The Buddha and Dr Führer

Even though the popular version of history says that Siddhartha was born in Lumbini in present day Nepal, there are a bunch of folks from Orissa who want to prove that the Buddha was born in Kapileshwar village in Orissa. This version is not just a emotional outburst of some fanatics, but of some archaeological experts. This is based on an Asokan inscription which is believed to be a fake.
This search for Buddha’s birth place has quite a history; Rohan L. Jayetilleke’s lengthy article gives a good summary of current research. One interesting tale seems to be the discovery a stone coffer found in 1898 by the British planter named William Peppé. The documentation on the rim said that it belonged to Buddha and was burried by the Sakya clan. Charles Allen has a new book,The Buddha and Dr Fuhrer: An Archaeological Scandal, which tells the story of this discovery.

A comprehensive final chapter assesses the validity of the Peppé dig using carbon dating. In dealing with recent discoveries in the region, and with modern interpretations of the evidence, Allen covers the grim, yet hilarious battle, between India and Nepal over the true location of the Buddha’s birthplace. Unlike the respective tourist boards, he concludes that we don’t yet know where exactly the Buddha was born and raised, though Allen favours the Nepalese claim that the ruins of Tilaurakot by the river Banganga are the site of Kapilavastu. And he vouches for the authenticity of Peppé’s discoveries.[The Buddha and Dr Führer]

A Brief History of Roma People

Vincent van Gogh: The Caravans – Gypsy Camp near Arles (1888, Oil on canvas)

We know that the Roma originally migrated out of India. But what migration path did they follow? Also, where exactly did they originate from India?. A new study looks at maternal DNA to trace the Roma history and has some answers. This is particularly important because the Roma don’t have a reliable history and we all know how the Enlightened Europeans treated them.

The new study is mostly about what contributed to the heterogeneity of the Roma groups. What is of interest to us is that they left India about a 1000 to 1500 years back and went through Persia and Greece to reach the Balkans. By the 14th century, various Roma groups established themselves in the Balkan Peninsula and within a century they reached the periphery of Europe. When Christopher Columbus and Vasco da Gama set out on their famous voyages, the Roma were present in Spain and Portugal.

Investigating their Indian origins, the study found that the Roma originated mostly in North-Western India and a bit from East India. Among the North-Western states, Punjab is the most probable homeland for the Roma, thus creating a new market for Yash Raj films.

References:

Isabel Mendizabal et al., Reconstructing the Indian Origin and Dispersal of the European Roma: A Maternal Genetic Perspective,PLoS ONE 6, no. 1 (January 10, 2011): e15988.

Optical Illusions

You must have seen these images, typically used for displaying optical illusions. For example, in the first image, do you see a duck or a rabbit? In the second image, do you see an old woman or young woman? Now National Geographic has reported on one of the oldest such illusions which comes from a Paleolithic cave in France.

In a particularly striking example, a small figurine has been given the details of a bison on one side and those of a mammoth on the other. The Paleolithic artist was clearly playing with the similar contours of the two animals and creating a single object that could be flipped to represent one species or the other.[World’s Oldest Optical Illusion Found? ]

You can see the image here. This prompted Ravages to sent the following photo, found in temples in Tamil Nadu. Do you see a bull or an elephant?

Briefly Noted: Nanook of the North (1922)

