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Carrigeen Castle has featured in columns of the New York Times, Sunday Times, Kaleva (Finland), and Afton Bladet (Sweden) newspapers, besides several American and European publications relating to Ireland. In the mid-1990s, the Frommer Guide to Ireland took the opportunity of placing a picture of Carrigeen Castle on its front cover.
A defensible fortified structure was on this hilltop from at least the sixteenth century. The Pacata Hibernica depiction of the siege of Cahir Castle (1599) shows such a building. In 1690, during the Williamite campaign, earthen and stone outworks were erected around it, presenting an ideally defensible fortification for the Danish troops of William II who, during that winter, had quarters in Cahir and nearby Clonmel. Materials from this earlier structure were incorporated in the present building, while the associated outworks were adapted to serve as the castellated wall encircling the grounds.
In 1809, at the Summer Assize Presentments of the County Tipperary Grand Jury, funding was laid aside for the future provision of a bridewell in the town of Cahir. Bridewells (small town gaols) were generally small two-storey buildings, built of cut-limestone, and costing up to £800 to erect. They held prisoners temporarily, pending space in the county gaol, and were funded by the grand jury system (predecessors of the county councils), but supplementary central resources were also available, in certain circumstances. At Cahir, a committee led by local landlord, Richard Butler, baron of Caher – soon to become first earl of Glengall – was successful in attracting over twice the usual funding. Their chosen architect – Michael Bernard Mullins - submitted two plans, both variants of the same elaborate, castellated structure, costing some £2,000 to build, which would emphasize the fortress origins of the site and overawe the local population. This involved the creation of towers, turrets, battlements and a machicolation (defence mechanism over the main door, through which boiling oil was thrown on attackers of medieval castles) of hand cut limestone, an expensive and time consuming process.
Construction of the Cahir Bridewell commenced in 1813, and it was opened for the admission of prisoners in 1816. The original section is three stories in height, with a cut-limestone spiral staircase in the main tower. It originally comprised five cells, two dayrooms, two keeper's rooms and two exercise yards, the latter incorporating obtuse and acute angles suggestive of late medieval starfort design. The inner grounds – comprising ½ acre – are encircled by a castellated wall and gateway arch, beyond which lies 5½ acres known as The Bridewell Field.
The bridewell was enlarged in 1849-50 – at the height of the Great Famine – when the prison compliment was increased to eight cells (four for males, three for females and one for drunken / violent prisoners), two dayrooms, two storerooms, and two exercise yards. An inter-connecting keeper's residence was also erected – comprising a kitchen, dining room, sitting room, and two bedrooms.
LIFE IN THE BRIDEWELL:
Cahir Bridewell received mention in several noteworthy publications due to its unique appearance and situation. Perhaps the earliest coverage, however, was in May 1827 when the local Clonmel Gazette newspaper carried the headline ‘two men escaped from Cahir Bridewell’. The men managed to escape unnoticed but were recaptured the following day. Following on from this incident, the parapet of the exercise yards was raised!
In 1837 The Lewis Topographical Dictionary of Ireland stated ‘the bridewell is a handsome castellated building, containing five cells, one dayroom and two airing yards. However, the Inspector General of Prisons (Ireland) Reports of the 1830s and 1840s noted a great decline in the condition of the building, notice of which reached a more general readership in The Parliamentary Gazetteer of Ireland (1846), which stated ‘The Gaol is distinct and suitable in architecture. A short time ago, it was remarkable for its dilapidated state and bad management, but in 1841 it underwent repair.’ The keeper was ‘a painter, who occupied the house for his trade’, and was ‘totally unsuitable to his office’.
Following this damning report, the superintendence of all bridewells of the south riding of Tipperary was placed under the governor of HM Richmond Prison, Clonmel – which was appropriate, given that these temporary places of confinement acted as reserve accommodation for that gaol. Thereafter, a system of training keepers and turnkeys at Clonmel gaol was utilised to great effect.
Also, their salaries were increased from £5 in the 1810s (from which minor repairs were paid, leaving little incentive for upkeep) to £30 by the early 1840s, gradually increased to £50 by 1876.
Due to the lawlessness and poverty of the period, large numbers were confined at Cahir Bridewell over the years. In the year September 1825 to September 1826, 156 prisoners were confined here for an average of three days (awaiting transfer to Clonmel Gaol), at an average cost of 5d. per head. Numbers confined continued to increase, peaking during the famine years when, during one quarter of 1851, 533 prisoners were confined. The prisoners were fed a pound of bread and a pint of new milk for breakfast, and a pound of bread and a pint of skimmed milk for dinner. The local Anglican clergyman was the inspector. Each cell contained, per person, one iron bedstead, one bed ticken and three blankets.
Engraving of 1853
This earliest view – an engraving from 1853 – was commissioned when the property was featured as a notable building in the auction catalogue of Cahir Estates. The Encumbered Estates Court sold the majority of the estate, as it had been bankrupted through town improvements and a lack of tenant rents during the Great Famine (1846-51).
Cahir Bridewell was one of 52 gaols closed by the prison authorities in 1878, as part of an island wide rationalization. The estate then leased the keepers’ residence to local military officers until the purchase of the building from Lt. Col. Richard Butler-Charteris by David Butler (1890-1955), in 1919. He continued the estate tradition of leasing the keeper’s residence, for a time, before residing here in retirement. Following the marriage in 1969 of his son, John (Séan) with Margaret (Peig), the couple commenced renovating the remainder of the building, which opened in May 1976, as a guest accommodation.
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This, the Yakutiye Medresesi, an Ilkhanate masterpiece, was built in 1310 by local Mongol emir Cemaleddin Hoca Yakut on behalf of Gazan Khan and Bolugan Hatun. Its portal and one remaining minaret were designed in the Selcuk style and "show marked Persian influence." (Bradt) See the turquoise tiling on the minaret in this shot. The central dome in the ceiling has impressive muqarnas work. 4 eivans with students' cells /b/ them are arranged @ an inner courtyard. It's on the tentative list for Unesco designation (see below). It houses the obligatory local (and generally dry) 'Turkish and Islamic Arts and Ethnography museum', "one of Eastern Turkey's better museums". (LP) A mock-up of the interior of an Ottoman house, carpets, kilims, copperwork, weapons, womens' clothes, dervish accoutrements, Seljuk ceramics, "exhibits relating to the black amber jewellery trade", etc. are on show, per the LP. I spent at least a few hours in here. www.youtube.com/watch?v=b0rB0DCEXL0
- Impressive Erzurum (Air-zooroom) was more similar to Sivas (and to Tokat but less so) than any place that I would tour further east, but it was the most exotic of those 3, a showcase of some wonderful Saltuqid, Selcuk and Ilkhanate buildings, in particular two grand, well-preserved medreses, jewels of medieval architecture, and some unusual kümbets incl. that of the founder of the Saltuqid dynasty. It and at least one mosque are 12th cent. Saltuqid, among the oldest Islamic bldg.s I'd seen in Turkey to that point. (The city has its share of concrete apt. blocks too.) I enjoyed Erzurum and found it to be restful, untouristy, and atmospheric. I wonder if my impression that it was exotic was a result in part of the relative social conservatism and piety of the locals, with more head-scarves, chadors and prayer-beads on show than I'd yet seen that trip. It also sits at nearly 2,000 m.s above sea level (Turkey's loftiest provincial capital) on an almost treeless plain, set in a great bowl surrounded by distant mountains. www.youtube.com/watch?v=PewFgGXCR5Y
- In the early 1st mill., 'Erzurum [was known by] the Armenian name Karin. During the reigns of the Artaxiad and Arsacid kings of Armenia, it served as capital of the canton of Karin in the province Bardzr Hayk (Upper Armenia). Following the partition of Armenia in 387, the city passed into Roman control, was fortified and renamed Theodosiopolis after Emperor Theodosius I, became the chief military stronghold along the eastern border of the empire and was fiercely contested in wars between the Byzantines and Persians. Anastasius I and Justinian I both refortified the city.
- Conquered by Umayyad general Abdallah ibn Abd al-Malik in 700/701, it became the capital of the emirate of Ḳālīḳalā and was used as a base for raids into Byzantine territory. Notwithstanding that it was only an island of Arab power in Armenian territory, the city was generally a reliable client of the Caliph's governors. With the decline of the Caliphate and the resurgence of Byzantium, local Armenian leaders preferred the government of the city by relatively impotent Muslim emirs than by Byzantine emperors. In 931 and in 949, Byzantine forces led by Theophilos Kourkouas, grandfather to future emperor John I Tzimiskes, captured Theodosiopolis, expelled is Arab population and resettled it with Greeks and Armenians. Basil II rebuilt the city and its defenses in 1018 with the help of the local Armenians. In 1071, following Manzikert, the Seljuks took possession. The Saltukids, rulers of an Anatolian beylik (principality) centered in Theodosiopolis, ruled from the city [, their capital,] from 1071 to 1202. They repelled several attacks and campaigns by the Seljuks and Georgians until 1201 and the conquest of the city and province by Seljuk sultan Süleymanshah II. Erzen-Erzurum then fell to the Mongols in 1242 who looted and devastated the city. With the fall of the Sultanate of Rum in the early 14th cent., it became a province of the Ilkhanate, then became part of the Çoban beylik under the Black Sheep Turkmen, then of the empire of Timur Lenk and the White Sheep Turkmen, and then passed to the Safavids until the Ottomans, led by Selim the Grim, conquered it at Chaldiran in 1514. The city would then serve as the main base of Ottoman military power in the region and as the capital of the eyalet of Erzurum. ... In 1733, Nader Shah took Erzurum in the Ottoman-Persian War (1730-35), but it was retaken by the Ottomans following his death in 1747.
- In 1821, during the last major Ottoman-Persian War, the Ottomans were defeated by the Qajars at the Battle of Erzurum. In 1829 the city was captured by the Russians, [a consequential victory for Russia "mark[ing] a high point of achievement after which political divisions shaped by the 1825 Decembrist Revolt hardened; a pivotal moment which brought British India and Russia face to face in Persia and Ottoman Turkey [and] cast the die for an Asian rivalry which would be played back from India to London as Russian inheritance of Napoleon’s “threat to India” royalasiaticsociety.org/derek-davis-pushkins-journey-to-a... ]. But it was returned to the Ottomans later that year per the Treaty of Adrianople (Edirne). In Feb. 1878, the Russians took Erzurum without resistance, but then returned the city to the Ottomans per the Treaty of San Stefano. There were massacres of the city's Armenian citizens in 1894–1896.
- The 40,000-strong Armenian population was deported and massacred in the 1915 genocide. Their churches, clubs, schools, etc. were looted, destroyed, or otherwise left derelict. When the Russians reoccupied Erzurum in 1916, there were only @ 200 Armenians left alive.
- Erzurum was the site of a key battle in the Caucasus campaign of WWI /b/ the Ottoman and Russian Empires and was captured by the Russians under Grand Duke Nicholas and Nikolai Nikolaevich Yudenich on Feb. 16, 1916. It reverted to Ottoman control per the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk in March, 1918. In 1919, Atatürk resigned from the Ottoman army in Erzurum and was declared an "Honorary Native" and freeman of the city, which issued him his first citizenship registration and certificate (Nüfus Cuzdanı) of the new Turkish Republic. (all Wikipedia) The Erzurum Congress of 1919, at which the outlines of post-Ottoman Turkish foreign policy and Turkey's modern boundaries were drawn up, would lead to the Turkish War of Independence." (Bradt)
- Erzurum was a 'listening post' for NATO in the cold war, with the code-name 'the Rock'. (Wikipedia)
- The Arabs referred to the place as 'Arz Er-Rum', 'land of the Romans' (the Byzantines), and the Seljuks kept the name. (Bradt)
- Pushkin visited the city and then wrote one of the first traveler's diaries in literature: "A Journey to Arzrum during the Campaign of 1829." "The Tsarist authorities [hadn't] allowed Pushkin to travel abroad [he'd been a social activist, influenced by the Kantian liberal individualist A.P. Kunitsyn and the ideas of the French Enlightenment. Outspoken, he angered the tsarist government, and was sent into exile on his mother's estate for a spell; not such a bad exile]; he was only permitted to travel as far south as Tiflis (Tbilisi). His unauthorized journey to Turkey infuriated Nicholas I, who "threatened to confine Pushkin to his estate once again." His text challenged, although it didn't entirely reject, the orientalist romanticism of his earlier 'Prisoner of the Caucasus'" and wasn't a hit with his fans who expected a romantic epic poem. (Wikipedia) It was adapted into an opera in 1987 by Armenian composer Edgar Hovhannisyan www.youtube.com/watch?v=dtJRxzdUchY and into a Soviet film in 1936 directed by Moisei Levin. (I can't find a clip on Youtube.) A quote from the book: "One of the Pashas, a wizened old man, terribly fussy, was talking animatedly to our generals. Seeing me in a frock-coat, he asked who I was. Pushchin gave me the title of poet. The pasha folded his arms on his chest and bowed to me, saying through an interpreter: 'Blessed is the hour when we meet a poet. The poet is brother to the dervish. He possesses neither fatherland nor worldly goods; and while we, poor souls, fret about glory, power, and treasures, he stands equal with the rulers of the earth and they bow down to him.'"
I toured the following (I think) per the LP.:
- The highlight in Erzurum (together with the medresesi in this photo) was the grand, atmospheric Cifte Minareli (Twin Minaret) medrese (Seljuk, 1253), surrounded and filled with promenading locals late in the day when I toured it. I recall a time-capsule-ish atmosphere at this medrese that was almost intense. [Update: I might have to edit this and my comment re Sivas further as I think I'm confusing my impression of this medrese with the Bucuriye in Sivas. It's been a long time.] Built by the Seljuk sultan Alaettin Keykubad II, at 35 x 48 m.s, with 2 storeys, a towering limestone portal and 30-m.-high, brick-ribbed, fluted minarets, it's the largest medrese in Anatolia. (!) A carved relief of a double-headed eagle appears on a panel to the right of the portal, a motif for the Seljuks. The central courtyard is surrounded by 4 eivans with double colonnades on the eastern and western sides and seminarians' cells on the upper levels. At the far end of the courtyard sits a 12-sided domed hall, the Hatuniye Turbesi, the tomb of the sultan's daughter Huant Hatun. A small room beneath it with vents to allow in light and air may have been a mescit (prayer room) with a cenotaph, with the tomb itself beneath the floor. (LP)
- The said 'domed hall' is round with blind arches, a conical roof, and is similar to the ancient mosque in the kale and the famous kümbets in town (see below). These are also quite similar to contemporary Armenian churches. It seems obvious that the city's Saltuqid, Seljuk and Mongol rulers employed Armenian architects here. In fact, some claim that the 'domed hall' and the very similar mosque in the kale are converted Armenian churches. allinnet.info/antiquities/erzurum-karin-ancient-armenian-... (To be clear, I'm referring to the cylindrical bldg.s or components of complexes with conical roofs. The eivans and the muqarnas moulding in the portal, sky-lights and elsewhere [inspired by the pomegranate], are Persian in origin. In fact the eivan is early Sassanian in origin, pre-dating Islam.)
- This medrese is thought to be the model for the Gok medrese in Sivas, and likely influenced the construction of the Bucuriye medrese in that city as well.
- Erzurum's Cifte Minareli medrese and the Yakutiye medresesi (in this photo) are 2 of 10 medreses in a proposal for designation as a collective Unesco site, 'Anatolian Seljuk medreses' (although at least 2 are Ilkhanate), on Turkey's (very lengthy) tentative list. I toured 5 this trip, incl. 3 in Sivas: the Gök, Çifte Minareli (in that city), and the Bucuriye.
- www.youtube.com/watch?v=d4L5lNdvvAQ
- (More re Anatolian medreses): "These were educational institutions that first appeared in Islamic countries. Before madrasahs, mosques were used as schools outside the hours of worship and education was limited to the study of the Koran and theology. But the use of mosques as schools came to be considered inappropriate, and so hodjas began to give lessons in their homes. The earliest traces of bldg.s known as madrasahs date to the 10th cent. and are found in Khorasan and Transoxiana. These consist of rooms arranged around an internal courtyard with an iwan at the centre of each side and student cells between. This layout influenced the plans of madrasahs constructed in Anatolia: a courtyard, iwan, winter dershane and student cells are found in all madrasahs constructed in this period that have survived to the present day. Madrasahs were built by wealthy people and high state officials and were not bound to the state, and so patrons would devote a portion of their income-generating properties to the madrasah to meet its expenses, incl. feeding students (20 to 40 students per madrassah), employee salaries and bldg. maintenance. Each madrasah was a waqf institution. ..." (Unesco) whc.unesco.org/en/tentativelists/5907/
- the austere Ulu Cami (1179, Saltuqid), built by Nasreddin Aslan Mehmed, the Saltuklu emir of Erzurum and restored 5 x since, has 7 aisles running north-south and 6 east-west resulting in a forest of columns in cut-stone. An impressive muqarnas dome in the centre is open to the sky, and a wooden dome and a pair of bull's-eye windows are at the end of the central aisle opposite the entrance. The mosque is also replete with elaborate, low-hanging chandeliers.
- a photogenic group of 3 kümbets or tombs, the Üç Kümbetler. The largest, oldest and most unusual is a 12th-cent., octagonal, 'flattened-cone-domed' Saltuqid tomb, thought to be that of Emir Saltuq, founder of the Saltuqid dynasty in the late 11th cent. (!) It was built with red volcanic and gray cut-stone "in a blend of Georgian, Armenian and early Turkish styles" (Bradt), with reliefs of bulls, snakes, bats, eagles and one of a human head /b/ the horns of a bull in its niches. (I'll scan a photo.) The other 2 are Seljuk, 14th cent., cylindrical with blind arches and conical domes (very Armenian in appearance), and are similar to one another. A 4th much smaller, squarish kümbet stands behind. "In the medieval period, these would've been outside the city walls not far from Tabriz Kapisi (Tabriz Gate)." (Archnet) They stand near some centuries-old 2-story houses built with field stones.
- the Kale or citadel, erected on a hilltop by Theodosius @ the 5th cent., was damaged and renovated repeatedly over the centuries, including a restoration by Suleyman the Magnificent in 1555. "In Ottoman times, the citadel was the eastern stronghold for many years of the dreaded Janissaries, the Ottoman SS." (Bradt) It's surmounted by a clock tower converted from a 12th cent. Saltuqid minaret. Its walls are intact and harbour some old cannons with Russian or Ottoman emblems and inscriptions, and a fine Seljuk or Saltuqid mosque (not in use) with 3 minarets, blind arches and a conical dome. Steps lead to the top of the rough walls for a fine view over the Cifte Minareli medrese and environs, surrounded by broad mtn.s. The clock-tower/minaret can be climbed too (I don't recall climbing it; it might've been closed?); the clock was made in Croydon, England and was given to the Ottomans by Queen Victoria in 1877. I do recall an event which involved making a phone call (home I assume, long dist.) from a phone booth overlooking the city by this kale.
