was a new meeting place for the people of Rome. Here was a public space where business could be conducted, love affairs could unfold, friends could meet, and the Romans could gaze in awe at the magnificence of their hometown. Above all, it rammed home the message that Caesar was in charge as sole ruler of the vast Roman Empire.

 

So far, our excavations have unearthed tumbled granite columns from the forum’s eastern portico, as well as statue bases. Drainage channels have also come to light, with one dating to Caesar’s time, while another was installed during Trajan’s reign, providing a sense of how the forum was maintained over a century after its inauguration. Such measures ensured that heavy rain could drain towards the Cloaca Maxima, some 100m to the south.

 

Our spring campaign will reveal more about this late-Republican tour de force and its restoration under Trajan. We are also hoping these investigations might answer a long-standing mystery concerning the complex: how it connected to the famous Forum of Augustus. These two fora shared an adjoining wall, but to this day it remains unclear whether this contained a passage permitting movement between the two. Caesar’s Forum itself could be entered on either side of the Temple of Venus Genetrix, while there was also a connecting passage to the Roman Forum. So, were the ancient Romans able to walk dry-shod all the way from the Roman Forum to the Forum of Augustus? With the new excavations, the entire width of Caesar’s Forum will be exposed for the first time, shedding more light on movement in the heart of ancient Rome.

 

Rearranging the landscape

In 2021, we also opened a smaller trench closer to the paved forum square. In this part of the excavation, the stratigraphy ‘jumps’ from the Middle Ages directly back to the archaic period, long before the heyday of Republican and Imperial Rome. The archaeological layers belonging to the centuries in between, including the era of Caesar’s Forum, are gone. This loss can be traced back to the inhabitants of the medieval domus terrinee, who exposed the area to rough treatment by digging down to reach the fertile soil below. One side effect of their handiwork is that this modest – but crucial – trench has allowed us to reach far deeper into the past of ancient Rome.

 

Whereas the Middle Ages’ peasant society really let this part of the site have it, the architects and workers that built Caesar’s Forum adopted a softer touch. When the complex was built, the ground had to be levelled, and this meant that in places, especially the north-eastern part of the forum, 3-4m of ground needed removing. Where our trench lay in the south-eastern part of the site, though, the remains of the archaic period were left largely untouched by Caesar’s grand development.

 

Thanks to this, the floor level and some walls of a 6th-century BC building still survived in the archaic levels. The area was once again residential in nature at this point in time, with earlier excavations in the vicinity revealing more houses, as well as wells and a street. It is clear from the quality of the material that people from the upper echelons of society resided here during the archaic period. Even so, the most striking finds from our new excavations belong to the funerary rather than to the domestic sphere. This is due to the discovery of four children buried in the first half of the 6th century BC.

 

Foto: The Past / London (17/05/2022)

www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/52084363274

 

Three of the children were entombed in storage jars known as ollae. Their graves were fashioned by pushing together two of these squat, belly-rounded jars, with the body of the child placed inside. Another grave was found under one of the olla graves. It contained an inhumed child, who had died at the age of three or four. On top of each olla grave was a little pile of material that included, among other things, tile fragments. Rather than being grave markers, these miniature mounds were probably placed there to provide protection – perhaps so that animals could not dig through the earth to reach the graves.

 

Although the dead were usually destined for cemeteries established outside towns, it is not uncommon to find infants buried in houses. Even so, it is unique for so many to be bunched together from the same period. Inevitably, it raises the question of whether we are dealing with victims of a disease or some other catastrophic event. We expect the upcoming analyses of the graves and the bodies in 2022, together with further excavations in the area, to shed more light on this.

 

Rise of Rome

We have now delved through cultural layers reaching back roughly 2,600 years in time. But Rome’s story does not stop there. Earlier excavations in Caesar’s Forum have found traces of even more ancient activity: in the 11th and 10th centuries BC, a necropolis occupied the site, while before that, from the 13th to the 11th centuries BC, handmade impasto pottery, postholes (probably from a hut), wheel tracks, and evidence for the area being carefully levelled speak of settlement activity.

 

As we reach the spring of 2022, the buzzing sound of excavations is once again to be heard behind the green-screen enclosure. It brings the promise that this year our dig might reach the Late Bronze Age and Iron Age layers, thus shedding light on the origins of Rome. Whatever the results, we can be confident that a longue durée narrative about daily life in the heart of Rome will continue to be revealed through the excavation of a small patch of land hidden away beneath Mussolini’s parade-street turning space for almost a century.

 

FURTHER INFORMATION

The excavations at Caesar’s Forum are undertaken as a collaboration between Sovrintendenza Capitolina ai Beni Culturali, the Danish Institute in Rome, and the Centre for Urban Network Evolutions (Aarhus University). The project is funded by the Carlsberg Foundation and Aarhus University Research Foundation. Further support comes from the Danish National Research Foundation under the grant DNRF119 – Centre for Urban Network Evolutions. Project publications include, among others:

 

T A Hass & R Raja (eds.) (2021) Caesar’s Past and Posterity’s Caesar, Rome Studies 1. Turnhout: Brepols.

 

J K Jacobsen, G Murro, C P Presicce, R Raja & S G Saxkjær (2020) ‘Practicing Urban Archaeology in a Modern City: the Alessandrino Quarter of Rome’, Journal of Field Archaeology 46.1: 36–51.

 

J K Jacobsen, G Murro, C P Presicce, R Raja, S G Saxkjær & M Vitti (2021) ‘High-Definition Urban Narratives from Central Rome: virtual reconstructions of the past and the new Caesar’s Forum excavations’, Journal of Urban Archaeology 3, 65–86.

 

Project webpage: cas.au.dk/en/cfp

UrbNet webpage: urbnet.au.dk

 

ALL IMAGES: Sovrintendenza Capitolina and The Caesar’s Forum Project, unless otherwise stated.

 

Fonte / source, foto:

--- The Past / London (17/05/2022)

the-past.com/feature/digging-caesars-forum-three-thousand...

 

Fonte / source, foto:

--- Roma - Il Foro di Cesare, I Fori Imperiali & Via dei Fori Imperiali; in: and.lezzi / Instagram (18/05/2022).

www.instagram.com/p/CdtiUcWsmNX/

 

Foto: The Carlsbergfondet, Denmark (18/05/2022).

www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/52083086827

 

2). ROME - Børnegrave, luksusglas og kloaker gravet frem af jorden under Cæsars Forum i Rom. (18/05/2022). The Carlsbergfondet, Denmark (18/05/2022).

 

En lang række enestående genstande gravet frem af jorden under Cæsars Forum kaster nyt lys over Roms fortid fra Antikken og helt op i 1900-tallet. Foreløbig er der fundet alt fra tallerkener, lysekroner, legetøj og medicinflasker til granitsøjler og dræningskanaler. De kommende måneder vil flere nye områder blive genstand for omfattende undersøgelser, der vil kaste yderligere lys over liv og skikke i Roms fortid.

 

Foto: The Carlsbergfondet, Denmark / You-Tube (18/05/2022).

www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/52083086877

 

2.1). ROMA - Tombe di bambini, vetri di lusso e fogne scavate nel terreno durante il Foro di Cesare a Roma

. The Carlsbergfondet, Denmark (18/05/2022).

 

** Nota: Di seguito è riportato un estratto dell'articolo in lingua danese originale tradotto in italiano e inglese. **

 

Un gran numero di oggetti unici scavati nel terreno durante il Foro di Cesare gettano nuova luce sul passato di Roma dall'antichità e fino al XX secolo. Finora è stato trovato di tutto, da piatti, lampadari, giocattoli e bottiglie di medicinali a colonne di granito e canali di drenaggio. Nei prossimi mesi alcune nuove aree saranno oggetto di approfonditi studi che faranno luce sulla vita e sui costumi del passato di Roma.

 

Foto: The Carlsbergfondet, Denmark (18/05/2022).

www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/52084119251

 

2.2). ROME - Children's tombs, luxury glass and sewers dug out of the ground during Caesar's Forum in Rome

. The Carlsbergfondet, Denmark (18/05/2022).

 

** Note: Below is an extract of the original Danish language article translated in Italiano and English. **

 

A large number of unique objects excavated from the ground during Caesar's Forum shed new light on Rome's past from antiquity and all the way up to the 20th century. So far, everything from plates, chandeliers, toys and medicine bottles to granite columns and drainage channels have been found. In the coming months, several new areas will be the subject of extensive studies that will shed further light on the life and customs of Rome's past.

 

A large number of unique objects excavated from the ground during Caesar's Forum shed new light on Rome's past from antiquity and all the way up to the 20th century. So far, everything from plates, chandeliers, toys and medicine bottles to granite columns and drainage channels have been found. In the coming months, several new areas will be the subject of extensive studies that will shed further light on the lives and customs of Rome's past.

Since 2019, Danish and Italian archaeologists, with support from the Carlsberg Foundation and the Aarhus University Research Foundation, have carried out an extensive archaeological excavation of one of Rome's five representative forums from Antiquity, Caesar's Forum. From the Danish side, the excavation is led by Ph.D. Jan Kindberg Jacobsen affiliated with the Danish Institute in Rome and professor and center manager Rubina Raja from the Center for Urban Network Evolutions (UrbNet) at Aarhus University.

 

One of the areas that archaeologists have been investigating is the so-called Alessandrino neighborhood, which was laid out in the second half of the 16th century and existed until the early 1930s, when it was demolished on order from? Benito Mussolini (Prime Minister of Italy from 1922 to 1943).

 

Excavation with a high degree of detail

The excavation of Caesar's Forum has also resulted in new finds from the Middle Ages in the 9th and 10th centuries, possibly during this period Rome had been in disrepair for several centuries. Caesar's Forum no longer functioned as a 'forum', and agriculture was instead moved within the city walls. At the Caesar's Forum itself, farms had been built and fields laid out.

 

“In the period April to July 2021, we excavated the remains of one of these farms. The excavation has given an insight into the architectural expressions of the farms, the material culture associated with the farms, the agricultural system and the farmers' changes of the landscape ”.

 

Jan Kindberg Jacobsen summarizes that the excavation of Caesar's Forum is generally the most scientifically advanced excavation carried out so far in central Rome:

 

“The finely detailed excavation technique, new registration methods and a large number of scientific methods, which we have used in the work at Cæsars Forum, have made it possible to get right down to the last detail. With this, we have been able to describe the long cultural development as a unified history, where the earliest and most recent finds are treated within the same methodological and interpretive framework. This task has been undertaken by UrbNet at Aarhus University, which has leading specialists in the field of science - partly under the auspices of the center and partly through UrbNet's enormous international research network ”.

 

Foto: The Carlsbergfondet, Denmark / You-Tube (18/05/2022).

www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/52084361974

 

Until July 1, archaeologists continue the excavation in the area where the children's graves were found.

 

“We have expanded the excavation area and are now on our way down. However, we are still two meters above the level where we found the graves, so more than 1000 years of cultural layers still need to be excavated and recorded. We anticipate that the archaeological excavations will be completed in the summer of 2023, ”concludes Jan Kindberg Jacobsen.

 

Fonte / source:

--- The Carlsbergfondet, Denmark (18/05/2022).

www.carlsbergfondet.dk/da/Nyheder/Nyt-fra-fondet/Nyheder/...

 

Foto: The Carlsbergfondet, Denmark / You-Tube (18/05/2022)

www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/52084617270

 

3). ROM - Dr. Jan Kindberg Jacobsen & Opsigtsvækkende fund: Tre børnegrave i et beboelsesområde er dukket op under udgravningen af Cæsars Forum. The Carlsbergfondet, Denmark / Facebook (18/05/2022).

 

Foto: The Carlsbergfondet, Denmark (18/05/2022).

www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/52084142663

 

ROME - Three children's graves in a residential area have emerged during the excavation of Caesar's Forum.

During excavations in Rome, archaeologists have come across three vases that were close to each other. It turned out to be coffins, as each vase contained the skeleton of a child aged 1-2. The tombs date from the Archaic period between 700 and 600 BC, and the find is very unusual. Usually, the dead were not buried in the areas where the Romans themselves lived.

 

Foto: The Carlsbergfondet, Denmark / You-Tube (18/05/2022).

www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/52084361984

 

Fonte / source:

--- The Carlsbergfondet, Denmark / Facebook (18/05/2022).

fb.watch/d5NV1-VjKl/

 

3.1). ROM - Dr. Jan Kindberg Jacobsen & Tre børnegrave i et beboelsesområde er dukket op under udgravningen af Cæsars Forum = ROME - Three children's graves in a residential area have emerged during the excavation of Caesar's Forum. The Carlsbergfondet, Denmark / You-Tube (18/05/2022) [3:01].

 

Video: Three children’s graves in a residential area have emerged during the excavation of Caesar’s Forum. The Carlsbergfondet, Denmark / You-Tube (18/05/2022).

www.youtube.com/watch?v=P93VZdLyzeU

 

During the excavation in Rome, archaeologists came across three vases that lay close together. It turned out to be coffins, as each vase contained the skeleton of a child aged 1-2 years. The tombs are from archaic times between 700 and 600 BCE, and the find is very unusual.

 

Foto: The Carlsbergfondet, Denmark / You-Tube (18/05/2022).

www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/52084141628

 

For usually the dead were not buried in the areas where the Romans themselves lived. "When they have nevertheless been located within the settlement, it is probably due to the fact that children at that time were not considered to be 'real' people until they reached a certain age.

 

Foto: The Carlsbergfondet, Denmark / You-Tube (18/05/2022).

www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/52084361989

 

This is because at that time there was a very high infant mortality rate, and they therefore waited to be considered members of society until they had reached a certain age, ”says excavation leader Jan Kindberg.

 

Foto: The Carlsbergfondet, Denmark / You-Tube (18/05/2022).

www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/52083086842

 

Archaeologists are now studying the tombs in more detail. to become wiser, why the three tombs are located in a residential area. Here the archaeologists work with 2-3 theories, which you can hear more about in the video.

 

Foto: The Carlsbergfondet, Denmark / You-Tube (18/05/2022).

www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/52084362014

 

Fonte / source, foto & video:

--- The Carlsbergfondet, Denmark / You-Tube (18/05/2022) [3:01].

 

Foto: The Carlsbergfondet, Denmark / You-Tube (18/05/2022).

www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/52084118186

 

S.v.,

 

Foto: Il Foro di Cesare e gli scavi; in: ROMA | THREAD STORICO ARCHEOLOGICO / Skyscraper City # 944 (12/03/2022).

 

www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/52020804396

 

--- ROMA ARCHEOLOGICA & RESTAURO ARCHITETTURA 2022. #NatalediRoma Update: Rome, the Forum of Caesar Excavations, April 2022; and Dr. Rubina Raja, “Excavating the Untouched History of Rome;” in: Arrhus, University of Denmark (28 Feb. 2022). And New On-Site Excavation Photographs (12 March & 16 April, 2022); in: Rome: Skyscraper City (21/04/2022). S.v., Roma, Scavo e Valorizzazione nel Foro di Cesare (04/2022); in: Foto di Francesco Campanini / Facebook (15/04/2022). wp.me/pbMWvy-2CR

 

Ancient Ruins of Masada in the Desert of Judea, the last jewish resistance against the roman empire in the first century AD. All members of Masada resistance committed suicide except an old woman, an young girl and small chidren

Turtle Bay, Manhattan, New York City, New York, United States

 

Summary

 

Paul Rudolph, one of the most celebrated and innovative American architects of the 20th century, was associated with 23 Beekman Place for more than 35 years, from 1961 until his death in 1997. Trained at the Harvard Graduate School of Design in the 1940s, Rudolph was a second-generation modernist who grew dissatisfied with functional aesthetics but remained committed to exploiting industrial materials to create structures of great formal complexity. From 1958 to 1965, he served as chairman of the Department of Architecture at Yale University, where he designed the well-known Art and Architecture Building, now called Paul Rudolph Hall. Rudolph began leasing an apartment on the fourth floor of 23 Beekman Place in 1961, which became his full-time residence in 1965. He purchased the building in 1976 and converted it into five apartments in 1977-82, adding a remarkable multi-story penthouse that suggests a work of architectonic sculpture.

 

New York Times architecture critic Paul Goldberger praised the steel-and-concrete design, calling it “a handsome composition, a neat arrangement of geometric forms that is visually pleasing in itself and a welcome addition to Beekman Place’s already long list of architectural styles.”

 

23 Beekman Place was also home to actress Katharine Cornell. Dubbed by drama critic Alexander Woolcott the “First Lady of the Theater,” she purchased the building with her husband, director-producer Guthrie McClintic, in 1922 and lived here until the early 1950s. Although the elaborate multi-level interiors have been modified by subsequent owners, the exterior is virtually unchanged. Rudolph completed only six buildings in New York City. 23 Beekman Place stands out as one of his most personal and experimental designs, drawing on themes that he explored throughout his prolific career, as well as anticipating aspects of his later work in Southeast Asia.

 

DESCRIPTION AND ANALYSIS

 

Beekman Place

 

The Paul Rudolph Penthouse & Apartments is located on Beekman Place, a small residential enclave in the Turtle Bay section of Manhattan. Close to the East River, this street extends just two blocks, from Mitchell Place (aka East 49th Street), past 50th Street (aka Dunscombe Place), to 51st Street. Topography has always played a significant role in this neighborhood’s appeal. Because the numbered cross-town streets end slightly to the east, for more than a century Beekman Place developed in quasi-isolation, standing above and apart from early industrial activities in the area, and construction of the United Nations, which began in the mid-1940s. Furthermore, due to the street’s unique and secluded character, it attracted a continuously changing roster of prominent residents, from the late 19th century to the present day.

 

Beekman Place was first opened in the mid-1860s. Most of the property in the area was owned by Samuel W. Dunscombe, a former minister. Four-story houses, faced with brownstone and classical detail, were soon erected on both sides of the new street, as well as a stone retaining wall to separate the rear yards from a narrow piece of river front property that James W. Beekman and family continued to own. These single-family houses were similar to those along 48th and 49th Streets, in what is now the Turtle Bay Gardens Historic District; each building was 20 feet wide, with a continuous metal or wood roof cornice, as well as a stoop rising to the first or parlor floor. Early residents included author Henry Harland, who produced popular novels under the pseudonym Sydney Luska. In Mrs. Peixada (1886) he described the street’s character:

 

Beekman Place, as the reader may not know, is a short, chocolate-colored, unpretentious thoroughfare, perched on the eastern brink of Manhattan Island, and commanding a fine view of the river, of the penitentiary, and of the oil factories of Hunter’s Point.

 

When Beekman sold the property, he promised that any future development would rise no higher than Dunscombe’s retaining wall – about 40 feet. He also promised that “nothing could be built there considered dangerous, noxious or offensive.” In 1914, the estate’s lawyers asked that these restrictions be nullified to allow improvements to the property. They claimed that commercial use was part of the “natural progress of the city,” but the New York State Supreme Court upheld the 1865 agreement, maintaining restrictions. Such litigation had a significant impact on Beekman Place; in addition to protecting views from the houses that faced east, these events brought the area increased attention and a large number of buildings were sold, substantially altered, or demolished.

 

Residential Beekman Place

 

Actress Katharine Cornell (1893-1974) and producer-director Guthrie McClintic (189361) acquired 23 Beekman Place in 1922. They purchased the former town house from Charles Schmid, who acquired it from Maria L. Higgins in 1906. It seems likely that one of these owners removed the stoop and divided the structure into at least two apartments, which were occupied in the 1910s by Schmid and four children, and Roger Howson, who later became chief librarian at Columbia University, as well as his wife, three children, and a governess.

 

Cornell and McClintic met in 1921 and married, forming a professional partnership that lasted four decades. Though relatively little is known about their private lives, they collaborated on 28 theatrical productions, with Cornell in the lead roles. Critic Alexander Woollcott described her as the “First Lady of Theater” and she was often compared to such luminaries as Helen Hayes and Lynn Fontaine. McClintic rivaled Cornell in terms of his contribution to the New York stage, directing 94 theatrical productions, including both classic and contemporary works.

 

Architect Franklin Abbott was hired to “remodel” the front elevation in 1929, as well as the interiors. Simple neo-classical details were added to the facade, as well as round-arched windows at the base and rusticated stonework. It was probably at this time that a service entrance was added to the right side of the ground story, as well as a metal canopy to keep water from collecting in the areaway. The basement was also extended at the rear of the property and walls were built around the garden. According to the United States Census of 1930, McClintic and Cornell occupied the building with two servants, a butler and cook, and possibly, a single tenant. A visitor in the 1940s described their home as “veritable theatrical museum,” with Cornell occupying the third floor, and McClintic, the fourth. They moved to Palisades, New York, in 1951 and the house was sold two years later, in 1953.

 

In the 1920s, Beekman Place developed considerable cachet, attracting prosperous families and cultural figures, such as: John D. and Blanchette Rockefeller III at 1 Beekman Place (Sloan & Robertson, 1929); Noel Coward at 2 (1932); composer Irving Berlin at 17 (1929); landscape architect Ellen Shipman at 19-21 (Butler & Corse, 1920s); CBS executive William S. Paley at 29 (Eldridge Snyder, 1934); art critic and historian Walter Pach at 33 (redesigned by Harrie T. Lindeberg, 1925); and painter Max Ernst and Peggy Guggenheim at 39 (redesigned by John B. Thomas, 1925). Physical changes to the immediate neighborhood also contributed to an aura of exclusivity, starting with construction of the East River (now Franklin Delano Roosevelt) Drive in the 1940s. Built on landfill and pilings, this highway project eliminated commercial wharves and reduced local access to the waterfront.

 

The city also acquired riparian rights to a section of the shoreline between 52nd and 53rd Streets and a pedestrian bridge was constructed above the highway, near 51st Street. This trend continued in the 1950s, with the completion of the United Nations Headquarters, which occupies a 17-acre site, south of 48th Street. Acquired from developer William Zeckendorf, a resident of 30 Beekman Place (Emery Roth, 1932), this large parcel had been occupied by tanneries, breweries, and slaughterhouses. The buildings at 860 and 870 United Nations Plaza, a mixed-use development with the apartment entrances facing 49th Street and Mitchell Place, were erected by the architects Harrison & Abramowitz in the mid1960s. Like “Beekman House,” a neo-Gothic style apartment building at 439 East 51st Street (Treanor & Fatio, 1925) that stands at the street’s north end, this pair of sleek, bronze-colored International Style towers blocks views south and provides a sense of enclosure.

 

Paul Rudolph in New York City

 

Paul Rudolph was an important late 20th century American architect, with a close association with New York City. He moved his practice here at the height of his career, during the mid 1960s, when his tenure as chairman of the Department of Architecture at Yale University was coming to a close and his firm was embarking on many ambitious projects, including a large number in the metropolitan area.

 

Born in Kentucky in 1918, Rudolph received a Bachelor’s Degree in Architecture from the Alabama Polytechnic Institute, now Auburn University, in 1940. During the Second World War, he spent nearly four years as an officer in the U.S. Naval Reserve working at the Brooklyn Navy Yard, where he oversaw ship construction. For a brief period prior to the war (1941-42), and after, he attended the Harvard Graduate School of Design, where he studied with Walter Gropius and Marcel Breuer, formerly of the Bauhaus. Rudolph graduated in 1947 and following travels in Europe, was active in Florida where he worked with the Sarasota architect Ralph Twitchell (1890-1978). The sleek, box-like houses that he produced were widely praised for their imaginative forms and sensitivity to the natural environment. Rudolph also worked for the Museum of Modern Art in New York City, collaborating with design curator Edgar Kaufmann, Jr., on the “Good Design” exhibition of 1952.

 

Several years later, in 1955, he designed “The Family of Man,” organized by photography curator Edward Steichen. With more than five hundred images on display, this immensely popular exhibition included one of the museum’s most daring and memorable installations.

 

Rudolph maintained three architectural offices in the early 1960s: in New Haven, where he designed the controversial and now-celebrated Art and Architecture Building at Yale University; in Cambridge, Massachusetts; and Manhattan. His approach to design became increasingly sculptural and many projects were executed using textured concrete. Though most schemes in the metropolitan area remained unrealized, such as an audacious plan for the Lower Manhattan Expressway (1967-72) and a Graphic Art Center over the West Side Highway (196768), he did execute at least five other projects here: a townhouse at 101 East 63rd Street (1966), Manhattan; Tracy Towers (1967-72), 20/40 West Mosholu Parkway, the Bronx; Davidson Houses for NYC Housing Authority (1967-73), 810 Home Street in the Morrisania section of the Bronx; Middletown Plaza for the NYC Housing Authority (1967-73), 3033 Middletown Road in the Pelham Bay section of the Bronx; and 246 East 58th Street (1989-94), Manhattan.

 

His first office in Manhattan was located on the top floor of 26 West 58th Street, between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. Designed 1964-65, the interiors suggested a terraced garden with distinct and overlapping levels of interconnected workspace that anticipate the general layout of the penthouse. When the 58th Street building was demolished in 1969, Rudolph settled into a smaller space at 54 West 57th Street, near Sixth Avenue, where the alterations to 23 Beekman Place were planned. In the early 1990s, he moved the office to 246 East 58th Street, which he designed and built as an investment. In his final years, he worked at 23 Beekman Place, where he converted his bedroom into a small atelier. During this period, most of his clients were located in Southeast Asia and local firms were responsible for preparing the final production drawings and overseeing construction. Rudolph died in 1997; in his New York Times obituary, architecture critic Herbert Muschamp discussed his evolving reputation and continued significance:

 

Mr. Rudolph leaves behind a perplexing legacy that will take many years to untangle. With the exception of Louis I. Kahn, no American architect of his generation enjoyed higher esteem in the 1960s . . . [he] wielded enormous influence over the direction of American architecture at mid-century. His buildings . . . were widely studied and imitated. In recent years, American architecture students too young to remember the 1960s have rediscovered Mr. Rudolph as a model of rare integrity. In 1993, at a lecture at the Cooper-Hewitt Museum in New York, he drew a standing room only crowd composed mostly of the young and held the audience spellbound, as if he were a visitor from a long-vanished golden age.

 

In the introduction to a 2008 collection of architect’s writings, Robert A. M. Stern declared that Rudolph “possessed the greatest talent of his generation of American architects.”

 

Re-designing 23 Beekman Place

 

Rudolph began his three-decade association with 23 Beekman Place in 1961, leasing the fourth-story from Philomena Marsciano, of the Mariscano Foundation, which had purchased the building as an investment five years earlier. He was currently living in New Haven and probably used the 700-800 square foot apartment on weekends, or occasionally, as a workspace. It became his primary residence in 1965. Two years later, in 1967, New York Times reporter Barbara Plumb wrote: “This one-bedroom apartment may be small, but its influence is likely to be huge because the architect, Paul Rudolph, former chairman of the School of Architecture at Yale University, lives here.”

 

In the mid-1970s, Manhattan’s real estate market was weak and Rudolph purchased 23 Beekman Place for $300,000. Having already completed several significant alterations as a tenant, he wrote in GA Houses:

 

For approximately 15 years I have occupied an 800 square foot apartment overlooking the East River. During this period its constrictions were modified in various ways. Three small windows facing the river, Roosevelt Island, and industrial Queens (complete with its 40’ x 90’ neon signs) were replaced by a glass wall with doors opening onto a small terrace.

 

Though the text devoted considerable attention to the interiors, he concluded with this cryptic sentence: “The apartment no longer exists, but it was never more than a series of sketches, or studies, for other projects.” In saying this, Rudolph hinted at forthcoming changes, not only to his apartment but to the entire structure at 23 Beekman Place.

 

Initial plans for a $120,000 alteration were filed with the Department of Buildings (DOB) in July 1976. Plan examiners expressed objections to the proposed height and the enlargement of the second, third and fourth floors by as much as 25 per cent. Alfonso Duarte, a Queens engineer, presented Rudolph’s case to the Board of Standards and Appeals (BSA), arguing that it was “not feasible or practical nor even economical to erect a new comparable structure on the site” and that by taking specific precautions it would actually improve safety. The BSA granted a variance in February 1977 and a DOB permit was issued in June 1977.

 

Donald Luckenbill, who was employed in Rudolph’s office from 1969 to 1982, served as project architect. Trained at Brooklyn’s Pratt Institute, he remembered 23 Beekman Place as an extremely challenging project that needed to be broken down into “manageable parts.” The rear was demolished and a new steel-and-glass facade was erected that extended out by as much as 17½ feet. Furthermore, the roof-top addition was carefully engineered to support multiple mezzanines, terraces, and cantilevers. At the front of the building, the cantilever projects approximately five feet, matching the depth of the areaway below. Some proposals, however, were rejected by DOB, such as a roof-top swimming pool and rooms without windows. Luckenbill met frequently with plan examiners during 1976 and 1977. He worked closely with contractor Marco Martelli, of the Omar Building Corp., of New Rochelle, as well as structural engineer Vincent J. DeSimone.

 

Though the upper floors are the most conspicuous element, the first stage of work involved rebuilding sections of the brick sidewalls, which were determined unsafe. The penthouse was then erected during late 1977 and 1978 using “exceptionally light” steel supplied by East Bay Iron Works, located in the Hunt’s Point Section of the Bronx, and concrete block panels manufactured by Imperia Brothers, of Pelham Manor, New York.

 

By the end of 1978, most of the interior work on the rental apartments was done and the materials needed for the penthouse were being raised to the fifth floor. The building received temporary certificates of occupancy throughout 1979 and 1980. So that the apartments could be rented at market rates only five units were built. Two were duplexes at the rear of the building, spanning the ground and first floors, as well as the fifth and sixth floors. The penthouse, sometimes described as a quadriplex, was arranged on four interconnected levels. Entered from the main stairs near the west end of the sixth and seventh story, it contained a two-level guest suite on Beekman Place, as well as a private elevator. At the core was a large volume of space ringed by cantilevered floors, narrow bridges, open stairs, windows of varying dimensions, and terraces. In total, there were estimated to be seventeen distinct levels. A final certificate of occupancy was awarded in January 1982.

 

Rudolph would continue to rework the interiors (not part of designation) in subsequent years, often serving as his own contractor. Various completion dates have been proposed, including as late as 1988, when architect-critic Michael Sorkin called the penthouse “one of the most amazing pieces of modern urban domestic architecture produced in this county, a structure packing more finesse and design wallop in its compact volume than many architects manage to produce over entire careers.”

 

Architectural and Aesthetic Significance

 

Rudolph was a “second-generation” modernist. Trained at Harvard University in the 1940s, he studied with Bauhaus founder Walter Gropius but eventually grew dissatisfied with the so-called “International Style,” which he described as “monotonous” and “timid” as early as 1952. To Rudolph, functional aesthetics became a cliché after the Second World War and he said that “driving down Park Avenue [was] rather like flipping through the pages of a window manufacturer’s catalogue.” Though he never completely rejected this training, like his classmates Edward Larrabee Barnes, Victor Lundy and I. M. Pei, he saw modernism as “a base on which one could build, not merely a formula.” Rudolph later remarked:

 

I think things grow, one thing from another, and develop, and retard and take side trips and whatnot. [International-style modernists] figured out a lot of things that give you a base to proceed.”

 

Rudolph’s once-distinguished reputation entered a slow period of decline in the 1970s – Post-Modernism (and the rediscovery of traditional ornament) was becoming fashionable. Despite trends, he remained strongly opposed to using historical forms, claiming as early as 1962: “neoclassicism is a dead duck. We have been through almost a decade of neo-classicism, which has nearly ruined American architecture.”

 

23 Beekman Place is a late work in Rudolph’s career that draws on themes that he explored throughout his life, as well as anticipating projects that he would design for Southeast Asian clients during the 1980s. At a time when many of his peers were drawn to stone surfaces with classical detail, he remained committed to experimenting with industrial materials to produce complex abstract forms. Consequently, this project ignored current fashion – not only would it provide him with a spacious residence and rental income, but it would demonstrate his continued vitality as a designer and the enduring relevance of architectural modernism.

 

In New York City, relatively few buildings have been designed and built by architects for their own use. Two significant 20th-century survivors can be viewed in nearby in Turtle Bay, close to Beekman Place: the William Lescaze House & Office (1933-34, a designated New York City Landmark), and the Morris Sanders House & Studio (1934-35, a designated New York City Landmark). Like 23 Beekman Place, these pioneering modern works incorporate industrial materials that contrast sharply with their earlier row house neighbors. Architect Edward Durrell Stone, however, adopted a somewhat different strategy at 130 East 64th Street (1878/1958, part of the Upper East Side Historic District), where he replaced the original masonry facade with a glass curtain wall disguised by a decorative concrete screen. This solution transformed the exterior without sacrificing some of the Victorian-era interiors, including a paneled Eastlakestyle parlor.

 

While many mid-20th-century architects have been criticized for ignoring history and context, these issues did interest Rudolph. He wrote in 1962:

 

Le Corbusier’s solution was to tear down Paris; Gropius tried to reduce planning to a few simple rules and principles; even Wright – not that he was an International Stylist – had nothing to suggest, except that we all move to the country. We have still to learn how to add to the evolving city without tearing down everything in sight . . . Most buildings should be background buildings, so to speak; only a few should stand out to stop a certain sequence …

 

As an urban planner, Rudolph believed scale, rather than ornament, should be used to tie old and new construction together. He also felt that how a building is perceived from the street and sidewalk is as important as how it looks against the sky.

 

What sets 23 Beekman Place apart from earlier Rudolph designs was his decision to place a highly-conspicuous, multi-story addition on top of an existing structure. As a long-term tenant, he was familiar with Beekman Place and the neighborhood’s historic fabric. In effect, he took an aging town house and turned it into a podium, fusing disparate aesthetics and building campaigns into a memorable late 20th-century modern design. Juxtaposing new construction with old, as well as steel, glass, concrete and masonry, it differs significantly from how most New York architects approached roof-top additions. When floors were added to row houses in the late 19th century, the original roof was sometimes replaced by a mansard, inspired by Second Empire French residences and palaces. Steep canted roofs, usually with large windows, were also popular, especially among artists and their patrons. In contrast, additions to most 19th- and early 20th-century office buildings were remarkably seamless, displaying almost identical materials and ornament. One memorable exception to this pattern was the penthouse headquarters that I.

 

M. Pei (in association with William Lescaze) designed for William Zeckendorf in 1952. Erected on the roof of the Webb & Knapp Building at 383 Madison Avenue (1920s), there was a floor of glazed office suites and terraces, as well as remarkable cantilevered circular pavilion. This eye-catching addition contained the developer’s office and private dining room.

 

Penthouses appeal to New Yorkers because they offer increased privacy, superb vistas, cool breezes, and in many cases, substantial prestige. According to the American Heritage Dictionary (2000), the word is derived from the Latin appendre, meaning “to cause to be suspended.” It first appeared in the New York Times in 1924 under the headline “Homes on The Roofs: Penthouses Under the Sky Are Prized by City Dwellers, but Few Can Be Had.” More of these apartments became available in subsequent years, especially in buildings located near public parks and along the riverfront. Many incorporated terraces that were positioned on setbacks required by the 1916 zoning ordinance. After the Second World War, however, slab-like towers came into vogue and cantilevered balconies were much more common. These stacked outdoor spaces were initially large and well-proportioned, as at Manhattan House (1947-51, a designated New York City Landmark), but later examples provided considerably less square footage, with limited benefit to residents.

 

Rudolph’s penthouse fits squarely into this tradition and was conceived as a private refuge, a place where he could escape from and observe the city. Designed to take full advantage of its elevated position, there are five distinct outdoor spaces on four staggered levels. The largest terrace, located at the apex of the building, is L-shaped and opens to the sky. It faces east, providing exceptional views of the East River, Roosevelt Island, and Queens. Like an outdoor room, each space is enclosed by an exposed steel framework that functioned as a pergola. Hung with plants and vines, these natural elements were intended to provide a leafy camouflage, softening the structure’s rectilinear character, while providing shade and visual privacy. Though Rudolph encountered some difficulty finding the right mix of greenery, towards the end of his life the vegetation, sometimes hung by gridded wires, was remembered as full and abundant.

 

Architecture, Rudolph claimed, was a “serious game of space” and the spaces he created at 23 Beekman Place were intended to be as varied and challenging as possible. It served as his private laboratory in which the layered interior organization is expressed on the exterior through the play of open and closed forms that project out, rise up, and recede from the street. Constructed with thin steel elements, these box-like silhouettes display similar proportions to the rooms they adjoin. This treatment recalls the Walker Guest House (1954) on Sanibel Island, Florida, which Rudolph considered one of his most successful early projects. To give this modest beach house increased visual coherence the gridded framework was painted white, but in the case of 23 Beekman Place the steel is brown, to contrast with the color of the concrete panels.

 

Concrete was an essential material in Rudolph’s work. Though some of his best-known projects of the 1960s, such as the Art & Architecture Building at Yale, feature textured surfaces, here the rectangular panels were assembled from concrete blocks and coated with stucco to create a smooth, unbroken appearance. Arranged vertically, they appear to float weightlessly in front of the windows, allowing light to leak through the slender gaps that divide them. Most are lined up along the side elevations, but a large, nearly square panel fronts the terrace that extends over Beekman Place. Similar in texture and color to the lower facade, the panels toward the front of the building screen the windows, while creating a visual link between the penthouse and the floors below.

 

Rudolph frequently employed cantilevers in his institutional designs, but in a residential neighborhood it comes as a complete surprise. While it somewhat recalls the deep extended eaves that crown many of Frank Lloyd Wright’s houses, in other instances it suggests the late, more sculptural work of the French-Swiss architect Le Corbusier, whom he especially admired. Rudolph wrote in 1954:

 

Why do buildings always have to flank the street? Why can they not sometimes be placed over the street, thereby forming an enclosure and a focal point? . . . the tyranny of the endless streets must end.

 

The penthouse hangs over the front areaway and interrupts the street wall, occupying vertical space that is commonly left open. He did this to provide a place for an external stair, to enlarge the guest suite, and perhaps, to make the penthouse even more visible from the street. As an added benefit, this feature increased privacy. In a 1986 interview, he said: “The fact of the matter is that because of the cantilevers you don’t see into the building much. You see underneath the building.” The base of the cantilever is steel, except for two rectangular openings, one filled with clear glass and the other left empty. Like the transparent and reflective materials used throughout the apartment, the juxtaposition of solids and voids was intended to create a sense of dislocation and unease.

 

At the height of his career in 1967, Rudolph’s varied production was justly praised in the New York Times for being “unpredictable” as he urged students and contemporaries to create structures that “give visual delight.” Though some neighbors on Beekman Place objected to the penthouse and the views that were lost, his was certainly a unique solution that reflected a bold and distinctive architectural philosophy. Abstract and minimal, open and closed, classical and industrial, 23 Beekman Place has a strong sculptural quality – a quality rarely found in Manhattan’s residential streetscape.

 

Subsequent Owners

 

Following Rudolph’s death in 1997, 23 Beekman Place was sold to Gabrielle and Michael Boyd in 2000. They converted the four apartments and penthouse into a single-family residence in 2001. Though some writers praised their alterations, others strongly criticized changes to the interiors. The current owner, Rupert LLC, purchased the building in 2003. The architects Jared Della Valle and Andrew Bernheimer began renovating the building in 2004, undertaking structural work and exterior renovations.

 

Description

 

The Paul Rudolph Penthouse & Apartments is located at 23 Beekman Place, on the east side of the street, between 50th Street and 51st Street. Approximately 20 feet wide, the structure has two distinct sections: a five-story masonry structure and four-story roof-top addition that cantilevers over the sidewalk, as well as the rear yard. The front (west) facade is visible from Beekman Place and 50th Street, and the rear (east) facade is visible from Peter Detmold Park, as well as the FDR Drive.

 

The rusticated ground story is set below grade and incorporates three round-arched openings. Reached by steps, the left (north) opening is slightly wider than the two windows and serves as the entrance. Above the door, attached to the keystone, is a non-historic glass-andmetal lighting fixture, flanked by simple decorative reliefs. There is an Adamesque wood-paneled door, probably dating to 1929-30, with an arched transom that incorporates scalloped details similar to those that crown each window. The mullions and wood details are painted black. To the right of the door is an oval plaque, sponsored by the New York Landmarks Preservation Foundation. To the right of the south window, a small metal camera is attached near the top of the wall. Between the ground story and first floor is a continuous flat metal awning supported by four metal columns, probably dating to 1929-30. The metal is painted black, though the underside is painted white.

 

Above the center window, the awning is interrupted and part of the air conditioning unit is visible. Attached to the north column is a metal tube to drain water. Metal railings parallel the sidewalk, as well as along the north and south edges of the areaway.

 

The second story has three nine-over-nine windows, set in recessed frames, with shallow decorative metal screens at the bottom. The third, fourth, and fifth stories have non-historic double-hung windows. The third-story windows have sills and prominent keystones that meet the raised scalloped cornice that extends between the third and fourth stories. On the third story, the sill below the center window has been removed and replaced by a recessed air conditioning unit. The center windows on the fourth and fifth stories are treated in a similar manner.

 

The penthouse begins at the sixth story and cantilevers above the sidewalk. It is constructed with exposed steel I-beams and metal panels, painted brown. It has floor-to-ceiling windows, screened by rectangular concrete block panels, with non-historic metal coping. There are multiple panels along the north and south elevations, and a large, single panel facing Beekman Place. The base of the cantilever has small openings on the left and right side. The left side has a metal grate and the right has been left completely open. Above the concrete panel, at the sixth story, is a wide terrace with stairs on the left side ascending to the uppermost terrace and mezzanine. To shade the stairs, the framework above it is filled with what appears to be tinted plexiglas.

 

The rear facade faces east, overlooking the East River. It is framed with painted steel and is entirely glazed. Each floor has a shallow terrace that extends the full width of the building. The south facade is partly visible from 50th Street and Beekman Place, and points to the southeast. The west section consists of vertical concrete panels of various widths, separated by small gaps, the rest of the facade is mostly faced with stucco. Single rectangular windows are visible near the east end, on the fourth, fifth, and sixth floors. The widest window, consisting of slender vertical mullions and glass panes, extends across the east side of the seventh floor. A slender vertical strip of windows, near the center of the south facade, extends from the seventh to eighth floors. The north facade is partly visible from Beekman Place, and points to the northeast. Near the west end, the penthouse levels are enclosed with concrete panels, steel, and glass. The east end is less visible and features cage-like steel framing.

 

- From the 2010 NYCLPC Landmark Designation Report

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Our focus is on fitness in a non intimidating setting. We are confident that women of all shapes & sizes will feel completely comfortable. Our friendly & knowledgeable staff will take the time to ensure that you maximize you workouts & fitness regime, whatever they may be.

 

At Planet Woman Health Centre we are committed to helping incorporate fitness into your life. We are a women's only gym catering to all levels of fitness in a friendly, comfortable & safe environment. The facilities hosts a 2,000 square foot sprung hardwood floor for group fitness, steam room, Internet access, massage chair & child minding to name a few. Located on the second floor of the Garden City Plaza, you'll enjoy the view from the outdoor patio or simply stay inside to enjoy the natural lighting. Group fitness classes, including Yoga & Pilates, are part of all memberships.

Personal trainers are onsite to answer your questions or work with you more closely on individual goals.

 

Our focus is on fitness in a non intimidating setting. We are confident that women of all shapes & sizes will feel completely comfortable. Our friendly & knowledgeable staff will take the time to ensure that you maximize you workouts & fitness regime, whatever they may be.

