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278|365 As a kid, the tooth fairy would drop off cash when I lost a tooth. Now, as an adult, it costs money to have them removed, and way more than I ever earned as a kid.
I'm wide awake at 5:40 am. I really have to figure out this weekend sleeping in thing. I hear it's good stuff. Though I'm really not complaining. I love these early quiet mornings when the rest of the world is still asleep. I do my usual Sunday morning lounging for a while then head into the kitchen. I start in on the birthday cake making. A co-worker turned 50 and as I told him that is a cake-able offense. While the cake bakes I make the strawberry goo that will hold together my fresh strawberry pie. With the cakes out of the oven and the goo cooling, I head in to do coat number two in the den. There is a rather disastrous moment where I spill a not small quantity of paint all over the closet door and across the carpet. Thankfully I'd already decided the carpet was coming out. The second coat looks great. I'm in love. I get all the brushes and rollers cleaned and set aside to dry. Finally the fresh strawberry pie gets finished and put into the refrigerator to set up. That is going to be an awesome dessert. It's then that I realize a nap is in order. I lay down and am deeply asleep almost immediately. I don't wake up for 90 minutes. Wow. I have a popcorn lunch. It's too hot for other food. Then I set about the considerable task of washing all the dishes I've managed to dirty in one short morning. And then I dirty some more as I make frosting. It has to go into the fridge to set up a bit. It's way too soft for assembling. In the meantime my friend D calls and we spend 45 minutes catching up. There is lots of work conversation from both of us. I sometimes wonder if I drone on too much about work. There are fun topics discussed as well. Funny dreams, funny parents, my ice cream for dinner invention. We agree to do that sometime later in the week. It's not like you have to twist my arm. We say goodbye and I'm back into the kitchen to assemble the cake. I get layers stacked and an initial coat on the exterior before it need to go back in the fridge. Fifteen minutes later and I can finish up. It looks so yummy. It's chocolate mayonnaise cake with chocolate buttercream. I usually don't tell people the mayonnaise part. They get a funny look and I have to explain that mayonnaise is just eggs and oil so it really is not that unusual. They don't usually buy it but they somehow manage to finish off their slab of cake. Hmm. I have to get some of these chairs out of my house. The mess has taken over and it makes me twitchy. Elise is taking my old kitchen chairs so I get as many of those into my car as possible. I'm impressed that I get three in the backseat. Now I can re-distribute chairs around the house and at least find a portion of my living room floor. That is better. I make my way over to my garden. I'm sure it needs a good soaking. I get there and I realize I'm too late. My eggplant has died. I'm wondering if something ate it. It looks like the stem was nibbled in half and the top is now laying on the ground looking very sad. Take out shredded beef tostada salad enjoyed following a very cool and refreshing shower. A call to grandma. A piece of pie. Oh, my I did a good job. I think about watching a movie but I fear I will fall asleep five minutes into it. Instead I make it a rather early Sunday night.
This is my first attempt at a microscale MOC. My wife and I just got into Doctor Who and we already miss the tenth Doctor. I hope to go in later and build an environment for the scene, maybe a space ship interior.
Me encontré a Lydia y Audrey, en el Fórum de Barcelona.
Estaban haciendose fotos y aproveché la oportunidad para hablar con ellas explicar el proyecto 100 Strangers Project y hacerle esta foto, gracias chicas.
I met Lydia and Audrey in the Forum, an area of Barcelona.
They were taking pictures and take the opportunity to talk to them explain the project 100 Strangers Project and make this picture, thanks girls.
Find out more about the project and see pictures taken by other photographers at the www.flickr.com/groups/100strangers/
This image is part of explaining how f stops work going from 1.4 to f16. You will get a feel for how the image is effected.
The MILF card is back!
lemon drop studio likes to give a laugh, and the milf card is just the ticket! While we don't recommend giving the milf card to your own mother (but who are we to judge), it's totally appropriate to give it to a best friend, a new mom, or your mother-in-law, for an awful prank on your spouse.
The card is blank on the inside, leaving you as much room as you need to express, or explain, yourself!
Card measures 4.25 inches by 5.5 inches and includes a white envelope!
Thanks for checking out lemon drop studio!
{blog | lemondropstudio.blogspot.com}
May 2, 1985
The provincial election was held. PC candidates Bob Mitchell and Norm Sterling were both reelected. Kanata Standard, May 9, 1985:2.
May 2, 1985
It was reported in the Standard that Kanata’s earnings per capita was the third highest in Canada. Kanata Standard, May 2, 1985:1.
May 2, 1985
It was reported in the Standard that the Kanata Arts Council would to become a registered charitable society. Kanata Standard, May 2, 1985:16.
May 2, 1985
Mitel Corporation posted its second year of big losses; in fiscal 1984 it was $32.4 million. Kanata Standard, May 2, 1985:24.
May 3, 1985
Two Kanata residents, Robert Dunne and Juliette Geroux, were killed in a motorcycle crash on the Queensway.
May 5, 1985
Susan Mostyn, Marie Patten, and Kim Patten won first place in the tandem women’s division of the Upper Jock River Canoe Race. It took them three hours and thirty-one minutes to finish. Kanata Standard, May 23, 1985:22.
May 6, 1985
A public meeting was held by OC Transpo. About 45 residents turned out to oppose the elimination of Route 162, which linked Glen Cairn to Bayshore Shopping Centre. Kanata Standard, May 16, 1985:1-2.
May 7, 1985
Campeau Corporation unveiled plans to Kanata City Council and residents for developing Town Centre lands. The proposal was for 929 houses in the southwest quadrant of Town Centre development lands, bordered by Katimavik Drive, the Queensway, Castlefrank Drive, and Terry Fox Drive. The plans called for a density of 15-18 units per acre. Jo-Anne Trounce wrote that the major concern about the plan for the residents was the “complete lack of facilities” within the proposed area. Kanata Standard, May 9, 1985:1; Kanata Standard, May 16, 1985:8.
May 7, 1985
Kanata City Council named City Clerk Brian Switzer as the new City Administrator. This move was part of many recommendations of an Accountability Study conducted by consultant Ward Mallette. The controversial position of Coordinator was renamed and expanded in the announcement. Alderman Des Adam, who had been arguing for the creation of a Chief Administrator position for the past two years, seemed satisfied with the appointment. Kanata Standard, May 9, 1985:1,2.
May 8, 1985
The Kanata Theatre opened its presentation of Living Together. Leslie Jones wrote in her review of the production that it “came and went too quickly to have any real impact on the audience.” Martin Haynes starred. Kanata Standard, May 16, 1985:9.
May 9, 1985
Kanata-based Lumonics Inc. announced that they were on track towards making record profits for 1985. The firm was the third-largest laser manufacturer in the world. Kanata Standard, May 9, 1985:20.
May 14, 1985
Kanata City Council rejected a plea for tighter gun control in rural March from the March Rural Association. Alderman Adam, who represented the rural Ward, was the only member to vote in favour of the proposal, stating that “somebody will be shot, then they’ll fix it.” Mayor Wilkinson later stated, in her Commentary, that the City’s current By-Law was the most restrictive in the region. Kanata Standard, May 16, 1985:1-2; Kanata Standard, May 23, 1985:3.
May 16, 1985
Dunrobin resident Michele LeBoldus was appointed a TV Ontario eastern regional councillor. Kanata Standard, May 16, 1985:23.
May 16, 1985
Artec Canada Ltd. pooled resources under a new umbrella organization called the Artec Group. Kanata Standard, May 16, 1985:24.
May 16, 1985
The Glen Cairn Community Association held its Annual Meeting and elected a new Executive, including Yolande Adams, Doug Parsons, Kim Sherwin, Larry Ferrari, Terry McKever and Carolyn McIntyre. Kanata Standard, May 23, 1985:11.
May 17, 1985
There was confusion over whether or not the new wards could be set up in time for the 1985 fall election. City Clerk Frank Wilson said that it was unlikely. Mayor Wilkinson said that she would pressure the Ontario Municipal Board to effect the changes before August 20, the last day for a change according to the Municipal Act. Kanata Standard, May 23, 1985:1.
May 17, 1985
The Earl of March girls’ track team and field team won the aggregate championship at the Carleton Board Track Meet. Elyse Chan was named top female senior athlete at the meet. Sherry Sparling was named top junior female athlete. Other competitors included Phillip Hughes, Trevor Payne, Barry Pudlow, and Jageir Sandu. Kanata Standard, May 23, 1985:25.
May 20, 1985
Amnesty Week began allowing library patrons to return overdue books and magazines without penalty. Kanata Standard, May 16, 1985:9.
May 23, 1985
Four break-ins were reported over the long weekend. Kanata Standard, May 23, 1985:1.
May 23, 1985
The Ontario Municipal Board informed the City of Kanata that there would be new ward boundaries in time for the November elections. Kanata City Council had passed the boundary changes on March 12. A Standard editorial stated: “The change in the ward system seems small at the outset, but it represents a shift in power, however slight, which could swing important votes in the future. Congratulations to our present council for recognizing the subtleties and making this important decision.” Kanata Standard, May 30, 1985:1,2.
May 23, 1985
Kanata OPP seized $1,500 worth of drugs from a Beaverbrook home. Clinton Blizzard was charged with possession of narcotics for the purposes of trafficking. Kanata Standard, May 30, 1985:1.
May 25, 1985
Mayfair began, with a variety of events ranging from a Craft Fair, Dance, and a Beer Garden. The residents of Amundsen-Chimo won the prize for their float. The plant sale was a “big hit.” The Standard reported: “And a good time was had by all.” Kanata Standard, May 16, 1985:4; Kanata Standard, May 30, 1985:4-7,10.
May 28, 1985
Alderman Niebergall announced in a Kanata City Council meeting that a referendum should be held to decide what type of indoor pool the citizens want. He had recently outlined in his Katimavik-Hazeldean Report the progress of the indoor pool issue and the Indoor Pool Project Management Committee. A Consultant had been hired to analyze their options in the Committees findings, and his report was due in July. Niebergall said that if the city can hold a referendum on something like nuclear disarmament, then residents could also decide on something more in their control, like what type of pool to build. Kanata Standard, May 23, 1985; Kanata Standard, May 30, 1985:1.
May 28, 1985
Alderman Des Adam said that he was considering running for Mayor in the fall election. He intended to announce his decision three weeks later. Kanata Standard, May 30, 1985:1.
May 28, 1985
Kanata City Council gave approval to the first high-rise apartment in Katimavik-Hazeldean for the summer of 1986. Kanata Standard, May 30, 1985:1.
May 30, 1985
Siltronics Ltd. of Kanata reported an operating loss of the nine-month period ending March 30, 1985. Kanata Standard, May 30, 1985:22.
May 30, 1985
Trillium Telephone Systems Inc. announced that it had won a contract with Edmonton Telephone. Orders were expected to reach $1 million by the end of the year. Kanata Standard, May 30, 1985:1.
May 30, 1985
Bell Northern Research opened its new $37.4 million Lab 3 facility. This brought the number of employees at the site to 2,300. Kanata Standard, June 6, 1985:22.
May 30, 1985
It was reported in the Standard that Medialand, the area’s first high-tech fuel company, opened in the Mallorn Centre. Kanata Standard, June 6, 1985:22.
June 1, 1985
The Kanata March Montessori School celebrated its 10th Birthday. Kanata Standard, June 20, 1985:7.
June 2, 1985
Greg Olson, for the second year in a row, won the Kanata Pro-Am Golf Tournament held at the Kanata Golf and Country Club. Kanata Standard, June 6, 1985:24.
June 3, 1985
The Katimavik-Hazeldean Community Association held its Annual General Meeting. Newly elected Executives included Stuart Galbraith, Chuck Lapkoff, Joyce Farrell, and Joanne Trounce. Kanata Standard, June 6, 1985:13.
June 4, 1985
Kanata City Council turned down in a tied vote a proposal to swap its building lots in Belleview Heights for Campeau Corporation lots on Decarlo Gardens in Katimavik-Hazeldean. The deal would have cost the City $200,000. The plan was put forth by Alderman Niebergall, aimed to supplement gains already made to Hewitt Park, and he argued that the decision that was made would “reduce the spectrum of uses for the park.” In his Katimavik-Hazeldean Report, Niebergall explained that Campeau proposed a 20-lot subdivision on the four-acre parcel, which would result in the complete loss of the woods on the site “which is the best in Katimavik/Hazeldean.” A park consultant and City staff had been against placing these lots within the park, since they would reduce the street frontage of much of the park. Standard, June 6, 1985:1; Kanata Standard, June 13, 1985:3,23.
June 4, 1985
Kanata City Council agreed to pay $50,000 for new lights in the Glen Cairn Arena. Kanata Standard, June 6, 1985:1.
June 4, 1985
Kanata City Council agreed that Mayor Wilkinson, as a representative on Regional Council, would vote against a motion to take the delivery of day care services away from the municipalities and give it to the regional government. Kanata Standard, June 6, 1985:1.
June 5, 1985
A man in his early 20s was seen committing an indecent act in the A.Y. Jackson schoolyard. A similar incident occurred recently. Kanata Standard, June 13, 1985:1.
June 5, 1985
The Kanata Beaverbrook Community Association named Sharon Tate and Neil MacLeod as man and woman of the year. Kanata Standard, June 13, 1985:10.
June 6, 1984
Six more break-ins were reported over the previous weekend. Kanata Standard, June 6, 1985:1
June 6, 1985
Alderman Niebergall announced that he would not be seeking reelection in the fall. Kanata Standard, June 6, 1985:3.
June 6, 1985
Alderman Des Adam, in his March Notebook, entered into a discussion on how he felt that Campeau Corporation hindered commercial development as the major landowner in Kanata. He stated: “I would propose that since Campeau Corporation is the major landowner in the Kanata North Industrial Park, the only vacant landowner in the Kanata Town Centre, and the principal landowner in Marchwood-Lakeside, that Kanata Council use its very considerable powers of persuasion to request that a percentage of Campeau’s industrial and commercial lands be made available for sale at market value as a condition precedent to the development of any of their residential holdings.” He continued a week later, saying that this was to ensure that industrial development kept up with residential building, otherwise there would be an increased tax burden on homeowners. Kanata Standard, June 6, 1985:4; Kanata Standard, June 13, 1985:3.
June 6, 1985
The first of two public meetings held on the indoor pool issue was held. More than 60 residents attended. Many possible designs were presented, ranging from a standard rectangular pool to an elaborate leisure/wave pool. J. Birch wrote on the meeting in the Standard, and stated that the meeting was very informative. Birch also indicated that City officials and the indoor committee seemed to be “strongly in favour of the leisure pool concept and appeared to have already written off the idea of a rectangular pool.” The next meeting was set for June 27. Kanata Standard, June 13, 1985: 1,31; Kanata Standard, June 27, 1985:4.
June 7, 1985
Police seized $2,000 worth of narcotics from a Kanata home at 108 Barrow Crescent, two weeks after a similar incident on Salter Crescent. Kanata Standard, June 13, 1985:1.
June 9, 1985
The Annual General meeting of the Kanata Theatre was held. Members of the Executive included Brooke Keneford, Ron Maslin, Barrie Kirk, Ann Williams, Laurence Thornton, Dewi Williams, Betty Francis, Jenny Haynes, Margaret Jardine, Andrea Sajrajsl, and Joan Ritchie. Kanata Standard, June 13, 1985:16.
June 11, 1985
Kanata City Council gave tentative approval for a $50,000 loan to the Kanata Riding Club. Kanata Standard, June 13, 1985:1.
June 11, 1985
City administrator Brian Switzer said that construction on the proposed new City Hall could begin as early as 1989. Kanata Standard, June 13, 1985:2.
June 12, 1985
Ev Anderson of Kanata was the winner at the Kanata-Texaco Ladies’ Invitational Golf Tournament. Kanata Standard, June 20, 1985:22.
June 13, 1985
Digital Equipment of Canada announced that it was moving 115 marketing-related employees to Toronto from the Kanata head office over the next two years. Kanata Standard, June 13, 1985:25.
June 13, 1985
Atomic Energy of Canada Limited announced the signing of a new contract to the National Atomic Energy Agency of Indonesia. Kanata Standard, June 13, 1985:25.
June 14, 1985
Police arrested Denis Morin and Leo Lalonde for a break-in in Katimavik. Over $5,000 worth of merchandise was recovered. Kanata Standard, June 20, 1985:1.
June 15, 1985
The Parkview Art Gallery was opened. Over 450 people attended. It was the first art showplace in the west end of Ottawa. Kanata Standard, June 20, 1985:6.
June 16, 1985
An official sod-turning ceremony was held for the future Holy Redeemer Roman Catholic Church. Kanata Standard, June 20, 1985:19.
June 18, 1985
Mayor Wilkinson announced that the Ontario government would contribute $785,000 towards establishing the Kanata Enterprise Centre. As Ron Boyd explained in the Standard, the Centre was to provide supportive facilities for entrepreneurs and newly formed small businesses to be nursed in an attempt to increase the success rate of small business in Canada. The first Board of Directors of the Kanata Enterprise Corporation was named shortly after. Andrew Nellestyn was named Chairmen of the economic committee. Kanata Standard, June 20, 1985:1; Kanata Standard, June 20, 1985:20; Kanata Standard, July 4, 1985:16.
June 18, 1985
Kanata City Council approved the Town Centre as the site for further evaluation of an indoor pool, based on a recommendation by the Indoor Pool Committee and the advice of the City’s consultants. Kanata Standard, June 20, 1985:1.
June 20, 1985
Leslie Jones wrote in a feature in the Standard about families on welfare in Kanata and a referral service that was set up to deal with the issue. In 1983 there were ten families in Kanata on welfare. By 1984, it increased by nearly 12 times. Kanata Standard, June 20, 1985:1.
June 20, 1985
Leslie Jones wrote a feature in the Standard on an increasing demand for rental housing in Kanata. The City’s vacancy rate at the time was less than 1 percent. Jones outlined various areas and discussed rental figures and some of the implications of them. Kanata Standard, June 20, 1985:4.
June 23, 1985
Five Kanata residents were killed in an Air India crash. All four members of the Jain family lost their lives in the disaster while traveling to visit family. They were Om Jain and his wife Indu, and their two children, Riki, 17 and Ruchi, 17. Don Lougheed, 49, traveling on a business trip, was also killed. They were among the 329 people who died when the Air India Boeing 747 jumbo jet exploded over the Atlantic Ocean near Ireland. It was to refuel in London and continue to Bombay. Kanata Standard, June 27, 1985:1.
June 23, 1985
Erskine Johnston Public School teacher, Gail Madelaine, 36, died after having a heart and lungs transplant operation in London, Ontario. She taught French at the school from 1978 until 1983. Kanata Standard, July 11, 1985:7.
June 25, 1985
Mastercraft Development Corporation’s request for an oversized sign on Teron Drive was turned down by Kanata City Council. It was to be 16 ft. high and 20 ft. wide, much larger than permitted in the City by-laws. Ron Andoff later wrote in the Standard: “A trip around the city reveals an abundance of signs advertising everything from city parks to hamburgers to homes. Most of the signs are legitimate efforts by local businesses to attract customers. Some, however, have no purpose and are slowly decaying by the roadsides.” Kanata Standard, June 27, 1985:1; Kanata Standard, July 4, 1985:5.
June 25, 1985
Campeau Corporation received approval from Kanata City Council for a 48,000 square foot combination office and manufacturing building at the corner of Richardson Side Road and Carling Avenue. Kanata Standard, June 27, 1985:1.
June 25, 1985
Bill Berry, president of the Pinhey’s Point Foundation, announced his candidacy for Alderman in Rural March. Kanata Standard, June 27, 1985:2.
June 27, 1985
The City of Kanata Auditor’s Report for 1984 was published in the Standard. Kanata Standard, June 27, 1985:18-19.
June 27, 1985
The second public meeting on the indoor pool issue was held. Nearly 70 people attended. The design that seemed to be preferred was one that was essentially two pools in one building. It was also the most expensive, estimated at over $3 million. No final decision was made at this meeting. Kanata Standard, July 4, 1985:1.
July 1, 1985
A brief ceremony was held to commemorate the official beginning of City policing by the OPP. The new service began on July 1 despite the fact that the contract between the City and the province had not yet been signed. Mayor Wilkinson said that the proposed contract phase-in period was not what was originally negotiated. The proposed contract had Kanata taking over 100 percent of the costs by July 1986. However, earlier agreements had said 1987. Kanata Standard, July 4, 1985:6.
July 1, 1985
About 600 people took part in the Canada Day celebrations at Bluegrass Park in Bridlewood. Kanata Standard, July 11, 1985:8.
July 4, 1985
It was reported in the Standard that J. Scott Morris, treasurer for the City of Kanata, had recently resigned. There were indications that Council had asked him to resign following a unanimous vote. Kanata Standard, July 4, 1985:1.
July 4, 1985
It was reported in a feature in the Standard by John Good that Kanata naturalist Martha Webber had formed a company to offer short nature tours in the Ottawa Valley. Kanata Standard, July 4, 1985:14.
July 5, 1985
A fire broke out at the home of John and Maureen Rodney while they were out. There was about $10,000 damage. Kanata Standard, July 4, 1985:1.
July 9, 1985
Kanata City Council reversed a previous decision and agreed to give Campeau Corporation five lots in Belleview Heights rather than along Decarlo Gardens. This released the company’s obligation to develop Hewitt Park and Dorey Park. The deal cost the City approximately $350,000. There had been concern over building in a portion of Hewitt Park. As one resident stated: “It is a resource which can never be bought back at any price.” The issue was brought back to Council by Alderman Niebergall. Kanata Standard, July 11, 1985:1,5.
July 9, 1985
Kanata City Council decided that there would not be a referendum on the indoor pool issue. Alderman Niebergall had originally suggested that a referendum be held to decide on various indoor pool proposals. Aldermen Niebergall, Adam, and McKee voted for the referendum. Alderman Lund voted against the proposal because he found referenda divisive rather than conciliatory while growing up in western Canada where all money issues were put to the voters, and added: “If the public wants people on council who want the things they want, they should vote for them.” Kanata Standard, July 11, 1985:1.
July 10, 1985
The Joint Board Hearing was held to deal with the Ontario Hydro’s proposed transmission line. The Board was expected to make a decision in September. The controversy had for some time been over the proposed route for new lines through Bridlewood. Kanata Standard, July 18, 1985:1.
July 10, 1985
Kanata resident Bob Slipp won the Summer 10K Road Race. His time was 31 minutes, 4 seconds. Kanata Standard, July 18, 1985:19.
July 11, 1985
Hank Docter announced his candidacy for Kanata’s first Alderman-at-Large position. Kanata Standard, July 11, 1985:2.
July 11, 1985
Trillium Telephone Systems of Kanata reported its best quarter since the company was founded in August 1983. They made a profit of $510,000 on revenues of $9.3 million in the three months ending May 24. Kanata Standard, July 11, 1985:16.
July 11, 1985
Mitel Corporation of Kanata announced a net loss of $15.2 million in the first quarter of fiscal 1986. Kanata Standard, July 11, 1985:16.
July 11, 1985
A new competitive Kanata Bantam softball team of twelve girls was formed after a round of try-out sessions. They were Carolyn Hunter, Sylvie Brule, Cara Doxsee, Kristi Snider, Mandy Smith, Carey Mason, Kim Rubbra, Amy Lefrancois, Melissa Wheeler, Jodi Dixon, Jennifer Roundell, and Jodi Briese. Kanata Standard, July 11, 1985:18.
July 16, 1985
Kanata City Council decided that if a pool was to be built, the choice of designs would be a combination leisure and competition pool. The vote was unanimous. The decision was partially based on two previous public meetings on the issue. Kanata City Council preferred the lands owned by Campeau Corporation adjacent to the Town Centre as the site for the new pool. Kanata Standard, July 18, 1985:1,3.
July 23, 1985
Maureen Meikle was named the new deputy City Clerk by Kanata City Council. Kanata Standard, July 18, 1985:1.
July 23, 1985
Kanata City Council gave Canadian Marconi Company approval to expand in Phase III of its Kanata operation. Kanata Standard, July 18, 1985:17.
July 25, 1985
It was reported that construction had begun on the new Marchwood-Lakeside community, after many years of debate and planning. Kanata Standard, July 18, 1985:9.
July 27, 1985
Kanata resident Craig Penstone, 18, was seriously injured in a collision between his motorcycle and an automobile. Kanata Standard, August 1, 1985:1.
August 6, 1985
Kanata City Council heard tenders for the development of Walter Baker Park, which were all much higher than anticipated by Council. While $915,000 had been set aside for the work, the tenders placed the cost at $2.4 million. Council decided to rethink the entire concept of the Park. Kanata Standard, August 8, 1985:1.
August 6, 1985
Kanata City Council approved a townhouse development at the corner of Lombardo Drive and Pickford Drive as long as the proposed number of unites was reduced. The representative from MacDonald Homes objected to this type of stipulation and argued that Council had no right to “control density” in such a way when he was operating with the limits of what the site was zoned for. Kanata Standard, August 8, 1985:1.
August 6, 1985
Kanata City Council agreed to purchase 90.5 acres for $1.8 million in the Kanata South Industrial Park for a municipal industrial park. Much of the argument for the purchase centered on creating a better balance between residential and commercial sites as well as having more control over development. In his March Notebook, Des Adam stressed the need to reduce the tax burden for residents by developing a stronger commercial-industrial base. Adam also stated in a later Notebook: “It is a very large step forward for Kanata in enabling the City to attract new industry. But it is only the first step.” Kanata Standard, August 8, 1985:1,2-3; Kanata Standard, August 15, 1985:3,20.
August 8, 1985
It was reported that Kanata resident Phillip Hughes, 18,would compete in the Canada Summer Games. He was seen as one of the country’s top hurdlers. Kanata Standard, August 8, 1985:19-20.
August 13, 1985
Kanata resident and noted artist Bill Zuro died after a lengthy illness. Kanata Standard, August 22, 1985:2.
August 15, 1985
Leslie Jones wrote an article in the Standard: 628 bylaws control community standards. The City of Kanata had 628 by-laws that could result in fines of up to $2,000 if violated. They ranged from noise issues, commercial ground maintenance, aesthetic infractions, etc. The most recent issue was the proposed above-ground pool by-law, which would prohibit above-ground pools in Katimavik-Hazeldean and Beaverbrook. Jones pointed out that most of the enforcement was reactionary, often the result of a complaint. Kanata Standard, August 15, 1985:5.
August 15, 1985
The Atomic Energy of Canada Limited urged over half of its employees in the medical division to leave the company. A special bonus package was offered as compensation. Kanata Standard, August 15, 1985:20.
August 20, 1985
All members of Kanata City Council voted against the proposed above-ground swimming pool ban. On August 8, the Bridlewood Community Association at a Board of Directors Meeting decided not to support a ban on above-ground pools in Bridlewood. Alderman Niebergall had originally made the proposal, after hearing from residents that they felt these pools were unattractive. They felt that this could discriminate against residents financially. Kanata Standard, August 15, 1985:6; Kanata Standard, August 22, 1985:1.
August 20, 1985
Kanata City Council decided that the seven-year old Town Centre Secondary Plan would be reviewed and updated. Jim Stewart later commented: “What must be remembered in this, however, is that the plan was intended to create a city centre--a downtown for a city with a projected population over 80,000. The question is whether this remains a realistic objective. If it is, then me must ensure that the secondary plan incorporates the features and amenities of a downtown which we can all be proud of. If it is not, we must reduce the densities which were envisioned for its commercial viability.” Kanata Standard, August 22, 1985:1; Kanata Standard, August 29, 1985:5.
August 22, 1985
It was reported in the Standard that Aldermen Sheila McKee, Paul Niebergall and Charlie Rogers had announced that they would not seek reelection. At the time only Des Adam and Marianne Wilkinson had announced their intent to run for Mayor in the November 12 election. Kanata Standard, August 22, 1985:1.
August 22, 1985
Lumonics Inc. of Kanata reported a second quarter profit of $1.4 million. Kanata Standard, August 22, 1985:18.
August 22, 1985
It was reported in the Standard that Kanata resident Jennifer Kalnitsky won the 12-and-under consolation title at the Canadian Junior Tennis Championships in Toronto. Her older sister Alex, 15, was also a top-ranked tennis player. Kanata Standard, August 22, 1985:20; Kanata Standard, August 29, 1985:4.
August 28, 1985
Mayor Marianne Wilkinson was acclaimed president of the Association of Municipalities of Ontario. Kanata Standard, August 29, 1985:1.
Dr. H.P. Reinthaler explains the workings of the largest glacier south of the equator (with the exception of Antarctica), the PIO Glacier in Chile and Argentina. While most of the world's glaciers have been shrinking in area and depth, this one has actually been spreading out and getting thicker. This has been verified by comparing Aerial photography from the present with corresponding photography from the past. There is , however, no definitive explanation why this is the case.The crashing, thunderous sound of large pieces of ice breaking off the 100 foot/ 32meter high face and then splashing into the sea below, captivates all the passengers and crew of the comparitively tiny Zodiac 'Cousteau'.
Hanuman was born to the humanoid creatures called the vanaras. His mother Anjana was an apsara who was born on earth as a female vanara due to a curse. She was redeemed from this curse on her giving birth to a son. The Valmiki Ramayana states that his father Kesari was the son of Brihaspati and that Kesari also fought on Rama's side in the war against Ravana.[10] Anjana and Kesari performed intense prayers to Shiva to get a child. Pleased with their devotion, Shiva granted them the boon they sought.[11] Hanuman, in another interpretation, is the incarnation or reflection of Shiva himself.
Hanuman is often called the son of the deity Vayu; several different traditions account for the Vayu's role in Hanuman's birth. One story mentioned in Eknath's Bhavartha Ramayana (16th century CE) states that when Anjana was worshiping Shiva, the King Dasharatha of Ayodhya was also performing the ritual of Putrakama yagna in order to have children. As a result, he received some sacred pudding (payasam) to be shared by his three wives, leading to the births of Rama, Lakshmana, Bharata, and Shatrughna. By divine ordinance, a kite snatched a fragment of that pudding and dropped it while flying over the forest where Anjana was engaged in worship. Vayu, the Hindu deity of the wind, delivered the falling pudding to the outstretched hands of Anjana, who consumed it. Hanuman was born to her as a result.[10][12] Another tradition says that Anjana and her husband Kesari prayed Shiva for a child. By Shiva's direction, Vayu transferred his male energy to Anjana's womb. Accordingly, Hanuman is identified as the son of the Vayu.
