FREDA BEDI CONT'D (#4)

[admin]

Aliah University [Mohammedan College of Calcutta] [Calcutta Mohammedan College] [Aliah Madrasha] [Calcutta Madrasha/Calcutta Madrassa] [Islamic College of Calcutta] [Madrasah-e-Aliah.]
by Wikipedia

Fort William College, Calcutta (variant College of Fort William) (1800 - 1854) was an academy of Oriental studies and a centre of learning. Founded on 10 July 1800, within the Fort William complex in Calcutta by Lord Wellesley, then Governor-General of British India. The statute of foundation was passed on 4 May 1800, to commemorate the first anniversary of the victory over Tipu Sultan at Seringapatam. Thousands of books were translated from Sanskrit, Arabic, Persian, Bengali, Hindi, and Urdu into English at this institution. This college also promoted the printing and publishing of Urdu books.

Fort William College aimed at training British officials in Indian languages and, in the process, fostered the development of languages such as Bengali and Urdu. The period is of historical importance. In 1815, Ram Mohan Roy settled in Calcutta. It is considered by many historians to be the starting point of the Bengali Renaissance. Establishment of The Calcutta Madrassa in 1781, the Asiatic Society in 1784 and the Fort William College in 1800, completed the first phase of Kolkata’s emergence as an intellectual centre.

Teaching of Asian languages dominated: Arabic, Urdu, Persian, Sanskrit, Bengali. Later, Marathi and even Chinese were added. Each department of the college was staffed by notable scholars. The Persian department was headed by Neil B. Edmonstone, Persian translator to the East India Company's government since 1794. His assistant teacher was John H. Harington, a judge of Sadar Diwani Adalat and Francis Gladwin, a soldier diplomat. For Arabic studies, there was Lt. John Baillie, a noted Arabist. The Urdu department was entrusted to John Borthwick Gilchrist, an Indologist of great repute. Henry Thomas Colebrooke, the famous orientalist, was head of the Sanskrit department. William Carey, a non-civilian missionary and a specialist in many Indian languages, was selected to head the department of vernacular languages. While notable scholars were identified and appointed for different languages, there was no suitable person in Calcutta who could be appointed to teach Bengali. In those days, the Brahmin scholars learnt only Sanskrit, considered to be the language of the gods, and they did not study Bengali. The authorities decided to appoint Carey, who was with the Baptist Mission in Serampore. He, in turn, appointed Mrityunjoy Vidyalankar as head pandit, Ramnath Bachaspati as second pandit and Ramram Basu as one of the assistant pandits.

Along with teaching, translations were organized. The college employed more than one hundred local linguists. There were no textbooks available in Bengali. On 23 April 1789, the Calcutta Gazette published the humble request of several natives of Bengal for a Bengali grammar and dictionary.

-- Fort William College [East India College Calcutta], by Wikipedia

The Making of an Ur-Text

One can imagine how delighted Holwell must have been to find such stunning similarities between the description of India's ancient religious texts and Ilive's vision. But the doctrines that had been translated or summarized from old texts by the likes of Roger, Baldaeus, and the Catholic missionaries showed little similarity with this. All of it seemed "very defective, fallacious, and unsatisfactory" to Holwell, in fact, no more than "unconnected scraps and bits, picked up here and there by hearsay" from ignorant Hindoos rather than solid "literal translations" (Holwell1765:I.5-6). Hence the need to "rescue" this distant nation "from the gross conceptions entertained of them by the multitude" (p. 9) and "to vindicate them" by "a simple display of their primitive theology" (Holwell 1767: Dedication). Disgusted by all these misunderstandings and misrepresentations (1767.2:4), converted by Ilive's theory of delinquent angels, and possibly already fascinated by Ramsay's vision of Ur-tradition, Holwell collected materials about the Gentoo religion and "on his departure from Bengal in the year 1750 imagined himself well informed in the Gentoo religion" about which he had learned through "conversations with the Bramins of those Bhades who were near" (pp. 63-64). He had already thought of writing a book about this but did not find the time (p. 64). Given the fact that he already had such a plan, it is likely that during his stays in Europe he also collected relevant Western literature about India and its religions. If he was not already acquainted with Ramsay and Couto before, he must have studied them after his return to India in 1751 and as a result gained a rather precise idea of what he was looking for. If Holwell was trying to find the Vedas, he was not alone; but Couto's description of the first Veda, which seemed so similar to Ilive's ideas, certainly brought more motivation and focus to his search. He knew that he was looking for an extremely ancient scripture treating of God, the creation Story, angels and their fall, the immortality of souls, the purification of delinquent angels in human bodies, transmigration, the punishment of evil and reward of good, and remission and salvation.

What could happen when a wealthy foreigner was trying to locate such information in old Indian texts is exemplified by the case of Francis WILFORD (1761?-1822), a respected member of the Asiatic Society of Bengal who lived in India four decades after the sack of Calcutta rang in the British Empire. Unlike Holwell, Wilford had studied Sanskrit. He was intent on proving on the basis of Indian texts that India and Egypt had from ancient times been in close contact and that their religions came from a common source. Since that source was, of course, ultimately Noah's ark, Wilford had Indian assistants look for a precise set of topics: the deluge, the name of Noah and his sons, and so forth. Like Holwell some decades before him, Wilford had to tell a learned Indian what he was looking for "as a clue to guide him," and for several years he faithfully translated what this Indian guru gave him. But suddenly he detected that he had fallen victim to fraud:

In order to avoid the trouble of consulting books, he conceived the idea of framing legends from what he recollected from the Puranas, and from what he had picked up in conversation with me. As he was exceedingly well read in the Puranas, and other similar books ... it was an easy task for him; and he studied to introduce as much truth as he could, to obviate the danger of immediate detection .... His forgeries were of three kinds; in the first there was only a word or two altered; in the second were such legends as had undergone a more material alteration; and in the third all those which he had written from memory. (Wilford 1805:251)

The output of this Indian expert was quite astonishing, and the most famous example shows what good remuneration, a sense of what the customer is looking for, and skill in composition can achieve. The learned Indian composed a story "which in nine Sanskrit verses ... reprises the story of Noah, his three sons, and the curse of Ham" and convinced no less a man than William Jones that Noah and his three sons figured in genuine Indian Puranas (Trautmann 1997:90-91). Wilford described how his Indian teacher proceeded in this case:

It is a legend of the greatest importance, and said to be extracted from the Padma. It contains the history of NOAH and his three sons, and is written in a masterly style. But unfortunately there is not a word of it to be found in that Purana. It is, however, mentioned, though in less explicit terms, in many Puranas, and the pandit took particular care in pointing out to the several passages which confirmed, more or less, this interesting legend. Of these I took little notice, as his extract appeared more explicit and satisfactory. (Wilford 1805:254)

Since Wilford had told his pandit exactly what he was looking for, the forger produced an ingenious narrative that presented elements of the story of Noah and his sons in an Indian dress and included some surprising details such as "the legend about the intoxication of NOAH" which, as Wilford now realized, "is from what my pandit picked up in conversation with me" (p. 254). In all, this man "composed no less than 12,000 brand new Puranic slokas -- about half the length of the Ramayana! -- and inserted them into manuscripts of the Skanda and Brahmanda Purana" (Trautmann 1997:92). This was a fraud committed on a man who was far more learned than Holwell; the texts were in Sanskrit, not Hindi; and the source texts could be verified.

In Holwell's case, there is always the possibility that his description of Veda content led some knowledgeable Indian to the very texts that Azevedo had used for the description that Couto plagiarized and Roger and others then used. Caland (1918:49-50) concluded on the basis of the book titles mentioned by Couto that these texts were Saivite Agamas; but an able Indologist would need to substantiate this not just by titles but by contents. While it is possible that similar texts in Hindi were sold to Holwell, I think that the likelihood of a fraud is greater. If Holwell, ready as he was to spend almost any amount of money on this text after the 1756 loss, could not manage to recuperate more than a few fragments -- or, more likely, nothing at all -- one would think that the people who sold it to him in the first place had produced only two slightly different manuscripts and, having sold them to Holwell, were in no position to repeat that feat. If Holwell's text had been available to various people, then someone would probably have sold it to him, especially given the fact that for a while he was governor of Bengal and certainly did not lack the means to get what he wanted.

But who could have forged such a text? Since Holwell remarked that members of the tribe of writers "are often better versed in the doctrines of their Shastah than the common run of the Bramin themselves" (Holwell 1767:2.21) and that "a few others of the tribe of the Batteezaaz Bramins ... can read and expound from the Chatah Bhade [Text II], which still preserved the text of the original [Text I)" (p. 15), the culprit(s) might have come from either or both of these groups.

-- The Birth of Orientalism, by Urs App

Aliah University
Motto: Advancement of Education and culture
Type: Public
Established: 1780; 243 years ago as Calcutta Mohammedan College/Aliah Madrasha/Calcutta Madrasha/Calcutta Madrassa
2007; 16 years ago as Aliah University
Academic affiliation: UGC[1]AICTE[2]INCNCTE
Budget: ₹162.6506 crore (US$20 million) (2021–22 est.)[3]
Chancellor: Governor of West Bengal
Vice-Chancellor: Abu Taher Kamruddin[4]
Academic staff: 211 (2022)[5]
Students: 6,366 (2022)[5]
Undergraduates: 3,548 (2022)[5]
Postgraduates: 2,426 (2022)[5]
Doctoral students: 392 (2022)[5]
Address: Action Area ll-A, 27, New Town, West Bengal, 700160, India
22°35′22″N 88°29′07″ECoordinates: 22°35′22″N 88°29′07″E
Campus: Urban
Website: aliah.ac.in

Aliah University (AU; Urdu: جامعہ عالیہ) is a state government controlled autonomous university in New Town, West Bengal, India. Previously known as Mohammedan College of Calcutta,[circular reference][6] it was elevated to university in 2008.[7] It offers undergraduate and postgraduate programs in different Engineering, Arts, Science, Management and Nursing subjects.

History

The Aliah University (AU) is one of the oldest modern-style educational institutes in Asia, and first in India. It was set up in October 1780 by Warren Hastings, the British Governor general of East India Company near Sealdah in Calcutta.[8] A number of titles were used for it, such as Islamic College of Calcutta, Calcutta Madrasah, Calcutta Mohammedan College and Madrasah-e-Aliah. Of these, Calcutta Mohammedan College was that used by Warren Hastings.[8]

The original building was completed in 1782 at Bow Bazaar (near Sealdah). The college moved to its campus on Wellesley Square in the 1820s. Initially it taught natural philosophy, Arabic, Persian, theology and Islamic Law, astronomy, Grammar, logic, arithmetic, geometry, rhetoric and oratory.[9] The Calcutta Madrasa [Calcutta Madrassa] followed different models for different subjects, like Dars-i Nizami of Firingi Mahal for Persian and Arabic, and the old Peripatetic School Model for the Logic and Philosophy.[10]

The first head preceptor of the college was Mulla Majduddin, a well-known personality and erudite in the Islamic learning of that time in Bengal.

Majd ad-Dīn al-Madanī (Arabic: مجد الدین المدنی; d. 1813), also known as Madan Shāhjahānpūrī (Arabic: مدن شاہجہانپوری), was an 18th-century Indian Muslim theologian. He served as the first principal of the Calcutta Madrasa, the first Alia Madrasa of Bengal.

Early life and education

Majduddin was born in the 18th-century to Tahir al-Husayni in Shahjahanpur, greater Bareilly, North India. He studied under Shaykh Wahhaj ad-Din in Gopamau, Hardoi, who was also the teacher of Muhammad Salih Bengali. It is also said that Majduddin was a student of Qazi Mubarak, as well as being a senior student of Shah Waliullah Dehlawi, the erstwhile Imam al-Hind. In addition to Islamic jurisprudence, Majduddin was trained in rhetoric and logic.

Career

In the last quarter of the 18th century, British administrators realised that it was essential to learn the various religious, social, and legal customs and precedents of the subcontinent in order to better manage its administration. As part of this initiative, Warren Hastings, the inaugural Governor-General of the Presidency of Fort William, founded the Calcutta Mohammedan College in October 1780. Mullah Majduddin visited Calcutta in September, where he had a large following. On 21 September, several Muslims requested Hastings to use his influence to employ Majduddin as a teacher at the madrasa. Thus, Majduddin became the madrasa's first Head Preceptor, serving that role for roughly a decade. He is often credited for introducing the Dars-i Nizami, a popular Islamic curriculum of North India, to Bengal and neighbouring lands, although students of Nizamuddin Sihalivi had reached Bengal, such as Abdul Ali Bahrul Ulum (teacher of Ghulam Mustafa Burdwani). He formulated the syllabus of the madrasa. Alongside fundamental Islamic teachings and jurisprudence, he also included the teaching of mathematics, logic and philosophy. The activities of the Madrasa-i-Alia were undertaken in his own home for the first seven months. During this time, he received a monthly wage of 300 takas as the madrasa's principal.

In 1791, Majduddin was removed following an investigation conspired by the British Collector of 24 Parganas accusing him of alleged mismanagement. Following his dismissal from Calcutta, Majduddin found employment as the Qadi of Lucknow, under the Nawab of Awadh Saadat Ali Khan II. However, under political circumstances, he left this career and returned to Bareilly, where he began teaching Islamic jurisprudence at the Dargah of Hafizul Mulk. One of his notable students of Bareilly was Salamat Ullah Kashfi. Majduddin died in 1813.

-- Majduddin [Majd ad-Dīn al-Madanī] [Madan Shāhjahānpūrī], by Wikipedia

In 1791, he was replaced by Muhammad Ismail because of allegations of mismanagement. Captain Ayron, a British army officer, was appointed in 1819 as the first secretary by the East India Company, to take control of the administration of the Madrasa, and he was in that position until 1842. Ayron made several reforms: the first annual examination of the madrasah was held on 15 August 1827, and the first medical class of India was instituted in 1826 under Peter Breton, the professor of medicine. After 10 years of medical classes, the administration of the Madrasa decided to establish the separate Calcutta Medical College in 1836. The Madrasah students could still study medical subjects at the Calcutta Medical College. Introduction of elementary English courses was also started in college in 1826 under his administration but this English course was not to get huge success. Nawab Abdul Latif and Waheedunnabi were the first English scholars from this college. Dr. Aloys Sprenger was appointed as a Principal for the first time in 1850 to resist the college from a current of continuing deterioration. In 1854, another reform attempt consisting of opening the Anglo-Persian department to make English as an official language under the direct control of Calcutta Madrasah College. The college failed to create enthusiasm. FA level college classes added to the Calcutta Madrasa in 1863, this reform also failed. After the Dr. Aloys Sprenger, few other European Principals was appointed and AH Harley [1910-11] was the last European Principals of this Madrasa. One by one failure of the reforms of Madras and after 1857, the year of the Sepoy Mutiny, the British Government started to see the Muslim community of the Bengal as constant suspicion. Lord Macaulay was a British Whig politician and historian, who advised the British Government to introduce English education to produce to Anglicized Indians. The main aim of this was to extend the British influence into vast areas of India. Then British Government was decided to establish the Calcutta University in 1857.[8] After the establishment of the Calcutta University created a precarious position for the Calcutta Madrasah. There were a number of proposals for closure to Calcutta university to British Authority in India, but the Authority allowed it to continue to function with only a traditional Madrasah teaching Arabic and Sharia Laws. Thus from the year 1857, the Calcutta Madrasa grew up as a separate stream in the education system of the Indian subcontinent. Shamsul Ulema Kamaluddin Ahmed was appointed as the first Indian principal of the Calcutta Madrasah College in 1927. In this same year, the first madrasah education board was established (called Board of Central Madrasah Examinations) for the conducting various examinations the Alim, Fazil, Kamil and Mumtazul Muhaddesin. The year of 1947 in which portion of India took place was very painful in the history of the Calcutta Madras in Bengal. All moveable properties like large numbers manuscripts and books were transferred to East Bengal (Now Bangladesh) at Dhaka madrasah and other things became topsy-turvy. Later in 1949 with help of Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, the Calcutta Madrasah was reopened. Now the Calcutta Madrasah was elevated to the university as the Aliah University under West Bengal state government controlled minority autonomous university in 2008. The newly set up buildings of Aliah University are located in Taltala, Park Circus and New Town in Kolkata. The New Town campus is used for Science, technology students and the main office while the Park circus campus and Taltala campus Nursing and Arts students, and the Islamic Theology students. Now this university offers undergraduate, postgraduate and Doctorates programs in different Arts, Science, Management, Engineering, Nursing and Islamic theology subjects.

Campus

Aliah University has three campuses for different types of curriculum located at New Town,[11] Park Circus and Taltala.

Chief minister Mamata Banerjee of West Bengal laid the foundation stone of 'Aliah University Campus' at New Town on 15 December 2011.[12] Later on 11 November 2014 Mamata Banerjee inaugurated the finished campus. New Town campus contains 156 class rooms with a capacity of 12,000 students and houses Science and Technology students only. The campus also has separate boy's and girl's hostel. New Town campus also has three annexure buildings dedicated to various laboratories and a central library.

The Park circus campus is used to house Arts & Nursing students, while the Taltala campus houses the Islamic Theology students and the main office.

Academics

Admission

Admission to most undergraduate and postgraduate courses in Aliah University is granted through written entrance examinations and for B.Tech. programs through WBJEE. Admission to M.S. and PhD programmes is based on a written test and a personal interview.

Admission to undergraduate programmes is based on merit rank of the "Aliah University Admission Test" (AUAT), which consists of a written examination of "Multiple Choice Type Questions" (MCQ), clearing of which leads to an interview and final selection of the candidate. Candidates who qualify for admission through AUAT can apply for admission to LLM. ( Masters of Law ), B.Tech. (Bachelor of Technology), Integrated MBA (Master of Business Administration), MCA (Master of Computer Applications), M.Sc. (Master of Science) and M.A (Master of Arts) courses in different Engineering, Business, Science and Arts subjects.[13] Aliah University has also M.Tech. (Master of Technology) program.

Accreditation

The University Grants Commission (U.G.C.) accorded recognition to the university in terms of Section 12B of the U.G.C. Act, in 2019.[14]

University library

Aliah University has three libraries in its three different campuses. All of them, the library of New Town Campus has a central library including 1.33 lac books.

Aliah University has a library rich in collection of literature in Islamic Theology, Islamic Jurisprudence & Law, and Arabic.

The library is now diversifying in the areas of Science, Engineering, Management Science, Humanities and Social Sciences.