 

A sneak preview of the seventh in Tony Comstock’s ongoing Real People, Real Live, Real Sex documentary series, Brett and Melanie: Boi Meets Girl is an exploration of sexual pleasure in committed relationships and the problematic place of explicit sexuality in cinema. ”Brett and Melanie” depicts a butch/femme couple, and opens up questions about strength and vulnerability in the context of how we portray and interpret gender. Throughout Brett and Melanie’s interview, there is a constant dance of who is strong for whom, of who is vulnerable and who nurtures; and this dance continues when Brett and Melanie make love.

By including frank footage of Brett and Melanie’s lovemaking along with their candid testimony, the film also opens up questions about the meaning of reality in the context of documentary filmmaking, and explodes preconceptions about the place of sexuality and eroticism in cinema.

Curated with Colin Weatherby.

Tony Comstock has been a filmmaker and photographer for more than 20 years. In a world awash in sexualized imagery, why does so little of it speak to the common pleasurable reality of sex? He has explored this and other aspects of the human condition. Subjects of Comstock’s films have included love, sex, 9/11, indigenous fisheries, hurricanes, refugees, HIV/AIDS orphans, and the visualization of God. His current focus is the Real People, Real Life, Real Sex series. Reaction to these films has ranged from film festival laurels and critical and popular acclaim, to police raids on screenings and intimidation of DVD retailers.

Diana Cage is the managing editor of Velvetparkmedia.com and author of several books on sex and sexuality including, Girl Meets Girl: A Dating Survival Guide and Box Lunch: The Laypersons Guide to Cunnilingus. She is the former editor of On Our Backs, the only lesbian sex magazine made by women, and host of her own show on Sirius XM. Featured in the Here! Television series Lesbian Sex and Sexuality, she was also named one of GO magazines 100 Women We Love. Her newest book, A Woman’s Guide to Sexual Ecstasy, will be out next spring.

Lisa Vandever is co-founder and director of CineKink, an organization that recognizes and encourages the positive depiction of sexuality in film and television. She curates and oversees an annual film festival and touring series designed to promote and showcase such works. A producer and consultant with over twenty years of experience in film and television, Vandever was formerly the director of programming for a regional network of public television stations, worked as a development executive for two New York-based independent production companies and was associate producer of the Sundance award-winning feature film, “Songcatcher.”

Vandever holds an MFA in Film and Video from Northwestern University and a BA in Telecommunications and Film from the University of Oregon. She is currently producing and directing her own documentary, A Public Voyeur, a profile of fine-arts photographer Barbara Nitke and her landmark legal challenge against the federal government’s CDA obscenity law.

Miss Sarie and Dr. Kawasaki at her follow up visit. He is a wonderful Vet and very skilled in surgery on small animals. He is well know for his work on Ferrets. I believe he is one of the few vets in my area that could have been successful doing Miss Sarie's high risk surgery!

 

I can never thank you enough Dr. Kawasaki for saving sweet little Sarie! I will treasure every moment that I have been given with her...

 

UPDATE 5:45 PM 12 April

 

Miss Sarie had her follow up appointment today to have her stitches removed. Everyone was happy to see her. She has a clean bill of health for right now. I will be taking in a urine sample so that her Urine Specific Gravity can be checked for any signs of kidney damage. Pyometra can damage the kidneys.

 

UPDATE 5:15 AM 9 April

 

Miss Sarie had a quiet Easter Sunday. She napped most of the day. When she wasn't napping she wanted to be held.

 

Last night we moved back to my bed. She nestled down and slept peacefully through the night.

 

This will be her first day alone. I will be leaving for work in about 1/2 hour. She will go through withdrawal. All the attention has made her into quite a spoiled baby!

 

She goes back to the Vet to have her stitches out on the 12th of April. I probably won't update again until then.

 

UPDATE 8:15 PM 7 April

 

Miss Sarie and I went to visit a few folks today. We stopped by the adoption event so everyone could see her. They have been quite concerned about Miss Sarie. They all love her. Miss Sarie is the mascot for the rescue.

 

Today Miss Sarie was very happy to be held by others. Normally she gets anxious if I am not holding her. She will only stay in someone elses arms for a very short time. But today she was very content and quite a showoff!

 

UPDATE 10:30 AM 7 April

 

4 Days since her surgery and she is thriving!

 

Miss Sarie and I woke up to a light coat of snow on the ground this morning. I took one of her little beds out and laid it on the ground so she could enjoy the fresh smell of the newly fallen snow. She didn't move off of the little bed but she perked up and sniffed all around.

 

She then came in and decided she would eat her breakfast that she had been ignoring all morning. And is now toddling around checking out all her special places in the dining room.

 

She woke me up several times last night. She has decided that enough is enough. She wants back in bed with me. Since the surgery I have had her in an extra large laundry basket with bedding on the floor next to me. I have slept on the couch so if she wakes I can easily lay my hand on her. Well last night the hand laying went on all night!

 

UPDATE 11:45 AM 6 April

 

Miss Sarie is continuing to recover like she was a puppy! This morning she gave me a little bit of a scare. A few minutes after she was up she vomited the contents of her stomach. It was a very quick non-violent episode. I think she was overheated because she slept nestled into a snuggly donut bed and had a little blanket with her. She got over it quickly and ate her breakfast and drank water with no further episodes. She is resting comfortably now.

 

Yesterday late afternoon she went to visit Auntie Betty. Auntie Betty adores Miss Sarie. When Miss Sarie first came to me and Betty met her she said that she wanted to take care of Sarie's medical care. For the first 1 3/4 years she paid every bill but then I felt to awkward to let her know about anything that I was doing for Miss Sarie.

 

We go visit Betty several times a year but we hadn't been to visit since last Fall. On Monday, 2 April, I called Betty because I feared Miss Sarie was not going to make it through this. I wanted to give her a chance to see Miss Sarie before this terrible disease took her away from all of us. Her phone went to her answering machine and I left her a message telling her that Sarie was very sick.

 

When I didn't hear back from her I assumed she was out of town for Easter vacation. She is retired and travels a lot. On Wednesday evening she called me. I was able to happily tell her that Miss Sarie had been though surgery and was thriving!

 

She immediately insisted that she wanted to pay for all of the costs. She told me she fully realizes that Miss Sarie is an old dog and that medical costs can be high with an old baby. She said when she made the offer that she meant it no matter how long Miss Sarie is with us. I was amazed at her generosity when she first offered 2.5 years ago but am overwhelmed that she is still committed to this sweet little girl.

 

Thank you Betty for taking much of the worry off of taking care of Miss Sarie. And for your dedication to this sweet little rescue girl! I will be forever grateful for your selfless act.

 

UPDATE 11:00 AM 5 April

 

Miss Sarie had a wonderful night last night. She slept soundly and never woke up once. This morning she ate her breakfast, did her potty duties, took her medicine....and promptly decided she wanted to sleep some more. At the moment she is basking in the sun by the sliding glass door in her donut bed!

 

UPDATE 8:30 PM 4 April

 

At about 5 today Miss Sarie and I took a ride to Bob Evans to pick up dinner. We drove to Auntie Teresa's. (Sarie has many Aunties and Uncles!) She toddled around Auntie Teresa's kitchen and rested in a donut bed. When I opened the food I had picked up for Auntie Teresa and me she started whining... YES.. She wanted more food!

 

When we came home she had her first BM since the surgery. So another Post-Op milestone has been met!

 

Auntie Teresa sat with me yesterday morning while I waited for Miss Sarie to go into surgery. I didn't want to leave Miss Sarie because I knew she would be upset. That wouldn't have been good for her before surgery. She had her catheter put in about 4 hours before her surgery, so it was a long wait. Auntie Teresa sat with us for about 3 hours waiting! She was shocked tonight to see how amazing Sarie is doing..

 

We are tuckered out now and are going to bed. Sarie slept most of the day but was active for a few hours this evening. She wanted to be held most of the time.

 

UPDATE 3:00 PM 4 April

 

The little darling is doing amazing! She woke me up from a nap at 12:30. She was whining and I could hear her even though I was sleeping deeply.

 

I picked her up and took her to her puppy pad. She used it again and then ate some more of her Breakfast. I gave her once a day pain meds orally with a syringe. She took it just fine.

 

A few minutes ago she got restless so I gave her some more food. To my surprise she ate again!

 

She is making a miraculous recovery!

 

UPDATE 10:30 AM 4 April

 

Miss Sarie had a wonderful visit at the Vet this morning. They are amazed at how well she is doing. Her heart is strong, her surgical wound looks good.... There was nothing negative about her at all! Her catheter was removed and she was sent home with me to continue her recovery.

 

She is an amazing little old gal! Thanks everyone for all your emails, kind words, and prayers. They were a great help to both Miss Sarie and me...

 

UPDATE 7:15 AM 4 April

 

Miss Sarie slept well last night. She woke up a couple of times crying. I rubbed her and she fell back to sleep. This morning she used the puppy pad for the first time since the surgery. She also ate a very good breakfast of FROMM's Shredded Duck Entree. She wasn't interested in water so I syringed Pedialyte slowly into her mouth. She accepted it fine. We will be leaving for the Vet's office in about a 1/2 hour.

 

UPDATE 8:00 PM 3 April

 

Miss Sarie and I arrived home about 15 minutes ago. She ate almost her normal dinner portion. She is sitting on my lap resting very comfortably. I think sleep will be very light for me tonight!

 

In the morning at 8:00 we will go back up to the Vet's so she can be checked out. Depending on how she is doing, she may stay for a day of fluids. Her IV catheter is still in so it will easy to set up her drip bag.

 

UPDATE 4:00 PM 3 April

 

Miss Sarie survived the surgery. They almost lost her on the table. Her oxygen levels dropped dangerously low. Her uterus was ruptured. Dr. Kawasaki worked fast. He was in and out very quickly. She came to and stabilized fast. She started kicking up a fuss very soon after the surgery. They came out to get me because they knew she wanted me. They are going to let her come home with me tonight because they realize that she is better off with me than at a closed Vet office tonight. I will update more later. I have many pictures to load.

 

UPDATE 6:00 AM 3 April

 

Miss Sarie made it through the night comfortably. As soon as we came downstairs she went potty on her pad, drank some water, and started her usual whining at me to pick her up. I woke up several times through the night and laid my hand on her to check her breathing. I am very frightened but hopeful. We will be leaving the house in about 2 hours to go the Old Bridge Veterinary Hospital where Dr. Putts will put in her IV. Dr. Kawasaki will come in at noon and start the surgery. She has not deteriotated over the last 36 hours. I believe she is stronger.

 

UPDATE 6:30 PM 2 April

 

Miss Sarie and I stopped at the park on the way to her Vet appointment. Given her grave condition she is actually doing quite well. The two Vet's I spoke with today are not sugar coating her condition. The bottom line is without surgery she will not survive. And she may not survive the surgery or postoperative recovery period. She goes into surgery midday tomorrow. She has to be at the Vet's by 8:30 for IV fluids. They want to make sure she is well hydrated before surgery. They are going to allow me to stay with her while she waits for surgery. I feel much better about that. She does not like me to leave her. Leaving her at home is one thing but in a scary strange place she would be distraught. She ate a wonderful dinner tonight and is resting comfortably on my lap as I type this.

 

FYI-Pyometra is a disease of the uterus. It is compared to acute appendicitis in humans because both are essentially empyemas within an abdominal organ. It involves the Uterus in unspayed female dogs. Treatment of choice is an emergency spay.

 

Original Comment

 

Miss Sarie is very sick. She needs everyone's thoughts and prayers. Yesterday I noticed that she had a pus discharge from her vulva. Given that she has been diagnosed with early kidney disease, I didn't dare wait until this morning to take her to the Vet. They believe she has Pyometra. It is unknown if Sarie was ever spayed. She has never gone into heat in the 2.5 years she has been with me. Even given that they wanted to take her into emergency surgery. They gave me 3 choices, give her antibiotics, emergency surgery, or euthanize. Several of my rescue friends dropped everything and came to the hospital. They reminded me that I have always said no heroics, that I just want to keep her happy and comfortable for whatever time she has left. The odds of her making it through the surgery were not good. Not to mention Woodbridge Animal Hospital's estimate was 1700 dollars. I opted for the antibiotics. Her white blood cell count was 59,000 with 16,000 being the high end of normal. This morning there is no pus and she is eating and drinking. She is also being her demanding primadonna self.

 

All of my favorite vets are unavailable today. The rescue vet (Dr. Cunningham) van is in the shop today. She can see Miss Sarie tonight. I took a clean catch urine into Old Bridge Vet this morning. I just received a call from them and they said there are a lot of white blood cells in the urine. They also believe she needs surgery because of the white blood cell count. I feel like I am going to just die...

 

Please keep us in your thoughts and prayers as I try to do what is best for Miss Sarie. Dr. Kawasaki is willing to come in tomorrow on his day off to do the surgery. Dr. Cunningham may be able to do it tonight. I don't want to do this but it is the only chance she has. My heart is breaking.

   

PRESIDIO OF MONTEREY, Calif. -- The COVID-19 pandemic has created many operational challenges for the military. However, service members, DoD civilians and military families across the globe have adapted to overcome the challenges to stay ready and support the whole-of-government response.

 

While many service members and DoD civilians who work at the Presidio of Monterey and Defense Language Institute are teleworking – essential employees report to work daily to carry on the mission. Employees are strictly following CDC and DoD guidance of social distancing and face coverings to protect themselves and those around them.

 

The health and safety of all employees, regardless if they are essential employees or teleworking, is the command’s highest priority.

 

Our service members and DoD civilians are committed to mission success and remain trained and ready to defend the nation.

  

Photo by Joseph Kumzak, Presidio of Monterey Public Affairs

  

(for further information and pictures please go to the end of page and by clicking on the link they are availabe!)

The Church of St. Othmar

Previous buildings | Today's Construction | Tour | Exterior | Timeline | Calendar

550-year anniversary | History on construction time | Wikipedia

Construction of the Othmar church

560 years ago

On 13th May 1454, the Monday after the feast of St. Pancras, the building of the late Gothic St. Othmar church was begun. Thereon reports the following inscription above the main entrance of the church.

Laying the foundation stone of St. Othmar

The 550-year anniversary was on 13th May 2004 celebrated in a festive vespers followed by a festive academy.

View of the main altar

You can approach a church as historically interested person, as art-historically committed tourist or as a believer. One will see different things.

The historically interested will impress on the Othmar Church in Mödling that since more than 1000 years at this point on the slope of the Calendar mountain (Kalenderberg) (= bare hithe - kahle Lände) are standing churches and that the current construction the seventh church in an unbroken sequence on this place is. He will think of the destruction of the Roman church in 1252 by the Hungarians and the horrors of the Turkish wars in 1529 and 1683.

Tourists who are interested in art and art history, see the in 1454-1523 built late Gothic hall church, the Baroque interior, the neo-Gothic windows and Stations of the Cross and the testimonies of contemporary art in the sanctuary.

For the believer the Othmarkiche makes the impression of a ship that has gone halfway between level and height at anchor to accommodate the people. Twelve pillars - the Twelve Apostles - wear its vaults. The base has a level.

This church is not a castle - defiant, dark and unwelcoming. Its bow goes into the distance. As Noah's Ark it gives refuge and security. It stands on this earth. Yet it has walls. But their higher regions are translucent, are light. The glory of heaven is guessable.

Two of the windows are of particular importance: the window in the east as the window of the creation and resurrection, and the window in the West as the window of the sunset, the Last Judgment. The world stands between Jesus' resurrection and his second coming. Every visit to the church, every church service to the community becomes an invocation to deal with God's creation and creatures that way that you don't need to fear his judgment.

The previous buildings

Mödling is ancient settlement with hilltop settlements of the Neolithic on the Jennyberg and the Hallstatt period on the Frauenberg as well as on the Calendar mountain (Calendar mountain culture).

Archaeological excavations in 1982 have shown that at the site of the present Othmar church since the 9th Century at least six predecessor buildings have been located.

More information about the predecessors ...

The present building

Start of construction 1454

As an inscription above the main entrance says, was on 13 May 1454, one year after completion of the hospital church, the construction of the present Othmar church started. It was the Monday after the feast of St. Pancras, whose feast on 12th May is observed. Pancras was the patron of the castle chapels of the castle Mödling and the castle Liechtenstein.

The 550-year anniversary of this laying of the cornerstone on 13th May 2004 was celebrated.

The dimensions of the church are for a market town that had at the time of the laying of the cornerstone 250 (mainly built of wood) Houses, huge: 54 m long, 23 m wide and 18 m high, the ridge height is 37 m. As a building material was, as for the St. Stephen's Cathedral in Vienna, Sarmatsandstein (Cerithiensandstein) used, a rough, deficient in fossils sandstone, which was born as a deposit of Neogene Sea at the edge of the Vienna Basin.

Pastor Hinderbach and Pius II

1449-1465 was Johannes Hinderbach pastor of St. Othmar (in some sources he is called Johann Hinderbach). He planned and thus began the construction of Othmar church. He was a diplomat, ambassador and secretary of Emperor Frederick III. at the court in Wiener Neustadt, together with Aeneas Silvius Piccolomini (Enea Silvio de' Piccolomini), who was good friends with Hinderbach. It is likely that Aeneas Silvius a few times was in Mödling on visit and was well informed about the plans of the new church.

In the tenure of Hinderbach also falls the presentation of the Mödlinger coat of arms by Frederick III.

Aeneas Silvius was for some years pastor in Laa an der Thaya (Lower Austria), 1458 he was elected Pope and took the name Pius II. He built from 1459 the cathedral of Pienza in the form of a hall church, which at that time was unusual for Italy. Models were hall churches in Austria, possibly the Othmar church under construction, however, this is historically not proven. Due to time constraints Aeneas Silvius may have seen from the Othmar church not more than the blueprints and the foundation walls.

Hinderbach and Aeneas Silvius were followers of the for the Gothic spirit characteristic attitude of mind of the light mysticism. A hall church is a suitable design to implement this principle: light-irradiated, large stained glass windows instead of walls painted with images that are prevalent in the Romanesque style.

In Him (Jesus) was life, and the life was the light of men.

And the light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not overcome it.

The true light that enlightens every man was coming into the world.

(Jn 1, 4 to 5.9)

1465-1486 was Hinderbach Bishop of Trent. Perhaps the Othmar church was originally planned as a bishop's church, but this is historically not proven. Hinderbach created one of the most important collections of music of the 15th Century, the so-called Trent codices.

For more information, in a speech by Dr. Gebhard König here ....

Completion 1523-1525

The year date 1499 on a buttress in the parish garden likely shows the toping-off ceremony, the year date 1509 on the north-eastern crossing pier, the completion of the vault.

After 69-year construction period (corresponding to the age of the saint Othmar), the church was completed in 1523. The above-mentioned Cathedral of Pienza, however, was already completed in 1462.

The progress has been hampered by numerous wars and confusions. In that time, the civil war between the Habsburg Emperor Friedrich III . and his brother, Archduke Albrecht VI. (until his death in 1463) and the conquest of Lower Austria by the Hungarian king Matthias Corvinus I., who resided in Vienna from 1485, falls.

1525 the church was consecrated (year date above the organ).

Destruction 1529

In fall of 1529, six years after the end of construction, the church was destroyed by the hordes of Kassim Beg during the first Turkish siege. The collapsing roof penetrated the vault and the vault of the lower church. Likewise, the Burg (castle) Mödling was destroyed, which was not rebuilt since then.

According to the report of a parish visitation in 1544 was the kürchen (church) and pfarrhof (vicarage) sambt (along with) the gantzen Marckt Mödling (whole market) as well as the umbliegenden (adjoining) fleckhen (hamlets) of the 29th year verwüst (devastated) by the türkhen (Turks) in Grundt (to the ground) and burned.

The grooves and the rectangular holes in the central pillars on which they wanted attach figure niches with pinnacle baldachins and Kapitellsockeln (capital bases) as with the pilasters, therefore, remained to this day empty. At the times when the Othmar church was not usable, the hospital church served as a parish church.

From the interior decoration of the church from the time before the destruction of 1529 today only three items are present: the tabernacle, the head of the crucified and an embroidered image of Mary, which is today at the votive altar.

To 1540 begins on the eastern slope of the Anninger (small mountain) a pine to grow that later became famous under the name width pine (Breite Föhre).

Reconstruction to 1690

Rötelinschriften (red chalk epigraphs) next to the entrance, the south transept and north aisle next to the organ parapet indicate that work has been done on the church in 1556 again.

After 1555 the Peace of Augsburg had approved the principle that the ruler could determine the religious denomination of the subjects, reinforced Emperor Ferdinand I the Counter-Reformation to the recatholicization of the country. 1556 Ferdinand issued the so-called gift letter (Gabebrief). With this document he gave the community all possessions owned by the parish (church buildings, forests, vineyards, fields). He imposed the condition that instead of an Evangelical preacher a Catholic priest was responsible for the pastoral care again and that Mödling became Catholic. Still today the municipality bears the building cost for the ecclesiastical buildings (Othmar church, hospital church, Karner, rectory, sacristan apartment) and has a say in the appointment of a new pastor.

A son of Ferdinand I, Emperor Maximilian II, the famous castle Neugebäude had built.

One reason for the lengthy reconstruction of the church might have been the Reformation (1517 were the 95 theses of Martin Luther published) and the decline in the number of Catholics. Pastor Georg Müller from 1527 is first Protestant minister in Mödling, sometimes up to three Evangelical pastors in Mödling are active .

Mödling in 1560 among the 18 richest cities and markets in the country is in sixth place. 1576 there is again a Catholic priest. Of him it is said that he had not a good life in the market. The population flows to the Protestant clergies of the surrounding residences, and again and again come Protestant preachers to Mödling.

1582 the church possesses a shallow makeshift roof over a cross barrel vault, the vault is still preserved today. (However, the church in the plan of the Burgfrieden (civil peace) and the District Court market Mödling is represented by 1610 without a roof and called Old deserted churche. Alongside the Karner is shown with pointed conical roof.)

Still in 1605 is reported on the parish that most part is not Catholic and does run after foreign cure of souls.

In the course of the Counter-Reformation cardinal Melchior Khlesl in a decree calls for donations for the reconstruction of the church:

The with big heavy expenses respectable built God house of Mödling under Gebürg (mountain), then as such anno 1523 with all belonging to the city even built up, it is at once it in 6 years afterwards by the erbfeundt (hereditary friend) as he with all of his power invaded the land and besieged the city of Vienna, put on fire and and along with all churches ornat burned down.

Khlesl was originally Protestant, then converted, influential politician, since 1598 bishop of Vienna, 1615 the first Cardinal in Vienna, he died in 1630, tomb in saint Stephen's cathedral.

However, 1618 is also the beginning of the Thirty Years' War, whereby the construction progress was further delayed.

One hundred years after the destruction of the church, it is still worked on the restoration. 1629 a citizen of Salzburg donates the Märbelsteinpflaster (Salzburg marble) for the sanctuary. The top step in front of the high altar is still made ​​of old stones, the difference with the 1982 renewed stones is clearly visible. A commemorative plaque to the donator from Salzburg is located on the right column at the high altar:

Almighty God in praise, of St. Mary Mother of God in honor, has Florianus Ursprunger, citizen and Gastgeb (host) of Salzburg of present choir the Märbelpflastersteine handed on anno 1629.

A lightning strike shattered the windows and the tracery in 1643: here the weather has beaten in the main church, and both the windows and outmost grids anything shattered. 20 years later is reported a Corpus Christi Brotherhood, to which belongs one third of the population of Mödling.

In a report in 1664 six altars in the Othmar church (and one in the Pantaleon chapel) are enumerated by name. The church may have been thus completed for the most part.

1679 the pleague in Mödling breaks out.

1683 destruction and reconstruction

On 12th and 13th July 1683 suffers Mödling the conquest by the troops of Kara Mustafa. The church is partly destroyed and the vault is damaged.

The population is almost entirely eradicated. Many had sought in the crypt and the Karner (charnel house) refuge and were killed as a plate in front of the church reports. It is believed that, of the approximately 2000 inhabitants, only about 10% have survived, who had hidden in the woods.

After 1683 follows the rapid reconstruction of the church under Marktrichter (equivalent to mayor) Wolfgang Ignaz Viechtl, his home with a commemorative plaque stands on Liberty Square. As can be seen on the board, was Viechtl a miller (on the Fischermühle), so he on the outside of the west wall at high altitude had attached two millstones (see external view).

On 1st September 1688 is the vault restored, the executive master mason Brand for it receives according to Council minutes 1/4 bucket of wine (equivalent to approximately 14 liters). In 1690 the church was inclusively roof and truss restored (year date above the organ).

Baroquisation 18th century

The victory over the Turks initiates the second phase of the history of Othmar church. It is made in Baroque style (1690-1760). The windows are bricked up, the light mysticism of the Gothic becomes less important. The pulpit and seven baroque altars are built (see the high altar, Nepomuk altar, Anne altar, weekday chapel, votive altar). 1727 an organ is built. The hall of the Children of God turns into the throne room of the Heavenly Majesty.

Neo-Gothic restoration from 1875 to 1897.

The elevation of Mödling in 1875 as a city under Mayor Joseph Schöffel induces to a major renovation (1875 - 1897). They want the church according to the zeitgeist (spirit of the times) rebuilt in the neo-Gothic style. To do this, on 6th February 1875 at the request of Mayor Joseph Schöffel a church restoration club is founded.

The in the Baroque period bricked-up windows are laid open. This can be seen clearly on the frescoes on the Anne altar in the south transept. The grave stones lying in the soil are placed on the wall.

The figure niches and canopies on the pillars were replaced (except right behind the high altar). At Anne altar there are for unknown reasons no figure niches.

1904, a second gate is broken. The main entrance is getting a new stem, the in 1773 built Cross chapel is removed.

Renovation 1982 to May 1983

The renovation of 1982 restores the hall church (year date above the organ). The by the transept indicated cross in the ground plan of the church is satisfied that the Baroque interior in this cross takes the place of the stigmata. The liturgical ideas of Second Vatican Council are realized in works of contemporary art (folk altar and ambo).

Supplements

In 2008, the heating system was renewed.

Karner and church

Karner and church of the rest of St. John

Inscription on the laying of foundation stone 1454

Glass window

The glass window bears the inscription

Church restoration Club = 1895

Inscription 1499 (topping-off ceremony)

Buttresses in the garden

Inscription 1509 (vault completion)

Red chalk inscription 1558

Plan in 1610, Karner and Old deserted church

Commemorating plaque 1629

Commemorating plaque to the donor of the Märbelsteinpflaster 1629

Märbelsteinstufe (stone step) 1629 at the High Altar

Engraving after Merian 1649

St. Othmar and Karner

Engraving after Matthäus Merian 1649

Saints in figure niches

Lonely St. Anna - all other figure niches (they stem from the construction period 1454-1523) are empty or do not exist.

Choir stalls detail and consecration cross

Ceiling painting Holy Ghost Hole (1700 - 1750)

Consecration Cross: Twelve Apostle or consecration crosses are in the Othmar church, at those in 1525 at the fair were done prayers

Column

Twelve octagonal central pillars carry the vault

St. Anthony at a column

www.othmar.at/kirchen/st_othmar/st_othmar.html

Gautama Buddha, also known as Siddhārtha Gautama, Shakyamuni, or simply the Buddha, was a sage on whose teachings Buddhism was founded. He is believed to have lived and taught mostly in northeastern India sometime between the sixth and fourth centuries BCE.

 

The word Buddha means "awakened one" or "the enlightened one". "Buddha" is also used as a title for the first awakened being in a Yuga era. In most Buddhist traditions, Siddhartha Gautama is regarded as the Supreme Buddha (Pali sammāsambuddha, Sanskrit samyaksaṃbuddha) of the present age. Gautama taught a Middle Way between sensual indulgence and the severe asceticism found in the śramaṇa movement common in his region. He later taught throughout regions of eastern India such as Magadha and Kosala.

 

Gautama is the primary figure in Buddhism and accounts of his life, discourses, and monastic rules are believed by Buddhists to have been summarized after his death and memorized by his followers. Various collections of teachings attributed to him were passed down by oral tradition and first committed to writing about 400 years later.

 

CONTENTS

HISTORICAL SIDDHARTA GAUTAMA

Scholars are hesitant to make unqualified claims about the historical facts of the Buddha's life. Most accept that he lived, taught and founded a monastic order during the Mahajanapada era during the reign of Bimbisara, the ruler of the Magadha empire, and died during the early years of the reign of Ajasattu, who was the successor of Bimbisara, thus making him a younger contemporary of Mahavira, the Jain tirthankara. Apart from the Vedic Brahmins, the Buddha's lifetime coincided with the flourishing of other influential śramaṇa schools of thoughts like Ājīvika, Cārvāka, Jainism, and Ajñana. It was also the age of influential thinkers like Mahavira, Pūraṇa Kassapa , Makkhali Gosāla, Ajita Kesakambalī, Pakudha Kaccāyana, and Sañjaya Belaṭṭhaputta, whose viewpoints the Buddha most certainly must have been acquainted with and influenced by. Indeed, Sariputta and Moggallāna, two of the foremost disciples of the Buddha, were formerly the foremost disciples of Sañjaya Belaṭṭhaputta, the skeptic. There is also evidence to suggest that the two masters, Alara Kalama and Uddaka Ramaputta, were indeed historical figures and they most probably taught Buddha two different forms of meditative techniques. While the general sequence of "birth, maturity, renunciation, search, awakening and liberation, teaching, death" is widely accepted, there is less consensus on the veracity of many details contained in traditional biographies.

 

The times of Gautama's birth and death are uncertain. Most historians in the early 20th century dated his lifetime as circa 563 BCE to 483 BCE. More recently his death is dated later, between 411 and 400 BCE, while at a symposium on this question held in 1988, the majority of those who presented definite opinions gave dates within 20 years either side of 400 BCE for the Buddha's death. These alternative chronologies, however, have not yet been accepted by all historians.

 

The evidence of the early texts suggests that Siddhārtha Gautama was born into the Shakya clan, a community that was on the periphery, both geographically and culturally, of the northeastern Indian subcontinent in the 5th century BCE. It was either a small republic, in which case his father was an elected chieftain, or an oligarchy, in which case his father was an oligarch. According to the Buddhist tradition, Gautama was born in Lumbini, nowadays in modern-day Nepal, and raised in the Shakya capital of Kapilavastu, which may have been in either present day Tilaurakot, Nepal or Piprahwa, India. He obtained his enlightenment in Bodh Gaya, gave his first sermon in Sarnath, and died in Kushinagar.

 

No written records about Gautama have been found from his lifetime or some centuries thereafter. One Edict of Asoka, who reigned from circa 269 BCE to 232 BCE, commemorates the Emperor's pilgrimage to the Buddha's birthplace in Lumbini. Another one of his edicts mentions several Dhamma texts, establishing the existence of a written Buddhist tradition at least by the time of the Maurya era and which may be the precursors of the Pāli Canon. The oldest surviving Buddhist manuscripts are the Gandhāran Buddhist texts, reported to have been found in or around Haḍḍa near Jalalabad in eastern Afghanistan and now preserved in the British Library. They are written in the Gāndhārī language using the Kharosthi script on twenty-seven birch bark manuscripts and date from the first century BCE to the third century CE.

 

TRADITIONAL BIOGRAPHIES

BIOGRAPHICAL SOURCES

The sources for the life of Siddhārtha Gautama are a variety of different, and sometimes conflicting, traditional biographies. These include the Buddhacarita, Lalitavistara Sūtra, Mahāvastu, and the Nidānakathā. Of these, the Buddhacarita is the earliest full biography, an epic poem written by the poet Aśvaghoṣa, and dating around the beginning of the 2nd century CE. The Lalitavistara Sūtra is the next oldest biography, a Mahāyāna/Sarvāstivāda biography dating to the 3rd century CE. The Mahāvastu from the Mahāsāṃghika Lokottaravāda tradition is another major biography, composed incrementally until perhaps the 4th century CE. The Dharmaguptaka biography of the Buddha is the most exhaustive, and is entitled the Abhiniṣkramaṇa Sūtra, and various Chinese translations of this date between the 3rd and 6th century CE. The Nidānakathā is from the Theravada tradition in Sri Lanka and was composed in the 5th century by Buddhaghoṣa.

 

From canonical sources, the Jataka tales, the Mahapadana Sutta (DN 14), and the Achariyabhuta Sutta (MN 123) which include selective accounts that may be older, but are not full biographies. The Jātakas retell previous lives of Gautama as a bodhisattva, and the first collection of these can be dated among the earliest Buddhist texts. The Mahāpadāna Sutta and Achariyabhuta Sutta both recount miraculous events surrounding Gautama's birth, such as the bodhisattva's descent from the Tuṣita Heaven into his mother's womb.

 

NATURE OF TRADITIONAL DEPICTIONS

In the earliest Buddhists texts, the nikāyas and āgamas, the Buddha is not depicted as possessing omniscience (sabbaññu) nor is he depicted as being an eternal transcendent (lokottara) being. According to Bhikkhu Analayo, ideas of the Buddha's omniscience (along with an increasing tendency to deify him and his biography) are found only later, in the Mahayana sutras and later Pali commentaries or texts such as the Mahāvastu. In the Sandaka Sutta, the Buddha's disciple Ananda outlines an argument against the claims of teachers who say they are all knowing while in the Tevijjavacchagotta Sutta the Buddha himself states that he has never made a claim to being omniscient, instead he claimed to have the "higher knowledges" (abhijñā). The earliest biographical material from the Pali Nikayas focuses on the Buddha's life as a śramaṇa, his search for enlightenment under various teachers such as Alara Kalama and his forty five year career as a teacher.

 

Traditional biographies of Gautama generally include numerous miracles, omens, and supernatural events. The character of the Buddha in these traditional biographies is often that of a fully transcendent (Skt. lokottara) and perfected being who is unencumbered by the mundane world. In the Mahāvastu, over the course of many lives, Gautama is said to have developed supra-mundane abilities including: a painless birth conceived without intercourse; no need for sleep, food, medicine, or bathing, although engaging in such "in conformity with the world"; omniscience, and the ability to "suppress karma". Nevertheless, some of the more ordinary details of his life have been gathered from these traditional sources. In modern times there has been an attempt to form a secular understanding of Siddhārtha Gautama's life by omitting the traditional supernatural elements of his early biographies.

 

Andrew Skilton writes that the Buddha was never historically regarded by Buddhist traditions as being merely human:

It is important to stress that, despite modern Theravada teachings to the contrary (often a sop to skeptical Western pupils), he was never seen as being merely human. For instance, he is often described as having the thirty-two major and eighty minor marks or signs of a mahāpuruṣa, "superman"; the Buddha himself denied that he was either a man or a god; and in the Mahāparinibbāna Sutta he states that he could live for an aeon were he asked to do so.The ancient Indians were generally unconcerned with chronologies, being more focused on philosophy. Buddhist texts reflect this tendency, providing a clearer picture of what Gautama may have taught than of the dates of the events in his life. These texts contain descriptions of the culture and daily life of ancient India which can be corroborated from the Jain scriptures, and make the Buddha's time the earliest period in Indian history for which significant accounts exist. British author Karen Armstrong writes that although there is very little information that can be considered historically sound, we can be reasonably confident that Siddhārtha Gautama did exist as a historical figure. Michael Carrithers goes a bit further by stating that the most general outline of "birth, maturity, renunciation, search, awakening and liberation, teaching, death" must be true.

 

BIOGRAPHY

CONCEPTION AND BIRTH

The Buddhist tradition regards Lumbini, in present-day Nepal to be the birthplace of the Buddha. He grew up in Kapilavastu. The exact site of ancient Kapilavastu is unknown. It may have been either Piprahwa, Uttar Pradesh, present-day India, or Tilaurakot, present-day Nepal. Both places belonged to the Sakya territory, and are located only 15 miles apart from each other.

 

Gautama was born as a Kshatriya, the son of Śuddhodana, "an elected chief of the Shakya clan", whose capital was Kapilavastu, and who were later annexed by the growing Kingdom of Kosala during the Buddha's lifetime. Gautama was the family name. His mother, Maya (Māyādevī), Suddhodana's wife, was a Koliyan princess. Legend has it that, on the night Siddhartha was conceived, Queen Maya dreamt that a white elephant with six white tusks entered her right side, and ten months later Siddhartha was born. As was the Shakya tradition, when his mother Queen Maya became pregnant, she left Kapilvastu for her father's kingdom to give birth. However, her son is said to have been born on the way, at Lumbini, in a garden beneath a sal tree.

 

The day of the Buddha's birth is widely celebrated in Theravada countries as Vesak. Buddha's Birthday is called Buddha Purnima in Nepal and India as he is believed to have been born on a full moon day. Various sources hold that the Buddha's mother died at his birth, a few days or seven days later. The infant was given the name Siddhartha (Pāli: Siddhattha), meaning "he who achieves his aim". During the birth celebrations, the hermit seer Asita journeyed from his mountain abode and announced that the child would either become a great king (chakravartin) or a great sadhu. By traditional account, this occurred after Siddhartha placed his feet in Asita's hair and Asita examined the birthmarks. Suddhodana held a naming ceremony on the fifth day, and invited eight Brahmin scholars to read the future. All gave a dual prediction that the baby would either become a great king or a great holy man. Kondañña, the youngest, and later to be the first arhat other than the Buddha, was reputed to be the only one who unequivocally predicted that Siddhartha would become a Buddha.

 

While later tradition and legend characterized Śuddhodana as a hereditary monarch, the descendant of the Suryavansha (Solar dynasty) of Ikṣvāku (Pāli: Okkāka), many scholars think that Śuddhodana was the elected chief of a tribal confederacy.

 

Early texts suggest that Gautama was not familiar with the dominant religious teachings of his time until he left on his religious quest, which is said to have been motivated by existential concern for the human condition. The state of the Shakya clan was not a monarchy, and seems to have been structured either as an oligarchy, or as a form of republic. The more egalitarian gana-sangha form of government, as a political alternative to the strongly hierarchical kingdoms, may have influenced the development of the śramanic Jain and Buddhist sanghas, where monarchies tended toward Vedic Brahmanism.

 

EARLY LIFE AND MARRIAGE

Siddhartha was brought up by his mother's younger sister, Maha Pajapati. By tradition, he is said to have been destined by birth to the life of a prince, and had three palaces (for seasonal occupation) built for him. Although more recent scholarship doubts this status, his father, said to be King Śuddhodana, wishing for his son to be a great king, is said to have shielded him from religious teachings and from knowledge of human suffering.

 

When he reached the age of 16, his father reputedly arranged his marriage to a cousin of the same age named Yaśodharā (Pāli: Yasodharā). According to the traditional account, she gave birth to a son, named Rāhula. Siddhartha is said to have spent 29 years as a prince in Kapilavastu. Although his father ensured that Siddhartha was provided with everything he could want or need, Buddhist scriptures say that the future Buddha felt that material wealth was not life's ultimate goal.

 

RENUNCIATION AND ASCETIC LIFE

At the age of 29, the popular biography continues, Siddhartha left his palace to meet his subjects. Despite his father's efforts to hide from him the sick, aged and suffering, Siddhartha was said to have seen an old man. When his charioteer Channa explained to him that all people grew old, the prince went on further trips beyond the palace. On these he encountered a diseased man, a decaying corpse, and an ascetic. These depressed him, and he initially strove to overcome aging, sickness, and death by living the life of an ascetic.

 

Accompanied by Channa and riding his horse Kanthaka, Gautama quit his palace for the life of a mendicant. It's said that, "the horse's hooves were muffled by the gods" to prevent guards from knowing of his departure.

 

Gautama initially went to Rajagaha and began his ascetic life by begging for alms in the street. After King Bimbisara's men recognised Siddhartha and the king learned of his quest, Bimbisara offered Siddhartha the throne. Siddhartha rejected the offer, but promised to visit his kingdom of Magadha first, upon attaining enlightenment.

 

He left Rajagaha and practised under two hermit teachers of yogic meditation. After mastering the teachings of Alara Kalama (Skr. Ārāḍa Kālāma), he was asked by Kalama to succeed him. However, Gautama felt unsatisfied by the practice, and moved on to become a student of yoga with Udaka Ramaputta (Skr. Udraka Rāmaputra). With him he achieved high levels of meditative consciousness, and was again asked to succeed his teacher. But, once more, he was not satisfied, and again moved on.

 

Siddhartha and a group of five companions led by Kaundinya are then said to have set out to take their austerities even further. They tried to find enlightenment through deprivation of worldly goods, including food, practising self-mortification. After nearly starving himself to death by restricting his food intake to around a leaf or nut per day, he collapsed in a river while bathing and almost drowned. Siddhartha was rescued by a village girl named Sujata and she gave him some payasam (a pudding made from milk and jaggery) after which Siddhartha got back some energy. Siddhartha began to reconsider his path. Then, he remembered a moment in childhood in which he had been watching his father start the season's ploughing. He attained a concentrated and focused state that was blissful and refreshing, the jhāna.

 

AWAKENING

According to the early Buddhist texts, after realizing that meditative dhyana was the right path to awakening, but that extreme asceticism didn't work, Gautama discovered what Buddhists call the Middle Way - a path of moderation away from the extremes of self-indulgence and self-mortification, or the Noble Eightfold Path, as was identified and described by the Buddha in his first discourse, the Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta. In a famous incident, after becoming starved and weakened, he is said to have accepted milk and rice pudding from a village girl named Sujata. Such was his emaciated appearance that she wrongly believed him to be a spirit that had granted her a wish.

 

Following this incident, Gautama was famously seated under a pipal tree - now known as the Bodhi tree - in Bodh Gaya, India, when he vowed never to arise until he had found the truth. Kaundinya and four other companions, believing that he had abandoned his search and become undisciplined, left. After a reputed 49 days of meditation, at the age of 35, he is said to have attained Enlightenment. According to some traditions, this occurred in approximately the fifth lunar month, while, according to others, it was in the twelfth month. From that time, Gautama was known to his followers as the Buddha or "Awakened One" ("Buddha" is also sometimes translated as "The Enlightened One").

 

According to Buddhism, at the time of his awakening he realized complete insight into the cause of suffering, and the steps necessary to eliminate it. These discoveries became known as the "Four Noble Truths", which are at the heart of Buddhist teaching. Through mastery of these truths, a state of supreme liberation, or Nirvana, is believed to be possible for any being. The Buddha described Nirvāna as the perfect peace of a mind that's free from ignorance, greed, hatred and other afflictive states, or "defilements" (kilesas). Nirvana is also regarded as the "end of the world", in that no personal identity or boundaries of the mind remain. In such a state, a being is said to possess the Ten Characteristics, belonging to every Buddha.

 

According to a story in the Āyācana Sutta (Samyutta Nikaya VI.1) - a scripture found in the Pāli and other canons - immediately after his awakening, the Buddha debated whether or not he should teach the Dharma to others. He was concerned that humans were so overpowered by ignorance, greed and hatred that they could never recognise the path, which is subtle, deep and hard to grasp. However, in the story, Brahmā Sahampati convinced him, arguing that at least some will understand it. The Buddha relented, and agreed to teach.

 

FORMATION OF THE SANGHA

After his awakening, the Buddha met Taphussa and Bhallika — two merchant brothers from the city of Balkh in what is currently Afghanistan - who became his first lay disciples. It is said that each was given hairs from his head, which are now claimed to be enshrined as relics in the Shwe Dagon Temple in Rangoon, Burma. The Buddha intended to visit Asita, and his former teachers, Alara Kalama and Udaka Ramaputta, to explain his findings, but they had already died.

 

He then travelled to the Deer Park near Varanasi (Benares) in northern India, where he set in motion what Buddhists call the Wheel of Dharma by delivering his first sermon to the five companions with whom he had sought enlightenment. Together with him, they formed the first saṅgha: the company of Buddhist monks.

