% % That _all_ categories are merely learnt cultural artifacts - Intuitively % rejectable. Colours: reality as a continuum - is self-evident. % % human visual system: discriminates 7.5 mn colours % % [Bloomfield 1933]: Colour-names of different languages do not embrace the % same gradations... % % --Structuralist view of word meaning-- % % - Language as an autonomous, self-contained system (structure): "La Langue et % us syst\`eme dont tous les termes sont solidaires et o\`u la valeur de l'un % ne r\'esulte que de la pr\'esence simultan\'ee des autres" - [Saussure % (1916/1964, 159] % % - concepts are purely differential: "non pas positivement par leur contenu, % mais negativement par leurs rapports avec les autres termes du systeme" % [p.162; not positively, in terms of their content, but negatively by % contrast with other terms in the same system (tr. Harris 83)] % % COLOUR : structuralist view: % % - all colour terms have equal status. Frequencies can vary, but since they % are all defined w.r.t. the entire system % - all referents of the term have euqal status. Two colours categorized as % red - no sense in saying one is redder than the other. % - only object of linguistic study is the system, not indiv terms. % % --Colour cognitiion: Berlin and Kay 1969-- % % Ninety-Eight languages surveyed, based on speakers % % BASIC COLOUR TERMS: % - are not subsumed by other terms - e.g. crimson and scarlet are varieties of % red % - are morphologically simple. bluish, golden etc excluded % - not collocationally restricted, e.g. "blond" - used only hair % - are of frequent use (exclude "puce" or "xanthic") % % Claims: % % 1. FOCAL COLOURS: % when people across cultures are asked to pick good exemplars of the basic % colour terms, cross-linguistic variation largely disappears. Although % range of colours differ for what is "red", a "good red" is largely the % same. % % [By and large substantiated, though Russian appears to have twelve % focal colours, etc. ] % % 2. IMPLICATIONAL HIERARCHY: (more controversial) % All the 98 languages appear to select basic colour terms from an inventory % of 11 colours. If a lang has only two colour terms (no lang has fewer % than two), then these will be focal black and focal white. If there is a % third term, it will always be red. The fourth term will be yellow or % green. etc. : % % black yellow grey, orange, % white < red < green < blue < brown < purple, pink % % i.e. if a term exists for a colour to the right, then it exists for all % colours to its left. % % Only terms to the left undergo productive derivation (blacken, whiten, % redden, but *bluen, yellowen); similarly -ness is less likely to the right - % blueness, but *purpleness, *orangeness. % Frequency: black, white, red, brown, blue, green, grey, yellow, pink, orange, % purple % % Controversy: For 20 of the languages, the speakers were in the San F area, % and all bilingual. Remaining 78 are even more suspect - mostly from % dictionaries, some of them anthropologists' reports dating back to the 19th c. % % ElEANOR ROSCH / (after-marriage HEIDER) % % [Heider 72] : Four experiments: % % 1. prototypical colours ( centers ) are stable across languages (e.g. "good % red"). % * 2. focal colours are faster in naming experiments % ==> suggest that focal colours have greater perceptual an cognitive % salience % % speed with which colour is named: % fastest: Black - then yellow, white, purple, blue, red, pink, brown, green, % and orange. --> not related to Implicational hierarchy. % % Some langs without sep colours for blue/green may have others to the right - % e.g. Tsonga has a grey [7 basic colours - 1. ntima: black, 2. rikuma:white, % 3. basa:white-beige, 4. tshwuka:red-pink-purple, 5. xitshopana:yellow-orange, % 6. rihlaza:green-blue, 7. ribungu:dark-brown-dull-yellow-brown]. Zulu, like % most Bantu lgs, does not distinguish blue/green - but has a term for focal % brown. % % Terms for green-blue (Kay/MacDaniel call it grue) - are bifocal - ie. they % have both to focal blue and focal green, rather than just one focal colour. % % 3. Dani/English experiment % % 20 speakers of English, and 20 of Dani (Papua/NG lg, with only two colour % terms, mola = focal white + warm colours (red, orange, yellow, pink, purple), % and mili = focal black + cool colours (blue, green). % % Task: shown a colour sample for 5 seconds. After 30 secs, have to identify % the colour from a colour array. % % Results: Engl speakers could recog colours more accurately than the Dani. % However, for the focal colours, Dani performed better than for non-focal. % This latter is unlikely to arise due to linguistic effects. % % 4. Expt 4: long term trainability. When taught to recog colours, Dani were % more adept at learning focal colours. % % Also [Heider 71] - % - 3/4 year-olds were better at matching focal colours than non-focal % - 3-year olds without the full range of colour vocab - were % more attentive to focal than to non-focal colours; and also % % PHYSIOLOGY OF VISION % beyond the RGB cones of retina, colour vision propagates as: % green/red and yellow-blue --> excite complimentary neural structures. % Along with black/white - these may be more primitive than orange, purple, % etc. % % [The evolutionary history of human colour vision is that the red-green % separation was the result of a fairly recent mutation. That is why % the red and green wavelenghts differ by about 0.1 octave out of the % entire visible range of 1 octave). - (Robert Pollack: % % colour terms - often originate in natural objects - e.g. orange, pink, % violet, burgundy, lime. % % -- % % IMPURITY OF LANGUAGES: The actual systems called 'languages' in ordinary % discourse are undoubtedly not 'languages' in the sense of our % idealizations... [They] might ... be 'impure' in the sense that they % incorporate elements derived by facilities other than the language % faculty. - Chomsky 80, p.28 % % Cog grammar view % % Can we treat language as an independent subject of study? Is there a % legitimate science of words alone, or phonetics, grammar, and % lexicography? Or must all study of speaking lead to the treatment of % linguistics as a branch of the general science of culture? [Malinowsky % 1937:172] % % [Rudzka-Ostyn 88, Topics in Cog Ling, Benjamin, Amsterdam] - four chapters % contributed by Langacker - offer an accessible intro to his ling theory. % % -- Ch 3 Prototype 1-- % % Classical models not enough: Wittgenstein % % Labov: cups vs bowls - attributes are not discrete. Even whether it has a % handle or not can be thought of as a matter of degree - from a full-fledged % loop to a little stub. % % [ROSCH 75] cog rep of sem cats, J Exp Psyc 104:192-233 % To what extent, on a scale of 1 to 7, would the following be regarded as a good % example of the category "furniture"? % % Rank % 1.5 chair % 1.5 sofa % 3.5 couch % 3.5 table % 5 easy chair % 6 dresser % 6 rocking chair % 8 coffee table % 9 rocker % 10 love seat % 11 chest of drawers % 12 desk % 13 bed % .. % 22 bookcase % 27 cabinet % 29 bench % 31 lamp % 32 stool % 35 piano % 41 mirror % 42 tv % 44 shelf % 45 rug % 46 pillow % 47 wastebasket % 49 sewing machine % 50 stove % 54 refrigerator % 60 telephone % % No difference between natural kind categories (bird) and artefacts (toy, % vehicle). Also diff to define a set of features, even for the top % 30 members... % % Psych: % Degree of membership affects responses to qs like "an X is a Y' - quicker on % "robin is a bird" than for duck. % % Priming: when primed with the superordinate category the better exemplars are % activated. e.g. subject has to identify if two words are the same or not. % Before flashing chair-chair, if "furniture" is flashed, it is quicker, than, % e.g. stove-stove. % % When asked to name a few exemplars, the more highly ranked items come up. % Prototype effects also for abstracts: to what degree is this narrative % an instance of telling a lie? [Coleman/Kay:1981], verbs like look, % kill, speak, walk [Pulman:83], adjs like "tall" [Dirven/Taylor:88]. % % ==Hierarchies== % % Basic level category. What is the object I am sitting on? "A chair". % Not a "furniture". Draw a furniture - not possible. chair is % countable, monomorphemic. subordinates - "desk chair" often composed % with this word, % superordinates often strange, e.g. "*a furniture", "*furnitures". % % In German superordinate terms Tier (animal), obst (fruit), gem\"use % (vegetable), and metalal are all neuter, while specific animals etc % are generally masc or fem. % % Pulman: verbs: categories - % % Do - cause - kill - murder % make cook execute % become boil assassinate % % -----------------------------> degree of specificity % % artefact - furniture - chair - dining chair % tool table dentist chair % dwelling place bed kitchen chair % % attribute discrete-feature systems fail to capture the notion of a % privileged level in the hierarchy. % % why basic level? because they cut up the perception world into % maximally informative categories. They % - maximize the num of attributes shared by members of the cat % - minimize the num of attribs shared with other cats % % --Basic level concepts-- % (Ungerer 1994: 194) % % * commonly expressed by words which have a simple % morphological form, which first come to mind and which are first learned by % children (such as dog); % * basic level concepts have a large number of attributes which are shared by % category members (e.g. by various types of dog) and are at the same time % distinct from attributes of other basic level concepts (e.g. 'elephant' and % 'bird'); % * basic level concepts are the prime examples of the prototype-cum-periphery % structure, i.e. they comprise good and bad examples, with the prototype % functioning as a model for the categorization of the other category % members; % * members of basic level concepts (e.g. all kinds of dogs) have a % characteristic overall shape that is readily identified as such; this seems % to favour holistic (or gestalt) perception; % * basic level concepts refer to objects and organisms which stimulate typical % actions or motor movements (chairs are connected with the action of sitting % down, etc). chaTTopAdhyAy, bIthi; pUrbapallIr rAtribAs nAndImukh saMsad 2004 +POETRY BENGALI % % pUrbapallIr rAtribAs p. 8 % % pUrbapallIte AmAr chhoTo bARi % tomAke niye Ami pAliyechhi, % tomAke niye Ami jhaR o bidyute % sei Je ekrAt kATiyechhi... % se rAte nA paReo jAnA hala % puroTA freud Ar vAtsAyan. * se rAte bujhlAm tomAr sharIrei % lukiye thAke roj AmAr man. % AMAr man mAne, oShTha-adharer % madhur byAthAtur omnibus. % lukiye chupichupi pUrbapallIte % anaitikbhAbe rAtribAs. bandyopadhyAy, ananyA; bhAlabAsAr belA abelA nAth publishing 2002, kolkAtA +POETRY BENGALI % % prem p.8 % * se bhAbe bale ni keu prem % se bhAbe DAke ni kono jal % Ami baye Jete pAri Jata % tumio dekhAbe atal Aslam, Nadeem; Maps for lost lovers Faber 2004, 379 pages ISBN 0571221831 +FICTION DIASPORA UK SOUTH-ASIA Bishop, Christopher M.; Neural Networks for Pattern Recognition Oxford University Press, 2005, 482 pages ISBN 0198538642, 9780198538646 +MACHINE-LEARNING NEURAL-NETS COMPUTER % Bishop, Christopher M.; Pattern Recognition and Machine Learning Springer, 2006, 738 pages ISBN 0387310738, 9780387310732 +MACHINE-LEARNING NEURAL-NETS COMPUTER % Meir, Golda [Golda Mabovitz Meir, 1898-1978]; My Life Putnam, 1975, 480 pages ISBN 0399116699, 9780399116698 +AUTOBIOGRAPHY ISRAEL HISTORY McGilvray, James Alasdair; The Cambridge companion to Chomsky Cambridge University Press, 2005, 335 pages ISBN 052178431X, 9780521784313 +LINGUISTICS CHOMSKY ANTHOLOGY ESSAYS James, Edward (ed.); Farah Mendlesohn (ed.); The Cambridge Companion to Science Fiction Cambridge University Press, 2003, 295 pages ISBN 0521016576, 9780521016575 +SCIENCE-FICTION CRITIC % Gross, John J.; The new Oxford book of literary anecdotes Oxford University Press, 2006, 385 pages ISBN 0192804685, 9780192804686 +LITERATURE BIOGRAPHY CRITIC % The dictionary defines an anecdote as "a short account of an entertaining or % interesting incident," and the anecdotes in this collection more than live up % to that description. Many of them offer revealing insights into writers' % personalities, their frailties and insecurities. Some of the anecdotes are % funny, often explosively so, while others are touching, sinister, or downright % weird. They show writers in the English-speaking world from Chaucer to the % present acting both unpredictably, and deeply in character. % % The range is wide -- this is a book that finds room for anecdotes about Milton % and Margaret Atwood, George Eliot and Salman Rushdie, Chinua Achebe and Bob % Dylan, Harriet Beecher Stowe and Wittgenstein. The authors of the anecdotes % are equally diverse, from the diarists John Aubrey, John Evelyn and James % Boswell to fellow writers such as W. H. Auden, Harriet Martineau, Walter % Scott, Evelyn Waugh, and Vanessa Bell. % % It is also a book in which you can find out % - which great historian's face was once mistaken for a baby's bottom, % - which film star left a haunting account of Virginia Woolf not long % before her death, and * - what Agatha Christie really thought of Hercule Poirot. % The New Oxford Book of Literary Anecdotes is a book % not just for lovers of literature, but for anyone with a taste for the % curiosities of human nature. Gutting, Gary (ed.); The Cambridge companion to Foucault Cambridge University Press, 1994, 360 pages ISBN 0521408873, 9780521408875 +PHILOSOPHY BIOGRAPHY FOUCAULT ANTHOLOGY Martin, Michael (ed.); The Cambridge Companion to Atheism Cambridge University Press, 2007, 352 pages ISBN 0521842700, 9780521842709 +RELIGION PHILOSOPHY ANTHOLOGY % % A exclusively western treatment; considers Jainism, Buddhism and % Confucianism only in the context of whether these religions, all of which % reject a notion of a personal god, may be considered to be atheistic. "The % concept of atheism was developed historically in the context of Western % monotheistic religions, and it still has its clearest application in this % area." % % --What is atheism?-- % Positive atheism: belief there is no God % Negative atheism: no belief that there is God. % Agnosticism, the position of neither believing nor disbelieving that God % exists, is compatible with negative atheism in that agnosticism entails % negative atheism. % % Theism: that there is a personal God who takes an active interest in the % world and who has given a special revelation to humans. % % polytheism, the belief in more than one God, % pantheism, the belief that God is identical with nature % % Deism, belief in a God that is based not on revelation but on evidence % from nature. The God assumed by deists is usually considered to be remote % from the world and not intimately involved with its concerns. % % --Is Jainism atheistic?-- % Michael Martin, in Chapter 13, "Atheism and Religion", considers the question % of Jainism, Buddhism and Confucianism: % % Disagreement on whether Jainism is an atheistic religion: % % E. Royston Pike asserts: “Jain theology does not exist, since Jainism is % completely atheistic. God, spirits, demons – all are equally rejected; the % only supernatural beings are the Tirthankaras, who are good men made % perfect.”13 % Herbert Stroup: “Original Jainism had no teachings regarding the existence % of God, whether the deity be conceived as personal, transpersonal or % impersonal. Mahavira rejected the polytheistic beliefs of Vedic and % Brahmanic Hinduism, a rejection apparently based on the conviction that the % gods are superfluous.”14 % % On the other hand, % % J. Jaini: Jainism “is accused of being atheistic. This is not so, because % Jainism believes in Godhood and in innumerable gods; but certainly Jainism % is atheistic in not believing its gods to have created the Universe.”15 % S. Gopalan, in turn, says that “to categorically dub Jainism as atheistic % is both unwarranted and unphilosophical, for we find in Jainism only the % rejection of a ‘supremely personal god’ and not godhead itself.”16 % % Gopalan: in Jainism “there is a deep analysis of the concept of God as the % Supreme Cause of the Universe and a systematic refutation of the arguments % of the philosophers who have sought to prove the existence of God.”17 % Gopalan argues that the term “god” in Jainism is “used to denote a higher % state of existence of the jiva or the conscious principle. The system % believes that this state of godly existence is only a shade better than % that of ordinary human beings, for, it is not free from the cycle of birth % and death.”18 Thus a god can ascend to the highest spiritual plane and % become a Tirthankara who is free from the cycle of birth and death or % descend to earth if he exhausts his good karma. Gopalan points out that % even the Tirthankaras, the perfected beings of Jainism, “have cut % themselves away from the world of life and death (samsara) and so, by % hypothesis, cannot exert any influence over it. Hence, the function of a % Supreme Ruler, Creator and Regulator cannot be attributed to them.”19 Thus, % one could say that the gods of Jainism, unlike the gods of Western % religions, operate within the uncreated universe and are no help in our % spiritual salvation, for they too must escape from the cycle of rebirth % through their own efforts. % % Martin: one can say that Jainism is an atheistic religion in the narrow sense % in that it rejects the theistic creator God but not in the broad sense since % it accepts lesser gods who have no spiritual significance. % % Jainist philosophers were vigorous in attacking the arguments used by some % Nyaya philosophers, a school of Hindu philosophers who attempted to prove % various theological propositions by logical reasoning. Indeed, Jainists % philosophers use many of the same arguments that Western philosophers do % against the existence of God. In some instances they have even anticipated % them. Some of these Jainists’s counterarguments are reminiscent of Hume’s % famous rebuttal of the argument from design. Jainist philosophers also ask: % “If every existent object must have a maker, that maker himself would be % explained by another – his maker etc. To escape from this vicious circle we % have to assume that there is one uncaused, self-explaining cause, god. But % then, if it is maintained that one being can be self-subsistent, why not say % that there are many others also who are uncreated and eternal similarly?” % Hence, “it is not necessary to assume the existence of any first cause of the % universe.”20 % % 13. Pike, Encyclopaedia of Religion and Religions, p. 204. % 14. Stroup, Four Religions of Asia, p. 100. % 15. Jagomandar Lal Jaini, Outlines of Jainism (Westport, Conn.: Hyperion Press, % 1982), pp. 4–5. % 16-18,20. Subramania Gopalan, Outlines of Jainism (New York: Halsted Press, 1973), % p. 38. % % 21. Sources for this section include Stroup, Four Religions of Asia, % pp. 115–67; Ninian Smart, “Buddhism,” in Edwards (ed.), Encyclopedia of % Philosophy, vol. 1, pp. 416–20; Karen Christiana Lang, “Unbelief within % Buddhism,” in The Encyclopedia of Unbelief (Buffalo, N.Y.: Prometheus, % 1985), vol. 1, pp. 74–77; and Helmuth von Glasenapp, Buddhism:ANon-Theistic % Religion (New York: George Braziller, 1966). % % --Buddhism-- % % there are two main schools of Buddhism: Mahayana and Hinayana (or % Theravada). The doctrine of Theravada Buddhism (the doctrine of the elders) is % generally believed to represent the original Buddhist teachings, but from % another of the early sects a school developed that gave itself the name of % Mahayana Buddhism (the greater vehicle) and referred to Theravada Buddhism and % related schools as Hinayana Buddhism (the lesser vehicle). % % The religious ideal of Hinayana Buddhism is the arahat, the person who has % achieved nirvana and escaped the cycle of rebirth. In contrast, the religious % ideal of the Mahayana school is the bodhisattva, the person who vows to % postpone entrance into nirvana, although deserving it, until all others become % enlightened and liberated. The term “bodhisattva” is also used to refer to a % class of celestial beings who were worshipped. % % No one disputes that Buddhism in all its forms is a religion, but, as % in the case of Jainism, there is disagreement among religious scholars % over whether Buddhism is atheistic. % What is disputed is whether original Buddhism was atheistic; or, what amounts % to the same thing, whether Theravada Buddhism, which is generally recognized % to be close to the original Buddhism, is atheistic. % % Herbert Stroup tells us that Buddhism “is more accurately described as % atheist than as theist”;23 E. Royston Pike asserts that Buddhism in its % original form maintained no belief in God;24 and Ninian Smart holds that in % Theravada Buddhism, which he considers most likely to represent the basic % teaching of the Buddha, “there is no belief in God, nor even a divine % Absolute.”25 % % This standard interpretation has been challenged, however, by Helmuth von % Glasenapp, who argues that old Buddhist texts “confirm unmistakenly and % authoritatively that since the oldest times Buddhists believed in the % existence of gods (devas)”26; that is, the finite and impermanent gods of the % Hindu religion. However, the power of these gods or devas is limited, von % Glasenapp says, to the fulfillment of worldly petitions: “to create the world, % to change its order, to bestow a good rebirth on a suppliant, or to grant him % liberation, is not within their power.”27 Furthermore, these gods are subject % to birth and death. % % Jamshed K. Fozdar has launched an even more radical challenge to the orthodox % atheistic interpretation of original Buddhism.28 He argues that it is vitally % important to understand Buddhism within the context of the Hindu tradition. So % understood, Buddha was a reformer of the Hindu religion and not a creator of a % new religion. Using textual analysis of Buddhist and Hindu documents, he % argues that Buddha believed not only in devas but in the uncreated, the % unborn, the unoriginated – in short, the absolute of the Hindu religion. % % Fozdar maintains that the absolute or God is the ultimate reality that lies % behind nirvana and the laws of karma. What Buddha was opposed to, he says, was % not belief in God but belief in an anthropomorphic personal God whom one can % understand in human terms and speak about using commonsense notions. In % contrast, the absolute or God for Buddha was beyond all comprehension and % could be understood only in an ineffable mystic state. Thus Fozdar not only % opposes the orthodox atheistic interpretation of Buddhism. He also maintains % that the interpretations by the Buddhist philosophers referred to above who % argue against the absolute or God are based on a misunderstanding of Buddha’s % original teaching. % % 23. Stroup, Four Religions of Asia, p. 158. % 24. Pike, Encyclopaedia of Religion and Religions, p. 71. % 25. Smart, “Buddhism,” p. 417. % 26-27. Helmuth von Glasenapp, Buddhism:ANon-Theistic Religion (New York: George % Braziller, 1966 % 28. Jamshed K. Fozdar, The God of Buddha (New York: Asia Publishing, 1973), % chap.4. % % --GLOSSARY-- % a posteriori argument: an argument based on experience. See also teleological % argument % a priori argument: an argument not based on experience. See also impossibility % argument; ontological argument % Anselmian conception of God: the view attributed to St. Anselm that God is a % being such that no greater being can be conceived % anthropomorphism: the ascription of human traits to God % apostasy: disaffection, defection, alienation, disengagement, or % disaffiliation from a religious group % argument from design. See teleological argument % argument from evil: an argument that purports to show that the existence of % evil is either incompatible with the existence of God or makes God’s % existence improbable. See also problem of evil % argument from indexicals: a type of impossibility argument that maintains % that, although allegedly all-knowing, God cannot have certain knowledge % expressed in indexicals. See also indexical % argument from miracles: an argument that purports to show that the existence % of God is the most plausible explanation of miracles. See also miracle % argument from religious experience: an argument that purports to show that the % existence of God or other supernatural beings provides the best % explaination of religious experience. See also mystical experience; % religious experience % autonomy of ethics: the view that ethics is not based on theology. Cf. divine % command theory. See also ethical naturalism % Big Bang cosmology: a theory that holds that the universe originated % approximately 15 billion years ago from the violent explosion of a very % small agglomeration of matter of extremely high density and temperature. % See also Kalam cosmological argument for atheism; Kalam cosmological % argument for God % cancellation agnosticism: the view that the arguments for and against belief % in God are equally strong and cancel each other out. Cf. skeptical % agnosticism % clairvoyance: the power to see objects or events that cannot be perceived by % the senses. See also paranormal phenomena % cosmological argument: an argument that seeks to give a causal explanation of % why some universe exists % deism: the view that God created the world and then had no further interaction % with it; also, a view of God based on reason and not revelation. % Cf. pantheism; theism % devas: the finite and impermanent gods described by some Eastern religions % divine command theory: the theory that ethical propositions are based on what % God commands. Cf. autonomy of ethics; ethical naturalism. See also % voluntarism % eliminative materialism: the view that despite appearances, there are no % mental entities or processes. Cf. reductive materialism % empiricism: the theory that all knowledge is based on experience. Cf. rationalism % epicureanism: a leading Hellenistic philosophical school that advocated an % atomistic metaphysics and a hedonistic ethics % epistemological naturalism: the thesis that the supernatural lies beyond the % scope of what we can know, hence theology is rejected as a source of % knowledge % epistemology: the theory of knowledge % ethical naturalism: the theory that the ethical properties of situations % depend on the nature of those situations. Cf. divine command theory. See % also autonomy of ethics % Euthyphro problem: a dilemma posed in the Platonic dialogue The Euthyphro and % used as a critique of religiously based ethics. See also autonomy of % ethics; divine command theory; voluntarism % fine-tuning argument: a teleological argument based on the alleged % improbability that the fundamental physical constants in the universe are % compatible with life. See also teleological argument % free-will defense: the response to the argument from evil that evil is the % result of free will and cannot be blamed on God. See also argument from % evil; theodicy % impossibility argument: an a priori argument against the existence of God that % purports to show that the concept of God is inconsistent. See also % argument from indexicals; paradox of the stone % indexical: a type of expression whose meaning varies with the context; e.g., % “I,” “here,” “now.” See also argument from indexicals % intelligent design theory: a theory that does not reject Darwin’s theory % completely but maintains that evolution needs to be explained in terms of % the working out of some intelligent design % Kalam cosmological argument for atheism: an argument that purports to show % that according to the latest scientific cosmology, the origin of the % universe is incompatible with the existence of God. Cf. Kalam cosmological % argument for god % Kalam cosmological argument for God: an argument that maintains that the most % plausible explanation for the universe coming into being is that God % brought it into existence. Cf. Leibniz cosmological argument % knowledge by acquaintance: knowledge based on direct experience. Cf. % propositional knowledge % Leibniz cosmological argument: an