Who is fueling the corporate greed which is abusing the environment?

In every nation, the gas prices are going up, particularly after the Ukraine-Russia conflict. Middle class and lower income people are finding the going rough when they visit a grocery store or a gas station. While they are struggling, some companies are making merry with record-breaking profits. Most of these companies are dealing in fossil fuel. For example, Exxon Mobil has reported a 220% increase in their profits this year. The price of gas is breaking records at $6.50 per gallon but big giants such as Exxon are pleading that they need much more to expand the oil and gas projects so that they can then think about reducing the prices. There is a simple question that arises – where are they getting their money for expansion apart from these rising gas prices. The simple answer is – through big banks. The big projects for financing fossil are fulfilled through banks such as J.P. Morgan Chase. It is no hidden secret that Chase is currently one of the top financiers of Exxon. It is time for such corporate to close their contribution towards greed and climate chaos by stopping their fossil fuel expansion projects without any further delay. Let us understand that if our auto companies were not so dependent on fossil fuels, the expense nor the gas prices would not be staring us in our faces. It is a vicious cycle and a malevolent chain for big gas companies to rake in huge profits at the expense of middle and lower middle class people. Instead of finding ways to reduce gas prices, big gas companies and their executives and shareholders are profiting personally, day by day; at the same time, the chances of working towards a habitable climate and good energy practices are fading with each passing day. These corporate giants are claiming falsely that they need more funding to expand their oil and gas projects and the banks are their partners in this evil ploy. The ever-increasing greed of such companies is going unchecked and the ordinary citizens of the world are the ones who are paying the price. What is the solution? Companies like Shell, BP and Exxon have to put their heads together, put a hold on their malicious greed and work for an equitable and a just energy transition. This is possible if they take bold decisions of not going for fossil fuel project expansion and their sponsor banks have to put a stop to their financing. For example, J.P. Morgan Chase has given Exxon in excess of fifteen billion dollars in the past seven years. It is clear that some of the big banks are serving as right hands to materialise oil and gas’ destruction of this earth’s climate. This kind of toxic relationship has to cease at some time and companies such as these have to put a stop to financing expansion of fossil fuel projects and start working with their customers towards a livable future. It has become very clear that big banks are becoming one of the worst gas and oil expanders in the world and they have become directly responsible for large scale oil disasters. This kind of collaboration has been happening on climate chaos for several decades now. As fuel prices are continuing to go up under the canopy of words like inflation, big oil companies are languishing in cash and luxury and asking big banks for more gas and oil projects. The end result would be that the rising global temperature would not be kept under one-and-a-half degrees of rise and the consequences would be disastrous for us and the future generations. This planet would not be habitable with each passing year. The planet would be drained of all its resources until there is nothing left to be accessed. So, let it sink that big banks have become the umbrellas that are sheltering and controlling the financing pipelines, leading to chaos in the climate scene.

Conservation Steps for Sumatran Tigers

The island of Sumatra is home to the critically endangered Sumatran tiger, which is a sub-species of tiger that is not found anywhere in the world. There are estimated to be fewer than four-hundred Sumatran tigers left in the wild today. The existence of the Sumatran tiger is under threat from increasing deforestation and forest degradation. It is a big impact of environmental and socio-economic challenges being faced in Indonesia. The tigers in Sumatra are losing their natural habitat at a rapidly alarming rate. Poaching of the tigers and their prey as well as people killing or maiming tigers in retaliation to livestock loss are dangers for this species. What are the main threats to tigers in Sumatra? These magnificent and elusive big cats are listed as Critically Endangered on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species due to poaching, habitat loss and human-wildlife conflict. The conservation steps towards preservation of life of Sumatran tigers have mainly been initiated by Wild Cats Conservation Alliance. It is an alliance of Zoological Society of London and Dream World Wildlife Foundation since 1997. To date, they have mobilized over four million Sterling Pounds over one hundred and three different projects across five tiger range nations in Asia. They are working to protect the Sumatran tigers by supporting Fauna & Flora International and the Lingkar Inisiatif Indonesia. Much work has been done towards wildlife preservation in Kerinci Seblat National Park in Southern Sumatra Island. The projects include anti-poaching activities, conflict mitigation, education and outreach. With such activities, the tiger species are being helped along with the preservation of the whole ecosystem in Sumatra. What is the diet of Sumatran tigers? These tigers are keystone species and top predators in the food chain and their healthy populations will certainly reflect a healthy environment. They can easily handle an animal as large as a gaur; it being considered among the biggest species of wild cattle. They can also take down a tapir or a baby elephant and hunt even smaller prey such as birds, monkeys and fish; deer and wild boars are perhaps making up the bulk of their diet. These tigers weigh close to one hundred and forty kilograms. Why are Sumatran tigers endangered? As apex predators, Sumatran tigers have only humans as their natural enemies. One of the main threats to Sumatran tigers is through poachers. Hunters use snare traps or shoot these tigers for their skin and bones. These products are in high demand overseas as status symbols and for use in Asian traditional medicine. A reduction in prey due to poaching of deer and other species, as well as habitat loss due to the expansion of oil palm and coffee plantations along with smallholder encroachment threaten these big cats. How many Sumatran tigers are left in the wild? Sumatran tigers are naturally wary of humans and they are not so easy to see because they are mostly cryptically camouflaged. It is almost impossible to keep a clear count of them. Tiger tracks and few other signs that are provided with cleverly placed camera traps are perhaps the only way to determine their presence. These tigers are chiefly confined to dense and deep forests. The Indonesian government has estimated that just about four hundred or lesser Sumatran tigers now remain in the wild.

Fossil Fuel Financing and how well it is backed up by the rich and the greedy

Most of the corporate companies in this world have shown time and again that they only mouth their concerns for the planet’s environment but their sight is on profits and profits alone; at any expense or cost. A few months ago, J.P. Morgan Chase faced a shareholder resolution that was historic and it was to end their financing for the expansion of fossil fuels. What happened? Their management opposed it vigorously. In the Paris agreement on Climate Control, signs were shown that we have a potential to limit climate change to 1.5°C objective. Drastic changes have to take shape, starting right now. It can start with reduction and eventual end to the expansion of fossil fuels. Once again, the pointer is towards J.P. Morgan Chase as the largest funder of fossil fuels and for being one of the top financers of Exxon. Will they take any steps? Not likely. Anything to come about nature’s preservation takes a backseat to wicked greed for moolah. These are critical times as far as climate control is concerned. Each action of ours or lack of action may have life changing consequences for everyone on earth. Aren’t we already experiencing the damaging effect of climate change everywhere? We see forest fires and heat waves, crop failures and floods, tornadoes and drought. The value of damage is in billions of dollars every year with thousands of people dying, worldwide. While this is happening, bankers and insurance companies are busy aiding climate destruction by pouring billions of dollars in the finance of fossil fuels in the past several years. Isn’t it time to hold such companies accountable for their direct hand in climate destruction? Companies have to start looking on how to clean up their supply chains which are leaving a big trail of damage, ranging from the boreal forests of Canada to the rainforests of Amazon and Indonesia. It is time to tell such companies to cease their land theft, deforestation and abuse of environment. Many big corporates still continue to source such commodities that are a risk to forests such as producers of palm oil and paper from most indifferent suppliers. Some of them have connections to land theft on an indigenous basis, disturbing habitat of orangutans and leading to a chain of violent activities in places like Indonesia. These people are putting the earth’s future at risk by destroying the rainforests that cannot be replaced. They are also destroying the climate and local and indigenous communities of people. It is time to drill some sense into this world and the wicked rich and the corporate to stop their deforestation activities and abuse of human rights.

Insurance Companies backing the destruction of this planet's environment

The insurance industry plays a major role in the creation of climate chaos and the rising disasters that are being experienced by the communities they are supposed to protect. That is why it is ironic when insurance companies recently gathered in San Francisco for a conference and they called it `Risk World’. They have actually been taking a lot of risk with the well-being of this world. Big insurers know that their role in the climate crisis has not gone unnoticed. It is about time that the world has held insurance companies responsible for the damage that they have been causing to the climate situation. Let them be reminded about the ashes of all those homes and cities that were destroyed by wildfires in California and Colorado. Some of these companies blow their trumpets saying that they care about communities and that they are being stewards of this planet. Their actions are actually going the other way. They would rather insure fossil fuels than protect the climatic chaos. They have to start learning how to avoid fossil fuels instead of abandoning communities. They say they are in the business of risk management; then, let them start by insuring this planet’s future. Some companies are in the business of gaining profit from the destruction of climate. It is about time that they take climate action to keep the temperatures from rising to below 1.5ºC and protect community health. Insurers have to stop risking this world in the name of profit and greed. As of now, eighteen insurers have ruled out their backing the Trans Mountain tar sands pipeline. The clock is ticking. We have roughly about a decade to end the fossil fuel expansion drives. So, plans for new oil pipelines like Trans Mountain are a reckless threat to humanity. The very idea of insurance companies covering this dangerous project is so absurd — the companies that are to cover damages in the case of disasters are actually supporting the world’s worst unfolding disaster — in real time. The Trans Mountain pipeline stretches seven hundred miles across Western Canada and the current plan would triple the pipeline’s oil capacity. Tar sands are one of the most destructive fossil fuels on the planet: they release thrice as much greenhouse gas pollution levels as conventional oil. It is critical that construction of the Trans Mountain Pipeline is halted in its tracks. A powerful coalition has to be built of communities that would challenge the business corporate power behind these pipelines. The Canadian government has taken a wise decision to stop using further funds from the public domain for this over budgeted pipeline project. Yet, there are corporate that would muster loan guarantee up to ten billion Canadian dollars. Despite the massive threat to clean drinking water and a healthy climate, construction of this destructive pipeline expansion project is still planned to move forward.