 

All five become arahants, and within the first two months, with the conversion of Yasa and fifty four of his friends, the number of such arahants is said to have grown to 60. The conversion of three brothers named Kassapa followed, with their reputed 200, 300 and 500 disciples, respectively. This swelled the sangha to more than 1,000.

 

TRAVELS AND TEACHING

For the remaining 45 years of his life, the Buddha is said to have traveled in the Gangetic Plain, in what is now Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and southern Nepal, teaching a diverse range of people: from nobles to servants, murderers such as Angulimala, and cannibals such as Alavaka. Although the Buddha's language remains unknown, it's likely that he taught in one or more of a variety of closely related Middle Indo-Aryan dialects, of which Pali may be a standardization.

 

The sangha traveled through the subcontinent, expounding the dharma. This continued throughout the year, except during the four months of the Vāsanā rainy season when ascetics of all religions rarely traveled. One reason was that it was more difficult to do so without causing harm to animal life. At this time of year, the sangha would retreat to monasteries, public parks or forests, where people would come to them.

 

The first vassana was spent at Varanasi when the sangha was formed. After this, the Buddha kept a promise to travel to Rajagaha, capital of Magadha, to visit King Bimbisara. During this visit, Sariputta and Maudgalyayana were converted by Assaji, one of the first five disciples, after which they were to become the Buddha's two foremost followers. The Buddha spent the next three seasons at Veluvana Bamboo Grove monastery in Rajagaha, capital of Magadha.

 

Upon hearing of his son's awakening, Suddhodana sent, over a period, ten delegations to ask him to return to Kapilavastu. On the first nine occasions, the delegates failed to deliver the message, and instead joined the sangha to become arahants. The tenth delegation, led by Kaludayi, a childhood friend of Gautama's (who also became an arahant), however, delivered the message.

 

Now two years after his awakening, the Buddha agreed to return, and made a two-month journey by foot to Kapilavastu, teaching the dharma as he went. At his return, the royal palace prepared a midday meal, but the sangha was making an alms round in Kapilavastu. Hearing this, Suddhodana approached his son, the Buddha, saying:

 

"Ours is the warrior lineage of Mahamassata, and not a single warrior has gone seeking alms."

 

The Buddha is said to have replied:

 

"That is not the custom of your royal lineage. But it is the custom of my Buddha lineage. Several thousands of Buddhas have gone by seeking alms."

 

Buddhist texts say that Suddhodana invited the sangha into the palace for the meal, followed by a dharma talk. After this he is said to have become a sotapanna. During the visit, many members of the royal family joined the sangha. The Buddha's cousins Ananda and Anuruddha became two of his five chief disciples. At the age of seven, his son Rahula also joined, and became one of his ten chief disciples. His half-brother Nanda also joined and became an arahant.

 

Of the Buddha's disciples, Sariputta, Maudgalyayana, Mahakasyapa, Ananda and Anuruddha are believed to have been the five closest to him. His ten foremost disciples were reputedly completed by the quintet of Upali, Subhoti, Rahula, Mahakaccana and Punna.

 

In the fifth vassana, the Buddha was staying at Mahavana near Vesali when he heard news of the impending death of his father. He is said to have gone to Suddhodana and taught the dharma, after which his father became an arahant.The king's death and cremation was to inspire the creation of an order of nuns. Buddhist texts record that the Buddha was reluctant to ordain women. His foster mother Maha Pajapati, for example, approached him, asking to join the sangha, but he refused. Maha Pajapati, however, was so intent on the path of awakening that she led a group of royal Sakyan and Koliyan ladies, which followed the sangha on a long journey to Rajagaha. In time, after Ananda championed their cause, the Buddha is said to have reconsidered and, five years after the formation of the sangha, agreed to the ordination of women as nuns. He reasoned that males and females had an equal capacity for awakening. But he gave women additional rules (Vinaya) to follow.

 

MAHAPARINIRVANA

According to the Mahaparinibbana Sutta of the Pali canon, at the age of 80, the Buddha announced that he would soon reach Parinirvana, or the final deathless state, and abandon his earthly body. After this, the Buddha ate his last meal, which he had received as an offering from a blacksmith named Cunda. Falling violently ill, Buddha instructed his attendant Ānanda to convince Cunda that the meal eaten at his place had nothing to do with his passing and that his meal would be a source of the greatest merit as it provided the last meal for a Buddha. Mettanando and Von Hinüber argue that the Buddha died of mesenteric infarction, a symptom of old age, rather than food poisoning. The precise contents of the Buddha's final meal are not clear, due to variant scriptural traditions and ambiguity over the translation of certain significant terms; the Theravada tradition generally believes that the Buddha was offered some kind of pork, while the Mahayana tradition believes that the Buddha consumed some sort of truffle or other mushroom. These may reflect the different traditional views on Buddhist vegetarianism and the precepts for monks and nuns.

 

Waley suggests that Theravadin's would take suukaramaddava (the contents of the Buddha's last meal), which can translate as pig-soft, to mean soft flesh of a pig. However, he also states that pig-soft could mean "pig's soft-food", that is, after Neumann, a soft food favoured by pigs, assumed to be a truffle. He argues (also after Neumann) that as Pali Buddhism was developed in an area remote to the Buddha's death, the existence of other plants with suukara- (pig) as part of their names and that "(p)lant names tend to be local and dialectical" could easily indicate that suukaramaddava was a type of plant whose local name was unknown to those in the Pali regions. Specifically, local writers knew more about their flora than Theravadin commentator Buddhaghosa who lived hundreds of years and kilometres remote in time and space from the events described. Unaware of an alternate meaning and with no Theravadin prohibition against eating animal flesh, Theravadins would not have questioned the Buddha eating meat and interpreted the term accordingly.

 

Ananda protested the Buddha's decision to enter Parinirvana in the abandoned jungles of Kuśināra (present-day Kushinagar, India) of the Malla kingdom. The Buddha, however, is said to have reminded Ananda how Kushinara was a land once ruled by a righteous wheel-turning king that resounded with joy:

 

44. Kusavati, Ananda, resounded unceasingly day and night with ten sounds - the trumpeting of elephants, the neighing of horses, the rattling of chariots, the beating of drums and tabours, music and song, cheers, the clapping of hands, and cries of "Eat, drink, and be merry!"

 

The Buddha then asked all the attendant Bhikkhus to clarify any doubts or questions they had. They had none. According to Buddhist scriptures, he then finally entered Parinirvana. The Buddha's final words are reported to have been: "All composite things (Saṅkhāra) are perishable. Strive for your own liberation with diligence" (Pali: 'vayadhammā saṅkhārā appamādena sampādethā'). His body was cremated and the relics were placed in monuments or stupas, some of which are believed to have survived until the present. For example, The Temple of the Tooth or "Dalada Maligawa" in Sri Lanka is the place where what some believe to be the relic of the right tooth of Buddha is kept at present.

 

According to the Pāli historical chronicles of Sri Lanka, the Dīpavaṃsa and Mahāvaṃsa, the coronation of Emperor Aśoka (Pāli: Asoka) is 218 years after the death of the Buddha. According to two textual records in Chinese (十八部論 and 部執異論), the coronation of Emperor Aśoka is 116 years after the death of the Buddha. Therefore, the time of Buddha's passing is either 486 BCE according to Theravāda record or 383 BCE according to Mahayana record. However, the actual date traditionally accepted as the date of the Buddha's death in Theravāda countries is 544 or 545 BCE, because the reign of Emperor Aśoka was traditionally reckoned to be about 60 years earlier than current estimates. In Burmese Buddhist tradition, the date of the Buddha's death is 13 May 544 BCE. whereas in Thai tradition it is 11 March 545 BCE.

 

At his death, the Buddha is famously believed to have told his disciples to follow no leader. Mahakasyapa was chosen by the sangha to be the chairman of the First Buddhist Council, with the two chief disciples Maudgalyayana and Sariputta having died before the Buddha.

 

While in the Buddha's days he was addressed by the very respected titles Buddha, Shākyamuni, Shākyasimha, Bhante and Bho, he was known after his parinirvana as Arihant, Bhagavā/Bhagavat/Bhagwān, Mahāvira, Jina/Jinendra, Sāstr, Sugata, and most popularly in scriptures as Tathāgata.

 

BUDDHA AND VEDAS

Buddha's teachings deny the authority of the Vedas and consequently [at least atheistic] Buddhism is generally viewed as a nāstika school (heterodox, literally "It is not so") from the perspective of orthodox Hinduism.

 

RELICS

After his death, Buddha's cremation relics were divided amongst 8 royal families and his disciples; centuries later they would be enshrined by King Ashoka into 84,000 stupas. Many supernatural legends surround the history of alleged relics as they accompanied the spread of Buddhism and gave legitimacy to rulers.

 

PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS

An extensive and colorful physical description of the Buddha has been laid down in scriptures. A kshatriya by birth, he had military training in his upbringing, and by Shakyan tradition was required to pass tests to demonstrate his worthiness as a warrior in order to marry. He had a strong enough body to be noticed by one of the kings and was asked to join his army as a general. He is also believed by Buddhists to have "the 32 Signs of the Great Man".

 

The Brahmin Sonadanda described him as "handsome, good-looking, and pleasing to the eye, with a most beautiful complexion. He has a godlike form and countenance, he is by no means unattractive." (D, I:115)

 

"It is wonderful, truly marvellous, how serene is the good Gotama's appearance, how clear and radiant his complexion, just as the golden jujube in autumn is clear and radiant, just as a palm-tree fruit just loosened from the stalk is clear and radiant, just as an adornment of red gold wrought in a crucible by a skilled goldsmith, deftly beaten and laid on a yellow-cloth shines, blazes and glitters, even so, the good Gotama's senses are calmed, his complexion is clear and radiant." (A, I:181)

 

A disciple named Vakkali, who later became an arahant, was so obsessed by the Buddha's physical presence that the Buddha is said to have felt impelled to tell him to desist, and to have reminded him that he should know the Buddha through the Dhamma and not through physical appearances.

 

Although there are no extant representations of the Buddha in human form until around the 1st century CE (see Buddhist art), descriptions of the physical characteristics of fully enlightened buddhas are attributed to the Buddha in the Digha Nikaya's Lakkhaṇa Sutta (D, I:142). In addition, the Buddha's physical appearance is described by Yasodhara to their son Rahula upon the Buddha's first post-Enlightenment return to his former princely palace in the non-canonical Pali devotional hymn, Narasīha Gāthā ("The Lion of Men").

 

Among the 32 main characteristics it is mentioned that Buddha has blue eyes.

 

NINE VIRTUES

Recollection of nine virtues attributed to the Buddha is a common Buddhist meditation and devotional practice called Buddhānusmṛti. The nine virtues are also among the 40 Buddhist meditation subjects. The nine virtues of the Buddha appear throughout the Tipitaka, and include:

 

- Buddho – Awakened

- Sammasambuddho – Perfectly self-awakened

- Vijja-carana-sampano – Endowed with higher knowledge and ideal conduct.

- Sugato – Well-gone or Well-spoken.

- Lokavidu – Wise in the knowledge of the many worlds.

- Anuttaro Purisa-damma-sarathi – Unexcelled trainer of untrained people.

- Satthadeva-Manussanam – Teacher of gods and humans.

- Bhagavathi – The Blessed one

- Araham – Worthy of homage. An Arahant is "one with taints destroyed, who has lived the holy life, done what had to be done, laid down the burden, reached the true goal, destroyed the fetters of being, and is completely liberated through final knowledge."

 

TEACHINGS

TRACING THE OLDEST TEACHINGS

Information of the oldest teachings may be obtained by analysis of the oldest texts. One method to obtain information on the oldest core of Buddhism is to compare the oldest extant versions of the Theravadin Pali Canon and other texts. The reliability of these sources, and the possibility to draw out a core of oldest teachings, is a matter of dispute. According to Vetter, inconsistencies remain, and other methods must be applied to resolve those inconsistencies.

 

According to Schmithausen, three positions held by scholars of Buddhism can be distinguished:

 

"Stress on the fundamental homogeneity and substantial authenticity of at least a considerable part of the Nikayic materials;"

"Scepticism with regard to the possibility of retrieving the doctrine of earliest Buddhism;"

"Cautious optimism in this respect."

 

DHYANA AND INSIGHT

A core problem in the study of early Buddhism is the relation between dhyana and insight. Schmithausen, in his often-cited article On some Aspects of Descriptions or Theories of 'Liberating Insight' and 'Enlightenment' in Early Buddhism notes that the mention of the four noble truths as constituting "liberating insight", which is attained after mastering the Rupa Jhanas, is a later addition to texts such as Majjhima Nikaya 36

 

CORE TEACHINGS

According to Tilmann Vetter, the core of earliest Buddhism is the practice of dhyāna. Bronkhorst agrees that dhyana was a Buddhist invention, whereas Norman notes that "the Buddha's way to release [...] was by means of meditative practices." Discriminating insight into transiency as a separate path to liberation was a later development.

 

According to the Mahāsaccakasutta, from the fourth jhana the Buddha gained bodhi. Yet, it is not clear what he was awakened to. "Liberating insight" is a later addition to this text, and reflects a later development and understanding in early Buddhism. The mentioning of the four truths as constituting "liberating insight" introduces a logical problem, since the four truths depict a linear path of practice, the knowledge of which is in itself not depicted as being liberating:

 

[T]hey do not teach that one is released by knowing the four noble truths, but by practicing the fourth noble truth, the eightfold path, which culminates in right samadhi.

 

Although "Nibbāna" (Sanskrit: Nirvāna) is the common term for the desired goal of this practice, many other terms can be found throughout the Nikayas, which are not specified.

 

According to Vetter, the description of the Buddhist path may initially have been as simple as the term "the middle way". In time, this short description was elaborated, resulting in the description of the eightfold path.

 

According to both Bronkhorst and Anderson, the four truths became a substitution for prajna, or "liberating insight", in the suttas in those texts where "liberating insight" was preceded by the four jhanas. According to Bronkhorst, the four truths may not have been formulated in earliest Buddhism, and did not serve in earliest Buddhism as a description of "liberating insight". Gotama's teachings may have been personal, "adjusted to the need of each person."

 

The three marks of existence may reflect Upanishadic or other influences. K.R. Norman supposes that these terms were already in use at the Buddha's time, and were familiar to his listeners.

 

The Brahma-vihara was in origin probably a brahmanic term; but its usage may have been common to the Sramana traditions.

  

LATER DEVELOPMENTS

In time, "liberating insight" became an essential feature of the Buddhist tradition. The following teachings, which are commonly seen as essential to Buddhism, are later formulations which form part of the explanatory framework of this "liberating insight":

 

- The Four Noble Truths: that suffering is an ingrained part of existence; that the origin of suffering is craving for sensuality, acquisition of identity, and fear of annihilation; that suffering can be ended; and that following the Noble Eightfold Path is the means to accomplish this;

- The Noble Eightfold Path: right view, right intention, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, and right concentration;

- Dependent origination: the mind creates suffering as a natural product of a complex process.

 

OTHER RELIGIONS

Some Hindus regard Gautama as the 9th avatar of Vishnu. The Buddha is also regarded as a prophet by the Ahmadiyya Muslims and a Manifestation of God in the Bahá'í Faith. Some early Chinese Taoist-Buddhists thought the Buddha to be a reincarnation of Lao Tzu.

 

The Christian Saint Josaphat is based on the Buddha. The name comes from the Sanskrit Bodhisattva via Arabic Būdhasaf and Georgian Iodasaph. The only story in which St. Josaphat appears, Barlaam and Josaphat, is based on the life of the Buddha. Josaphat was included in earlier editions of the Roman Martyrology (feast day 27 November) — though not in the Roman Missal — and in the Eastern Orthodox Church liturgical calendar (26 August).

 

Disciples of the Cao Đài religion worship the Buddha as a major religious teacher. His image can be found in both their Holy See and on the home altar. He is revealed during communication with Divine Beings as son of their Supreme Being (God the Father) together with other major religious teachers and founders like Jesus, Laozi, and Confucius.

 

In the ancient Gnostic sect of Manichaeism the Buddha is listed among the prophets who preached the word of God before Mani.

 

WIKIPEDIA

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We were committed as & type to do some live calligraphy and typography

during an event in Milan called Hyper Music. Organized by Womade hosted by la Fabbrica del Vapore

 

Those are some of my calligraphy made during the event, to see the full project www.behance.net/gallery/17979325/Hyper-Music

Dawn raids saw 5 people arrested as part of a crackdown on an organised crime group operating across several areas in England.

 

This morning (Thursday 16 May 2019) a team of officers executed warrants at 7 addresses in Oldham.

 

The warrants were executed as part of Operation Hansford – set up by GMP officers to target an organised crime group believed to be involved in crimes committed across England, spanning several force areas- including Greater Manchester, West Yorkshire, South Yorkshire, Derbyshire and Lancashire.

 

As part of Operation Hansford detectives have investigated 120 offences including aggravated burglary, robbery, car theft, assault, violent disorder and criminal damage – all believed to be orchestrated by the same organised crime group.

  

Chief Superintendent Neil Evans, GMP’s Territorial Commander with responsibility for Oldham said: “Today we have 5 people in custody and that is a testament to the hard work and dedication of the team here in Oldham, who have worked tirelessly in order to disrupt this organised crime group.

 

“Today’s action has been supported from officers across GMP; however I would also like to take this opportunity to thank our colleagues from West Yorkshire, South Yorkshire, Derbyshire and Lancashire – all of whom have supported this investigation from the very outset.

 

“The importance of our investigation and the severity of the crimes committed should not be underestimated. Organised criminal activity destroys people’s livelihoods and blights communities. I hope that today’s action demonstrates to those who have been affected by such criminality just how dedicated we are in bringing those responsible to justice, as well as our absolute commitment to making the streets of Greater Manchester a safer place.

 

“I would also like to emphasise that Operation Hansford remains very much ongoing.”

 

Anyone with information should contact police on 101 or the independent charity Crimestoppers, anonymously, on 0800 555 111.

 

For more information about Policing in Greater Manchester please visit www.gmp.police.uk

   

Chittorgarh Fort (Hindi/Rajasthani: चित्तौड दुर्ग Chittorgarh Durg) is the largest fort in India and the grandest in the state of Rajasthan. It is a World Heritage Site. The fort, plainly known as Chittor, was the capital of Mewar and is today situated several kilometres south of Bhilwara. It was initially ruled by Guhilot and later by Sisodias, the Suryavanshi clans of Chattari Rajputs, from the 7th century, until it was finally abandoned in 1568 after the siege by Emperor Akbar in 1567. It sprawls majestically over a hill 180 m in height spread over an area of 280 ha above the plains of the valley drained by the Berach River. The fort precinct with an evocative history is studded with a series of historical palaces, gates, temples and two prominent commemoration towers. These monumental ruins have inspired the imagination of tourists and writers for centuries.

 

The fort was sacked three times between the 15th and 16th centuries; in 1303 Allauddin Khilji defeated Rana Ratan Singh, in 1535 Bahadur Shah, the Sultan of Gujarat defeated Bikramjeet Singh and in 1567 Emperor Akbar defeated Maharana Udai Singh II who left the fort and founded Udaipur. Each time the men fought bravely rushing out of the fort walls charging the enemy but lost every time. Following these defeats, Jauhar was committed thrice by more than 13,000 ladies and children of the Rajput heroes who laid their lives in battles at Chittorgarh Fort, first led by Rani Padmini wife of Rana Rattan Singh who was killed in the battle in 1303, and later by Rani Karnavati in 1537 AD.

 

Thus, the fort represents the quintessence of tribute to the nationalism, courage, medieval chivalry and sacrifice exhibited by the Mewar rulers of Sisodia and their kinsmen and women and children, between the 7th and 16th centuries. The rulers, their soldiers, the women folk of royalty and the commoners considered death as a better option than dishonor in the face of surrender to the foreign invading armies.

 

GEOGRAPHY

Chittorgarh, located in the southern part of the state of Rajasthan, 233 km from Ajmer, midway between Delhi and Mumbai on the National Highway 8 (India) in the road network of Golden Quadrilateral. Chittorgarh is situated where National Highways No. 76 & 79 intersect.

 

The fort rises abruptly above the surrounding plains and is spread over an area of 2.8 km2. The highest elevation at the fort is 1,075 m. It is situated on the left bank of the Berach river (a tributary of the Banas River) and is linked to the new town of Chittorgarh (known as the 'Lower Town') developed in the plains after 1568 AD when the fort was deserted in light of introduction of artillery in the 16th century, and therefore the capital was shifted to more secure Udaipur, located on the eastern flank of Aravalli hill range. Mughal Emperor Akbar attacked and sacked this fort which was but one of the 84 forts of Mewar,but the capital was shifted to Aravalli hills where heavy artillery & cavalry were not effective. A winding hill road of more than 1 km length from the new town leads to the west end main gate, called Ram Pol, of the fort. Within the fort, a circular road provides access to all the gates and monuments located within the fort walls.

 

The fort that once boasted of 84 water bodies has only 22 of them now. These water bodies are fed by natural catchment and rainfall, and have a combined storage of 4 billion litres that could meet the water needs of an army of 50,000. The supply could last for four years. These water bodies are in the form of ponds, wells and step wells.

 

HISTORY

Chittorgarh Fort is considered to be the largest fort of India in terms of area. It is stated that the fort was constructed by the Mauryans during the 7th century AD and hence derives its name after the Mauryan ruler, Chitrangada Mori, as inscribed on coins of the period. Historical records show Chittorgarh fort as the capital of Mewar for 834 years. It was established in 734 AD by Bappa Rawal, founder ruler in the hierarchy of the Sisodia rulers of Mewar. It is also said that the fort was gifted to Bappa Rawal as part of Solanki princess’s dowry in the 8th century. The fort was looted and destroyed at the hands of Emperor Akbar in 1568 AD and subsequently never resettled but only refurbished in 1905 AD. Three important battles were fought for control of the fort; in 1303, Ala-ud-din Khilji besieged the fort; in 1535, Sultan of Gujarat Bahadur Shah besieged the fort; and in 1568, Mughal Emperor Akbar attacked the fort. Not that there were only defeats at the fort. Excluding the periods of siege, the fort had always remained in possession of the Sisodias of the Guhilot (or Gehlot/Guhila) clan of Rajputs, who descended from Bappa Rawal. There were also success stories of establishment of the fort and its reconstruction after every siege, before it was finally abandoned in 1568, all of which are narrated.

 

Chittor is cited in the Mahabharat epic. It is said that Bhima, the second of the Pandava brothers of Epic Mahabaharata fame, known for his mighty strength gave a powerful hit with his fist to the ground that resulted in water springing up to form a large reservoir. It is called Bhimlat kund, an artificial tank named after Bhima. Folk legend also mentions that Bhima started building the fort.

 

BAPPA RAWAL

The earliest history linked to the Bappa Rawal's fort is that of the Huna Kingdom of Sialkot (of Mihir Kula 515-540 AD) that was destroyed by Yashodharman. This was subsequently seized by a new dynasty of kshatriyas called Tak or Taxaka. According to historians, the Taxak Mori were the lords of Chittor from a very early period. After a few generations, the Guhilots supplanted them. From 725 to 735 AD, there were numerous defenders who appear to have considered the cause of Chittor their own, the Tak from Asirgarh. This race appears to have retained possession of Asirgarh for at least two centuries after this event and one of its chieftain Bappa Rawal was the most conspicuous leader in the lineage of Prithvi Raj. In the poems of Chandar he is called the "Standard, bearer, Tak of Asir."

 

SIEGE OF 1303

Ala ud din Khilji, Sultan of Delhi, rallied his forces against Mewar, in 1303 AD. The Chittorgarh fort was till then considered impregnable and grand, atop a natural hill. But his immediate reason for invading the fort was his obsessive desire to capture Rani Padmini, the unrivalled beautiful queen of Rana Ratan Singh and take her into his harem. The Rana, out of politeness, allowed the Khilji to view Padmini through a set of mirrors. But this viewing of Padmini further fired Khilji’s desire to possess her. After the viewing, as a gesture of courtesy, when the Rana accompanied the Sultan to the outer gate, he was treacherously captured. Khilji conveyed to the queen that the Rana would be released only if she agreed to join his harem. But the queen had other plans. She agreed to go to his camp if permitted to go in a Royal style with an entourage, in strict secrecy. Instead of her going, she sent 700 well armed soldiers disguised in litters and they rescued the Rana and took him to the fort. But Khilji chased them to the fort where a fierce battle ensued at the outer gate of the fort in which the Rajput soldiers were overpowered and the Rana was killed. Khilji won the battle on August 26, 1303. Soon thereafter, instead of surrendering to the Sultan, the royal Rajput ladies led by Rani Padmini preferred to die through the Rajput’s ultimate tragic rite of Jauhar (self immolation on a pyre). In revenge, Khilji killed thirty thousand Hindus. He entrusted the fort to his son Khizr Khan to rule and renamed the fort as 'Khizrabad'. He also showered gifts on his son by way of

 

a red canopy, a robe embroidered with gold and two standards one green and the other black and threw upon him rubies and emeralds.

 

He returned to Delhi after the fierce battle at the fort.

 

RANA HAMMIR & SUCCESSORS

Khizr Khan’s rule at the fort lasted till 1311 AD and due to the pressure of Rajputs he was forced to entrust power to the Sonigra chief Maldeva who held the fort for 7 years. Hammir Singh, usurped control of the fort from Maldeva by “treachery and intrigue” and Chittor once again regained its past glory. Hammir, before his death in 1364 AD, had converted Mewar into a fairly large and prosperous kingdom. The dynasty (and clan) fathered by him came to be known by the name Sisodia after the village where he was born. His son Ketra Singh succeeded him and ruled with honour and power. Ketra Singh’s son Lakha who ascended the throne in 1382 AD also won several wars. His famous grandson Rana Kumbha came to the throne in 1433 AD and by that time the Muslim rulers of Malwa and Gujarat had acquired considerable clout and were keen to usurp the powerful Mewar state.

 

RANA KUMBHA & CLAN

There was resurgence during the reign of Rana Kumbha in the 15th century. Rana Kumbha, also known as Maharana Kumbhakarna, son of Rana Mokal, ruled Mewar between 1433 AD and 1468 AD. He is credited with building up the Mewar kingdom assiduously as a force to reckon with. He built 32 forts (84 fortresses formed the defense of Mewar) including one in his own name, called Kumbalgarh. But his end came in 1468 AD at the hands of his own son Rana Udaysimha (Uday Singh I) who assassinated him to gain the throne of Mewar. This patricide was not appreciated by the people of Mewar and consequently his brother Rana Raimal assumed the reins of power in 1473. After his death in May 1509, Sangram Singh (also known as Rana Sanga), his youngest son, became the ruler of Mewar, which brought in a new phase in the history of Mewar. Rana Sanga, with support from Medini Rai (a Rajput chief of Alwar), fought a valiant battle against Mughal emperor Babar at Khanwa in 1527. He ushered in a period of prestige to Chittor by defeating the rulers of Gujarat and also effectively interfered in the matters of Idar. He also won small areas of the Delhi territory. In the ensuing battle with Ibrahim Lodi, Rana won and acquired some districts of Malwa. He also defeated the combined might of Sultan Muzaffar of Gujarat and the Sultan of Malwa. By 1525 AD, Rana Sanga had developed Chittor and Mewar, by virtue of great intellect, valour and his sword, into a formidable military state. But in a decisive battle that was fought against Babar on March 16, 1527, the Rajput army of Rana Sanga suffered a terrible defeat and Sanga escaped to one of his fortresses. But soon thereafter in another attack on the Chanderi fort the valiant Rana Sanga died and with his death the Rajput confederacy collapsed.

 

SIEGE OF 1534

Bahadur Shah who came to the throne in 1526 AD as the Sultan of Gujarat besieged the Chittorgarh fort in 1534. The fort was sacked and, once again the medieval dictates of chivalry determined the outcome. Following the defeat of the Rana, it is said 13,000 Rajput women committed jauhar (self immolation on the funeral pyre) and 3,200 Rajput warriors rushed out of the fort to fight and die.

 

SIEGE OF 1567

The final Siege of Chittorgarh came 33 years later, in 1567, when the Mughal Emperor Akbar invaded the fort. Akbar wanted to conquer Mewar, which was being ably ruled by Rana Uday Singh II, a fine prince of Mewar. To establish himself as the supreme lord of Northern India, he wanted to capture the renowned fortress of Chittor, as a precursor to conquering the whole of India. Shakti Singh, son of the Rana who had quarreled with his father, had run away and approached Akbar when the later had camped at Dholpur preparing to attack Malwa. During one of these meetings, in August 1567, Shakti Singh came to know from a remark made in jest by emperor Akbar that he was intending to wage war against Chittor. Akbar had told Shakti Singh in jest that since his father had not submitted himself before him like other princes and chieftains of the region he would attack him. Startled by this revelation, Shakti Singh quietly rushed back to Chittor and informed his father of the impending invasion by Akbar. Akbar was furious with the departure of Shakti Singh and decided to attack Mewar to humble the arrogance of the Ranas. In September 1567, the emperor left for Chittor, and on October 20, 1567, camped in the vast plains outside the fort. In the meantime, Rana Udai Singh, on the advice of his council of advisors, decided to go away from Chittor to the hills of Udaipur. Jaimal and Patta, two brave army chieftains of Mewar, were left behind to defend the fort along with 8,000 Rajput warriors under their command. Akbar laid siege to the fortress. The Rajput army fought valiantly and Akbar himself had narrowly escaped death. In this grave situation, Akbar had prayed for divine help for achieving victory and vowed to visit the shrine of the sufi saint Khwaja at Ajmer. The battle continued till February 23, 1568. On that day Jaymal was seriously wounded but he continued to fight with support from Patta. Jayamal ordered jauhar to be performed when many beautiful princesses of Mewar and noble matrons committed self-immolation at the funeral pyre. Next day the gates of the fort were opened and Rajput soldiers rushed out bravely to fight the enemies. Jayamal and Patta who fought bravely were at last killed in action. One figure estimates that 30,000 soldiers were killed in action. Akbar immediately repaired himself to Ajmer to perform his religious vow.

 

RETURN OF THE FORT TO MEWAR

But in 1616, Jehangir returned Chittor fort to the Rajputs, when Maharana Amar Singh was the chief of Mewar. However, the fort was not resettled though it was refurbished several centuries later in 1905 during British Raj.

 

PRECINCTS

The fort which is roughly in the shape of a fish has a circumference of 13 km with a maximum width of 3 km and it covers an area of 700 acres. The fort is approached through a zig zag and difficult ascent of more than 1 km from the plains, after crossing over a bridge made in limestone. The bridge spans the Gambhiri River and is supported by ten arches (one has a curved shape while the balance have pointed arches). Apart from the two tall towers, which dominate the majestic fortifications, the sprawling fort has a plethora of palaces and temples (many of them in ruins) within its precincts.

 

The 305 hectares component site, with a buffer zone of 427 hectares, encompasses the fortified stronghold of Chittorgarh, a spacious fort located on an isolated rocky plateau of approximately 2 km length and 155m width.

 

It is surrounded by a perimeter wall 4.5 kilometres long, beyond which a 45° hill slope makes it almost inaccessible to enemies. The ascent to the fort passes through seven gateways built by the Mewar ruler Rana Kumbha (1433- 1468) of the Sisodia clan. These gates are called, from the base to the hill top, the Paidal Pol, Bhairon Pol, Hanuman Pol, Ganesh Pol, Jorla Pol, Laxman Pol, and Ram Pol, the final and main gate.

 

The fort complex comprises 65 historic built structures, among them 4 palace complexes, 19 main temples, 4 memorials and 20 functional water bodies. These can be divided into two major construction phases. The first hill fort with one main entrance was established in the 5th century and successively fortified until the 12th century. Its remains are mostly visible on the western edges of the plateau. The second, more significant defence structure was constructed in the 15th century during the reign of the Sisodia Rajputs, when the royal entrance was relocated and fortified with seven gates, and the medieval fortification wall was built on an earlier wall construction from the 13th century.

 

Besides the palace complex, located on the highest and most secure terrain in the west of the fort, many of the other significant structures, such as the Kumbha Shyam Temple, the Mira Bai Temple, the Adi Varah Temple, the Shringar Chauri Temple, and the Vijay Stambh memorial were constructed in this second phase. Compared to the later additions of Sisodian rulers during the 19th and 20th centuries, the predominant construction phase illustrates a comparatively pure Rajput style combined with minimal eclecticism, such as the vaulted substructures which were borrowed from Sultanate architecture. The 4.5 km walls with integrated circular enforcements are constructed from dressed stone masonry in lime mortar and rise 500m above the plain. With the help of the seven massive stone gates, partly flanked by hexagonal or octagonal towers, the access to the fort is restricted to a narrow pathway which climbs up the steep hill through successive, ever narrower defence passages. The seventh and final gate leads directly into the palace area, which integrates a variety of residential and official structures. Rana Kumbha Mahal, the palace of Rana Kumbha, is a large Rajput domestic structure and now incorporates the Kanwar Pade Ka Mahal (the palace of the heir) and the later palace of the poetess Mira Bai (1498-1546). The palace area was further expanded in later centuries, when additional structures, such as the Ratan Singh Palace (1528–31) or the Fateh Prakash, also named Badal Mahal (1885-1930), were added. Although the majority of temple structures represent the Hindu faith, most prominently the Kalikamata Temple (8th century), the Kshemankari Temple (825-850) the Kumbha Shyam Temple (1448) or the Adbuthnath Temple (15th- 16th century), the hill fort also contains Jain temples, such as Shringar Chauri (1448) and Sat Bis Devri (mid-15th century) Also the two tower memorials, Kirti Stambh (13th-14th century) and Vijay Stambha (1433-1468), are Jain monuments. They stand out with their respective heights of 24m and 37m, which ensure their visibility from most locations of the fort complex. Finally, the fort compound is home to a contemporary municipal ward of approximately 3,000 inhabitants, which is located near Ratan Singh Tank at the northern end of the property.

 

GATES

The fort has total seven gates (in local language, gate is called Pol), namely the Padan Pol, Bhairon Pol, Hanuman Pol, Ganesh Pol, Jodla Pol, Laxman Pol and the main gate named the Ram Pol (Lord Rama's Gate). All the gateways to the fort have been built as massive stone structures with secure fortifications for military defense. The doors of the gates with pointed arches are reinforced to fend off elephants and cannon shots. The top of the gates have notched parapets for archers to shoot at the enemy army. A circular road within the fort links all the gates and provides access to the numerous monuments (ruined palaces and 130 temples) in the fort.

 

During the second siege, Prince Bagh Singh died at the Padan Pol in 1535 AD. Prince Jaimal of Badnore and his clansman Kalla were killed by Akbar at a location between the Bhairon Pol and Hanuman Pol in the last siege of the fort in 1567 (Kalla carried the wounded Jaimal out to fight). Chhatris, with the roof supported by corbeled arches, have been built to commemorate the spots of their sacrifice. Their statues have also been erected, at the orders of Emperor Akbar, to commemorate their valiant deaths. At each gate, cenotaphs of Jaimal (in the form of a statue of a Rajput warrior on horseback) and Patta have also been constructed. At Ram Pol, the entrance gate to the fort, a Chaatri was built in memory of the 15 year old Patta of Kelwa, who had lost his father in battle, and saw the sword yielding mother and wife on the battle field who fought valiantly and died at this gate. He led the saffron robed Rajput warriors, who all died fighting for Mewar’s honour. Suraj Pol (Sun Gate) provides entry to the eastern wall of the fort. On the right of Suraj Pol is the Darikhana or Sabha (council chamber) behind which lie a Ganesha temple and the zenana (living quarters for women). A massive water reservoir is located towards the left of Suraj Pol. There is also a peculiar gate, called the Jorla Pol (Joined Gate), which consists of two gates joined together. The upper arch of Jorla Pol is connected to the base of Lakshman Pol. It is said that this feature has not been noticed anywhere else in India. The Lokota Bari is the gate at the fort’s northern tip, while a small opening that was used to hurl criminals into the abyss is seen at the southern end.

 

VIJAY STAMBHA

The Vijay Stambha (Tower of Victory) or Jaya Stambha, called the symbol of Chittor and a particularly bold expression of triumph, was erected by Rana Kumbha between 1458 and 1468 to commemorate his victory over Mahmud Shah I Khalji, the Sultan of Malwa, in 1440 AD. Built over a period of ten years, it raises 37.2 metres over a 4.4 m2 base in nine stories accessed through a narrow circular staircase of 157 steps (the interior is also carved) up to the 8th floor, from where there is good view of the plains and the new town of Chittor. The dome, which was a later addition, was damaged by lightning and repaired during the 19th century. The Stamba is now illuminated during the evenings and gives a beautiful view of Chittor from the top.

 

KIRTI STAMBHA

Kirti Stambha (Tower of Fame) is a 22 metres high tower built on a 9.1 m base with 4.6 m at the top, is adorned with Jain sculptures on the outside and is older (probably 12th century) and smaller than the Victory Tower. Built by a Bagherwal Jain merchant Jijaji Rathod, it is dedicated to Adinath, the first Jain tirthankar (revered Jain teacher). In the lowest floor of the tower, figures of the various tirthankars of the Jain pantheon are seen in special niches formed to house them. These are digambara monuments. A narrow stairway with 54 steps leads through the six storeys to the top. The top pavilion that was added in the 15th century has 12 columns.

 

RANA KUMBHA PALACE

At the entrance gate near the Vijaya Stamba, Rana Kumbha's palace (in ruins), the oldest monument, is located. The palace included elephant and horse stables and a temple to Lord Shiva. Maharana Udai Singh, the founder of Udaipur, was born here; the popular folk lore linked to his birth is that his maid Panna DaiPanna Dhai saved him by substituting her son in his place as a decoy, which resulted in her son getting killed by Banbir. The prince was spirited away in a fruit basket. The palace is built with plastered stone. The remarkable feature of the palace is its splendid series of canopied balconies. Entry to the palace is through Suraj Pol that leads into a courtyard. Rani Meera, the famous poetess saint, also lived in this palace. This is also the palace where Rani Padmini, consigned herself to the funeral pyre in one of the underground cellars, as an act of jauhar along with many other women. The Nau Lakha Bandar (literal meaning: nine lakh treasury) building, the royal treasury of Chittor was also located close by. Now, across from the palace is a museum and archeological office. The Singa Chowri temple is also nearby.

 

FATEH PRAKASH PALACE

Located near Rana Khumba palace, built by Rana Fateh Singh, the precincts have modern houses and a small museum. A school for local children (about 5,000 villagers live within the fort) is also nearby.

 

GAUMUKH RESERVOIR

A spring feeds the tank from a carved cow’s mouth in the cliff. This pool was the main source of water at the fort during the numerous sieges.

 

PADMINI´S PALACE

Padmini's Palace or Rani Padmini's Palace is a white building and a three storied structure (a 19th-century reconstruction of the original). It is located in the southern part of the fort. Chhatris (pavilions) crown the palace roofs and a water moat surrounds the palace. This style of palace became the forerunner of other palaces built in the state with the concept of Jal Mahal (palace surrounded by water). It is at this Palace where Alauddin was permitted to glimpse the mirror image of Rani Padmini, wife of Maharana Rattan Singh. It is widely believed that this glimpse of Padmini's beauty besotted him and convinced him to destroy Chittor in order to possess her. Maharana Rattan Singh was killed and Rani Padmini committed Jauhar. Rani Padmini's beauty has been compared to that of Cleopatra and her life story is an eternal legend in the history of Chittor. The bronze gates to this pavilion were removed and transported to Agra by Akbar.

 

OTHER SIGHTS

Close to Kirti Sthamba is the Meera Temple, or the Meerabai Temple. Rana Khumba built it in an ornate Indo–Aryan architectural style. It is associated with the mystic saint-poet Mirabai who was an ardent devotee of Lord Krishna and dedicated her entire life to His worship. She composed and sang lyrical bhajans called Meera Bhajans. The popular legend associated with her is that with blessings of Krishna, she survived after consuming poison sent to her by her evil brother-in-law. The larger temple in the same compound is the Kumbha Shyam Temple (Varaha Temple). The pinnacle of the temple is in pyramid shape. A picture of Meerabai praying before Krishna has now been installed in the temple.

 

Across from Padmini’s Palace is the Kalika Mata Temple. Originally, a Sun Temple dated to the 8th century dedicated to Surya (the Sun God) was destroyed in the 14th century. It was rebuilt as a Kali temple.

 

Another temple on the west side of the fort is the ancient Goddess Tulja Bhavani Temple built to worship Goddess Tulja Bhavani is considered sacred. The Tope Khana (cannon foundry) is located next to this temple in a courtyard, where a few old cannons are still seen.

 

JAUHAR MELA

The fort and the city of Chittorgarh host the biggest Rajput festival called the "Jauhar Mela". It takes place annually on the anniversary of one of the jauhars, but no specific name has been given to it. It is generally believed that it commemorates Padmini’s jauhar, which is most famous. This festival is held primarily to commemorate the bravery of Rajput ancestors and all three jauhars which happened at Chittorgarh Fort. A huge number of Rajputs, which include the descendants of most of the princely families, hold a procession to celebrate the Jauhar. It has also become a forum to air one's views on the current political situation in the country.

 

WIKIPEDIA

Staff Sgt. Eddie Peoples, a section sergeant assigned to the 386th Movement Control Team, 14th Transportation Battalion, 16th Sustainment Brigade, 21st Theater Sustainment Command, stationed in Vicenza, Italy, detained a suspect who had allegedly just committed a bank robbery and held him until the police arrived May 13 outside a local bank in Sarasota, Fla, while he was home visiting family on leave. Pictured here, Peoples poses for a photo while deployed in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. (U.S. Army Photo)

 

21st TSC Soldier stops bank robbery while on leave

386th MCT sergeant deemed hero by local residents in Sarasota

 

Story by Sgt. Maj. Cameron Porter, 21st TSC Public Affairs

 

KAISERSLAUTERN, Germany – A section sergeant from the 16th Sustainment Brigade, 21st Theater Sustainment Command, stationed in Vicenza, Italy, has been deemed a hero.

While visiting family members in Sarasota, Fla., on leave, Staff Sgt. Eddie Peoples from the 386th Movement Control Team, detained a suspect who had allegedly just committed a bank robbery and held him until the police arrived.

On the afternoon of May 13, Peoples and his two children stopped at a local bank in Sarasota. While he was there with his children, the suspect who has been charged with armed robbery and is being detained by local authorities, entered the bank, demanded money from bank employees and left with an undetermined amount of cash.

Peoples, who watched the whole situation transpire, said he knew he could not stand by. He had to do something.

“He waved the gun at one of my children. So after he walked out of the bank, I followed him out,” said Peoples, speaking with a local television station reporter in the parking lot of the bank after the entire ordeal.

After leaving his children with some innocent bystanders inside the bank, Peoples quickly went outside, jumped in his rental car and pulled up behind the suspect’s getaway car, blocking him in. After ramming Peoples’ car several times, the suspect jumped out of his car and approached Peoples, brandishing his weapon. Peoples remained undeterred.

“I’ve been through five deployments. I’ve fought the Muqtada militia (in Iraq), everybody you can think of, so weapons getting pointed at me, it doesn't really bother me anymore,” Peoples said. “I took the weapon away from him and put him on the ground and the rest was history.”

Peoples held the suspect down until local authorities arrived on the scene. Deputies arrested the man, and Peoples went back inside the bank to retrieve his children.

“Every time I get deployed, I always tell my children I’m going to fight the bad men. When I walked back in the bank, my oldest boy said ‘did you get the bad men?’ and I said ‘yep, I got the bad men’ and everyone applauded,” Peoples said.