argument attributed to Leibniz that the % whole series of contingent beings that make up the universe requires an % external cause that is not contingent but necessary and that this cause is % God % logical positivism: a philosophical movement in Anglo-American philosophy in % the 1930s and ’40s advocating the rejection of metaphysics because it is % unverifiable and hence meaningless. Both belief in God and disbelief in % God are thought to be meaningless. See also metaphysics; negative atheism % metaphysics: the philosophical investigation of the nature, composition, and % structure of ultimate reality % miracle: an event that is not explainable by laws of nature known or % unknown. See also argument from miracles % modus ponens: the argument form: If A, then B; A therefore B % modus tollens: the argument form: If A, then B; not-B therefore not-A % mystical experience: religious experience that transcends ordinary sense % perception and purports to be a direct experience of ultimate reality % naturalism: the view that everything that exists is composed of natural % entities and processes that can in principle be studied by science % naturalized epistemology: an approach that views human beings as natural % entities and uses the methods of science to study epistemological % processes; sometimes considered a branch of cognitive science % negative atheism: absence of belief in any god or gods. More narrowly % conceived, it is the absence of belief in the theistic God. Cf. positive % atheism. See also logical positivism % neo-Darwinian theory: a synthesis of Darwin’s theory and genetic theory % Occam’s razor: a methodological principle advocating simplicity in theory % construction % omnibenevolence: the property attributed to God of being all good % omnipotence: the property attributed to God of being all powerful % omniscience: the property attributed to God of being all knowing % ontological argument: an a priori argument that maintains that God’s existence % is true by definition ontology. See metaphysics % out-of-body experiences: the experience of floating free of one’s body; used % by believers as evidence of an immaterial soul % pantheism: the view that God is identical with nature. Cf. deism; theism % paradox of the stone: if God can make a stone that he cannot lift, he is not % all-powerful; but if he cannot make such a stone, he is also not % all-powerful. See also impossibility argument % paranormal phenomena: phenomena such an ESP, clairvoyance, and psychokinesis % that at the present time are unexplainable in terms of science % physicalism: the claim that minds are not distinct from matter and hence % cannot exist apart from it. See also reductive materialism; supervenience % theory % polytheism: the view that there are many gods % positive atheism: disbelief in any God or gods. More narrowly conceived, it is % disbelief in the theistic God. Cf. negative atheism % postmodernism: a complex set of reactions to modern philosophy and its % assumption that typically opposes foundationalism, fixed binary categories % that describe rigorously separable regions, and essentialism and affirms a % radical and irreducible pluralism % problem of evil: the problem of why there appears to be gratuitous evil % although God is all-powerful and all-good. See also argument from evil % procedural knowledge: knowing how to do something. Cf. knowledge by % acquaintance; propositional knowledge % propositional knowledge: factual knowledge that something is, was, or will be % the case. Cf. knowledge by acquaintance; procedural knowledge % psychokinesis: the ability to affect physical objects without physical contact % by using powers of the mind % rationalism: the theory that reason is the primary source of knowledge. % Cf. empiricism % reductive materialism: the theory that mental states and processes are % identical with brain states and processes. Cf. eliminative materialism; % supervenience theory % religious experience: a wide variety of experiences, such as hearing voices % and having visions, of supernatural beings such as God, angels, and Satan % skeptical agnosticism: the rejection of both belief and disbelief in God % because there are no good arguments for or against such belief. % Cf. cancellation agnosticism % Sophists: a group of itinerant teachers of rhetoric and philosophy in ancient % Greece % supervenience theory: the theory that when a certain physical state obtains, % so does a certain mental state. Cf. eliminative materialism; reductive % materialism % teleological argument: an argument for the existence of God based on the % apparent design and order in the universe. Also called the argument from % design. See also fine-tuning argument. Cf. cosmological argument % theism: belief in an omnipotent, omniscient, omnibenevolent, personal God who % created the universe, takes an active interest in the world, and has given % a special revelation to humans. Cf. deism % theodicy: a theory attempting to explain the problem of evil and answer the % argument from evil. See also argument from evil; free-will defense % verificationism: the theory that the meaning of a statement consists in its % method(s) of verification; usually associated with logical positivism % voluntarism: the view that something’s being good depends on God’s will. See % also Euthyphro problem % % --Contents-- % Contributors page ix % Preface xiii % Glossary xv % General Introduction 1 % Part I Background % 1 Atheism in Antiquity 11 jan n. bremmer % 2 Atheism in Modern History 27 gavin hyman % 3 Atheism: Contemporary Numbers and Patterns 47 phil zuckerman % Part II The Case against Theism % 4 Theistic Critiques of Atheism 69 william lane craig % 5 The Failure of Classical Theistic Arguments 86 richard m. gale % 6 Some Contemporary Theistic Arguments 102 keith parsons % 7 Naturalism and Physicalism 118 evan fales % 8 Atheism and Evolution 135 daniel c. dennett % 9 The Autonomy of Ethics 149 david o. brink % 10 The Argument from Evil 166 andrea m. weisberger % 11 Kalam Cosmological Arguments for Atheism 182 quentin smith % 12 Impossibility Arguments 199 patrick grim % Part III Implications % 13 Atheism and Religion 217 michael martin % 14 Feminism and Atheism 233 christine overall % 15 Atheism and the Freedom of Religion 250 steven g. gey % 16 Atheism, A/theology, and the Postmodern Condition 267 john d. caputo % 17 Anthropological Theories of Religion 283 stewart e. guthrie % 18 Atheists: A Psychological Profile 300 benjamin beit-hallahmi % Index 319 % % blurb: % In this volume, eighteen of the world's leading scholars present original % essays on various aspects of atheism: its history, both ancient and modern, % defense and implications. The topic is examined in terms of its implications % for a wide range of disciplines including philosophy, religion, feminism, % postmodernism, sociology and psychology. In its defense, both classical and % contemporary theistic arguments are criticized, and, the argument from evil, % and impossibility arguments, along with a non religious basis for morality are % defended. These essays give a broad understanding of atheism and a lucid % introduction to this controversial topic. Clark, Andy; Being There: Putting Brain, Body, and World Together Again MIT Press, 1998, 269 pages ISBN 0262531569, 9780262531566 +COGNITIVE BRAIN PSYCHOLOGY PHILOSOPHY % % Well, what do you think you understand with? With your head? Bah! % - Nikos Kazantzakis, Zorba the Greek % Ninety percent of life is just being there. - Woody Allen % % The image of mind as inexorably interowoven with body, world, and action, % already visible in Martin Heidegger's Being and Time (1927), found clear % expression in Maurice Merleau-Ponty's Structure of Behavior (1942). Some of % the central themes are present in the work of Soviet psychologists, esp Lev % Vygotsky ... [Winograd and Flores 1987] ... The embodied mind [Varela etal % 1991] is among the immediate % roots of several of the trends identified here. % % Intro: Car with a cockroach brain % % Minds are not disemnodies logical reasoning devices. This simple shift in % perspective has spawned some of the most exciting and groundbreaking work in % the contemporary study of mind. ... Where these researches converge we % glimpse a new vision of the nature of biological cognition: a vision that % puts explicit data storage and logical manip8ulation in its place as, at % most, a secondary adjunct to the kinds of dynamics and complex response loops % that couple real brains, bodies and environments. % % Of course, not everyone agrees. An extreme example of the opposite view is a % recent $50 mn attempt to instill commonsense understanding in a computer by % giving it a vast store of explicit knowledge (CYC) ... The most noteworthy % feature of CYC [is] its extreme faith in the power of explicit symbolic % representation: its faith in the internalization of structures built in the % image of strings of words in a public language. CYC's creators, [Lenat and % Feigenbaum.1992, p. 192], argue that the bottleneck for adaptive intelligence % is _knowledge, not inference or control. % % [Ritzmann 93] R. Ritzmann The neural organization of cockroach escape and its % role in context-dependent orientation. In Biological Neural Networks in % Invertebrate Neuroethology and Robotics, ed. Beer et al Academic Press. % % [Beer and Chiel 93] Randall Beer and Herbert Chiel, Simulations of Cockroach % locomotion and escape. In % % Even the embodied knowledge of a cockroach would probably require several % volumes to capture in detail. p.6 [Hence such systems would need to search % vast amounts of "linguaform, text-like resources"] % [But more insidiously, such text-like strings cannot reflect context-free % knowleedge] % % 1 Autonomous Agents % % W. Grey Walter : biologist build cybernetic turtles 1950 : Elmer and Elsie - % sought light but avoided intense light. Also had own lights when their % motors were running. Resulted in interactions between themselves, % competition for environmental lights, and a type of dance when confronted % with a mirror. % % Vertical microworld is one that slices off a small piece of human-level % cognitive competence as an object of study; e.g. playing chess, producing % past-tense forms for English verbs, etc. The obvious worry is that when we % human beings solve these advanced problems we may well be bringing to bear % computational resources shaped by the other, more basic needs for which % evolution equipped our ancestors. Neat, design-oriented solutions to these % recent problems may thus be quite unlike the natural solutions... A % horizontal microworld, in contrast, is the complete behavioral competence of % a whole but relatively simple creature ... % % Herbert: can-picking robot from Rod Brooks' lab % % 2.1 % % Consider jigsaw puzzles Derbyshire, John; Prime Obsession: Bernhard Riemann and the Greatest Unsolved Problem in Mathematics Joseph Henry Press, 2003, 422 pages ISBN 0309085497, 9780309085496 +MATHEMATICS HISTORY % % Bernhard Riemann, age 32, makes some remarks while presenting a paper on the % prime number distribution at the Berlin academy. One-third of the way into % the paper, he makes an observation that is now known as the Riemann conjecture % [it's about the distribution of the zeros of the Riemann zeta-function; states % that all non-trivial zeros of the Riemann zeta function have real part 1/2. % % Riemann zeta function: zeta (s) = SUM 1/i^s, i from 1 to infty. % This is only one of the forms (given on p.l % diverges for s < 1. For s = 1.1 is about 10, for s=2 its about 1.6 etc. % % It has zeros at all even negative numbers -2, -4, etc (trivial zeros). % I don't understand this. The % non-trivial zeros arise at complex numbers. and the claim is that all of % these complex roots have real part = 1/2. ] % % However, Riemann offers no proof: % % One would, of course, like to have a rigorous proof of this, but I have put % aside the search for such a proof after some fleeting vain attempts because % it is not necessary for the immediate objective of my investigation. % - Riemann, August 1859 paper: "On the Number of Prime Numbers Less % Than a Given Quantity." % % The problem lies un-noticed for decades, but then it gains momentum. In % August 1900, David Hilbert, speaking at the Second International Congress of % Mathematicians at Paris: % % Essential progress in the theory of the distribution of prime numbers % has lately been made by Hadamard, de la Vallée Poussin, von Mangoldt % and others. For the complete solution, however, of the problems set us % by Riemann’s paper “On the Number of Prime Numbers Less Than a Given % Quantity,” it still remains to prove the correctness of an exceedingly % important statement of Riemann... % % The problem continues today, while other famous problems have been resolved: % - Four-Color Theorem (originated 1852, proved in 1976) % - Fermat’s Last Theorem (originated probably in 1637, proved in 1994) % % --Poorly positioned-- % % Having said all this, I must say that this book is not the place to find out % about Riemann zeta function. The problem is that Derbyshire writes as if he % wants little old churchladies and everyone else to understand the zeta % function zeros. So he wants you to learn what a function is and how to define % logarithms, even introduce symbols like Sigma over a full page. % He is simply wasting his breath... It takes him % 80 pages to even reach a definition of the function, Unfortunately % churchladies have returned to their bibles and the maths readers are dizzy % because their glasses are fogged up by Derbyshire's wasted breath... in the % end, this is a book meant for nobody. % % But there are still interesting tidbits here and there... % % ==Excerpts== % The sets dealing with numbers: % N: Natural - 1,2,3,4... % Z: Integers: + zero + negative % Q: Rational numbers - signed integers + ratios of integers % R: Reals: + irrational numbers like sqrt(2) % C: Complex numbers. % are mnemonicized as '''Nine Zulu Queens Rule China'''. (ch.11) % % --Multiplying -1 x -1: Rule of Signs-- % % "What does it mean to multiply a negative by a negative"? This is a major % sticking point in arithmetic for many people. The best explanation I have % seen is by Martin Gardner: Consider a large auditorium filled with two % kinds of people, good people, and bad people. I define "addition" to mean % "sending people to the auditorium". I define "subtraction" to mean % "calling people out of the auditorium." I define "positive" to mean % "good" (as in "good people", and "negative to mean "bad". Adding positive % numbers means sending some good people to the auditorium; Adding negative % numbers means sending some bad people in, which decreases the net % goodness. Subtracting a positive number means calling out some good % people; subtracting -ve num is calling out bad people (goodness goes up). % Thus, adding a -ve num is just like subtracting a positive. % Multiplication is like repeated addition. Minus three times minus five? % Call out five bad people. Do this three times. Result? Net goodness % _increases_ by 15. When I tried this out on 6-yeear-old Daniel % Derbyshire, he said, "What if you call for the bad people to come out and % _they won't come_? A moral philosopher in the making!" % - p. 367-368, long footnote tangential to the discussion on p.42 % % Blurb: % In August 1859 Bernhard Riemann, a little-known 32-year old mathematician, % presented a paper to the Berlin Academy titled: "On the Number of Prime % Numbers Less Than a Given Quantity." In the middle of that paper, Riemann % made an incidental remark a guess, a hypothesis. What he tossed out to the % assembled mathematicians that day became the Riemann Hypothesis % Its resolution seems to hang tantalizingly just beyond our grasp.... , holds % the key to a variety of scientific and mathematical investigations. The making % and breaking of modern codes, which depend on the properties of the prime % numbers, have roots in the Hypothesis. In a series of extraordinary % developments during the 1970s, it emerged that even the physics of the atomic % nucleus is connected in ways not yet fully understood to this strange % conundrum. basu, krishNA ({bn কৃষ্ণা বসু}); kriShNA basur shreShTa kabitA de's publishing kolkAtA 2003 ISBN 8129501244 +POETRY BENGALI GENDER % % --{bn অলৌকিক প্রতিশোধ} 74-- %{bn * ব্যস্ত সমাজের থেকে কবিতার নির্বাসন হয়ে গেছে কবে। % সফল ও সুখী মানুষেরা আজকাল কবিতার ধারও ধারে না, % তারা সকলেই সবকিছু বোঝে, বোঝে জীবনবীমার গল্প; % বোঝে হাসিখুশি, সুড়সুড়ি-মাখা, টিভি সিরিয়াল; % বোঝে ঝোপ বুঝে কোপ মারা, বোঝে হর্ষদ মেহেতা, % বোঝে কতখানি ধান থেকে জন্ম নেয় ঠিক কতখানি চাল, % শুধু কবিতা বোঝে না, বোঝে না যে তার জন্য % লজ্জা নেই কোনও, % সুপ্রাচীন সুতীব্র আর্তিতে ভরা মায়াবী শিল্পের দিক থেকে % সম্পূর্ণ ফিরিয়ে পিঠ বেশ আছে সুসভ্য প্রজাতি। % % শুধু মাঝে মাঝে খুবই নির্জনে কোনও এক পবিত্র মুহূর্তে % প্রাণের ভিতর দিকে বেজে ওঠে বাশিঁ, অলৌকিক সেই বাশিঁ। % রন্ধনে ব্যসনে ব্যস্ত সুখী গৃহকোণ কেঁপে ওঠে, % বিস্মৃতা রাধার সমস্ত হৃদয় জুড়ে কোটালের বান ডাকে % উথাল পাথাল, খুব মাঝে মাঝে এরকম হয়, হয় নাকি? % % ভুলে যাওয়া অতিপূর্ব প্রপিতামহের মতো রক্তের % ভিতরে ঢুকে পড়ে % কবিতার অসম্ভব বীজগুলি প্রতিশোধ নেয়। % সব কিছু সমস্ত অর্জন সুখ-স্বস্তি-স্বচ্ছলতা অর্থহীন মনে হয়। % % বাশিঁ ডাকে, বাশিঁ বাজে, সেই বাশিঁ বাজে, % জীবন আচ্ছন্ন করা বাশিঁ বাজে যমুনা-পুলিনে। } % - Chaudhuri, Namita ({bn নমিতা চৌধুরী}); Ami briShTi ebang pAkhiwAlA [bristi] {bn আমি বৃষ্টি এবং পাখিওয়ালা} ekusher DAk kolkAtA 2003 +POETRY BENGALI GENDER % % ==Excerpts== % --{bn শুধু কথাই }(shudhu kathAi) 34-- % {bn * ডানাভাঙা অক্ষরগুলি কাঁদতে বসেছে % আমার হাতের স্পর্শে তারা ক্রমাগত গুঁড়িয়ে যেতে চায় % ভাঙতে ভাঙতে শেষপর্যন্ত নীচের সিঁড়ির কোনায় এসে দাঁড়াল % আমি আদর করে মুখ তুলে তাকাতে বললেই % ওদের ফোঁপানি আরও বাড়তে থাকে % কেমন জ্বালায় পড়েছি % দরজা আবার বন্ধ করে রাখি % এত কথারই মোড়ক % কথার পর কথা % শুধু কথাই % % } % --{bn উপকথা }(upakathA)-- % {bn % সম্পূর্ণ কথাগুলির যে উপকথা আছে % তার মধ্যে আছে ভাঙা কথা চূর্ণ কথা % বাটা মশলার মত মিহি কথা % যেভাবেই বলি শেষ পর্যন্ত একটি % কথাই উঠে আসবে % আগুন ঘিরে আমরা একদল % নৃত্যরত পক্ষীসমাজ। % } % --{bn একবিংশ শতাব্দীতে }(ekaviMsha shatAbdIte)-- % {bn % এ কোন অভিসারিকো আমি সেজেছি নিভৃতে % বাঁ হাতে রেখেছি অস্ত্র % ডান হাতে ফুলের স্তবক % প্রেমিকের কাছে যাবো % গোপন প্রেমিক % গোপন শয্যায় আছে নখ দাঁত নিয়ে % সমস্ত শরীর খাবে চেটেপুটে সবটুকু % আদি ও অন্ত জুড়ে % নাচবে তুমুল % সবই রয়েছে জানা % মুখ তবু কিছুতেই ফেরাতে পারিনা % % আমার পালক ছিল % ডানা তো ছিলনা % উড়তে শিখিনি তাই % জানা ছিল সাঁতার কৌশল % জলজ রাস্তায় তবু নামতে পারিনি। % } % --{bn চন্দ্রাহত }(chandrAhata)-- % {bn % খিদে পেয়েছে খাবি % না % একবাটি জ্যোত্স্না খেলে % খিদে থাকে নাকি % ছাদের আকাশ জুড়ে % শ্বেত দীর্ঘ রাত % চাঁদ এসে খুবলে নেয় চোখ % এরপর পাথর বসাবে % ছুরি কাঁচি কাটা ছেঁড়া % সবকিছু ঠিকঠাক % শুধুমাত্র আমিই বেঠিক % না স্নান না খাওয়া উলঙ্গ উজবুক % বসে আছি বাটি নিয়ে % জ্যোত্স্নায় একটি চুমুক % শুধু দেবো % তারপর সবকিছু গচ্ছিত রেখে % জ্যোত্স্না থেকে জ্যোত্স্না খুঁটে নেবো। % } % --{bn একটি প্রেমের কবিতা }(ekTi premer kabitA)-- % {bn % আমার নাছোড় ভঙ্গি আজ তোমাকে % বিদ্ধ করল বারবার এফোঁড় ওফোঁড় % আমি জানি না কেন এমন হয় % মাঝে মাঝে কেন আমি গ্রাম থেকে গ্রামান্তর % ঘুরে ঘুরে বার্তা রটাই % নিশ্চুপ নিমফুলটির মতো নিভৃত করতলে % সাদা দাগ % % দ্যাখো আজ আমি খুব কাছে আছি % উলঙ্গ উন্মাদ} sheTh, tamAlikA paNDA [Seth] ({bn তমালিকা পণ্ডা শেঠ}); hridayer madhye theko {bn হৃদয়ের মধ্যে থেকো} de's publishing kolkAtA 2000 ISBN 8176126047 +POETRY BENGALI GENDER sengupta, mallikA {bn মল্লিকা সেনগুপ্ত}; Chheleke History Parate Giye {bn ছেলেকে হিস্ট্রি পড়াতে গিয়ে} Ananda Publishers, Kolkata, 2005 ISBN 8177564897 +POETRY BENGALI GENDER % % These translations are from 2006; some of these appeared in % --AmAr kabitA Aguner khonje [in search of fire, my poetry] p.10-- % % my poetry is a parakeet in the dark, seeker of light % my poetry is a nuclear family, the green world's delight % my poetry is household worry, songs of mountains streams % my poetry is thermonuclear, large and little dreams % my poetry is fistfights at home, tears down the cheek % my poetry is the mass-raped girl, picnic by the creek % my poetry is a terrorist camp, kashmir to sheorafuli % my poetry reads abanindranath, relishes pather panchali % % mad rantings of the helpless girl, that's how my poetry goes % in the burnt ruins of iraq, my poetry's a red red rose % shah bano to the ganges, medha patkar, that's my poetry % my poetry is the will to live, destroyer of symmetry. % my poetry stalks the world like a panther on main street % living in the sunderbans, will my poetry be tiger meat? % my poetry is the street-beggar child, baby dead in the womb % my poetry is hunger, famine, flood, ancient faqir's tomb % % my poetry is the nude women's march, across manipur state % my poetry is in the kitchen, milling turmeric paste % ceasefire is my poetry, the young girl's bashful kiss % poetry is my tale of sorrow, first-year-of-marriage bliss % poetry is the memory of father, two lovers living apart % hats off to you all, tonguless khanaa vyas valmiki dante % my poetry dances to the flicker of flame, adagio andante. % % --_nashTa bAtighare_ [fallen women in a lighthouse] 43-- % % % tonight we'll become fallen women % in that old lighthouse. % the gleam of arcturus in darkest night % lapped by the ocean of stars, each a little kiss, % lip to lip a mad inebriation, % we'll overflow all inhibitions % % love is wasted, emotions parched % like a dry riverbed. old mansions % bombed out facade, starvation haunts... % in faraway tea gardens there's nothing to cook % loneliness in baghdad - the american soldier % drinks poison. % % loneliness stalks us even as a hurricane % rages in the heart. old lovers % have forsaken us. that desolate % hunter, loneliness, trails us % desperate, like jailbirds we hide % cowering behind grilled traditions... % % no more. tonight we have clambered out % afloat on foaming passions we wander % along the wind-tossed waves - who % will take me to that old lighthouse % go go go rush. tonight i shall become % a fallen woman. which man is listening? % % --_mAr_ [gang of sisters] 24-- % % keep quiet while they bash you up, is that your goal? % or have they stuffed up your mouth - with charcoal? % dowry: cigarette burns on your skin - % will you just sit in the corner and cry? % we're a gang of your sisters, now we've found your hole. % % keep quiet while they bash you up - that can't be your goal! % come - together we'll invent the dread avenger's role % no doubt we'll have to fight, % but we have equal rights % on this earth - its air and sky % and we'll win - on our own terms - won't let them rape your soul. % % --_samay asamayer kabitA_ [heroic times] 15-- % % paarhaariyaa village. the police all night % mass-raped. in the dust, on the hillside % in the woods, by the path through open field % here and there the bodies lie. the crescent moon % slowly it rises above thatched roofs. broken % limb bodies like birds of myth - naked, unsure % a pervading presence, so ancient a danger % interred in dust, kelu finds his wife, % % dhoti and shirt, harmlessman yadav % cornered, dehumanized, picks up a stick % lenin, stalin, marx, ho chi minh % no one saves him, the classless dream % dies unsung - gunfire, a life lost - % all for the nation, all to suppress % the rebels. their leader caught % the rapists of paarhaariya. heroes % % in our village by the jungle stream % in our towns in the lanes and alleys % the rapists walk the streets, % their heads held high. % their eyes are still roving, % which woman will come by? % % --_JuddhasheShe nArI_ [women after the battle] 26-- % % after the battle said chenghis khan % the greatest pleasure of life, % % is in front of the vanquished enemy % to sleep with his favourite wife. % % after the plunder, after the feasts % into the harems, roam the hungry beasts % % the battle rages between king and king % but it's only the woman who bears the sting sengupta, mallikA {bn মল্লিকা সেনগুপ্ত}; AmrA lAsya AmrA laRAi আমরা লাস্য আমরা লড়াই ("we flirt … and we fight") sriShTi prakAshan kolkAtA, 2001 ISBN 8178700158 +POETRY BENGALI GENDER % % Inequity of gender, class, and wealth fuel much of the anger in Mallia % Sengupta's poetry. A professor of sociology by profession, she and her % husband (well known poet Subodh Sarkar) publish a literary magazine and much % else. However, political poetry, like all polemic, suffers the risk of % sounding shrill. Her gentle rhyming style in Bengali, untranslatable in % English, tends to provide some relief from this. See _khanA's song_, below. % % ==Excerpts== % % ==shatru [enemy] 37== % gAyer varNe mukher bhAShAy % AmAder eta mil % tabuo tomrA duHkher dine % siyAchen kArgil % % duHkhI jaoyAn bAMkAre base % AlumaTarer gandhe % ghare fele AsA nArI o shishur % smritite kATAy dhande % % mATi bhAgAbhAgi dharma AlAdA % oyAsim Akram % tabu AmAder bAdAmI desher % svapner ek nAm % % pataner par ek-i bhAShAy % AmrAo diy gAli % Aj-o AmAder ghare ghare bAje % nasrat fate Ali % % tabe kena ei Juddha Juddha % thAmAo astra thAmAo % kArgil mAThe be~che thAkbe nA % kono ashvathAmAo % % Jakhan oder bAgAn puRchhe % basat bhAMchhe fer % AmrA ki pAshe dAMRAte pAri nA % pratibeshI mAnusher. % % --Enemy-- % % skin colour, speech accent % we're so much the same % yet in these divided days % we're kargil siachen. % % our jawan in his bunker % gets their Alu-maTar smell % wife and children at home % will they be eating well? % % divided earth, divided gods % divided cricket % yet both our brown lands dream % of the same wicket. % % if we slip and fall, we'll both % curse in the same tongue % in our homes today you'll hear % the same qawwali song. % % why then these bullets and blood % why kargil fighting men % their houses burn, they drown in mud % killing their own brethren. % - translation Amit Mukerjee 2005 % % --{bn ভাষা }(bhAShA) 11-- % {bn % শতাব্দী আসে শতাব্দী যায় % মধ্যিখানের মানুষ আমরা % সাঁকোর ওপর আশায় আশায় % % শেষ হয়ে এল একশো বছর % বিশ্ববাতাসের রণরক্তের % আসছে নতুন শতাব্দী ভোর % % মিষ্টি নোনতা টক ঝাল তেতো % এসছে নতুন একটি প্রজাতি % তারা বাংলায় কথা বলবে তো ! % % আমরা এখন পুরনো পৃথিবী % পাউন্ড সিলিং লিরা পেসো টাকা % ইউরো মুদ্রা নতুন শিবির % % আমরা দোষের আমরা ত্রুটির % দুই হাত দিয়ে আগলে রেখেছি % বাংলাভাষার দুঃখকুটির % % শতাব্দী আসে শতাব্দী যায় % নাহয় পৃথিবী পারমাণবিক % আমরা থাকব বাংলা ভাষায় % % --পুরুষের গান }(puruSher gAn 17)-- % % {তোমার জন্য সিঁথেয় রক্ত চিহ্ন % তোমার সঙ্গে পুড়েছি সতীর চিতায় % তোমার স্মৃতিতে আলোচাল খাওয়া বিধবা % % আমার জন্য কী করেছ তুমি মিতা? % } % -- খনার গান }(khanAr gAn 24)-- % {bn % শোনো সব্বাই খনার কাহিনী এবারে % % মধ্যযুগের বঙ্গভূমিতে % এক ছিল মেয়ে, তার নাম খনা % % প্রথম মহিলা কবি বাংলার % তার জীব কেটে নিল পাঁচজনা % % জীব কেটে নেওয়া খনার বচন % সাগরে পাহাড়ে আকাশে ছড়িয়ে পড়ল । % % খনা নামে সেই মেয়েটিই শুধু % রক্তক্ষরণে মরল । % % --khanaa's song-- % % Listen o Listen : % Hark this tale of Khanaa % % In Bengal in the Middle ages % Lived a woman Khanaa, I sing her life % The first Bengali woman poet % Her tongue they severed with a knife % % Her speechless voice, "Khanaar Bachan" % Still resonates in the hills and skies % Only the poet by the name of Khanaa % Bleeding she dies. % (from [[sengupta-2005-kathamanabi-her-voice|Kathamanabi]], translation % Amit Mukerjee) % % --ভূমিপুত্র }(bhUmiputra) 32-- % {bn % ওই যে তোমার ছেলে % ৱ্যাংলার জিন্স আর % পায়ে নাইকি শু পরা % ওর দিকে একটু তাকাও % % এখনও তোমার ছেলে % কথা বলা শিখলো না % কিসব আজব বলে % ওকে বাংলা শেখাও % কিসব ইংরেজি গান % রিকি মার্টিনের ছবি % ওকে বাউল শোনাও % ওকে পান্তাভাত দাও % ওকে নৌকা দেখাও % % আমেরিকায় বিভোর % ওর স্বপ্ন চোখদুটো % গঙ্গাজলে ধুয়ে দাও % ও তো আমাদের খোকন! } sengupta, poulomI; pensil khuki Ananda publishers 1997 ISBN 8172155972 +POETRY BENGALI ROMANCE GENDER nAsrin, taslimA [Nāsrin, Taslimā]; lajjA Ānanda publishers, kolkata, 1993 ISBN 817215269 +FICTION BENGALI BANGLADESH GENDER RELIGION % % the story of a hindu family who is forced to hide from muslim rioters in the % aftermath of the babri masjid demolition in uttar pradesh (1991). The % once-revolutionary but now aged father, sudhAmay, his wife karuNamayI, the % son suranjan, the daugher mAya (who is abducted and disappears). of % fiction, the book is essentially a long diatribe against the process of % islamic takeover in bangladesh. contains long lists of atrocities against % hindus (e.g. temple desecration p. 68-70), and details of how the % constitution of bangladesh, originally proposed as a secular nation in 1971, % was altered in 1978 to dilute the history of the freedom struggle, and to % delete article 12, "secularism and freedom of religion" (p. 127). after a % series of depradations when the family is completely ruined, even the % idealist sudhAmay decides that it is not possible to continue to live in the % Bangladesh he has fought for so long. % % ;;like solzhenitsyn's gulag archipelago nAsrin, taslimA [Taslimā Nāsrin]; dhruba eSh (ill.); taslima nAsriner premer kabitA samay prakAshan DhakA, 1993 ISBN 9844580552 +POETRY BENGALI ROMANCE GENDER basu, buddhadeb [Buddhadeva Bose]; buddhadeb basur shreShTa kabitA (poems composed 1926-1973) de's publishing kolkAtA 1994 9th ed. (1st ed. [bangAbda 1359] / 1953) ISBN 8170795923 +POETRY BENGALI % % --চিল্কায় সকাল -বুদ্ধদেব বসু-- % কী ভালো আমার লাগলো আজ এই সকালবেলায় % কেমন করে বলি? % কী নির্মল নীল এই আকাশ, কী অসহ্য সুন্দর, % যেন গুণীর কণ্ঠের অবাধ উন্মুক্ত তান % দিগন্ত থেকে দিগন্তে; % % কী ভালো আমার লাগলো এই আকাশের দিকে তাকিয়ে; % চারদিক সবুজ পাহাড়ে আঁকাবাঁকা, কুয়াশায় ধোঁয়াটে, % মাঝখানে চিল্কা উঠছে ঝিলকিয়ে। % % তুমি কাছে এলে, একটু বসলে, তারপর গেলে ওদিকে, % স্টেশনে গাড়ি এসে দাড়িয়েঁছে, তা-ই দেখতে। % গাড়ি চ’লে গেল!