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YRP Constable Plunkett and his son’s grave always brings a tear to my eyes despite the fact that I never met him. YRP Chris Barratt, is currently the National Canadian President of the International Police Association (IPA) knew him and had high regard for him. We honour the man and his service.
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Torstar: A routine police surveillance operation on the trail of thieves stealing cars and airbags ended in tragedy yesterday when a veteran York Regional Police officer was dragged to his death while trying to arrest a suspect on a quiet residential street in Markham.
York Regional Police Chief Armand La Barge called Const. Rob Plunkett, 43, a "true hero" and said his death marks a dark day for the small GTA force that last lost an officer in the line of duty in 1984.
One man has been charged with manslaughter, the other with theft-related offences.
Both accused were on bail for other charges.
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The drama unfolded just before dawn yesterday after investigators had followed a white Honda Civic, registered to a home in Ajax, and a gold Honda, which was stolen but not yet reported as such, from an address in Toronto to Ascot Cres., a winding, tree-lined street not far from Steeles Ave. and Kennedy Rd.
There has been a rash of airbag thefts across York Region, particularly in Markham.
Since January, there have been 43 incidents of airbag thefts and investigators had zeroed in on a couple of suspects.
The undercover officers watched the two cars pull over to the side of Ascot Cres., just around a bend, and saw the driver of the gold Honda attempt to remove an airbag. It was just after 5 a.m. when Plunkett approached the open driver's side, said La Barge.
"As Const. Plunkett attempted to arrest the suspect, the suspect put the vehicle into reverse, and accelerated over a curb, across a lawn and over several shrubs," he said.
Plunkett was then pinned by the open door as it struck a tree on the front lawn of 65 Ascot Cres. As the suspect tried to drive away, the officer was dragged onto a nearby lawn and thrown from the car.
The suspect continued to reverse across the lawn, "at which time assisting officers rammed the vehicle to stop its progress," said La Barge. The suspect fled the car but was quickly arrested.
The second suspect was also arrested trying to flee.
Police said they didn't know why the suspects chose Ascot, except at that time of day it is still dark and there are no surveillance cameras in the immediate area.
Kuo Wan Liu was awake inside his Ascot Cres. home. "There was a big bang noise once, and then a second one," Liu said. "It was not normal. Ascot Crescent is very quiet."
Soon after, a group of people outside were yelling, "`Bleeding! Bleeding! Bleeding!' Very loud," he said.
It's unclear how many officers were at the scene when Plunkett moved in. La Barge said other officers were in the area and responding when Plunkett moved in to make the arrest.
The 22-year veteran had identified himself as a police officer, but detectives will look at what he was wearing and what identification he had, said homicide Det. Kevin Torrie.
Plunkett, married and the father of a daughter, 18, and sons 16 and 14, was rushed to Scarborough Grace Hospital, where he died.
Nadeem Jiwah, 19, has been charged with manslaughter. He was on a recognizance order to live at Hawkeshead Cres.
Baseer Yousafzai, 23, is facing various charges of theft and mischief. He is a landed immigrant from Afghanistan. They're scheduled to make a court appearance in Newmarket today.
A charge of first-degree murder requires evidence of planning and specific intent, second-degree murder covers a "spur of the moment" decision to kill with no planning, and a manslaughter charge can be laid when someone commits an unlawful act that results in someone's death, criminal lawyer Andrew McKay explained.
www.sunnewsnetwork.ca/sunnews/straighttalk/archives/2012/...
TORONTO -- At last, the family of York Regional Police Det. Const. Rob Plunkett can begin to heal.
Nadeem Jiwa, the airbag thief convicted of manslaughter in Plunkett's death, has lost an appeal of his sentence and must do the dozen years behind bars he was given in 2011. No more excuses, no more stalling, no more whining. He must do his time.
For Amanda Plunkett, the good news came a day after a grim anniversary - Aug. 7 marked five years since her vibrant father was senselessly killed in the line of duty. From that day of horror, there have been so many difficult stages for the family to endure - Jiwa's preliminary hearing, the trial, a shocking verdict that came back not as murder but manslaughter, and then news that still not satisfied, he was appealing his sentence.
But now, finally, an end.
"It's been hanging over our heads," explained Plunkett's 22-year-old daughter, who is working this summer as an assistant youth probation officer. "We've been waiting for this decision and we can all rest easy now. We're relieved that this last little thing is over now. It's that last bit. There's nothing more he can do."
In a judgment released Wednesday, the Ontario Court of Appeal found Justice Michelle Fuerst's sentence was on the "very high end" for a youthful, first-time offender, but contrary to what his lawyers had argued, it was not demonstrably unfit.
"Police officers carry out an essential and responsible role in society," wrote Justice Eileen Gillese on behalf of a three-judge panel, quoting an earlier decision. "When a police officer is killed in the execution of duty, the community is understandably outraged. In imposing sentence, it is appropriate to reflect society's revulsion for this aspect of the offence."
In the early morning hours of that August day in 2007, 19-year-old Jiwa was on bail facing airbag theft charges and was out well past the 1 a.m. curfew when he was supposed to be tucked in at his mother's home. Instead, he was out with a friend in a Markham, Ont., neighbourhood, stealing a car and valuable airbags. Plunkett , 43, was part of an undercover surveillance unit watching Jiwa and his partner when they were given the order just before 5 a.m. to move in and make the arrests.
With the cops screaming, "Police, police," his partner in crime quickly surrendered, Not Jiwa. He jumped into his stolen gold Honda and threw it into reverse, crushing Plunkett against a tree. And even as the father of three lay collapsed on the ground, the thief kept on reversing. When his car was finally rammed to a stop, Jiwa tried to take off on foot.
He later insisted at his trial that hitting Plunkett had been an accident and he didn't know he was a police officer trying to arrest him.
Charged with first-degree murder, Jiwa was convicted by a jury of the lesser offence of manslaughter in 2011 and sentenced to 12 years in prison and a 10-year driving ban when he's released. In May, Jiwa's lawyers went to the appeal court to argue the sentence was too harsh for a first-offender with genuine remorse.
The learned judges disagreed.
"This was a very serious crime," wrote Justice Sarah Pepall. "Detective Plunkett was killed in the line of duty. His family and colleagues have been devastated by his death. I recognize that Mr. Jiwa was only 19 years of age at the time of the offence, had no previous record, showed some remorse and the killing was involuntary. Nonetheless, the offence was committed while he was on bail for pending air bag theft charges; he was driving a stolen vehicle having spent several hours stealing air bags; and he was in violation of his curfew."
The top court's decision was applauded by John Miskiw, Plunkett's friend and head of the York police association. "Sonja Plunkett and her children deserve some closure to the court process."
But, of course, 12 years doesn't mean 12 years at all and the family will soon have the parole system to confront: Given two-for-one credit for the almost four years he spent in custody, Jiwa has only three years left on his sentence. www.flickr.com/photos/21728045@N08/42927256632/in/photoli...
Who Was Constable Robert Plunkett?
BY NEWS STAFFPOSTED AUG 2, 2007 12:00 PM EDT
He was both an officer and gentleman. The loss of Constable Robert Plunkett in a tragic takedown Thursday morning isn’t affecting just the members of his family and his colleagues on the force. Plunkett is being remembered as one of the true good guys by those who knew him and those who lived near him. He lost his life while trying to affect an arrest around 5am in a quiet Markham neighbourhood.
Plunkett was a 22-year veteran of the York Regional Police. He joined in 1985 and at the time of his death was a long standing member of the Special Services Unit within the Intelligence Bureau. What do they do that might have put him in the figurative line of fire? “They support our criminal investigators in the field,” Dep. Chief Bruce Herridge explains.
But he was more than just a man in uniform. For eight years he served with the Emergency Response Unit and in1998 he was recognized for bravery after rescuing a senior from drowning.
While he was a prolific presence behind the badge, off duty Plunkett commanded just as much respect. He’d been involved with the Special Olympics for years (top left), and even chaired the event in 2000. He was a tireless fundraiser for the event that helps the disabled compete in sporting challenges they might otherwise never get a chance to participate in. “Payment in our hard work comes at special moments, the look of joy and happiness on their faces,” he commented during one recent gathering.
But there’s no joy on any faces now. “There’s going to be an enormous sense of loss,” confirms Glen MacDonell of the Ontario Special Olympics. “He volunteers all over Canada and the world, really. He had an innate ability to make people feel good around him. We are very, very sad about this.”
Neighbours are already feeling his absence. Even normally stoic teenagers are breaking down at the thought they won’t be seeing Plunkett again. “He gave us everything he had and now he’s gone,” Brian Hughes relates, a tear streaming down his cheek. “There’s never anything you couldn’t like about him. Now he’s dead.”
His wife and three teenage children are pleading for privacy as they attempt to process the enormity of their loss. Robert Plunkett was just 43 years old.
Him:
[LaVian&Co.] Homme-Night Fever Outfit
CS Design-Claf Ankle Boots-Black
Her:
Larry Jeans- Dollarbie Pack Low Ultra Rise Ripped-Grey
::GB::(Gabriel)- Fur High Neck Sweater-Brown
GeMyles-Adele Tartan High Heel SLinks
Taken @ Duet
Phototool: Places-District 8
Ok, I sure wish this was sharper, but loved the ballet type position of this heron. I was standing on a bridge scanning the creek for him when off he went.
Harrow.
Explorer Major Thomas Mitchell and his party crossed the Glenelg River at the site of this town on 31st July 1836. The town has two memorials to him – a small pathetic one in the town and an impressive stone one about 3 kms outside of the town. The town emerged at a good crossing point on the Glenelg River and the district was originally known as Upper Glenelg. The pastoral lease estates were generally taken up in the early to mid-1840s and a bush inn was established here in the 1840s.The oldest pastoral lease property was Koot Norien taken out in 1840. Mail could be sent to residents there by 1849 but the town itself was not surveyed until 1852 one year after Apsley near Naracoorte had been surveyed. So Harrow is the second old town in the Western Districts of Victoria. The town was named after Harrow in England and a police outpost was established here in 1853. The town grew very slowly but the prosperous large pastoral estates were well established including heritage listed structures on properties:- such as the Clunie woolshed, Pine Hills homestead 1858, Kout Norien homestead 1855 and Kout Norien woolshed 1848. Mullagh Station was established in 1844 by Patrick Riley and Thomas Barrett and as was usual for the times Aboriginal workers on the station adopted the name Mullagh including one who served in the famous all Aboriginal cricket team that went to England to play the English in 1868 – Johnny Mullagh. There is a memorial to him in the town and the town museum focusses on him and that amazing first overseas Australian sporting event some 14 years before the first Ashes matches in England. It is the Harrow Discovery Centre and the Johnny Mullagh Interpretive Centre.