“We were surprised by what happened, but not really shocked,” said Capt. Jedmund Greene, the commander of the 386th Movement Control Team, 14th Transportation Battalion, 16th Sust. Bde., 21st TSC. “Defending his kids and other people – that’s what he does on a daily basis. He’s taken an oath to protect his country, and he saw an event taking place and reacted in the interest of protecting his children and people who he didn’t even know.”

“Peoples is a great (noncommissioned officer) to work with, and he’s always at the front doing what he needs to do to take care of the troops, said Staff Sgt. Chad Mitchell, 386th MCT detachment sergeant. “Just like this situation in Florida, if there is something he feels he needs to stop and take care of, if he feels that something isn’t right, he’s going to step in.”

The Sarasota Police Department presented a commendation medal to Peoples later that day for his selfless actions in the face of danger.

 

McCrown Technologies is an embodiment of advancement and greatness. We are a way of life organization, committed to satisfying your fantasy about living in a keen home. Begun in October 2018 in Pune as a startup by Electronics graduates, we intend to turn into a main name in the home robotization industry. We are continually headed to discover approaches to live more brilliant. Home robotization framework has accomplished extraordinary fame in the most recent decade as it builds solace and personal satisfaction. Keen home computerization makes life simpler as the majority of the things can be controlled and screen the home machines utilizing various sorts of correspondence strategies. In the realm of brilliant home; you can robotize lights, light switches, lights, locks, home security sensors, life wellbeing sensors, camcorders, doorbells, speakers, and substantially more.

5 WAYS HOME AUTOMATION CAN CHANGE YOUR LIFESTYLE

 

Home mechanization is a hotly debated issue. Innovation keeps on advancing in the home robotization space, making your home more brilliant than any time in recent memory. The ascent in remote innovation and availability implies that there are more open doors presently to make a home mechanization framework. Home robotization is actually what it seems like; mechanizing the capacity to control different things over your home, for example, timekeepers, speakers, lights, doorbells, cameras, window blinds, boiling water radiators, machines, cooking utensils, and so on – with a basic push of a catch or a voice direction.

 

As we discuss the most recent innovation, IoT (Internet of Things) is the first that enters our thoughts. This new-age innovation has come up as a genuine apparatus to transform our fantasies into the real world. The scope of brilliant items keeps on developing. There are video doorbells, home security frameworks, indoor regulators, keen lights, shrewd fittings, smoke and flood locators, and even brilliant locks for the front entryway of your home. All now accessible to be constrained by keen and verify remote innovation. Home computerization is never again a dream that found a spot just in your mystery scrapbooks. It has become a reality, which we are glad to grasp.

 

In this article, we have recorded the top 5 different ways home robotization can transform you and way of life.

 

IMPROVED HOME SAFETY AND SECURITY

 

In the midst of all the fun and diversion advantages of home computerization like offering directions to keen gadgets to turn ON/OFF lights, turn on AC or open the entryway, security is one of the most significant parts of home robotization. Home computerization gives a wide scope of alternatives to make your home significantly progressively protected and secure. There are various kinds of home security frameworks accessible, for example, CCTV camera, video entryway telephones/video radio, remote home security frameworks, biometric, 360° PIR movement sensor with a light sensor (roof-mounted), thief cautions, against robbery movement sensor alert, locks, and shrouded camera. Having any of these frameworks introduced in your home will help you remotely know when there is a guest at your entryway or when thieves are attempting to break-in your home. These keen security frameworks will ensure that your assets and relatives are constantly free from any potential harm.

 

BETTER CONNECTIVITY BETWEEN SMART DEVICES

 

Regular apparatuses like a clothes washer, AC, spring, vacuum cleaner, microwave, TV, cooler have been making our everyday tasks advantageous, however, consider the possibility that we revealed to you that something could make these machines helpful as well as brilliant as well. Envision every one of these machines doing their separate occupations without you contacting them. Your one straightforward voice order will get your garments washed, your AC will be turned on before you even arrive at home, your cooler will monitor lapse dates of your palatable things, your spring will be prepared with high temp water even before you wake up, and the rundown goes on. IoT is a basic piece of home robotization, the network between different frameworks and machines over the web makes life unfathomably advantageous and magnificent! It's simply a question of one shrewd gadget that can have a significant effect.

 

CONTROL YOUR HOME REMOTELY

 

Did you neglect to turn off the lights before venturing out of the house? Goodness, you left the room AC on just to acknowledge at the air terminal registration! Or on the other hand perhaps something increasingly genuine that you doesn't know whether you turn off the gas stove? Indeed, on the off chance that you tend to overlook things each now and, at that point, you can at present unwind as home mechanization has your back. Regardless of whether it's your AC, TV, clothes washer, lights, entryway, gas or fountain, you can control everything through your cell phone regardless of whether you are miles from your home. With such keen arrangements, you can encounter an increasingly tranquil and associated living.

 

IT'S ALL ABOUT CONVENIENCE

 

Envision getting back home from work and opening your front entryway with your cell phone or unique mark as opposed to burrowing around for your keys. When you're inside, the lights please naturally, the AC has just made your room cool and your most recent most loved melodic playlist begins playing once again your speakers. To make your mornings increasingly wonderful, you have a keen espresso creator that can mix you a crisp cup when your alert goes off. Experiencing a tight work routine and not getting an opportunity to water your plants? No compelling reason to stress, as houseplants and yards can be watered by method for associated clocks. Accommodation is reclassified when you have the entirety of the regular "things" associated with the web so they can interface with insignificant to no manual intercession, in this manner, allowing us a chance to appreciate life to its fullest.

 

TURN YOUR HOME GREEN

 

Grasping home mechanization is a decent method for practicing environmental awareness or grasping the test of rationing vitality. Individuals regularly leave their lights, fans ON or neglect to put them off when they leave for work. Additionally, you ought not to leave your indoor regulator ON throughout the day basically in light of the fact that you have to discover the house warm or cool when you get back. In any case, you can set a clock and guarantee it changes the temperature similarly as you like it when you get back. Since you can control every one of your apparatuses remotely through your cell phone you can turn them ON/OFF whenever from anyplace. The decision will be yours to make. Along these lines, you will likewise save money on your month to the month power bill.

 

End

 

So put a stage forward later on and carry your home to the zenith of innovation with an expertly introduced home computerization framework. Individuals' ways of life will improve and from multiple points of view than a couple of recorded previously. So feel free to make proper acquaintance with cutting edge living.

  

Gautama Buddha, also known as Siddhārtha Gautama, Shakyamuni, or simply the Buddha, was a sage on whose teachings Buddhism was founded. He is believed to have lived and taught mostly in northeastern India sometime between the sixth and fourth centuries BCE.

 

The word Buddha means "awakened one" or "the enlightened one". "Buddha" is also used as a title for the first awakened being in a Yuga era. In most Buddhist traditions, Siddhartha Gautama is regarded as the Supreme Buddha (Pali sammāsambuddha, Sanskrit samyaksaṃbuddha) of the present age. Gautama taught a Middle Way between sensual indulgence and the severe asceticism found in the śramaṇa movement common in his region. He later taught throughout regions of eastern India such as Magadha and Kosala.

 

Gautama is the primary figure in Buddhism and accounts of his life, discourses, and monastic rules are believed by Buddhists to have been summarized after his death and memorized by his followers. Various collections of teachings attributed to him were passed down by oral tradition and first committed to writing about 400 years later.

 

CONTENTS

HISTORICAL SIDDHARTA GAUTAMA

Scholars are hesitant to make unqualified claims about the historical facts of the Buddha's life. Most accept that he lived, taught and founded a monastic order during the Mahajanapada era during the reign of Bimbisara, the ruler of the Magadha empire, and died during the early years of the reign of Ajasattu, who was the successor of Bimbisara, thus making him a younger contemporary of Mahavira, the Jain tirthankara. Apart from the Vedic Brahmins, the Buddha's lifetime coincided with the flourishing of other influential śramaṇa schools of thoughts like Ājīvika, Cārvāka, Jainism, and Ajñana. It was also the age of influential thinkers like Mahavira, Pūraṇa Kassapa , Makkhali Gosāla, Ajita Kesakambalī, Pakudha Kaccāyana, and Sañjaya Belaṭṭhaputta, whose viewpoints the Buddha most certainly must have been acquainted with and influenced by. Indeed, Sariputta and Moggallāna, two of the foremost disciples of the Buddha, were formerly the foremost disciples of Sañjaya Belaṭṭhaputta, the skeptic. There is also evidence to suggest that the two masters, Alara Kalama and Uddaka Ramaputta, were indeed historical figures and they most probably taught Buddha two different forms of meditative techniques. While the general sequence of "birth, maturity, renunciation, search, awakening and liberation, teaching, death" is widely accepted, there is less consensus on the veracity of many details contained in traditional biographies.

 

The times of Gautama's birth and death are uncertain. Most historians in the early 20th century dated his lifetime as circa 563 BCE to 483 BCE. More recently his death is dated later, between 411 and 400 BCE, while at a symposium on this question held in 1988, the majority of those who presented definite opinions gave dates within 20 years either side of 400 BCE for the Buddha's death. These alternative chronologies, however, have not yet been accepted by all historians.

 

The evidence of the early texts suggests that Siddhārtha Gautama was born into the Shakya clan, a community that was on the periphery, both geographically and culturally, of the northeastern Indian subcontinent in the 5th century BCE. It was either a small republic, in which case his father was an elected chieftain, or an oligarchy, in which case his father was an oligarch. According to the Buddhist tradition, Gautama was born in Lumbini, nowadays in modern-day Nepal, and raised in the Shakya capital of Kapilavastu, which may have been in either present day Tilaurakot, Nepal or Piprahwa, India. He obtained his enlightenment in Bodh Gaya, gave his first sermon in Sarnath, and died in Kushinagar.

 

No written records about Gautama have been found from his lifetime or some centuries thereafter. One Edict of Asoka, who reigned from circa 269 BCE to 232 BCE, commemorates the Emperor's pilgrimage to the Buddha's birthplace in Lumbini. Another one of his edicts mentions several Dhamma texts, establishing the existence of a written Buddhist tradition at least by the time of the Maurya era and which may be the precursors of the Pāli Canon. The oldest surviving Buddhist manuscripts are the Gandhāran Buddhist texts, reported to have been found in or around Haḍḍa near Jalalabad in eastern Afghanistan and now preserved in the British Library. They are written in the Gāndhārī language using the Kharosthi script on twenty-seven birch bark manuscripts and date from the first century BCE to the third century CE.

 

TRADITIONAL BIOGRAPHIES

BIOGRAPHICAL SOURCES

The sources for the life of Siddhārtha Gautama are a variety of different, and sometimes conflicting, traditional biographies. These include the Buddhacarita, Lalitavistara Sūtra, Mahāvastu, and the Nidānakathā. Of these, the Buddhacarita is the earliest full biography, an epic poem written by the poet Aśvaghoṣa, and dating around the beginning of the 2nd century CE. The Lalitavistara Sūtra is the next oldest biography, a Mahāyāna/Sarvāstivāda biography dating to the 3rd century CE. The Mahāvastu from the Mahāsāṃghika Lokottaravāda tradition is another major biography, composed incrementally until perhaps the 4th century CE. The Dharmaguptaka biography of the Buddha is the most exhaustive, and is entitled the Abhiniṣkramaṇa Sūtra, and various Chinese translations of this date between the 3rd and 6th century CE. The Nidānakathā is from the Theravada tradition in Sri Lanka and was composed in the 5th century by Buddhaghoṣa.

 

From canonical sources, the Jataka tales, the Mahapadana Sutta (DN 14), and the Achariyabhuta Sutta (MN 123) which include selective accounts that may be older, but are not full biographies. The Jātakas retell previous lives of Gautama as a bodhisattva, and the first collection of these can be dated among the earliest Buddhist texts. The Mahāpadāna Sutta and Achariyabhuta Sutta both recount miraculous events surrounding Gautama's birth, such as the bodhisattva's descent from the Tuṣita Heaven into his mother's womb.

 

NATURE OF TRADITIONAL DEPICTIONS

In the earliest Buddhists texts, the nikāyas and āgamas, the Buddha is not depicted as possessing omniscience (sabbaññu) nor is he depicted as being an eternal transcendent (lokottara) being. According to Bhikkhu Analayo, ideas of the Buddha's omniscience (along with an increasing tendency to deify him and his biography) are found only later, in the Mahayana sutras and later Pali commentaries or texts such as the Mahāvastu. In the Sandaka Sutta, the Buddha's disciple Ananda outlines an argument against the claims of teachers who say they are all knowing while in the Tevijjavacchagotta Sutta the Buddha himself states that he has never made a claim to being omniscient, instead he claimed to have the "higher knowledges" (abhijñā). The earliest biographical material from the Pali Nikayas focuses on the Buddha's life as a śramaṇa, his search for enlightenment under various teachers such as Alara Kalama and his forty five year career as a teacher.

 

Traditional biographies of Gautama generally include numerous miracles, omens, and supernatural events. The character of the Buddha in these traditional biographies is often that of a fully transcendent (Skt. lokottara) and perfected being who is unencumbered by the mundane world. In the Mahāvastu, over the course of many lives, Gautama is said to have developed supra-mundane abilities including: a painless birth conceived without intercourse; no need for sleep, food, medicine, or bathing, although engaging in such "in conformity with the world"; omniscience, and the ability to "suppress karma". Nevertheless, some of the more ordinary details of his life have been gathered from these traditional sources. In modern times there has been an attempt to form a secular understanding of Siddhārtha Gautama's life by omitting the traditional supernatural elements of his early biographies.

 

Andrew Skilton writes that the Buddha was never historically regarded by Buddhist traditions as being merely human:

It is important to stress that, despite modern Theravada teachings to the contrary (often a sop to skeptical Western pupils), he was never seen as being merely human. For instance, he is often described as having the thirty-two major and eighty minor marks or signs of a mahāpuruṣa, "superman"; the Buddha himself denied that he was either a man or a god; and in the Mahāparinibbāna Sutta he states that he could live for an aeon were he asked to do so.The ancient Indians were generally unconcerned with chronologies, being more focused on philosophy. Buddhist texts reflect this tendency, providing a clearer picture of what Gautama may have taught than of the dates of the events in his life. These texts contain descriptions of the culture and daily life of ancient India which can be corroborated from the Jain scriptures, and make the Buddha's time the earliest period in Indian history for which significant accounts exist. British author Karen Armstrong writes that although there is very little information that can be considered historically sound, we can be reasonably confident that Siddhārtha Gautama did exist as a historical figure. Michael Carrithers goes a bit further by stating that the most general outline of "birth, maturity, renunciation, search, awakening and liberation, teaching, death" must be true.

 

BIOGRAPHY

CONCEPTION AND BIRTH

The Buddhist tradition regards Lumbini, in present-day Nepal to be the birthplace of the Buddha. He grew up in Kapilavastu. The exact site of ancient Kapilavastu is unknown. It may have been either Piprahwa, Uttar Pradesh, present-day India, or Tilaurakot, present-day Nepal. Both places belonged to the Sakya territory, and are located only 15 miles apart from each other.

 

Gautama was born as a Kshatriya, the son of Śuddhodana, "an elected chief of the Shakya clan", whose capital was Kapilavastu, and who were later annexed by the growing Kingdom of Kosala during the Buddha's lifetime. Gautama was the family name. His mother, Maya (Māyādevī), Suddhodana's wife, was a Koliyan princess. Legend has it that, on the night Siddhartha was conceived, Queen Maya dreamt that a white elephant with six white tusks entered her right side, and ten months later Siddhartha was born. As was the Shakya tradition, when his mother Queen Maya became pregnant, she left Kapilvastu for her father's kingdom to give birth. However, her son is said to have been born on the way, at Lumbini, in a garden beneath a sal tree.

 

The day of the Buddha's birth is widely celebrated in Theravada countries as Vesak. Buddha's Birthday is called Buddha Purnima in Nepal and India as he is believed to have been born on a full moon day. Various sources hold that the Buddha's mother died at his birth, a few days or seven days later. The infant was given the name Siddhartha (Pāli: Siddhattha), meaning "he who achieves his aim". During the birth celebrations, the hermit seer Asita journeyed from his mountain abode and announced that the child would either become a great king (chakravartin) or a great sadhu. By traditional account, this occurred after Siddhartha placed his feet in Asita's hair and Asita examined the birthmarks. Suddhodana held a naming ceremony on the fifth day, and invited eight Brahmin scholars to read the future. All gave a dual prediction that the baby would either become a great king or a great holy man. Kondañña, the youngest, and later to be the first arhat other than the Buddha, was reputed to be the only one who unequivocally predicted that Siddhartha would become a Buddha.

 

While later tradition and legend characterized Śuddhodana as a hereditary monarch, the descendant of the Suryavansha (Solar dynasty) of Ikṣvāku (Pāli: Okkāka), many scholars think that Śuddhodana was the elected chief of a tribal confederacy.

 

Early texts suggest that Gautama was not familiar with the dominant religious teachings of his time until he left on his religious quest, which is said to have been motivated by existential concern for the human condition. The state of the Shakya clan was not a monarchy, and seems to have been structured either as an oligarchy, or as a form of republic. The more egalitarian gana-sangha form of government, as a political alternative to the strongly hierarchical kingdoms, may have influenced the development of the śramanic Jain and Buddhist sanghas, where monarchies tended toward Vedic Brahmanism.

 

EARLY LIFE AND MARRIAGE

Siddhartha was brought up by his mother's younger sister, Maha Pajapati. By tradition, he is said to have been destined by birth to the life of a prince, and had three palaces (for seasonal occupation) built for him. Although more recent scholarship doubts this status, his father, said to be King Śuddhodana, wishing for his son to be a great king, is said to have shielded him from religious teachings and from knowledge of human suffering.

 

When he reached the age of 16, his father reputedly arranged his marriage to a cousin of the same age named Yaśodharā (Pāli: Yasodharā). According to the traditional account, she gave birth to a son, named Rāhula. Siddhartha is said to have spent 29 years as a prince in Kapilavastu. Although his father ensured that Siddhartha was provided with everything he could want or need, Buddhist scriptures say that the future Buddha felt that material wealth was not life's ultimate goal.

 

RENUNCIATION AND ASCETIC LIFE

At the age of 29, the popular biography continues, Siddhartha left his palace to meet his subjects. Despite his father's efforts to hide from him the sick, aged and suffering, Siddhartha was said to have seen an old man. When his charioteer Channa explained to him that all people grew old, the prince went on further trips beyond the palace. On these he encountered a diseased man, a decaying corpse, and an ascetic. These depressed him, and he initially strove to overcome aging, sickness, and death by living the life of an ascetic.

 

Accompanied by Channa and riding his horse Kanthaka, Gautama quit his palace for the life of a mendicant. It's said that, "the horse's hooves were muffled by the gods" to prevent guards from knowing of his departure.

 

Gautama initially went to Rajagaha and began his ascetic life by begging for alms in the street. After King Bimbisara's men recognised Siddhartha and the king learned of his quest, Bimbisara offered Siddhartha the throne. Siddhartha rejected the offer, but promised to visit his kingdom of Magadha first, upon attaining enlightenment.

 

He left Rajagaha and practised under two hermit teachers of yogic meditation. After mastering the teachings of Alara Kalama (Skr. Ārāḍa Kālāma), he was asked by Kalama to succeed him. However, Gautama felt unsatisfied by the practice, and moved on to become a student of yoga with Udaka Ramaputta (Skr. Udraka Rāmaputra). With him he achieved high levels of meditative consciousness, and was again asked to succeed his teacher. But, once more, he was not satisfied, and again moved on.

 

Siddhartha and a group of five companions led by Kaundinya are then said to have set out to take their austerities even further. They tried to find enlightenment through deprivation of worldly goods, including food, practising self-mortification. After nearly starving himself to death by restricting his food intake to around a leaf or nut per day, he collapsed in a river while bathing and almost drowned. Siddhartha was rescued by a village girl named Sujata and she gave him some payasam (a pudding made from milk and jaggery) after which Siddhartha got back some energy. Siddhartha began to reconsider his path. Then, he remembered a moment in childhood in which he had been watching his father start the season's ploughing. He attained a concentrated and focused state that was blissful and refreshing, the jhāna.

 

AWAKENING

According to the early Buddhist texts, after realizing that meditative dhyana was the right path to awakening, but that extreme asceticism didn't work, Gautama discovered what Buddhists call the Middle Way - a path of moderation away from the extremes of self-indulgence and self-mortification, or the Noble Eightfold Path, as was identified and described by the Buddha in his first discourse, the Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta. In a famous incident, after becoming starved and weakened, he is said to have accepted milk and rice pudding from a village girl named Sujata. Such was his emaciated appearance that she wrongly believed him to be a spirit that had granted her a wish.

 

Following this incident, Gautama was famously seated under a pipal tree - now known as the Bodhi tree - in Bodh Gaya, India, when he vowed never to arise until he had found the truth. Kaundinya and four other companions, believing that he had abandoned his search and become undisciplined, left. After a reputed 49 days of meditation, at the age of 35, he is said to have attained Enlightenment. According to some traditions, this occurred in approximately the fifth lunar month, while, according to others, it was in the twelfth month. From that time, Gautama was known to his followers as the Buddha or "Awakened One" ("Buddha" is also sometimes translated as "The Enlightened One").

 

According to Buddhism, at the time of his awakening he realized complete insight into the cause of suffering, and the steps necessary to eliminate it. These discoveries became known as the "Four Noble Truths", which are at the heart of Buddhist teaching. Through mastery of these truths, a state of supreme liberation, or Nirvana, is believed to be possible for any being. The Buddha described Nirvāna as the perfect peace of a mind that's free from ignorance, greed, hatred and other afflictive states, or "defilements" (kilesas). Nirvana is also regarded as the "end of the world", in that no personal identity or boundaries of the mind remain. In such a state, a being is said to possess the Ten Characteristics, belonging to every Buddha.

 

According to a story in the Āyācana Sutta (Samyutta Nikaya VI.1) - a scripture found in the Pāli and other canons - immediately after his awakening, the Buddha debated whether or not he should teach the Dharma to others. He was concerned that humans were so overpowered by ignorance, greed and hatred that they could never recognise the path, which is subtle, deep and hard to grasp. However, in the story, Brahmā Sahampati convinced him, arguing that at least some will understand it. The Buddha relented, and agreed to teach.

 

FORMATION OF THE SANGHA

After his awakening, the Buddha met Taphussa and Bhallika — two merchant brothers from the city of Balkh in what is currently Afghanistan - who became his first lay disciples. It is said that each was given hairs from his head, which are now claimed to be enshrined as relics in the Shwe Dagon Temple in Rangoon, Burma. The Buddha intended to visit Asita, and his former teachers, Alara Kalama and Udaka Ramaputta, to explain his findings, but they had already died.

 

He then travelled to the Deer Park near Varanasi (Benares) in northern India, where he set in motion what Buddhists call the Wheel of Dharma by delivering his first sermon to the five companions with whom he had sought enlightenment. Together with him, they formed the first saṅgha: the company of Buddhist monks.

 

All five become arahants, and within the first two months, with the conversion of Yasa and fifty four of his friends, the number of such arahants is said to have grown to 60. The conversion of three brothers named Kassapa followed, with their reputed 200, 300 and 500 disciples, respectively. This swelled the sangha to more than 1,000.

 

TRAVELS AND TEACHING

For the remaining 45 years of his life, the Buddha is said to have traveled in the Gangetic Plain, in what is now Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and southern Nepal, teaching a diverse range of people: from nobles to servants, murderers such as Angulimala, and cannibals such as Alavaka. Although the Buddha's language remains unknown, it's likely that he taught in one or more of a variety of closely related Middle Indo-Aryan dialects, of which Pali may be a standardization.

 

The sangha traveled through the subcontinent, expounding the dharma. This continued throughout the year, except during the four months of the Vāsanā rainy season when ascetics of all religions rarely traveled. One reason was that it was more difficult to do so without causing harm to animal life. At this time of year, the sangha would retreat to monasteries, public parks or forests, where people would come to them.

 

The first vassana was spent at Varanasi when the sangha was formed. After this, the Buddha kept a promise to travel to Rajagaha, capital of Magadha, to visit King Bimbisara. During this visit, Sariputta and Maudgalyayana were converted by Assaji, one of the first five disciples, after which they were to become the Buddha's two foremost followers. The Buddha spent the next three seasons at Veluvana Bamboo Grove monastery in Rajagaha, capital of Magadha.

 

Upon hearing of his son's awakening, Suddhodana sent, over a period, ten delegations to ask him to return to Kapilavastu. On the first nine occasions, the delegates failed to deliver the message, and instead joined the sangha to become arahants. The tenth delegation, led by Kaludayi, a childhood friend of Gautama's (who also became an arahant), however, delivered the message.

 

Now two years after his awakening, the Buddha agreed to return, and made a two-month journey by foot to Kapilavastu, teaching the dharma as he went. At his return, the royal palace prepared a midday meal, but the sangha was making an alms round in Kapilavastu. Hearing this, Suddhodana approached his son, the Buddha, saying:

 

"Ours is the warrior lineage of Mahamassata, and not a single warrior has gone seeking alms."

 

The Buddha is said to have replied:

 

"That is not the custom of your royal lineage. But it is the custom of my Buddha lineage. Several thousands of Buddhas have gone by seeking alms."

 

Buddhist texts say that Suddhodana invited the sangha into the palace for the meal, followed by a dharma talk. After this he is said to have become a sotapanna. During the visit, many members of the royal family joined the sangha. The Buddha's cousins Ananda and Anuruddha became two of his five chief disciples. At the age of seven, his son Rahula also joined, and became one of his ten chief disciples. His half-brother Nanda also joined and became an arahant.

 

Of the Buddha's disciples, Sariputta, Maudgalyayana, Mahakasyapa, Ananda and Anuruddha are believed to have been the five closest to him. His ten foremost disciples were reputedly completed by the quintet of Upali, Subhoti, Rahula, Mahakaccana and Punna.

 

In the fifth vassana, the Buddha was staying at Mahavana near Vesali when he heard news of the impending death of his father. He is said to have gone to Suddhodana and taught the dharma, after which his father became an arahant.The king's death and cremation was to inspire the creation of an order of nuns. Buddhist texts record that the Buddha was reluctant to ordain women. His foster mother Maha Pajapati, for example, approached him, asking to join the sangha, but he refused. Maha Pajapati, however, was so intent on the path of awakening that she led a group of royal Sakyan and Koliyan ladies, which followed the sangha on a long journey to Rajagaha. In time, after Ananda championed their cause, the Buddha is said to have reconsidered and, five years after the formation of the sangha, agreed to the ordination of women as nuns. He reasoned that males and females had an equal capacity for awakening. But he gave women additional rules (Vinaya) to follow.

 

MAHAPARINIRVANA

According to the Mahaparinibbana Sutta of the Pali canon, at the age of 80, the Buddha announced that he would soon reach Parinirvana, or the final deathless state, and abandon his earthly body. After this, the Buddha ate his last meal, which he had received as an offering from a blacksmith named Cunda. Falling violently ill, Buddha instructed his attendant Ānanda to convince Cunda that the meal eaten at his place had nothing to do with his passing and that his meal would be a source of the greatest merit as it provided the last meal for a Buddha. Mettanando and Von Hinüber argue that the Buddha died of mesenteric infarction, a symptom of old age, rather than food poisoning. The precise contents of the Buddha's final meal are not clear, due to variant scriptural traditions and ambiguity over the translation of certain significant terms; the Theravada tradition generally believes that the Buddha was offered some kind of pork, while the Mahayana tradition believes that the Buddha consumed some sort of truffle or other mushroom. These may reflect the different traditional views on Buddhist vegetarianism and the precepts for monks and nuns.

 

Waley suggests that Theravadin's would take suukaramaddava (the contents of the Buddha's last meal), which can translate as pig-soft, to mean soft flesh of a pig. However, he also states that pig-soft could mean "pig's soft-food", that is, after Neumann, a soft food favoured by pigs, assumed to be a truffle. He argues (also after Neumann) that as Pali Buddhism was developed in an area remote to the Buddha's death, the existence of other plants with suukara- (pig) as part of their names and that "(p)lant names tend to be local and dialectical" could easily indicate that suukaramaddava was a type of plant whose local name was unknown to those in the Pali regions. Specifically, local writers knew more about their flora than Theravadin commentator Buddhaghosa who lived hundreds of years and kilometres remote in time and space from the events described. Unaware of an alternate meaning and with no Theravadin prohibition against eating animal flesh, Theravadins would not have questioned the Buddha eating meat and interpreted the term accordingly.

 

Ananda protested the Buddha's decision to enter Parinirvana in the abandoned jungles of Kuśināra (present-day Kushinagar, India) of the Malla kingdom. The Buddha, however, is said to have reminded Ananda how Kushinara was a land once ruled by a righteous wheel-turning king that resounded with joy:

 

44. Kusavati, Ananda, resounded unceasingly day and night with ten sounds - the trumpeting of elephants, the neighing of horses, the rattling of chariots, the beating of drums and tabours, music and song, cheers, the clapping of hands, and cries of "Eat, drink, and be merry!"

 

The Buddha then asked all the attendant Bhikkhus to clarify any doubts or questions they had. They had none. According to Buddhist scriptures, he then finally entered Parinirvana. The Buddha's final words are reported to have been: "All composite things (Saṅkhāra) are perishable. Strive for your own liberation with diligence" (Pali: 'vayadhammā saṅkhārā appamādena sampādethā'). His body was cremated and the relics were placed in monuments or stupas, some of which are believed to have survived until the present. For example, The Temple of the Tooth or "Dalada Maligawa" in Sri Lanka is the place where what some believe to be the relic of the right tooth of Buddha is kept at present.

 

According to the Pāli historical chronicles of Sri Lanka, the Dīpavaṃsa and Mahāvaṃsa, the coronation of Emperor Aśoka (Pāli: Asoka) is 218 years after the death of the Buddha. According to two textual records in Chinese (十八部論 and 部執異論), the coronation of Emperor Aśoka is 116 years after the death of the Buddha. Therefore, the time of Buddha's passing is either 486 BCE according to Theravāda record or 383 BCE according to Mahayana record. However, the actual date traditionally accepted as the date of the Buddha's death in Theravāda countries is 544 or 545 BCE, because the reign of Emperor Aśoka was traditionally reckoned to be about 60 years earlier than current estimates. In Burmese Buddhist tradition, the date of the Buddha's death is 13 May 544 BCE. whereas in Thai tradition it is 11 March 545 BCE.

 

At his death, the Buddha is famously believed to have told his disciples to follow no leader. Mahakasyapa was chosen by the sangha to be the chairman of the First Buddhist Council, with the two chief disciples Maudgalyayana and Sariputta having died before the Buddha.

 

While in the Buddha's days he was addressed by the very respected titles Buddha, Shākyamuni, Shākyasimha, Bhante and Bho, he was known after his parinirvana as Arihant, Bhagavā/Bhagavat/Bhagwān, Mahāvira, Jina/Jinendra, Sāstr, Sugata, and most popularly in scriptures as Tathāgata.

 

BUDDHA AND VEDAS

Buddha's teachings deny the authority of the Vedas and consequently [at least atheistic] Buddhism is generally viewed as a nāstika school (heterodox, literally "It is not so") from the perspective of orthodox Hinduism.

 

RELICS

After his death, Buddha's cremation relics were divided amongst 8 royal families and his disciples; centuries later they would be enshrined by King Ashoka into 84,000 stupas. Many supernatural legends surround the history of alleged relics as they accompanied the spread of Buddhism and gave legitimacy to rulers.

 

PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS

An extensive and colorful physical description of the Buddha has been laid down in scriptures. A kshatriya by birth, he had military training in his upbringing, and by Shakyan tradition was required to pass tests to demonstrate his worthiness as a warrior in order to marry. He had a strong enough body to be noticed by one of the kings and was asked to join his army as a general. He is also believed by Buddhists to have "the 32 Signs of the Great Man".

 

The Brahmin Sonadanda described him as "handsome, good-looking, and pleasing to the eye, with a most beautiful complexion. He has a godlike form and countenance, he is by no means unattractive." (D, I:115)

 

"It is wonderful, truly marvellous, how serene is the good Gotama's appearance, how clear and radiant his complexion, just as the golden jujube in autumn is clear and radiant, just as a palm-tree fruit just loosened from the stalk is clear and radiant, just as an adornment of red gold wrought in a crucible by a skilled goldsmith, deftly beaten and laid on a yellow-cloth shines, blazes and glitters, even so, the good Gotama's senses are calmed, his complexion is clear and radiant." (A, I:181)

 

A disciple named Vakkali, who later became an arahant, was so obsessed by the Buddha's physical presence that the Buddha is said to have felt impelled to tell him to desist, and to have reminded him that he should know the Buddha through the Dhamma and not through physical appearances.

 

Although there are no extant representations of the Buddha in human form until around the 1st century CE (see Buddhist art), descriptions of the physical characteristics of fully enlightened buddhas are attributed to the Buddha in the Digha Nikaya's Lakkhaṇa Sutta (D, I:142). In addition, the Buddha's physical appearance is described by Yasodhara to their son Rahula upon the Buddha's first post-Enlightenment return to his former princely palace in the non-canonical Pali devotional hymn, Narasīha Gāthā ("The Lion of Men").

 

Among the 32 main characteristics it is mentioned that Buddha has blue eyes.

 

NINE VIRTUES

Recollection of nine virtues attributed to the Buddha is a common Buddhist meditation and devotional practice called Buddhānusmṛti. The nine virtues are also among the 40 Buddhist meditation subjects. The nine virtues of the Buddha appear throughout the Tipitaka, and include:

 

- Buddho – Awakened

- Sammasambuddho – Perfectly self-awakened

- Vijja-carana-sampano – Endowed with higher knowledge and ideal conduct.

- Sugato – Well-gone or Well-spoken.

- Lokavidu – Wise in the knowledge of the many worlds.

- Anuttaro Purisa-damma-sarathi – Unexcelled trainer of untrained people.

- Satthadeva-Manussanam – Teacher of gods and humans.

- Bhagavathi – The Blessed one

- Araham – Worthy of homage. An Arahant is "one with taints destroyed, who has lived the holy life, done what had to be done, laid down the burden, reached the true goal, destroyed the fetters of being, and is completely liberated through final knowledge."

 

TEACHINGS

TRACING THE OLDEST TEACHINGS

Information of the oldest teachings may be obtained by analysis of the oldest texts. One method to obtain information on the oldest core of Buddhism is to compare the oldest extant versions of the Theravadin Pali Canon and other texts. The reliability of these sources, and the possibility to draw out a core of oldest teachings, is a matter of dispute. According to Vetter, inconsistencies remain, and other methods must be applied to resolve those inconsistencies.

 

According to Schmithausen, three positions held by scholars of Buddhism can be distinguished:

 

"Stress on the fundamental homogeneity and substantial authenticity of at least a considerable part of the Nikayic materials;"

"Scepticism with regard to the possibility of retrieving the doctrine of earliest Buddhism;"

"Cautious optimism in this respect."

 

DHYANA AND INSIGHT

A core problem in the study of early Buddhism is the relation between dhyana and insight. Schmithausen, in his often-cited article On some Aspects of Descriptions or Theories of 'Liberating Insight' and 'Enlightenment' in Early Buddhism notes that the mention of the four noble truths as constituting "liberating insight", which is attained after mastering the Rupa Jhanas, is a later addition to texts such as Majjhima Nikaya 36

 

CORE TEACHINGS

According to Tilmann Vetter, the core of earliest Buddhism is the practice of dhyāna. Bronkhorst agrees that dhyana was a Buddhist invention, whereas Norman notes that "the Buddha's way to release [...] was by means of meditative practices." Discriminating insight into transiency as a separate path to liberation was a later development.

 

According to the Mahāsaccakasutta, from the fourth jhana the Buddha gained bodhi. Yet, it is not clear what he was awakened to. "Liberating insight" is a later addition to this text, and reflects a later development and understanding in early Buddhism. The mentioning of the four truths as constituting "liberating insight" introduces a logical problem, since the four truths depict a linear path of practice, the knowledge of which is in itself not depicted as being liberating:

 

[T]hey do not teach that one is released by knowing the four noble truths, but by practicing the fourth noble truth, the eightfold path, which culminates in right samadhi.

 

Although "Nibbāna" (Sanskrit: Nirvāna) is the common term for the desired goal of this practice, many other terms can be found throughout the Nikayas, which are not specified.

 

According to Vetter, the description of the Buddhist path may initially have been as simple as the term "the middle way". In time, this short description was elaborated, resulting in the description of the eightfold path.

 

According to both Bronkhorst and Anderson, the four truths became a substitution for prajna, or "liberating insight", in the suttas in those texts where "liberating insight" was preceded by the four jhanas. According to Bronkhorst, the four truths may not have been formulated in earliest Buddhism, and did not serve in earliest Buddhism as a description of "liberating insight". Gotama's teachings may have been personal, "adjusted to the need of each person."

 

The three marks of existence may reflect Upanishadic or other influences. K.R. Norman supposes that these terms were already in use at the Buddha's time, and were familiar to his listeners.

 

The Brahma-vihara was in origin probably a brahmanic term; but its usage may have been common to the Sramana traditions.

  

LATER DEVELOPMENTS

In time, "liberating insight" became an essential feature of the Buddhist tradition. The following teachings, which are commonly seen as essential to Buddhism, are later formulations which form part of the explanatory framework of this "liberating insight":

 

- The Four Noble Truths: that suffering is an ingrained part of existence; that the origin of suffering is craving for sensuality, acquisition of identity, and fear of annihilation; that suffering can be ended; and that following the Noble Eightfold Path is the means to accomplish this;

- The Noble Eightfold Path: right view, right intention, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, and right concentration;

- Dependent origination: the mind creates suffering as a natural product of a complex process.

 

OTHER RELIGIONS

Some Hindus regard Gautama as the 9th avatar of Vishnu. The Buddha is also regarded as a prophet by the Ahmadiyya Muslims and a Manifestation of God in the Bahá'í Faith. Some early Chinese Taoist-Buddhists thought the Buddha to be a reincarnation of Lao Tzu.

 

The Christian Saint Josaphat is based on the Buddha. The name comes from the Sanskrit Bodhisattva via Arabic Būdhasaf and Georgian Iodasaph. The only story in which St. Josaphat appears, Barlaam and Josaphat, is based on the life of the Buddha. Josaphat was included in earlier editions of the Roman Martyrology (feast day 27 November) — though not in the Roman Missal — and in the Eastern Orthodox Church liturgical calendar (26 August).

 

Disciples of the Cao Đài religion worship the Buddha as a major religious teacher. His image can be found in both their Holy See and on the home altar. He is revealed during communication with Divine Beings as son of their Supreme Being (God the Father) together with other major religious teachers and founders like Jesus, Laozi, and Confucius.

 

In the ancient Gnostic sect of Manichaeism the Buddha is listed among the prophets who preached the word of God before Mani.

 

WIKIPEDIA

Gautama Buddha, also known as Siddhārtha Gautama, Shakyamuni, or simply the Buddha, was a sage on whose teachings Buddhism was founded. He is believed to have lived and taught mostly in northeastern India sometime between the sixth and fourth centuries BCE.

 

The word Buddha means "awakened one" or "the enlightened one". "Buddha" is also used as a title for the first awakened being in a Yuga era. In most Buddhist traditions, Siddhartha Gautama is regarded as the Supreme Buddha (Pali sammāsambuddha, Sanskrit samyaksaṃbuddha) of the present age. Gautama taught a Middle Way between sensual indulgence and the severe asceticism found in the śramaṇa movement common in his region. He later taught throughout regions of eastern India such as Magadha and Kosala.

 

Gautama is the primary figure in Buddhism and accounts of his life, discourses, and monastic rules are believed by Buddhists to have been summarized after his death and memorized by his followers. Various collections of teachings attributed to him were passed down by oral tradition and first committed to writing about 400 years later.

 

CONTENTS

HISTORICAL SIDDHARTA GAUTAMA

Scholars are hesitant to make unqualified claims about the historical facts of the Buddha's life. Most accept that he lived, taught and founded a monastic order during the Mahajanapada era during the reign of Bimbisara, the ruler of the Magadha empire, and died during the early years of the reign of Ajasattu, who was the successor of Bimbisara, thus making him a younger contemporary of Mahavira, the Jain tirthankara. Apart from the Vedic Brahmins, the Buddha's lifetime coincided with the flourishing of other influential śramaṇa schools of thoughts like Ājīvika, Cārvāka, Jainism, and Ajñana. It was also the age of influential thinkers like Mahavira, Pūraṇa Kassapa , Makkhali Gosāla, Ajita Kesakambalī, Pakudha Kaccāyana, and Sañjaya Belaṭṭhaputta, whose viewpoints the Buddha most certainly must have been acquainted with and influenced by. Indeed, Sariputta and Moggallāna, two of the foremost disciples of the Buddha, were formerly the foremost disciples of Sañjaya Belaṭṭhaputta, the skeptic. There is also evidence to suggest that the two masters, Alara Kalama and Uddaka Ramaputta, were indeed historical figures and they most probably taught Buddha two different forms of meditative techniques. While the general sequence of "birth, maturity, renunciation, search, awakening and liberation, teaching, death" is widely accepted, there is less consensus on the veracity of many details contained in traditional biographies.

 

The times of Gautama's birth and death are uncertain. Most historians in the early 20th century dated his lifetime as circa 563 BCE to 483 BCE. More recently his death is dated later, between 411 and 400 BCE, while at a symposium on this question held in 1988, the majority of those who presented definite opinions gave dates within 20 years either side of 400 BCE for the Buddha's death. These alternative chronologies, however, have not yet been accepted by all historians.

 

The evidence of the early texts suggests that Siddhārtha Gautama was born into the Shakya clan, a community that was on the periphery, both geographically and culturally, of the northeastern Indian subcontinent in the 5th century BCE. It was either a small republic, in which case his father was an elected chieftain, or an oligarchy, in which case his father was an oligarch. According to the Buddhist tradition, Gautama was born in Lumbini, nowadays in modern-day Nepal, and raised in the Shakya capital of Kapilavastu, which may have been in either present day Tilaurakot, Nepal or Piprahwa, India. He obtained his enlightenment in Bodh Gaya, gave his first sermon in Sarnath, and died in Kushinagar.

 

No written records about Gautama have been found from his lifetime or some centuries thereafter. One Edict of Asoka, who reigned from circa 269 BCE to 232 BCE, commemorates the Emperor's pilgrimage to the Buddha's birthplace in Lumbini. Another one of his edicts mentions several Dhamma texts, establishing the existence of a written Buddhist tradition at least by the time of the Maurya era and which may be the precursors of the Pāli Canon. The oldest surviving Buddhist manuscripts are the Gandhāran Buddhist texts, reported to have been found in or around Haḍḍa near Jalalabad in eastern Afghanistan and now preserved in the British Library. They are written in the Gāndhārī language using the Kharosthi script on twenty-seven birch bark manuscripts and date from the first century BCE to the third century CE.

 

TRADITIONAL BIOGRAPHIES

BIOGRAPHICAL SOURCES

The sources for the life of Siddhārtha Gautama are a variety of different, and sometimes conflicting, traditional biographies. These include the Buddhacarita, Lalitavistara Sūtra, Mahāvastu, and the Nidānakathā. Of these, the Buddhacarita is the earliest full biography, an epic poem written by the poet Aśvaghoṣa, and dating around the beginning of the 2nd century CE. The Lalitavistara Sūtra is the next oldest biography, a Mahāyāna/Sarvāstivāda biography dating to the 3rd century CE. The Mahāvastu from the Mahāsāṃghika Lokottaravāda tradition is another major biography, composed incrementally until perhaps the 4th century CE. The Dharmaguptaka biography of the Buddha is the most exhaustive, and is entitled the Abhiniṣkramaṇa Sūtra, and various Chinese translations of this date between the 3rd and 6th century CE. The Nidānakathā is from the Theravada tradition in Sri Lanka and was composed in the 5th century by Buddhaghoṣa.