Banks are contributing to the deterioration of this planet’s climate

Big banks do not realise that they are contributing heavily to the crashing of the earth’s climate by financing the worst fossil fuel criminals. Life on earth is in peril. The biggest solution to preserve life on this planet is by curbing or restricting fossil fuels’ usage. Humanity could survive a very big threat this way. Yet, time is running out faster than we would like to think. We need to act fast and act with prudence. It is the big banks that are not helping by financing organisations that do not believe in keeping fossil fuels in the ground and stopping the spread of poison on this planet. The world’s leading bankers have to learn better money habits and avoid the funding of organisations that are hell bent on destroying the earth’s climate. Since the past seven years, bankers such as Bank of America have funded over two hundred billion dollars in financing of fossil fuels. Who is the main beneficiary? Exxon Mobil who cares two hoots about the survival of our climate and our ozone layers. Companies like these are doing their most in hurting our climate and our communities. Another example is the financing of Formosa Plastics’ twelve-billion dollar petrochemical complex which is sure to double the toxic emissions in one of the highest regions of cancer rates in the United States of America. Bank executives could re-strategise and decide on ditching fossil fuels and climate-destroying agents like Formosa Plastics and Exxon Mobil. Bank of America tries to educate its target audience by promoting its `better money habits’ on social media channels while, in reality, it is helping finance destructive industries. We have to be committed to the future of our climate and our ozone layers by ending expansion of fossil fuel usage and withdrawing support for the petrochemical complexes.

What would the earth do without the Mountains?

One of the greatest and most extraordinary features of our planet Earth is the mountain. It has always retained its majesty, regardless of the number of times man has climbed it. God spoke to man on a mountain. The highest range above land is in the Himalayas in the form of Mount Everest and the deepest under an ocean is found in the Pacific Mariana Trench. `Himalaya’ in Sanskrit means `the house of snow’. The Indian sub-continent collided with the mainland of Eurasia and forced the Himalayas up at the point of impact. This was a major continental drift. The sea-beds and the land masses of this world are on huge tectonic plates which are in constant motion over the surface of this oval globe. The Atlantic Ocean is also growing wider at the rate of about a cople of centimetres or three-quarters of an inch, every year. Mountains are formed by the crust of the Earth breaking up into large blocks. Some blocks get to move up while others sink downwards. The Jura Mountains between France and Switzerland were formed by a process of folding just like the crust of the Earth being compressed laterally as a pile of blankets will do when pushed from either side. Rain and wind, cold and heat have weathered these huge rocks and broken them up to smoothen up their contours so that their jagged rock would be rounded off as hills. The craggier and sharper shapes of mountains suggest that they are newer ones. Volcanic action is a process by which matter from within the Earth is forced up to the surface, by heat. Most geologists have classified a mountain as a landform that rises at least a thousand feet or more above its surrounding areas. A mountain range is a series or chain of mountains that are close together. Mountains are quite useful for the well-being of humans as they are a storehouse of water. Many rivers have their source in the glaciers in the mountains. Reservoirs are made and the water is harnessed for the use of people. Volcanoes have played a significant part in the formation of the seas as they have brought water to the surface from deep within the earth and aided in releasing oxygen. You can see this in all rocks and it makes up nearly half their weight. The formation of a volcano begins when the rock melts within the earth, as far down as hundred miles. The melted rock is called magma. It releases gas when it melts and the mix of this magma and gas slowly rises towards the surface. The magma finds a weaker spot in the surface and it bursts out. The main volcanic ranges in this world are concentrated between New Zealand and Indonesia in the Pacific Ocean to Japan and to Alaska. It is known as the `ring of fire’. Almost sixty-two per cent of the active volcanoes in this world are along the plate margins of the Pacific Ocean. Mountains are the water towers of the world. They provide almost sixty percent of all freshwater resources for our planet. At least, half of the world's population depends on the mountain ecosystem services to survive; not only for water but also for food and clean energy. Why do mountains matter in the scheme of things on earth? Major cities such as Rio de Janeiro, New York, Nairobi and Tokyo rely almost exclusively on freshwater from mountains. Mountains are beneficial to man in a variety of ways. For example, mountains retain water. Water from the mountains is also used for cultivation and hydroelectric power generation. In the mountains, paragliding, hang gliding, river rafting and skiing are all popular activities. Mountains provide water for agriculture, food, hydroelectricity, shelter and fresh water. As temperatures decrease with altitude, mountains affect the distribution of snow and ice cover through ecosystems. For example, the slow release of water from snow melting from mountains can provide freshwater throughout the year as it flows into streams and recharges aquifers. Mountains attract around twenty percent of global tourism and they host nearly one-quarter of all terrestrial biodiversity. They are home to many of the foods that come to our tables, such as rice, potatoes, tomatoes and barley. Available records indicate that glaciers in mountain ranges around the world are retreating and disappearing due to climate change. At least six-hundred glaciers have disappeared completely over the past decades; affecting water supplies relied on by billions living downstream. For example, in Pakistan, water originating from the Hindu Kush Himalayas provides eighty percent of irrigation for the Indus Basin, where food is grown for one hundred and eighty million people. Climate change is triggering disasters through avalanches, mud and rock slides which tumble downstream, stripping bare forests, flooding communities and populations. Infectious diseases such as malaria will spread at higher altitudes in the tropics as a result of rising temperatures and climate change, affecting millions of people living in the mountains.

Big Corporate Companies are failing our Forests

A giant corporate such as Procter & Gamble is literally failing our forests. It is neither helping nor safeguarding the forests nor is it protecting human rights in the past few years. The decision makers in this company are doing nothing to stop the destruction of forests and human lives; all for their short-term profits. It is time they raised an alarm and woke their conscience to put their policies as well as their money where their sustainable brands claim to be. There is a solution for this wake-up call. The calendars can be jammed. It can be done by sending thousands of calendar invites for events that are not likely to happen; this is a way of making companies such as Procter & Gamble and its leaders understand that they cannot be let off the hook until they decide to alter their policies and act humane. The company has been criticized widely for its use of palm oil and palm kernel oil suppliers who are responsible for the deforestation of many tropical rainforests. In these cases, extraction of resources is responsible for releasing the carbon which is stored in the forests and ecosystems into the atmosphere, disturbing the ozone layer and creating a greenhouse gas effect.

Certain Banks are pouring Gasoline on the Climate Fire

Receipts are showing the numbers that in the past six years, close to sixty banks have contributed almost five trillion dollars into fossil fuel and such kind of financing is surely wrecking the ozone layer and the climate with greenhouse gas effects while violating indigenous rights and, above all, fueling forest fires all around the world. There is no doubt that banks have been literally pouring gasoline on the climate fire. If you want a specific example, Chase Manhattan is a primary one. They have poured money into Exxon by financing them and the figure is almost fifteen billion dollars. They have funded TC Energy with another twenty-three billion dollars. They have stuffed another five billion dollars down the throat of Gazprom of Russia. More than twenty-one months ago, all world leaders assembled for the United Nations’ Climate Conference in Glasgow, Scotland. Their main idea was to accelerate action on climate change deterioration. By March 2022, it has come to light that though several banks have made big commitments merely on paper, they went on and contributed seven hundred and forty two billion dollars into fossil fuels alone. Banks like Wells Fargo and J.P. Morgan Chase increased their financing for fossil fuel in the past year. This does not sound like an action from banks that care about the health of the planet’s climate. Whatever the case may be, time is running out to take meaningful action to slow down this climate change crisis as it has already been escalated by such irresponsible bankers who are only concerned about bringing in profits from fossil fuels being bankrolled, deforestation and abuse of human rights.

The Rainforests of Borneo are in danger of succumbing to the greed of big corporates

For the local Batak People of North Sumatra in Indonesia, land is their personal character. If they lose their land and their forests, they lose a part of themselves. That is the reason why the Pargamanan-Bintang Maria community and so many others like them are fighting for their forests, no matter whatever the cost. Criminal activities and encroachment by the local law enforcement authorities or violence from the growing paper and pulp business of TPL (Toba Pulp Lestari) have not made them stop in defending their forests. Procter & Gamble is trying to tell the whole world that their palm oil supply chain has nothing to do with TPL (that’s the company that’s expanding into Pargamanan-Bintang Maria’s forests) and is presenting itself as a sustainability leader, it could be hinting towards being a hoax. Procter & Gamble is trying to `green wash’ destruction of forests. It is time the common man who is interested in preserving the earth’s natural resources to tell Procter & Gamble that he is not fooled by the smoke and mirror strategies being used by this corporate giant. It is important to care and think about how the palm oil is being sourced and how its sourcing is being linked to indigenous people who are losing their lands faster than you can imagine. If Procter & Gamble cannot control their main suppliers, RGE (Royal Golden Eagle), then it is going to be a bad scenario for these indigenous people and the earth’s environment. This corporate company feels that it has a little secret and it is not just the women’s deodorant; it is the fact about being a violator of indigenous rights and also of being a deforester through its supplier. Royal Golden Eagle has become a major link between the biggest brands of Procter & Gamble such as Head & Shoulders, Olay and Crest. It is because RGE are tied to being involved in the theft of indigenous lands, promotion of child labour and clearance of the endangered Orangutan species’ habitat. Procter & Gamble and RGE combined have almost destroyed several rainforests in Borneo, Indonesia. These rainforests are one of the earth’s most important biomes and they are big enough to be seven times the size of New York City. The deforestation problem continues while Procter & Gamble are dodging these issues and busy reassuring their investors that the palm oil would continue to keep flowing from these rainforests. They are not bothered and continue in the quick and dirty business of dishing out palm oil. The only way that these corporate giants can be brought to their knees is by putting pressure from the caring masses. Awareness has to be brought to such people that they are killing the earth’s resources. Something has to be done to change the math for wicked decision makers in these big corporations. It is time someone pressurised Procter & Gamble to drop insensitive suppliers like Royal Golden Eagle.

Why are we hellbent on screwing our environment, particularly in Asia?

