Shadows of sun

Shadows of sun, originally uploaded by Devabrata.

I love forests more than anything else in this world. But there is no forest even a semblance of it within one hundred kilometres of my house. So I create forests and also moon-lit earth. I collage different photos and images to suit my liking.
I visit these places through my mind.

The whole history of the nations of the world is filled with battles and wars, all attempts by one to gain supremacy over another. The world never retained a fixed template of territorial division of countries for more than a century. The geographical contours of the countries have been constantly changing.

It was the mighty nations, the imperialists, who, in their interest to increase their territorial areas, invaded or annexed areas that belonged to other countries. These political aggressions were mainly for business and economical interests, although there was also a good dose of nationalistic chauvinism behind the imperialistic fervour. There were also some purely political reasons to secure vantage points to thwart probable aggressions. There were many such battles in the Middle Ages between the Muslims and Christians to assert hegemony over the trade routes to India. This ultimately led to Portugal's occupation of Goa in India. The Mughal aggression towards India was for her riches, and afterwards they established the Mughal Empire in India. The Russian aggression towards Eastern Europe to increase the area of the Soviet empire was nothing but communist imperialism-the word most abhorred by the communists themselves worldwide. It was for the purpose of spreading communism to the world and thus posed a threat to the US and Western influence on other countries. But the days of imperialism are gone. The Communists, till the other day, criticized the US as neo-imperialist, but only because the US multinational companies had powerful existence in the third world. But pure geographical imperialism has lost its spirit and is on the wane until, one may hope, it vanishes from the world for good by the end of this century. So we may expect that the world will slowly develop a fixed pattern with clearly bounded territories of the country-states without any further possibilities of one nation grabbing another’s land. But what is it truly about, this One World, the dream of many great thinkers and visionaries? Before looking into the matter we should view some historical lessons from another angle. We must first ask if there is a truth, a principle that is imbedded in what we call the historical process. Is there really any guiding truth hidden in the course of history at all? I am not qualified to discuss such matters like scholars but at the same time I believe, given the knowledge left by the world’s greatest historians, that is hardly necessary. Karl Marx had his own way of conceptualizing a Utopia where there would be no state. But Marx built his philosophy upon the exploitation of the working class by the capitalists who sustained imperialism. So by demolishing the capitalists, Marx reasoned, a society would evolve where the working class would be at the helm of the production system – with the help of their united organization, the Communist Party. Naturally in the absence of ‘surplus capital’ the capitalists would wither along with their parent, the imperialists. Marx was an economist and a philosopher, but he did not ponder the intricacies of human nature. Human beings are not simply machines to be slotted into an economic model. The working class is comprised of human beings and they themselves are not a cohesive class. So it is unlikely that they, in the absence of their capitalist masters, would not have any of the same human instinct to connive means to exploit their fellow workers. The love of power and wealth is inherent in man and would spontaneously find a sustainable system. Ideals when they have the power of truth may create a reality. But Marx’s dreams were not based on the science of life and the forces that control it. The Anarchists, too, fared no better in their attempts to offer a solution. So we do not find any practical and feasible principle that governs the course of history. But this does not mean that history does not have its own organic direction. Man has a predilection to see himself as the creator of his own destiny. He is comfortable viewing himself as independent from the nature from which he evolved. In his search for truth, he positions himself as a separate bystander. By discovering certain physical laws of nature and by manipulating these forces and laws he has gained some control over apparently spontaneous natural functions, and has been able to use them splendidly to his convenience. So quite understandably he sometimes ignorantly confronts nature as an obstacle to his cherished plan of living. There is no wrong in organizing natural forces to his convenience. But in doing so, sometime man forgets that he is also guided by natural truths. The laws that govern matter also govern him. He applies his mind to know the whole truth. But that ‘mind’ is an evolutionary phenomenon of Nature within him. If I seem uncharitable towards man it is because he separates himself and his nature from Nature in general. When a meteorologist says that the atmospheric pressure and the movement of air currents are the cause of a depression leading to sudden heavy downpour, we understand him. But we are yet to believe, let alone know precisely that collective human movements have behind them similar forces. Collective human action is more complicated than weather systems and therefore unpredictable. And for that matter, even the weather is often not all that predictable.