 

From canonical sources, the Jataka tales, the Mahapadana Sutta (DN 14), and the Achariyabhuta Sutta (MN 123) which include selective accounts that may be older, but are not full biographies. The Jātakas retell previous lives of Gautama as a bodhisattva, and the first collection of these can be dated among the earliest Buddhist texts. The Mahāpadāna Sutta and Achariyabhuta Sutta both recount miraculous events surrounding Gautama's birth, such as the bodhisattva's descent from the Tuṣita Heaven into his mother's womb.

 

NATURE OF TRADITIONAL DEPICTIONS

In the earliest Buddhists texts, the nikāyas and āgamas, the Buddha is not depicted as possessing omniscience (sabbaññu) nor is he depicted as being an eternal transcendent (lokottara) being. According to Bhikkhu Analayo, ideas of the Buddha's omniscience (along with an increasing tendency to deify him and his biography) are found only later, in the Mahayana sutras and later Pali commentaries or texts such as the Mahāvastu. In the Sandaka Sutta, the Buddha's disciple Ananda outlines an argument against the claims of teachers who say they are all knowing while in the Tevijjavacchagotta Sutta the Buddha himself states that he has never made a claim to being omniscient, instead he claimed to have the "higher knowledges" (abhijñā). The earliest biographical material from the Pali Nikayas focuses on the Buddha's life as a śramaṇa, his search for enlightenment under various teachers such as Alara Kalama and his forty five year career as a teacher.

 

Traditional biographies of Gautama generally include numerous miracles, omens, and supernatural events. The character of the Buddha in these traditional biographies is often that of a fully transcendent (Skt. lokottara) and perfected being who is unencumbered by the mundane world. In the Mahāvastu, over the course of many lives, Gautama is said to have developed supra-mundane abilities including: a painless birth conceived without intercourse; no need for sleep, food, medicine, or bathing, although engaging in such "in conformity with the world"; omniscience, and the ability to "suppress karma". Nevertheless, some of the more ordinary details of his life have been gathered from these traditional sources. In modern times there has been an attempt to form a secular understanding of Siddhārtha Gautama's life by omitting the traditional supernatural elements of his early biographies.

 

Andrew Skilton writes that the Buddha was never historically regarded by Buddhist traditions as being merely human:

It is important to stress that, despite modern Theravada teachings to the contrary (often a sop to skeptical Western pupils), he was never seen as being merely human. For instance, he is often described as having the thirty-two major and eighty minor marks or signs of a mahāpuruṣa, "superman"; the Buddha himself denied that he was either a man or a god; and in the Mahāparinibbāna Sutta he states that he could live for an aeon were he asked to do so.The ancient Indians were generally unconcerned with chronologies, being more focused on philosophy. Buddhist texts reflect this tendency, providing a clearer picture of what Gautama may have taught than of the dates of the events in his life. These texts contain descriptions of the culture and daily life of ancient India which can be corroborated from the Jain scriptures, and make the Buddha's time the earliest period in Indian history for which significant accounts exist. British author Karen Armstrong writes that although there is very little information that can be considered historically sound, we can be reasonably confident that Siddhārtha Gautama did exist as a historical figure. Michael Carrithers goes a bit further by stating that the most general outline of "birth, maturity, renunciation, search, awakening and liberation, teaching, death" must be true.

 

BIOGRAPHY

CONCEPTION AND BIRTH

The Buddhist tradition regards Lumbini, in present-day Nepal to be the birthplace of the Buddha. He grew up in Kapilavastu. The exact site of ancient Kapilavastu is unknown. It may have been either Piprahwa, Uttar Pradesh, present-day India, or Tilaurakot, present-day Nepal. Both places belonged to the Sakya territory, and are located only 15 miles apart from each other.

 

Gautama was born as a Kshatriya, the son of Śuddhodana, "an elected chief of the Shakya clan", whose capital was Kapilavastu, and who were later annexed by the growing Kingdom of Kosala during the Buddha's lifetime. Gautama was the family name. His mother, Maya (Māyādevī), Suddhodana's wife, was a Koliyan princess. Legend has it that, on the night Siddhartha was conceived, Queen Maya dreamt that a white elephant with six white tusks entered her right side, and ten months later Siddhartha was born. As was the Shakya tradition, when his mother Queen Maya became pregnant, she left Kapilvastu for her father's kingdom to give birth. However, her son is said to have been born on the way, at Lumbini, in a garden beneath a sal tree.

 

The day of the Buddha's birth is widely celebrated in Theravada countries as Vesak. Buddha's Birthday is called Buddha Purnima in Nepal and India as he is believed to have been born on a full moon day. Various sources hold that the Buddha's mother died at his birth, a few days or seven days later. The infant was given the name Siddhartha (Pāli: Siddhattha), meaning "he who achieves his aim". During the birth celebrations, the hermit seer Asita journeyed from his mountain abode and announced that the child would either become a great king (chakravartin) or a great sadhu. By traditional account, this occurred after Siddhartha placed his feet in Asita's hair and Asita examined the birthmarks. Suddhodana held a naming ceremony on the fifth day, and invited eight Brahmin scholars to read the future. All gave a dual prediction that the baby would either become a great king or a great holy man. Kondañña, the youngest, and later to be the first arhat other than the Buddha, was reputed to be the only one who unequivocally predicted that Siddhartha would become a Buddha.

 

While later tradition and legend characterized Śuddhodana as a hereditary monarch, the descendant of the Suryavansha (Solar dynasty) of Ikṣvāku (Pāli: Okkāka), many scholars think that Śuddhodana was the elected chief of a tribal confederacy.

 

Early texts suggest that Gautama was not familiar with the dominant religious teachings of his time until he left on his religious quest, which is said to have been motivated by existential concern for the human condition. The state of the Shakya clan was not a monarchy, and seems to have been structured either as an oligarchy, or as a form of republic. The more egalitarian gana-sangha form of government, as a political alternative to the strongly hierarchical kingdoms, may have influenced the development of the śramanic Jain and Buddhist sanghas, where monarchies tended toward Vedic Brahmanism.

 

EARLY LIFE AND MARRIAGE

Siddhartha was brought up by his mother's younger sister, Maha Pajapati. By tradition, he is said to have been destined by birth to the life of a prince, and had three palaces (for seasonal occupation) built for him. Although more recent scholarship doubts this status, his father, said to be King Śuddhodana, wishing for his son to be a great king, is said to have shielded him from religious teachings and from knowledge of human suffering.

 

When he reached the age of 16, his father reputedly arranged his marriage to a cousin of the same age named Yaśodharā (Pāli: Yasodharā). According to the traditional account, she gave birth to a son, named Rāhula. Siddhartha is said to have spent 29 years as a prince in Kapilavastu. Although his father ensured that Siddhartha was provided with everything he could want or need, Buddhist scriptures say that the future Buddha felt that material wealth was not life's ultimate goal.

 

RENUNCIATION AND ASCETIC LIFE

At the age of 29, the popular biography continues, Siddhartha left his palace to meet his subjects. Despite his father's efforts to hide from him the sick, aged and suffering, Siddhartha was said to have seen an old man. When his charioteer Channa explained to him that all people grew old, the prince went on further trips beyond the palace. On these he encountered a diseased man, a decaying corpse, and an ascetic. These depressed him, and he initially strove to overcome aging, sickness, and death by living the life of an ascetic.

 

Accompanied by Channa and riding his horse Kanthaka, Gautama quit his palace for the life of a mendicant. It's said that, "the horse's hooves were muffled by the gods" to prevent guards from knowing of his departure.

 

Gautama initially went to Rajagaha and began his ascetic life by begging for alms in the street. After King Bimbisara's men recognised Siddhartha and the king learned of his quest, Bimbisara offered Siddhartha the throne. Siddhartha rejected the offer, but promised to visit his kingdom of Magadha first, upon attaining enlightenment.

 

He left Rajagaha and practised under two hermit teachers of yogic meditation. After mastering the teachings of Alara Kalama (Skr. Ārāḍa Kālāma), he was asked by Kalama to succeed him. However, Gautama felt unsatisfied by the practice, and moved on to become a student of yoga with Udaka Ramaputta (Skr. Udraka Rāmaputra). With him he achieved high levels of meditative consciousness, and was again asked to succeed his teacher. But, once more, he was not satisfied, and again moved on.

 

Siddhartha and a group of five companions led by Kaundinya are then said to have set out to take their austerities even further. They tried to find enlightenment through deprivation of worldly goods, including food, practising self-mortification. After nearly starving himself to death by restricting his food intake to around a leaf or nut per day, he collapsed in a river while bathing and almost drowned. Siddhartha was rescued by a village girl named Sujata and she gave him some payasam (a pudding made from milk and jaggery) after which Siddhartha got back some energy. Siddhartha began to reconsider his path. Then, he remembered a moment in childhood in which he had been watching his father start the season's ploughing. He attained a concentrated and focused state that was blissful and refreshing, the jhāna.

 

AWAKENING

According to the early Buddhist texts, after realizing that meditative dhyana was the right path to awakening, but that extreme asceticism didn't work, Gautama discovered what Buddhists call the Middle Way - a path of moderation away from the extremes of self-indulgence and self-mortification, or the Noble Eightfold Path, as was identified and described by the Buddha in his first discourse, the Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta. In a famous incident, after becoming starved and weakened, he is said to have accepted milk and rice pudding from a village girl named Sujata. Such was his emaciated appearance that she wrongly believed him to be a spirit that had granted her a wish.

 

Following this incident, Gautama was famously seated under a pipal tree - now known as the Bodhi tree - in Bodh Gaya, India, when he vowed never to arise until he had found the truth. Kaundinya and four other companions, believing that he had abandoned his search and become undisciplined, left. After a reputed 49 days of meditation, at the age of 35, he is said to have attained Enlightenment. According to some traditions, this occurred in approximately the fifth lunar month, while, according to others, it was in the twelfth month. From that time, Gautama was known to his followers as the Buddha or "Awakened One" ("Buddha" is also sometimes translated as "The Enlightened One").

 

According to Buddhism, at the time of his awakening he realized complete insight into the cause of suffering, and the steps necessary to eliminate it. These discoveries became known as the "Four Noble Truths", which are at the heart of Buddhist teaching. Through mastery of these truths, a state of supreme liberation, or Nirvana, is believed to be possible for any being. The Buddha described Nirvāna as the perfect peace of a mind that's free from ignorance, greed, hatred and other afflictive states, or "defilements" (kilesas). Nirvana is also regarded as the "end of the world", in that no personal identity or boundaries of the mind remain. In such a state, a being is said to possess the Ten Characteristics, belonging to every Buddha.

 

According to a story in the Āyācana Sutta (Samyutta Nikaya VI.1) - a scripture found in the Pāli and other canons - immediately after his awakening, the Buddha debated whether or not he should teach the Dharma to others. He was concerned that humans were so overpowered by ignorance, greed and hatred that they could never recognise the path, which is subtle, deep and hard to grasp. However, in the story, Brahmā Sahampati convinced him, arguing that at least some will understand it. The Buddha relented, and agreed to teach.

 

FORMATION OF THE SANGHA

After his awakening, the Buddha met Taphussa and Bhallika — two merchant brothers from the city of Balkh in what is currently Afghanistan - who became his first lay disciples. It is said that each was given hairs from his head, which are now claimed to be enshrined as relics in the Shwe Dagon Temple in Rangoon, Burma. The Buddha intended to visit Asita, and his former teachers, Alara Kalama and Udaka Ramaputta, to explain his findings, but they had already died.

 

He then travelled to the Deer Park near Varanasi (Benares) in northern India, where he set in motion what Buddhists call the Wheel of Dharma by delivering his first sermon to the five companions with whom he had sought enlightenment. Together with him, they formed the first saṅgha: the company of Buddhist monks.

 

All five become arahants, and within the first two months, with the conversion of Yasa and fifty four of his friends, the number of such arahants is said to have grown to 60. The conversion of three brothers named Kassapa followed, with their reputed 200, 300 and 500 disciples, respectively. This swelled the sangha to more than 1,000.

 

TRAVELS AND TEACHING

For the remaining 45 years of his life, the Buddha is said to have traveled in the Gangetic Plain, in what is now Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and southern Nepal, teaching a diverse range of people: from nobles to servants, murderers such as Angulimala, and cannibals such as Alavaka. Although the Buddha's language remains unknown, it's likely that he taught in one or more of a variety of closely related Middle Indo-Aryan dialects, of which Pali may be a standardization.

 

The sangha traveled through the subcontinent, expounding the dharma. This continued throughout the year, except during the four months of the Vāsanā rainy season when ascetics of all religions rarely traveled. One reason was that it was more difficult to do so without causing harm to animal life. At this time of year, the sangha would retreat to monasteries, public parks or forests, where people would come to them.

 

The first vassana was spent at Varanasi when the sangha was formed. After this, the Buddha kept a promise to travel to Rajagaha, capital of Magadha, to visit King Bimbisara. During this visit, Sariputta and Maudgalyayana were converted by Assaji, one of the first five disciples, after which they were to become the Buddha's two foremost followers. The Buddha spent the next three seasons at Veluvana Bamboo Grove monastery in Rajagaha, capital of Magadha.

 

Upon hearing of his son's awakening, Suddhodana sent, over a period, ten delegations to ask him to return to Kapilavastu. On the first nine occasions, the delegates failed to deliver the message, and instead joined the sangha to become arahants. The tenth delegation, led by Kaludayi, a childhood friend of Gautama's (who also became an arahant), however, delivered the message.

 

Now two years after his awakening, the Buddha agreed to return, and made a two-month journey by foot to Kapilavastu, teaching the dharma as he went. At his return, the royal palace prepared a midday meal, but the sangha was making an alms round in Kapilavastu. Hearing this, Suddhodana approached his son, the Buddha, saying:

 

"Ours is the warrior lineage of Mahamassata, and not a single warrior has gone seeking alms."

 

The Buddha is said to have replied:

 

"That is not the custom of your royal lineage. But it is the custom of my Buddha lineage. Several thousands of Buddhas have gone by seeking alms."

 

Buddhist texts say that Suddhodana invited the sangha into the palace for the meal, followed by a dharma talk. After this he is said to have become a sotapanna. During the visit, many members of the royal family joined the sangha. The Buddha's cousins Ananda and Anuruddha became two of his five chief disciples. At the age of seven, his son Rahula also joined, and became one of his ten chief disciples. His half-brother Nanda also joined and became an arahant.

 

Of the Buddha's disciples, Sariputta, Maudgalyayana, Mahakasyapa, Ananda and Anuruddha are believed to have been the five closest to him. His ten foremost disciples were reputedly completed by the quintet of Upali, Subhoti, Rahula, Mahakaccana and Punna.

 

In the fifth vassana, the Buddha was staying at Mahavana near Vesali when he heard news of the impending death of his father. He is said to have gone to Suddhodana and taught the dharma, after which his father became an arahant.The king's death and cremation was to inspire the creation of an order of nuns. Buddhist texts record that the Buddha was reluctant to ordain women. His foster mother Maha Pajapati, for example, approached him, asking to join the sangha, but he refused. Maha Pajapati, however, was so intent on the path of awakening that she led a group of royal Sakyan and Koliyan ladies, which followed the sangha on a long journey to Rajagaha. In time, after Ananda championed their cause, the Buddha is said to have reconsidered and, five years after the formation of the sangha, agreed to the ordination of women as nuns. He reasoned that males and females had an equal capacity for awakening. But he gave women additional rules (Vinaya) to follow.

 

MAHAPARINIRVANA

According to the Mahaparinibbana Sutta of the Pali canon, at the age of 80, the Buddha announced that he would soon reach Parinirvana, or the final deathless state, and abandon his earthly body. After this, the Buddha ate his last meal, which he had received as an offering from a blacksmith named Cunda. Falling violently ill, Buddha instructed his attendant Ānanda to convince Cunda that the meal eaten at his place had nothing to do with his passing and that his meal would be a source of the greatest merit as it provided the last meal for a Buddha. Mettanando and Von Hinüber argue that the Buddha died of mesenteric infarction, a symptom of old age, rather than food poisoning. The precise contents of the Buddha's final meal are not clear, due to variant scriptural traditions and ambiguity over the translation of certain significant terms; the Theravada tradition generally believes that the Buddha was offered some kind of pork, while the Mahayana tradition believes that the Buddha consumed some sort of truffle or other mushroom. These may reflect the different traditional views on Buddhist vegetarianism and the precepts for monks and nuns.

 

Waley suggests that Theravadin's would take suukaramaddava (the contents of the Buddha's last meal), which can translate as pig-soft, to mean soft flesh of a pig. However, he also states that pig-soft could mean "pig's soft-food", that is, after Neumann, a soft food favoured by pigs, assumed to be a truffle. He argues (also after Neumann) that as Pali Buddhism was developed in an area remote to the Buddha's death, the existence of other plants with suukara- (pig) as part of their names and that "(p)lant names tend to be local and dialectical" could easily indicate that suukaramaddava was a type of plant whose local name was unknown to those in the Pali regions. Specifically, local writers knew more about their flora than Theravadin commentator Buddhaghosa who lived hundreds of years and kilometres remote in time and space from the events described. Unaware of an alternate meaning and with no Theravadin prohibition against eating animal flesh, Theravadins would not have questioned the Buddha eating meat and interpreted the term accordingly.

 

Ananda protested the Buddha's decision to enter Parinirvana in the abandoned jungles of Kuśināra (present-day Kushinagar, India) of the Malla kingdom. The Buddha, however, is said to have reminded Ananda how Kushinara was a land once ruled by a righteous wheel-turning king that resounded with joy:

 

44. Kusavati, Ananda, resounded unceasingly day and night with ten sounds - the trumpeting of elephants, the neighing of horses, the rattling of chariots, the beating of drums and tabours, music and song, cheers, the clapping of hands, and cries of "Eat, drink, and be merry!"

 

The Buddha then asked all the attendant Bhikkhus to clarify any doubts or questions they had. They had none. According to Buddhist scriptures, he then finally entered Parinirvana. The Buddha's final words are reported to have been: "All composite things (Saṅkhāra) are perishable. Strive for your own liberation with diligence" (Pali: 'vayadhammā saṅkhārā appamādena sampādethā'). His body was cremated and the relics were placed in monuments or stupas, some of which are believed to have survived until the present. For example, The Temple of the Tooth or "Dalada Maligawa" in Sri Lanka is the place where what some believe to be the relic of the right tooth of Buddha is kept at present.

 

According to the Pāli historical chronicles of Sri Lanka, the Dīpavaṃsa and Mahāvaṃsa, the coronation of Emperor Aśoka (Pāli: Asoka) is 218 years after the death of the Buddha. According to two textual records in Chinese (十八部論 and 部執異論), the coronation of Emperor Aśoka is 116 years after the death of the Buddha. Therefore, the time of Buddha's passing is either 486 BCE according to Theravāda record or 383 BCE according to Mahayana record. However, the actual date traditionally accepted as the date of the Buddha's death in Theravāda countries is 544 or 545 BCE, because the reign of Emperor Aśoka was traditionally reckoned to be about 60 years earlier than current estimates. In Burmese Buddhist tradition, the date of the Buddha's death is 13 May 544 BCE. whereas in Thai tradition it is 11 March 545 BCE.

 

At his death, the Buddha is famously believed to have told his disciples to follow no leader. Mahakasyapa was chosen by the sangha to be the chairman of the First Buddhist Council, with the two chief disciples Maudgalyayana and Sariputta having died before the Buddha.

 

While in the Buddha's days he was addressed by the very respected titles Buddha, Shākyamuni, Shākyasimha, Bhante and Bho, he was known after his parinirvana as Arihant, Bhagavā/Bhagavat/Bhagwān, Mahāvira, Jina/Jinendra, Sāstr, Sugata, and most popularly in scriptures as Tathāgata.

 

BUDDHA AND VEDAS

Buddha's teachings deny the authority of the Vedas and consequently [at least atheistic] Buddhism is generally viewed as a nāstika school (heterodox, literally "It is not so") from the perspective of orthodox Hinduism.

 

RELICS

After his death, Buddha's cremation relics were divided amongst 8 royal families and his disciples; centuries later they would be enshrined by King Ashoka into 84,000 stupas. Many supernatural legends surround the history of alleged relics as they accompanied the spread of Buddhism and gave legitimacy to rulers.

 

PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS

An extensive and colorful physical description of the Buddha has been laid down in scriptures. A kshatriya by birth, he had military training in his upbringing, and by Shakyan tradition was required to pass tests to demonstrate his worthiness as a warrior in order to marry. He had a strong enough body to be noticed by one of the kings and was asked to join his army as a general. He is also believed by Buddhists to have "the 32 Signs of the Great Man".

 

The Brahmin Sonadanda described him as "handsome, good-looking, and pleasing to the eye, with a most beautiful complexion. He has a godlike form and countenance, he is by no means unattractive." (D, I:115)

 

"It is wonderful, truly marvellous, how serene is the good Gotama's appearance, how clear and radiant his complexion, just as the golden jujube in autumn is clear and radiant, just as a palm-tree fruit just loosened from the stalk is clear and radiant, just as an adornment of red gold wrought in a crucible by a skilled goldsmith, deftly beaten and laid on a yellow-cloth shines, blazes and glitters, even so, the good Gotama's senses are calmed, his complexion is clear and radiant." (A, I:181)

 

A disciple named Vakkali, who later became an arahant, was so obsessed by the Buddha's physical presence that the Buddha is said to have felt impelled to tell him to desist, and to have reminded him that he should know the Buddha through the Dhamma and not through physical appearances.

 

Although there are no extant representations of the Buddha in human form until around the 1st century CE (see Buddhist art), descriptions of the physical characteristics of fully enlightened buddhas are attributed to the Buddha in the Digha Nikaya's Lakkhaṇa Sutta (D, I:142). In addition, the Buddha's physical appearance is described by Yasodhara to their son Rahula upon the Buddha's first post-Enlightenment return to his former princely palace in the non-canonical Pali devotional hymn, Narasīha Gāthā ("The Lion of Men").

 

Among the 32 main characteristics it is mentioned that Buddha has blue eyes.

 

NINE VIRTUES

Recollection of nine virtues attributed to the Buddha is a common Buddhist meditation and devotional practice called Buddhānusmṛti. The nine virtues are also among the 40 Buddhist meditation subjects. The nine virtues of the Buddha appear throughout the Tipitaka, and include:

 

- Buddho – Awakened

- Sammasambuddho – Perfectly self-awakened

- Vijja-carana-sampano – Endowed with higher knowledge and ideal conduct.

- Sugato – Well-gone or Well-spoken.

- Lokavidu – Wise in the knowledge of the many worlds.

- Anuttaro Purisa-damma-sarathi – Unexcelled trainer of untrained people.

- Satthadeva-Manussanam – Teacher of gods and humans.

- Bhagavathi – The Blessed one

- Araham – Worthy of homage. An Arahant is "one with taints destroyed, who has lived the holy life, done what had to be done, laid down the burden, reached the true goal, destroyed the fetters of being, and is completely liberated through final knowledge."

 

TEACHINGS

TRACING THE OLDEST TEACHINGS

Information of the oldest teachings may be obtained by analysis of the oldest texts. One method to obtain information on the oldest core of Buddhism is to compare the oldest extant versions of the Theravadin Pali Canon and other texts. The reliability of these sources, and the possibility to draw out a core of oldest teachings, is a matter of dispute. According to Vetter, inconsistencies remain, and other methods must be applied to resolve those inconsistencies.

 

According to Schmithausen, three positions held by scholars of Buddhism can be distinguished:

 

"Stress on the fundamental homogeneity and substantial authenticity of at least a considerable part of the Nikayic materials;"

"Scepticism with regard to the possibility of retrieving the doctrine of earliest Buddhism;"

"Cautious optimism in this respect."

 

DHYANA AND INSIGHT

A core problem in the study of early Buddhism is the relation between dhyana and insight. Schmithausen, in his often-cited article On some Aspects of Descriptions or Theories of 'Liberating Insight' and 'Enlightenment' in Early Buddhism notes that the mention of the four noble truths as constituting "liberating insight", which is attained after mastering the Rupa Jhanas, is a later addition to texts such as Majjhima Nikaya 36

 

CORE TEACHINGS

According to Tilmann Vetter, the core of earliest Buddhism is the practice of dhyāna. Bronkhorst agrees that dhyana was a Buddhist invention, whereas Norman notes that "the Buddha's way to release [...] was by means of meditative practices." Discriminating insight into transiency as a separate path to liberation was a later development.

 

According to the Mahāsaccakasutta, from the fourth jhana the Buddha gained bodhi. Yet, it is not clear what he was awakened to. "Liberating insight" is a later addition to this text, and reflects a later development and understanding in early Buddhism. The mentioning of the four truths as constituting "liberating insight" introduces a logical problem, since the four truths depict a linear path of practice, the knowledge of which is in itself not depicted as being liberating:

 

[T]hey do not teach that one is released by knowing the four noble truths, but by practicing the fourth noble truth, the eightfold path, which culminates in right samadhi.

 

Although "Nibbāna" (Sanskrit: Nirvāna) is the common term for the desired goal of this practice, many other terms can be found throughout the Nikayas, which are not specified.

 

According to Vetter, the description of the Buddhist path may initially have been as simple as the term "the middle way". In time, this short description was elaborated, resulting in the description of the eightfold path.

 

According to both Bronkhorst and Anderson, the four truths became a substitution for prajna, or "liberating insight", in the suttas in those texts where "liberating insight" was preceded by the four jhanas. According to Bronkhorst, the four truths may not have been formulated in earliest Buddhism, and did not serve in earliest Buddhism as a description of "liberating insight". Gotama's teachings may have been personal, "adjusted to the need of each person."

 

The three marks of existence may reflect Upanishadic or other influences. K.R. Norman supposes that these terms were already in use at the Buddha's time, and were familiar to his listeners.

 

The Brahma-vihara was in origin probably a brahmanic term; but its usage may have been common to the Sramana traditions.

  

LATER DEVELOPMENTS

In time, "liberating insight" became an essential feature of the Buddhist tradition. The following teachings, which are commonly seen as essential to Buddhism, are later formulations which form part of the explanatory framework of this "liberating insight":

 

- The Four Noble Truths: that suffering is an ingrained part of existence; that the origin of suffering is craving for sensuality, acquisition of identity, and fear of annihilation; that suffering can be ended; and that following the Noble Eightfold Path is the means to accomplish this;

- The Noble Eightfold Path: right view, right intention, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, and right concentration;

- Dependent origination: the mind creates suffering as a natural product of a complex process.

 

OTHER RELIGIONS

Some Hindus regard Gautama as the 9th avatar of Vishnu. The Buddha is also regarded as a prophet by the Ahmadiyya Muslims and a Manifestation of God in the Bahá'í Faith. Some early Chinese Taoist-Buddhists thought the Buddha to be a reincarnation of Lao Tzu.

 

The Christian Saint Josaphat is based on the Buddha. The name comes from the Sanskrit Bodhisattva via Arabic Būdhasaf and Georgian Iodasaph. The only story in which St. Josaphat appears, Barlaam and Josaphat, is based on the life of the Buddha. Josaphat was included in earlier editions of the Roman Martyrology (feast day 27 November) — though not in the Roman Missal — and in the Eastern Orthodox Church liturgical calendar (26 August).

 

Disciples of the Cao Đài religion worship the Buddha as a major religious teacher. His image can be found in both their Holy See and on the home altar. He is revealed during communication with Divine Beings as son of their Supreme Being (God the Father) together with other major religious teachers and founders like Jesus, Laozi, and Confucius.

 

In the ancient Gnostic sect of Manichaeism the Buddha is listed among the prophets who preached the word of God before Mani.

 

WIKIPEDIA

Chittorgarh Fort (Hindi/Rajasthani: चित्तौड दुर्ग Chittorgarh Durg) is the largest fort in India and the grandest in the state of Rajasthan. It is a World Heritage Site. The fort, plainly known as Chittor, was the capital of Mewar and is today situated several kilometres south of Bhilwara. It was initially ruled by Guhilot and later by Sisodias, the Suryavanshi clans of Chattari Rajputs, from the 7th century, until it was finally abandoned in 1568 after the siege by Emperor Akbar in 1567. It sprawls majestically over a hill 180 m in height spread over an area of 280 ha above the plains of the valley drained by the Berach River. The fort precinct with an evocative history is studded with a series of historical palaces, gates, temples and two prominent commemoration towers. These monumental ruins have inspired the imagination of tourists and writers for centuries.

 

The fort was sacked three times between the 15th and 16th centuries; in 1303 Allauddin Khilji defeated Rana Ratan Singh, in 1535 Bahadur Shah, the Sultan of Gujarat defeated Bikramjeet Singh and in 1567 Emperor Akbar defeated Maharana Udai Singh II who left the fort and founded Udaipur. Each time the men fought bravely rushing out of the fort walls charging the enemy but lost every time. Following these defeats, Jauhar was committed thrice by more than 13,000 ladies and children of the Rajput heroes who laid their lives in battles at Chittorgarh Fort, first led by Rani Padmini wife of Rana Rattan Singh who was killed in the battle in 1303, and later by Rani Karnavati in 1537 AD.

 

Thus, the fort represents the quintessence of tribute to the nationalism, courage, medieval chivalry and sacrifice exhibited by the Mewar rulers of Sisodia and their kinsmen and women and children, between the 7th and 16th centuries. The rulers, their soldiers, the women folk of royalty and the commoners considered death as a better option than dishonor in the face of surrender to the foreign invading armies.

 

GEOGRAPHY

Chittorgarh, located in the southern part of the state of Rajasthan, 233 km from Ajmer, midway between Delhi and Mumbai on the National Highway 8 (India) in the road network of Golden Quadrilateral. Chittorgarh is situated where National Highways No. 76 & 79 intersect.

 

The fort rises abruptly above the surrounding plains and is spread over an area of 2.8 km2. The highest elevation at the fort is 1,075 m. It is situated on the left bank of the Berach river (a tributary of the Banas River) and is linked to the new town of Chittorgarh (known as the 'Lower Town') developed in the plains after 1568 AD when the fort was deserted in light of introduction of artillery in the 16th century, and therefore the capital was shifted to more secure Udaipur, located on the eastern flank of Aravalli hill range. Mughal Emperor Akbar attacked and sacked this fort which was but one of the 84 forts of Mewar,but the capital was shifted to Aravalli hills where heavy artillery & cavalry were not effective. A winding hill road of more than 1 km length from the new town leads to the west end main gate, called Ram Pol, of the fort. Within the fort, a circular road provides access to all the gates and monuments located within the fort walls.

 

The fort that once boasted of 84 water bodies has only 22 of them now. These water bodies are fed by natural catchment and rainfall, and have a combined storage of 4 billion litres that could meet the water needs of an army of 50,000. The supply could last for four years. These water bodies are in the form of ponds, wells and step wells.

 

HISTORY

Chittorgarh Fort is considered to be the largest fort of India in terms of area. It is stated that the fort was constructed by the Mauryans during the 7th century AD and hence derives its name after the Mauryan ruler, Chitrangada Mori, as inscribed on coins of the period. Historical records show Chittorgarh fort as the capital of Mewar for 834 years. It was established in 734 AD by Bappa Rawal, founder ruler in the hierarchy of the Sisodia rulers of Mewar. It is also said that the fort was gifted to Bappa Rawal as part of Solanki princess’s dowry in the 8th century. The fort was looted and destroyed at the hands of Emperor Akbar in 1568 AD and subsequently never resettled but only refurbished in 1905 AD. Three important battles were fought for control of the fort; in 1303, Ala-ud-din Khilji besieged the fort; in 1535, Sultan of Gujarat Bahadur Shah besieged the fort; and in 1568, Mughal Emperor Akbar attacked the fort. Not that there were only defeats at the fort. Excluding the periods of siege, the fort had always remained in possession of the Sisodias of the Guhilot (or Gehlot/Guhila) clan of Rajputs, who descended from Bappa Rawal. There were also success stories of establishment of the fort and its reconstruction after every siege, before it was finally abandoned in 1568, all of which are narrated.

 

Chittor is cited in the Mahabharat epic. It is said that Bhima, the second of the Pandava brothers of Epic Mahabaharata fame, known for his mighty strength gave a powerful hit with his fist to the ground that resulted in water springing up to form a large reservoir. It is called Bhimlat kund, an artificial tank named after Bhima. Folk legend also mentions that Bhima started building the fort.

 

BAPPA RAWAL

The earliest history linked to the Bappa Rawal's fort is that of the Huna Kingdom of Sialkot (of Mihir Kula 515-540 AD) that was destroyed by Yashodharman. This was subsequently seized by a new dynasty of kshatriyas called Tak or Taxaka. According to historians, the Taxak Mori were the lords of Chittor from a very early period. After a few generations, the Guhilots supplanted them. From 725 to 735 AD, there were numerous defenders who appear to have considered the cause of Chittor their own, the Tak from Asirgarh. This race appears to have retained possession of Asirgarh for at least two centuries after this event and one of its chieftain Bappa Rawal was the most conspicuous leader in the lineage of Prithvi Raj. In the poems of Chandar he is called the "Standard, bearer, Tak of Asir."

 

SIEGE OF 1303

Ala ud din Khilji, Sultan of Delhi, rallied his forces against Mewar, in 1303 AD. The Chittorgarh fort was till then considered impregnable and grand, atop a natural hill. But his immediate reason for invading the fort was his obsessive desire to capture Rani Padmini, the unrivalled beautiful queen of Rana Ratan Singh and take her into his harem. The Rana, out of politeness, allowed the Khilji to view Padmini through a set of mirrors. But this viewing of Padmini further fired Khilji’s desire to possess her. After the viewing, as a gesture of courtesy, when the Rana accompanied the Sultan to the outer gate, he was treacherously captured. Khilji conveyed to the queen that the Rana would be released only if she agreed to join his harem. But the queen had other plans. She agreed to go to his camp if permitted to go in a Royal style with an entourage, in strict secrecy. Instead of her going, she sent 700 well armed soldiers disguised in litters and they rescued the Rana and took him to the fort. But Khilji chased them to the fort where a fierce battle ensued at the outer gate of the fort in which the Rajput soldiers were overpowered and the Rana was killed. Khilji won the battle on August 26, 1303. Soon thereafter, instead of surrendering to the Sultan, the royal Rajput ladies led by Rani Padmini preferred to die through the Rajput’s ultimate tragic rite of Jauhar (self immolation on a pyre). In revenge, Khilji killed thirty thousand Hindus. He entrusted the fort to his son Khizr Khan to rule and renamed the fort as 'Khizrabad'. He also showered gifts on his son by way of

 

a red canopy, a robe embroidered with gold and two standards one green and the other black and threw upon him rubies and emeralds.

 

He returned to Delhi after the fierce battle at the fort.

 

RANA HAMMIR & SUCCESSORS

Khizr Khan’s rule at the fort lasted till 1311 AD and due to the pressure of Rajputs he was forced to entrust power to the Sonigra chief Maldeva who held the fort for 7 years. Hammir Singh, usurped control of the fort from Maldeva by “treachery and intrigue” and Chittor once again regained its past glory. Hammir, before his death in 1364 AD, had converted Mewar into a fairly large and prosperous kingdom. The dynasty (and clan) fathered by him came to be known by the name Sisodia after the village where he was born. His son Ketra Singh succeeded him and ruled with honour and power. Ketra Singh’s son Lakha who ascended the throne in 1382 AD also won several wars. His famous grandson Rana Kumbha came to the throne in 1433 AD and by that time the Muslim rulers of Malwa and Gujarat had acquired considerable clout and were keen to usurp the powerful Mewar state.

 

RANA KUMBHA & CLAN

There was resurgence during the reign of Rana Kumbha in the 15th century. Rana Kumbha, also known as Maharana Kumbhakarna, son of Rana Mokal, ruled Mewar between 1433 AD and 1468 AD. He is credited with building up the Mewar kingdom assiduously as a force to reckon with. He built 32 forts (84 fortresses formed the defense of Mewar) including one in his own name, called Kumbalgarh. But his end came in 1468 AD at the hands of his own son Rana Udaysimha (Uday Singh I) who assassinated him to gain the throne of Mewar. This patricide was not appreciated by the people of Mewar and consequently his brother Rana Raimal assumed the reins of power in 1473. After his death in May 1509, Sangram Singh (also known as Rana Sanga), his youngest son, became the ruler of Mewar, which brought in a new phase in the history of Mewar. Rana Sanga, with support from Medini Rai (a Rajput chief of Alwar), fought a valiant battle against Mughal emperor Babar at Khanwa in 1527. He ushered in a period of prestige to Chittor by defeating the rulers of Gujarat and also effectively interfered in the matters of Idar. He also won small areas of the Delhi territory. In the ensuing battle with Ibrahim Lodi, Rana won and acquired some districts of Malwa. He also defeated the combined might of Sultan Muzaffar of Gujarat and the Sultan of Malwa. By 1525 AD, Rana Sanga had developed Chittor and Mewar, by virtue of great intellect, valour and his sword, into a formidable military state. But in a decisive battle that was fought against Babar on March 16, 1527, the Rajput army of Rana Sanga suffered a terrible defeat and Sanga escaped to one of his fortresses. But soon thereafter in another attack on the Chanderi fort the valiant Rana Sanga died and with his death the Rajput confederacy collapsed.

 

SIEGE OF 1534

Bahadur Shah who came to the throne in 1526 AD as the Sultan of Gujarat besieged the Chittorgarh fort in 1534. The fort was sacked and, once again the medieval dictates of chivalry determined the outcome. Following the defeat of the Rana, it is said 13,000 Rajput women committed jauhar (self immolation on the funeral pyre) and 3,200 Rajput warriors rushed out of the fort to fight and die.

 

SIEGE OF 1567

The final Siege of Chittorgarh came 33 years later, in 1567, when the Mughal Emperor Akbar invaded the fort. Akbar wanted to conquer Mewar, which was being ably ruled by Rana Uday Singh II, a fine prince of Mewar. To establish himself as the supreme lord of Northern India, he wanted to capture the renowned fortress of Chittor, as a precursor to conquering the whole of India. Shakti Singh, son of the Rana who had quarreled with his father, had run away and approached Akbar when the later had camped at Dholpur preparing to attack Malwa. During one of these meetings, in August 1567, Shakti Singh came to know from a remark made in jest by emperor Akbar that he was intending to wage war against Chittor. Akbar had told Shakti Singh in jest that since his father had not submitted himself before him like other princes and chieftains of the region he would attack him. Startled by this revelation, Shakti Singh quietly rushed back to Chittor and informed his father of the impending invasion by Akbar. Akbar was furious with the departure of Shakti Singh and decided to attack Mewar to humble the arrogance of the Ranas. In September 1567, the emperor left for Chittor, and on October 20, 1567, camped in the vast plains outside the fort. In the meantime, Rana Udai Singh, on the advice of his council of advisors, decided to go away from Chittor to the hills of Udaipur. Jaimal and Patta, two brave army chieftains of Mewar, were left behind to defend the fort along with 8,000 Rajput warriors under their command. Akbar laid siege to the fortress. The Rajput army fought valiantly and Akbar himself had narrowly escaped death. In this grave situation, Akbar had prayed for divine help for achieving victory and vowed to visit the shrine of the sufi saint Khwaja at Ajmer. The battle continued till February 23, 1568. On that day Jaymal was seriously wounded but he continued to fight with support from Patta. Jayamal ordered jauhar to be performed when many beautiful princesses of Mewar and noble matrons committed self-immolation at the funeral pyre. Next day the gates of the fort were opened and Rajput soldiers rushed out bravely to fight the enemies. Jayamal and Patta who fought bravely were at last killed in action. One figure estimates that 30,000 soldiers were killed in action. Akbar immediately repaired himself to Ajmer to perform his religious vow.

 

RETURN OF THE FORT TO MEWAR

But in 1616, Jehangir returned Chittor fort to the Rajputs, when Maharana Amar Singh was the chief of Mewar. However, the fort was not resettled though it was refurbished several centuries later in 1905 during British Raj.

 

PRECINCTS

The fort which is roughly in the shape of a fish has a circumference of 13 km with a maximum width of 3 km and it covers an area of 700 acres. The fort is approached through a zig zag and difficult ascent of more than 1 km from the plains, after crossing over a bridge made in limestone. The bridge spans the Gambhiri River and is supported by ten arches (one has a curved shape while the balance have pointed arches). Apart from the two tall towers, which dominate the majestic fortifications, the sprawling fort has a plethora of palaces and temples (many of them in ruins) within its precincts.

 

The 305 hectares component site, with a buffer zone of 427 hectares, encompasses the fortified stronghold of Chittorgarh, a spacious fort located on an isolated rocky plateau of approximately 2 km length and 155m width.

 

It is surrounded by a perimeter wall 4.5 kilometres long, beyond which a 45° hill slope makes it almost inaccessible to enemies. The ascent to the fort passes through seven gateways built by the Mewar ruler Rana Kumbha (1433- 1468) of the Sisodia clan. These gates are called, from the base to the hill top, the Paidal Pol, Bhairon Pol, Hanuman Pol, Ganesh Pol, Jorla Pol, Laxman Pol, and Ram Pol, the final and main gate.

 

The fort complex comprises 65 historic built structures, among them 4 palace complexes, 19 main temples, 4 memorials and 20 functional water bodies. These can be divided into two major construction phases. The first hill fort with one main entrance was established in the 5th century and successively fortified until the 12th century. Its remains are mostly visible on the western edges of the plateau. The second, more significant defence structure was constructed in the 15th century during the reign of the Sisodia Rajputs, when the royal entrance was relocated and fortified with seven gates, and the medieval fortification wall was built on an earlier wall construction from the 13th century.

 

Besides the palace complex, located on the highest and most secure terrain in the west of the fort, many of the other significant structures, such as the Kumbha Shyam Temple, the Mira Bai Temple, the Adi Varah Temple, the Shringar Chauri Temple, and the Vijay Stambh memorial were constructed in this second phase. Compared to the later additions of Sisodian rulers during the 19th and 20th centuries, the predominant construction phase illustrates a comparatively pure Rajput style combined with minimal eclecticism, such as the vaulted substructures which were borrowed from Sultanate architecture. The 4.5 km walls with integrated circular enforcements are constructed from dressed stone masonry in lime mortar and rise 500m above the plain. With the help of the seven massive stone gates, partly flanked by hexagonal or octagonal towers, the access to the fort is restricted to a narrow pathway which climbs up the steep hill through successive, ever narrower defence passages. The seventh and final gate leads directly into the palace area, which integrates a variety of residential and official structures. Rana Kumbha Mahal, the palace of Rana Kumbha, is a large Rajput domestic structure and now incorporates the Kanwar Pade Ka Mahal (the palace of the heir) and the later palace of the poetess Mira Bai (1498-1546). The palace area was further expanded in later centuries, when additional structures, such as the Ratan Singh Palace (1528–31) or the Fateh Prakash, also named Badal Mahal (1885-1930), were added. Although the majority of temple structures represent the Hindu faith, most prominently the Kalikamata Temple (8th century), the Kshemankari Temple (825-850) the Kumbha Shyam Temple (1448) or the Adbuthnath Temple (15th- 16th century), the hill fort also contains Jain temples, such as Shringar Chauri (1448) and Sat Bis Devri (mid-15th century) Also the two tower memorials, Kirti Stambh (13th-14th century) and Vijay Stambha (1433-1468), are Jain monuments. They stand out with their respective heights of 24m and 37m, which ensure their visibility from most locations of the fort complex. Finally, the fort compound is home to a contemporary municipal ward of approximately 3,000 inhabitants, which is located near Ratan Singh Tank at the northern end of the property.