Controversy and criticism

In 2016, a series of protests by the students of the university took place on the main campus (New Town) against the disordering principle of the then vice chancellor, Prof. Dr. Abu Taleb Khan; because students were experiencing lack of books in library, lack of faculty, bad condition of lab etc. from the beginning of the university. The protest began on 8 November 2016. On 18 November 2016, students insulted their VC Prof. Abu Taleb Khan giving a black rose to him. They blockaded the main gates of the university and the students made a loud slogan. With the help of police and security guards of the university, the VC entered in his office.[15][16]

Students were requested by the EC members, Fact Finding Committee and also the Minority and Madrasah Education Minister Giasuddin Molla to stop the protest and class boycotts. But students said they will continue to boycott classes until the vice chancellor resigns.[17]

Notable people

Alumni

• Ismail Alam, teacher, poet and activist of the Khilafat Movement
• Syed Ameer Ali, jurist
• Shamsul Haque Faridpuri, educationist, and social reformer
• Syed Ahmad Hashmi, General Secretary of the Jamiat Ulama-e-Hind
• Mohammad Akram Khan, Bengali journalist
• Nawab Abdul Latif, educator and social worker in Bengal
• Sayeed Mohammed, Freedom Fighters and philanthropist
• Bhudev Mukhopadhyay, writer and intellectual in 19th century Bengal
• Shawkat Osman, novelist and short story writer
• Muhammad Qudrat-i-Khuda, organic chemist, educationist and writer
• Azangachhi Shaheb, Indian Sufi Saint
• Nawsad Siddique, member of the West Bengal Legislative Assembly
• Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy, Prime Minister of Bengal and a lawyer
• Ibrahim Suhrawardy, Indian educationist, author and linguist
• Ubaidullah Al Ubaidi Suhrawardy, educationist and writer

Faculty

• Abu Nasr Waheed, Islamic scholar[18]

See also

• List of oldest universities in continuous operation
• University of Calcutta
• Colleges and institutes in India
• List of universities in India
• University Grants Commission (India)
• Education in India
• Ministry of Human Resource Development (India)

References

1. "UGC Section 22 of UGC Act" (PDF). University Grants Commission (India). 23 October 2008. Archived (PDF) from the original on 23 September 2020. Retrieved 22 June 2021.
2. "AICTE Extension of Approval for the Academic Year 2020-21" (PDF). AICTE. 9 June 2020. Archived (PDF) from the original on 23 September 2020. Retrieved 22 June 2021.
3. "Detailed Demands For Grants For 2021-22" (PDF). 5 February 2021. Retrieved 6 February 2021.
4. "Aliah University". UGC Official Website. Retrieved 12 January 2013.
5. "NIRF 2022" (PDF). Aliah University.
6. "Puronokolkata". 7 January 2014.
7. "University Grants Commination".
8. "The Madrasah University".
9. "A historic institution falls on bad days".
10. Khan, B.R. (2012). "Calcutta Madrasa, The". In Islam, Sirajul; Miah, Sajahan; Khanam, Mahfuza; Ahmed, Sabbir (eds.). Banglapedia: the National Encyclopedia of Bangladesh (Online ed.). Dhaka, Bangladesh: Banglapedia Trust, Asiatic Society of Bangladesh. ISBN 984-32-0576-6. OCLC 52727562. Retrieved 10 March 2023.
11. "Grand Inauguration of Aliah University". The Times of India. Archived from the original on 25 December 2018. Retrieved 11 November 2014.
12. "CM lays foundation of Aliah varsity campus at Rajarhat". The Times of India. Archived from the original on 17 June 2013. Retrieved 14 January 2013.
13. "Aliah University, India". Study Abroad Universities. Retrieved 12 January 2013.
14. "Proposal for 12-B Status" (PDF). University Grants Commission (India). 19 February 2019. Archived (PDF) from the original on 22 September 2020. Retrieved 22 June 2021.
15. "একাধিক দাবিতে 'কালা দিবস' পালন আলিয়া বিশ্ববিদ্যালয়ে". TDN Bangla. Retrieved 18 November 2016.
16. "এবার দাবি আদায়ে 'নফল রোজা' করতে চলেছে আলিয়া বিশ্ববিদ্যালয়ের ছাত্রছাত্রীরা". TDN Bangla. Retrieved 21 November 2016.
17. "উপাচার্যের পদত্যাগের দাবিতে বিক্ষোভে বেসামাল আলিয়া". ইনকিলাব. Archived from the original on 16 November 2016. Retrieved 13 November 2016.
18. "Shamsul 'Ulema, Abu Nasar Waheed". Banglapedia.

External links

• Official website

[admin]

Rajabali (1808)
Excerpt from "The Nation and Its Fragments: Colonial and Postcolonial Histories"
by Partha Chatterjee
Edited by Sherry B. Ortner, Nicholas B. Dirks, Geoff Eley

NOTICE: THIS WORK MAY BE PROTECTED BY COPYRIGHT

YOU ARE REQUIRED TO READ THE COPYRIGHT NOTICE AT THIS LINK BEFORE YOU READ THE FOLLOWING WORK, THAT IS AVAILABLE SOLELY FOR PRIVATE STUDY, SCHOLARSHIP OR RESEARCH PURSUANT TO 17 U.S.C. SECTION 107 AND 108. IN THE EVENT THAT THE LIBRARY DETERMINES THAT UNLAWFUL COPYING OF THIS WORK HAS OCCURRED, THE LIBRARY HAS THE RIGHT TO BLOCK THE I.P. ADDRESS AT WHICH THE UNLAWFUL COPYING APPEARED TO HAVE OCCURRED. THANK YOU FOR RESPECTING THE RIGHTS OF COPYRIGHT OWNERS.

A PURANIC HISTORY

The first three books of narrative prose in Bengali commissioned by the Fort William College in Calcutta for use by young Company officials learning the local vernacular were books of history. Of these, Rajabali (1808) by Mrityunjay Vidyalankar was a history of India—the first history of India in the Bengali language that we have in print.7 Mrityunjay (ca. 1762-1819) taught Sanskrit at Fort William College and was the author of some of the first printed books in Bengali. When he decided to set down in writing the story of "the Rajas and Badshahs and Nawabs who have occupied the throne in Delhi and Bengal," he did not need to undertake any fresh "research" into the subject; he was only writing down an account that was in circulation at the time among the Brahman literati and their landowning patrons.8 His book was; we might say, a good example of the historical memory of elite Bengali society as exemplified in contemporary scholarship.

The book starts with a precise reckoning of the time at which it is being written.

In course of the circular motion of time, like the hands of a clock, passing through the thirty kalpa such as Pitrkalpa etc., we are now situated in the Svetavaraha kalpa. Each kalpa consists of fourteen manu; accordingly, we are now in the seventh manu of Svetavaraha kalpa called Valvasvata. Each manu consists of 284 yuga; we are now passing through the one hundred and twelfth yuga of Vaivasvata manu called Kaliyuga. This yuga consists of 432,000 years. Of these, up to the present year 1726 of the Saka era, 4,905 years have passed; 427,095 years are left. (R, pp. 3-4)

The calendrical system is also precisely noted. For the first 3,044 years of Kaliyuga, the prevailing era (saka) was that of King Yudhisthira. The next 135 years comprised the era of King Vikramaditya. These two eras are now past.

Now we are passing through the era of the King called Salivahana who lived on the southern banks of the river Narmada. This saka will last for 18,000 years after the end of the Vikramaditya era. After this there will be a king called Vijayabhinandana who will rule in the region of the Citrakuta mountains. His saka will last for 10,000 years after the end of the Salivahana era.

After this there will be a king called Parinagarjuna whose era will last until 821 years are left in the Kaliyuga, at which time will be born in the family of Gautabrahmana in the Sambhala country an avatara of Kalkideva. Accordingly, of the six eras named after six kings, two are past, one is present and three are in the future. (R, p. 8)

Whatever one might say of this system of chronology, lack of certitude is not one of its faults.

Mrityunjay is equally certain about identifying the geographical space where the historical events in his narrative take place.

Of the five elements—space [akasa], air, fire, water and earth—the earth occupies eight ana [half] while the other four occupy two ana [one-eighth] each.... Half of the earth is taken up by the seas, north of which is Jambudvipa.... There are seven islands on earth of which ours is called Jambudvipa. Jambudvipa is divided into nine varsa of which Bharatavarsa is one. Bharatavarsa in turn is divided into nine parts [khaifda] which are called Aindra, Kaseru, Tamraparna, Gavastimata, Naga, Saumya, Varuna, Gandharva and Kumarika. Of these, the part in which the varnasrama [caste] system exists is the Kumarikakhanda. The other parts [of Bharatavarsa] are inhabited by the antyaja people [those outside caste]. (R, pp. 4-6)

Thus Rajabali is the history of those who ruled over the earth, in which there are seven islands, of which the one called Jambudvipa has nine parts, of which Bharatavarsa is one, and so forth, and so on.

Where does this history begin?

In the Satyayuga, the Supreme Lord [paramesvara] had planted in the form of an Asvathva tree a king called Iksaku to rule over the earth. The two main branches of this tree became the Surya and the Candra vanisa. The kings born in these two lineages have ruled the earth in the four yuga. Of these, some were able to acquire the greatest powers of dharma and thus ruled over the entire earth consisting of the seven islands. Others had lesser powers and thus ruled over only Jambudvipa or only Bharatavarsa or, in some cases, only the Kumarikakhanda. If a king from one lineage became the emperor [samrata], then the king of the other lineage would become the lord of a mandala. The accounts of these kings are recorded in the branches of knowledge [sastra] called the Purana and the Itihasa. (R, pp. 6-7)

A few things may be clarified at this point. In Mrityunjay's scheme of history, the rulers on earth are, as it were, appointed by divine will. They enjoy that position to the extent, and as long as, they acquire and retain the powers of dharma. By attaining the highest levels of dharma, one could even become the ruler of the entire earth. In order to distinguish this variety of history writing from that we are more familiar with today, Mrityunjay's narrative can be called a Puranic history. Mrityunjay would not have quarreled with this description, not because he was aware of the distinction, but because puranatihasa was for him the valid form of retelling the political history of Bharatavarsa.

The discipline of Puranic history cannot be accused of being sloppy in its counting of dynasties and kings. "In the 4,267 years since the beginning of the Kaliyuga, there have been 119 Hindus of different jati who have become samrat on the throne of Delhi" (R, p. 10). The count begins with King Yudhisthira of the Mababharata, who heads a list of twenty-eight Ksatriya kings who ruled for a total of 1,812 years. "After this the actual reign of the Ksatriya jati ended." Then came fourteen kings of the Nanda dynasty, starting with "one called Mahananda born of a Ksatriya father and a Sudra mother," who ruled for a total of 500 years. "The Rajput jati started with this Nanda."

After this came the Buddhist kings: "Fifteen kings of the Nastika faith, from Viravahu to Aditya, all of the Gautama lineage, ruled for four hundred years. At this time the Nastika views enjoyed such currency that the Vaidika religion was almost eradicated."

We then have a curious list of dynasties—nine rulers of the Maytira dynasty, sixteen of the Yogi dynasty, four of the Bairagi dynasty, and so on. Of course, there are "the Vikramadityas, father and son, who ruled for ninety-three years." We are also told of "thirteen kings, from Dhi Sena to Damodara Sena, of the Vaidya jati of Bengal who ruled for 137 years and one month"—from, let us remember, "the throne in Delhi"! The rule of the "Chohan Rajput jati" ends with

Prthoray who ruled for fourteen years and seven months. . . . This is as far as the empire [samrajya] of the Hindu kings lasted.

After this began the samrajya of the Musalman. From the beginning of the empire of the Yavanas to the present year 1726 of the Saka era, fifty-one kings have ruled for 651 years three months and twenty-eight days. (R, pp. 12-13)

What is interesting about this chronology is the way in which its dynastic sequence passes ever so smoothly from the kings of the Mahabharata to the kings of Magadha and ends with the Mughal Emperor Shah Alam II, "of the lineage of Amir Taimur," occupying the throne in Delhi at the time of Mrityunjay's writing. Myth, history, and the contemporary—all become part of the same chronological sequence; one is not distinguished from another; the passage from one to another, consequently, is entirely unproblematical.9 There is not even an inkling in Mrityunjay's prose of any of the knotty questions about the value of Puranic accounts in constructing a "proper" historical chronology of Indian dynasties, which would so exercise Indian historians a few decades later. Although Mrityunjay wrote at the behest of his colonial masters, his historiographic allegiances are entirely precolonial.

It would therefore be of some interest to us to discover how a Brahman scholar such as Mrityunjay describes the end of "the Hindu dynasties" and the accession to the throne at Delhi of "the Yavana emperors." Curiously, the story of the defeat of Prithviraj Chauhan at the hands of Shihabuddin Muhammad Ghuri takes the form of a Puranic tale.

Prithviraj's father had two wives, one of whom was a demoness (raksasi) who ate human flesh. She had also introduced her husband into this evil practice. One day the raksasi ate the son of the other queen who, taken by fright, ran away to her brother. There she gave birth to a son who was called Prthu. On growing up, Prthu met his father. At his request, Prthu cut off his father's head and fed the flesh to twenty-one women belonging to his jati. Later, when Prthu became king, the sons of those twenty-one women became his feudatories (samanta). "Because Prthu had killed his father, the story of his infamy spread far and wide. Kings who paid tribute to him stopped doing so." In other words, Prithviraj was not a ruler who enjoyed much respect among his subjects.

It was at this time that Shihabuddin Ghuri threatened to attack Prithviraj.

When the King heard of the threatening moves of the Yavanas, he called a number of scholars learned in the Vedas and said, "Oh learned men! Arrange a sacrifice which will dissipate the prowess and the threats of the Yavanas." The learned men said, "Oh King! There is such a sacrifice and we can perform it. And if the sacrificial block [yupa] can be laid at the prescribed moment, then the Yavanas can never enter this land." The King was greatly reassured by these words and arranged for the sacrifice to be performed with much pomp. When the learned men declared that the time had come to lay the block, much efforts were made but no one could move the sacrificial block to its assigned place. Then the learned men said, "Oh King!- What Isvara desires, happens. Men cannot override his wishes, but can only act in accordance with them. So, desist in your efforts. It seems this throne will be attacked by the Yavanas."

Hearing these words, Prithviraj was greatly disheartened and "slackened his efforts at war." His armies were defeated by Shihabuddin, who arrived triumphantly at Delhi. Then Prithviraj

emerged from his quarters and engaged Sahabuddin in a ferocious battle. But by the grace of Isvara, the Yavana Sahabuddin made a prisoner of Prthuraja. On being reminded that Prthuraja was son-in-law of King Jayacandra [Jaichand, ruler of a neighboring kingdom, had already collaborated with Muhammad Ghuri], he did not execute him but sent him as a prisoner to his own country of Ghaznin. (R, pp. 109-10)

Let us remember that in Mrityunjay's scheme of history, dynasties are founded by the grace of the divine power, and kingdoms are retained only as long as the ruler is true to dharma. The Chauhan dynasty was guilty of such heinous offenses as cannibalism and patricide. That Prithviraj had lost divine favor was already revealed at the sacrificial ceremony. His defeat and the establishment of "Yavana rule" by Muhammad Ghuri were, therefore, acts of divine will.

Half a century later, when Puranic history would be abandoned in favor of rational historiography, this account of the battle of Thanesar would undergo a complete transformation. English-educated Brahman scholars would not accept with such equanimity the dictates of a divine will.

Mrityunjay has a few more things to say about the reasons for the downfall of the Chauhan dynasty. These remarks are prefaced by the following statement: "I will now write what the Yavanas say about the capture of the throne of Delhi by the Yavana Sahabuddin" (R, pp. 112-13). Mrityunjay then goes back to the earlier raids into various Indian kingdoms by Nasruddin Sabuktagin, father of Mahmud Ghaznavi.

When Nasruddin came to Hindustan, there was no harmony among the kings of Hindustan. Each thought of himself as the emperor [badsah]; none owed fealty to anyone else and none was strong enough to subjugate the others. On discovering this, the Yavanas entered Hindustan. The main reason for the fall of kingdoms and the success of the enemy is mutual disunity and the tendency of each to regard itself as supreme. When Sekandar Shah [Alexander] had become emperor in the land of the Yavanas, he had once come to Hindustan, but seeing the religiosity and learning of the Brahmans, he had declared that a land whose kings had such advisers [hakim] could never be conquered by others. Saying this, he had returned to his country and had never come back to Hindustan. Now there were no more such Brahmans and, bereft of their advice, the kings of this country lost divine grace and were all defeated by the Yavanas. (R, pp. 121-22)

Mrityunjay's accounts of the Sultanate and the Mughal periods were very likely based on the Persian histories in circulation among the literati in late eighteenth-century Bengal. It is possible that some of these texts contained comments on the disunity among Indian kings and perhaps even the statement attributed to Alexander. But the argument that it was because of the failings of the Brahmans that the kings strayed from the path of dharma and thus lost the blessings of god was undoubtedly one formulated by Mrityunjay the Brahman scholar. It was the duty of the Brahmans to guide the king along the path of dharma. They had failed in that duty and had brought about the divine wrath which ended the rule of the Hindu kings and established the rule of the Yavanas. Later, as the role of divine intervention in history becomes less credible, this story of the fall acquires in the modern writings the form of a general decay of society and polity.

But this is anticipating. Note, for purposes of comparison, Mrityunjay's account of the destruction by Mahmud Ghaznavi of the temple at Somnath. The main details of the story are the same as those which would appear in later histories, for they all come from Persian sources such as the Tarikh-i-Firishta. But Mrityunjay mentions one "fact" about the idol at Somnath that is never to be mentioned again. "There was a very large sacred idol called Somnath which was once in Mecca. Four thousand years after the time when the Yavanas say the human race was born, this idol was brought by a king of Hindustan from Mecca to its present place" (R, p. 129). Mrityunjay's source for this information is uncertain, but it is never to be mentioned again by any Bengali historian.

Two Mughal emperors are subjects of much controversy in nationalist historiography, and Mrityunjay has written about them both. On Akbar, Mrityunjay is effusive. "Since Sri Vikramaditya, there has never been in Hindustan an emperor with merits equal to those of Akbar Shah" (R, p. 195). Apart from having a deep sense of righteousness and performing all his duties in protecting his subjects, Akbar also had, according to Mrityunjay, an additional merit:

Because of his knowledge of many sastra, his spiritual views were skeptical of the doctrines of Muhammad and were closer to those of the Hindus. The kings of Iran and Turan often complained about this. ... He did not eat beef and forbid the slaughter of cows within his fort. To this day, cow-slaughter is prohibited in his fort. (R, pp. 191, 194)

On Aurangzeb, on the other hand, Mrityunjay has this to say:

He became very active in spreading the Muhammad faith. And he destroyed many great temples. Many ceremonies of the Hindus such as the worship of the sun and of Ganesa had been performed in the fort of the Badshah since the time of Akbar; [Aurangzeb] discontinued these practices and issued new rules invented by himself.

He then adds:

Although he destroyed many great temples, he was favored by the divine powers at Jvalamukhi and Lachmanbala and made sizable grants of land for the maintenance of those temples. He later lived at Aurangabad for twelve years and, on being cursed by a Brahman, died uttering horrible cries of pain. (R, p. 221)

Where kings acquire kingdoms and hold power by divine grace, the business of arriving at a verdict on the character of rulers has to be negotiated between kings and gods. The only role that the ordinary praja (subject) has in all this is in bearing the consequences of the actions of these superior entities. Of course, the praja knows the difference between a good king and a bad one, which is why he praises a ruler such as Akbar. And when Aurangzeb dies "uttering horrible cries of pain," perhaps the praja shudders a little at the ferocity of divine retribution, but is reassured in the end by the victory of dharma. In all this, however, the praja never implicates himself in the business of ruling; he never puts himself in the place of the ruler. In recalling the history of kingdoms, he does not look for a history of himself.

If it was ever suggested to Mrityunjay that in the story of the deeds and fortunes of the kings of Delhi might lie the history of a nation, it is doubtful that he would have understood. His own position in relation to his narrative is fixed—it is the position of the praja, the ordinary subject, who is most often only the sufferer and sometimes the beneficiary of acts of government. It is from that position that he tells the story of Prithviraj's misdeeds or of Akbar's righteousness. But the thought would never have occurred to him that because of the associations of "nationality," he, Mrityunjay Vidyalankar, a Brahman scholar in the employment of the East India Company in Calcutta in the early nineteenth century, might in some way become responsible for the acts of Prithviraj or Akbar. Rajabali is not a national history because its protagonists are gods and kings, not peoples. The bonds of "nation-ness" have not yet been imagined that would justify the identification of the historian with the consciousness of a solidarity that is supposed to act itself out in history.