Another story of Hanuman's origins is derived from the Vishnu Purana and Naradeya Purana. Narada, infatuated with a princess, went to his lord Vishnu, to make him look like Vishnu, so that the princess would garland him at swayamvara (husband-choosing ceremony). He asked for hari mukh (Hari is another name of Vishnu, and mukh means face). Vishnu instead bestowed him with the face of a vanara. Unaware of this, Narada went to the princess, who burst into laughter at the sight of his ape-like face before all the king's court. Narada, unable to bear the humiliation, cursed Vishnu, that Vishnu would one day be dependent upon a vanara. Vishnu replied that what he had done was for Narada's own good, as he would have undermined his own powers if he were to enter matrimony. Vishnu also noted that Hari has the dual Sanskrit meaning of vanara. Upon hearing this, Narada repented for cursing his idol. But Vishnu told him not repent as the curse would act as a boon, for it would lead to the birth of Hanuman, an avatar of Shiva, without whose help Rama (Vishnu's avatar) could not kill Ravana.
Birth place[edit]Multiple places in India are claimed as the birthplace of Hanuman.
According to one theory, Hanuman was born on 'Anjaneya Hill', in Hampi, Karnataka.[13] This is located near the Risyamukha mountain on the banks of the Pampa, where Sugreeva and Rama are said to have met in Valmiki Ramayana's Kishkinda Kanda. There is a temple that marks the spot. Kishkinda itself is identified with the modern Anekundi taluk (near Hampi) in Bellary district of Karnataka.[citation needed]
Anjan, a small village about 18 km away from Gumla, houses "Anjan Dham", which is said to be the birthplace of Hanuman.[14] The name of the village is derived from the name of the goddess Anjani, the mother of Hanuman. Aanjani Guha (cave), 4 km from the village, is believed to be the place where Anjani once lived. Many objects of archaeological importance obtained from this site are now held at the Patna Museum.
The Anjaneri (or Anjneri) mountain, located 7 km from Trimbakeshwar in the Nasik district, is also claimed as the birthplace of Hanuman.[15]
According to Anjan Dham, Hanuman was born on Lakshka Hill near Sujangarh in Churu district, Rajasthan.[16]
Childhood[edit]
Hanuman Mistakes the Sun for a Fruit by BSP PratinidhiAs a child, believing the sun to be a ripe mango, Hanuman pursued it in order to eat it. Rahu, a Vedic planet corresponding to an eclipse, was at that time seeking out the sun as well, and he clashed with Hanuman. Hanuman thrashed Rahu and went to take sun in his mouth.[17] Rahu approached Indra, king of devas, and complained that a monkey child stopped him from taking on Sun, preventing the scheduled eclipse. This enraged Indra, who responded by throwing the Vajra (thunderbolt) at Hanuman, which struck his jaw. He fell back down to the earth and became unconscious. A permanent mark was left on his chin (हनुः hanuḥ "jaw" in Sanskrit), due to impact of Vajra, explaining his name.[10][18] Upset over the attack, Hanuman's father figure Vayu deva (the deity of air) went into seclusion, withdrawing air along with him. As living beings began to asphyxiate, Indra withdrew the effect of his thunderbolt. The devas then revived Hanuman and blessed him with multiple boons to appease Vayu.[10]
Brahma gave Hanuman a boon that would protect him from the irrevocable Brahma's curse. Brahma also said: "Nobody will be able to kill you with any weapon in war." From Brahma he obtained the power of inducing fear in enemies, of destroying fear in friends, to be able to change his form at will and to be able to easily travel wherever he wished. From Shiva he obtained the boons of longevity, scriptural wisdom and ability to cross the ocean. Shiva assured safety of Hanuman with a band that would protect him for life. Indra blessed him that the Vajra weapon will no longer be effective on him and his body would become stronger than Vajra. Varuna blessed baby Hanuman with a boon that he would always be protected from water. Agni blessed him with immunity to burning by fire. Surya gave him two siddhis of yoga namely "laghima" and "garima", to be able to attain the smallest or to attain the biggest form. Yama, the God of Death blessed him healthy life and free from his weapon danda, thus death would not come to him. Kubera showered his blessings declaring that Hanuman would always remain happy and contented. Vishwakarma blessed him that Hanuman would be protected from all his creations in the form of objects or weapons. Vayu also blessed him with more speed than he himself had. Kamadeva also blessed him that the sex will not be effective on him.So his name is also Bala Bramhachari.[citation needed]
On ascertaining Surya to be an all-knowing teacher, Hanuman raised his body into an orbit around the sun and requested to Surya to accept him as a student. Surya refused and explained claiming that he always had to be on the move in his chariot, it would be impossible for Hanuman to learn well. Undeterred, Hanuman enlarged his form, with one leg on the eastern ranges and the other on the western ranges, and facing Surya again pleaded. Pleased by his persistence, Surya agreed. Hanuman then learned all of the latter's knowledge. When Hanuman then requested Surya to quote his "guru-dakshina" (teacher's fee), the latter refused, saying that the pleasure of teaching one as dedicated as him was the fee in itself. Hanuman insisted, whereupon Surya asked him to help his (Surya's) spiritual son Sugriva. Hanuman's choice of Surya as his teacher is said to signify Surya as a Karma Saakshi, an eternal witness of all deeds. Hanuman later became Sugriva's minister.[10][19]
Hanuman was mischievous in his childhood, and sometimes teased the meditating sages in the forests by snatching their personal belongings and by disturbing their well-arranged articles of worship. Finding his antics unbearable, but realizing that Hanuman was but a child, (albeit invincible), the sages placed a mild curse on him by which he became unable to remember his own ability unless reminded by another person. The curse is highlighted in Kishkindha Kanda and he was relieved from the curse by the end of Kishkindha Kanda when Jambavantha reminds Hanuman of his abilities and encourages him to go and find Sita and in Sundara Kanda he used his supernatural powers at his best.[10]
Adventures in Ramayana[edit]The Sundara Kanda, the fifth book in the Ramayana, focuses on the adventures of Hanuman.
Meeting with Rama[edit]
Rāma and Lakṣmaṇa meeting Hanumān at RishyamukhaHanuman meets Rama during the Rama's 14-year exile.[20] With his brother Lakshmana, Rama is searching for his wife Sita who had been abducted by Ravana. Their search brings them to the vicinity of the mountain Rishyamukha, where Sugriva, along with his followers and friends, are in hiding from his older brother Vali.
Having seen Rama and Lakshmana, Sugriva sends Hanuman to ascertain their identities. Hanuman approaches the two brothers in the guise of a brahmin. His first words to them are such that Rama says to Lakshmana that none could speak the way the brahmin did unless he or she had mastered the Vedas. He notes that there is no defect in the brahmin's countenance, eyes, forehead, brows, or any limb. He points out to Lakshmana that his accent is captivating, adding that even an enemy with sword drawn would be moved. He praises the disguised Hanuman further, saying that sure success awaited the king whose emissaries were as accomplished as he was.[20]
When Rama introduces himself, the brahman identitifies himself as Hanuman and falls prostrate before Rama, who embraces him warmly. Thereafter, Hanuman's life becomes interwoven with that of Rama. Hanuman then brings about friendship and alliance between Rama and Sugriva; Rama helps Sugriva regain his honour and makes him king of Kishkindha. Sugriva and his vanaras, most notably Hanuman, help Rama defeat Raavana and reunite with Sita.
In their search for Sita, a group of Vanaras reaches the southern seashore. Upon encountering the vast ocean, every vanara begins to lament his inability to jump across the water. Hanuman too is saddened at the possible failure of his mission, until the other vanaras and the wise bear Jambavantha begin to extol his virtues. Hanuman then recollects his own powers, enlarges his body, and flies across the ocean. On his way, he encounters a mountain that rises from the sea, proclaims that it owed his father a debt, and asks him to rest a while before proceeding. Not wanting to waste any time, Hanuman thanks the mountain and carries on. He then encounters a sea-monster, Surasa, who challenges him to enter her mouth. When Hanuman outwits her, she admits that her challenge was merely a test of his courage. After killing Simhika, a rakshasa, he reaches Lanka.
Finding Sita[edit]
Hanuman finds Sita in the ashoka grove, and shows her Rama's ringHanuman reaches Lanka and marvels at its beauty. After he finds Sita in captivity in a garden, Hanuman reveals his identity to her, reassures her that Rama has been looking for her, and uplifts her spirits. He offers to carry her back to Rama, but she refuses his offer, saying it would be an insult to Rama as his honour is at stake. After meeting Sita, Hanuman begins to wreak havoc, gradually destroying the palaces and properties of Lanka. He kills many rakshasas, including Jambumali and Aksha Kumar. To subdue him, Ravana's son Indrajit uses the Brahmastra. Though immune to the effects of this weapon Hanuman, out of respect to Brahma, allows himself be bound. Deciding to use the opportunity to meet Ravana, and to assess the strength of Ravana's hordes, Hanuman allows the rakshasa warriors to parade him through the streets. He conveys Rama's message of warning and demands the safe return of Sita. He also informs Ravana that Rama would be willing to forgive him if he returns Sita honourably.
Enraged, Ravana orders Hanuman's execution, whereupon Ravana's brother Vibhishana intervenes, pointing out that it is against the rules of engagement to kill a messenger. Ravana then orders Hanuman's tail be lit afire. As Ravana's forces attempted to wrap cloth around his tail, Hanuman begins to lengthen it. After frustrating them for a while, he allows it to burn, then escapes from his captors, and with his tail on fire he burns down large parts of Lanka. After extinguishing his flaming tail in the sea, he returns to Rama.
Shapeshifting[edit]In the Ramayana Hanuman changes shape several times. For example, while he searches for the kidnapped Sita in Ravana's palaces on Lanka, he contracts himself to the size of a cat, so that he will not be detected by the enemy. Later on, he takes on the size of a mountain, blazing with radiance, to show his true power to Sita.[21]
Also he enlarges & immediately afterwards contracts his body to out-wit Sirsa, the she-demon, who blocked his path while crossing the sea to reach Lanka. Again, he turns his body microscopically small to enter Lanka before killing Lankini, the she-demon guarding the gates of Lanka.
He achieved this shape-shifting by the powers of two siddhis; Anima and Garima bestowed upon him in his childhood by Sun-God, Surya.
Mountain Lifting[edit]
Hanuman fetches the herb-bearing mountain, in a print from the Ravi Varma Press, 1910sWhen Lakshmana is severely wounded during the battle against Ravana, Hanuman is sent to fetch the Sanjivani, a powerful life-restoring herb, from Dronagiri mountain in the Himalayas, to revive him. Ravana realises that if Lakshmana dies, a distraught Rama would probably give up, and so he dispatches the sorcerer Kalanemi to intercept Hanuman.[22] Kalanemi, in the guise of a sage, deceives Hanuman, but Hanuman uncovers his plot with the help of an apsara, whom he rescues from her accursed state as a crocodile.[22]
Ravana, upon learning that Kalanemi has been slain by Hanuman, summons Surya to rise before its appointed time because the physician Sushena had said that Lakshmana would perish if untreated by daybreak. Hanuman realizes the danger, however, and, becoming many times his normal size, detains the Sun God to prevent the break of day. He then resumes his search for the precious herb, but, when he finds himself unable to identify which herb it is, he lifts the entire mountain and delivers it to the battlefield in Lanka. Sushena then identifies and administers the herb, and Lakshmana is saved. Rama embraces Hanuman, declaring him as dear to him as his own brother. Hanuman releases Surya from his grip, and asks forgiveness, as the Sun was also his Guru.
Hanuman was also called "langra veer"; langra in Hindi means limping and veer means "brave". The story behind Hanuman being called langra is as follows. He was injured when he was crossing the Ayodhya with the mountain in his hands. As he was crossing over Ayodhya, Bharat, Rama's young brother, saw him and assumed that some Rakshasa was taking this mountain to attack Ayodhya. Bharat then shot Hanuman with an arrow, which was engraved with Rama's name. Hanuman did not stop this arrow as it had Rama's name written on it, and it injured his leg. Hanuman landed and explained to Bharat that he was moving the mountain to save his own brother, Lakshmana. Bharat, very sorry, offered to fire an arrow to Lanka, which Hanuman could ride in order to reach his destination more easily. But Hanuman declined the offer, preferring to fly on his own, and he continued his journey with his injured leg.
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Patala incident[edit]In another incident during the war, Rama and Lakshmana are captured by the rakshasa Mahiravana (or Ahiravan), brother of Ravana, who held them captive in their palace in Patala (or Patalpuri) --the netherworld. Mahiravana keeps them as offerings to his deity. Searching for them, Hanuman reaches Patala, the gates of which are guarded by a young creature called Makardhwaja (known also as Makar-Dhwaja or Magar Dhwaja), who is part reptile and part Vanara.
The story of Makardhwaja's birth is said to be that when Hanuman extinguished his burning tail in the ocean, a drop of his sweat fell into the waters, eventually becoming Makardhwaja, who perceives Hanuman as his father. When Hanuman introduces himself to Makardhwaja, the latter asks his blessings, but fights him to fulfill the task of guarding the gate. Hanuman defeats and imprisons him to gain entry.
Upon entering Patala, Hanuman discovers that to kill Mahiravana, he must simultaneously extinguish five lamps burning in different directions. Hanuman assumes the Panchamukha or five-faced form of Sri Varaha facing north, Sri Narasimha facing south, Sri Garuda facing west, Sri Hayagriva facing the sky and his own facing the east, and blows out the lamps. Hanuman then rescues Rama and Lakshmana. Afterwards, Rama asks Hanuman to crown Makardhwaja king of Patala. Hanuman then instructs Makardhwaja to rule Patala with justice and wisdom.
To date Chandraloak Devpuri mandir is located at Dugana a small village 17 km from Laharpur,Sitapur district,Uttar Pradesh. A divine place where Chakleswar Mahadev situated.
Honours[edit]
Hanuman showing Rama in His heartShortly after he is crowned Emperor upon his return to Ayodhya, Rama decides to ceremoniously reward all his well-wishers. At a grand ceremony in his court, all his friends and allies take turns being honoured at the throne. Hanuman approaches without desiring a reward. Seeing Hanuman come up to him, an emotionally overwhelmed Rama embraces him warmly, declaring that he could never adequately honour or repay Hanuman for the help and services he received from the noble Vanara. Sita, however, insists that Hanuman deserved honour more than anyone else, and Sita gives him a necklace of precious stones adorning her neck.
When he receives it, Hanuman immediately takes it apart, and peers into each stone. Taken aback, many of those present demand to know why he is destroying the precious gift. Hanuman answers that he was looking into the stones to make sure that Rama and Sita are in them, because if they are not, the necklace is of no value to him. At this, a few mock Hanuman, saying his reverence and love for Rama and Sita could not possibly be as deep as he implies. In response, Hanuman tears his chest open, and everyone is stunned to see Rama and Sita literally in his heart.
Hanuman Ramayana[edit]
Hanuman beheads Trisiras-from The Freer RamayanaAfter the victory of Rama over Ravana, Hanuman went to the Himalayas to continue his worship of the Lord Rama. There he scripted a version of the Ramayana on the Himalayan mountains using his nails, recording every detail of Rama's deeds. When Maharishi Valmiki visited him to show him his own version of the Ramayana, he saw Hanuman's version and became very disappointed.
When Hanuman asked Valmiki the cause of his sorrow, the sage said that his version, which he had created very laboriously, was no match for the splendour of Hanuman's, and would therefore go ignored. At this, Hanuman discarded his own version, which is called the Hanumad Ramayana. Maharishi Valmiki was so taken aback that he said he would take another birth to sing the glory of Hanuman which he had understated in his version.
Later, one tablet is said to have floated ashore during the period of Mahakavi Kalidasa, and hung at a public place to be deciphered by scholars. Kalidasa is said to have deciphered it and recognised that it was from the Hanumad Ramayana recorded by Hanuman in an extinct script, and considered himself very fortunate to see at least one pada of the stanza.
After the Ramayana war[edit]After the war, and after reigning for several years, the time arrived for Rama to depart to his supreme abode Vaikuntha. Many of Rama's entourage, including Sugriva, decided to depart with him. Hanuman, however, requested from Rama that he will remain on earth as long as Rama's name was venerated by people. Sita accorded Hanuman that desire, and granted that his image would be installed at various public places, so he could listen to people chanting Rama's name. He is one of the immortals (Chiranjivi) of Hinduism.[23]
Mahabharata[edit]Hanuman is also considered to be the brother of Bhima, on the basis of their having the same father, Vayu. During the Pandavas' exile, he appears disguised as a weak and aged monkey to Bhima in order to subdue his arrogance. Bhima enters a field where Hanuman is lying with his tail blocking the way. Bhima, unaware of his identity, tells him to move it out of the way. Hanuman, incognito, refuses. Bhima then tries to move the tail himself but he is unable, despite his great strength. Realising he is no ordinary monkey, he inquires as to Hanuman's identity, which is then revealed. At Bhima's request, Hanuman is also said to have enlarged himself to demonstrate the proportions he had assumed in his crossing of the sea as he journeyed to Lanka and also said that when the war came, he would be there to protect the Pandavas. This place is located at Sariska National Park in the Alwar District of the State of Rajasthan and named as Pandupole(Temple of Hanuman ji).Pandupole is very famous tourist spot of Alwar.
During the great battle of Kurukshetra, Arjuna entered the battlefield with a flag displaying Hanuman on his chariot.[23] The incident that led to this was an earlier encounter between Hanuman and Arjuna, wherein Hanuman appeared as a small talking monkey before Arjuna at Rameshwaram, where Rama had built the great bridge to cross over to Lanka to rescue Sita. Upon Arjuna's wondering aloud at Rama's taking the help of monkeys rather than building a bridge of arrows, Hanuman challenged him to build a bridge capable of bearing him alone; Arjuna, unaware of the vanara's true identity, accepted. Hanuman then proceeded to repeatedly destroy the bridges made by Arjuna, who decided to take his own life. Vishnu then appeared before them both after originally coming in the form of a tortoise, chiding Arjuna for his vanity and Hanuman for making Arjuna feel incompetent. As an act of penitence, Hanuman decided to help Arjuna by stabilizing and strengthening his chariot during the imminent great battle. After, the battle of Kurukshetra was over, Krishna asked Arjuna, that today you step down the chariot before me. After Arjuna got down, Krishna followed him and thanked Hanuman for staying with them during the whole fight in the form of a flag on the chariot. Hanuman came in his original form, bowed to Krishna and left the flag, flying away into the sky. As soon as he left the flag, the chariot began to burn and turned into ashes. Arjuna was shocked to see this, then Krishna told Arjuna, that the only reason his chariot was still standing was because of the presence of Himself and Hanuman, otherwise, it would have burnt many days ago due to effects of celestial weapons thrown at it in the war.
According to legend, Hanuman is one of the four people to have heard the Bhagwad Gita from Krishna and seen his Vishvarupa (universal) form, the other three being Arjuna, Sanjaya and Barbarika, son of Ghatotkacha.
PA_1269 [40 points]
TOKYO PARIS in the Japanese neighbourhood of Paris. Lots of Japanese restaurants in this area explains the choise of Invader to made this lucky cat.
All views of PA_1269:
PA_1269 (Zoom in, April 2017)
PA_1269 (Street view 1, April 2017)
PA_1269 (Street view 2, April 2017)
Date of invasion: 22/02/2017 (Source: space-invaders.com, first seen on Flickr on 22/02/2017 by Tofz4u)
[ Visited 'Maneki' PA_1269 for the first time 43 days after invasion ]
This image is part of explaining how f stops work going from 1.4 to f16. You will get a feel for how the image is effected.
May have missed boat - Sells bedstead. The End.
~ A CRYPTIC TRIPTYCH ~
--
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On the edge, th^a$t's w#hy I
Ca!n't g$et %th2e E
C#an't ge@t th#$#$e A
Sw$%eet emp$^*ire, the e@dge,
Why I can%$'t get it h#&igh
Hig*^h, h!~igh
Aye, aye
Can't g!et t~he e@dge
Def*^&eat my emp$%^&ire
Wioooouuu, wawawawawaw
Patipatu, wo-na, wo-na"
Hugo Pierre Leclercq
The Garuda is a large bird-like creature, or humanoid bird that appears in both Hinduism and Buddhism. Garuda is the mount (vahana) of the Lord Vishnu. Garuda is the Hindu name for the constellation Aquila. The brahminy kite and phoenix are considered to be the contemporary representations of Garuda. Indonesia adopts a more stylistic approach to the Garuda's depiction as its national symbol, where it depicts a Javanese eagle (being much larger than a kite).
ABOUT GARUDA
In Hinduism, Garuda is a Hindu divinity, usually the mount (vahana) of the Lord Vishnu. Garuda is depicted as having the golden body of a strong man with a white face, red wings, and an eagle's beak and with a crown on his head. This ancient deity was said to be massive, large enough to block out the sun.
Garuda is known as the eternal sworn enemy of the Nāga serpent race and known for feeding exclusively on snakes, such behavior may have referred to the actual short-toed eagle of India. The image of Garuda is often used as the charm or amulet to protect the bearer from snake attack and its poison, since the king of birds is an implacable enemy and "devourer of serpent". Garudi Vidya is the mantra against snake poison to remove all kinds of evil.
His stature in Hindu religion can be gauged by the fact that a dependent Upanishad, the Garudopanishad, and a Purana, the Garuda Purana, is devoted to him. Various names have been attributed to Garuda - Chirada, Gaganeshvara, Kamayusha, Kashyapi, Khageshvara, Nagantaka, Sitanana, Sudhahara, Suparna, Tarkshya, Vainateya, Vishnuratha and others. The Vedas provide the earliest reference of Garuda, though by the name of Śyena, where this mighty bird is said to have brought nectar to earth from heaven. The Puranas, which came into existence much later, mention Garuda as doing the same thing, which indicates that Śyena (Sanskrit for eagle) and Garuda are the same. One of the faces of Śrī Pañcamukha Hanuman is Mahavira Garuda. This face points towards the west. Worship of Garuda is believed to remove the effects of poisons from one's body. In Tamil Vaishnavism Garuda and Hanuman are known as "Periya Thiruvadi" and "Siriya Thiruvadi" respectively.
In the Bhagavad-Gita (Ch.10, Verse 30), in the middle of the battlefield "Kurukshetra", Krishna explaining his omnipresence, says - " as son of Vinata, I am in the form of Garuda, the king of the bird community (Garuda)" indicating the importance of Garuda.
Garuda wears the serpent Adisesha on his left small toenail and the serpent Gulika on his right cerebral cortex. The serpent Vasuki forms his sacred thread. The cobra Takshaka forms his belt on his hip. The snake Karkotaka is worn as his necklace. The snakes Padma and Mahapadma are his ear rings. The snake Shankachuda adorns his divine hair. He is flanked by his two wives ‘Rudra’ and ‘Sukeerthi’ or (Sukirthi). These are all invoked in Vedanta Desika's Garuda Panchashath and Garuda Dandaka compositions. Garuda flanked with his consorts 'Rudra' and 'Sukirthi' can be seen worshipped in an ancient Soumya Keshava temple in Bindiganavile (or Mayura puri in Sanskrit ) in Karnataka state of India.
Garuda Vyuha is worshiped in Tantra for Abhichara and to protect against Abhichara. However, the interesting thing is that Garuda is the Sankarshna form of the lord who during creation primarily possesses the knowledge aspect of the lord (among Vasudeva, Sankarshana, Pradyumna and Aniruddha forms). The important point is that Garuda represents the five vayus within us : prana, apana, vyana, udana, samana through his five forms Satya, Suparna, Garuda, Tarkshya, Vihageshwara. These five vayus through yoga can be controlled through Pranayama which can lead to Kundalini awakening leading to higher levels of consciousness.
Garuda plays an important role in Krishna Avatar in which Krishna and Satyabhama ride on Garuda to kill Narakasura. On another occasion, Lord Hari rides on Garuda to save the devotee elephant Gajendra. It is also said that Garuda's wings when flying will chant the Vedas.
With the position of Garuda's hands and palms, he is also called 'Kai Yendhi Perumal', in Tamil.
IN THE MAHABHARATA
BIRTH AND DEEDS
The story of Garuda's birth and deeds is told in the first book of the great epic Mahabharata. According to the epic, when Garuda first burst forth from his egg, he appeared as a raging inferno equal to the cosmic conflagration that consumes the world at the end of every age. Frightened, the gods begged him for mercy. Garuda, hearing their plea, reduced himself in size and energy.
Garuda's father was the creator-rishi Kasyapa. He had two wives, Vinata and Kadru, who were daughters of Prajapathi Daksha. Kasyapa, on the pleadings of his wives, granted them their wishes; Vinata wished for two sons and Kadru wished for thousand snakes as her sons. Both laid eggs, while the thousand eggs of Kadru hatched early (after steaming the eggs to hatch) into snakes, the hatching of two eggs of Vinata did not take place for a long time. Impatient, Vinata broke open one egg, which was half formed with the upper half only as a human and was thus deformed. Her half formed son cursed her that she would be slave for her sister (she was her rival) for a long time by which time her second son would be born who would save her from his curse; her first son who flew away and came to prominence as Aruna, the red spectacle seen as the Sun rises in the morning, and as also charioteer of the Sun. The second egg hatched after a long time during which period Vinata was the servant of her sister as she had lost a bet with her. When the second egg hatched, a fully grown, shining and of mighty sized bird form emerged as Garuda, the king of birds. Garuda was thus born.
One day, Vinata entered into and lost a foolish bet, as a result of which she became enslaved to her sister. Resolving to release his mother from this state of bondage, Garuda approached the serpents and asked them what it would take to purchase her freedom. Their reply was that Garuda would have to bring them the elixir of immortality, also called amrita. It was a tall order. The amrita at that time found itself in the possession of the gods, who guarded it zealously, since it was the source of their immortality. They had ringed the elixir with a massive fire that covered the sky. They had blocked the way to the elixir with a fierce mechanical contraption of sharp rotating blades. And finally, they had stationed two gigantic poisonous snakes next to the elixir as deadly guardians.
Undaunted, Garuda hastened toward the abode of the gods intent on robbing them of their treasure. Knowing of his design, the gods met him in full battle-array. Garuda, however, defeated the entire host and scattered them in all directions. Taking the water of many rivers into his mouth, he extinguished the protective fire the gods had thrown up. Reducing his size, he crept past the rotating blades of their murderous machine. And finally, he mangled the two gigantic serpents they had posted as guards. Taking the elixir into his mouth without swallowing it, he launched again into the air and headed toward the eagerly waiting serpents. En route, he encountered Vishnu. Rather than fight, the two exchanged promises. Vishnu promised Garuda the gift of immortality even without drinking from the elixir, and Garuda promised to become Vishnu's mount. Flying onward, he met Indra the god of the sky. Another exchange of promises occurred. Garuda promised that once he had delivered the elixir, thus fulfilling the request of the serpents, he would make it possible for Indra to regain possession of the elixir and to take it back to the gods. Indra in turn promised Garuda the serpents as food. At long last, Garuda alighted in front of the waiting serpents. Placing the elixir on the grass, and thereby liberating his mother Vinata from her servitude, he urged the serpents to perform their religious ablutions before consuming it. As they hurried off to do so, Indra swooped in to make off with the elixir. The serpents came back from their ablutions and saw the elixir gone but with small droplets of it on the grass. They tried to lick the droplets and thereby split their tongues in two. From then onwards, serpents have split tongues and shed their skin as a kind of immortality. From that day onward, Garuda was the ally of the gods and the trusty mount of Vishnu, as well as the implacable enemy of snakes, upon whom he preyed at every opportunity.
DESCENDANTS
According to the Mahabharata, Garuda had six sons (Sumukha, Suvarna, Subala, Sunaama, Sunethra and Suvarchas) from whom were descended the race of birds. The members of this race were of great might and without compassion, subsisting as they did on their relatives the snakes. Vishnu was their protector.
AS A SYMBOL
Throughout the Mahabharata, Garuda is invoked as a symbol of impetuous violent force, of speed, and of martial prowess. Powerful warriors advancing rapidly on doomed foes are likened to Garuda swooping down on a serpent. Defeated warriors are like snakes beaten down by Garuda. The field marshal Drona uses a military formation named after Garuda. Krishna even carries the image of Garuda on his banner.
IN BUDDHISM
In Buddhist mythology, the Garuda (Pāli: garuḷā) are enormous predatory birds with intelligence and social organization. Another name for the Garuda is suparṇa (Pāli: supaṇṇa), meaning "well-winged, having good wings". Like the Naga, they combine the characteristics of animals and divine beings, and may be considered to be among the lowest devas.
The exact size of the Garuda is uncertain, but its wings are said to have a span of many miles. This may be a poetic exaggeration, but it is also said that when a Garuda's wings flap, they create hurricane-like winds that darken the sky and blow down houses. A human being is so small compared to a Garuda that a man can hide in the plumage of one without being noticed (Kākātī Jātaka, J.327). They are also capable of tearing up entire banyan trees from their roots and carrying them off.
Garudas are the great golden-winged Peng birds. They also have the ability to grow large or small, and to appear and disappear at will. Their wingspan is 330 yojanas (one yojana being 8 miles long). With one flap of its wings, a Peng bird dries up the waters of the sea so that it can gobble up all the exposed dragons. With another flap of its wings, it can level the mountains by moving them into the ocean.
There were also the four garuda-kings: Great-Power-Virtue Garuda-King, Great-Body Garuda-King, Great-Fulfillment Garuda-King, and Free-At-Will Garuda-King, each accompanied by hundreds of thousands of attendants.
The Garudas have kings and cities, and at least some of them have the magical power of changing into human form when they wish to have dealings with people. On some occasions Garuda kings have had romances with human women in this form. Their dwellings are in groves of the simbalī, or silk-cotton tree.
The Garuda are enemies to the nāga, a race of intelligent serpent- or dragon-like beings, whom they hunt. The Garudas at one time caught the nāgas by seizing them by their heads; but the nāgas learned that by swallowing large stones, they could make themselves too heavy to be carried by the Garudas, wearing them out and killing them from exhaustion. This secret was divulged to one of the Garudas by the ascetic Karambiya, who taught him how to seize a nāga by the tail and force him to vomit up his stone (Pandara Jātaka, J.518).