Once a much learned man told me, ‘Life is a great teacher’. But I always felt that life never teaches-it prepares. All have been molded and prepared to their present forms and status through billions of years, if we want to define a process of preparation by a time period. Some may consider this the work of a creator or preparer, others prefer to conceive it as self-preparation, according to one’s mindset. Scientists themselves have discovered this truth. But they fail at their own doorstep called "mind" which they have used to find the truth. Man has the capability of being aware of an inner guiding consciousness. There are many events in history that never would have happened had man’s sense of right or wrong been in control. There were horrible catastrophes, upheavals, either natural or man made, that shook the world and caused unimaginable suffering to the common man. Some civilizations at their height of sophistication were destroyed by barbarians. And at the hands of those barbarians, these civilizations again rose to great heights though differently. An example of this is the rise of Hellenic civilization and its subsequent fall at the hands of inferior Romans. But that part of the world did not sink into obscurity permanently. Roman vitality pushed the society to new horizons. After any upheaval or destruction history rebuilds something new. India’s subjugation to British rule helped her to become a united and modern nation. The very concept of ‘nation’ was absent in the Indian psyche. This humiliating sense of subjugation awakened a sense of nationality in her as she discovered how the independent British could fetter her, and energized her freedom struggle. On the other hand, if the Sepoy Mutiny against the British had succeeded, India would have been pushed into anarchy under an effete and effeminate Second Bahadur Shah-the last Mughal. Many Indian historians love to glorify the Mutiny simply because it was against the foreign British. But the general people never supported the Mutiny because of fear of anarchy and medieval administration. So they preferred the British to the Shah. But when India rose to her sense of nationalism under a modern atmosphere, she fought against the same British, who had become an obstacle to her self-determined progress. Man is a mere tool of the forces of history. This blog is not the proper forum to make a scholastic argument that history pushes human beings to become ever more organized around a nucleus of human unity. But an unbiased overview of history suggests a distinct direction through contradictions and complexities.

In India when economic reforms and the globalization of markets started under the then Prime Minister P.V. Narshima Rao, all the left parties (mainly the communists) made a furore throughout the country. The fulmination was against the government’s economic policy by which India would lose her economic independence to the US and other European multinationals. They campaigned that there would be large scale unemployment and increase of general poverty level. But this global economic reform suggests something to me; it is not for the present but for a future. The political ambition of increasing the geographical area of a state has now been rendered almost pointless. Some countries like the US and the erstwhile USSR realized the tremendous hazards of deploying armies in other states. This cost them dearly. The nations are now separated securely by clear geographical boundaries. The nature of history and for that matter Nature herself is never moved under any ethical, moral and human consideration in finding its ways. An individual may have to some extent a power to shape his/her future. But for the most part collectivity is the predominant factor influencing the choice of the individual at any given time. So the historical forces or impulses are not governed according to mental or theoretical conceptions of good or bad. Movements in history depend on certain conditions, which are related to the predominant collective vitality as a matrix, to develop into something new. Our current era is the first time in the history of mankind where business is the single predominant impulse moving every country to be stable internationally. Isolated independence has no place in this world now. It is a world sustained only through interdependence. To the multinational business and industrial organizations, the geographical barriers are not relevant. Continuous amalgamation and tie-ups within the international companies are building a new world situation where people of different countries are getting closer to one another and thus making a common international ground. So naturally an overriding political ambition is anathema to this international culture. This is not to say that we are near to an ideal situation. But it is definitely a beginning towards something new.