- কী ভালো তোমাকে বাসি, % কেমন করে বলি? % % আকাশে সূর্যের বন্যা, তাকানো যায়না। % গোরুগুলো একমনে ঘাস ছিঁড়ছে, কী শান্ত! % -তুমি কি কখনো ভেবেছিলে এই হ্রদের ধারে এসে আমরা পাবো % যা এতদিন পাইনি? % % রূপোলি জল শুয়ে-শুয়ে স্বপ্ন দেখছে; সমস্ত আকাশ % নীলের স্রোতে ঝরে পড়ছে তার বুকের উপর % সূর্যের চুম্বনে।-এখানে জ্ব’লে উঠবে অপরূপ ইন্দ্রধণু % তোমার আর আমার রক্তের সমুদ্রকে ঘিরে % কখনো কি ভেবেছিলে? % % কাল চিল্কায় নৌকোয় যেতে-যেতে আমরা দেখেছিলাম % দুটো প্রজাপতি কতদূর থেকে উড়ে আসছে % জলের উপর দিয়ে।- কী দুঃসাহস! তুমি হেসেছিলে আর আমার % কী ভালো লেগেছিল। % % তোমার সেই উজ্জ্বল অপরূপ মুখ। দ্যাখো, দ্যাখো, % কেমন নীল এই আকাশ-আর তোমার চোখে % কাঁপছে কত আকাশ, কত মৃত্যু, কত নতুন জন্ম % কেমন করে বলি। % - rAychoudhurI, JashodharA; AbAr pratham theke paRo Ananda publishers, kolkata 2001 ISBN 8177561901 +POETRY BENGALI GENDER debsen, nabanItA [Nabaneeta Debsen]; nabanItA debsener shreShTa kabitA de's publishing kolkAtA 1989 ISBN 8129501074 +POETRY BENGALI GENDER % % ekhAne raila tirish bachharer kabitAr Tukro. sengupta, sutapA ({bn সুতপা সেনগুপ্ত}); chhokrA chhokrA shyAm rAy-bAi {bn ছোকরা ছোকরা শ্যাম রায়-বাই} Ananda publishers, kolkata, 2003 ISBN 9788177563627 +POETRY BENGALI ROMANCE GENDER % % sutapA sengupta is not a very well known name - but she deserves to be. % this is definitely one of the big love poems in modern Bengali. The % breathlessness of the narrative carries you away, a mix of desperation as in % mandAkrAntA, with a minimalist storytelling style. I discovered this book % while researching women poets for my volume of translations in 2005, and % while some of my enthusiasm may stem from the fact that it was my % "private" discovery, I will let the excerpts below speak for themselves. % % ==Diary of an Infatuation== % % This is an extended poem in a single narrative, written from the point of % view of a middle-aged woman, a mother (age 42), enmeshed in an affair with a % younger married man (32 p.41), Shyam Ray. He has a "goody-goody" image (15) % - possibly coming from an affluent part of calcutta society - doing the club % circuit - billiards, wears suits with cufflinks and cologne. % % She is a professor, a socialist academic (p. 36) though she seems to be % teaching in school also 34). She wonders what society would feel (the Car % pool, the gateman, the school-bell, her son's school) about her intense % cravings (p.18). In the throes of a routine marriage ("starved body", p. 33 % below), she feels dead (though her husband is handsome, has a baritone % voice). Now she feels exhilarated, completely alive, like a "kai" fish, a % kind of perch that can be found alive days after it is caught, even in the % cooking pan (11). He is entering her dreams now (16); yes, he has been % trying to seduce her (the bAnglA word "paTAno" has some more subtle % connotations) - "it won't be nice, i am warning you, if you stop now" % (p.17). It turns out that they attended the same school. Maybe he was one % of the doll-like boys in Montessori whom she used to squeeze (45). % % -- The trajectory of a togetherness-- % The book is organized in a series of fifty-six short untitled vignettes, % outlining her fevered infatuation for "shyam ray", unfolding into an % intensely physical experience. Several times they meet on trains, he is % chivalrous and sits next to her (14), and then again on a % four hour train journey - (it passes like a moment p.26), and possibly % another where they have a few moments on a bunk . Their affair % seems to have some links to a "lodge" somewhere in Birbhum, which would be % about the right distance from Calcutta. % % The affair releases long pent-up desire in her (p.9, below) - but soon she % is assailed by doubt - will he come again, should she need to go to his % house (p.13, below)? Is this all a fantasy, or is there real interest? She % wouldn't want it, would she (p.31, below)? Suddenly they seem to be meeting % a lot, everywhere (p.38), and then he touches her ineptly (38), and then % one day in the train - "come here," and a quick kiss on the shoulder (p.39). % Soon it culminates into a full affair, rapid kisses in an empty restaurant % (40), buttons fall open... % % The poem grabs you with its language, the slang mix of urdu (don't tell me % _meri jAn_, I am so _dillagi, dil-o-jAnam_), the uncertainty and mounting % desperation, the exuberance of initial contact, the thrill of illegitimacy, % the ineffable moment of fulfillment, the complete infatuation (even his % discarded clothes overwhelm her, 34), and then a lingering death. One of my % best books of Bengali poetry. % % ==Excerpts== % % --{bn আবার বুকের মধ্যে আমের বোলের মতো ব্যথা} p.9-- % {bn আবার বুকের মধ্যে আমের বোলের মতো ব্যথা % কত বছরের পর, শ্যাম রায়, তোমার জন্যেই এল % এদিক ওদিক বহু কথা হল পাশাপাশি শুয়ে খোলা রোদে % অন্ধকারে উল্টোপাল্টে ফিসফিসিয়ে পাথুরে খাদানে % % তোমাকে বুকের মধ্যে নেবে বলে টানটান আকাশ % মেলে দিয়েছে চড়া তাপে বীরভূমের লালপাহাড়ি দেশ % তোমার গালের নীল আভা থেকে লেগেছে শিহর % টক-ঝাল তারুণ্য মেখে ফেঁসে গেছে বেশিবয়েসি মেয়ে % % --শ্যাম রায়কে দেখা হবে আর? ১৩-- % শ্যাম রায়কে দেখা হবে আর? % শ্যাম রায় কোন আবাসনে থাকে জানি, ওখানে যাবার % বাধা নেই, ট্রাফিক সিগনাল % থাকবে না সিওর, তবু মোটেই যাব না মেরি জান % % তোমার ঘরেই থাকব % কোনোদিন সন্ধেয় % টুকাটাকি কিনে আনব, কোলন, টাইপিন % ওসবের কিছু আমি শ্যাম রায়কে দেব না % % খুব চাইলে দিতে পারি সব্জে কালো সাপ % চওড়া কব্জিতে জড়িয়ে শ্যাম রায় % ব্যাডমিন্টন খেললে তোবা তোবা মরে যাব % মরব, মেরি জান % % --আবার শ্যাম রায়? যাও, যথেষ্ট হয়েছে, বাড়ি যাও ৩১-- % আবার শ্যাম রায়? যাও, যথেষ্ট হয়েছে, বাড়ি যাও % বউকে নিয়ে লং ড্রাইভ, পার্টি শার্টি, বিলিয়ার্ড, হেলথ ক্লাব % যেখানে যা খুশি % যাচ্ছেতাই করো, প্লিজ - হাতজোড় - আর কাছে এসো না % % এসো না বললেই স্রেফ চলে যাবে? মাইরি আচ্ছা ছেলে % % টিপিকাল মেয়ে নই বলে কখনো কি মুখে না না % মনে মনে হ্যাঁ বলতে পারি না? % % --সিগারেট খাচ্ছি, তুমি হাত রেখেছ পিঠের দেয়ালে ৩৩-- % সিগারেট খাচ্ছি, তুমি হাত রেখেছ পিঠের দেয়ালে % ট্রেনের দুলুনি লেগে একটু-একটু ছুঁয়ে যাচ্ছে পিঠ % অসম্ভব শান্তি লাগছে % % ক-বছর উপোসি শরীর % গরিবের খাওয়ার মতো অল্প অল্প করে মেখে নিয়ে % অনেকটা সময় ধরে পেতে চাইছে হাতের আস্বাদ % % একটা সিগারেট শেষ, আবার ধরাচ্ছি, আবার... % % ফাঁকা করিডোর জুড়ে না-বোঝার ভান করছে % খয়েরি পিঠ আর ফর্সা হাত % % --জামা বদলাবো না আমি, যে জ্যাকেট নিয়ে পরেছিলে ৩৪-- % জামা বদলাবো না আমি, যে জ্যাকেট নিয়ে পরেছিলে % জড়িয়ে-পাকিয়ে তাকে শুয়ে থাকব অবেলার খাটে % রোদ এসে কান্কি মারবে, বলবে, ওঠো ইস্কুল যাবে না? % ক্লাসরুম পড়ে আছে বোকা মাস্টারনির অপেক্ষায় % % উঠে পড়ে স্নান করব, স্নান করতে করতে ভাবব, আজ % আরেকবার দেখা হতে পার না কি স্টেশনে আবার % কফিকাপ চলকে যাবে, নেমে এসে গড়াবে কাপড়ে % তবু বদলাব না আমি যে জামা ছুঁয়েছে শ্যাম রায় % % --তোমার চোখের পাশে, শ্যাম রায়, একটা তিল আছে ৩৫-- % তোমার চোখের পাশে, শ্যাম রায়, একটা তিল আছে % % যখনই তোমাকে ভাবি, ওই তিল দৌড়ে চলে আসে % % চোখে মুখে কথা বলে, % আমাকে বলতেই দেয় না কিছু % % দু-ঠোঁট বুজিয়ে দেয়, ভিজে ভিজে, শুষে % % --খোলস পরানো, মুখে শক্ত রেখা ৩৬-- % % খোলস পরানো, মুখে শক্ত রেখা % বেশ তো ছিলাম % একা একা % সামাজিক শ্রীমতি সেনগুপ্ত, অধ্যাপিকা % % নখে দাঁতে ঘামে জাপ্টে % ছিঁড়ে ফেললে বালিশের তুলো % % এভাবে ফুসলিয়ে তুমি ঠিক করোনি, জাঁবাজ প্রেমিক % % --এভাবে তোমার সঙ্গে দেখা, আর ফিদে হওয়া ৩৭-- % এভাবে তোমার সঙ্গে দেখা, আর ফিদা হওয়া % চুড়ান্ত ফ্যান্টাসি % % বুক-ওঠার সময়ে যে স্বপ্নের বাসস্টপে % প্রত্যেকটা মেয়ের জন্যে রাজপুত্র বাইক নিয়ে আসে % % আমারও এসেছে, % কিন্তু তারপর এতগুলো বছর যেভাবে % % খুচরো, ভাঙা, তেতো, ফালতু % ভুলে যাব % রাজপুত্র % এসো, আজ সব পুষিয়ে দাও % % --যেন আমি বালিকার তস্য বালিকা ৩৮-- % যেন আমি বালিকার তস্য বালিকা % কী যে শিউরে ওঠা ছিল গায়ে হাত লাগায় % % তোমার আনাড়িপনা বিষম ছোঁয়াচে, % ... % % --ভেবেছ কি ছেড়ে দেব, শোধ নেব না চান্স মাত্র পেলে? ৩৯-- % ভেবেছ কি ছেড়ে দেব, শোধ নেব না চান্স মাত্র পেলে? % যে মুহূর্তে ঢুকবে এসে আমার ঘরের দরজা ঠেলে -- % % আমি তো ভদ্রই থাকি, ট্রেনে বেশ আলগা-আলগা বসি % কাঁধে কাঁধ ছড়ে যাওয়া সে ছিল তো প্রথম-প্রথম % % কিন্তু সেদিন যে তুমি 'একটু শুনুন' বলে টুক করে ঘাড়ে অল্প চুমু % % কী ইচ্ছে করলো কি জানো কী কী সব ইচ্ছে সব % কামরাভর্তি লোকের সামনেই % % ----40 % ... % এ জান ছুঁকছুঁক তবু, % আত্মগরিমার মাথা খেয়ে % থামাতে পারছে না এই ঘন ঘন দেখা হয়ে যাওয়া % % তোমারও তো একই দশা, হচ্ছে কি হচ্ছে না জলদি বলো % নম্বর লাগাও আর ভিতু স্বরে % 'হ্যালো মিসেস এস--' % % তারপর ভবানীপুর, ফাঁকা চিনে রেস্তোঁরায় মোমো % সুপের বাটিকে মধ্যে রেখে দ্রুত ঘনঘোর চুমু % % ---- ৪১ % % এ ভাবে লুকিয়ে দেখা, এরকম চুরিয়ে প্রেম % এ-বয়সে কি ভাল, না খারাপ? % ... % % তবু, কেন অকারণ এ-বুক দুটো তুখোড় হয় % অসভ্য বদমাইশ ছেলে % শ্যাম রায়, তোমার থাবায় % % --বৌদিবাজি করছ নাকি? ৪৩-- % বৌদিবাজি করছ নাকি? লোকে বলছে তাই? % আমি মাত্র ক-টা দিন বনলতা সেন % % মুখোমুখি বসে আমরা খুলে ফেলছি কাপড়? % তারপর কীভাবে যেন পিকাসো-পেন্টিং % % এটা-ওটা-সেটা বলছে? % অমুক তমুক? % ওদের জানিয়ে দাও আমি তোমার বন্ধু মিসেস এস % } % --{bn বুড়ি শালিকের ঘাড়ে চেগে গেছে রোঁ} 46-- % % {bn বুড়ি শালিকের ঘাড়ে চেগে গেছে রোঁ % ভরা দেহ চাপ দিচ্ছ, হাত দুটো পাগল % শীত করছে, গায়ে কাঁটা, সইতে পারছি না -- % মরে যাব, ঠোঁট ওঠাও শ্যাম, ঠোঁট ওঠাও} % % your mad hands, pressing down on her, % the old myna feathers wake up slow % i am shivering, cold, can't take it, dying % i'll die, remove your lips, shyam, your lips... % {bn % --তোমার সকালবেলা উন্মাদ দাঁড়ানো এসে ৪৭-- % তোমার সকালবেলা উন্মাদ দাঁড়ানো এসে % তোমার মুখের মুগ্ধ শ্বাস % বিকেলে ভোরের ফুল উপহার দেওয়া দেখে % খুলে যাচ্ছে জামার বোতাম % % তোমার অস্থির চুমু, ছটফটে হাতের আঁচ % ভারী ও নিটোল দুটো থাম % সব নিংরে নেব আমি, হাতে ধরে পায়ে ঠেলে % কামকলা শেখাব, কাঁচা শ্যাম % % ----৫৮ % বালিশের ওয়াড়, চাদর % বদলে দিচ্ছে লজের লোক % % কবে আসবে, বলো? % % শ্যাম রায়, মরে যাব % তোমার শরীরের গন্ধ না পেলে একবারও % % ----৫৯ % সেদিনের মতো ট্রেন সাঁইথিয়া স্টেশনে বেধে গেছে % পাশে তুমি নেই আমাকে জ্বালাতে % কদ্দিন যে একা আছি % এ শহর মুহ্যমান, পাত্তাই দিচ্ছে না % আদরও দিচ্ছে না % শুধু মনে পড়িয়ে দিয়ে % চাইছে, আমি স্মার্ট বলে মোটেই কাঁদছি না % % --এখনও আশা ছিড়নি আমি, বুঝলে শ্যাম রায় ৬০-- % এখনও আশা ছাড়িনি আমি, বুঝলে শ্যাম রায় % এখনও তুমি আসতে পারো ভেবে % এমন সাজসরঞ্জাম, % চেয়ার পেতে বসা % বারান্দার একলা চোরা থাম % % চোখ নামিয়ে অপেক্ষার গানের পর গানে % রফি কিশোর মান্না দে মরণমুখী টান % % রাতের টোকা পাবার আশায় % % ফর্সা জামা পরা % % সাবান মেখে অনেকক্ষণ চান % % --ফোনে তুমি জানালে, যে-কোনোদিন এসে পড়তে পারো ৬২-- % ফোনে তুমি জানালে, যে-কোনোদিন এসে পড়তে পারো % % ফোনে তো জানাওনি তবু আমি জেনে গেছি অব্ভিয়াস % কোনোদিন আর তুমি আসবে না % % কী ওস্তাদের মার % % জো-ও-র কা ঝট্কা -- আহা, ধীরে সে লাগালে শ্যাম রায়} dAsh, shyamalkAnti [Das]; pItam bhaTTAchArya (eds.); dui bAnglAr Abrittir serA kabitA nirmal pustakAlay, kolkata 2003, 408 pages +POETRY BENGALI ANTHOLOGY % % --{bn আমি বাংলায় গান গাই} 190-- % {bn % আমি বাংলায় গান গাই, আমি বাংলায় গান গাই, % আমি আমার আমিকে চিরদিন এই বাংলায় খুঁজে পাই % আমি বাংলায় দেখি স্বপ্ন, আমি বাংলায় বাঁধি সুর % আমি এই বাংলার মায়াভরা পথে হেঁটেছি এতটা দূর % বাংলা আমার জীবনানন্দ বাংলা প্রাণের সুখ % আমি একবার দেখি, বারবার দেখি, দেখি বাংলার মুখ | % % আমি বাংলায় কথা কই, আমি বাংলার কথা কই % আমি বাংলায় ভাসি, বাংলায় হাসি, বাংলায় জেগে রই % আমি বাংলায় মাতি উল্লাসে, করি বাংলায় চিত্কার % বাংলা আমার দৃপ্ত স্লোগান ক্ষিপ্ত তীর ধনুক, % আমি একবার দেখি, বারবার দেখি, দেখি বাংলার মুখ | % % আমি বাংলায় ভালবাসি, আমি বাংলাকে ভালবাসি % আমি তারি হাত ধরে সারা পৃথিবীর মানুষের কাছে আসি % আমি যা’কিছু মহান বরণ করেছি বিনয় শ্রদ্ধায় % মেশে তেরো নদী সাত সাগরের জল গঙ্গায় পদ্মায় % বাংলা আমার তৃষ্ণার জল তৃপ্ত শেষ চুমুক % আমি একবার দেখি, বারবার দেখি, দেখি বাংলার মুখ |} % % --প্রমোদ বসু: আমার কথা ১৯৪-- % % আপনি আমায় চেনেন? আমি অনুজপ্রতিম দাস % আসল বয়েস পাঁচ, কিন্তু ইস্কুলে সিক্স প্লাস। % আমার সবে ওয়ান, তবু মিসের সংখ্যা চার -- % সকাল সন্ধে দু'জন দু'জন - সপ্তাহে চারবার। % % পড়তে হয় পাঁচটি বিষয়, পাঁচ ঘন্টার বেশি। % মা বলেছেন, সাহেব হতে; বাবার শিক্ষা দেশি। % % পড়াশোনা ছাড়াও আমার অজস্র কাজ হাতে। % হিসেব করে দেখলে, আমার ঘুম হয় না রাতে। % % মায়ের ইচ্ছে, ক্রিকেট শিখে শচীন হয়ে উঠি; % বাবার সাধ পূরণ করতে দাবায় কাটে ছুটি। % কাকার ভীষণ ইচ্ছে, আমি রবীন্দ্রনাথ হই, -- % তাঁর প্রতিজ্ঞা -- 'ভাইপোটাকে লিখতে শেখাবোই'। % মায়ের সঙ্গে ফি-রবিবার ড্রইং শিখতে যাই। % এসব সাধে বাদ সাধলে বেজায় সাজা পাই। % % সব কিছুতেই প্রথম হই -- সবাই কিন্তু চান। % শেখার ওজন বেড়ে আমার প্রাণ করে আনচান। % % শেখার চাপে হাঁপায় ছুটি, কোনখানে বিশ্রাম? % বিশাল প্রতিযোগিতা এর হচ্ছে পরিণাম। % % আমার মতো অনেক আরও অনুজপ্রতিম দাস % নিজের জন্য পায় না কেন একটু অবকাশ।} sarkAr, subodh; subodh sarkArer shresShTa kabitA de's publishing 2003 ISBN 8129501252 +POETRY BENGALI nAsrin, taslimA [Taslimā Nāsrin]; Nirbācita kalāma Ānanda publishers, kolkata, 1992, 189 pages ISBN 8172151160, 9788172151164 +BENGALI ESSAYS % % Strong feminist stance. % % A senior male poet often praises her poetry, but never publicly. Senior % literaterus like to take you out, sit at the corner table eating Chinese, but % never acknowledge your friendship in public. Others will complement you, and % say, "your prose is better than Selima Hossain" - why Selima? Because she is % a woman. You will be judged only against other woman authors, never on your % own merit. % % In a Bengali thesaurus (ed. Ashok Mukhopadhyay) she finds that _puruSh_ % (man, male sense) has a synonym in _mAnuSh_ (man, person sense), but nArI % (woman) has no such synonym. Venkatesananda, Swami; Yoga Sutras of Patanjali Divine Life Society, 1998 ISBN 8170521424, 9788170521426 +HEALTH HINDUISM YOGA Young, Serinity; Courtesans and Tantric Consorts: Sexualities in Buddhist Narrative, Iconography and Ritual Routledge, 2004, 256 pages ISBN 0415914833, 9780415914833 +BUDDHISM TIBET SEX TANTRA GENDER % % The chapter 9 deals with Padmasambhava (Guru Rinpoche), the legendary % Tantrist who brought Buddhism to Tibet in the 7th c. % % --Consorts of Padmasambhava-- % from % % There were Five historical spiritual and sexual consorts of Padmasambhava: % % - Mandarava of Zahor, considered an emanation of Vajravarahi's Body % - Yeshe Tsogyal of Tibet, emanation of Vajravarahi's Speech % - Belmo Sakya Devi of Nepal is considered an emanation of Vajravarahi's Mind % - Belwang Kalasiddhi also of Nepal, emanation of Vajravarahi's Quality % - Mangala (Monmo Tashi Khyeudren) emanation of Vajravarahi's Activity % % --Mandarava % Mandarava became the first of Padmasambhava's sexual consort in Maratika % (known as Haleshi in the local dialect), the Cave of Bringing Death to an % End. (Maratika Cave, and later Maratika Monastery, is located in Khotang % District of Nepal, circa 185 kilometres south west of Mount Everest.) Both % Mandarava and Padmasambhava achieved the unified vajra body on the vidyadhara % level of mastery and realised some of the practices of long life or longevity % that were concealed in the Maratika Cave as terma by 'Dakini Sangwa' (Wylie: % mKha' 'gro gSang ba), the terma constituted the teachings of Buddha Amitabha % and they were elementally encoded as terma at the behest of Bodhisattva % Avalokiteśvara. % % --Yeshe Tsogyal-- % % [Yeshe Tsogyal is a Dakini or female tantric deity, often represented in % Thangka paintings as in a Yab-Yum position with Padmasambhava (he, lotus % position, she on his lap). % % w: Although she was originally one of the Queen consorts of Trisong Detsen, % she was given to Padmasambhava and became his main spiritual consort. After % many years of diligent study she achieved a level of enlightenment equal to % his. Yeshe Tsogyal was the main compiler of Padmasambhava's teachings] % % ...interesting facts about Tithapuri, also known as "Tirthapuri". I have never % been there, but I just consulted one of my favorite books,"The Tibet Handbook" % by Gyurme Dorje, which is actually an indispensable Tibet travel book (Lonely % Planet doesn't even come close. % % He writes about a cave in Tirthapuri on page 349: % % "Inside a temple enclosure is a small cave where Padmasabhava meditated with % his Tibetan consort Yeshe Tsogyal. It contains two granite stones in which % indentations of their footprints are clearly present, and a hole through which % Padmasambhava is said to have extracted the consciousness of the ogress who % previously inhabited the cave... - % % Yeshe Tsogyal purchased a young brahman slave boy, Atsara Sale, whom she % trained and initiated. Earlier in her biography, Padmasambhava tells her: % "Now, girl, without a consort [dPa' bo, hero], a partner of skillful means, % there is no way that you can experience the mysteries of tantra." (equally % true for both male and female). He then tells her to go to Nepal where she % will meet her future consort. % % Yeshe practiced such austerities in the harsh climate of Tibet that she was % often on the verge of deathy. On one such occasion Padmasambhava appeared to % her in a vision, offering a "skull cup of chang" that sustains her. The skull % cup symbolizes a vagina, and the white chang, (barley beer) represents semen. % % There are several visions with sexual imagery - e.g. once she sees a naked % red-skinned woman put her vagina (_bhaga_) against Yeshe's mouth. Being a % true _tantrika_, she drinks the blood that flows from it and is restored in % her practice. At another point, she is tormented by sexy young men, equal to % any ascetic's dancing girls: % [T]hese demons projected themselves as charming youths, handsome, with % fine complexions, smelling sweetly, glowing with desire, strong and % capable, young me at whom a girl need only glance to feel excited. % They would begin by addressing me respectfully, but they soon became % familiar, relating obscene stories and making lewd suggestions, % gradually they would expose their sexual organs, whispering, "Would % you like this, sweetheart?" and "Would you like to milk me, darling?" % all the time embracing me, rubbing my breasts, fondling my vagina % (_mtshan ma_), kissing me, and trying all kinds of seductive % foreplay. % % Later, she is at one point gang-raped by seven bandits while meditating in a % remote area. % % --Sakya Devi-- % % '''Belmo Sakya Dema''' (or Sakya Devi) was Guru Rinpoche's first Nepali consort. He % met her at Sankhu, in the north-east corner of the Kathmandu Valley. It is an % ancient pilgrimage site where people stopped on the way from Tibet to India. % It was also a centre for master bronze workers. % % (The shrine of Sankhu Vajrayogini is now known as the temple of Ugratara where % the female deity is depicted wielding a sword and as such is called Khadga % Yogini.) % % Legend v.1: % Princess Sakyadevi was the daughter of King Sukkhadhara of Nepal. Her mother % died in childbirth and she was displaced by the next queen and abandoned by % the court. When she grew up she became a Yogini and resided near present day % Parphing, in the mountains just outside the Kathmandu Valley. There she is % said to have become a consort of Guru Padmasambhava and received teachings % from him. The two lived together at the yogi's cave of Langlesho, above % Parphing, where they mastered Vajrakilaya-practice. It is said that she % eventually attained "Rainbow Body" as a realized female Buddha." % % Legend v.2: % Belmo's legend tells how a local queen died in childbirth, but when her corpse % was taken to the cremation ground the tiny daughter survived. Suckled by the % monkeys, she is raised by them. When she was found by Padmasambhava, he % noticed that her hands and feet were webbed (one of the characteristics of an % enlightened being. ) He takes her with him to P'harping at the southern end % of the Valley, where he teaches and initiates her. % % Many years later, when Tsogyel visited Yanglesho, the Guru's former consort % was still practicing as a yogini. Some Tibetans think that the Raj-Kumari, % the so-called Living Goddess of Kathmandu, is an emanation of Belmo Sakya % Dema. % % --Lesser-known Consorts-- % % '''Kalasiddhi''' was also from Nepal where her parents were weavers. Her parents, % Bhadana and Nagini, named their child Khandro, or Dakini. Her father % abandoned her in the charnel ground when her mother died. There, it is % believed that Mandarava, in the form of a tigress, suckled her and kept her % alive. % % She grew up and managed to earn her living as a spinner and weaver of cotton. % When Yeshe Tsogyel was on her second visit to Nepal, she came across the % 14-year old girl and took her under her wing renaming her, Kalasiddhi. Dowman % explains that here kala means humours as in "bodily essence." % % She accompanied Tsogyel to Tibet's first Buddhist monastery, Samye, and to the % Master's retreat centre at Chimphu. There, she becomes his consort to further % the progress of Buddhist tantra in Tibet. When Guru Pema leaves for the % Southwest, Kalasiddhi is left in Yeshe Tsogyel's care and receives % transmission of zap-lam from her. % % '''Tashi''' Khyidren was the consort from Bhutan. She may have been the % daughter of the legendary King of the Iron Palace, who invited the Guru to % Bhutan to cure his disease. However, The Life says that Tashi Khyidren was % the daughter of King Hamra. At the age of thirteen, she met Yeshe Tsogyel who % was meditating in the cave called Nering Drak but was being tormented by local % spirits. In admiration for the yogini, she brought her milk and honey. % % Finally, Tsogyel succeeded in subduing the spirits and also the hostile % locals, and so the king grants her a boon. Tsogyel then asks him for his % daughter, and she changes her name from Khyidren to Chidren. % % Soon after, Khyidren accompanied Tsogyel to Womphu, Taktsang in Tibet, where % she meets Guru Padmasambhava. He asked Tsogyel for the girl to be his mudra % in the practice of Dorje Phurba, which he would perform for the protection of % Tibet. She is the one who is depicted as the tigress upon which the Guru and % Tsogyel ride (as Vajrakila and Consort.) She remained a devoted disciple of % Yeshe Tsogyel's, and it is believed that she later was reborn as Machik % Labdron's daughter. % % --- % From the biography of Milarepa % http://sacred-sex.org/buddhism/milarepa-karmamudra % Milarepa: Karmamudra % (autobiography of Milarepa) % % [this wikipedia page has no reference to this meeting; % % [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milarepa|Jetsun Milarepa] (Rje-btsun Mi-la-ras-pa), (c. 1052-c. 1135 CE) is generally % considered one of Tibet's most famous yogis and poets, a student of Marpa % Lotsawa, and a major figure in the history of the Kagyu (Bka'-brgyud) school % of Tibetan Buddhism. % % They are popularly known from the romanticized biography Mi-la-rnam-thar by % Gtsang-smyon he-ru-ka rus-pa'i-rgyan-can (1452-1507); although they may be of % questionable historic validity, the biographical details given in this article % are based upon this account or its derivatives. % ] % % Quoted from "The Hundred Thousand Songs of Milarepa" as translated by Garma % C.C. Chang, Shambhala Publications, 1962. % % Tseringma and the Practice of Mudra % % Late on the night of the eighth day of the Month of the Fire Rooster, a great % light shone upon Milarepa's quiet hermitage in Chu Bar. Milarepa then sensed a % fragrant odor he had never smelled before and heard the sound of approaching % voices. While he was wondering about them, the Auspicious Lady of Long Life % [Tseringma], well-dressed and wearing beautiful ornaments, appeared with her % sisters —one bringing various kinds of incense; one, many delicious foods and % drinks; one, musical instruments; another, fine and pretty clothes; and still % another, beautiful flowers. They all bowed down before the Jetsun [an % honorific title], circumambulated him many times, and offered him desirable % oblations conjured by their miraculous powers. Then they sang in chorus: % % To the left of the mountain, Lhaman Jalmo, % Stands your hut by the bank of Lodahan River. % The King of the Nagas [“serpent people”] sounded % His magic conch-shell trumpet, % And into a wish-fulfilling Palace % Was this hut transformed. % % On this river-bank in Medicine Valley, % You, a wondrous yogi, % Industriously practice the Pinnacle Teachings [highest tantras]. % Renouncing the Eight Worldly Desires, % From Samsaric temples you are freed % [he is not subject to illusory religions]. % % Through our wondrous powers % We five girls have come % To praise and sing for you % With sweet words and tuneful voices. % We represent the four known types of womanhood % Called Lotus, Conch, Mark, and the Elephant % Pray, practice Karma Mudra with us. % [named thus by the shape of the yoni or feminine sexual % organ; these names have levels of meanings]. % % _Karmamudra_: (Sanskrit: literally, “action seal.” Tibetan: las % ryga) In Tantra Yoga, a “mudra” is a female consort or sexual % partner. Karma simply means “action.” Karmamudra is the % tantric method of sexual transmutation accomplished through % the sexual union of man and woman while restraining desire and % the orgasm. The restrained creative energy is transformed into % bodhichitta: the energy of the awakening wisdom mind.] % % Will you grant our prayer? % Do you know well % The four techniques of Karma Mudra % Called falling, holding, turning back, and spreading — % If so, you may apply them now, % For your servants are prepared. % % It is said in the Supreme Tantra, % [That the qualified yogi] should attract the maids of Heaven, % Of Nagas, of Asuras, or of human kind. % It also says that of all services % The best is Karma Mudra. % Thus we come here this evening. % Pray witness this, oh great Yogi, % Whose naked body is full of splendor and radiance. % % The Jetsun answered: % % At this late hour % I hear your tuneful voices raised, % And your thoughts expressed in song. % % Does not your abode % Stand on the shining summit, % The Snow Mountain's crystal peak? % Towers not a palace % Under the canopy of clouds % ‘Midst the flower-galaxy of stars? % % Long are your lives and great your powers — % This of your mercy is the reward. % Your fortune rivals that of the God of Wealth — % This of your bounty is the reward. % Your servants are faithful and obedient — % This of your patience is the reward. % % In practicing meritorious deeds % You are full of aspiration — % This is the sign of your diligence. % The fact that you have met me in this life % Proves your good wishes in past lives. % I sing this song for you % To reveal the deep relationship. % % I am a follower of Naropa's Lineage, % Who has mastered Prana and Bindu % [_prANa_: life force or energy] [_bindu_: “drop” or “dot”: masculine sexual energy]. % 'Tis true that of all offerings % A qualified Mudra is the best. % Most wondrous indeed are the four perfected Mudras. % % The radiant Face and Lotus promote bliss; % The shell-shaped Nadi speeds the ecstasy % [energy passage, meaning the yoni]; % The Mark in the deep recess prevents all waste % [mark-shaped yoni, prevents waste of energy]; % While through the "Elephant" Reality is realized. % [reality = Shunyata, the Absolute] % % You are the auspicious, noble, and fault-free Lady of Long Life. % In your secret Wisdom Lotus % Lies the _bija_: "Bham" shaped like the sign "e"; % [a mantric sound representing