‘Heritage India Communications Pvt.Ltd.’ to publish a magazine for Maharashtra Tourism Development Corporation.

“Maharashtra Unlimited” a quarterly magazine for showcasing the richness of the State specially as a tourist destination and all the allied aspects of its traditions, achievements and uniqueness was launched at the hands of the Tourism Minister Hon.Shri Chhagan Bhujbal in Mumbai yesterday.

“This is a first of its kind magazine with encyclopaedic value and will bring forth the glory of Maharashtra to the people”, said the Minister.

It is hard to comprehend just how many dynasties this site has witnessed. It is all there, for everyone to witness, in engraved letters on cold stone. There is a pillar there from the Gupta dynasty. It is built of an iron and phosphorous amalgam that hasn’t rusted in 900 years. The pillar was the centre of that complex of Jain temples that Qutbdin Aibak razed to the ground.

Qutbdin Aibak didn’t live long enough to see the tower completed. He died accidentally in 1210 while he was playing a game of polo in Lahore, when his horse fell and he was impaled on the pommel of his saddle. He was buried near the Anarkali bazaar in Lahore. The construction was completed by his successor Iltutmish.

Iltutmish had a particular reason for gratitude. He was a slave before Aibak recognized his intelligence and talent, freed him, and made him a general. Iltutmish went on to marry Aibak’s daughter and then succeeded the Sultanate of Delhi when Aibak’s son died. Iltitmish’s tomb is also a part of the complex.

Alauddin Khilji of the Khilji dynasty (Reign: 1296-1316) was the next to leave his mark on the complex. Khilji killed his uncle Jalauddin to succeed the throne of Delhi. He is famed in folklore as the lecherous ruler who led the siege on Chittor and drove the Rani Padmini to commit jauhar. The takes of Khilji’s ruthlessness and military prowess abound, and are immortalized in the poetry of Amir Khusrau.

Alauddin Khilji started building the Alai Minar, after he had doubled the size of Quwwat ul-Islam mosque. He wanted for this tower to be twice the height of the Qutb Minar, to celebrate the success of his Deccan campaign. The construction however, was abandoned after Alauddin’s death in 1316. It is still there, a vast stump of rubble that sits impotently in the shadow of the Qutb Minar. Alauddin is buried in the same complex, in a tomb adjoining the Quwwat ul Islam mosque. The mosque’s giant doorways and stone rooms still hint at the grandeur the structure once possessed. Khilji’s tomb however, is unfinished and rude, with rubble pillars and no roof to protect it from the elements.

During the rule of Firoz Shah Tughlaq, the minar’s top floor was damaged due to lightning. He replaced that storey with the current two and added marble to the sandstone, making for the minar’s distinctly variegated look.

In the year 1503, lightning struck again, and the minar was repaired by Sikandar Lodi. He left engravings on the surface, detailing the repairs he made.

In the year 1794, the minar faced another earthquake and it was Major Smith, a British engineer who repaired the affected parts. He replaced Firoz Shah’s pavilion with his own pavilion at the top. That pavilion was removed in the year 1848 by Lord Hardinge and now it can be seen between the Dak Bungalow and the minar in the garden.

In 1993, the Qutb Minar was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site, rescuing it from the defacing threatened by increasing crowds of tourists. The complex is now manicured and entry is ticketed. Visitors are no longer allowed to climb to the top of the minar and must instead be content with photographing it from the bottom.

The minar still stands where it has for eight centuries, surrounded by tombs and grass and the ruins of dynasties, a silent witness to a constantly changing city.

Where: Qutb complex, Mehrauli, Delhi
How to get there: From New Delhi, take the metro to the Qutb Minar station. At the metro exit, hail a share cab to take you to the complex, a ten minute ride away.
When to visit: The complex is rather sparse on trees, so the best time to visit would be between September and February, when the weather is cold.

We humans have an obsession with keeping time. It was a propensity that led to the adoption of several different methods of measuring days, months and years, in civilizations across the world. This was of course before the British colonized the world and imposed their ideas of 24 hour days, seven day weeks, months and years upon us all.

The Hindu calendar is a lunisolar one, which counts the days not just by how long it takes the earth to orbit the sun, but also according to the phases of the moon. It relies upon a complicated system, based upon centuries of observation, and with direct links to astronomy. The result is a fluid method of keeping time, when the days begin with sunrise, and the months change according to the position of the moon.

Chaitra is the first month of the new year and coincides with the northern spring equinox. It is a time for new beginnings, and in India, comes in the beginning of spring. The Maharashtrans celebrate the first day of Chaitra as Gudhi Padwa, or New Year’s Day. Since India was predominantly an agrarian society, Gudhi Padwa is also linked with the end of one agricultural harvest and the sowing of another batch of crops. The Bramha Purana states that this is the day on which Bramha, the creator, staged a deluge to cleanse the earth of sinners. According to Hindu mythology, this periodic cleansing occurs at the end of the Kalyug: the fourth age in the cycle of life on earth. In the Kalyug, man irretrievably corrupted all that Bramha created and nothing was left but for Shiva (the destroyer) to set fire to it all. After Shiva’s fire burned and destroyed all life and creation, Bramha would bring down a deluge to put out the fire and wash the earth clean. Thus the new cycle would begin and so it would continue, for all eternity. Gudhi Padwa marks the beginning of the next Satyug.

A gudhi is the flag of Bramha, and is usually depicted by a bright yellow or green cloth tied to a bamboo stick, the top of which is covered with a copper pot. Under the pot are tied packets containing sugar crystals, neem and mango leaves and red flowers. The gudhi is placed near the main entrance of the house and is said to ward off evil and bring prosperity.