THE PRESENT AS PURANIC HISTORY

It is in his telling of the recent history of Bengal that Mrityunjay's position becomes the clearest. Mrityunjay was born only a few years after the battle of Plassey. The history of those times must have been fresh in popular memory in the years of his boyhood and youth. His condemnation of the misrule of Siraj-ud-daulah is severe: "The violations of dharma multiplied when [the Nawab] abducted the wives, daughters-in-law and daughters of prominent people, or amused himself by cutting open the stomachs of pregnant women or by overturning boats full of passengers" (R, pp. 268-69).

When Siraj "attempted to destroy the clan" of Raja Rajballabh, the Raja sought the protection of the English in Calcutta. The English refused to hand him over to the nawab.

"Then Nawab Siraj-ud-daulah sowed the seeds of his own destruction by plundering the kuthi of the Company Bahadur and the town of Calcutta" {R, p. 270). The English were forced temporarily to leave Calcutta. After some time,

[the sahibs] returned to Calcutta and, accepting without a question the estimates of damages suffered in the raid by traders, shopkeepers and residents, compensated all of them. Then, after consulting through Khwaja Petrus the Armenian with leading men such as Maharaj Durlabhram, Bakshi Jafarali Khan, Jagat Seth Mahatabray and his brother Maharaj Swarupchandra, and collecting money and some soldiers, [the English], intending to defend their protege and holding aloft the flag of dharma, marched to battle at Palasi. (R, p. 271)

What happened in the battle is common knowledge. Siraj tried to flee, but was captured.

Then Miran Sahib, son of Jafarali Khan, without informing Maharaj Durlabhram or anyone else and ignoring the pleas of mercy from a terrified Siraj-ud-daulah, carved up the body of the Nawab with his own hands, and putting the dismembered body on top of an elephant, displayed it around the town. Thus, by the will of god, was demonstrated the consequences of such misdeeds as . . . the treacherous murder of Nawab Sarfraz Khan and the secret executions of Alibhaskar and other Maharashtrian sardars and the raping of women by Siraj-ud-daulah. (R, p. 276)

Thus, Miran acted in accordance with the divine will and Siraj faced the consequences of his misdeeds. But what happened to Miran in the end? "Thereafter, Nawab Miran was once coming from Azimabad to Murshi-dabad when at Rajmahal, as a consequence of his having betrayed Nawab Siraj-ud-daulah, he was struck by lightning. Even after his death, lightning struck twice on Nawab Miran's grave." And Mir Jafar? "Nawab Jafarali Khan, on resuming his subahdari for two years, died of leprosy after much suffering" (R, pp. 281, 289).

It is the force of divine will that acts in history, and in the end it is dharma that is vindicated. This belief frames Mrityunjay's description of the most recent events in the history of Bengal. At the conclusion of his story, he locates himself unhesitatingly as someone seeking the protection of the Company—the same Company that, flying the flag of dharma, had gone to battle with the promise to defend those under its protection.

When, because of the evil deeds of certain emperors and kings and nawabs, from Visarad of the Nanda dynasty to Shah Alam and from Nawab Munaim Khan to Nawab Kasemali Khan, this land of Hindustan was facing utter destruction, the Supreme Lord willed that the rule of the Company Bahadur be established. Thus ends this book called Rajataranga composed in the Gaudiya language by Sri Mrtyunjay Sarma, pandit in the school established by the bada saheb [governor-general] who is like the flower and the fruit of the tree which is the Company Bahadur. (R, pp. 294-95)

Let us remember, the Company rules by divine will in order to protect its subjects. It remains a constant implication that if that object is not fulfilled and if the subjects are oppressed, then, by divine intervention, the kingdom would pass to someone else and the truth of dharma would be vindicated once again.

MORE MYTHIC HISTORY

This was the form of historical memory before the modern European modes were implanted in the mind of the educated Bengali. In Mrityunjay, the specific form of this memory was one that was prevalent among the Brahman literati in eighteenth-century Bengal. What, then, was the form followed by Bengali Muslim writers? The court chronicles of the Afghan or the Mughal nobility are not of concern here because these were never written in Bengali. The examples of dynastic history written by Bengali Muslim writers show that notions of divine intervention, punishment for misdeeds, and the victory of righteousness are as prominent in them as they were in Mrityunjay. The following text is from 1875, a much later date than those of the Fort William College histories. But it is so prominently marked by the features of the puthi literature of the village poets of eastern Bengal and so completely devoid of the influence of modern historical education that we should have no difficulty in assuming that this poet from Barisal was in fact following a form that had been conventional for some time.10 The dynastic history begins thus:

How the name of Delhi became Hindustan
Can be learnt from its kings, from beginning to end.

However, Hindu writers cannot tell the full story.

The Hindus believe in the four yuga;
They cannot grasp the full significance.
Satya, Treta, Dvapar and Kali: these are the four yuga
In which the Hindus ruled with pleasure.

That, presumably, is the story that Hindu writers are best qualified to tell. This poet then gives his list of fifty-nine Muslim kings of Delhi ending with "Shah Alam Bahadur," the last Mughal emperor. It is only a list, composed in verse, with no descriptions of events and no comments on the rulers. Then comes a miraculous event.

Suddenly by a miracle [daiva], the English came to this land
And defeated the Nawab in battle.
The English occupied most of the kingdom:
Since then there is the rule of Maharani Victoria.
Putting to death Kumar Singh, the Company
Abolished all ijara and made the land khas of the Maharani.

It is curious that the only event of the Revolt of 1857 that is mentioned is the suppression of Kunwar Singh's rebellion. Then there is a panegyric to Queen Victoria and a list of the marvels of modern technology.

The people are governed with full justice.
In her reign, the praja have no complaints.
Cowries have been abolished; now
People buy what they need with coins.
People exchange news through the mail.
The towns are now lit with gaslights.
The steamer has vanquished the pinnace and the sailboat.
The railway has reduced a week's journey to hours.
In Calcutta they can find out what's happening in England
In a matter of moments—with the help of the wire.
If in court an injustice is done,
Then it is corrected in another court.

But even such a well-ruled kingdom as the Maharani's cannot last forever.

The praja is fortunate that the Maharani rules now.
What happens after this, I do not know.

In particular, if the British occupy Turkey, then all hell will break loose.

If the Queen comes to rule over Rum [Turkey],
Then only Mecca and Medina will be left.
There will be despair and anarchy in the land,
And all will lose jdt and become one jat.

And then, after a series of cataclysmic events, the day of judgment will arrive.

The Prophet Isa [Jesus] will come down from the sky,
And again the Musalmani faith will appear.
From the east to the west, and from north to south,
The world will be shattered by a terrible storm.
This is how it has been written in the Ayat Kudria
And explained clearly in the Hadis.
When the sun rises in the west,
All the doors of tauba will be closed thereafter.
The sun will rise only a few cubits
And will set soon after, and the night will be long.
Each night will stretch for six or seven nights,
And the people will rise only to sleep again. . . .
From the year 1300 Hijri,
And before 1400 is past, let it be known,
Those who are still alive
Will see many unnatural things in this world.

We might compare this with Mrityunjay's prediction: "After this there will be a king called Parinagarjuna whose era will last until 821 years are left in the Kaliyuga, at which time there will be born in the family of Gautabrahmana in the Sambhala country an avatara of Kalkideva" [R, p. 8). There does not seem to be much difference in the mode of historical thinking.

HISTORY AS THE PLAY OF POWER

This framework changed radically as the Bengali literati was schooled in the new colonial education. Now Indians were taught the principles of European history, statecraft, and social philosophy. They were also taught the history of India as it came to be written from the standpoint of modern European scholarship. The Orientalists had, from the last years of the eighteenth century, begun to "recover" and reconstruct for modern historical consciousness the materials for an understanding of Indian history and society. The English-educated class in Bengal, from its birth in the early decades of the nineteenth century, became deeply interested in this new discipline of Indology.

But, curiously enough, the new Indian literati, while it enthusiastically embraced the modern rational principles of European historiography, did not accept the history of India as it was written by British historians. The political loyalty of the early generation of English-educated Bengalis toward the East India Company was unquestioned, and in 1857, when most of northern India was in revolt, they were especially demonstrative in their protestations of loyalty. And yet, by the next decade, they were engaged in open contestation with the colonialist interpretation of Indian history. By the 1870s, the principal elements were already in place for the writing of a nationalist history of India. It is interesting to trace the genealogy of this new history of "the nation."

In 1857-58, with the inauguration of the University of Calcutta, a set of translations was produced in Bengali, for use in schools, of histories of India and of Bengal written by British historians. By then, fifty years had passed after the publication of Rajabali, written in Bengali for the instruction of English officers in the history of India. The new translations were meant for the instruction of Bengali students in the history of their country as written by the colonizer.

One volume of J. C. Marshman's History of Bengal was translated by Iswarchandra Vidyasagar (1820-91)." The other volume was translated at Vidyasagar's request by Ramgati Nyayaratna (1831-94).11 The latter contains sentences like "Sultan Suja arrived as the gabbarnar of Bengal" or "Murshid sent his son-in-law to Orissa as his deputi" betraying in its use of administrative terminology its source in an English history of Bengal. And at the point where the book ends with the Maratha raids on Bengal in the period of Alivardi Khan, Ramgati feels it necessary to indicate the miraculous transformation that was about to take place.

At that time the influence of the Marathas was so strong that everyone thought they would become the rulers of the country. But how ineffable is the greatness of the divine will! Those who had come to this country only as ordinary traders, those who were often on the verge of leaving this country for ever, those who had never even dreamed of becoming rulers of this country—they, the English, ousted Siraj-ud-daulah from the throne of Alivardi and have now become the virtual sovereign of all of India.13

Only ten years later, however, in 1869, a book of questions and answers based on the same English textbooks had the following entry:

Q: How did Clive win?

A: If the treacherous Mir Jafar had not tricked the Nawab [Siraj-ud-daulah], Clive could not have won so easily.

Or, the following question about the ethics of English officials:

Q: Was Nandakumar's execution carried out in accordance with justice?

A: His offenses did not in any way deserve the death sentence. It was at the request of the unscrupulous Hastings that Chief Justice Elijah Impey conducted this gross misdeed.14

A Bengali textbook of 1872 tells the story of the betrayal of Nawab Siraj-ud-daulah in much greater detail. Siraj, says Kshetranath Ban-dyopadhyay, was a tyrant, but, contrary to the canard spread by the English, he was not responsible for the "black hole of Calcutta." Yet it was against him that the English conspired. Siraj was suspicious of the loyalties of his genera] Mir Jafar and made him swear on the Koran. But Mir Jafar betrayed him at Plassey, although his other generals fought valiantly. "If this battle had continued for some time, then Clive would surely have lost. But fortune favored the English, and weakened by the betrayal of Mir Jafar, the Nawab was defeated and Clive was victorious." Kshetranath's hatred is directed particularly against Mir Jafar and Miran. "Mir Jafar was cruel, stupid, greedy and indolent. On becoming the Nawab, he sought to plunder the wealth of prominent Hindus." "Miran was stupid and cruel, a beast among men. He was such an evil character that his oppressions made people forget all the misdeeds of Siraj."15

Nawab Mir Kasim too was a victim of betrayal:

[Mir Kasim] scrapped the duties on all goods. Thus all traders, English or Bengali, were treated on an equal footing, and unlike before, when all except the English were discriminated against, now others began to prosper. This angered the English. They began to prepare for war. .. . Mir Kasim's army was undoubtedly the best in Bengal, and yet it never won a single battle. There was a hidden reason for this, which was the treachery of Gargin [Mir Kasim's Armenian general].16

Kshetranath also describes the condition of the emperor in Delhi:

The emperor at this time was in a pitiable condition. Even his capital was under the control of others. He had no throne to sit on. The table at which the English dined became his throne, from which the emperor of all of India offered to the English the diwani of three provinces and thirty million subjects. The Emperor of Delhi, whose pomp was once without limit and at whose power the whole of India trembled, was now reduced to a condition^ that was truly sad.17

Not only in gaining an empire, but even in administering one, the English resorted to conspiracy and force. In the period before and after Clive, says Kshetranath, "the English committed such atrocities on the people of this country that all Bengalis hated the name of the English." Because of his intrigues, Hastings "is despised by all and is condemned in history." In 1857, just as the soldiers committed atrocities, so did the English: "At the time of the suppression of the revolt, the English who are so proud of their Christian religion wreaked vengeance upon their enemies by cutting out the livers from the bodies of hanged rebels and throwing them into the fire." Even the end of the mutiny did not bring peace.

In no age do the poor and the weak have anyone to protect them. When the disorder died down at other places, a huge commotion began in Bengal. In the areas of Bengal where indigo is grown, the English planters became truculent. The cruelties they perpetrated on the poor tenants will prevent them for all time from being counted among human beings.18

It was in fact in the course of writing the history of British rule in India that English-educated Bengalis abandoned the criteria of divine intervention, religious value, and the norms of right conduct in judging the rise and fall of kingdoms. The recent history of Bengal demonstrated that kingdoms could be won and, what was more, held by resorting to the grossest acts of immorality. The modern historiography seemed to validate a view of political history as simply the amoral pursuit of raison d'etat.

The popular textbook of Krishnachandra Ray portrayed the political success of the British in India as the result of a cynical pursuit of power devoid of all moral principles. On Clive's intrigues, he said, "Most people criticize Clive for these heinous acts, but according to him there is nothing wrong in committing villainy when dealing with villains." The new revenue arrangements of 1772 are described as follows:

"The land belongs to him who has force on his side." It is from this time that the Company stopped being a revenue collector and really became the ruler. If the Emperor [in Delhi] had been strong, there would have been a huge incident over this. But there was nothing left [to the Empire]. Whatever Hastings decided, happened.

The deep hatred we saw in Mrityunjay of Siraj's misrule has disappeared completely in Krishnachandra. In its place, there is a political explanation of his actions. For instance, when the English strengthened their fortifications in Calcutta, Siraj ordered the new constructions demolished. "Which ruler can allow foreigners to build forts within his territory? . . . [Siraj] could not accept any longer that this bunch of traders should suddenly arrive in his kingdom and defy his commands. Humiliated, his anger was now boiling over." Or his role in the so-called black hole incident is explained as follows:

It must have been an inauspicious moment when Siraj-ud-daulah entered Calcutta. He knew nothing of the black hole deaths and did not order the imprisonment of the English captives. Yet, that became the source of his downfall. Intoxicated by power, he had stepped on a tiger thinking it was only a cat. In the end, it was this error of judgment which led to the loss of his kingdom, his death and the endless misery of his family. Indeed, it was the black hole deaths which created the opportunity for the rise of the English power in India.

The downfall of Siraj is not seen any more as the consequence of immoral acts. It is now the result of an error of judgment: mistaking a tiger for a cat.19

History was no longer the play of divine will or the fight of right against wrong; it had become merely the struggle for power. The advent of British rule was no longer a blessing of Providence. English-educated Bengalis were now speculating on the political conditions that might have made the British success impossible.

If this country had been under the dominion of one powerful ruler, or if the different rulers had been united and friendly towards one another, then the English would never have become so powerful here and this country would have remained under the Musalman kings. Perhaps no one in this country would have ever heard of the English.

The book ends with a list of the benefits of British rule. And yet it is clearly implied that this does not establish its claims to legitimacy: "In any case, whatever be the means by which the English have come to acquire this sprawling kingdom, it must be admitted that infinite benefits have been effected by them to this country."20 We have almost reached the threshold of nationalist history.

Kshirodchandra Raychaudhuri's book, published in 1876, had this announcement by its author in the preface: "I have written this book for those who have been misled by translations of histories written in English." The extent to which European historiography had made inroads into the consciousness of the Bengali literati can be judged from the following comment on relations between the European colonial powers:

The English and the French have always been hostile towards each other. Just as the conflict between the Mughals and the Pathans is proverbial in India, so is the hostility between the English and the French in Europe. Thus it was beyond belief that in India they would not attack each other and instead drink from the same water.

The book ends with the following sentences:

Having come to India as a mere trader, the East India Company became through the tide of events the overlord of two hundred million subjects, and the shareholders of the Company, having become millionaires and billionaires, began to institute the laws and customs of foreign peoples. In no other country of the world has such an unnatural event taken place.21

ELEMENTS OF A NATIONALIST HISTORY

Earlier I spoke of Mrityunjay's position with respect to the political events he was describing as that of an ordinary subject. The same could be said of the authors of the textbooks I have just mentioned. But these "subjects" were very different entities. In the seventy years that had passed, the creature known as the educated Bengali had been transmuted. Now he had grown used to referring to himself, like the educated European, as a member of "the middle class." Not only was he in the middle in terms of income, but he had also assumed, in the sphere of social authority, the role of a mediator. On the one hand, he was claiming that those who had wealth and property were unfit to wield the power they had traditionally enjoyed. On the other hand, he was taking upon himself the responsibility of speaking on behalf of those who were poor and oppressed. To be in the middle now meant to oppose the rulers and to lead the subjects. Our textbook historians, while they may have thought of themselves as ordinary subjects, had acquired a consciousness in which they were already exercising the arts of politics and statecraft.

Simultaneously, the modern European principles of social and political organization were now deeply implanted in their minds. The English-educated middle class of Bengal was by the 1870s unanimous in its belief that the old institutions and practices of society needed to be fundamentally changed. It is useful to remind ourselves of this fact, because we often tend to forget that those who are called "conservative" or "traditionalist" and who are associated with the movements of Hindu revivalism were also vigorous advocates of the reform and modernization of Hindu society. Whatever the differences between "progressives" and "conservatives" among the new intellectuals in the nineteenth century, they were all convinced that the old society had to be reformed in order to make it adequate for coping with the modern world.

This becomes clear from reading the most commonplace writings of minor writers in the second half of the nineteenth century. A completely new criterion of political judgment employed in these writings is, for instance, the notion of "impartiality." An 1866 text by an author who is undoubtedly a "traditionalist Hindu" recommends in a chapter titled "The Treatment of Young Women" that "whether indoors or out, no young woman should at any time be left alone and unwatched." Yet, he is opposed to polygamy and the practice of dowry. In another chapter, "The Subject of Political Loyalty," this traditionalist, Tarakrishna Haldar, writes:

In the days when this country was under the rule of the Hindu jati, the arbitrariness of kings led to the complete domination by a particular jati over all the others. That jati wielded the power to send others to heaven or hell. . . . When the kingdom was in the hands of the Yavanas, they treated all Hindus as infidels. In all respects they favored subjects belonging to their own jati and oppressed those who were Hindu. . . . The principles of government followed by the British jati do not have any of these defects. When administering justice, they treat a priest of their own jati as equal to someone of the lowest occupation in this country, such as a sweeper. . . . No praise is too great for the quality of impartiality of this jati.22

One step further and we get the next argument in nationalist history: the reason Hindu society was corrupt and decadent was the long period of Muslim rule. The following is an extract from a lecture by a certain Bholanath Chakravarti at an Adi Brahmo Samaj meeting in 1876:

The misfortunes and decline of this country began on the day the Yavana flag entered the territory of Bengal. The cruelty of Yavana rule turned this land to waste. Just as a storm wreaks destruction and disorder to a garden, so did the unscrupulous and tyrannical Yavana jati destroy the happiness and good fortune of Bengal, this land of our birth. Ravaged by endless waves of oppression, the people of Bengal became disabled and timid. Their religion took distorted forms. The education of women was completely stopped. In order to protect women from the attacks of Yavanas, they were locked up inside their homes. The country was reduced to such a state that the wealth of the prosperous, the honor of the genteel and the chastity of the virtuous were in grave peril.23

Half of nationalist history has been already thought out here. In the beginning, the history of the nation was glorious; in wealth, power, learning, and religion, it had reached the pinnacle of civilization. This nation was sometimes called Bengali, sometimes Hindu, sometimes Arya, sometimes Indian, but the form of the history remained the same. After this came the age of decline. The cause of the decline was Muslim rule, that is to say, the subjection of the nation. We do not get the rest of nationalist history in this lecture I have just cited, because although Bholanach Chakravarti talks about the need for the regeneration of national society, he also thinks that its possibility lies entirely in the existence of British rule.