It is only after the Wars that devastated the world that common people of any country became aware of and also reacted to the happenings in other countries. Now we have even established international institutions, groups and organizations like HRCW, UNO, WTO etc to look into the problems of people and governments. Now people are not individuals –they are the sole concerns of their respective governments. Earlier a country existed on a place on the Earth. Now wherever on the Earth a country exists –it spiritually belongs to an international community. This sense of togetherness is greatly augmented by the boom in cell-phones and the internet. The path is strewn with incomprehensible human miseries from the clash of conflicting interests amongst countries. Some political analysts believe that the reason for the US invasion of Iraq was to pre-empt Chinese access to the oil resources in the Middle East. But it would not have been so if the resources had been free from any governmental control. The iPod is a great example and symbol of globalization and consequent interdependence. While the machine was designed by that quintessential American company, Apple, "the micro drive that was the heart of the machine was made by Hitachi in Japan, the controller chip was made in South Korea, the Sony battery was assembled in China, the stereo digital-to analog converter was made by a company in Edinburgh, Scotland, the flash memory chip came from Japan and the software on a chip that allows one to search for and play ten thousand songs was designed by programmers at PortalPlayer in India.” And if an Asian company takes over the majority shares of Apple after five years, we will be landed on a jigsaw-puzzle world.

In what I have written above -I have never attempted to make it a point that in a One World There would be no human sufferring. It will be there as it is now. Mere withering of geographical boundaries is not enough for human sufferings to vanish for good. But the world must necessarily be ONE first to move towards a progress.And even after one-world man will have to go miles for some centuries before he finally overcomes the problem.

THE ABOVE ARTICLE HAS BEEN EDITED BY KATHLEEN SUTHERLAND OF WASHINGTON DC

YOGAS IN INDIA by Kathleen Sutherland

The term ‘yoga,’ as originally used in India, refers to a spiritual way of life. The Sanscrit word yoga means union. The ultimate aim of yoga is union of the individual soul with Brahma (the Supreme). For thousands of years Indian seekers of God followed the yogic principles and practices under the guidance of able and realized Gurus. There are various systems, or schools, of yoga. A disciple would follow the school best suited to his or her nature. For example, there is Raja Yoga, which focuses on meditation as a path to enlightenment. Jnana Yoga emphasizes the study of scriptures. Karma Yoga seeks higher consciousness through doing good works. And Bhakti Yoga focuses on passionate devotion to God. Hatha Yoga is yet another yogic system. This type of yoga is best known in the West, where it has become synonymous with the term "yoga." And its use is often narrowed even further to refer just to the poses and exercises which such yogis practice. It's true that the sadhana (practice) of Hatha Yoga is based on the physical body. But Hatha uses the body's energy to move towards a higher consciousness. Health and vitality are a means to this end, not the end in itself.Hatha Yoga includes, of course, the yogasana (yoga + asana), i. e., the physical poses and exercises, which help the yogi to achieve optimal nervous system functioning. But yoga-asana is only a preliminary stage of the long Hatha Yoga path. Hatha practice also includes following basic moral principals, called the "yamas" and "niyamas." And Hatha yoga teaches the disciple to move, control and regulate one's "prana," i.e., life energy. This is done through the practice of specific breathing exercises, called "pranayama." Meditation, too, is fundamental to Hatha Yoga practice. So it is all these things together - good moral conduct, a healthy nervous system, control of one's life force and deep meditation - that lead to union with the supreme consciousness. Hatha Yoga is not mere yogasana. On the contrary, the practice of the poses is only a minor, though very apparent part of this yogic system. To many in the West, India appears a mysterious land and thus seekers of other-worldly experiences may be drawn to it for that reason. But an exotic experience is not the same thing as a spiritual experience. Importing and practicing the simplest aspects of Hatha Yoga is a misguided attempt to find a genuine spirituality. In any culture, time or place, spiritual growth requires following difficult (and sometimes boring) practices and altering one's entire way of life. It is a surrender of the ego. So it is unfortunate that yoga in the West has come to mean yoga-asana. But it is even sadder that the majority of Indians who know and practice yoga-asana, know it as yoga. The term Hatha Yoga is not even known to them. But while we cannot change this current universal misuse of the term, we nevertheless can understand that one cannot be a true yogi by practicing yoga in its modern connotation. I myself am not a practicing Hatha-yogi. Far from it. My desire here is simply to show the dangers of this sort of misguided spiritual seeking. Here is another example. Some western people took ganja (hashish) as they thought it would help them progress spiritually. They learned this from imposter bearded sadhus sitting beside the Ganges or under a banyan tree smoking their ganja profusely. The problem with the West is that they forget that Indians are as normal as they are, notwithstanding cultural differences. The so-called sadhus also bear some responsibility for this. Indians, too, are often victims of such pseudo-spiritualism, perhaps being susceptible to it because of their other-worldly mind set.Spiritual progress involves learning to detach from egoic desires. This is often an arduous and even painful process. By contrast, activities that aim to gratify the ego, such as using intoxicants, or practicing yoga for the sole purpose of achieving health and beauty, lead us away from the path. The true seeker must learn to recognize and reject the temptations of such pseudo-spirituality. The true seeker knows that serving the ego will never bring any pleasure even close to the ineffable bliss of moving towards a higher consciousness, and ultimately experiencing union with God.