Much of the history of Harrow can be seen in the buildings. On the way into the town is Gardner Park with remains of a thick stone stable wall built in the 1850s for Cobb and Co coaches. Above it is the charming wooden Kalan Cottage built much later in 1876 and only relocated to Gardner Park in recent years. Next to the wall is a rare surviving example of a 14 log high lockup or jail erected in the town around 1859. The first police presence in Harrow began in 1853. The lockup used locally available materials. Next to the park is the former Presbyterian Church built in red bricks in 1869. It is now the Uniting Church. It replaced an earlier 1860 built church on this spot then. Further along is the quite modern Anglican Church. All these major buildings were built up the hill and away from possible flooding of the Glenelg River. It was only built in 1933 and is just 87 years old. At the foot of the church a disused street has been used to display the local sense of humour with Harrow Bone Yard. It is not a real cemetery despite the headstones! In amongst the historic cottages in the main street is the Hermitage hotel on the right and the former Commercial Banking Company of Sydney on the left. It was built around 1880. The old pub on the right was built either in 1848 or 1854. It was renovated in the 1890s! Opposite it is the modern Discovery and Interpretive Centre. Right next door to that is the former Road Construction Authority Offices built in fine local stone in 1868. It later became the Kowree Shire Council Offices building (1872 to 1887) and is now the home of the local historical society. Further along the street on the left is the old wooden Post Office built in 1885 but the first postal services to Harrow began in 1849. Next to it on the left is the old wooden Courthouse built in 1877. It is now the RSL Club rooms. Thus you can see that despite being surveyed in 1852 most development of Harrow occurred after 1868.
Further along the main street past some quaint and charming cottages is Kolmar House built as a general store and food store in 1881 for Rosenthal brothers. From this point onwards the cottages thin out but then some magnificent post and rail fencing along the edge of the town oval begins. At the end of the oval is the modern memorial to Johnny Mullagh in the Johnny Mullagh Memorial Park and across the river from this spot is the Catholic Church built around 1900. Town dwellers obviously crossed the Glenelg River to reach it as the route by road is a couple of kilometres long. Despite the wealthy pastoral and grazing properties around the town is has always been a small service centre. It once had a flourmill and a saddler etc but it has seldom had more than 300 people living in it.
Padmasambhava (lit. "Lotus-Born"), also known as Guru Rinpoche, was an 8th century Indian Buddhist master. Although there was a historical Padmasambhava, nothing is known of him apart from helping the construction of the first Buddhist monastery in Tibet at Samye, at the behest of Trisong Detsen, and shortly thereafter leaving Tibet due to court intrigues.
A number of legends have grown around Padmasambhava's life and deeds, and he is widely venerated as a 'second Buddha' across Tibet, Nepal, Bhutan, and the Himalayan states of India.
In Tibetan Buddhism, he is a character of a genera of literature called terma, an emanation of Amitābha that is said to appear to tertöns in visionary encounters and a focus of guru yoga practice, particularly in the Rimé schools. The Nyingma school considers Padmasambhava to be a founder of their tradition.
MYTHOS
SOURCES
Nyangrel Nyima Özer (1136-1204) was the principal architect of the Padmasambhava mythos according to Janet Gyatso. Guru Chöwang (1212–1270) was the next major contributor to the mythos. Padmasambhava's Namtar (biography) is Zanglingma (Jeweled Rosary) revealed by Nyang Ral Nyima Özer and is in the Rinchen Terdzö terma collection.
In the eleventh and twelfth centuries there were several competing terma traditions surrounding Padmasambhava, but also for example Vimalamitra, Songtsän Gampo, and Vairotsana. At the end of the 12th century, there was the "victory of the Padmasambhava cult," in which a much greater role is assigned to the role of Padmasambhava in the introduction of Buddhism to Tibet.
EARLY YEARS
BIRTH
According to tradition, Padmasambhava was incarnated as an eight-year-old child appearing in a lotus blossom floating in Lake Dhanakosha, in the kingdom of Oḍḍiyāna in Ancient India and in modern times identified with the Swat Valley of South Asia present-day Pakistan. His special nature was recognized by the childless local king of Oḍḍiyāna and was chosen to take over the kingdom, but he left Oḍḍiyāna for northern parts of India.
TANTRA
In Rewalsar, known as Tso Pema in Tibetan, he secretly taught tantric teachings to princess Mandarava, the local king's daughter. The king found out and tried to burn him, but it is believed that when the smoke cleared he just sat there, still alive and in meditation. Greatly astonished by this miracle, the king offered Padmasambhava both his kingdom and Mandarava.
Padmasambhava left with Mandarava, and took to Maratika Cave in Nepal to practice secret tantric consort rituals. They had a vision of buddha Amitāyus and achieved what is called the "phowa rainbow body," a very rare type of spiritual realization. Both Padmasambhava and one of his consorts, Mandarava, are still believed to be alive and active in this rainbow body form by their followers. She and Padmasambhava's other main consort, Yeshe Tsogyal, who reputedly hid his numerous termas in Tibet for later discovery, reached Buddhahood. Many thangkas and paintings show Padmasambhava in between them.
TIBET
SUBJECTION OF LOCAL RELIGIONS
According to Sam van Schaik, from the 12th century on a greater role was assigned to Padmasambhava in the introduction of tantric Buddhism into Tibet:According to earlier histories, Padmasambhava had given some tantric teachings to Tibetans before being forced to leave due to the suspicions of the Tibetan court. But from the twelfth century an alternative story, itself a terma discovery, gave Padmasambhava a much greater role in the introduction of Buddhism to Tibet, and in particular credited him with travelling all over the country to convert the local spirits to Buddhism.According to this enlarged story, King Trisong Detsen, the 38th king of the Yarlung dynasty and the first Emperor of Tibet (742–797), invited the Nalanda University abbot Śāntarakṣita (Tibetan Shiwatso) to Tibet. Śāntarakṣita started the building of Samye. Demonical forces hindered the introduction of the Buddhist dharma, and Padmasambhava was invited to Tibet to subdue the demonic forces. The demons were not annihilated, but were obliged to submit to the dharma. This was in accordance with the tantric principle of not eliminating negative forces but redirecting them to fuel the journey toward spiritual awakening. According to tradition, Padmasambhava received the Emperor's wife, identified with the dakini Yeshe Tsogyal, as a consort.
TRANSLATIONS
King Trisong Detsen ordered the translation of all Buddhist Dharma Texts into Tibetan. Padmasambhava, Shantarakṣita, 108 translators, and 25 of Padmasambhava's nearest disciples worked for many years in a gigantic translation-project. The translations from this period formed the base for the large scriptural transmission of Dharma teachings into Tibet. Padmasambhava supervised mainly the translation of Tantra; Shantarakshita concentrated on the Sutra-teachings.
NYINGMA
Padmasambhava introduced the people of Tibet to the practice of Tantric Buddhism.
He is regarded as the founder of the Nyingma tradition. The Nyingma tradition is the oldest of the four major schools of Tibetan Buddhism. The Nyingma tradition actually comprises several distinct lineages that all trace their origins to Padmasambhava.
"Nyingma" literally means "ancient," and is often referred to as "Nga'gyur" " or the "early translation school" because it is founded on the first translations of Buddhist scriptures from Sanskrit into Tibetan, in the eighth century.
Nyingma maintains the earliest tantric teachings. The Nyingmapa incorporates mysticism and local deities shared by the pre-Buddhist Bon religion, which has shamanic elements. The group particularly believes in hidden terma treasures. Traditionally, Nyingmapa practice was advanced orally among a loose network of lay practitioners. Monasteries with celibate monks and nuns, along with the practice of reincarnated spiritual leaders are later adaptations, though Padmasambhava is regarded as the founder of Samye Gompa, the first monastery in the country. In modern times the Nyingma lineage has been centered in Kham in eastern Tibet.
BHUTAN
In Bhutan he is associated with the famous Paro Taktsang or "Tiger's Nest" monastery built on a sheer cliff wall about 500m above the floor of Paro valley. It was built around the Taktsang Senge Samdup (stag tshang seng ge bsam grub) cave where he is said to have meditated in the 8th Century. He flew there from Tibet on the back of Yeshe Tsogyal, whom he transformed into a flying tigress for the purpose of the trip. Later he travelled to Bumthang district to subdue a powerful deity offended by a local king. Padmasambhava's body imprint can be found in the wall of a cave at nearby Kurje Lhakhang temple.
ICONOGRAPHY, MANIFESTATIONS AND ATTRIBUTES
ICONOGRAPHY
GENERAL
- He has one face and two hands.
- He is wrathful and smiling.
- He blazes magnificently with the splendour of the major and minor marks.
HEAD
- On his head he wears a five-petalled lotus hat, which has
- Three points symbolizing the three kayas,
- Five colours symbolizing the five kayas,
- A sun and moon symbolizing skilful means and wisdom,
- A vajra top to symbolize unshakable samadhi,
- A vulture's feather to represent the realization of the highest view.
- His two eyes are wide open in a piercing gaze.
- He has the youthful appearance of an eight-year old child.
SKIN
- His complexion is white with a tinge of red.
DRESS
- On his body he wears a white vajra undergarment. On top of this, in layers, a red robe, a dark blue mantrayana tunic, a red monastic shawl decorated with a golden flower pattern, and a maroon cloak of silk brocade.
- On his body he wears a silk cloak, Dharma robes and gown.
- He is wearing the dark blue gown of a mantra practitioner, the red and yellow shawl of a monk, the maroon cloak of a king, and the red robe and secret white garments of a bodhisattva.
HANDS
- In his right hand, he holds a five-pronged vajra at his heart.
- His left hand rests in the gesture of equanimity,
- In his left hand he holds a skull-cup brimming with nectar, containing the vase of longevity that is also filled with the nectar of deathless wisdom and ornamented on top by a wish-fulfilling tree.
KHATVANGA
The khaṭvāńga is a particular divine attribute of Padmasambhava and intrinsic to his iconographic representation. It is a danda with three severed heads denoting the three kayas (the three bodies of a Buddha, the dharmakaya, sambhogakaya, and nirmanakaya), crowned by a trishula, and dressed with a sash of the Himalayan Rainbow or Five Pure Lights of the Mahabhuta. The iconography is utilized in various Tantric cycles by yogis as symbols to hidden meanings in transmitted practices.
- Cradled in his left arm he holds the three-pointed khatvanga (trident) symbolizing the Princess consort (Mandarava). who arouses the wisdom of bliss and emptiness, concealed as the three-pointed khatvanga trident.