- the small Caferiye Camii (Ottoman, 1645) built on the order of Ebubekiroglu Haci Cafer;
- the Lala Mustafa Pasa Camii (Ottoman, 1563). Lala Mustafa Pasa was a grand vizier, and this mosque might have been designed by Sinan or one of his followers;
- the small Pervizoglu Camii (Ottoman, 1715);
- What a beauty this is, the Solakzade camii (a miss), and it's not in any of the guidebooks.: www.youtube.com/shorts/M0_rJIlUspM
- I toured the 'Erzurum museum' which displays fragments of Seljuk tiles, Urartian and Trans-Caucasian pottery, jewellery found in Hellenistic and Roman-era tombs, and artifacts discovered in digs at Büyüktepe Höyük and Sos Höyük (per the LP). I don't recall any of this, but it's been entirely renovated and modernized since. I bought the only postcard on sale, a photo of an object on display, an ancient, phallic incense-burner with a face on what could be the glans (? They must've been low on postcards). I'd become accustomed to buying postcards across Eastern Europe and in Western Turkey, but they were rare to non-existent in the east.
- Some exhibits "document the massacre and mass burial of the Muslim inhabitants of Yeşilyayla and Alaca Köyü by Armenian insurgents at the beginning of the [20th] cent., but the labelling is only in Turkish" (LP, 1995). I don't recall this either, but in 2000 there was a 4-paragraph write-up in a frame on a wall in the museum (I took a photo). Unusually it was in English and was clearly intended to be read by Western tourists. Entitled 'The Problem of Armenia and [unintelligible]' (my photo's a bit blurry), it includes the following.: "... The Armenians were naturally influenced by the emergent Nationalist movement in Europe in the XIX cent. and began to rebel against the Ottomans, whose good intentions and tolerance they had exploited for centuries. [Ouch] ... These separatist movements were changed into rebels when the Ottoman Empire __ __ __ [unintell.] as to collapse during the World War I. Moreover they began to massacre Turks with whom they had lived together for long years. They were also treacherous to benefit from the incapability of the Ottoman empire during the ___ conquest of East Anatolia, mercilessly massacring the inhabitants there from the ___ and innocent babies to the elderly people. ... " It then refers to evidence found in 2 villages in the district of Erzurum and one near Kars. It's fair to say that the Turks have been on the defensive as to the events of 1915 for decades, but the saying goes that the best defense is a good offense. (That said, no-one denies that the Russian Empire, with whom the Armenians were allied, waged a series of brutal wars of aggression for territorial expansion in Eastern Turkey in the 19th and early 20th cent.s, "each [war] more horrible than the last, culminating in the bloody Battle of Sarikamis during World War I." [Bradt])
- I didn't mention the Armenian genocide when I was in Eastern Turkey, but it seems that when foreigners bring up the subject in videos online (at least with elderly local men), the response is 'No, they were jerks and killed our people'. Here's a site that claims that 'Armenian gangs' massacred at least 523,955 Turks from 1910 to 1922. www.genocidestudiescenter.org/turkishgenocideofarmenians
- www.youtube.com/watch?v=eBVJH8Y9CmI See the interaction in Kars from the 2:12 min. pt. to 6:50 in this Dutch doc.
- www.youtube.com/watch?v=4VOkOZlm6WQ
- www.youtube.com/watch?v=2-zaXNF1sLM
- www.youtube.com/watch?v=P_WDJwmxFhY
- The LP praises an old hamam in town, but if I visited it I don't recall.
- I don't recall if I toured the Rustem Pasa Hani, a "severe, dark stone, 16th cent. caravanserai, named after the grand vizier of Suleyman the Magnificent." Used today as a covered bazaar, it currently specializes in the sale of jewellery and prayer beads made from the local 'black amber' or 'oblutas', an obsidian-like black jet.
- There's a museum devoted to the Erzurum Congress, at which Ataturk officiated in July and August, 1919, in the bldg. in which it was held, the Sanasarian College, with more school-desks and the photos of participants (as at Sivas), a printing press, and the brass bed in which Ataturk slept. I don't recall if I toured it. (That college had been a prestigious Armenian school, founded in 1881. Most of its teachers perished in the genocide.)
- As to Armenian religious heritage, the 'Cathedral church of the Holy Mother of Garin' (1838-'44) had stood somewhere in the north of town on the site of 2 older churches, but it was demolished at an unknown date after WWI. I can't find any other churches in town in a search online.
- I wrote much in the description to the last photo (of the Ulu Cami in Divrigi) re the interesting Armenian heritage sites not far off my route from Divrigi to Erzurum, none of which were written up in the LP or the other guidebooks, and still aren't notwithstanding the importance of several to the early history of the Armenian church. By contrast, a series of abandoned Georgian churches in the valleys north of Erzurum were in the LP in 2000. I don't know how much the authors of these guides rely on sources in the Turkish tourism industry and in Turkish government when they conduct their research, but I hope the omission of those Armenian sites isn't the result in part of Turkish sensitivities as to the genocide. (The RG writes that "there's not been nearly the degree of official stonewalling as to Georgian Christians as there is concerning Armenians", although 'stonewalling' is open to interpretation.) But, that said, promotion of the Georgian churches to tourists makes good sense in light of their setting in the dramatic and beautiful valleys of the Yusufelli region, the most scenic region I toured in Turkey that trip. (According to Bradt, "the closest thing to these magnificent Georgian valleys are scenes in the remotest corners of the Pyrenees or the Alps.") Not as much can be said for the region @ Kemah from İliç to Erzincan. And these Georgian churches and monastic complexes are more accessible and are generally much better preserved than the Armenian bldg.s at those sites south of Erzincan, and several are quite important to the history of medieval Georgia and the early history of the Georgian Orthodox church. 2 of the churches were converted to mosques centuries ago by Georgians who converted, and have been maintained as such since.
- So from Erzurum I hitched north to the region of the Tortum valley, once the medieval home of Georgian Christians and ambitious architects. Further motivation for this detour north was that I'd heard that some of the valleys in the Yusufelli region were set to be flooded for hydroelectric 'development', and that I should tour them then, if ever.
- "The mountainous country north of Erzurum towards Artvin was once part of the medieval Georgian kingdom [of Tao-Klarjeti], and has numerous castles and churches to show for it. The trouble you take to see this region will be amply rewarded. The mountain scenery is at times spectacular. ..." (LP)
- I hitched up the D950 from Erzurum towards the turn-off for Bağbaşı and the Haho manastiri. Only @ 4 km.s north of Erzurum and 2 or 3 east of the hwy. is Çayırtepeköyü. The Armenian 'Holy Illuminator monastery of Mudurga', a scriptorium from the 16th to the 18th cent.s and the residence of the primates of Erzurum, had stood somewhere nearby but, per the collectif2015.org site, it's been "entirely destoyed" and a Muslim place of pilgrimage has been built on-site (the Çayırtepe Köyü Cami?).
- One real miss @ 6 km.s beyond the village of Tortum and a few east of the road as the crow flies was the dramatic, photogenic ruin of the vertiginous Tortum Kalesi. Wow. www.youtube.com/watch?v=FHLmIyvp4vc It sits on a rocky ridge above the village of Tortumkale in a valley. Said to have been built by a Georgian king named Mameroz or Mamerol, it probably incorporated an earlier fortress. It was taken in 1282 by the Seljuks, was swiftly retaken by the Georgians, but was retaken a week later by the Turks. It was then modified over the centuries by a succession of Persian, Byzantine, Georgian, Ilkhanid, Aq Koyunlu and Ottoman overlords and warlords. www.castles.nl/tortum-castle
- At the 1st of 3 turn-offs from the D950 for the Serdarli Yolu valley road to the west, there's an impressive, ancient cut-limestone bridge with one high pointed arch, the Kireçli Köprü (which I don't recall), believed to have been renovated by the Seljuks in the 13th cent. and again later by the Ottomans.
HAHO - I followed the Serdarli Yolu north to the turn-off for the road up alongside the Bağbaşı Creek and followed that @ 8 clicks to the village of Bağbaşı and the grand high-domed Khakhuli manastiri in Haho (10th cent., Georgian Orthodox). "For a tip an elderly local with the key let me in" (from a note on the back of a photo). Part of it's in use as the village mosque and it was more intact and enclosed (certainly as a result) than most of the Georgian churches I would see further north. Several interesting stone reliefs had been left intact over the many centuries despite the bldg.'s use as a mosque and which were all the more impressive for that reason. According to Bradt, the bldg. had been carefully restored by the locals. "Most of the Georgians in the area converted to Islam in the 17th cent.," which might help to explain the state of things. (I'll scan a photo.)
- The monastery was built by David III Kurapalates, king of the Bagrat kingdom /b/ 976 and 1001. It then became "an important centre of literature and Georgian culture and many Georgian scholars and theologians studied and worked there incl. Basil of Khakhuli, Ioane Khakhuleli, Davit Tbileli, and Giorgi Mtatsmindeli." The region advanced economically in centuries to follow with the growth of 300 villages ruled by 30 independent minor feudal lords. Khakhuli was absorbed into the Kartli Catholicate in the 16th cent., but became isolated from Georgia following the Ottoman conquest of the southern Georgian territories. (Wikipedia)
- Khakhuli is a Georgian cross-dome church. The west arm divides into 3 'naves' and the east arm ends in a semicircular apse flanked with a compartment on each side, also topped with small apses. The drum's exterior is decorated with blind arches in the Armenian and Georgian style. (I can't find the dimensions of this church, the height and diameter of the dome, etc. on-line.) Several small chapels surround the church within the circuit wall, one dating from the 10th cent.
- Reliefs on the interior and exterior walls and windows include images of "a lion, a bull, a cock, a pig and a griffon" (a plaque), eagles grasping does in their talons, the regurgitation of Jonah by the whale (resembling a toothy pig with front legs and pointy ears), and 'the aerial flight of Alexander the Great' (in which he's carried by birds). The old man with the key pointed the 'flight' out to me.: "Iskander, Iskander", pointing. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khakhuli_Monastery#/media/File:Sain... (I'll scan photos). From an abstract to an article at jstor.org, 'Alexander of Macedon in Georgian Folktales': "Alexander the Great never visited Georgia during his campaigns, yet is one of the most popular characters in Georgian folklore. The Georgian folktales featuring Alexander draw on literary influences from Antiquity and the Middle Ages, representing at the same time an integral part of national folklore."
- An intricate, lovely 12th-century triptych icon of the Mother of God, originally assembled at Khakhuli on a gilded and silver frame with a collection of Georgian and Byzantine enamels, is one of Georgia's finest examples of medieval Georgian goldsmithery, and is now displayed in the Art Museum of Georgia. (Wikipedia) upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/25/Georgia_Khakh...
According to this site, that icon is "the largest [in] the entire Eastern Christian World." !!
www.atinati.com/news/6388a71b7103640043fa3670
Highly skilled and accomplished Georgian jewellers and goldsmiths crafted 'the Holy crown of Hungary', which has pride of place in the Parliament bldg. in Budapest.
- www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eb0GH3YhSSI
- From Haho, I hitched back to and north up the twisty D950 right past and below one of my biggest misses en route in Turkey that trip, the supernatural Engüzek or Üngüzek kapı kalesi (castle), straight from my childhood fantasies and yours too. Looking over my route on google maps for the first time since then, I've just learned of its existence and saw it for the first time (at least since Sept. 2000) in this video in which the vlogger runs through it, obligingly.: www.youtube.com/watch?v=UjRMCSrV_A8 ("Çok güzel, çok" at the 6 sec. pt., "Very beautiful, very". See how quiet Turks can be?) If I saw it from the road (how'd I miss it if I didn't?) I don't recall. None of those metal walkways nor the bridge had been installed by 2000, so it would've been quite a trick to gain entry, and the whole pile would've been an obstacle course before it was cleaned up. But I would've had the view that you see at the 32 to 50 sec. pt., and in this photo too (unless the access road is new too, which it looks to be).: www.castles.nl/unguzek-castle (When I first watched the vlogger arrive at the bridge at the 47 sec. pt., I thought of the famous scene from 1:23:20 to 1:25:45 in this.: www.youtube.com/watch?v=uYhv0O0gUTk )
- The net reveals a surfeit of mtn.-top castles in the area that are handy to the hwy., but you'd expect as much from this Eastern Turkish 'World of Warcraft'. I saw at least a few en route high above and beyond the road, but none up close (that I recall) and none as accessible nor as dramatic as this. From the 'Castles' blog in the link above: "Üngüzek Castle ... tower[s] above the Tortum river and the road from Erzurum to Artvin. ... It was probably built in the Middle Ages by Turkish beys. [Some attribute its construction] to the Byzantines or the Genoese. [I think the Georgians probably built it.] ... I couldn't find a safe way in."
- Again, I continued north along the D950 /b/ rising mountainous slopes to the turn-off west up the Gölbaşı Köyü Yolu to the village of Gölbaşı and past that to Çamlıyamaç, home to the ruined Öşvank or Oshki manastırı. (See the next photo taken hiking along the Gölbaşı Köyü Yolu.)
Maker:
Born: USA
Active: USA
Medium: catalog
Size:
Location:
Object No. 2020.369b
Shelf: E-43
Publication: List of the Photographs and Photographic Negatives Relating to the War for the Union, now in the War Department Library, Subject Catalogue No. 5, Washington, D. C. Government Printing Office, 1897
Other Collections:
Provenance:
Notes: Once part of the War Department Library and cataloged and published as "List of the Photographs and Photographic Negatives Relating to the War for the Union" (War Department Subject Catalogue No. 5, 1897, the records include photographs from the Matthew B. Brady collection, purchased for $27,840 by the War Department in 1874 and 1875, photographs from the Quartermaster's Department of the Corps of Engineers, and photographs private citizens donated to the War Department. The pictures are now in the Still Picture Branch of the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA).
To view our archive organized by Collections, visit: OUR COLLECTIONS
For information about reproducing this image, visit: THE HISTORY OF PHOTOGRAPHY ARCHIVE
Activity relating to the carrying of the more than 100 portable shrines (mikoshi) around the Asakusa neighbourhood to bless the businesses and residents with prosperity in the coming year.
Sanja Matsuri (Festival) at the Sensoji Temple, Asakusa,
Tokyo, Japan, 2016
Only the street shots - thestreetzine.blogspot.com/
Various papers relating to Mr.Thomas Wheeler my late Grandfather.Sadly he died when I was just eleven years of age.I do however recall it was he that took me on my very first fishing trip using the first fishing rod and reel that he bought me.The images here are from WWII papers when he was an active serviceman and I only recently found these in an old album of my late father`s.These are the first twenty images in nigh on eighty images of both his army papers and my Great Grandparents (to come later) images.Some images are somewhat the same but have different focus points and apertures,mainly to suit prospective customers on Alamy.com stock images.I sincerely hope you enjoy the images and hope you see,as I did,what I think is one of many of the Identity Card issued during WWII.As you can see my Grandfather first signed up in September 1940 and seved right up until the end of the war 1945.He was then signed up for the reserves.Do Not Use Without Express Permisison From Peter Wheeler.
Faubourg D'Amiens - Arras Memorial
The Panel (or Bay) numbers quoted at the end of each entry relate to the panels dedicated to the Regiment served with. In some instances where a casualty is recorded as attached to another Regiment, his name may alternatively appear within their Regimental Panels (or Bays). Please refer to the on-site Memorial Register Introduction to determine the alternative Panel (or Bay) numbers if you do not find the name within the quoted Panel (or Bay). Wheelchair access to the memorial is possible via an alternative entrance at the rear of Faubourg-d'Amiens Cemetery. Location Information: The Arras Memorial is in the Faubourg-d'Amiens Cemetery, which is in the Boulevard du General de Gaulle in the western part of the town of Arras. The cemetery is near the Citadel, approximately 2 kms due west of the railway station.
The French handed over Arras to Commonwealth forces in the spring of 1916 and the system of tunnels upon which the town is built were used and developed in preparation for the major offensive planned for April 1917. The Commonwealth section of the FAUBOURG D'AMIENS CEMETERY was begun in March 1916, behind the French military cemetery established earlier. It continued to be used by field ambulances and fighting units until November 1918. The cemetery was enlarged after the Armistice when graves were brought in from the battlefields and from two smaller cemeteries in the vicinity. The cemetery contains 2,651 Commonwealth burials of the First World War. In addition, there are 30 war graves of other nationalities, most of them German. During the Second World War, Arras was occupied by United Kingdom forces headquarters until the town was evacuated on 23 May 1940. Arras then remained in German hands until retaken by Commonwealth and Free French forces on 1 September 1944. The cemetery contains seven Commonwealth burials of the Second World War. The graves in the French military cemetery were removed after the First World War to other burial grounds and the land they had occupied was used for the construction of the Arras Memorial and Arras Flying Services Memorial. The ARRAS MEMORIAL commemorates almost 35,000 servicemen from the United Kingdom, South Africa and New Zealand who died in the Arras sector between the spring of 1916 and 7 August 1918, the eve of the Advance to Victory, and have no known grave. The most conspicuous events of this period were the Arras offensive of April-May 1917, and the German attack in the spring of 1918. Canadian and Australian servicemen killed in these operations are commemorated by memorials at Vimy and Villers-Bretonneux. A separate memorial remembers those killed in the Battle of Cambrai in 1917. The ARRAS FLYING SERVICES MEMORIAL commemorates nearly 1,000 airmen of the Royal Naval Air Service, the Royal Flying Corps, and the Royal Air Force, either by attachment from other arms of the forces of the Commonwealth or by original enlistment, who were killed on the whole Western Front and who have no known grave. Both cemetery and memorial were designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens, with sculpture by Sir William Reid Dick. The memorial was unveiled by Lord Trenchard, Marshal of the Royal Air Force on the 31 July 1932 (originally it had been scheduled for 15 May, but due to the sudden death of French President Doumer, as a mark of respect, the ceremony was postponed until July).
The description and specifications relate to the Pitts Special as this is an identical aircraft to the S1 and S2S.
The Pitts Special is a light aerobatic biplane designed by Curtis Pitts. It has accumulated many competition wins since its first flight in 1944. The Pitts Special dominated world aerobatic competition in the 1960s and 1970s and, even today, remains a potent competition aircraft and is a favourite for many an aerobatic pilot.