In a tradition- variations of which are found across the south of India- a paste of neem leaves and jaggery is eaten at the beginning of the festivities. The bitterness of the neem tempered with the sweetness of the jaggery symbolize that in life one encounters both. Maharashtrian families celebrate by making traditional sweets like shrikhand (sweetened curds) and puran polis (sweetbreads).

Witness the beauty of the great cupid festival which excites curiosity as the towns people are dancing at the touch of brownish water thrown from squirt guns.
They are seized by pretty women when all along the road the air is filled with singing and drum-beating.
Everything is coloured yellowish red and rendered dusty by the heaps of scented powder blown all over.

Ratnaval
(7th century drama)

Youngsters enjoying themselves on Holi

There are many tales about the origin of Holi. Each makes for a fascinating read, and all explain different parts of the celebration.

One tale dates back to before the common era and tells of the evil king Hiranyakashipu. Hiranyakashipu did not start off as evil. For many years, his kingdom was blessed by the gods and his lands and power increased steadily. All this prosperity made the king more and more arrogant, until he came to believe that he was more powerful than the gods themselves. His son Prahalad was the opposite of his father, wise and humble and an ardent devotee of Lord Vishnu.

One day, Hiranyakashipu asked Prahalad who was more powerful, him or God. Prahalad replied without hesitation, “God, because you are only a king.” His answer so enraged the king that he commanded his sister, Holika, to burn Prahalad alive. Holika had been granted a boon by the gods that made her impervious to fire, so she entered the pyre with Prahalad to hold him down as they were set aflame. As the legend goes, Prahalad prayed to Lord Vishnu, who exchanged the boon, making Prahalad impervious, while Holika perished in the flames.

The festival of Holi is named after Holika as a reminder that boons bestowed by the gods must be used to do right and not wrong. On the night of the festivities, a huge bonfire is lit to signify the burning of Holika and the ultimate triumph of good over evil.

Another popular legend traces the origin of the festival to Bengal, also before the common era. It is believed that Krishna idols there were smeared with red powder or gulaal, on the day of Holi. Red is the colour of passion, and Krishna, mythologically, was the symbol of desire. The gopikas all desired him, and his status as a great ruler and commander of armies made men court him. The smearing of idols with gulaal is said to signify the dedication of one’s passion to god.

The squirting of coloured water with pichkaris can be traced to the sport of Krishna in his boyhood. He would tease the gopikas of his village thus, and run away as they gave him chase. This is still mimicked today in Lath mar Holi, celebrated in Barsna in Uttar Pradesh. The men tease the women by singing provocative songs and the women of the village chase them away with sticks.

It is fascinating to see how the festival has evolved and made place for all these tales in the rituals different communities follow. Each tale is a plausible explanation, but you really don’t need a reason for a day on which masses of people crowd together, get soaked to their skins, throw coloured powders on one another, eat sweets, and drink bhang.

Described as ‘the pearl amongst the fortresses of Hind’ by Emperor Babur, the Gwalior fort with palaces decorated with beautiful paintings, glazed tiles of varied colours, different figures of human beings, elephants, ducks, peacocks, lions, plantain trees andattractive pillared domes, is a magnificent monument that dominates the city. Built by Mansingh Tomar the fort has witnessed imprisonments, battles, love stories and jauhars.

Mathura

Famous for being the birthplace of Krishna, the holy city of Mathura has a great antiquity. The archaeological evidence shows its associations with various dynasties like the Mauryas, Indo Greeks, Kushanas etc. Sculptures made in the famous Mathura tradition of art have been unearthed on a large number from different parts of the city of Mathura. The royal hall of the Kushanas and the sculptures found in them are some of the most famous finds of this city.

Cherial Paintings

Cherial, a village in the Warangal District of the Telangana Region of Andhra Pradesh, is home to the Cherial Scroll paintings that depict stories from the epics, puranas as well as daily life scenes in the rural setting. In the past, this folk art-form thrived under the patronage of the Kakatiyas of Warangal and was used by balladeers and story tellers as visual aids. At times,
running into many metres in length, these scrolls stand out with to their rich visual vocabulary, narrative format and use of vibrant colours.

India of the ages is not dead nor has she spoken her last creative word; she lives and has still something to do for herself and the human peoples. And that which must seek now to awake is not anglicised oriental people, docile pupil of the West and doomed to repeat the cycle of the occident’s success and failure, but still the ancient immemorable Shakti recovering her deepest self, lifting her head higher towards the supreme source of light and strength and turning to discover the complete meaning and a vaster form of her Dharma.

Sri Aurovindo

A hundred and five kilometres away from Ahmedabad lies Modhera, home to an exquisitely crafted Sun Temple that delights the aesthetic senses, stimulates historical curiosity and inspires feelings for the divine.

The craft of Bidar

An ancient art, using techniques that still baffle scientists, Bidriware has emerged as a distinctive craft that is famed for its intricacy and exclusiveness.

Especially hand crafted cotton sarees of West Bengal have been carrying forward the handloom traditions of the region for almost the last five hundred years. The ‘Tant’ sarees, as they are called, provide comfort to the wearer by virtue of their lightweight nature, making them handy for every occasion.

The Blue Houses of Jodhpur

Painted in blue, traditional houses with ingenious architecture, beautiful aesthetics and undying cultural values have evolved over a period of five hundred years in the city of Jodhpur, offering a visual treat and giving the beautiful city its identity of ‘the blue city’.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Pali Literature

Pali literature contains the sacred texts of the Buddhists. The nature of literature in the Pali language is basically religious and philosophical. The basic and the most important part of the teachings of Buddha are compiled in the “Tripitaka”s. There are many other texts written in Pali other than the Tripitakas. Pali literature, though originated in India, has also flourished in other countries like Sri Lanka and Myanmar to name a few.