Puzzles - 2

While the brahmin gotras were originally classified according to EIGHT rishis
(now of course many more - on which see Puzzle 1),
the pravaras were classified under the names of SEVEN rishis.

Why eight versus seven?

I can't find any information on this matter at all.

Can anyone throw any light on this?

Puzzles - 1

I have been puzzling recently:

the brahmin gotras were classified initially according to eight rishis.

Now of course there are many more gotras.

When and why were the others added?

Can anyone throw any light on this?

Happy Holi - and some thoughts on Bhang and Soma

A happy Holi to all my readers!

I was brought up on the approach, common in my childhood, though sadly uncommon in India today, that "any excuse is good enough for a celebration!".

That happy attitude is nowadays roundly chastised by my Dalitbahujan friends, who berate me for celebrating a festival that commemorates the burning of Holika who they associate with the original peoples and religions of India, and they think of her burning as the symbolic burining of the original peoples and reltions of India, which were then replaced by Brahmminic religion.

I am not sure I know what to make of that, which is why I take refuge in the adage about celebrating on every possible occasion!

But, clearly, there is no reference to this festival in the Vedas, nor indeed is there any reference in the Vedas to the Shri Krishna with whom the festival is mainly identified today.

Apparently, the earliest written reference to the celebration of Holi is found only in the 7th century AD, in the Ratnavali.

Moreover, as the centre of the Holi celebrations are Mathura and Varanasi, it is possible that this is where the celebration originated, as a movement which then spread through most of north India. In south India, the festival was hardly known in my childhood, though it is nowadays celebrated in some places. I should say that there is a Shaivite explanation for the celebration, but it doesn't really hold water, so I surmise that some Shaivites have recently accepted the celebration of Holi but, instead of sticking with the Vaishnavite explanation, have invented one of their own - I hope they will not be offended by my saying so but will produce any evidence to the contrary that may be available - in which case I will immediately apologise, and modify my position.

The above is only an introduction to what I want to discuss today about Holi, which is that while external attention focuses on Holi as a festival of colours, Holi is associated widely with the consumption of liquor and bhang (could we describe them as "internal colours"?). Bhang is consumed in every which way, even in the most respectable homes. I know of liquors made of or with bhang, desserts and sweets made with bhang, and of course bhang is smoked....

The question is whether bhang is the same as the Vedic soma.

No one really knows because knowledge of what exactly soma was, even though as many as 114 hymns praise soma's energising qualities in the Rigveda's Soma Mandala. In fact in Rigveda 9.4, soma is called "the God for Gods", thus lifting it to a level above that of Indra and all the other Vedic gods!!!

Along with much else in the Vedas and in Vedic times, knowledge of what soma was lost as Vedic religion was replaced by Jaina, Buddhist, and Hindu gods, sects, traditions and practices which were invented and are popular today.

However, as far as I can make out, soma was a plant that was reasonably easily obtainable in Persia and in north-western India, but not so easily available east of the Indus Valley. So the use of soma gave way slowly to other substitutes, including bhang (which is what is most popular today). In fact, there is a prayer apologising to the gods for the use of a substitute substance rather than soma. And there is an extensive list of plants that can be used as substitutes: the list ends by saying that any plant is acceptable for ritual purposes, provided it is yellow in colour.

I doubt that our ancestors rolled about all the time under the inebriating influence of soma, as is the case today under the influence of bhang in Varanasi (for instance): in the Vedas, the use of soma appears to have been confined to specific religious rituals at certain times. There was no class of sannyasis who did nothing but live in a brown or green stupor.

So what of bhang at Holi time nowadays? I have never had bhang in any form, so have no idea of its effects. As I don't tolerate alcohol very well, it may be that my system won't appreciate bhang either. However, it could also be the other way around - on the analogy of different types of tea, some of which one may like and some of which one may not. And there are some advantages to bhang, it is claimed (improves the appetite and digestion, relieves stress, and so on). The main disadvantage appears to be that one can easily consume too much and get "too high". Though bhang is supposed to be non-addictive, it can be dependency-creating (witness the people on the banks of our holy rivers who seem to be permanently under the influence). So, as with many other things, bhang may not be healthy in itself, but it could be that there is no harm in having a little of it once in a lifetime or even once in a year or two.

That still leaves the question of soma, what it was, and what exactly were its effects, apart from being "energising"? We still don't know....