General characteristics
•Crew: Two
•Length: 18 ft 9 in (5.71 m)
•Wingspan: 20 ft 0 in (6.10 m)
•Height: 6 ft 7⅓ in (2.02 m)
•Wing area: 125 ft² (11.6 m²)
•Empty weight: 1,150 lb (521 kg)
•Max takeoff weight: 1,625 lb (737 kg)
•Powerplant: 1× Textron Lycoming AEIO-540-D4A5 flat-six air cooled piston engine, 260 hp (194 kW)
Performance
•Never exceed speed: 182 knots (210 mph, 338 km/h)
•Cruise speed: 152 knots (175 mph, 282 km/h) (max cruise)
•Stall speed: 52 knots (60 mph, 97 km/h)
•Range: 277 NM (319 mi, 513 km)
•Service ceiling: 21,000 ft (6,400 m)
•Rate of climb: 2,700 ft/min (13.7 m/s)
•Wing loading: 13.0 lb/ft² (63.6 kg/m²)
•Power/mass: 0.16 hp/lb (0.26 kW/kg)
Text and specifications based on Wikipedia article under the Creative Commons License for non-profit use.
立法會鐵路事宜小組委員會視察廣深港高速鐵路香港段西九龍總站的建築工地
立法会铁路事宜小组委员会视察广深港高速铁路香港段西九龙总站的建筑工地
LegCo Subcommittee on Matters Relating to Railways visits the construction site of the West Kowloon Terminus of the Hong Kong Section of Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong Express Rail Link (2014.04.28)
Detail of miniature from scroll relating the Mahabharata. Shows Krishna, armed with a bow and arrow, riding a chariot, aiming at another chariot which is following it.
One of two major Sanskrit epics of Ancient India, the Mahabharata tells the tale of a dynastic struggle between two sets of cousins for control of the Bharata kingdom in central India. One of the longest poems ever written, eclipsed only by the Gesar Epic of Tibet, it is said to have been composed between 900 and 400BCE by the sage Vyasa, although, in reality, it is likely to have been created by a number of individuals. To Hindus, it is important in terms of both dharma (moral law) and history (itihasa), as its themes are often didactic.
This scroll dates to 1795CE and was donated to the university in 1821 by Colonel Walker of Bowland. It is 13.5cm wide and 72m long and has 78 miniatures of varying sizes. All of the illustrations are in the late Mughul or Kangra style, with gold backgrounds and floral patterning in red, white and gold, as well as green leaves and blue diamond-shaped designs.
Sources:
www.brown.edu/Departments/Sanskrit_in_Classics_at_Brown/M... (accessed 16/06/14).
www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/357806/Mahabharata (accessed 16/06/14).
The full LUNA record for this item is here: images.is.ed.ac.uk/luna/servlet/detail/UoEsha~4~4~61054~1...
© The University of Edinburgh Library
Location: Jewellery Quarter Station
Sponsor: Jewellery Quarter BID
Artist: Rob Conway
This maternal bear is inspired by the Ancient Egypt Gallery at Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery. The gallery's Egyptian artefacts include human and animal mummies brought to the city by explorers during the height of Victorian Egyptomania! The bandages also relate to Birmingham Children's Hospital, whilst the name 'Mummy Bear' refers to the character from 'Goldilocks and the Three Bears'.
Repeating The Big Hoot’s multi-award-winning formula, Birmingham Children’s Hospital Charity and Wild in Art have teamed up once again to present The Big Sleuth!
To most people, the word ‘sleuth’ means a private detective, but it’s also the collective noun for a group of bears! Bizarre but true. Birmingham has brought both definitions together this summer by bringing the sun bear, the world’s smallest species of bear (now threatened with extinction), to the region for the second free, public-art trail!
The trail, which culminates on Sunday 17th September, is hoping to attract thousands of families, tourists and residents to the region. Hoping they discover places they’ve never visited before, as well as appreciate the beautiful pieces of art!
Each striking sculpture on the trail tells a different story, whether it is raising awareness of the children’s hospital, the plight of the sun bear, celebrating a community, the city’s industrial heritage or a famous film character or artist.
At the end of the trail, the large bears together with the special celebrity bear cubs will be auctioned off in October to raise vital funds for Birmingham Children’s Hospital Charity. The Big Sleuth’s predecessor, The Big Hoot, raised over £500,000 for the charity at auction, and The Big Sleuth aims to do the same.
The Big Sleuth bear has been created specifically for Birmingham.
Created by Guy McKinley and developed by Wild in Art, our bear sculpture has been designed to act as a canvas for artists, schools and communities to showcase the creativity and uniqueness of Birmingham. The world’s smallest species of bear, the Sun Bear is also known as the Honey Bear as it likes to eat vast quantities of it - using its trademark incredibly long tongue to scoop it all up. The Sun Bear originates from South Asia and will bring out the explorer and traveller in all of us to ensure we all get more active to walk, jog, run or cycle the trail.
Because of recent news relating to the development [re-development] of Cherrywood in the South of County Dublin I decided to see if I had any relevant photograph but the earliest usable photographs were taken in July 2013. I do know that I did photograph the area in 2010 and possibly in 2009 but I cannot locate the original photographs.
This photograph was taken in 2013 but nothing really changed between 2010 and 2013,
Back in 2010 I made the following comment online:
“The New Luas Extension Has Been Criticised By Commuters Who Cannot Park.”
“When it comes to transport in Dublin there have been two success stories in recent years. The DublinBike scheme is one and the other is the Luas tram system. Last Monday was a beautiful sunny day and after photographing the Dublin Marathon I decided that it would be a good idea to get the Luas to Cherrywood to see if I could take a few photographs. It was explained to me, by a gentleman that I met on the tram, that the land is now tied up in NAMA and as a result it cannot be developed as a park and ride facility. Commuters were turned away from the new Cherrywood terminus on opening day as there were no parking facilities available.”
“Cherrywood is one of Dublin's newest suburbs and as can be seen from my photographs it is partly developed and there are some very large empty spaces and believe it or not there is a shortage of parking spaces. Some time ago a decision was made to extend the Sandyford (Green) Luas line to Cherrywood and construction started in February 2007 and the line became operational this month (October 2010) There are now two Luas stops in Cherrywood: Cherrywood and the terminus, Brides Glen.”
I would suggest that the tram stop at Laughanstown could be described as being in the area.
FRIDAY 10 FEB 2016:
Hines Ireland has officially started work on the first key phase of construction at Cherrywood in South County Dublin. If all goes well up to 30,000 people will live at Cherrywood by early in the next decade meaning that it will be as large as Bray and even larger than a town such as Athlone.
Brian Moran said, “The upfront delivery of the roads, cycle and pedestrian network and three wonderful parks is a pivotal moment for the Cherrywood project. These will be the green lungs for this modern new town and this not only strikes the right environmental note for Cherrywood to come but it also underpins our commitment to expedite the delivery of the 4,000 modern new homes within the Hines land holding."
"We are acutely aware of the enormous public demand for new housing stock and the submission of planning for the new €875 million Cherrywood Town Centre in the coming months will include 1300 new smart design apartments as part of this highly ambitious plan.”
In 2014, Hines acquired Cherrywood in South Dublin. The two components of this investment include an existing 52,000-square-meter office park and a 390-acre master-planned development site. The Cherrywood site has been acquired with approval for the construction of a new, retail-led mixed-use town center; up to 3,800 apartments and houses; and zoning capacity to expand the second largest office park in Dublin to three times its current size.
Mr. Moran is the Senior Managing Director responsible for developing Hines’ Ireland projects. He established the Hines platform in Ireland which currently has more than €1.2 billion of retail, office and residential assets under management, in addition to a major development pipeline which includes an additional €500 million of retail development and over 4,000 residential units. He rejoined the firm in 2011 having previously worked with Hines in Russia in the 1990's.
The description and specifications relate to the Pitts Special as this is an identical aircraft to the S1 and S2S.
The Pitts Special is a light aerobatic biplane designed by Curtis Pitts. It has accumulated many competition wins since its first flight in 1944. The Pitts Special dominated world aerobatic competition in the 1960s and 1970s and, even today, remains a potent competition aircraft and is a favourite for many an aerobatic pilot.
General characteristics
•Crew: Two
•Length: 18 ft 9 in (5.71 m)
•Wingspan: 20 ft 0 in (6.10 m)
•Height: 6 ft 7⅓ in (2.02 m)
•Wing area: 125 ft² (11.6 m²)
•Empty weight: 1,150 lb (521 kg)
•Max takeoff weight: 1,625 lb (737 kg)
•Powerplant: 1× Textron Lycoming AEIO-540-D4A5 flat-six air cooled piston engine, 260 hp (194 kW)
Performance
•Never exceed speed: 182 knots (210 mph, 338 km/h)
•Cruise speed: 152 knots (175 mph, 282 km/h) (max cruise)
•Stall speed: 52 knots (60 mph, 97 km/h)
•Range: 277 NM (319 mi, 513 km)
•Service ceiling: 21,000 ft (6,400 m)
•Rate of climb: 2,700 ft/min (13.7 m/s)
•Wing loading: 13.0 lb/ft² (63.6 kg/m²)
•Power/mass: 0.16 hp/lb (0.26 kW/kg)
Text and specifications based on Wikipedia article under the Creative Commons License for non-profit use.
Common sites for hernia to occur..!!
What is Hernia? Hernia is a term relating to a situation which could seem in any area of the body. The maximum commonplace hernias occurrences are seen in the abdomen area. They are caused by a weak point in the abdominal wall which permits a hole to increase. If you suffer from hernia or are looking for to save you its prevalence, it is important to follow the information in this article. In addition, adding a few simple fitness program can even assist.
What are the Preventions? One should warm up nicely before athletic activity and exercising, learn how to strengthen belly muscle tissue with electricity physical activities, rest well after full of life workout, in particular lifting, absolutely quit smoking, as coughing can make a contribution to hernia expansion, eat a high fiber diet to avoid constipation, maintain a healthy weight and lastly incorporate a few stretching and flexibility physical games into your workout.
How to avoid Hernia? In a few cases where Hernia occurs in in toddlers and youngsters, mostly it cannot be avoided. Adults are capable of save themselves on hernias following some of these quick tips:
Avoid turning into overweight. Being overweight creates extra belly pressure and increases your risk for growing an inguinal hernia. Stay at a wholesome weight thru weight-reduction plan and exercise.
Avoid fast weight loss (consisting of in crash dieting). Rapid weight loss packages may be lacking in protein and nutrients which might be wished for muscle strength, inflicting weak point inside the muscular tissues of the abdomen. Stop smoking. Coughing that ensues from smoking upsurges the hazard for mounting a hernia. Avoid constipation and straining all through bowel movements and urination. Straining causes expanded strain inside the abdomen. Use accurate frame mechanics when you elevate heavy objects. Lift together with your legs, not pressurizing your back.
What happens if Hernia occurs? Surgery is advocated for all inguinal hernias, in which a loop of gut turns tightly trapped, cutting off the blood supply to that a part of the gut. Hernia in an adult is slowly plummeting, surgical operation may be executed on the individual’s convenience. But it cannot be pushed again later, surgical operation have to be achieved faster. Surgical treatment may not be required if the hernia is small and without signs and symptoms. Consult with your health practitioner to decide if you need hernia restore surgery if your symptoms are common.
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立法會鐵路事宜小組委員會視察廣深港高速鐵路香港段西九龍總站的建築工地
立法会铁路事宜小组委员会视察广深港高速铁路香港段西九龙总站的建筑工地
LegCo Subcommittee on Matters Relating to Railways visits the construction site of the West Kowloon Terminus of the Hong Kong Section of Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong Express Rail Link (2014.04.28)
All these pictures relate to my blog for Gardeners World Magazine
while you are at it, try my other blog
Nonsense: Physicality, Perspective and the Consciousness of Relating: Joe Grimm and Erica Moore, curated by Cecilia Vargas
www.lulu.com/product/paperback/(non)sense/10290669
FREE Download: www.lulu.com/product/file-download/(non)sense/10290670
The description and specifications relate to the Pitts Special as this is an identical aircraft to the S1 and S2S.
The Pitts Special is a light aerobatic biplane designed by Curtis Pitts. It has accumulated many competition wins since its first flight in 1944. The Pitts Special dominated world aerobatic competition in the 1960s and 1970s and, even today, remains a potent competition aircraft and is a favourite for many an aerobatic pilot.
General characteristics
•Crew: Two
•Length: 18 ft 9 in (5.71 m)
•Wingspan: 20 ft 0 in (6.10 m)
•Height: 6 ft 7⅓ in (2.02 m)
•Wing area: 125 ft² (11.6 m²)
•Empty weight: 1,150 lb (521 kg)
•Max takeoff weight: 1,625 lb (737 kg)
•Powerplant: 1× Textron Lycoming AEIO-540-D4A5 flat-six air cooled piston engine, 260 hp (194 kW)
Performance
•Never exceed speed: 182 knots (210 mph, 338 km/h)
•Cruise speed: 152 knots (175 mph, 282 km/h) (max cruise)
•Stall speed: 52 knots (60 mph, 97 km/h)
•Range: 277 NM (319 mi, 513 km)
•Service ceiling: 21,000 ft (6,400 m)
•Rate of climb: 2,700 ft/min (13.7 m/s)
•Wing loading: 13.0 lb/ft² (63.6 kg/m²)
•Power/mass: 0.16 hp/lb (0.26 kW/kg)
Text and specifications based on Wikipedia article under the Creative Commons License for non-profit use.
The photo's title relates to the mystery surrounding the airfield at Lucin.
In my several visits to Lucin I had seen the airfield and its building (an aiplane hangar?) and wondered what was going on there. On one occasion I saw a black SUV parked next to the hangar, but I had never seen any activity. The airfield is surrounded by a high-voltage electric fence, which added to the mystery. Was it a secret military installation or a CIA facility? It would not have surprised me to learn that covert operations took place there.
I found that there is nothing sinister about the place at all. It is merely the home of Ivo Zdarsky, the only resident of the Lucin area. He owns the airfield. And in spite of the high-voltage electric fence, the Green Weenie arrived at the hangar unscathed---except for a coating of dust. Here it sits next to Ivo's station wagon.
The fascinating story of how Ivo got here appears in an article on the website of Ultralight News. (Thanks to Flickr member A. Meyers for telling me of that website!)
Until I had read that story and communicated with Ivo by e-mail, I had no hope of ever being at this place of mystery.
It has taken me about three years to get any information relating to this memorial fountain in Bray.
The fountain and obelisk at the Royal Hotel in Bray was erected, by public subscription, in memory of Dr Christopher Thompson, who died in 1876. I read somewhere that he was the only Medical Doctor in Ireland to have a monument such as this in their honour but I have photographed four others. [1] The Raheny Cross in memory of Marie Elizabeth Hayes, doctor and missionary [2] Thomas Thompson Memorial Fountain - Belfast [3] Memorial to Dr. William Ashford - located in Sandymount [4] Memorial To Dr. Issac William Usher of Dundrum. Note: I believe that Marie Hayes was the first woman in Ireland to qualify as a Doctor.
Dr. Thompson was born in Dublin in 1815 and joined the British Army, as a Doctor, and was assigned to the Light Infantry in Cobh [known as Queenstown at the time]. At some stage he was promoted and moved to the UK and later took up a position at Portsmouth general Hospital. In 1859 he returned to Ireland where had a house at Duncairn Terrace in Bray.
He was involved in fighting an outbreak of cholera in Bray in 1879 but he died towards the end of the year. He is buried in St. Paul’s graveyard across the road from the memorial.
I believe that his wife about nine years later and that she is buried in Mount Jerome cemetery which is in Harold’s Cross in Dublin. I will check this the next time I visit the cemetery but it strikes me as a bit odd that she was not buried with her husband.
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Understanding how materials behave, degrade and relate to each other is a fundamental part of the research that takes place at TWI, and factors into much of the work we conduct for our Members.
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For more information please visit www.twi-global.com/capabilities/materials-and-corrosion-m...
If you wish to use this image each use should be accompanied by the credit line and notice, "Courtesy of TWI Ltd".
This lantern slide relates to a photograph taken by Clement Lindley Wragge (b.1852, d.1922), date unknown.
The slide is a red/purple tinted image of lunar landscape depicting two mountains and a valley. In the distance, a yellow depiction of saturn and its rings is placed against a dark sky full of stars.
Inscription Details: Handwritten in black ink at top of plate, 'Saturn from satellite -ideal. Handwritten in black ink in lower left corner of plate, 'Aux:U'. VERSO, handwritten in black ink at top of plate, 'Tinted CLW Karangahaki 17/11/14'.
Credit: Shared by Auckland War Memorial Museum, Tāmaki Paenga Hira, as part of the Clement Lindley Wragge collection.
Rights: No known copyright restrictions.
Reference: 236016|PH-1984-1-LS78-4-9
For more details, please visit: www.aucklandmuseum.com/discover/collections/record/1033200
Some stories relate that this flag was originally introduced by Mohamed Ali Pasha as his personal/viceregal standard although I have not been able to verify that. The three crescents and three stars symbolize the victories of the Egyptian armies in three continents and the exapnsion of his dream empire in Africa, Asia and Europe. However, it is more certain that this flag was used during the reign of his grandson, Ismail Pasha. It was most probably introduced by Mohamed Ali pasha around 1826 and then reintroduced by Khedive Ismail in 1867, when Egypt was elevated from an Eyalet to a Khedivate. This banner became the National Flag of Egypt during the reign of Sultan Hussein Kamel and was used as such during the short lived Sultanate of Egypt. It was used as a national flag from early 1915 to 1922 when Egypt was declared a Kingdom (15 March, 1922)
Various papers relating to Mr.Thomas Wheeler my late Grandfather.Sadly he died when I was just eleven years of age.I do however recall it was he that took me on my very first fishing trip using the first fishing rod and reel that he bought me.The images here are from WWII papers when he was an active serviceman and I only recently found these in an old album of my late father`s.These are the first twenty images in nigh on eighty images of both his army papers and my Great Grandparents (to come later) images.Some images are somewhat the same but have different focus points and apertures,mainly to suit prospective customers on Alamy.com stock images.I sincerely hope you enjoy the images and hope you see,as I did,what I think is one of many of the Identity Card issued during WWII.As you can see my Grandfather first signed up in September 1940 and seved right up until the end of the war 1945.He was then signed up for the reserves.Do Not Use Without Express Permisison From Peter Wheeler.
Gerberoy was one of the most surprising discoveries of our recent trip to France. We had only researched places in Normandy, but Jean-Francois, the host of our excellent B&B (Le Clos du Quesnay near Forges les Eaux) told us about this perfectly preserved medieval village just a few miles across the boundary in Picardy. In addition to the many cobbled streets filled with amazing historic buildings, we found two superb small walled gardens - see separate albums:
www.flickr.com/photos/ugardener/albums/72157661505295598
www.flickr.com/photos/ugardener/albums/72157661519079118
www.leclosduquesnay.fr/fr/gb/index.htm
There are also several marked walking trails leading to nearby forests and villages. I can't think of a better way to spend a day in France.
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"The village of Gerberoy is located towards the west of the Oise department of northern France (hence in the Picardy region). It is found in proximity of Rouen (west), Amiens (north-east) and Beauvais (east).