- Its three points represent the essence, nature and compassionate energy (ngowo, rangshyin and tukjé).
- Below these three prongs are three severed heads, dry, fresh and rotten, symbolizing the dharmakaya, sambhogakaya and nirmanakaya.
- Nine iron rings adorning the prongs represent the nine yanas.
- Five-coloured strips of silk symbolize the five wisdoms
- The khatvanga is also adorned with locks of hair from dead and living mamos and dakinis, as a sign that the Master subjugated them all when he practised austerities in the Eight Great Charnel Grounds.
SEAT
- He is seated with his two feet in the royal posture.
SURROUNDING
- All around him, within a lattice of five-coloured light, appear the eight vidyadharas of India, the twenty-five disciples of Tibet, the deities of the three roots, and an ocean of oath-bound protectors
There are further iconographies and meanings in more advanced and secret stages.
EIGHT MANIFESTATIONS
Padmasambhava is said to have taken eight forms or manifestations (Tib. Guru Tsen Gye) representing different aspects of his being, such as wrath or pacification for example. According to Rigpa Shedra the eight principal forms were assumed by Guru Rinpoche at different points in his life. The Eight Manifestations of Padmasambhava belong to the tradition of the Revealed Treasures (Tib.: ter ma).
- Guru Orgyen Dorje Chang (Wylie: gu ru U-rgyan rDo-rje ‘chang, Sanskrit: Guru Uddiyana Vajradhara) The vajra-holder (Skt. Vajradhara), shown dark blue in color in the attire of the Sambhogakaya. Depicted in union with consort.
- Guru Shakya Senge (Wylie: shAkya seng-ge, Skrt: Guru Śākyasimha) of Bodh Gaya, Lion of the Sakyas, who learns the Tantric practices of the eight Vidyadharas. He is shown as a fully ordained Buddhist monk.
- Guru Pema Gyalpo (Wylie: gu ru pad ma rgyal-po, Skrt: Guru Padmarāja) of Uddiyana, the Lotus Prince, king of the Tripitaka (the Three Collections of Scripture). He is shown looking like a young crowned prince or king.
- Guru Pema Jungne (Wylie: pad ma ‘byung-gnas, Skrt: Guru Padmakara) Lotus-arisen, the Saviour who teaches the Dharma to the people. He is shown sitting on a lotus, dressed in the three robes of a monk, under which he wears a blue shirt, pants and heavy Tibetan boots, as protection against the cold. He holds the diamond-scepter of compassionate love in his right hand and the yogi's skull-bowl of clear wisdom in his left. He has a special trident called khatvanga of a wandering Yogi, and wears on his head a Nepalese cloth crown, stylistically designed to remind one of the shape of a lotus flower. Thus he is represented as he must have appeared in Tibet.
- Guru Loden Chokse (Wylie: gu ru blo ldan mchog sred; Skrt: Guru Mativat Vararuci) of Kashmir, the Intelligent Youth, the one who gathers the knowledge of all worlds. He is shown in princely clothes, beating a hand-drum and holding a skull-bowl.
- Guru Nyima Ozer (Wylie: gu ru nyi-ma ‘od-zer, Skrt: Guru Suryabhasa or Sūryaraśmi), the Sunray Yogi, who illuminates the darkness of the mind through the insight of Dzogchen. He is shown as a naked yogi dressed only in a loin-cloth and holding a Khatvanga which points towards the sun.
- Guru Dorje Drolo, (Wylie: gu ru rDo-rje gro-lod, Skrt: Guru Vajra ?) the fierce manifestation of Vajrakilaya (wrathful Vajrasattva) known as "Diamond Guts", the comforter of all, imprinting the elements with Wisdom-Treasure.
- Guru Senge Dradog (Wylie: gu ru seng-ge sgra-sgrogs, Skrt: Guru Simhanāda) of Nalanda University, the Lion of Debate, promulgator of the Dharma throughout the six realms of sentient beings. He is shown in a very fierce form, dark blue and imitative of the powerful Bodhisattva Vajrapani, holding a thunderbolt scepter in one hand and a scorpion in the other.
Padmasambhava's various Sanskrit names are preserved in mantras such as those found in the Yang gsang rig 'dzin youngs rdzogs kyi blama guru mtshan brgyad bye brag du sgrub pa ye shes bdud rtsi'i sbrang char zhe bya ba
ATTRIBUTES
PURE-LAND PARADISE
His Pureland Paradise is Zangdok Palri (the Copper-Coloured Mountain).
SAMANTABHADRA AND SAMANTABHADRI
Padmasambhava said:
My father is the intrinsic awareness, Samantabhadra (Sanskrit; Tib. ཀུན་ཏུ་བཟང་པོ). My mother is the ultimate sphere of reality, Samantabhadri (Sanskrit; Tib. ཀུན་ཏུ་བཟང་མོ). I belong to the caste of non-duality of the sphere of awareness. My name is the Glorious Lotus-Born. I am from the unborn sphere of all phenomena. I act in the way of the Buddhas of the three times.
FIVE WISDOM DAKINS
Padmasambhava had five major female tantric companions, the so-called 'Five Wisdom Dakinis' (Wylie: Ye-shes mKha-'gro lnga) or 'Five Consorts.' In Padmasambhava's biography, they are described as the five women "who had access to the master's heart", and practiced tantric rites which are considered to have exorcised the previous demons of Tibet and converted them into protectors of the country.' They were:
- Mandarava of Zahor, the emanation of Vajravarahi's Body;
- Belwong Kalasiddhi of (north-west) India, the emanation of Vajravarahi's Quality, Belmo Sakya Devi of Nepal;
- the emanation of Vajravarahi's Mind, Yeshe Tsogyal of Tibet;
- the emanation of Vajravarahi's Speech
- and Mangala or Tashi Kyedren of "the Himalayas", the emanation of Vajravarahi's Activity.
PRINCESS SAKYA DEVI FROM NEPAL
On Padmasambhava's consort practice with Princess Sakya Devi from Nepal it is said:
- In a state of intense bliss, Padmasambhava and Sakyadevi realized the infinite reality of the Primordial Buddha Mind, the All-Beneficent Lord (Samantabhadra), whose absolute love is the unimpeded dynamo of existence. Experiencing the succession of the four stages of ecstasy, their mutual state of consciousness increased from height to height. And thus, meditating on Supreme Vajrasattva Heruka as the translucent image of compassionate wrathful (energized) activity, they together acquired the mahamudra of Divinity and attained complete Great Enlightenment.
TEACHINGS AND PRACTICES ASCRIBED TO PADMASAMBHAVA
THE VAJRA GURU MANTRA
The Vajra Guru (Padmasambhava) mantra Om Ah Hum Vajra Guru Padma Siddhi Hum is favoured and held in esteem by sadhakas. Like most Sanskritic mantras in Tibet, the Tibetan pronunciation demonstrates dialectic variation and is generally Om Ah Hung Benza Guru Pema Siddhi Hung. In the Vajrayana traditions, particularly of the Nyingmapa, it is held to be a powerful mantra engendering communion with the Three Vajras of Padmasambhava's mindstream and by his grace, all enlightened beings. In response to Yeshe Tsogyal's request, the Great Master himself explained the meaning of the mantra although there are larger secret meanings too. The 14th century tertön Karma Lingpa has a famous commentary on the mantra.
THE SEVEN LINE PRAYER TO PADMASAMBHAVA
The Seven Line Prayer to Padmasambhava (Guru Rinpoche) is a famous prayer that is recited by many Tibetans daily and is said to contain the most sacred and important teachings of Dzogchen.
Jamgon Ju Mipham Gyatso composed a famous commentary to the Seven Line Prayer called White Lotus. It explains the meanings, which are embedded in many levels and intended to catalyze a process of realization. These hidden teachings are described as ripening and deepening, in time, with study and with contemplation. Tulku Thondup says:
- Enshrining the most sacred prayer to Guru Padmasambhava, White Lotus elucidates its five layers of meaning as revealed by the eminent scholar Ju Mipham. This commentary now makes this treasure, which has been kept secret among the great masters of Tibet for generations, available as a source of blessings and learning for all.
There is also a shorter commentary, freely available, by Tulku Thondup himself. There are many other teachings and Termas and widely practiced tantric cycles incorporating the text as well as brief ones such as Terma Revelation of Guru Chöwang.
TERMAS
Padmasambhava also hid a number of religious treasures (termas) in lakes, caves, fields and forests of the Himalayan region to be found and interpreted by future tertöns or spiritual treasure-finders. According to Tibetan tradition, the Bardo Thodol (commonly referred to as the Tibetan Book of the Dead) was among these hidden treasures, subsequently discovered by a Tibetan terton, Karma Lingpa.
TANTRIC CYCLES
Tantric cycles related to Padmasambhava are not just practiced by the Nyingma, they even gave rise to a new offshoot of Bon which emerged in the 14th century called the New Bön. Prominent figures of the Sarma (new translation) schools such as the Karmapas and Sakya lineage heads have practiced these cycles and taught them. Some of the greatest tertons revealing teachings related to Padmasambhava have been from the Kagyu or Sakya lineages. The hidden lake temple of the Dalai Lamas behind the Potala called Lukhang is dedicated to Dzogchen teachings and has murals depicting the eight manifestations of Padmasambhava. Padmasambhava established Vajrayana Buddhism and the highest forms of Dzogchen (Mengagde) in Tibet and transformed the entire nation.