Kerry Edwards, we have touched on this subject recently on how the stations in Antarctic monitored by Australia were affected and how your coastal shorelines are behaving in the past couple of months.. Anthony DiMichele and Peggy Marr for residing on the Western Seaboard of North America and Glenn Scherer for being a keen and receptive champion and prophet of Greenhouse Effect dangers.. I have written a post today which may be of interest to all of you.. Please go through this.. The Impact of Global Warming on Asian Manufacturers About a couple of months ago, many delegates had gathered in Doha, Qatar for the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. It was a conference that went on for a fortnight and saw hundreds of ministers from various countries attending it. The big debate was on whether or not the industrial nations were doing enough on reducing their greenhouse gas emissions. It could be argued that the Asian countries are more likely to suffer economic losses as a result of climate change. Karl Wilson reports in a China Daily that the coastal cities around Asia and China, in particular, are more vulnerable to severe flooding that may affect the growth in economy as well as millions of people. The weather patterns are changing globally. The sea levels are rising as the oceans are getting warmer. The glaciers and the polar ice caps are melting. Floods and droughts have just become more intense. The fashionable thing on the agenda with world ministers nowadays is the global financial crisis; so, thinking about spending many dollars to ward off climate changes is being pushed to the back recesses of the mind. Yet, the world is not going to wait for such ministers to take steps or to think clearly. It is going to get warmer in a hurry and the economic consequences are going to burn many asses. On 18th November of last year, the World Bank reported that the world is hastening down a path to heat up by four degrees Celsius and these four degrees would mean a lot to the poles as they may trigger a cascade of cataclysmic changes that will include severe heat waves raising sea levels affecting millions of people and global food inventory stocks. This report for the World Bank was prepared by the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research and Climate Analytics in Germany and was called `Turn down the Heat’. It emphasized that a warmer planet would be catastrophic. It listed out that the coastal cities would eventually be inundated. The risk for food production would increase. The dry regions would become drier and the wet regions would become wetter. There would be unprecedented heat wave in many regions, particularly in the tropics. There would be an irreversible loss of biodiversity including the coral reef systems. Multinational companies that are operating in the Asian growth economies would be exposed more to these rising environmental risks in the next few decades. The cities listed out with big risks were Dhaka, Manila, Yangon, Bangkok, Guangzhou, Shanghai, Shenzhen, Wuhan, Djakarta, Ho Chi Minh City, Hong Kong, Mumbai and Kolkata. These cities would have an impact on account of the sensitivity of their population and a relatively poor capacity of government support to adapt local measures to ward off the potential effects of this rapid climate change. So many Chinese cities being included in this risk list is of great concern to many companies which are using China as a manufacturing base. Already, water stress has become a big risk in China as a result of the industry demands and also because of rapidly swelling urban population. The Director of the World Economic Forum, Thomas Kerr, has mentioned that “avoiding these pessimistic predictions may not be possible as it will require a radical transformation in the way the global economy is functioning and how the countries’ think tanks are strategizing”. It will require loads of rapid uptake of renewable energy with big deployment of carbon dioxide capture, reduction of industrial emissions and a total cessation of deforestation.

The Spread of Freemasonry in India

The history of Freemasonry dates back several hundreds of years. Recently, the credit for introducing India to the freemasonry cult goes to writers like Dan Brown and Ashwin Sanghi. The Freemasons belong to a secret society right from the period of King Solomon. They are often compared with the infamous Illuminati group which is believed to be trying to dominate the world. What is the aim of Freemasonry? The Freemasons pledge to be good citizens by practicing the highest moral and social standards in friendship, charity and integrity. They try to encourage their members or brethren to serve their own community in order to exemplify that they are a society of upright men. They are believers in one God or ‘Father of Universe’ and they go by the motto of ‘brotherly love, relief and truth’. Freemasonry came into India through the British and the Scots. The Grand Lodge of England elected a Grandmaster after a meeting of London’s local lodges in 1717. A united constitution was then drawn up and came into recognition by all the lodges there. The Worshipful Master was elected in a democratic tradition. He was then authorized to select his team of officers, starting from Senior Warden, Junior Warden, Senior and Junior Deacon, Inner Guard and Outer Guard (Tyler). In 1729, a petition was proposed by few brethren in India to set up a Grand Lodge in Calcutta. A Provincial Grandmaster was appointed to oversee Masonic activity in India and the Far East in 1728. It took the next forty-seven years for an Indian to become the first Mason. He was Umdat-ul-Umrah. He was followed by P.C. Dutt. Eventually, the Grand Lodge of India was born in 1895. Since then, Freemasonry did grow in India and one hundred and twelve years later, there are 380 lodges in 140 locations all over the country. There are about twenty thousand Freemasons in India. In Hyderabad, Freemasonry started in October 1988 with the lodge meeting in the upper storey of the existing Goshamahal Baradari. This building was used prior to this event as a military barrack. This was the birth of Lodge Hyderabad, Lodge Deccan and Lodge Morland. In 1912, The Nizam of Hyderabad, Asaf Jah VI, Mahboob Ali Pasha granted a sum of Rupees ten thousand to create a nucleus fund for building a Masonic temple and this work was carried out by Right Worshipful Brother Terence Keyes, the British Resident in Hyderabad.

Sunflowers by Vincent Van Gogh

Often, a work of art becomes so intensely famous that it can obscure people to its original meaning and context. This is the case with Sunflowers by Vincent Van Gogh. The version that is in the National Gallery in London was painted by Van Gogh in Arles in August 1888 in Southern France. Fifteen sunflowers spring out of a quaint earthenware pot with a background that is blazing yellow. Some of the flowers may be found to be perky and fresh and they are surrounded by halos of petals that resemble a flame; while others are beginning to droop. This is a powerful painting. Van Gogh has used just three tints of yellow and has achieved total harmony with that stroke. This simple motif has appealed in a profound way to many people. Van Gogh started painting still of flowers in order to experiment mainly with colour. Another motivation was that flowers’ stills sold well, commercially. He got inspired to introduce more colour into those stills after observing the colourful and fresh paintings of the Impressionists like Renoir and Monet in Paris, France. He began these stills with traditional colours, but as he progressed; he experimented with extreme contrasts in colour. The flowers’ painting that has been placed in National Gallery in London since 1924 has become so popular that more than twenty-six thousand postcards have been sold from among the entire collection of sunflowers painted by Van Gogh. Actually, many among the five million people who visit National Gallery every year are not aware that this painting belongs to a series of four sunflower stills which Van Gogh made in less than a week’s time during summer of 1888. He did those indoors as cold northerly winds restricted him from working outdoors. The first among this collection now belongs to a private owner. It has three orange-yellow blooms in a green-glazed pot that is set against a turquoise background. It was last shown in public in 1948 at the Cleveland Museum of Art. The second among this collection has three flowers in a pot along with three more lying on the table in the foreground. This is set in front of a wall with royal blue colour. This particular painting was partially destroyed during the American bombardment of Ashiya, a Japanese town, in 1945. This painting is quite similar to the one that is placed in the National Gallery but it has fourteen sunflowers with turquoise background and it has now been placed in Neue Pinakothek Gallery in Munich, Germany. After these four sunflowers were executed, Van Gogh created three more variations or replicas; one of them has been loaned by Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam to the National Gallery in London. The first sunflower was painted during the summer of 1886 and a couple of years later; he began painting sunflowers to brighten up his collection. His contemporaries were working on all kinds of flowers but he chose to go with sunflowers. Other painters may have thought that sunflowers would look unrefined or coarse. Van Gogh wanted that coarse touch in his work. They went on to become his signature work and Van Gogh realized that he had finally created something very important and was glad that he did not paint hollyhocks or peonies. He managed to work with a resonant motif, that he could call his own.

Imam Jafar-e-Sadeq He was ahead of the world by a thousand years in his scientific revelations

I come in the line of his progeny. This great and angelic personality is my ancestor. A personality who was the son of Imam Mohammad Baqar son of Imam Zainulabedeen son of Imam Hussain son of Hazrat Ali Alaihes Salam son of Abu Talib. His grandfather named him Jafar. His mother's name was Umme Farwa. He was the 6th Imam and founder of the Ja'fari School of Jurisprudence according to Twelver and Isma'ili Shi'ites. Al-Sadiq was born in 702 AD. He earned the title of `Sadiq' during his lifetime on account of his sublime knowledge of everything scientific and logical. He started a school in Madina at the tender age of fifteen. He was always acquiring knowledge about the mysteries of the universe. His school became famous all over Arabia. His pupils include Jaffar bin Hayyan, Abu Ja'far Muhammad ibn Ali ibn Nu'maa and Hisham ibn al-Hakam. The first pearls of wisdom on medical science saw the light of day through Imam Jafar Alaihes Salam. As a Shi’a Imam, al-Sadiq stayed out of the political conflicts that embroiled the region, evading the many requests for support that he received from rebels. He was the first person who proved that the elements found in the soil of this earth are all present in the human body. He quoted twenty important elements - among them hydrogen, iron, calcium, zinc, sulphur and fluorine. He also mentioned that eating meat of animals reduced the life span of people. He warned against extravagance in eating and drinking. He also said that drinking milk with seafood may lead to leukoderma and break in pigmentation of skin. He was way ahead of his years when he talked abot the contagiousness of viruses that spread from people's breath when they are ill. After doing research, this was proved right almost eleven hundred years after his death. He warned that meddling with nature and spreading carbon waste in the atmosphere will create all kinds of respiratory diseases. He has recommended that mothers should keep their infants close to their hearts when they put them to sleep as the infants are used to the rhythm of the heartbeats of their mothers when they are in the womb. Imam Jafar also said that water can create fire if you take the single element of oxygen away from it, leaving the two elements of hydrogen to be flammable. He talked about the hills on the moon and people laughed at him. When the telescope was invented, people were shocked to know about his truth. He told people not to underestimate the size of the tiny stars they saw up in the celestial bodies; he said even though they look tiny but some of them would even be larger than the sun we are used to see. What I am trying to say here is that he spoke about such mysteries of the universe to ignorant and ungrateful Arabs and it took more than a thousand years for European scientists to prove him right. He even taught his people the science of mathematics and Al-Jabr (Algebra). His teachings and traditions were carried down in generations of time by some four hundred pupils of his who documented his teachings.