The Garudas were among the beings appointed by Śakra to guard Mount Sumeru and the Trāyastriṃśa heaven from the attacks of the asuras.
In the Maha-samaya Sutta (Digha Nikaya 20), the Buddha is shown making temporary peace between the Nagas and the Garudas.
The Thai rendering of Garuda (ครุฑ Krut) as Vishnu vehicle and Garuda's quest for elixir was based on Indian legend of Garuda. It was told that Garuda overcame many heavenly beings in order to gain the ambrosia (amrita) elixir. No one was able to get the better of him, not even Narai (Vishnu). At last, a truce was called and an agreement was made to settle the rancor and smooth all the ruffled feathers. It was agreed that when Narai is in his heavenly palace, Garuda will be positioned in a superior status, atop the pillar above Narai's residence. However, whenever Narai wants to travel anywhere, Garuda must serve as his transport.
The Sanskrit word Garuda has been borrowed and modified in the languages of several countries. In Burmese, Garudas are called galone (ဂဠုန်). In Burmese astrology, the vehicle of the Sunday planet is the galone. In the Kapampangan language of the Philippines, the native word for eagle is galura. In Japanese a Garuda is called karura (however, the form Garuda ガルーダ is used in recent Japanese fiction - see below).
For the Mongols, the Garuda is called Khan Garuda or Khangarid (Mongolian: Хангарьд). Before and after each round of Mongolian wrestling, wrestlers perform the Garuda ritual, a stylised imitation of the Khangarid and a hawk.
In the Qing Dynasty fiction The Story of Yue Fei (1684), Garuda sits at the head of the Buddha's throne. But when a celestial bat (an embodiment of the Aquarius constellation) flatulates during the Buddha’s expounding of the Lotus Sutra, Garuda kills her and is exiled from paradise. He is later reborn as Song Dynasty General Yue Fei. The bat is reborn as Lady Wang, wife of the traitor Prime Minister Qin Hui, and is instrumental in formulating the "Eastern Window" plot that leads to Yue's eventual political execution. It is interesting to note The Story of Yue Fei plays on the legendary animosity between Garuda and the Nagas when the celestial bird-born Yue Fei defeats a magic serpent who transforms into the unearthly spear he uses throughout his military career. Literary critic C. T. Hsia explains the reason why Qian Cai, the book's author, linked Yue with Garuda is because of the homology in their Chinese names. Yue Fei's courtesy name is Pengju (鵬舉). A Peng (鵬) is a giant mythological bird likened to the Middle Eastern Roc. Garuda's Chinese name is Great Peng, the Golden-Winged Illumination King (大鵬金翅明王).
AS A CULTURAL AND NATIONAL SYMBOL
In India, Indonesia and the rest of Southeast Asia the eagle symbolism is represented by Garuda, a large mythical bird with eagle-like features that appears in both Hindu and Buddhist mythology as the vahana (vehicle) of the god Vishnu. Garuda became the national emblem of Thailand and Indonesia; Thailand's Garuda is rendered in a more traditional anthropomorphic mythical style, while that of Indonesia is rendered in heraldic style with traits similar to the real Javan hawk-eagle.
INDIA
India primarily uses Garuda as a martial motif:
- Garud Commando Force is a Special Forces unit of the Indian Air Force, specializing in operations deep behind enemy lines
- Brigade of the Guards of the Indian Army uses Garuda as their symbol
- Elite bodyguards of the medieval Hoysala kings were called Garudas
- Kerala and Andhra pradesh state road transport corporations use Garuda as the name for a/c moffusil buses
- Garuda rock, a rocky cliff in Tirumala in Andhra pradesh
- 13th century Aragalur chief, Magadesan's, insignia was Rishabha the sacred bull and the Garuda
INDONESIA
Indonesia uses the Garuda, called the Garuda Pancasila, as its national symbol, it is somewhat intertwined with the concept of the phoenix.
- Garuda Pancasila is coloured or gilt gold, symbolizes the greatness of the nation and is a representation of the elang Jawa or Javan hawk-eagle Nisaetus bartelsi. The black color represents nature. There are 17 feathers on each wing, 8 on the lower tail, 19 on the upper tail and 45 on the neck, which represent the date Indonesia proclaimed its independence: 17 August 1945. The shield it carries with the Indonesian Panca Sila heraldry symbolizes self-defense and protection in struggle.
- Indonesian national airline is Garuda Indonesia.
- Indonesian Armed Forces United Nations peacekeeping missions is known as Pasukan Garuda or Garuda Contingent
- Airlangga University, one of the oldest and leading university in Indonesia uses Garuda on its emblem. The emblem, containing a Garuda in a blue and yellow circle, is called "Garudamukha", and depicts Garuda as the bearer of knowledge, carrying a jug of Amrita, the water of eternity, symbolizing eternal knowledge.
- In Bali and Java Garuda has become a cultural symbol, the wooden statue and mask of Garuda is a popular artworks and souvenirs.
- In Bali, we can find the tallest Garuda statue of 18 metres tall made from tons of copper and brass. The statue is located in Garuda Wisnu Kencana complex.
- Garuda has identified as Indonesian national football team in international games, namely "The Garuda Team".
- The stylized brush stroke that resemble Garuda is appear in the logo of 2011 Southeast Asian Games, held in Palembang and Jakarta, Indonesia.
- The stylized curves that took form of Garuda Pancasila is appear in the logo of Wonderful Indonesia tourism campaign.
THAILAND
- Thailand uses the Garuda (Thai: ครุฑ, khrut) as its national symbol.
- One form of the Garuda used in Thailand as a sign of the royal family is called Khrut Pha, meaning "Garuda, the vehicle (of Vishnu)."
- The statue and images of Garuda adorned many Buddhist temples in Thailand, it also has become the cultural symbol of Thailand.
MONGOLIA
- The Garuda, known as Khangarid, is the symbol of the capital city of Mongolia, Ulan Bator. According to popular Mongolian belief, Khangarid is the mountain spirit of the Bogd Khan Uul range who became a follower of Buddhist faith. Today he is considered the guardian of that mountain range and a symbol of courage and honesty.
- The bird also gives its name to Hangard Aviation
- Khangarid (Хангарьд), a football (soccer) team in the Mongolia Premier League also named after Garuda.
- Garuda Ord (Гаруда Орд), a private construction and trading company based in Ulaanbaatar, also named after Garuda.
- State Garuda (Улсын Гарьд) is a title given to the debut runner up in wrestling tournament during Mongolian National Festival Naadam.
SURINAME
In Suriname, there is a TV channel called Garuda. Suriname has a lot of people from Indonesia and Java, as it is a multicultural country.
WIKIPEDIA
Bangkok (English pronunciation: /ˈbæŋkɒk/) is the capital and most populous city of Thailand. It is known in Thai as Krung Thep Maha Nakhon (กรุงเทพมหานคร, pronounced [krūŋ tʰêːp mahǎː nákʰɔ̄ːn] or simply Krung Thep. The city occupies 1,568.7 square kilometres (605.7 sq mi) in the Chao Phraya River delta in Central Thailand, and has a population of over 8 million, or 12.6 percent of the country's population. Over 14 million people (22.2 percent) live within the surrounding Bangkok Metropolitan Region, making Bangkok an extreme primate city, significantly dwarfing Thailand's other urban centres in terms of importance.
Bangkok traces its roots to a small trading post during the Ayutthaya Kingdom in the 15th century, which eventually grew and became the site of two capital cities: Thonburi in 1768 and Rattanakosin in 1782. Bangkok was at the heart of the modernization of Siam - later renamed Thailand - during the late 19th century, as the country faced pressures from the West. The city was at the centre of Thailand's political struggles throughout the 20th century, as the country abolished absolute monarchy, adopted constitutional rule and underwent numerous coups and several uprisings. The city grew rapidly during the 1960s through the 1980s and now exerts a significant impact on Thailand's politics, economy, education, media and modern society.
The Asian investment boom in the 1980s and 1990s led many multinational corporations to locate their regional headquarters in Bangkok. The city is now a major regional force in finance and business. It is an international hub for transport and health care, and has emerged as a regional centre for the arts, fashion and entertainment. The city is well known for its vibrant street life and cultural landmarks, as well as its notorious red-light districts. The historic Grand Palace and Buddhist temples including Wat Arun and Wat Pho stand in contrast with other tourist attractions such as the nightlife scenes of Khaosan Road and Patpong. Bangkok is among the world's top tourist destinations. It is named the most visited city in MasterCard's Global Destination Cities Index, and was named "World's Best City" for four consecutive years by Travel + Leisure magazine.
Bangkok's rapid growth amidst little urban planning and regulation has resulted in a haphazard cityscape and inadequate infrastructure systems. Limited roads, despite an extensive expressway network, together with substantial private car usage, have led to chronic and crippling traffic congestion, which caused severe air pollution in the 1990s. The city has since turned to public transport in an attempt to solve this major problem. Five rapid transit lines are now in operation, with more systems under construction or planned by the national government and the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration.
HISTORY
The history of Bangkok dates at least back to the early 15th century, when it was a village on the west bank of the Chao Phraya River, under the rule of Ayutthaya. Because of its strategic location near the mouth of the river, the town gradually increased in importance. Bangkok initially served as a customs outpost with forts on both sides of the river, and became the site of a siege in 1688 in which the French were expelled from Siam. After the fall of Ayutthaya to the Burmese Empire in 1767, the newly declared King Taksin established his capital at the town, which became the base of the Thonburi Kingdom. In 1782, King Phutthayotfa Chulalok (Rama I) succeeded Taksin, moved the capital to the eastern bank's Rattanakosin Island, thus founding the Rattanakosin Kingdom. The City Pillar was erected on 21 April, which is regarded as the date of foundation of the present city.
Bangkok's economy gradually expanded through busy international trade, first with China, then with Western merchants returning in the early-to-mid 19th century. As the capital, Bangkok was the centre of Siam's modernization as it faced pressure from Western powers in the late 19th century. The reigns of Kings Mongkut (Rama IV, 1851–68) and Chulalongkorn (Rama V, 1868–1910) saw the introduction of the steam engine, printing press, rail transport and utilities infrastructure in the city, as well as formal education and healthcare. Bangkok became the centre stage for power struggles between the military and political elite as the country abolished absolute monarchy in 1932. It was subject to Japanese occupation and Allied bombing during World War II, but rapidly grew in the post-war period as a result of United States developmental aid and government-sponsored investment. Bangkok's role as an American military R&R destination boosted its tourism industry as well as firmly establishing it as a sex tourism destination. Disproportionate urban development led to increasing income inequalities and unprecedented migration from rural areas into Bangkok; its population surged from 1.8 to 3 million in the 1960s. Following the United States' withdrawal from Vietnam in 1973, Japanese businesses took over as leaders in investment, and the expansion of export-oriented manufacturing led to growth of the financial market in Bangkok. Rapid growth of the city continued through the 1980s and early 1990s, until it was stalled by the 1997 Asian financial crisis. By then, many public and social issues had emerged, among them the strain on infrastructure reflected in the city's notorious traffic jams. Bangkok's role as the nation's political stage continues to be seen in strings of popular protests, from the student uprisings in 1973 and 1976, anti-military demonstrations in 1992, and successive anti-government demonstrations by the "Yellow Shirt", "Red Shirt" and "Light blue Shirt" movements from 2008 onwards.
Administration of the city was first formalized by King Chulalongkorn in 1906, with the establishment of Monthon Krung Thep Phra Maha Nakhon (มณฑลกรุงเทพพระมหานคร) as a national subdivision. In 1915 the monthon was split into several provinces, the administrative boundaries of which have since further changed. The city in its current form was created in 1972 with the formation of the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA), following the merger of Phra Nakhon Province on the eastern bank of the Chao Phraya and Thonburi Province on the west during the previous year.
NAME
The etymology of the name Bangkok (บางกอก, pronounced in Thai as [bāːŋ kɔ̀ːk] is not absolutely clear. Bang is a Thai word meaning "a village situated on a stream", and the name might have been derived from Bang Ko (บางเกาะ), ko meaning "island", a reference to the area's landscape which was carved by rivers and canals. Another theory suggests that it is shortened from Bang Makok (บางมะกอก), makok being the name of Elaeocarpus hygrophilus, a plant bearing olive-like fruit.[a] This is supported by the fact that Wat Arun, a historic temple in the area, used to be named Wat Makok. Officially, however, the town was known as Thonburi Si Mahasamut (ธนบุรีศรีมหาสมุทร, from Pali and Sanskrit, literally "city of treasures gracing the ocean") or Thonburi, according to Ayutthaya chronicles. Bangkok was likely a colloquial name, albeit one widely adopted by foreign visitors, whose continued use of the name finally resulted in it being officially adopted with the creation of the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration.
When King Rama I established his new capital on the river's eastern bank, the city inherited Ayutthaya's ceremonial name, of which there were many variants, including Krung Thep Thawarawadi Si Ayutthaya (กรุงเทพทวารวดีศรีอยุธยา) and Krung Thep Maha Nakhon Si Ayutthaya (กรุงเทพมหานครศรีอยุธยา). Edmund Roberts, visiting the city as envoy of the United States in 1833, noted that the city, since becoming capital, was known as Sia-Yut'hia, and this is the name used in international treaties of the period. Today, the city is known in Thai as Krung Thep Maha Nakhon (กรุงเทพมหานคร) or simply as Krung Thep (กรุงเทพฯ). Its full ceremonial name, which came into use during the reign of King Mongkut, reads as follows:
Krungthepmahanakhon Amonrattanakosin Mahintharayutthaya Mahadilokphop Noppharatratchathaniburirom Udomratchaniwetmahasathan Amonphimanawatansathit Sakkathattiyawitsanukamprasit
กรุงเทพมหานคร อมรรัตนโกสินทร์ มหินทรายุธยา มหาดิลกภพ นพรัตนราชธานีบูรีรมย์ อุดมราชนิเวศน์มหาสถาน อมรพิมานอวตารสถิต สักกะทัตติยวิษณุกรรมประสิทธิ์
The name, composed of Pali and Sanskrit root words, translates as:
City of angels, great city of immortals, magnificent city of the nine gems, seat of the king, city of royal palaces, home of gods incarnate, erected by Vishvakarman at Indra's behest.
The name is listed in Guinness World Records as the world's longest place name, at 168 letters. Thai school children are taught the full name, although few can explain its meaning as many of the words are archaic, and known to few. Most Thais who recall the full name do so because of its use in a popular song, "Krung Thep Maha Nakhon" (1989) by Asanee–Wasan and will often recount it by singing it, much as an English speaker might sing the alphabet song to recite the alphabet. The entirety of the lyrics is just the name of the city repeated over and over.
GOVERNMENT
The city of Bangkok is locally governed by the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA). Although its boundaries are at the provincial (changwat) level, unlike the other 76 provinces Bangkok is a special administrative area whose governor is directly elected to serve a four-year term. The governor, together with four appointed deputies, form the executive body, who implement policies through the BMA civil service headed by the Permanent Secretary for the BMA. In separate elections, each district elects one or more city councillors, who form the Bangkok Metropolitan Council. The council is the BMA's legislative body, and has power over municipal ordinances and the city's budget. However, after the coup of 2014 all local elections have been cancelled and the council has been appointed by government on September 15 2014. The current Bangkok Governor is Police General Aswin Kwanmuang, who was appointed by the military government on October 26 following the suspension of the last elected governor M.R. Sukhumbhand Paribatra.
Bangkok is subdivided into fifty districts (khet, equivalent to amphoe in the other provinces), which are further subdivided into 169 subdistricts (khwaeng, equivalent to tambon). Each district is managed by a district director appointed by the governor. District councils, elected to four-year terms, serve as advisory bodies to their respective district directors.
The BMA is divided into sixteen departments, each overseeing different aspects of the administration's responsibilities. Most of these responsibilities concern the city's infrastructure, and include city planning, building control, transportation, drainage, waste management and city beautification, as well as education, medical and rescue services. Many of these services are provided jointly with other agencies. The BMA has the authority to implement local ordinances, although civil law enforcement falls under the jurisdiction of the Metropolitan Police Bureau.
The seal of the city shows Hindu god Indra riding in the clouds on Airavata, a divine white elephant known in Thai as Erawan. In his hand Indra holds his weapon, the vajra.[19] The seal is based on a painting done by Prince Naris. The tree symbol of Bangkok is Ficus benjamina. The official city slogan, adopted in 2012, reads:
As built by deities, the administrative center, dazzling palaces and temples, the capital of Thailand
กรุงเทพฯ ดุจเทพสร้าง เมืองศูนย์กลางการปกครอง วัดวังงามเรืองรอง เมืองหลวงของประเทศไทย
As the capital of Thailand, Bangkok is the seat of all branches of the national government. The Government House, Parliament House and Supreme, Administrative and Constitutional Courts are all located within the city. Bangkok is the site of the Grand Palace and Chitralada Villa, respectively the official and de facto residence of the king. Most government ministries also have headquarters and offices in the capital.
GEOGRAPHY
The Bangkok city proper covers an area of 1,568.737 square kilometres, ranking 69th among the other 76 provinces of Thailand. Of this, about 700 square kilometres form the built-up urban area. It is ranked 73rd in the world in terms of land area by City Mayors. The city's urban sprawl reaches into parts of the six other provinces it borders, namely, in clockwise order from northwest: Nonthaburi, Pathum Thani, Chachoengsao, Samut Prakan, Samut Sakhon and Nakhon Pathom. With the exception of Chachoengsao, these provinces, together with Bangkok, form the greater Bangkok Metropolitan Region.
PARKS AND GREEN ZONES
Bangkok has several parks, although these amount to a per-capita total park area of only 1.82 square metres in the city proper. Total green space for the entire city is moderate, at 11.8 square metres per person; however, in the more densely built-up areas of the city these numbers are as low as 1.73 and 0.72 square metres per person. More recent numbers claim that there is only 3.3 m2 of green space per person, compared to an average of 39 m2 in other cities across Asia. Bangkokians thus have 10 times less green space than is standard in the region's urban areas. Green belt areas include about 700 square kilometres of rice paddies and orchards in the eastern and western edges of the city proper, although their primary purpose is to serve as flood detention basins rather than to limit urban expansion. Bang Kachao, a 20-square-kilometre conservation area in an oxbow of the Chao Phraya, lies just across the southern riverbank districts, in Samut Prakan Province. A master development plan has been proposed to increase total park area to 4 square metres per person.
Bangkok's largest parks include the centrally located Lumphini Park near the Si Lom – Sathon business district with an area of 57.6 hectares, the 80-hectare Suanluang Rama IX in the east of the city, and the Chatuchak–Queen Sirikit–Wachirabenchathat park complex in northern Bangkok, which has a combined area of 92 hectares.
DEMOGRAPHY
The city of Bangkok has a population of 8,280,925 according to the 2010 census, or 12.6 percent of the national population. However, there are only 5,692,284 registered residents, belonging to 2,672,423 households. A large number of Bangkok's daytime population commutes from surrounding provinces in the Bangkok Metropolitan Region, the total population of which is 14,565,547. Bangkok is a cosmopolitan city; the census showed that it is home to 81,570 Japanese and 55,893 Chinese nationals, as well as 117,071 expatriates from other Asian countries, 48,341 from Europe, 23,418 from the Americas, 5,289 from Australia and 3,022 from Africa. Immigrants from neighbouring countries include 303,595 Burmese, 63,438 Cambodians and 18,126 Lao.
Although it has been Thailand's largest population centre since its establishment as capital city in 1782, Bangkok grew only slightly throughout the 18th and early 19th centuries. British diplomat John Crawfurd, visiting in 1822, estimated its population at no more than 50,000. As a result of Western medicine brought by missionaries as well as increased immigration from both within Siam and overseas, Bangkok's population gradually increased as the city modernized in the late 19th century. This growth became even more pronounced in the 1930s, following the discovery of antibiotics. Although family planning and birth control was introduced in the 1960s, the lowered birth rate was more than offset by increased migration from the provinces as economic expansion accelerated. Only in the 1990s have Bangkok's population growth rates decreased, following the national rate. Thailand had long since become highly centralized around the capital. In 1980, Bangkok's population was fifty-one times that of Hat Yai and Songkhla, the second-largest urban centre, making it the world's most prominent primate city.
The majority of Bangkok's population are of Thai ethnicity,[d] although details on the city's ethnic make-up are unavailable, as the national census does not document race.[e] Bangkok's cultural pluralism dates back to the early days of its foundation; several ethnic communities were formed by immigrants and forced settlers including the Khmer, Northern Thai, Lao, Vietnamese, Tavoyan, Mon and Malay. Most prominent were the Chinese, who played major roles in the city's trade and became the majority of Bangkok's population - estimates include up to three-fourths in 1828 and almost half in the 1950s. However, Chinese immigration was restricted from the 1930s and effectively ceased after the Chinese Revolution in 1949. Their prominence subsequently declined as most of younger generations of Thai Chinese have integrated and adopted a Thai identity. Bangkok is still nevertheless home to a large Chinese community, with the greatest concentration in Yaowarat, Bangkok's Chinatown. The majority (91 percent) of the city's population is Buddhist. Other religions include Islam (4.7%), Christianity (2.0%), Hinduism (0.5%), Sikhism (0.1%) and Confucianism (0.1%).
Apart from Yaowarat, Bangkok also has several other distinct ethnic neighbourhoods. The Indian community is centred in Phahurat, where the Gurdwara Siri Guru Singh Sabha, founded in 1933, is located. Ban Khrua on Saen Saep Canal is home to descendants of the Cham who settled in the late 18th century. Although the Portuguese who settled during the Thonburi period have ceased to exist as a distinct community, their past is reflected in Santa Kruz Church, on the west bank of the river. Likewise, the Assumption Cathedral on Charoen Krung Road is among many European-style buildings in the Old Farang Quarter, where European diplomats and merchants lived during the late 19th to early 20th centuries. Nearby, the Haroon Mosque is the centre of a Muslim community. Newer expatriate communities exist along Sukhumvit Road, including the Japanese community near Soi Phrom Phong and Soi Thong Lo, and the Arab and North African neighbourhood along Soi Nana. Sukhumvit Plaza, a mall on Soi Sukhumvit 12, is popularly known as Korea Town.
ECONOMY
Bangkok is the economic centre of Thailand, and the heart of the country's investment and development. In 2010, the city had an economic output of 3.142 trillion baht (98.34 billion US dollars), contributing 29.1 percent of the gross domestic product (GDP). This amounted to a per-capita GDP value of ฿456,911 ($14,301), almost three times the national average of ฿160,556 ($5,025). The Bangkok Metropolitan Region had a combined output of ฿4.773tn ($149.39bn), or 44.2 percent of GDP. Bangkok's economy ranks as the sixth among Asian cities in terms of per-capita GDP, after Singapore, Hong Kong, Tokyo, Osaka–Kobe and Seoul.
Wholesale and retail trade is the largest sector in the city's economy, contributing 24.0 percent of Bangkok's gross provincial product. It is followed by manufacturing (14.3%); real estate, renting and business activities (12.4%); transport and communications (11.6%); and financial intermediation (11.1%). Bangkok alone accounts for 48.4 percent of Thailand's service sector, which in turn constitutes 49.0 percent of GDP. When the Bangkok Metropolitan Region is considered, manufacturing is the most significant contributor at 28.2 percent of the gross regional product, reflecting the density of industry in the Bangkok's neighbouring provinces. The automotive industry based around Greater Bangkok is the largest production hub in Southeast Asia. Tourism is also a significant contributor to Bangkok's economy, generating ฿427.5bn ($13.38bn) in revenue in 2010.
The Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET) is located on Ratchadaphisek Road in inner Bangkok. The SET, together with the Market for Alternative Investment (mai) has 648 listed companies as of the end of 2011, with a combined market capitalization of 8.485 trillion baht ($267.64bn). Due to the large amount of foreign representation, Thailand has for several years been a mainstay of the Southeast Asian economy and a centre of Asian business. The Globalization and World Cities Research Network ranks Bangkok as an "Alpha−" world city, and it is ranked 59th in Z/Yen's Global Financial Centres Index 11.
Bangkok is home to the headquarters of all of Thailand's major commercial banks and financial institutions, as well as the country's largest companies. A large number of multinational corporations base their regional headquarters in Bangkok due to the lower cost of the workforce and firm operations relative to other major Asian business centres. Seventeen Thai companies are listed on the Forbes 2000, all of which are based in the capital, including PTT, the only Fortune Global 500 company in Thailand.
Income inequality is a major issue in Bangkok, especially between relatively unskilled lower-income immigrants from rural provinces and neighbouring countries, and middle-class professionals and business elites. Although absolute poverty rates are low - only 0.64 percent of Bangkok's registered residents were living under the poverty line in 2010, compared to a national average of 7.75 - economic disparity is still substantial. The city has a Gini coefficient of 0.48, indicating a high level of inequality.
CULTURE
The culture of Bangkok reflects its position as Thailand's centre of wealth and modernisation. The city has long been the portal of entry of Western concepts and material goods, which have been adopted and blended with Thai values to various degrees by its residents. This is most evident in the lifestyles of the expanding middle class. Conspicuous consumption serves as a display of economic and social status, and shopping centres are popular weekend hangouts. Ownership of electronics and consumer products such as mobile phones is ubiquitous. This has been accompanied by a degree of secularism, as religion's role in everyday life has rather diminished. Although such trends have spread to other urban centres, and, to a degree, the countryside, Bangkok remains at the forefront of social change.
A distinct feature of Bangkok is the ubiquity of street vendors selling goods ranging from food items to clothing and accessories. It has been estimated that the city may have over 100,000 hawkers. While the BMA has authorised the practice in 287 sites, the majority of activity in another 407 sites takes place illegally. Although they take up pavement space and block pedestrian traffic, many of the city's residents depend on these vendors for their meals, and the BMA's efforts to curb their numbers have largely been unsuccessful.
In 2015, however, the BMA, with support from the National Council for Peace and Order (Thailand's ruling military junta), began cracking down on street vendors in a bid to reclaim public space. Many famous market neighbourhoods were affected, including Khlong Thom, Saphan Lek, and the flower market at Pak Khlong Talat. Nearly 15,000 vendors were evicted from 39 public areas in 2016. While some applauded the efforts to focus on pedestrian rights, others have expressed concern that gentrification would lead to the loss of the city's character and adverse changes to people's way of life.
FESTIVALS AND EVENTS
The residents of Bangkok celebrate many of Thailand's annual festivals. During Songkran on 13–15 April, traditional rituals as well as water fights take place throughout the city. Loi Krathong, usually in November, is accompanied by the Golden Mount Fair. New Year celebrations take place at many venues, the most prominent being the plaza in front of CentralWorld. Observances related to the royal family are held primarily in Bangkok. Wreaths are laid at King Chulalongkorn's equestrian statue in the Royal Plaza on 23 October, which is King Chulalongkorn Memorial Day. The present king's and queen's birthdays, respectively on 5 December and 12 August, are marked as Thailand's national Father's Day and national Mother's Day. These national holidays are celebrated by royal audiences on the day's eve, in which the king or queen gives a speech, and public gatherings on the day of the observance. The king's birthday is also marked by the Royal Guards' parade.
Sanam Luang is the site of the Thai Kite, Sport and Music Festival, usually held in March, and the Royal Ploughing Ceremony which takes place in May. The Red Cross Fair at the beginning of April is held at Suan Amporn and the Royal Plaza, and features numerous booths offering goods, games and exhibits. The Chinese New Year (January–February) and Vegetarian Festival (September–October) are celebrated widely by the Chinese community, especially in Yaowarat.
TRANSPORT
Although Bangkok's canals historically served as a major mode of transport, they have long since been surpassed in importance by land traffic. Charoen Krung Road, the first to be built by Western techniques, was completed in 1864. Since then, the road network has vastly expanded to accommodate the sprawling city. A complex elevated expressway network helps bring traffic into and out of the city centre, but Bangkok's rapid growth has put a large strain on infrastructure, and traffic jams have plagued the city since the 1990s. Although rail transport was introduced in 1893 and electric trams served the city from 1894 to 1968, it was only in 1999 that Bangkok's first rapid transit system began operation. Older public transport systems include an extensive bus network and boat services which still operate on the Chao Phraya and two canals. Taxis appear in the form of cars, motorcycles, and "tuk-tuk" auto rickshaws.
Bangkok is connected to the rest of the country through the national highway and rail networks, as well as by domestic flights to and from the city's two international airports. Its centuries-old maritime transport of goods is still conducted through Khlong Toei Port.
The BMA is largely responsible for overseeing the construction and maintenance of the road network and transport systems through its Public Works Department and Traffic and Transportation Department. However, many separate government agencies are also in charge of the individual systems, and much of transport-related policy planning and funding is contributed to by the national government.
ROADS
Road-based transport is the primary mode of travel in Bangkok. Due to the city's organic development, its streets do not follow an organized grid structure. Forty-eight major roads link the different areas of the city, branching into smaller streets and lanes (soi) which serve local neighbourhoods. Eleven bridges over the Chao Phraya link the two sides of the city, while several expressway and motorway routes bring traffic into and out of the city centre and link with nearby provinces.
Bangkok's rapid growth in the 1980s resulted in sharp increases in vehicle ownership and traffic demand, which have since continued - in 2006 there were 3,943,211 in-use vehicles in Bangkok, of which 37.6 percent were private cars and 32.9 percent were motorcycles. These increases, in the face of limited carrying capacity, caused severe traffic congestion evident by the early 1990s. The extent of the problem is such that the Thai Traffic Police has a unit of officers trained in basic midwifery in order to assist deliveries which do not reach hospital in time. While Bangkok's limited road surface area (8 percent, compared to 20–30 percent in most Western cities) is often cited as a major cause of its traffic jams, other factors, including high vehicle ownership rate relative to income level, inadequate public transport systems, and lack of transportation demand management, also play a role. Efforts to alleviate the problem have included the construction of intersection bypasses and an extensive system of elevated highways, as well as the creation of several new rapid transit systems. The city's overall traffic conditions, however, remain bad.
Traffic has been the main source of air pollution in Bangkok, which reached serious levels in the 1990s. However, efforts to improve air quality by improving fuel quality and enforcing emission standards, among others, have been largely successful. Atmospheric particulate matter levels dropped from 81 micrograms per cubic metre in 1997 to 43 in 2007.