TWENTY-FIVE MAIN DISCIPLES
Twenty-five Main Disciples of Padmasambhava (Tibetan: རྗེ་འབངས་ཉེར་ལྔ, Wylie: rje 'bangs nyer lnga) -also called the disciples of Chimphu - in various lists these include:
- King Trisong Detsen (Tibetan: ཁྲི་སྲོང་ལྡེའུ་བཏཟན, Wylie: khri srong lde'u btzan)
- Denma Tsémang (Tibetan: ལྡན་མ་རྩེ་མང, Wylie: ldan ma rtse mang)
- Dorje Dudjom of Nanam (Tibetan: རྡོ་རྗེ་བདུད་འཇོམ, Wylie: rdo rje bdud 'joms)
- Khyechung Lotsawa (Tibetan: ཁྱེའུ་ཆུང་ལོ་ཙཱ་བ, Wylie: khye'u chung lo tsā ba)
- Gyalwa Changchub of Lasum (Tibetan: ལ་སུམ་རྒྱལ་བ་བྱང་ཆུབ, Wylie: la sum rgyal ba byang chub)
- Gyalwa Choyang (Tibetan: རྒྱལ་བ་མཆོག་དབྱངས, Wylie: rgyal ba mchog dbyangs)
- Gyalwe Lodro of Dré (Tibetan: རྒྱལ་བའི་བློ་གྲོས, Wylie: rgyal ba'i blo gros)
- Jnanakumara of Nyak (Tibetan: གཉགས་ཛཉའ་ན་ཀུ་མ་ར, Wylie: gnyags dzny' na ku ma ra)
- Kawa Paltsek (Tibetan: སྐ་བ་དཔལ་བརྩེགས, Wylie: ska ba dpal brtsegs)
- Khandro Yeshe Tsogyal, the princess of Karchen (Tibetan: མཁར་ཆེན་བཟའ་མཚོ་རྒྱལ, Wylie: mkhar chen bza' mtsho rgyal)
- Konchog Jungné of Langdro (Tibetan: ལང་གྲོ་དཀོན་མཆོག་འབྱུང་གནས, Wylie: lang gro dkon mchog 'byung gnas)
- Lhapal the Sokpo (Tibetan: སོག་པོ་ལྷ་དཔལ, Wylie: sog po lha dpal)
- Namkhai Nyingpo (Tibetan: ནམ་མཁའི་སྙིང་པོ, Wylie: nam mkha'i snying po)
- Zhang Yeshe De (Tibetan: ཞང་ཡེ་ཤེས་སྡེ, Wylie: zhang ye shes sde)
- Lhalung Pelgyi Dorje (Tibetan: ལྷ་ལུང་དཔལ་གྱི་རྡོ་རྗེ, Wylie: lha lung dpal gyi rdo rje)
- Palgyi Senge (Tibetan: དཔལ་གྱི་སེང་གེ, Wylie: dpal gyi seng ge)
- Palgyi Wangchuk (Tibetan: དཔལ་གྱི་དབང་ཕྱུག, Wylie: dpal gyi dbang phyug)
- Palgyi Wangchuk of Odren (Tibetan: འོ་དྲན་དཔལ་གྱི་དབང་ཕྱུག, Wylie: 'o dran dpal gyi dbang phyug)
- Palgyi Yeshe (Tibetan: དཔལ་གྱི་ཡེ་ཤེས, Wylie: dpal gyi ye shes)
- Rinchen Chok of Ma (Tibetan: རྨ་རིན་ཆེན་མཆོག, Wylie: rma rin chen mchog)
- Sangye Yeshe (Tibetan: སངས་རྒྱས་ཡེ་ཤེས, Wylie: sangs rgyas ye shes)
- Shubu Palgyi Senge (Tibetan: ཤུད་བུ་དཔལ་གྱི་སེང་གེ, Wylie: shud bu dpal gyi seng ge)
- Vairotsana, the great translator (Tibetan: བཻ་རོ་ཙ་ན, Wylie: bai ro tsa na)
- Yeshe Yang (Tibetan: ཡེ་ཤེས་དབྱངས, Wylie: ye shes dbyangs)
- Yudra Nyingpo of Gyalmo (Tibetan: ག་ཡུ་སྒྲ་སྙིང་པོ, Wylie: g.yu sgra snying po)
Also:
- Vimalamitra (Tibetan: དྲུ་མེད་བཤེས་གཉེན, Wylie: dru med bshes gnyen)
- Tingdzin Zangpo (Tibetan: ཏིང་འཛིན་བཟང་པོ, Wylie: ting 'dzin bzang po)
WIKIPEDIA
My love in Cancun, May 2009.
________________
Everything has been going well. I recently got married, and I'm graduating college in a year and continuing school for a graduate or professional degree.
My husband and I are working on creating an extraordinary life :D
Teejay enjoyed the sun and was eating something. When I passed by him, I eyeballed him, pondering whether I'd like him in my strangers project. He was giving me back a quite angry look - that's no new experience, people just feel uncomfortable if you look at them too intensely.
Finally, I decided I did want him for the Project, so I approached him. Why me, Teejay asked when I explained about the Project.
Teejay (I really like that name!) was one of the most amicable strangers I've met so far. Originally from Nigeria, he's been in Germany for quite some time, but he's still struggling with the language, so we talked in English. Teejay is married to an Italian woman and works for a gym. Unfortunately, he's dislocated his arm so he's currently not working.
Thank you, Teejay, for the nice chat and for participating in my Project! Get well soon!
***
Find out more about the project at the group page 100 Strangers.
For all strangers unfamiliar with flickr: You can easily see yourself and all my other strangers in my 100 Strangers set here.
In case you do not find your photo posted here after a reasonable while, that may have various reasons, so please send me a mail.
Introducing Puffington, your high-larious animated companion! You can hold him in your hand for some portable pot-tastic fun, or let him chill on your shoulder, spreading good vibes wherever you go.
This bud-tiful little buddy sways to the rhythm of good vibes and can be accessorized with a beanie, shades, a chain, and even a bow for some extra pizzazz. With Puffington by your side, you'll be toking up smiles and laughter all day long. So, why settle for one toke when you can Toke 'em all with Puffington? Get ready to roll with the dankest bud in town! 🌿😎🌟
🌿 Copy / Mod
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🌿 Animated handheld or shoulder attachment (Unrigged: You can attach anywhere)
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🌿 4 different Accessories: Beanie, Sunglasses, Chain, and Bow FATPACK Bonus + 1 Crown
🌿 Style accessories with several different colors
🌿 3 Idle Animations
🌿 Static Decor : 2 land impact | 6 Poses Included
🌿 Touch to name
🌿 Please note: SL Limits 1 animesh attachment per avatar unless you are a Premium Plus member.
Available at The Men's Dept from Nov 5th - Nov 30th
Available at the Mainstore
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Check out these other amazing photos with Aardvark items in our Flickr Group
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Inworld : Marketplace : Facebook
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Zooey Deschanel sings with She & Him on March 15, 2008, at the Garden Party at the French Legation Museum in Austin, Texas, an unofficial party at SXSW 2008. More photos: www.undergroundbee.com/2008/03/15sheandhim/index.htm
It was a beautiful spring day which inspired me to stroll through Toronto’s multi-ethnic Kensington Market area which usually provides fascinating strangers. Today was no exception. I saw him carefully setting out folded shirts on a table on the sidewalk and he had a friendly face. I paused to ask what his business was all about and he explained he sells vintage clothing and was just setting up “shop.” One thing led to another and soon I was inviting him to participate in my project if it wouldn’t interfere with business and he was happy to participate. Meet Tristan.
I took a few photos from two different angles, trying to use the shade cast by the shop as shelter from a strong sun. I wanted to get the colorful shirts in a photo that showed a bit more of the scene, but my main interest was, as is usual, a closer portrait of this friendly young man. Photos taken, we chatted while, keeping an eye on his wares.
Tristan is 20 and was born and raised in the Toronto area. His parents are from Dominica and Jamaica – the Islands. He and a friend run the business and do online sales (www.etsy.com/shop/MajorDivision) as well as selling on the street. He knows the man who owns the property and the owner kindly agreed to a reasonable rent for setting up his table to sell. When I asked Tristan what he thought was important in life he said “helping others.” I commented that he had just helped me and we both nodded. When I asked him to describe himself he said “Well, I’m entrepreneurial and I work hard. I’m a bit of a techie and spend a lot of time on the computer. I buy up broken cell phones on the internet, open them up, repair them, and resell for a profit.” Enterprising indeed. His message? “Don’t get too caught up in small problems. Keep moving forward.” As an afterthought, I asked him about the tattoos on his arms. One read “Live As If You’ll Die Today” and the other read “Dream As If You’ll Live Forever.” “Those will tell you a lot about me” he said with a smile.
I sensed a kindness in Tristan that was delightful. He would have stood and chatted longer but I knew he was setting up to do some business and he already had a customer or two pause to check out the shirts. He was fascinated that my small camera could take such clear photos and said he was looking forward to getting copies. As we parted he wished me much luck with my project and said he hoped I would enjoy the rest of the day. His personality was as warm as the weather.
Thank you Tristan for taking a few minutes to meet and for participating in The Human Family Group on Flickr. I hope you did some business. The nice weather seems to have brought people out onto the streets in Toronto.
This is my 263rd submission to The Human Family Group on Flickr.
You can view more street portraits and stories by visiting The Human Family.
The search for Malaysia's Hottest Hunks for year 2008/2009. Fashion Show by Camel Active, performances by the hunks, shirtless catwalks and more. Organised by NewIcon For Him & Newtide.
The artist i picked was Robert Johnson. I have been a huge fan of his for many years and the legends surrounding him allowed me to create something far more magical and surreal than i think i could have gotten from a modern celebrity. The image of Robert himself is based on a mix of the only 2 surviving photos of him, and the idea of the piece is of course meeting the devil at the crossroads. this myth came about from Robert suddenly becoming amazingly talented in a short space of time, they said he met the devil who was a large black male at the crossroads who tuned his guitar and it from then on played amazingly well (this is represented in the piece by the black hands tuning the guitar and his hands mirroring that of the devils). There are a lot of myths about this event one was that it wasnt the devil himself in a christian sense but legba the african trickster god who sat at crossroads between worlds and who often deals where made (the creature on Roberts left is Legba, the character on the upper right is the devils reaper with a scroll which is meant to represent the deal, the words are part of the lyrics to me and the devil blues). The bottle near the bottom pertains to his death, that he was poisoned after making moves on a woman married or in a relationship.The structure at the top is based on the memorial at the crtossroads where the deal supposadly happened, the mouth in the guitar relates to the myth that his guitar sung, america was very suppersticious especially in african american communities at this time, they new he had made a deal with the devil, and when he played live he would play in a corner with his back to the audience, people viewed this as occult at the least bizzare and due to how well he played and the innovative ways in which he used pitch in his vocals people thought one man couldnt possibly be making qall them sounds, in reality no one knows why he played like this, maybe just to stop his techniques being stolen.The grey curved objects throughout represent probably the most accurate angle on the story, Robert traveled on a lot in his life, rambling from state to state on his journeys he met Ike Zimmerman and they used to practice in a graveyard as it was quiet and they wouldn't be disturbed it is said this is how he learnt so much in such a short time.
With a non-standard 'Raspberry-Ripple' paint scheme and a nose mounted trials-based experimental 'optical' system, 'Sikorsky' built Westland Sea King HAS.1 XV371 making an approach to Shoreham back in July 1981.
Four original 'SH-3D' Sea King airframes were built by Sikorsky as the basis of Westland's licence built Sea King production for the Royal Navy and Royal Air Force.
All four were then shipped to the UK, XV370 being delivered already fitted with the standard General Electric T58 Engines and on arrival was flown from the docks at Avonmouth to Westland's factory at Yeovil.