How was Nostradamus able to see visions of the future

Michel de Nostradamus 21 December 1503 – 2 July 1566 Michel de Nostredame was a French seer and physician. He has gathered fame mainly because of the publication of his book, `Les Propheties’. It is a collection of 942 poetic quatrains in the form of sharing his visions and hallucinations about future events. This book was first published in 1555. Nostradamus, as he later came to be known as, was born in a Jewish family. He later converted to Catholicism. He studied at the University of Avignon but had to delay his progress as a result of the outbreak of a plague. After completing his studies, he worked as an apothecary for many years before he enrolled again in the University of Montpelier to earn a doctorate. Nostradamus had indifferent health once he reached the age of sixty. He suffered from a severe case of gout and that ultimately developed into edema. During his lifetime, Nostradamus attracted several supporters who felt, along with the royalty of that time -the Medicis, that he had the ability to see visions and predict many important world events accurately. My impression after reading his 942 quatrains as translated by Erika Cheetham is that he was visited by djinns who made him see visions through his dreams or through a series of hallucinations. There is nothing like genuine and supernatural prophetic abilities. Most of his quatrains are vague at best and barring about forty verses or so out of 942, could apply to almost anything and cannot be marveled at as accurate predictions. No one possesses prophetic powers. Such people were always helped by djinns or Archangels who alone possessed knowledge of futuristic visions. The first installment of his prophecies was printed in 1555 and it contained only 353 quatrains. The next edition was printed in 1558 with three hundred more quatrains. The final edition came out in 1568 after his death and it contained ten centuries and 942 quatrains. Going back earlier in his life, the major sources for his prophecies were the `Mirabilis Liber’ written by Pseudo Methodius in 1522 and the writer Savonarola. Nostradamus said he was able to predict the future through a combination of astrological study and divine inspiration. He had long studied the supposed relationship between the movement of heavenly bodies and earthly events, and he claimed an angelic spirit helped him understand how these forces would manifest themselves. He sought out inspiration through various forms of meditation, generally focusing in on fire or water, possibly while under the influence of mild hallucinogens, such as nutmeg. Meditating late at night, Nostradamus claimed, he would see and understand events in the near and distant future. Nostradamus didn’t start out with the intention to write a book of poetry. Instead, he spent his nights in the attic in his home in Salon, France. This attic became the retreat where he studied his favorite topics, read, and pursued his interest in astrology. It was also here that Nostradamus began using meditation techniques and a prayerful attitude to ask for visions of what the future might be. He wrote notes and even made sketches of the visions he saw. He then transformed the notes into the poetry form that exists today as his prophecies. Nostradamus arranged his prophetic quatrains into ten groups of 100 — well, almost. Century 7 has only about half its quatrains, and no one has figured out why Nostradamus shorted this century. These ten groups are called centuries, but don’t get derailed into thinking that these grouped prophecies covered 100 years. Here, centuries have nothing to do with years and everything to do with keeping 942 prophecies organized somehow. There are several striking quatrains among his 942 – one of them is this example: “Prediction: The blood of the of the just will commit a fault at London; Burnt through lightning of twenty threes the six; The ancient lady will fall from her high place; Several of the same sect will be killed.” This is pointing certainly to the Great Fire of London. Concerning the date, multiplying twenty by three and adding six gives us 66 of the seventeenth century. The devastating three-day blaze started in London on 2nd September, 1666. However, the fire was not set off by lightning but by a spark from the ovens in Thomas Farriner’s Bakery in Pudding Lane. Thousands of people perished in the flames. Another is this – “From the depths of the West of Europe, A young child will be born of poor people, He who by his tongue will seduce a great troop; his fame will increase towards the realm of the East… Beats ferocious with hunger will cross the rivers; the greater part of the battlefield will be against Hister.” This is certainly referring to Adolf Hitler who was born on 20th April 1889 in Austria and was raised in a middle class family. Hitler came to be recognised for his oratory abilities and he did seduce by his tongue and triggered the Second World War by invading Poland. Another remarkable quatrain is this one – “The great man will be struck down in the day by a thunderbolt; an evil deed foretold by the bearer of a petition; according to the prediction, another falls at night time.” This is referring to the assassination of the Kennedy brothers. Listen to this one – “Earthshaking fire from the center of the Earth will cause tremors around the New City; two great rocks will war for a long time and Arethusa will redden a new river.” This is referring to the fall of the twin towers in New York City in 2001. He also wrote in 1551 that in a twin year will arise a queen (corona) who will come from the East (China) and who will spread a plague (virus) in the darkness of night, on a country with seven hills (Italy) and will transform the twilight of men into dust to destroy and ruin the world. According to him, it will be the end of the world economy. It has happened. It is fascinating that he saw dreams and visions of this magnitude and retained this in his memory to journalise later. I still feel that a higher cadre of angels or djinns showed him all that. Like Solomon and Joseph nd a great other few in the history of Creation, Nostradamus was among a chosen few.