 

GATES

The fort has total seven gates (in local language, gate is called Pol), namely the Padan Pol, Bhairon Pol, Hanuman Pol, Ganesh Pol, Jodla Pol, Laxman Pol and the main gate named the Ram Pol (Lord Rama's Gate). All the gateways to the fort have been built as massive stone structures with secure fortifications for military defense. The doors of the gates with pointed arches are reinforced to fend off elephants and cannon shots. The top of the gates have notched parapets for archers to shoot at the enemy army. A circular road within the fort links all the gates and provides access to the numerous monuments (ruined palaces and 130 temples) in the fort.

 

During the second siege, Prince Bagh Singh died at the Padan Pol in 1535 AD. Prince Jaimal of Badnore and his clansman Kalla were killed by Akbar at a location between the Bhairon Pol and Hanuman Pol in the last siege of the fort in 1567 (Kalla carried the wounded Jaimal out to fight). Chhatris, with the roof supported by corbeled arches, have been built to commemorate the spots of their sacrifice. Their statues have also been erected, at the orders of Emperor Akbar, to commemorate their valiant deaths. At each gate, cenotaphs of Jaimal (in the form of a statue of a Rajput warrior on horseback) and Patta have also been constructed. At Ram Pol, the entrance gate to the fort, a Chaatri was built in memory of the 15 year old Patta of Kelwa, who had lost his father in battle, and saw the sword yielding mother and wife on the battle field who fought valiantly and died at this gate. He led the saffron robed Rajput warriors, who all died fighting for Mewar’s honour. Suraj Pol (Sun Gate) provides entry to the eastern wall of the fort. On the right of Suraj Pol is the Darikhana or Sabha (council chamber) behind which lie a Ganesha temple and the zenana (living quarters for women). A massive water reservoir is located towards the left of Suraj Pol. There is also a peculiar gate, called the Jorla Pol (Joined Gate), which consists of two gates joined together. The upper arch of Jorla Pol is connected to the base of Lakshman Pol. It is said that this feature has not been noticed anywhere else in India. The Lokota Bari is the gate at the fort’s northern tip, while a small opening that was used to hurl criminals into the abyss is seen at the southern end.

 

VIJAY STAMBHA

The Vijay Stambha (Tower of Victory) or Jaya Stambha, called the symbol of Chittor and a particularly bold expression of triumph, was erected by Rana Kumbha between 1458 and 1468 to commemorate his victory over Mahmud Shah I Khalji, the Sultan of Malwa, in 1440 AD. Built over a period of ten years, it raises 37.2 metres over a 4.4 m2 base in nine stories accessed through a narrow circular staircase of 157 steps (the interior is also carved) up to the 8th floor, from where there is good view of the plains and the new town of Chittor. The dome, which was a later addition, was damaged by lightning and repaired during the 19th century. The Stamba is now illuminated during the evenings and gives a beautiful view of Chittor from the top.

 

KIRTI STAMBHA

Kirti Stambha (Tower of Fame) is a 22 metres high tower built on a 9.1 m base with 4.6 m at the top, is adorned with Jain sculptures on the outside and is older (probably 12th century) and smaller than the Victory Tower. Built by a Bagherwal Jain merchant Jijaji Rathod, it is dedicated to Adinath, the first Jain tirthankar (revered Jain teacher). In the lowest floor of the tower, figures of the various tirthankars of the Jain pantheon are seen in special niches formed to house them. These are digambara monuments. A narrow stairway with 54 steps leads through the six storeys to the top. The top pavilion that was added in the 15th century has 12 columns.

 

RANA KUMBHA PALACE

At the entrance gate near the Vijaya Stamba, Rana Kumbha's palace (in ruins), the oldest monument, is located. The palace included elephant and horse stables and a temple to Lord Shiva. Maharana Udai Singh, the founder of Udaipur, was born here; the popular folk lore linked to his birth is that his maid Panna DaiPanna Dhai saved him by substituting her son in his place as a decoy, which resulted in her son getting killed by Banbir. The prince was spirited away in a fruit basket. The palace is built with plastered stone. The remarkable feature of the palace is its splendid series of canopied balconies. Entry to the palace is through Suraj Pol that leads into a courtyard. Rani Meera, the famous poetess saint, also lived in this palace. This is also the palace where Rani Padmini, consigned herself to the funeral pyre in one of the underground cellars, as an act of jauhar along with many other women. The Nau Lakha Bandar (literal meaning: nine lakh treasury) building, the royal treasury of Chittor was also located close by. Now, across from the palace is a museum and archeological office. The Singa Chowri temple is also nearby.

 

FATEH PRAKASH PALACE

Located near Rana Khumba palace, built by Rana Fateh Singh, the precincts have modern houses and a small museum. A school for local children (about 5,000 villagers live within the fort) is also nearby.

 

GAUMUKH RESERVOIR

A spring feeds the tank from a carved cow’s mouth in the cliff. This pool was the main source of water at the fort during the numerous sieges.

 

PADMINI´S PALACE

Padmini's Palace or Rani Padmini's Palace is a white building and a three storied structure (a 19th-century reconstruction of the original). It is located in the southern part of the fort. Chhatris (pavilions) crown the palace roofs and a water moat surrounds the palace. This style of palace became the forerunner of other palaces built in the state with the concept of Jal Mahal (palace surrounded by water). It is at this Palace where Alauddin was permitted to glimpse the mirror image of Rani Padmini, wife of Maharana Rattan Singh. It is widely believed that this glimpse of Padmini's beauty besotted him and convinced him to destroy Chittor in order to possess her. Maharana Rattan Singh was killed and Rani Padmini committed Jauhar. Rani Padmini's beauty has been compared to that of Cleopatra and her life story is an eternal legend in the history of Chittor. The bronze gates to this pavilion were removed and transported to Agra by Akbar.

 

OTHER SIGHTS

Close to Kirti Sthamba is the Meera Temple, or the Meerabai Temple. Rana Khumba built it in an ornate Indo–Aryan architectural style. It is associated with the mystic saint-poet Mirabai who was an ardent devotee of Lord Krishna and dedicated her entire life to His worship. She composed and sang lyrical bhajans called Meera Bhajans. The popular legend associated with her is that with blessings of Krishna, she survived after consuming poison sent to her by her evil brother-in-law. The larger temple in the same compound is the Kumbha Shyam Temple (Varaha Temple). The pinnacle of the temple is in pyramid shape. A picture of Meerabai praying before Krishna has now been installed in the temple.

 

Across from Padmini’s Palace is the Kalika Mata Temple. Originally, a Sun Temple dated to the 8th century dedicated to Surya (the Sun God) was destroyed in the 14th century. It was rebuilt as a Kali temple.

 

Another temple on the west side of the fort is the ancient Goddess Tulja Bhavani Temple built to worship Goddess Tulja Bhavani is considered sacred. The Tope Khana (cannon foundry) is located next to this temple in a courtyard, where a few old cannons are still seen.

 

JAUHAR MELA

The fort and the city of Chittorgarh host the biggest Rajput festival called the "Jauhar Mela". It takes place annually on the anniversary of one of the jauhars, but no specific name has been given to it. It is generally believed that it commemorates Padmini’s jauhar, which is most famous. This festival is held primarily to commemorate the bravery of Rajput ancestors and all three jauhars which happened at Chittorgarh Fort. A huge number of Rajputs, which include the descendants of most of the princely families, hold a procession to celebrate the Jauhar. It has also become a forum to air one's views on the current political situation in the country.

Chittorgarh Fort (Hindi/Rajasthani: चित्तौड दुर्ग Chittorgarh Durg) is the largest fort in India and the grandest in the state of Rajasthan. It is a World Heritage Site. The fort, plainly known as Chittor, was the capital of Mewar and is today situated several kilometres south of Bhilwara. It was initially ruled by Guhilot and later by Sisodias, the Suryavanshi clans of Chattari Rajputs, from the 7th century, until it was finally abandoned in 1568 after the siege by Emperor Akbar in 1567. It sprawls majestically over a hill 180 m in height spread over an area of 280 ha above the plains of the valley drained by the Berach River. The fort precinct with an evocative history is studded with a series of historical palaces, gates, temples and two prominent commemoration towers. These monumental ruins have inspired the imagination of tourists and writers for centuries.

 

The fort was sacked three times between the 15th and 16th centuries; in 1303 Allauddin Khilji defeated Rana Ratan Singh, in 1535 Bahadur Shah, the Sultan of Gujarat defeated Bikramjeet Singh and in 1567 Emperor Akbar defeated Maharana Udai Singh II who left the fort and founded Udaipur. Each time the men fought bravely rushing out of the fort walls charging the enemy but lost every time. Following these defeats, Jauhar was committed thrice by more than 13,000 ladies and children of the Rajput heroes who laid their lives in battles at Chittorgarh Fort, first led by Rani Padmini wife of Rana Rattan Singh who was killed in the battle in 1303, and later by Rani Karnavati in 1537 AD.

 

Thus, the fort represents the quintessence of tribute to the nationalism, courage, medieval chivalry and sacrifice exhibited by the Mewar rulers of Sisodia and their kinsmen and women and children, between the 7th and 16th centuries. The rulers, their soldiers, the women folk of royalty and the commoners considered death as a better option than dishonor in the face of surrender to the foreign invading armies.

 

GEOGRAPHY

Chittorgarh, located in the southern part of the state of Rajasthan, 233 km from Ajmer, midway between Delhi and Mumbai on the National Highway 8 (India) in the road network of Golden Quadrilateral. Chittorgarh is situated where National Highways No. 76 & 79 intersect.

 

The fort rises abruptly above the surrounding plains and is spread over an area of 2.8 km2. The highest elevation at the fort is 1,075 m. It is situated on the left bank of the Berach river (a tributary of the Banas River) and is linked to the new town of Chittorgarh (known as the 'Lower Town') developed in the plains after 1568 AD when the fort was deserted in light of introduction of artillery in the 16th century, and therefore the capital was shifted to more secure Udaipur, located on the eastern flank of Aravalli hill range. Mughal Emperor Akbar attacked and sacked this fort which was but one of the 84 forts of Mewar,but the capital was shifted to Aravalli hills where heavy artillery & cavalry were not effective. A winding hill road of more than 1 km length from the new town leads to the west end main gate, called Ram Pol, of the fort. Within the fort, a circular road provides access to all the gates and monuments located within the fort walls.

 

The fort that once boasted of 84 water bodies has only 22 of them now. These water bodies are fed by natural catchment and rainfall, and have a combined storage of 4 billion litres that could meet the water needs of an army of 50,000. The supply could last for four years. These water bodies are in the form of ponds, wells and step wells.

 

HISTORY

Chittorgarh Fort is considered to be the largest fort of India in terms of area. It is stated that the fort was constructed by the Mauryans during the 7th century AD and hence derives its name after the Mauryan ruler, Chitrangada Mori, as inscribed on coins of the period. Historical records show Chittorgarh fort as the capital of Mewar for 834 years. It was established in 734 AD by Bappa Rawal, founder ruler in the hierarchy of the Sisodia rulers of Mewar. It is also said that the fort was gifted to Bappa Rawal as part of Solanki princess’s dowry in the 8th century. The fort was looted and destroyed at the hands of Emperor Akbar in 1568 AD and subsequently never resettled but only refurbished in 1905 AD. Three important battles were fought for control of the fort; in 1303, Ala-ud-din Khilji besieged the fort; in 1535, Sultan of Gujarat Bahadur Shah besieged the fort; and in 1568, Mughal Emperor Akbar attacked the fort. Not that there were only defeats at the fort. Excluding the periods of siege, the fort had always remained in possession of the Sisodias of the Guhilot (or Gehlot/Guhila) clan of Rajputs, who descended from Bappa Rawal. There were also success stories of establishment of the fort and its reconstruction after every siege, before it was finally abandoned in 1568, all of which are narrated.

 

Chittor is cited in the Mahabharat epic. It is said that Bhima, the second of the Pandava brothers of Epic Mahabaharata fame, known for his mighty strength gave a powerful hit with his fist to the ground that resulted in water springing up to form a large reservoir. It is called Bhimlat kund, an artificial tank named after Bhima. Folk legend also mentions that Bhima started building the fort.

 

BAPPA RAWAL

The earliest history linked to the Bappa Rawal's fort is that of the Huna Kingdom of Sialkot (of Mihir Kula 515-540 AD) that was destroyed by Yashodharman. This was subsequently seized by a new dynasty of kshatriyas called Tak or Taxaka. According to historians, the Taxak Mori were the lords of Chittor from a very early period. After a few generations, the Guhilots supplanted them. From 725 to 735 AD, there were numerous defenders who appear to have considered the cause of Chittor their own, the Tak from Asirgarh. This race appears to have retained possession of Asirgarh for at least two centuries after this event and one of its chieftain Bappa Rawal was the most conspicuous leader in the lineage of Prithvi Raj. In the poems of Chandar he is called the "Standard, bearer, Tak of Asir."

 

SIEGE OF 1303

Ala ud din Khilji, Sultan of Delhi, rallied his forces against Mewar, in 1303 AD. The Chittorgarh fort was till then considered impregnable and grand, atop a natural hill. But his immediate reason for invading the fort was his obsessive desire to capture Rani Padmini, the unrivalled beautiful queen of Rana Ratan Singh and take her into his harem. The Rana, out of politeness, allowed the Khilji to view Padmini through a set of mirrors. But this viewing of Padmini further fired Khilji’s desire to possess her. After the viewing, as a gesture of courtesy, when the Rana accompanied the Sultan to the outer gate, he was treacherously captured. Khilji conveyed to the queen that the Rana would be released only if she agreed to join his harem. But the queen had other plans. She agreed to go to his camp if permitted to go in a Royal style with an entourage, in strict secrecy. Instead of her going, she sent 700 well armed soldiers disguised in litters and they rescued the Rana and took him to the fort. But Khilji chased them to the fort where a fierce battle ensued at the outer gate of the fort in which the Rajput soldiers were overpowered and the Rana was killed. Khilji won the battle on August 26, 1303. Soon thereafter, instead of surrendering to the Sultan, the royal Rajput ladies led by Rani Padmini preferred to die through the Rajput’s ultimate tragic rite of Jauhar (self immolation on a pyre). In revenge, Khilji killed thirty thousand Hindus. He entrusted the fort to his son Khizr Khan to rule and renamed the fort as 'Khizrabad'. He also showered gifts on his son by way of

 

a red canopy, a robe embroidered with gold and two standards one green and the other black and threw upon him rubies and emeralds.

 

He returned to Delhi after the fierce battle at the fort.

 

RANA HAMMIR & SUCCESSORS

Khizr Khan’s rule at the fort lasted till 1311 AD and due to the pressure of Rajputs he was forced to entrust power to the Sonigra chief Maldeva who held the fort for 7 years. Hammir Singh, usurped control of the fort from Maldeva by “treachery and intrigue” and Chittor once again regained its past glory. Hammir, before his death in 1364 AD, had converted Mewar into a fairly large and prosperous kingdom. The dynasty (and clan) fathered by him came to be known by the name Sisodia after the village where he was born. His son Ketra Singh succeeded him and ruled with honour and power. Ketra Singh’s son Lakha who ascended the throne in 1382 AD also won several wars. His famous grandson Rana Kumbha came to the throne in 1433 AD and by that time the Muslim rulers of Malwa and Gujarat had acquired considerable clout and were keen to usurp the powerful Mewar state.

 

RANA KUMBHA & CLAN

There was resurgence during the reign of Rana Kumbha in the 15th century. Rana Kumbha, also known as Maharana Kumbhakarna, son of Rana Mokal, ruled Mewar between 1433 AD and 1468 AD. He is credited with building up the Mewar kingdom assiduously as a force to reckon with. He built 32 forts (84 fortresses formed the defense of Mewar) including one in his own name, called Kumbalgarh. But his end came in 1468 AD at the hands of his own son Rana Udaysimha (Uday Singh I) who assassinated him to gain the throne of Mewar. This patricide was not appreciated by the people of Mewar and consequently his brother Rana Raimal assumed the reins of power in 1473. After his death in May 1509, Sangram Singh (also known as Rana Sanga), his youngest son, became the ruler of Mewar, which brought in a new phase in the history of Mewar. Rana Sanga, with support from Medini Rai (a Rajput chief of Alwar), fought a valiant battle against Mughal emperor Babar at Khanwa in 1527. He ushered in a period of prestige to Chittor by defeating the rulers of Gujarat and also effectively interfered in the matters of Idar. He also won small areas of the Delhi territory. In the ensuing battle with Ibrahim Lodi, Rana won and acquired some districts of Malwa. He also defeated the combined might of Sultan Muzaffar of Gujarat and the Sultan of Malwa. By 1525 AD, Rana Sanga had developed Chittor and Mewar, by virtue of great intellect, valour and his sword, into a formidable military state. But in a decisive battle that was fought against Babar on March 16, 1527, the Rajput army of Rana Sanga suffered a terrible defeat and Sanga escaped to one of his fortresses. But soon thereafter in another attack on the Chanderi fort the valiant Rana Sanga died and with his death the Rajput confederacy collapsed.

 

SIEGE OF 1534

Bahadur Shah who came to the throne in 1526 AD as the Sultan of Gujarat besieged the Chittorgarh fort in 1534. The fort was sacked and, once again the medieval dictates of chivalry determined the outcome. Following the defeat of the Rana, it is said 13,000 Rajput women committed jauhar (self immolation on the funeral pyre) and 3,200 Rajput warriors rushed out of the fort to fight and die.

 

SIEGE OF 1567

The final Siege of Chittorgarh came 33 years later, in 1567, when the Mughal Emperor Akbar invaded the fort. Akbar wanted to conquer Mewar, which was being ably ruled by Rana Uday Singh II, a fine prince of Mewar. To establish himself as the supreme lord of Northern India, he wanted to capture the renowned fortress of Chittor, as a precursor to conquering the whole of India. Shakti Singh, son of the Rana who had quarreled with his father, had run away and approached Akbar when the later had camped at Dholpur preparing to attack Malwa. During one of these meetings, in August 1567, Shakti Singh came to know from a remark made in jest by emperor Akbar that he was intending to wage war against Chittor. Akbar had told Shakti Singh in jest that since his father had not submitted himself before him like other princes and chieftains of the region he would attack him. Startled by this revelation, Shakti Singh quietly rushed back to Chittor and informed his father of the impending invasion by Akbar. Akbar was furious with the departure of Shakti Singh and decided to attack Mewar to humble the arrogance of the Ranas. In September 1567, the emperor left for Chittor, and on October 20, 1567, camped in the vast plains outside the fort. In the meantime, Rana Udai Singh, on the advice of his council of advisors, decided to go away from Chittor to the hills of Udaipur. Jaimal and Patta, two brave army chieftains of Mewar, were left behind to defend the fort along with 8,000 Rajput warriors under their command. Akbar laid siege to the fortress. The Rajput army fought valiantly and Akbar himself had narrowly escaped death. In this grave situation, Akbar had prayed for divine help for achieving victory and vowed to visit the shrine of the sufi saint Khwaja at Ajmer. The battle continued till February 23, 1568. On that day Jaymal was seriously wounded but he continued to fight with support from Patta. Jayamal ordered jauhar to be performed when many beautiful princesses of Mewar and noble matrons committed self-immolation at the funeral pyre. Next day the gates of the fort were opened and Rajput soldiers rushed out bravely to fight the enemies. Jayamal and Patta who fought bravely were at last killed in action. One figure estimates that 30,000 soldiers were killed in action. Akbar immediately repaired himself to Ajmer to perform his religious vow.

 

RETURN OF THE FORT TO MEWAR

But in 1616, Jehangir returned Chittor fort to the Rajputs, when Maharana Amar Singh was the chief of Mewar. However, the fort was not resettled though it was refurbished several centuries later in 1905 during British Raj.

 

PRECINCTS

The fort which is roughly in the shape of a fish has a circumference of 13 km with a maximum width of 3 km and it covers an area of 700 acres. The fort is approached through a zig zag and difficult ascent of more than 1 km from the plains, after crossing over a bridge made in limestone. The bridge spans the Gambhiri River and is supported by ten arches (one has a curved shape while the balance have pointed arches). Apart from the two tall towers, which dominate the majestic fortifications, the sprawling fort has a plethora of palaces and temples (many of them in ruins) within its precincts.

 

The 305 hectares component site, with a buffer zone of 427 hectares, encompasses the fortified stronghold of Chittorgarh, a spacious fort located on an isolated rocky plateau of approximately 2 km length and 155m width.

 

It is surrounded by a perimeter wall 4.5 kilometres long, beyond which a 45° hill slope makes it almost inaccessible to enemies. The ascent to the fort passes through seven gateways built by the Mewar ruler Rana Kumbha (1433- 1468) of the Sisodia clan. These gates are called, from the base to the hill top, the Paidal Pol, Bhairon Pol, Hanuman Pol, Ganesh Pol, Jorla Pol, Laxman Pol, and Ram Pol, the final and main gate.

 

The fort complex comprises 65 historic built structures, among them 4 palace complexes, 19 main temples, 4 memorials and 20 functional water bodies. These can be divided into two major construction phases. The first hill fort with one main entrance was established in the 5th century and successively fortified until the 12th century. Its remains are mostly visible on the western edges of the plateau. The second, more significant defence structure was constructed in the 15th century during the reign of the Sisodia Rajputs, when the royal entrance was relocated and fortified with seven gates, and the medieval fortification wall was built on an earlier wall construction from the 13th century.

 

Besides the palace complex, located on the highest and most secure terrain in the west of the fort, many of the other significant structures, such as the Kumbha Shyam Temple, the Mira Bai Temple, the Adi Varah Temple, the Shringar Chauri Temple, and the Vijay Stambh memorial were constructed in this second phase. Compared to the later additions of Sisodian rulers during the 19th and 20th centuries, the predominant construction phase illustrates a comparatively pure Rajput style combined with minimal eclecticism, such as the vaulted substructures which were borrowed from Sultanate architecture. The 4.5 km walls with integrated circular enforcements are constructed from dressed stone masonry in lime mortar and rise 500m above the plain. With the help of the seven massive stone gates, partly flanked by hexagonal or octagonal towers, the access to the fort is restricted to a narrow pathway which climbs up the steep hill through successive, ever narrower defence passages. The seventh and final gate leads directly into the palace area, which integrates a variety of residential and official structures. Rana Kumbha Mahal, the palace of Rana Kumbha, is a large Rajput domestic structure and now incorporates the Kanwar Pade Ka Mahal (the palace of the heir) and the later palace of the poetess Mira Bai (1498-1546). The palace area was further expanded in later centuries, when additional structures, such as the Ratan Singh Palace (1528–31) or the Fateh Prakash, also named Badal Mahal (1885-1930), were added. Although the majority of temple structures represent the Hindu faith, most prominently the Kalikamata Temple (8th century), the Kshemankari Temple (825-850) the Kumbha Shyam Temple (1448) or the Adbuthnath Temple (15th- 16th century), the hill fort also contains Jain temples, such as Shringar Chauri (1448) and Sat Bis Devri (mid-15th century) Also the two tower memorials, Kirti Stambh (13th-14th century) and Vijay Stambha (1433-1468), are Jain monuments. They stand out with their respective heights of 24m and 37m, which ensure their visibility from most locations of the fort complex. Finally, the fort compound is home to a contemporary municipal ward of approximately 3,000 inhabitants, which is located near Ratan Singh Tank at the northern end of the property.

 

GATES

The fort has total seven gates (in local language, gate is called Pol), namely the Padan Pol, Bhairon Pol, Hanuman Pol, Ganesh Pol, Jodla Pol, Laxman Pol and the main gate named the Ram Pol (Lord Rama's Gate). All the gateways to the fort have been built as massive stone structures with secure fortifications for military defense. The doors of the gates with pointed arches are reinforced to fend off elephants and cannon shots. The top of the gates have notched parapets for archers to shoot at the enemy army. A circular road within the fort links all the gates and provides access to the numerous monuments (ruined palaces and 130 temples) in the fort.

 

During the second siege, Prince Bagh Singh died at the Padan Pol in 1535 AD. Prince Jaimal of Badnore and his clansman Kalla were killed by Akbar at a location between the Bhairon Pol and Hanuman Pol in the last siege of the fort in 1567 (Kalla carried the wounded Jaimal out to fight). Chhatris, with the roof supported by corbeled arches, have been built to commemorate the spots of their sacrifice. Their statues have also been erected, at the orders of Emperor Akbar, to commemorate their valiant deaths. At each gate, cenotaphs of Jaimal (in the form of a statue of a Rajput warrior on horseback) and Patta have also been constructed. At Ram Pol, the entrance gate to the fort, a Chaatri was built in memory of the 15 year old Patta of Kelwa, who had lost his father in battle, and saw the sword yielding mother and wife on the battle field who fought valiantly and died at this gate. He led the saffron robed Rajput warriors, who all died fighting for Mewar’s honour. Suraj Pol (Sun Gate) provides entry to the eastern wall of the fort. On the right of Suraj Pol is the Darikhana or Sabha (council chamber) behind which lie a Ganesha temple and the zenana (living quarters for women). A massive water reservoir is located towards the left of Suraj Pol. There is also a peculiar gate, called the Jorla Pol (Joined Gate), which consists of two gates joined together. The upper arch of Jorla Pol is connected to the base of Lakshman Pol. It is said that this feature has not been noticed anywhere else in India. The Lokota Bari is the gate at the fort’s northern tip, while a small opening that was used to hurl criminals into the abyss is seen at the southern end.

 

VIJAY STAMBHA

The Vijay Stambha (Tower of Victory) or Jaya Stambha, called the symbol of Chittor and a particularly bold expression of triumph, was erected by Rana Kumbha between 1458 and 1468 to commemorate his victory over Mahmud Shah I Khalji, the Sultan of Malwa, in 1440 AD. Built over a period of ten years, it raises 37.2 metres over a 4.4 m2 base in nine stories accessed through a narrow circular staircase of 157 steps (the interior is also carved) up to the 8th floor, from where there is good view of the plains and the new town of Chittor. The dome, which was a later addition, was damaged by lightning and repaired during the 19th century. The Stamba is now illuminated during the evenings and gives a beautiful view of Chittor from the top.

 

KIRTI STAMBHA

Kirti Stambha (Tower of Fame) is a 22 metres high tower built on a 9.1 m base with 4.6 m at the top, is adorned with Jain sculptures on the outside and is older (probably 12th century) and smaller than the Victory Tower. Built by a Bagherwal Jain merchant Jijaji Rathod, it is dedicated to Adinath, the first Jain tirthankar (revered Jain teacher). In the lowest floor of the tower, figures of the various tirthankars of the Jain pantheon are seen in special niches formed to house them. These are digambara monuments. A narrow stairway with 54 steps leads through the six storeys to the top. The top pavilion that was added in the 15th century has 12 columns.

 

RANA KUMBHA PALACE

At the entrance gate near the Vijaya Stamba, Rana Kumbha's palace (in ruins), the oldest monument, is located. The palace included elephant and horse stables and a temple to Lord Shiva. Maharana Udai Singh, the founder of Udaipur, was born here; the popular folk lore linked to his birth is that his maid Panna DaiPanna Dhai saved him by substituting her son in his place as a decoy, which resulted in her son getting killed by Banbir. The prince was spirited away in a fruit basket. The palace is built with plastered stone. The remarkable feature of the palace is its splendid series of canopied balconies. Entry to the palace is through Suraj Pol that leads into a courtyard. Rani Meera, the famous poetess saint, also lived in this palace. This is also the palace where Rani Padmini, consigned herself to the funeral pyre in one of the underground cellars, as an act of jauhar along with many other women. The Nau Lakha Bandar (literal meaning: nine lakh treasury) building, the royal treasury of Chittor was also located close by. Now, across from the palace is a museum and archeological office. The Singa Chowri temple is also nearby.

 

FATEH PRAKASH PALACE

Located near Rana Khumba palace, built by Rana Fateh Singh, the precincts have modern houses and a small museum. A school for local children (about 5,000 villagers live within the fort) is also nearby.

 

GAUMUKH RESERVOIR

A spring feeds the tank from a carved cow’s mouth in the cliff. This pool was the main source of water at the fort during the numerous sieges.

 

PADMINI´S PALACE

Padmini's Palace or Rani Padmini's Palace is a white building and a three storied structure (a 19th-century reconstruction of the original). It is located in the southern part of the fort. Chhatris (pavilions) crown the palace roofs and a water moat surrounds the palace. This style of palace became the forerunner of other palaces built in the state with the concept of Jal Mahal (palace surrounded by water). It is at this Palace where Alauddin was permitted to glimpse the mirror image of Rani Padmini, wife of Maharana Rattan Singh. It is widely believed that this glimpse of Padmini's beauty besotted him and convinced him to destroy Chittor in order to possess her. Maharana Rattan Singh was killed and Rani Padmini committed Jauhar. Rani Padmini's beauty has been compared to that of Cleopatra and her life story is an eternal legend in the history of Chittor. The bronze gates to this pavilion were removed and transported to Agra by Akbar.

 

OTHER SIGHTS

Close to Kirti Sthamba is the Meera Temple, or the Meerabai Temple. Rana Khumba built it in an ornate Indo–Aryan architectural style. It is associated with the mystic saint-poet Mirabai who was an ardent devotee of Lord Krishna and dedicated her entire life to His worship. She composed and sang lyrical bhajans called Meera Bhajans. The popular legend associated with her is that with blessings of Krishna, she survived after consuming poison sent to her by her evil brother-in-law. The larger temple in the same compound is the Kumbha Shyam Temple (Varaha Temple). The pinnacle of the temple is in pyramid shape. A picture of Meerabai praying before Krishna has now been installed in the temple.

 

Across from Padmini’s Palace is the Kalika Mata Temple. Originally, a Sun Temple dated to the 8th century dedicated to Surya (the Sun God) was destroyed in the 14th century. It was rebuilt as a Kali temple.

 

Another temple on the west side of the fort is the ancient Goddess Tulja Bhavani Temple built to worship Goddess Tulja Bhavani is considered sacred. The Tope Khana (cannon foundry) is located next to this temple in a courtyard, where a few old cannons are still seen.

 

JAUHAR MELA

The fort and the city of Chittorgarh host the biggest Rajput festival called the "Jauhar Mela". It takes place annually on the anniversary of one of the jauhars, but no specific name has been given to it. It is generally believed that it commemorates Padmini’s jauhar, which is most famous. This festival is held primarily to commemorate the bravery of Rajput ancestors and all three jauhars which happened at Chittorgarh Fort. A huge number of Rajputs, which include the descendants of most of the princely families, hold a procession to celebrate the Jauhar. It has also become a forum to air one's views on the current political situation in the country.

 

WIKIPEDIA

Chittorgarh Fort (Hindi/Rajasthani: चित्तौड दुर्ग Chittorgarh Durg) is the largest fort in India and the grandest in the state of Rajasthan. It is a World Heritage Site. The fort, plainly known as Chittor, was the capital of Mewar and is today situated several kilometres south of Bhilwara. It was initially ruled by Guhilot and later by Sisodias, the Suryavanshi clans of Chattari Rajputs, from the 7th century, until it was finally abandoned in 1568 after the siege by Emperor Akbar in 1567. It sprawls majestically over a hill 180 m in height spread over an area of 280 ha above the plains of the valley drained by the Berach River. The fort precinct with an evocative history is studded with a series of historical palaces, gates, temples and two prominent commemoration towers. These monumental ruins have inspired the imagination of tourists and writers for centuries.

 

The fort was sacked three times between the 15th and 16th centuries; in 1303 Allauddin Khilji defeated Rana Ratan Singh, in 1535 Bahadur Shah, the Sultan of Gujarat defeated Bikramjeet Singh and in 1567 Emperor Akbar defeated Maharana Udai Singh II who left the fort and founded Udaipur. Each time the men fought bravely rushing out of the fort walls charging the enemy but lost every time. Following these defeats, Jauhar was committed thrice by more than 13,000 ladies and children of the Rajput heroes who laid their lives in battles at Chittorgarh Fort, first led by Rani Padmini wife of Rana Rattan Singh who was killed in the battle in 1303, and later by Rani Karnavati in 1537 AD.

 

Thus, the fort represents the quintessence of tribute to the nationalism, courage, medieval chivalry and sacrifice exhibited by the Mewar rulers of Sisodia and their kinsmen and women and children, between the 7th and 16th centuries. The rulers, their soldiers, the women folk of royalty and the commoners considered death as a better option than dishonor in the face of surrender to the foreign invading armies.

 

GEOGRAPHY

Chittorgarh, located in the southern part of the state of Rajasthan, 233 km from Ajmer, midway between Delhi and Mumbai on the National Highway 8 (India) in the road network of Golden Quadrilateral. Chittorgarh is situated where National Highways No. 76 & 79 intersect.

 

The fort rises abruptly above the surrounding plains and is spread over an area of 2.8 km2. The highest elevation at the fort is 1,075 m. It is situated on the left bank of the Berach river (a tributary of the Banas River) and is linked to the new town of Chittorgarh (known as the 'Lower Town') developed in the plains after 1568 AD when the fort was deserted in light of introduction of artillery in the 16th century, and therefore the capital was shifted to more secure Udaipur, located on the eastern flank of Aravalli hill range. Mughal Emperor Akbar attacked and sacked this fort which was but one of the 84 forts of Mewar,but the capital was shifted to Aravalli hills where heavy artillery & cavalry were not effective. A winding hill road of more than 1 km length from the new town leads to the west end main gate, called Ram Pol, of the fort. Within the fort, a circular road provides access to all the gates and monuments located within the fort walls.

 

The fort that once boasted of 84 water bodies has only 22 of them now. These water bodies are fed by natural catchment and rainfall, and have a combined storage of 4 billion litres that could meet the water needs of an army of 50,000. The supply could last for four years. These water bodies are in the form of ponds, wells and step wells.

 

HISTORY

Chittorgarh Fort is considered to be the largest fort of India in terms of area. It is stated that the fort was constructed by the Mauryans during the 7th century AD and hence derives its name after the Mauryan ruler, Chitrangada Mori, as inscribed on coins of the period. Historical records show Chittorgarh fort as the capital of Mewar for 834 years. It was established in 734 AD by Bappa Rawal, founder ruler in the hierarchy of the Sisodia rulers of Mewar. It is also said that the fort was gifted to Bappa Rawal as part of Solanki princess’s dowry in the 8th century. The fort was looted and destroyed at the hands of Emperor Akbar in 1568 AD and subsequently never resettled but only refurbished in 1905 AD. Three important battles were fought for control of the fort; in 1303, Ala-ud-din Khilji besieged the fort; in 1535, Sultan of Gujarat Bahadur Shah besieged the fort; and in 1568, Mughal Emperor Akbar attacked the fort. Not that there were only defeats at the fort. Excluding the periods of siege, the fort had always remained in possession of the Sisodias of the Guhilot (or Gehlot/Guhila) clan of Rajputs, who descended from Bappa Rawal. There were also success stories of establishment of the fort and its reconstruction after every siege, before it was finally abandoned in 1568, all of which are narrated.

 

Chittor is cited in the Mahabharat epic. It is said that Bhima, the second of the Pandava brothers of Epic Mahabaharata fame, known for his mighty strength gave a powerful hit with his fist to the ground that resulted in water springing up to form a large reservoir. It is called Bhimlat kund, an artificial tank named after Bhima. Folk legend also mentions that Bhima started building the fort.

 

BAPPA RAWAL

The earliest history linked to the Bappa Rawal's fort is that of the Huna Kingdom of Sialkot (of Mihir Kula 515-540 AD) that was destroyed by Yashodharman. This was subsequently seized by a new dynasty of kshatriyas called Tak or Taxaka. According to historians, the Taxak Mori were the lords of Chittor from a very early period. After a few generations, the Guhilots supplanted them. From 725 to 735 AD, there were numerous defenders who appear to have considered the cause of Chittor their own, the Tak from Asirgarh. This race appears to have retained possession of Asirgarh for at least two centuries after this event and one of its chieftain Bappa Rawal was the most conspicuous leader in the lineage of Prithvi Raj. In the poems of Chandar he is called the "Standard, bearer, Tak of Asir."

 

SIEGE OF 1303

Ala ud din Khilji, Sultan of Delhi, rallied his forces against Mewar, in 1303 AD. The Chittorgarh fort was till then considered impregnable and grand, atop a natural hill. But his immediate reason for invading the fort was his obsessive desire to capture Rani Padmini, the unrivalled beautiful queen of Rana Ratan Singh and take her into his harem. The Rana, out of politeness, allowed the Khilji to view Padmini through a set of mirrors. But this viewing of Padmini further fired Khilji’s desire to possess her. After the viewing, as a gesture of courtesy, when the Rana accompanied the Sultan to the outer gate, he was treacherously captured. Khilji conveyed to the queen that the Rana would be released only if she agreed to join his harem. But the queen had other plans. She agreed to go to his camp if permitted to go in a Royal style with an entourage, in strict secrecy. Instead of her going, she sent 700 well armed soldiers disguised in litters and they rescued the Rana and took him to the fort. But Khilji chased them to the fort where a fierce battle ensued at the outer gate of the fort in which the Rajput soldiers were overpowered and the Rana was killed. Khilji won the battle on August 26, 1303. Soon thereafter, instead of surrendering to the Sultan, the royal Rajput ladies led by Rani Padmini preferred to die through the Rajput’s ultimate tragic rite of Jauhar (self immolation on a pyre). In revenge, Khilji killed thirty thousand Hindus. He entrusted the fort to his son Khizr Khan to rule and renamed the fort as 'Khizrabad'. He also showered gifts on his son by way of

 

a red canopy, a robe embroidered with gold and two standards one green and the other black and threw upon him rubies and emeralds.

 

He returned to Delhi after the fierce battle at the fort.

 

RANA HAMMIR & SUCCESSORS

Khizr Khan’s rule at the fort lasted till 1311 AD and due to the pressure of Rajputs he was forced to entrust power to the Sonigra chief Maldeva who held the fort for 7 years. Hammir Singh, usurped control of the fort from Maldeva by “treachery and intrigue” and Chittor once again regained its past glory. Hammir, before his death in 1364 AD, had converted Mewar into a fairly large and prosperous kingdom. The dynasty (and clan) fathered by him came to be known by the name Sisodia after the village where he was born. His son Ketra Singh succeeded him and ruled with honour and power. Ketra Singh’s son Lakha who ascended the throne in 1382 AD also won several wars. His famous grandson Rana Kumbha came to the throne in 1433 AD and by that time the Muslim rulers of Malwa and Gujarat had acquired considerable clout and were keen to usurp the powerful Mewar state.

 

RANA KUMBHA & CLAN

There was resurgence during the reign of Rana Kumbha in the 15th century. Rana Kumbha, also known as Maharana Kumbhakarna, son of Rana Mokal, ruled Mewar between 1433 AD and 1468 AD. He is credited with building up the Mewar kingdom assiduously as a force to reckon with. He built 32 forts (84 fortresses formed the defense of Mewar) including one in his own name, called Kumbalgarh. But his end came in 1468 AD at the hands of his own son Rana Udaysimha (Uday Singh I) who assassinated him to gain the throne of Mewar. This patricide was not appreciated by the people of Mewar and consequently his brother Rana Raimal assumed the reins of power in 1473. After his death in May 1509, Sangram Singh (also known as Rana Sanga), his youngest son, became the ruler of Mewar, which brought in a new phase in the history of Mewar. Rana Sanga, with support from Medini Rai (a Rajput chief of Alwar), fought a valiant battle against Mughal emperor Babar at Khanwa in 1527. He ushered in a period of prestige to Chittor by defeating the rulers of Gujarat and also effectively interfered in the matters of Idar. He also won small areas of the Delhi territory. In the ensuing battle with Ibrahim Lodi, Rana won and acquired some districts of Malwa. He also defeated the combined might of Sultan Muzaffar of Gujarat and the Sultan of Malwa. By 1525 AD, Rana Sanga had developed Chittor and Mewar, by virtue of great intellect, valour and his sword, into a formidable military state. But in a decisive battle that was fought against Babar on March 16, 1527, the Rajput army of Rana Sanga suffered a terrible defeat and Sanga escaped to one of his fortresses. But soon thereafter in another attack on the Chanderi fort the valiant Rana Sanga died and with his death the Rajput confederacy collapsed.

 

SIEGE OF 1534

Bahadur Shah who came to the throne in 1526 AD as the Sultan of Gujarat besieged the Chittorgarh fort in 1534. The fort was sacked and, once again the medieval dictates of chivalry determined the outcome. Following the defeat of the Rana, it is said 13,000 Rajput women committed jauhar (self immolation on the funeral pyre) and 3,200 Rajput warriors rushed out of the fort to fight and die.

 

SIEGE OF 1567

The final Siege of Chittorgarh came 33 years later, in 1567, when the Mughal Emperor Akbar invaded the fort. Akbar wanted to conquer Mewar, which was being ably ruled by Rana Uday Singh II, a fine prince of Mewar. To establish himself as the supreme lord of Northern India, he wanted to capture the renowned fortress of Chittor, as a precursor to conquering the whole of India. Shakti Singh, son of the Rana who had quarreled with his father, had run away and approached Akbar when the later had camped at Dholpur preparing to attack Malwa. During one of these meetings, in August 1567, Shakti Singh came to know from a remark made in jest by emperor Akbar that he was intending to wage war against Chittor. Akbar had told Shakti Singh in jest that since his father had not submitted himself before him like other princes and chieftains of the region he would attack him. Startled by this revelation, Shakti Singh quietly rushed back to Chittor and informed his father of the impending invasion by Akbar. Akbar was furious with the departure of Shakti Singh and decided to attack Mewar to humble the arrogance of the Ranas. In September 1567, the emperor left for Chittor, and on October 20, 1567, camped in the vast plains outside the fort. In the meantime, Rana Udai Singh, on the advice of his council of advisors, decided to go away from Chittor to the hills of Udaipur. Jaimal and Patta, two brave army chieftains of Mewar, were left behind to defend the fort along with 8,000 Rajput warriors under their command. Akbar laid siege to the fortress. The Rajput army fought valiantly and Akbar himself had narrowly escaped death. In this grave situation, Akbar had prayed for divine help for achieving victory and vowed to visit the shrine of the sufi saint Khwaja at Ajmer. The battle continued till February 23, 1568. On that day Jaymal was seriously wounded but he continued to fight with support from Patta. Jayamal ordered jauhar to be performed when many beautiful princesses of Mewar and noble matrons committed self-immolation at the funeral pyre. Next day the gates of the fort were opened and Rajput soldiers rushed out bravely to fight the enemies. Jayamal and Patta who fought bravely were at last killed in action. One figure estimates that 30,000 soldiers were killed in action. Akbar immediately repaired himself to Ajmer to perform his religious vow.

 

RETURN OF THE FORT TO MEWAR

But in 1616, Jehangir returned Chittor fort to the Rajputs, when Maharana Amar Singh was the chief of Mewar. However, the fort was not resettled though it was refurbished several centuries later in 1905 during British Raj.

 

PRECINCTS

The fort which is roughly in the shape of a fish has a circumference of 13 km with a maximum width of 3 km and it covers an area of 700 acres. The fort is approached through a zig zag and difficult ascent of more than 1 km from the plains, after crossing over a bridge made in limestone. The bridge spans the Gambhiri River and is supported by ten arches (one has a curved shape while the balance have pointed arches). Apart from the two tall towers, which dominate the majestic fortifications, the sprawling fort has a plethora of palaces and temples (many of them in ruins) within its precincts.