Although the BMA has created thirty signed bicycle routes along several roads totalling 230 kilometres, cycling is still largely impractical, especially in the city centre. Most of these bicycle lanes share the pavement with pedestrians. Poor surface maintenance, encroachment by hawkers and street vendors, and a hostile environment for cyclists and pedestrians, make cycling and walking unpopular methods of getting around in Bangkok.
BUSES AND TAXIS
Bangkok has an extensive bus network providing local transit services within the Greater Bangkok area. The Bangkok Mass Transit Authority (BMTA) operates a monopoly on bus services, with substantial concessions granted to private operators. Buses, minibus vans, and song thaeo operate on a total of 470 routes throughout the region. A separate bus rapid transit system owned by the BMA has been in operation since 2010. Known simply as the BRT, the system currently consists of a single line running from the business district at Sathon to Ratchaphruek on the western side of the city. The Transport Co., Ltd. is the BMTA's long-distance counterpart, with services to all provinces operating out of Bangkok.
Taxis are ubiquitous in Bangkok, and are a popular form of transport. As of August 2012, there are 106,050 cars, 58,276 motorcycles and 8,996 tuk-tuk motorized tricycles cumulatively registered for use as taxis. Meters have been required for car taxis since 1992, while tuk-tuk fares are usually negotiated. Motorcycle taxis operate from regulated ranks, with either fixed or negotiable fares, and are usually employed for relatively short journeys.
Despite their popularity, taxis have gained a bad reputation for often refusing passengers when the requested route is not to the driver's convenience. Motorcycle taxis were previously unregulated, and subject to extortion by organized crime gangs. Since 2003, registration has been required for motorcycle taxi ranks, and drivers now wear distinctive numbered vests designating their district of registration and where they are allowed to accept passengers.
RAIL SYSTEMS
Bangkok is the location of Hua Lamphong Railway Station, the main terminus of the national rail network operated by the State Railway of Thailand (SRT). In addition to long-distance services, the SRT also operates a few daily commuter trains running from and to the outskirts of the city during the rush hour.
Bangkok is currently served by three rapid transit systems: the BTS Skytrain, the underground MRT and the elevated Airport Rail Link. Although proposals for the development of rapid transit in Bangkok had been made since 1975, it was only in 1999 that the BTS finally began operation.
The BTS consists of two lines, Sukhumvit and Silom, with thirty stations along 30.95 kilometres. The MRT opened for use in July 2004, and currently consists of two line, the Blue Line and Purple Line. The Airport Rail Link, opened in August 2010, connects the city centre to Suvarnabhumi Airport to the east. Its eight stations span a distance of 28 kilometres.
Although initial passenger numbers were low and their service area remains limited to the inner city, these systems have become indispensable to many commuters. The BTS reported an average of 600,000 daily trips in 2012, while the MRT had 240,000 passenger trips per day.
As of 2016, construction work is ongoing to extend BTS and MRT, as well as several additional transit lines, including the Light Red grade-separated commuter rail line. The entire Mass Rapid Transit Master Plan in Bangkok Metropolitan Region consists of eight main lines and four feeder lines totalling 508 kilometres to be completed by 2029. In addition to rapid transit and heavy rail lines, there have been proposals for several monorail systems.
WATER TRANSPORT
Although much diminished from its past prominence, water-based transport still plays an important role in Bangkok and the immediate upstream and downstream provinces. Several water buses serve commuters daily. The Chao Phraya Express Boat serves thirty-four stops along the river, carrying an average of 35,586 passengers per day in 2010, while the smaller Khlong Saen Saep boat service serves twenty-seven stops on Saen Saep Canal with 57,557 daily passengers. Long-tail boats operate on fifteen regular routes on the Chao Phraya, and passenger ferries at thirty-two river crossings served an average of 136,927 daily passengers in 2010.
Bangkok Port, popularly known by its location as Khlong Toei Port, was Thailand's main international port from its opening in 1947 until it was superseded by the deep-sea Laem Chabang Port in 1991. It is primarily a cargo port, though its inland location limits access to ships of 12,000 deadweight tonnes or less. The port handled 11,936,855 tonnes of cargo in the first eight months of the 2010 fiscal year, about 22 percent the total of the country's international ports.
AIRPORTS
Bangkok is one of Asia's busiest air transport hubs. Two commercial airports serve the city, the older Don Mueang International Airport and the new Bangkok International Airport, commonly known as Suvarnabhumi. Suvarnabhumi, which replaced Don Mueang as Bangkok's main airport at its opening in 2006, served 52,808,013 passengers in 2015, making it the world's 20th busiest airport by passenger volume. This amount of traffic is already over its designed capacity of 45 million passengers. Don Mueang reopened for domestic flights in 2007, and resumed international services focusing on low-cost carriers in October 2012. Suvarnabhumi is undergoing expansion to increase its capacity to 60 million, which is expected to be completed by 2016.
HEALTH AND EDUCATION
EDUCATION
Bangkok has long been the centre of modern education in Thailand. The first schools in the country were established here in the later 19th century, and there are now 1,351 schools in the city. The city is home to the country's five oldest universities, Chulalongkorn, Thammasat, Kasetsart, Mahidol and Silpakorn, founded between 1917 and 1943. The city has since continued its dominance, especially in higher education; the majority of the country's universities, both public and private, are located in Bangkok or the Metropolitan Region. Chulalongkorn and Mahidol are the only Thai universities to appear in the top 500 of the QS World University Rankings. King Mongkut's University of Technology Thonburi, also located in Bangkok, is the only Thai university in the top 400 of the 2012–13 Times Higher Education World University Rankings.
Over the past few decades the general trend of pursuing a university degree has prompted the founding of new universities to meet the needs of Thai students. Bangkok became not only a place where immigrants and provincial Thais go for job opportunities, but also for a chance to receive a university degree. Ramkhamhaeng University emerged in 1971 as Thailand's first open university; it now has the highest enrolment in the country. The demand for higher education has led to the founding of many other universities and colleges, both public and private. While many universities have been established in major provinces, the Greater Bangkok region remains home to the greater majority of institutions, and the city's tertiary education scene remains over-populated with non-Bangkokians. The situation is not limited to higher education, either. In the 1960s, 60 to 70 percent of 10- to 19-year-olds who were in school had migrated to Bangkok for secondary education. This was due to both a lack of secondary schools in the provinces and perceived higher standards of education in the capital. Although this discrepancy has since largely abated, tens of thousands of students still compete for places in Bangkok's leading schools. Education has long been a prime factor in the centralization of Bangkok and will play a vital role in the government's efforts to decentralize the country.
HEALTHCARE
Much of Thailand's medical resources are disproportionately concentrated in the capital. In 2000, Bangkok had 39.6 percent of the country's doctors and a physician-to-population ratio of 1:794, compared to a median of 1:5,667 among all provinces. The city is home to 42 public hospitals, five of which are university hospitals, as well as 98 private hospitals and 4,063 registered clinics. The BMA operates nine public hospitals through its Medical Service Department, and its Health Department provides primary care through sixty-eight community health centres. Thailand's universal healthcare system is implemented through public hospitals and health centres as well as participating private providers.
Research-oriented medical school affiliates such as Siriraj, King Chulalongkorn Memorial and Ramathibodi Hospitals are among the largest in the country, and act as tertiary care centres, receiving referrals from distant parts of the country. Lately, especially in the private sector, there has been much growth in medical tourism, with hospitals such as Bumrungrad and Bangkok Hospital, among others, providing services specifically catering to foreigners. An estimated 200,000 medical tourists visited Thailand in 2011, making Bangkok the most popular global destination for medical tourism.
CRIME AND SAFETY
Bangkok has a relatively moderate crime rate when compared to urban counterparts around the world.[119] Traffic accidents are a major hazard, while natural disasters are rare. Intermittent episodes of political unrest and occasional terrorist attacks have resulted in losses of life.
Although the crime threat in Bangkok is relatively low, non-confrontational crimes of opportunity such as pick-pocketing, purse-snatching, and credit card fraud occur with frequency. Bangkok's growth since the 1960s has been followed by increasing crime rates partly driven by urbanisation, migration, unemployment and poverty. By the late 1980s, Bangkok's crime rates were about four times that of the rest of the country. The police have long been preoccupied with street crimes ranging from housebreaking to assault and murder. The 1990s saw the emergence of vehicle theft and organized crime, particularly by foreign gangs. Drug trafficking, especially that of ya ba methamphetamine pills, is also chronic.
According to police statistics, the most common complaint received by the Metropolitan Police Bureau in 2010 was housebreaking, with 12,347 cases. This was followed by 5,504 cases of motorcycle thefts, 3,694 cases of assault and 2,836 cases of embezzlement. Serious offences included 183 murders, 81 gang robberies, 265 robberies, 1 kidnapping and 9 arson cases. Offences against the state were by far more common, and included 54,068 drug-related cases, 17,239 cases involving prostitution and 8,634 related to gambling. The Thailand Crime Victim Survey conducted by the Office of Justice Affairs of the Ministry of Justice found that 2.7 percent of surveyed households reported a member being victim of a crime in 2007. Of these, 96.1 percent were crimes against property, 2.6 percent were crimes against life and body, and 1.4 percent were information-related crimes.
Political demonstrations and protests are common in Bangkok. While most events since 1992 had been peaceful, the series of protests alternately staged by the Yellow Shirts and Red Shirts since 2006 have often turned violent. Red Shirt demonstrations during March–May 2010 ended in a crackdown in which 92 were killed, including armed and unarmed protesters, security forces, civilians and journalists. Terrorist incidents have also occurred in Bangkok, most notably the 2015 Bangkok bombing at the Erawan shrine, and also a series of bombings on the 2006–07 New Year's Eve.
WIKIPEDIA
I could see the tower of a church from the main road. I saw it from a good two miles away, towering over the mature trees of a wood.
It must be one heck of a church I thought, turning down the lane leading to it, to find the lane lead to Worstead.
Worstead: that explained it. A village so associated with wool, a type of woolen cloth is named after it.
Beside the church is the market square, lined with fine buildings, and to the west, St Mary. A huge cathedral of a church. After snapping the village, I walk to the porch on the south side and go in, smiling.
I was met by a warden who saw the look of delight on my face, and took me on a grand tour. How lucky was I?
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In the reign of Edward the Confessor, the lordship of this town belonged to the abbot of St. Bennet of Holm, with 2 carucates and an half of land, 8 villains, 30 borderers, 2 carucates in demean, 3 among the tenants, 8 acres of meadow, paunage for 16 swine, a mill, and 3 socmen, valued at 60s. and at the survey at 4l.
There were 2 churches with 28 acres, valued therein, and was for the provision of the monks.
At the survey, Robert, an officer of the cross-bow-men, held it of the abbot; it was one leuca long, and half a leuca broad and a perch, and paid 18d. gelt. St. Bennet's abbey held also in the said town, in King Edward's time, a carucate of land, with 2 villains, 10 borderers, one carucate in demean, and 2 among the tenants and 2 acres of meadow, &c. valued at 40s. (fn. 1)
Odo, son of Robert, the cross-bowman, assumed, according to the custom of that age, the name of Warsted, from this his town and lordship; he held it of the abbot by one knight's fee, being the gift of King Canute to the abbey on his foundation of it. (fn. 2)
This Odo. and Robert his son, gave lands to the abbey, and the mill at Bordestede. He was father of Peter, whose son Philip held one fee in the 20th of Henry III.
Nicholas son of Philip de Wursted, gave to the abbot all his lands here by deed, dated in the 2d of Edward I. Henry being then abbot.
Richard de Worstede was also a son of Odo, and had by Margaret his wife, daughter of Robert de Manteby, Sir Robert de Worstede, who died sans issue.—This Sir Robert and Sir John de Worstede, were witnesses to a deed of confirmation, of Jeffrey, son of Bartholomew de Glanvile, to Bromholm priory.
The temporalities of the abbot in 1428, were 3l. 12s. ob. q. This came at the Dissolution, to the see of Norwich; and in the 3d and 4th of Philip and Mary, was farmed of the Bishop, at 41s. and 3d. per ann. by Bertram Themilthorp.
The prior of Pentney had a lordship, granted to that house by John de Worstede, containing a messuage, a carucate of land, a mill, 50s. rent, 10 acres of wood, with the whole pond of Worstede and Crowbeck, and the whole alder carr, regranted by Simon the prior, to John for life.
In the year 1328, the temporalities of this prory were valued at 8l. 10s. 4d.—On the Dissolution, May 22, in the 36th of Henry VIII. it was granted to John Spencer.
The prior also of Hempton had a manor, valued with a mill, &c. at 4l. 8s. 11d. which on the Dissolution was granted as above, to John Spencer. Leonard Spencer and Catherina his wife, sold both these lordships to Robert Paston, and Thomas Thimblethorp, with their appertenances in Sloley, Westwick, &c. on June 3, in the 8th of Elizabeth; and after they are said to be aliened to — Utber, and so to — Mitson.
Matthew de Gunton had a manor here which he granted to William, son of William de Stalham, on his marriage with Isabel his daughter, being 49s. 3d. rent. This came to Sir Jeffrey Wythe, by his marriage with the daughter and heir of Sir William Stalham.
In the 9th of Edward II. Nicholas de Salicibus or of the Willows, and Elen his wife, conveyed to Jeffrey Wythe, and Isabel his wife, the 5th part of 28 messuages, 114 acres of land, 5 of turbary, with 27s. and 8d. rent here, in Dilham and Smalburgh, settled on Isabel; and Wynesia, widow of Sir Oliver Wythe, released to William Dunning of this town, all her right of dower in this town, and Westwick.
After this it came to Sir William Calthorp, by the marriage of Amy, daughter and heir of Sir John Wythe, and was sold by Edward Calthorp, Esq. of Kirby Cane, December 8, in the 21st of Henry VIII. to Leonard Spencer of Blofield, Gent. for 40l. in hand paid, and 40 marks more on full assurance being made. John Spencer was lord in the 2d of Edward VI. and Leonard Spencer in 1572.
Erpingham and Gaines's manor in Irstede, held by John Gross, Esq. at his death in 1408, which he left to his widow Margaret, extended into this town. John Skarburgh, Gent. had a prœcipe to deliver it to Miles Bayspoole, Gent. in the first of James I.
Before this, in the 17th of Elizabeth, William Chytham conveyed it to William Tymberley. The Grosses were early enfeoffed of a lordship under the abbot of Holm. Reginald le Gross was lord in the reign of Henry III. and had a charter for a weekly mercate on Friday.
Sir Oliver de Ingham held here and in Ingham, a knight's fee of Robert de Tateshale, in the first of Edward I. This came afterwards by the heiress of Ingham to the Stapletons; and in the 2d of Richard II. Sir Roger Boys, &c. trustees, aliened to the prior of the Holy Trinity of Ingham, a messuage, with 84 acres of land, 3 of meadow, one of pasture, in Worstede and Scothow, by license.
Thomas Moore, &c. aliened to the said convent, in the 16th of that King, 8 messuages, 221 acres of land, 22 of meadow, 4 of moor, and the rent of 11s. 11d. per ann. in this town, Ingham, Walcot, &c. held of the honour of Eye.
In the 3d of Henry IV. the prior's manor, late Sir Oliver de Ingham's, was held of Sir Constantine Clifton, of the barony of Tateshale.
The prior of Bromholm had also a lordship. In the 3d of Henry IV. the heirs of William Smalburgh held here and in Barton, &c. half a fee of the prior, with William Sywardby, and they of the Earl of Suffolk, as part of the honour of Eye, in 1428. The temporalities of this monastery were 104s. 2d. ob.
After the Dissolution, on May 26, in the 6th year of Edward VI. it was granted to Henry Grey Duke of Suffolk.
William Gillet, son and heir of William, had a messuage, a garden, 100 acres of land, 6 of meadow, 20 of pasture, and 2 of wood, called Fenn's and Skitt's, in the 23d of Elizabeth. John Kempt aliened it September 1, in the 7th of King James I. to Edmund Themilthorpe.
Thomas Seive of Worsted, had land here by the marriage of Margarel, one of the daughters of Sir James de Ilketeshale, Knt. of Suffolk, in the reign of Henry VI. she dying about the 30th of that King, left 3 daughters and coheirs; Cecilia, married to John Ovy, who left his lands here by will, in 1472, to Thomas his son, &c. by Emme his wife. Jane, a daughter and coheir of Seive, married William Smith; and Margaret, the 3d, Thomas Jeffrey.
The tenths were 14l. 10s. ob. q Deducted 1l. 19s. 1d. ob.
The town is seated in a flat country, and has a weekly mercate on Saturday
Worsted stuffs are said to have taken that name from their being first manufactured here. I find them mentioned in the 2d year of Edward III. and the weavers and workers were then by parliament enjoined to work them up to a better assise than they had done; and an enquiry was to be made after the behaviour of Robert P - - - the alnager for these stuffs.
Many privileges were after granted to the workers of them, Ao. 1 Richard II. &c. the merchants came into England, as appears in the 37th of Edward III. to purchase them.
The Church is dedicated to St. Mary, has a nave, 2 isles, and a chancel covered with lead, and a square tower with 6 bells, and was a rectory in the patronage of the family of De Worstede.
Sir Robert de Worsted, son of Richard de Worstede, gave by deed, (fn. 3) sans date, to the priory of Norwich, the patronage of this church, about the beginning of the reign of King Henry III. to which Sir John de Wirstede, Bartholomew de Reedham, Eustace de Berningham, &c. were witnesses; and by another deed, he gave to them the chapel of St. Andrew, in this town: witnesses, Sir G. de Bocland, John de Wirstede, Jordan de Soukeville, then an itinerant justice in Norfolk, which was confirmed by Pandulf Bishop of Norwich.
He also gave them lands with certain villains, the abbot of Holm also confirmed it.
Sir Reginald le Gross quitclaimed all his right in the aforesaid church and chapel, to Simon the prior, and the convent of Norwich.
Thomas de Blundevile Bishop of Norwich, also confirmed to them the said church, to take place on the decease of John de Wurchestede, and Adam de Wurchestede, who then held it in 1226; and in 1256, on the 8th of the calends of August, a vicarage was settled on the appropriation of the said church to the monks of Norwich, when a manse or house was given to the vicar, with an acre of land, by the chapel of St. Andrew with all the altarage of the church, (except the tithes of the mills) and the rents of assise belonging to the said chapel, and the oblations thereof; but if the oblations and profits of the said chapel exceeded 5 marks, the remainder was to go to the prior and convent, and the vicar was to repair the said chapel, and to find all ornaments, &c.
The vicar was also to have tithe of flax, hemp, and all other small tithes, it was appropriated to the prior's table, and to the cellarer of the priory; but after this, in the first of April following, it was appropriated entirely to the prior's table, and the church of Hemlington in Norfolk, appropriated to him instead of this.
In the reign of Edward I. there belonged to the appropriated rectory, a house, with 27 acres and a rood of land, and the church was valued at 25 marks, the vicarage at 5l. Peter-pence, 12d. and the portion of Kerbrook preceptory was 3s.—The prior had also a manor, Edward I. in his 35th year granting him free warren.
Vicars.
1256, Warin de Festorton, instituted vicar, presented by the prior and convent of Norwich.
John occurs vicar in 1299.
1304, Edmund Johnes, vicar.
Peter de Reynham, vicar.
1346, William de Aldeby.
1353, Oliver de Wytton.
1355, Roger de Felthorp.
1357, John de Massingham.
1365, John de Kynneburle; in his time, Ao. 2d of Richard II. the chancel of this church was new built; the prior granted 13 oaks out of Plumsted wood, and timber also out of St. Leonard's wood; and the expenses in money were 24l. 4l. 4d.
1386, Edmund Martyn, vicar.
On the dissolution of the priory, the manor belonging to it, with the rectory, and the patronage of the vicarage, were granted to the dean and chapter of Norwich; and the vicarage is valued at 10l. per ann.
Mr. Henry Aldred, vicar.
In 1603, William Fleming, vicar, returned 296 communicants 1730.
1660, Edmund Wharton, (fn. 4) occurs vicar.
Mr. William Berney.
Richard Oram, by the dean and chapter of Norwich.
1762, Ephr. Megoe.
On a gravestone in the chancel,
Hic lapis in pannis Spicer tenet ossa Johannis Qui Quadringentesimo pius XL et iii - - - - Anno.
Hic jacet D'ns. Johs. Yop. quo'da' Rector. Ecclie de Boton.
¶Sir Robert Camownde, priest, was buried in 1482, in the chapel of St. John, of this church, and wills that all the said chapel be paved with marbyll stone, and to the gravestone of John Ovy, with his goods. (fn. 5) —Richard Watls buried in St. John Baptist's chapel 1509, and I will have a prest to sing and pray 6 years in the church except the Fryday in ev'ry week, in the chapel of St. Andrew of Worsted. Agnes Watts, his widow, buried in the said chapel, 1529, and benefactrix to the guilds of our Lady and St. Thomas, and to the repair of St. Andrew's chapel, and gives meadow land to find two lamps in the church for ever, if the King's laws will permit, otherwise to be sold and to buy cattle for that purpose.
Here was also St. John Baptist's guild. In the church were these arms; Gules, on a fess, argent, three flowers, azure, between three popinjays, borne by—prior of Norwich. Argent, a cross, sable, the priory arms. Calthorp and Stapleton.
www.british-history.ac.uk/topographical-hist-norfolk/vol1...
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As a measure of how civilised East Anglia is, it is a simple and cheap matter to explore the region by train and bicycle. There is a flat rate of nine pounds a day for unlimited travel between stations in Suffolk, Norfolk and East Cambridgeshire. You can take a bike on any train for a pound, although in reality conductors rarely charge for this service. This practice dates back to pre-privatisation days, and Anglia Railways and One Trains have continued to honour it, for which I am mightily grateful. The Suffolk and Norfolk Churches sites would not be so extensive without it.
I left Ipswich at twenty to eight. It was a thinly bright April morning, the sun without power beyond dazzling through the haze in the eastern sky. I was glad of my jacket, but also glad I had sun glasses with me - it was going to be a perfect day for a bike ride.
As the train plodded through Ipswich's monotonous northern suburbs, I examined the ordnance survey map. I flicked through Pevsner and Mortlock, as industrial units gave way to green fields, copses and the winding Gipping. Restless, I gazed out the window. A swan awoke on a lake near Needham Market, stretching itself and beating its wings into life. Crows raided a skip on rubble near the Stowmarket paint factory. Then we were really in the countryside, rushing headlong through the sleepy fields beyond Haughley and Mendelsham. Near Finningham, a large female deer cowered silently in the hedge, not ten metres from the track. A few minutes later, and a wise old hare huddled in a furrow, flat-eared, patient.
The train pulled into the gathering surprise of Norwich. I hauled my bike a couple of platforms over to the Sheringham line. Other people out for the day got on, including a couple dressed in vintage railway costumes. I assumed they were bound for the steam line at Sheringham. Again, the monotony of another city's suburbs petered out into agricultural business, this time in bright sunshine, and so it was that just after nine o'clock we arrived at Worstead station. I was the only person to get off. "See you later" called the conductor cheerily as I rode off of the platform into the lane, and of course he was right. There is only one train that shuttles back and forth along this line all day, and he was in charge of it.
I cycled from the station up into the village, a distance of about two miles. I didn't pass anyone, and here in the large village there was nobody about, just a fat cat lazily rolling in the village square. The sun was cutting the haze, the sky wide and blue. It was like being in France.
The church is absolutely enormous, and hemmed in a tight little graveyard. My resolution to take more distant shots went right out the window. Like Salle, and Southwold in Suffolk, St Mary was all built in one go, pretty much. This happened in the late 14th century. As at Salle, it is reflective of a large number of bequests from different people over a short period rather than anyone fabulously rich doing it on their own, and the money, of course, came from wool. Worstead is still the name of a fabric today.
I said it was pretty much built at one go, but there was still plenty of money about in the 15th century to raise the clerestory and install a hammerbeam roof. This seems to have been such an ambitious project that flying buttresses had to be installed on top of the aisles to hold the top of the nave up, an expedient measure that has left the building both interesting and beautiful.
Inside, I feared another Happisburgh, but it was gorgeous. Stepping out of the sunlight into the slight chill of a vast open space, I wandered around feasting on this stunningly lovely building.
As regular users of the sites will know, I don't always warm to big churches, but St Mary is so pretty inside that it is hard not to love it. This is partly helped by the removal of all pews and benches from the aisle. Those that remain in the body of the church are lovely 18th century box pews, quite out of keeping with the medieval nature of the rest of the building, but quirky and oddly delightful. The great tower arch is elegant, and is thrown into relief by the towering font cover. The ringing gallery under the tower is dated 1501, and is reminiscent of the one at Cawston. The tower screen below it takes the breath away, and you find yourself looking around to see where it could have come from. In fact, it is almost certainly a work of the Victorians, but it is pretty well perfect. The paintings in the dado are apparently copies of windows by Sir Joshua Reynolds at New College, Oxford.
Worstead is rightly famous for its screen, but this is more because of its height, elegance and completeness than it is its authenticity. The figures on the dado have been repainted so recklessly that it is rather hard to see who some of them were ever meant to be. As at Woolpit in Suffolk, the Victorians appear to have repainted them more with an eye to enthusiasm than accuracy. I stood there, fantasising, making up stories, until, alongside familiar figures like St Peter, St James and St Matthew, I had identified St Lassitude, the patron Saint of a quiet night in, depicted reading his book. Other Saints, identified by their symbols, include St Quirinus with his hamster, and St Obligamus with his golden pineapple. Or so it seemed to me.
Not much less odd are the two figures on the extreme right. The Victorians do not appear to have repainted them. The first shows a man holding three nails, and is probably St William of Norwich, more familiar from the screen at Loddon. The second shows a figure crucified, arms tied to the spans. This may be the infamous Uncumber, the bearded lady of early medieval mythology - she grew a beard to fend off unwanted suitors, although you can't help thinking there'd be a niche market for that kind of thing somewhere on the internet. Later, she was crucified, probably upside down. This figure is probably a woman, so nothing seems to fit better, although she isn't bearded as far as I could see. Situated on the extreme right, she is reflected by a crucified Christ as the Man of Sorrows on the extreme left.
Across the top rail, a dedicatory inscription winds, mysterious and beautiful.
Either side of the chancel arch and screen, the two aisle chapels are both in use, which is unusual and lovely. Both have small screens, each with just four figures. That on the north side is particularly lovely, and is where the blessed sacrament is reserved. The four figures are St Peter, St Bartholomew, St John the Baptist and St John the Divine. At least three of these are also on the rood screen, suggesting that either the images there are wholly Victorian, or these aisle screens came originally from elsewhere.
The south aisle chapel is simpler - it is here you enter the church through the priest door. The screen features another St Bartholomew, along with St Lawrence, St Philip and a Bishop.
St Mary is a building to wander around in, a place to enjoy for its great beauty rather than to interrogate for its medieval authenticity. As you turn corners, vistas open up; the view from the font to the south door, for example, or that back to the west from the chancel. All perfect, all stunning. The high church nature of the modern furnishings chimes perfectly with these architectural treats. And there are other significant medieval survivals - a fine brass of a Catholic priest, scraps of wall painting beside the chancel arch, and so on.
As at other churches in this benefice, the war memorial is complemented by photographs of all those commemorated. What a splendid idea, and what a labour of love. Also in common with other churches around here, St Mary has a second hand bookstall. As I explored the Worstead area, I found myself buying more and more of them, until by the time I got back to Ipswich station that evening, my rucksack was laden down with a dozen or more.
Simon Knott, April 2005
wow so many things i come across when making a charger muscle car :-s
so i was ready to build a muscle car when i came up with this 4wd idea for small scale trucks and cars. would be nice on a el camino ;) soon on mocpages.
with working/spinning engine parts as well!
this photo explains how the simple 4wd mechanism works and how it moves some engine parts as well...
I cannot put into words how ready I am for the weekend… maybe this picture will explain better. I had a lot of things happen this week that really made me think, questions, second-guess, and step back a bit. It’s been an interesting 8 days to say the least, but I think some clarity is finally headed my way. Before the Irish Cream that is!
Theme: Musings and Ramblings.
Year Six Of My 365 Project
Ganesha, also spelled Ganesh, and also known as Ganapati and Vinayaka, is a widely worshipped deity in the Hindu pantheon. His image is found throughout India and Nepal. Hindu sects worship him regardless of affiliations. Devotion to Ganesha is widely diffused and extends to Jains, Buddhists, and beyond India.
Although he is known by many attributes, Ganesha's elephant head makes him easy to identify. Ganesha is widely revered as the remover of obstacles, the patron of arts and sciences and the deva of intellect and wisdom. As the god of beginnings, he is honoured at the start of rituals and ceremonies. Ganesha is also invoked as patron of letters and learning during writing sessions. Several texts relate mythological anecdotes associated with his birth and exploits and explain his distinct iconography.
Ganesha emerged as a distinct deity in the 4th and 5th centuries CE, during the Gupta Period, although he inherited traits from Vedic and pre-Vedic precursors. He was formally included among the five primary deities of Smartism (a Hindu denomination) in the 9th century. A sect of devotees called the Ganapatya arose, who identified Ganesha as the supreme deity. The principal scriptures dedicated to Ganesha are the Ganesha Purana, the Mudgala Purana, and the Ganapati Atharvashirsa.
ETYMOLOGY AND OTHER NAMES
Ganesha has been ascribed many other titles and epithets, including Ganapati and Vighneshvara. The Hindu title of respect Shri is often added before his name. One popular way Ganesha is worshipped is by chanting a Ganesha Sahasranama, a litany of "a thousand names of Ganesha". Each name in the sahasranama conveys a different meaning and symbolises a different aspect of Ganesha. At least two different versions of the Ganesha Sahasranama exist; one version is drawn from the Ganesha Purana, a Hindu scripture venerating Ganesha.
The name Ganesha is a Sanskrit compound, joining the words gana, meaning a group, multitude, or categorical system and isha, meaning lord or master. The word gaņa when associated with Ganesha is often taken to refer to the gaņas, a troop of semi-divine beings that form part of the retinue of Shiva. The term more generally means a category, class, community, association, or corporation. Some commentators interpret the name "Lord of the Gaņas" to mean "Lord of Hosts" or "Lord of created categories", such as the elements. Ganapati, a synonym for Ganesha, is a compound composed of gaṇa, meaning "group", and pati, meaning "ruler" or "lord". The Amarakosha, an early Sanskrit lexicon, lists eight synonyms of Ganesha : Vinayaka, Vighnarāja (equivalent to Vighnesha), Dvaimātura (one who has two mothers), Gaṇādhipa (equivalent to Ganapati and Ganesha), Ekadanta (one who has one tusk), Heramba, Lambodara (one who has a pot belly, or, literally, one who has a hanging belly), and Gajanana; having the face of an elephant).