The Tamil Language

Tamil belongs to the Dravidian language family and is the official language of the Indian State of Tamil Nadu and the Union Territory of Pondicherry. Apart from India, Tamil is also an official language in Sri Lanka and Singapore. There are a large number of Tamil speakers even in Malaysia, Mauritius, Fiji and South Africa. Tamil has officially been recognised among the twenty two languages under the Eighth Schedule of the Indian Constitution. It was also declared a classical language of India as late as 2004. To be declared a classical language, there are three criteria to be met - the origin of the language has to be an ancient one, it should have an independent tradition and it has to contain a considerable volume of ancient literature. Tamil is one of the two classical and traditional languages of India, the other being Sanskrit. Relatively speaking, Tamil is the oldest living language in India because Sanskrit is mostly used in religious or scholarly context. The capital of the Pandya Dynasty, Madurai, is generally linked with the development of the language due to the tradition of the Tamil Sangams that was hosted in Madurai. Tamil and Hinduism The Tamil region in India is a center of traditional Hinduism. Tamil schools of personal religious Bhakti and devotion movements have always been important with Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism. These three religions were widespread among the Tamil people in the early part of the first six centuries after Christ. Although the present day Tamil are mostly Hindus, there are a sizeable number of Christians, Muslims and Jains among them. The Tamil Hindus have a long history of being achievers. Commerce and urban development have always been important in priority among them. Tamil trade with the ancient Greeks and the Romans is highlighted by archaeological and linguistic evidence. The rich literary tradition of Tamil goes back to the early Christian age. The Chera, Chola and the Pallava dynasties ruled over the Tamil region before the Vijayanagar Empire extended its influence in the fourteenth century. Under the Pallavas, the Tamilians built great temples, irrigation tanks and dams and roads and they played an important part in spreading the Indian culture in South East Asia. The Cholas were known for their naval power and brought the Malaysian Kingdom of Sri Vijaya under their rule in 1030 AD. Though the Tamil region was culturally integrated with the rest of India for a long period, it remained a separate entity until the British came into India. Tamil is of particular importance as the language with the longest continuous written history with the earliest extant literature on Hinduism being typically Dravidian. History The earliest Tamil writings can be found in the inscriptions from the Chera Dynasty and also from the potsherds from the fifth century before Christ. Three distinct periods have been classified through analysis of grammatical and lexical changes down the ages. The Old Tamil period is from 3000 BC to 700 AD. The Middle Tamil period is from 700 AD to 1600 AD and the Modern Tamil period is from 1600 AD onwards. As a Dravidian language, Tamil comes from the Proto – Dravidian. Linguists suggest that the Proto-Dravidian was spoken around 3000 BC in the regions near the Godavari river basin in peninsular India. The poems from the old Tamil period are probably the oldest extant body of secular literature in India. There were some phonological changes during the Middle Tamil period. During this period, there was an increase in the Sankritisation of Tamil. Quite a few number of Sanskrit loanwords entered Tamil from the time of the Pallava Dynasty, particularly in terms of political, religious and philosophical concepts. Script The Tamil writing system came from the Brahmi script. Over a period of time, the shape of the letters changed enormously and stabilised when printing of Tamil was introduced in the late nineteenth century. Currently, the script known as Vatteluttu, which means rounded letters, is in common use. In the ancient times, Tamil Brahmi and Vatteluttu were the main scripts used. Grantha script replaced Tamil Brahmi later. The earliest inscriptions of Tamil are found in the Brihadishvara Temple in Thanjavur. The current Vatteluttu script consists of a dozen vowels and eighteen consonants and one special character which is the Ayatam. The vowels and the consonants combine to form two hundred and sixteen compound characters. Grammar Tamil is characterised by a series of retroflex consonants like the other Dravidian languages. The retroflex consonants are made by curling the tip of the tongue back to the roof of the mouth. As far as structure is concerned, Tamil is a verb final language. Adjectives and relative infinitive clauses normally go before the term that they modify while the inflections for tense, number and case are indicated with suffixes. Tamil is also characterised by a number of stylistic features. Extensive use of suffixes leads to ambiguity often at word levels. There is a heavy system of aspects in Tamil which calls for special attention to write words as well as to speak them. The traditional Tamil grammar has four aspectual forms. They are perfective aspect, competitive aspect, progressive aspect and reflexive aspect. A major addition to the Tamil alphabet was the adoption of the Grantha letters to write in non assimilated Sanskrit words. Tamil has three types of subjects. They are nominative, dative and instrumental subjects. In majority of cases, the subject position is filled with nominative cases. Tamil can be characterised as a subject-object-verb language as far as the typical order of words is concerned. Those words that need to be inflected are usually placed in the initial positions in a sentence. This influences the place of occurrence of all the other words in the sentence except the main verb. The other important feature of the Tamil language is the use of reflexive pronoun. Old Tamil had preserved the consonants of Proto-Dravidian and the syllable structure. There was no definite present tense in Old Tamil. It only had two tenses, the past and the non past. The grammatical continuity remained across the stages from the Old Tamil to Middle Tamil and from Middle Tamil to Modern Tamil. Sanskrit also influenced Tamil grammar in the use of cases and in phonology. `Nannul’ became the standard grammar for modern literary Tamil. Tamil was affected when it came into contact with European languages. In the early part of the twentieth century, the Pure Tamil Movement, aimed to remove all Sanskritic and other foreign elements from Tamil. Tamil vowels are called `Uyireluttu’. They are both short and long. Tamil consonants are known as `Meyyeluttu’. The consonants are classified into three categories – hard, soft (nasal) and medium. Tamil is a null subject language. Not all Tamil sentences have subjects, verbs and objects. The vocabulary of Tamil is mainly Dravidian. Along with other Dravidian languages like Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam, Tamil was influenced by Sanskrit in terms of vocabulary and grammar. In the last few decades, institutions have generated technical dictionaries for Tamil with government support. These dictionaries contain words that are derived from Tamil roots to replace loanwords from English and other languages. Dialect Spoken Tamil has changed considerably over a period of time and there have been many changes in the phonological structure of the words. This has created a system in which there are definite differences between the colloquial forms and those that are used in formal context. The major regional variation is between the form spoken in India and that which is spoken in Sri Lanka, which was a former Tamil State of India in the ancient ages. Within Tamil Nadu, there are phonological differences between the northern, western and southern dialects. The regional variations of the language overlap with the varieties that are based on social class and caste. Tamil belongs to the southern branch of the Dravidian languages which contains a family of twenty six languages that are native to the Indian sub-continent. The closest relative of Tamil is Malayalam, which was a dialect of Tamil until almost the ninth century. Although many differences between Tamil and Malayalam indicate a prehistoric split of the western dialect, Malayalam took around five centuries to develop into a distinct language. Tamil dialects are differentiated from each other by phonological changes and sound shifts. The dialects do not differ much in their vocabulary. The dialects spoken in Sri Lanka retain many grammatical forms and words that are not in daily use in India. In Sri Lanka, they use many other words differently. The Tamil dialects are also differentiated as per the areas of prestige as they are called. They are the Madras Tamil, the Madurai Tamil, Kangu Tamil, Nellai Tamil, and Kanya Kumari Tamil, Tiruchirapalli Tamil, Jaffna or Yazhpanam Tamil, Trincomalee or Tiriconamalai Tamil, Batticaloa or Mattakkalappu Tamil. The dialect of the district of Palakkad in Kerala has a large number of Malayalam loanwords. The dialect has also been influenced by the Malayalam syntax and it also has a distinct Malayalam accent. Tamil spoken in the Kanya Kumari district has unique words and phonetic style than the Tamil spoken in other parts of Tamil Nadu. The style is so unique that anyone from the Kanya Kumari district is easily identified by their spoken Tamil. Hebbar and Mandyam dialects spoken by groups of Tamil Vaishnavites who migrated to Karnataka retain many features of the Vaishnava Paribhashai which is a special form of Tamil developed in the tenth century that reflects Vaishnavite religious and spiritual values. In Tamil Nadu, it is often possible to identify a person’s caste by his or her speech. Apart from its various dialects, Tamil also has different literary styles. The classic style is based on the ancient language known as `Sankat Tamil’. The modern literary style is `Cen Tamil’ with a modern colloquial form known as `Kotun Tamil’. Cen Tamil is used generally in speech and formal writing. Most of the contemporary cinema, theatre and popular entertainment on radio and television are in Kotun Tamil. This dialect is influenced by the dialects of Thanjavur and Madurai. The slight regional differences in spoken Tamil have risen because of increase in educational and transport facilities. Besides mass media such as newspapers and journals, television and radio have also been contributing factors. There are some differences between Tamil spoken in Thanjavur and Tiruchirapalli districts. Tamil spoken in the city of Chennai differs from all the other regions because of the free borrowing of words from Telugu, Urdu and English. There are similar differences that exist in phonetics also. English and Hindi words are used in spoken Tamil by the people who live in the northern districts of Tamil Nadu. Such borrowed words are not changed much phonetically but they are written in the same way as they are pronounced in the original languages. A few Sanskrit words have also been intermixed with Tamil. It can be expressed that among most of the languages in India, Tamil has the least number of loanwords that have been borrowed from other languages. Literature Tamil is one of the longest surviving classical languages in the world. Its literature has existed for more than two thousand years. It has one of the richest literatures in the world. The earliest records are found on the rock edicts and stones that date back to 300 BC. Around this period, Tamil literature was known as Sangam literature. The Tamil literature inscriptions have been discovered in Egypt, Sri Lanka and Thailand. Even as Tamil has the oldest literature among the Dravidian languages, there are almost 1,860 newspapers that are published in Tamil today. Out of these, 350 are dailies. The poems from the Old Tamil period are probably the oldest collection of literature in India. Other literary works in the old Tamil period include two epics, `Cilappatikaram’ and `Manimekalai’. There were some didactic and philosophical texts that were also written during this period. The only work of importance that was a product of this age was the Tamil grammar, `Tolkappiyam’. `Thirukural’, written by Thiruvalluvar, is regarded as the corner stone of Tamil literature. This is a collection of one thousand three hundred and thirty couplets which are divided into three sections. It is a code of ethics and is secular in nature. Tamil has five great epics. The most famous, `Silapadikaram’, was written in the sixth century after `Thirukural’. Apart from these two works, the other epics are `Thevaram’, ‘Thiruvasagam’ and `Diviyaprabandam’ which were written by the Nayanmar Saints. More than sixty six million people speak Tamil worldwide. Tamil is also spoken in Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala and Maharashtra. Quite recently, it has been made an official language also in Andaman & Nicobar Islands. In Malaysia, there are over five hundred primary education government schools in Tamil medium.

Plotinus and Hazrat Ali

HAZRAT IMAM ALI IBN E ABI TALIB AND THE FAMOUS PHILOSOPHER PLOTINUS Imam Ali (as) says, “In all the periods and times when there were no Prophets there have been persons with whom Allah whispered through their wits and spoke through their minds.” Nahjulbalagha: Sermon-219. Philosophy is the study of the ultimate cause of creation .Why is there a universe? What is the cause behind creation? Different philosophers gave different philosophic theories to explain the cause behind creation and the most prominent among them being Aristotle and Plato. The greatest among the last of the ancient philosophers was Plotinus. Plotinus was born in 204 A.D, some 400 years before Imam Ali (as) was born. Plotinus’s philosophy is a trinity consisting of the ‘One’ the ‘Nous’ and the Soul. Unlike the Christian trinity, the trinity of Plotinus is hierarchical in which the ‘One’ is the ultimate principle and is without any form, it cannot be grasped and is the ultimate. Next is the ‘Nous’ which is called the intellectual principle. And the last is the ‘Soul’ which is the creative principle. The Soul created the universe. The ‘One’ gave the plan of creation to the ‘Nous’ and the ‘Soul’ imbibed the plan of action from the ‘Nous’ and created the universe. Plotinus philosophy was wonderful because it had it’s basis in the human nature. Plotinus derived his philosophy from the study of human nature. We have three principles operating in us; one the unconscious, the mind, and the subconscious. When we are in a deep sleep, the unconscious becomes prominent, the one who controls our respiration and heartbeat while we are asleep. When we wake, most of the time, we know the duration of our sleep, the one who gives this knowledge is the unconscious. Plotinus reached the idea of ‘One’ through the unconscious. As the unconscious controls our heartbeat while we sleep, there is an ultimate unconscious which controls the whole universe. When we are dreaming the mind is active, it is the intellectual principle in us similarly there is an ultimate intellectual principle in the universe which is the ‘Nous’. When we are awake the thought are converted into action, this is the super conscious similarly there is an ultimate super conscious in the universe who is responsible for the creation of the universe, this ultimate creative principle is the ‘Soul’. In Hindu philosophy the ‘Nous’ and the ‘Soul’ are the complimentary unit of a whole called the ‘Saguna Brahman’. The Hindu philosophy treats the intellectual principle and the creative principle as one unit. China is famous for ‘Yin-Yang’ and ‘Chi’ philosophy. Chi (qi) is the universal fundamental energy which was formed before the universe was born. Every created thing has ‘Chi’ in it. Hence, Chi is the first principle from which the whole of the creation emanated. Chi is a complimentary source made of two opposing principles, one is yin (the passive energy) and the other, the yang (the active energy).The relation between the Yang and the Yin is akin to that of Sun and the moon. The Chinese philosophers believed that all the natural phenomena and natural laws can be explained in terms of balancing act between the Yin and the Yang. The Yang can be referred to the ‘Nous’ of Plotinus and Yin to his ‘Soul’. The Chi can be referred to the ‘OM’ in Hindu Philosophy. In the Islamic philosophy the Sun refers to the Holy Prophet of Islam (a.s) and the Moon refers to Imam Ali (a.s).Regarding the verse “ By the Sun when it shines and By the Moon, when it follows it (Surah Shams-91-Quran)”, the Holy Prophet of Islam said that the Sun refers to him and the Moon refers to Ali (a.s). Islamic Philosophy: In Islam Prophet Muhammad (as) is regarded as the fist creation. The first thing which was bought into existence was the light of the Holy Prophet of Islam. God wanted to introduce his first creation, Muhammad (s) so he created the universe. The Prophet said, “I was the messenger when Adam was existing in between sand and water (when he was not made).” Prophet (s) also said, “The first thing which God created was intellect, and I am the intellect.” The above given traditions are found in both the Sunni and the Shia books. It is very interesting that, even Plotinus used the same word ‘Intellect’ for the first creation. Shia Islamic Philosophy: The Shia Islamic Philosophy is an extension of the common Islamic philosophy, according to which God first created the light of the Prophet of Islam and then split the light into two, the other part being Imam Ali (as).According to Shia Philosophy Prophet Muhammad (as) and Imam Ali (as) are the complimentary parts of a single unit. The following traditions of the Holy Prophet of Islam are found in both Sunni and Shia books, “I (Muhammad s.) and Ali are from the same light.” “Ali is from me and I am from Ali.” Imam Ali (as) said: “I was the Wali (guardian) when Adam was in between sand and water.” Just as the trinity of Plotinus, the Shia Philosophy of trinity speaks of a formless, invisible and indivisible God, who created Muhammad (as) the first intellectual principle, and from Muhammad (as) he created Ali (as ) the creative principle. God wished to introduce his first creation, so he revealed the plan of creation to Muhammad (as), and Ali (as) made the universe perfectly as per the plan revealed to Muhammad (as), Imam Ali (as) says, “I have raised the seven skies with the powers and commandments, entrusted to me by my Lord. ''I am the one who when looked at the skies, and did not find any one who can challenge me''. ''I am the one who counts his creatures, even though they are numerous, and make sure they return back to their Lord''. ''I am the trustee who protects divine commands''. ''I do not treat anyone with unkindness, as I am the Divine Sustainer ‘Wali –Allah’'. ''His commands have been entrusted upon me and I have been made ruler over the masses by my Lord''. ''I am the one who called the moon and the sun and they moved forward in my obedience''. ''I am the one who called upon the ‘seven skies’ and they bow down on my instruction and stabilised in perfect posture''. ''I am the one who nominated all the Prophets, created all the worlds and laid the earth down''. ''I am aware of all those affairs which have been made compulsory''. ''I am the Amr (command) of Allah and the ‘Soul’ of Allah, as Allah says: They ask you (O’Prophet) about the soul, you tell them that soul is from Allah’s Amr (command)''. ''I am the one about whom Allah has said to his Prophet, ‘Two of you will send each and every malicious non-believer to the hell fire'’. ''I am the one who brought into existence everything, with the blessing of my Lord, after they were composed". Sermon of Al-Bayan: Nehaj Ul Israr. Imam Ali (as) has used the word ‘Soul’ for himself. Who was Plotinus? How did he reached the concept of trinity; the formless God, the Intellectual Principle and the Soul; Allah, Muhammad (as) and Ali (as).Imam Ali says, “In all the periods and times when there were no Prophets there have been persons with whom Allah whispered through their wits and spoke through their minds.” Nahjulbalagha: Sermon-219. ALL PRAISE IS DUE TO ALLAH, THE SUSTAINER OF THE UNIVERSE