PAKISTAN'S ILLEGAL AND UNREASONABLE OCCUPATION OF KASHMIR

Ancient Kashmir is steeped in legend. It is said that the Kashmir Valley was once the great lake Satisar (the Lake of the goddess Sati, also known as Durga), home to ferocious demons. Responding to the penances of the great sage Kashyapa, the grandson of Brahma himself, the gods destroyed the demon of the lake, with a pebble divinely caste, which today stands as the hill upon which towers the fortress built by the Mughal Emperor Akbar, and known today as Hari Parbat. The water of Satisar was drained through a breach in the mountains at what is now the mouth of the Valley, beyond the northern town of Baramulla (or the Sanskrit name of Varaha Mukh, the visage of the boar). From then on the Valley has carried the name of its founder. Like that of the rest of India, the ancient history of the State lacks detailed documentation although stuff and legend have been indistinguishably mired in the work of Rajatarangini by Kalhan whose identity remains a source of conjecture. In the 3r d Century BC, the state was incorporated into the Maurya Empire under Asoka, founder of the city of Srinagar. Buddhism became the principal religion which continued into the times of the Kushanas (1st and 2nd centuries AD), the names of many of whose rulers several towns in the Valley were named and continue to be borne by several towns in the Valley, such as Kanispora after Kanishka, and Hushkora after Huvishka. It was in Kanishka’s time that the 3rd Great Buddhist Council was held in Srinagar, formalising the split between the schools of Hinayana and Mahayana Buddhism. Thereafter Buddhism declined in the Valley though it retained its vibrancy and continues to thrive in Ladakh.

In the 8th century, Kashmir rose to become the centre of a great kingdom , spanning much of North India and parts of Central Asia under Lalitaditya Muktapida, who was builder of the Martand (sun) Temple, and founder of the Valley’s irrigation canal irrigation system which has survived for centuries, helping water rich harvests of the finest rice, a variety of temperate fruit and exotic crops such as saffron.

Islam came to India through traders, warriors and missionaries from the eighth to the twelfth centuries. The faith came to Kashmir through the Sufi saint Bulbul Shah in the early fourteenth century, finding wide acceptance. The ruling monarch Rinchen Shah converted to Islam and assumed the name of Sadruddin in 1327 AD. Thereafter, beginning with his former general Shahmir, a series of Muslim dynasties ruled the State with brief interludes of annexation into neighbouring States, to become a part of the Mughal Empire in the late 16th century, under its greatest ruler Akbar. The State was fully incorporated into the systems of administration and land settlement which long remained a legacy of that Empire in India, well after its own disintegration.

All through this period the religious activity of the Shaivites and Sufis continued to flourish, and fed the vibrant stream of Kashmiri culture. Lal Ded, Kashmir’s great poetesses was also among her foremost Shaivite ascetics and mentor to one of Kashmir’s greatest Sufi saints, Sheikh Nooruddin, whose school of Sufism is called ‘Rishi’ and who is revered by Hindus as Nand Rishi. The songs of Habba Khatoon, queen to the last Sultan of Kashmir before it fell to the Mughals, who retired to the life of a hermit in the hills of Gurez after her husband’s deportation, still resonate with the peasant women harvesting rice in Kashmir’s fields.

