Indian History Carnival – 23

The Indian History Carnival, published on the 15th of every month, is a collection of posts related to Indian history and archaeology.

1. According to linguists, languages like Sanskrit and German are derived from proto-Indo-European and hence share similarities. An important concept in linguistics is laryngeals, which no one knows how to pronounce. In a post Jesús Sanchis says

The results are as follows: 66% of the recontructed verbs are based on words found in only one or two of the IE branches; only 34 % are attested in three or more branches. On the other hand, it is supposed that the laws governing phonetic change in IE, e.g. Grimm’s Law, should be a useful tool to determine these reconstructions. However, these laws are usually modified with a series of secondary laws or refinements, so that there is always some kind of intricately designed new parameter to explain any apparent deviation from the norm. Marcantonio has clearly shown that, when you have a PIE verbal root with forms attested in many IE branches, a high number of laws is needed to account for the whole set. In some cases, the number of rules equals the number of laws. This is how the corpus of PIE reconstructions has grown in the last 150 years: by a cumulative amount of laws, many of them designed ‘ad hoc’. What is the use of a law, e.g. Grimm’s Law, if it is immediately followed by new laws, e.g. Verner’s, to make it tenable? Marcantonio sees the adjustable parameters of PIE laws as an indication of circularity.

2. Prof. Wendy Doniger, of the RISA Lila Fame (1,2), has  a new book The Hindus : An Alternative History, in which she states that Aryans were cattle thieves. Lekhni asks

I am baffled as to why Wendy, who holds a doctorate in Sanskrit, first chooses to take the literal meaning when she must surely understand the symbolism involved, and second, why she does not even mention the alternate interpretation of the text that many historians believe.

3. Balaji did a sojourn in the Chalukyan territory

The year was AD 750. Chalukyan King Vikramaditya II and his Queen Lokadevi are visiting Pattada Kallu. Master Sculptors Anivaritha Gunda and Sarvasidhi Achari are showing off their spectacular creations to the royal couple. I can imagine the pride, happiness and gaiety that must have been in the air.

4. The Persian Sufi mystic Mansur al-Hallaj  was tortured and publicly crucified on March 26, 922 CE for proclaiming that he was God. At Jahane Rumi, Akhilesh Mittal writes

Restless in his quest for Truth Hussaiyn bin Mansour Al Hallaj set forth on his journey to India in 284 Al Hijri when he was forty years old. He returned after visiting Mansoura and Multan. As Adi Shankara had already pronounced his ‘Aham Brahmaasmi’ by this time is it possible that its Arabic echo ‘Ana’l Huqq’ arose out of the Indian experience of Al Hussaiyn?

5. Near the town of Chamba in Himachal Pradesh lies the city of the Varman kings. Feanor writes about a temple complex from that period which has survived to this day.

The intricately wrought temples in the region are reminiscent of the craft of the Gupta period, and this is not surprising. Throughout the north of India flowed ideas and techniques informing the art and architecture of Ellora and Aurangabad and Bilaspur and Sirpur. It is conjectured that itinerant sthapatis roved from town to town, sharing their knowledge and constructing temples in a singular mode.

6. While the modern Malayali is against globalization, it was not always so, writes Calicut Heritage.

The Zamorin not only encouraged the Pardesi traders to settle down but even provided them secretarial and other assistance, much like the government’s current policy of encouraging Special Economic Zones (SEZ) as enclaves of foreign capital operating under a different set of laws and protected from local threats.

7. The Malayalam movie Pazhassi Raja, based on the true life story of a prince who fought against the British from 1795 is in theaters. The man who captured Pazhassi Raja was Thomas Baber, who also was blogger Nick Balmer’s great great great great uncle. He has a series of posts about that period: A brief history of the Pazhassi Raja, Thomas Baber’s account of the death of the Pazhassi Rajah, Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4. Murali writes about Pazhassi Raja based on the journal of Lachlan Macquarie (1761–1824) who participated in one of the battles.
8. Short Posts: (1) When did China first invade India? (2) Anti-Apostacy Law by the State of Bhopal, 1920

If you find any posts related to Indian history published in the past one month, please send it to jk AT varnam DOT org or send a tweet to @varnam_blog. The next carnival will be up on Dec 15th.