Officially classified as one of the 'most beautiful villages in France', Gerberoy is best known for its picturesque 17th-18th century cottages. Many of these are half-timbered while others are built in traditional brick. The narrow streets and alleys through the village also contain an abundance of flowers and gardens (especially roses and wisterias) that line the streets and clamber up the buildings.
Together these elements combine to make Gerberoy a very attractive village to explore with the period from late spring to the end of July the best time to to visit if possible to see the flowers at their best. Even better, visit on the third sunday in June when the Gerberoy flower festival takes place.
Interestingly, the transformation of the village from quiet backwater to popular tourist attraction took place at the start of the 20th century and was due to one man, an artist called Henri le Sidaner. Sidaner moved here and planted roses both in his own garden, elsewhere in Gerberoy, and around the ruined fort, starting a trend among the villagers and the re-birth and rediscovery of this once important medieval town.
Today you can visit his lovely terraced garden which is laid out in various colour themes. He has also added a kiosk based on the 'temple of love' built for Marie Antoinette in the Trianon gardens. This has been built on the ruins of the ancient fortress that once defended Gerber. Even today you are likely to see artists following in Sidaner's footsteps and quietly painting pictures of the pretty streets.
Apart from the pleasures of simply strolling through Gerberoy, there are also a few historical buildings to see, including the 15th century Collegiale Saint-Pierre. The houses in Rue du Logis du Roy are some of the oldest in the village. The Maison Henri IV sheltered Henri IV when he was hurt in a battle in 1591.
In the centre of the village is the Hotel de Ville. Underneath is the covered market, and above the market is a small museum featuring items relating to the history of Gerberoy. No 7 Rue Henri le Sidaner was once the home and workshop of Henri Le Sidaner.
You can also follow the walk around the ramparts that originally defended Gerberoy, from where you get a good view of the terraces of Le Sidaner's garden.
It is hard to believe now but up until the 15th century Gerberoy was the scene of many battles and onslaughts. It sits on the ancient border between Normandy which was once English and France. The village was surrounded by ramparts and entered only through a fortified stone gateways which still remains. At the top of the village the fortress dominated the village but little now remains. Instead if forms a suitable site for Le Sidaner's lovely Italian style garden."
www.francethisway.com/places/gerberoy.php
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The description and specifications relate to the Pitts Special as this is an identical aircraft to the S1 and S2S.
The Pitts Special is a light aerobatic biplane designed by Curtis Pitts. It has accumulated many competition wins since its first flight in 1944. The Pitts Special dominated world aerobatic competition in the 1960s and 1970s and, even today, remains a potent competition aircraft and is a favourite for many an aerobatic pilot.
General characteristics
•Crew: Two
•Length: 18 ft 9 in (5.71 m)
•Wingspan: 20 ft 0 in (6.10 m)
•Height: 6 ft 7⅓ in (2.02 m)
•Wing area: 125 ft² (11.6 m²)
•Empty weight: 1,150 lb (521 kg)
•Max takeoff weight: 1,625 lb (737 kg)
•Powerplant: 1× Textron Lycoming AEIO-540-D4A5 flat-six air cooled piston engine, 260 hp (194 kW)
Performance
•Never exceed speed: 182 knots (210 mph, 338 km/h)
•Cruise speed: 152 knots (175 mph, 282 km/h) (max cruise)
•Stall speed: 52 knots (60 mph, 97 km/h)
•Range: 277 NM (319 mi, 513 km)
•Service ceiling: 21,000 ft (6,400 m)
•Rate of climb: 2,700 ft/min (13.7 m/s)
•Wing loading: 13.0 lb/ft² (63.6 kg/m²)
•Power/mass: 0.16 hp/lb (0.26 kW/kg)
Text and specifications based on Wikipedia article under the Creative Commons License for non-profit use.
This badge may relate to the novelty song I’ve never seen a straight banana, sung by Whispering Jack Smith (Jacob Schmidt). This song was first published in 1927 by Irving Berlin Music Publishing Inc of New York.
Song-sheet badges were a long series of promotional badges that accompanied its song-sheet when purchased. Most song-sheet badges were issued during the 1920’s and 1930’s, the majority manufactured by Millers of Birmingham. The badge’s design always tied-in with the theme of the song’s lyrics
www.youtube.com/watch?v=k6n00XcVHJE (I’ve never seen a straight banana song).
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Enamels: 2 (yellow & brown).
Finish: Gilt.
Material: Brass.
Fixer: Pin.
Size: 35mm long (1 /3/8” approx).
Process: Die stamped.
Imprint: W. MILLER, 118 BRANSTON ST, BIRMINGHAM (1928)
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Photo reproduced with kind permission of the seller (amersham417).
Sold on eBay 13th February 2014.
Item number 251442390750.
Start price £8.99 and sold for £44.00 p&p (7 bids from 4 bidders).
A repository of images relate to Banana (Musa spp) shared by members of MusaNet. The album depicts images from different African, Asian and countries from the Americas where collaborative work on Banana research is done.
©CIAT
Please credit accordingly and leave a comment when you use a CIAT photo.
For more info: alliance-comms@cgiar.org
This ad relates to a comment by Racing Toast on an older advert I have on here for the Prentice company (see below). I'm not sure if the Prentice family were still involved with the company by this time, Racing Toast suggests the Nicholls family had taken over and the name of Guy above does tie up with Guy Nicholls who now runs Fork-Rent and other associated sales/hire companies.
Scanned from a King's Lynn Speedway programme from 3 September 1978.
If a good politician knows how to relate to everyone then even the best student government candidate couldn't come close to competing against Max.
At a State street coffee shop, over the course of an hour, Max give a wave, a hello, and started conversations with dozens of different people. I was amazed as I observed countless people interact with Max. At one point, Max even called a person on the phone to ask, 'if they were upstairs?' Turns out he knew the girl in the apartment above the coffee shop and they held a 5 minute conversation yelling back and forth to each other.
Max says he doesn't know everyone, but as junior working in student housing he meets quite a few of the 42,000 UW Madison students. Oh, and as for student government; Max has held an office in the past. Two years ago as a Freshman Representative, another place he attributes knowing lots of people from.
‘Pasting (from AUGUST STRINDBERG'S 'THE DREAM PLAY')’
CHRISTINE. I paste, I paste.
THE DAUGHTER. [Pale and emaciated, sits by the stove] You shut out all the air. I choke!
CHRISTINE. Now there is only one little crack left.
THE DAUGHTER. Air, air—I cannot breathe!
CHRISTINE. I paste, I paste.
THE LAWYER. That's right, Christine! Heat is expensive.
Talia: “The characters split, double, multiply, evaporate, condense, dissolve and merge. But one consciousness rules them all: the dreamer's; for him there are no secrets, no inconsistencies, no scruples and no laws. He does not judge or acquit, he merely relates”
Ruin: The wonderful Mister Strindberg. Waving here. Whilst un-pasting, even.
It’s all a bit like that, I guess. Unravelling, perhaps, more so. But there is a definite picking apart. I almost feel like I have ‘breakthroughs’ every morning, though there might be some self-delusion there. I am aware of my neediness, that yearning for some sort of acknowledgement, central to posting here on Flickr, the text with the images. That is now stopping, I am unlearning that ‘habit’ currently, un-pasting it, unravelling it, whatever. But I can’t spend too much time on that, it’s time to make the move. I think I have done it.
I have started to write alone, for and to myself. I can do it. I even found ‘Rock’ to help me out, a fictitious character, an ‘anti-me’. I know. He might, or might not, become fully-fledged, an amalgamation of ‘daddy voices’, a character in himself. He might fade away with time, I have no idea. I am continuing to write.
This frees me up, I don’t have to worry about censorship, offending anybody, or being cancelled. There’s an idea, like I care about being cancelled anyway. How more cancelled’ can one be? Death does that eventually and is the only cancellation that is of mild interest, even.
Yes, to the world out there, its stupid wars, and its unravelling climate-wise. I am not going to be going out there throwing tomato soup over, oil-painted, water lilies. Each to his own. I have never driven, and never will, and will more than likely never fly again, having not done so for 12 years now. I will wear extra jumpers and turn off the heat. I will continue to write, pasting up those cracks. I won’t be sending money to charitable causes where the head of the board drives a car or takes planes to emergency climate meetings. With a total pension of 500 Euros a month, why would I send money to any charity?
Hopefully I will overcome this schizophrenia, this pasting/unpasting, by removing myself further, this quarantine.
It’s a bit scary, but ho-hum, that’s life. Ernaux has been wonderful to read, a tonic in these times, the self, that core, extended outwards shamelessly, Sadean and true, wonderfully desperate.
I will always have room for you, and will always answer you, and love your incursions.
I might not play so much with images anymore, but will continue to put things up on Flickr, more everyday notes, like a visual journal, a day by day diary. I have been using it as a research place for a while now, putting up other reminders for myself, like the one attached, just visual notes.
just memory enhancers...
And yes, there is an awful lot of writing, and I will try to make it into what is called a book. If any of it is any good, it might survive, if it's not any good, then it won't. I can't judge it, being in the middle of it, and am too busy to bother to even try. Time will tell, and I won't be around for that telling, either way, anyway.
I disagree with that “You can’t call yourself a writer ... when you’ve never actually written a book!”. You can call yourself anything you want, the world doesn't have to concur, but that, ultimately doesn't matter.
Self-delusion might be at the core of every individual, so embracing that might be a beginning.
It's interesting that this brings up a pithiness in me, it's very uncomfortable, but at least interesting to acknowledge. It's a huge failing in me, I have no doubt about that, forty shades of green and all that palaver.
Screaming 'love me' relentlessly sure wears one down. I suspect though that this might eventually be a good thing, that wearing down. Hope springs eternal!
Paste, unpaste, pick apart and tangle up. Gordian knots, go figure. I like realising how awful I am; it's a great first step.
Rack, I guess you are, for now, the only sounding board I am not relinquishing. I know I can do it without you, but I love doing it with you. It is, of course, totally up to you if you want to play the muse role or not. Rock is proving to be a great help, a godsend, even.
Enjoy those 40 variations of verdure.
Rock: Okay, so you have begun to be more methodical with the keeping of a diary, I think that might be a good idea, to have some continuity. It can feed in and out of what you are writing too.
Ruin: Yes, that’s the idea. Of course, it’s inspired by Ernaux, but also by Rack. Rack, apparently, has written every day for as long as I have known her, and obviously well before that too (Yes, there was life before me). This means she knows dates, the exact date we met, the days of our screaming/laughing walks, shared hysterics, and the dates of other huge events in her own life, ones I can only guess approximately. Like the day she discovered she also had Hep-c, on top of her principal fatal disease. In 1988 that’s exactly what it was, there was no talk then of it being manageable. She has always been at great pains to point out to me that these diary entries are just that, the bones of each day, just a record of what happened on that day. Rack has always been spare, the opposite of me. I guess it’s one of the many reasons I am drawn to her. I have always loved to coax out ‘trusting’ from the overly cautious, it’s one of my many failings.
I find hesitancy beautiful.
I have even asked her for some dates, like what was that date we met, the day of that break in filming in the ‘Moondance Diner’. There is always this sort of vague ‘promise’ of her telling me, of giving me that information, but it isn’t really a promise, more an indication that I was heard, and that, perhaps, I don’t need to know, like it’s one step too far. I love this privacy dance. There are so many ways in which Rack is beyond generous. She is more than right in this preserving of her own bones.
As it happens, I don’t really need dates. I can even get the year slightly wrong, and the story would still be exactly the same. I don’t even know on which dates my mother and father died, I know I could search for it in those million words of emails, or Flickr posts, but I don’t have that knowledge in my head. It’s on a hard drive external to me. It’s not something I am proud of, it’s just true. Jeffrey died of Aids sometime in 1991, I think. I helped him die, stopped him universally hemorrhaging with morphine, and I don’t even remember the date.
Who believes in dates or calendars anyway?
Answer: Obviously Rack and Annie Ernaux do. I love that they do, so I might give it a go here.
It might even alleviate the squandering of days, in becoming a daily chore, like brushing your teeth or having a good dump. I suspect it might even become pleasurable, rather like the latter of those two chores.
I did follow Rack down the HIV route, some 15 years after she tripped-up potholing. I didn’t follow her down that Hep-c boreen. Perhaps something had kicked-in, in between times. Perhaps our emails had sobered me up, or maybe the childhood abuse was already healing. Either way, Rack sloughed off that liver lurgy, hip-hip-hooray for science, and now we only have this one ‘manageable’ death sentence to negotiate together, side by side whilst forever apart. We now get to catfish each other gloriously.
I couldn’t, or wouldn’t, ask for more. Knowing she is out there, and apparently immortal, is more than enough. We share a certain sardonic humour about it all, recalling her “The year of my so-called death” in 1988, a year I initially got wrong at first, erroneously placing us in 1997 in ‘The Moondance Diner’.
What’s 34, or is it 35, years between friends?
Rack as Nora, Nora as Rack
Rack never blurted; she always controlled her output. The effect was precise and Protestant, “I found out I am HIV positive a few days ago.”
“Oh Christ”, Ruin blurted, Catholic to the hilt.
Ruin was always an outlet for Rack, almost like a delinquent spokesperson, the stuttering utterer of the unspeakable. He had the ability to take the private into the realm of the universally available with consummate ease. She didn’t. It was something she greatly feared and something she instinctively grasped that early summer morning in 1987, in the 'Moondance Diner', on 6th Avenue and Grand. She knew she was making the personal public. She was undoing herself.
He possessed that strange gift, the one imposed and imprinted, like the mark of Cain, on the sexually molested child, of having no facility to recognise boundaries, no ability to be able to tell the personal and private apart from what could be made generally available. She knew that he was her surrogate broadcaster and momentarily shuddered at the stranger, whom she had spontaneously trusted, sitting opposite her. This understanding hung between them as they ordered breakfast.
Their opening was torturous and drove them scurrying apart. It was more than either of them could handle, Rack racked with regret for exposing this opening wound and Ruin incapable of carrying the story alone. Their rehabilitation was slow and arduous. It was a time when to speak these words was a declaration of the almost immediate dissolution of self. It was a time before the hope generated by the misnomered cocktails and the political agitation, which was to burgeon out of despair and become Act- Up. It was a time before anything could be done except grasp at straws. So, both started grasping and would occasionally find themselves in the same room drawn to the same possible panacea. Rack’s volition was desperation. Ruin’s was guilt. They acknowledged each other with some embarrassment and growing affection and more often than not turned away from each other and left separately. Ruin knew he loved Rack. Rack was not at all sure.
Dear Rack,
Just sending you back some words you once sent to me:
“I have often thought that writers do not write; they read what is already written and transcribe. So perhaps they are not complaining about ill health, lack of money, and rejection, but about the bondage of a calling that keeps them laboriously transcribing cryptic messages in rapidly disappearing ink, like the traces of a dream, year after year...."
Thinking of how romantic you are.... even if it is all so appalling to live through.
We seem to endure, and hopefully will continue to do so for a little while longer.
Love,
Ruin
Rack: There they are. And there they aren’t. I love them like I could never love them.
Ruin: Yes indeed, there we are and there we aren't. I like finding an image of us, whilst telling a mis-remembered story. I like that we have inadvertently grown older than we expected, and are growing towards not hating ourselves through the writing of it out, and I love that we have written to each other over 35 years and I have squirrelled it all away to draw ‘Artificial Intelligence’ images out of. This image is made from us, but is not exactly us. This A.I. is a late life gift.
I dreamt about Rock. He didn’t look at all like me, which sort of surprised me. I am not sure why. We were in bed together, and we were spooning. I was trying it on, of course, which used to be my wont in the intervening years between the rupture and the present, pushing back on him, and he was telling me no, that it was inappropriate, and not what we both needed. Of course, it put me in mind of James, my uncle, and I agreed with Rock. Yes, he was right.
Rock was big spooning me, tenderly, lovingly, it felt good, it felt completely nonsexual, there was no pressure against my back. I was a very small spoon. Once I accepted these new, strange, parameters, I was relieved, perhaps more so because I am now, at 68, enjoying being inviolate, and my dream sort of knew this, even though I was young in the dream. There was a weird sort of retrospective knowing. I felt as vulnerable as I was then, but I somehow knew that Rock was right. He said, “you want to talk about James, don’t you?”. Again, he was right, I did. The Pope was also in the dream, not in the bed, but he might as well have been. I can’t remember why he was there, what he was up to. I just remember thinking he must be the biggest tourist-draw in the world, now that Liz is dead, at least as an individual. This seemed, and even now seems, incontrovertible.
This diary thing suits me. I start typing as soon as the computer kicks on, before I take my first of three morning pills, before I have time to forget. I still have no idea if Putin has decimated Kherson overnight, or if there is a new universal plague working its terror outside our front door. The world will do what it does. It will work its way into my consciousness all in good time, no man being an island and all that palaver. I really have to stop saying that. The initial diary entry can just sit there uncompleted, a memory jogger, to be filled in, fleshed out, or concluded later, constituting what Rack might call “The bones of the night”.
Ok, the bones are established, I can take a peep. Al Jazerra is screaming:“ ‘Too loud is true’: Is Russia setting a Trap in Kherson? “. The madness of the everyday asserts itself, stretching out before breakfast, echoing Blanchot. But back to Uncle James, and other personal insanities.
I never pushed back on James, or did I? I don't know. I was a needy child. I was stupidly innocent, young, ignorant, or perhaps just unschooled. He was the predator, put in my bed by my mother. I was the ‘victim’. Unfortunately, this victimhood status seems to be a very hardy perennial, one that flowers even for the whole life of that plant, or the person, but not only does it flower once yearly, it flowers often, and whenever it wants to. It’s more like a very persistent budding weed, a knot weed of sorts. The Gordian aspect of it all is perhaps gilding that description. But it is there. Either way, unravelling it can take a lifetime. There are shortcuts through it, suicide or running riot with a chainsaw, slicing through it like Alexander the Great, that sort of thing, but Ruin was always glad he hadn’t resorted to those. No, he decided he would gnaw at the knot, hopelessly hoping that nobody would notice his teeth wearing down.
Of Boreen Raging (A Silverfish Book)_Photo below.
People noticed of course.
Anyway Ruin, his pronouns are ‘he’ and ‘him’, is that third person descriptor of the protagonist here, and I am going to write this in the first person. Afterall it is just an early-morning diary entry written to, and for, me, so all subterfuge can be dropped.
Rock: I get what you are saying there, but you do know that’s virtually impossible, don’t you? Do you really think you can tell the ‘truth’, even to yourself, I mean, can anyone?
Ruin: Yes, Rock, I think he gets that, but you are right to point it out. Perhaps we both need to shut up and just see what he comes up with.
Rock: Get you Ruin! Move over King Solomon, there’s a contender in court.