The rule of the Mughals has been coloured by romance, the modern remnants of which are to be found in the masterful architecture and layout of their world famous gardens in Kashmir: Shalimar, Nishat, Chashme Shahi, Chinar Bagh. A graphic account of the pomp and panoply of the Emperor’s cavalcade to Kashmir has been left to us by the French physician Francois Bernier who was in the court of the Emperor Aurangzeb.

The Imperial Court called on the Kashmiri Pandits, famed for their scholarship, to man courtly positions in Delhi. Thus it was that the ancestor of the Nehrus was recruited by the Emperor Farrukhsiyar in the early 18th century to serve as imperial scribe.

The defeat of the Empire at the hands of the Afghan brigand Ahmed Shah Abdali forced the ceding of Kashmir to the Afghans in 1753 AD, leading to a period of unmitigated brutality and widespread distress, which remained cruelly etched on the public memory, reinforced by the happenings of 1947. The greatest of the Sikh rulers Maharaja Ranjit Singh won Kashmir in 1815. On the defeat of the Sikhs by the British, the latter annexed and then sold Kashmir to the local feudatory Gulab Singh, who then assumed the title of Maharaja. His dynasty continued to rule the State under British paramountcy till the events described hereafter

GEOGRAPHY AND HISTORY

The terms "Kashmir" and "Muslim" are often loosely, and erroneously, used when referring to the State of Jammu and Kashmir. Pakistan has deliberately fostered this misrepresentation to stake its claim to what it terms a "Muslim State".

Indeed, the State of Jammu and Kashmir has a Muslim majority but is by no means a homogenous religious or ethnic entity. Like the rest of India, it represents a mosaic of different religions, different ethnic groups and cultures as do many other States of India. In its entirety, the State consists of Jammu to the south, Ladakh in the northeast and geographically the smallest segment Kashmir, comprised mainly of a river valley, surrounded by lofty mountains. All three segments are distinguished by their diversity. Jammu has a majority Hindu population(60%), but with substantial Muslim and Sikh minorities. Poonch, Rajouri and Doda, three of its six districts have Muslim majorities. Variations of Punjabi like Dogri and Pahari, are the languages most widely spoken , together with a smattering of Kashmiri. Ladakh has two districts; one, Leh, overwhelmingly Buddhist and the other, Kargil, overwhelmingly (73%) Shia Muslim. The languages there are Ladakhi and Balti. Kashmiri is not i ndigenous to this geographically largest constituent of the State. The Kashmir Valley itself is predominantly Muslim, with small components of Hindus and Sikhs. Kashmiri is the predominant language, but with entire regions speaking Shina and Pahari.

The constituent units of the State of Jammu and Kashmir still retain many of their distinctive religious, ethnic and linguistic features. This heterogeneity was not lost even when they were incorporated in one or the other empire - Maurya, Kushan, Mughal, Sikh or British, and today it reflects the ethnic, linguistic, cultural and religious diversity of India. © Govt. of India

The land of Kashmir is called ‘Heaven of the world’. In the Pakistan- Occupied Kashmir â€"no outsider is allowed to visit the wonderful scenic beauty of the valley. Some photos were sent to me by a friend are posted here.

Ancient Kashmir is steeped in legend. It is said that the Kashmir Valley was once the great lake Satisar (the Lake of the goddess Sati, also known as Durga), home to ferocious demons. Responding to the penances of the great sage Kashyapa, the grandson of Brahma himself, the gods destroyed the demon of the lake, with a pebble divinely caste, which today stands as the hill upon which towers the fortress built by the Mughal Emperor Akbar, and known today as Hari Parbat. The water of Satisar was drained through a breach in the mountains at what is now the mouth of the Valley, beyond the northern town of Baramulla (or the Sanskrit name of Varaha Mukh, the visage of the boar). From then on the Valley has carried the name of its founder. Like that of the rest of India, the ancient history of the State lacks detailed documentation although stuff and legend have been indistinguishably mired in the work of Rajatarangini by Kalhan whose identity remains a source of conjecture. In the 3r d Century BC, the state was incorporated into the Maurya Empire under Asoka, founder of the city of Srinagar. Buddhism became the principal religion which continued into the times of the Kushanas (1st and 2nd centuries AD), the names of many of whose rulers several towns in the Valley were named and continue to be borne by several towns in the Valley, such as Kanispora after Kanishka, and Hushkora after Huvishka. It was in Kanishka’s time that the 3rd Great Buddhist Council was held in Srinagar, formalising the split between the schools of Hinayana and Mahayana Buddhism. Thereafter Buddhism declined in the Valley though it retained its vibrancy and continues to thrive in Ladakh.