the receptive feminine sexual forces] % The male gem is likened to the blue bija "Hum"; % [a mantric sound representing the projective masculine sexual forces] % [male gem = sexual organ or vajra] % And, when combined with "Pad," % [a mantric sound representing the conciliating force that joins and % harmonizes the male and female] % fixes Tig Le well. % [tig le: Tibetan for seed or essence. A reference to sexual energy] % When Wisdom and Method together join The Bliss of Two-in-One is offered best. % % The Four Blisses and Four Moments are % The essence of the Four Bodies of Buddha. % Like the crawling of a tortoise % [Slowly Tig Le, sexual energy] should drip down. % [In Tibetan medicine, sexual energy is considered to originate at % the top of the spinal column.] % Then hold it in the Central Channel [an energy channel within the spine], % And like a coursing beast, % Reverse it [to the head]. % Later when you spread it [through the nervous system], % Use the Liberating Mudra [of meditation]. % % "Tig" is Nirvana Path! % 'Le" the Bliss of Equality; % “Las” [Tibetan: “action”] means the various actions and plays, % "Kyi" [Tibetan: “of”] the intercourse 'twixt Bliss and Voidness [Reality]; % "Phyag" is this and that to hold; % And "rGya," to embrace Nirvana and Samsara. % [Phyag rGya: Tibetan for mudra] % This section is a poetic play on words revealing deeper meanings of the % components to the Tibetan phrase “las kyi phyag rGya,” which means % “karmamudra.” Milarepa does this again here: % % "Las" is to contact this and act on that, % "Kyi" to do this and that for the associate; % "Phyag" is the Union of the Bliss and Void; % While "rGya" is not to go beyond [restrain the orgasm]. % This is the speed-path of Union, % A path full of retained-bliss [retaining sexual energy], % A path to consummate the accomplishment % Of the Illuminating-Void [sunyata, emptiness, ultimate reality], % Leading toward undiscriminating Dharmakaya % [the highest Buddha body; in Kabbalah: Kether], % Directing one to the perfect Samhhogakaya % [second Buddha body or state of attainment], % And leading to the Manifesting-Void of the Nirmanakayas % [third Buddha body or state of attainment]. % This is a path of bliss — of voidness, of no thoughts, and of two-in-one, % A path of quick assistance by a goddess. % Following this inspiring way % You, fair ladies, will reach Liberation, % And, in the Realm of No-arising [the Absolute] will remain. % Oh gifted fairies, you are indeed well qualified! % % The Karma Mudra was then performed, during which the five goddesses offered % Milarepa their bodies, words, and minds — also many foods and drinks to please % him. % % Among the five Dakinis — the Auspicious Lady of Long Life, the Drogmanzulema % of Lashi Snow Mountain, the Mannmo of Linpa Draug, the Tsomanma of Nepal, and % the Yidagmo of Yolmo Snow Mountain — the Auspicious Lady of Long Life was the % one who gained the best Karma Mudra inspiration from the Jetsun. % % This is the story of how the Repa, "Laughing Vajra," the great Yogi who was % capable of attracting and using goddesses for his Mudra practice, met with the % Lady of Long Life; and in which the songs of inquiry and the answers, named % "The Rosary of Bliss-Void Wisdom," are found. % % blurb: % The wisest teachings of Buddhism say that one must move beyond gender. But, as % Serinity Young shows in this enlightening work, the rhetoric of Buddhist % texts, the symbolism of its iconography, and the performative import of its % rituals, all tell different, and often contradictory, stories. In Courtesans % and Tantric Consorts, Serinity Young takes the reader on a journey through % more than 2000 years of biographical writings, iconographic depictions, and % ritual practices revealing the colorful mosaic of beliefs that inform Buddhist % views about gender and sexuality. Thaye, Jampa (Lama); Way of Tibetan Buddhism Thorsons, 2001, 146 pages ISBN 0722540175, 9780722540176 +BUDDHISM TIBET TANTRA % % This book is completely straightforward and lucid, and it seems to go to the % heart of Tibetan Buddhist practice. Thaye outlines the history of Buddhism % in general, how it spread to Tibet, and then goes on to detail its basic % practices, giving justifications and rationalizations for the various steps. % % bio (back cover): Lama Jampa Thaye is one of the first Westerners to be % recognized as a master. He has trained in the Sakya and Kagyu traditions % with some of the most distinguished Tibetan spiritual leaders. % % ==Excerpts / Notes== % At the age of 29, Gautama the Buddha renounced the luxuries of his palace, and % started wandering across northern India seeking a more meaningful existence. % He met many gurus, but found no solace. Eventually, after six years, he came % to a realization under a tree at Bodhgaya near the river Neranjana. A few % weeks later he at Sarnath, he spoke of his vision to five friends [shramaNas, % wandering ascetics] whom he had met earlier during in the period before Bodh % Gaya, who became his disciples. In his first sermon at the deer park % [Mrigadava] in Sarnath (the site of a stupa built by Ashoka), the % Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta, he outlined the Four Noble Truths : % % 1. _duHkha_: The truth of suffering. BK Matilal looks upon duHkha as a % theme that binds Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism, and perhaps, Sikhism: % Duhkha underlines "the undesirability or non-finality of the worldly % life for persons who strive to discover a higher, better, greater, and % transcendent truth beyond all this" p.11, % _Logical and Ethical Issues: An Essays on Indian Philosophy of Religion_ % % 2. _samudaya_: The truth of the cause of suffering: attachment to [craving: Pali % tanha, Skt triShNa] self [worldly pleasures, mAyA,] - leads to % repeated coming into existence % 3. _nirodha_: The truth of the cessation of suffering : nirvAna [when craving % ends, one is freed from desire] % 4. _mArga_: The truth of the path to the cessarion of suffering - the noble % eight-fold path; that is, right view, right intention, right speech, % right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, right % concentration." % % --The original sources-- % [While these four truths appear several times in the Samyutta Nikaya and the % Anguttara Nikaya in the Pali canon, they are not referred as frequently in % the traditions of China and Japan. It is certainly a part of Dalai Lama's % teachings; see % The eight-fold path stresses an approach of moderation, away from the % extremes of sensual indulgence and self-mortification and toward the % practice of wisdom, morality and mental cultivation (the middle way, % majjhimā patipadā). In some traditions (madhyamika?), it is also said that % when his companions asked him - what great austerities have you performed, % he said, No, I have given up all extremes, and this is sometimes mentioned % even before the four truths. ] % % from the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four_Noble_Truths|w Chinese and Pali canon texts]: % % 1. The Nature of Suffering (Dukkha): % "This is the noble truth of suffering: birth is suffering, aging is % suffering, illness is suffering, death is suffering; sorrow, % lamentation, pain, grief and despair are suffering; union with what is % displeasing is suffering; separation from what is pleasing is suffering; % not to get what one wants is suffering; in brief, the five aggregates % subject to clinging are suffering."[9][10] % % 2. Suffering's Origin (Samudaya): % "This is the noble truth of the origin of suffering: it is this craving % which leads to renewed existence, accompanied by delight and lust, % seeking delight here and there, that is, craving for sensual pleasures, % craving for existence, craving for extermination."[9][10] % % 3. Suffering's Cessation (Nirodha): % "This is the noble truth of the cessation of suffering: it is the % remainderless fading away and cessation of that same craving, the giving % up and relinquishing of it, freedom from it, nonreliance on it."[9][10] % % 4. The Way (Mārga) Leading to the Cessation of Suffering: % "This is the noble truth of the way leading to the cessation of % suffering: it is the Noble Eightfold Path; that is, right view, right % intention, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, % right mindfulness, right concentration."[11][12] % % [9] _[http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/sn/sn56/sn56.011.than.html|Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta]_ (Samyutta Nikaya 56.11), trans. Bodhi (2000), % pp. 1843-47. % [10] "轉法輪經". [http://w3.cbeta.org/result/normal/T02/0109_001.htm|Cbeta]. % [11] Samyutta Nikaya 56.11, trans. Bodhi (2000), p. 1844. In this translation, % Bodhi elides the six middle factors of the Noble Eightfold Path % (between right view and right concentration). Thus Bodhi's translation % for the six middle factors was taken from his translation of SN 45.1 % (Bodhi, 2000, p. 1523-24). See also Feer (1976), p. 421f. % [12] In Anguttara Nikaya 3.61, the Buddha provides an alternate elaboration % on the second and third noble truths identifying the arising and % cessation of suffering in accordance with Dependent Origination's % Twelve Causes, from ignorance to old age and death (Thanissaro, 1997). % % --Mahayana and Hinayana-- % % For those disciples whose understanding was more penetrating, the Buddha's % message was that they should strive to become awakened not only to become free % from suffering oneself, but above all to help others achieve liberation. This % is the _mahAyana_ (great vehicle), in contrast to the path laid out for ordinary % people, the _hinAyana_ (lesser vehicle). The _mahAyana_ stresses that the % true nature of reality lies beyond all conceptual notion and thus is best % characterized as emptiness, and the supreme path is that of the _bodhisattva_, % one who works for enlightenment impelled by his compassionate resolve to % achieve the welfare of others. p.6-7 % % Within the mahAyana also are the teachings known as _tantras_, which gives % rise to the _vajrAyana_. These may have been given by Buddha in a form other % than his physical body, and may have even been revealed after his physical % death (at age 80, in Kushinagara, the site of an ancient monolithic 6m % sandstone statue of the reclining buddha). The first of these, the % guhyasamaja tantra [Secret Assembly], was preached to king Indrabhuti, as a % means of seeking salvation in the middle of ordinary life. % % --Growth of Buddhism in India-- % After his death, his hinAyana teachings were collected by 500 disciples and % organized into three baskets (piTaka): _abhidharma_ (philosophy), _vinaya_ % (monastic practice), and the _sutras_ (discourses of the Buddha). These were % committed to collective memory and eventually to writing. Similarly, the % mahAyana teachings were collected by various bodhisattvas. The most secret of % Buddha's teachings, the tantra, were later collected by the bodhisattva % vajrapANi. % % --Rise of the Mahayana-- % For the first two c. after Buddha, the laity organized themselves according to % the _vinaya_ tradition, i.e. in the hinayana. Gradually, though, with the % work of Nagarjuna and Asanga, the mahayana teachings came to the fore. From % their teachings emerged the two great philosophical schools of mahAyana: the % madhyamika (middle way) and the chittamAtra (mind only). % % Sabbamatthī'ti kho ..., ayameko anto. % Sabbaṃ natthī'ti ayaṃ dutiyo anto. % ... [U]bho ante anupagamma % majjhena tathāgato dhammaṃ deseti.[Pali text: Samyutta Niyaka, % Kaccānagottasutta] % % "'Everything exists': That is one extreme. % 'Everything doesn't exist': That is a second extreme. % Avoiding these two extremes, % the Tathagata teaches the Dhamma via the middle...." % [tr. % % [from [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mahayana|w Mahayana]]: Although the Mahayana movement traces its origin to Gautama % Buddha, scholars believe that it originated in South India ~ 1st century % CE,[4][5] or the 1st century BCE.[6][7] Scholars think that Mahayana only % became a mainstream movement in India in the fifth century CE, since that is % when Mahayanic inscriptions started to appear in epigraphic records in % India.[8] Before the 11th century CE (while Mahayana was still present in % India), the Mahayana Sutras were still in the process of being revised. Thus, % several different versions may have survived of the same sutra. These % different versions are invaluable to scholars attempting to reconstruct the % history of Mahayana. % % In the course of its history, Mahayana spread throughout East Asia. The main % countries in which it is practiced today are China, Japan, Korea, and Vietnam % and worldwide amongst Tibetan Buddhist practitioners] % % --The vajrAyana-- % % after many generations of transmission in secret, it came to the fore only in % the medieval period. 8th c. onwards, masters (siddhas): Saraha, Naropa, and % Virupa. % % --Buddhism in Tibet-- % % Commenced during Songsten Gampo (609-49), and climaxed under his % great-grandsom, Trison Detsen (756-97). The Indian abbot Shantaraksthis was % invited by Trison to Tibet, but his work faced considerable resistance, both % from nobles opposed to the king, and others (nagas) following traditional % rituals. The work of building a monastery and could be completed only under % the vajrAyana master Padmasambhava, from Oddiyana, probably present-day % Afghanistan or Pakistan. Padmasambhava is regarded by many Tibetans as a % second Buddha. He was at the time meditating in Nepal, and acceded to the % king's invitation. Padmasambhava managed to quell the protests and trained 25 % disciples in the vajrAyana, including the young woman Yeshe Tsogyal who became % his consort and a master of vajrakilaya. Taught three sets of practices - % maha-yoga, anu-yoga, and ati-yoga. The latter is the climax of the teachings, % the primordial state of enlightenment. % % [Yeshe Tsogyal [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yeshe_Tsogyal w] is a Dakini or female tantric deity, often represented in % Thangka paintings as in a Yab-Yum position with Padmasambhava (he, lotus % position, she on his lap). % % [Dakini [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dakini_(Buddhism) w]: elusive % tantric deity that might best be described as a female embodiment of % enlightened energy. In the Tibetan language, dakini is rendered % Khandroma which means 'she who traverses the sky' or 'she who moves in % space'. Sometimes the term is translated poetically as 'sky dancer' or % 'sky walker'. % % Although she was originally one of the Queen consorts of Trisong Detsen, % she was given to Padmasambhava and became his main spiritual consort. After % many years of diligent study she achieved a level of enlightenment equal to % his. Yeshe Tsogyal was the main compiler of Padmasambhava's teachings] % % [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kilaya|w kilaya]: % % ] % % After the passing of Shantarakshita and Padmasambhava's departure from Tibet, % a great debate was held in Lhasa between the followers of the Indian tradition % and those practicing earlier Chinese practices. This debate was a decisive % victory for the Indian practices, led by Kamalashila, a disciple of Sh. % Trison then decreed that only these Buddhist practices would be permitted in % Tibet. % % --Taking refuge-- % % We can take refuge only in that which is completely dependable. The three % such sources, the "three jewels" are: % % 1. The '''buddha''': there may have been countless others who realized the source of % emptiness that characterizes the nature of reality. However, Buddha % may have been the wone to uncover this at a time when it's nature had % become obscured. % % 2. The '''dharma''': the practice of the methods given by Buddha. But how % does one know these instructions are reliable? Because they can be % tested with one's owni reasoning. These tests must be done if one % wants to take refuge in dharma; Buddha told his disciples not to rely % on his teaching simply because he had said so. "One should be like a % merchant who tests gold before buying it." 25 % % 3. The '''sangha''': Although one may practice the dharma by oneself, in % practice, this approach does not seem to work. Need for supportive % frienship - interdependence - we are all "limbs of one life" % [Shantideva]. Therefore spiritual practice should not be entirely % private - that would be self-centered. % % --Motivation for taking refuge-- % % _Fear_ - the apprehension that otherwise we may keep making the same % mistakes. % _Confidence_ or faith that the Three jewels represent the only effective % means of travelling the spiritual path. % _Compassion_ : should rely on the three jewels not only for our own selves, % but also for helping others. % % --The method of taking refuge-- % % First time: In the presence of a lama or senior sangha member. Then repeat % thrice the chant: % I take refuge in the Buddha, most excellent among humans % I take refuge in the Dharma, most excellent in detachment % I take refuge in the Sangha, most excellent among assemblies % % Then we are asked thrice if we understand the method of taking refuge. Then % our teacher usually gives us a religious name symbolizing the qualities that % will develop through taking refuge. A lock of hair is cut to symbolize our % joining the sangha. % % This ceremony marks only the beginning of taking refuge. Much training % etc. is associated with the path of the Buddha. Mukerjee, Amitabha ; The unsevered tongue: translated poetry by Bengali women Nandimukh Samsad, 2005, 50 pages +POETRY BENGALI GENDER TRANSLATION % % Modern Bengali poetry by six women poets. % You can read one poem by each % author, and also the poet bios and much else, at the % % --kabitA sinhA-- % alone like a Goddess {bn প্রতিমার মতন একেল} % never {bn না} % because I crave your insults {bn অপমানের জন্য ফিরে আসি} % story told by a frog-in-the-well {bn কোনো এক কূপমুণ্ডকের উক্তি} % % --vijayA mukhopadhyAy-- % companion {bn সঙ্গী} % achievement {bn যোগ্যতার জন্য} % memories of fish on ice {bn হিমঘরের মাছ} % poetry: when you come {bn তুমি এলে কবিতা} % Mira-di {bn মীরাদি} % not you, Puti {bn পুঁটিকে সাজে না} % five feet of emptiness {bn পাঁচ ফুট নির্জনতা} % % --debArati mitra-- % memory, an emptiness {bn স্মৃতি বলে কিছু নেই} % the world's beauty, all alone {bn পৃথিবীর সৌন্দর্য একাকী তারা দুজন} % onomatoepia in Tung {bn টুঙ নামের সমধ্বনি} % train clock {bn ট্রেনের সময়} % Pareshnath, darlingheart {bn দূরে ঐ পরেশনাথ} % jungle starwish {bn জঙ্গলের ঘোর} % % --namitA chaudhuri-- % fragmented words I {bn শুধু কথাই} % fragmented words II {bn উপকথা} % twenty-tirst century romance {bn একবিংশ শতাব্দীতে} % Radha swings {bn ঝুলন যাত্রা} % to my daughter {bn কন্যাকে} % moonstruck {bn চন্দ্রাহত} % a love poem {bn একটি প্রেমের কবিতা} % % --mallikA sengupta-- % Khanaa's Song {bn খনার গান} % mother of universe {bn পৃথিবীর মা} % tongue {bn ভাষা} % bengal son {bn ভূমিপুত্র} % % --taslimA nAsrin-- % don't listen, girl {bn ও মেয়ে শোনো} % boundary {bn সীমানা} % body center {bn দেহতত্ব} % Brahmaputra {bn ব্রহ্মপুত্র} % with me, when you are not {bn যখন নেই, তখন থাকো} % % --mandakrantA sen-- % in the bathroom mirror {bn কলঘরে} % contract {bn শর্ত} % afternoon {bn অনুষঙ্গ} % glue {bn আঠা} Das, Sisir Kumar; Sāhitya Akademi; A History of Indian Literature: v. 1800-1910 : Western Impact, Indian Response Sahitya Akademi, 1991, 815 pages ISBN 8172010060, 9788172010065 +INDIA LITERATURE HISTORY ANCIENT MEDIEVAL % Das, Sisir Kumar; various; Sahitya Akademi; A history of Indian literature, v. 500-1399: from courtly to the popular Sahitya Akademi, 2006, 302 pages ISBN 8126021713, 9788126021710 +INDIA LITERATURE HISTORY ANCIENT MEDIEVAL % Mooney, Bel; Jonathan Dimbleby; The Vintage Book of Marriage Vintage, 2000, 384 pages ISBN 0099283239, 9780099283232 +MARRIAGE SOCIAL LITERATURE ANTHOLOGY Nandy, Ashis; Bonfire of Creeds: The Essential Ashis Nandy Oxford University Press, 2004, 506 pages ISBN 0195664124, 9780195664126 +SOCIOLOGY PHILOSOPHY INDIA HISTORY ESSAYS George, K. M.; Sāhitya Akādemī; Modern Indian Literature, an Anthology: Surveys and poems Sahitya Akademi, 1992, 1148 pages ISBN 8172013248, 9788172013240 +POETRY INDIA ANTHOLOGY Brough, John (trans.); Poems from the Sanskrit Penguin, 1977, 151 pages ISBN 0140441980, 9780140441987 +POETRY INDIA ANCIENT SANSKRIT % % --Well-crafted translations-- % John Brough is a noted Sanskrit scholar; he has also written on the Sanskrit % theories of language and semantics. These translations, taken from there classical % anthologies, are partly rendered in verse. Brough does not seem to have % written other poetry books, though. % % Many of the selections from _subhAShitAvali_ also appear in % A.N.D. Haksar's % Also the poems from _amaru_ (143, 161, 172) can also be found in Schelling %[/cvr] % % ==Introduction / Background== % Poems were selected from several anthologies from late medieval % period (11th c. on): % * subhAShita-ratna-koSha (fine-verse-treasury) - compiled vidyAkara end % 11th c. 1738 verses % * subhAShitAvali (necklace of fine verse) - ascribed to vallabhadeva prob, % 12th c., though with later additions upto the 15th c. 3527 verses % * paddhati (manual, or anthology) of shArngadhara, of 14th c. 4620 verses % % the latter includes pieces selected not for their poetic merit but for their % informativeness, e.g. potion for dying grey hair: % % 6 parts myrobalans, 2 parts fibrous pomegranates, 3 parts turmeric, % pound them, mix 6 parts egg, add hair-oil 20 parts. bury in iron % vessel packed with horsedung - leave for 1 month. mix with milk until % ointment consistency. Massage well into scalp and beard. Wrap with % leaves of castor-oil plant, so it is held firm while you sleep. Next % morning, rinse off. Repeat 3x at 7-day intervals. With this % treatment, hair will stay black and glossy like the bumble bee, until % you die. % % --Loss: Metre, Rhythm and Alliteration-- % % Sanskrit verses are shapely. They have a very definite and strict metrical % form, and often have extremely complex and subtle sound patterns of assonance % and alliteration. The qualities of rhythm, of shapeliness, of the music of % the words, cannot be directly transferred to another language, and there is % no perforect solution. We seek, in fact, the best approximate solution under % the limitations... of the receiving language. The attempt often involves % what seems to the translator to be a complete dismemberment of the original % verse into constituents of sense, and the subsequent creation of a new poem, % where these constituents are rebuilt ... into a new pattern of words. 23 % % --Rhyme-- % % Translating verse as verse works well - may be a need - for humourous verse % German poem - ants travelling to australia... 25 % % In Hamburg lebten zwei Ameisen, lived two ants % Die wollten nach Australien reisen. wanted to travel to Australia % Bei Altona auf der Chausee in Altona, on the street % Da taten ihnen die Beine weh, then their feet began to hurt % wehtun=to hurt --> weh taten ; Beine=legs verzichteten=renounce % Und da verzichteten sie weise renounced wisely % Dann auf den letzten Teil der Reise last part of the journey % % Two ants who lived in London planned % To walk to Melbourne overland % But, footsore in Southampton Row, % When there were still some miles to go, % They thought it wise not to extend % The journey to the bitter end. % % --Compounds-- % % In verse 222 the cat is described by the adjectives % _A-kubjI-kr.ta-pr.ShTham_, 'having-a-somewhat-made-into-a-hump-back', % and % _unnata-valad-vakrAgra-puccham_, % 'having-a-raised-twisting-crooked-tip-tail', % while the dog rejoices in the epithet % _lAlAkIrNa-vidIrNa-sr.kka-vikacad-daMShTrA-karAlAnanaH_, % 'having-a-saliva-smeared-split-open-mouth-corners-expanding-teeth- % fearsomely-gaping-face'. % This gives to the verbal expression of the original a sense of energy and % urgency which obviously cannot be imitated by any comparable formal means in % a language like English. ... tightly-knit, concise, inflexional structure of % Sanskrit - can only be approximated, by diff means, the emotional impact of % the original... % % Another feature of Skt poetry is the great wealth of synonyms or % near-synonyms which the poet has at his disposal... It has often been said - % or so I am told - that English has an exceptionally rich vocabulary. Indeed, % I am in no position to assess the justice of this claim in any general terms, % though I have no doubt that most of us who use English find its vocabulary % more or less adequate of most prosaic purposes. But, for the purposes of % poetry, English, in comparison with Skt, is poor in the extreme. Where, for % example, Sanskrit may have some fifty expressions for 'lotus', the English % translator has only 'lotus', and he must make the best of it. 31 % % --Difficulty of translating verbal play-- % % A frequent feature of Skt literary works is the employment of words and % phrases with double meanings: % % _mukhena candrakAntena mahAnIlaiH shiroruhaiH_ % _pANibhyAM padmarAgAbhyAm reje ratnamayIva sA_ % - Bhartrihari #131 % % Since her face had the beauty of the moon, and her hair was jet % black, and her hands were the colour of lotuses, she seemed to be % made of all jewels. % % Nothing can be done to make this into an acceptable verse in another % language, since it does not even make sense until we know that _candrakAnta_, % in addition to meaning 'having the beauty of the moon', is also the name of a % precious stone; that _mahAnIla_ means 'very black' and also 'sapphire'; and % that _padmarAga_ means 'lotus coloured' and also 'ruby'. 34-5 % % --9th century Theory of Poetry-- % % Anandavardhana, writing on the theory of poetry in the ninth century AD, % called 'that strange vision of poets which is always new'. As has been said: % % A poet's purpose is not just to say % The moon is like the lady's face % But to express it in a different way % And with a certain grace. 