The remaining three arrived at Yeovil engine-less and were roaded there being subsequently fitted with Rolls-Royce Gnome Engines, all to become the trials airframes.
Westlands were tasked by the Navy to design and upgrade the airframes, as although externally similar to the US built Sea King, the UK versions were inwardly a very different machine to the standard Sikorsky built SH-3 variants that the US Navy operated.
Of the four airframes acquired, after their initial use at Westlands, the first XV370, spent most of it's subsequent life with the ETPS at Boscombe Down ending up with the AES at HMS Sultan as an Instructional Airframe. XV371 spent it's life with the RAE at Bedford, XV372 was written-off in an accident in January 1969 and XV373 found it's way to the gunnery ranges at Foulness.
The Westland version of the Sea King was widely exported to, amongst others: Australia Belgium, Egypt, Germany, India, Norway, Pakistan and Qatar.
Scanned 35mm Transparency
Painting Cabinet 12
François Boucher (1703 - 1770), active in Italy and Paris
Shepherd and Shepherdess, 1760
Oil on canvas
Staatliche Kunsthalle Karlsruhe
The pastoral idyll is a genre reaching back to antiquity. It designs the ideal image of free casual love and harmonious unison between man and nature. Here rests a shepherd couple in intimate affection at a forest edge. The young man is picking roses for the small flower basket of his beloved one. A sheep and a little dog - more a lapdog than a shepherd - frame the couple. About this painting and its counterpart Karoline Luise wrote to her Parisian mediator Eberts in 1760: "Thank Mr Boucher in my name and tell him please that he has really enriched my cabinet with his beautiful work."
Malereikabinett 12
François Boucher (1703 - 1770), tätig in Italien und Paris
Schäfer und Schäferin, 1760
Öl auf Leinwand
Staatliche Kunsthalle Karlsruhe
Die Hirtenidylle ist ein bis in die Antike zurückreichende Gattung. Sie entwirft das ideale Bild freier ungezwungener Liebe und eine harmonischen Einklanges von Mensch und Natur. Hier lagert ein Schäferpaar in inniger Zuneigung an einem Waldesrand. Der junge Mann pflückt Rosen für deas Blumenkörbchen seiner Angebeteten. Ein Schaf und ein Hündchen - - mehr Schoßhündchen als Schäferhund - rahmen das Paar. Über dieses Gemälde und sein Gegenstück schrieb Karoline Luise an ihren Pariser Vermittler Ebert 1760: "Danken Sie Mr. Boucher in meinem Namen und sagen Sie ihm bitte, dass er mein Cabinet mit seinen schönen Arbeiten wirklich bereichert."
Collection
The foundation of the collection consists of 205 mostly French and Dutch paintings from the 17th and 18th centuries which Margravine Karoline Luise acquired 1759-1776. From this collection originate significant works, such as The portrait of a young man by Frans van Mieris the Elder, The winter landscape with lime kiln of Nicolaes Pieterszoon Berchem, The Lacemaker by Gerard Dou, the Still Life with hunting equipment and dead partridge of Willem van Aelst, The Peace in the Chicken yard by Melchior de Hondecoeter as well as a self-portrait by Rembrandt van Rijn. In addition, four still lifes of Jean Siméon Chardin and two pastoral scenes by François Boucher, having been commissioned directly by the Marchioness from artists.
A first significant expansion the museum received in 1858 by the collection of canon Johann Baptist von Hirscher (1788-1865) with works of religious art of the 15th and 16th centuries. This group includes works such as two tablets of the Sterzinger altar and the wing fragment The sacramental blessing of Bartholomew Zeitblom. From 1899 to 1920, the native of Baden painter Hans Thoma held the position of Director of the Kunsthalle. He acquired old masterly paintings as the tauberbischofsheim altarpiece by Matthias Grünewald and drove the expansion of the collection with art of the 19th century forward. Only his successors expanded the holdings of the Art Gallery with works of Impressionism and the following generations of artists.
The permanent exhibition in the main building includes approximately 800 paintings and sculptures. Among the outstanding works of art of the Department German painters of the late Gothic and Renaissance are the Christ as Man of Sorrows by Albrecht Dürer, the Carrying of the Cross and the Crucifixion by Matthias Grünewald, Maria with the Child by Lucas Cranach the Elder, the portrait of Sebastian Brant by Hans Burgkmair the elder and The Nativity of Hans Baldung. Whose Margrave panel due to property disputes in 2006 made it in the headlines and also led to political conflicts. One of the biggest buying successes which a German museum in the postwar period was able to land concerns the successive acquisition of six of the seven known pieces of a Passion altar in 1450 - the notname of the artist after this work "Master of the Karlsruhe Passion" - a seventh piece is located in German public ownership (Wallraf-Richartz Museum, Cologne).
In the department of Dutch and Flemish paintings of the 16th century can be found, in addition to the aforementioned works, the portrait of the Marchesa Veronica Spinola Doria by Peter Paul Rubens, Moses strikes the rock and water flows for the thirsty people of Israel of Jacob Jordaens, the still life with kitchen tools and foods of Frans Snyders, the village festival of David Teniers the younger, the still life with lemon, oranges and filled clay pot by Willem Kalf, a Young couple having breakfast by Gabriel Metsu, in the bedroom of Pieter de Hooch, the great group of trees at the waterfront of Jacob Izaaksoon van Ruisdael, a river landscape with a milkmaid of Aelbert Jacobsz. Cuyp as well as a trompe-l'œil still life of Samuel van Hoogstraten.
Further examples of French paintings of the 17th and 18th centuries are, the adoration of the golden calf of Claude Lorrain, preparations for dance class of the Le Nain brothers, the portrait of Marshal Charles-Auguste de Matignon by Hyacinthe Rigaud, the portrait of a young nobleman in hunting costume of Nicolas de Largillière, The storm of Claude Joseph Vernet and The minuet of Nicolas Lancret. From the 19th century can be found with Rocky wooded valley at Civita Castellana by Gustave Courbet, The Lamentation of Eugène Delacroix, the children portrait Le petit Lange of Édouard Manet, the portrait of Madame Jeantaud by Edgar Degas, the landscape June morning near Pontoise by Camille Pissarro, homes in Le Pouldu Paul Gauguin and views to the sea at L'Estaque by Paul Cézanne further works of French artists at Kunsthalle.
One focus of the collection is the German painting and sculpture of the 19th century. From Joseph Anton Koch, the Kunsthalle possesses a Heroic landscape with rainbow, from Georg Friedrich Kersting the painting The painter Gerhard Kügelgen in his studio, from Caspar David Friedrich the landscape rocky reef on the sea beach and from Karl Blechen view to the Monastery of Santa Scolastica. Other important works of this department are the disruption of Adolph Menzel as well as the young self-portrait, the portrait Nanna Risi and The Banquet of Plato of Anselm Feuerbach.
For the presentation of the complex of oeuvres by Hans Thoma, a whole wing in 1909 at the Kunsthalle was installed. Main oeuvres of the arts are, for example, the genre picture The siblings as well as, created on behalf of the grand-ducal family, Thoma Chapel with its religious themes.
Of the German contemporaries of Hans Thoma, Max Liebermann on the beach of Noordwijk and Lovis Corinth with a portrait of his wife in the museum are represented. Furthermore the Kunsthalle owns works by Ferdinand Georg Waldmüller, Carl Spitzweg, Arnold Böcklin, Hans von Marées, Wilhelm Leibl, Fritz von Uhde, Wilhelm Trübner and Max Klinger.
In the building of the adjacent Orangerie works of the collection and new acquisitions from the years after 1952 can be seen. In two integrated graphics cabinets the Kupferstichkabinett (gallery of prints) gives insight into its inventory of contemporary art on paper. From the period after 1945, the works Arabs with footprints by Jean Dubuffet, Sponge Relief RE 48; Sol. 1960 by Yves Klein, Honoring the square: Yellow center of Josef Albers, the cityscape F by Gerhard Richter and the Fixe idea by Georg Baselitz in the Kunsthalle. The collection of classical modernism wandered into the main building. Examples of paintings from the period to 1945 are The Eiffel Tower by Robert Delaunay, the Improvisation 13 by Wassily Kandinsky, Deers in the Forest II by Franz Marc, People at the Blue lake of August Macke, the self-portrait The painter of Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, the Merzpicture 21b by Kurt Schwitters, the forest of Max Ernst, Tower gate II by Lyonel Feininger, the Seven Deadly Sins of Otto Dix and the removal of the Sphinxes by Max Beckmann. In addition, the museum regularly shows special exhibitions.
Sammlung
Den Grundstock der Sammlung bilden 205 meist französische und niederländische Gemälde des 17. und 18. Jahrhunderts, welche Markgräfin Karoline Luise zwischen 1759 und 1776 erwarb. Aus dieser Sammlung stammen bedeutende Arbeiten, wie das Bildnis eines jungen Mannes von Frans van Mieris der Ältere, die Winterlandschaft mit Kalkofen von Nicolaes Pieterszoon Berchem, Die Spitzenklöpplerin von Gerard Dou, das Stillleben mit Jagdgeräten und totem Rebhuhn von Willem van Aelst, Der Friede im Hühnerhof von Melchior de Hondecoeter sowie ein Selbstbildnis von Rembrandt van Rijn. Hinzu kommen vier Stillleben von Jean Siméon Chardin und zwei Schäferszenen von François Boucher, die die Markgräfin bei Künstlern direkt in Auftrag gegeben hatte.
Eine erste wesentliche Erweiterung erhielt das Museum 1858 durch die Sammlung des Domkapitulars Johann Baptist von Hirscher (1788–1865) mit Werken religiöser Kunst des 15. und 16. Jahrhunderts. Zu dieser Gruppe gehören Werke wie zwei Tafeln des Sterzinger Altars und das Flügelfragment Der sakramentale Segen von Bartholomäus Zeitblom. Von 1899 bis 1920 bekleidete der aus Baden stammende Maler Hans Thoma die Position des Direktors der Kunsthalle. Er erwarb altmeisterliche Gemälde wie den Tauberbischofsheimer Altar von Matthias Grünewald und trieb den Ausbau der Sammlung mit Kunst des 19. Jahrhunderts voran. Erst seine Nachfolger erweiterten die Bestände der Kunsthalle um Werke des Impressionismus und der folgenden Künstlergenerationen.