In the 8th century, Kashmir rose to become the centre of a great kingdom , spanning much of North India and parts of Central Asia under Lalitaditya Muktapida, who was builder of the Martand (sun) Temple, and founder of the Valley’s irrigation canal irrigation system which has survived for centuries, helping water rich harvests of the finest rice, a variety of temperate fruit and exotic crops such as saffron.

Islam came to India through traders, warriors and missionaries from the eighth to the twelfth centuries. The faith came to Kashmir through the Sufi saint Bulbul Shah in the early fourteenth century, finding wide acceptance. The ruling monarch Rinchen Shah converted to Islam and assumed the name of Sadruddin in 1327 AD. Thereafter, beginning with his former general Shahmir, a series of Muslim dynasties ruled the State with brief interludes of annexation into neighbouring States, to become a part of the Mughal Empire in the late 16th century, under its greatest ruler Akbar. The State was fully incorporated into the systems of administration and land settlement which long remained a legacy of that Empire in India, well after its own disintegration.

All through this period the religious activity of the Shaivites and Sufis continued to flourish, and fed the vibrant stream of Kashmiri culture. Lal Ded, Kashmir’s great poetesses was also among her foremost Shaivite ascetics and mentor to one of Kashmir’s greatest Sufi saints, Sheikh Nooruddin, whose school of Sufism is called ‘Rishi’ and who is revered by Hindus as Nand Rishi. The songs of Habba Khatoon, queen to the last Sultan of Kashmir before it fell to the Mughals, who retired to the life of a hermit in the hills of Gurez after her husband’s deportation, still resonate with the peasant women harvesting rice in Kashmir’s fields.

The rule of the Mughals has been coloured by romance, the modern remnants of which are to be found in the masterful architecture and layout of their world famous gardens in Kashmir: Shalimar, Nishat, Chashme Shahi, Chinar Bagh. A graphic account of the pomp and panoply of the Emperor’s cavalcade to Kashmir has been left to us by the French physician Francois Bernier who was in the court of the Emperor Aurangzeb.

The Imperial Court called on the Kashmiri Pandits, famed for their scholarship, to man courtly positions in Delhi. Thus it was that the ancestor of the Nehrus was recruited by the Emperor Farrukhsiyar in the early 18th century to serve as imperial scribe.

The defeat of the Empire at the hands of the Afghan brigand Ahmed Shah Abdali forced the ceding of Kashmir to the Afghans in 1753 AD, leading to a period of unmitigated brutality and widespread distress, which remained cruelly etched on the public memory, reinforced by the happenings of 1947. The greatest of the Sikh rulers Maharaja Ranjit Singh won Kashmir in 1815. On the defeat of the Sikhs by the British, the latter annexed and then sold Kashmir to the local feudatory Gulab Singh, who then assumed the title of Maharaja. His dynasty continued to rule the State under British paramountcy till the events described hereafter

GEOGRAPHY AND HISTORY

The terms "Kashmir" and "Muslim" are often loosely, and erroneously, used when referring to the State of Jammu and Kashmir. Pakistan has deliberately fostered this misrepresentation to stake its claim to what it terms a "Muslim State".

Indeed, the State of Jammu and Kashmir has a Muslim majority but is by no means a homogenous religious or ethnic entity. Like the rest of India, it represents a mosaic of different religions, different ethnic groups and cultures as do many other States of India. In its entirety, the State consists of Jammu to the south, Ladakh in the northeast and geographically the smallest segment Kashmir, comprised mainly of a river valley, surrounded by lofty mountains. All three segments are distinguished by their diversity. Jammu has a majority Hindu population(60%), but with substantial Muslim and Sikh minorities. Poonch, Rajouri and Doda, three of its six districts have Muslim majorities. Variations of Punjabi like Dogri and Pahari, are the languages most widely spoken , together with a smattering of Kashmiri. Ladakh has two districts; one, Leh, overwhelmingly Buddhist and the other, Kargil, overwhelmingly (73%) Shia Muslim. The languages there are Ladakhi and Balti. Kashmiri is not i ndigenous to this geographically largest constituent of the State. The Kashmir Valley itself is predominantly Muslim, with small components of Hindus and Sikhs. Kashmiri is the predominant language, but with entire regions speaking Shina and Pahari.