Ruin: More of a pretender, but whatevs! Let’s try shutting-the-fuck-up.
Either way, I won’t be rushed in this. It will come out in its own time. It will come out. I might write more later today, or I might not. It’s not a question of ‘waiting for the muse’, it’s more letting things percolate. You two, Rock and Ruin, can chime in whenever you want, don’t hold back, I appreciate your input even if I don’t always agree with you. Rack has flown from New York to Ireland, she’s there now. I am thinking about her proximity to Amsterdam (my current home), and ever-present absence. She can still tolerate being there, I can’t. My imagination won’t allow me even to contemplate ever being there again. I can’t see that changing, but I can consider the remote possibility of being wrong about that.
As an aside, Annie Ernaux came a little closer to what I wrote about her earlier, that de Sade connection via de Beauvoir, in a quote from her diary in ‘Getting Lost’, page 178:
“A descent into sadomasochism, but gentle, without violence (because of the combination of sodomy and ‘normal’ sex - bruised all over, at one point, I thought I was torn). He said, ‘Annie, I love you’, and I didn’t attach any importance to it because it was during sex”
My convoluted mind connects this with the abuse in my early teens, I am not sure why it does, it just does. Hence, my need to let things percolate.
There was a point, towards the very end of that rupture, when Uncle James, said he loved me. There was no victory there at all, other than getting him permanently out of my bed, which was in itself huge. Strangely it more or less happened at the same time as I seemed to, miraculously, overcome my stammer. I have never understood that. Actually, I do sort of sense what that means though I will need some time to be able to describe that ‘vanquishing’.
I think I was 15 years old.
Saint Annie hits the nail on the head again, driving it further into that sprawling green Grünewald-ean hand.
Look, the stutter is gone, and I am no longer just a set of holes.
01/11/2022
I dreamt about some right-honourable-members last night, or early this morning. They weren’t ‘in full flight’ members, not ‘virilis’ or anything, just cuddly soft ones, nestled, slumbering in, pre-depilation, retro pubes, with their hoods drawn over their dry little heads. The word ‘cute’ comes to mind. They were attached to unrecognisable individuals, those cuddly coils, one of whom seemed to be collecting money in one of those plastic collecting thingies that those people outside the supermarket carry, trying to relieve you of your spare change for some good cause or other. Their days might be somewhat numbered, those collectors, what with everyone in the queue seemingly flashing their iPhones at the scanners nowadays, so that cash seems to be becoming redundant, going the way of that downy cushion of pubes, following advancement and the new century, like the rest of everything else, towards extinction.
Blessed, and much beloved redundancy, all part and parcel of this rush towards endless growth and a brave new post-tumescent world. Bring it on. Being chaffed off is more than acceptable. It’s even interesting to be in the process of feeling the parts fall off. It all puts me in mind of watching Mark America die, yes that was his adopted name, as he watched, and described, his body working to “let me go”, as he put it. I couldn’t be beside his bedside for the whole duration, we were not that close, and he wanted time alone. I asked him would he like to have a camera to record dying, and he said that he really would. He was one of those artist types, incorrigible. I gave him a few disposable cameras, they were all the rage then in the late eighties or early nineties, whenever it was. You know me and dates. I can check though. The dates of his taking them were inscribed automatically on the photos themselves. I have the images; I will take a look.
It was later than I thought, 20/12/94 to be precise, coming on Christmas, not that far off the date when the pills became lifesavers. Mark missed that boat, but he didn’t seem to mind at all. He didn’t appear to have a ‘poor me’ bone in his body. Yes Ruin, shut up, I know I could take a page from his book, whilst inserting him into mine. Can you and Rock just withdraw for a moment, whilst I work this out?
I have no idea how he did it. He was ensconced in a private room in a salubrious midtown hospital, with a view out on that island in the Hudson, ‘Roosevelt Island’ by name. He could watch the famed aerial tram, a strangely placed type of ski-lift, go back and forth. I knew the area, from having worked up there on some interiors for ‘Parrish Hadley’, well for Arthur Hadley really, Sister Parrish having recently done her own sloughing off. I used to do these interiors, so called ‘special finishes’, Venetian Stucco and the like, to support my making of the ‘Ikons’, those memorialising, honouring, pieces which were part and parcel of my meeting with Mark in that hospital. Some of those pieces are now ensconced in the ‘Irish Museum of Modern Art’. Mark didn’t live long enough to be included in that set of 40 gold-leaf pieces, though we initially met to discuss the possibility.
Mark was English originally, I never knew his family name, something else he had sloughed off, becoming an ‘illegal alien’ artist, with no health insurance, taking on the name of his host country. He was a fellow raving homo in the middle of a raging plague. Of course, we loved each other instantly. What was not to love? That love lasted all of three weeks, just allowing him enough time to bring in the New Year and die. How he ended up in a private room in the ‘Memorial Sloane Kettering Hospital’, I will never know. I did ask, but he waved the question off as inconsequential. He was right, what mattered was that he was there, with a catheter tube snaking out of his, fully on display, nestled and swollen trouser-snake.
He loved its redundancy. I must admit that I loved its redundancy too, it was infectious, but I even more loved his total acceptance, his embracing, of his devolving.
Or was it evolving?
I remember him say “Look at me, look what my body has to do to let me go. Isn’t it remarkable?”, whilst gesturing towards his family jewels. We both laughed. Yes, it was remarkable, it was a rhetorical question. He appeared to have no anger at all. It wasn’t every day that you would walk into a room and be encountered by a man, a veritable stranger, in a hospital bed with his ‘Scolaro’ out, swollen and pierced by a red dangly tube, leading to a bag attached to the side of the bed. Don’t worry, the full etymology of the word ‘Scolaro’ will follow shortly, but you will know from a few paragraphs above that I am talking about his ‘John Thomas’, those offending members do seem to be the subject for discussion this good morning. Those of a delicate nature might choose to look away, though it is possibly a mite too late now for one of those ubiquitous ‘trigger warnings’. I shall endeavour not to allow my description, my feeling my way into this delicate subject, become too purple.
I am looking at a photograph of him now, and no, I am not crying, neither am I sad. He was, and is, formidable, holding his swollen uncut member in his hands, swollen by the substantial tube disappearing into it. The tube itself is forked, the part outside his body, I mean. One fork is sealed off with some sort of stopper, the other fork continues into a long plastic tube, snaking off the side of the bed to a slowly filling bag. I presume the second forked, and stoppered, tube is for ingress, for whatever drugs might be needed to facilitate the body’s acceptance of this intrusion, perhaps some anaesthetising agent.
Mark is wonderfully alert, obviously talking to me, but, for the most part, I can’t remember what he was saying. I suspect he was just getting on with being very much alive, and he was letting me record it. I guess that it might have been at that point that I asked him if he would like me to get him some disposable cameras. I knew the answer before I asked.
He was still handsome, thin but handsome, with a fashionable goatee beard thing, just on his chin, in the middle of his otherwise cleanly-shaven face. I would guess that he was around 34 at the time. We didn’t really discuss age and birthdays.
Come to think of it, it was about one year after I had my first New York exhibition ‘Saints and Survivors in a Time of Plague’. I showed 6 or 8 of the ikons in that show, and ‘The Sodomy Piece’. If my memory serves me rightly, Kelly, one of the ‘ikon’ sitters, introduced me to Mark, and this was how I ended up sitting by his very entertaining bedside. I know, a strange descriptor for that type of vigil, but Mark was full on. I know, ‘ikons’ as opposed to icons, and survivor is missing its ‘u’, but hey, I was American too. Both Rack and Ruin, our titular duo are both represented in these ikons, with perhaps 40 other ‘saints’ and some survivors, even.
Mark died 3 weeks later, and left me the disposable cameras, with his last images.
I still have them.
An Open Beaver
Ray: I know you don’t need me, or anyone else, to say this but, Ruin, you’ve done great! And of course far more than great.
Ruin: I am not very confident about it, but I am doing it anyway. We get as far as we get.
You too.
Thank you for saying that. I got your message just as I was going to bed. Yes, to your list above...No interest in (sex, alcohol, travel, parties, people)...I am there too, completely. The rest is extra, though I have said that before. I am still planning to write until I drop, for no other reason other than I enjoy it, and it explains things to oneself.
I needed the musk of aging male. That wasn't a choice either, just a happenstance, debatably imprinted during the abuse, but more likely there from the beginning, that missing father stuff. Yes, we are doomed (doomed I tell you, doomed, intoned as a comic aside), that has never been not so, from the beginning of time, and will never be any different. Everything dies, get over it. It’s that universal story to do with what it means to be mortal, and no bloody big deal, whilst being at the same time, for us, the biggest deal of all.
Vermeer, Klimt, Grünewald, all great describers in their own time. I am only interested in the now of Putin, Covid and the rest of the sorry travesty (all of which I love, go figure). The world can sink or blow itself up, I will describe it until I cannot. End of story.
I don't mind being a demented fool, and getting HIV was not a mistake, or a misfortune.
It was a coping mechanism, like everything else. I must say that I am tired of decent good people. Decent good family people, decent good priests and nuns, decent good businessmen and bank managers, decent good 'professionals' and politicians, decent good artists, decent good billionaires. I am most thankful that I never had to take a machine gun to them all, like some poor unfortunates with access to a machine gun license in America, and elsewhere. I am so pleased I only really ever hurt, damaged, 'killed' myself even. That's decency personified in my book.
We did, and are doing, okay, and feck all the begrudgers.
Well then, that's all the hard edges knocked off at last!
Ray: I feel the same way about my whoremongerings. In the post-ménopausique I can see, rationally, that it is sexual exploitation. I was taking advantage of the disadvantaged: poor women in a developing country.
Ruin: The whole world is at it; it's what nature does, red in tooth and claw, and all that cliched stuff. The weak are eaten, that includes everyone, the self even, there is always someone stronger. It's the veneer of dignity and pseudo decency I find offensive, especially that dressed in religion and etiquette, propriety, decency and chivalry.
The Conjoined Origins of Chivalry and the Humble Domestic Can Opener (Photo attached below).
a 'de Selby' classic essay (currently unavailable).
'There's many a slip twixt cup and lip', as the old saying goes.
Ruin: I suspect he might need a can opener to use the urinal.
Seven: Such beautiful lighting for an isolation of desperation. Nobly knelt before the unthought of his decisions. Very much the religious approach and a hilarious reduction of the original taking the knee.
Ruin: and this was years, verily centuries, before the advent of the electric can-opener too.
Of course, the knights and Samurai of yore, or whatever local military brute force available, would build chivalrous systems based on manners and church-sanctioned decency. They could afford it through the patronage of the top, vicious, dogs, who themselves had evolved through combining brute force with intelligence. It’s evolution at work, that survival of the fittest, nothing noble about it, except in the same idea that defines the ‘Noble gasses’ in the periodic table. They are a chemical fluke that created a class system, wholly natural and infinitely exploitable, and exploiting. Of course, I have no problem with this, how could I?
It’s the dressing it all up as ‘decent’ and ‘dignified’, those with ‘manners’ and ‘breeding’ against the ‘Not quite our class, dear’, and then using those ideas as weapons to control. This is partially what I have a problem with. I also know that this story has been told forever, but that’s possibly why it needs to be told, continuously updating it. I don’t think either that humankind is the only facet of everything that tells ‘stories’. The entirety of everything does, it’s about consciousness. I am afraid I am one of those who believe that everything (and non-thing) is conscious, or as the bible says somewhere “The very stones themselves will cry out”. Stories are that ‘crying out’ made manifest.
‘Choice’ would be a fine thing, but in my ‘system’ it doesn’t exist. But you know this already.
Either way, it is the system I am going to use to describe. It’s the same one I used for forty years whilst visually describing, now I want to take that into words. Writing, or making art, is not a choice. They are both compulsions and survival mechanisms. I see this true of everything we do, including murder, suicide, rape and whoremongering. Sometimes we have to quarantine ourselves to control these compulsions. Those of us who don’t have the compulsion to rape and murder are very lucky indeed.
I suspect that empathy grows out of that seedbed, the recognition that we are all capable of the worst atrocities, but by sheer happenstance, and luck, we haven't had to utilise those methods as, what appears to be, our only route for survival. We accidentally, and thankfully, found other ways, in keeping with our natures and conditioning. You gotta luv Darwin.
❤️
That heart was for Charles, not for my statement.
By the way, your name is Ray in the 'book'. I was going to just use 'J', but that, of course, suggests its own name.
Ray: As life wears on, and, on reflection, I have come around to your understanding of the meaning of the word ‘choice’. For example, I have no choice about testosterone withdrawal taking away my libido or interest in sex, just as I had no choice about its onset, aged 12, and everything that arose from that. But I do suspect there are categories of choice/no-choice, and that example of the no-choice effect of hormones on behaviour is but one. As far as choice governs conduct, I know I’d be lying if I said I had no choice about whether or not to have sex with a prostitute: it was always a conscious choice, as was the choice to use condoms, even if the libidinous impulse itself wasn’t. Those choices we *are* responsible for, I think, like it or not. And when it comes to crime and law-breaking, criminal law holds us responsible.
I am very glad that I was fortunate enough to be able to escape marrying someone I don’t love, having children I don’t want, and doing a dead-end job I hate, to keep all that going. I think that is the lot of many heterosexual men. I can see how that might generate resentment and violence. All thanks to the hormones which make all this happen.
Ruin: Yes, to that, but there are other, equally powerful, drivers at work, an infinite number of them, even. I don't see self-quarantining as a 'choice' either, it's a survival mechanism, as is my cuckoo instinct, my moving into already built nests. Anyway, all that is my 'starting point', even if I am wrong.
I am somewhat of a mind with Miro on that one, start with a point (a full stop, even), then take that point for a walk. Start with an idea, erroneous or not (who's right and who is wrong anyway?) and begin to walk it forward.
Krishna (/ˈkrɪʃnə/; Sanskrit: कृष्ण, Kṛṣṇa in IAST, pronounced [ˈkr̩ʂɳə] ( listen)) is a Hindu deity, worshipped across many traditions of Hinduism in a variety of different perspectives. Krishna is recognized as the complete and eighth avatar of the God Vishnu or as the Supreme God in his own right. Krishna is one of the most widely revered and popular of all Hindu deities.[1]
Krishna is known by many names such as Kishan, Makhanchor, and Kanha. Krishna is often described and portrayed as an infant eating butter, a young boy playing a flute as in the Bhagavata Purana,[2] a young man along with Radha or as an elder giving direction and guidance as in the Bhagavad Gita.[3] The stories of Krishna appear across a broad spectrum of Hindu philosophical and theological traditions.[4] They portray him in various perspectives: a god-child, a prankster, a model lover, a divine hero, and the Supreme Being.[5] The principal scriptures discussing Krishna's story are the Mahabharata, the Harivamsa, the Bhagavata Purana, and the Vishnu Purana.
Worship of the deity Krishna, either in the form of deity Krishna or in the form of Vasudeva, Bala Krishna or Gopala can be traced to as early as the 4th century BC.[6][7] Worship of Krishna as Svayam Bhagavan, or the supreme being, known as Krishnaism, arose in the Middle Ages in the context of the Bhakti movement. From the 10th century AD, Krishna became a favourite subject in performing arts and regional traditions of devotion developed for forms of Krishna such as Jagannatha in Odisha, Vithoba in Maharashtra and Shrinathji in Rajasthan. Since the 1960s the worship of Krishna has also spread in the Western world and in Africa largely due to the International Society for Krishna Consciousness.[8] Gaudia Math is also a leading proponent of Krishna worship.[citation needed]
Contents [hide]
1Names and epithets
2Iconography
3Literary sources
4Life
4.1Birth
4.2Childhood and youth
4.3The prince
4.4Kurukshetra War and Bhagavad Gita
4.5Family
4.6Later life
5Worship
5.1Vaishnavism
5.2Early traditions
5.3Bhakti tradition
5.4Spread of the Krishna-bhakti movement
5.5In the West
5.6In South India
6In the performing arts
7In other religions
7.1Jainism
7.2Buddhism
7.3Bahá'í Faith
7.4Ahmadiyya Islam
7.5Other
8TV serial depictions
9See also
10Notes
11References
12Sources
13Further reading
14External links
Names and epithets[edit]
14th-century fresco of Krishna on the interior wall of City Palace, Udaipur
Main article: List of titles and names of Krishna
The name originates from the Sanskrit word Kṛṣṇa, which is primarily an adjective meaning "black", "dark" or "dark blue".[9] The waning moon is called Krishna Paksha, relating to the adjective meaning "darkening".[9] Sometimes it is also translated as "all-attractive", according to members of the Hare Krishna movement.[10]
As a name of Vishnu, Krishna is listed as the 57th name in the Vishnu Sahasranama. Based on his name, Krishna is often depicted in murtis as black or blue-skinned. Krishna is also known by various other names, epithets and titles, which reflect his many associations and attributes. Among the most common names are Mohnish "Attractive God", Mohan "enchanter", Govinda, "Finder of 'Go' - Veda or the cows" or Gopala, "Protector of the 'Go' - Veda or the cows" as 'Go' means Veda or cow, which refer to Krishna's childhood in Braj (in present-day Uttar Pradesh).[11][12] Some of the distinct names may be regionally important; for instance, Jagannatha, a popular incarnation of Puri, Odisha in eastern India.[13]
Iconography[edit]
Krishna with cows, herdsmen and Gopis, Pahari painting [Himalayan] from Smithsonian Institution
Krishna is easily recognized by his representations. Though his skin color may be depicted as black or dark in some representations, particularly in murtis, in other images such as modern pictorial representations, Krishna is usually shown with a blue skin. He has been described as having skin the color of Jambul (Jamun a purple color fruit). He is also known to have four symbols of the jambu fruit on his right foot as mentioned in the Srimad Bhagavatam commentary (verse 10.30.25), "Sri Rupa Cintamani" and "Ananda Candrika" by Srila Visvanatha Chakravarti Thakura.[14]
He is often shown wearing a silk golden yellow dhoti and a peacock feather crown. Common depictions show him as a little boy, or as a young man in a characteristically relaxed pose, playing the flute.[15][16] In this form, he usually stands with one leg bent in front of the other with a flute raised to his lips, in the Tribhanga posture, accompanied by cows, emphasizing his position as the divine herdsman, Govinda, or with the gopis (milkmaids) i.e. Gopikrishna, stealing butter from neighbouring houses i.e. Navneet Chora or Gokulakrishna, defeating the vicious serpent i.e. Kaliya Damana Krishna, lifting the hill i.e. Giridhara Krishna ..so on and so forth from his childhood / youth events.