There are limits to everything. When the oppressions of the Musalman became intolerable, the Lord of the Universe provided a means of escape. . .. The resumption of good fortune was initiated on the day the British flag was first planted on this land. Tell me, if Yavana rule had continued, what would the condition of this country have been today? It must be loudly declared that it is to bless us that Isvara has brought the English to this country. British rule has ended the atrocities of the Yavanas.... There can be no comparison between Yavana rule and British rule: the difference seems greater than that between darkness and light or between misery and bliss.24

[/quote]

However, even if Bholanath Chakravarti did not subscribe to it, the remainder of the argument of nationalist history was already fairly current. Take, for example, the eighteenth edition, published in 1878, of "The History of India," by Tarinicharan Chattopadhyay.25 Tarinicharan (1833-97) was a product of colonial education, a professor at Sanskrit College, and a social reformer. His textbooks on history and geography were extremely popular and were the basis for many other lesser-known textbooks. His History of India was probably the most influential textbook read in Bengali schools in the second half of the nineteenth century.

In the next chapter, I will recount some of the stories from Tarinicharan's history in order to point out how the materials of Hindu-extremist political rhetoric current in postcolonial India were fashioned from the very birth of nationalist historiography.  

[admin]

xxx

[admin]

Part 1 of 2

Kayastha [Kayasth] [Cayast’ha] [Koyt] [Caits] [Karanika] [Karana] [Writing Caste]
by Wikipedia
Accessed: 3/10/23

The Making of an Ur-Text

One can imagine how delighted Holwell must have been to find such stunning similarities between the description of India's ancient religious texts and Ilive's vision. But the doctrines that had been translated or summarized from old texts by the likes of Roger, Baldaeus, and the Catholic missionaries showed little similarity with this. All of it seemed "very defective, fallacious, and unsatisfactory" to Holwell, in fact, no more than "unconnected scraps and bits, picked up here and there by hearsay" from ignorant Hindoos rather than solid "literal translations" (Holwell1765:I.5-6). Hence the need to "rescue" this distant nation "from the gross conceptions entertained of them by the multitude" (p. 9) and "to vindicate them" by "a simple display of their primitive theology" (Holwell 1767: Dedication). Disgusted by all these misunderstandings and misrepresentations (1767.2:4), converted by Ilive's theory of delinquent angels, and possibly already fascinated by Ramsay's vision of Ur-tradition, Holwell collected materials about the Gentoo religion and "on his departure from Bengal in the year 1750 imagined himself well informed in the Gentoo religion" about which he had learned through "conversations with the Bramins of those Bhades who were near" (pp. 63-64). He had already thought of writing a book about this but did not find the time (p. 64). Given the fact that he already had such a plan, it is likely that during his stays in Europe he also collected relevant Western literature about India and its religions. If he was not already acquainted with Ramsay and Couto before, he must have studied them after his return to India in 1751 and as a result gained a rather precise idea of what he was looking for. If Holwell was trying to find the Vedas, he was not alone; but Couto's description of the first Veda, which seemed so similar to Ilive's ideas, certainly brought more motivation and focus to his search. He knew that he was looking for an extremely ancient scripture treating of God, the creation Story, angels and their fall, the immortality of souls, the purification of delinquent angels in human bodies, transmigration, the punishment of evil and reward of good, and remission and salvation.

What could happen when a wealthy foreigner was trying to locate such information in old Indian texts is exemplified by the case of Francis WILFORD (1761?-1822), a respected member of the Asiatic Society of Bengal who lived in India four decades after the sack of Calcutta rang in the British Empire. Unlike Holwell, Wilford had studied Sanskrit. He was intent on proving on the basis of Indian texts that India and Egypt had from ancient times been in close contact and that their religions came from a common source. Since that source was, of course, ultimately Noah's ark, Wilford had Indian assistants look for a precise set of topics: the deluge, the name of Noah and his sons, and so forth. Like Holwell some decades before him, Wilford had to tell a learned Indian what he was looking for "as a clue to guide him," and for several years he faithfully translated what this Indian guru gave him. But suddenly he detected that he had fallen victim to fraud:

In order to avoid the trouble of consulting books, he conceived the idea of framing legends from what he recollected from the Puranas, and from what he had picked up in conversation with me. As he was exceedingly well read in the Puranas, and other similar books ... it was an easy task for him; and he studied to introduce as much truth as he could, to obviate the danger of immediate detection .... His forgeries were of three kinds; in the first there was only a word or two altered; in the second were such legends as had undergone a more material alteration; and in the third all those which he had written from memory. (Wilford 1805:251)

The output of this Indian expert was quite astonishing, and the most famous example shows what good remuneration, a sense of what the customer is looking for, and skill in composition can achieve. The learned Indian composed a story "which in nine Sanskrit verses ... reprises the story of Noah, his three sons, and the curse of Ham" and convinced no less a man than William Jones that Noah and his three sons figured in genuine Indian Puranas (Trautmann 1997:90-91). Wilford described how his Indian teacher proceeded in this case:

It is a legend of the greatest importance, and said to be extracted from the Padma. It contains the history of NOAH and his three sons, and is written in a masterly style. But unfortunately there is not a word of it to be found in that Purana. It is, however, mentioned, though in less explicit terms, in many Puranas, and the pandit took particular care in pointing out to the several passages which confirmed, more or less, this interesting legend. Of these I took little notice, as his extract appeared more explicit and satisfactory. (Wilford 1805:254)

Since Wilford had told his pandit exactly what he was looking for, the forger produced an ingenious narrative that presented elements of the story of Noah and his sons in an Indian dress and included some surprising details such as "the legend about the intoxication of NOAH" which, as Wilford now realized, "is from what my pandit picked up in conversation with me" (p. 254). In all, this man "composed no less than 12,000 brand new Puranic slokas -- about half the length of the Ramayana! -- and inserted them into manuscripts of the Skanda and Brahmanda Purana" (Trautmann 1997:92). This was a fraud committed on a man who was far more learned than Holwell; the texts were in Sanskrit, not Hindi; and the source texts could be verified.

In Holwell's case, there is always the possibility that his description of Veda content led some knowledgeable Indian to the very texts that Azevedo had used for the description that Couto plagiarized and Roger and others then used. Caland (1918:49-50) concluded on the basis of the book titles mentioned by Couto that these texts were Saivite Agamas; but an able Indologist would need to substantiate this not just by titles but by contents. While it is possible that similar texts in Hindi were sold to Holwell, I think that the likelihood of a fraud is greater. If Holwell, ready as he was to spend almost any amount of money on this text after the 1756 loss, could not manage to recuperate more than a few fragments -- or, more likely, nothing at all -- one would think that the people who sold it to him in the first place had produced only two slightly different manuscripts and, having sold them to Holwell, were in no position to repeat that feat. If Holwell's text had been available to various people, then someone would probably have sold it to him, especially given the fact that for a while he was governor of Bengal and certainly did not lack the means to get what he wanted.

But who could have forged such a text? Since Holwell remarked that members of the tribe of writers [Kayastha; Kayasth; Karanika; Karana; Writing Caste] "are often better versed in the doctrines of their Shastah than the common run of the Bramin themselves" (Holwell 1767:2.21) and that "a few others of the tribe of the Batteezaaz Bramins ... can read and expound from the Chatah Bhade [Text II], which still preserved the text of the original [Text I)" (p. 15), the culprit(s) might have come from either or both of these groups.

-- The Birth of Orientalism, by Urs App

2. Cayast’ha or Koyt.

The children of a Cshatriya father and a Vaisya mother are Cayast’has, (Caits,) commonly called the Writer Caste by Europeans. Most of this Caste can read and write; several practice medicine; many are merchants, tradesmen, farmers, &c. Though not so numerous as the Brahmans, they are, as a body, more wealthy. They perform the same daily religious ceremonies as the Brahmans, but use prayers taken from the Tantras. Some authorities seem to consider them as pure Sudras (As. Res. v. 58).

-- Encyclopædia metropolitana; or, Universal dictionary of Knowledge, on an Original Plan: Comprising the Twofold Advantage of a Philosophical and an Alphabetical Arrangement, with Appropriate Engravings. Edited by The Rev. Edward Smedley, M.A., Late Fellow of Sidney College, Cambridge; The Rev. Hugh James Rose, B.D., Principal of King’s College, London; and The Rev. Henry John Rose, B.D., Late Fellow of St. John’s College, Cambridge. Volume 16. 1845

3. – Dinagepour, called also the havillee of the circar of Penjerah, and sometimes classed with Edrackpoor, under the head of Arungabad, was conferred by Jaffier Khan, like all the other great zemindarries, towards the latter end of his government, in the first instance, on a very intelligent landholder of the caste of koyt or writer, named Ramnaht, originally from upper Hindostan. This man was supposed to have acquired great wealth by the discovery of buried treasure, in digging tanks for the improvement of agriculture; and had therefore repeated application from the nazim for pecuniary aids, under the real or feigned distresses of the State. The truth may be, that by amelioration and good management, in rendering productive the extensive wastes within the circle of his jurisdiction, or secret enlargement of his frontiers on all sides, particularly towards Cooch Behar, he might have realized the necessary operation of husbandry, conducted with intelligence, industry or good fortune. But however this may have been, by personal address, and anticipating the wants or desire of the sovereign representative, in paying large douceurs over and above his current revenue, he enjoyed the annual special privilege of administering internally his own district, without being subject like the zemindars, to either hustabood investigations, on the immediate control of a Mussulman aumildar. Nor did these extraordinary exemptions cease entirely before the year 1757, when a new revolution having strengthened the efficient powers of government, and politically increased the public expenses, through the necessity of maintaining a regular standing military establishment, it was found expedient to resume the equitable, indispensible rights of royalty, by bringing into the exchequer the ascertained surplus exaction levied from the country by the farming collector, and hitherto fraudulently kept for his proper use. Originally this zemindarry, exclusive of jageers, consisted of pergunnahs 89, yielding 4,62,964.

-- The Zemindarries in 1728, from The Fifth Report from the Select Committee on the Affairs of the East India Company, Volume 1, Bengal Presidency. 1812

"Calcutta Kayastha", a late 18th-century depiction by Frans Balthazar Solvyns
Subdivisions: Bengali Kayastha, Chandraseniya Kayastha Prabhu, Chitraguptavanshi Kayastha and Karana
Minority: Islam[1]

Kayastha (also referred to as Kayasth) denotes a cluster of disparate Indian communities broadly categorised by the regions of the Indian subcontinent in which they were traditionally located—the Chitraguptavanshi Kayasthas of North India, the Chandraseniya Kayastha Prabhus of Maharashtra, the Bengali Kayasthas of Bengal and Karanas[2][3] of Odisha. All of them were traditionally considered "writing castes", who had historically served the ruling powers as administrators, ministers and record-keepers.[4][5]

The earliest known reference to the term Kayastha dates back to the Kushan Empire,[6] when it evolved into a common name for a writer or scribe.[7] In the Sanskrit literature and inscriptions, it was used to denote the holders of a particular category of offices in the government service.[8] In this context, the term possibly derived from kaya- ('principal, capital, treasury') and -stha ('to stay') and perhaps originally stood for an officer of the royal treasury, or revenue department.[9][6]

Over the centuries, the occupational histories of Kayastha communities largely revolved around scribal services. However, these scribes did not simply take dictation but acted in the range of capacities better indicated by the term "secretary". They used their training in law, literature, court language, accounting, litigation and many other areas to fulfill responsibilities in all these venues.[10][11] Kayasthas, along with Brahmins, had access to formal education as well as their own system of teaching administration, including accountancy, in the early-medieval India.[12]

Modern scholars list them among Indian communities that were traditionally described as "urban-oriented", "upper caste" and part of the "well-educated" pan-Indian elite, alongside Punjabi Khatris, Kashmiri Pandits, Parsis, Nagar Brahmins of Gujarat, Chitpawans and Chandraseniya Kayastha Prabhus (CKPs) of Maharashtra, South-Indian Brahmins including Deshastha Brahmins from Southern parts of India and upper echelons of the Muslim as well as Christian communities that made up the middle class at the time of Indian independence in 1947.[13][14][15]

Origins

Etymology

According to Merriam-Webster, the word Kāyastha is probably formed from the Sanskrit kāya (body), and the suffix -stha (standing, being in).[16]

As a class of administrators

As evidenced by literary and epigraphical texts, Kayasthas had emerged as a 'class of administrators' between late-ancient and early-mediaeval period of Indian history. Their emergence is explained by modern scholars as a result of growth of state machinery, complication of taxation system and the "rapid expansion of land-grant practice that required professional documenting fixation".[17][6] The term also finds mention in an inscription of the Gupta emperor Kumaragupta I, dated to 442 CE, in which prathama-kāyastha (transl. 'chief officer') is used as an administrative designation.[18] The Yājñavalkya Smṛti, also from the Gupta era, and the Vishnu Smriti describe kayasthas as record-keepers and accountants, but not as jāti (caste or clan).[19] Similarly, the term Kayastha is used in the works of Kshemendra, Kalhana and Bilhana to refer to members of bureaucracy varying from Gṛhakṛtyamahattama (transl. 'the chief secretary in the charge of home affairs') to the Aśvaghāsa-kāyastha (transl. 'officer in charge of the fodder for horses').[20]

According to Romila Thapar, the offices that demanded formal education including that of a kayastha were generally occupied by the "Brahmins, revenue collectors, treasurers and those concerned with legal matters".[21]

In Buddhist association

According to Chitrarekha Gupta, it is possible that Buddhists, in their effort to create an educated non-Brahmin class, strove to popularize the utility of education and fostered those vocations that required a knowledge of writing. This is corroborated in Udāna, where the lekha-sippa ('craft of writing'), was regarded as the highest of all the crafts. It is also backed by the fact that the earliest epigraphical records mentioning lekhaka ('writer') or kayastha have been made in association with Buddhism.[22]

As an independent guild of professionals

It is possible that kayasthas may have started out as a separate profession, similar to bankers, merchants, and artisans. As suggested in certain epigraphs, they had a representative in the district-level administration, along with those of bankers and merchants. This is also implied in Mudrarakshasa, where a kayastha would work for any man who paid his wages on time. Possibly secular knowledge, like writing, administration, and jurisprudence, was monopolised by a non-Brahmin professional elite that later came be referred as kayasthas.[23]

History

From classical to early-medieval India

The Kayasthas, at least as an office, played an important role in administering the Northern India from the Gupta period.[24] The earliest evidence comes from a Mathura inscription of Vasudeva I, composed by a Kayastha Śramaṇa.[6] From this point we find, the term kayastha occurring in the inscription of the Gupta Emperor Kumaragupta I as prathama-kāyastha,[25] as karaṇa-kāyastha in Vainayagupta’s inscription,[26] and as gauḍa-kāyastha in an Apshadha inscription dated 672 CE.[27]: 104  The occasional references to individuals of the Karaṇa caste occupying high government offices are made in inscriptions and literary works too.[28] Razia Banu has suggested that Brahmin and Kayastha migrants were brought to Bengal during the reign of the Gupta Empire to help manage the state affairs.[29]: 5–6  According to a legend, a Bengali King named Adisur had invited Brahmins accompanied by Kayasthas from Kannauj who became an elite sub-group described as Kulin.[30] However, such claims are disputable and even rejected by some scholars.[27]: 99 

From the ninth-century and perhaps even earlier, Kayasthas had started to consolidate into a distinct caste.[31] This is evident from a epigraphic record dated 871 CE of the King Amoghavarsha that mentions a branch of Kayasthas referred to as vālabhya-kāyastha. The author of the Sanskrit work Udayasundarī-kathā also referred to himself as vālabhya-kayāstha and characterized Kayasthas as 'ornaments of the Kṣatriyas'.[32]

In Soḍḍhala’s account

According to Soḍḍhala, who claimed to be a Kayastha himself, Kayasthas traced their descent to a younger brother of the Maitrika king, identified as Śilāditya VI or VII, referred to as Kalāditya. He narrates that Kalāditya had besieged Dharmapala of the Pala Dynasty that led to the victory of his elder brother. Subsequently, he was entrusted by Śilāditya to administer his kingdom at the advice of the Goddess Rāja Lakśmī. Kalāditya has been further described as an incarnation of a gaṇa (transl. 'attendant') of Shiva called Kayastha.[33]

In Sanskrit literature

The Mitākṣarā refers to Kayasthas as accountants and scribes, they are described as favorites of the king and cunning.[34]

The Kayastha appears as a figure in Act IX of the Mṛcchakatika, a kāyastha is shown accompanying a judge (adhikaraṇika) and assisting him. In Act V there is mention that: [6]

Moreover, O friend, a courtesan, an elephant, a Kayastha, a mendicant, a spy and a donkey—where these dwell, there not even villains can flourish.

In Mudrarakshasa, a Kayastha named Śakaṭadāsa is a crucial character and one of the trusted men of the Prime Minister of the Nanda King. According to Chitrarekha Gupta, the title Ārya added to the name of Śakaṭadāsa implies that he was a member of the nobility.[35] Another Kayastha called Acala is the scribe of Chanakya.[36]

In early-mediaeval Kashmir too, the term kayastha denoted an occupational class whose principal duty, besides carrying on the general administration of the state, consisted in the collection of revenue and taxes. Kshemendra’s Narmamālā composed during the reign of Ananta (1028-1063 CE) gives a list of contemporary Kayastha officers that included Gṛhakṛtyadhipati, Paripālaka, Mārgapati, Gañja-divira, Āsthāna-divira, Nagara-divira, Lekhakopādhya and Niyogi. Kalhana’s Rājataraṃgiṇī ('The River of Kings') and Bilhana's Vikramāṅkadevacarita ('Life of King Vikramaditya') also mention Kayasthas.[37][38] It is also mentioned that father of Lalitaditya Muktapida of the Karkota Dynasty, Durlabhavardhan, had held the post of Aśvaghāsa-kāyastha.[39]

Kayasthas have been authors of several Sanskrit texts too.

Table 1. Some important Sanskrit works authored by the Kayasthas

Work(s) / Genre(s) / Author / Author's lineage / Date

Rāmacarita / Biography / Sandhyākaranandin / Karana[40] / 12th c.
Udayasundarī Kathā / Champu / Soḍḍhala / Vālabhya[33] / 11th c.
Rasa Saṅketa Kalikā, Varṇanighaṇṭu / Medicine, Tantra / Kāyastha Cāmuṇḍa / Naigama[41] / 15th c.
Kṛtyakalpataru / Administration / Lakṣmīdhara / Vāstavya[42] / 12th c.

In Brahmanical literature

Kayasthas have been recorded as a separate caste responsible for writing secular documents and maintaining records in Brahmanical religious writings dating back to the seventh-century.[43] In these texts, some described Kayasthas as Kshatriyas, while others often described them as a 'mixed-origin' caste with Brahmin and Shudra components. This was probably an attempt by the Brahmins to rationalize their rank in the traditional caste hierarchy and perhaps a later invention rather than a historical fact.[44][45]

Late medieval India

In Bengal, during the reign of the Gupta Empire beginning in the 4th century, when systematic and large-scale colonisation by Indo-Aryan Kayasthas and Brahmins first took place, Kayasthas were brought over by the Guptas to help manage the affairs of state.[29]: 5–6 

After the Muslim conquest of India, they mastered Persian, which became the official language of the Mughal courts.[46] Some converted to Islam and formed the Muslim Kayasth community in northern India.