38 % % ==Poems: Excerpts== % % 1 % Is poetry always worthy when it's old? % And is it worthless, then, because it's new? % Reader, decide yourself if this be true: % Fools suspend judgement, waiting to be told. % % % 2 % Of what use is the poet's poem, % Of what use is the bowman's dart % Unless another's senses reel % When it sticks quivering to the heart? % [subhAShitAvali 134] % % 3. % Scoundrels without the wit to fit % A word or two of verse together % Are daunted not a whit to sit % In judgment on the abstruse poetry of another. % such men will listen with attentive mind, % Alert to see how many faults they find. % And if they're vexed because they fail to grasp the sense % Of works conceived for readers of intelligence, % They naturally do not blame their foolishness: % A girl who's less than perfect always blames the dress. % [subhAShitAvali 140,141,153] % % 4 % A man lives long who lives a hundred years: % Yet half is sleep, and half the rest again % Old age and childhood. For the rest, a man % Lives close companion to disease and tears, % Losing his love, working for other men % Where can joy find a space in this short span? % % % --Separation-- % 6 % "Do not go," I could say; but this is inauspicious. % "All right, go" is a loveless thing to say. % "Stay with me" is imperious. "Do as you wish" suggests % Cold indifference. And if I say "I'll die % when you are gone", you might or might not believe me. % Teach me, my husband, what I ought to say % When you go away. % [subhAShitAvali 1049] % % 7 % Today adds yet another day % And still your father is unkind. % The darkness closes up the path. % Come, little son, let us go to bed. % [subhAShitAvali 1106] % % 10 % Although my mind % Is sick with love, I find % I have acquired the gift of magic sight. % Though she is far away, and it is night, % I see her in a foreign land % From where I stand. % [subhAShitAvali 1208] % % --Love-- % 12 % The clear bright flame of a man's discernment dies % When a girl clouds it with her lamp-black eyes. % [Bhartrihari 77] % % 13 % Her face is not the moon, nor are her eyes % Twin lotuses, nor are her arms pure gold % She's flesh and bone. What lies the poets told! % Ah, but we love her, we believe the lies. % % 14 % If the forest of her hair % Calls you to explore the land, % And her breasts, those mountains fair, % Tempt that mountaineer, your hand - % Stop! Before it is too late: % Love, the brigand, lies in wait. % [Bhartrihari 104] % % 24 % You are pale, friend moon, and do not sleep at night, % And day by day you waste away. % Can it be that you also % Think only of her, as I do? % [subhAShitAvali 1260] % % 44 % The grammar books all say that "mind" is neuter, % And so I thought it safe to let my mind % Salute her. % But now it lingers in embraces tender: % For Panini made a mistake, I find, % In gender. % % [dharmakIrti - subhAshitaratnakoSha, compiled vidyAkara #478, % Kosambi/Gokhale Harvard Oriental Series 1957 ] % [subhAShitAvali 1232; Paddhati 3451] % % 45 % A hundred times I learnt from my philosophy % To think no more of love, this vanity, % This dream, this source of all regret, % This emptiness. % But no philosopy can make my heart forget % Her loveliness. % % 51 % It may be hard enough to do, % But if you try, you'll find % A way to pin down quicksilver % But not a woman's mind. % % 72 % Love made a magic snare - % My lady's arms. When they're not there, % My breath comes short, I pant and choke with pain; % But when they tighten around my neck, I live again. % % 86 % I know, sweet honey-throat, cuckoo, % Your voice is mere hypocrisy: % As soon as you have wings to fly % You leave the birds that fostered you. % % % 161 % 'Leave me alone', I said, % - Only in fun, you understand - and then % He simply rose at once, and left my bed. % What can one do with men? % Oh! he is heartless, pitiless, although % I shamelessly desire % His love's false-promised fire. % Dear sister! What, o what am I to do? % % 250 % When in love's fight they came to grips, % 'Neath wounds of teeth and nails she sank; % And might have died - save that she drank % Ambrosia from her lover's lips. % % --Woman-- % 78 % Flaunt your proud head, moon. Nightingale, arise % And sing. Wake, lotus, spread your petals wide. % My lady who has vanquished all your pride % Is gently sleeping, silent, with closed eyes. % % 87 % Dearest, if you will love me true, % What use are joys of heaven to me? % But if you will not love me true, % What use are joys of heaven to me? % % % 103 % A book, a woman, and a money-loan % Once they are gone, are gone. % And better so. - Sometimes they do return: % Piecemeal; or soiled; or torn. % % % 116 % While describing to her friend % her adventures with her lover, % She realized she was talking to her husband, % And added, "And then I woke up." % [IS 5920] % % 132 % Moonlight face, % Flower-bud hand, % Nectar voice, % Rose-red lip: % Stone-hard heart. % % 140 % Philosophers are surely wrong to say % That attributes in substance must inhere. % Her beauty burns my heart; yet I am here, % And she is far away. % % 178 % The impercipient may compare % A lady to a leech; % But this is wrong: a lady fair % - As little thought will teach - % Is not the same. A leech takes blood % And nothing else at all % From wretched men: but she takes food, % And mind, and strength, and soul. % % --Riddles-- % % 143 % She neither turned away, nor yet began % To speak harsh words, nor did she bar the door; % But looked at him who was her love before % As if he were an ordinary man. % % [SP = samasya-puraNA: construct a stanza to contain a given line or phrase. % There was of course a temptation to choose for the challenge-phrase % rather improbable material, and occasionally even nonsense syllables, % success being judged by the extent to which the poet was able to achieve % an effect of ease and spontaneity.] % % 146 % A certain maid at Rama's coronation % Befuddled by the wine of celebration, % Dropped a gold jug, which down the staircase rang: % Tum-tumty-tum-tum-ta-ta-tumty-tang. % % 147 % When Krishna with Chanura fought, % Before the latter came to die % His head was spinning, and he thought % _A hundred moons were in the sky_. % % 148 % Ah, if the moon would cease to shine so fair % When we are far apart, my love and I! % If he would only come, I should not care % _Although a hundred moons were in the sky_ % % 150 % "Well, really, there is nothing I can tell % Of what men do in love, no, not a word: % He started to undo my dress, and - Well, % _I swear I can't remember what occurred_. % % IS = _Indische Sprache_, Sanskrit und Deutsch, Otto Boehtlingk, 3 vols St % Petersburg 1870-73; (renumbered in) _Sanskrit Chrestomathie_, 3d ed, Leizig 1909 % % 151 % He held her face, and would not let her go; % She tried to say, "Oh, no! No, no! Oh, no, % No, no! But through the kiss no sound would come % % --Woman's Beauty-- % 167 % In this vain fleeting universe, a man % Of wisdom has two courses: first, he can % Direct his time to pray, to save his soul, % And wallow in religion's nectar-bowl; % But if he cannot, it is surely best % To touch and hold a lovely woman's breast, % And to caress her warm round hips, and thighs % And to possess the treasure that between them lies. % % 171 % It is small wonder that my lady's breasts % Rise firm and proud - % For who would not be proud to be % Close to her heart? % % 172 % Close in tight embrace her breasts were pressed, % Her skin thrilled; and between her pretty thighs % The oil-smooth sap of love has overflowed. % 'No, not again, my darling. Let me rest: % Don't make me ... ', whispering, pleading soft, she sighs. % Is she asleep? or dying? or else melted % Into my heart? Or is she but a dream? % % 175 % To her waist % % This is sheer recklessness! How can she make you % Go for a walk? % Can she not see that the weight of her breasts % Is enough to break you? % % 184 % They are firm, and you are tender, % Full and round, though you are slender: % Bold your breasts, while you are shy % - Since so near your heart they lie. % % 210 % Your breasts are like two kings at war, dear % Each striving to invade the other's sphere. % % 248 % Her hand upon her hip she placed, % And swayed seductively her waist % With chin upon her shoulder pressed, % She stretched herself to show her breast: % With sapphire pupils burning bright % Within the pearly orbs of white, % Her eyes with eagerness did dance, % And threw me a come-hither glance. % % 260 % Her breasts are high, % Her waist lies low; % And next, an upthrust hip: % If on uneven ground you go - % Why, any man might trip. % % --Academics 165-- % If a professor thinks what matters most % Is to have gained an academic post % Where he can earn a livelihood, and then % Neglect research, let controversy rest, % He's but a pretty tradesman at best, % Selling retail the work of other men. % % --Food-- % 226 % I rolled them in turmeric, cummin and spice, % With masses of pepper to make them taste nice: % In lashings of sesamum oil I then fried 'em - % The pungency curled up my tongue when I tried 'em: % I neglected to wash, and got down to the dish, % And I swallowed that curry of nice little fish. % --Royalty-- % 52 % Strong drink may make a man forget % His mother or his wife, % Mistake a palace for the shack % He's lived in all his life. % One day a puddle is the sea; % The next, he'll try to stand % Upon the ocean's surface, which % To him appears dry land, % To such a drunkard's foolishness % There's hardly any end: % He'll even think, when he's in drink, % A king might be a friend. % % 120 % A use can be found % For rotten wood % And infertile ground % May produce some good % Kings when they fall % Have no uses at all. % Except 'Hmmm-hmm-hmm hm hm hmm hm hmmmm!' % % --Miscellaneous-- % 56 % My lord, since you have banished Poverty % From this fair land, I feel it is my duty % To lay an information that the outlaw % Has taken refuge in my humble home. % % 114 % My best respects to Poverty, % The master who has set me free; % For I can look at all the world, % And no-one looks at me. % [Bhartrihari 104; S 754] % % 67 % Peaceful, the gentle deer untroubled graze: % All that they need, their forest home supplies. % No greed for wealth nor envy cloud their days, % But they are only beasts, and we are wise. % % 68 % The summer sun, who robbed the pleasant nights, % And plundered all the water of the rivers, % And burned the earth, and scorched the forest-trees, % Is now in hiding; and the autumn clouds, % Spread thick across the sky to track him down, % Hunt for the criminal with lightning flashes. % % 244 % Hand in clasped hand and side pressed close to side, % Silently stand some children of the poor, % And shyly, hungry eyes half-turned aside, % Observe the eater through the open door % % -- Memories 253 -- % Untimely, cut by Fate: % But in the hearts of friends % Memories, % Like a great bell, reverberate. % % --Cats and Dogs 222-- % See, the arched back, the tail erected, stiff, % Bent at the tip and twisting, and the ear % Flat to the head, and the eye quick with fear % Darting a single glance, debating if % The way to get inside the house is clear: % And on the other side, its gullet fat % With panting, growling, hoarse with its own breath, % With sneering lips that lift to show his teeth, % And slavering jaws, the dog attacks the cat. % % [the cat is described by the adjectives % A-kubjI-kr.ta-pr.ShTham, % 'having-a-somewhat-made-into-a-hump-back', % and % 'unnata-valad-vakrAgra-puccham', % 'having-a-raised-twisting-crooked-tip-tail', % while the dog rejoices in the epithet % lAlAkIrNa-vidIrNa-sr.kka-vikacad-daMShTrA-karAlAnanaH, % 'having-a-saliva-smeared-split-open-mouth-corners-expanding- % teeth-fearsomely-gaping-face'. % This gives to the verbal expression of the original a sense of energy % and urgency which obviously cannot be imitated by any comparable formal % means in a language like English. ... tightly-knit, concise, inflexional % structure of [Skt] - can only be approximated by diff means, the % emotional impact of the original...] Subbarao, E.C.; An Eye for Excellence: Fifty innovative years of IIT Kanpur Harper Collins 2008 Rs. 595 ISBN 9788172237691 +INDIA HISTORY EDUCATION IIT % % ==Review== % ECS Subbarao, who taught Metallurgy at IITK from 1963 to 1981, presents an % useful compendium of facts and anecdotes about IIT Kanpur, which everyone % associated with the institute, past or present, may like to read. However, % the style may be too reverential, and the writing flits from topic to topic, % failing to construct a meaningful narrative, let alone rouse any passion. % The almost hagiographical narrative follows the origins (ch.1-4) and lists % the many achievemeents of noted alu mnus as well as faculty (ch. 5-6). The % most effective chapters may be the ones dealing with the pioneering % contributions of IITK, particularly the history of computer science % education (ch.7). Next, it touches upon a bleak period in the 70s (ch.8) % before striking the highs again (ch.9-10). % % On the whole the verdict is a strong endorsement for everything that is % IITK; indeed, there is almost no significant critique of any of the policy % decisions nor any significant suggestions for the future. At one point, % Subbarao quotes ex-IITK professor P.C. Kapur: "sometimes it is necessary to % take a contrarian view in order to impart a semblance of balance and % realism." However, he fails to follow this advice himself. % % The contrarian view from P.C. Kapur comes in ch. 8, during a discussion of % the 70s, when labour problems and a troublesome power-struggle between the % director and the BOG chairman caused a partial "eclipse": % % In the final analysis, there was a fundamental flaw in the vision % underlying IITK, namely, an ivory tower, resplendent in its splendid % isolation, which was to shine like a beacon of scholarly pursuit and % knowledge. In reality, it turned out to be an alien entity implanted in % the middle of what was, even by Indian standards, a particularly backward % and reactionary context with which it was organically linked in numerous % ways. p.289 (see below for rest) % % Given the devastating nature of this critique, perhaps it deserved a comment % from the author - but it is simply mentioned in passing. % % The PC Kapur quotation set me thinking - is IITK indeed an alien entity, % implanted onto a recalcitrant countryside? I can reconcile with this view % for the early years, when villagers would crowd around to see the newly % installed elevators whisking people up the floors, and bandits would raid % faculty residences, even shooting one professor in the eye (I happened to % stay for some years in the house where this is reputed to have happened: % H. 323). In that atmosphere, IITK may have indeed have seemed like an alien % entity. % % But being alien was perhaps part of the objective of IIT Kanpur? Indeed, % one could even argue that today, if it feels less alien, that may be partly % because of IIT Kanpur's contributions. % % But are the problems for IIT over? Nowhere in the book do you feel that the % IIT system today might be facing problems. Yet there is increasing disquiet % within the system, and the challenges are many. There is increasing % interference by the government (for the first time, an MHRD bureaucrat is % sitting on the IITK BoG, and the board is where the rot started at AIIMS). % Academically, students are completely apathetic and postgraduate programmes % are mediocre, while politically mandated student intake policies play havoc % with the system. % % The last chapter (_Road ahead_) attempts to present a vision for the future. % Unfortunately, this is merely a rehashing of the well-known problems with % the JEE and the PhD program. Also, it fails to address fundamental issues % where IIT can actually make a difference - e.g. how in the UG program, the % set of disciplines have become increasingly irrelevant for the vast majority % of students. Unlike academic institutions abroad, no department in India % can ever _close_ because of lack of demand, and successive batches of % students find themselves imprisoned in futile courses of study, ramping up % frustration levels among the student body. % % For a more critical, and in part humorous view, see Shashi Gulhati's % [[gulhati-2007-iits-slumping-or|The IITs : Slumping or Soaring]], which includes a peek into a % directorial interview at the Minister's office, and comments on the % extent to which IIT directors have become subservient to MHRD % bureaucrats. % % Nonetheless, it is clear that Prof. Subbarao has done his homework well, and % _An Eye for Excellence_ remains an useful compendium of important facets in % the history of IIT Kanpur. But calling it an "Imperative addition to any % avid techie’s shelf" ([http://www.blonnet.com/ew/2009/01/26/stories/2009012650060200.htm|Hindu]) is surely going too far. % % Much of the following excerpts were typed in as I read this book in a % three-hour sitting at the IITK stall at Pan-IIT in January... % % ==Excerpts / Summary== % --Ch.1: Genesis: Founding, Collaborations-- % The idea of a need for technical education - Sir Ardeshir Dalal, ex-ICS and % director at TISCO - vision of world class engineers / research facilities. % Setting up of TIFR under Homi Bhaba, CSIR under SS Bhatnagar, and sending % batches of Indian scholars on govt scholarships to US and European % universities. % [About Ardeshir: "there is an indefinable atmosphere of preciseness about % him. Even his cheroot seems trained to scatter its ashes in the ashtray. % - % % First engg colleges in India: % 1794: Guindy % 1847: Roorkee % 1854: Poona % 1856: Shibpur % % [However, the curriculum and objectives of many of these varied depending % on the needs of the E.I. Co or the British government. For example, % initially, Roorkee trained only "overseers", and even then % Indians were not admitted for the first two decades (till 1865) but then % in 1869 all engg hiring for India was shifted to the Cooper's Hill College % in England, which adopted its syllabi from Roorkee. It was not until 1909 % that engineering education resumed at Roorkee. see Mital, _History of Roorkee_, % 2008] % % In the Sarkar committee interim report (there was never a final one) Kanpur % was recommended for "hydraulic engineering" apparently because of the % "irrigation potential" in the area. [Notably, the site was chosen next to % the [http://www.cs.albany.edu/~amit/iitk/canal.html"|Lower Ganges canal], which is perhaps the least exploited natural % resource on campus.] % % The idea of collaborating with leading foreign universities was that of % Dr. Humayun Kabir. The handshaking countries/ bodies: % Kgp 50 UNESCO, US UK Germany [BC Roy offered an old jail to house % it, inaugr 18 Aug 1951] % Bom 58 USSR (UNESCO) % Mad 59 Germany % Kan 59 USA % Del 63 UK % % --Is expansion of IITs desirable? -- % existing IITs should be strengthened first. % [a sudden comparison to Takshila, where "10,500 students from all over the world studied % more than 60 subjects estd 700 BC, and Nalanda, built 4th c. BC", p.6] % % CBS 60 minutes on IITs, 2003: % Leslie Stahl, co-host: IIT is "the most important university you never heard % of". Put Harvard, MIT and Princeton together, and you begin to get an idea % of the status of these schools in India. p.9 % % In initial years, CMs of states often headed the board of governors - e.g. BC % Roy of WB at IITkgp , S. Sampurnanand and CB Gupta of UP at IITK, etc. % % Fig 1.3 peacock at faculty (type 6) house - v. poor image - can't see peacock % head! also - no photographer credits for almost all the images. % % --Ch2: Kelkar: A visionary (1909-1990)-- % diploma Elec Engg 33 IISc; phd Liverpool 37; % planning officer for IITB 56; dy dir 58 % diro IITK 59-74 % p.19-21: % Kelkar himself says he was "a mere creature of time, chosen perchance to % become an agent of change." % the book is full of paeans to Kelkar: % Subtlety and sensitivity w which he .. made others feel... that they % were in the driver's seat. e.g. at IITJEE, the fac member even if an % asst prof, would take decisions themselves (at other IITs they often % consulted the diro.) % Gave the support staff a sense of involvement and pride in their work. % PC Kapur: But it was his value system - simplicity, patience, commitment % to excellence, humane and caring nature - that made him a legend in his % own lifetime. % % Prof. S. Ranganathan: "When we came [to IITK] on that bleak day in Dec 59.. % there was little room for optimism. Yet [Kelkar] chose to light the % candle rather than curse the darkness and today it is a source of % great satisfaction to all of us" % % --Ch.3: Realizing a vision-- % % The faculty recruitment process, based on prior interactions with the % candidate, and subsequent validation by a selection committee, appears to % have been devised by Kelkar and GK Chandirmani, secy, Min. of Education; but % the same process is now in place at all IITs. However, instituting these % changes in the prevailing bureaucratic atmosphere was no mean task, and % Kelkar refers to it in a convocation speech a decade after leaving IITK: % % No institution in this country set up by or aided by the government can % avoid working under the shadow of bureaucracy ... at the time of % discussion [the bureaucrat] assumes unwittingly the role of the % interpreter who can give the 'authorized version' of how best the % Institute can achieve the objectives set for it by the government. One % has to concede that this is a terrible dilemma which any institution % could face... IIT Kanpur was very fortunate. We found in Mr. G K % Chandiramani a very sympathetic official who almost bent backwards to % set aside for a while the bureaucratic approach. % - % % The curriculum and particularly the relative, letter-based grading, novel % for India at the time, clearly bore the stamp of KIAP influence. Also, the % insistence on strict deadlines for turning in the grades, and showing % end-semester copies to the students - all these were a break from university % practice. % % IITK Seal designed in 1965 - VG Stokes' role in suggesting it % Sampurnanand - CM of UP and chairman BOG - suggested "trinetra" - % third eye of shiva - to repr knowledge. Prof Kastagir, of an arts % college in LKO - sugg embedding it in a trishul. Stokes personally % drew up and hand lettered a 15" seal using a font as in Roman % engravings. 24-toothed gear - technology working round the clock. % [this chapter is silent on the US profs - perhaps their role in the % curriculum etc shd have been discussed w some anecdotes?] % % --Ch.4 American connection-- % I am delighted that 9 major ctrs of learning have been willing to pool % their resources in coopern with USAID: JFK to Nehru 1961 % % 1961: Kelkar and Chandiramani (jt edu advsr GoI), together w Norman Dahl % of MIT - toured 9 consortium univs to discuss modes of interaction. % % EC Subbarao was then at Westinghouse labs (directed by C Zener (of Zener % diode fame). Had not heard of IITK or Kelkar, but was impressed; later % Kelkar wrote long letter urging ECS to join, and he did following his % wife's wishes. % % KIAP: Nov 1961 meeting at Nehru's office. % 120 fac mems visited over ten years (1966 review): p.58 % % --Recommendations of 1966 Review committee-- % This committee was headed by Richard Teare of CMU, made a number of % suggestions: % Faculty % no tenure system: since confirmation at end of 1 year - hence close % scrutiny needed at hiring point itself. % Students: % batch selection: was too early - rules for branch change shd be % relaxed % Curriculumm: leaned towards theory - real applications of engg deserved % more attn % R&D: more interdiscipl research and equipment sharing % % Interestingly, even fifty years down, these very points remain some of the % unaddressed weaknesses in the IIT structure. % % Indo-pak war 1971 soured Indo-US relations - last KIAP prof JG Fox of CMU % left 72. His summary p.59: % UG students: world class, compared favourably w best students anywhere. % PG : not top class % faculty: young faculty were more democratic and willing to argue w senior % profs which was new for india. many were US trained. IITK managed to % attract good faculty. % support staff: quality was poor and not adequate % % Norman Dahl - first honorary doctorate of IITK. 1967 % Morarji Desai - 2nd (1967) % PK Kelkar - 3d, 1981 % % --ch.5: Alumnus. "They traverse only the path of glory"-- % (longest chapter p. 68-146) % % Narayan Murthy MT/EE 69 % Mohan Tambe BT/ee/80; MT/cse/82: % Satish Kaura BT/ee/66 - BTP guide - KR Sarma % J.A. Sekhar BT/MME/77 - DMRL Hyd after MS Phd UIUC % Abhay Bhushan BT/ee/65 - ARPAnet pioneer as part of Media Access Control % project (MAC); several startups --> TiE/ IndUS % Umang Gupta: BT/ChE/71: SQL standard; Gupta corpor % Ashish Gupta BT/CSE/88: Junglee % ESP Das MT/MSP67 % Som Mittal BT/MME73 % BN Singh MT/MME70 % Muktesh Pant BT/Che76 % Saurabh Srivastava BT/ME68 % Sanjay Mittal bt/ee75 % Jeet Bindra Chevron bt/che69 % Pradeep sindhu juniper bt/ee74 % Md Zaidi - al car bt/mme75 - btp guide AK Jena % Rajendra Singh bt/ee75 % ramamritham ramkumar - modular furniture bt/mme/70 % arindam bose: bt/che/75 % ... % M Agarwal % Ashutosh Sharma % SP Mehrotra % AK Mallick % Ashok Jhunjhunwala % % --Ch.6: Faculty: The Dronacharyas-- % CNR Rao - long paean % TV Ramakrishnan - condensed matter theory - married a quiet grad student, % Meera % Amitabha Ghosh % PC Kapur % D. Balasubramanian - % Usha Kumar - psych % P Dayaratnam % Dipankar Chakravorty % KR Sarma % KS Gandhi - polymer reactions % S. Sunder manoharan Chem % GS Upadhyaya % P Venkateswarly - physical spectrum % D. Ramakrishna - population balance % V Stokes - long writeup % J Mohanty - condensed matter % MA Pai - praises faculty freedom at IITK p. 211 % Yogesh Jaluria - flow % PT Narasimhan % % --Ch.7: 1963: Bullock cart marries the computer-- % Computer Science education heads the list of % "Pioneering activities". % % 1963: First solid state computer : IMB-1620 % [after prolonged discussions with IBM about the sale of the computer, the % deal coming through with the combined efforts of Kelkar, Normal Dahl (first % leader of KIAP), and G. K. Chandiramani in the Ministry of Education. % % The computer was flown into Chakeri on an US plane by an US pilot. It was % then transferred to a bullock cart for the journey to IITK. Finally, some % 200 hands carried it into its designated venue. (photo) p. 232 % % 1966: IBM-7044 - came to a special building. Later the 1401, IBM-1800, PDP, % TDC-316, and then the DEC-1090. % % 1967: TA 306 course: covering programming, numerical techniques and analog % computing w a 3 hour lab session became compulsory for all engg UGs. % % 1967: CS option for MTech and PhD students in EE. % % 1968: First PhD's in CS: Muthukrishnan (started CS at IITM) and PCP Bhatt % (started CS at IITD) % % 1971: separate CS program with convenor. Entire first batch of Mtech % recruited by TCS ("a rare achievement" - why?) % % 1978: First BTech program in CS in India - first graduates in 1983. % [But this may not be true. Apparently it was started at Allahabad by % Jagdish Lal who was acting director 1974-76, and started it there % after returning.] % % TRDDC connections: Keshav Nori, Sanjeev Agarwal, Gautam Shroff. % % Other pioneering activities: % % * Material Science education: % 1966: A two day conference at IITK on materials % 1976: ACMS % * Chemistry - headed by the _Trimurthi_ (first three heads): CNR Rao, PT % Narasimhan, and MV George. % * PK Kelkar Library % * Aeronautical Engg % * Nuclear Engg & Technology % * Student Counselling Service - initiated by Kelkar as early as 1964, headed % by KK Singh of Psychology. Coordinated pre-arrival information, % choosing room-mates, etc. Re: ragging, ECS remarks that the main goal, % becoming introduced to the seniors, took the form of "quizzes % and entertainment" p. 271 % % --Ch.8: Eclipse-- % 1970-1980: difficult times for IITK. teaching did not suffer as much as % research. Many faculty moved to other institutions. Table 7.3 shows % period of no award etc - argely from end 70s to end 90s. % % Unskilled staff: were many and had no career advancement paths. Karmachari % Sangh - strikes in 1971 and 72. Worsened in the emergency years. % 1973/1976 - Karamchari Sangh split into factions. % 1979: 2 day strike % % 1970 - Kelkar leaves for IITB, and M.S. Muthana, who was dy-D, becomes % director. Was extremely devoted to the institute. % % -- Chairman vs Director: Hussein Zaheer and Muthana-- % % Minsitry appoints Hussein Zaheer as chairman of Board - felt that director % was not being able to handle the worker problem, and moved on campus % (VH) to deal with it himself. Decided to take all 500 temporary % workers into the regular instt payroll. Resulted in ~ 2000 support % staff for 280 faculty. % % ~ 1970: A faculty member suspended "allegedly due to undesirable political % activity on campus." (by Muthana) Faculty forum formed to evolve code % of conduct for themselves. It sought and arranged an election of two % elected senate nominees to become member of the BOG. % % Rift with employees healed only in the 80s with Prof Sampath as director, % "patient hearing and smooth talking" provided "a healing touch". p. 287 % % Directors of IITK: BOG Chairmen % % 1. PK Kelkar 1959-70 Dr Sampurnand 59-60 % 2. MS Muthana 70-74 CB Gupta 60-65 % 3. Jagdish Lal (acting) 74-76 Padampat Sinhania 65-71 % 4. A Bhattacharya 76-80 S Hussain Zaheer 71-74 % 5. P. Venkateswarlu (acting) 80-81 ML Dhar 75-78 % 6. S. Sampath 81-86 LM Thapar 78-80 % 7. AK Mallik 86-91 RN Dogra 80-85 % 8. RC Malhotra 92-97 Ashok Ganguly 85-90 % 9. KA Padmanabhan 97-01 Subrata Ganguly 90-93 % 10 SG Dhande 2001- Govind Hari Singhania 94-97 % HS Bhartiya 97-03 % CNR Rao 03-06 % M Anandakrishnan 06- % % --PC Kapur on IIT-- % 27 year veteran faculty (MME), PC Kapur: % % The unpalatable fact is that the institute failed, and failed % demonstrably, in the maintenance of physical assets, the inculcation of % excellence in faculty as a norm rather than an exception, the preservation % of high standards in the PG programme and in research, esp in experimental % research, that is readily visible in refereed journals of repute, patents, % marketable technologies. ... % % In the final analysis, there was a fundamental flaw in the vision % underlying IITK, namely, an ivory tower, resplendent in its splendid % isolation, which was to shine like a beacon of scholarly pursuit and % knowledge. In reality, it turned out to be an alien entity implanted in % the middle of what was, even by Indian standards, a particularly backward % and reactionary context with which it was organically linked in numerous % ways. % % I am conscious that readers will accuse me of a one-sided recollection of % IITK. I urge them not to forget that sometimes it is necessary to take a % contrarian view in order to impart a semblance of balance and realism. % ... It is not what IITK has accomplished, but what it could have % accomplished in happier circumstances, that make me cry for the beloved % institute. [no source given] p. 289-290 % % --Ch.9 beginning of a new renaissance-- % % degrees awarded table - going up % alumni donations % ambience - improved (significantly) % % -- Ch. 10: Road ahead % : coaching effects- exhaustion, exams, but not able to think, no school % learning other than math phys chem, diff following engl lectures % JEE reforms 2006 based on CNR Rao committee sugg 2004 % [CNR Rao appears on 24 pages, the most frequently mentioned % person after Kelkar. ] % PG students % Faculty % R&D % Phd students % % --Summary-- % It is a hard slog to actually read the book, given the propagandist tenor. % For instance, it can be rather wearying, at the end of a host of banal % remarks about the future, to come to this (summary) concluding sentence: % The next five years can be fruitfully utilized under the leadership of % the chairmen, board of governors, professors CNR Rao and % M. Anandakrishnan, two of the original key pacesetters of IITK, and % alumnus director Sanjay Dhande, to prepare for an illustrious second % half-century of this great institution to firmly occupy its rightful % place among the elite academia of the world. % % But the book is well-researched, and is worth going through if you are % interested in IIT Kanpur. Mukherjee, Rudrangshu; Mangal Pandey: Brave Martyr Or Accidental Hero? Penguin Books, 2005, 109 pages ISBN 0143032569, 9780143032564 +HISTORY INDIA BRITISH MUTINY % % The Mangal Pandey incident may not have been intiately connected to the Sepoy % Mutiny, but circumstances made it famous, while several earlier rebellions % have been completely forgotten. Not only does Mukherjee trace the history of % Mangal Pandey, he also looks at the historiography by which he became an % accidental hero. Banerji, Chitrita; The Hour of the Goddess: Memories of Women, Food, and Ritual in Bengal Seagull 2001 / Penguin, 2007, 160 pages ISBN 014400142X, 9780144001422 +INDIA FOOD BENGAL BANGLADESH HISTORY RECIPE % % ==Bengali Food: History, culture, variations== % Takes you on a idiosyncratic journey through the intricate backlanes of % Bengali food. Unfortunately, in its desire to address the non-Bengali % reader, it often omits the Bangla name for these items, which I feel is an % irredeemable sin. I mean, what is food without the name that evokes all % its associations? For example, which red-blooded bengali can relate to: % _karola_, slimly chopped, combined with _eggplant_ and _daikon radish_ % .. and made into a stir fry p.40 % How can the smell, taste, and texture of _mUlo_ relate to "daikon"? And a % _chacchaRi_ as "stir fry"! egads! % % Precisely why language is more than reference, and "evening star" is not % the same as "morning star". % % The relevance of names is highlighted also in this passage from Octavio Paz's % % % When I commented to a Mexican friend on the loveliness of Berkeley, % she said: "Yes, it's very lovely, but I don't belong here. Even the % birds speak English. How can I enjoy a flower if I don't know its % right name, its English name, the name that has fused with its colors % and petals, the name that's the same thing as the flower? If I say % bugambilia to you, you think of the bougainvillaea vines you've seen % in your own village, climbing around an ash tree or hanging from a % wall in the afternoon sunlight. They're part of your being... % - p.18 % % Sometimes this can get rather irritating - - e.g. while discussing pnAchforan, % fenugreek is given as an ingredient - but since I didn't know what fenugreek % was in bAMlA, I had to work out the other four and eliminate them. (p.89) % % But on the whole it makes for light, easy reading, uncovering many novel % facts. For example, it seems that paneer is made differently from chhAnA % [though both are made by cutting with lemon juice!]. Most interesting was % that we Bengalis (Indians?) learnt about chhAnA from the Portuguese % _queijos frescos_. Or that the _bnoTi_ is an ancient pre-Aryan (iron age) % instrument. % % However, some of the research is a bit weak - e.g. there are quite a few % factual errors or incompletenesses, e.g. Ghanaram Chakrabarti's % _Dharmamangal_, is said to have been "composed during the reign of Dharma % Pal 775-810" - but it was actually composed nearly a millennium later. The % difference between paneer and chhAnA, if not sufficiently deep, puts her % theory in question. % % --Vaishnav beginnings-- % "harir loot" of round, meringue-like _batashas_ - "airy, brittle puffs of spun % sugar." % % Remarks on the serendipity of "loot" meaning the same in Dnglish and Bangla 13-14 % % [NOTE: no serendipity!! English "loot" is from Hindi: % LOOT (N.) :: 1788, Anglo-Indian, from Hindi lut, from Skt. lota-m "booty, stolen % property." The verb is first attested 1842, from the noun.] % % Her grandmother's Vaishnav altar: two deities: % Gopal - chubby smiling infant - bronze statue - always sat on altar % Krishna w Radha - he carved from a dense black stone, she from white marble - % "every night the lovers were put to bed together in an exquisitely % carved wooden bed, complete with bedposts and snow-white mosquito % net. In the morning, my gm would ceremoniously raise the mosquito % net, lift the images out of bed, and install them on the throne % reserved for them on the altar." 16 % % --The power of Literature to become Real-- % On janmAshTamI, huge vegetarian meals - esp a sweet fritter (no bangla name) % made from _taal_ : sweet saffron pulp mixed w coconut (grated) and % rice flour - a supposed favourite of Nanda, Krishna's adoptive father % (not right) - all of us knew the song of nanda dancing joyfully as he % ate these delicious fritters. % [AM: first the tAl fibers have to be removed by filtering, add a little % banana - sometimes wheat flour (maydA) - fry in little balls] % ;; [NOTE: a. how the local bards adopt their own recipes to their mythical characters! % ;; b. can secular literature ever hope to achieve this kind of reality, to % ;; affect the lives of people in this real way? ] % % As I grew older ... diminishing sense of joy and festivity in our family % life. My grandfather's death put an end to those glorious evenings of % kirtan-singing - the singers had mostly been his friends. ... Krishna's birth % came and went but there were no 24-hr marathons of kirtan singing... % % --The lightweight life of Bengali widows-- % % Comparatively isolated in her widowhood, my gm did not have the heart to % organize festivities as she had in earlier times. % [? Is the Bengali widow really lightweight? Certainly she is deprived of % family ties - but she still wields considerable authority perhaps? Thakuma? ] % % posto - creamy whiteness very diff from the black poppy seeds of the west % % --sharShe-bATA-- % % Bangali mustard - sharShe - dark, Indian variety, are ground together with % one or two fresh green chillies and a touch of salt. % % [AM: % % Take a spoonful of sharShe, dark, small beads rolling around on your palm, % and put them on the wet pockmarked surface of the stone shIl. take a couple % of green chillies. add a dash of salt, a few droplets of water carried in % the palm, and start grinding them with the knobbly cylindrical stone - norA. % Holding the nora horizontally and rubbing back and forth, the mustard seeds % break and immediately the air fills with their pungency. the black dots % transform into pungent yellow paste. % % At mealtime, you are served a dollop of yellow paste next to the heap of rice. % You "break" the heap with your fingers, dragging a handful towards the front, % empty part of the knAshAr thAlA, and you mix the mustard paste into it, % flecks of green chilly in the yellow, your fingers kneading between the cool % of mustard and the steam of freshly broken rice, and then you lift it to your % mouth, the chilly and mustard mixing in your tongue and wafting up cleansing % pungency through the nose. At this point, you lift the knAshAr thAlA with % your left hand, and drink some water. ] % % ALLIUM -- (large genus of perennial and biennial pungent bulbous plants: % garlic; leek; onion; chive) % % --The range of Bangla food-- % % The Bengali seems to have always had a sweet tooth. - KT Achaya, Indian Food % % But the Bengali is also fond of bitters - shukta, nIm-begun, % ucche-bhAte... eaten not for penance [like the bitter herbs at passover] but % as gustatory treats; CB is reminded of Sardinian bitter honey _miele amaro_] 39 % % _karolA_ - a knobbly, green-skinned, white-fleshed vegetable of the % cucurbitae family, often inaccurately called bitter gourd. 39 % % ;;[AM??: diff between karolA and ucche??] % % Range of the Bengali palate - is it greater (by some measure) than other % culinary traditions? % % DIMENSIONS of culinary taste: % a. chilly / spiced <--> bland <-- may be a result of the availability % of spices from ancient times % b. bitter <--> sweet % Other aspects re: presentation - e.g. texture - grainy vs smooth, % But then, there are also very fine discriminations that matter. % % true test of a Bengali cook is in the quality of her _shukto_ - p.40 % % patent attempt by W.R. Grace of neem as fungicide - WRG implicated in % Massachussetts case of dumping chemicals - thrown out by European courts % after it was shown to have been traditionally used by Indian farmers % % [irritating absence of Bangla names - e.g. % which red-blooded bengali can relate to: % "_karola_, slimly chopped, combined with _eggplant_ and _daikon radish_... % and made into a stir fry" % How can the smell, taste, and texture of begun, or mUlo relate to that of % eggplant or - for heaven's sake - daikon? 40 % % --ghoTi-bAngAl debate-- % Ghoti-Bangal (bAMAl) debate - in ghoTi cooking, sugar is added to shukto to balance % the bitter. The bangals prefer it bitter. 44 ?? % % In ghoTi discourse, Bangals are an unsophisticated lot, w the appetite of peasants, % potfuls of mAchher jhol and mountains of rice. % A frequently quoted doggerel refers to Bangals as subhuman. p.51 % % I came to one conclusion that would infuriate most ghoTis, % particularly if they heard it from one of their own ... there is a % greater degree of adventurous inventiveness in the cooking of East % Bengal. ... Perhaps, under a prevailing sense of uncertainty (due to % shifting rivers), you learn to make do with very little and yet turn % it into something palatable... 52 % % Chitol koptA / _muiTThA p.52, recipe p.56 % When moving the spoon to scrape the flesh from the bony back portion, you % have to be careful to move the spoon along the lines of the bones, or % they will also come out. % ;;[IDEA: do a chitol muiThyA at home] % % ==Loose Moorings== % % [when she is about to go to Harvard for PG studies, opposed hints from % family] I was stricken with guilt and sorrow, but it was also a revelation. % I saw how far I had moved from my moorings, how ready I was to let go. % % [AM: % what is it in our society that devalues our own identities? why is it that % we have no compunction to "let go" of our moorings? % % Is it - a sense of being powerless, being less effective in influencing the % world's events? % - a sense of a better life (I doubt that alone), % - a sense of "glamour", reinforced by the gifts brought in by the % lifestyle of that expatriate uncle, whom we relate to the % charracters in our story books, the Fatties and the George's % from Enid Blyton novels, the daffodils on the Lake district, % the high and mighty on Wall Street. ... % % The word "glamour" is a bit specialized - it is an artificial creation, a % product of the media. The social consciousness created not by family or % social discourse, or even the educational process, but a longing fostered % by a sense of inadequacy in ourselves. How do we discover this % inadequacy? It is perhaps a series of images... % % - The image of the affluent NRI, living a lifestyle of fancy cars and % a salary of lakhs, returning to India laden with gifts. % - The image of the American lifestyle, where everyone has a big car and a big % house, and the aroma of sex is everywhere % - The image of our own poverty and limited means... % % These images are so commonplace that we never even notice how these are % reinforced. We accept these images without attending to them, for they form % the background of our everyday discourse, so established is the image that we % find nothing new or interesting to make us pay any further attention. % % % This image feeds into the general feeling all of us have, that the other side % must be greener, and reinforces its glamour. % % In other nations, the glamour is different. Some Japanese feel that there is % a glamour to India; some Germans I know feel a glamour for Africa. ] % % Perhaps the recent feeling of India beginning to count in the world, together % with the slowdown and US employees losing jobs ... may get noticed eventually. % % --Revul sion of Muslims-- % % % % An amazing fear and revulsion of Muslims, a community that I hadn't % personally encountered much in Calcutta. 63 % % [I wonder why we don't "encounter" the Muslims in Kolkata. Of course, we % encounter them, at the restaurant, as the taxi driver, on College Street, and % also the occasional colleague - but surely far less than 1/5th of the Hindu % friends are Muslims. Does one encounter Sardarjis more liberally? % % Is this a religion-based distinction or a class-based one? ] % % In Bangladesh: Differences in cuisine % A preponderance of onions - was used in CB's household only for meat % % My grandparents, in fact, never ate chicken, a 'heathen' bird associated % with Muslims, like the onion itself. One of my uncles had broken that % household taboo and introduced his siblings to chicken, but never my % grandparents. 63 ?? hnAs % % --Bangladesh food-- % % I could not remain unaware of the daily religious reality of this new home. % no tinkling bells or resounding conch shells from temples and houses, but the % song of the muezzin sounding from minarets, calling the faithful to prayer % five times a day; no aesthetic rituals with flower leaf and perfume, but % austere obeisance on a prayer rug before an invisible god; no bustling, % tumultous crowds of men and women in temples ... but orderly, all-male prayer % assemblies in mosques. God in this Muslim universe had no humanly definable % shape or form; the concept of incarnations was absurd, any thought of % offering him food every day and partaking of it unimaginable. 64 % % stacks of paper-thin chapattis made from freshly ground rice flour % [in Bangladesh meal] 68 % rice chappatties served during islamic festival - shab-e-barat - with an % array of haluas. 69 % % % ANADROMOUS: -- (migrating from the sea to fresh water to spawn) 69 % [To me, this sentence: % "spawns during the monsoons in the estuarine waters and then travels % upstream through Bengal to N India." 69 % seemed to suggest that it lives in the upstream rivers, returning to the % estuarine area to spawn. But it is most likely just infelicitous language.] % Banglapedia confirms the legendary story I knew: % The fish is anadromous, with a life cycle that follows the general % pattern of breeding upstream in fresh water and the larvae hatching % from the free-floating eggs. The immature young stages grow in river % channels and then descend to the sea for a period of feeding and % growth before returning to the rivers as mature breeding adults to % complete the cycle. - % % Even the English made one of their few culinary contributions in the form of % smoked hilsa. 70 % % [Why do we have so little left of the British culinary processes? While % British cooking has been far more broadly invaded?] % % [hilsa blood is not washed off before cooking, to preserve the flavour - both % among hindus and muslims. (not clear about ghotis). % % I wonder if this is true also of African tribes that consider blood a % delicacy, and from whose habits AIDS is supposed to have entered the human % world. ] % % learns "Hilsa with ghee" recipe from cook in bangladesh - recipe not given % % recipes: khashir rezala, % _ilish paturi_: _nun-halud_ on fish, _lankA_ + good helping of _sharSher tel_ - wrap % in banana leaf, tie with string and keep in embers of _unun_ (or toast % on tawa or flat pan over low heat, or oven 300F) - when top layer of % leaf is burnt black, fish is ready. Al foil can be used. % % --The Bonti of Bengal-- % % _baMla bhAShAr abhidhAn_, by Jnanendramohan Das: % the term "bonti" derives from the language of the ancient tribal inhabitants of % E. India. Das traces the word back to ancient Bengali narrative poems such % as Ghanaram Chakrabarti's poem _Dharmamangal_, composed during the reign of % Dharma Pal 775-810 % % [an error on the date of dharmamangal; banglapedia: % Dharmamangal's original composer was Mayur Bhatta who is believed to have % lived around the 15th century but no specimen of his work has been % found. Other Dharmamangal composers are Rupram (c 16th century) and % Manikram Ganguly (c mid-17th century). Yet another composer of % Dharmamangal, Sitaram Das, may also have lived in the 17th century. The % best-known poet of Dharmamangal is Ghanaram Chakravarti, whose version of % the poem may be dated 1711. ] % % Historian Niharranjan Ray, _bAMAlir itihAs_: % presents compelling evidence of the indigenous people who settled Bengal long % before the Aryans and whose lg, customs and ritualistic beliefs still % permeate the cultural life of Bengal. Ray also notes that Buddhist % terracotta sculptures from the days of the Pal dynasty depict people using % the bonti blade to cut and portion fish. 79 % % associated with a "floor-oriented" culture, as in Japan. It is only ~19th % c. that the living room / drawing room get to have couches, chairs and % tables. % % [I still remember the transition to tables in mAmAbARi - around 1970, while % dAdu was alive perhaps, or maybe pafter dAdu's death. the kitchen was % downstairs, and chhoTomAmA while rushing to catch the 8:18 shAntipur % galloping would be permitted a meal at the table under the Adh-talA stairs, % and we western-raised brats would be permitted to eat there as well - and % eventually it morphed into the dining table for all.] % % Usually two bnoTis - one Amish - slightly larger for removing scales from % fish etc - and the other nirAmiSh. Ansh-boTi % "itinerant experts roam the cities with % special equipment for sharpening bontis and knives" 81 % % % --Sexual connotations of the bonti-- % % The bonti was also reputedly used by women "to defend themselves and their % homes against gangs of armed robbers who attacked prosperous homesteads when % the men were away." 82 % % % % Bengali literature contains ... recurring images % as young and demure, sitting with her head bent... Often a married woman is % pictured, her head modestly covered with the end of her sari, whose colourful % border frames her face and hair. But the discreet posture and modest % covering are a foil for a flirtatious element in extended family life, which % offers virtually no privacy. A man - whether husband or a romantic interest % - can expect many eloquent, sidelong glances cast with surreptitious turns of % the head as the woman goes about her domestic tasks with the bonti. % % An extension of this mild titillation is found in _shobhA_, a fascinating % album of photographs by Gurudas Chattopadhyay publ around 1930. His % photographs portray some of Calcutta's best known prostitutes and are % obviously intended for erotic stimulation. But this is no Playboy collection % - each woman is fully-clothed and seated before a bonti! Straight back, % parted legs (one crossed, the other raised), the coy eyes peeking out from % under the sari covering her head. To the Bengali viewer, the bonti [was % part] of an uniquely erotic vision of the female figure. % % [AM: % crushes on boudis and wife of brother. Amazingly this is a relation which % has no name other than the compound _bhrAtribadhu_ in an otherwise rich % relationship nomenclature of shAlAs and boudi's and nanads and shAlis: % % Spouse names: % dada bhAi bon % Spouse boudi ?? jAmAi % [no conv w her, by shashur or bhAsur; only the formal % compound bhrAtri-badhu] % % spouse-relatives: % % Husband's: Wife's % bhAi deyor shAlA deyor=Thakurpo % dAdA bhAsur shAlA % sister nanad shAlI nanad=ThAkurjhi; % dada-W boudi ?? % bhAi-W ?? % sis-H nandai bhAyrAbhAi % ]?? % % --Five little seeds: pnAchfoRan-- % % pnAchfoRan: jire, kAlojire, mouri, methi, shaRShe % cumin nigella fennel fenugreek mustard % cumin cyminum; mentioned in bible; used in Rome as per _Apicus_ % brassica juncea (brown variety) % Foeniculum vulgare : fennel % Trigonella Foenumgraecum : greek hay % % recipes: nArkel Alur chacchaRi / bhAjA muger DAl % % --what bengali widows cannot eat-- % % whenever the _thAn_ covering their heads slipped off, CB would be % overcome with an urge to rub my hands over their prickly scalps, % resembling the spherical yellow white-bristled flowers of the kadam % tree. 98 % % part of restrictions on diet was also an attempt to have the widows die % sooner - property would then inhere to the successor males. % % % Despite deprivations, household drudgery and the imposition of many fasts % % widows sometimes live to a great age, and the gifted cooks among them have % contributed greatly to the range, originality and subtlety of Hindu % vegetarian cooking in Bengal. % % A 19th c food writer once said that it was impossible to taste the full glory % of vegetarian food unless your own wife became a widow. 102 % % --How Bengal discovered chhAnA-- % % chhAnA - only in Bengal 107 % [Is paneer really different? % Wikipedia:paneer: % made by curdling heated milk with lemon juice or other food acid. ... % Most varieties of paneer are simply pressed into a cube and then % sliced or chopped, although the eastern Indian variety (known as % "sanaa" in Assameseছানা chhana in Bengali and ଛେନା chhena in Oriya) % is beaten or kneaded like mozzarella, and crumbles more easily than % the North Indian variant of paneer. % This does not come arcoss clearly, on p.116 she lists _paneer_, thereby % separating it from _chhAnA_ - but this divide is not elaborated any further!] % % The most famous Bengali sweets - sandesh and rasagolla - are both from % chhAnA, which was unknown until recent times. % % A famous turn of the century food writer, Bipradas Mukhopadhyay, in his 1906 % book, _miShTAnna pAk_ (making sweets), documents the diff types of milk and % their qualities as set down by the ancients. Cows, goats, and ewes, water % buffaloes, camels, mares, female elephants, and women. Cow's milk is second % only to human milk in its wide ranging benefits. 108 % % All milk: tasty, soothing, energizing, cool, rich, sperm-generating, reducing % bile and gout, and conducive to phlegm. 108 % % chhaRAs of bengal replete with images of milk that connote plenty and % prosperity. Kings annointed w milk and butter; princesses bathe in milk. % Young girls hope to improve complexion by washing face w milk. Mothers who % suddenly encounter long-lost children suddenly find their breasts sprouting % milk. Rivers of milk, rippling waves of milk, lakes of milk, trembling % layers of thickened milk, even oceans of milk recur in myths, folktales, % poetry and song. 109 % % % Deep conviction about the fragility of milk - introducing alien element is % harmful - after the churning of the ocean of milk, nectar of immortality % comes out, and what was left behind were the salt-water ocean of today. 110 % % 16th c. chandimangalkAbya by mukundarAm chakrabarti: % shiva, who is considered choleric and prone to violence, eats foods % cooked w pungent mustard oil, not ghee. % vishnu: more sattvika foods - tender vegetables cooked in ghee, desserts % from milk, etc. % % 17th c. krishnadAs kabirAj's chaitanyacharitAmrta (1612) : lists the % vegetarian (a novelty) meals of Nimai at his many admirers': % A staggering variety of sweets are mentioned... many made from % puffed, popped, or flaked rice, combined with white or brown sugar or % kheer. Others from coconut, ground legumes, or sesame seeds. % Impressive array of milk-based sweets - kheer mixed with sliced % mangos, sweet yogurt, and items like % - _dugdha-laklaki_ : rAbri - layers of sar, cut into squares and % floating in mildly sweetened milk. % - _sarbhAjA_ : fried in ghee and soaked in syrup % - _sarpuria: fried in ghee, layered w crushed almonds, khoa kheer, % cardamom, soaked in sweetened milk. % - sandesh: sweetened pellets of khoa kheer % % In myths of Krishna, or in N. Indian sweets even now, sweets made of % solidified kheer; never chhAnA % % --The Portuguese connection-- % % chhAnA came with the Portuguese style of _queijos frescos_ [fresh cheese, made % into cakes of about 3 inches in diameter. When mature, they are firm, with a % strong flavour. When fresh, they are soft and spreadable. % % Even now, at New Market, one can buy "bandel cheese" - cakes of fresh cow's % milk cheese, remarkably similar to the _queijos frescos_. % % The earliest traders were the Portuguese who discovered the direct sea % route. For almost the entire 16th c. Portugal virtually monopolized this % route. % % They settled in Goa, and also in Hooghly in Bengal. Had a fearsome % reputation since some of them used their navigation skills to commit daring % acts of piracy along the coast as well as in the interior where the numerous % rivers served as primary conduits... Many of them intermarried with the % locals, paving the way for a more intimate exchange with the locals. Among % the new crops they introduced were tobacco, potato, cashew, papaya, guava, % and a host of vegetables. % % Simon/Schuster Pocket guide to Cheese, and Geoffrey Campbell-Platt's % Fermented foods of the World: % Two cheeses of Bengal: chhAnA and bandal. % % Bandel cheese - originated from the Portuguese settlements at Hooghly % [ portuguese called Hooghly "Ugolim"] , near % Bandel [etymology: from "bandar" = port; % Present Bandel church replaced an earlier Portuguese one from 1599 which was % razed to the ground by the Mughal armies after recapturing the town in % 1632. The keystone of the original church, with the date 1599, was % saved by one Gomez de Soto during the sack of the town. 117 % % K.T. Achaya: By the 2nd half of the 17th c., % numbered 20,000, with some at Rajmahal. % "They loved cottage cheese, which they made by "breaking" milk with % acidic materails. This routine technique may have lifted the Aryan % taboo on deliberate milk curdling and given the traditional Bengali % _moira_ [confectioner] a new raw material to work with." 117 % % Francois Bernier, 1659-1666: "Bengal likewise is celebrated for its % sweetmeats, especially in places inhabited by the Portuguese, who % are skilful in the art of preparing them and with whom they are an % article of considerable trade." 117 % % why is chhAnA-based sweets are rarely made at home? Bangladeshi historian % Prof. Abdur Razzaque, suggests that Muslim chefs were more open to this % "heathen" invention, and it was initially made professionally. % [But this is doubtful: % The practice, once started, still prevails. 