In 1910, Robert Flaherty was hired by William Mackenzie, a Canadian railway entrepreneur, to prospect in the area east of Hudson Bay (Canada) for railway and mineral potential. He made four lengthy expeditions and came into contact with the Inuit people who lived in that frigid and extreme climate. During one of his expeditions, he bought a movie camera along and made a documentary — a genre which did not exist — about their lives and survival techniques. That film called the Nanook of the North was released in 1922.
The movie follows an Inuit family — husband, wife, kids, dogs — as they go about their lives foraging for food. For them, food is the primary concern and they go wherever food is available. Sometimes they find a region with lot of fish; sometimes there is a walrus or a huge seal. Since the game is unpredictable, the entire family is on the move. Once they make the kill, they eat, feed the dogs, build an igloo and spend the night. The next day, the nomadic routine starts all over again.
While we see snowy white all over, the Inuit sees the landscape differently. He for example knows exactly where the fox trap is. Without such intimate knowledge of the land, there is no chance of survival. There are other strategies to survive too. In an area, the size of UK, there are 300 Inuits, but no one lives alone. They live as a group with total co-operation. At the same time, the group cannot be very large. With small groups, a small amount of food — a walrus or seal — is sufficient. Also, small groups don’t finish off all the available resources.
Since they are constantly mobile, they don’t carry unwanted luggage, but just what is hard to replace or time consuming to make (e.g. tools). It is an amazing scene as they settle for the night. It takes the Inuit an hour to build an igloo, complete with a window. They undress and use their dress as the mattress and blanket. The dogs stay outside and pups stay in a small igloo. The next day, they just walk away from the igloo like any modern American householder who has put 0% down payment on his house.
This black and white silent movie with English intertitles is not very authentic in some places. The family shown in the movie was not a family, but just a photogenic cast. The Inuits had started using rifles and Western wear by this time. Some hunting scenes were staged. Despite this, the movie is interesting for one reason. Agriculture has been around for only 10,000 years; 99% of human history was spent as foragers. Now that our supermarkets offer potato chips with varying levels of cholesterol, it is interesting to see how people lived without agriculture, how they killed fish by biting off its head and how they lived eating raw walrus meat.
References:

Lecture 10, 11 & 12 of MMW1 by Prof. Tara Carter, UCSD.
Image via Wikipedia

Understanding American Civil War

On November 6, 1860, Abraham Lincoln, one of the most obscure candidates, was elected as the sixteenth president of the United States and Keziah Goodwyn Hopkins, a slave owner in Columbia, SC was worried. Very worried. In her diary she wrote.

I have never been opposed to giveing up slavery if we could send them out of our country — I have often wished I had been born in just such a country — with all our religious previleges & liberties with none of them in our midst — if the North had let us alone — the Master & the servant were happy with out advantages — but we had had vile wretches ever making the restless worse than they would have been & from my experience my own negroes are as happy as I am: [A Slaveholder’s Diary]

If you have not educated yourselves about the American Civil War by watching Ken Burns’ excellent series, then you can follow the events of the war by subscribing to the Disunion blog. The latest entry describes the events of Nov 16-22 when Georgians were deciding the course of action.
In other civil war related news, Steven Spielberg’s Lincoln movie now has a start date and Daniel Day-Lewis is starring as the President.

Native Civilizations of the Americas

In 1700s India was one of the richest nations in the world, but after two centuries of British rule it became one of the poorest. In the 16th century, when Hernán Cortés went to loot Mexico, he was stunned by the beauty of the Aztec capital Tenochtitlan. Three centuries later Charles Darwin went that way and found “the most miserable wretches on the face of the earth.” Yes, colonialism was indeed a powerful mechanism.

Post-colonial World History eventually became the history of the Western world; India or Mexico were primitive exotic lands which did not deserve to be mentioned. The engineering, farming and scientific skills of the ancient American civilizations are now slowly getting the attention it deserves, writes Colin McEwan.