Bengali Kayasthas had been the dominant landholding caste prior to the Muslim conquest, and continued this role under Muslim rule. Indeed, Muslim rulers had from a very early time confirmed the Kayasthas in their ancient role as landholders and political intermediaries.[47]

Bengali Kayasthas served as treasury officials and wazirs (government ministers) under Mughal rule. Political scientist U. A. B. Razia Akter Banu writes that, partly because of Muslim sultans' satisfaction with them as technocrats, many Bengali Kayasthas in the administration became zamindars and jagirdars. According to Abu al-Fazl, most of the Hindu zamindars in Bengal were Kayasthas.[29]: 24–25 

Maharaja Pratapaditya, the king of Jessore who declared independence from Mughal rule in the early 17th century, was a Bengali Kayastha.[48]

British India


A Kayastha employee of the political agent of the Bagelkhand Agency 1901.

During the British Raj, Kayasthas continued to proliferate in public administration, qualifying for the highest executive and judicial offices open to Indians.[49][page needed]

Bengali Kayasthas took on the role occupied by merchant castes in other parts of India and profited from business contacts with the British. In 1911, for example, Bengali Kayasthas and Bengali Brahmins owned 40% of all the Indian-owned mills, mines and factories in Bengal.[50]

Modern India

The Chitraguptavanshi Kayasthas, Bengali Kayasthas and CKPs were among the Indian communities in 1947, at the time of Indian independence, that constituted the middle class and were traditionally "urban and professional" (following professions like doctors, lawyers, teachers, engineers, etc.) According to P. K. Varma, "education was a common thread that bound together this pan Indian elite" and almost all the members of these communities could read and write English and were educated beyond school.[51]

The Kayasthas today mostly inhabit central, eastern, northern India, and particularly Bengal.[52] They are considered a Forward Caste, as they do not qualify for any of the reservation benefits allotted to Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes and Other Backward Classes that are administered by the Government of India.[53] This classification has increasingly led to feelings of unease and resentment among the Kayasthas, who believe that the communities that benefit from reservation are gaining political power and employment opportunities at their expense. Thus, particularly since the 1990 report of the Mandal Commission on reservation, Kayastha organisations have been active in areas such as Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Bengal and Orissa. These groups are aligning themselves with various political parties to gain political and economic advantages; by 2009 they were demanding 33 percent reservation in government jobs.[54]

Sub-groups

Chitraguptavanshi Kayasthas

Main article: Chitraguptavanshi Kayastha

The Chitraguptavanshi Kayasthas of Northern India are named thus because they have a myth of origin that says they descend from the 12 sons of the Hindu god Chitragupta, the product of his marriages to Devi Shobhavati and Devi Nandini.[19] The suffix -vanshi is Sanskrit and translates as belonging to a particular family dynasty.[55]

At least some Chitraguptavanshi subcastes seem to have formed by the 11th or 12th century, evidenced by various names being used to describe them in inscriptions.[56] Although at that time, prior to the Muslim conquests in the Indian subcontinent, they were generally outnumbered by Brahmins in the Hindu royal courts of northern India, some among these Kayasthas wrote eulogies for the kings. Of the various regional Kayastha communities it was those of north India who remained most aligned to their role of scribes, whereas in other areas there became more emphasis on commerce.[57][58]

The group of Bhatnagar, Srivastava, Ambashtha and Saxena of Doab were classified by various Indian, British and missionary observers to be the most learned and dominant of the "service castes".[59]

Bengali Kayasthas

Main article: Bengali Kayastha

In eastern India, Bengali Kayasthas are believed to have evolved from a class of officials into a caste between the 5th-6th centuries and 11th-12th centuries, its component elements being putative Kshatriyas and mostly Brahmins. They most likely gained the characteristics of a caste under the Sena dynasty.[60] According to Tej Ram Sharma, an Indian historian, the Kayasthas of Bengal had not yet developed into a distinct caste during the reign of the Gupta Empire, although the office of the Kayastha (scribe) had been instituted before the beginning of the period, as evidenced from the contemporary Smritis. Sharma further states:

Noticing brahmanic names with a large number of modern Bengali Kayastha cognomens in several early epigraphs discovered in Bengal, some scholars have suggested that there is a considerable brahmana element in the present day Kayastha community of Bengal. Originally the professions of Kayastha (scribe) and Vaidya (physician) were not restricted and could be followed by people of different varnas including the brahmanas. So there is every probability that a number of brahmana families were mixed up with members of other varnas in forming the present Kayastha and Vaidya communities of Bengal.[61]

Chandraseniya Prabhu Kayasthas

Main article: Chandraseniya Kayastha Prabhu

In Maharashtra, Chandraseniya Kayastha Prabhus (CKP) claim descent from the warrior Chandrasen.[62] Historically they produced prominent warriors and also held positions such as Deshpandes and Gadkaris (fort holder, an office similar to that of a castellan.[63] Traditionally, the CKPs have the upanayana (thread ceremony) and have been granted the rights to study the vedas and perform vedic rituals along with the Brahmins.[64]

Karanas

Main article: Karan (caste)

Karana is a caste found predominantly in Odisha and Andhra Pradesh. They are a regional subcaste of Kayastha and traditionally they were the official record-keepers in the royal courts during Medieval times. They represent around 5% of Odia people. The Karanas are a forward caste of Odisha.[65]

Varna status

As the Kayasthas are a non-cohesive group with regional differences rather than a single caste, their position in the Hindu varna system of ritual classification has not been uniform.

This was reflected in Raj era court rulings. Hayden Bellenoit gives details of various Raj era law cases and concludes the varna Kayastha was resolved in those cases by taking into account regional differences and customs followed by the specific community under consideration. Bellenoit disagrees with Rowe, showing that Risley's theories were in fact used ultimately to classify them as Kshatriyas by the British courts. The first case began in 1860 in Jaunpur, Uttar Pradesh with a property dispute where the plaintiff was considered an "illegitimate child" by the defendants, a north-Indian Kayastha family. The British court denied inheritance to the child, citing that Kayasthas are Dvija, "twice-born" or "upper-caste" and that the illegitimate children of Dwijas have no rights to inheritance. In the next case in 1875 in the Allahabad High Court, a north Indian Kayastha widow was denied adoption rights as she was an upper-caste i.e. Dwija woman. However, the aforementioned 1884 adoption case and the 1916 property dispute saw the Calcutta High Court rule that the Bengali Kayasthas were shudras. The Allahabad High Court ruled in 1890 that Kayasthas were Kshatriyas.[66][67] Hayden Bellenoit concludes from an analysis of those that

in the suits originating in the Bihari and Doabi heartlands rulings that Kayasthas were of twice-born status were more likely. Closer to Bengal country, though, the legal rulings tended to assign a shudra status.

Even where the shudra designation was adjudged, the Raj courts appear to have sometimes recognised that the Bengali Kayasthas were degraded from an earlier kshatriya status due to intermarrying with both shudras and slaves ('dasa') which resulted in the common Bengali Kayastha surname of 'Das'.[66] The last completed census of the British Raj (1931) classified them as an "upper caste", i.e. Dwija,[67] and the final British Raj law case involving their varna in 1926 determined them to be Kshatriya.[66]

Earlier, in Bihar, in 1811–1812, botanist and zoologist Francis Buchanan had recorded the Kayastha of that region as "pure shudra" and accordingly kept them at the par with other producer caste groups like goldsmiths, Ahirs, Kurmis and the Koeris. William Pinch, in his study of Ramanandi Sampradaya in the north describes the emergence of the concept of "pure Shudra" in growing need of physical contact with some of the low caste groups who were producer and seller of essential commodities or were the provider of services without which the self sufficiency of rural society couldn't persist. However, many of these adopted Vaishnavism in the aim to become Kshatriya. In 1901 Bihar census, Kayasthas of the area were classified along with Brahmins and Rajputs in Bihar as "other castes of twice-born rank"[68] According to Arun Sinha, there was a strong current since the end of the 19th century among Shudras of Bihar to change their status in caste hierarchy and break the monopoly of bipolar elite of Brahmins and Rajputs of having "dvija" status. The education and economic advancement made by some of the former Shudra castes enabled them to seek the higher prestige and varna status. The Kayastha along with the Bhumihars were first among the shudras to attain the recognition as "upper caste" leaving the other aspirational castes to aspire for the same.[69]

The Raj era rulings were based largely upon the theories of Herbert Hope Risley, who had conducted extensive studies on castes and tribes of the Bengal Presidency. According to William Rowe, the Kayasthas of Bengal, Bombay and the United Provinces repeatedly challenged this classification by producing a flood of books, pamphlets, family histories and journals to pressurise the government to recognise them as kshatriya and to reform the caste practices in the directions of sanskritisation and westernisation.[70][clarification needed] Rowe's opinion has been challenged, with arguments that it is based on "factual and interpretative errors", and criticised for making "unquestioned assumptions" about the Kayastha Sanskritisation and westernisation movement.[71][72]

In post-Raj assessments, the Bengali Kayasthas, alongside Bengali Brahmins, have been described as the "highest Hindu castes".[73] After the Muslim conquest of India, they absorbed remnants of Bengal's old Hindu ruling dynasties—including the Sena, Pala, Chandra, and Varman—and, in this way, became the region's surrogate kshatriya or "warrior" class. During British rule, the Bengali Kayasthas, the Bengali Brahmins and the Baidyas considered themselves to be Bhadralok, a term coined in Bengal for the gentry or respectable people. This was based on their perceived refined culture, prestige and education.[47][74]

According to Christian Novetzke, in medieval India, Kayastha in certain parts were considered either as Brahmins or equal to Brahmins.[75] Several religious councils and institutions have subsequently stated the varna status of CKPs as Kshatriya.[76][77][78]

[admin]

Part 2 of 2

Notable people

This is a list of notable people from all the subgroups of Kayasthas.

President of India

• Rajendra Prasad

Prime Minister of India

• Lal Bahadur Shastri

Chief Ministers

• Krishna Ballabh Sahay
• Mahamaya Prasad Sinha
• Uddhav Thackeray
• Shiv Charan Mathur
• Nabakrushna Choudhuri
• Biju Patnaik
• Biren Mitra
• Janaki Ballabh Patnaik
• Naveen Patnaik
• Sampurnanand
• Jyoti Basu

Others

• Sri Aurobindo, Indian philosopher, yogi and nationalist[79]
• Nagendranath Basu, historian and editor[80]
• Shankar Abaji Bhise (1867–1935), scientist and inventor with 200 inventions and 40 patents. The American scientific community referred to him as the "Indian Edison".[81]
• Jagadish Chandra Bose, Indian scientist[82][full citation needed]
• Satyendra Nath Bose[83]Known for his work on quantum mechanics, for developing the foundation of Bose statistics and the theory of the Bose condensate. The class of particles that obey Bose statistics, bosons, was named after Bose by Paul Dirac.[84][85]
• Subhas Chandra Bose[86]
• Mahadev Bhaskar Chaubal (1857–1933), Indian origin British era Chief Justice of the Bombay High Court. Member of Executive Council of Governor of Bombay in 1912 and Member of Royal Commission on Public Services in India.[87]
• Har Dayal, Indian revolutionary and intellectual of the Ghadar party in the USA[88]
• C. D. Deshmukh (1896–1982), first recipient of the Jagannath Shankarseth Sanskrit Scholarship, topper of ICS Examination, first Indian Governor of RBI, first finance Minister of independent India and tenth vice chancellor of the University of Delhi[89]
• Baji Prabhu Deshpande (1615–1660), commander of Shivaji Maharaj's forces who along with his brother died defending Vishalgad in 1660[90]
• Murarbaji Deshpande (?–1665), commander of Shivaji Maharaj's forces who died defending the fort of Purandar against the Mughals in 1665[90]
• Jayaprakash Narayan (1902 -1979) - freedom fighter, social reformer and anti-corruption campaigner[91]
• Bipin Chandra Pal, Indian nationalist, writer, orator, social reformer and Indian independence movement activist of Lal Bal Pal triumvirate[92]
• Vithal Sakharam Parasnis (17xx-18xx)- Sanskrit, Vedic and Persian scholar; consultant to British Historian James Grant Duff; author of the Sanskrit "karma kalpadrum"(manual for Hindu rituals); first head of the school opened by Pratapsimha to teach Sanskrit to the boys of the Maratha caste[93]
• Devdutt Pattanaik[94]
• Premchand (1880–1936) – author in Hindi language[95]
• Sachchidananda Sinha, lawyer prominent in the movement for establishing the state of Bihar[96]
• Mahadevi Varma[97]
• Bhagwati Charan Verma[98]
• Swami Vivekananda[99]
• Paramahansa Yogananda, author of Autobiography of a Yogi[100]