Die Dauerausstellung im Hauptgebäude umfasst rund 800 Gemälde und Skulpturen. Zu den herausragenden Kunstwerken der Abteilung deutsche Maler der Spätgotik und Renaissance gehören der Christus als Schmerzensmann von Albrecht Dürer, die Kreuztragung und Kreuzigung von Matthias Grünewald, Maria mit dem Kinde von Lucas Cranach der Ältere, das Bildnis Sebastian Brants von Hans Burgkmair der Ältere und die Die Geburt Christi von Hans Baldung. Dessen Markgrafentafel geriet durch Eigentumsstreitigkeiten 2006 in die Schlagzeilen und führte auch zu politischen Auseinandersetzungen. Einer der größten Ankaufserfolge, welche ein deutsches Museum in der Nachkriegszeit verbuchen konnte, betrifft den sukzessiven Erwerb von sechs der sieben bekannten Tafeln eines Passionsaltars um 1450 – der Notname des Malers nach diesem Werk „Meister der Karlsruher Passion“ – eine siebte Tafel befindet sich in deutschem öffentlichen Besitz (Wallraf-Richartz Museum, Köln).
In der Abteilung niederländischer und flämischer Malerei des 16. Jahrhunderts finden sich, neben den erwähnten Werken, das Bildnis der Marchesa Veronica Spinola Doria von Peter Paul Rubens, Moses schlägt Wasser aus dem Felsen von Jacob Jordaens, das Stillleben mit Küchengeräten und Lebensmitteln von Frans Snyders, das Dorffest von David Teniers dem Jüngeren, das Stillleben mit Zitrone, Orangen und gefülltem Römer von Willem Kalf, ein Junges Paar beim Frühstück von Gabriel Metsu, Im Schlafzimmer von Pieter de Hooch, die Große Baumgruppe am Wasser von Jacob Izaaksoon van Ruisdael, eine Flusslandschaft mit Melkerin von Aelbert Jacobsz. Cuyp sowie ein Augenbetrüger-Stillleben von Samuel van Hoogstraten.
Weitere Beispiele französischer Malerei des 17. bzw. 18. Jahrhunderts sind Die Anbetung des Goldeen Kalbes von Claude Lorrain, die Vorbereitung zur Tanzstunde der Brüder Le Nain, das Bildnis des Marschalls Charles-Auguste de Matignon von Hyacinthe Rigaud, das Bildnis eines jungen Edelmannes im Jagdkostüm von Nicolas de Largillière, Der Sturm von Claude Joseph Vernet und Das Menuett von Nicolas Lancret. Aus dem 19. Jahrhundert finden sich mit Felsiges Waldtal bei Cività Castellana von Gustave Courbet, Die Beweinung Christi von Eugène Delacroix, dem Kinderbildnis Le petit Lange von Édouard Manet, dem Bildnis der Madame Jeantaud von Edgar Degas, dem Landschaftsbild Junimorgen bei Pontoise von Camille Pissarro, Häuser in Le Pouldu von Paul Gauguin und Blick auf das Meer bei L’Estaque von Paul Cézanne weitere Arbeiten französischer Künstler in der Kunsthalle.
Einen Schwerpunkt der Sammlung bildet die deutsche Malerei und Skulptur des 19. Jahrhunderts. Von Joseph Anton Koch besitzt die Kunsthalle eine Heroische Landschaft mit Regenbogen, von Georg Friedrich Kersting das Gemälde Der Maler Gerhard Kügelgen in seinem Atelier, von Caspar David Friedrich das Landschaftsbild Felsenriff am Meeresstrand und von Karl Blechen den Blick auf das Kloster Santa Scolastica. Weitere bedeutende Werke dieser Abteilung sind Die Störung von Adolph Menzel sowie das Jugendliche Selbstbildnis, das Bildnis Nanna Risi und Das Gastmahl des Plato von Anselm Feuerbach.
Für die Präsentation des Werkkomplexes von Hans Thoma wurde 1909 in der Kunsthalle ein ganzer Gebäudetrakt errichtet. Hauptwerke des Künstlers sind etwa das Genrebild Die Geschwister sowie die, im Auftrag der großherzöglichen Familie geschaffene, Thoma-Kapelle mit ihren religiösen Themen.
Von den deutschen Zeitgenossen Hans Thomas sind Max Liebermann mit Am Strand von Noordwijk und Lovis Corinth mit einem Bildnis seiner Frau im Museum vertreten. Darüber hinaus besitzt die Kunsthalle Werke von Ferdinand Georg Waldmüller, Carl Spitzweg, Arnold Böcklin, Hans von Marées, Wilhelm Leibl, Fritz von Uhde, Wilhelm Trübner und Max Klinger.
Im Gebäude der benachbarten Orangerie sind Werke der Sammlung und Neuankäufe aus den Jahren nach 1952 zu sehen. In zwei integrierten Grafikkabinetten gibt das Kupferstichkabinett Einblick in seinen Bestand zeitgenössischer Kunst auf Papier. Aus der Zeit nach 1945 finden sich die Arbeiten Araber mit Fußspuren von Jean Dubuffet, Schwammrelief >RE 48:Sol.1960< von Yves Klein, Ehrung des Quadrates: Gelbes Zentrum von Josef Albers, das Stadtbild F von Gerhard Richter und die Fixe Idee von Georg Baselitz in der Kunsthalle. Die Sammlung der Klassischen Moderne wanderte in das Hauptgebäude. Beispiele für Gemälde aus der Zeit bis 1945 sind Der Eiffelturm von Robert Delaunay, die Improvisation 13 von Wassily Kandinsky, Rehe im Wald II von Franz Marc, Leute am blauen See von August Macke, das Selbstbildnis Der Maler von Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, das Merzbild 21b von Kurt Schwitters, Der Wald von Max Ernst, Torturm II von Lyonel Feininger, Die Sieben Todsünden von Otto Dix und der Abtransport der Sphinxe von Max Beckmann. Darüber hinaus zeigt das Museum regelmäßig Sonderausstellungen.
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
D.C. CHUDLEY
SIGNALMAN. R.N. P/JX 700850
H.M.M.T.B. 494
7TH APRIL 1945 AGE 18
IN TREASURED MEMORY OF OUR DEAR DOUG.
O GOD, WE GIVE HIM NOW INTO THY KEEPING
P/JX 700850 Signalman Douglas Charles Chudley, MTB 494, Royal Navy.
Born on 21st. September 1926 at Marylebone, London, the son of Harvey James and Gertrude Clara Chudley, nee Wigzell, later of Halstead, Essex.
Died in action the North Sea on 7th. April 1945, aged 18.
Buried in Sec. 25. Grave 532 at Normanston Drive cemetery, Lowestoft, Suffolk.
During the night of the Saturday 7th. April 1945, near Smith's Knoll off the Norfolk coast, three MTB's of 22nd. MTB Flotilla, MTB 493, 494 and 497, based at HMS Mantis in Lowestoft, Suffolk clashed with five of their German counterparts from 2. Schnellbootsflotille, based at Den Helder in Holland. The German's mission was to lay mines in the east coast convoy route.
Just after 02.12, MTB 494, commanded by T/Lt. Jack May, RNVR, was rammed by S 176, commanded by Lt. Friedrich-Wilhelm Stockfleth. After the ramming MTB 494 turned upside down and sank in position 52 degrees 50 mins N, 2 degrees 55 mins. E. German POW'S involved in the battle stated that 'Although cut in half and sinking, MTB 494 continued to fire her guns'. S 176 was stopped after taking some serious hits in action with MTB 497, commanded by T/Lt. A.T.J. Harrington, RNVR and with S 176 burning, Lt. Stockfleth blew-up his boat and sank it.
MTB 493, commanded by T/Lt. Alexander Duncan Foster RNVR, smashed into S 177, commanded by Lt. Karl Boseniuk. Immediately afterwards MTB 493 came to an abrupt halt, it had been badly damaged and only a small section of its bow was left intact. S 177 continued on until it's engine room filled with water and the engines stopped. After several futile attempts by S 174, commanded by Lt. Hans-Juergen Stohwasser, to tow S 177, the crew were taken off and S 177 was blown up and sunk. T/Lt. Foster was awarded the DSC for his gallantry.
The following day, RAF launch HSL 2558, almost certainly from No. 24 Air Sea Rescue Unit at Gorleston, Norfolk, found 5 British and 3 German life-rafts, all were empty. Later another raft was sighted which HSL 2558 found contained the bodies of Lt. May and three of his crew from MTB 494. Subsequently, HSL 2558 had the sad task of bringing back more bodies from MTB 494. Only three crew members of MTB 494 survived, all the other fourteen members of the crew onboard MTB 494 that night perished.
KILLED IN ACTION.
T/Lt. Jack May RNVR.
P/JX 262015 Able Seaman
Charles Augustus 'Gus' Holland, aged 23.
C/JX 378644 Able Seaman Anthony Worcester Dandie, aged 20.
P/JX 700850 Signalman Douglas Charles Chudley, aged 18.
C/JX 354779 Able Seaman Frank Crowder, aged 23.
P/SSX 35669 Able Seaman Leslie Frederick Vine, aged 22.
MISSING.
The death of each person listed below was subsequently confirmed.
T/Sub Lt. Ian Turner MacFarlane RNVR, aged 21.
T/Midshipman Ian Rochester Naylor RNVR, aged 18.
D/JX 349131 Leading Seaman Ralph Edward Jones, aged 21.
C/JX 559374 Able Seaman George Rudolph Shoosmith, aged 19.
P/KX 153796 Stoker 1st. Class Charles Simmons.
D/KX 139149 Acting Leading Stoker Jeffrey Slater, aged 24.
P/JX 402999 Telegraphist Arthur Treece.
P/MX 543586 Petty Officer Motor Mechanic Victor Marcus Wheeler, aged 28.
SURVIVORS.
Slightly Injured.
P/JX 389691 Able Seaman Charles Coombes.
P/JX 201176 Telegraphist Herbert 'Bert' Markham.
P/JX 297405 Able Seaman Aubray Taylor.
MTB 494
Length: 71ft. 9 in.
Beam: 20 ft. 3 in.
Draught: 5ft. 9 in.
Displacement: 51.6 ton
Engines: 3 x Packard petrol engines
Engine output: 3 x 1,35 hp
Speed: 39 knots
Armament:
1 x Mk. VIII 6 pounder, forward
2 x 20 mm anti-aircraft guns
4 x .303 in. anti-aircraft guns
2 x 18 in. torpedo tubes
Builder: British Power Boat Co, Hythe, Southampton, Hampshire
Ordered: 25th. September 1943
Commissioned: 9th. November 1944
Sunk: 7th. April 1945
The Telegraph
Opinion
Why all the fuss about homoerotic Jesus? Artists have always made him sexy.