By taming the steep mountain slopes, the Incas turned a previously unexploited eco-niche between the lower valleys and the high puna grassland into immensely productive agricultural terrain. Their mastery of the pragmatic demands of water management and irrigation technology blended a consummate knowledge of the landscape with an unrivalled aesthetic sensibility. The sweeping grandeur of these terraces at Pisac, Moray and Ollantaytambo still takes the breath away. [The Americas: The old New World]

The Zheng He Coin

China’s role in Africa — the infrastructure projects in East Africa, investments in Sudan’s oil industry, mining contracts with various nations — is getting lot of attention these days. Now China is being accused of colonization and all the evils associated with Western powers.
The Chinese presence in Africa is not new; it is at least six centuries old. Zhu Di, the third Ming emperor sent a fleet of ships under the command of Zheng He in 1405 CE.There were 317 ships of which 60 were the large junks. These treasure ships which held lacquers, porcelain, and silks carried a total of 27,000 men which included soldiers, carpenters, physicians, astrologers, cartographers and interpreters. Columbus, Vasco da Gama, Magellan or Francis Drake would never command such a fleet nor as many men.
Under Zheng He’s leadership, the fleet made seven voyages trading, transporting ambassadors and establishing Chinese colonies. Three of those were to India, one to the Persian Gulf and three to the Swahili Coast.

Now, besides doctors, diplomats and businessmen, China has also sent archaeologists to Africa and they have found a brass coin with a square hole near Malindi in Kenya (see video). This coin was minted between 1403 and 1424 and could have reached Africa through Zheng He’s fleet.

First, ancient texts told of Zheng He’s visit to the Sultan of Malindi – the most powerful coastal ruler of the time. But they also mentioned that Malindi was by a river mouth; something that the present town of Malindi doesn’t have, but that Mambrui does.
The old cemetery in Mambrui also has a famous circular tomb-stone embedded with 400-year-old Chinese porcelain bowls hinting at the region’s long-standing relationship with the East.
In the broad L-shaped trench that the team dug on the edge of the cemetery, they began finding what they were looking for.
First, they uncovered the remains of an iron smelter and iron slag.
Then, Mohamed Mchuria, a coastal archaeologist from the National Museums of Kenya, unearthed a stunning fragment of porcelain that Prof Qin believes came from a famous kiln called Long Quan that made porcelain exclusively for the royal family in the early Ming Dynasty.[Could a rusty coin re-write Chinese-African history]

Also read: Chinese Power in Indian Ocean

Roma: Persecuted for a Millennia

European Parliament asked France to reconsider expelling the Romas. France said they will not stop. The European Parliament is unhappy. Now it looks like that politics is not paying off for President Sarkozy. But it is not just in France.

Roma from East Europe and the Balkans are leaving their countries as a result of the persecution that is so virulent there that it has caused death and destruction of settlements not unlike pogroms of centuries past. For example, in Cluj, a university city in Romania’s multi- ethnic Transylvania region, a large Roma settlement is being displaced and moved into a more remote and environmentally marginal area. The Roma have not been given any recourse. They appear not to have any civil rights. Roma have been attacked in Hungary, the Czech Republic, and the Slovak Republic. These attacks include fire bombings, shootings, stabbings, beatings and murders. [Roma: Not all alike]

But who are these Roma people and how did they end up in Europe? Subash Kak’s The Roma and the Persistence of Memory gives their history and the persecution they suffered in Europe.

It is estimated that over a million Roma were murdered from 1935 to the end of World War II. After the war, the Roma received little, if any, reparations from any government for their losses and suffering. Not a single Rom was called to testify at the Nuremberg Trials, or has been to any of the subsequent war crime tribunals. Until the 1970s, many Nazi-era laws remained on the books. In 1982, the German government was one of the first (and few) to belatedly recognize the atrocities committed against Romani people during World
The Roma have survived in the most difficult situation and for this they deserve to be saluted by all. They have also given a lot to Europe–music, dance, arts and crafts, and shown an indomitable will to survive.[The Roma and the Persistence of Memory]

The Criminals who destroyed Easter Island

In an insightful post on why he travels to Mexico, Peru and Bolivia, Hari Jagannathan Balasubramanian writes about the intentional assault on local civilizations by Europeans.