See also

• Karan Kayastha

References

1. Jahanara (2005). Muslim kayasthas of India. Allahabad, India: K.K. Publications. OCLC 255708448. Monographic study of an anthropological investigation of the Muslim Kayasthas with special reference to Uttar Pradesh.
2. Das, Biswarup (1980). "KAYASTHAS AND KARANAS IN ORISSA—A STUDY ON INSCRIPTIONS—". Proceedings of the Indian History Congress. 41: 940–944. ISSN 2249-1937. JSTOR 44141924.
3. Raut, L.N. (2004). "Jati Formation in Early Medieval Orissa: Reflection on Karana (Kayastha Caste)". Proceedings of the Indian History Congress. 65: 304–308. ISSN 2249-1937. JSTOR 44144743.
4. Imam, Faitma (2011). India today : An encyclopedia of life in the republic. Vol. 1, A–K. Arnold P. Kaminsky, Roger D. Long. Santa Barbara: ABC-CLIO. pp. 403–405. ISBN 978-0-313-37463-0. OCLC 755414244.
5. Leonard, Karen (2006). Wolpert, Stanley (ed.). Encyclopedia of India. Detroit: Charles Scribner's Sons. p. 22. ISBN 0-684-31349-9. OCLC 60856154. All three were "writing castes", traditionally serving the ruling powers as administrators and record keepers.
6. Visvanathan, Meera (2014). "From the 'lekhaka' to the Kāyastha: Scribes in Early Historic Court and Society (200 BCE–200 CE)". Proceedings of the Indian History Congress. 75: 34–40. ISSN 2249-1937. JSTOR 44158358.
7. Gupta, Chitrarekha (1983). "The writers' class of ancient India—a case study in social mobility". The Indian Economic & Social History Review. 20 (2): 194. doi:10.1177/001946468302000203. S2CID 144941948. The short inscriptions mentioned earlier indicate that from about the first century B.C. the scribes or writers played an important role in society and their profession was regarded as a respectable one ... the first mention of the term Kayastha, which later became the generic name of the writers, was during this phase of Indian history
8. Stout, Lucy Carol (1976). The Hindustani Kayasthas: The Kayastha Pathshala, and the Kayastha Conference, 1873–1914. University of California, Berkeley. pp. 18–19. Such an argument is supported by the manner in which the term "Kayastha" is used in Sanskrit literature and inscriptions—i.e., as a term for the various state officials ... It seems appropriate to suppose that they were originally from one or more than one existing endogamous units and that the term "Kayastha" originally meant an office or the holder of a particular office in the state service.
9. Stout, Lucy Carol (1976). The Hindustani Kayasthas: The Kayastha Pathshala, and the Kayastha Conference, 1873–1914. University of California, Berkeley. p. 20. In this context, a possible derivation o the word "Kayastha" is "from ... kaya (principal, capital, treasury) and stha, to stay" and perhaps originally stood for an officer of royal treasury, or the revenue department.
10. Davidson, Ronald M. (2005). Tibetan renaissance : Tantric Buddhism in the rebirth of Tibetan culture. New York: Columbia University Press. p. 179. ISBN 978-0-231-50889-6. OCLC 808346313.
11. Carroll, Lucy (February 1978). "Colonial Perceptions of Indian Society and the Emergence of Caste(s) Associations". The Journal of Asian Studies. 37 (2): 233–250. doi:10.2307/2054164. JSTOR 2054164. S2CID 146635639.
12. Chandra, Satish (2007). History of medieval India : 800–1700. Hyderabad, India: Orient Longman. p. 50. ISBN 978-81-250-3226-7. OCLC 191849214. There was no idea of mass education at that time. People learnt what they felt was needed for their livelihood. Reading and writing was confined to a small section, mostly Brahmans and some sections of the upper classes, especially Kayasthas ... The Kayasthas had their own system of teaching the system of administration, including accountancy.
13. Pavan K. Varma (2007). The Great Indian Middle class. Penguin Books. p. 28. ISBN 9780143103257. its main adherents came from those in government service, qualified professionals such as doctors, engineers and lawyers, business entrepreneurs, teachers in schools in the bigger cities and in the institutes of higher education, journalists [etc] ... The upper castes dominated the Indian middle class. Prominent among its members were Punjabi Khatris, Kashmiri Pandits and South Indian brahmins. Then there were the 'traditional urban-oriented professional castes such as the Nagars of Gujarat, the Chitpawans and the Ckps (Chandraseniya Kayastha Prabhus)s of Maharashtra and the Kayasthas of North India. Also included were the old elite groups that emerged during the colonial rule: the Probasi and the Bhadralok Bengalis, the Parsis and the upper crusts of Muslim and Christian communities. Education was a common thread that bound together this pan-Indian elite ... But almost all its members spoke and wrote English and had had some education beyond school
14. Paul Wallace; Richard Leonard Park (1985). Region and nation in India. Oxford & IBH Pub. Co. During much of the 19th century, Maratha Brahman Desasthas had held a position of such strength throughout South India that their position can only be compared with that of the Kayasthas and Khatris of North India.
15. "D. L. Sheth".
16. "Kayastha". Merriam-Webster.com. Retrieved 3 March 2020.
17. Vanina, Eugenia (2012). Medieval Indian mindscapes : space, time, society, man. New Delhi: Primus Books. p. 178. ISBN 978-93-80607-19-1. OCLC 794922930. This group as demonstrated by epigraphical and literary texts, emerged in the period between the late ancient and early medieval times. Modern scholars explained this by the growth of state-machinery, complication of taxation system and fast spreading land-grant practice that required professional documenting fixation...Initially, these term referred only to the appointment of men from various castes, mainly Brahmans, into the Kayastha post. Gradually, the Kayasthas emerged as a caste-like community...
18. Shah, K. K. (1993). "Self Legitimation and Social Primacy: A Case Study of Some Kayastha Inscriptions From Central India". Proceedings of the Indian History Congress. 54: 858. ISSN 2249-1937. JSTOR 44143088.
19. Bellenoit, Hayden J. (2017). The Formation of the Colonial State in India: Scribes, Paper and Taxes, 1760–1860. Routledge. pp. 69–70. ISBN 9781134494361.
20. Ray, Sunil Chandra (1950). "A Note on the Kāyasthas of Early-Mediaeval Kāśmīra". Proceedings of the Indian History Congress. 13: 124–126. ISSN 2249-1937. JSTOR 44140901.
21. Gupta, Chitrarekha (1983). "The writers' class of ancient India— a case study in social mobility". The Indian Economic & Social History Review. 20 (2): 191–204. doi:10.1177/001946468302000203. ISSN 0019-4646. S2CID 144941948. According to Romila Thapar, the offices which required formal education were usually occupied by the Brahmins, revenue collectors, treasurers and those concerned with legal matters belonged to this category. She says that the same was probably true of the important but less exalted rank of scribes, recorders and accountants.
22. Gupta, Chitrarekha (1983). "The writers' class of ancient India— a case study in social mobility". The Indian Economic & Social History Review. 20 (2): 193–194. doi:10.1177/001946468302000203. S2CID 144941948 – via SAGE.
23. Gupta, Chitrarekha (1983). "The writers' class of ancient India— a case study in social mobility". The Indian Economic & Social History Review. 20 (2): 195. doi:10.1177/001946468302000203. ISSN 0019-4646. S2CID 144941948. They seem to have had guilds of their own and the head of the guild, the prathama-kayastha, represented his class in the administration of the city. The profession of the kàyasthas, like those of the bankers, merchants and the artisans, was an independent one and was not necessarily associated with the king and his court....Thus it may be assumed that while the Brahmanas were engaged in studying religious literature, secular knowledge of document writing, etc., was the monopoly of a professional group, who came to be called Kayasthas.
24. Sahu, Bhairabi Prasad (2021), "Commerce and the Agrarian Empires: Northern India", Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Asian History, Oxford University Press, doi:10.1093/acrefore/9780190277727.013.596, ISBN 978-0-19-027772-7, The Gupta period witnessed the rise of the writers' class (Kayastha/Karana) with other symmetrical developments such as the spread of local state formation. Besides maintaining records, they also helped the administration of justice and commercial activities.
25. Shah, K. K. (1993). "Self Legitimation and Social Primacy: A Case Study of Some Kayastha Inscriptions From Central India". Proceedings of the Indian History Congress. 54: 858. ISSN 2249-1937. JSTOR 44143088.
26. Majumdar, R. C. (Ramesh Chandra), 1888-1980. Pusalker, A. D. Majumdar, A. K. Munshi, Kanaiyalal Maneklal (1990). The History and Culture of the Indian People. Vol. 4. Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan. p. 395. OCLC 643663693.
27. Mazumdar, Bhakat Prasad (1960). Socio-economic history of northern India (1030-1194 A.D.). Firma K. L. Mukhopadhyay. pp. 99, 104. OCLC 614029099. As we have got reference to the Gauda Kayasthas in the Apshad inscription, dated 672 AD...
28. Majumdar, Ramesh Chandra, 1888-1980. Pusalker, A. D. Majumdar, A. K. Munshi, Kanaiyalal Maneklal (1990). The history and culture of the Indian people. Vol. 4. Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan. p. 374. OCLC 643663693.
29. Banu, U. A. B. Razia Akter (1992). Islam in Bangladesh. Brill Academic Publishers. ISBN 978-90-04-09497-0.
30. Luca, Pagani; Bose, Sarmila; Ayub, Qasim (2017). "Kayasthas of Bengal". Economic and Political Weekly. 52 (47): 44. ...which claimed that the Bengali King Adisur had invited five Brahmins from Kannauj, an ancient city in the northern Gangetic plains located in the present Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, to migrate to Bengal, in eastern India. According to legend, these five Brahmins from Kannauj were accompanied by five Kayasthas, who became an "elite" subgroup described as "kulin" among the Kayasthas of Bengal...
31. Majumdar, R.C. (2001). Ramakrishnan, S. (ed.). History and Culture of the Indian People. Vol. 5. Public Resource. Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan. p. 477. We have seen that the Kayasthas as a caste (as distinguished from the profession called by that name) can be traced back with the help of literary and epigraphic records to the latter half of the ninth century.
32. Ghosh, Jogendra Chandra; Ghosh, Jogesh Chandra (1931). "GLEANINGS FROM THE UDAYASUNDARĪ-KATHĀ". Annals of the Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute. 13 (3/4): 197–205. ISSN 0378-1143. JSTOR 41688244 – via JSTOR. The earliest mention of Kayastha as a caste-name that we have hitherto been able to find, is in the Saojan copper-plate grant of the Rastrakuta king Amoghavarsa I, dated 871 A.D. It was written by Dharmadhikarana-senabhogika Gunadhavala of the Valabha-Kayastha-vamsa, i.e. the very Kayastha family to which our poet belonged.
33. Ghosh, Jogendra Chandra; Ghosh, Jogesh Chandra (1931). "GLEANINGS FROM THE UDAYASUNDARĪ-KATHĀ". Annals of the Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute. 13 (3/4): 197–205. ISSN 0378-1143. JSTOR 41688244.
34. Kane, P.V. (1939). "A Note on the Kāyasthas". New Indian Antiquary (2): 740–43.
35. Gupta, Chitrarekha (1983). "The writers' class of ancient India— a case study in social mobility". The Indian Economic & Social History Review. 20 (2): 196. doi:10.1177/001946468302000203. ISSN 0019-4646. S2CID 144941948.
36. Deshpande, R. R. (1948). Visakhadattaʼs Mudraraksasa. Popular book Store, Surat. pp. ii.
37. Ray, Sunil Chandra (1950). "A NOTE ON THE KĀYASTHAS OF EARLY-MEDIAEVAL KĀŚMĪRA". Proceedings of the Indian History Congress. 13: 124–126. ISSN 2249-1937. JSTOR 44140901.
38. Kalhana (1989). Stein, Sir Marc Aurel (ed.). Kalhana's Rajatarangini: A Chronicle of the Kings of Kashmir. Motilal Banarsidass Publishers. pp. 8, 39, 45. ISBN 978-81-20-80370-1.
39. Ray, Sunil Chandra (1957). "ADMINISTRATIVE SYSTEM IN EARLY KĀŚMĪRA". Annals of the Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute. 38 (3/4): 176. ISSN 0378-1143. JSTOR 44082819. He also mentions the names of a few of the minor offices which had come into existence in the meantime. One of these was the office of the avaghasa-kayąstha, (fodderer for the horses) a position held for sometime by Durlabhavardhana.
40. Thapar, Romila (2013). The past before us : historical traditions of early north India. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press. p. 498. ISBN 978-0-674-72651-2. OCLC 859536567. He states that he comes from a family of scribes, his caste being karana (kāyastha).
41. O’Hanlon, Rosalind (2010). "The social worth of scribes". The Indian Economic & Social History Review. 47 (4): 583. doi:10.1177/001946461004700406. ISSN 0019-4646. S2CID 145071541. ..Kayastha Camunda, a kayastha of the Naigama community, son of Kumbha and protégé of king Rajamalla of Mewad..
42. H T Colebrooke (1898). A Digest Of Hindu Law On Contracts And Successions Vol-I. pp. xvii. Lachmidhara composed a treatise on administrative justice by command of Govindachandra a king of Casi, sprung from the Vastava race of Cayasthas...
43. Imam, Fatima A. (2011). Kaminsky, Arnold P.; Long, Roger D. (eds.). India Today: An Encyclopedia of Life in the Republic : L-Z, Volume 2. ABC-CLIO. pp. 404–405. ISBN 9780313374623.
44. "India - The Rajputs". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 23 January 2021. A number of new castes, such as the Kayasthas...According to the Brahmanic sources, they originated from intercaste marriages, but this is clearly an attempt at rationalizing their rank in the hierarchy.
45. Thapar, Romila (1998). A History of India. Vol. 1. New Delhi: Penguin Books. p. 99. ISBN 978-0-14-194976-5. OCLC 753563817. Some described them as kshatriyas , others ascribed their origin to a brahman-shudra combination. The mixed-caste origin ascribed to them may well have been a later invention of those who had to fit them into a caste hierarchy.
46. Ballbanlilar, Lisa (2012). Imperial Identity in Mughal Empire: Memory and Dynastic Politics in Early Modern Central Asia. I.B. Taurus & Co., Ltd. p. 59. ISBN 978-1-84885-726-1.
47. Eaton, Richard Maxwell (1996). The Rise of Islam and the Bengal Frontier, 1204–1760. University of California Press. pp. 102–103. ISBN 978-0-52020-507-9.
48. Chakrabarty, Dipesh (2015). The Calling of History: Sir Jadunath Sarkar and His Empire of Truth. University of Chicago Press. p. 139. ISBN 978-0-226-10045-6.
49. Srivastava, Kamal Shankar (1998). Origin and development of class and caste in India.
50. Owens, Raymond Lee; Nandy, Ashis (1978). The New Vaisyas. Carolina Academic Press. p. 81. ISBN 978-0-89089-057-8.
51. Varma, Pavan K. (2007). The Great Indian Middle class. Penguin Books. p. 28. ISBN 9780143103257.
52. Bhardwaj, Surinder Mohan (1983). Hindu Places of Pilgrimage in India: A Study in Cultural Geography. University of California Press. p. 231. ISBN 978-0-520-04951-2.
53. Srinivasan, K.; Kumar, Sanjay (16–23 October 1999). "Economic and Caste Criteria in Definition of Backwardness". Economic and Political Weekly. 34 (42/43): 3052. JSTOR 4408536.
54. Imam, Fatima A. (2011). Kaminsky, Arnold P.; Long, Roger D. (eds.). India Today: An Encyclopedia of Life in the Republic : L-Z, Volume 2. ABC-CLIO. pp. 404–405. ISBN 9780313374623.
55. "vaMza". Spokensanskrit.org. Retrieved 21 April 2020.
56. Shah, K. K. (1993). "Self Legitimation and Social Primacy: A Case Study of Some Kayastha Inscriptions From Central India". Proceedings of the Indian History Congress. 54: 859. ISSN 2249-1937. JSTOR 44143088.
57. Bellenoit, Hayden J. (2017). The Formation of the Colonial State in India: Scribes, Paper and Taxes, 1760–1860. Taylor & Francis. p. 34. ISBN 978-1-134-49429-3.
58. Kumar, Saurabh (2015). "Rural Society and Rural Economy in the Ganga Valley during the Gahadavalas". Social Scientist. 43 (5/6): 29–45. ISSN 0970-0293. JSTOR 24642345. One thing is clear that by this time, Kayasthas had come to acquire prominent places in the court and officialdom and some were financially well-off to commission the construction of temples, while others were well-versed in the requisite fields of Vedic lore to earn the title of pandita for themselves. In our study, the epigraphic sources do not indicate the oppressive nature of Kayastha officials.
59. Bellenoit, Hayden J. (2017). "Kayasthas, 'caste' and administration under the Raj, c. 1860–1900". The formation of the colonial state in India: Scribes, paper and taxes, 1760–1860. Milton Park, Abingdon, UK. p. 155. ISBN 978-1-134-49429-3. OCLC 973222959. And while these Bhatnagar, Ambastha, Srivastava and Saxena families were important for the colonial state by the 1860s, they were also beneficiaries of British success and power in India. They shaped the materiality of administration and populated the ranks of the Raj's intermediary enforcement.....by 1900 they were broadly considered by various Indian , British and missionary observers to the most educated and influential of the service castes.
60. Andre Wink (1991). Al-Hind, the Making of the Indo-Islamic World, Volume 1. Brill Academic Publishers. p. 269. ISBN 978-90-04-09509-0. Retrieved 3 September 2011.
61. Sharma, Tej Ram (1978). Personal and Geographical Names in the Gupta Empire. New Delhi: Concept Publishing Company. p. 115.
62. Sharad Hebalkar (2001). Ancient Indian Ports: With Special Reference to Maharashtra. Munshiram Manoharlal Publishers. ISBN 978-81-215-0858-2.
63. Sunthankar, B. R. (1988). Nineteenth Century History of Maharashtra: 1818–1857. p. 121. The [Chandraseniya] Kayastha Prabhus, though small in number, were another caste of importance in Maharashtra. They formed one of the elite castes of Maharashtra. They also held the position of Deshpandes and Gadkaris and produced some of the best warriors in the Maratha history
64. Milton Israel and N. K. Wagle, ed. (1987). Religion and Society in Maharashtra. Center for South Asian Studies, University of Toronto, Canada. pp. 147–170.
65. Aila-Leena Matthies; Kati Närhi (4 October 2016). The Ecosocial Transition of Societies: The contribution of social work and social policy. Taylor & Francis. pp. 110–. ISBN 978-1-317-03460-5.
66. Bellenoit, Hayden J. (2017). The Formation of the Colonial State in India: Scribes, Paper and Taxes, 1760–1860. Taylor & Francis. pp. 173–176. ISBN 978-1-134-49429-3.
67. Kumar, Ashwani (2008). Community Warriors: State, Peasants and Caste Armies in Bihar. Anthem Press. p. 195.
68. Pinch, William R. (1996). Peasants and monks in British India. University of California Press. pp. 73–75, 82–83. ISBN 978-0-520-20061-6. (index)108. Buchanan, Bihar and Patna, 1811–1812, 1:329–39; (pg)Bhagvan Prasad's ministrations reflected his own personal interpretation of the social mandate implicit in the religious message of Ramanand. However, Ramanandi ambivalence toward caste emerged in discussions about the prescribed stages of a sadhu's entry into the sampraday. In his biography of Bhagvan Prasad, Sahay expressed the view that originally anyone (including untouchables) could have become Ramanandi sadhus, but that by his time (the early 1900s), "Ramanandis bring disciples from only those jatis from whom water can be taken."[107] For those designated shudra by the elite, this phrase, "from whom water can be taken," was a common enough euphemism for a person of "pure shudra" status, with whom restricted physical contact could be made. From the elite perspective, such physical contact would have occurred in the course of consuming goods and services common in everyday life; the designation "pure shudra" implied a substantial body of "impure"—hence untouchable—people with whom physical contact was both unnecessary and improper. Buchanan, in the early nineteenth century, had included in the term "pure shudra" the well-known designations of Kayasth, Koiri, Kurmi, Kahar, Goala, Dhanuk (archers, cultivators, palanquin bearers), Halwai (sweet vendors), Mali (flower gardener), Barai (cultivator and vendor of betel leaves), Sonar (goldsmith), Kandu (grain parchers), and Gareri (blanket weavers and shepherds). As a result of their very public campaign for kshatriya status in the last quarter of the century, not to mention their substantial economic and political clout, Kayasths were classified along with "Babhans" and Rajputs as "other castes of twice-born rank" in the 1901 census hierarchy for Bihar.
69. Sinha, A. (2011). Nitish Kumar and the Rise of Bihar. Viking. p. 93. ISBN 978-0-670-08459-3. Retrieved 7 April 2015.
70. Rowe, William L. (2007) [1968]. "Mobility in the Nineteenth-century Caste System". In Singer, Milton; Cohn, Bernard S. (eds.). Structure and Change in India Society (Reprinted ed.). Transaction Publishers. p. 202. ISBN 978-0-202-36138-3.
71. Roberts, Michael (1982). "Casteism in South Asian politics during British times: Emergent cultural typifications or elite fictions?". Caste conflict and elite formation: The rise of a Karāva elite in Sri Lanka, 1500-1931. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 187. ISBN 978-0521052856. [Chapter 7: pp. 180-224]. Lucy Carroll has revealed how one cannot identify a temporal evolution from Sanskritist sacred goals to Westernised secular aims because the strategies of caste associations were mixed [...] She indicates that several of the apparently Sanskritist ascetic reforms advocated by caste associations derived from the influence of Victorian puritanism and other Western values [...] In three articles: 1975, 1977 and 1978. In these essays she also pinpoints factual and interpretative errors in William L. Rowe's presentation of the Kayastha movement.
72. Stout, Lucy Carol (1976). The Hindustani Kayasthas: The Kayastha Pathshala, and the Kayastha Conference, 1873–1914. University of California, Berkeley.
73. Inden, Ronald B. (1976). Marriage and Rank in Bengali Culture: A History of Caste and Clan in Middle Period Bengal. University of California Press. p. 1. ISBN 978-0-520-02569-1.
74. Fuller, C. J.; Narasimhan, Haripriya (2014). Tamil Brahmans: The making of a middle caste. University of Chicago Press. p. 212. ISBN 9780226152882. In Bengal, the new middle class emergent under the British rule styled itself 'bhadralok', the gentry or "respectable people", and its principal constituents were the three Bengali high castes, Brahmans, Baidyas, and Kayasthas. Moreover, for the Bhadralok, a prestigious, refined culture based on education literacy and artistic skills, and the mastery of the Bengali language, counted for more than caste status itself for their social dominance in Bengal.
75. Novetzke, Christian Lee (2016). The Quotidian Revolution: Vernacularization, Religion, and the Premodern Public Sphere in India. Columbia University Press. p. 159. ISBN 9780231175807.
76. K. P. Bahadur, Sukhdev Singh Chib (1981). The Castes, Tribes and Culture of India. ESS Publications. p. 161. The [Chandraseniya] Kayastha Prabhus ... They performed three of the vedic duties or karmas, studying the Vedas adhyayan, sacrificing yajna and giving alms or dana ... The creed mostly accepted by them is that of the advaita school of Shankaracharya, though they also worship Vishnu, Ganapati and other gods.
77. Harold Robert Isaacs (1970). Harry M. Lindquist (ed.). Education: readings in the processes of cultural transmission. Houghton Mifflin. p. 88.
78. André Béteille (1992). Society and Politics in India: Essays in a Comparative Perspective. Oxford University Press. p. 48. ISBN 0195630661.
79. Aall, Ingrid (1971). Robert Paul Beech; Mary Jane Beech (eds.). Bengal: change and continuity, Issues 16–20. East Lansing: Asian Studies Center, Michigan State University. p. 32. OCLC 258335. Aurobindo's father, Dr Krishnadhan Ghose, came from a Kayastha family associated with the village of Konnagar in Hooghly District near Calcutta, Dr. Ghose had his medical training in Edinburgh...
80. Chakravarty, Ishita (1 October 2019). "Owners, creditors and traders: Women in late colonial Calcutta". The Indian Economic & Social History Review. 56 (4): 427–456. doi:10.1177/0019464619873800. ISSN 0019-4646. S2CID 210540783.
81. Dhimatkar, Abhidha (16 October 2010). "The Indian Edison". Economic and Political Weekly. 45 (42): 67–74. JSTOR 20787477.
82. Gosling (2007). Science and the Indian Tradition: When Einstein Met Tagore.
83. Santimay Chatterjee; Enakshi Chatterjee (1976). Satyendra Nath Bose. National Book Trust, India. p. 12. Satyendra Nath was born in Calcutta on the first of January, 1894, in a high caste Kayastha family with two generations of English education behind him.
84. Farmelo, Graham, "The Strangest Man", Notes on Dirac's lecture Developments in Atomic Theory at Le Palais de la Découverte, 6 December 1945, UKNATARCHI Dirac Papers, p. 331, note 64, BW83/2/257889.
85. Miller, Sean (18 March 2013). Strung Together: The Cultural Currency of String Theory as a Scientific Imaginary. University of Michigan Press. p. 63. ISBN 978-0-472-11866-3.
86. Pelinka, A.; Schell, R. (2003). Democracy Indian Style: Subhas Chandra Bose and the Creation of India's Political Culture. Transaction Publishers. p. 32. ISBN 978-07-6580-186-9.
87. Sen, Surendra Nath (1949). Indian Travels of Thevenot and Careri: Being the Third Part of the Travels of M. de Thevenot into the Levant and the Third Part of a Voyage Round the World by Dr. John Francis Gemelli Careri.
88. Sareen, Tilakraj (1994). Select Documents on the Ghadr Party. Mounto Publishing House. p. 20.
89. Malik, Yogendra K. (1981). South Asian intellectuals and social change: a study of the role of vernacular-speaking intelligentsia. Heritage. p. 63.
90. Kantak, M. R. (1978). "The Political Role of Different Hindu Castes and Communities in Maharashtra in the Foundation of the Shivaji Maharaj's Swarajya". Bulletin of the Deccan College Research Institute. 38 (1): 40–56. JSTOR 42931051.
91. Das, Sandip (2005). Jayaprakash Narayan: A Centenary Volume. Mittal Publications. p. 109. ISBN 978-81-8324-001-7.
92. Singh, M. K. (2009). Encyclopedia of Indian War of Independence (1857–1947). Anmol Publications. p. 130. Bipin Chandra Pal (1858–1932) a patriot, nationalist politician, renowned orator, journalist, and writer. Bipin Chandra Pal was born on 7 November 1858 in Sylhet in a wealthy Hindu Kayastha family
93. Israel, Milton; Wagle, N. K., eds. (1987). Religion and Society in Maharashtra. Center for South Asian Studies, University of Toronto, Canada. p. 166.
94. "Devdutt Pattanaik: Descendants of Chitragupta". mid-day. 18 February 2018. Retrieved 17 March 2020.
95. Gupta, Prakash Chandra (1998). Makers of Indian Literature: Prem Chand. Sahitya Akademi. p. 7. ISBN 978-81-260-0428-7.
96. Kumar, Ashwani (2008). Community Warriors: State, Peasants and Caste Armies in Bihar. Anthem Press. p. 33. ISBN 978-1-84331-709-8.
97. Schomer, Karine (1998). Mahadevi Varma and the Chhayavad Age of Modern Hindi Poetry. New Delhi: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-564450-6.
98. Bachchan, Harivansh Rai (1998). In the Afternoon of Time: An Autobiography. India: Penguin Books. ISBN 9780670881581.
99. Banhatti, G. S. (1995). Life and Philosophy of Swami Vivekananda. Atlantic Publishers & Distributors. p. 1. ISBN 978-81-7156-291-6.
100. Sananda Lal Ghosh,(1980), Mejda, Self-Realization Fellowship, p. 3

Further reading

• Mitra (Indian Civil Service, Superintendent of Census Operations), Asok (1953). The tribes and castes of West Bengal. Superintendent, Govt. Print. West Bengal Govt. Press.
• Leonard, Karen Isaksen (1994). Social History of an Indian Caste: The Kayasths of Hyderabad. Orient BlackSwan. ISBN 978-81-250-0032-7.