A steatite (soapstone) tablet unearthed from Mohenjo-daro, Larkana district, Sindh depicting a young boy uprooting two trees from which are emerging two human figures is an interesting archaeological find for fixing dates associated with Krishna. This image recalls the Yamalarjuna episode of Bhagavata and Harivamsa Purana. In this image, the young boy is Krishna, and the two human beings emerging from the trees are the two cursed gandharvas, identified as Nalakubara and Manigriva. Dr. E.J.H. Mackay, who did the excavation at Mohanjodaro, compares this image with the Yamalarjuna episode. Prof. V.S. Agrawal has also accepted this identification. Thus, it seems that the Indus valley people knew stories related to Krishna. This lone find may not establish Krishna as contemporary with Pre-Indus or Indus times, but, likewise, it cannot be ignored.[17]
Bala Krishna dancing, 14th century CE Chola sculpture, Tamil Nadu.from Honolulu Academy of Arts.
The scene on the battlefield of the epic Mahabharata, notably where he addresses Pandava prince Arjuna in the Bhagavad Gita, is another common subject for representation. In these popular depictions, he is shown as the charioteer in the battle-field of Kurukshetra. In Visvaroopa Darshana to Arjuna, Lord Krishna resumes the role of the often with supreme God's characteristics of Hindu religious art, such as multiple arms or heads, denoting power, and with attributes of Vishnu, such as the chakra or in his two-armed form as a charioteer. Cave paintings dated to 800 BCE in Mirzapur, Mirzapur district, Uttar Pradesh, show raiding horse-charioteers, one of whom is about to hurl a wheel, and who could potentially be identified as Krishna.[18]
Representations in temples often show Krishna as a man standing in an upright, formal pose. He may be alone, or with associated figures:[19] his brother Balarama and sister Subhadra, or his main queens Rukmini and Satyabhama.
Often, Krishna is pictured with his gopi-consort Radha. Manipuri Vaishnavas do not worship Krishna alone, but as Radha Krishna,[20] a combined image of Krishna and Radha. This is also a characteristic of the schools Rudra[21] and Nimbarka sampradaya,[22] as well as that of Swaminarayan sect. The traditions celebrate Radha Ramana murti, who is viewed by Gaudiyas as a form of Radha Krishna.[23]
Krishna is also depicted and worshipped as a small child (Bala Krishna, Bāla Kṛṣṇa the child Krishna), crawling on his hands and knees or dancing, often with butter or Laddu in his hand being Laddu Gopal.[24][25] Regional variations in the iconography of Krishna are seen in his different forms, such as Jaganatha of Odisha, Vithoba of Maharashtra,[26] Venkateswara (also Srinivasa or Balaji) in Andhra Pradesh, and Shrinathji in Rajasthan.
Krishna is also depicted as a new born floating on a leaf of a banyan tree during the Pralaya ( the great flood ) at the end of the Dvapara Yuga.
Literary sources[edit]
See also: Krishna in the Mahabharata
Yashoda bathing the child Krishna
The earliest text to explicitly provide detailed descriptions of Krishna as a personality is the epic Mahabharata which depicts Krishna as an incarnation of Vishnu.[27] Krishna is central to many of the main stories of the epic. The eighteen chapters of the sixth book (Bhishma Parva) of the epic that constitute the Bhagavad Gita contain the advice of Krishna to the warrior-hero Arjuna, on the battlefield. Krishna is already an adult in the epic, although there are allusions to his earlier exploits. The Harivamsa, a later appendix to this epic, contains the earliest detailed version of Krishna's childhood and youth.
The Rig Veda 1.22.164 sukta 31 mentions a herdsman "who never stumbles".[28] Some Vaishnavite scholars, such as Bhaktivinoda Thakura, claim that this herdsman refers to Krishna.[29] Ramakrishna Gopal Bhandarkar also attempted to show that "the very same Krishna" made an appearance, e.g. as the drapsa ... krishna "black drop" of RV 8.96.13.[30] Some authors have also likened prehistoric depictions of deities to Krishna.
Chandogya Upanishad (3.17.6), dated between 8th and 6th century BCE, mentions Vasudeva Krishna as the son of Devaki and the disciple of Ghora Angirasa, the seer who preached his disciple the philosophy of ‘Chhandogya.’ Having been influenced by the philosophy of ‘Chhandogya’ Krishna in the Bhagavadgita while delivering the discourse to Arjuna on the battlefield of Kurukshetra discussed about sacrifice, which can be compared to purusha or the individual.[31][32][33][34]
Yāska's Nirukta, an etymological dictionary around 6th century BC, contains a reference to the Shyamantaka jewel in the possession of Akrura, a motif from well known Puranic story about Krishna.[35] Shatapatha Brahmana and Aitareya-Aranyaka, associate Krishna with his Vrishni origins.[36]
Pāṇini, the ancient grammarian and author of Asthadhyayi (probably belonged to 5th century or 6th century BC) mentions a character called Vāsudeva, son of Vasudeva, and also mentions Kaurava and Arjuna which testifies to Vasudeva Krishna, Arjuna and Kauravas being contemporaries.[31][37][38]
Megasthenes (350 – 290 BC) a Greek ethnographer and an ambassador of Seleucus I to the court of Chandragupta Maurya made reference to Herakles in his famous work Indica. Many scholars have suggested that the deity identified as Herakles was Krishna. According to Arrian, Diodorus, and Strabo, Megasthenes described an Indian tribe called Sourasenoi, who especially worshipped Herakles in their land, and this land had two cities, Methora and Kleisobora, and a navigable river, the Jobares. As was common in the ancient period, the Greeks sometimes described foreign gods in terms of their own divinities, and there is a little doubt that the Sourasenoi refers to the Shurasenas, a branch of the Yadu dynasty to which Krishna belonged; Herakles to Krishna, or Hari-Krishna: Methora to Mathura, where Krishna was born; Kleisobora to Krishnapura, meaning "the city of Krishna"; and the Jobares to the Yamuna, the famous river in the Krishna story. Quintus Curtius also mentions that when Alexander the Great confronted Porus, Porus's soldiers were carrying an image of Herakles in their vanguard.[39]
The name Krishna occurs in Buddhist writings in the form Kānha, phonetically equivalent to Krishna.[40]
The Ghata-Jâtaka (No. 454) gives an account of Krishna's childhood and subsequent exploits which in many points corresponds with the Brahmanic legends of his life and contains several familiar incidents and names, such as Vâsudeva, Baladeva, Kaṃsa. Yet it presents many peculiarities and is either an independent version or a misrepresentation of a popular story that had wandered far from its home. Jain tradition also shows that these tales were popular and were worked up into different forms, for the Jains have an elaborate system of ancient patriarchs which includes Vâsudevas and Baladevas. Krishna is the ninth of the Black Vâsudevas and is connected with Dvâravatî or Dvârakâ. He will become the twelfth tîrthankara of the next world-period and a similar position will be attained by Devakî, Rohinî, Baladeva and Javakumâra, all members of his family. This is a striking proof of the popularity of the Krishna legend outside the Brahmanic religion.[41]
According to Arthasastra of Kautilya (4th century BCE) Vāsudeva was worshiped as supreme Deity in a strongly monotheistic format.[37]
Around 150 BC, Patanjali in his Mahabhashya quotes a verse: "May the might of Krishna accompanied by Samkarshana increase!" Other verses are mentioned. One verse speaks of "Janardhana with himself as fourth" (Krishna with three companions, the three possibly being Samkarshana, Pradyumna, and Aniruddha). Another verse mentions musical instruments being played at meetings in the temples of Rama (Balarama) and Kesava (Krishna). Patanjali also describes dramatic and mimetic performances (Krishna-Kamsopacharam) representing the killing of Kamsa by Vasudeva.[42][43]
In the 1st century BC, there seems to be evidence for a worship of five Vrishni heroes (Balarama, Krishna, Pradyumna, Aniruddha and Samba) for an inscription has been found at Mora near Mathura, which apparently mentions a son of the great satrap Rajuvula, probably the satrap Sodasa, and an image of Vrishni, "probably Vasudeva, and of the "Five Warriors".[44] Brahmi inscription on the Mora stone slab, now in the Mathura Museum.[45][46]
Many Puranas tell Krishna's life-story or some highlights from it. Two Puranas, the Bhagavata Purana and the Vishnu Purana, that contain the most elaborate telling of Krishna’s story and teachings are the most theologically venerated by the Vaishnava schools.[47] Roughly one quarter of the Bhagavata Purana is spent extolling his life and philosophy.
Life[edit]
This summary is based on details from the Mahābhārata, the Harivamsa, the Bhagavata Purana and the Vishnu Purana. The scenes from the narrative are set in north India mostly in the present states of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Haryana, Delhi and Gujarat.
Birth[edit]
Krishna's great escape
Krishna's foster mother Yashoda with the infant Krishna. Chola period, Early 12th century, Tamil Nadu, India.
Based on scriptural details and astrological calculations, the date of Krishna's birth, known as Janmashtami,[48] is 21 February 3228 BCE.[49][note 1] He was born to Devaki and her husband, Vasudeva.[54][55][56] When Mother Earth became upset by the sin being committed on Earth, she thought of seeking help from Lord Vishnu. She went in the form of a cow to visit Lord Vishnu and ask for help. Lord Vishnu agreed to help her and promised her that he would be born on Earth. On Earth in the Yadava clan, he was yadav according to his birth, a prince named Kamsa sent his father Ugrasena (King of Mathura) to prison and became the King himself. One day a loud voice from the sky (Akasha Vani in Samskrutam prophesied that the 8th son of Kamsa's sister (Devaki) would kill Kamsa. Out of affection for Devaki, Kamsa did not kill her outright. He did, however, send his sister and her husband (Vasudeva) to prison. Lord Vishnu himself later appeared to Devaki and Vasudeva and told them that he himself would be their eighth son and kill Kamsa and destroy sin in the world. In the story of Krishna the deity is the agent of conception and also the offspring. Because of his sympathy for the earth, the divine Vishnu himself descended into the womb of Devaki and was born as her son, Vaasudeva (i.e., Krishna). This is occasionally cited as evidence that "virgin birth" tales are fairly common in non-Christian religions around the world.[57][58][59] However, there is nothing in Hindu scriptures to suggest that it was a "virgin" birth. By the time of conception and birth of Krishna, Devaki was married to Vasudeva and had already borne 7 children.[60] Virgin birth in this case should be more accurately understood as divine conception. Kunti, the mother of the Pandavas referenced contemporaneously with the story of Krishna in the Mahabharata also has divine conception and virgin birth of Prince Karna.[61]
The Hindu Vishnu Purana relates: "Devaki bore in her womb the lotus-eyed deity...before the birth of Krishna, no one could bear to gaze upon Devaki, from the light that invested her, and those who contemplated her radiance felt their minds disturbed." This reference to light is reminiscent of the Vedic hymn "To an Unknown Divine," which refers to a Golden Child. According to F. M. Müller, this term means "the golden gem of child" and is an attempt at naming the sun. According to the Vishnu Purana, Krishna is the total incarnation of Lord Vishnu. It clearly describes in the Vishnu Purana that Krishna was born on earth to destroy sin, especially Kamsa.
Krishna belonged to the Vrishni clan of Yadavas from Mathura,[62] and was the eighth son born to the princess Devaki, and her husband Vasudeva.
Mathura (in present-day Mathura district, Uttar Pradesh) was the capital of the Yadavas, to which Krishna's parents Vasudeva and Devaki belonged. King Kamsa, Devaki's brother,[63] had ascended the throne by imprisoning his father, King Ugrasena. Afraid of a prophecy from a divine voice from the heavens that predicted his death at the hands of Devaki's eighth "garbha", Kamsa had the couple locked in a prison cell. After Kamsa killed the first six children, Devaki apparently had a miscarriage of the seventh. However, in reality, the womb was actually transferred to Rohini secretly. This was how Balarama, Krishna's elder brother, was born. Once again Devaki became pregnant. Now due to the miscarriage, Kamsa was in a puzzle regarding 'The Eighth One', but his ministers advised that the divine voice from the heavens emphasised "the eight garbha" and so this is the one. That night Krishna was born in the Abhijit nakshatra and simultaneously Ekanamsha was born as Yogamaya in Gokulam to Nanda and Yashoda.
Since Vasudeva knew Krishna's life was in danger, Krishna was secretly taken out of the prison cell to be raised by his foster parents, Yasoda[64] and Nanda, in Gokula (in present-day Mathura district). Two of his other siblings also survived, Balarama (Devaki's seventh child, transferred to the womb of Rohini, Vasudeva's first wife) and Subhadra (daughter of Vasudeva and Rohini, born much later than Balarama and Krishna).[65]
Childhood and youth[edit]
Krishna holding Govardhan hill as depicted in Pahari painting
Nanda was the head of a community of cow-herders, and he settled in Vrindavana. The stories of Krishna's childhood and youth tell how he became a cow herder,[66] his mischievous pranks as Makhan Chor (butter thief), his foiling of attempts to take his life, and his role as a protector of the people of Vrindavana.
Krishna killed the demoness Putana, disguised as a wet nurse, and the tornado demon Trinavarta both sent by Kamsa for Krishna's life. He tamed the serpent Kāliyā, who previously poisoned the waters of Yamuna river, thus leading to the death of the cowherds. In Hindu art, Krishna is often depicted dancing on the multi-hooded Kāliyā.
Krishna lifted the Govardhana hill and taught Indra, the king of the devas, a lesson to protect the native people of Vrindavana from persecution by Indra and prevent the devastation of the pasture land of Govardhan. Indra had too much pride and was angry when Krishna advised the people of Vrindavana to take care of their animals and their environment that provide them with all their necessities, instead of worshipping Indra annually by spending their resources.[67][68] In the view of some, the spiritual movement started by Krishna had something in it which went against the orthodox forms of worship of the Vedic gods such as Indra.[69] In Bhagavat Purana, Krishna says that the rain came from the nearby hill Govardhana, and advised that the people worshiped the hill instead of Indra. This made Indra furious, so he punished them by sending out a great storm. Krishna then lifted Govardhan and held it over the people like an umbrella.
The stories of his play with the gopis (milkmaids) of Vrindavana, especially Radha (daughter of Vrishbhanu, one of the original residents of Vrindavan) became known as the Rasa lila and were romanticised in the poetry of Jayadeva, author of the Gita Govinda. These became important as part of the development of the Krishna bhakti traditions worshiping Radha Krishna.[70]
Krishna’s childhood reinforces the Hindu concept of lila, playing for fun and enjoyment and not for sport or gain. His interaction with the gopis at the rasa dance or Rasa-lila is a great example of this. Krishna played his flute and the gopis came immediately from whatever they were doing, to the banks of the Yamuna River, and joined him in singing and dancing. Even those who could not physically be there joined him through meditation.[71] The story of Krishna’s battle with Kāliyā also supports this idea in the sense of him dancing on Kāliyā’s many hoods. Even though he is doing battle with the serpent, he is in no real danger and treats it like a game. He is a protector, but he only appears to be a young boy having fun.[72] This idea of having a playful god is very important in Hinduism. The playfulness of Krishna has inspired many celebrations like the Rasa-lila and the Janmashtami : where they make human pyramids to break open handis (clay pots) hung high in the air that spill buttermilk all over the group after being broken by the person at the top. This is meant to be a fun celebration and it gives the participants a sense of unity. Many believe that lila being connected with Krishna gives Hindus a deeper connection to him and thus a deeper connection to Vishnu also; seeing as Krishna is an incarnation of Vishnu. Theologists, like Kristin Johnston Largen, believe that Krishna’s childhood can even inspire other religions to look for lila in deities so that they have a chance to experience a part of their faith that they may not have previously seen.[73]
The prince[edit]
Krishna with his consorts Rukmini, Satyabhama and his mount Garuda; Tamil Nadu, India, late 12th-13th century[74]
On his return to Mathura as a young man, Krishna overthrew and killed his maternal uncle, Kamsa, after quelling several assassination attempts from Kamsa's followers. He reinstated Kamsa's father, Ugrasena, as the king of the Yadavas and became a leading prince at the court.[75] During this period, he became a friend of Arjuna and the other Pandava princes of the Kuru kingdom, who were his cousins. Later, he took his Yadava subjects to the city of Dwaraka (in modern Gujarat) and established a new kingdom there. Krishna was the prince and commander of the Armies of Dwaraka, while Balarama was crown prince and de facto administrator as, King Ugrasena was still the emperor of Dwaraka, but reigned over mathura.[76]
Krishna married Rukmini, the Vidarbha princess, by abducting her, at her request, from her proposed wedding with Shishupala. He married eight queens—collectively called the Ashtabharya—including Rukmini, Satyabhama, Jambavati, Kalindi, Mitravinda, Nagnajiti, Bhadra and Lakshmana.[77][78] Krishna subsequently married 16,000 or 16,100 maidens who were held captive by the demon Narakasura, to save their honour.[79][80] Krishna killed the demon and released them all. According to social custom of the time, all of the captive women were degraded, and would be unable to marry, as they had been under the Narakasura's control. However Krishna married them to reinstate their status in the society. This symbolic wedding with 16,100 abandoned daughters was more of a mass rehabilitation.[81] In Vaishnava traditions, Krishna's wives are forms of the goddess Lakshmi — consort of Vishnu, or special souls who attained this qualification after many lifetimes of austerity, while his two queens, Rukmani and Satyabhama, are expansions of Lakshmi.[82]
When Yudhishthira was assuming the title of emperor, he had invited all the great kings to the ceremony and while paying his respects to them, he started with Krishna because he considered Krishna to be the greatest of them all. While it was a unanimous feeling amongst most present at the ceremony that Krishna should get the first honours, his cousin Shishupala felt otherwise and started berating Krishna. Due to a vow given to Shishupal's mother, Krishna forgave a hundred verbal abuses by Shishupal, and upon the one hundred and first, he assumed his Virat (universal) form and killed Shishupal with his Chakra. The blind king Dhritarashtra also obtained divine vision to be able to see this form of Krishna during the time when Duryodana tried to capture Krishna when he came as a peace bearer before the great Mahabharat War. Essentially, Shishupala and Dantavakra were both re-incarnations of Vishnu's gate-keepers Jaya and Vijaya, who were cursed to be born on Earth, to be delivered by the Vishnu back to Vaikuntha.[83]
Kurukshetra War and Bhagavad Gita[edit]
Main articles: Kurukshetra War and Bhagavad Gita
Krishna Mediating between the Pandavas and Kauravas
Once battle seemed inevitable, Krishna offered both sides the opportunity to choose between having either his army called Narayani Sena or himself alone, but on the condition that he personally would not raise any weapon. Arjuna, on behalf of the Pandavas, chose to have Krishna on their side, and Duryodhana, Kaurava prince, chose Krishna's army. At the time of the great battle, Krishna acted as Arjuna's charioteer, since this position did not require the wielding of weapons.
Upon arrival at the battlefield, and seeing that the enemies are his family, his grandfather, his cousins and loved ones, Arjuna is moved and says his heart does not allow him to fight and he would rather prefer to renounce the kingdom and put down his Gandiv (Arjuna's bow). Krishna then advises him about the battle, with the conversation soon extending into a discourse which was later compiled as the Bhagavad Gita.[84]
Krishna displays his Vishvarupa (universal form) to Arjuna on the battlefield of Kurukshetra.