122] % % Bipradas Mukhopadhyay 1906: names of sandesh: % - AbAr khAbo, praNoharA, manoraNjan, nayantArA, AhlAdey putul, and also % "good morning", and "lord ripon" 121 % % [even in terms of vocabulary, the portuguese words in Bengali - jAnAlA, % pAuruTi, appear to be more evocative of new styles of living] % % milk is relatively expensive ... % annadAmangal-kAbya by bhAratchandra rAy 1753 - ferryman is not swayed from % the path of virtue, and finally goddess annadA appears before him; he % asks merely that his descendants may be able to eat rice with milk. 135 % % --Contents-- % 1 '''The Hour of the Goddess''' 1 % reminiscing from Boston - don't know why this is there % 2 '''Feeding the Gods''' 11 % excellent description of her grandmother's personal connection with % the gods, and her own role as the little favourite. % 3 '''Patoler Ma''' 27 % Shil norA, sharShe bATA. insubstantial % 4 '''A Dose of Bitters''' 35 % Well researched article on karola tradition. Speculations on why we % Bengalis like bitter so much. Would be nice if there was a more % scientific angle. % 5 '''Food and Difference''' 47 % Ghoti-bangal divide. Well presented. % 6 '''Crossing the Borders''' 59 % Bangladesh. Somehow the mix of the personal doesn't click as well as % in the early chapters. % 7 '''The Bonti of Bengal''' 75 % attempt to portray bnoti as sexy is interesting % 8 '''Five Little Seeds''' 85 % bare description - not much substance - again a scientific look would % have helped % 9 '''What Bengali Widows Cannot Eat''' 95 % more a memoir about her mother, doesn't work that well % 10 '''How Bengal Discovered ‘Chhana’''' 105 % excellent chapter - learned a lot; something that I am eager to % research further. however, difference between paneer and chhAnA, the % backbone of the argument, does not appear to be validated clearly. % 11 '''Food, Ritual and Art in Bengal''' 125 % meandering discussion of folk art - disjointed, doesn't fit in Gyatso, Tenzin [Dalai Lama, Bstan-'dzin-rgya-mtsho]; David Howarth (tr.); Sonam Topgay Kazi (tr.); My Land and My People: The Original Autobiography of His Holiness the Dalai Lama of Tibet Potala Corporation, 1983, 271 pages ISBN 0961147407, 9780961147402 +AUTOBIOGRAPHY TIBET DALAI % % opening sentences: % 1935: "I was born in a small village called Taktser, in the NE of Tibet, on % the 5th day of the 5th month of the Wood Hog Year of the Tibetan % calendar -- that is, in 1935. Taktser is in the district called % Dokhm, and that name is descriptive, for _Do_ means the lower part of a % valley that merges into the plains, and _Kham_ is the eastern part of % Tibet where a distinctive race of Tibetans called Khampa lives. ... 9K % ft above sea level. " % % nearby monastery: Karma Shar Tsong Ridro, founded by Karma Rolpai % Dorje, 5th incn of Karma-pa, who was the first incarnation recogn in % Tibet. monsastery at which Tsongkhapa was initiated as a monk in % 14th c. % % prayer flags on roofs of all villages; dharma chakra emblem, supported % by deer of copper and gold - on lower monastery Amdo Jhakyung - gave % an air of sanctity to whole nbrhd. % Farming community, food was wheat flour and Tsampa - kind of barley % meal - and meat and butter, drinks - buttered tea and chhang, a beer % made from barley. % % There are diff opinions among Buddhists abt eating meat; however, in % Tibet it is a necessity - food variety is very limited, hence imposs % to stay healthy without eating meat - custom had lingered from before % Buddhism. However, killing an animal was sin, and butchers were % outcasts. % % surplus barley sold in nearest towns % Theirs was a farming family - member of his family had been a % forefathers - originally his forefathers had come from % Central Tibet to Dokham - family dialect had many words from Central % Tibet - e.g. cheney for bowl and Khenbu for spoon. % had 2 sisters and 4 brothers - mother gave birth to 16 children, nine % died in infancy. % % 1941: "My education began when I was six, and I was taught entirely by the % traditional system of Tibet... Our sytem has proved effective, so far, % in maintaining a fairly high moral and intellectual standard ... basic % purpose is to broaden the mind through a wide variety of traditional % knowledge". drama, dance/music, astrology, poetry, composition: "Five % minor subjects". Higher education: art of healing, Sanskrit, % dialectics, arts and crafts, metaphysics and philo of religion - last % is most important. Together with dialectics, this is divided into five % branches, in Skt: _Prajnaparamita_, perfection of wisdom; _Madhyamika_, % the middle path - avoidance of extremes, _Vinaya_, monastic discipline, % _Abhidharma_, Metaphysics, _Pramana_, logic and dialectics. The Tantric % part of Mahayana is studied separately. % % First six years : reading, writing, in U-chhen (printing script) and % U-me (writing script); memorializing verses, etc. % % 1947: "My religious educn in dialectical discussion did not begin in earnest % until I was 12". Learned by heart the treatises on the "higher % subjects", and take part in discussions on them. studies became more % agreeable. Started with 30 vols of commentary on the Prajnaparamita; % chose commentaries by Singhabhadra and by 5th DL Lobzang Gyatso. pAl, prashAntakumAr; sushobhan adhikArI (ill); uttarAyaN : rabIndrabhavan viswabhAratI 2000 +BIOGRAPHY TAGORE BENGAL BENGALI % % In early 1901, rabIndranAth wrote: % sab tHNai mor ghar Achhe, Ami sei ghar mari khnujiyA % (at every repose, I have a home; I keep searching for that home). % That year he moved to Shantiniketan, where he was to live for 40 years. % However, he kept shifting houses, initially within the campus (shAntiniketan, % dehali, dvArik), but when it grew large he shifted to a thatched roof home % outside, initially called "uttarAyaN" but graually transformed into what is % know as "koNArk" today. He also lived in several other houses constructed in % this area: udayan, shyAmalI, punashcha, and udIchI. dAshgupta, gautam [Dasgupta]; shailen sAhA [Sailen]; rAjdhAnIr kabi-kathA unmukta-uchhvAs / Okini publishers, New Delhi 2005 +POETRY BENGALI ANTHOLOGY DELHI mukhopAdhyAy, bijayA (Vijaya Mukhopadhyay {bn বিজয়া মুখোপাধ্যায়}); bijayA mukhopAdhyAyer shreShTa kabitA ({bn বিজয়া মুখোপাধ্যায়ের শ্রেষ্ট কবিতা}) de's publishing 1990 +POETRY BENGALI GENDER % % -- সঙ্গী} (saMgI)-- % {bn % আমি যার সঙ্গে নিত্য বসবাস করি % তার নাম প্রেম নয়, উদ্বেগ । % প্রেম অতিথির মত % কখনও ঢুকে পড়ে অল্প হেসে, % হঠাত্ অদৃশ্য হয়ে যায়. % % তারপর সারাক্ষণ % আমরা কেউ আর উদ্বেগ % আমরা একজন আর উদ্বেগ % বসবাস করি % রাত থেকে দিন, দিন থেকে রাত। % % -- যোগ্যতার জন্য }(JogyatAr janya)-- % {bn % সমস্ত বাহু খুলে রাখলাম। % তুলে নিলাম ঘোমটা, সোনার টিয়ারা সিঁথিমৌর। % এই নাও সোনালি রিবন, রেশমি ঝালর, মুক্তোর কাঁটা । % আর এই রাখলাম তোমার পায়ের একপাশে আমার ভুল, % অন্যপাশে অহংকার । % % এবার আমি নিরাভরণ । % আমার মাথায় রাখো তোমার পাঁচ আঙুলের ছাপ % সিঁথিতে সমান্তরাল করো তোমার অক্ষয় তর্জনী । % মা, এবার তোমাকে ছুঁয়ে যাব আমি নির্বাসনে % অপেক্ষা করব নতশির % যতদিন না এই মহীয়ান জন্মের যোগ্য হয়ে উঠতে পারি % % --হিমঘরের মাছ }(himgharer mAchh)-- % {bn % একদিন রাতে % পদ্মানদী চুরি হয়ে গেল । % তার সঙ্গে % গোয়ালন্দ ঢাকা মেল % % তারপাশা খাল নৌকো % বিকেল বিকেল বাড়ি -- % সব চুরি গেল । % % তখন ভেবেছি বুঝি বাঁচব না % তারপর কতদিন ধরে % ধীরে ধীরে চুরি হল % স্বপ্ন স্মৃতি প্রাণ । % দিব্য বেঁচে আছি । % % -- তুমি এলে কবিতা }(tumi ele kabitA)-- % {bn % তুমি এলে বৃষ্টি নামে % বৃষ্টি নামে হৃদয়ে % রোমাঞ্চে আঙুল কাঁপে ঘাসের শিষের মতো % বন্ধ পত্রপুট গভীর প্রত্যয়ে খুলে যায় % তুমি এলে বৃষ্টি নামে % হৃদয়ে । % % -- মীরাদি} (mIrA-di)-- % {bn % মীরাদি, % তুমি যদি সুন্দরী নও তো সে কে । % খাতা দেখছ বসে % শেষ বিকেলের রোদ দেয়ালে ছড়ানো % তোমার গালে গ্রিলের ছায়া পড়েছে % ইচ্ছে করছে % আমার হৃদয় বেটে মিশিয়ে দিই % ওই গালে % কপালে চিবুকে । % মীরাদি, তোমার % যেটুকু প্রকাশ্যে দেখি -- % বিষাদের চন্দনে নিলীন, % আমাকে একান্তে বলো % অন্তরালে আরও কি সুগন্ধ আছে । % কার জন্য ব্রতবদ্ধ তুমি এতকাল % সে কি অন্ধ পাষাণপ্রতিমা, % বলো তার নামপরিচয় % পাথর ঝরাব আমি % কিন্তু তারপর % তোমার চন্দন যদি ফুরোয় মীরাদি -- % ফুরোবেই, % তখন আমার দিন কাটবে কি করে । % % -- পুঁটিকে সাজে না }(punTike sAje nA)-- % {bn % বিশ্বের সমস্যাপূরণের ভার % তোকে দেওয়া হয়নি, পুঁটি । % ভারতবর্ষ বোমা বানাবে কিনা % আমেরিকা ভিয়েতনাম ছাড়বে কবে % অটোমেশনের বিরুদ্ধে গণস্বাক্ষর জরুরি -- % এ সব ভাবনা তোর নয় । % বিকেলে গা ধুয়ে তুই খোঁপা বাঁধ % লক্ষ্মীবিলাস তেল দিয়ে, % মাসির দেওয়া পার্ল পাউডার % মুখে আলতো করে মাখ % কাগজ পোড়ানো ঝুরো টিপ পর কপালে % সন্ধ্যামালতীর থোকা গুঁজে দে খোঁপায় % বর্ষায় ঘন সবুজ শাড়ি % তোকে মানায় ভালো । % % পুঁটি, তোর এ বয়সে % প্যাঁচামুখ সইতে পারি নে -- % এ কি তোর বাড়াবাড়ি নয় % উল্ফ-এর তুই কী বুঝিস % পিকিং পার্জ-এ তোর এসে যায় কী । % তুই তোর ঘর গুছিয়ে নে % প্রদীপের সলতে পাকা % মনে রাখিস পুঁটি % এই তোকে ছেলে মানুষ করতে হবে % ধিঙ্গিপনা তোকে কি সাজে, ছি । % % --পাঁচ ফুট নির্জনতা }(panch fuT nirjanatA)-- % {bn % আমি তাকে এখনও দেখি নি % স্টেটবাসে যে সমস্ত লোভী পুরুষেরা % ঝুঁকে পড়ে গায়ে আর মুখরা প্রৌঢ়ার % কটাক্ষ ও রসনার বাণে বিদ্ধ হয় % সে কি তারই মধ্যে ছিল । % % হয়তো এমন হবে, নিরুপায় ভিড়ে % তারই বক্ষলগ্ন হয়ে গেছি স্টপ ছেড়ে % বহু দূর, আমি তাকে তবুও ছুঁইনি । % % হতে পারে, একদিন ফোনে ডেকেছিল % কী ভুল নম্বর ভেবে বিমুখ হয়েছি % স্বরলিপি কান পেতে শুনেও শুনি নি । % % দেখা শোনা ছোঁয়া % দেখা শোনা ছোঁয়া নয় % আগোচরে প্রেম প্রেম নয় । % তথাপি হৃদয় জানে % জনতার মাঝখানে % পাঁচ ফুট নির্জনতা % খালি পড়ে আছে % তার খুব কাছে । %} %(read my translation in the online version of [http://www.cse.iitk.ac.in/~amit/other/ut-sample.html|the unsevered tongue]) % others: tabuo shone rAtridin, Urdhvamukh dAsh, shyamalkAnti [Das] (ed.); chhoTader Abrittir chhaRA nirmal book agency, kolkata 2006 +POETRY BENGALI CHILDREN bhaTTachArya, sukAnta ({bnসুকান্ত ভট্টাচার্য}); chhARpatra sArasvat lAibrerI {bn সারস্বত লাইব্রেরী} (Sārasvata Lāibrerī, Saraswat Library), 1947 +POETRY BENGALI % % he mahAjIban {A}r {e} kAbJa nay % {e}bAr kaThin, kaThor gadJe {A}no % pada-lAlitJa jhaMkAr muchhe JAk % gadJer kaRA hAtuRike {A}j hAno! % prayojan ne{i}, kabitAr snigdhatA % kabitA tomAy dilAm {A}jke chhuTi % kShudhAr rAjJe p.rthibI gadJamay: % pUrNimAr chAm~d Jena jhalsAno ruTi. % % Enough. % Enough of this poetry, now, % Let us move to hard, unyielding prose % No more the lilt of rhythm and cadence % Bring on the hard hammer of prose. % Poetry, we give you leave % A hungry world is the realm of prose % And the beauty of a full moon % Looks like a half-burnt roti. mitra, debArati ({bn দেবারতি মিত্র}); debArati mitrer shreShTa kabitA {bn দেবারতি মিত্রর শ্রেষ্ট কবিতা} De's Publishing, Kolkata, 2000 ISBN 8176125997 +POETRY BENGALI GENDER % % The first poem excerpted below was written when debArati was an young % single woman, appears to describe a sexual act (blowjob), and was the % subject of much discussion in the staid bengali circles of the early 70s. % Nabaneeta Dev Sen, writing in _Faces of the feminine_ (OUP, 2000, % p.300) says of this episode: % A young, unmmarried girl, Debarati Mitra, wrote a rather beautiful % erotic poem about oral sex in a little magazine. Her life was made % unbearable by comments and rumors. If she had written the same poem in % English, nothing would have happened. % % I doubt however if the last statement is true. There may be some effect, % but it depends on what fraction of the social circle of the poet is reading % English poetry - that readership is so small across most of India that % English in general has a smaller impact. On the other hand, Bengali % poetry has a wide audience. A translation of this poem appears in my % % % --পৃথিবীর সৌন্দর্য একাকী তারা দুজন (prithibIr soundarJa ekAkI tArA dujan) 50-- % % প্রিয়তম পুরুষটি এক পা একটুখানি উঁচু করে % বিছানায় ভেসে আছে দেবদূত % সুকুমার ডৌলভরা মাংসল ব্রঞ্জের উরু % অবিশ্বাস্য নিখুঁত সহজ গ্রীক ভাস্করতা % হঠাত্ সচল হয়ে ডাকে তরুণীকে। % দু’হাতে জড়ানো নারী % তার ঊর্ধ্বশরীরের সৌকর্ষ ফেলে রেখে % গা শিরশিরে লোভে % দু পায়ের ফাঁকে এসে মুখ গুঁজে দেয় % % গ্রীষ্মের ঠিক আগে মাইল মাইল ব্যাপী সরলবর্গীয় বনে ঝড় % একটানা আতশবাজির তীব্র রঙচঙে চক্কর স্তনান্তরে ঢেউ লাগে, % অসম্ভব অনুরক্তা শিশুসুলভতা নিয়ে % অচেনা আশ্চর্য এক লালচে কিসমিসরাঙা % ফুলের কোরক মুখে টপ করে পোরে, % মাতৃদুধের মতো স্বাদু রস টানে। % ক্রমে তার মুখে আসে % ঈষদচ্ছ আনতিশীতোষ্ণ গলা মোম % টুপটাপ মুখের গহ্বরে ঝরে পড়ে % পেলিকান পাখিদের সদ্যোজাত ডিম ভেঙে জমাট কুসুম নয়, % একটু আঁষটে নোনতা স্বচ্ছ সাদা জেলি। % ভরে যায় আত্মা অবধি পর্ণপুট % অপার্থিব মৌচাকের টলটলে মধু, মিষ্টি ঘামে। % % অস্থির রমণী গাঢ় ঊষ্ণ আরামে % পালতোলা জাহাজের ডেকে শুয়ে % মাধ্যাকর্ষহীন ফুরফরে মোলায়েম % হালকা জ্বলন্তপ্রায় একরাশ বেলুনের ঝাঁক নিয়ে % বিদেশী তারার খুব কাছাকাছি ভেসে যেতে থাকে % যেন ডানা মেলে দেবদূত উড়ে যাবে % এক্ষুনি বিছানাসুদ্ধ তাকে নিয়ে। % % মেয়েটির উচ্ছ্বল তৃপ্ত ওষ্ঠাধর, দাঁত, দু চোখের পাতা % চটচটে ঘন লাক্ষারস মাখামাখি, % সজীব রঙিন শান্ত সুস্থ জানুসন্ধির মধ্যিখানে % আস্তে আস্তে তার মুখমন্ডল অঘোরে ঘুমিয়ে পড়ে % পৃথিবীর সৌন্দর্য একাকী। % % --জঙ্গলের ঘোর (jaMgaler ghor)-- % % আলুকঝালুক পাতা ঘাসকুটো লেগে আছে ছেলেটির শার্টে % বাঁধের ওধার থেকে যখন আমরা % ভয়ে ভয়ে উঠে আসি ভরসন্ধেবেলা % শীতের কুয়াশা লেগে জঙ্গলের ভূতপেত্নী। % % এতক্ষণ সে আমায় পাগল করতে বসেছিল -- % ‘তারা দাও, অন্তত একটি তারা % রুমালের কোণে বেঁধে রাখি।’ % বনানী কী বসন্তের আদিম দিনের কালো % চাপ বেঁধে আমাকে নাড়ায়, বলে, % ‘তারা দাও, তারাটি ঝরিয়ে দাও % দাও দাও দাও।’ % % টুপ করে কেঁদে ফেলি, কিছ্ই বলি না। % কোথায় আমার তারা? % আমি তো ভিতরশূন্য ব্ল্যাক হোল -- % বিকিরণ, অন্ধ তাপ, রশ্মির আওতা থেকে চিরদূরে, % ব্যর্থতার চেয়ে মিথ্যে পথে % মরেও চলেছি ছুটে % একা একা ছুটে। % % এত কাছে এসে তবু সে কিছু বোঝে নি? % % -- দূরে ঐ পরেশনাথ (dUre oi pareshnAth)-- % % আমি বিকেলবেলা পাটি পেতে সেলাই করতে বসলে % আমার বালক ছেলে চূড়ামণি ছুঁচে সুতো পরিয়ে দেয়. % বলে কালো আকাশে তোতা পাখির মতো একঝাঁক তারা আঁকো % সারা সন্ধে ওরা আমাকে গল্প বলবে । % আর রাবেয়া মাসির কবরে ধপধপে লাউফুল % ঐ আধখানা চাঁদ নকশা করো, ওখানে বড় অন্ধকার । % ও মা শোনো, আমার বন্ধু মিলুর গায়ে % একটু সমুদ্রপারের হাওয়া ঢেউ খেলিয়ে দাও না -- % তোমার তো কত রঙের কত রকমের সুতো । % % যত রাত বাড়ে চুড়োর আবদারও তত বাড়ে % বলে তুমি ইচ্ছে করলেই সব পারো, % একদিন বললে এই সময়টাকে তুমি % একটা চার মাত্রার মাঠের মতো ফুটিয়ে তোলো -- % সেখানে আমি মন নিয়ে বল খেলব । % % দূরে পরেশনাথ পাহাড়ের ঝিকঝিকে নীল চূড়া যেন আমার ছেলে । % % --ট্রেনের সময় (Trener samay)-- % % ভোর পৌনে পাঁচটায় ট্রেন যেন ডোডোর কঙ্কাল, % সকাল নটায় পাখি, ঘন ধানক্ষেত। % সাড়ে এগারোটা বাজলে % নরম বালির গর্তে জমা বৃষ্টিজল। % বিকেল পৌনে তিনটে -- % সারা দিন সঙ্গহীন তিন চারটে মথ। % % সন্ধে ছটা তেতাল্লিশে % রোস্টেড মুরগির উষ্ণ সুগন্ধ ও স্বাদ, % নটা চৌত্রিশে প্রায় নিষ্ঠুরতা: % প্রীতিময় মৌমাছি কামড়। % রাত একটা পঞ্চান্নয় % কালীর গর্ভের মতো অন্ধকার, একা। % % -- টুঙ নামের সমধ্বনি(tung nAmer samadhvani)-- % % সায়াহ্নের হিমালয় ডানদিকে রেখে % আমি একা একা হেঁটে যাই % দূরাচ্ছন্ন কুয়াশায় ঢালু হয়ে নিচে নেমে গেছে % বুনো পাইনের বন % একটা পাথর থেকে আরেক পাথরে % নীরবে পিছলে পড়ে সবুজ মাখম % কতদিন ছরে জমা শ্যাওলার ঠিকরানো আলো % জমকালো রাজছত্র কিংবা কত রংবেরঙের % উলটোনো পাখির মতো গাছে ঝুলে আছে মস । % % টুং জায়গাটা অবশ অস্বাভাবিক সমধ্বনি করে % আমার গভীরে টুং টুং এই নাম % মিষ্টি করে দেয় রক্ত % হঠাত্ চলকে কেঁপে ওঠে % মস্তিস্কের সাড় ভেঙে ব্ইরে ছড়িয়ে পড়ে বিরাট পৃথিবী । % % চলতে চলতে রোদ পড়ে আসে -- % ঢেকে যায় সব % অন্ধকারে কালো গুহা % আচমকো ফসফরাস ঝরনা টেনে আনে % পাথরের বুক থেকে বহু নিচে পড়ে ভারী জল % মোহহারা অবিরল ঘুম % বুকচাপা পাহাড়ের দুর্বোধ আতুর স্বপ্নাবলী % কি যেন কি যেন কি অথচ ... % রাত্রিবেলা হিমালয় কাঁদে কেন কেউই জানে না । % বৃত্তের মুখের কাছে পৌঁছবার আগে % দৃশ্য ভেঙে যায় % গ্রীক নাটকের স্তব্ধ নেমেসিস কাঁপায় আমাকে । % % --স্মৃতি বলে কিছু নেই (smriti bale kichhu nei)-- % % স্মৃতি বলে কিছু নেই % সবুজ সবুজ তুমি ক্রমেই সবুজ হয়ে যাও % আমার বুকের মধ্যে সারা রাত্রি চোখের শিশিরে । % % অমাবস্যার দিনে প্রবল কটাল % আরো ঘোলা জল বাড়ে ভালবাসা বাড়ে % আমাকে ডুবিয়ে দিয়ে গভীর পাতালে শুরু হয় % আবার নতুন খেলা সারাবেলা ধরে ভরে ওঠো % চোরাকুঠুরির ভাঙা খিলানের কাছে কলকল % স্মৃতি বলে কিছু নেই, বাড়ে শুধু জোয়ারের জল । % % other poems: taruNI pUrbabAMlAr kabitAr prati 23 piyAno Ar kishor 24; % ekjan samabayasI taruNer prati 27 ; andha skule ghanTA bAje 35 % priya rAjachhatradhArI 39; Bose, Mandakranta (ed.); Faces of the feminine in ancient, medieval, and modern India Oxford University Press US, 2000, 346 pages ISBN 0195122291, 9780195122299 +INDIA GENDER HISTORY % % Nabaneeta Dev Sen: Eroticism and the woman writer in Bengali Culture, % on how the mother tongue imposes constraints, p.297-304 % % A young, unmmarried girl, Debarati Mitra, wrote a rather beautiful erotic % poem about oral sex in a little magazine. % % Her life was made unbearable by comments and rumors. If she had written the % same poem in English, nothing would have happened. The mother tongue stands % guard over the woman writer like the mother herself... p.300 % % [I am not sure about the comment about English vs Bengali. Living % in a middle-class Bengali culture, even writing in English, had it % been read by her interlocutors, would have elicited considerable % comment. But readership in English is limited, and certainly, % fewer mAshimA's get to read it directly, so perhaps the comment % would have been more muted. ] % % The contrast ["how the mother tongue imposes constraints] can be % noticed more sharply when a woman writer is bilingual. Kamala Das % has been writing a lot of controversial stuff, incl narratives % placing herself in her own person in the erotic text; she writes in % English. Though recognized as a good poet, she has achieved fame % only as a soft porn writer as far as her English prose goes. But in % Malayalam, under the name Madhavi Kutti, she has produced very % powerful short stories and has won several literary awards and the % respect of her audience. These two split personalities in Das-Kutti % prove the poinnt ... in her mother tongue, she nurtures the % traditional image of a serious writer and does not try to seduce her % readership... 303 % [Could it be that her English writings were earlier, as is % often the case with bilingual writers? needs more research.] % % Shobha De: in a lit % festival at Melbourne, she drew more attention than Mrinal Pande, % who according to NDS is a serious author, while Shobha de's "forte % lies in soft-porn romances." SD was also a model and is quite % glamorous, and was billed as the "Jackie Collins of India." 303 basu siMha, damayantI [Damayanti Basu Singh]; smriti tAp bhAlobAsA ("memory, heat, romance") de's publishing, kolkata 1996 +POETRY BENGALI GENDER sen, mrityuNjay (ed.); e shataker bAMlA kabitA ("this centuries bengali poetry) de's publishing, kolkata 1996 ISBN 8171626764 +POETRY BENGALI ANTHOLOGY % % Most of the poems in this anthology fail to move, but the editor has % carefully collated all the dates for his authors. %-- এখনও অজস্র বাকি ব্রত চক্রবর্তী 300-- % (b. 26 oct 1955) % কয়েকটি শব্দ আমি শিকার করেছি; % এখনও অজস্র বাকি % থাকি, সকলের পাশাপাশি থাকি। % কাউকে তীব্র কিছু বলা বাকি, % কাউকে গভীর নির্জন কিছু % কারও পিছু ধাওয়া করি ব্যাধ, % কারও কাছে বৃষ্টি হয়ে ঝরি। % যেন, তারপর মরি। % কেন যে বকুল অল্প চাঁদে % চাঁপার নিকট গিয়ে % আলুথালু সুগন্ধ ব্যাকুল কাঁদে, % এই বিহ্বলতা এখনও শিকার করা বাকি। % রাস্তা আছে, রাস্তা গেছে % অনন্তের দিকে। % মানুষ কতটা মানুষের হাত ধরে, % কোথায় পারে না আর, দেখি তাই। % মাঝে মাঝে বন্দুক নামাই, % তাঁবুর ভেতরে গিয়ে দেখি % পিঠে বোঝা নিয়ে সোনাঝুরি আমার অতীত। % শীত করে, আমার পুরনো অর্জন % আঁকড়ে আগলে বলি, তস্য গলির সেই % রোগা গ্রাম্য চালফুটো ঘরের ছেলে আমি, % আমাকে ভোলোনি তো? % % hneTe JAba - JAhAMgIr firoJ b. 6 apr 1954 292 hAjrA, nIradbaraN [Nirodbaran Hazra]; chhoToder AbrittikoSh ISBN 8129506904 de's publishing, kolkata 2007 +POETRY BENGALI ANTHOLOGY CHILDREN hAjrA, nIradbaraN [Nirodbaran Hazra]; Abritti-koSh ISBN 8129506904 de's publishing, kolkata 1974 / 1987 +POETRY BENGALI ANTHOLOGY CHILDREN % % sunil gango: mahArAj, Ami tomAr 277; keu kathA rAkheni 277; % buddhadev basu - mriterA 272 % biShNu de tumi shudhu pnachishe baishAkh 341 % premendra mitra hAriye JaoyA 375 % bhabAnIprasAd majumdAr - durga hAsen dugga knAde % amitabha dAsgupta - kolkAtA (cricket) 385 % shakti chaTTopAdhyAy - abanI bARi Achho 275 % tArApada rAy - kena bhay dekhAle 278 agnihotrI, anitA; brel Ananda Publishers 2002 +POETRY BENGALI GENDER sen, mandAkrAntA [{bn মন্দাক্রান্তা সেন}]; e sab-I rAter chihNa {bn এ সবই রাতের চিহ্ণ} ("these marks of night") saptarShi prakAshan 2002 / 2004 +POETRY BENGALI GENDER % % -- {bn শর্ত }(sharta) 36-- %{bn % এস, তবে অন্ধ করে দাও! % % তোমাকে দেখেছি তাই বেড়ে গেছে আমার অসুখ % বেড়ে গেছে উন্মাদনা, অপরাধপ্রবণতা, নেশা... % নিজেকে ঠেকাতে চেয়ে হাত দিয়ে বেঁধে রাখছি হাত % ঠোঁট দিয়ে ঠোঁট চাপছি, তবু দৃষ্টি ফেরাতে পারছি না % তোমাকেই দেখছি আর নখ বিঁধছি নিজের মুঠিতে % মুঠি থেকে রক্ত ঝরছে, রক্ত নয়, আকাঙ্ক্ষার স্রোত % নিম্নগামী ... নিম্নগামী ... বাঁধ তাকে ঠেকাতে পারছে না % উপচে যাচ্ছে আহ্ আমি স্বভাবত যন্ত্রণাপ্রবণ % শাস্তি পেতে ভালোবাসি, আমার দু’চোখে প্রিয় পাপ % শরীর মরিয়া, হিংস্র, সামাজিক মুদ্রাদোষহীন -- % এখনই পালাও, নয়তো কাছে এস, পরিত্রাণ করো % একটিবার স্পর্শ করে, স্পর্শ করতে দিয়ে ... ফিরে যাও ... % % আমি শান্ত হয়ে যাব, সত্যি বলছি, ফেরার সময় % পূনর্বার আকাঙ্ক্ষায় ঝলসে ওঠা এই ধৃষ্ট চোখ % % যদি অন্ধ করে দিয়ে যাও ... % % - অনুষঙ্গ (anuShaMga) 14-- % % আজ মনে হলো আমি বহুদিন বিকেলকে দেখিনি % কী জানি কেমন আছে তার সেই পুরনো অসুখ % আজও কি সে চারপাশে অযত্নে ছড়িয়ে রাখে রোদ % এক আকাশ মেঘ লিখে পরক্ষণে ছিঁড়ে ফেলে দেয়? % % অথবা সে বদলে গেছে। হতে পারে সে এখন একা % আমি তো দুপুর থেকে ঝাঁপ দিয়ে আঁধারে নেমেছি % আর সে কি হেলে আসা ছায়া নিয়ে দূরে সরে গেছে? % সে কথাটি জানব বলে টোকা মেরেছি পশ্চিম আকাশে % % দরজাটা ভেজানো ছিল। খুলে গেল আলতো ধাক্কা দিতে % ঘরে ঢুকে দেখি -- এ কী ! চতুর্দিকে রাশিরাশি মেঘ % আলো ভারি কম, আর সে আলোতে লেখা পড়বে বলে % বিকেলের চোখে চশমা, % % অন্য সব কিছু ... একই আছে ... % } % other poems suicide point 46; e sab-i rAter chiHNa ; manic depressive psychosis 30 sen, mandAkrAntA [{bn মন্দাক্রান্তা সেন}]; chhadmapurAN ছদ্মপুরাণ Ananda Publishers, Kolkata 2001 ISBN 9788177561876 8177561871 +POETRY BENGALI GENDER % % -- লজ্জাবস্ত্র (lajjAbastra)-- % % রাস্তা দিয়ে হাঁটছি আর খসে খসে পড়ছে আমার পোশাক % নগ্ন হয়ে যাচ্ছি মাগো, কুঁজো হয়ে বসে পড়ছি শেষে % দু’হাতে জড়িয়ে নিচ্ছি দুই হাঁটু, ঢেকে নিচ্ছি মুখ বুক পেট % অরক্ষিত পিঠে এসে তীর বিঁধছে গোছাগোছা % মাগো দৃষ্টি গিঁথে যাচ্ছে যকৃতেও,... হৃত্পিণ্ডে,... ফুসফুসে... % % এ সবই দুঃস্বপ্ন হয়তো, দুঃস্বপ্ন ছড়ানো পথেপথে % প্রাণপণে পালাতে চেয়ে অলিতে গলিতে ছুটছি % সর্বত্রই কী ভিড় কী ভিড় % গলিও কী কৌতুহলী, চেপে ধরছে দুদিকে দেওয়াল % দম বন্ধ হয়ে আসছে, ঝাঁকে ঝাঁকে ছুটে আসছে হাসি % মাগো, রক্তে ভেসে যাচ্ছি ... মুছবো কীসে... আমার শরীরে % একটুকরো কাপড়ও নেই, মরে যাচ্ছি মা কঠিন লজ্জায় % % শেষ অবধি কীভাবে যে ঘরে ফিরতে পেরেছি কী জানি -- % ওদিকে তখন ওরা আমার উলঙ্গ শব % ঢেকে দিচ্ছে ... হ্যাঁ মা, % পতাকায়... % chuktipatra 23 sen, mandAkrAntA [{bn মন্দাক্রান্তা সেন}]; hriday abAdhya meye {bn হৃদয় অবাধ্য মেয়ে } Ananda Publishers, Kolkata 1999 ISBN 8172159129 +POETRY BENGALI GENDER % % -- {bnশেষ আদরের পর }sheSh Adarer par 63-- % {bn % শেষ আদরের পর নিয়ে আসব একটি ঝরা চুল % জীবন তেমনই থাকবে, নিয়ে যাব মুহূর্তের ভুল % মুহূর্তের জন্যে মৃত্যু, কত জীবনের সমনাম? % সমুদ্র শুষেছে ওষ্ঠে, তোমার কপাল জুড়ে ঘাম % দাও, ঐটুকু দাও, পান করি, পরিশ্রান্ত লাগে % কতটা জীবন ছিল এই শেষের আদরের আগে % কতটুকু প'ড়ে থাকবে এর পরে, শুধু একটি চুল % আঙুলে জড়িয়ে রাখি, তোমাকে ছুঁয়েছে যে আঙুল... % % ছোঁও, আরও একটু ছোঁও, মুহূর্তে উজাড় হোক প্রাণ % প্রিয় পুরুষের কাছে চেয়ে নেব নিভৃত সন্তান % % চুলে যার তোমারি মতন, মহাকাশ... %} % '''after our last embrace''' % % after our last embrace, i'll bring back % that one fallen strand of hair % life will go on, carrying that moment's error % a moment's death, equal to many lives % the ocean has dried on your lip, beads of sweat % on your forehead, give me some, i need a drink % % how much life there was, how much % before this last embrace. % and now, how little - just this hair % wound on my finger that has touched % your skin. % % touch me, touch me again, % shed your soul in an instant, give me, yes, % a private child... % % and in his hair, give me your sky. % (transl. mar 10 2009) % %--{bn টিভিযাপনের রাত }(tiviJApaner rAt) 20-- %{bn % একেকটা দিন ভীষণ খারাপ কাটে % রাতে টিভিটাকে পাশে নিয়ে শুই খাটে % সারারাত ধরে রঙিন চ্যানেলগুলো % চোখে ছুঁড়ে দেয় রহস্যময় ধুলো % বিজ্ঞাপনের অসমসাহসী ছেলে % তোমাকে ডাকবে শুধু কোকাকোলা খেলে % মোহময় চোখ নরম দীর্ঘ চুল % বুকখোলা শার্ট যুবকের কানে দুল % তোমার চোখেই চোখ মারা তার কাজ % তোমার গলিতে উড়াবে পক্ষিরাজ । % % ওকে পাশে নিয়ে শুয়েছি বিজ্ঞাপনে % টিভির বাক্সে ধরে গেছি প্রাণপণে % সারারাত শুধু এই পাশ ওই পাশ % একটু আলাদা চ্যানেলের সহবাস । %} %(read my translation in the online version of [http://www.cse.iitk.ac.in/~amit/other/ut-sample.html|the unsevered tongue]) % other poems: kalghare 19 tumi ki snAtAr jAno 25 Sengupta, Mallika; Kathamanabi: her voice and other poems Bhashanagar, Kolkata 2005 subodhmallika@yahoo.co.in % % --Nandimukh-- % % I am "her" voice, recounting her tales, % from the vedic age to the 21st century. % The fire that has remained stifled in the ashes of history, % smothered by time and age, % I am that woman -- I speak of her. % I read tears, I write fire, % I live in infamy and consume its ashes. % I endure violence, and still breathe fire. % I live as long as this fire burns within me. % It is hard to endure the scorching heat of the flame % that my words kindle... % % -- The blood-mark 38-- % % Man, I've never raised my hands against you. % % When you first parted my hair to put the blood-mark, % That day was I wounded, but I didn't say a word. % % On parched earth, no flowers bloom, no peacocks % spread their tails % But we've always dug the same dunes for your water. % Lifting our sons, we've seen glow-worms, pointed out Orion. % % We know the earth's a woman; the sky first man: % Why then have you bound my arms with chains? % Nor let me see the sky for a thousand years? % % Don't insult the earth on which you stand. % Man, I've never raised my hands against you. % - tr. Carolyne Wright and Paramita Banerjee % % --Mother of Universe-- % the open wavy tresses of my hair % radiated into the sky, making storm clouds % my green patterned starch-cotton skin % crept up, creating the lliana of forests % the hum of melody from my throat % stolen, turned into cuckoo song % the babbling nonsense of my voice % became the lingua franca of vast populaces % my tired sweat mingled with the smell of my period % creating the moist aroma of dry earth hit by rain % nurtured by the tendrils of my hunger % swaying-green ricefields came up % to bathe me were the rivers born % to dry me came sunshine % in the heat of my anger, flintstones % flashed into flickering fire. % my fierce need for love created man % in my body was grouted his seed-sceptre % % and then - % in my womb was born this universe. % % (from [[sengupta-2005-kathamanabi-her-voice|Kathamanabi]], translation % Amit Mukerjee). Unfortunately the line "in the heat of my anger, % flintstones", is missing in the book, one of many typos that take away % from these translations. sengupta, mallikA ({bn মল্লিকা সেনগুপ্ত}); puruShke lekhA chiThi {bn পুরুষকে লেখা চিঠি} ("open letter to the male") Ananda Publishers, Kolkata 2002 ISBN 817756286X +POETRY BENGALI GENDER % % --{bn পৃথিবীর মা }(prithibIr mA)-- % {bn % আলুলায়িত আমার চুলে % সারা আকাশ মেঘলা হয়ে উঠল % আমার গায়ের সবুজ ডুরে ধনেখালির শাড়ি % হয়ে উঠল অরণ্যের লতাগুল্ম % আমার কন্ঠ থেকে সুর চুরি করে % সপ্তমসুরে গেয়ে উঠল কোকিল % আমার মুখের হিজিবিজি বুলি % হয়ে উঠল জনগোষ্ঠীর মাতৃভাষা % আমার গায়ের ক্লান্তি ঘাম যৌনতার ঘ্রাণে % তৈরী হল ভেজামাটির সোঁদা গন্ধ % আমার খিদে থেকে গজিয়ে উঠল % মাঠভর্তি ধানমঞ্জরী % আমার স্নানের জন্য নদী তৈরী হল % গা শুকানোর জন্য ছড়িয়ে পড়ল রোদ % আমার ক্রোধের তাপে চকমকি পাথর % আগুন হয়ে জ্বলে উঠল % আমার তীব্র ভালবাসার আকাঙ্ক্ষায় জন্ম নিল পুরুষ % আমার শরীরে প্রোথিত হল তার বীজদণ্ড % আর তখন আমারই গর্ভে জন্ম নিল পৃথিবী ।