Ben Lawrence
Wed, January 31, 2024
This week, the more conservative echelons of Spanish society have been restive. For Easter Week in Seville, artist Salustiano García has produced a portrait of Jesus Christ that critics have described as “effeminate” – a word I hadn’t heard for about 25 years. García’s portrait is fairly horrid: a Calvin Klein model of a Messiah pouting against a crimson background, with a ruched cloth covering his modesty. Yet the outcry is – well, you might say “anachronistic”, were it not for the fact that the protests would have felt anachronistic in 1450.
For artistic depictions of Jesus Christ have, since the Renaissance, erred towards the risqué. At first, influenced by neo-classical ideas, and thus appreciative of ancient Greek art in all its glorious nudity, artists sought to make Jesus a glowing figure of taut muscle and sinew – someone to adore, but also someone to objectify. The list of examples could be endless. Take Michelangelo’s Cristo della Minerva (1521), which shows a hunky Jesus holding the cross like a modern-day Gladiator with a pugil stick.
Or Caravaggio, one of the most famously gay artists in history, whose Incredulità di San Tommaso (c1601-2) shows the doubting apostle poking his finger into Christ’s flesh. The painting exists in two versions: in the one now known as “secular”, you can see Jesus’s exposed thigh, though even the “ecclesiastical” rendering has light falling upon him in such a way that his physicality dominates the work. (And the understanding of Christ’s wounds as genital symbols is one of the oldest in art history.)
Nor is it only Jesus who’s subject to homoerotic interpretation. Leonardo’s John the Baptist (1513) is certainly suggestive, armed with a coy smile and a finger pointing upwards. When you know that the sitter was Gian Giacomo Caprotti, Leonardo’s lover, the intimacy between artist and subject becomes clear, and the modern viewer might wonder which Heaven, exactly, John is pointing at. Then there’s St Sebastian, portrayed by Guido Reni as a curly-haired moppet, and still a poster boy for gay desire for everyone from TS Eliot to the Pet Shop Boys.
I realise that a lot of what I’m describing is in the eye of the beholder; that in more devout times, many viewers would have looked at Michelangelo’s depiction of Jesus’s thighs and not salivated. Yet the link between spiritual and physical worship must have been tacitly considered.
And given the controversy that García’s depiction has caused among Spanish Catholics, it’s worth mentioning that the Catholics are partly to blame, or thank, for Jesus’s objectification. If we look at the Catholic Counter-Reformation, it’s clear that the Church’s push for artistic representations of Christ, intended to inspire devotion in the face of Protestantism, led to a fetishisation that only served to cement Renaissance ideals of the male body. Think of Velázquez, whose Christ Contemplated through the Christian Soul (c1628-9) depicts a tortured, exhausted figure seemingly pondering his faith. Yes, he’s in torment, but he also looks sensually charged, the intensity of his stare beguiling the susceptible viewer.
In fact, even Christ post-crucifixion has often been suffused with erotic power. Charles LeBrun’s Dead Christ on the Knees of the Virgin Pieta (1645) sees his lifeless body splayed, that all-important muscle tone still intact. Of course, there’s an explicit link between sex and death: Freud told us as much, that our drive towards death, though the polar opposite of the procreational activity of sex, is bound up in the same compulsive tendencies. In a more officially repressed age such as the Baroque, it’s tempting to see such paintings as outlets for forbidden desire.
It took the repression of Victorian England to allow Jesus to be something else – to bundle his clothes back on and desexualize him. The pre-Raphaelites did this with everyone, but their depictions of Jesus are particularly striking when you consider what had gone before. William Holman Hunt’s The Light of the World (c1851-3), perhaps the greatest painting of the age, has Jesus bathed in a light around his head that’s meant to represent salvation – a very Victorian preoccupation bound up with doing good. Yet I’ve always found Hunt’s Jesus to be forbidding, a gatekeeper fixing his eyes intently on you and considering his judgment of your actions.
Today, in a secular age, Jesus can be anything to artists, sexual or otherwise, though predictably, it’s always the sexualisation that causes a stir. Piss Christ (1987), the controversial photograph by Andres Serrano, showing a crucified Jesus submerged in a tank of the artist’s own urine, takes fetishisation to the extreme with the idea that Jesus is at the mercy of someone’s bodily fluids (despite the artist’s statement that it’s about showing the extreme suffering of Christ).
Hence, since the Second World War, we’ve had BDSM Jesus, cross-dressing Jesus and gay-biker Jesus. In our age of mass consumerism, he’s a reusable cultural icon, fit for any occasion. In fact, there’s now speculation over his historical sexuality. Whereas Jesus’s celibacy was once accepted, even celebrated, fringe theories have since entered the mainstream. In a world where we’re all armchair psychologists, debate can be found raging as to whether Jesus was actually gay.
Because of all this, the current debate in Seville seems a little quaint. While I wouldn’t want to insult anyone’s faith – in fact, I admire the sincerity of the conservative outrage – I think that we can learn a lot from works such as García’s, despite our personal beliefs. Through the centuries, the perpetuation of Jesus’s image, often coupled with the subversive expression of feelings that contemporary mores may not have encouraged, is precisely what has allowed that image to endure – and our own interpretations, homoerotic or not, will always be crucial to that.
I saw him hanging out with a friend in the stairwell of a few businesses on Spadina Ave. in Toronto’s Chinatown. What caught my eye first was his yellow jacket which matched a yellow scarf/headband. It was an awkward, busy place for a portrait but I stopped anyway and introduced myself. He gave an indifferent shrug when I invited him to be in my photo project but said he’d be ok with that. His friend stepped aside. I asked what they were up to today and he said (a bit hesitantly) “Not much. Just smoking up.” Meet Jordan.
Jordan took my invitation to make his own pose seriously and adopted a super-cool stance which I felt was well-practiced from a history of selfies. I tried a few different angles to deal with the crowded and cluttered location. One of my ideas was an obvious failure for more than one reason which I admitted and shifted gears to finish up at the original angle.
Jordan is 17 and I learned that he’s living in a shelter not too far away. When I asked what it’s like he said “It’s good. The people are nice, they give us bus tokens every day and all that.” I wondered if it was a youth shelter but he said it wasn’t. He was born in Mauritania but moved with his family to Montreal when he was 2. He asked if I knew where Mauritania is. I said I had a vague idea that it’s in Africa but said I would look it up and learn something. He told me it’s on the West African Atlantic coast. Wikipedia later told me “It is the eleventh largest country in Africa and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the west, Morocco in the north, Algeria in the northeast, Mali in the east and southeast, and Senegal in the southwest.”
He told me his brother died at the age of 7 and his parents decided not to continue parenting so they gave him over to the care of his aunt in Toronto. He grew up in this city and said his aunt took good care of him but has moved to the U.S. Jordan didn’t want to leave Toronto, hence his current living arrangement in a shelter. Regarding his aunt he said she was strict but kind and he feels she did well by him. His major interest is “music and shit.” He had a street-smart style and his conversation was in keeping with his “cool” style. As has happened many times before, I noted that there was a rather wide gap between us, not only in age but in lifestyle, and yet he seemed to welcome my interest and enjoy the encounter. He thought the photos were “dope” but politely declined copies. He said he has an email and I invited him to contact me if he changed his mind.
Advice to his younger self? “Keep striving.” His message about life: There are no colors in the world. At the end of the day we are all just humans.” I thought it was a perfect, spontaneous response for the Human Family project. His goal in life is to be famous and to achieve it through music. “That’s why I started doing music when I’m still young. If you wait too long you will never be famous.” When I asked if he had music online that he would like to share, he said he has something on Sound Cloud and might email me with the information. I could see that his friend, who had been patient, was eager for them to move on.
Jason asked me my name again when he gave me a friendly fist-bump. When I repeated it and said it’s on my contact card he was embarrassed and said he should have remembered. I said I’m not great with names either but I’ve got an excuse: I’m old. “Come to think of it” I said “you have an excuse too – you’re stoned.” He laughed and agreed. We wished each other well.
This is my 710th submission to The Human Family Group on Flickr.
You can view more street portraits and stories by visiting The Human Family.
giving him the power of the remote is one way to make sure he stays still.
(a repost in black and white.)
Made in 1913 by British born, German trained, Melbourne stained glass artist William Montgomery, it is the first window by him, to be installed in the north nave, the others being St. Stephen (1915) and William Major Olive Memorial (1916).
The window pictures Saint Mark, after whom St. Mark the Evangelist Church of England is named. Saint Mark the Evangelist is the traditionally ascribed author of the Gospel of Mark. Mark is said to have founded the Church of Alexandria, one of the most important episcopal sees of Early Christianity. As a result, he is depicted holding a Gospel Book and quill. His symbol, the winged lion, appears at the top of the lancet window.
The vignette at the bottom depicts him as one of the Twelve Apostles, listening to the words of Jesus. The vignette at the base of the memorial window features the following inscription; "In memoriam: Reverend Charlie Crace Sage, Missionary in the South Seas. Called to higher service June 7th 1913.
Built amid workers' cottages and terrace houses of shopkeepers, St. Mark the Evangelist Church of England sits atop an undulating rise in the inner Melbourne suburb of Fitzroy. Nestled behind a thick bank of agapanthus beyond its original cast-iron palisade fence, it would not look out of place in an English country village with its neat buttresses, bluestone masonry and simple, unadorned belfry.
St. Mark the Evangelist was the first church to be built outside of the original Melbourne grid as Fitzroy developed into the city's first suburb. A working-class suburb, the majority of its residents were Church of England and from 1849 a Mission Church and school served as a centre for religious, educational and recreational facilities. The school was one of a number of denominational schools established by the Church of England and was partly funded by the Denominational School Board.
St. Mark the Evangelist Church of England was designed by architect James Blackburn and built in Early English Gothic style. Richard Grice, Victorian pastoralist and philanthropist, generously contributed almost all the cost of its construction. Work commenced in 1853 to accommodate the growing Church of England congregation of Fitzroy. On July 1st, 1853, the first stone of St. Mark the Evangelist was laid by the first Bishop of Melbourne, The Right Rev. Charles Perry.
Unfortunately, Blackburn did not live to see its completion, dying the following year in 1854 of typhoid. This left St. Mark the Evangelist without an architect to oversee the project, and a series of other notable Melbourne architects helped finish the church including Lloyd Tayler, Leonard Terry and Charles Webb. Even then when St. Mark the Evangelist opened its doors on Sunday, January 21st, 1855, the church was never fully completed with an east tower and spire never realised. The exterior of the church is very plain, constructed of largely unadorned bluestone, with simple buttresses marking structural bays and tall lancet windows. The church's belfry is similarly unadorned, yet features beautiful masonry work. It has a square tower and broach spire.