Lawyers go on the rampage in Bangalore, making a global laughing stock of India

Even in relatively calm South India, lawyers have now disgraced themselves by going on a rampage.

Yesterday, Friday, the 2nd of March, there was apparently a free-for-all in the Bangalore courts. Lawyers physically attacked reporters and police officers, stoned TV vans, and so on.

In response, all the major Kannada news channels — TV9, Suvarna News, Udaya News, Janashri, Samaya, Public TV, and News 24 — blacked out their screens for two minutes at 8 pm, and broadcast the same message: “We strongly protest the violence unleashed on journalists by lawyers.” Why ever did they not include a protest regarding violence against the police?

Anyway, I hope the news channels will do more than merely protest for two minutes. I hope they will insist that the guilty be charged and duly punished.

In the larger national context> of course it is terrible that reporters were injured and TV vans smashed, however what's really important is that, as this happened in the courts in Bangalore, which is the IT capital of the world, India's legal system has suffered incalculable reputational damage - and even more so has the reputation of our country.

Apparently, even our lawyers don't want to uphold the dignity and sanctity of the law.

So the question is: what action(s) is our national legal profession and legal system going to take to restore the dignity of the law in the country?

I suggest, as a minimum:

A. The judicial enquiry which has been promised have as its terms of reference the speedy *let us say within one week) gathering of all available evidence regarding who the perpetrators were. A week is not a long time, but we don't need exhaustive evidence, we just need sufficient evidence.

B. All perpetrators be brought to trial in a specially-constituted court say 3 weeks from now.

C. The guilty lawyers be held collectively responsible for the financial damage, and for the compensation that should be paid to all journalists and police officials who were injured.

D. All guilty lawyers should be immediately suspended from undertaking any sort of legal or law-related work for a period of one year, after which they should be allowed to return to practice with a strict warning that any repetition of such behaviour will result in their law degrees and legal accreditation being stripped from them,and their being banned permanently from ever practicing law again.

But I can hear someone arguing that lawyers have a justified complaint about one-sided coverage by the media.

If so, then lawyers, more than anyone else, should know how to use the law to address that problem - and, if they feel that the law is inadequate, then they should propose and work for better laws and better implementation, not tarnish and pull down the legal system in our country.

If the legal system breaks down, then everything will break down.

As a country, we have very few competititve advantages in a global context, and our legal system is one of them. Impugn or destroy that, and you attack our ability to attract international capital for investment in the country.

So if you attack our legal system, you attack our nation.

Is the Indian government right in taking action against people who participate in the anti/nuke agitation?

In the Indian Express poll (available down the page at http://www.indianexpress.com), the vote stands, at the moment when I am writing this blog, at:
- 5% "Can't say",
- 6% Yes, and
- 88% No.

You might want to go and register your own view there too - it takes only a second.

UP elections: "A valiant struggle in the face of overwhelming odds" - the ARVP President reports from the front lines

The recent famed Grammy-winning song by the name ‘Rolling in the Deep’ signifies a song theme based on the heart. And so it has been in the Uttar Pradesh legislative assembly elections of 2012 for the Adarsh Rashtriya Vikas Party (ARVP) effort – a valiant struggle of the heart to keep going in the face of overwhelming odds – with a goal towards transformation of the destiny of India’s mostpopulous State. The Uttar Pradesh elections, presently underway is slated overseven phases on 8, 11, 15, 19, 23, 28 February and 3 March with the results tobe announced on 6 March.

Mohan Philip, ARVP President, dives into the deep end of the pool in an epic David vs. Goliath match-up to report from the scene of the battlefield…



"I kicked off mytravels on the 7th, 8th and 9th of January with travels to Agra, Etah, Kanshiram Nagar, Hathras and Mathura. And from 17th January to 15th February I travelled to 100 different constituencies spread over 30 districts. The intention was to get our leadersto focus on strengthening their circle teams and putting in as many volunteers connected to the circle teams as were on the field. We had developed a well-established strategy involving circle team leaders assigned to 20-30 villages with each assuming charge of these villages along with their team. This team was then to visit every house and share the vision as frequently as possible. There are more details associated with this strategy but suffice to say that if they worked alongside this method, then they would not need much money for the campaigning.