} % % (see translation in % other poems: % alakAnandA 12; rAShTrapatike ekTi meyer chiThi 17; redlAiT nAch 42; % bAlikA o duShTulok 52; puruShke lekhA chiThi-1 61; puruShke lekhA chiThi-2 62 Chaudhuri, Namita ({bn নমিতা চৌধুরী}); jhulan jAtrA {bn ঝুলন যাত্রা} ("jhulan procession") tritiya duniyAr sAhitya 1996 +POETRY BENGALI GENDER % % --ঝুলন যাত্রা (jhulan jAtrA)-- % % শ্রাবণ পূর্ণিমার মধ্যরাত % গৃহস্থেরা নিশ্চুপ % শুধু চুপিসারে রাধা চলেছে ঝুলন যাত্রায় % % কৈশোরে ঝুলন সাজাতে সাজাতে % রাধা ভাবতো অন্য অনেক মেয়ের মতোই % যৌবনে সে দুলবে -- শুধু দুলবে % কিন্তু বোকা মেয়েটা জানেনা % কৃষ্ণ তার প্রতিক্ষায় নেই % আছে তার রূপের আছে তার রূপোর % % রূপের আতিশয্য রাধার থাক বা না থাক % সঙ্গে করে আনেনি সে অন্তত ছোট একটাও % রূপোর পাহাড় % এবং অবশ্যই % কৃষ্ণ দুলবে না একসাথে দুলবেনা % ঝুলনে ঝুলবেনা % % একা তাই রাধা চলেছে ঝুলন যাত্রায় % % শাড়ির একপ্রান্ত বাঁধা আছে কদমের ডালে % অন্যপ্রান্ত গলায় জড়িয়ে % রাধা ঝুলছে % % রাধা দুলছে । % % --কন্যাকে (kanyAke)-- % % নিরানন্দ পূর্ণিমার পূর্ণ প্রহরে জন্ম তোর % আকাশের প্রতিটি কোন থেকে % ঝরেছিল অঝোর বৃষ্টি % যন্ত্রণায় নীল হতে হতে তোর মায়ের % ম্রিয়মান মুখ ছিল সংকোচে বিহ্বল % % মাতৃত্বের বড় জ্বালা % কন্যা সন্তান কোন খুশির হাওয়াকে % বয়ে আনতে পারেনি মায়ের হৃদয়ে % তোর জন্মক্ষণে কেউ জ্বালেনি কোন দীপ % বাজায় নি কোন শাঁখ % এই আমি তোর কানে মন্ত্র দিলাম কন্যা % দুনিয়াটাকে তুই বিষের দৃষ্টিতে দেখিস % ভুলিস না তোর জন্মক্ষণ ছিল % অপমানিত অন্ধকার । % %(see my translation in the online version of [http://www.cse.iitk.ac.in/~amit/other/ut-sample.html|the unsevered tongue]) Chaudhuri, Namita ({bn নমিতা চৌধুরী}); ghaniShTha basabAs ঘনিষ্ঠ বসবাস ("cramped living") nAndImukh saMsad 2000 +POETRY BENGALI GENDER % % basantabAhAr 9 Chaudhuri, Namita ({bn নমিতা চৌধুরী}); uTer shahar উটের শহর chetanA bArAsAt 1998 +POETRY BENGALI GENDER Chaudhuri, Namita ({bn নমিতা চৌধুরী}); ghAsjanma kabitA pAkShik 1996 +POETRY BENGALI GENDER sarkAr, aruNAbha; kachuripAnAr bhelA nAndImukh saMsad 2005 +POETRY BENGALI Chaudhuri, Namita ({bn নমিতা চৌধুরী}); shudhu triShNAy beRe oThe {bn শুধু তৃষ্ণায় বেড়ে ওঠে} nAndImukh saMsad 1999 ?? +POETRY BENGALI GENDER % % --{bn ছড়াতে চাই আমি } (chhaRAte chAi Ami) 25 -- %{bn % সে আর ফিরবে না % হয়ত ফিরবে না এই পথে % আমি কি অন্য পথে যাবো % সেই নদী সেই পাহাড় কি অনেক দূরে % আমি কি একাই যাবো % নাকি অপেক্ষায় থাকবো আমি % কৃষ্ণচুড়া গাছের মতন- % % অপেক্ষায় থেকে থেকে হেমন্তের হলুদ পাতা হবো % তখন হাওয়ার সাথে বহুদূর উড়ে যেতে পারি % সেই যাওয়া চাই নাকি % এমন সহজ আয়তনে ছড়াবো কি নিজেকে আমার! % % বরং শিমুল তুলোর মত উড়ব আকাশে % উড়তে উড়তে উড়তে উড়তে % লোকালয়ে যাবো % মুগ্ধ নয়নে একটি আকুল কিশোর % তুলে নেবে সযত্নে আমাকে % তার বাবা বলবেন - % এ একটা বীজ % মাটিতে পুঁতলে গাছ হবে % বড় হলে হবে ছায়া % ফুল % ফল ।} % % -- % I want to spread myself out % % He won't come back % Surely not on this path % Should I try another path -- % Flying like a bird? % Then I think of the river % Its cool waters. The low hill % And the cave where I was born. % Or I could just wait here % Spreading my roots like the gulmohar... % % Yes. I will wait. % In waiting I become % The golden leaves of autumn % And the wind will carry me afar % Is that what I want? % How I will spread myself out… % % I would rather float like cottonseed % Drifting on the hreeze. % I’ll float in through the window of the eager child % Who picks me up. His father says -- % That's just a seed. % If you plant it % It will grow tall % A tree % A tree that gives % Shade, flowers, fruit % % A tree growing outside the mountain cave % And the passing jackal % Will never know % How I have spread myself out. % (translation 2004) Chaudhuri, Namita ({bn নমিতা চৌধুরী}); drishyAbalI ebang (Drishyabali Ebong) nAndImukh saMsad 2002 +POETRY BENGALI GENDER % % --{bn তোরঙ্গ বিষয়ক }toraMga biShayak 12-- % % {bn বহু প্রাচীন ঐ তোরঙ্গটি সামুদ্রিক জলযানের মতো % বিস্তৃত হাঁগর্ভে যাবতীয় পুঁথি ছিঁচকে ইতিহাস % জায়গা জমিজিরেতের গচ্ছিত টিপছাপ অসহিষ্ণু দলিল-দস্তাবেজ % % ঠাকুর্দা এমনভাবে বন্ধ করেছিলেন % এখন আর ডালাই খোলা যায়না % খুললে কী জানি কী হত % % ঠাকুরমার সাথে আরও কত চোখের জল ঐ তোরঙ্গে যে % তোলা আছে কে আর জানে!} % % janmechhi ei rUpe 27 gAner bhitar diye 28 ==== bhaTTachArya, sukAnta ({bnসুকান্ত ভট্টাচার্য}); subhASh mukhopAdhyAy ({bnসুভাষ মুখোপাধ্যায়}) (ed.); sukAnta samagra {bn সুকান্ত সমগ্র} (sukānta-samagra, "The Collected Sukanta") sArasvat lAibrerI {bn সারস্বত লাইব্রেরী} (Sārasvata Lāibrerī, Saraswat Library), 1967/1986 18th edn. ISBN 8186032002 +POETRY BENGALI % % ==the sukAnta phenomenon== % % As a young boy growing up in suburban Bengal in the 70s, one could still feel % the tragedy of Sukanta's death from tuberculosis at age 21, three months % before India's independence. His poems - _ekTi morager kAhinI_ (a chicken % story), _sniRi_ (staircase), and of course, _chhARpatra_ (entitlement), were % on everyone's lips; maybe I can still recite many of these. Meanwhile, Salil % Chowdhury and Hemanta had immortalized _rAnAr_ - a melodramatic tale of the % postal runners who carried mail across rural India in British times. That % some of the other Salil songs on the loudspeakers, like _abAk prithibI_ % (_anubhab_ p.38) and _ThikAnA_ were by sukAnta I did not realize until much % later. % % In the flourishing atmosphere of _Abritti_ (poetry recitation) contests, at % least one Sukanta poem was _de rigeur_ for any self-respecting _Abritti_ % organizer. I remember vividly walking the roof of our house in Shyamnagar, % with the Ganga at twilight, memorizing the fiery poem, _Agneyagiri_ (volcano) % for an _Abritti_ contest around 1972. % % --Famine, compassion and anger-- % Sukanta's experience was informed by the famine of 1943, when many % traders were perceived as hoarders who were stocking up for sale at high % prices, ignoring the human cost of their action. Their goods would be sold % in the "black market" - the illegal, un-taxed market, and the label % "blackmarketeer", indeed, even "hoarder" became a hateful word. % % Many of Sukanta's poems rage against traders and warehousemen; for instance, % in the poem _bhAlo khAbAr_ ("tasty food"), the fat businessman dhanapati pAl % (_dhanapati_ means "lord of riches") despairs with all the food that is served % him. In the end, his treasurer asks him about his most desired food. % Dhanapati looks around, smiles, and says, % it's hard to admit, but in terms of taste % the poor man's blood is really the best % (see complete poem in bAngla below.) % Although there is much of this type of melodrama in Sukanta, there is a % clean-ness about his humoorous rhyme and his word choice so it does not % seem as much of a misfit. % % --Sukanta within the Bengal Leftist context -- % In the years immediately after independence, the businessmen who had % been funding Indian politicians for decades suddenly discovered a license for % excessive rapacity (see for instance, the Mundhra scandal of 1957 % unearthed by [[bhushan-1977-feroze-gandhi-political|Feroze Gandhi]]). % % At the same time, many of the families that had migrated from East Pakistan % around partition, including Sukanta's family (full disclosure: mine too) % continued to feel a sense of desolation, helplessness and loss; this was % exacerbated with the runup to the Bangladesh war. This, together with the % memories of famines, and the continuing economic hardship, created a % groundswell of emotion in West Bengal against businessmen and landowners. % Sukanta fed into this nerve, and his legend of % young-talent-extinguished-prematurely added to the resonance in the public % psyche. Eventually, this feeling of oppression was among the causes for % the explosion of Naxalbari that tore apart Bengal in the mid 70s, and it % was only after that bloodletting that this sense of exploitation eased. % % Today, despite his nephew being the Chief Minister of West Bengal, Sukanta % mania has come down considerably. He remains a household name, and is still % widely read, and even recited at Abritti contests, but the emotion is more % balanced now. % % --Assessment for posterity-- % Some of his angry emotionalism sounds shriller today than they used to then. % As an example, here is "cigarette", another popular _Abritti_ poem: % % we are cigarettes. why won't you % let us live? why % would you burn us to cinder? ... % your comfort is our extinction % how long can this continue? ... % % one day we shall rebel % against imprisonment in % rectangular cardboard boxes % we shall burst out % at a casual moment % we shall fall burning from your fingers % onto the sheets % silently we will burn % flame down the house % to the last cinder % just like you, in all these years % have burnt us down to the end % % A similar overexuberance informs many of the other poems. We are the sleeping % volcano, one day we will devastate your immoral frolicking; we are the % slippery staircase - like Humayun, we shall bring you to your end... % % It is likely that in time, Sukanta may come to be categorized as a % generational poet, a phenomenon who lasted several decades, but may not % gather the imprint of eternity as a Tagore or a mAnik bandopAdhyAy might. % % Yet, there is a surprising maturity, whatever the age of the author, in many % of the poems. The poem _priyatamAsu_, a letter written by a frontier guard % to his faraway lover is a case in point (excerpted below) % % ---- % --Sukanta samagra-- % % published ten years after his death at age 21, this book collects all the % published poetry and other publishable works by Sukanta, and also his prose % and a good selection of letters. % % from the introduction by noted poet Subhash Mukhopadhyay: % % at the time I was studying b.a. at scottish church college. my book of % poems, 'padAtik' had already become old hat. immersed in (leftist) % politics, we used to congregate for _ADDA_ at a beadon street teashop. my % college friend manoj once forced a notebook onto me - reading the poems, i % couldn't believe they were the work of his 14-year old cousin. even % buddhadeb basu was amazed at the quality of the poems. (p.2) % % Mukhopadhyay also laments how he had never really praised Sukanta. He also % notes the difficulty of deciding which of the writings would Sukanta might % have thought too immature for publication? These were also decisions that % the editors had to take. % % --Links-- % Most of his poetry is available at [http://bn.wikisource.org/wiki/%E0%A6%B2%E0%A7%87%E0%A6%96%E0%A6%95:%E0%A6%B8%E0%A7%81%E0%A6%95%E0%A6%BE%E0%A6%A8%E0%A7%8D%E0%A6%A4_%E0%A6%AD%E0%A6%9F%E0%A7%8D%E0%A6%9F%E0%A6%BE%E0%A6%9A%E0%A6%BE%E0%A6%B0%E0%A7%8D%E0%A6%AF|wikisource], % through the herculean typing effort of user "Bellayet", subsequently copied to % many other Bangla websites. % % You can hear Soumitra Chatterjee's _Abritti_ of _chhARpatra_ at [http://www.esnips.com/doc/f9273298-a196-4c2d-b167-fb70292a6ec1/Sukanta-Bhattacharya---Chharpatra-(Soumitra-Chattopadhyay)|esnips]. % % ==Excerpts== % I am appending some of these poems - the ones that are more "mine", i.e. they % perhaps just a tad lesser known. % --প্রিয়তমাসু (}_priyatamAsu_, "to my dear")-- % p91,{bn ঘুম নেই ১৯৫৪ % % সীমান্তে আজ আমি প্রহরী। % অনেক রক্তাক্ত পথ অতিক্রম ক'রে % আজ এখানে এসে থমকে দাড়িয়েছি- % স্বদেশের সীমানায়। % % ধূসর তিউনিসিয়া থেকে স্নিগ্ধ ইতালী, % স্নিগ্ধ ইতালী থেকে ছুটে গেছি বিপ্লবী ফ্রান্সে % নক্ষত্রনিয়ন্ত্রিত নিয়তির মতো % দুর্নিবার, অপরাহত রাইফেল হাতে; % - ফ্রান্স থেকে প্রতিবেশী বার্মাতেও। % % আজ দেহে আমার সৈনিকের কড়া পোশাক, % হাতে এখনো দুর্জয় রাইফেল, % রক্তে রক্তে তরঙ্গিত জয়ের আর শক্তির দুর্বহ দম্ভ, % আজ এখন সীমান্তের প্রহরী আমি। % আজ নীল আকাশ আমাকে পাঠিয়েছে নিমন্ত্রণ, % স্বদেশের হাওয়া বয়ে এনেছে অনুরোধ, % চোখের সামনে খুলে ধরেছে সবুজ চিঠি : % কিছুতেই বুঝি না কী ক'রে এড়াব তাকে? % কী ক'রে এড়াব এই সৈনিকের কড়া পোশাক? % যুদ্ধ শেষ। মাঠে মাঠে প্রসারিত শান্তি, % চোখে এসে লাগছে তারই শীতল হাওয়া, % প্রতি মুহূর্তে শ্লথ হয়ে আসে হাতের রাইফেল, % গা থেকে খসে পড়তে চায় এই কড়া পোশাক, % রাত্রে চাঁদ ওঠে : আমার চোখে ঘুম নেই। % % তোমাকে ভেবেছি কতদিন, % কত শত্রুর পদক্ষেপ শোনার প্রতীক্ষার অবসরে, % কত গোলা ফাটার মুহূর্তে। % কতবার অবাধ্য হয়েছে মন, যুদ্ধজয়ের ফাঁকে ফাঁকে % কতবার হৃদয় জ্বলেছে অনুশোচনার অঙ্গারে % তোমার আর তোমাদের ভাবনায়। % তোমাকে ফেলে এসেছি দারিদ্র্যের মধ্যে % ছুঁড়ে দিয়েছি দুর্ভিক্ষের আগুনে, % ঝড়ে আর বন্যায়, মারী আর মড়কের দুঃসহ আঘাতে % বাব বার বিপন্ন হয়েছে তোমাদের অস্তিত্ব। % আর আমি ছুটে গেছি এক যুদ্ধক্ষেত্র থেকে আর এক যুদ্ধক্ষেত্রে। % জানি না আজো, আছ কি নেই, % দুর্ভিক্ষে ফাঁকা আর বন্যায় তলিয়ে গেছে কিনা ভিটে % জানি না তাও। % % তবু লিখছি তোমাকে আজ : লিখছি আত্মম্ভর আশায় % ঘরে ফেরার সময় এসে গেছে। % জানি, আমার জন্যে কেউ প্রতীক্ষা ক'রে নেই % মালায় আর পতাকায়, প্রদীপে আর মঙ্গলঘটে; % জানি, সম্বর্ধনা রটবে না লোক মুখে, % মিলিত খুসিতে মিলবে না বীরত্বের পুরস্কার। % তবু, একটি হৃদয় নেচে উঠবে আমার আবির্ভাবে % সে তোমার হৃদয়। % যুদ্ধ চাই না আর, যুদ্ধ তো থেমে গেছে; % পদার্পণ করতে চায় না মন ইন্দোনেশিয়ায় % আর সামনে নয়, % এবার পেছনে ফেরার পালা। % % পরের জন্যে যুদ্ধ করেছি অনেক, % এবার যুদ্ধ তোমার আর আমার জন্যে। % প্রশ্ন করো যদি এত যুদ্ধ ক'রে পেলাম কী? উত্তর তার- % তিউনিসিয়ায় পেয়েছি জয়, % ইতালীতে জনগণের বন্ধুত্ব, % ফ্রান্সে পেয়েছি মুক্তির মন্ত্র; % আর নিষ্কণ্টক বার্মায় পেলাম ঘরে ফেরার তাগাদা। % % আমি যেন সেই বাতিওয়ালা, % সে সন্ধ্যায় রাজপথে-পথে বাতি জ্বালিয়ে ফেরে % অথচ নিজের ঘরে নেই যার বাতি জ্বালার সামর্থ্য, % নিজের ঘরেই জমে থাকে দুঃসহ অন্ধকার।। % % --মেয়েদের পদবী }(meyeder padabI)-- % "women's surnames" {bn (প.১৭৫, মিঠে কড়া) % % মেয়েদের পদবীতে গোলমাল ভারী, % অনেকের নামে তাই দেখি বাড়াবাড়ি; % 'আ'কার অন্ত দিয়ে মহিলা করার % চেষ্টা হাসির। তাই ভূমিকা ছড়ার। % 'গুপ্ত' 'গুপ্তা' হয় মেয়েদের নামে, % দেখেছি অনেক চিঠি, পোষ্টকার্ড, খামে। % সে নিয়মে যদি আজ 'ঘোষ' হয় 'ঘোষা', % তা হলে অনেক মেয়ে করবেই গোসা, % 'পালিত' 'পালিতা' হলে 'পাল' হলে 'পালা' % নির্ঘাৎ বাড়বেই মেয়েদের জ্বালা; % 'মল্লিক' 'মল্লিকা', ' দাস' হলে 'দাসা' % শোনাবে পদবীগুলো অতিশয় খাসা; % 'কর' যদি 'করা' হয়, 'ধর' হয় 'ধরা' % মেয়েরা দেখবে এই পৃথিবীটা- "সরা"। % 'নাগ' যদি 'নাগা' হয় 'সেন' হয় 'সেনা' % বড়ই কঠিন হবে মেয়েদের চেনা।। }[http://bn.wikisource.org/wiki/%E0%A6%AE%E0%A7%87%E0%A6%AF%E0%A6%BC%E0%A7%87%E0%A6%A6%E0%A7%87%E0%A6%B0_%E0%A6%AA%E0%A6%A6%E0%A6%AC%E0%A7%80|wikisource] % % --{bn ভাল খাবার }(bhAlo khAbAr)-- % "tasty food" {bn(প.১৮০, মিঠে কড়া) % % ধনপতি পাল, তিনি জমিদার মস্ত; % সূর্য রাজ্যে তাঁর যায় নাকো অস্ত % তার ওপর ফুলে উঠে কারখানা-ব্যাঙ্কে % আয়তনে হারালেন মোটা কোলা ব্যাঙকে। % সবার "হুজুর" তিনি, সকলের কর্তা, % হাজার সেলাম পান দিনে গড়পড়তা। % সদাই পাহারা দেয় বাইরে সেপাই তাঁর, % কাজ নেই, তাই শুধু 'খাই-খাই' বাই তাঁর। % এটা খান, সেটা খান, সব লাগে বিদ্ঘুটে, % টান মেরে ফেলে দেন একটু খাবার খুঁটে; % খাদ্যে অরুচি তাঁর, সব লাগে তিক্ত, % খাওয়া ফেলে ধমকান শেষে অতিরিক্ত। % দিনরাত চিৎকার : আরো বেশি টাকা চাই, % আরো কিছু তহবিলে জমা হয়ে থাকা চাই। % সব ভয়ে জড়োসড়ো, রোগ বড় প্যাঁচানো, % খাওয়া ফেলে দিনরাত টাকা ব'লে চেঁচানো। % ডাক্তার কবিরাজ ফিরে গেল বাড়িতে; % চিন্তা পাকালো জট নায়েবের দাড়িতে। % নায়েব অনেক ভেবে বলে হুজুরের প্রতি : % কী খাদ্য চাই? কী সে খেতে উত্তম অতি? % নায়েবের অনুরোধে ধনপতি চারিদিক % দেখে নিয়ে বার কয় হাসলেন ফিক-ফিক্; % তারপর বললেন : বলা ভারি শক্ত % সবচেয়ে ভালো খেতে গরীবের রক্ত।। % % --গান }(song)-- % % sometimes it is said that Sukanta was free from the imprint of rabindranAth. % This is somewhat so in his poetry, but in his songs he is completely in the % mesh of tagore. {bn % % এই নিবিড় বাদল দিনে % কে নেবে আমায় চিনে, % জানিনে তা। % এই নব ঘন ঘোরে, % কে ডেকে নেবে মোরে % কে নেবে হৃদয় কিনে, % উদাসচেতা। % % পবন যে গহন ঘুম আনে, % তার বাণী দেবে কি কানে, % যে আমার চিরদিন % অভিপ্রেতা! % শ্যামল রঙ বনে বনে % উদাস সুর মনে মনে, % অদেখা বাঁধন বিনে % ফিরে কি আসবে হেথা?} % % Despite its obvious tagorism, the song demonstrates a mastery of rhythm. % All 19 songs in this collection carry the same imprint. Brown, Dan; The Da Vinci Code Bantam Press, 2003, 454 pages ISBN 0593052447, 9780593052440 +FICTION USA CHRISTIANITY % ==The impermanence of religious text== % As with the Koran in Rushdie's Satanic Verses, _Da Vinci code_ casts into % sharp focus the ambiguity and uncertainty regarding the version of Bible % that most people consider as "Gospel truth" today. It turns out that what % was to be in the Bible, and what was not, was not decided until three % centuries after Christ, at a council called by Emperor Constantine. % Similarly with the Koran, which was compiled by comparing various sources % by Uthman ibn Affan. The SV deals with a blasphemic statement % made by Mohammed in his early years, where he accepts some Goddesses other % than Allah. The DVC does not address a central question, but deals with % some artifacts related to the Gnostic Gospels in general. % % But what sets this book apart is the breathlessness with which the narrative % deals with a murder / adventure story. I went racing till the very last % pages, but at that point the edifice that Dan Brown was building up could not % sustain its own momentum and it all crumbled in what I felt was a terrible % let-down. % % The [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9907E1D91631F934A25750C0A9659C8B63&|NYT] gushed over "this riddle-filled, code-breaking, % exhilaratingly brainy thriller": % The author is Dan Brown (a name you will want to remember). In this % gleefully erudite suspense novel, Mr. Brown takes the format he has % been developing through three earlier novels and fine-tunes it to % blockbuster perfection. Not since the advent of Harry Potter has an % author so flagrantly delighted in leading readers on a breathless chase % and coaxing them through hoops. % and quite justifiably so!! % % ==Excerpts== % -- p. 246: gargoyle: from Fr gargariser - "sound of water gurgling % through their throats"] % % --How the Bible was constructed-- % p.252: bible - eighty gospels about Jesus were available but only a handful % were chosen for the NT. The selection was done by Emperor Constantine, who % was a "lifelong pagan who was baptized on his deathbed, too weak to % protest. [To avoid the increasing Christian-Pagan conflicts in the Roman % empire] he decided to unify Rome under a single religion, Christianity." % (because he wanted to back the winner). "By fusing pagan symbols, dates, % and rituals into the growing Christian tradition, he created a kind of % hybrid religion that was acceptable to both parties." Egyptian sun disks % --> halos of Catholic saints, Isis nurturing miraculously conceived son % Horus --> images of Virgin Mary nursing Baby Jesus. Miter / altar / % doxology / communion, the act of 'God-eating' - all from earlier pagan % mystery religions. % % Council of Nicaea, called by Constantine, voted on many aspects - date % of Easter, role of bishops, administration of sacraments, and of % course, the divinity of Jesus. Until this time, Jesus was viewed as a % mortal prophet; he became the "son of God" after Nicaea. The word % heretic referred to those who did not accept these gospels as the % "only" gospel - the word heretic comes from this time and all such % gospels were outlawed and burnt. [etym: heretic (c.1330) % ... from Gk. hairesis "a taking or choosing," from haireisthai "take, % seize," middle voice of hairein "to choose," of unknown origin. ] % % p.257: The symbols of man and woman - arrow in NE and + in S of circle % - are not shield and spar / mirror for beauty; they derive from % ancient astronomical symbols for Mars and Venus. % % p.263: person to the right of christ is a woman (flowing red hair, % delicately folded hands, and the hint of a bosom). --> Mary Magdalene, % wife of Jesus, made into a prostitute to cover up his mortalness. % % scotoma: psychology: "our preconceived notions of this scene are so % powerful that our mind blocks out the incongruity and overrides our % eyes." % % p. 266: gospel of Philip from the Nag Hammadi (1945) and Dead Sea % Scrolls (1950s): % % And the companion of the Saviour is Mary Magdalene. Christ loved % her more than all the disciples and use to kiss her often on her % mouth. The rest of the disciples were offended by it and % expressed disapproval. They said to him, "Why do you love her % more than all of us?" % % p. 267: The movie "The last temptation of Christ" is about Jesus % having sex with Mary Magdalene. Was banned in France at the instance % of the Church. % % Napoleon: What is hisory, but a fable agreed upon?" (by the winners) % % --- % blurb: % Harvard professor Robert Langdon receives an urgent late-night phone call % while on business in Paris: the elderly curator of the Louvre, Jacques % Sauniere, has been brutally murdered inside the museum. Alongside the body, % police have found a series of baffling codes. As Langdon and a gifted French % cryptologist, Sophie Neveu, begin to sort through the bizarre riddles, they % are stunned to find a trail that leads to the works of Leonardo Da Vinci - % and suggests the answer to a mystery that stretches deep into the vault of % history.Langdon suspects the late curator was involved in the Priory ofSion - % a centuries-old secret society - and has sacrificed his life to protect the % Priory's most sacred trust: the location of an important religious relic % hidden for centuries. But it appears that Opus Dei, a clandestine sect that % has long plotted to seize the Priory's secret, has now made its move. Unless % Langdon and Neveu can decipher the labyrinthine code and quickly assemble the % pieces of the puzzle, the Priory's secret - and a stunning historical truth - % will be lost for ever... Chomsky, Noam; Nirmalangshu Mukherji (ed); Bibudhendra Narayan Patnaik (ed); Rama Kant Agnihotri (ed); The Architecture of Language Oxford University Press, 2006, 89 pages ISBN 019568446X, 9780195684469 +LINGUISTICS CHOMSKY PHILOSOPHY % % if semantics is the relation between sound and thing, it may not % exist. p.73 % % Chomsky embodies a long tradition in American linguistics, going back to % Leonard Bloomfield: "Linguistic study must always start from the phonetic % form and not from the meaning" (1933:162). Zellig Harris was to expand on % this thought, by proposing formal models of syntax which were carried % forward by Chomsky. % % ==Excerpts== % % how does [language] relate to other aspects of the world? % % One form of the question (what's roughly called the quesion of materialism % or physicalism or the mind-body problem or whatever): how can the properties % of the language faculty be realized in the physical world? The second form % they take is a question which is usually called the question of % representation or intentionality ('aboutness'): the question of how % expressions represent reality, how words refer to things. This is the % second aspect of the question of the relation between language and the % world. % % Now, in my opinion, both these questions are radically misconceived, and % have been for a long time. - p.10-11 % % there is a ton of empirical evidence to support the opposite conclusion on % every single point that I mentioned. Furthermore, the core assumption of % highly productive recent work -and its pretty impressive achievements- is % that everything I said is wrong; that is, languages are highly imperfect in % all these respects, as indeed you would expect- they have indices and bar % levels, D- structures, S-structures and all kinds of relations, and so on and % so forth. Nevertheless, I think the contrary could well be true. p. 23 % % The issue of innateness of language is a curious one. There is a huge % literature arguing against it; there's nothing defending the thesis. % % ... the most elementary property of the language faculty is the property of % discrete infinity; you have six-word sentences, seven-word sentences, but % you don't have six-and-a-half-word sentences... This property is virually % unknown in the biological world. The only other one is the arithmetical % capacity, which could well be some offshoot of the language faculty. % p.50-52 % % [AM: Is it really discrete? what about morphemes that attach to words?, or % multi-word units? ] % % Q: What are the latest trends in semantics? Is it likely to develop into a % science some day with its own units? % % Chomsky: That is a really interesting question. ... We have to ask what % semantics is. If semantics is what is meant by the tradition (say, Peirce or % Frege or somebody like that), that is, if semantics is the relation between % sound and thing, it may not exist. % % FOOTNOTE: People use words to refer to things in complex ways, reflecting % interests and circumstances, but _words_ do not refer; there is no % word-thing relation of the Fregean variety, nor a more complex % word-thing-person relation of the kind proposed by Charles Sanders Pierce in % equally classic work on the foundation of semantics. These approaches may % be quite appropriate for the study of invented symbolic systems (for which % they were initially designed at least in the case of Frege). But they do % not seem to provide the appropriate cncepts for the study of natural % language. (Powers and Prospects, Madhyam Books New Delhi 1996, p. 22-3) % % If semantics is the study of relations like agency, thematization, tense, % event-structures and the place of arguments in them and so on that is a rich % subject but that is syntax; that is, it is all part of mental % representations. It goes on independently of whether there is a world at % all just like the study of phonological representations. This is % mislabelled 'semantics'. [*]... Most of what's called 'semantics' is, in my % opinion, syntax. It is the part of syntax that is presumably close to the % interface system that involves the use of language. So there is that part % of syntax and there certainly is pragmatics in some general sense of what % you do with words and so on. But whether there is semantics in the more % technical sense is an open question. I don't think there is any reason to % believe that there is. % % [*]It would be like taking phonology and deluding yourself into thinking that % phonology is the study of the relation between phonetic units and the % motion of molecules; it isn't, that is a separate study. Phonology is the % study of mental representations that one assumes are close to those parts % of the processing system that ultimately moves molecules around. % % Q: By virtue of knowing the concept 'climb', does the child know that the % concept needs an agent and a theme for its realization? Does the child learn % that the concept of 'die' is alternatively realized in English as 'die' and % 'kick the bucket'? The innate conceptual and computational components are % presumably different modules; does linguistic experience trigger some kind of % interaction between them with the result that a predicate-argument structure % is generated which is then converted into familiar lexically-filled syntactic % representation? % % Chomsky: These questions may be referring to a book of mine of about ten % years ago in which I said that the child has a repertoire of concepts as part % of its biological endowment and simply has to learn that a particular concept % is realized in a particular way in the language. So the child has a concept, % say, 'climb' in some abstract sense with all its weird properties and has to % learn that it is pronounced 'climb', not some other thing. Jerry Fodor's % important work for many years is relevant here, along with Ray Jackendoff's % and much else. These are all perfectly reasonable questions. You can have % various ideas about them; there isn't a lot of understanding. I could tell % you what my own suspicion is about these questions but they are research % topics. % % There is overwhelming reason to believe that concepts like _climb_, _chase_, % _run_, _tree_ and _book_ and so on are fundamentally fixed. They have % extremely complex properties ... which means that they've got to basically be % there and then they get kind of triggered and you find out what sounds are % associated with them. % % You can read some of the Q&A session [http://www.chomsky.info/books/architecture01.htm |here]. % % --Other revi ews-- % % [http://www.linguistlist.org/issues/12/12-1842.html|Review] by Adriano Palma, Institut Jean Nicod, Paris & Tsh UTC Compiegne % ;;Adriano Palma% The categories and types that we isolate from the world of phenomena we do % not find there because they stare every observer in the face; on the % contrary, the world is presented as a kaleidoscopic flux of impressions % which has to be organized by our minds -- and this means largely by the % linguistic systems in our minds. We cut up nature, organize it into % concepts, and ascribe significances as we do, largely because we are % parties to an agreement to organize it in this way -- an agreement that % holds throughout our speech community and is codified in the patterns of % our language - Benjamin Whorf % % Because my mother tongue is English, it seems self evident that bushes and % trees are different kinds of things. I would not think this unless I had % been taught that it was the case. - Edmund Leach (anthropologist), 1964
| Length of erect penis in primates | |
| Gorilla | 3 cm |
| Chimpanzee | 7.5 cm |
| Orangutan | 3.5 cm |
| Human | 12 cm |
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