 

The 305 hectares component site, with a buffer zone of 427 hectares, encompasses the fortified stronghold of Chittorgarh, a spacious fort located on an isolated rocky plateau of approximately 2 km length and 155m width.

 

It is surrounded by a perimeter wall 4.5 kilometres long, beyond which a 45° hill slope makes it almost inaccessible to enemies. The ascent to the fort passes through seven gateways built by the Mewar ruler Rana Kumbha (1433- 1468) of the Sisodia clan. These gates are called, from the base to the hill top, the Paidal Pol, Bhairon Pol, Hanuman Pol, Ganesh Pol, Jorla Pol, Laxman Pol, and Ram Pol, the final and main gate.

 

The fort complex comprises 65 historic built structures, among them 4 palace complexes, 19 main temples, 4 memorials and 20 functional water bodies. These can be divided into two major construction phases. The first hill fort with one main entrance was established in the 5th century and successively fortified until the 12th century. Its remains are mostly visible on the western edges of the plateau. The second, more significant defence structure was constructed in the 15th century during the reign of the Sisodia Rajputs, when the royal entrance was relocated and fortified with seven gates, and the medieval fortification wall was built on an earlier wall construction from the 13th century.

 

Besides the palace complex, located on the highest and most secure terrain in the west of the fort, many of the other significant structures, such as the Kumbha Shyam Temple, the Mira Bai Temple, the Adi Varah Temple, the Shringar Chauri Temple, and the Vijay Stambh memorial were constructed in this second phase. Compared to the later additions of Sisodian rulers during the 19th and 20th centuries, the predominant construction phase illustrates a comparatively pure Rajput style combined with minimal eclecticism, such as the vaulted substructures which were borrowed from Sultanate architecture. The 4.5 km walls with integrated circular enforcements are constructed from dressed stone masonry in lime mortar and rise 500m above the plain. With the help of the seven massive stone gates, partly flanked by hexagonal or octagonal towers, the access to the fort is restricted to a narrow pathway which climbs up the steep hill through successive, ever narrower defence passages. The seventh and final gate leads directly into the palace area, which integrates a variety of residential and official structures. Rana Kumbha Mahal, the palace of Rana Kumbha, is a large Rajput domestic structure and now incorporates the Kanwar Pade Ka Mahal (the palace of the heir) and the later palace of the poetess Mira Bai (1498-1546). The palace area was further expanded in later centuries, when additional structures, such as the Ratan Singh Palace (1528–31) or the Fateh Prakash, also named Badal Mahal (1885-1930), were added. Although the majority of temple structures represent the Hindu faith, most prominently the Kalikamata Temple (8th century), the Kshemankari Temple (825-850) the Kumbha Shyam Temple (1448) or the Adbuthnath Temple (15th- 16th century), the hill fort also contains Jain temples, such as Shringar Chauri (1448) and Sat Bis Devri (mid-15th century) Also the two tower memorials, Kirti Stambh (13th-14th century) and Vijay Stambha (1433-1468), are Jain monuments. They stand out with their respective heights of 24m and 37m, which ensure their visibility from most locations of the fort complex. Finally, the fort compound is home to a contemporary municipal ward of approximately 3,000 inhabitants, which is located near Ratan Singh Tank at the northern end of the property.

 

GATES

The fort has total seven gates (in local language, gate is called Pol), namely the Padan Pol, Bhairon Pol, Hanuman Pol, Ganesh Pol, Jodla Pol, Laxman Pol and the main gate named the Ram Pol (Lord Rama's Gate). All the gateways to the fort have been built as massive stone structures with secure fortifications for military defense. The doors of the gates with pointed arches are reinforced to fend off elephants and cannon shots. The top of the gates have notched parapets for archers to shoot at the enemy army. A circular road within the fort links all the gates and provides access to the numerous monuments (ruined palaces and 130 temples) in the fort.

 

During the second siege, Prince Bagh Singh died at the Padan Pol in 1535 AD. Prince Jaimal of Badnore and his clansman Kalla were killed by Akbar at a location between the Bhairon Pol and Hanuman Pol in the last siege of the fort in 1567 (Kalla carried the wounded Jaimal out to fight). Chhatris, with the roof supported by corbeled arches, have been built to commemorate the spots of their sacrifice. Their statues have also been erected, at the orders of Emperor Akbar, to commemorate their valiant deaths. At each gate, cenotaphs of Jaimal (in the form of a statue of a Rajput warrior on horseback) and Patta have also been constructed. At Ram Pol, the entrance gate to the fort, a Chaatri was built in memory of the 15 year old Patta of Kelwa, who had lost his father in battle, and saw the sword yielding mother and wife on the battle field who fought valiantly and died at this gate. He led the saffron robed Rajput warriors, who all died fighting for Mewar’s honour. Suraj Pol (Sun Gate) provides entry to the eastern wall of the fort. On the right of Suraj Pol is the Darikhana or Sabha (council chamber) behind which lie a Ganesha temple and the zenana (living quarters for women). A massive water reservoir is located towards the left of Suraj Pol. There is also a peculiar gate, called the Jorla Pol (Joined Gate), which consists of two gates joined together. The upper arch of Jorla Pol is connected to the base of Lakshman Pol. It is said that this feature has not been noticed anywhere else in India. The Lokota Bari is the gate at the fort’s northern tip, while a small opening that was used to hurl criminals into the abyss is seen at the southern end.

 

VIJAY STAMBHA

The Vijay Stambha (Tower of Victory) or Jaya Stambha, called the symbol of Chittor and a particularly bold expression of triumph, was erected by Rana Kumbha between 1458 and 1468 to commemorate his victory over Mahmud Shah I Khalji, the Sultan of Malwa, in 1440 AD. Built over a period of ten years, it raises 37.2 metres over a 4.4 m2 base in nine stories accessed through a narrow circular staircase of 157 steps (the interior is also carved) up to the 8th floor, from where there is good view of the plains and the new town of Chittor. The dome, which was a later addition, was damaged by lightning and repaired during the 19th century. The Stamba is now illuminated during the evenings and gives a beautiful view of Chittor from the top.

 

KIRTI STAMBHA

Kirti Stambha (Tower of Fame) is a 22 metres high tower built on a 9.1 m base with 4.6 m at the top, is adorned with Jain sculptures on the outside and is older (probably 12th century) and smaller than the Victory Tower. Built by a Bagherwal Jain merchant Jijaji Rathod, it is dedicated to Adinath, the first Jain tirthankar (revered Jain teacher). In the lowest floor of the tower, figures of the various tirthankars of the Jain pantheon are seen in special niches formed to house them. These are digambara monuments. A narrow stairway with 54 steps leads through the six storeys to the top. The top pavilion that was added in the 15th century has 12 columns.

 

RANA KUMBHA PALACE

At the entrance gate near the Vijaya Stamba, Rana Kumbha's palace (in ruins), the oldest monument, is located. The palace included elephant and horse stables and a temple to Lord Shiva. Maharana Udai Singh, the founder of Udaipur, was born here; the popular folk lore linked to his birth is that his maid Panna DaiPanna Dhai saved him by substituting her son in his place as a decoy, which resulted in her son getting killed by Banbir. The prince was spirited away in a fruit basket. The palace is built with plastered stone. The remarkable feature of the palace is its splendid series of canopied balconies. Entry to the palace is through Suraj Pol that leads into a courtyard. Rani Meera, the famous poetess saint, also lived in this palace. This is also the palace where Rani Padmini, consigned herself to the funeral pyre in one of the underground cellars, as an act of jauhar along with many other women. The Nau Lakha Bandar (literal meaning: nine lakh treasury) building, the royal treasury of Chittor was also located close by. Now, across from the palace is a museum and archeological office. The Singa Chowri temple is also nearby.

 

FATEH PRAKASH PALACE

Located near Rana Khumba palace, built by Rana Fateh Singh, the precincts have modern houses and a small museum. A school for local children (about 5,000 villagers live within the fort) is also nearby.

 

GAUMUKH RESERVOIR

A spring feeds the tank from a carved cow’s mouth in the cliff. This pool was the main source of water at the fort during the numerous sieges.

 

PADMINI´S PALACE

Padmini's Palace or Rani Padmini's Palace is a white building and a three storied structure (a 19th-century reconstruction of the original). It is located in the southern part of the fort. Chhatris (pavilions) crown the palace roofs and a water moat surrounds the palace. This style of palace became the forerunner of other palaces built in the state with the concept of Jal Mahal (palace surrounded by water). It is at this Palace where Alauddin was permitted to glimpse the mirror image of Rani Padmini, wife of Maharana Rattan Singh. It is widely believed that this glimpse of Padmini's beauty besotted him and convinced him to destroy Chittor in order to possess her. Maharana Rattan Singh was killed and Rani Padmini committed Jauhar. Rani Padmini's beauty has been compared to that of Cleopatra and her life story is an eternal legend in the history of Chittor. The bronze gates to this pavilion were removed and transported to Agra by Akbar.

 

OTHER SIGHTS

Close to Kirti Sthamba is the Meera Temple, or the Meerabai Temple. Rana Khumba built it in an ornate Indo–Aryan architectural style. It is associated with the mystic saint-poet Mirabai who was an ardent devotee of Lord Krishna and dedicated her entire life to His worship. She composed and sang lyrical bhajans called Meera Bhajans. The popular legend associated with her is that with blessings of Krishna, she survived after consuming poison sent to her by her evil brother-in-law. The larger temple in the same compound is the Kumbha Shyam Temple (Varaha Temple). The pinnacle of the temple is in pyramid shape. A picture of Meerabai praying before Krishna has now been installed in the temple.

 

Across from Padmini’s Palace is the Kalika Mata Temple. Originally, a Sun Temple dated to the 8th century dedicated to Surya (the Sun God) was destroyed in the 14th century. It was rebuilt as a Kali temple.

 

Another temple on the west side of the fort is the ancient Goddess Tulja Bhavani Temple built to worship Goddess Tulja Bhavani is considered sacred. The Tope Khana (cannon foundry) is located next to this temple in a courtyard, where a few old cannons are still seen.

 

JAUHAR MELA

The fort and the city of Chittorgarh host the biggest Rajput festival called the "Jauhar Mela". It takes place annually on the anniversary of one of the jauhars, but no specific name has been given to it. It is generally believed that it commemorates Padmini’s jauhar, which is most famous. This festival is held primarily to commemorate the bravery of Rajput ancestors and all three jauhars which happened at Chittorgarh Fort. A huge number of Rajputs, which include the descendants of most of the princely families, hold a procession to celebrate the Jauhar. It has also become a forum to air one's views on the current political situation in the country.

 

WIKIPEDIA

Meridian, Mississippi.

Like Alabama the state of Mississippi was one of the areas most passionately committed to resisting integration at all costs, including white violence against black Americans. Meridian has a population of about 40,000 in the city but more people live just outside the county boundaries. In the 1960s it was seething with fury against the US Supreme Court, the federal government and the interference of white liberals and university students in their time honoured practices of racial segregation. The Ku Klux Klan was strong in this area along with many other areas of Mississippi and Alabama. In the summer of 1964 a new campaign was started to get black Americans enrolled to vote in federal elections. Prior to this black Americans, even if eligible to vote, were too intimidated to consider it. The COFO, the College of Federated Organizations (NAACP, SCLC etc), brought about 1,000 activists into Mississippi to organise Freedom Schools, or programs to get black Americans enrolled for voting. 17,000 black Mississippians attended the schools to learn how to try and get through the red tape that prevented them from voting. Less than 10% succeeded. The Freedom Schools program was a flow on campaign from the Freedom Rides which attempted similar outcomes in 1961/1962. But in Meridian the police department was against these Freedom Schools. On 21 June 1964 three civil rights workers disappeared after they had been arrested for a minor speeding infringement. After being discharged the police followed them. Later they trio was stopped by a group of Ku Klux Klan members tipped off by the police and involving some of the police. The three, Andrew Goodman, James Chaney, and Michael Schwerner disappeared. Their bodies were found by the FBI 44 days later. The federal government charged 18 men but could only mount charges against seven. Those involve included the County Sheriff, the Deputy Sheriff, a local policeman and a group affiliated with the Ku Klux Klan. Eighteen men were eventually charged with murder by federal authorities in 1967. Mississippian authorities refused to charge any of them men! Most were acquitted but seven got sentences of between three and ten years. In 2005 one of those acquitted was finally charged with manslaughter. He was the one who had planned and directed the three murders. His appeal to the Mississippi Supreme Court was rejected in 2007. This brutal murder conspiracy has been made into a movie twice, one called Mississippi Burning and the other Murder in Mississippi. Alice Walker from Eatonton also wrote a novel in 1976 about these events called Meridian. Perhaps the city is now putting this murderous time behind them. Black Americans have better employment opportunities these days in Meridian and for the first time the city voted in a black American mayor who took office on 1st July 2013.

 

Following the 1964 Civil Rights Act in Washington the act made it illegal to discriminate in voting enrolment practices and voting systems. The Freedom Schools were not so needed. But some states still resisted federal attempts to outlaw their discriminatory practices. But in the 1965 elections in Mississippi black Americans turned out in droves to vote. Mississippi had the highest black American voter turnout of any state. 74% of eligible black Americans voted and Mississippi had the highest number of black Americans elected to public offices-such as police chief, sheriff, fire officer etc. By 1989 almost 4,800 black Americans held public office across the South. Nearly every county with a black majority had a black sheriff. But it still took another 14 years (1979) before any black American was elected as mayor of any Mississippian city. That was in Jackson, the state capital when Richard Arrington was elected as mayor. The current three Senators in Washington from Mississippi are white; three of the four Congressional members are white but the black American member has been in Congress since 1993. He was preceded by black American Congressman, Mike Espy from 1987-93 who was the first black American represent Mississippi in Congress.

 

Chittorgarh Fort (Hindi/Rajasthani: चित्तौड दुर्ग Chittorgarh Durg) is the largest fort in India and the grandest in the state of Rajasthan. It is a World Heritage Site. The fort, plainly known as Chittor, was the capital of Mewar and is today situated several kilometres south of Bhilwara. It was initially ruled by Guhilot and later by Sisodias, the Suryavanshi clans of Chattari Rajputs, from the 7th century, until it was finally abandoned in 1568 after the siege by Emperor Akbar in 1567. It sprawls majestically over a hill 180 m in height spread over an area of 280 ha above the plains of the valley drained by the Berach River. The fort precinct with an evocative history is studded with a series of historical palaces, gates, temples and two prominent commemoration towers. These monumental ruins have inspired the imagination of tourists and writers for centuries.

 

The fort was sacked three times between the 15th and 16th centuries; in 1303 Allauddin Khilji defeated Rana Ratan Singh, in 1535 Bahadur Shah, the Sultan of Gujarat defeated Bikramjeet Singh and in 1567 Emperor Akbar defeated Maharana Udai Singh II who left the fort and founded Udaipur. Each time the men fought bravely rushing out of the fort walls charging the enemy but lost every time. Following these defeats, Jauhar was committed thrice by more than 13,000 ladies and children of the Rajput heroes who laid their lives in battles at Chittorgarh Fort, first led by Rani Padmini wife of Rana Rattan Singh who was killed in the battle in 1303, and later by Rani Karnavati in 1537 AD.

 

Thus, the fort represents the quintessence of tribute to the nationalism, courage, medieval chivalry and sacrifice exhibited by the Mewar rulers of Sisodia and their kinsmen and women and children, between the 7th and 16th centuries. The rulers, their soldiers, the women folk of royalty and the commoners considered death as a better option than dishonor in the face of surrender to the foreign invading armies.

 

GEOGRAPHY

Chittorgarh, located in the southern part of the state of Rajasthan, 233 km from Ajmer, midway between Delhi and Mumbai on the National Highway 8 (India) in the road network of Golden Quadrilateral. Chittorgarh is situated where National Highways No. 76 & 79 intersect.

 

The fort rises abruptly above the surrounding plains and is spread over an area of 2.8 km2. The highest elevation at the fort is 1,075 m. It is situated on the left bank of the Berach river (a tributary of the Banas River) and is linked to the new town of Chittorgarh (known as the 'Lower Town') developed in the plains after 1568 AD when the fort was deserted in light of introduction of artillery in the 16th century, and therefore the capital was shifted to more secure Udaipur, located on the eastern flank of Aravalli hill range. Mughal Emperor Akbar attacked and sacked this fort which was but one of the 84 forts of Mewar,but the capital was shifted to Aravalli hills where heavy artillery & cavalry were not effective. A winding hill road of more than 1 km length from the new town leads to the west end main gate, called Ram Pol, of the fort. Within the fort, a circular road provides access to all the gates and monuments located within the fort walls.

 

The fort that once boasted of 84 water bodies has only 22 of them now. These water bodies are fed by natural catchment and rainfall, and have a combined storage of 4 billion litres that could meet the water needs of an army of 50,000. The supply could last for four years. These water bodies are in the form of ponds, wells and step wells.

 

HISTORY

Chittorgarh Fort is considered to be the largest fort of India in terms of area. It is stated that the fort was constructed by the Mauryans during the 7th century AD and hence derives its name after the Mauryan ruler, Chitrangada Mori, as inscribed on coins of the period. Historical records show Chittorgarh fort as the capital of Mewar for 834 years. It was established in 734 AD by Bappa Rawal, founder ruler in the hierarchy of the Sisodia rulers of Mewar. It is also said that the fort was gifted to Bappa Rawal as part of Solanki princess’s dowry in the 8th century. The fort was looted and destroyed at the hands of Emperor Akbar in 1568 AD and subsequently never resettled but only refurbished in 1905 AD. Three important battles were fought for control of the fort; in 1303, Ala-ud-din Khilji besieged the fort; in 1535, Sultan of Gujarat Bahadur Shah besieged the fort; and in 1568, Mughal Emperor Akbar attacked the fort. Not that there were only defeats at the fort. Excluding the periods of siege, the fort had always remained in possession of the Sisodias of the Guhilot (or Gehlot/Guhila) clan of Rajputs, who descended from Bappa Rawal. There were also success stories of establishment of the fort and its reconstruction after every siege, before it was finally abandoned in 1568, all of which are narrated.

 

Chittor is cited in the Mahabharat epic. It is said that Bhima, the second of the Pandava brothers of Epic Mahabaharata fame, known for his mighty strength gave a powerful hit with his fist to the ground that resulted in water springing up to form a large reservoir. It is called Bhimlat kund, an artificial tank named after Bhima. Folk legend also mentions that Bhima started building the fort.

 

BAPPA RAWAL

The earliest history linked to the Bappa Rawal's fort is that of the Huna Kingdom of Sialkot (of Mihir Kula 515-540 AD) that was destroyed by Yashodharman. This was subsequently seized by a new dynasty of kshatriyas called Tak or Taxaka. According to historians, the Taxak Mori were the lords of Chittor from a very early period. After a few generations, the Guhilots supplanted them. From 725 to 735 AD, there were numerous defenders who appear to have considered the cause of Chittor their own, the Tak from Asirgarh. This race appears to have retained possession of Asirgarh for at least two centuries after this event and one of its chieftain Bappa Rawal was the most conspicuous leader in the lineage of Prithvi Raj. In the poems of Chandar he is called the "Standard, bearer, Tak of Asir."

 

SIEGE OF 1303

Ala ud din Khilji, Sultan of Delhi, rallied his forces against Mewar, in 1303 AD. The Chittorgarh fort was till then considered impregnable and grand, atop a natural hill. But his immediate reason for invading the fort was his obsessive desire to capture Rani Padmini, the unrivalled beautiful queen of Rana Ratan Singh and take her into his harem. The Rana, out of politeness, allowed the Khilji to view Padmini through a set of mirrors. But this viewing of Padmini further fired Khilji’s desire to possess her. After the viewing, as a gesture of courtesy, when the Rana accompanied the Sultan to the outer gate, he was treacherously captured. Khilji conveyed to the queen that the Rana would be released only if she agreed to join his harem. But the queen had other plans. She agreed to go to his camp if permitted to go in a Royal style with an entourage, in strict secrecy. Instead of her going, she sent 700 well armed soldiers disguised in litters and they rescued the Rana and took him to the fort. But Khilji chased them to the fort where a fierce battle ensued at the outer gate of the fort in which the Rajput soldiers were overpowered and the Rana was killed. Khilji won the battle on August 26, 1303. Soon thereafter, instead of surrendering to the Sultan, the royal Rajput ladies led by Rani Padmini preferred to die through the Rajput’s ultimate tragic rite of Jauhar (self immolation on a pyre). In revenge, Khilji killed thirty thousand Hindus. He entrusted the fort to his son Khizr Khan to rule and renamed the fort as 'Khizrabad'. He also showered gifts on his son by way of

 

a red canopy, a robe embroidered with gold and two standards one green and the other black and threw upon him rubies and emeralds.

 

He returned to Delhi after the fierce battle at the fort.

 

RANA HAMMIR & SUCCESSORS

Khizr Khan’s rule at the fort lasted till 1311 AD and due to the pressure of Rajputs he was forced to entrust power to the Sonigra chief Maldeva who held the fort for 7 years. Hammir Singh, usurped control of the fort from Maldeva by “treachery and intrigue” and Chittor once again regained its past glory. Hammir, before his death in 1364 AD, had converted Mewar into a fairly large and prosperous kingdom. The dynasty (and clan) fathered by him came to be known by the name Sisodia after the village where he was born. His son Ketra Singh succeeded him and ruled with honour and power. Ketra Singh’s son Lakha who ascended the throne in 1382 AD also won several wars. His famous grandson Rana Kumbha came to the throne in 1433 AD and by that time the Muslim rulers of Malwa and Gujarat had acquired considerable clout and were keen to usurp the powerful Mewar state.

 

RANA KUMBHA & CLAN

There was resurgence during the reign of Rana Kumbha in the 15th century. Rana Kumbha, also known as Maharana Kumbhakarna, son of Rana Mokal, ruled Mewar between 1433 AD and 1468 AD. He is credited with building up the Mewar kingdom assiduously as a force to reckon with. He built 32 forts (84 fortresses formed the defense of Mewar) including one in his own name, called Kumbalgarh. But his end came in 1468 AD at the hands of his own son Rana Udaysimha (Uday Singh I) who assassinated him to gain the throne of Mewar. This patricide was not appreciated by the people of Mewar and consequently his brother Rana Raimal assumed the reins of power in 1473. After his death in May 1509, Sangram Singh (also known as Rana Sanga), his youngest son, became the ruler of Mewar, which brought in a new phase in the history of Mewar. Rana Sanga, with support from Medini Rai (a Rajput chief of Alwar), fought a valiant battle against Mughal emperor Babar at Khanwa in 1527. He ushered in a period of prestige to Chittor by defeating the rulers of Gujarat and also effectively interfered in the matters of Idar. He also won small areas of the Delhi territory. In the ensuing battle with Ibrahim Lodi, Rana won and acquired some districts of Malwa. He also defeated the combined might of Sultan Muzaffar of Gujarat and the Sultan of Malwa. By 1525 AD, Rana Sanga had developed Chittor and Mewar, by virtue of great intellect, valour and his sword, into a formidable military state. But in a decisive battle that was fought against Babar on March 16, 1527, the Rajput army of Rana Sanga suffered a terrible defeat and Sanga escaped to one of his fortresses. But soon thereafter in another attack on the Chanderi fort the valiant Rana Sanga died and with his death the Rajput confederacy collapsed.

 

SIEGE OF 1534

Bahadur Shah who came to the throne in 1526 AD as the Sultan of Gujarat besieged the Chittorgarh fort in 1534. The fort was sacked and, once again the medieval dictates of chivalry determined the outcome. Following the defeat of the Rana, it is said 13,000 Rajput women committed jauhar (self immolation on the funeral pyre) and 3,200 Rajput warriors rushed out of the fort to fight and die.

 

SIEGE OF 1567

The final Siege of Chittorgarh came 33 years later, in 1567, when the Mughal Emperor Akbar invaded the fort. Akbar wanted to conquer Mewar, which was being ably ruled by Rana Uday Singh II, a fine prince of Mewar. To establish himself as the supreme lord of Northern India, he wanted to capture the renowned fortress of Chittor, as a precursor to conquering the whole of India. Shakti Singh, son of the Rana who had quarreled with his father, had run away and approached Akbar when the later had camped at Dholpur preparing to attack Malwa. During one of these meetings, in August 1567, Shakti Singh came to know from a remark made in jest by emperor Akbar that he was intending to wage war against Chittor. Akbar had told Shakti Singh in jest that since his father had not submitted himself before him like other princes and chieftains of the region he would attack him. Startled by this revelation, Shakti Singh quietly rushed back to Chittor and informed his father of the impending invasion by Akbar. Akbar was furious with the departure of Shakti Singh and decided to attack Mewar to humble the arrogance of the Ranas. In September 1567, the emperor left for Chittor, and on October 20, 1567, camped in the vast plains outside the fort. In the meantime, Rana Udai Singh, on the advice of his council of advisors, decided to go away from Chittor to the hills of Udaipur. Jaimal and Patta, two brave army chieftains of Mewar, were left behind to defend the fort along with 8,000 Rajput warriors under their command. Akbar laid siege to the fortress. The Rajput army fought valiantly and Akbar himself had narrowly escaped death. In this grave situation, Akbar had prayed for divine help for achieving victory and vowed to visit the shrine of the sufi saint Khwaja at Ajmer. The battle continued till February 23, 1568. On that day Jaymal was seriously wounded but he continued to fight with support from Patta. Jayamal ordered jauhar to be performed when many beautiful princesses of Mewar and noble matrons committed self-immolation at the funeral pyre. Next day the gates of the fort were opened and Rajput soldiers rushed out bravely to fight the enemies. Jayamal and Patta who fought bravely were at last killed in action. One figure estimates that 30,000 soldiers were killed in action. Akbar immediately repaired himself to Ajmer to perform his religious vow.

 

RETURN OF THE FORT TO MEWAR

But in 1616, Jehangir returned Chittor fort to the Rajputs, when Maharana Amar Singh was the chief of Mewar. However, the fort was not resettled though it was refurbished several centuries later in 1905 during British Raj.

 

PRECINCTS

The fort which is roughly in the shape of a fish has a circumference of 13 km with a maximum width of 3 km and it covers an area of 700 acres. The fort is approached through a zig zag and difficult ascent of more than 1 km from the plains, after crossing over a bridge made in limestone. The bridge spans the Gambhiri River and is supported by ten arches (one has a curved shape while the balance have pointed arches). Apart from the two tall towers, which dominate the majestic fortifications, the sprawling fort has a plethora of palaces and temples (many of them in ruins) within its precincts.

 

The 305 hectares component site, with a buffer zone of 427 hectares, encompasses the fortified stronghold of Chittorgarh, a spacious fort located on an isolated rocky plateau of approximately 2 km length and 155m width.

 

It is surrounded by a perimeter wall 4.5 kilometres long, beyond which a 45° hill slope makes it almost inaccessible to enemies. The ascent to the fort passes through seven gateways built by the Mewar ruler Rana Kumbha (1433- 1468) of the Sisodia clan. These gates are called, from the base to the hill top, the Paidal Pol, Bhairon Pol, Hanuman Pol, Ganesh Pol, Jorla Pol, Laxman Pol, and Ram Pol, the final and main gate.

 

The fort complex comprises 65 historic built structures, among them 4 palace complexes, 19 main temples, 4 memorials and 20 functional water bodies. These can be divided into two major construction phases. The first hill fort with one main entrance was established in the 5th century and successively fortified until the 12th century. Its remains are mostly visible on the western edges of the plateau. The second, more significant defence structure was constructed in the 15th century during the reign of the Sisodia Rajputs, when the royal entrance was relocated and fortified with seven gates, and the medieval fortification wall was built on an earlier wall construction from the 13th century.

 

Besides the palace complex, located on the highest and most secure terrain in the west of the fort, many of the other significant structures, such as the Kumbha Shyam Temple, the Mira Bai Temple, the Adi Varah Temple, the Shringar Chauri Temple, and the Vijay Stambh memorial were constructed in this second phase. Compared to the later additions of Sisodian rulers during the 19th and 20th centuries, the predominant construction phase illustrates a comparatively pure Rajput style combined with minimal eclecticism, such as the vaulted substructures which were borrowed from Sultanate architecture. The 4.5 km walls with integrated circular enforcements are constructed from dressed stone masonry in lime mortar and rise 500m above the plain. With the help of the seven massive stone gates, partly flanked by hexagonal or octagonal towers, the access to the fort is restricted to a narrow pathway which climbs up the steep hill through successive, ever narrower defence passages. The seventh and final gate leads directly into the palace area, which integrates a variety of residential and official structures. Rana Kumbha Mahal, the palace of Rana Kumbha, is a large Rajput domestic structure and now incorporates the Kanwar Pade Ka Mahal (the palace of the heir) and the later palace of the poetess Mira Bai (1498-1546). The palace area was further expanded in later centuries, when additional structures, such as the Ratan Singh Palace (1528–31) or the Fateh Prakash, also named Badal Mahal (1885-1930), were added. Although the majority of temple structures represent the Hindu faith, most prominently the Kalikamata Temple (8th century), the Kshemankari Temple (825-850) the Kumbha Shyam Temple (1448) or the Adbuthnath Temple (15th- 16th century), the hill fort also contains Jain temples, such as Shringar Chauri (1448) and Sat Bis Devri (mid-15th century) Also the two tower memorials, Kirti Stambh (13th-14th century) and Vijay Stambha (1433-1468), are Jain monuments. They stand out with their respective heights of 24m and 37m, which ensure their visibility from most locations of the fort complex. Finally, the fort compound is home to a contemporary municipal ward of approximately 3,000 inhabitants, which is located near Ratan Singh Tank at the northern end of the property.

 

GATES

The fort has total seven gates (in local language, gate is called Pol), namely the Padan Pol, Bhairon Pol, Hanuman Pol, Ganesh Pol, Jodla Pol, Laxman Pol and the main gate named the Ram Pol (Lord Rama's Gate). All the gateways to the fort have been built as massive stone structures with secure fortifications for military defense. The doors of the gates with pointed arches are reinforced to fend off elephants and cannon shots. The top of the gates have notched parapets for archers to shoot at the enemy army. A circular road within the fort links all the gates and provides access to the numerous monuments (ruined palaces and 130 temples) in the fort.

 

During the second siege, Prince Bagh Singh died at the Padan Pol in 1535 AD. Prince Jaimal of Badnore and his clansman Kalla were killed by Akbar at a location between the Bhairon Pol and Hanuman Pol in the last siege of the fort in 1567 (Kalla carried the wounded Jaimal out to fight). Chhatris, with the roof supported by corbeled arches, have been built to commemorate the spots of their sacrifice. Their statues have also been erected, at the orders of Emperor Akbar, to commemorate their valiant deaths. At each gate, cenotaphs of Jaimal (in the form of a statue of a Rajput warrior on horseback) and Patta have also been constructed. At Ram Pol, the entrance gate to the fort, a Chaatri was built in memory of the 15 year old Patta of Kelwa, who had lost his father in battle, and saw the sword yielding mother and wife on the battle field who fought valiantly and died at this gate. He led the saffron robed Rajput warriors, who all died fighting for Mewar’s honour. Suraj Pol (Sun Gate) provides entry to the eastern wall of the fort. On the right of Suraj Pol is the Darikhana or Sabha (council chamber) behind which lie a Ganesha temple and the zenana (living quarters for women). A massive water reservoir is located towards the left of Suraj Pol. There is also a peculiar gate, called the Jorla Pol (Joined Gate), which consists of two gates joined together. The upper arch of Jorla Pol is connected to the base of Lakshman Pol. It is said that this feature has not been noticed anywhere else in India. The Lokota Bari is the gate at the fort’s northern tip, while a small opening that was used to hurl criminals into the abyss is seen at the southern end.

 

VIJAY STAMBHA

The Vijay Stambha (Tower of Victory) or Jaya Stambha, called the symbol of Chittor and a particularly bold expression of triumph, was erected by Rana Kumbha between 1458 and 1468 to commemorate his victory over Mahmud Shah I Khalji, the Sultan of Malwa, in 1440 AD. Built over a period of ten years, it raises 37.2 metres over a 4.4 m2 base in nine stories accessed through a narrow circular staircase of 157 steps (the interior is also carved) up to the 8th floor, from where there is good view of the plains and the new town of Chittor. The dome, which was a later addition, was damaged by lightning and repaired during the 19th century. The Stamba is now illuminated during the evenings and gives a beautiful view of Chittor from the top.

 

KIRTI STAMBHA

Kirti Stambha (Tower of Fame) is a 22 metres high tower built on a 9.1 m base with 4.6 m at the top, is adorned with Jain sculptures on the outside and is older (probably 12th century) and smaller than the Victory Tower. Built by a Bagherwal Jain merchant Jijaji Rathod, it is dedicated to Adinath, the first Jain tirthankar (revered Jain teacher). In the lowest floor of the tower, figures of the various tirthankars of the Jain pantheon are seen in special niches formed to house them. These are digambara monuments. A narrow stairway with 54 steps leads through the six storeys to the top. The top pavilion that was added in the 15th century has 12 columns.

 

RANA KUMBHA PALACE

At the entrance gate near the Vijaya Stamba, Rana Kumbha's palace (in ruins), the oldest monument, is located. The palace included elephant and horse stables and a temple to Lord Shiva. Maharana Udai Singh, the founder of Udaipur, was born here; the popular folk lore linked to his birth is that his maid Panna DaiPanna Dhai saved him by substituting her son in his place as a decoy, which resulted in her son getting killed by Banbir. The prince was spirited away in a fruit basket. The palace is built with plastered stone. The remarkable feature of the palace is its splendid series of canopied balconies. Entry to the palace is through Suraj Pol that leads into a courtyard. Rani Meera, the famous poetess saint, also lived in this palace. This is also the palace where Rani Padmini, consigned herself to the funeral pyre in one of the underground cellars, as an act of jauhar along with many other women. The Nau Lakha Bandar (literal meaning: nine lakh treasury) building, the royal treasury of Chittor was also located close by. Now, across from the palace is a museum and archeological office. The Singa Chowri temple is also nearby.

 

FATEH PRAKASH PALACE

Located near Rana Khumba palace, built by Rana Fateh Singh, the precincts have modern houses and a small museum. A school for local children (about 5,000 villagers live within the fort) is also nearby.

 

GAUMUKH RESERVOIR

A spring feeds the tank from a carved cow’s mouth in the cliff. This pool was the main source of water at the fort during the numerous sieges.

 

PADMINI´S PALACE

Padmini's Palace or Rani Padmini's Palace is a white building and a three storied structure (a 19th-century reconstruction of the original). It is located in the southern part of the fort. Chhatris (pavilions) crown the palace roofs and a water moat surrounds the palace. This style of palace became the forerunner of other palaces built in the state with the concept of Jal Mahal (palace surrounded by water). It is at this Palace where Alauddin was permitted to glimpse the mirror image of Rani Padmini, wife of Maharana Rattan Singh. It is widely believed that this glimpse of Padmini's beauty besotted him and convinced him to destroy Chittor in order to possess her. Maharana Rattan Singh was killed and Rani Padmini committed Jauhar. Rani Padmini's beauty has been compared to that of Cleopatra and her life story is an eternal legend in the history of Chittor. The bronze gates to this pavilion were removed and transported to Agra by Akbar.

 

OTHER SIGHTS

Close to Kirti Sthamba is the Meera Temple, or the Meerabai Temple. Rana Khumba built it in an ornate Indo–Aryan architectural style. It is associated with the mystic saint-poet Mirabai who was an ardent devotee of Lord Krishna and dedicated her entire life to His worship. She composed and sang lyrical bhajans called Meera Bhajans. The popular legend associated with her is that with blessings of Krishna, she survived after consuming poison sent to her by her evil brother-in-law. The larger temple in the same compound is the Kumbha Shyam Temple (Varaha Temple). The pinnacle of the temple is in pyramid shape. A picture of Meerabai praying before Krishna has now been installed in the temple.

 

Across from Padmini’s Palace is the Kalika Mata Temple. Originally, a Sun Temple dated to the 8th century dedicated to Surya (the Sun God) was destroyed in the 14th century. It was rebuilt as a Kali temple.

 

Another temple on the west side of the fort is the ancient Goddess Tulja Bhavani Temple built to worship Goddess Tulja Bhavani is considered sacred. The Tope Khana (cannon foundry) is located next to this temple in a courtyard, where a few old cannons are still seen.

 

JAUHAR MELA

The fort and the city of Chittorgarh host the biggest Rajput festival called the "Jauhar Mela". It takes place annually on the anniversary of one of the jauhars, but no specific name has been given to it. It is generally believed that it commemorates Padmini’s jauhar, which is most famous. This festival is held primarily to commemorate the bravery of Rajput ancestors and all three jauhars which happened at Chittorgarh Fort. A huge number of Rajputs, which include the descendants of most of the princely families, hold a procession to celebrate the Jauhar. It has also become a forum to air one's views on the current political situation in the country.

At Planet Woman Health Centre we are committed to helping incorporate fitness into your life. We are a women's only gym catering to all levels of fitness in a friendly, comfortable & safe environment. The facilities hosts a 2,000 square foot sprung hardwood floor for group fitness, steam room, Internet access, massage chair & child minding to name a few. Located on the second floor of the Garden City Plaza, you'll enjoy the view from the outdoor patio or simply stay inside to enjoy the natural lighting. Group fitness classes, including Yoga & Pilates, are part of all memberships.

Personal trainers are onsite to answer your questions or work with you more closely on individual goals.

 

Our focus is on fitness in a non intimidating setting. We are confident that women of all shapes & sizes will feel completely comfortable. Our friendly & knowledgeable staff will take the time to ensure that you maximize you workouts & fitness regime, whatever they may be.

 

At Planet Woman Health Centre we are committed to helping incorporate fitness into your life. We are a women's only gym catering to all levels of fitness in a friendly, comfortable & safe environment. The facilities hosts a 2,000 square foot sprung hardwood floor for group fitness, steam room, Internet access, massage chair & child minding to name a few. Located on the second floor of the Garden City Plaza, you'll enjoy the view from the outdoor patio or simply stay inside to enjoy the natural lighting. Group fitness classes, including Yoga & Pilates, are part of all memberships.

Personal trainers are onsite to answer your questions or work with you more closely on individual goals.

 

Our focus is on fitness in a non intimidating setting. We are confident that women of all shapes & sizes will feel completely comfortable. Our friendly & knowledgeable staff will take the time to ensure that you maximize you workouts & fitness regime, whatever they may be.

 

U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Secretary Sonny Perdue and Mrs. Mary Perdue visit the Mississippi Valley Fair, and meet with fairgoers, livestock show presenters, 4-H teams that showcase agriculture-related STEM education, and participate in a farm safety demonstration with first responders learning how to free a mock operator that has been pinned under an overturned tractor, and news media for interviews along the way, in Davenport, IA, on Aug. 6, 2017. Secretary Perdue's stop here is part of a five-state RV tour, featuring stops in five states: Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, Illinois, and Indiana; titled the “Back to Our Roots” Tour, he is gathering input on the 2018 Farm Bill and increasing rural prosperity, Aug. 3-8, 2017. Along the way, Perdue will meet with farmers, ranchers, foresters, producers, students, governors, Members of Congress, U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) employees, and other stakeholders. This is the first of two RV tours the secretary will undertake this summer. “The ‘Back to our Roots’ Farm Bill and rural prosperity RV listening tour will allow us to hear directly from people in agriculture across the country, as well as our consumers – they are the ones on the front lines of American agriculture and they know best what the current issues are,” Perdue said. “USDA will be intimately involved as Congress deliberates and formulates the 2018 Farm Bill. We are committed to making the resources and the research available so that Congress can make good facts-based, data-driven decisions. It’s important to look at past practices to see what has worked and what has not worked, so that we create a farm bill for the future that will be embraced by American agriculture in 2018.” For social media purposes, Secretary Perdue’s Twitter account (@SecretarySonny) will be using the hashtag #BackToOurRoots. USDA Photo by Lance Cheung.

LES BOURDAINES Seignosse, France (Friday, June 3, 2011) – Sally Fitzgibbons (Gerroa NSW, AUS) 20, today won the Asp 6-Star Swatch Girls Pro France in an enthralling final over Sage Erickson (CA, USA) 20, in solid 4ft peaks at Les Bourdaines in front of hundreds of spectators lining the shoreline. The Swatch Girls Pro Junior France also commenced today running through to decide the final in 16 athletes in the race for this year’s Swatch Girls Pro Junior France title.

 

Fitzgibbons, after surviving a thrilling semi-final dual with Courtney Conlogue (Santa Ana CA, USA) 18, continued with a dominating display of critical, committed backhand surfing in the 35-minute final to take an early lead which she controlled through to the siren.

 

“I am really excited to get the win here with everyone surfing so well. It was super challenging with the conditions so to come out on top I am really happy. It is a great confidence boost and I came here for a little holiday but to get the win was a bonus for sure.”

 

Fitzgibbons, who continues in the race for this year’s Asp Women’s World title sitting currently in second position, showed extraordinary wave selection skills choosing the larger peeling lefts to build on her scores to end with a combined two-wave heat total of 16.00 out of 20, the highest of the event. A total which reflected her attacking surfing in the tough conditions and the heavy Les Bourdaines shorebreak.

 

“The waves were great and we held off until this afternoon with the high tide so it was a good way to finish off. The last section is so challenging so I made sure to go harder on the first couple of sections. I am stoked with the scores and to make it through to the podium.”

 

With her runner-up finish Sage Erickson solidified her position on the Women’s Star Tour rankings and has taken a giant step to securing a spot on the elite 2012 Asp Women’s World Tour. The ever smiling natural-footer worked through the final building on her total and looking for a way of putting the pressure back onto her opponent.

 

“In each contest I am striving to get on the Women’s World Tour and I think it is a dream like every other surfer has to get on that tour. I have definitely been trying a lot harder to improve my surfing and it seems to be falling into place. I am really excited and I am taking it contest by contest and heat by heat.”

 

Erickson has taken the Swatch Girls Pro France as a stepping stone towards her ultimate goal and the chance to come up against the best female surfers in the world has shown the young Californian what is needed to make it amongst the world’s best.

 

“Surfing against Sally I am taking it as an experience and a learning experience but of course I would have liked to win. Taking in what I did right and what went wrong so hopefully I can come back next year and continue.”

 

Sarah Baum (Durban, ZAF) 17, finished equal third to claim her best Star event result of the season with some outstanding heat performances. Baum had a great Quarter-final battle ousting Women’s elite tour member Alana Blanchard (HAW). With this result Baum will now head to the following event in Portugal with much added confidence.

 

“I am super stoked with a third here. I didn’t expect to get this far in the event and last year I made it to the Round of 12 and I am really pleased to beat that. It is my best result for sure and all the girls are ripping and it is a great feeling to be part of it. I am heading down to Estoril on Tuesday and I am now looking towards that contest.”

 

Courtney Conlogue (Santa Ana CA, USA) 18, finished equal third after an incredible semi-final bout against Fitzgibbons which came down to the wire. Conlogue lead early after a combination of backhand hooks and floater to have her opponent on the ropes. With less than one minute remaining without priority Fitzgibbon paddled into the bomb wave of the heat to claim an 8.50 out of 10 and a narrow victory.

 

“Definitely in this contest Sally is one of the toughest competitors,” began Conlogue. “She and I compete against each other all the time and it is either one or the other but she got my number today. I will see how it goes in the next one but here she surfed very well so it was not a bad battle to lose.”

 

The Swatch Girls Pro Junior France commenced today with two rounds of explosive surfing put on by the finest under-21 athletes with Sarah Mason (Gisbourne, NZL) 16, leading the charge with an incredible display of backhand surfing to claim the single highest wave score of both events, a near perfect 9.50 out of 10.