Sindhi Language

Sindhi is an Indo-Aryan language that is spoken by about forty four million people in the province of Sindh, Pakistan and is a recognised official language of India. In India, it is spoken by over twelve million people who migrated from Pakistan. The language can be written using the Devanagari or the Arabic scripts. It has to be acknowledged that Sindh is probably the most effected part of the sub-continent and Pakistan that has suffered because of the migration during partition when over a million Hindu Sindhis migrated to India. It is sad that the detachment and disruption in their lives have remained hidden from most of the world. Sindhi is one of the ancient languages of the world and it is spoken in India, Pakistan, USA, Canada and Europe. The Sindhi language and culture play an important role in uniting the Sindhis all over the world. In India, Sindhi is one of the scheduled languages that are officially recognised by the federal government. Sindhi is one of the languages that were recognised in the eighth schedule of the Indian Constitution on 10th April 1967. Sindhi is influenced from a local version of the oral form of Sanskrit and from Balochi which is spoken in the province of Baluchistan. Most Sindhi speakers are concentrated in the Sindh province and in Kutch. Ulhasnagar near Mumbai is the largest Sindhi enclave in India. History Historically, Sindh was the seat of one of the most advanced urban civilisations of the world at Mohenjo-Daro. During the Indus Valley Civilisation at Mohenjo-Daro, the Sindhis used to grow grains and live in well built houses. In the beginning of the eighth century, Sindh was ruled by a Brahmin King, Raja D’Ahir, who was defeated by the Arab General Mohammad Bin Qasim in 712. The influence of Islam and Arabic language started in Sindh around this time. When we look at history, we realise that it is not new for the Sindhi language to have been threatened. When the Arabs invaded Sindh, the language faced many Arabic challenges. The threats came later from the Parsis and the English but the Sindhi language survived. For almost a thousand and two hundred years, Sindh was ruled by many native or foreign rulers. Most of this period was covered by Muslims. Sindhi has a large vocabulary and an old literary tradition. It is a favorite language of many writers and therefore a huge volume of literature, especially poetry has been written in Sindhi. The Sindhi language has descended from the Apabhramsha Prakrit named Vrachada. Arab travellers like Abu Rehan Biruni in his book, `Tahqiq Ma Lil Hind’, has mentioned that Sindhi language was used in the region with three different scripts that were Ardhanagari, Saindhu and Malwari. Over the course of next few centuries, Sindhi culture absorbed Arabic and Persian words which enhanced its heritage. Script The oldest record of the language and script of Sindhi is represented in Mohenjo-Daro seals. The seals show some pictographic script that goes back nearly five thousand years. When the British came to Sindh, they found the script to be in Devanagari. Some British scholars found the language Sanskritic and thought that the Devanagari script would be right for it. In 1850, they translated the Bible in Sindhi in the Devanagari script. In 1868, the Bombay Presidency assigned the Narayan Jagannath Vaidya to replace the abugida used in Sindhi with the Khudabadi script. The script was responsible for creating anarchy in the Muslim majority region. There were other British scholars who opined that the Arabic script suited the language as most of the writers were Muslims and their Muslim names could not be written so well in the Devanagari script. Sir Richard Burton, an Orientalist, with the help of some local scholars evolved a fifty two letter Sindhi alphabet. As the Arabic script could not express many Sindhi sounds, a scheme of dots was worked out for that purpose. As a result of this, the Sindhi script today not only has all its own sounds but it also contains the four Z’s of Arabic. The government of India recognised both the Devanagari and the Arabic scripts. Grammar and Phonology Sindhi has a large collection of both consonants and vowels when compared with the other languages. Sindhi has forty six consonant phonemes and sixteen vowels. The consonant to vowel ratio is three to one. All nasals, retroflex flaps and the lateral approximants have aspired counterparts. The language features four implosives. Implosive consonants are actually stops that can be modified by phonation. The vowels are short and of modal length. In Sindhi, consonants have different shapes according to their position in a word. Vowel signs are added to consonants to make the words. Captain George Stack, an eminent British linguist, wrote that he always considered English as a beautiful and copious language in the world until he learnt Sindhi and realised that causal verbs in Sindhi gave the language a beauty that was unique. Dialects The main dialect in Sindhi is Vicholi and it is spoken in Central Sindh. Saraiki is spoken mainly in Upper Sindh. Lari is spoken in Lower Sindh. Lasi is spoken in Western Sindh and Baluchistan. Thari is spoken in the desert region on the southeast border of Sindh and in parts of the Jaisalmer district of Rajasthan. Kacchi is spoken in the Kutch region and in some parts of Kathiawar in Gujarat. Vicholi dialect is the basis for standardised Sindhi. The largest Sindhi speaking place is Hyderabad in Pakistan. Literature Sindhi became a popular literary language between the fourteenth and the eighteenth centuries. Sufis such as Shah Abdul Latif and Lal Shahbaz Qalandar narrated their theosophical poetry describing the relationship between God and His creation. Sindhi literature is rich and is regarded to be among the oldest in the world. Its writers have contributed in various forms, both in poetry and prose. The earliest reference we get to Sindhi literature is found in the writings of the Arab historians. Sindhi was the earliest language of the East in which the Quran was translated in the ninth century. There is evidence of Sindhi poets reciting their verses before the Omayyad Muslim Caliphs in Baghdad, Iraq. Around the same period, treatises were written in Sindhi on astronomy and history. The verses of Pir Nooruddin were known as `ginans’. He was an Ismaili missionary and his ginans are the earliest specimens of Sindhi poetry. His verses are full of mysticism and religious doctrines. Poets like Pir Sadruddin followed him. We also find verses composed by Baba Farid Ganj Shakar in Sindhi and Punjabi languages. Pir Sadruddin modified the old script of Sindhi language that was used by the Lohana caste of Hindus living in Sindh who had converted to Islam under his teachings and were called as `Khojas’. In the fifteenth century, Madrasahs flourished where scholars of Sindh used to teach religion and rhetoric. Shah Abdul Latif gave new life and content to the language and literature of Sindh. He studied the culture of the people and their attachment to the land through music and fine arts. Sadhu Vaswani’s voluminous writings and mystical verses are witness to the beauty of the Sindhi language. Modern Sindhi literature began with the conquest of Sindh by the British in 1843. The printing press was introduced. Magazines and newspapers brought about a revolution in Sindhi literature. Books were translated from English. Progressive thoughts opened up new trends in Sindhi literature. In 1952, Nooruddin Sarki and Abdul Ghafoor Ansari restructured the literary forum of Sindhi language and called it `Sindhi Adabi Sangat’. Initially, its activities were restricted to the city of Karachi in Pakistan. Then, the interest spread throughout the Sindh and in India. Preservation of Sindhi Indian Institute of Sindhology at Adipur-Gandhidham is the main institute in India for the preservation of the Sindhi language and culture. It has developed into a culture university. Many symposiums were held with the active participation of well known scholars and educationists of the Sindhi language. Sindhi community does not have its own exclusive territory for the overall development for its language and education and therefore the need for such a university has come about. The university also promotes the study of Sindhi literature, art and culture. The university will have academic activities like advanced learning and research and will also serve as a centre for the Sindhi community. A sum of about fifty Crore Rupees has been set aside as a corpus fund to earn an interest to be utilised for the running expenses and towards fixtures, furniture and equipment. Use of Sindhi Language After the partition of India and Pakistan, the Sindhi immigrants stayed in many small refugee camps that were located near the urban areas in different parts of the country. Most of them had done their schooling in Sindhi medium of language. These settlements were mostly homogeneous linguistic groups. These Sindhis were able to maintain the cultural and linguistic identity enthusiastically due to the cultural and literary background and social contacts. The functional use of Sindhi was reduced in different formal and informal disciplines in India due to the absence of a unified geographical region and a change in the earlier settlement patterns for their economic survival. However, the Sindhis were able to establish many cultural organisations and educational institutions. The Sindhi settlements have reduced in size and number in these last sixty four years because many Sindhis have left the camps for better job opportunities and spread in the non-Sindhi urban areas. Some of them became non residential Indians and settled all over the world. This drastically influenced the functional use of the Sindhi language. Sindhis have also become bilingual in India and this has limited the use of Sindhi as their mother tongue. As far as education is concerned, many Sindhi medium schools were started and there was at least one Sindhi primary school in almost every Sindhi colony and there are even secondary schools in bigger settlements in Maharashtra, Gujarat, Rajasthan and Delhi. There are Sindhi teacher training institutions in Maharashtra, Gujarat and Rajasthan. Now, the governmental and non-governmental agencies are encouraging these states to introduce Sindhi language as a subject and teach through evening classes. Sindhi and Mass Media Sindhi is used in different disciplines of mass media. There are one hundred and ten newspapers and periodicals at present that are published in Sindhi in India. This plays a very important part for the Sindhi speaking community. Yet, lack of planning and resourceful infrastructure has prevented the publishers from using modern technology and giving employment to trained persons in the field of communications. Sindhi is also used by the electronic media apart from the print media. Many different stations of All India Radio relay Sindhi programs. A limited time is apportioned for Sindhi on some regional television channels of Doordarshan. Some Sindhi programs are also telecast by private agencies. Since India gained independence, several Sindhi films have been made in the country. Sindhi Language Word Processor The Institute of Information Technology of the University of Sindh has developed a Sindhi language Unicode system to help write eMails. Under the developed Unicode, the institute has also developed Microsoft Office in the Sindhi language while the system helps in composing and is of great use to researchers. The system will also help in vocal compositions as well as doing correction in Sindhi words.