Vinayaka is a common name for Ganesha that appears in the Purāṇas and in Buddhist Tantras. This name is reflected in the naming of the eight famous Ganesha temples in Maharashtra known as the Ashtavinayak (aṣṭavināyaka). The names Vighnesha and Vighneshvara (Lord of Obstacles) refers to his primary function in Hindu theology as the master and remover of obstacles (vighna).
A prominent name for Ganesha in the Tamil language is Pillai. A. K. Narain differentiates these terms by saying that pillai means a "child" while pillaiyar means a "noble child". He adds that the words pallu, pella, and pell in the Dravidian family of languages signify "tooth or tusk", also "elephant tooth or tusk". Anita Raina Thapan notes that the root word pille in the name Pillaiyar might have originally meant "the young of the elephant", because the Pali word pillaka means "a young elephant".
In the Burmese language, Ganesha is known as Maha Peinne, derived from Pali Mahā Wināyaka. The widespread name of Ganesha in Thailand is Phra Phikhanet or Phra Phikhanesuan, both of which are derived from Vara Vighnesha and Vara Vighneshvara respectively, whereas the name Khanet (from Ganesha) is rather rare.
In Sri Lanka, in the North-Central and North Western areas with predominantly Buddhist population, Ganesha is known as Aiyanayaka Deviyo, while in other Singhala Buddhist areas he is known as Gana deviyo.
ICONOGRAPHY
Ganesha is a popular figure in Indian art. Unlike those of some deities, representations of Ganesha show wide variations and distinct patterns changing over time. He may be portrayed standing, dancing, heroically taking action against demons, playing with his family as a boy, sitting down or on an elevated seat, or engaging in a range of contemporary situations.
Ganesha images were prevalent in many parts of India by the 6th century. The 13th century statue pictured is typical of Ganesha statuary from 900–1200, after Ganesha had been well-established as an independent deity with his own sect. This example features some of Ganesha's common iconographic elements. A virtually identical statue has been dated between 973–1200 by Paul Martin-Dubost, and another similar statue is dated c. 12th century by Pratapaditya Pal. Ganesha has the head of an elephant and a big belly. This statue has four arms, which is common in depictions of Ganesha. He holds his own broken tusk in his lower-right hand and holds a delicacy, which he samples with his trunk, in his lower-left hand. The motif of Ganesha turning his trunk sharply to his left to taste a sweet in his lower-left hand is a particularly archaic feature. A more primitive statue in one of the Ellora Caves with this general form has been dated to the 7th century. Details of the other hands are difficult to make out on the statue shown. In the standard configuration, Ganesha typically holds an axe or a goad in one upper arm and a pasha (noose) in the other upper arm.
The influence of this old constellation of iconographic elements can still be seen in contemporary representations of Ganesha. In one modern form, the only variation from these old elements is that the lower-right hand does not hold the broken tusk but is turned towards the viewer in a gesture of protection or fearlessness (abhaya mudra). The same combination of four arms and attributes occurs in statues of Ganesha dancing, which is a very popular theme.
COMMON ATTRIBUTES
Ganesha has been represented with the head of an elephant since the early stages of his appearance in Indian art. Puranic myths provide many explanations for how he got his elephant head. One of his popular forms, Heramba-Ganapati, has five elephant heads, and other less-common variations in the number of heads are known. While some texts say that Ganesha was born with an elephant head, he acquires the head later in most stories. The most recurrent motif in these stories is that Ganesha was created by Parvati using clay to protect her and Shiva beheaded him when Ganesha came between Shiva and Parvati. Shiva then replaced Ganesha's original head with that of an elephant. Details of the battle and where the replacement head came from vary from source to source. Another story says that Ganesha was created directly by Shiva's laughter. Because Shiva considered Ganesha too alluring, he gave him the head of an elephant and a protruding belly.
Ganesha's earliest name was Ekadanta (One Tusked), referring to his single whole tusk, the other being broken. Some of the earliest images of Ganesha show him holding his broken tusk. The importance of this distinctive feature is reflected in the Mudgala Purana, which states that the name of Ganesha's second incarnation is Ekadanta. Ganesha's protruding belly appears as a distinctive attribute in his earliest statuary, which dates to the Gupta period (4th to 6th centuries). This feature is so important that, according to the Mudgala Purana, two different incarnations of Ganesha use names based on it: Lambodara (Pot Belly, or, literally, Hanging Belly) and Mahodara (Great Belly). Both names are Sanskrit compounds describing his belly. The Brahmanda Purana says that Ganesha has the name Lambodara because all the universes (i.e., cosmic eggs) of the past, present, and future are present in him. The number of Ganesha's arms varies; his best-known forms have between two and sixteen arms. Many depictions of Ganesha feature four arms, which is mentioned in Puranic sources and codified as a standard form in some iconographic texts. His earliest images had two arms. Forms with 14 and 20 arms appeared in Central India during the 9th and the 10th centuries. The serpent is a common feature in Ganesha iconography and appears in many forms. According to the Ganesha Purana, Ganesha wrapped the serpent Vasuki around his neck. Other depictions of snakes include use as a sacred thread wrapped around the stomach as a belt, held in a hand, coiled at the ankles, or as a throne. Upon Ganesha's forehead may be a third eye or the Shaivite sectarian mark , which consists of three horizontal lines. The Ganesha Purana prescribes a tilaka mark as well as a crescent moon on the forehead. A distinct form of Ganesha called Bhalachandra includes that iconographic element. Ganesha is often described as red in color. Specific colors are associated with certain forms. Many examples of color associations with specific meditation forms are prescribed in the Sritattvanidhi, a treatise on Hindu iconography. For example, white is associated with his representations as Heramba-Ganapati and Rina-Mochana-Ganapati (Ganapati Who Releases from Bondage). Ekadanta-Ganapati is visualized as blue during meditation in that form.
VAHANAS
The earliest Ganesha images are without a vahana (mount/vehicle). Of the eight incarnations of Ganesha described in the Mudgala Purana, Ganesha uses a mouse (shrew) in five of them, a lion in his incarnation as Vakratunda, a peacock in his incarnation as Vikata, and Shesha, the divine serpent, in his incarnation as Vighnaraja. Mohotkata uses a lion, Mayūreśvara uses a peacock, Dhumraketu uses a horse, and Gajanana uses a mouse, in the four incarnations of Ganesha listed in the Ganesha Purana. Jain depictions of Ganesha show his vahana variously as a mouse, elephant, tortoise, ram, or peacock.
Ganesha is often shown riding on or attended by a mouse, shrew or rat. Martin-Dubost says that the rat began to appear as the principal vehicle in sculptures of Ganesha in central and western India during the 7th century; the rat was always placed close to his feet. The mouse as a mount first appears in written sources in the Matsya Purana and later in the Brahmananda Purana and Ganesha Purana, where Ganesha uses it as his vehicle in his last incarnation. The Ganapati Atharvashirsa includes a meditation verse on Ganesha that describes the mouse appearing on his flag. The names Mūṣakavāhana (mouse-mount) and Ākhuketana (rat-banner) appear in the Ganesha Sahasranama.
The mouse is interpreted in several ways. According to Grimes, "Many, if not most of those who interpret Gaṇapati's mouse, do so negatively; it symbolizes tamoguṇa as well as desire". Along these lines, Michael Wilcockson says it symbolizes those who wish to overcome desires and be less selfish. Krishan notes that the rat is destructive and a menace to crops. The Sanskrit word mūṣaka (mouse) is derived from the root mūṣ (stealing, robbing). It was essential to subdue the rat as a destructive pest, a type of vighna (impediment) that needed to be overcome. According to this theory, showing Ganesha as master of the rat demonstrates his function as Vigneshvara (Lord of Obstacles) and gives evidence of his possible role as a folk grāma-devatā (village deity) who later rose to greater prominence. Martin-Dubost notes a view that the rat is a symbol suggesting that Ganesha, like the rat, penetrates even the most secret places.
ASSOCIATIONS
OBSTACLES
Ganesha is Vighneshvara or Vighnaraja or Vighnaharta (Marathi), the Lord of Obstacles, both of a material and spiritual order. He is popularly worshipped as a remover of obstacles, though traditionally he also places obstacles in the path of those who need to be checked. Paul Courtright says that "his task in the divine scheme of things, his dharma, is to place and remove obstacles. It is his particular territory, the reason for his creation."
Krishan notes that some of Ganesha's names reflect shadings of multiple roles that have evolved over time. Dhavalikar ascribes the quick ascension of Ganesha in the Hindu pantheon, and the emergence of the Ganapatyas, to this shift in emphasis from vighnakartā (obstacle-creator) to vighnahartā (obstacle-averter). However, both functions continue to be vital to his character.
BUDDHI (KNOWLEDGE)
Ganesha is considered to be the Lord of letters and learning. In Sanskrit, the word buddhi is a feminine noun that is variously translated as intelligence, wisdom, or intellect. The concept of buddhi is closely associated with the personality of Ganesha, especially in the Puranic period, when many stories stress his cleverness and love of intelligence. One of Ganesha's names in the Ganesha Purana and the Ganesha Sahasranama is Buddhipriya. This name also appears in a list of 21 names at the end of the Ganesha Sahasranama that Ganesha says are especially important. The word priya can mean "fond of", and in a marital context it can mean "lover" or "husband", so the name may mean either "Fond of Intelligence" or "Buddhi's Husband".
AUM
Ganesha is identified with the Hindu mantra Aum, also spelled Om. The term oṃkārasvarūpa (Aum is his form), when identified with Ganesha, refers to the notion that he personifies the primal sound. The Ganapati Atharvashirsa attests to this association. Chinmayananda translates the relevant passage as follows:
(O Lord Ganapati!) You are (the Trinity) Brahma, Vishnu, and Mahesa. You are Indra. You are fire [Agni] and air [Vāyu]. You are the sun [Sūrya] and the moon [Chandrama]. You are Brahman. You are (the three worlds) Bhuloka [earth], Antariksha-loka [space], and Swargaloka [heaven]. You are Om. (That is to say, You are all this).
Some devotees see similarities between the shape of Ganesha's body in iconography and the shape of Aum in the Devanāgarī and Tamil scripts.
FIRST CHAKRA
According to Kundalini yoga, Ganesha resides in the first chakra, called Muladhara (mūlādhāra). Mula means "original, main"; adhara means "base, foundation". The muladhara chakra is the principle on which the manifestation or outward expansion of primordial Divine Force rests. This association is also attested to in the Ganapati Atharvashirsa. Courtright translates this passage as follows: "[O Ganesha,] You continually dwell in the sacral plexus at the base of the spine [mūlādhāra cakra]." Thus, Ganesha has a permanent abode in every being at the Muladhara. Ganesha holds, supports and guides all other chakras, thereby "governing the forces that propel the wheel of life".
FAMILY AND CONSORTS
Though Ganesha is popularly held to be the son of Shiva and Parvati, the Puranic myths give different versions about his birth. In some he was created by Parvati, in another he was created by Shiva and Parvati, in another he appeared mysteriously and was discovered by Shiva and Parvati or he was born from the elephant headed goddess Malini after she drank Parvati's bath water that had been thrown in the river.
The family includes his brother the war god Kartikeya, who is also called Subramanya, Skanda, Murugan and other names. Regional differences dictate the order of their births. In northern India, Skanda is generally said to be the elder, while in the south, Ganesha is considered the first born. In northern India, Skanda was an important martial deity from about 500 BCE to about 600 CE, when worship of him declined significantly in northern India. As Skanda fell, Ganesha rose. Several stories tell of sibling rivalry between the brothers and may reflect sectarian tensions.
Ganesha's marital status, the subject of considerable scholarly review, varies widely in mythological stories. One pattern of myths identifies Ganesha as an unmarried brahmacari. This view is common in southern India and parts of northern India. Another pattern associates him with the concepts of Buddhi (intellect), Siddhi (spiritual power), and Riddhi (prosperity); these qualities are sometimes personified as goddesses, said to be Ganesha's wives. He also may be shown with a single consort or a nameless servant (Sanskrit: daşi). Another pattern connects Ganesha with the goddess of culture and the arts, Sarasvati or Śarda (particularly in Maharashtra). He is also associated with the goddess of luck and prosperity, Lakshmi. Another pattern, mainly prevalent in the Bengal region, links Ganesha with the banana tree, Kala Bo.
The Shiva Purana says that Ganesha had begotten two sons: Kşema (prosperity) and Lābha (profit). In northern Indian variants of this story, the sons are often said to be Śubha (auspiciouness) and Lābha. The 1975 Hindi film Jai Santoshi Maa shows Ganesha married to Riddhi and Siddhi and having a daughter named Santoshi Ma, the goddess of satisfaction. This story has no Puranic basis, but Anita Raina Thapan and Lawrence Cohen cite Santoshi Ma's cult as evidence of Ganesha's continuing evolution as a popular deity.
WOSHIP AND FESTIVALS
Ganesha is worshipped on many religious and secular occasions; especially at the beginning of ventures such as buying a vehicle or starting a business. K.N. Somayaji says, "there can hardly be a [Hindu] home [in India] which does not house an idol of Ganapati. [..] Ganapati, being the most popular deity in India, is worshipped by almost all castes and in all parts of the country". Devotees believe that if Ganesha is propitiated, he grants success, prosperity and protection against adversity.
Ganesha is a non-sectarian deity, and Hindus of all denominations invoke him at the beginning of prayers, important undertakings, and religious ceremonies. Dancers and musicians, particularly in southern India, begin performances of arts such as the Bharatnatyam dance with a prayer to Ganesha. Mantras such as Om Shri Gaṇeshāya Namah (Om, salutation to the Illustrious Ganesha) are often used. One of the most famous mantras associated with Ganesha is Om Gaṃ Ganapataye Namah (Om, Gaṃ, Salutation to the Lord of Hosts).
Devotees offer Ganesha sweets such as modaka and small sweet balls (laddus). He is often shown carrying a bowl of sweets, called a modakapātra. Because of his identification with the color red, he is often worshipped with red sandalwood paste (raktacandana) or red flowers. Dūrvā grass (Cynodon dactylon) and other materials are also used in his worship.
Festivals associated with Ganesh are Ganesh Chaturthi or Vināyaka chaturthī in the śuklapakṣa (the fourth day of the waxing moon) in the month of bhādrapada (August/September) and the Gaṇeśa jayanti (Gaṇeśa's birthday) celebrated on the cathurthī of the śuklapakṣa (fourth day of the waxing moon) in the month of māgha (January/February)."
GANESH CHATURTI
An annual festival honours Ganesha for ten days, starting on Ganesha Chaturthi, which typically falls in late August or early September. The festival begins with people bringing in clay idols of Ganesha, symbolising Ganesha's visit. The festival culminates on the day of Ananta Chaturdashi, when idols (murtis) of Ganesha are immersed in the most convenient body of water. Some families have a tradition of immersion on the 2nd, 3rd, 5th, or 7th day. In 1893, Lokmanya Tilak transformed this annual Ganesha festival from private family celebrations into a grand public event. He did so "to bridge the gap between the Brahmins and the non-Brahmins and find an appropriate context in which to build a new grassroots unity between them" in his nationalistic strivings against the British in Maharashtra. Because of Ganesha's wide appeal as "the god for Everyman", Tilak chose him as a rallying point for Indian protest against British rule. Tilak was the first to install large public images of Ganesha in pavilions, and he established the practice of submerging all the public images on the tenth day. Today, Hindus across India celebrate the Ganapati festival with great fervour, though it is most popular in the state of Maharashtra. The festival also assumes huge proportions in Mumbai, Pune, and in the surrounding belt of Ashtavinayaka temples.
TEMPLES
In Hindu temples, Ganesha is depicted in various ways: as an acolyte or subordinate deity (pãrśva-devatã); as a deity related to the principal deity (parivāra-devatã); or as the principal deity of the temple (pradhāna), treated similarly as the highest gods of the Hindu pantheon. As the god of transitions, he is placed at the doorway of many Hindu temples to keep out the unworthy, which is analogous to his role as Parvati’s doorkeeper. In addition, several shrines are dedicated to Ganesha himself, of which the Ashtavinayak (lit. "eight Ganesha (shrines)") in Maharashtra are particularly well known. Located within a 100-kilometer radius of the city of Pune, each of these eight shrines celebrates a particular form of Ganapati, complete with its own lore and legend. The eight shrines are: Morgaon, Siddhatek, Pali, Mahad, Theur, Lenyadri, Ozar and Ranjangaon.
There are many other important Ganesha temples at the following locations: Wai in Maharashtra; Ujjain in Madhya Pradesh; Jodhpur, Nagaur and Raipur (Pali) in Rajasthan; Baidyanath in Bihar; Baroda, Dholaka, and Valsad in Gujarat and Dhundiraj Temple in Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh. Prominent Ganesha temples in southern India include the following: Kanipakam in Chittoor; the Jambukeśvara Temple at Tiruchirapalli; at Rameshvaram and Suchindram in Tamil Nadu; at Malliyur, Kottarakara, Pazhavangadi, Kasargod in Kerala, Hampi, and Idagunji in Karnataka; and Bhadrachalam in Andhra Pradesh.
T. A. Gopinatha notes, "Every village however small has its own image of Vighneśvara (Vigneshvara) with or without a temple to house it in. At entrances of villages and forts, below pīpaḹa (Sacred fig) trees [...], in a niche [...] in temples of Viṣṇu (Vishnu) as well as Śiva (Shiva) and also in separate shrines specially constructed in Śiva temples [...]; the figure of Vighneśvara is invariably seen." Ganesha temples have also been built outside of India, including southeast Asia, Nepal (including the four Vinayaka shrines in the Kathmandu valley), and in several western countries.
RISE TO PROMINENCE
FIRST APEARANCE
Ganesha appeared in his classic form as a clearly recognizable deity with well-defined iconographic attributes in the early 4th to 5th centuries. Shanti Lal Nagar says that the earliest known iconic image of Ganesha is in the niche of the Shiva temple at Bhumra, which has been dated to the Gupta period. His independent cult appeared by about the 10th century. Narain summarizes the controversy between devotees and academics regarding the development of Ganesha as follows:
What is inscrutable is the somewhat dramatic appearance of Gaņeśa on the historical scene. His antecedents are not clear. His wide acceptance and popularity, which transcend sectarian and territorial limits, are indeed amazing. On the one hand there is the pious belief of the orthodox devotees in Gaņeśa's Vedic origins and in the Purāṇic explanations contained in the confusing, but nonetheless interesting, mythology. On the other hand there are doubts about the existence of the idea and the icon of this deity" before the fourth to fifth century A.D. ... [I]n my opinion, indeed there is no convincing evidence of the existence of this divinity prior to the fifth century.
POSSIBLE INFLUENCES
Courtright reviews various speculative theories about the early history of Ganesha, including supposed tribal traditions and animal cults, and dismisses all of them in this way:
In the post 600 BC period there is evidence of people and places named after the animal. The motif appears on coins and sculptures.
Thapan's book on the development of Ganesha devotes a chapter to speculations about the role elephants had in early India but concludes that, "although by the second century CE the elephant-headed yakṣa form exists it cannot be presumed to represent Gaṇapati-Vināyaka. There is no evidence of a deity by this name having an elephant or elephant-headed form at this early stage. Gaṇapati-Vināyaka had yet to make his debut."
One theory of the origin of Ganesha is that he gradually came to prominence in connection with the four Vinayakas (Vināyakas). In Hindu mythology, the Vināyakas were a group of four troublesome demons who created obstacles and difficulties but who were easily propitiated. The name Vināyaka is a common name for Ganesha both in the Purāṇas and in Buddhist Tantras. Krishan is one of the academics who accepts this view, stating flatly of Ganesha, "He is a non-vedic god. His origin is to be traced to the four Vināyakas, evil spirits, of the Mānavagŗhyasūtra (7th–4th century BCE) who cause various types of evil and suffering". Depictions of elephant-headed human figures, which some identify with Ganesha, appear in Indian art and coinage as early as the 2nd century. According to Ellawala, the elephant-headed Ganesha as lord of the Ganas was known to the people of Sri Lanka in the early pre-Christian era.
A metal plate depiction of Ganesha had been discovered in 1993, in Iran, it dated back to 1,200 BCE. Another one was discovered much before, in Lorestan Province of Iran.
First Ganesha's terracotta images are from 1st century CE found in Ter, Pal, Verrapuram and Chandraketugarh. These figures are small, with elephant head, two arms, and chubby physique. The earliest Ganesha icons in stone were carved in Mathura during Kushan times (2nd-3rd centuries CE).
VEDIC AND EPIC LITERATURE
The title "Leader of the group" (Sanskrit: gaṇapati) occurs twice in the Rig Veda, but in neither case does it refer to the modern Ganesha. The term appears in RV 2.23.1 as a title for Brahmanaspati, according to commentators. While this verse doubtless refers to Brahmanaspati, it was later adopted for worship of Ganesha and is still used today. In rejecting any claim that this passage is evidence of Ganesha in the Rig Veda, Ludo Rocher says that it "clearly refers to Bṛhaspati—who is the deity of the hymn—and Bṛhaspati only". Equally clearly, the second passage (RV 10.112.9) refers to Indra, who is given the epithet 'gaṇapati', translated "Lord of the companies (of the Maruts)." However, Rocher notes that the more recent Ganapatya literature often quotes the Rigvedic verses to give Vedic respectability to Ganesha .
Two verses in texts belonging to Black Yajurveda, Maitrāyaṇīya Saṃhitā (2.9.1) and Taittirīya Āraṇyaka (10.1), appeal to a deity as "the tusked one" (Dantiḥ), "elephant-faced" (Hastimukha), and "with a curved trunk" (Vakratuņḍa). These names are suggestive of Ganesha, and the 14th century commentator Sayana explicitly establishes this identification. The description of Dantin, possessing a twisted trunk (vakratuṇḍa) and holding a corn-sheaf, a sugar cane, and a club, is so characteristic of the Puranic Ganapati that Heras says "we cannot resist to accept his full identification with this Vedic Dantin". However, Krishan considers these hymns to be post-Vedic additions. Thapan reports that these passages are "generally considered to have been interpolated". Dhavalikar says, "the references to the elephant-headed deity in the Maitrāyaṇī Saṃhitā have been proven to be very late interpolations, and thus are not very helpful for determining the early formation of the deity".
Ganesha does not appear in Indian epic literature that is dated to the Vedic period. A late interpolation to the epic poem Mahabharata says that the sage Vyasa (Vyāsa) asked Ganesha to serve as his scribe to transcribe the poem as he dictated it to him. Ganesha agreed but only on condition that Vyasa recite the poem uninterrupted, that is, without pausing. The sage agreed, but found that to get any rest he needed to recite very complex passages so Ganesha would have to ask for clarifications. The story is not accepted as part of the original text by the editors of the critical edition of the Mahabharata, in which the twenty-line story is relegated to a footnote in an appendix. The story of Ganesha acting as the scribe occurs in 37 of the 59 manuscripts consulted during preparation of the critical edition. Ganesha's association with mental agility and learning is one reason he is shown as scribe for Vyāsa's dictation of the Mahabharata in this interpolation. Richard L. Brown dates the story to the 8th century, and Moriz Winternitz concludes that it was known as early as c. 900, but it was not added to the Mahabharata some 150 years later. Winternitz also notes that a distinctive feature in South Indian manuscripts of the Mahabharata is their omission of this Ganesha legend. The term vināyaka is found in some recensions of the Śāntiparva and Anuśāsanaparva that are regarded as interpolations. A reference to Vighnakartṛīṇām ("Creator of Obstacles") in Vanaparva is also believed to be an interpolation and does not appear in the critical edition.
PURANIC PERIOD
Stories about Ganesha often occur in the Puranic corpus. Brown notes while the Puranas "defy precise chronological ordering", the more detailed narratives of Ganesha's life are in the late texts, c. 600–1300. Yuvraj Krishan says that the Puranic myths about the birth of Ganesha and how he acquired an elephant's head are in the later Puranas, which were composed from c. 600 onwards. He elaborates on the matter to say that references to Ganesha in the earlier Puranas, such as the Vayu and Brahmanda Puranas, are later interpolations made during the 7th to 10th centuries.
In his survey of Ganesha's rise to prominence in Sanskrit literature, Ludo Rocher notes that:
Above all, one cannot help being struck by the fact that the numerous stories surrounding Gaṇeśa concentrate on an unexpectedly limited number of incidents. These incidents are mainly three: his birth and parenthood, his elephant head, and his single tusk. Other incidents are touched on in the texts, but to a far lesser extent.
Ganesha's rise to prominence was codified in the 9th century, when he was formally included as one of the five primary deities of Smartism. The 9th-century philosopher Adi Shankara popularized the "worship of the five forms" (Panchayatana puja) system among orthodox Brahmins of the Smarta tradition. This worship practice invokes the five deities Ganesha, Vishnu, Shiva, Devi, and Surya. Adi Shankara instituted the tradition primarily to unite the principal deities of these five major sects on an equal status. This formalized the role of Ganesha as a complementary deity.
SCRIPTURES
Once Ganesha was accepted as one of the five principal deities of Brahmanism, some Brahmins (brāhmaṇas) chose to worship Ganesha as their principal deity. They developed the Ganapatya tradition, as seen in the Ganesha Purana and the Mudgala Purana.
The date of composition for the Ganesha Purana and the Mudgala Purana - and their dating relative to one another - has sparked academic debate. Both works were developed over time and contain age-layered strata. Anita Thapan reviews comments about dating and provides her own judgement. "It seems likely that the core of the Ganesha Purana appeared around the twelfth and thirteenth centuries", she says, "but was later interpolated." Lawrence W. Preston considers the most reasonable date for the Ganesha Purana to be between 1100 and 1400, which coincides with the apparent age of the sacred sites mentioned by the text.
R.C. Hazra suggests that the Mudgala Purana is older than the Ganesha Purana, which he dates between 1100 and 1400. However, Phyllis Granoff finds problems with this relative dating and concludes that the Mudgala Purana was the last of the philosophical texts concerned with Ganesha. She bases her reasoning on the fact that, among other internal evidence, the Mudgala Purana specifically mentions the Ganesha Purana as one of the four Puranas (the Brahma, the Brahmanda, the Ganesha, and the Mudgala Puranas) which deal at length with Ganesha. While the kernel of the text must be old, it was interpolated until the 17th and 18th centuries as the worship of Ganapati became more important in certain regions. Another highly regarded scripture, the Ganapati Atharvashirsa, was probably composed during the 16th or 17th centuries.
BEYOND INDIA AND HINDUISM
Commercial and cultural contacts extended India's influence in western and southeast Asia. Ganesha is one of a number of Hindu deities who reached foreign lands as a result.
Ganesha was particularly worshipped by traders and merchants, who went out of India for commercial ventures. From approximately the 10th century onwards, new networks of exchange developed including the formation of trade guilds and a resurgence of money circulation. During this time, Ganesha became the principal deity associated with traders. The earliest inscription invoking Ganesha before any other deity is associated with the merchant community.
Hindus migrated to Maritime Southeast Asia and took their culture, including Ganesha, with them. Statues of Ganesha are found throughout the region, often beside Shiva sanctuaries. The forms of Ganesha found in Hindu art of Java, Bali, and Borneo show specific regional influences. The spread of Hindu culture to southeast Asia established Ganesha in modified forms in Burma, Cambodia, and Thailand. In Indochina, Hinduism and Buddhism were practiced side by side, and mutual influences can be seen in the iconography of Ganesha in the region. In Thailand, Cambodia, and among the Hindu classes of the Chams in Vietnam, Ganesha was mainly thought of as a remover of obstacles. Today in Buddhist Thailand, Ganesha is regarded as a remover of obstacles, the god of success.
Before the arrival of Islam, Afghanistan had close cultural ties with India, and the adoration of both Hindu and Buddhist deities was practiced. Examples of sculptures from the 5th to the 7th centuries have survived, suggesting that the worship of Ganesha was then in vogue in the region.
Ganesha appears in Mahayana Buddhism, not only in the form of the Buddhist god Vināyaka, but also as a Hindu demon form with the same name. His image appears in Buddhist sculptures during the late Gupta period. As the Buddhist god Vināyaka, he is often shown dancing. This form, called Nṛtta Ganapati, was popular in northern India, later adopted in Nepal, and then in Tibet. In Nepal, the Hindu form of Ganesha, known as Heramba, is popular; he has five heads and rides a lion. Tibetan representations of Ganesha show ambivalent views of him. A Tibetan rendering of Ganapati is tshogs bdag. In one Tibetan form, he is shown being trodden under foot by Mahākāla, (Shiva) a popular Tibetan deity. Other depictions show him as the Destroyer of Obstacles, and sometimes dancing. Ganesha appears in China and Japan in forms that show distinct regional character. In northern China, the earliest known stone statue of Ganesha carries an inscription dated to 531. In Japan, where Ganesha is known as Kangiten, the Ganesha cult was first mentioned in 806.
The canonical literature of Jainism does not mention the worship of Ganesha. However, Ganesha is worshipped by most Jains, for whom he appears to have taken over certain functions of Kubera. Jain connections with the trading community support the idea that Jainism took up Ganesha worship as a result of commercial connections. The earliest known Jain Ganesha statue dates to about the 9th century. A 15th-century Jain text lists procedures for the installation of Ganapati images. Images of Ganesha appear in the Jain temples of Rajasthan and Gujarat.
WIKIPEDIA
Spain 2002 - Toledo - Castile-La Mancha
Santa María la Blanca (literally Saint Mary the White, originally known as the Ibn Shushan Synagogue, or commonly "The Congregational Synagogue of Toledo'") is a museum and former synagogue in Toledo, Spain. Erected in 1180,[1] it is disputably considered the oldest synagogue building in Europe still standing. It is now owned and preserved by the Catholic Church.
Its stylistic and cultural classification is unique as it was constructed under the Christian Kingdom of Castile by Islamic architects for Jewish use. It is considered a symbol of the cooperation that existed among the three cultures that populated the Iberian Peninsula during the Middle Ages.