Inside St. Mark the Evangelist Church of England it is peaceful and serves as a quiet sanctuary from the noisy world outside. I visited it on a hot day, and its enveloping coolness was a welcome relief. Walking across the old, highly polished hardwood floors you cannot help but note the gentle scent of the incense used during mass. The church has an ornately carved timber Gothic narthex screen which you walk through to enter the nave. Once there you can see the unusual two storey arcaded gallery designed by Leonard Terry that runs the entire length of the east side of building. Often spoken of as “The Architect’s Folly” Terry's gallery was a divisive point in the Fritzroy congregation. Some thought it added much beauty to the interior with its massive square pillars and seven arches supporting the principals of the roof. Yet it was generally agreed that the gallery was of little effective use, and came with a costly price tag of £3,000.00! To this day, it has never been fully utlised by the church. St. Mark the Evangelist has been fortunate to have a series of organs installed over its history; in 1854 a modest organ of unknown origin: in 1855 an 1853 Foster and Andrews, Hull, organ which was taken from the Athenaeum Theatre in Melbourne's Collins Street: in 1877 an organ built by Melbourne organ maker William Anderson: and finally in 1999 as part of major renovation works a 1938 Harrison and Harrison, Durham, organ taken from St. Luke's Church of England in Cowley, Oxfordshire. The church has gone through many renovations over the ensuing years, yet the original marble font and pews have survived these changes and remain in situ to this day. Blackwood reredos in the chancel, dating from 1939, feature a mosaic of the last supper by stained glass and church outfitters Brooks, Robinson and Company. A similar one can be found at St. Matthew's Church of England in High Street in Prahran. The fine lancet stained glass windows on the west side of St. Mark the Evangelist feature the work of the stained glass firms Brooks, Robinson and Company. and William Montgomery. Many of the windows were installed in the late Nineteenth Century.
The St. Mark the Evangelist Parish Hall and verger's cottage were added in 1889 to designs by architects Hyndman and Bates. The hall is arranged as a nave with clerestorey windows and side aisles with buttresses. In 1891 the same architects designed the Choir Vestry and Infants Sunday School on Hodgson Street, to replace the earlier school of 1849 which had been located in the forecourt of the church.
The present St. Mark the Evangelist's vicarage, a two-storey brick structure with cast-iron lacework verandahs, was erected in 1910.
I am very grateful to the staff of Anglicare who run the busy adjoining St. Mark's Community Centre for allowing me to have free range of the inside of St. Mark the Evangelist for a few hours to photograph it so extensively.
James Blackburn (1803 - 1854) was an English civil engineer, surveyor and architect. Born in Upton, West Ham, Essex, James was the third of four sons and one daughter born to his parents. His father was a scalemaker, a trade all his brothers took. At the age of 23, James was employed by the Commissioners of Sewers for Holborn and Finsbury and later became an inspector of sewers. However, his life took a dramatic turn in 1833, when suffering economic hardship, he forged a cheque. He was caught and his penalty was transportation to Van Diemen’s Land (modern day Tasmania). As a convicted prisoner, yet also listed as a civil engineer, James was assigned to the Roads Department under the management of Roderic O’Connor, a wealthy Irishman who was the Inspector of Roads and Bridges at the time. On 3 May 1841 James was pardoned, whereupon he entered private practice with James Thomson, another a former convict. In April 1849, James sailed from Tasmania aboard the "Shamrock" with his wife and ten children to start a new life in Melbourne. Once there he formed a company to sell filtered and purified water to the public, and carried out some minor architectural commissions including St. Mark the Evangelist in Fitzroy. On 24 October he was appointed city surveyor, and between 1850 and 1851 he produced his greatest non-architectural work, the basic design and fundamental conception of the Melbourne water supply from the Yan Yean reservoir via the Plenty River. He was injured in a fall from a horse in January 1852 and died on 3 March 1854 at Brunswick Street, Collingwood, of typhoid. He was buried as a member of St. Mark The Evangelist Church of England. James is best known in Tasmania for his ecclesiastical architectural work including; St Mark's Church of England, Pontville, Tasmania (1839-1841), Holy Trinity Church, Hobart, Tasmania (1841-1848): St. George's Church of England, Battery Point, Tasmania, (1841-1847).
Leonard Terry (1825 - 1884) was an architect born at Scarborough, Yorkshire, England. Son of Leonard Terry, a timber merchant, and his wife Margaret, he arrived in Melbourne in 1853 and after six months was employed by architect C. Laing. By the end of 1856 he had his own practice in Collins Street West (Terry and Oakden). After Mr. Laing's death next year Leonard succeeded him as the principal designer of banks in Victoria and of buildings for the Anglican Church, of which he was appointed diocesan architect in 1860. In addition to the many banks and churches that he designed, Leonard is also known for his design of The Melbourne Club on Collins Street (1858 - 1859) "Braemar" in East Melbourne (1865), "Greenwich House" Toorak (1869) and the Campbell residence on the corner of Collins and Spring Streets (1877). Leonard was first married, at 30, on 26 June 1855 to Theodosia Mary Welch (d.1861), by whom he had six children including Marmaduke, who trained as a surveyor and entered his father's firm in 1880. Terry's second marriage, at 41, on 29 December 1866 was to Esther Hardwick Aspinall, who bore him three children and survived him when on 23 June 1884, at the age of 59, he died of a thoracic tumor in his last home, Campbellfield Lodge, Alexandra Parade, in Collingwood.
Lloyd Tayler (1830 - 1900) was an architect born on 26 October 1830 in London, youngest son of tailor William Tayler, and his wife Priscilla. Educated at Mill Hill Grammar School, Hendon, and King's College, London, he is said to have been a student at the Sorbonne. In June 1851 he left England to join his brother on the land near Albury, New South Wales. He ended up on the Mount Alexander goldfields before setting up an architectural practice with Lewis Vieusseux, a civil engineer in 1854. By 1856 he had his own architectural practice where he designed premises for the Colonial Bank of Australasia. In the 1860s and 1870s he was lauded for his designs for the National Bank of Australasia, including those in the Melbourne suburbs of Richmond and North Fitzroy, and further afield in country Victoria at Warrnambool and Coleraine. His major design for the bank was the Melbourne head office in 1867. With Edmund Wright in 1874 William won the competition for the design of the South Australian Houses of Parliament, which began construction in 1881. The pair also designed the Bank of Australia in Adelaide in 1875. He also designed the Australian Club in Melbourne's William Street and the Melbourne Exchange in Collins Street in 1878. Lloyd's examples of domestic architecture include the mansion "Kamesburgh", Brighton, commissioned by W. K. Thomson in 1872. Other houses include: "Thyra", Brighton (1883): "Leighswood", Toorak, for C. E. Bright: "Roxcraddock", Caulfield: "Cherry Chase", Brighton: and "Blair Athol", Brighton. In addition to his work on St. Mark the Evangelist in Fitzroy, Lloyd also designed St. Mary's Church of England, Hotham (1860); St Philip's, Collingwood, and the Presbyterian Church, Punt Road, South Yarra (1865); and Trinity Church, Bacchus Marsh (1869). The high point of Lloyd's career was the design for the Melbourne head office of the Commercial Bank of Australia. His last important design was the Metropolitan Fire Brigade Headquarters Station, Eastern Hill in 1892. Lloyd was also a judge in 1900 of the competition plans for the new Flinders Street railway station. Lloyd was married to Sarah Toller, daughter of a Congregational minister. They established a comfortable residence, Pen-y-Bryn, in Brighton, and it was from here that he died of cancer of the liver on the 17th of August 1900 survived by his wife, four daughters and a son.
Charles Webb (1821 - 1898) was an architect. Born on 26 November 1821 at Sudbury, Suffolk, England, he was the youngest of nine children of builder William Webb and his wife Elizabeth. He attended Sudbury Academy and was later apprenticed to a London architect. His brother James had migrated to Van Diemen's Land in 1830, married in 1833, gone to Melbourne in 1839 where he set up as a builder in and in 1848 he bought Brighton Park, Brighton. Charles decided to join James and lived with James at Brighton. They went into partnership as architects and surveyors. The commission that established them was in 1850 for St Paul's Church, Swanston Street. It was here that Charles married Emma Bridges, daughter of the chief cashier at the Bank of England. Charles and James built many warehouses, shops and private homes and even a synagogue in the city. After his borther's return to England, Charles designed St. Andrew's Church, Brighton, and receiving an important commission for Melbourne Church of England Grammar School in 1855. In 1857 he added a tower and a slender spire to Scots Church, which James had built in 1841. He designed Wesley College in 1864, the Alfred Hospital and the Royal Arcade in 1869, the South Melbourne Town Hall and the Melbourne Orphan Asylum in 1878 and the Grand Hotel (now the Windsor) in 1884. In 1865 he had designed his own home, "Farleigh", in Park Street, Brighton, where he died on 23 January 1898 of heat exhaustion. Predeceased by Emma in 1893 and survived by five sons and three daughters, he was buried in Brighton cemetery.
William Montgomery (1850 - 1927) was an artist who specialised in stained glass painting and design. He was born in England in 1850, and studied at the School of Art in Newcastle-on-Tyne. In his final year William was awarded one of only three National Art Scholarships that year to study at South Kensington School of Art (now the Royal College of Art). He was employed by the leading London stained glass firm, Clayton and Bell, before joining Franz Mayer and Company in Munich, Germany. Over the next seven years he not only designed windows he also trained others in the English style of glass painting. William arrived in Melbourne, Australia, in 1886 during the Boom Period provided by the Gold Rush. Melbourne was at the time one of the wealthiest cities in the world, and was in the throes of a building boom. He quickly set up his studio at 164 Flinders Street in the heart of Melbourne, bringing with him the latest in European style and design and achieving instant success amongst wealthy patrons. He worked equally for Catholic and Protestant denominations, his windows being found in many churches as well as in mansions, houses and other commercial buildings around the city. This extended to the country beyond as his reputation grew. A painter as well as stained glass window designer William was a founding member of the Victorian Art Society in Albert Street, Eastern Hill. William became President of its Council in 1912, a position he held until 1916. He was a trustee of the National Gallery of Victoria. His commissions included; stained glass windows at Christ Church, Hawthorn: St. John's, Heidelberg, St. Ignatius', Richmond: Christ Church, St Kilda: Geelong Grammar School: the Bathurst Cathedral and private houses "Tay Creggan", Hawthorn (now Strathcona Baptist Girls Grammar), and "Earlsbrae Hall", Essendon (now Lowther Hall Anglican Grammar School). The success of William Montgomery made Melbourne the leading centre of stained glass in the Southern Hemisphere. William Montgomery died in 1927.