Santali Language

Santali is a language in the sub family of Austro-Asiatic languages. It is spoken by about ten million people in India, Bangladesh, Nepal and Bhutan. Most of its speakers are Indian. It is spoken in the States of Assam, Bihar, Jharkhand, Orissa, Tripura, Madhya Pradesh and West Bengal. It belongs to the language family of Munda, Kherwari and Santhali. Santali was included in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution through the Ninety Second Constitutional Amendment in 2003. This language has been there in India since ages. It has its rich traditional literature and cultural value. Santali language is distantly related to Khmer and Vietnamese languages. Santali is mostly spoken by the Santhal tribe. The Santali speakers are spread over three thousand miles from the river Ganges in the north to the river Baitami in the south. Santali is the only Mundu offshoot language that has been recognised by the Indian government as an official language. As a result of the tribal migration during the nineteenth century, Santali is also found across the entire country as far as Assam in the northeast and even the Andaman and the Nicobar Islands. Origin It is estimated that the Santali language is older than the Aryan languages. The history of Santali and the Santhals tribe can be found in folklore and songs of the tribe itself. Fa-Hien, the Chinese traveller, was the first to describe about the Santhal tribe. After him, historians have come from different regions and wrote different things about them. One thing that is established is that the Santhals were there since the pre-Aryan period. The Santhals fought with Aryans, both Vedic and non Vedic and later made peace with them. Many of them remained uninfluenced by the Aryan culture and languages for some time. The Santali language can be classified as part Dravidian, part Austric and part Munda. The Kissam Koya and the Oraon tribes that come from the Dravidian language speaking clans along with the Santhals were the main tribes. The Santali language has existed for over thousands of years mainly through oral communication. Santali is quite diverse in terms of language, economic status and caste. Grammar, Dialect and Script The major Santali dialect is Mahali. Santali is spoken by Santhals and other tribes such as Mahali and the Pahadis. The script is Ol Chiki. It means the `writing symbol’. It used to be Latin during the British rule. Sadhu Ramchand Murmu used the modern Kherwal script known as `Muj Bandhi’ for the development of Santali language, literature and socio-religious cultural identity in the early part of the twentieth century. Then, the modern Ol Chiki script was developed later in 1925 by Pandit Raghunath Murmu. Ol Chiki has its own alphabet. It is a unique modern developed Indic script which uses both capital and small letters together. The short hand concept was composed by Pruthunath Murmu to solidify the Ol Chiki script. The formative style of the script proves its natural shape. The modern Ol Chiki script has six basic vowels a, aa, i, u, e and o and three additional vowels. Santali uses a number of affixes, tense and moods. It has got its own pronouns, numerical and syntactical structure as a fully fledged language. The Santali alphabet is an indigenous alphabet which is based on traditional symbols as well as pictographs. It is also known as Ol Cemet or `language of writing’. In the earlier days, Santali was written with the Bengali alphabet and sometimes with the Latin alphabet. Santali is not an Indo-European language like most other languages of northern India. The Indic script did not have letters for all the phonemes of Santali, particularly its stop consonants and vowels. This made it difficult for writing the language accurately in an unmodified Indic script. The Christian missionaries brought the Latin alphabet into India. Latin was helpful at representing some of Santali’s stops but the vowels still created problems. Unlike most Indic scripts that are derived from Brahmi, Santali’s Ol Chiki is not an abugida but a true alphabet as the vowels are given equal representation with the consonants. One letter was also assigned to each phoneme as the letters were designed specifically for the language. Santali has thirty letters. The forms of these letters represent natural shapes. The shapes of these letters reflect the names for the letters and the words are normally the names of objects or actions that represent traditional form in the pictorial shape of the characters. Santali is written from left to right. Speech perception in Santali is of simple phonetic contrast of syllables. The Santali Latin alphabet was invented in the eighteen nineties by the Norwegian missionary, Reverend Paul Olaf Bodding. He was one of the most influential missionaries to have come to India. Santali uses thirty letters and five basic diacritics. It does not share any of the syllabic properties of the other scripts like Devanagari. Santali did not have a written language until the twentieth century and used the Latin script until then. Literature Santali is a language with its own distinct characteristics and has a literature that goes back to the beginning of the fifteenth century. The development of traditional Santali language and literature commenced during the British rule around 1870 by literary loving British people. They built a printing press at Benares for popularising the Santali works over the north eastern region. Many dictionaries, dramas and folk tales were written during this period. Santali literature is now widespread in West Bengal, Jharkhand, Bihar and Assam. Pandit Raghunath Murmu of the Rairangpur District is the father of Ol Chiki script. He brought about somewhat of a renaissance in 1925 by inventing this script. Pandit Murmu enriched the Santali literature by writing dramas, poems and children’s stories. He did a lot for Santali grammar and wrote many books on mathematics too. The book, `Bakhera’, written by him reflects the Santhal tribal religion. The book contains tribal verses and hymns. Pandit Murmu is popularly known as Guru Gomke among the Santhals. This title was conferred on him by the Mayurbhanj Adibasi Mahasabha. Pandit Murmu’s philosophy was that modern Santali language and literature should point towards the principle of the identity of self rather than imitation. He felt that the Santhali society can be developed only when education was imposed in its mother tongue and that the cultural identity can only be established when its literature became developed with its own script. This historical path breaking philosophy not only gave the Santhals confidence for the development of modern Santali language and literature but also enabled proper expression of their language. Santali and the Santhal Culture The major economic occupation of the Santhals was agriculture, collection of forest produce and cultivation. Their life revolved around the forests. They made mats, baskets and musical equipment from the plants they collected. Literacy rate is very low among people speaking Santali. It is between ten and thirty per cent. The initial attempt to study the Santali culture was done by the Moghals followed by the Christian missionaries. Many scholars and anthropologists have been attracted for decades to the Santali culture. In 1933, Dr. Byomkas Chakrabarti, a Bengali research worker on ethnic languages, found out the basic relationship between the Santali and the Bengali languages. He was a poet and a renowned educationist. He showed how the Bengali language has got some distinct characteristics under the influence of Santali language. The reason for doing so was because of the similarities in the use of phonetics. His contribution was vital in the development of Bengali and Santali languages and it offered scope for further research in the field of linguistics. The Santhals are known for preserving their native language unlike many other tribal groups of India. They were able to preserve the language despite invasions and migrations from the Moghals and the Europeans. Santali culture is shown in the art works on the walls of the houses of the Santhals. The Santhals love music and dance. The first Santali feature film was `Pilchu Haram Pilchu Buddhi’. Though Santali has been recognised as an official language in India, it is not much in use these days. Some Santhals who are educated still use it to write books and other literary works. During the British rule, the language was written in the Latin script. Development of Santali When the Jharkhand State was created, the Santhal tribes of eastern India demanded the recognition of Ol Chiki as the Santali script. This movement was spearheaded by the Kolkata based All India Santhal Council and the Santali Bhasha Morcha. These cultural associations were responsible for getting Santali included in the Eighth Schedule of the Indian Constitution. Many literary and cultural societies have been established to promote art, literature and culture through Santali all over the country. This language has now got a private academy and many printing presses and publishers. The Paschim Bangla Santali Academy was created to promote, advance and develop the study of Santali language and literature. The academy also encourages the translation and publication of scholarly, historical and literary works into the Santali language. A library has been set up and archives have been built for the purpose of carrying on research work and to gather manuscripts and other articles of reputed scholars in Santali literature and language. Santali has found a place in the mass communications media. The All India Radio has recognised this language. The transmission of Santali programs has been there from various centres. Santali is now being taught from the school to the university levels in Jharkhand and Bihar. The University Grants Commission is also providing fellowship for higher studies in Santali language and literature. There are currently more than five hundred writers who are promoting this language. The installation of the Doordarshan Santali Television satellite channel has also given the chance for the language to grow. Now, the Santali speaking people can be in touch with both local and international news and other information regarding politics and economy of the world from all over the globe in their own language.