Krishna asked Arjuna, "Have you within no time, forgotten the Kauravas' evil deeds such as not accepting the eldest brother Yudhishtira as King, usurping the entire Kingdom without yielding any portion to the Pandavas, meting out insults and difficulties to Pandavas, attempt to murder the Pandavas in the Barnava lac guest house, publicly attempting to disrobe and disgracing Draupadi. Krishna further exhorted in his famous Bhagavad Gita, "Arjuna, do not engage in philosophical analyses at this point of time like a Pundit. You are aware that Duryodhana and Karna particularly have long harboured jealousy and hatred for you Pandavas and badly want to prove their hegemony. You are aware that Bhishmacharya and your Teachers are tied down to their dharma of protecting the unitarian power of the Kuru throne. Moreover, you Arjuna, are only a mortal appointee to carry out my divine will, since the Kauravas are destined to die either way, due to their heap of sins. Open your eyes O Bhaarata and know that I encompass the Karta, Karma and Kriya, all in myself. There is no scope for contemplation now or remorse later, it is indeed time for war and the world will remember your might and immense powers for time to come. So rise O Arjuna!, tighten up your Gandiva and let all directions shiver till their farthest horizons, by the reverberation of its string."
Krishna in Balinese Wayang form
Festival in honour of Chrishna (October 1853, X, p.114)[85]
Krishna had a profound effect on the Mahabharata war and its consequences. He had considered the Kurukshetra war to be a last resort after voluntarily acting as a messenger in order to establish peace between the Pandavas and Kauravas. But, once these peace negotiations failed and was embarked into the war, then he became a clever strategist. During the war, upon becoming angry with Arjuna for not fighting in true spirit against his ancestors, Krishna once picked up a carriage wheel in order to use it as a weapon to challenge Bhishma. Upon seeing this, Bhishma dropped his weapons and asked Krishna to kill him. However, Arjuna apologized to Krishna, promising that he would fight with full dedication here/after, and the battle continued. Krishna had directed Yudhishthira and Arjuna to return to Bhishma the boon of "victory" which he had given to Yudhishthira before the war commenced, since he himself was standing in their way to victory. Bhishma understood the message and told them the means through which he would drop his weapons—which was if a woman entered the battlefield. Next day, upon Krishna's directions, Shikhandi (Amba reborn) accompanied Arjuna to the battlefield and thus, Bhishma laid down his arms. This was a decisive moment in the war because Bhishma was the chief commander of the Kaurava army and the most formidable warrior on the battlefield. Krishna aided Arjuna in killing Jayadratha, who had held the other four Pandava brothers at bay while Arjuna's son Abhimanyu entered Drona's Chakravyuha formation—an effort in which he was killed by the simultaneous attack of eight Kaurava warriors. Krishna also caused the downfall of Drona, when he signalled Bhima to kill an elephant called Ashwatthama, the namesake of Drona's son. Pandavas started shouting that Ashwatthama was dead but Drona refused to believe them saying he would believe it only if he heard it from Yudhishthira. Krishna knew that Yudhishthira would never tell a lie, so he devised a clever ploy so that Yudhishthira wouldn't lie and at the same time Drona would be convinced of his son's death. On asked by Drona, Yudhishthira proclaimed
Ashwathama Hatahath, naro va Kunjaro va
i.e. Ashwathama had died but he was nor sure whether it was a Drona's son or an elephant. But as soon as Yudhishthira had uttered the first line, Pandava army on Krishna's direction broke into celebration with drums and conchs, in the din of which Drona could not hear the second part of the Yudhishthira's declaration and assumed that his son indeed was dead. Overcome with grief he laid down his arms, and on Krishna's instruction Dhrishtadyumna beheaded Drona.
When Arjuna was fighting Karna, the latter's chariot's wheels sank into the ground. While Karna was trying to take out the chariot from the grip of the Earth, Krishna reminded Arjuna how Karna and the other Kauravas had broken all rules of battle while simultaneously attacking and killing Abhimanyu, and he convinced Arjuna to do the same in revenge in order to kill Karna. During the final stage of the war, when Duryodhana was going to meet his mother Gandhari for taking her blessings which would convert all parts of his body on which her sight falls to diamond, Krishna tricks him to wearing banana leaves to hide his groin. When Duryodhana meets Gandhari, her vision and blessings fall on his entire body except his groin and thighs, and she becomes unhappy about it because she was not able to convert his entire body to diamond. When Duryodhana was in a mace-fight with Bhima, Bhima's blows had no effect on Duryodhana. Upon this, Krishna reminded Bhima of his vow to kill Duryodhana by hitting him on the thigh, and Bhima did the same to win the war despite it being against the rules of mace-fight (since Duryodhana had himself broken Dharma in all his past acts). Thus, Krishna's unparalleled strategy helped the Pandavas win the Mahabharata war by bringing the downfall of all the chief Kaurava warriors, without lifting any weapon. He also brought back to life Arjuna's grandson Parikshit, who had been attacked by a Brahmastra weapon from Ashwatthama while he was in his mother's womb. Parikshit became the Pandavas' successor.
Family[edit]
Krishna and ladies in a garden: 18th century Indian painting
Main articles: Ashtabharya and Junior wives of Krishna
Krishna had eight principal wives, also known as Ashtabharya: Rukmini, Satyabhama, Jambavati, Nagnajiti, Kalindi, Mitravinda, Bhadra and Lakshmana. Besides them Krishna married 16,100 more women (number varies in scriptures), whom he had rescued from Narakasura's palace after killing Narakasura. He married them all to save them from destruction and notoriety. He gave them shelter in his new palace and a respectful place in society.
The Bhagavata Purana, Vishnu Purana, and Harivamsa list the children of Krishna from the Ashtabharya with some variation, while Rohini's sons are interpreted to represent the unnumbered children of his junior wives. Most well-known among his sons are Pradyumna, the eldest son of Krishna (and Rukmini). Pradyumna is one in 24 Keshava Namas (names), praised in all pujas.[86] and Samba, the son of Jambavati, whose actions led to the destruction of Krishna's clan.
Later life[edit]
Main article: Mausala Parva
An hunter named Jara aiming an arrow to sleeping Krishna
According to Mahabharata, the Kurukshetra war resulted in the death of all the hundred sons of Gandhari. On the night before Duryodhana's death, Krishna visited Gandhari to offer his condolences. Gandhari felt that Krishna knowingly did not put an end to the war, and in a fit of rage and sorrow, Gandhari cursed that Krishna, along with everyone else from the Yadu dynasty, would perish after 36 years. Krishna himself knew and wanted this to happen as he felt that the Yadavas had become very haughty and arrogant (adharmi), so he ended Gandhari's speech by saying "tathastu" (so be it). According to Srimad Bhagavatham, Rishi Vyas cursed yadavas (due to a tactful play by Yadavas with Rishi Vyas) saying, your entire community will die.[citation needed]
Thirty-six years later, a fight broke out between the Yadavas at a festival, who killed each other. Krishna's elder brother, Balarama, then gave up his body using Yoga. Krishna retired into the forest and started meditating under a tree. The Mahabharata also narrates the story of a hunter who becomes an instrument for Krishna's departure from the world. The hunter Jara, mistook Krishna's partly visible left foot for that of a deer, and shot an arrow, wounding him mortally. Krishna told Jara, "O Jara, you were Bali in your previous birth, killed by myself as Rama in Tretayuga. Here you had a chance to even it and since all acts in this world are done as desired by me, you need not worry for this". Then Krishna, with his physical body[87] ascended back to his eternal abode, Goloka vrindavan and this event marks departure of Krishna from the earth.[88][89][90] The news was conveyed to Hastinapur and Dwaraka by eyewitnesses to this event.[87] The place of this incident is believed to be Bhalka, near Somnath temple.[91][92]
According to Puranic sources,[93] Krishna's departure marks the end of Dvapara Yuga and the start of Kali Yuga, which is dated to 17/18 February 3102 BCE.[94] Vaishnava teachers such as Ramanujacharya and Gaudiya Vaishnavas held the view that the body of Krishna is completely spiritual and never decays (Achyuta) as this appears to be the perspective of the Bhagavata Purana. Lord Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu (an incarnation of Lord Sri Krishna according to the Bhavishya Purana) exhorted, "Krishna Naama Sankirtan" i.e. the constant chanting of the Krishna's name is the supreme healer in Kali Yuga. It destroys sins and purifies the hearts through Bhakti and ensures universal peace.
Krishna never appears to grow old or age at all in the historical depictions of the Puranas despite passing of several decades, but there are grounds for a debate whether this indicates that he has no material body, since battles and other descriptions of the Mahabhārata epic show clear indications that he seems to be subject to the limitations of nature.[95] While battles apparently seem to indicate limitations, Mahabharata also shows in many places where Krishna is not subject to any limitations through episodes Duryodhana trying to arrest Krishna where his body burst into fire showing all creation within him.[96] Krishna is also explicitly described as without deterioration elsewhere.[97]
Worship[edit]
Vaishnavism[edit]
Main article: Vaishnavism
Rasa Lila in Manipuri dance style.
The worship of Krishna is part of Vaishnavism, which regards Vishnu as the supreme God and venerates his associated avatars, their consorts, and related saints and teachers. Krishna is especially looked upon as a full manifestation of Vishnu, and as one with Vishnu himself.[98] However the exact relationship between Krishna and Vishnu is complex and diverse,[99] where Krishna is sometimes considered an independent deity, supreme in his own right.[100] Out of many deities, Krishna is particularly important, and traditions of Vaishnava lines are generally centered either on Vishnu or on Krishna, as supreme. The term Krishnaism has been used to describe the sects of Krishna, reserving the term "Vaishnavism" for sects focusing on Vishnu in which Krishna is an avatar, rather than as a transcendent Supreme Being.[101]
All Vaishnava traditions recognise Krishna as an avatar of Vishnu; others identify Krishna with Vishnu; while traditions, such as Gaudiya Vaishnavism,[102][103] Vallabha Sampradaya and the Nimbarka Sampradaya, regard Krishna as the Svayam Bhagavan, original form of God.[104][105][106][107][108] Swaminarayan, the founder of the Swaminarayan Sampraday also worshipped Krishna as God himself. "Greater Krishnaism" corresponds to the second and dominant phase of Vaishnavism, revolving around the cults of the Vasudeva, Krishna, and Gopala of late Vedic period.[109] Today the faith has a significant following outside of India as well.[110]
Early traditions[edit]
An image of Bala Krishna displayed during Janmashtami celebrations at a Swaminarayan Temple in London
The deity Krishna-Vasudeva (kṛṣṇa vāsudeva "Krishna, the son of Vasudeva") is historically one of the earliest forms of worship in Krishnaism and Vaishnavism.[6][35] It is believed to be a significant tradition of the early history of the worship of Krishna in antiquity.[7][111] This tradition is considered as earliest to other traditions that led to amalgamation at a later stage of the historical development. Other traditions are Bhagavatism and the cult of Gopala, that along with the cult of Bala Krishna form the basis of current tradition of monotheistic religion of Krishna.[112][113] Some early scholars would equate it with Bhagavatism,[7] and the founder of this religious tradition is believed to be Krishna, who is the son of Vasudeva, thus his name is Vāsudeva; he is said to be historically part of the Satvata tribe, and according to them his followers called themselves Bhagavatas and this religion had formed by the 2nd century BC (the time of Patanjali), or as early as the 4th century BC according to evidence in Megasthenes and in the Arthasastra of Kautilya, when Vāsudeva was worshiped as supreme deity in a strongly monotheistic format, where the supreme being was perfect, eternal and full of grace.[7] In many sources outside of the cult, the devotee or bhakta is defined as Vāsudevaka.[114] The Harivamsa describes intricate relationships between Krishna Vasudeva, Sankarsana, Pradyumna and Aniruddha that would later form a Vaishnava concept of primary quadrupled expansion, or avatar."[115]
Bhakti tradition[edit]
Main article: Bhakti yoga
Bhakti, meaning devotion, is not confined to any one deity. However Krishna is an important and popular focus of the devotional and ecstatic aspects of Hindu religion, particularly among the Vaishnava sects.[102][116] Devotees of Krishna subscribe to the concept of lila, meaning 'divine play', as the central principle of the Universe. The lilas of Krishna, with their expressions of personal love that transcend the boundaries of formal reverence, serve as a counterpoint to the actions of another avatar of Vishnu: Rama, "He of the straight and narrow path of maryada, or rules and regulations."[103]
The bhakti movements devoted to Krishna became prominent in southern India in the 7th to 9th centuries AD. The earliest works included those of the Alvar saints of the Tamil country.[117] A major collection of their works is the Divya Prabandham. The Alvar Andal's popular collection of songs Tiruppavai, in which she conceives of herself as a gopi, is the most famous of the oldest works in this genre.[118][119] [120] Kulasekaraazhvaar's Mukundamala was another notable work of this early stage.
Spread of the Krishna-bhakti movement[edit]
The movement, which started in the 6th-7th century A.D. in the Tamil-speaking region of South India, with twelve Alvar (one immersed in God) saint-poets, who wrote devotional songs. The religion of Alvar poets, which included a woman poet, Andal, was devotion to God through love (bhakti), and in the ecstasy of such devotions they sang hundreds of songs which embodied both depth of feeling and felicity of expressions. The movement originated in South India during the seventh-century CE, spreading northwards from Tamil Nadu through Karnataka and Maharashtra; by the fifteenth century, it was established in Bengal and northern India[121]
Gita Govinda by Jayadeva.
While the learned sections of the society well versed in Sanskrit could enjoy works like Gita Govinda or Bilvamangala's Krishna-Karnamritam, the masses sang the songs of the devotee-poets, who composed in the regional languages of India. These songs expressing intense personal devotion were written by devotees from all walks of life. The songs of Meera and Surdas became epitomes of Krishna-devotion in north India.
Krishna (left) with the flute with gopi-consort Radha, Bhaktivedanta Manor, Watford, England
These devotee-poets, like the Alvars before them, were aligned to specific theological schools only loosely, if at all. But by the 11th century AD, Vaishnava Bhakti schools with elaborate theological frameworks around the worship of Krishna were established in north India. Nimbarka (11th century AD), Vallabhacharya (15th century AD) and (Lord Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu an incarnation of Lord Sri Krishna according to the Bhavishya Purana) (16th century AD) all inspired by the teachings of Madhvacharya (11th century AD) were the founders of the most influential schools. These schools, namely Nimbarka Sampradaya, Vallabha Sampradaya and Gaudiya Vaishnavism respectively, see Krishna as the supreme God.
In the Deccan, particularly in Maharashtra, saint poets of the Varkari sect such as Dnyaneshwar, Namdev, Janabai, Eknath and Tukaram promoted the worship of Vithoba,[26] a local form of Krishna, from the beginning of the 13th century until the late 18th century.[5] In southern India, Purandara Dasa and Kanakadasa of Karnataka composed songs devoted to the Krishna image of Udupi. Rupa Goswami of Gaudiya Vaishnavism, has compiled a comprehensive summary of bhakti named Bhakti-rasamrita-sindhu.[116]
In the West[edit]
In 1965, the Krishna-bhakti movement had spread outside India when its founder, Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, (who was instructed by his guru, Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura) traveled from his homeland in West Bengal to New York City. A year later in 1966, after gaining many followers, he was able to form the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON), popularly known as the Hare Krishna movement. The purpose of this movement was to write about Krishna in English and to share the Gaudiya Vaishnava philosophy with people in the Western world by spreading the teachings of the saint Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. In an effort to gain attention, followers chanted the names of God in public locations. This chanting was known as hari-nama sankirtana and helped spread the teaching. Additionally, the practice of distributing prasad or "sanctified food" worked as a catalyst in the dissemination of his works. In the Hare Krishna movement, Prasad was a vegetarian dish that would be first offered to Krishna. The food’s proximity to Krishna added a "spiritual effect," and was seen to "counteract material contamination affecting the soul." Sharing this sanctified food with the public, in turn, enabled the movement to gain new recruits and further spread these teachings.[8][122][123]
In South India[edit]
In South India, Vaishnavas usually belong to the Sri Sampradaya[citation needed]. The acharyas of the Sri Sampradaya have written reverentially about Krishna in most of their works like the Thiruppavai by Andal[124] and Gopala Vimshati by Vedanta Desika.[125] In South India, devotion to Krishna, as an avatar of Vishnu, spread in the face of opposition to Buddhism, Shaktism, and Shaivism and ritualistic Vedic sacrifices. The acharyas of the Sri Sampradaya like Manavala Mamunigal, Vedanta Desika strongly advocated surrender to Vishnu as the aim of the Vedas. Out of 108 Divya Desams there are 97 Divya Desams in South India.
Due to strong vaishnava influence in Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Kerala, these states have many major Krishna temples and Janmashtami is one of the widely celebrated festivals in South India.
In the performing arts[edit]
A Kerala Kathakali performer as Krishna
While discussing the origin of Indian theatre, Horwitz talks about the mention of the Krishna story in Patanjali's Mahabhashya (c. 150 BC), where the episodes of slaying of Kamsa (Kamsa Vadha) and "Binding of the heaven storming titan" (Bali Bandha) are described.[126] Bhasa's Balacharitam and Dutavakyam (c. 400 BC) are the only Sanskrit plays centered on Krishna written by a major classical dramatist. The former dwells only on his childhood exploits and the latter is a one-act play based on a single episode from the Mahābhārata when Krishna tries to make peace between the warring cousins.[127]
From the 10th century AD, with the growing bhakti movement, Krishna became a favorite subject of the arts. The songs of the Gita Govinda became popular across India, and had many imitations. The songs composed by the Bhakti poets added to the repository of both folk and classical singing.
The classical Indian dances, especially Odissi and Manipuri, draw heavily on the story. The 'Rasa lila' dances performed in Vrindavan shares elements with Kathak, and the Krisnattam, with some cycles, such as Krishnattam, traditionally restricted to the Guruvayur temple, the precursor of Kathakali.[128]
The Sattriya dance, founded by the Assamese Vaishnava saint Sankardeva, extols the virtues of Krishna. Medieval Maharashtra gave birth to a form of storytelling known as the Hari-Katha, that told Vaishnava tales and teachings through music, dance, and narrative sequences, and the story of Krishna one of them. This tradition spread to Tamil Nadu and other southern states, and is now popular in many places throughout India.
Narayana Tirtha's (17th century AD) Krishna-Lila-Tarangini provided material for the musical plays of the Bhagavata-Mela by telling the tale of Krishna from birth until his marriage to Rukmini. Tyagaraja (18th century AD) wrote a similar piece about Krishna called Nauka-Charitam. The narratives of Krishna from the Puranas are performed in Yakshagana, a performance style native to Karnataka's coastal districts. Many movies in all Indian languages have been made based on these stories. These are of varying quality and usually add various songs, melodrama, and special effects.