While the predominantly tribal societies of North America had been conquered by European Protestants, the massive empires of the Central and South had been downed by a band of daring conquistadors from Catholic Spain. The Caribbean natives faded in the decades after Columbus’ arrival; Argentina’s natives were exterminated in the eighteenth century. But in Mexico and the Andean nations (Peru, Ecuador, Bolivia) the descendants of the Aztecs, the Mayans, the Incas (and many other indigenous groups) are still there. The conquests were no less devastating, but a forcibly imposed Catholicism had brought Indians into its fold, even as it erased earlier beliefs.
The arrival of the Europeans to America was a Black Swan – an unprecedented event that had a massive impact. No one could have predicted the consequences. Millions of American Indians died, either due to disease or conquest, and the Americas (especially North America) lost their voice and culture. Europe and Asia benefited immensely from the crops and foods domesticated in the Americas (corn, tomatoes, potatoes, chilies to name a few). Europeans found a new place to emigrate to – for them it was a positive Black Swan that unleashed new energies. [The motivation behind the travel]

In the case of Easter Island, locals and rats were blamed for the decline and Western missionaries and invaders were absolved. Now it turns out that Western missionaries and invaders indeed are to be blamed for eradicating a culture.

Archaeological evidence supporting a theory of pre-European internal-collapse is thin on the ground. “Rather than a story of self-inflicted deprivation, I agree with the view that substantial blame has to rest with Western contact,” said Dr Croucher. “Visitors brought disease, pests and slavery, resulting in the tragic demise of the local population and culture.” [Easter Island Was Devastated by Western Invaders and Not Internal Conflict]

The missionaries converted the remaining population to Christianity, encouraging them to abandon their traditional beliefs. Even then, several hundred inhabitants were driven off the island to work on sugar plantations in Tahiti. By 1877, a population of just 110 people was recorded. [Outsiders blamed for Easter Island’s historic demise]

Who wrote the Dead Sea Scrolls?

Ever since they were discovered in the caves of Qumran, the unanswered question has been: who wrote the Dead Sea Scrolls. There have been many theories though. It was widely believed to have been written by a messianic Jewish sect called the Essenes who moved to Qumran to escape Roman persecution. Then last year one scholar suggested that there were no Essenes; the Essenes were a fabrication by the 1st century historian Flavius Josephus. According to the new theory the scrolls were written by Sadducees, a sect descending from the high priest Zadok.

The Dead Sea Scrolls are important because they are the oldest known copies biblical manuscripts we have. They are important because they demonstrate the length Jews were willing to go to protect what they considered Scripture. The scrolls are important because while they have nothing whatsoever to do with Christianity (i.e., nothing to do with John the Baptist, James the brother of Jesus, Jesus, or the early Christian community), they demonstrate that the Christians were not the only Jewish sect reinterpreting Hebrew scripture and applying it toward their leader (the “Teacher of Righteousness” as opposed to Jesus), awaiting a Messiah (actually, two Messiahs were expected at Qumran as opposed to only one (Jesus) in Christianity), engaging in ritual purification (cf. baptism in Christianity), holding property in common (cf. Acts 2:44-45), and awaiting a final, apocalyptic battle (cf. the War Scroll at Qumran and the New Testament book of Revelation).[Writing the Dead Sea Scrolls Airs on National Geographic Channel: Some Reflections]

Yesterday National Geographic had a special (video) on this topic which brings new answers.

But new research suggests many of the Dead Sea Scrolls originated elsewhere and were written by multiple Jewish groups, some fleeing the circa-A.D. 70 Roman siege that destroyed the legendary Temple in Jerusalem.
According to an emerging theory, the Essenes may have actually been Jerusalem Temple priests who went into self-imposed exile in the second century B.C., after kings unlawfully assumed the role of high priest.
This group of rebel priests may have escaped to Qumran to worship God in their own way. While there, they may have written some of the texts that would come to be known as the Dead Sea Scrolls.
Many modern archaeologists such as Cargill believe the Essenes authored some, but not all, of the Dead Sea Scrolls.[Dead Sea Scrolls Mystery Solved?]