My first impressionas I traveled across U.P. to meet all the candidates in their constituencies was an overwhelming need to help them overcome their lack of confidence. They have been so exposed to campaigning of the type that uses an armada of vehicles with hundreds of paid workers crisscrossing each Vidhan Sabha constituency in a last-minute frenzy and bid to outdo each other in meeting the voter. Most parties do not have any long-term vision but focus on local issues and presentday problems or hot topics. Their main focus is corruption, law and order issues, high prices, Mayawati’s statues and farmers’ lands being taken up for development. Parties offer no solutions. It is in this scenario that ARVP propagates a vision that moves away from politics based on the caste and religion divide, away from excessive use of money; towards politics based on integrity and a servant-heart. This calls for painstakingly explaining the vision, focused on 5 crucial areas:

1) To have the justice system transparent, efficient and accountable

2) To have the administration and police enforcing law and order and delivering equitable administration

3) Focus on education as a fundamental requirement for the future generation

4) Providing health cover to ensure a productive and efficient work force

5) To strengthen agriculture and its associate infrastructure as it forms the mainstay of the present economy of U.P.

All of this can only beachieved if we elect persons of integrity and capability whose whole intent ofbeing in politics is to serve the people.

It was difficult to keep the existing strategy going even though we have trained our leaders for the last 3 years. In the end, most of them started to get overwhelmed by the lack of resources and were simply not ready to take their places in this battle. Out of the 130 people that were given tickets, around 40-odd candidates did not press their nomination as they felt that without money they couldn’t fight elections. The balance had to be constantly motivated through phone calls and personal meetings to keep them encouraged and to trust the hard work they had put in. My own impression from being on the field was to partly feel their sense of being overwhelmed as I saw the display of power, money and high visibility of the other parties. It is very easy to get discouraged in facing such odds. As I traversed districts and talked to the candidates, I had to motivate myself into not getting overawed, but to trust our hard work over the last 3 years. As I got back after almost 45 days on the trot, I confess the impossibility of winning even a single seat unless God’s miraculous hand prevails.

Throughout my travels and speaking in so many meetings, people would get so enthused about ARVP and were constantly telling me that this was just the party they were looking for. In a number of places I was encouraged by comments of so many who agreed with the vision and principles of the party. However, in the end I was accosted with a disappointing punch line – “this vision will take some time to penetrate the minds of the people of U.P. They have been so let down, deceived by many political entities and will take some time to believe in this and trust once again.”

Here are however some encouraging stories to warm the heart:

DEVIKA DEVIfrom Beldhara Road, Bhalia, is a small-made waif of a woman. She is a first time entrant into politics and has been a consistent regular at our training programmes in Lucknow. Since her husband stays in Delhi, she had to undertake the start of her political career alone. Bereft of resources, sh ewalked to as many villages as she could, trying to implement the strategy of ARVP. Having no experience in organisational aspects or management skills, she was always weighed down by lack of confidence and diffidence. Until the last moment, she was not sure whether she would actually fight the elections. With constant encouragement and assistance from the central team, she filed he rnomination. The first day of her meeting with the RO (returning officer – the Election Commission representative) coincided with all the candidates for that particular constituency being called in for a consultation. As the electronicmachine has only 16 buttons and there were 17 candidates, the RO made a last-minute request for any one candidate to step down. All the contestants looked at Devika Devi and told the RO that she should be the person to step down, as she was not a ‘serious’ candidate having no experience and no money, and fighting for a new party. Devika Devi was taken aback and felt ‘small’ and belittled, yet surprisingly the RO rose to her defence and stated that after coming to this place, he had heard about Devika and her painstaking walk over the past 2 years to every village in her constituency. He highlighted this as the kind of dedication and heart necessary and much needed in political parties, and tha tshe stood as an example of all that is correct in politics. He rounded up his talk by saying that he would under no circumstance ask Devika to step down. He then allowed Devika to speak out. Devika spoke about the work and the party she represented and the values that it stood for. When I met her a few days later, and after narrating this incident she said that this meeting gave her all the confidence, and she felt assured of herself in this role. She also added that she knows she might lose these elections, but is determined to continue in this role as she feels that this is her calling.

RAM NARESH TRIPATH is from Gorakhpur Urban, an old man of close to 80 years of age. He has been coming for the training programme for the past one year. In all my encounters with him, I was doubtful of his capacity and capability. He was loud and seemed to have difficulty in understanding the strategy, leave alone the capacity to execute it. During my recent visit to his Vidhan Sabha constituency, I was surprised to hear story after story from people who narrated instances where Ram Naresh had helped them and fought for them, and in many instances looked after them. He told me he had no resources to fight these elections, but was determined to use whatever we had taught him over the last one year to the best of his ability. Even at this age, he is energetic and testified that the only reason that he wants to do this is because the vision of ARVP so matches with what he aspired for in political parties.