In other religions[edit]
Jainism[edit]
Further information: Śalākāpuruṣa
The most exalted figures in Jainism are the twenty-four Tirthankaras. Krishna, when he was incorporated into the Jain list of heroic figures, presented a problem with his activities which are not pacifist. The concept of Baladeva, Vasudeva and Prati-Vasudeva was used to solve it.[neutrality is disputed] The Jain list of sixty-three Śalākāpuruṣa or notable figures includes, amongst others, the twenty-four Tirthankaras and nine sets of this triad. One of these triads is Krishna as the Vasudeva, Balarama as the Baladeva and Jarasandha as the Prati-Vasudeva. He was a cousin of the twenty-second Tirthankara, Neminatha. The stories of these triads can be found in the Harivamsa of Jinasena (not be confused with its namesake, the addendum to Mahābhārata) and the Trishashti-shalakapurusha-charita of Hemachandra.[129]
In each age of the Jain cyclic time is born a Vasudeva with an elder brother termed the Baladeva. The villain is the Prati-vasudeva. Baladeva is the upholder of the Jain principle of non-violence. However, Vasudeva has to forsake this principle to kill the Prati-Vasudeva and save the world.[130][131]
Buddhism[edit]
Depiction of Krishna playing flute in the temple constructed in AD 752 on the order of Emperor Shomu; Todai-ji Temple, Great Buddha Hall in Nara, Japan
The story of Krishna occurs in the Jataka tales in Buddhism,[132] in the Vaibhav Jataka as a prince and legendary conqueror and king of India.[133] In the Buddhist version, Krishna is called Vasudeva, Kanha and Keshava, and Balarama is his older brother, Baladeva. These details resemble that of the story given in the Bhagavata Purana. Vasudeva, along with his nine other brothers (each son a powerful wrestler) and one elder sister (Anjana) capture all of Jambudvipa (many consider this to be India) after beheading their evil uncle, King Kamsa, and later all other kings of Jambudvipa with his Sudarshana Chakra. Much of the story involving the defeat of Kamsa follows the story given in the Bhagavata Purana.[134]
As depicted in the Mahābhārata, all of the sons are eventually killed due to a curse of sage Kanhadipayana (Veda Vyasa, also known as Krishna Dwaipayana). Krishna himself is eventually speared by a hunter in the foot by mistake, leaving the sole survivor of their family being their sister, Anjanadevi of whom no further mention is made.[135]
Since Jataka tales are given from the perspective of Buddha's previous lives (as well as the previous lives of many of Buddha's followers), Krishna appears as the "Dhammasenapati" or "Chief General of the Dharma" and is usually shown being Buddha's "right-hand man" in Buddhist art and iconography.[136] The Bodhisattva, is born in this tale as one of his youngest brothers named Ghatapandita, and saves Krishna from the grief of losing his son.[133] The 'divine boy' Krishna as an embodiment of wisdom and endearing prankster forms a part of the pantheon of gods in Japanese Buddhism .[137]
Bahá'í Faith[edit]
Bahá'ís believe that Krishna was a "Manifestation of God", or one in a line of prophets who have revealed the Word of God progressively for a gradually maturing humanity. In this way, Krishna shares an exalted station with Abraham, Moses, Zoroaster, Buddha, Muhammad, Jesus, the Báb, and the founder of the Bahá'í Faith, Bahá'u'lláh.[138][139]
Ahmadiyya Islam[edit]
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Members of the Ahmadiyya Community believe Krishna to be a great prophet of God as described by their founder, Mirza Ghulam Ahmad. This belief is maintained by the Qur'anic principle that God has sent prophets and messengers to every nation of the world leaving no region without divine guidance (see for instance Quran 10:47 and Quran 16:36).[citation needed]
Ghulam Ahmad also claimed to be the likeness of Krishna as a latter day reviver of religion and morality whose mission was to reconcile man with God.[140] Ahmadis maintain that the Sanskrit term Avatar is synonymous with the term 'prophet' of the Middle Eastern religious tradition as God's intervention with man; as God appoints a man as his vicegerent upon earth. In Lecture Sialkot, Ghulam Ahmed wrote:
Let it be clear that Raja Krishna, according to what has been revealed to me, was such a truly great man that it is hard to find his like among the Rishis and Avatars of the Hindus. He was an Avatar—i.e., Prophet—of his time upon whom the Holy Spirit would descend from God. He was from God, victorious and prosperous. He cleansed the land of the Aryas from sin and was in fact the Prophet of his age whose teaching was later corrupted in numerous ways. He was full of love for God, a friend of virtue and an enemy of evil.[140]
Krishna is also called Murli Dhar. The flute of Krishna means the flute of revelation and not the physical flute. According to Ahmadis, Krishna lived like humans and was a prophet.[141][142]
Other[edit]
Krishna worship or reverence has been adopted by several new religious movements since the 19th century and he is sometimes a member of an eclectic pantheon in occult texts, along with Greek, Buddhist, biblical and even historical figures.[143] For instance, Édouard Schuré, an influential figure in perennial philosophy and occult movements, considered Krishna a Great Initiate; while Theosophists regard Krishna as an incarnation of Maitreya (one of the Masters of the Ancient Wisdom), the most important spiritual teacher for humanity along with Buddha.[144][145]
Krishna was canonized by Aleister Crowley and is recognized as a saint in the Gnostic Mass of Ordo Templi Orientis.[146][14
Kyrgyz aretfacts relating to the Yurt which was based at the Earth Centre, Conisbrough, Doncaster Museum of Sustainability 1999-2004
Yurts
For over a thousand years tents like the yurt and ger have been homes for the nomads of Central Asia.
The yurt was used as a classroom yurt and housed a fascinating exhibition on the sustainable and nomadic lifestyle of the Kyrgyz people.
The felt yurt was made for Earth Centre by a Yurt Master in Kyrgyzstan. The roof is steeply sloped to protect against the rain and snow in the high mountain regions where the nomads lived. The felt covers are laid on a trellis frame usually made of willow. The yurt is light and easy to put up, to pull down and to carry from place to place. It would have taken two camels to transport a yurt this size. Inside, the damp wool smell of the felt is quite distinctive.
The Kyrgyz nomads depended on their animals; sheep, especially, provided their main diet of milk and meat, the hides and wool for their clothing and felt, bones to make into utensils and toys and dung for fuel. Nothing was wasted in the nomadic lifestyle.
1 Finsbury Circus - Figure of Britannia. This relates to the fact that this building used to be BP's headquarters from the 1920s to the 1960s and from the late 80s to the 90s.
Vitality relates to our sensation of power or aliveness. It correlates highly with satisfaction with life, happiness, and health. It indicates optimum human functioning. Discover the factors that help in higher degrees and how to boost your vitality. Have you ever before considered what vitality implies to you? Lots of people are familiar with the concept of "vitality", but extremely few recognize exactly how it is. This short article reveals you a method of examining your vitality and invites you to make a commitment to obtain your personal ideal.Visit our site www.z-factor.com/ for more information on Vitality
Dundalk overwhelm Bangor in All Ireland Final
by Roger Corbett
Bangor’s amazing run in the All Ireland Junior Cup came to an abrupt end when they were comprehensively beaten by Dundalk, eventually losing by 55-5.
Where do you start when trying to relate and absorb the events of Saturday’s final at Chambers Park? Firstly, congratulations to worthy winners Dundalk who nullified the Bangor attack, then went on to produce some stunning plays which racked up no less than 8 tries, each by a different player. For Bangor’s part, they were unable to respond to the intensity of Dundalk’s game, and lacked the cutting edge which their opponents used to great effect.
The day started full of promise, as the strong support from North Down made their way to Chambers Park in Portadown, knowing Bangor would be fielding their best team. Once again, the pundits had Bangor as the underdogs – just as they had done so in the previous three rounds! In confounding the experts earlier, Bangor produced some awesome performances against top quality opposition to get to the final. Dundalk had produced some convincing wins in the early rounds of the competition, but had struggled to get past CIYMS in the semi-final, just managing to squeeze ahead at the second time of asking. However, with a number of key players returning to the side in time for this game, they were now back at full strength and would be a formidable force to contend with.
Having won the toss, captain Jamie Clegg elected to play into the stiff wind in the first half. For the first 5 minutes, Bangor doggedly retained possession and tried to play their way into Dundalk’s half through a series of determined forward moves. However, little ground was made and, when possession was finally lost, the Dundalk back line produced a burst that simply cut through the Bangor defence resulting in an easy touch down under Bangor’s posts for a 7-0 lead.
Bangor stuck to their plan and slowly, but patiently, got their attack moving forward, eventually winning a penalty to the left of Dundalk’s posts, but Mark Widdowson’s kick into the wind drifted just wide of the mark.
The contrast in play between the two teams was becoming clear, with Bangor trying to keep the ball close while Dundalk were throwing it wide. The latter strategy was proving to be the more effective as, with 20 minutes gone, a quick back line move with players looping around resulted in an overlap on the right wing which gave a clear run in to again, score under the posts. A further 9 minutes later, they did it again and, although the Bangor defence had sensed the danger and moved across to cover it, their tackling let them down allowing Dundalk to get over in the right hand corner, taking their lead to 19-0.
By now, Bangor were trying to hang on until half time when they could regroup and come out with the wind at their backs. Dundalk, on the other hand were anxious to press home their advantage and give them a more comfortable lead. To Bangor’s credit, although camped on their own line for lengthy spells, they dug in and managed to hold on until the referee’s half time whistle.
As the teams reappeared from the dressing rooms, it was obvious Bangor were ringing the changes, particularly in the backs. With the wind advantage having lessened considerably, Bangor got the second half underway. It was now Dundalk’s turn to adopt the slow, steady approach, just as Bangor had done earlier. However, their more confident off-loading and support play was, once again, taking play deep into Bangor’s territory. Frustration at not being able to gain possession and take play out of their danger area eventually resulted in a yellow card for Clegg after a succession of penalties. Dundalk kicked the penalty to touch, won their lineout and drove for the line. Although initially held up by the Bangor defence, Dundalk’s repeated drives were eventually rewarded with another converted score, extending their lead to 26-0.
From the touchline, the Bangor faithful had felt that if their players had managed to score first in the second half, they may have been able to mount a fight-back and close the gap to their opponents. As it was, this Dundalk score simply bolstered their confidence and pushed Bangor deeper into trouble. With Bangor still a man down, Dundalk added to the score with a penalty and then another score in the corner. Everything was now working for the Leinster men, as even the difficult touchline conversion into the biting wind successfully split the posts, bringing the score to 36-0.
As the game entered the final quarter, and with Dundalk all but holding the cup, Bangor were now on the ropes. By contrast, the Dundalk players were in almost total control, and were not going to slow down now. In a 10 minute spell, they ran in a further 3 tries, making the scoreline 55-0. By now, any sense of dejection the Bangor supporters may have been feeling was now moved to feelings of sympathy for their players. However, pride was at stake and once again Bangor rallied as the game entered its final minutes. At last, the forwards got within striking distance of the Dundalk line and, although their repeated attacks were repelled, they finally managed to do what their opponents had done so effectively, and quickly passed the ball wide to Davy Charles. Even though they were 55 points ahead, the Dundalk defence made Charles work hard to drive through the tackles and score Bangor’s consolation try, bringing the final score to 55-5.
From Bangor’s point of view, the final score doesn’t tell the whole story of this competition. While the final may have resulted in a sad anti-climax for Bangor, the remarkable journey to get there will be remembered for some time. On the day, Dundalk were by far the better side, and Bangor would have to concede that their game was not up to the usual standard. However, there is no doubt the experience of competing at this level is something to relish and the goal now will be to secure a top four place in the league and try again next year.
Everybody at the club has nothing but the highest respect and praise for what has been achieved this year by not just the 1sts, but all the senior teams, and one poor result isn’t going to change that – the welcome at Upritchard Park for the returning players is testament to that. With that in mind, the players now need to put this disappointment behind them and provide the best possible response against a struggling Portadown side at home in the league next Saturday.
Bangor side: J Leary, A Jackson, P Whyte, F Black, G Irvine, R Latimer, J Clegg, C Stewart, R Armstrong, K Rosson, D Charles, M Aspley, M Weir, M Widdowson, C Morgan
Subs: S Irvine, O McIlmurray, D Kelly, M Rodgers, C Harper, D Fusco, M Thompson
Bangor scores: D Charles (1T)
Dundalk Storm To Title Dundalk 55 v Bangor 5 from KnockOn.ie
Dundalk Scorers: Christopher Scully, Owen McNally, Jonathan Williams, John Smyth, Ultan Murphy, Tiernan Gonnelly, James McConnon and Stephen Murphy 1 try each. Ultan Murphy 6 cons, 1 pen.
Bangor Scorers: David Charles 1 try.
In front of a big crowd at Chambers Park on Saturday afternoon Dundalk delivered a stunning and ruthless display to see off the challenge of Bangor and capture the All Ireland Junior Cup title for the very first time.
Three first half tries had them firmly in control at 19-0 ahead having played with the elements at the Portadown venue during the first half and while the wind dropped somewhat after half time the Dundalk intensity most certainly didn’t as they cut loose scoring five more tries.
Dundalk returned to a heroes welcome at their Mill Road clubhouse on Saturday night after a display of pure brilliance throughout the afternoon.
Precision, pace and skill from the Louth men from start to finish left Bangor playing second fiddle for long periods.
Iceland has signed the Cape Town Agreement of 2012 on the Implementation of the Provisions of the 1993 Protocol relating to the Torremolinos International Convention for the Safety of Fishing Vessels, 1977. Mrs. Ragnhildur Hjaltadottir, Permanant Secretary of the Ministry of Interior, Iceland, signed the Agreement, on behalf of Iceland, at IMO Headquarters, on Tuesday, 26 November, during the 28th session of the IMO Assembly.
Mrs. Hjaltadottir (left) is joined here by Dr. Rosalie P. Balkin, Assistant Secretary-General Director, Legal Affairs and External Relations Division, IMO.
As Iceland is already a Contracting State to the 1993 Protocol, the signature of Iceland expresses that country’s consent to be bound by the Cape Town Agreement (under a simplified procedure set out in Article 3(4) of the Agreement).
Understanding how materials behave, degrade and relate to each other is a fundamental part of the research that takes place at TWI, and factors into much of the work we conduct for our Members.
Whether it’s identifying what caused a component to fail, developing hydrophobic coatings for anti-graffiti applications, or identifying the optimum material for a niche application, our materials scientists have the depth of knowledge to develop solutions to all manner of materials-related problems, without compromising on safety or quality.
TWI Members benefit from our unrivalled breadth of understanding and versatility of capability: with laboratories able to examine the microscopic, and specialised testing rigs able to investigate the massive, we can take on projects of any size.
For more information please visit www.twi-global.com/capabilities/materials-and-corrosion-m...
If you wish to use this image each use should be accompanied by the credit line and notice, "Courtesy of TWI Ltd".
A myth relating to the bridge is that the lions were sculpted without tongues and the sculptor was teased so much that he jumped into the Danube in shame. (In fact the lions do have tongues, although barely visible.)
Relates to the UNDP-supported GCF-funded Tuvalu Coastal Adaptation Project www.adaptation-undp.org/projects/tuvalu-coastal-adaptatio...
A second photo album relating to the Valdes Scott Family. The first album can be viewed here www.flickr.com/photos/runninginsuffolk/albums/72157665423... This album also turned up at a car boot sale but a year later than the other in 2017. Seems to date from 1951 and the birth of Roselle in Chile.
EXPLORELATE
‘Explorelate’ is a concept which has been developed for enriching visitor’s spatial experience of the museum and the city, that links the narratives of artefacts, museums and the city in a way that an individual could relate to them on a personal level and encourages him/her to explore more places, which makes the journey more informative and memorable.
The mobile application integrate the user’s history of previous browsing and the physical geo- location that sense and correlate immediate environment’s information and provide with personalised information to the user. Further, the information which was collected during the journey gets stored and responds later to the events and the activities transpiring around user’s physical geo-location and which might act as an active agent in their everyday life.
My study suggests that there is a missing connection between artefacts, museums and the city and their respective narratives are confined within its physical space, encircled by each other’s space. ‘Explorelate’ aims to break those barriers, which links all the narratives within a single space that is easily available to an individual at any point of time and location. In this way the museum is extended beyond its walls and strives for uniting narratives with an informative lens.
This project has helped me in exploring and defining the fourth dimension of an interpretive space. According to my studies the fourth dimension of an interpretive space is information and narratives that are confined within a space, where other three dimensions are being artefacts, museum and the city and digital media and ubiquitous computing acts as a tool, which converges the four dimensions towards an individual and makes the whole experience concrete and informative.
Email: mishagupta89@gmail.com
Website: mishagupta89.wix.com/mishagupta
“Urban art is a style of art that relates to cities and city life. In that way urban art combines street art and graffiti and is often used to summarize all visual art forms arising in urban areas, being inspired by urban architecture or thematizing urban live style.
The notion of 'Urban Art' developed from street art that is primarily concerned with graffiti culture. Urban art represents a broader cross section of artists that as well as covering traditional street artists also covers artists using more traditional media but with a subject matter that deals with contemporary urban culture and political issues.”http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urban_art
“Wild Flowers are not weeds"
Street Art is the modern, urban wildflowers
What's the difference between Graffiti Tagging and Street Art?
1. Street Art is constructive, Graffiti Tagging is destructive.
2. Street Art adorns the urban landscape, Graffiti Tagging scars it and accelerates urban decay.
3. Street Art stretches your mind, Graffiti Tagging is a slap in your face.
4. Street Art is about the audience, Graffiti Tagging is about the tagger.
5. Street Art says "Have you thought about this?", Graffiti Tagging says "I tag, therefore I exist".
6. Street Art was done with a smile, Graffiti Tagging was done with a scowl.
7. Street Art takes skill, Graffiti Tagging takes balls.
8. We mourn losing Street Art and celebrate losing Graffiti Tagging.
Good Street Art is great, good Graffiti Tagging is gone!
”http://www.graffitiactionhero.org/graffiti-tag-vs-street-art.html
Additional interesting sites
www.osnatfineart.com/urban-art.jsp
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Street_art
6559xyz
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Vitality relates to our sensation of power or aliveness. It correlates highly with satisfaction with life, happiness, and health. It indicates optimum human functioning. Discover the factors that help in higher degrees and how to boost your vitality. Have you ever before considered what vitality implies to you? Lots of people are familiar with the concept of "vitality", but extremely few recognize exactly how it is. This short article reveals you a method of examining your vitality and invites you to make a commitment to obtain your personal ideal.Visit our site www.z-factor.com/ for more information on Vitality