Contents
1 Style
2 Location
3 Design
4 Stylistic origins
5 Patron
6 History After Synagogue Life
7 Gallery
8 See also
9 Notes
Style
The synagogue is a Mudéjar construction, created by Moorish architects on Christian soil for non-Islamic purposes. But it can also be considered one of the finest example of Almohad architecture because of its construction elements and style. The plain white interior walls as well as the use of brick and of pillars instead of columns are characteristics of Almohad architecture.[2] The typology also presents nuances in its classification, because although it was constructed as a synagogue, its hypostyle room, and the lack of a women's gallery, make it closer in character to a mosque. Though it does not have a women's gallery today, it did at one time have a women's gallery according to an early 20th-century architect.[3]
The synagogue was turned into a church in 1405 or 1411,[4] but no major reforms were done for the change. It took then the name of Santa María la Blanca (Saint Mary, the White), and today it is known by this name.
Antiquity
Toledo (Latin: Toletum) is mentioned by the Roman historian Livy (ca. 59 BCE – 17 CE) as urbs parva, sed loco munita ("a small city, but fortified by location"). Roman general Marcus Fulvius Nobilior fought a battle near the city in 193 BCE against a confederation of Celtic tribes including the Vaccaei, Vettones, and Celtiberi, defeating them and capturing a king called Hilermus.[2][3] At that time, Toletum was a city of the Carpetani tribe, and part of the region of Carpetania.[4] It was incorporated into the Roman Empire as a civitas stipendiaria, that is, a tributary city of non-citizens. It later achieved the status of municipium by Flavian times.[5] With this status, city officials, even of Carpetani origin, obtained Roman citizenship for public service, and the forms of Roman law and politics were increasingly adopted.[6] At approximately this time were constructed in Toletum a Roman circus, city walls, public baths, and a municipal water supply and storage system.[7]
The Roman circus in Toledo was one of the largest in Hispania, at 423 metres (1,388 feet) long and 100 metres (330 feet) wide, with a track dimension of 408 metres (1,339 feet) long and 86 metres (282 feet) wide.[7] Chariot races were held on special holidays and were also commissioned by private citizens to celebrate career achievements. A fragmentary stone inscription records circus games paid for by a citizen of unknown name to celebrate his achieving the sevirate, a kind of priesthood conferring high status. Archaeologists have also identified portions of a special seat of the sort used by the city elites to attend circus games, called a sella curulis. The circus could hold up to 15000 spectators.[7]
During Roman times, Toledo was never a provincial capital nor a conventus iuridicus.[8] It started to gain importance in late antiquity. There are indications that large private houses (domus) within the city walls were enlarged, while several large villas were built north of the city through the third and fourth centuries.[9] Games were held in the circus into the late fourth and early fifth centuries C.E., also an indication of active city life and ongoing patronage by wealthy elites.[10] A church council was held in Toledo in the year 400 to discuss the conflict with Priscillianism.[11] A second council of Toledo was held in 527. The Visigothic king Theudis was in Toledo in 546, where he promulgated a law. This is strong though not certain evidence that Toledo was the chief residence for Theudis.[8] King Athanagild died in Toledo, probably in 568. Although Theudis and Athangild based themselves in Toledo, Toledo was not yet the capital city of the Iberian peninsula, as Theudis and Athangild's power was limited in extent, the Suevi ruling Galicia and local elites dominating Lusitania, Betica, and Cantabria.[12][13] This changed with Liuvigild (Leovigild), who brought the peninsula under his control. The Visigoths ruled from Toledo until the Moors conquered the Iberian peninsula in the early years of 8th century (711–719).
Today the historic center is pierced of basements, passages, wells, baths and ancient water pipes that since Roman times have been used in the city.
Visigothic Toledo
The city of Toledo as depicted in the Codex Vigilanus in 976.
A series of church councils was held in Toledo under the Visigoths. A synod of Arian bishops was held in 580 to discuss theological reconciliation with Nicene Christianity.[14] Liuvigild's successor, Reccared, hosted the third council of Toledo, at which the Visigothic kings abandoned Arianism and reconciled with the existing Hispano-Roman episcopate.[15] A synod held in 610 transferred the metropolitanate of the old province of Carthaginensis from Cartagena to Toledo.[16] At that time, Cartagena was ruled by the Byzantines, and this move ensured a closer relation between the bishops of Spain and the Visigothic kings. King Sisebut forced Jews in the Visigothic kingdom to convert to Christianity; this act was criticized and efforts were made to reverse it at the Fourth Council of Toledo in 633.[17] The Fifth and Sixth Councils of Toledo placed church sanctions on anyone who would challenge the Visigothic kings.[18] The Seventh Council of Toledo instituted a requirement that all bishops in the area of a royal city, that is, of Toledo, must reside for one month per year in Toledo. This was a stage in "the elevation of Toledo as the primatial see of the whole church of the Visgothic kingdom".[19] In addition, the seventh council declared that any clergy fleeing the kingdom, assisting conspirators against the king, or aiding conspirators, would be excommunicated and no one should remove this sentence. The ban on lifing these sentences of excommunication was lifted at the Eighth Council of Toledo in 653, at which, for the first time, decisions were signed by palace officials as well as bishops.[20]
The eighth council of Toledo took measures that enhanced Toledo's significance as the center of royal power in the Iberian peninsula. The council declared that the election of a new king following the death of the old one should only take place in the royal city, or wherever the old king died.[21] In practice this handed the power to choose kings to only such palace officials and military commanders who were in regular attendance on the king. The decision also took king-making power away from the bishops, who would be in their own sees and would not have time to come together to attend the royal election. The decision did allow the bishop of Toledo, alone among bishops, to be involved in decisions concerning the royal Visigothic succession. The ninth and tenth councils were held in rapid succession in 655 and 656.[21]
When Reccesuinth died in 672 at his villa in Gerticos, his successor Wamba was elected on the spot, then went to Toledo to be anointed king by the bishop of Toledo, according to the procedures laid out in prior church councils.[22] In 673, Wamba defeated a rebel duke named Paul, and held his victory parade in Toledo. The parade included ritual humiliation and scalping of the defeated Paul.[23] Wamba carried out renovation works in Toledo in 674-675, marking these with inscriptions above the city gates that are no longer extant but were recorded in the eighth century.[24] The Eleventh Council of Toledo was held in 675 under king Wamba. Wamba weakened the power of the bishop of Toledo by creating a new bishopric outside Toledo at the church of Saints Peter and Paul. This was one of the main churches of Toledo and was the church where Wamba was anointed king, and the church from which Visigothic kings departed for war after special ceremonies in which they were presented with a relic of the True Cross. By creating a new bishopric there, Wamba removed power over royal succession from the bishop of Toledo and granted it to the new bishop.[25] The Twelfth Council of Toledo was held in 681 after Wamba's removal from office. Convinced that he was dying, Wamba had accepted a state of penitence that according to the decision of a previous church council, made him inelegible to remain king. The Twelfth Council, led by newly installed bishop Julian confirmed the validity of Wamba's removal from office and his succession by Ervig. The Twelfth Council eliminated the new bishopric that Wamba had created and returned the powers over succession to the bishop of Toledo.[26]
The Twelfth Council of Toledo approved 28 laws against the Jews. Julian of Toledo, despite a Jewish origin, was strongly anti-Semitic as reflected in his writings and activities.[27] The leading Jews of Toledo were assembled in the church of Saint Mary on January 27, 681, where the new laws were read out to them.
The Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth Councils of Toledo were held in 683, 684, and 688. The Thirteenth Council restored property and legal rights to those who had rebelled against King Wamba in 673.[28] The Thirteenth Council also approved laws protecting the king's family after the king's death. In 687, Ervig took the penitent state before dying, and the kingship passed to Egica, who was anointed king in Toledo on November 24.[29] In 688, the Fifteenth Council lifted the ban on taking property from the families of former kings, whereupon Egica was able to plunder Ervig's family properties.[30]
In the late seventh century, Toledo became a main center of literacy and writing in the Iberian peninsula. Toledo's development as a center of learning was influenced by Isidore of Seville, an author and advocate of literacy who attended several church councils in Toledo.[31] King Chindasuinth had a royal library in Toledo, and at least one count called Laurentius had a private library.[32] Sometime before 651, Chindasuinth sent the bishop of Zaragoza, Taio, to Rome to obtain books that were not available in Toledo. Taio obtained, at least, parts of pope Gregory's Moralia.[33] The library also contained a copy of a Hexameron by Dracontius, which Chindasuinth liked so much that he commissioned Eugenius II to revise it by adding a new part dealing with the seventh day of creation.[34] Chindasuinth issued laws that were gathered together in a book called Liber Iudiciorum by his successor Reccesuinth in 654; this book was revised twice, widely copied, and was an important influence on medieval Spanish law.[35] Three bishops of Toledo wrote works that were widely copied and disseminated in western Europe and parts of which survive to this day: Eugenius II, Ildefonsus, and Julian.[36] "In intellectual terms the leading Spanish churchmen of the seventh century had no equals before the appearance of Bede."[37]
In 693, the Sixteenth Council of Toledo condemned Sisebert, Julian's successor as bishop of Toledo, for having rebelled against King Egica in alliance with Liuvigoto, the widow of king Ervig.[38] A rebel king called Suniefred seized power in Toledo briefly at about this time. Whether or not Sisebert's and Suniefred's rebellions were the same or separate is unknown. Suniefred is known only from having minted coins in Toledo during what should have been Egica's reign.[39] The Seventeenth Council of Toledo was held in 694. The Eighteenth Council of Toledo, the last one, took place shortly after Egica's death around 702 or 703.[40]
By the end of the seventh century the bishop of Toledo was the leader of the Spanish bishops, a situation unusual in Europe: "The metropolitan bishops of Toledo had achieved by the last quarter of the seventh century an authority and a primacy that was unique in Western Europe. Not even the pope could count on such support from neighbouring metropolitans."[37] Toledo "had been matched by no other city in western Europe outside Italy as the governmental and symbolic center of a powerful monarchy."[41] Toledo had "emerged from relative obscurity to become the permanent governmental centre of the Visigothic monarchy; a true capital, whose only equivalent in western Europe was to be Lombard Pavia."[42]
When Wittiza died around 710, Ruderic became Visigothic king in Toledo, but the kingdom was split, as a rival king Achila ruled Tarraconensis and Narbonensis.[43] Meanwhile, Arabic and Berber troops under Musa ibn Nusayr had conquered Tangiers and Ceuta between 705 and 710, and commenced raids into the Visigothic kingdom in 711.[44] Ruderic led an army to confront the raiders. He was defeated and killed in battle, apparently after being betrayed by Visigothic nobles who wished to replace him as king and did not consider the Arabs and Berbers a serious threat. The commander of the invading forces was Tariq bin Ziyad, a Luwata Berber freedman in the service of governor Musa.[45] It is possible that a king called Oppa ruled in Toledo between Ruderic's death and the fall of Toledo.[46] Tariq, seizing the opportunity presented by the death of Ruderic and the internal divisions of the Visigothic nobles, captured Toledo, in 711 or 712.[47] Governor Musa disembarked in Cádiz and proceeded to Toledo, where he executed numerous Visigothic nobles, thus destroying much of the Visigothic power structure.[48][49] Collins suggests that the Visigothic emphasis on Toledo as the center of royal ceremony became a weakness. Since the king was chosen in or around Toledo, by nobles based in Toledo, and had to be anointed king by the bishop of Toledo in a church in Toledo, when Tariq captured Toledo and executed the Visigothic nobles, having already killed the king, there was no way for the Visigoths to select a legitimate king.[50][51]
Toledo under Arab rule
Soon after the conquest, Musa and Tariq returned to Damascus. The Arab center of administration was placed first in Seville, then moved to Cordoba. With most of the rest of the Iberian peninsula, Toledo was ruled from Cordoba by the governor of Al-Andalus, under the ultimate notional command of the Umayyad Caliph in Damascus. Arab conquerors had often replaced former capital cities with new ones to mark the change in political power, and they did so here: "Toledo suffered a period of profound decline throughout much of the earlier centuries of Arab dominance in the peninsula."[52] The invaders were ethnically diverse, and available evidence suggests that in the area of Toledo, Berber settlement predominated over Arab.[53]
In 742 the Berbers in Al-Andalus rebelled against the Arab Omeyyad governors. They took control of the north and marched south, laying siege to Toledo. After a siege of one month the Berber troops were defeated outside Toledo by troops sent from Cordoba by the governor Abd al-Malik ibn Katan and commanded by the governor's son.[54] However, while Ibn Katan's troops were engaged with the Berbers, his Arab allies betrayed and killed him and took over Cordoba. After the Arabs' first leader, Talama ibn Salama, died, Yusuf al-Fihri became ruler of Al-Andalus. The Omeyyad dynasty in Damascus collapsed and Yusuf ruled independently with the support of his Syrian Arab forces. The Qays Arab commander As-Sumayl was made governor of Toledo under Yusuf around 753.[55]
There is evidence that Toledo retained its importance as a literary and ecclesiastical center into the middle 700s, in the Chronicle of 754, the life of Saint Ildefonsus by Cixila, and ecclesiastical letters sent from Toledo.[56] The eighth century bishop of Toledo, Cixila, wrote a life of Saint Ildefonsus of Toledo, probably before 737.[57] This life of Ildefonsus emphasized two episodes in the life of the bishop of Toledo. In the first episode the covering of the tomb of Saint Leocadia levitated while Ildefonsus was saying mass, with king Reccesuinth present. In the second episode Mary appears to Ildefonsus and Reccesuinth. These episodes are said to have resulted from Ildefonsus' devotion to Saint Leocadia, patroness saint of Toledo.[58] Collins suggests that Cixila's life of Ildefonsus helped maintain Ildefonsus' appeal and helped the church in Toledo to retain some of its authority among Christian churches in the Iberian peninsula.[59]
An archdeacon in Toledo called Evantius, who was active around 720 and died in 737, wrote a letter to address the existence of judaizing tendencies among the Christians of Zaragoza, specifically the belief that there are unclean forms of meat and the literal interpretation of Deuteronomic law.[60] A deacon and cantor from Toledo called Peter wrote a second letter, to Seville, in about the year 750, to explain that they were celebrating Easter and a September liturgical fast incorrectly, again confusing them with Jewish feasts celebrated at the same time.[61] These letters show that some of the primacy of the church of Toledo within the Iberian peninsula still existed in the 700s: "Not only were its clerics still well enough equipped in intellectual terms to provide authoritative guidance on a wide range of ecclesiastical discipline and doctrine, but this was also actively sought."[62]
There is a strong possibility that the Chronicle of 754 was written in Toledo (though scholars have also proposed Cordoba and Guadix) based on the information available to the chronicler.[63] The chronicler showed awareness of the Historia Gothorum, the Etymologiae, and the chronicle of Isidore of Seville, the work of Braulio of Zaragoza, the acts of the councils of Toledo, De Perpetua Virginitate by Ildefonsus, and De Comprobatione Sextae Aetatis and Historia Wambae by Julian of Toledo, all works that would have existed in the Visigothic libraries of seventh century Toledo and whose existence together "makes more sense in a Toledan context than in any other."[64]
In 756 Abd ar-Rahman, a descendant of the fallen Omeyyad caliphs, came to Al-Andalus and initiated a revolt against Yusuf. He defeated Yusuf and forced him to reside in Cordoba, but Yusuf broke the agreement and raised a Berber army to fight Abd ar-Rahman. In this conflict, Toledo was held against Abd ar-Rahman by Yusuf's cousin Hisham ibn Urwa. Yusuf attempted to march on Seville, but was defeated and instead attempted to reach his cousin in Toledo. He was either killed on his way to Toledo, or he reached Toledo and held out there for as many as two or three years before being betrayed and killed by his own people. Whether or not Yusuf himself held out in Toledo, Hisham ibn Urwa did hold power in Toledo for several years, resisting the authority of Abd ar-Rahman. In 761 Hisham is reported as again being in rebellion in Toledo against Abd ar-Rahman. Abd ar-Rahman failed to take Toledo by force and instead signed a treaty allowing Hisham to remain in control of Toledo, but giving one of his sons as hostage to Abd ar-Rahman. Hisham continued to defy Abd ar-Rahman, who had Hisham's son executed and the head catapulted over the city walls into Toledo. Abd ar-Rahman attacked Toledo in 764, winning only when some of Hisham's own people betrayed him and turned him over to Abd ar-Rahman and his freedman Badr.[65] Ibn al-Athir states that towards the end of Abd ar-Rahman's reign, a governor of Toledo raided in force into the Kingdom of Asturias during the reign of Mauregatus,[66] though the Asturian chronicles do not record the event.[67]
Under the Umayyad Emirate of Cordoba, Toledo was the centre of numerous insurrections dating from 761 to 857.[68] Twenty years after the rebellion of Hisham ibn Urwa, the last of Yusuf's sons, Abu al-Aswad ibn Yusuf, rebelled in Toledo in 785.[69][70] After the suppression of ibn Yusuf's revolt, Abd ar-Rahman's oldest son Sulayman was made governor of Toledo. However, Abd ar-Rahman designated as his successor a younger son, Hisham. On Hisham's accession to the Emirate in 788, Sulayman refused to make the oath of allegiance at the mosque, as succession custom would have dictated, and thus declared himself in rebellion. He was joined in Toledo by his brother Abdallah. Hisham laid siege to Toledo. While Abdallah held Toledo against Hisham, Sulayman escaped and attempted to find support elsewhere, but was unsuccessful. In 789, Abdallah submitted and Hisham took control of Toledo. The following year, Sulayman gave up the fight and went into exile.[71] Hisham's son Al-Hakam was governor of Toledo from 792 to 796 when he succeeded his father as emir in Cordoba.
After Al-Hakam's accession and departure, a poet resident in Toledo named Girbib ibn-Abdallah wrote verses against the Omeyyads, helping to inspire a revolt in Toledo against the new emir in 797. Chroniclers disagree as to the leader of this revolt, though Ibn Hayyan states that it was led by Ibn Hamir. Al-Hakam sent Amrus ibn Yusuf to fight the rebellion. Amrus took control of the Berber troops in Talavera. From there, Amrus negotiated with a faction inside Toledo called the Banu Mahsa, promising to make them governors if they would betray Ibn Hamir. The Banu Mahsa brought Ibn Hamir's head to Amrus at Talavera, but instead of making them governors, Amrus executed them. Amrus now persuaded the remaining factions in Toledo to submit to him. Once he entered Toledo, he invited the leaders to a celebratory feast. As they entered Amrus' fortress, the guests were beheaded one by one and their bodies thrown in a specially dug ditch. The massacre was thus called "The Day of the Ditch." Amrus' soldiers killed about 700 people that day. Amrus was governor of Toledo until 802.[72][73]
"In 785, Bishop Elipandus of Toledo wrote a letter condemning the teaching of a certain Migetius."[74] In his letter, Elipandus asserted that Christ had adopted his humanity, a position that came to be known as Adoptionism.[75] Two Asturian bishops, Beatus and Eterius, bishop of Osma, wrote a treatise condemning Elipandus' views.[76] Pope Hadrian wrote a letter between 785 and 791 in which he condemned Migetius, but also the terminology used by Elipandus.[77] The Frankish court of Charlemagne also condemned Adoptionism at the Synod of Frankfurt in 794.[78] Although Ramon Abadals y de Vinyals argued that this controversy represented an ideological assertion of independence by the Asturian church against the Moslem-ruled church of Toledo,[79] Collins believes this argument applies eleventh century ideology to the eighth century and is anachronistic.[80] However, Collins notes that the controversy and the alliances formed during it between Asturias and the Franks broke the old unity of the Spanish church.[81] The influence of the bishops of Toledo would be much more limited until the eleventh century.[82]
By the end of the 700s, the Omeyyads had created three frontier districts stretching out from the southern core of their Iberian territories. These were called Lower March (al-Tagr al-Adna), Central March (al-Tagr al-Awsat), and Upper March (al-Tagr al-A'la). Toledo became the administrative center of the Central March, while Merida became the center of the Lower March and Zaragoza, of the Upper March.[83]
Following the death of Abd al-Rahman II, a new revolt broke out in Toledo. The Omeyyad governor was held hostage in order to secure the return of Toledan hostages held in Córdoba. Toledo now engaged in an inter-city feud with the nearby city of Calatrava la Vieja. Toledan soldiers attacked Calatrava, destroyed the walls, and massacred or expelled many inhabitants of Calatrava in 853. Soldiers from Cordoba came to restore the walls and protect Calatrava from Toledo. The new emir, Muhammad I, sent a second army to attack the Toledans, but was defeated. Toledo now made an alliance with King Ordoño I of Asturias. The Toledans and Asturians were defeated at the Battle of Guadacelete, with sources claiming 8000 Toledan and Asturian soldiers were killed and their heads sent back to Cordoba for display throughout Al-Andalus. Despite this defeat, Toledo did not surrender to Cordoba. The Omeyyads reinforced nearby fortresses with cavalry forces to try to contain the Toledans. Toledans attacked Talavera in 857, but were again defeated. In 858 emir Muhammad I personally led an expedition against Toledo and destroyed a bridge, but was unable to take the city. In 859, Muhammad I negotiated a truce with Toledo. Toledo became virtually independent for twenty years, though locked in conflict with neighboring cities. Muhammad I recovered control of Toledo in 873, when he successfully besieged the city and forced it to submit.[84]
Azulejo in Seville's Plaza de España despicting the conquest of Toledo in 1085.
The Banu Qasi gained nominal control of the city until 920 and in 932 Abd-ar-Rahman III captured the city following an extensive siege.[85] According to the Chronicle of Alfonso III, Musa ibn Musa of the Banu Qasi had, partly by war and partly by strategy, made himself master of Zaragoza, Tudela, Huesca, and Toledo. He had installed his son Lupus (Lubb) as governor of Toledo. King Ordoño I of Asturias fought a series of battles with Musa ibn Musa. According to the Chronicle, Musa ibn Musa allied with his brother-in-law Garcia, identified as Garcia Iñiquez, King of Pamplona. Ordoño defeated Musa's forces at the Battle of Monte Laturce. Musa died of injuries, and his son Lubb submitted to Ordoño's authority in 862 or 863, for the duration of Ordoño's reign (up to 866). Thus, according to the Chronicle of Alfonso III, Toledo was ruled by the Asturian kings. However, Arabic sources do not confirm these campaigns, instead stating that Musa ibn Musa was killed in a failed attack on Guadalajara, and that Andalusi forces repeatedly defeated Asturian forces in the area of Alava from 862 to 866.[86]
By the 870s the Omeyyads had regained control over Toledo. In 878 Al-Mundhir led an expedition against Asturias, of which one of the main components was a force from Toledo. One source portrays this raid as an attack by the 'King of Toledo', but other sources portray it as an Omeyyad raid involving substantial Toledan forces. The forces from Toledo were defeated by Alfonso III of Asturias at the Battle of Polvoraria. Spanish chronicles state that twelve to thirteen thousand in the Toledo army were killed in the battle. Collins states that these figures are "totally unreliable" but demonstrate that Asturian chroniclers thought of this as an important and decisive battle.[87]
In 920s and 930s, the governors of Toledo were in rebellion against the Umayyad regime in Cordoba, led by Abd al-Rahman III. In 930, Abd al-Rahman III, having now adopted the title of caliph, attacked Toledo.[88] The governor of Toledo asked for help from King Ramiro II of Leon, but Ramiro was preocuppied with a civil war against his brother Alfonso IV and was unable to help.[89] In 932, Abd al-Rahman III conquered Toledo, re-establishing control of al-Tagr al-Awsat, the Central March of the Omeyyad state.[90]
In 1009 one of the last Umayyad caliphs, Muhammad II al-Mahdi, fled to Toledo after being expelled from Cordoba by Berber forces backing the rival claimant Sulayman. Al-Mahdi and his Saqaliba general Wadih formed an alliance with the Count of Barcelona and his brother the Count of Urgell. These Catalans joined with Wadih and al-Mahdi in Toledo in 1010 and marched on Cordoba. The combination of Wadih's army and the Catalans defeated the Berbers in a battle outside Cordoba in 1010.[91]
After the fall of the Omeyyad caliphate in the early 11th century, Toledo became an independent taifa kingdom. The population of Toledo at this time was about 28 thousand, including a Jewish population estimated at 4 thousand.[92] The Mozarab community had its own Christian bishop, and after the Christian conquest of Toledo, the city was a destination for Mozarab immigration from the Muslim south.[93] The taifa of Toledo was centered on the Tajo River. The border with the taifa of Badajoz was on the Tajo between Talavera de la Reina and Coria. North, the border was the Sierra de Guadarrama. Northeast, Toledo lands stretched past Guadalajara to Medinaceli. Southeast was the border with the taifa of Valencia, in La Mancha between Cuenca and Albacete. South were the borders with Badajoz around the Mountains of Toledo.[94]
In 1062, Fernando I of Leon and Castile attacked the taifa of Toledo. He conquered Talamanca de Jarama and besieged Alcala de Henares. To secure Fernando's withdrawal, king al-Mamun of Toledo agreed to pay an annual tribute, or parias, to Fernando.[95] Three years later in 1065, al-Mamun invaded the taifa of Valencia through La Mancha, successfully conquering it. Toledo controlled the taifa of Valencia until al-Mamun's death in 1075.[96]
After the death of Fernando I in 1065, the kingdom of Leon and Castilla was divided in three: the kingdoms of Galicia, Leon, and Castilla. The parias that had been paid by Toledo to Fernando I were assigned to the Kingdom of León, which was inherited by Alfonso VI.[97] However, in 1071, Alfonso's older brother Sancho II invaded Leon and defeated his younger brother. Alfonso VI was allowed to go into exile with al-Mamun in Toledo.[98] Alfonso VI was in exile in Toledo approximately from June to October 1071, but after Sancho II was killed later in the same year, Alfonso left Toledo and returned to Leon. Some sources state that al-Mamun forced Alfonso to swear support for al-Mamun and his heirs before allowing him to leave.[99]
In 1074, Alfonso VI campaigned against the taifa of Granada with the assistance of al-Mamun of Toledo. Alfonso received troops from al-Mamun in addition to the parias payment, facilitating his military campaigns. The campaign was successful, and Granada was forced to begin parias payments to Alfonso VI. After this, al-Mamun proceeded to attack Cordoba, which was then under the control of his enemy al-Mutamid, taifa king of Sevilla. He conquered Cordoba in January 1075.[100]
The parias of Toledo to Alfonso VI in the 1070s amounted to approximately 12 thousand gold dinars. This money contributed strongly to Alfonso VI's ability to project military strength throughout the Iberian peninsula.[101]
In 1076, al-Mamun of Toledo was killed in the city of Cordoba, which he had conquered only the year before. The taifa king of Sevilla took the opportunity to reconquer Cordoba and seize other territory on the borderlands between the taifas of Sevilla and Toledo. Al-Mamun was succeeded by his son, al-Qadir, the last taifa king of Toledo. Possibly keeping an earlier promise to al-Mamun, Alfonso VI at first supported the succession of al-Qadir. The taifa of Valencia, which had been conquered by al-Mamun, revolted against al-Qadir and ceased parias payments to Toledo.[102]
Taking advantage of al-Qadir's weakness, al-Mutamid of Sevilla took lands in La Mancha from the taifa of Toledo, and from there conquered the taifas of Valencia and Denia in 1078. After this, al-Qadir lost popularity in Toledo. There was a revolt against him, and he was forced to flee the city and appeal to Alfonso VI for help. The rebels invited the king of Badajoz, al-Mutawakkil, to rule Toledo. The king of Badajoz occupied Toledo in 1079, but Alfonso VI sent forces to help al-Qadir recover Toledo. Alfonso captured the fortress town of Coria, which controlled a pass from Castilian lands into the lands of the taifa of Badajoz. Since Alfonso now threatened him through Coria, al-Mutawakkil withdrew from Toledo and al-Qadir was able to return to Toledo. As the price of his help, Alfonso obtained the right to station two garrisons of his soldiers on the lands of Toledo, at al-Qadir's expense.[103]
A second revolt against al-Qadir took place in 1082. This time al-Qadir defeated the rebels in Toledo, chased them to Madrid, and defeated them there.[104] It was about this time at the latest that Alfonso VI decided to seize Toledo for himself, though some authors have argued that the plan to conquer Toledo existed by 1078.[105] In 1083, Alfonso VI campaigned against al-Mutamid, bringing his forces right up against Sevilla and reaching the city of Tarifa, with the intention of dissuading al-Mutamid from any resistance against the coming seizure of Toledo.[106] In 1084, Alfonso set siege to Toledo, preventing the city from being supplied and also preventing agricultural work in the area. Over the winter of 1084 to 1085 the siege was maintained, while the king spent the winter north in Leon and Sahagun. In spring 1085 Alfonso personally rejoined the siege with new forces. The city soon fell and Alfonso made his triumphant entry to the city on May 24, 1085.
Toledo experienced a period known as La Convivencia, i.e. the co-existence of Jews, Christians, and Muslims. Under Islamic Arab rule, Toledo was called Ṭulayṭulah. After the fall of the caliphate, Toledo was the capital city of one of the richest Taifas of Al-Andalus. Its population was overwhelmingly Muladi, and, because of its central location in the Iberian Peninsula, Toledo took a central position in the struggles between the Muslim and Christian rulers of northern Spain. The conquest of Toledo by Alfonso VI of Castile in 1085 marked the first time a major city in Al-Andalus was captured by Christian forces; it served to sharpen the religious aspect of the Christian reconquest.
Medieval Toledo after the Reconquest
Toledo in the 16th century
View of Toledo by resident El Greco c. 1608.