 

“It was really cool going out there with these girls because they are at the top and it was good heat and I am glad to win it. The wave I paddled into I knew it was going to be a good one straight away. I surfed it the best I could and I made sure I finished it to get that score.”

 

Mason, like many other Pro Junior competitors, impressed in the Swatch Girls Pro France eventually finishing equal 25th. Her committed surfing highlighted her as a future performer at the highest level.

 

“I love surfing in the Star events because it gives you a lot of confidence when you go into the pro juniors and so it is a very good experience to do the Star contests as well.”

 

Marie Dejean (Sables D’Olonnes, FRA) 19, competing in her first Pro Junior of the season, advanced comfortably to Round Three in a low scoring tussle ahead of Bianca Buitendag (ZAF). Performing rapid snaps in the critical part of a long right, Dejean was rewarded for her patience waiting for a quality wave.

 

“At the start there were no waves and I was waiting for a good one and eventually it came and I caught it. It is really cool to have so many French girls in the event and to not feel like a stranger and be in your own country. We are French and in France and we are here to represent our country and I think we are doing a good job.”

 

Phillipa Anderson (New Castle, AUS) 19, was another standout in the Swatch Girls Pro Junior France with her forehand attack on the long peeling low-tide rights. Anderson smashed out a series of hacks to claim a 9.40 out of 10 and advance to the final 16 surfers.

 

“I hadn’t actually heard the score but at the end of the wave I knew it was a good ride. I took off and it was a bit smaller and then it just ran along the bank and I did a few solid turns and finished off with a good landing. This is my first year here so I am enjoying myself and just trying to learn and have a good time.”

 

Surfers competing at the Swatch Girls Pro France are out to gain the valuable points on offer in an attempt to either maintain themselves on the elite Asp Woman’s World Tour or possibly qualify for the 2012 Asp Woman’s World Tour. Meanwhile Europe’s finest under-21 athletes will face some of the world’s best up-and-comers in the Swatch Girls Pro Junior France in their attempt to qualify for the Asp World Junior Series which starts October 3, in Bali, Indonesia.

 

For all results, videos, daily highlights, photos and news log-on to www.swatchgirlspro or www.aspeurope.com

 

Swatch Girls Pro France Final Result

Sally Fitzgibbons (AUS) 16.00 Def. Sage Erickson (USA) 9.70

 

Swatch Girls Pro France Semi-Final Results

Heat 1: Sally Fitzgibbons (AUS) 15.67 Def. Courtney Conlogue (USA) 15.00

Heat 2: Sage Erickson (USA) 10.77 Def. Sarah Baum (ZAF) 4.67

 

Swatch Girls Pro France Quarter-Final Results

Heat 1: Courtney Conlogue (USA) 10.25 Def. Justine Dupont (FRA) 7.15

Heat 2: Sally Fitzgibbons (AUS) 12.00 Def. Paige Hareb (NZL) 8.90

Heat 3: Sage Erickson (USA) 8.00 Def. Suelen Naraisa (BRA) 7.20

Heat 4: Sarah Baum (ZAF) 14.25 Def. Alana Blanchard (HAW) 8.40

 

Swatch Girls Pro France Round Five Results

Heat 1: Courtney Conlogue (USA) 14.90, Sally Fitzgibbons (AUS) 11.10, Cannelle Bulard (REU) 8.75

Heat 2: Paige Hareb (NZL) 11.75, Justine Dupont (FRA) 10.70, Georgia Fish (AUS) 7.90

Heat 3: Sage Erickson (USA) 10.00, Alana Blanchard (HAW) 8.35, Stephanie Gilmore (AUS) 5.60

Heat 4: Sarah Baum (ZAF) 11.90, Suelen Naraisa (BRA) 8.75, Dimity Stoyle (AUS) 4.65

 

Upcoming Swatch Girls Pro Junior France Round Three Matchups

Heat 1: Sarah Mason (NZL), Camille Davila (FRA), Marie Dejean (FRA), Maud Le Car (FRA)

Heat 2: Phillipa Anderson (AUS), Justine Dupont (FRA), Lakey Peterson (USA), Bianca Buitendag (ZAF)

Heat 3: Felicity Palmateer (AUS), Leticia Canales (EUK), Georgia Fish (AUS), Joanne Defay (FRA)

Heat 4: Nao Omura (JPN), Barbara Segatto (BRA), Dimity Stoyle (AUS), Ana Morau (FRA)

 

Swatch Girls Pro Junior France Round Two Results

Heat 1: Sarah Mason (NZL) 14.50, Justine Dupont (FRA) 12.90, Nage Melamed (HAW) 10.00, Meah Collins (USA) 3.65

Heat 2: Marie Dejean (FRA) 10.40, Bianca Buitendag (ZAF) 7.90, Valeria Sole (PER) 7.00, Marion Bouzigues (FRA) 3.05

Heat 3: Phillipa Anderson (AUS) 9.00, Camille Davila (FRA) 5.45, Joanna Giansanti (FRA) 4.75, Maria Abecasis (PRT) 4.35

Heat 4: Lakey Peterson (USA) 16.50, Maud Le Car (FRA) 8.95, Fanny Brice (FRA) 7.75

Heat 5: Felicity Palmateer (AUS) 11.25, Barbara Segatto (BRA) 6.40, Cannelle Bulard (REU) 6.13, Carina Duarte (PRT) 5.70

Heat 6: Georgia Fish (AUS) 10.50, Ana Morau (FRA) 6.70, Josephine Costes (FRA) 5.20, Ariane Torres (ESP) 3.00

Heat 7: Nao Omura (JPN) 7.00, Loiola Canales (EUK) 4.15, Leticia Canales (EUK) 3.60, Faye Zoetmulder (ZAF) 3.40

Heat 8: Dimity Stoyle (AUS) 10.25, Joanne Defay (FRA) 7.90, Lucia Martino (ESP) 4.00, Ainara Aymat (EUK) 2.35

 

Swatch Girls Pro Junior France Round One Results

Heat 1: Sarah Mason (NZL) 15.75, Bianca Buitendag (ZAF) 9.35, Delia Delanne (FRA) 2.30

Heat 2: Valeria Sole (PER) 9.25, Meah Collins (USA) 8.50, Erika Franco (ESP) 8.35, Lucie Milochau (FRA) 5.90

Heat 3: Maria Abecasis (PRT) 10.50, Maud Le Car (FRA) 10.00, Freya Prumm (AUS) 7.00, Kaleigh Gilchrist (USA) 3.40

Heat 4: Lakey Peterson (USA) 15.25, Phillipa Anderson (AUS) 13.95, Tanika Hoffman (ZAF) 6.85, Keshia Seelow Eyre (PRT) 5.15

Heat 5: Felicity Palmateer (AUS) 8.00, Ariane Torres (ESP) 2.25

Heat 6: Georgia Fish (AUS) 11.50, Barbara Segatto (BRA) 8.70, Marie Mitsuko Bochaton (FRA) 7.00, Yolanda Aneiros (ESP) 3.10

Heat 7: Faye Zoetmulder (ZAF) 10.85, Ainara Aymat (EUK) 6.10, Shelby Detmers (USA) 6.00, Virginia Giesen (DEU) 3.95

Heat 8: Dimity Stoyle (AUS) 11.80, Nao Omura (JPN) 8.80, Rosa Thompson (NZL) 7.65, Matilda Gomez (FRA) 5.10

 

Photos Aquashot / ASPEurope - Swatch

Junagarh Fort (Rajasthani: जुनाग्द क़िला) is a fort in the city of Bikaner, Rajasthan, India. The fort was originally called Chintamani and was renamed Junagarh or "Old Fort" in the early 20th century when the ruling family moved to Lalgarh Palace outside the fort limits. It is one of the few major forts in Rajasthan which is not built on a hilltop. The modern city of Bikaner has developed around the fort.

 

The fort complex was built under the supervision of Karan Chand, the Prime Minister of Raja Rai Singh, the sixth ruler of Bikaner, who ruled from 1571 to 1611 AD. Construction of the walls and associated moat commenced in 1589 and was completed in 1594. It was built outside the original fort of the city, about 1.5 kilometres from the city centre. Some remnants of the old fort are preserved near the Lakshmi Narayan temple.

 

Historical records reveal that despite the repeated attacks by enemies to capture the fort, it was not taken, except for a lone one-day occupation by Kamran Mirza. Kamran was the second son of the Mughal Emperor Babur who attacked Bikaner in 1534, which was then ruled by Rao Jait Singh. In the battle, the Mughals were defeated by Rathors. Kamran then returned to Lahore.

 

The 5.28 hectares large fort precinct is studded with palaces, temples and pavilions. These buildings depict a composite culture, manifest in the mix of architectural styles.

 

GEOGRAPHY

Junagarh fort is located in the arid region of the Thar desert of Rajasthan bordered on the northwest by the Aravalli range, a range of mountains in western India. Part of the desert area is in Bikaner city, which is one of the three desert triangle cities; the other two cities are Jaisalmer and Jodhpur. The name of the place where Bikaner city with its forts was established was then known as Jungladesh.

 

HISTORY

Before the present Junagarh Fort was built, an old stone fort existed in the city. This fort was built in 1478 by Rao Bika who established the city of Bikaner in 1472. Rao Bika was the second son of Maharaja Rao Jodha of the Rathor clan, the founder of Jodhpur city. He conquered the large arid lands to the northern region of Rajasthan to set up his domain. As the second son of Jodha he had no chance of inheriting his father’s territory of Jodhpur or to the title of Maharaja. He, therefore, reconciled and decided to build his own kingdom at Bikaner at the place then called "Jungladesh". Bikaner, though a partly of the Thar Desert, was considered an oasis on the trade route between Central Asia and the Gujarat coast since it had adequate spring water sources. Bika’s name was thus tagged to the Bikaner city as well as to the then state of Bikaner (“the settlement of Bika”) that he established. The history of Bikaner and the fort within it thus start with Bika. It was only about 100 years later that Bikaner’s fortunes flourished under Raja Rai Singhji, the sixth ruler of Bikaner, who ruled from 1571 to 1611. During the Mughal Empire’s rule in the country, he accepted the suzerainty of the Mughals and held a high position of an army general in the court of Emperor Akbar and his son Emperor Jahangir. His successful war exploits by way of winning half of Mewar kingdom won him accolades and rewards from the Mughal emperors. He was gifted the jagirs (lands) of Gujarat and Burhanpur. With the large revenue earned from these jagirs, he built the Junagarh fort on a plain land, which has an average elevation of 230 m. The formal foundation ceremony for the fort was held on 17 February 1589 and the fort was completed on 17 January 1594. Raja Rai Singhji, was an expert in arts and architecture and the knowledge that he acquired during his several sojourns to several countries are amply reflected in the numerous monuments he built in the Junagarh fort. Thus the fort, a composite structure, became an outstanding example of architecture and a unique centre of art, amidst the Thar desert.

 

Karan Singh who ruled from 1631 to 1639, under the suzerainty of the Mughals, built the Karan Mahal palace. Later rulers added more floors and decorations to this Mahal. Anup Singh, who ruled from 1669–98, made substantial additions to the fort complex, with new palaces and the Zenana quarter (royal dwelling for females). He refurbished the Karan Mahal with a Diwan-i-Am (public audience hall) and called it the Anup Mahal. Gaj Singh who ruled from 1746 to 1787 refurbished the Chandra Mahal (the Moon palace). Following him, Surat Singh ruled from 1787 to 1828 and he lavishly decorated the audience hall (see picture in info box) with glass and lively paintwork. Dungar Singh who reigned from 1872 to 1887 built the Badal Mahal (the weather palace) named so in view of a painting of falling rain and clouds (a rare event in arid Bikaner). Ganga Singh who ruled from 1887 to 1943 built the Ganga Niwas Palace, which has towers at the entrance patio. This palace was designed by Sir Samuel Swinton Jacob.[10] Ganga Singh’s son Sadul Singh succeeded his father in 1943 but acceded to the Union of India in 1949. He died in 1950.

 

Bikaner came under the suzerainty of the British Raj under a treaty of paramountcy signed in 1818, where after the Maharajas of Bikaner invested heavily on refurbishing their Junagarh fort. However, during the 18th century, before this treaty was signed, there was internecine war between rulers of Bikaner and Jodhpur and also amongst other Thakur, which was put down by the British troops. It is reported that during the attack by Jodhpur army, of the two entrances to the fort (one in the east and the other in the west), the eastern entrance and the southern rampart were damaged; marks of cannonballs fired are seen on the southern façade of the fort.

 

Ganga Singh was the best-known king among the Rajasthan princes. A favourite of the British Raj, he earned the title of Knight Commander of the Star of India. He served as a member of the Imperial War Cabinet, represented the country at the Imperial First World War Conferences and the British Empire at the Versailles Peace Conference and was aware of the shift of fortunes in the World War II but died in 1943, before the war was won by the allies. His contribution to the building activity in Junagarh involved separate halls for public and private audience in the Ganga Mahal and a durbar hall for formal functions. The hall where he held his Golden Jubilee as a ruler of Bikaner is now a museum. He also got a new palace - north of Junagarh fort - designed and built by Swinton, the third of the new palaces built in Bikaner and named it Lalgarh Palace in the name of his father and shifted his residence from Junagarh fort to this palace in 1902. The royal family still lives in a special suite in the Lalbagh palace, which they have converted into a heritage hotel.

 

STRUCTURES

The structures built within the Junagarh fort are the palaces and temples, which are made of red sandstone (Dulmera) and marble. The palaces are described as picturesque with their assortment of courtyards, balconies, kiosks and windows. The fort, the temples and the palaces are preserved as museums and provide insight into the grandiose living style of the past Maharanas of Rajasthan. The fort is called “a paradox between medieval military architecture and beautiful interior decoration”.

 

OVERVIEW

The massive fort built in the plains of Bikaner has a rectangular (quadrangular) layout with a peripheral length of 986 m. The fort walls are 4.4 m wide and 12 m in height. It encompasses an area of 5.28 ha. It was surrounded by a moat which was 6.1–7.6 m deep with a base width of 4.6 m and top width of 9.1 m. However, the moat no longer exists. The fort is well fortified with 37 bastions (‘burj’ in local language) and seven gates (two are main gates) to counter enemy attacks. The fort was built as a “new stronghold” outside of the ruins of an old fort built by Rao Bika and on the periphery of the Bikaner city walls (1.5 kilometres from the city centre); the old fort was demolished a century after it was built.

 

The fort with seven gates contains several palaces, pavilions and many temples of Hindu and Jain religions - the earliest dated to the 16th century. A major feature of the fort is the stone carving done in red and gold coloured sandstones. The interiors of the palaces are decorated and painted in traditional Rajasthani style. The Junagarh palaces have a large number of rooms, as every king built his own separate set of rooms, not wanting to live in his predecessors’ rooms. These structures were considered as “at par with those of Louis’s France or of Imperial Russia”. Several types of architectural style are discerned in the fort complex and hence it is called a true depiction of composite culture. The earliest style is of Rajput architecture, defined by Gujarati and Mughal architectural influence reflecting the association with Mughal rulers, the second type is of semi-western architecture reflecting British influence, and finally the revivalists Rajput architecture that evolved particularly during the rule of Maharaja Ganga Singh. Only the most representative of all these architectural styles are on display for visitors. Thus, the unique monuments on display in the Junagarh Fort represent sixteen successive generations of the rulers of Bikaner, starting from the end of the 16th century.

 

GATES

While the main entry gate was Karan Pol or Parole, facing east, the current gate of entry is called Suraj Pol (meaning the Sun gate), 'pol' also colloquially spelt prol, built in gold coloured or yellow sandstone, unlike the other gates and buildings built in red sandstone. It is the east facing gate permitting the rising Sun’s rays to fall on the gate, which is considered a good omen. The doors of this gate are strengthened with iron spikes and studs to prevent ramming by elephants during an attack. At the entrance to the gate, two red stone statues of elephants with mahouts stand as sentinels. The gate was also the location for announcing the arrival and departure of royalty by musicians playing the trumpet from a gallery in the gate. The other gates are Karan Pol, Daulat Pol, Chand Pol (a double gate) and Fateh Pol; these provided access to various monuments in the fort. The Karan Pol gate is also braced with iron spikes to prevent battering of the gate by elephants. To the right of this gate is Daulat Pol. Forty-one hand imprints are seen on the Daulat Pol gate wall, in red colour, of the wives of the Maharajas of Bikaner, who committed sati (self immolation) on the funeral pyres of their husbands who died in battle.

 

Between the main gate and the palace, there is a quadrangle, and then another gate called the Tripolia gate (triple gateway) before accessing the royal chambers. Next to this gate is a small temple called the Har Mandir, where the Royal family used to offer worship. In the quadrangle, which houses a large pavilion with a water pool built in Carrara Italian marble. The Karan Mahal, where public audience was held in the Diwan-i-Am by Karan Singh (1631–39) and his successors till the 20th century, can also be seen in the same quadrangle.

 

TEMPLES

Har Mandir temple was the royal chapel - private temple of the royal family. The royal family celebrated the Hindu festival of Dussera and Gangaur here, apart from celebrating other family functions such as birthdays and marriages. In the Dussera celebrations, weapons and horses were worshipped here. The main deities worshipped in this temple are the Hindu deities Lakshmi Narayan, a combined representation of god Vishnu and his consort Lakshmi.

 

The Ratan Behari temple located near the Junagarh Fort, was built in 1846 by the 18th ruler of Bikaner. It was built in Indo-Mughal architectural style using white marble. The Hindu god Krishna is deified in this temple.

 

PALACES

Karan mahal (Public Audience Hall) was built by Karan Singh in c.1680 to mark his victory over the Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb. It is considered as one of the most exquisite palaces built with gardens, which displays the aesthetic sensibilities of the royalty of Rajasthan. It has stained glass windows and intricately carved balconies built in stone and wood fluted columns. Later Rajas, Anup Singh and Surat Singh, also added lot of glitter to this palace with inlaid polychrome glass, intricate mirror patterns, and red and gold paint. In the coronation chamber, there is a shored up alcove, which was used as a throne.

 

Phool Mahal ("Flower Palace") is the oldest part of the palace and was built by king Raja Rai Singh of Bikaner, who ruled between 1571-1668.

 

Anup Mahal is a multi-storey structure, which functioned as the administrative headquarters of the kingdom. It has ornate wooden ceilings with inlaid mirrors, Italian tiles, and fine lattice windows and balconies. It has some gold leaf paintings. It is considered as one of the “grandest construction”.

 

Chandra Mahal has the most luxurious room in the palace, which houses gold plated deities and paintings inlaid with precious stones. In the royal bedroom, mirrors have been strategically placed so that the Maharaja could see from his bed, any intruder entering his room.

 

Ganga Mahal was built in the 20th century by Ganga Singh who reigned for 56 years from 1887 to 1943, has a large durbar hall known as the Ganga Singh Hall that houses the Museum. The museum has exhibits of war weaponry and also a World War I aeroplane (biplane), which is stated to be well maintained.

 

Badal Mahal (The weather palace) is part of the Anup Mahal extensions. It has paintings of Shekhawati Dundlod chiefs paying respects to the Maharaja of Bikaner in different types of turbans. Photos of people standing on nails, wood, swords and saws are also depicted here – a display of faith and endurance. The walls in this palace depict fresco paintings of the Hindu god Krishna and his consort Radha amidst the rain clouds.

 

Bikaneri Havelies located both within and outside the fort in the Bikaner city’s by lanes are also of unique architectural style in home architecture. Aldous Huxley who visited these havelis reportedly said “They are the pride of Bikaner.”

 

FORT MUSEUM

The museum within the fort called the Junagarh Fort Museum was established in 1961 by Maharaja Dr.Karni Singhji under the control of "Maharaja Rai Singhji Trust". The Museum exhibits Sanskrit and Persian manuscripts, miniature paintings, jewels, royal costumes, farmans (royal orders), portrait galleries, costumes, headgear and dresses of gods’ idols, enamelware, silver, palanquins, howdahs and war drums. The museum also displays armoury that consists of one of the assorted collection of post medieval arms.

 

MAHARAJA RAI SINGHJI TRUST

Maharaja Rai Singhji Trust has been set up by the 'Royal family of Bikaner' with the basic objective to showcase the fort with professional inputs in various areas and to improve the experience for visitors. Another objective is to promote education and research scholarships, cultural activities, setting up of libraries and integration with other such trusts.

 

WIKIPEDIA

Chittorgarh Fort (Hindi/Rajasthani: चित्तौड दुर्ग Chittorgarh Durg) is the largest fort in India and the grandest in the state of Rajasthan. It is a World Heritage Site. The fort, plainly known as Chittor, was the capital of Mewar and is today situated several kilometres south of Bhilwara. It was initially ruled by Guhilot and later by Sisodias, the Suryavanshi clans of Chattari Rajputs, from the 7th century, until it was finally abandoned in 1568 after the siege by Emperor Akbar in 1567. It sprawls majestically over a hill 180 m in height spread over an area of 280 ha above the plains of the valley drained by the Berach River. The fort precinct with an evocative history is studded with a series of historical palaces, gates, temples and two prominent commemoration towers. These monumental ruins have inspired the imagination of tourists and writers for centuries.

 

The fort was sacked three times between the 15th and 16th centuries; in 1303 Allauddin Khilji defeated Rana Ratan Singh, in 1535 Bahadur Shah, the Sultan of Gujarat defeated Bikramjeet Singh and in 1567 Emperor Akbar defeated Maharana Udai Singh II who left the fort and founded Udaipur. Each time the men fought bravely rushing out of the fort walls charging the enemy but lost every time. Following these defeats, Jauhar was committed thrice by more than 13,000 ladies and children of the Rajput heroes who laid their lives in battles at Chittorgarh Fort, first led by Rani Padmini wife of Rana Rattan Singh who was killed in the battle in 1303, and later by Rani Karnavati in 1537 AD.

 

Thus, the fort represents the quintessence of tribute to the nationalism, courage, medieval chivalry and sacrifice exhibited by the Mewar rulers of Sisodia and their kinsmen and women and children, between the 7th and 16th centuries. The rulers, their soldiers, the women folk of royalty and the commoners considered death as a better option than dishonor in the face of surrender to the foreign invading armies.

 

GEOGRAPHY

Chittorgarh, located in the southern part of the state of Rajasthan, 233 km from Ajmer, midway between Delhi and Mumbai on the National Highway 8 (India) in the road network of Golden Quadrilateral. Chittorgarh is situated where National Highways No. 76 & 79 intersect.

 

The fort rises abruptly above the surrounding plains and is spread over an area of 2.8 km2. The highest elevation at the fort is 1,075 m. It is situated on the left bank of the Berach river (a tributary of the Banas River) and is linked to the new town of Chittorgarh (known as the 'Lower Town') developed in the plains after 1568 AD when the fort was deserted in light of introduction of artillery in the 16th century, and therefore the capital was shifted to more secure Udaipur, located on the eastern flank of Aravalli hill range. Mughal Emperor Akbar attacked and sacked this fort which was but one of the 84 forts of Mewar,but the capital was shifted to Aravalli hills where heavy artillery & cavalry were not effective. A winding hill road of more than 1 km length from the new town leads to the west end main gate, called Ram Pol, of the fort. Within the fort, a circular road provides access to all the gates and monuments located within the fort walls.

 

The fort that once boasted of 84 water bodies has only 22 of them now. These water bodies are fed by natural catchment and rainfall, and have a combined storage of 4 billion litres that could meet the water needs of an army of 50,000. The supply could last for four years. These water bodies are in the form of ponds, wells and step wells.

 

HISTORY

Chittorgarh Fort is considered to be the largest fort of India in terms of area. It is stated that the fort was constructed by the Mauryans during the 7th century AD and hence derives its name after the Mauryan ruler, Chitrangada Mori, as inscribed on coins of the period. Historical records show Chittorgarh fort as the capital of Mewar for 834 years. It was established in 734 AD by Bappa Rawal, founder ruler in the hierarchy of the Sisodia rulers of Mewar. It is also said that the fort was gifted to Bappa Rawal as part of Solanki princess’s dowry in the 8th century. The fort was looted and destroyed at the hands of Emperor Akbar in 1568 AD and subsequently never resettled but only refurbished in 1905 AD. Three important battles were fought for control of the fort; in 1303, Ala-ud-din Khilji besieged the fort; in 1535, Sultan of Gujarat Bahadur Shah besieged the fort; and in 1568, Mughal Emperor Akbar attacked the fort. Not that there were only defeats at the fort. Excluding the periods of siege, the fort had always remained in possession of the Sisodias of the Guhilot (or Gehlot/Guhila) clan of Rajputs, who descended from Bappa Rawal. There were also success stories of establishment of the fort and its reconstruction after every siege, before it was finally abandoned in 1568, all of which are narrated.

 

Chittor is cited in the Mahabharat epic. It is said that Bhima, the second of the Pandava brothers of Epic Mahabaharata fame, known for his mighty strength gave a powerful hit with his fist to the ground that resulted in water springing up to form a large reservoir. It is called Bhimlat kund, an artificial tank named after Bhima. Folk legend also mentions that Bhima started building the fort.

 

BAPPA RAWAL

The earliest history linked to the Bappa Rawal's fort is that of the Huna Kingdom of Sialkot (of Mihir Kula 515-540 AD) that was destroyed by Yashodharman. This was subsequently seized by a new dynasty of kshatriyas called Tak or Taxaka. According to historians, the Taxak Mori were the lords of Chittor from a very early period. After a few generations, the Guhilots supplanted them. From 725 to 735 AD, there were numerous defenders who appear to have considered the cause of Chittor their own, the Tak from Asirgarh. This race appears to have retained possession of Asirgarh for at least two centuries after this event and one of its chieftain Bappa Rawal was the most conspicuous leader in the lineage of Prithvi Raj. In the poems of Chandar he is called the "Standard, bearer, Tak of Asir."

 

SIEGE OF 1303

Ala ud din Khilji, Sultan of Delhi, rallied his forces against Mewar, in 1303 AD. The Chittorgarh fort was till then considered impregnable and grand, atop a natural hill. But his immediate reason for invading the fort was his obsessive desire to capture Rani Padmini, the unrivalled beautiful queen of Rana Ratan Singh and take her into his harem. The Rana, out of politeness, allowed the Khilji to view Padmini through a set of mirrors. But this viewing of Padmini further fired Khilji’s desire to possess her. After the viewing, as a gesture of courtesy, when the Rana accompanied the Sultan to the outer gate, he was treacherously captured. Khilji conveyed to the queen that the Rana would be released only if she agreed to join his harem. But the queen had other plans. She agreed to go to his camp if permitted to go in a Royal style with an entourage, in strict secrecy. Instead of her going, she sent 700 well armed soldiers disguised in litters and they rescued the Rana and took him to the fort. But Khilji chased them to the fort where a fierce battle ensued at the outer gate of the fort in which the Rajput soldiers were overpowered and the Rana was killed. Khilji won the battle on August 26, 1303. Soon thereafter, instead of surrendering to the Sultan, the royal Rajput ladies led by Rani Padmini preferred to die through the Rajput’s ultimate tragic rite of Jauhar (self immolation on a pyre). In revenge, Khilji killed thirty thousand Hindus. He entrusted the fort to his son Khizr Khan to rule and renamed the fort as 'Khizrabad'. He also showered gifts on his son by way of

 

a red canopy, a robe embroidered with gold and two standards one green and the other black and threw upon him rubies and emeralds.

 

He returned to Delhi after the fierce battle at the fort.

 

RANA HAMMIR & SUCCESSORS

Khizr Khan’s rule at the fort lasted till 1311 AD and due to the pressure of Rajputs he was forced to entrust power to the Sonigra chief Maldeva who held the fort for 7 years. Hammir Singh, usurped control of the fort from Maldeva by “treachery and intrigue” and Chittor once again regained its past glory. Hammir, before his death in 1364 AD, had converted Mewar into a fairly large and prosperous kingdom. The dynasty (and clan) fathered by him came to be known by the name Sisodia after the village where he was born. His son Ketra Singh succeeded him and ruled with honour and power. Ketra Singh’s son Lakha who ascended the throne in 1382 AD also won several wars. His famous grandson Rana Kumbha came to the throne in 1433 AD and by that time the Muslim rulers of Malwa and Gujarat had acquired considerable clout and were keen to usurp the powerful Mewar state.

 

RANA KUMBHA & CLAN

There was resurgence during the reign of Rana Kumbha in the 15th century. Rana Kumbha, also known as Maharana Kumbhakarna, son of Rana Mokal, ruled Mewar between 1433 AD and 1468 AD. He is credited with building up the Mewar kingdom assiduously as a force to reckon with. He built 32 forts (84 fortresses formed the defense of Mewar) including one in his own name, called Kumbalgarh. But his end came in 1468 AD at the hands of his own son Rana Udaysimha (Uday Singh I) who assassinated him to gain the throne of Mewar. This patricide was not appreciated by the people of Mewar and consequently his brother Rana Raimal assumed the reins of power in 1473. After his death in May 1509, Sangram Singh (also known as Rana Sanga), his youngest son, became the ruler of Mewar, which brought in a new phase in the history of Mewar. Rana Sanga, with support from Medini Rai (a Rajput chief of Alwar), fought a valiant battle against Mughal emperor Babar at Khanwa in 1527. He ushered in a period of prestige to Chittor by defeating the rulers of Gujarat and also effectively interfered in the matters of Idar. He also won small areas of the Delhi territory. In the ensuing battle with Ibrahim Lodi, Rana won and acquired some districts of Malwa. He also defeated the combined might of Sultan Muzaffar of Gujarat and the Sultan of Malwa. By 1525 AD, Rana Sanga had developed Chittor and Mewar, by virtue of great intellect, valour and his sword, into a formidable military state. But in a decisive battle that was fought against Babar on March 16, 1527, the Rajput army of Rana Sanga suffered a terrible defeat and Sanga escaped to one of his fortresses. But soon thereafter in another attack on the Chanderi fort the valiant Rana Sanga died and with his death the Rajput confederacy collapsed.

 

SIEGE OF 1534

Bahadur Shah who came to the throne in 1526 AD as the Sultan of Gujarat besieged the Chittorgarh fort in 1534. The fort was sacked and, once again the medieval dictates of chivalry determined the outcome. Following the defeat of the Rana, it is said 13,000 Rajput women committed jauhar (self immolation on the funeral pyre) and 3,200 Rajput warriors rushed out of the fort to fight and die.

 

SIEGE OF 1567

The final Siege of Chittorgarh came 33 years later, in 1567, when the Mughal Emperor Akbar invaded the fort. Akbar wanted to conquer Mewar, which was being ably ruled by Rana Uday Singh II, a fine prince of Mewar. To establish himself as the supreme lord of Northern India, he wanted to capture the renowned fortress of Chittor, as a precursor to conquering the whole of India. Shakti Singh, son of the Rana who had quarreled with his father, had run away and approached Akbar when the later had camped at Dholpur preparing to attack Malwa. During one of these meetings, in August 1567, Shakti Singh came to know from a remark made in jest by emperor Akbar that he was intending to wage war against Chittor. Akbar had told Shakti Singh in jest that since his father had not submitted himself before him like other princes and chieftains of the region he would attack him. Startled by this revelation, Shakti Singh quietly rushed back to Chittor and informed his father of the impending invasion by Akbar. Akbar was furious with the departure of Shakti Singh and decided to attack Mewar to humble the arrogance of the Ranas. In September 1567, the emperor left for Chittor, and on October 20, 1567, camped in the vast plains outside the fort. In the meantime, Rana Udai Singh, on the advice of his council of advisors, decided to go away from Chittor to the hills of Udaipur. Jaimal and Patta, two brave army chieftains of Mewar, were left behind to defend the fort along with 8,000 Rajput warriors under their command. Akbar laid siege to the fortress. The Rajput army fought valiantly and Akbar himself had narrowly escaped death. In this grave situation, Akbar had prayed for divine help for achieving victory and vowed to visit the shrine of the sufi saint Khwaja at Ajmer. The battle continued till February 23, 1568. On that day Jaymal was seriously wounded but he continued to fight with support from Patta. Jayamal ordered jauhar to be performed when many beautiful princesses of Mewar and noble matrons committed self-immolation at the funeral pyre. Next day the gates of the fort were opened and Rajput soldiers rushed out bravely to fight the enemies. Jayamal and Patta who fought bravely were at last killed in action. One figure estimates that 30,000 soldiers were killed in action. Akbar immediately repaired himself to Ajmer to perform his religious vow.

 

RETURN OF THE FORT TO MEWAR

But in 1616, Jehangir returned Chittor fort to the Rajputs, when Maharana Amar Singh was the chief of Mewar. However, the fort was not resettled though it was refurbished several centuries later in 1905 during British Raj.

 

PRECINCTS

The fort which is roughly in the shape of a fish has a circumference of 13 km with a maximum width of 3 km and it covers an area of 700 acres. The fort is approached through a zig zag and difficult ascent of more than 1 km from the plains, after crossing over a bridge made in limestone. The bridge spans the Gambhiri River and is supported by ten arches (one has a curved shape while the balance have pointed arches). Apart from the two tall towers, which dominate the majestic fortifications, the sprawling fort has a plethora of palaces and temples (many of them in ruins) within its precincts.

 

The 305 hectares component site, with a buffer zone of 427 hectares, encompasses the fortified stronghold of Chittorgarh, a spacious fort located on an isolated rocky plateau of approximately 2 km length and 155m width.

 

It is surrounded by a perimeter wall 4.5 kilometres long, beyond which a 45° hill slope makes it almost inaccessible to enemies. The ascent to the fort passes through seven gateways built by the Mewar ruler Rana Kumbha (1433- 1468) of the Sisodia clan. These gates are called, from the base to the hill top, the Paidal Pol, Bhairon Pol, Hanuman Pol, Ganesh Pol, Jorla Pol, Laxman Pol, and Ram Pol, the final and main gate.

 

The fort complex comprises 65 historic built structures, among them 4 palace complexes, 19 main temples, 4 memorials and 20 functional water bodies. These can be divided into two major construction phases. The first hill fort with one main entrance was established in the 5th century and successively fortified until the 12th century. Its remains are mostly visible on the western edges of the plateau. The second, more significant defence structure was constructed in the 15th century during the reign of the Sisodia Rajputs, when the royal entrance was relocated and fortified with seven gates, and the medieval fortification wall was built on an earlier wall construction from the 13th century.

 

Besides the palace complex, located on the highest and most secure terrain in the west of the fort, many of the other significant structures, such as the Kumbha Shyam Temple, the Mira Bai Temple, the Adi Varah Temple, the Shringar Chauri Temple, and the Vijay Stambh memorial were constructed in this second phase. Compared to the later additions of Sisodian rulers during the 19th and 20th centuries, the predominant construction phase illustrates a comparatively pure Rajput style combined with minimal eclecticism, such as the vaulted substructures which were borrowed from Sultanate architecture. The 4.5 km walls with integrated circular enforcements are constructed from dressed stone masonry in lime mortar and rise 500m above the plain. With the help of the seven massive stone gates, partly flanked by hexagonal or octagonal towers, the access to the fort is restricted to a narrow pathway which climbs up the steep hill through successive, ever narrower defence passages. The seventh and final gate leads directly into the palace area, which integrates a variety of residential and official structures. Rana Kumbha Mahal, the palace of Rana Kumbha, is a large Rajput domestic structure and now incorporates the Kanwar Pade Ka Mahal (the palace of the heir) and the later palace of the poetess Mira Bai (1498-1546). The palace area was further expanded in later centuries, when additional structures, such as the Ratan Singh Palace (1528–31) or the Fateh Prakash, also named Badal Mahal (1885-1930), were added. Although the majority of temple structures represent the Hindu faith, most prominently the Kalikamata Temple (8th century), the Kshemankari Temple (825-850) the Kumbha Shyam Temple (1448) or the Adbuthnath Temple (15th- 16th century), the hill fort also contains Jain temples, such as Shringar Chauri (1448) and Sat Bis Devri (mid-15th century) Also the two tower memorials, Kirti Stambh (13th-14th century) and Vijay Stambha (1433-1468), are Jain monuments. They stand out with their respective heights of 24m and 37m, which ensure their visibility from most locations of the fort complex. Finally, the fort compound is home to a contemporary municipal ward of approximately 3,000 inhabitants, which is located near Ratan Singh Tank at the northern end of the property.

 

GATES

The fort has total seven gates (in local language, gate is called Pol), namely the Padan Pol, Bhairon Pol, Hanuman Pol, Ganesh Pol, Jodla Pol, Laxman Pol and the main gate named the Ram Pol (Lord Rama's Gate). All the gateways to the fort have been built as massive stone structures with secure fortifications for military defense. The doors of the gates with pointed arches are reinforced to fend off elephants and cannon shots. The top of the gates have notched parapets for archers to shoot at the enemy army. A circular road within the fort links all the gates and provides access to the numerous monuments (ruined palaces and 130 temples) in the fort.

 

During the second siege, Prince Bagh Singh died at the Padan Pol in 1535 AD. Prince Jaimal of Badnore and his clansman Kalla were killed by Akbar at a location between the Bhairon Pol and Hanuman Pol in the last siege of the fort in 1567 (Kalla carried the wounded Jaimal out to fight). Chhatris, with the roof supported by corbeled arches, have been built to commemorate the spots of their sacrifice. Their statues have also been erected, at the orders of Emperor Akbar, to commemorate their valiant deaths. At each gate, cenotaphs of Jaimal (in the form of a statue of a Rajput warrior on horseback) and Patta have also been constructed. At Ram Pol, the entrance gate to the fort, a Chaatri was built in memory of the 15 year old Patta of Kelwa, who had lost his father in battle, and saw the sword yielding mother and wife on the battle field who fought valiantly and died at this gate. He led the saffron robed Rajput warriors, who all died fighting for Mewar’s honour. Suraj Pol (Sun Gate) provides entry to the eastern wall of the fort. On the right of Suraj Pol is the Darikhana or Sabha (council chamber) behind which lie a Ganesha temple and the zenana (living quarters for women). A massive water reservoir is located towards the left of Suraj Pol. There is also a peculiar gate, called the Jorla Pol (Joined Gate), which consists of two gates joined together. The upper arch of Jorla Pol is connected to the base of Lakshman Pol. It is said that this feature has not been noticed anywhere else in India. The Lokota Bari is the gate at the fort’s northern tip, while a small opening that was used to hurl criminals into the abyss is seen at the southern end.

 

VIJAY STAMBHA

The Vijay Stambha (Tower of Victory) or Jaya Stambha, called the symbol of Chittor and a particularly bold expression of triumph, was erected by Rana Kumbha between 1458 and 1468 to commemorate his victory over Mahmud Shah I Khalji, the Sultan of Malwa, in 1440 AD. Built over a period of ten years, it raises 37.2 metres over a 4.4 m2 base in nine stories accessed through a narrow circular staircase of 157 steps (the interior is also carved) up to the 8th floor, from where there is good view of the plains and the new town of Chittor. The dome, which was a later addition, was damaged by lightning and repaired during the 19th century. The Stamba is now illuminated during the evenings and gives a beautiful view of Chittor from the top.

 

KIRTI STAMBHA

Kirti Stambha (Tower of Fame) is a 22 metres high tower built on a 9.1 m base with 4.6 m at the top, is adorned with Jain sculptures on the outside and is older (probably 12th century) and smaller than the Victory Tower. Built by a Bagherwal Jain merchant Jijaji Rathod, it is dedicated to Adinath, the first Jain tirthankar (revered Jain teacher). In the lowest floor of the tower, figures of the various tirthankars of the Jain pantheon are seen in special niches formed to house them. These are digambara monuments. A narrow stairway with 54 steps leads through the six storeys to the top. The top pavilion that was added in the 15th century has 12 columns.

 

RANA KUMBHA PALACE

At the entrance gate near the Vijaya Stamba, Rana Kumbha's palace (in ruins), the oldest monument, is located. The palace included elephant and horse stables and a temple to Lord Shiva. Maharana Udai Singh, the founder of Udaipur, was born here; the popular folk lore linked to his birth is that his maid Panna DaiPanna Dhai saved him by substituting her son in his place as a decoy, which resulted in her son getting killed by Banbir. The prince was spirited away in a fruit basket. The palace is built with plastered stone. The remarkable feature of the palace is its splendid series of canopied balconies. Entry to the palace is through Suraj Pol that leads into a courtyard. Rani Meera, the famous poetess saint, also lived in this palace. This is also the palace where Rani Padmini, consigned herself to the funeral pyre in one of the underground cellars, as an act of jauhar along with many other women. The Nau Lakha Bandar (literal meaning: nine lakh treasury) building, the royal treasury of Chittor was also located close by. Now, across from the palace is a museum and archeological office. The Singa Chowri temple is also nearby.

 

FATEH PRAKASH PALACE

Located near Rana Khumba palace, built by Rana Fateh Singh, the precincts have modern houses and a small museum. A school for local children (about 5,000 villagers live within the fort) is also nearby.

 

GAUMUKH RESERVOIR

A spring feeds the tank from a carved cow’s mouth in the cliff. This pool was the main source of water at the fort during the numerous sieges.

 

PADMINI´S PALACE

Padmini's Palace or Rani Padmini's Palace is a white building and a three storied structure (a 19th-century reconstruction of the original). It is located in the southern part of the fort. Chhatris (pavilions) crown the palace roofs and a water moat surrounds the palace. This style of palace became the forerunner of other palaces built in the state with the concept of Jal Mahal (palace surrounded by water). It is at this Palace where Alauddin was permitted to glimpse the mirror image of Rani Padmini, wife of Maharana Rattan Singh. It is widely believed that this glimpse of Padmini's beauty besotted him and convinced him to destroy Chittor in order to possess her. Maharana Rattan Singh was killed and Rani Padmini committed Jauhar. Rani Padmini's beauty has been compared to that of Cleopatra and her life story is an eternal legend in the history of Chittor. The bronze gates to this pavilion were removed and transported to Agra by Akbar.

 

OTHER SIGHTS

Close to Kirti Sthamba is the Meera Temple, or the Meerabai Temple. Rana Khumba built it in an ornate Indo–Aryan architectural style. It is associated with the mystic saint-poet Mirabai who was an ardent devotee of Lord Krishna and dedicated her entire life to His worship. She composed and sang lyrical bhajans called Meera Bhajans. The popular legend associated with her is that with blessings of Krishna, she survived after consuming poison sent to her by her evil brother-in-law. The larger temple in the same compound is the Kumbha Shyam Temple (Varaha Temple). The pinnacle of the temple is in pyramid shape. A picture of Meerabai praying before Krishna has now been installed in the temple.

 

Across from Padmini’s Palace is the Kalika Mata Temple. Originally, a Sun Temple dated to the 8th century dedicated to Surya (the Sun God) was destroyed in the 14th century. It was rebuilt as a Kali temple.

 

Another temple on the west side of the fort is the ancient Goddess Tulja Bhavani Temple built to worship Goddess Tulja Bhavani is considered sacred. The Tope Khana (cannon foundry) is located next to this temple in a courtyard, where a few old cannons are still seen.

 

JAUHAR MELA

The fort and the city of Chittorgarh host the biggest Rajput festival called the "Jauhar Mela". It takes place annually on the anniversary of one of the jauhars, but no specific name has been given to it. It is generally believed that it commemorates Padmini’s jauhar, which is most famous. This festival is held primarily to commemorate the bravery of Rajput ancestors and all three jauhars which happened at Chittorgarh Fort. A huge number of Rajputs, which include the descendants of most of the princely families, hold a procession to celebrate the Jauhar. It has also become a forum to air one's views on the current political situation in the country.