Sanskrit

Sanskrit is one of the oldest recognised languages that have existed in India for over seven thousand years. The Sanskrit language has been in use longer than any other language in the world. Even Greek and Latin are not used in their traditional context any more as Sanskrit is done. Sanskrit is also the root of a large number of languages including the primary languages of Europe, Iran and the Middle East. Sanskrit root words could be found in places as far as Hawaii. Sanskrit and its roots can be traced to the Indo-Iranian sub family of the Indo-European languages. Sanskrit came to India from the northwest and was brought in by the Mesopotamians and the Aryan civilisations. It was exported out of India by way of returning people to influence the other Indo-European languages. Whatever its origin, the language has flourished in India and is recognised as a principal official language. It has been the language that has been used by the elite class of people in India and in classic literature. Knowledge of Sanskrit through the ages exemplified a high intellectual and social status of a person in society in India. Sanskrit is one of India’s twenty two official languages and is regularly taught in schools. It is broadcast over All India Radio stations and is used mostly in religious and scholarly context. The word `Sanskrit’ means `Wholly Cultured’ and is considered one of the most sophisticated languages of the world. However, there have been no linguistic developments in Sanskrit, leading many linguists to feel that it may be turning into a dead language. It is, nevertheless, recognised as one of the great original cultural languages in the world. Sanskrit may be termed as a classical language of India. It is also a liturgical language of Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism. Its position in South Asia is similar to that of Greek and Latin in Europe. It is popular among scholars in and outside of India. Without a proper understanding of the Sanskrit culture, knowledge of India and its traditions would be incomplete. Sanskrit is known for its beauty and clarity. It is also the most systematic language in the world. Much contribution has been made from all parts of the country for the growth of Sanskrit language. Pre-Classical and Classical Sanskrit There are two ages of Sanskrit. There is pre-classical or Vedic Sanskrit and the Classical or the Paninian Sanskrit. Vedic Sanskrit is the language used in the Vedas. There is a large compilation of Hindu philosophical and sacred texts. The Vedas were composed around 4, 500 BC. During these ages, Sanskrit did not have a written script. Sanskrit is the original language of the Vedas which were transmitted from the one who recited to the listener of mantras and shlokas. The Vedas were memorised and transferred orally from the guru (teacher) to the shishya (student). People had to understand the six Vedangas to study the Vedas. The Vedas cannot be studied without the six Vedangas. The first three are Shiksha (understanding of the letters and phonetics), Vyakarna (grammar) and Niruktam (root words and etymology). The latter three are Chandas (metrical system), Kalpa (rituals) and Jyotisha (astronomy and astrology). Shiksha deals with the spoken aspect of the language. It shows how to pronounce the letters of the aksharas or the alphabet. Shiksha divides the letter into three classes. They are swaras, vyanjanas and oushmanas. The letters differ from each other in their meanings depending on the effort and the duration of time for which they are used. Vyakarna is the heart of grammar and it describes meaningful word formations and sounds. Niruktam describes elementary root words that are used in the Vedas. Classification of words into groups of synonyms is an example. There are over hundred synonyms for just the word `water’ as given in Niruktam. The fourth Vedanga, Chandas, describes the formation of sentences in metrical form. Sanskrit offers about twenty Vedic metres and many more conventional metres unlike English that uses four basic metres. The remaining Vedangas, Kalpa and Jyotisha are connected with rituals and space and time. The classical Sanskrit followed the grammar rules that were set down by the esteemed ancient grammarian, Panini. These came about in the fifth century before Christ. Panini wrote a grammar treatise called `Astadhyayi’ (meaning Eight Sections). It was made up of almost four thousand sutras. The other ancient grammarians, Katyayana and Patajali, composed commentaries later on the Astadhyayi and added more grammar rules in their works that were Vartikas and the Mahabhashya. These three grammar works are collectively known as `Trimuni Vyakarana’. Starting from the Rigveda, which is the earliest Vedic text, to the later three Vedas that were the Samaveda, the Yajurveda and Atharvaveda right up to the Brahmanas and the Upanishads, the Vedic period was one of oral tradition. The three major Hindu philosophic concepts that are formulated in Sanskrit are Dvaita by Madhavacharya, Advaita by Shankaracharya and Vishishtadvaita by Ramanujacharya. Script Sanskrit began to be written down in the Classical Age around 400 BC. At various periods, many regional language scripts like Brahmi, Kharoshti, Gupta, Sharada, Devanagari, Bengali, Oriya, Kannada, Telugu, Tamil and Malayalam were used for writing Sanskrit. Mostly the Brahmi and the Devanagari were used. Currently, the Devanagari script is being used to write Sanskrit. This is a phonetic script like most other Indian scripts. Linguists feel that the structure of the Sanskrit language is near perfect. There are forty nine sounds in the Sanskrit script that are formed in five separate areas of our mouth. The letters are arranged scientifically so that the simple vowels come first, then the diphthongs and consonants in uniform groups depending on their point of pronunciation. All this makes for perfect phonetic accuracy. Each Sanskrit alphabet has a precise sound in every word. Every word in Sanskrit is derived from a root. Prefixes and suffixes are added to a root to create words. The grammar, the form and the word meanings are highly developed. Sanskrit is also known `Samskritam’. The name means complete and perfect. `Sams’ means entirely or wholly. `Kritam’ means created. When Sanskrit is used in the scriptures, the sound vibrations of each letter are created to have an effect on a person’s conscience. Sanskrit mantras are made with a combination of sound vibrations. When these mantras are recited, they have a particular effect on the mind and the psyche of a person. Sanskrit script has retained its purity. The structure and vocabulary have remained unadulterated over thousands of years of existence. Grammar Sanskrit’s grammar is regulated and is exact. Sage Panini’s Sanskrit grammar called `Astadhyayi’ was written over two thousand five hundred years ago. It gives us the details of how the language is structured and forms the basis for all modern grammar. Sanskrit has a very rich grammatical structure and a huge vocabulary. There are fifty one aksharas or letters. The aksharas retain their sound as an aspect of non destruction in the phonetic characteristics of the language. The aksharas retain their individual meanings in composed words. The basic unit is a word root. Words are derivatives. All roots are verbs. There is no real concept of proper nouns. All words are complete verbs and they do not depend on adjacent words for their meaning. It is the words in the sentence that will matter and not their order. These are the main reasons why Sanskrit is such a structured language. Linguists describe Sanskrit’s grammar as entirely context-free. Non-terminals can be rewritten without any regard to the context in which they occur. This structure was described in four thousand sutras by Panini. He is considered to be the father not only of Sanskrit grammar but also of computing machines. Literature As Sanskrit is the language of the Vedic culture, it has brought a treasure of literature and philosophy with it. The outstanding Puranas and the hundred and eight Upanishads are the essence of Vedic philosophy. Sanskrit literature has been around for more than two thousand years. Sanskrit language has a unique structure which is perfect. Many scholars have contributed to Sanskrit literature for thousands of years. Among the famous masterworks of Sanskrit literature are Ramayana written by Valmiki and the Mahabharata written by Vyasa. Mahabharata is one of the prime scriptures and is one of the longest literary epics in the world with over hundred thousand verses. It contains the famous Bhagavad Gita. Other important works are the Panchatantra written by Visnu Sharma, Arthashastra by Chanakya, poems and plays by the great Kalidasa and Surdasa, the Puranas and the Upanishads. There are treatises that are also available on astronomy, astrology and science. One of the oldest literatures in the world, the Vedas and the Puranas are still available in the same form that they have been written in at the beginning. There are many scholars who can interpret them today. Such interpretation comes not only by studying the ancient traditions but also through a steady process of assimilating knowledge from various disciplines by means of Sanskrit. Sanskrit and the Philosophy of Science Today, Sanskrit can be as modern as any other language. Its grammar is precise and well defined. Many academicians feel that it is the best language for use with computers due to its context-free grammar. The vocabulary of Sanskrit is taken from root syllables and is ideal for labelling new scientific and technological terms. Scientific principles have always been hidden in the verses of the Vedas and the Upanishads. The concepts and the principles that are found in current day astronomy and mathematics were all hidden in the compositions and treatises of many ancient Sanskrit scholars. The precise structure of Sanskrit offers a lot in the area of computational linguistics research. It is unique on account of it being the only known language that has a built-in scheme for pronunciation and grammar. Sanskrit is full of philosophy and theology related issues. There are many words within Sanskrit that convey different meanings of a concept that allows only one interpretation when studied with other languages. The language, therefore, has the ability to offer links between concepts using only the words.

Light of the Stars

This is an extract from the writings of Imam Jafar-as-Sadiq A.S. Imam Ja’far as-Sadiq (a.s.) has said that among the clusters of stars, which we see at night, some are so bright that our sun, in comparison, is quite insignificant. Because of man’s limited knowledge about stars, many people during his time and centuries after him, considered this theory to be illogical, irrational and unacceptable. They could not believe that these small specks of light, which are called stars, can have more light than the light of our big bright sun. About twelve and a half centuries after the death of this great man, it was proved that what he had said was quite correct. It has been discovered that there are stars in the universe, which are billions of times brighter than the sun. They are called quasars. The light of quasars is about quadrillion times (ten thousand billion times) the light of our sun. Some of them are at a distance of about nine thousand million light years away from the earth. The first quasar was discovered in the year 1927. About 200 quasars have been discovered so far. Astronomers need very powerful telescopes to study these wonderful stars. The world’s largest telescopes are not considered powerful enough for studying quasars. Astronomers of the 19th and 20th centuries were not surprised when they discovered giant stars, but when they observed quasars with their telescopes, they held their heads with their hands lest they might lose their senses and go crazy. The discovery of quasars disproved the theory of Einstein that the diameter of the universe is about three billion light years. The distance of nine billion light years is a very great distance and makes one stagger to imagine the vastness of the universe. Light covers a distance of 9,800 billion kilometers per year. We have to multiply this figure with nine billion to find out the distance between the earth and quasars. What has confused and puzzled scientists is the light of quasars. They fail to understand the cause of the power or energy within them which produces such an intense and bright light. Professor Alfven is of the opinion that there is no other source in the universe, which can generate so much energy in quasars, except explosion of matter and anti-matter. If the Russian scientists conduct an experiment and explode helium with anti-helium, mankind would not only have an inexhaustible source of energy, it would most probably solve the mystery of how so much light is produced in quasars.