ABHAY KUMAR SRIVASTAV is a young lawyer from Khalilabad Santh Kabirnagar. He has been coming for the training program for only the past 4 months. He had no desire to be in politics, but was prompted by one of his friends who had heard about ARVP and had come to Lucknow for a training programme. He told me he had committed to come for one meeting because he did not want to upset his friend and had planned to leave the meeting in half an hour. He told me he is a person who cannot sit still for 10 minutes and was dreading the possibility of staying for a full day. When he came for the training, what he heard and the methods and atmosphere of the meeting was so different that he didn’t move from his seat the whole day. He was thoroughly impacted and spoke to his parents. His parents were taken aback as he had earlier professed no inclination. After he explained the vision, they gave him their blessings. At the meeting in his town, I met about 60-70 professionals who had been working with him over the past 2-3 months for the elections. They had all joined him after he explained the vision. After I spoke to these young men in the evening, most of them stayed back asking questions and soaking in the need for such a movement. Many of them told me this is the kind of political party they had been waiting for and this would be unstoppable if we work for the next 5 years. They believe the youth of U.P. will be the first ones to join this movement.

RATHNEESH MISHRA from Menhdawal Santh Kabirnagar is a young man who has been coming for the training program for the past 2 years. His father has a political background and hence Rathneesh’s interest here. In my recent meeting with him he started crying. He said, for two 2 years we had been teaching him on fighting elections without money, through hard work, genuine commitment and an attitude of service, not lording it over people. He said he did not initially believe that such a strategy would work – however in the past few months he has been frantically trying to execute the strategy. As he travelled from village to village, he found that people were so eager to hear about this Party. The amount of interest and felt need that people were looking for a choice other than existing parties, made him realise his lost opportunity. He felt that if he had started earlier, he would have been in a strong position. He felt he hadn't trusted the strategy and had wasted an opportunity. He says he has learnt a hard lesson. He has now committed himself to the strategy and to working hard for the next elections.

VIMLA DEVI from Tirwa, Kanuaj – is a first time politician. She has been coming for the ARVP training for the past 2 years accompanied by her son Hari Om, a passionate young man. From the time they joined, they have caught the vision and have implemented this straight off. They did not have any resources or political base, but resorted to hard work, walking to villages, cycling and sharing the vision to as many people who would listen. Over the months, as people have been attracted to the vision, they found volunteers joining them. Against all odds, Vimala Devi is now one of the frontrunners in this constituency. She has become a threat and hence been exposed to all sorts of intimidating tactics. When everything else failed, they offered her large sums of money to withdraw. This poor woman who finds it difficult to put together money for day to day requirements, refused their enticements. She told them this party stands for integrity and that she will stay firm with her commitment. Word of her defiance has galvanized her workers and the stage is set for an interesting battle.

RAJA RAM SRIVAS from Naraini, Banda is a man of modest means. He started his life as a cycle and motorcycle tyre repairman. Over the years he has graduated to having a small shop and running his business. Because of his temperament and taking a stand for the poor and oppressed, he has gained political space for himself. On a number of occasions, he was pushed to stand for various political positions. He told me that most of the time he was reluctant and he would continue with his work while all the other people would volunteer their time to campaign for him. He said that he won these positions by not stepping out of his home – just with the goodwill of people. When he first heard the ARVP vision, there was an immediate affinity to the vision. He believes that this is where he belongs. Politics was for him a means to serve people and nothing else. The vision of ARVP thus matches his aspirations.

These encouraging testimonies highlight the resolve of a growing mass of people that so desire this kind of movement based on integrity, justice and working for the poor without consideration to caste, religion or social standing. A start has been made, a movement for change has emerged, the impact is being felt and lives have been touched, with whole localities transformed. It is what a vision does. This first test will separate the men from the boys, while offering encouragement to many more that one can succeed on the back of hard work, belief and a big big heart. Thank you for Rolling in the Deep with us, we appreciate you.

-- MohanPhilip

Why do we so often give shawls, sarees, etc as presents?

Anyone know why we Indians so often give shawls, sarees etc as presents, specially to honour people?

Apparently, there was also an old Middle Eastern custom of providing special clothes to each wedding guest!

Any other cultures where it is customary to give clothes as presents?