External links

• Media related to Kayastha at Wikimedia Commons

[admin]

Amrita [Soma]
by Wikipedia
Accessed: 3/21/23

-- Chandra [Chandran] [Soma], by Wikipedia

-- Soma, food of the immortals according to the Bower Manuscript (Kashmir, 6th century A.D.), by Marco Leonti and Laura Casu, 2014

Mohini, the female form of Vishnu, holding the pot of amrita, which she distributes amongst all the devas, leaving the asuras without it. Darasuram, Tamil Nadu, India

Amrita (Sanskrit: अमृत, IAST: amṛta), Amrit or Amata in Pali, (also called Sudha, Amiy, Ami) is a Sanskrit word that means "immortality". It is a central concept within Indian religions and is often referred to in ancient Indian texts as an elixir.[1] Its first occurrence is in the Rigveda, where it is considered one of several synonyms for soma, the drink of the devas.[2] Amrita plays a significant role in the Samudra Manthana, and is the cause of the conflict between devas and asuras competing for amrita to obtain immortality.[3]

-- Myrobalan: The Elixir of Life - A life-prolonging fruit of the Himalayas, by Udo Stanglmeier (2002)

***



***



-- Sidha Soma Supreme Triphala Ghee (7.5 OZ). Ingredients; Ghee, Amla fruit (Emblica officials), Billerica Myrobalan fruit (Terminalia belerica), Chebulic Myrobalan fruit (Terminalia Chebula), by The Ayurvedic Institute

***

-- Soma, food of the immortals according to the Bower Manuscript (Kashmir, 6th century A.D.), by Marco Leonti and Laura Casu, 2014

Amrita has varying significance in different Indian religions. The word Amrit is also a common first name for Sikhs and Hindus, while its feminine form is Amritā.[4] Amrita is cognate to and shares many similarities with ambrosia; both originated from a common Proto-Indo-European source.[5][6]

Etymology

Amrita is composed of the negative prefix, अ a from Sanskrit meaning 'not', and mṛtyu meaning 'death' in Sanskrit, thus meaning 'not death' or 'immortal/deathless'.

The concept of an immortality drink is attested in at least two ancient Indo-European languages: Ancient Greek and Sanskrit. The Greek ἀμβροσία (ambrosia) is semantically linked to the Sanskrit अमृत (amṛta) as both words denote a drink or food that gods use to achieve immortality. The two words appear to be derived from the same Indo-European form *ṇ-mṛ-tós, "un-dying"[7] (n-: negative prefix from which the prefix a- in both Greek and Sanskrit are derived; mṛ: zero grade of *mer-, "to die"; and -to-: adjectival suffix). A semantically similar etymology exists for Greek nectar, the beverage of the gods (Greek: νέκταρ néktar) presumed to be a compound of the PIE roots *nek-, "death", and -*tar, "overcoming".

Amrita is repeatedly referred to as the drink of the devas, which grants them immortality. Despite this, the nectar does not actually offer true immortality. Instead, by partaking it, the devas were able to attain a higher level of knowledge and power, which they had lost due to the curse of the sage Durvasa, as described in the Samudra Manthana legend. It tells how the devas, after the curse, begin to lose their immortality. Assisted by their rivals, the asuras, the devas begin to churn the ocean, releasing, among other extraordinary objects and beings, a pitcher of amrita, held by the deity Dhanvantari.[8]

Brahma enlightens the devas regarding the existence of this substance:[9]

O Devas, in the northern division and on the northern bank of the ocean of milk there is a most excellent place called Amrita (nectar): so the wise say. Go there and being self-controlled practise hard austerities. There you will hear most sacred, purified words relating to Brahman grave like the muttering of clouds surcharged with water in the rainy season. That celestial speech is destructive of all sins and was spoken by the god of gods of pure soul. So long as your vow will not terminate you will hear that great universal speech. O gods, you have come to me and I am ready to grant you boons. Tell me what boon you do want.

— Harivamsa Purana, Chapter 43

When the asuras claim the nectar for themselves, Vishnu assumes the form of the enchantress Mohini, and her beauty persuades the asuras to crudely offer her the task of its distribution:[10]

Seeing that beautiful form, they were fascinated and were overwhelmed with the passion of love. Giving up their mutual struggle, they approached and spoke:

“O blessed lady! Take this pitcher of Nectar and distribute it amongst us. We are the sons of Kaśyapa; O lady with beautiful buttocks, make us all drink it (Nectar).”

Requesting her thus, they handed it over to the lady who was reluctant. She spoke, “No faith should be entertained in me, as I am a self-willed (i.e. wanton) woman. You have done an improper act. I shall, however, distribute it as per my will.” Though she told them so, those stupid ones said, “Do as you please”.

— Skanda Purana, Chapter 13

Vishnu took the form of the beauty Mohini and distributed the amrita to devas. When Svarabhānu tried to steal the amrita, his head was cut off.

When the danava Rahu disguised himself as a deva and sat in the clan's row to partake in consuming the nectar, Surya and Chandra alerted Mohini of his presence. Mohini sliced his head off with her Sudarshana Chakra, and continued to distribute the nectar to every single one of the devas, after which she assumed her true form of Narayana and defeated the asuras in a battle.[11]

Sikhism

In Sikhism, amrit (Punjabi: ਅੰਮ੍ਰਿਤ) is the name of the holy water used in Amrit Sanchar, a ceremony which resembles baptism. This ceremony is observed to initiate the Sikhs into the Khalsa and requires drinking amrit.[12] This is created by mixing a number of soluble ingredients, including sugar, and is then rolled with a khanda with the accompaniment of scriptural recitation of five sacred verses.

Metaphorically, God's name is also referred to as a nectar:

ਅੰਮ੍ਰਿਤ ਸਬਦੁ ਅੰਮ੍ਰਿਤ ਹਰਿ ਬਾਣੀ ॥
Amrit sabad amrit hari bāṇī.
The Shabda is Amrit; the Lord's bani is Amrit.

ਸਤਿਗੁਰਿ ਸੇਵਿਐ ਰਿਦੈ ਸਮਾਣੀ ॥
Satiguri sēviai ridai samāṇī.
Serving the True Guru, it permeates the heart.

ਨਾਨਕ ਅੰਮ੍ਰਿਤ ਨਾਮੁ ਸਦਾ ਸੁਖਦਾਤਾ ਪੀ ਅੰਮ੍ਰਿਤੁ ਸਭ ਭੁਖ ਲਹਿ ਜਾਵਣਿਆ ॥
Nānak amrit nāmu sadā sukhdātā pī amritu sabha bhukh lahi jāvaṇiā.
O Nanak, the Ambrosial Naam is forever the Giver of peace; drinking in this Amrit, all hunger is satisfied.[13]


Old Sikh fresco art from the Akal Takht, Amritsar of Guru Gobind Singh preparing Amrit

Buddhism

Buddha is called as "Amata Santam" in Pali Literature.

Theravada Buddhism

According to Thanissaro Bhikkhu, "the deathless" refers to the deathless dimension of the mind which is dwelled in permanently after nibbana.[14]

In the Amata Sutta, the Buddha advises monks to stay with the four Satipatthana: "Monks, remain with your minds well-established in these four establishings of mindfulness. Don't let the deathless be lost to you."[15]

In the questions for Nagasena, King Milinda asks for evidence that the Buddha once lived, wherein Nagasena describes evidence of the Dhamma in a simile:

"Revered Nagasena, what is the nectar shop of the Buddha, the Blessed One?"

"Nectar, sire, has been pointed out by the Blessed One. With this nectar the Blessed One sprinkles the world with the devas; when the devas and the humans have been sprinkled with this nectar, they are set free from birth, aging, disease, death, sorrow, lamentation, pain, grief and despair. What is this nectar? It is mindfulness occupied with the body. And this too, sire, was said by the Blessed One: 'Monks, they partake of nectar (the deathless) who partake of mindfulness that is occupied with the body.' This, sire, is called the Blessed One's nectar shop."

— Miln 335[16]

Chinese Buddhism

Chinese Buddhism describes Amrita (Chinese: 甘露; pinyin: gānlù) as blessed water, food, or other consumable objects often produced through merits of chanting mantras.

Vajrayana Buddhism

See also: Pre-sectarian Buddhism § Ideas and practices

Amrita (Tibetan: བདུད་རྩི་, Wylie: bdud rtsi, THL: dütsi) also plays a significant role in Vajrayana Buddhism as a sacramental drink which is consumed at the beginning of all important rituals such as the abhisheka, ganachakra, and homa. In the Tibetan tradition, dütsi is made during drubchens – lengthy ceremonies involving many high lamas. It usually takes the form of small, dark-brown grains that are taken with water, or dissolved in very weak solutions of alcohol and is said to improve physical and spiritual well-being.[17]

The foundational text of traditional Tibetan medicine, the Four Tantras, is also known by the name The Heart of Amrita (Wylie: snying po bsdus pa).

The Immaculate Crystal Garland (Wylie: dri med zhal phreng) describes the origin of amrita in a version of the samudra manthana legend retold in Buddhist terms. In this Vajrayana version, the monster Rahu steals the amrita and is blasted by Vajrapani's thunderbolt. As Rahu has already drunk the amrita he cannot die, but his blood, dripping onto the surface of this earth, causes all kinds of medicinal plants to grow. At the behest of all the Buddhas, Vajrapani reassembles Rahu who eventually becomes a protector of Buddhism according to the Nyingma school of Tibetan Buddhism.

Inner Offering (Wylie: Nang chod, Chinese: 内供) is the most symbolic amrita offering assembly, and the Inner Offering Nectar Pill (Wylie: Nang chod bdud rtsi rilbu, Chinese: 内供甘露丸) is a precious and secret medicine of Tibetan Buddhism, which are only used internally for higher-ranking monks in Nyingma school. Its ingredients including Five Amrita and Five Meat, which represents five buddhas, and five elements respectively. According to Tantras of Chakravarti, and Tantras of Vajravārāhī, a ceremony needs to be held for melting and blessing the Inner-Offering Nectar. Five Nectar needs to be arranged in four directions: yellow excrement in the east, green bone marrow in the north, white semen in the west and red blood in the south; blue urine is placed in the center. Four Nectar should come from wise monks and the ova should be collected from the first menstruation of a blessed woman. The Five Meats are arranged similarly, meat of black bull in the southeast, the meat of the blue dog in the southwest, the meat of the white elephant in the northwest, the meat of the green horse in the northeast, and the meat of a red human corpse in the center. After the ceremony, these ingredients will transform into a one taste (ekarasa) elixir, which bestows bliss, vitality, immortality and wisdom. Actual modern practitioner will take a 'synthesized essence' of the Nectar Pill and combined it with black tea or alcohol, but mostly the "Nectar Pill" are derived from plants.[18]

See also

Look up amrita in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

• Ameretat
• Ambrosia
• Elixir of Life
• Panchamrita
• Peaches of Immortality
• Potion
• Soma
• Traditional Tibetan medicine
• All pages with titles beginning with Amrit
• All pages with titles beginning with Amrut

References

1. "amrita | Hindu mythology | Britannica". http://www.britannica.com. Retrieved 2021-11-13.
2. "Soma: The Nectar of the Gods". History of Ayurveda. Retrieved 2021-11-13.
3. Pattanaik, Devdutt (February 27, 2016). "Good deva-bad asura divide misleading". The Times of India. Retrieved 2021-11-13.
4. "BBC - Religions - Sikhism: Amrit ceremony". http://www.bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 2021-11-13.
5. Walter W. Skeat, Etymological English Dictionary
6. "Ambrosia" in Chambers's Encyclopædia. London: George Newnes, 1961, Vol. 1, p. 315.
7. Mallory, J. P. (1997). "Sacred drink". In Mallory, J. P.; Adams, Douglas Q. (eds.). Encyclopedia of Indo-European Culture. Taylor & Francis. p. 538. Mallory also connects to this root an Avestan word, and notes that the root is "dialectally restricted to the IE southeast".
8. Gopal, Madan (1990). K.S. Gautam (ed.). India through the ages. Publication Division, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Government of India. p. 66.
9. http://www.wisdomlib.org (2020-11-14). "Brahma Instructs the Devas to Go to Vishnu [Chapter 43]". http://www.wisdomlib.org. Retrieved 2022-08-03.
10. http://www.wisdomlib.org (2020-03-05). "Gods Drink the Nectar [Chapter 13]". http://www.wisdomlib.org. Retrieved 2022-08-03.
11. http://www.wisdomlib.org (2020-03-05). "Gods Drink the Nectar [Chapter 13]". http://www.wisdomlib.org. Retrieved 2022-08-03.
12. "Taking Amrit: Initiation". pluralism.org. Retrieved 2021-11-13.
13. Guru Granth Sahib, page 119
14. "All About Change", by Thanissaro Bhikkhu. Access to Insight (Legacy Edition), 5 June 2010, http://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/auth ... hange.html
15. "Amata Sutta: Deathless" (SN 47.41), translated from the Pali by Thanissaro Bhikkhu. Access to Insight (Legacy Edition), 17 February 2012, http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka ... .than.html
16. "The Blessed One's City of Dhamma: From the Milindapañha", based on the translation by I.B. Horner. Access to Insight (Legacy Edition), 30 November 2013, http://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/auth ... bl130.html
17. Dutsi, A Brief Description of the Benefits of the Sacred Ambrosial Medicine, The Unsurpassable, Supreme Samaya Substance that Liberates Through Taste.
18. The handbook of Tibetan Buddhist symbols, Robert Beer. ISBN 1590301005, Boston, MA. :Shambhala, 2003.

Sources

• Dallapiccola, Anna L. Dictionary of Hindu Lore and Legend. ISBN 0-500-51088-1

External links

• Ayurvedic Rasayana – Amrit
• Immortal Boons of Amrit and Five Kakars
• Depictions in stone at Angkor Wat and Angkor Thom (Cambodia) of how the gods dredged amrit from the bottom of the ocean
• https://web.archive.org/web/20110110035 ... rowley.htm
• https://web.archive.org/web/20110707061 ... brosia.htm

************************

Offer therefore to Indra this (soma), as fiery as he himself can be; this (soma), ornament of sacrifice, joy of mortals, love of (god) who descends towards us, and gives us happiness....

Indra's breast, thirsty with soma, must always be filled with it: as the sea is always (swollen with water), so the tongue is constantly moistened with saliva....

In this place where, like two djaghanas, appear the two basins intended for the soma, Indra, come and drink the juice prepared in the mortar....

Whatever work you are employed in every house, O mortar! resounds in a brilliant manner, like the drum of the victors.

O pestle! at your extremity the air blows with force. O mortar! prepare Indra's drink.

O mortar! o pestle! instruments of sacrifice, you who prepare the dishes (of the gods), separate yourselves, unite like the jaws which grind the food.

HUNG. In the mortar of the blazing wrathful female,
By the beat of the vajra hammer,
Even gods can be slain.

-- -- The Miraculous Activity Sadhana of Vajrakilaya, the Razor Which Destroys at a Touch, by His Holiness Dudjom Rinpoche, Jigdrel Yeshe Dorje

Noble wooden instruments, with these noble soma makers, you prepare for us today for Indra a drink as sweet as honey.

Thou, (Haristchandra), carry away the soma falls into the basin; pour it on the filter, and let the cowhide receive it ...

O Soma, you who are like the immortal prince (of this feast), hear (these prayers) which celebrate your glory!...

Son of Canwa, the libations, treasure of the resplendent (god), are arranged in their basin. (O Aswins), where is your form?

However the soma is colored, the sun begins to turn golden. I see it in Agni's tongue turning black...

The intoxicating soma is prepared, and the priest adds to it the harmony of his songs....

Our joyous libations, poured out in your honor and carried on the wings of the hawk (poetic), have intoxicated your heart. Strengthened by these offerings, (god) armed with lightning, in the midst of the (celestial) waves, you have vigorously struck Vritra, thus consecrating your kingship....

1. O Soma, your services are appreciated by our spirit. You lead us in the best way. Under your direction, o god called Hindu, our fathers, pious and wise, obtained the favor of the gods.

2. O Soma, holy in holy things, strong in strong things, generous in bountiful things, abundant in abundant things, you are opulent, you are great, you are the preceptor of men.

3. Your works are those of the royal Varouna; your influence, o Soma, is wide and deep. Pure like lovable Mitra, like Aryaman, o Soma, you give increase (to beings).

4. The influence that you possess in heaven, on earth, on images, plants and waters, O Soma, gentle and clement king, deign to exercise it in our favor, and accept our holocausts!

5. O Soma, you are the master of the saints, you are king and conqueror of Vritra, you are the agent of our happiness.

6. Death shall not overtake us, (if) thy desire is that we live, o Soma, thou who lovest our praises, and art Vanaspati.

7. O Soma, you give to the man who offers the sacrifice, whether young or old, a fitting share in the goods of life.

8. King Soma, defend us against all the wicked; the friend (of a god) such as you cannot perish.

9. O Soma, grant us these protective aids with which you surround your faithful.

10. Accept this sacrifice and this hymn, and come, O Soma, to increase our well-being!

11. By our songs we know how to increase your glory, o Soma! Come visit us kindly.

12. O Soma, increase our wealth, ward off disease from us, enlarge our treasures, double our opulence; be a true friend to us!

13. Soma, be happy in our hearts, like the cow in the pasture, like the father of the family in his house.

14. Divine Soma, a wise and benevolent (god), (like you), attaches himself to the mortal who puts his happiness in your friendship.