On May 25, 1085, Alfonso VI of Castile took Toledo and established direct personal control over the Moorish city from which he had been exacting tribute, ending the medieval Taifa's Kingdom of Toledo. This was the first concrete step taken by the combined kingdom of Leon-Castile in the Reconquista by Christian forces. After Castilian conquest, Toledo continued to be a major cultural centre; its Arab libraries were not pillaged, and a tag-team translation centre was established in which books in Arabic or Hebrew would be translated into Castilian by Muslim and Jewish scholars, and from Castilian into Latin by Castilian scholars, thus letting long-lost knowledge spread through Christian Europe again. Toledo served as the capital city of Castile intermittently (Castile did not have a permanent capital) from 1085, and the city flourished. Charles I of Spain's court was set in Toledo, serving as the imperial capital.[107] However, in 1561, in the first years of his son Philip II of Spain reign, the Spanish court was moved to Madrid, thus letting the city's importance dwindle until the late 20th century, when it became the capital of the autonomous community of Castile–La Mancha. Nevertheless, the economic decline of the city helped to preserve its cultural and architectural heritage. Today, because of this rich heritage, Toledo is one of Spain's foremost cities, receiving thousands of visitors yearly. Under the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Toledo multiple persecutions (633, 653, 693) and stake burnings of Jews (638 CE) occurred; the Kingdom of Toledo followed up on this tradition (1368, 1391, 1449, 1486–1490 CE) including forced conversions and mass murder and the rioting and blood bath against the Jews of Toledo (1212 CE).[108][109]
During the persecution of the Jews in the late 15th and early 16th centuries, members of the Jewish community of Toledo produced texts on their long history in Toledo. It was at this time that Don Isaac Abrabanel, a prominent Jewish figure in Spain in the 15th century and one of the king's trusted courtiers who witnessed the expulsion of Jews from Spain in 1492, wrote that Toledo was named Ṭulayṭulah by its first Jewish inhabitants who, he stated, settled there in the 5th century BCE, and which name – by way of conjecture – may have been related to its Hebrew cognate טלטול (= wandering), on account of their wandering from Jerusalem. He says, furthermore, that the original name of the city was Pirisvalle, so-called by its early pagan inhabitants.[110] However, there is no archaeological or historical evidence for Jewish presence in this region prior to the time of the Roman Empire; when the Romans first wrote about Toledo it was a Celtic city.[111][112]
Historical population
Year Pop. ±%
1991 59,000 —
1996 66,006 +11.9%
2001 68,382 +3.6%
2004 73,485 +7.5%
2006 77,601 +5.6%
Modern Era
Toledo's Alcázar (Latinized Arabic word for palace-castle, from the Arabic القصر, al-qasr) became renowned in the 19th and 20th centuries as a military academy. At the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War in 1936, its garrison was famously besieged by Republican forces.
Ok here it is. I took one image of the model using the strobes . I had the camera on Auto bracket mode , so the dark frame was taken immediately after that, before the flashes could recharge. The dark frame is for the outside detail coming in through the cracks in the door and the first shot is for the model only. LAter.. I had the model walk out and took a bunch of different exposures of the barn by itself. I used photomatix Image blending to compile them. Strobes were used in that image as well but were moved to different places for each frame to ensure an even distribution. later in photoshop I used the pen tool to vector out the model and created a mask ( Bottom Right) since the hair was really difficult, I chopped it off with the pen tool mask and duplicated the original (1) picture, placed it on top and set the blend mode to either overlay or multiply... whatever one leaves lighter (hair) detail and makes darker areas transparent. Thats how I got the hair edges so finite. A separate mask was also used to get the outside detail from the second image and place it on top of layer 3 so that it appears that My camera has that kind of dynamic range. :) YEah.. I cheated :) other than that, I used the basic retouching like skin smoothing and some toning using curves. whole thing took about an hour and a half.
Link to final img
www.flickr.com/photos/40889933@N07/4879681429/in/photostr...
What started at the beginning of January as revisiting a few churches around Bridge, became a grand tour of the Nailbourne and Little Stour valley.
As it was unplanned, it was also unstructured, so ended up at the source of the Nailbourne on the penultimate weekend of churchcrawling, rather than the first.
The Nailbourne erupts from a banks below the church, maybe 50m away from the east end of the chancel.
Lyminge is an ancient place, the Romans lived here, probably because of the Naibourne, as did the Saxons, and the church is part Saxon.
The south-east corner of the chancel is supported by a buttress and the path to the porch passes underneath it.
On the south wall there is an odd cut out, presumably from a tomb, John Vigar says that the south wall was the north wall of the original Saxon church.
The church is so part Saxon, and has Roman brics mixed in too.
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In the churchyard, west of the present building, are the foundations of the seventh-century church founded by St Ethelburga, daughter of King Ethelbert and Queen Bertha (see Canterbury). The present church is also Saxon and stands north of the original building so that the old north wall is now the south wall of today's church. When the church was founded there was no village, which explains why the present village stands a little removed from this restricted plateau site. The first thing the visitor sees is an enormous flying buttress holding up the south-east corner of the church - the pathway actually runs beneath it! The north aisle was added in the fifteenth century and is separated from the nave by a three-bay arcade with most unusual piers. The chancel arch is also out of the ordinary and is probably the result of fifteenth-century rebuilding of the Saxon original. A great deal of nineteenth-century work survives, including a good east window and reredos, but none of this detracts from the antiquity and atmosphere of this interesting building.
www.kentchurches.info/church.asp?p=Lyminge
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LIMINGE
IS the next parish eastward, both to Stowting and Elmsted. It is written in the book of Domesday, Leminges, and in other records, Lymege. There are three boroughs in it, those of Liminge, Siberton, and Eatchend.
THE PARISH lies on the northern or opposite side of the down hills from Stanford, at no great distance from the summit of them. It is a large parish, being about six miles in length, and about three in breadth, from east to west, and the rents of it about 2000l. per annum. It lies the greatest part of it on high ground, on the east side of the Stone-street way, where it is a dreary and barren country of rough grounds, covered with woods, scrubby coppice, broom, and the like, the soil being and unfertile red earth, with quantities of hard and sharp stint stones among it. In that part adjoining to the Stone-street way, is Westwood, near two miles in length; and not far from it, two long commons or heaths, the one called Rhode, the other Stelling Minnis; of the latter, a small part only being within this parish, there are numbers of houses and cottages built promiscuously on and about them, the inhabitants of which are as wild, and in as rough a state as the country they dwell in. Near the southern boundary of the parish is the estate and manor of Liminge park, which, as well as Westwood, belongs to Mr. Sawbridge, of Ollantigh, who has near 700 acres of woodland in this parish, the whole of his estate here having been formerly appurtenant to the manor of Liminge, and together with it, exchanged by archbishop Cranmer as before-mentioned, with king Henry VIII. in his 31st year. On the east part of these hills, towards the declivity of them, the soil changes to chalk, and not far from the foot of them are the houses of Longage and Siberton, the former of which belonged to the Sawkins's, and then to the Scotts, a younger branch of those of Scotts-hall; afterwards by marriage to William Turner, of the White Friars, in Canterbury, and then again in like manner to David Papillon, esq. whose grandson Thomas Papillon, esq. of Acrise, now owns it. Below these hills is the great Nailbourn valley, which is very spacious and wide here, on each side of which the hills are high and very frequent, and the lands poor, but in the vale near the stream there is a tract of fertilelands and meadows, and the country becoming far from unpleasant, is as well as the rest of the parish exceedingly healthy. The valley extends quite through the parish from north to south; just above it, on the side of the hill, is the village of Liminge, in which is the parsonage-house, a handsome modern dwelling, and above it, still higher, the church. More southward in the valley is a house, called Broadstreet, the property and residence of the Sloddens for many generations; still further in the valley, near the boundary of the parish, and adjoining to the Hangres, being a part of the down or chalk hills, which continue on to Caldham, near Folkestone, a space of near six miles, is the hamlet of Echinghill, or Eachand, corruptly so called for Ikenild, close under the hill of which name it lies, the principal house in which formerly belonged to the Spicers, of Stanford; hence the road leads to Beechborough, and so on to Hythe.
A fair is held in the village of Liminge yearly, on July 5, for toys, pedlary, &c.
Near Eching street, a little to the southward of it, is a spring or well, called Lint-well, which runs from thence southward below Newington towards the sea; and on the opposite or north side of that street rises another spring, which takes a direct contrary course from the former, one running through the valley northward towards North Liminge, where it is joined by two springs, which rise in Liminge village, at a small distance north-east from the church, gushing out of the rock at a very small space from each other, the lowermost of which called St. Eadburg's well, never fails in its water. These united springs, in summer time in general, flow no further than Ottinge, about one mile from their rise, at which time the space from thence to Barham is dry there; but whenever their waters burst forth and form the stream usually called the Nailbourn, which the country people call the Nailbourne's coming down, then, though in the midst of summer, they become a considerable stream, and with a great gush and rapidity of waters, flow on to a place called Brompton's Pot, which is a large deep pond, a little above Wigmore, having a spring likewise of its own, which hardly ever overflows its bounds, excepting at these times, when, congenial with the others, it bursts forth with a rapidity of water, about three miles and an half northward from Liminge, and having jointly with those springs overfilled its bounds, takes its course on by Barham into the head of the Little Stour, at Bishopsborne, making a little river of its own size. These Nailbourns, or temporary land springs, are not unusaual in the parts of this country eastward of Sittingborne, for I know of but one, at Addington near Maidstone, which is on the other side of it. (fn. 1) Their time of breaking forth or continuance of running, is very uncertain; but whenever they do break forth, it is held by the common people as the forerunner of scarcity and dearness of corn and victuals. Sometimes they break out for one or perhaps two successive years, and at others with two, three, or more years intervention, and their running continues sometimes only for a few months, and at others for three or four years, as their springs afford a supply. (fn. 2)
Dr. Gale, in his Comment on Antorinus's Itinerary, conjectures that at this village of Leming two Roman ways, one from Lenham to Saltwood castle, and the other from Canterbury to Stutfal castle, intersected each other; as indeed they do at no great distance from it, nearer to Limne; and that the word Lemen, now by modern use written Leming, was by our early ancestors used to denote a public way. Hence that military way leading from Isurium to Cataractouium, is called Leming-lane, and the town near it Le- ming. So in the county of Gloucester, on the sosseway, there is a town called Lemington. Hence, he adds, that Durolevum, in this county, changed its name into Lenham, to signify its being situated on the public way or road; and perhaps the name of Ikenhill, very probably so called corruptly for Ickneld, in this parish before-mentioned, has still further strengthened this conjecture; there being said to have been two Roman ways of the name of Icknild-street, in this kingdom, though no one yet has determined precisely where they were.
¶The Manor of Liminge was part of the antient possessions of the monastery of Christ-church, in Canterbury, to which it had been given in the year 964, on the supperssion of the monastery founded in this parish by Ethelburga, called by some Eadburga, daughter of king Ethelbert, who by the favour of her brother king Eadbald, built this monastery to the honor of the blessed Virgin Mary, and of her own niece St. Mildred. Ethelburga, the founder, was buried in it, as was St. Mildred, whose bodies were afterwards removed by archbishop Lanfrance to St. Gregories church, in Canterbury. This monastery was at first said to consist of nuns, but afterwards came under the government of an abbot, and continued so, till suffering much by the continual ravages of the Danes, it was suppressed and granted to the monastery of Christ-church as before-mentioned. (fn. 3) The possessions of it here were given at different times during the Saxon heptarchy; some of them were given to this church of Liminge, in the time of archbishop Cuthbert, who had been abbot of it. After which this manor remained part of the possessions of the monastery of Christ-church, till archbishop Lanfranc dividing the revenues of his church between himself and his monks, this manor was allotted to the archbishop; in which state it continued at the time of taking the survey of Domesday, in which it is thus entered:
In Moniberge hundred, the archbishop himself holds Leminges, in demesne. It was taxed at seven sulings. The arable land is sixty carucates. In demesne there are four, and one hundred and one villeins, with sixteen borderers having fifty-five carucates. There is a church and ten servants, and one mill of thirty pence, and one fishery of forty eels, and thirty acres of pasture. Wood for the pannage of one hundred hogs.
There belong to it six burgesses in Hede. In the time of king Edward the Confessor it was worth twenty four pounds, and afterwards forty pounds, and now the like, and yet it yields sixty pounds.
Of this manor three tenants of the archbishop hold two sulings and an half, and half a yoke, and they have there five carucates in demesne, and twenty villeins, with sixteen borderers having five carucates and an half, and one servant, and two mills of seven shillings and six-pence, and forty acres of meadow. Wood for the pannage of eleven hogs. There are two churches. In the whole it was worth eleven pounds.
Thomas Bedingfield gave by will in 1691, a house and lands in the parish of St. Mary, Romney Marsh, this parish, and Woodchurch, towards the education and maintenance of poor children of the parishes of Smeeth, Liminge, and Dimchurch; and 10s. unto two poor women of each of the said parishes yearly. They are of the annual value of 54l. 10s. and are vested in trustees.
David Spycer, of this parish, by will in 1558, devised to the poor of it 20l. to be paid them yearly at 20s. a year.
There is an unendowed school here, for the teaching of boys and girls reading, writing, and accounts; and an alms-house, consisting of two dwellings, the donor of it to the parish unknown.
The poor constantly maintained are about fifty, casually 30.
Liminge is within the Eccelstical Jurisdiction of the diocese of Canterbury, and deanry of Elham.
¶The church, which is dedicated to St. Mary and St. Eadburgh, consists of two isles and a chancel, having a square tower steeple, with a low pointed turret on it, at the west end, in which are five bells. This church is handsome, being built of quarry stone. The arches and pillars on the north side of the south isle are elegant. In the chancel is a monument for William Hollway, esq. chief justice of Gibraltar, obt. 1767, who with his mother and wife, lie buried in a vault underneath, arms, Sable, two swords in saltier, argent. and memorials in it, as well as in the south isle, for the family of Sawkins. In the north isle a memorial for John Lyndon, A. M. vicar, obt. 1756. In the east window are the arms of the see of Canterbury impaling Bourchier; and in one of the south windows a bishop's head and mitre. On the outside of the steeple, are the arms of the see of Canterbury impaling Warham, that on the south side having a cardinal's hat over it. At the south-east corner of the chancel is a very remarkable buttress to it, the abutment being at some feet distance from the chancel, and joined to it by the half of a circular arch, seemingly very antient. In the church-yard are two tombs for the Scotts, of Longage. Henry Brockman, of Liminge, appears by his will in 1527, to have been buried in this church, and devised to the making of the steeple five pounds, as the work went forward; and David Spycer, of this parish, by will in 1558, devised to this church a chalice, of the price of five pounds. (fn. 10) This church, with the chapels of Stanford and Padlesworth annexed, was always accounted an appendage to the manor, and continued so till the 31st year of king Henry VIII. when the archbishop conveyed the manor to the king, but reserved the patronage and advowson of this church out of the grant to himself, by which means it became separated from the manor, and became an advowson in gross; and though the archbishop afterwards, by his deed anno 38 Henry VIII. conveyed it to the king and his heirs, and the king that same year granted it, with the manor and its appurtenances in fee, to Sir Anthony Aucher as before-mentioned, and it was possessed by the same owners as the manor from time to time, yet having been once separated, it could never be appendant to it again. Through which chain of ownership it afterwards came at length to lord Loughborough, and from him again to the Rev. Mr. Ralph Price, the present proprietor and patron of it.
The church of Liminge is exempt from the jurisdiction of the archdeacon. There is both a rectory and vicarage endorsed belonging to this church, which appears to have been before the 8th of king Richard II.
The rectory is a sinecure, and the vicar performs the whole service of the cure, but they both receive institution and induction, and although some years ago this establishment of it was attempted by the ordinary to be set aside as separate benefices, it was without effect, and the Rev. Mr. Ralph Price, the patron, continues to present to both rectory and vicarage.
The rectory, with the two chapels above-mentioned, is valued in the king's books at 21l. 10s. and the yearly tenths at 2l. 3s. Procurations 1l. 10s. The vicarage at 10l. 18s. 9d. and the yearly tenths at 1l. 1s. 10½d.
In 1588 here were communicants two hundred and eighty-three. In 1640 there were two hundred and fifty-five, and the vicarage was valued at eighty pounds.
The tithes and profits of this parish, and the glebeland, about forty acres, are now worth upwards of four hundred pounds per annum, exclusive of the chapels annexed to it. Mr. Sawbridge's estates in this parish, formerly park land, pay by custom only half a crown composition yearly, in lieu of tithes, but Westwood pays full tithes.
It appears by the register of Horton priory, that Liminge was once the head of a rural deanry, Sir Hugh, dean of Liminge, being mentioned as a witness to a dateless deed of Stephen de Heringod, of a gift of land to that priory, of about the reign of king Henry III. (fn. 11)
I could see the tower of a church from the main road. I saw it from a good two miles away, towering over the mature trees of a wood.
It must be one heck of a church I thought, turning down the lane leading to it, to find the lane lead to Worstead.
Worstead: that explained it. A village so associated with wool, a type of woolen cloth is named after it.
Beside the church is the market square, lined with fine buildings, and to the west, St Mary. A huge cathedral of a church. After snapping the village, I walk to the porch on the south side and go in, smiling.
I was met by a warden who saw the look of delight on my face, and took me on a grand tour. How lucky was I?
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In the reign of Edward the Confessor, the lordship of this town belonged to the abbot of St. Bennet of Holm, with 2 carucates and an half of land, 8 villains, 30 borderers, 2 carucates in demean, 3 among the tenants, 8 acres of meadow, paunage for 16 swine, a mill, and 3 socmen, valued at 60s. and at the survey at 4l.
There were 2 churches with 28 acres, valued therein, and was for the provision of the monks.
At the survey, Robert, an officer of the cross-bow-men, held it of the abbot; it was one leuca long, and half a leuca broad and a perch, and paid 18d. gelt. St. Bennet's abbey held also in the said town, in King Edward's time, a carucate of land, with 2 villains, 10 borderers, one carucate in demean, and 2 among the tenants and 2 acres of meadow, &c. valued at 40s. (fn. 1)
Odo, son of Robert, the cross-bowman, assumed, according to the custom of that age, the name of Warsted, from this his town and lordship; he held it of the abbot by one knight's fee, being the gift of King Canute to the abbey on his foundation of it. (fn. 2)
This Odo. and Robert his son, gave lands to the abbey, and the mill at Bordestede. He was father of Peter, whose son Philip held one fee in the 20th of Henry III.
Nicholas son of Philip de Wursted, gave to the abbot all his lands here by deed, dated in the 2d of Edward I. Henry being then abbot.
Richard de Worstede was also a son of Odo, and had by Margaret his wife, daughter of Robert de Manteby, Sir Robert de Worstede, who died sans issue.—This Sir Robert and Sir John de Worstede, were witnesses to a deed of confirmation, of Jeffrey, son of Bartholomew de Glanvile, to Bromholm priory.
The temporalities of the abbot in 1428, were 3l. 12s. ob. q. This came at the Dissolution, to the see of Norwich; and in the 3d and 4th of Philip and Mary, was farmed of the Bishop, at 41s. and 3d. per ann. by Bertram Themilthorp.
The prior of Pentney had a lordship, granted to that house by John de Worstede, containing a messuage, a carucate of land, a mill, 50s. rent, 10 acres of wood, with the whole pond of Worstede and Crowbeck, and the whole alder carr, regranted by Simon the prior, to John for life.
In the year 1328, the temporalities of this prory were valued at 8l. 10s. 4d.—On the Dissolution, May 22, in the 36th of Henry VIII. it was granted to John Spencer.
The prior also of Hempton had a manor, valued with a mill, &c. at 4l. 8s. 11d. which on the Dissolution was granted as above, to John Spencer. Leonard Spencer and Catherina his wife, sold both these lordships to Robert Paston, and Thomas Thimblethorp, with their appertenances in Sloley, Westwick, &c. on June 3, in the 8th of Elizabeth; and after they are said to be aliened to — Utber, and so to — Mitson.
Matthew de Gunton had a manor here which he granted to William, son of William de Stalham, on his marriage with Isabel his daughter, being 49s. 3d. rent. This came to Sir Jeffrey Wythe, by his marriage with the daughter and heir of Sir William Stalham.
In the 9th of Edward II. Nicholas de Salicibus or of the Willows, and Elen his wife, conveyed to Jeffrey Wythe, and Isabel his wife, the 5th part of 28 messuages, 114 acres of land, 5 of turbary, with 27s. and 8d. rent here, in Dilham and Smalburgh, settled on Isabel; and Wynesia, widow of Sir Oliver Wythe, released to William Dunning of this town, all her right of dower in this town, and Westwick.
After this it came to Sir William Calthorp, by the marriage of Amy, daughter and heir of Sir John Wythe, and was sold by Edward Calthorp, Esq. of Kirby Cane, December 8, in the 21st of Henry VIII. to Leonard Spencer of Blofield, Gent. for 40l. in hand paid, and 40 marks more on full assurance being made. John Spencer was lord in the 2d of Edward VI. and Leonard Spencer in 1572.
Erpingham and Gaines's manor in Irstede, held by John Gross, Esq. at his death in 1408, which he left to his widow Margaret, extended into this town. John Skarburgh, Gent. had a prœcipe to deliver it to Miles Bayspoole, Gent. in the first of James I.
Before this, in the 17th of Elizabeth, William Chytham conveyed it to William Tymberley. The Grosses were early enfeoffed of a lordship under the abbot of Holm. Reginald le Gross was lord in the reign of Henry III. and had a charter for a weekly mercate on Friday.
Sir Oliver de Ingham held here and in Ingham, a knight's fee of Robert de Tateshale, in the first of Edward I. This came afterwards by the heiress of Ingham to the Stapletons; and in the 2d of Richard II. Sir Roger Boys, &c. trustees, aliened to the prior of the Holy Trinity of Ingham, a messuage, with 84 acres of land, 3 of meadow, one of pasture, in Worstede and Scothow, by license.
Thomas Moore, &c. aliened to the said convent, in the 16th of that King, 8 messuages, 221 acres of land, 22 of meadow, 4 of moor, and the rent of 11s. 11d. per ann. in this town, Ingham, Walcot, &c. held of the honour of Eye.
In the 3d of Henry IV. the prior's manor, late Sir Oliver de Ingham's, was held of Sir Constantine Clifton, of the barony of Tateshale.
The prior of Bromholm had also a lordship. In the 3d of Henry IV. the heirs of William Smalburgh held here and in Barton, &c. half a fee of the prior, with William Sywardby, and they of the Earl of Suffolk, as part of the honour of Eye, in 1428. The temporalities of this monastery were 104s. 2d. ob.
After the Dissolution, on May 26, in the 6th year of Edward VI. it was granted to Henry Grey Duke of Suffolk.
William Gillet, son and heir of William, had a messuage, a garden, 100 acres of land, 6 of meadow, 20 of pasture, and 2 of wood, called Fenn's and Skitt's, in the 23d of Elizabeth. John Kempt aliened it September 1, in the 7th of King James I. to Edmund Themilthorpe.
Thomas Seive of Worsted, had land here by the marriage of Margarel, one of the daughters of Sir James de Ilketeshale, Knt. of Suffolk, in the reign of Henry VI. she dying about the 30th of that King, left 3 daughters and coheirs; Cecilia, married to John Ovy, who left his lands here by will, in 1472, to Thomas his son, &c. by Emme his wife. Jane, a daughter and coheir of Seive, married William Smith; and Margaret, the 3d, Thomas Jeffrey.
The tenths were 14l. 10s. ob. q Deducted 1l. 19s. 1d. ob.
The town is seated in a flat country, and has a weekly mercate on Saturday
Worsted stuffs are said to have taken that name from their being first manufactured here. I find them mentioned in the 2d year of Edward III. and the weavers and workers were then by parliament enjoined to work them up to a better assise than they had done; and an enquiry was to be made after the behaviour of Robert P - - - the alnager for these stuffs.
Many privileges were after granted to the workers of them, Ao. 1 Richard II. &c. the merchants came into England, as appears in the 37th of Edward III. to purchase them.
The Church is dedicated to St. Mary, has a nave, 2 isles, and a chancel covered with lead, and a square tower with 6 bells, and was a rectory in the patronage of the family of De Worstede.
Sir Robert de Worsted, son of Richard de Worstede, gave by deed, (fn. 3) sans date, to the priory of Norwich, the patronage of this church, about the beginning of the reign of King Henry III. to which Sir John de Wirstede, Bartholomew de Reedham, Eustace de Berningham, &c. were witnesses; and by another deed, he gave to them the chapel of St. Andrew, in this town: witnesses, Sir G. de Bocland, John de Wirstede, Jordan de Soukeville, then an itinerant justice in Norfolk, which was confirmed by Pandulf Bishop of Norwich.
He also gave them lands with certain villains, the abbot of Holm also confirmed it.
Sir Reginald le Gross quitclaimed all his right in the aforesaid church and chapel, to Simon the prior, and the convent of Norwich.
Thomas de Blundevile Bishop of Norwich, also confirmed to them the said church, to take place on the decease of John de Wurchestede, and Adam de Wurchestede, who then held it in 1226; and in 1256, on the 8th of the calends of August, a vicarage was settled on the appropriation of the said church to the monks of Norwich, when a manse or house was given to the vicar, with an acre of land, by the chapel of St. Andrew with all the altarage of the church, (except the tithes of the mills) and the rents of assise belonging to the said chapel, and the oblations thereof; but if the oblations and profits of the said chapel exceeded 5 marks, the remainder was to go to the prior and convent, and the vicar was to repair the said chapel, and to find all ornaments, &c.
The vicar was also to have tithe of flax, hemp, and all other small tithes, it was appropriated to the prior's table, and to the cellarer of the priory; but after this, in the first of April following, it was appropriated entirely to the prior's table, and the church of Hemlington in Norfolk, appropriated to him instead of this.
In the reign of Edward I. there belonged to the appropriated rectory, a house, with 27 acres and a rood of land, and the church was valued at 25 marks, the vicarage at 5l. Peter-pence, 12d. and the portion of Kerbrook preceptory was 3s.—The prior had also a manor, Edward I. in his 35th year granting him free warren.
Vicars.
1256, Warin de Festorton, instituted vicar, presented by the prior and convent of Norwich.
John occurs vicar in 1299.
1304, Edmund Johnes, vicar.
Peter de Reynham, vicar.
1346, William de Aldeby.
1353, Oliver de Wytton.
1355, Roger de Felthorp.
1357, John de Massingham.
1365, John de Kynneburle; in his time, Ao. 2d of Richard II. the chancel of this church was new built; the prior granted 13 oaks out of Plumsted wood, and timber also out of St. Leonard's wood; and the expenses in money were 24l. 4l. 4d.
1386, Edmund Martyn, vicar.
On the dissolution of the priory, the manor belonging to it, with the rectory, and the patronage of the vicarage, were granted to the dean and chapter of Norwich; and the vicarage is valued at 10l. per ann.
Mr. Henry Aldred, vicar.
In 1603, William Fleming, vicar, returned 296 communicants 1730.
1660, Edmund Wharton, (fn. 4) occurs vicar.
Mr. William Berney.
Richard Oram, by the dean and chapter of Norwich.
1762, Ephr. Megoe.
On a gravestone in the chancel,
Hic lapis in pannis Spicer tenet ossa Johannis Qui Quadringentesimo pius XL et iii - - - - Anno.
Hic jacet D'ns. Johs. Yop. quo'da' Rector. Ecclie de Boton.
¶Sir Robert Camownde, priest, was buried in 1482, in the chapel of St. John, of this church, and wills that all the said chapel be paved with marbyll stone, and to the gravestone of John Ovy, with his goods. (fn. 5) —Richard Watls buried in St. John Baptist's chapel 1509, and I will have a prest to sing and pray 6 years in the church except the Fryday in ev'ry week, in the chapel of St. Andrew of Worsted. Agnes Watts, his widow, buried in the said chapel, 1529, and benefactrix to the guilds of our Lady and St. Thomas, and to the repair of St. Andrew's chapel, and gives meadow land to find two lamps in the church for ever, if the King's laws will permit, otherwise to be sold and to buy cattle for that purpose.
Here was also St. John Baptist's guild. In the church were these arms; Gules, on a fess, argent, three flowers, azure, between three popinjays, borne by—prior of Norwich. Argent, a cross, sable, the priory arms. Calthorp and Stapleton.
www.british-history.ac.uk/topographical-hist-norfolk/vol1...
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As a measure of how civilised East Anglia is, it is a simple and cheap matter to explore the region by train and bicycle. There is a flat rate of nine pounds a day for unlimited travel between stations in Suffolk, Norfolk and East Cambridgeshire. You can take a bike on any train for a pound, although in reality conductors rarely charge for this service. This practice dates back to pre-privatisation days, and Anglia Railways and One Trains have continued to honour it, for which I am mightily grateful. The Suffolk and Norfolk Churches sites would not be so extensive without it.
I left Ipswich at twenty to eight. It was a thinly bright April morning, the sun without power beyond dazzling through the haze in the eastern sky. I was glad of my jacket, but also glad I had sun glasses with me - it was going to be a perfect day for a bike ride.
As the train plodded through Ipswich's monotonous northern suburbs, I examined the ordnance survey map. I flicked through Pevsner and Mortlock, as industrial units gave way to green fields, copses and the winding Gipping. Restless, I gazed out the window. A swan awoke on a lake near Needham Market, stretching itself and beating its wings into life. Crows raided a skip on rubble near the Stowmarket paint factory. Then we were really in the countryside, rushing headlong through the sleepy fields beyond Haughley and Mendelsham. Near Finningham, a large female deer cowered silently in the hedge, not ten metres from the track. A few minutes later, and a wise old hare huddled in a furrow, flat-eared, patient.
The train pulled into the gathering surprise of Norwich. I hauled my bike a couple of platforms over to the Sheringham line. Other people out for the day got on, including a couple dressed in vintage railway costumes. I assumed they were bound for the steam line at Sheringham. Again, the monotony of another city's suburbs petered out into agricultural business, this time in bright sunshine, and so it was that just after nine o'clock we arrived at Worstead station. I was the only person to get off. "See you later" called the conductor cheerily as I rode off of the platform into the lane, and of course he was right. There is only one train that shuttles back and forth along this line all day, and he was in charge of it.
I cycled from the station up into the village, a distance of about two miles. I didn't pass anyone, and here in the large village there was nobody about, just a fat cat lazily rolling in the village square. The sun was cutting the haze, the sky wide and blue. It was like being in France.
The church is absolutely enormous, and hemmed in a tight little graveyard. My resolution to take more distant shots went right out the window. Like Salle, and Southwold in Suffolk, St Mary was all built in one go, pretty much. This happened in the late 14th century. As at Salle, it is reflective of a large number of bequests from different people over a short period rather than anyone fabulously rich doing it on their own, and the money, of course, came from wool. Worstead is still the name of a fabric today.
I said it was pretty much built at one go, but there was still plenty of money about in the 15th century to raise the clerestory and install a hammerbeam roof. This seems to have been such an ambitious project that flying buttresses had to be installed on top of the aisles to hold the top of the nave up, an expedient measure that has left the building both interesting and beautiful.