The constituent units of the State of Jammu and Kashmir still retain many of their distinctive religious, ethnic and linguistic features. This heterogeneity was not lost even when they were incorporated in one or the other empire - Maurya, Kushan, Mughal, Sikh or British, and today it reflects the ethnic, linguistic, cultural and religious diversity of India. © Govt. of India

The land of Kashmir is called ‘Heaven of the world’. In the Pakistan- Occupied Kashmir â€"no outsider is allowed to visit the wonderful scenic beauty of the valley. Some photos were sent to me by a friend are posted here.

SUN WORSHIP IN ANCIENT BENGAL

THIS WRITING IS CONTRIBUTED BY ASIS K CHATTERJEE

Sun is the most worshiped of the gods in almost every ancient religion.

In the Vedas, the ancient Holy scriptures of the Hindus, the Sun occupied a very

important place.The sun was one of the forms of AGNIDEVA, the god of fire.

Ancient Bengal was inhabited by different tribes & races of Non-Aryan people of Negrito, Proto-Australoid & Indo-Mongoloid origin. They had their own traditions of worshiping the sun-god. The Aryan invasion later changed these to some extent, but the traditional sun-worshiping is still practiced in Bengal, especially in the rural areas in various forms. It is interesting to see these forms of the sun-god & the methods of sun worshiping that are still practiced in present day Bengal.

Different names of the sun-god in Bengal includes DHARMARAJ, ITOO, RAAL-DURGAA, REVANTA, MAAGHMANDAL, SOORJAAI etc.

1) DHARMARAAJ: The most important of the various forms of the sun-god in Bengal is DHARMARAAJ or DHARMATHAAKUR, though several local variations of these names are there. In this name the sun-god is worshiped mainly by the lower cast people. Actually they worship the sun as the Supreme God. Various powers are attributed to DHARMARAAJ , most importantly the power to heal Leprosy ( it is highly significant that Leprosy is endemic in certain parts of the present day West Bengal), Arthritis & Infertility, & the power to end draught by bringing in the rains. Another interesting thing is the tradition of presenting the god with clay models of horses (mainly) & elephants.

2) ITOO: Mostly worshiped by women, more specifically by unmarried maidens, ITOO is worshiped in the Sundays of the Bengali month of AGRAHAYAN(mid November to mid December).The style of worship reminds the tradition of some sort of fertility cult. The worshipers hope to get good matches (husbands) through the blessings of ITOO.

3) SOORJAAI: Exclusively worshiped by women in the Bengali month of MAGHA(mid January to mid February). This worshiping is also known as SOORJABRATA.

4) REVANTA : Once very popular among the rural people, this form of the sun-god is almost unknown now. The sun-god was worshiped in the form of a hunter on horse back (probably) by the hunter population of ancient Bengal.

5) MAAGHMANDAL : Worshiped in the Bengali month of MAGHA, exclusively by unmarried maidens in rural areas with a hope to get good husbands.

6) RAAL-DURGAA : RAAL means red, so the name RAAL-DURGA literary means the Red Durgaa. It is interesting to note that DURGAA is the FEMALE form of the Supreme Power or SHAKTI. So, in this form the sun is worshiped as a goddess! Probably the gender of the worshipers (exclusively FEMALES) has something to do in this.

One interesting point to note is that the sun is worshiped mainly by the women, & during the winter . Why? The answer is not clear. May be the original social idea was to give the womenfolk a chance to get some warm sunrays in the cold winter days!

ASIS K CHATTERJEE'S BLOG- http://asiskchat.blog.co.uk/