Inside, I feared another Happisburgh, but it was gorgeous. Stepping out of the sunlight into the slight chill of a vast open space, I wandered around feasting on this stunningly lovely building.
As regular users of the sites will know, I don't always warm to big churches, but St Mary is so pretty inside that it is hard not to love it. This is partly helped by the removal of all pews and benches from the aisle. Those that remain in the body of the church are lovely 18th century box pews, quite out of keeping with the medieval nature of the rest of the building, but quirky and oddly delightful. The great tower arch is elegant, and is thrown into relief by the towering font cover. The ringing gallery under the tower is dated 1501, and is reminiscent of the one at Cawston. The tower screen below it takes the breath away, and you find yourself looking around to see where it could have come from. In fact, it is almost certainly a work of the Victorians, but it is pretty well perfect. The paintings in the dado are apparently copies of windows by Sir Joshua Reynolds at New College, Oxford.
Worstead is rightly famous for its screen, but this is more because of its height, elegance and completeness than it is its authenticity. The figures on the dado have been repainted so recklessly that it is rather hard to see who some of them were ever meant to be. As at Woolpit in Suffolk, the Victorians appear to have repainted them more with an eye to enthusiasm than accuracy. I stood there, fantasising, making up stories, until, alongside familiar figures like St Peter, St James and St Matthew, I had identified St Lassitude, the patron Saint of a quiet night in, depicted reading his book. Other Saints, identified by their symbols, include St Quirinus with his hamster, and St Obligamus with his golden pineapple. Or so it seemed to me.
Not much less odd are the two figures on the extreme right. The Victorians do not appear to have repainted them. The first shows a man holding three nails, and is probably St William of Norwich, more familiar from the screen at Loddon. The second shows a figure crucified, arms tied to the spans. This may be the infamous Uncumber, the bearded lady of early medieval mythology - she grew a beard to fend off unwanted suitors, although you can't help thinking there'd be a niche market for that kind of thing somewhere on the internet. Later, she was crucified, probably upside down. This figure is probably a woman, so nothing seems to fit better, although she isn't bearded as far as I could see. Situated on the extreme right, she is reflected by a crucified Christ as the Man of Sorrows on the extreme left.
Across the top rail, a dedicatory inscription winds, mysterious and beautiful.
Either side of the chancel arch and screen, the two aisle chapels are both in use, which is unusual and lovely. Both have small screens, each with just four figures. That on the north side is particularly lovely, and is where the blessed sacrament is reserved. The four figures are St Peter, St Bartholomew, St John the Baptist and St John the Divine. At least three of these are also on the rood screen, suggesting that either the images there are wholly Victorian, or these aisle screens came originally from elsewhere.
The south aisle chapel is simpler - it is here you enter the church through the priest door. The screen features another St Bartholomew, along with St Lawrence, St Philip and a Bishop.
St Mary is a building to wander around in, a place to enjoy for its great beauty rather than to interrogate for its medieval authenticity. As you turn corners, vistas open up; the view from the font to the south door, for example, or that back to the west from the chancel. All perfect, all stunning. The high church nature of the modern furnishings chimes perfectly with these architectural treats. And there are other significant medieval survivals - a fine brass of a Catholic priest, scraps of wall painting beside the chancel arch, and so on.
As at other churches in this benefice, the war memorial is complemented by photographs of all those commemorated. What a splendid idea, and what a labour of love. Also in common with other churches around here, St Mary has a second hand bookstall. As I explored the Worstead area, I found myself buying more and more of them, until by the time I got back to Ipswich station that evening, my rucksack was laden down with a dozen or more.
Simon Knott, April 2005
I have made this image to try to explain why image stacking is often necessary in astrophotography.
It shows two different exposures of the same area (around Alpha Delphini) cropped from the full frame.
You see the photos on the left, the upper one was 2.5 seconds exposure at ISO 3200 and the lower one was 40 seconds at the same sensitivity.
On the right are graphs of the brightness profile along the horizontal line through the brightest star (Alpha Del). I deliberately angled the photos so there are two fainter stars on the same line.
The graphs have 4 traces: one for each of the colour channels (RGB) and black would be the monochrome version (actually root sum of squares at each pixel).
The camera had 14 bits per channel, which means the (digitised) brightness in each colour at any pixel can only have values from 0 to 16383 (2 to the power 14 minus 1). So there is a limited range that can be represented and even for the short (2.5s) exposure the bright star is saturated: its peak would have gone above the maximum and so it is chopped off and set to 16383.
The lower part of every trace is for the background (sky) pixels and it is quite clear that even for the short exposure they are not zero. Furthermore the red trace is always higher than the green and blue ones, which is typical of pollution from street lamps.
On the longer exposure (lower photo) we can see that the background is really high, leaving little room between that and the maximum. Hence the reddish fogged photo and a smaller brightness range of stars can be discriminated.
So we have to keep individual exposures short enough to keep the background as near zero as possible and also to keep as many stars as possible from saturating.
When we do that though the level of the fainter stars is barely above that of the background and they tend to be lost in the fluctuations (noise) of the background.
Stacking helps (if the software does it right) by adding the pixels up in a memory area that allows a much greater range of brightness values before saturation.
When I started trying to do this, around 2001, there was nothing available that could cater for the large images from DSLR's, only for the much smaller images made by CCD cameras. So I started to write my own software, which I call GRIP (GR's Image Processor - I had worked in imaging software in the 1980's and 90's, which helped).
GRIP has an accumulator image in memory that has 32 bits per channel for every pixel, so brightnesses up to 2 to the power 32 can be represented before saturation would occur. (You would need to add more than 250000 14-bit exposures for any saturation to occur so, yes, it's overkill but convenient for programming.)
So if we accumulated 16 of the 2.5-second exposures the result would be similar to a 40-second exposure except that the profiles would not be chopped off at the top. The trick then is to read out the accumulator into a normal image through a look-up curve which takes the minimum of the background level down to true zero, stretches the contrast of the levels just above the background to make faint stars more visible, and takes the maximum actually occuring brightness (of the brightest star in the image, if none have saturated) to the maximum of the target image (which will have either 16 or 8 bits per channel).
NB: If intending to do photometry, to measure magnitudes of stars, the contrast must be kept linear. Also no stars involved in the measuring must have saturated.
(I have adapted this from a page of my own site, where there is more detail. See www.grelf.net/astro_exposure.html.)
St. Lawrence (Nuremberg)
Towers of St. Lorenz Church, view from the west
St. Lawrence is a Gothic church in Nuremberg. The Lorenz church was the parish church of the medieval settlement located south of Pegnitz core of the former free imperial city of Nuremberg and forms the urban counterpart to the older Church of St. Sebald in the northern area . Construction of the three-aisled basilica was in 1250, the late Gothic choir was completed in 1477. Patron of the church is the Holy Lorenz. The heavily damaged in World War II construction was built according to the old model again. Since the Reformation, the Lorenz church is next to the Church of St. Sebald one of the two major Protestant Churches of Nuremberg, both of which belong to the deanery of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Bavaria. The Lorenz Church Nuremberg city is the seat of the Dean and finds it in the traditionally held launch of the country's newly elected bishop.
Architectural History
Iron scale from the 15th Century on the west facade. The unit is six Nuremberg Shoe (equivalent to 6 × 27.84 cm = 167.04 cm)
The first mention of Lawrence 's Chapel in Nuremberg from the years 1235 and 1258, during an excavation in 1929 found that it was a small three-aisled basilica with the previous Romanesque. Parts of this building from the early 13th Century have been reused in the rising masonry.
The architectural history of the Lorenz church was always inspired by the model and the competition of the more important in the Middle Ages St. Sebald church. Construction of the three-aisled basilica is dated to about 1250 (St. Sebald ca. 1230/40). However, the exact series episode has yet to be determined. The dating of the sculpture of the west facade plays a supporting role, the workshop will also be seen in Nuremberg at the Tomb of Konrad Gross. The three-aisled basilica was completed around 1390th.
As early as 1400 but was extended (again, following the example of St. Sebald) the aisles by as much moved to their outside walls that is now located in the interior of the church buttresses forming small private chapels for the Council sexes. The last major phase of construction of the hall choir to the altar Deocarus fell in the years 1439-77 (The project is backed by inscriptions; hall choir of St. Sebald 1361-79).
The church was heavily damaged by the air raids in World War II and in the final battle for Nuremberg in April 1945 and has been rebuilt from 1949. Mainly the roof and the vault were destroyed. The roof has been completely redesigned, and the roof was built over the nave due to material shortages of steel. It had to be installed along 1.5 km pursuit and new vault keystones.
History
Lorenz Church, view from south
At least the predecessor of St. Lorenz church, mentioned in the first half of the 13th Century, the bambergischen upper parish in Fuerth was assumed, while St. Sebald originally belonged to Poppenreuth. St. Lawrence could never reach the significance of the sister church, the highlight of this development was in 1425 with the canonization of the public for the past two centuries revered local saint Sebald achieved by the Curia of the entire Middle Ages. St. Lawrence, patron of St. Lorenz church, did not offer the same ID space, especially since you did not have his body . This explains also the 15th Century growing devotion to the Holy Deocarus, confessor of Charles the Great, whose relics were kept in the Lorenz Church since 1316. On his 1436/37 donated altar was allowed, proven from the funds of Nuremberg citizens, establish the late-Gothic hall choir to the east of the church.
Not only for the construction of Hall Choir (1439-1477), but for the entire construction financed by wealthy citizens and the City Council is likely. The same is true for some very valuable assets, in some cases it is here a concrete founder of the patricians can be found ( as in the tabernacle, and the English greeting). This was probably also the reason that the art treasures of St. Lawrence were spared during the Reformation period of iconoclasm. St. Lawrence was one of the first churches in Germany, which were Lutheran (1525), but apparently they wanted to Nuremberg in the memory of the ancestors own honor and had therefore made by them donated sculptures.
In the subsequent history of the church, there are well-known personalities: That there was a preacher among others Andreas Osiander who in St. Lawrence worked - his picture hangs in the sacristy Lorenz .
Building design
The west facade is extremely rich articulated for a parish church, which reflects the high standards of the Nuremberg citizenship, which funded the building substantially. The facade is dominated by the two towers, the model can again to be found in St. Sebald and thus indirectly in the Bamberg Cathedral, the towering sharp Gewändeportal (embrasure portal), well-indented rose window with nine feet in diameter, and the finely perforated Maßwerkgiebel (tracery gable), elements in the form are borrowed and claim all the Gothic cathedrals.
The main building has the shape of a three-nave pillar basilica of eight yokes. In the nave pointed arches on clustered piers carry the nave wall, per yoke breaks through a pointed arch window, the clerestory wall. Presented service bundles to wear a ribbed vault, the ribs are pulled down to the level of the clerestory window sills. The peculiarity of the side aisles is much lower in small family bands, caused by the displacement of the outer walls to the outer edge of the buttress.
The late Gothic hall choir, mirror of the architectural fashion of his time, is seamlessly connected to the main ship. It is distinguished above all by its playful vaulting and the magnificent two-story window tracery in handling. On the south side of a two-storey is inserted the sacristy.
Dimensions of the church nave aisle hall choir
Length: 91.20 m Height: 24.20 m Height: 11.50 m Height: 24.20 m
Width: 30,00 m Beam : 10,40 m Width : 5,90 m Width: 28,60 m
The towers are 80.8 m and 81 m high.
Artworks
Nuremberg, St. Lawrence, north side, angle of nave and transept house: entrance hall with Olives
Tabernacle by Adam Kraft
Annunciation (1517/18) by Veit Stoss
Not all the moving pieces on the rich furnishings are originally from St. Lawrence. Many of the cultural heritage came from secular or destroyed monasteries of Nuremberg and the surrounding area.
Particularly noteworthy are two masterpieces of late Gothic sculpture belonging to the original design of the church: The brainchild of Adam Kraft 1493-1496 tabernacle (donated by Hans Imhoff the Elder.), a 18.70 meter high sandstone tabernacle, consisting of a walk-handling stage and a consequent growing up, pointed, but towards the ceiling rolled spire, which is diverse finely broken. The structure is supported by the back of three crouching figures in three different ages whose mean, equipped with stone tool, probably represents the artist himself. Above the actual Sakramentsschränkchens (small sacrament cabinet) various scenes of Christ's Passion are presented. Despite its delicate shape and the severe damage to the Lorenz Church by bombing in the Second World War, the tabernacle was largely spared from destruction by a surrounding wall.
Another brilliant performance of late Gothic art is hung in the choir German greeting (also: Annunciation in the Rosary), which was 1517/18 given by the patrician Anton Tucher at the sculptor Veit Stoss in order. It shows on the big man, colorful framed and gilded largely linden wood figures of Mary and Gabriel at the Annunciation, surrounded by a wreath of gold roses 55 (372 × 320 cm). Perched above the scene of the blessing God the Father, for the minds of the protagonists buzz musical angels, at the bottom there is a snake with bitten into apple in its mouth. Seven medallions show the seven joys of Mary. Due to a crash on the 2nd April 1817 almost completely destroyed the English greeting had to be carefully restored. Belonging to the twelve angels candlesticks on the choir stalls and the central upstream Marie chandelier.
As one of the few dated altarpieces are the Deocarusaltar of 1436/1437 for the history of the Nuremberg painting and Bilderschnitzerei (sculpture) of great importance. From 1316 to the 19th Century housed the Lorenz Church in Deocarusaltar Deocarus relics of saints, the legendary founder and first abbot of the city Herrieden. Predellenflügel (predella wing) on the right shows how Ludwig the Bavarian city of Nuremberg is about the relics of the saint.
In the right aisle is the Rochus-Altar, a foundation of the Nuremberg trade Imhoff family. When the Altarbau (construction of the altar) started, can not be ascertained clearly, probably around 1485, when the plague was raging in Nuremberg and each solution was welcome. In Venice, the dealer Imhoff family knew very well from Peter Imhoff the Elder managed in Venice from 1465 to 1476 the benefice for the altar of St. Sebald in the church of San Bartolomeo at the Rialto Bridge, which was the altar of German merchants, and is the year he was appointed consul of the Germans in fondaco dei Tedeschi. 1499th Francis Imhoff was a member of the Fraternity of Saint Roch in Venice and knew the local customs very well. And also the success of this saint cult. So it made sense for the Imhoff to make Rochus also known at home in Nuremberg. In the plague year 1484 was celebrated on 16 August in the Lorenz Church in Nuremberg the feast of Saint Roch, a little later probably Imhoff began building the altar. The altar Rochus includes not only the image of Rochus but also of Sebastian, the other plague saint, and is one of the most distinctive sign of early dissemination of the cult of Roch from Venice north of the Alps, before the 1500s. In the lower part you can see the coat of arms of the Imhoff and the Holzschuher, another Nuremberg family.
Numerous altars with paintings and carvings, sculptures in wood and stone, stained glass, some wall paintings, bells, epitaphs, dead shields and a choir from the late 15th Century complete the picture. Also mounted on the exterior are numerous sculptures, some are copies.
Bell
Tagmessglocke (a bell to call the churchgoers or monks)
Laurentia (prayer bell)
The bells of St. Lorenz church consists of 16 bells läutbaren (ringable) and thus representIing the second largest peal of a Protestant church in Germany. It consists of the main elfstimmigen (in eleven voices) bells (1-11 ) and the Cymbelgeläut (cymbeline ringing) ( 12-16). The fire bell is restored as a memorial to the two world wars on the west portal. The old silver bell hangs in the east choir and can be rung from there by cable, but it does not belong to the regular ringing bells ringing but only occasionally to Mittagslob (pray of noonday) on Krell altar. All the bells hang in a wooden belfries of wooden yokes. Due to static problems were in the course of a reorganization almost all the bells upper weights placed on the yoke to slow the Läuterhythmus (rhythm of ringing).
1 bell Christ Friedrich Wilhelm Schilling 1953 1815 4407 -4 h0 North Tower
2 Tagmessglocke 1552 Hans (III ) Glockengieser 1490 2006 d1 -1 North Tower
3 Laurentia ( prayer bell ) 1409 1608 2600 Hainrich Grunwalt e1 -1 south tower
4 dead memorial bell Friedrich Wilhelm Schilling 1953 1180 1153 fis1 ± 0 South Tower
5 Garausglocke ~ 1400 ( Hermann Kessler ) 1040 ~ 700 g # 1 +2 South Tower
6 Paul Bell 1953 988 668 Friedrich Wilhelm Schilling a1 -1 south tower
7 Luther Bell in 1953 Friedrich Wilhelm Schilling h1 +1 885 480 South Tower - octagon
8 Osianderglocke 1953 Friedrich Wilhelm Schilling 802 377 d2 ± 0 - south tower octagon
9 Lazarus Spengler bell Friedrich Wilhelm Schilling 1953 705 253 -1 South Tower e2 - octagon
10 Youth With Bell 1953 Friedrich Wilhelm Schilling fis2 630 185 -1 South Tower - octagon
11 Silver Bell 1960 Friedrich Wilhelm Schilling 39 389 d3 +6 silver turrets ( Westgebiel )
I Laudate 1954 Friedrich Wilhelm Schilling 505 90 a2 +4 North Tower octagon
Magnificat II 1954 Friedrich Wilhelm Schilling 454 h2 64 +5 North Tower octagon
Bendedictus 1954 Frederick William III Shilling sharp3 +5 410 39 North Tower octagon
Nunc Dimittis in 1954 Frederick William IV Shilling 355 35 e3 +5 North Tower octagon
V Adorate 1954 Friedrich Wilhelm Schilling 325 28 +4 fis3 North Tower octagon
- Old silver bell 2 H. 14 Century ( Hermann Kessler ) 375 d3 +6 ~ 30 east chancel
- Fire bell 1 H. 14 Century ( Hermann Kessler ) 1504 2637 e1 +0.5 parked at the west portal
Läuteordnung
Like other churches, too, St. Lorenz Church has a fixed Läuteordnung (regime of ringing) that lets the bells ring out both on a regular basis as well as on special occasions. At 8 am and in the evening by 21 clock rings the Tagmessglocke, the beep for lunch ringing by 12 clock to Laurentia, which was in 2009 600 years, the Garausläuten (burn out ringing) done with the Garausglocke depending on the sunset 16 to 20 clock. Fridays by 15 clock reminds the great bell at the crucifixion of Jesus Christ on Good Friday. Our Father in all worship the Paul Bell is rung. Saturday is by 14 clock of Sunday, heralded by the ringing of the bells 8, 7 , 6, 4 and 2 ( d2 h1 -a1 -d1 - f k1 ), which does not change over the church year. Depending on the form of worship, church festival degrees and years vary the number and/or the musical compositions (motives ) of the bells.
de.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Lorenz_(N%C3%BCrnberg)
Social Bookmarking is a really simple tool that can offer your Extension audience a great deal of value. It's also a great place to get started with eExtension.
Explain to your school friends why your shorts have elastic in the legs.
At my third infant school, my summer shorts were of this design, similar to ordinary school shorts, but waterproof, in class I was not the only one that had this design, and like the others avoided been teased after a minor accident.
One of the old B&W photos now re-colourised automatically.
Allison Schapker, Director of Design & Sustainability for Trinityworks, explains The Sustainability Treehouse to Jed Prickett, 10, Tenderfoot Scout, National Capital Area Council, and Glenn Prickett, Chief External Affairs Officer, Nature Conservancy, National Capital Area Council, at the 2013 National Scout Jamboree in New Hope, WV. (BSA photo by Edward Bronson)
Washington, D.C. civil liberties attorney David Rein (right) explains the court martial verdict to defendant Roger Priest’s parents April 27, 1970 at the Washington Navy Yard in a case that stemmed from Priest’s publication of an alternative GI newsletter.
From left to right: stepmother Dorothy Priest; father Roger A. Priest, mother Pauline Priest and Rein.
Priest received probably the lowest penalty short of not guilty when he was convicted of two minor charges, given reprimand, reduction in rank and a bad conduct discharge for his newsletter activities.
Priest worked in the Navy’s Office of Information at the Pentagon when he published his mimeographed alternative GI newsletter and faced charges of up to six years hard labor, forfeiture of pay and grade and a dishonorable discharge.
OM had a print run of 1000 and featured anti-Vietnam War articles and information as well as acting as a “gripe” forum for armed service members.
The court martial at the Washington Navy Yard included charges of soliciting fellow soldiers to desert, urging insubordination and making statements disloyal to the United States
The Navy charges were all based around the issue of free speech in the military and would become nationally publicized at a time when GIs were increasingly resisting the Vietnam War, including refusal of orders to go to Vietnam and refusal of orders to fight for those who shipped out.
Upon appeal, the conviction was reversed and he was granted an honorable discharge.
The following excerpts of Roger Priest’s anti-Vietnam War activities and subsequent court martial are from “His crime was speech” by Dale M. Brumfield posted on the Lessons from History site:
The Defense Department reported that in 1970, almost 245 underground presses published at least one anti-Vietnam edition on America’s military bases.
But it was one fearless sailor working inside the Pentagon, Journalist Seaman Apprentice Roger L. Priest, that pushed hardest against military boundaries and caused the Defense Department the biggest headaches.
Roger Priest entered the Navy in October 1967 and was transferred to the Pentagon’s office of Navy Information in January 1968.
“I was anti-Vietnam before I got into the service,” Priest told Washington Post writer Nicholas von Hoffman. “I thought I could live this lie … and I’m not even killing, I’m just shuffling papers.”
Throughout 1968, Priest became more disgusted with America’s role in Southeast Asia, leading him to create the only underground paper published by someone who actually worked inside the Pentagon. It was published on his own time and with his own funds and was one of the few such papers to use the creator’s real name instead of a pseudonym.
“How many more women and children must be burned before the people of the United States realize the horrendous crime they are committing against a peasant people?” he wrote in his paper he called OM — the Servicemen’s Newsletter before later changing it to Om — the Liberation Newsletter.
1,000 copies of the first mimeographed issue of OM appeared on April 1, 1969. The next morning, within 90 minutes of arriving at his desk, he was abruptly reassigned to the Navy and Marines Exhibit Center at the Washington Navy Yard. “I don’t care if they send me to the North Pole,” Priest told the Washington Post, “I’ll write my stuff on ice cubes if I have to.”
Exercising his First Amendment rights while knowing full well he was placing himself in the U.S. Navy’s crosshairs, Priest published a second edition of OM on May 1, then a third one on June 1, each with a press run of 1,000 copies.
Priest also raised the ire of the Navy when he made an antiwar group the beneficiary of his service life insurance and urged other soldiers to do the same. In his case, if he was killed by the Viet Cong in Southeast Asia, the War Resistor’s League would receive his $10,000 payout.
OM was unapologetically blunt. “Today’s Pigs are tomorrow’s bacon” stated one headline in issue two that described Joint Chiefs Chairman General Earl Wheeler. OM called Secretary of Defense Melvin Laird “People’s enemy no. 1” and “a practicing prostitute and a pimp.”
Other statements appearing in the paper that crossed the Navy included “Our goal is liberation … by any means necessary,” and “Shoot a pig!” A headline in another issue read “Be Free Go Canada,” then listed the addresses of groups in Canada aiding military deserters. The article also explained that “landed immigrant status” was available in Canada to deserters.
On June 12, 1969 Priest was interrogated about OM by the Office of Naval Intelligence (ONI). Three days later, fourteen official charges were lodged against him, including soliciting fellow soldiers to desert, urging insubordination, making statements disloyal to the United States, using “contemptuous words” against South Carolina Representative L. Mendel Rivers, and worse, not stating in the paper that his statements were his own opinions, and not those of the U.S. Navy.
Von Hoffmann wrote on June 25, 1969, that Priest was accused of “everything that’s happened to the Navy except perhaps stealing the [U.S.S.] Pueblo.” Priest also noticed at this time that he was being followed around by civilians in Ford Fairlanes and Plymouth Valiants.
“… This whole thing hinges on free speech, freedom of the press,” Priest told von Hoffman. “They’re not talking about my military behavior … they’re talking about what I do on my own free time, outside of the Navy, in my own apartment … in other words my rights as an American citizen.”
In July, Priest published a special “Best & Worst” issue of OM in conjunction with a defense fund called LINK, “The Servicemen’s Link to Peace.” On July 21, Priest — holding a sign that read “My crime is speech” — led a demonstration of about 100 people in front of the National Archives building. The next day an article 32 pre-court martial investigation convened at the Naval Air Station in Anacostia.
Just over 100 members of the Navy Ceremonial Guard armed with M-1 rifles, live ammo and gas masks stood watch as Navy aviator Commander Norman Mills conducted the proceedings. Priest was represented pro-Bono by Washington Attorney David Rein.
“If I can be put away for a number of years in prison for the mere writing of words — an act so basic to the founding of this country that it finds its basis in the First Amendment of the Constitution — then my crime is speech,” Priest said in his opening statement. “But let me tell you this: OM will go on, for others will take up the pen where I leave off.”
During this trial, the prosecution admitted that approximately 25 naval intelligence agents were assigned to follow and harass Priest (hence the Fairlanes and Valiants). Furthermore, when a letter found in Priest’s trash was introduced as evidence, ONI special agent Robert Howard testified that the Washington DC department of sanitation provided a truck exclusively for trash pickup at Priest’s apartment building.
Attorney Rein said that this activity alone “brought more discredit on the armed services than anything Roger Priest has done.”
A furious DC Mayor Walter Washington promised a “full and complete investigation” of the sanitation department when director, William Roeder was quoted as saying “If the police ask us to do this, we cooperate with them.” He later denied making the statement.
“City Denies Trash Spying” trumpeted the Washington Post in embarrassing contradiction to the testimony of ONI Agent Howard.
Despite the disorganization of the proceedings, Priest was ordered to appear before a general court-martial on charges that he solicited members of the military to desert and commit sedition, and that he published statements “urging insubordination, disloyalty, and refusal of duty by members of the military and naval forces with intent to impair loyalty, morale and discipline.”
The combined charges carried a maximum sentence of 39 years in prison and a dishonorable discharge.
During this time Priest kept a low profile at his Navy job, obeying orders and being careful to not break a single regulation. His strategy was to force the Navy to court-martial him only for OM’s contents, which he created on his own time, and not on some extraneous charge that disguised the political nature of his battle.
Not to be held down, Priest published “The Court-Martial Edition” of OM in October 1969.
In it, OM bestowed the “Green Weenie” award to the “25+” people “assigned to gather information, interrogate, follow and harass” him.
“ONI left no stone unturned or garbage can unmolested, nor did they mind to stoop to entrapment in trying to deny the constitutional rights of free speech and free press to Seaman Roger Priest,” OM declared.
By April, Priest had become a hero to other like-minded servicemen across the country. LINK Director Carl Rogers estimated his organization spent over $17,000 in buttons, posters, postage and travel expenses for Priest’s speaking engagements.
“No group like ours,” Rogers warned, “can begin to counter the resources and the manpower of the Pentagon … to harass and oppress dissenters.” Rogers also reported, however, that the court-martial had backfired on the Pentagon, resulting in about 10,000 reprints of OM (far more than the original press run of 1,000) and 10,000 “OM” buttons distributed in a little over two months.
Priest gained support from the infamous Chicago 7 — Abbie Hoffman, Jerry Rubin, David Dellinger, Tom Hayden, Rennie Davis, John Froines, and Lee Weiner
Priest also gained an unlikely ally when New York Senator Charles Goodell issued a statement September 5 that said in part, “When Roger Priest enlisted in the Navy, he accepted certain well-defined responsibilities as a soldier. He did not, however, forfeit his constitutional rights as a citizen of the United States.”
The court-martial board convicted Priest only on two minor counts of promoting “disloyalty and disaffection among members of the armed forces.” They recommended Priest be reprimanded, reduced to the lowest pay grade and receive a bad conduct discharge, but no jail time.
Thrilled with the outcome, Attorney Rein said he would nonetheless appeal the bad conduct discharge.
On February 11, 1971, a panel of Navy appeals judges reversed that conviction and awarded Priest an honorable discharge, citing the grounds of reversal on a “technical error” by Judge Raymond Perkins where he failed to explain to the court-martial that disloyalty to the Navy or a superior officer was not the same as disloyalty to the United States.
Also, upon review of the case, the reprimand was dropped by Rear Admiral George Koch, commandant of the Washington Naval District.
Priest’s case presented a conundrum regarding military dissent: How does a country impress young men into the army to fight a war they ideologically oppose or even outright despise? Are men so profoundly disaffected reliable soldiers?
An anonymous columnist proposed a somewhat cynical solution off-record to von Hoffman: “You can’t fight imperialist wars [anymore] with conscript armies. You have to use mercenaries.”
For more information and related images, see flic.kr/s/aHsmLuExUi
Photo by Ray Lustig. The image is courtesy of the D.C. Public Library Washington Star Collection © Washington Post.
Displayed and explained at the Bishop Museum of Science & Nature, Bradenton. My wife has long been an ardent shell collector, with Sanibel Island’s beaches being a good source of material that she has incorporated into art work.
I'm not sure how to explain this.
It's been a rough couple of weeks. I mean, I deal with stress well. It's gotten me to where I am now, and I'll likely have to endure much more down the line. That's okay.
But.. after a while, when you develop a fantastic tolerance for self-denial, a part of you withers away behind your back. It happens when I realize I have no idea what I "want," in the grand scheme of things, when I get really caught up with schoolwork.
The toughest is when it seems like I can't feel anything anymore. Just completely disconnected from things that normally makes someone sad or happy. I plod along, hoping it'll somehow work itself out in the end.
This is not entirely surprising, since self-denial has always been a point of pride in our family. I was weaned on stories of family friends who've worked the hardest, put up with the most shit, and somehow succeeded in spite of all that adversity. Abstention from worldly pleasures is a badge of honor.
I wish I could step back and reconsider some choices, without feeling like I'm chickening out.
Diagram showing the different elements of the Jabulani ball, learn about the technology behind this ball here - www.shine2010.co.za/Community/blogs/goodnews/archive/2009...
"The Power of WOMM Workshop" (Word of Mouth Marketing) held at LMC conference in Orlando 2011. Facilitated by Craig Flynn & Brian Bunt, it included some WOMM case studies & concepts as well as group participation in the "5 T's workshop" based on Andy Sernovitz's work (see: www.gaspedal.com). The lecture & workshop were an extension of The Empty Bin (www.theemptybin.com) a marketing and WOMM source for pro lumberyards, the building community, and anyone with an interest in WOMM.