15. O Soma, deliver us from imprecation! keep us from evil! be a diligent friend to us!

16. Believe then, o Soma! appear in all the fullness of your strength, and gather in you all good things!

17. Believe, blessed Soma, and adorn yourself in all your splendours! Be a friend who opens to us the source of abundance and glory!

18. Conqueror of your enemies, may the sweetness, abundance and strength of food be united in you! Crescent, o Soma, for the immortal ambrosia, become for us in heaven the treasury of the most precious food!

19. All these goods, which are offered here in holocaust, come from you: that (Agni) envelops (with his flames) our sacrifice! O Soma, you who increase our opulence and who make our salvation, you who are the strength of our heroes and the death of our enemies, come and visit our homes.

20. To him who honors him, Soma gives cows, light steeds, courageous and skilful sons, distinguished in their household, in the sacrifices, in the assemblies, subject to their father.

21. O Soma, let us be happy with a (god like you), who, invincible in war, fulfills our wishes in battle, who gives us prosperity with the waters (of the rain), who protects the sacrifice, and who, growing in the midst of offerings, possessor of a brilliant abode, shows himself glorious and triumphant.

22. O Soma, it is you who have produced all the plants, the waters and the cows, you who have extended the vast sky, you who in your light buried the darkness.

23. Mighty God, o Soma, may your divine prudence grant us the share of riches (which we desire)! Fight for us; no one can fight you. Thou art lord of might, and reigneth over both parties: give us superiority in battle....

4. Agni and Soma, we know your power. It burst, when you took away from Pani the (celestial) cows of which he was the guardian; when you killed the son of Brisaya, and caused the unique light (of the sun) to shine for all.

5. It is you, Agni and Soma, who, uniting your efforts, have placed in heaven these sparkling (stars); you, Agni and Soma, who delivered the chained rivers from the odious imprecation launched against them.

6. Matariswan comes from heaven to animate one of you (with his breath); the other is drawn from the mortar by the (poetic) hawk. It is you, Agni and Soma, who, growing through prayer, have, for the sacrifice, founded a large site.

7. Agni and Soma, come and take your share of our holocaust, and deign to have it as a pleasure. Beneficent (gods) and fortunes, be our protectors, and fill with happiness the one who sacrifices you.

8. Agni and Soma, protect the piety of (man) who honors the gods with a devoted soul and libations of butter; keep him from evil, and grant great prosperity to the faithful people.

9. Agni and Soma, you to whom we address the same offerings and the same invocations, receive our prayers: you are great among the gods.

10. Agni and Soma, give glory and wealth to him who pours this sacred butter in your honor.

11. Agni and Soma, may our burnt offerings be pleasing to you! come together with us.

12. Agni and Soma, take our couriers under your protection; let our cows multiply, and give their milk for our libations. Grant us strength with wealth. Let opulence become the price of our sacrifice!...

Let us pour the soma in honor of the powerful, liberal and generous (god), who possesses the force of justice, who, noble hero, knows, like the robber of the highway, to lay an ambush for the impious, and distribute his remains....

1. O Indra and Agni, on this magnificent chariot from the top of which you see all the worlds, come together, and drink from the soma which has been prepared.

2. The soma that I offer you to drink is as abundant as this universe is wide, deep, extended. O Indra and Agni, suffice your desires!

3. You have associated your names with glory. Together you killed Vritra. Together, o Indra and Agni, come and sit (at our sacrifice); Generous gods, taste the soma poured out to you by the father of the family.

4. So the fires are kindled for you; the butter, the cups and the bed of cousa, are prepared in your honor; libations are lavished; o Indra and Agni, come here for our happiness.

5. O Indra and Agni, these prowess, these vigorous manifestations, these ancient testimonies of a happy friendship, deign to renew them for us, and drink of the soma which has been prepared!

6. I have already said, honoring you with respect, that this soma was intended for those (gods) who are our life. Relying on my word, come, and drink from the soma which has been prepared....

(The victorious god) has just appeared: may he excite our transports of joy. It shines like the sun following the dawn. That offered by us without reserve, and accompanied by our songs, the soma springs from the sacred spoon onto the hearth....

Notes:

These liqueurs were made with grains that were allowed to ferment, or with the juice of asclepias acida, called soma....

Before the day of the sacrifice, the head of the family had to send to the mountains to fetch the soma (asclepias acida or sarcostema viminalis), collect the wood, and make all the arrangements for the offerings and the meal...

The chamu or tchamasa is a vase which contains the soma: it is also the spoon with which it is served. Sometimes this word is used for the skin filter through which the drink is passed to clarify it, and perhaps also for the press....

The expression is gravahasta, lapidem manu tenens; and the word graven no doubt designates the earthen vessels used in the sacrifices. It could well also be the mortars or the stones which were used to clean the barley or to crush the soma: however the mortar seems to have been made of wood....

Soma is not the god Lunus; it is the libation of the personified soma....

Or three times seven different offerings. On the occasion of this verse, the commentator explains that, in the vase of sacrifice, there are three kinds of offerings, which he qualifies as upper offerings, middle offerings, lower offerings. He also distinguishes three classes (varga) of sacrifices: the haviryadjnas, the pacayadjnas, the somasansthanas. He cites sacrifices belonging to each of these three classes, sacrifices in which the Ribhous were probably invoked. Elsewhere he says that there are seven offerings called hotra, and accompanied by the exclamation vachat....

Soma is libation personified. These waters here in question are sometimes taken for the different kinds of libations, and I think that all these invocations are addressed to the Waters considered in the sacrifice. Thus, in verse 17, when the poet speaks of the Waters which precede the birth of the Sun (Oupasourye), and of those which accompany it, it seems to me that he designates the libations of the morning and those of the day. In verse 18, the cows quenched by these Waters are the rays of Agni....

The Soma, pressed by the pestle in the mortar, was thrown into a basin (tchamou); it was poured over a filter, which was a pierced cowhide....

The commentator thinks that it is a question here of Soma, god of the moon, and of one of the constellations considered as his wives. I believe that Soma is the libation, and his beloved is the flame of Agni. These foods with which the chariot of the Aswins is loaded are either the offerings that are made to these gods, or the goods with which they fill men....

Soma, as we have already seen, is the libation personified: it is also given the name Hindu. The same two names still apply to the moon....

A legend tells that, in a sacrifice which is going to be celebrated in honor of the gods, is born first (that is to say is brought) Agni, the fire of the sacrifice, and, secondly, the mortar in which the seeds are crushed; in the third place, another person is born: it is Soma or the libation, which takes the name of Trita. Trita is in the cup of the sacrifice: the Asuras arrive, and place guards to prevent the consummation of the sacrifice. Trita kills these guards....

The text bears the word Syena, which is the name of the hawk, and at the same time the name of a poetic meter. The commentary indicates this meaning by representing the soma as the door on the wings of the Gayatri. Without this indication from the commentator, I would have heard that the soma is carried towards Indra by Agni, who has the swiftness of a hawk....

I don't think this hymn is dedicated to the Moon; it is intended to celebrate the god of the libation, called Soma and Hindu, names which have also been given to the Moon. The power of the Soma is that of the sacrifice itself....

In the midst of the songs of sacrifice, the Soma passes from the mortar into the cups....

The commentator supposes that this hymn is by Coutsa, or rather by a certain Richi called Trita, son of the Waters: the hymn was composed, he says, at a time when the latter, rushing into a well, could see the rays of the moon. We have already seen (see reading IV, note 36) a legend about the birth of the character known as Trita. Here, it is said that three Richis, Ecata, Dwita and Trita, traveled together in a forest; they came to a well. After having refreshed themselves, the companions of Trita threw him into this well, and seized his effects. Another legend considers Ecata, Dwita and Trita as one and the same character who is reborn up to three times. The meaning of this hymn can be allegorical; for Trita is the personified soma; he is in the well, that is to say in the basin which contains the libation; he aspires to get out of it, and addresses his complaints to all the gods. It even seems to me, from its name, that Trita must be especially the third libation, or that of the evening. After having been Ecata on first libation, Dwita or second libation, this character aspires to become Trita. I have heard in this sense the details of this evening hymn. Such is the position of things in the first stanza: the night is coming, and the moon is shining in the sky. We no longer see the rays of the sun. The Richi or rather Trita speaks....

Trita, being the soma personified, dwells in the place of sacrifice, where Agni shines with the seven rays....

The daughter of the Sun or of the Day (see reading VIII, hymn 1, verse 1), is the Night. The commentator relates that the daughter of the Sun, whom he names Sourya, was destined by him for Soma. The other gods also asked for her in marriage. They agreed that it would be the price of a race whose goal would be the sun; the Aswins were the victors, and put Sourya on their chariot. The passage we are explaining seems to indicate that the very daughter of the Sun, like another Hippodamia, ran the luck of the fight, and was victorious with the aid of the horse of the Aswins....

Section Two

O Indra, drink this limpid soma which the pestle has expressed from the treasure (from the seed), like the bull thirsty, yea, like the bull drinks (water) from the well. That to this source of intoxication (divine) which excites you and sustains you, your horses bring you, as well as the Days, yes, as well as the Days (bring) the Sun....

For you this soma has been pressed; for you it has been purified, and in the vase which contains it it takes on wonderful colors; yes, it has brilliant colors. This is what the children of Ayou and the Devas (mortals) offer you. O Vayou, bring your couriers; come join us; yes, pleasure is calling you, come join us.

With your hundred, with your thousand couriers, o Vayou, come and enjoy our sacrifice; yes, come and enjoy our holocausts. To you this solemn and shining soma in the rays of the sun! (Your servants) handed over to the priests (those drinks), which for you, o Vayou, they prepared with eager zeal; yes, with zealous eagerness....

O horse, you are Yama, you are Aditya, you are Trita, by mysterious agreement. At marked moments you find yourself sprinkled with soma: for you are recognized in the sky as three stations....

This sacred enclosure is the beginning of the earth; this sacrifice is the center of the world. This soma is the seed of the fruitful steed. This priest is the first patron of the (holy) word....

But I just saw thick smoke coming out of the lower part of the hearth. The brilliant soma was spread on the fire. These were the first duties to be fulfilled....

See, Indra, this sacrifice prepared for the gods, this meeting, these songs, this soma. O Sacra, come and sit on this lawn that strews the earth, and drink (of our liqueurs). Bring your Azure Horses here....

[At the Aswins] Your horses roam the worlds; your chariot soars through the air. Your wheels are overloaded (with goods); and when you come to drink the soma, you unite with the Auroras....

O Soma, if we have given you the pure substance of our cows, become Vatapi; puff yourself up for us.

O plant (which must serve for our libations), take the form of our (sacred) cakes; broad, salutary, airy, become Vatapi; puff yourself up for us....

1. (The being) who walks is as if stopped within dark vapours. The Darkness enveloped the two luminous torches.

2. But behold, (the Dawn) comes, and destroys this Darkness; it comes from the extremity of the sky, it strikes them down and reduces them to dust.

3. The Saras, the Cousaras, the Darbhas, the Seryas, the Mondjas, the Verinas, everything was invisible, and enveloped in this Darkness.

4. The cows were retired to their stables, the hosts of the forests to their lairs; the men were numb, all enveloped by this Darkness.

5. But these Darknesses have been betrayed by the morning, like thieves. O Darkness, you saw the light, and you arose from your sleep.

6. You have Heaven for father, Earth for mother, Soma for your brother, Aditi for sister. O Darkness, you have seen the light; get up, and return happily (to your stay).

7. Mutilated, cut to pieces, tapered like needles, go, o Darkness, and deliver us from your presence!

8. In the east the Sun rises in plain sight; he kills the Darkness, he devours all these black vapors, issued from malevolent geniuses.

9. Yes, the Sun rises to destroy many (evils); it is Aditya coming with the Winds to show himself to all, and kill the Darkness.

"The 'pure substance' or the 'elixir' ... obtained from the entrails of Mother Nature, is in alchemy nothing other than the gynergy so sought after in Tantrism. Just like the Tantric, the alchemist thus draws a distinction between the 'coarse' and the 'sublime' feminine. After the destruction of the 'dark mother', the so-called nigredo, the second phase follows, which goes by the name of albedo ('whitening'). The adept understands this to mean the 'liberation' of the subtle feminine ('pure substance') from the clutches of the coarse 'dragon' (prima materia)....

The master has thus transformed the black matter, which for him symbolizes the dark mother, following its burning or cutting up in his laboratory into an ethereal 'girl' and then distilled from this the 'pure Sophia', the incarnation of wisdom, the 'chaste moon goddess', the 'white queen of heaven'. One text talks 'of the transformation of the Babylonian whore into a virgin' (Evola, 1993, p. 207)....

Why are you so nasty to me?



It's not nice to throw ink on my face.

Now this transmutation is not, as a contemporary observer would perhaps imagine the process to be, a purely spiritual/mental procedure. In the alchemist’s laboratory, some form of black starting substance is in fact burned up, and a chemical, usually liquid substance really is extracted from this material, which the adept captures in a pear-shaped flask at the end of the experiment. The Indians refer to this liquid as rasa, their European colleagues as the 'elixir'. Hence the name for Indian alchemy — Rasayana.

Even though all the interpreters in the discussion of the alchemic 'virgin image' (the subtle feminine) are of the unanimous opinion that this is a matter of the spiritual and psychological source of inspiration for the man, this nevertheless has a physical existence as a magical fluid. The 'white woman', the 'holy Sophia' is both an image of desire of the masculine psyche and the visible elixir in a glass. (In connection with the seed gnosis we shall show that this is also the case in Tantrism.)

This elixir has many names and is called among other things 'moon dew”' or aqua sapientiae (water of wisdom) or 'white virgin milk'. The final (chemical) extraction of the wonder milk is known as ablactatio (milking). Even in such a concrete point there are parallels to Tantrism: In the still to be described 'Vase initiation' of the Kalachakra Tantra, the ritual vessels which are offered up to the vajra master in sacrifice, represent the wisdom consorts (mudras). They are called 'the vase that holds the white [the milk]' (Dhargyey, 1985, p.. Whatever ingredients this 'moon dew' may consist of, in both cultural circles, it is considered to be the elixir of wisdom (prajna) and a liquid form of gynergy. It is as strongly desired by every European adept as by every Tibetan tantric master....

We can thus state that, in Tantrism, the relation between the real woman (karma mudra) and the imaginary spirit woman (inana mudra) is the same as that between the dark mother (prima materia) and the 'chaste moon goddess' (the feminine life-elixir or gynergy) in European alchemy. Therefore, the sacrifice of karma mudra (prima materia), drawn usually from the lower classes, and her transformation into a Buddhist 'goddess' (inana mudra) is an alchemic drama. Another variation upon the identical hermetic play emerges in the victory of the vajra master over the dark horror dakini (prima materia) and her slaughter, after which she (post mortem) enters the tantric stage as a gentle, floating figure — as a nectar-giving 'sky walker' ('the chaste moon goddess'). The witch-like cemetery whore has transformed herself into a sweet granter of wisdom.

-- "The Shadow of the Dalai Lama," by Victor and Victoria Trimondi

-- Temptations of Dr. Antonio (Le Tentazioni Del Dottor Antonio), directed by Federico Fellini, Starring Anita Ekberg and Peppino De Felippo

10. (Couchoumbhaca speaks). "Let these vapors to my voice extend over the Sun, like those tents with which the dwelling of the man who distributes sweet liquors is covered. Like the Sun, let us be immortal! The (god) whom carry azure steeds, of these waves united to the Sun in the celestial abode, formed you, sweet liquor of immortality!

11. "Like a magnificent bird, (he rises) and absorbs your vapours. Like the Sun, let us be immortal! The (god) carried by azure steeds, of those waves united to the Sun in the celestial abode, formed you, sweet liquor of immortality!...

He who deserves the prayer of the rich and the poor, of the priest and the poet who begs him; who, distinguished by his beautiful face, is the guardian of the soma presented to him by the (sacred) cup: peoples, this is Indra....

[To Indra] 1. The (rainy) season is the mother of the plant (of the soma); (the plant) is born and grows rapidly in the midst of the waters with which it is surrounded. It grows branches that fill with juice. But what gives the soma this increase is what must first be sung.

2. Streams of juice flow from all sides, and go to the same vase which contains them. They all follow the same path. O you who have done this, it is you who must first be sung.

3. A man accompanies the offerings with his voice; another comes who undertakes the works, and who consumes the articles of the sacrifice; by the orders of a third everything is executed. O you who have done this, it is you who must first be sung.

4. The assistants share with the various beings the happy fruits of the sacrifice. They go after wealth, which becomes for them like too heavy a burden. (Agni), skilled in breaking the bonds of things, crushes under his teeth the offerings of the father of the family. O you who have done this, it is you who must first be sung.

5. You who discovered the earth in the face of heaven; you who, by the death of Ahi, gave rise to the (celestial) rivers; you, divine being, whom the Devas have formed with their praises, as with the waters one forms the food (of men), it is you who must be sung.

6. You who give food; who, from the moistened (stem) which you have swollen, draws grain as sweet as honey; who are a treasure to your servant, it is you who must be sung.

7. You who, to manifest your supreme generosity, have produced salutary flowers and plants; who have formed the various lights of heaven; who has spread wide spaces like you, it is you who should be sung....

Priests, offer Indra the happy (soma); purified by the fire of the venerable (Agni), let him be presented to (a god) no less venerable. Indra loves what comes from your hands: give him the intoxicating soma....

During the tricadrous, may the great, the resplendent (Indra) come, at his pleasure, with Vishnu, take our barley offerings and drink the soma! Let him get drunk on our beverages to be able to accomplish his great work, (this god) vast and great! May this holy and divine liquor unite with the holy and divine Indra!...

From Soma and Pouchan are born Wealth, and Heaven, and Earth. Hardly had these two guardians of the world seen the light of day, than the Devas surrounded them with their pious ambrosia.

That (the Devas) honor these gods at their birth; may these gods dispel the abhorred darkness. That with Soma and Pouchan, Indra produce within the young cows (celestes) an abundant milk....

Get abundant soma, as sweet as honey, offered to you by the children of Sounahotra. Drink this intoxicating and happy (liquor)....

-- Rig-Veda Or Book Of Hymns, Translated from Sanskrit by M. Langlois, Member of the Institut, 1848

[admin]

Part 1 of 2

Soma, food of the immortals according to the Bower Manuscript (Kashmir, 6th century A.D.)
by Marco Leonti, Department of Biomedical Sciences, University of Cagliari, Via Ospedale 72, 09124 Cagliari (CA), Italy
Laura Casu, Department of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Cagliari, Via Ospedale 72, 09124 Cagliari (CA), Italy
Journal of Ethnopharmacology
Available online 5 June 2014
© 2014 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Corresponding author. Tel.: þ39 0706758712; fax: þ39 0706758553.
E-mail addresses: marcoleonti@netscape.net, mleonti@unica.it (M. Leonti).

NOTICE: THIS WORK MAY BE PROTECTED BY COPYRIGHT

YOU ARE REQUIRED TO READ THE COPYRIGHT NOTICE AT THIS LINK BEFORE YOU READ THE FOLLOWING WORK, THAT IS AVAILABLE SOLELY FOR PRIVATE STUDY, SCHOLARSHIP OR RESEARCH PURSUANT TO 17 U.S.C. SECTION 107 AND 108. IN THE EVENT THAT THE LIBRARY DETERMINES THAT UNLAWFUL COPYING OF THIS WORK HAS OCCURRED, THE LIBRARY HAS THE RIGHT TO BLOCK THE I.P. ADDRESS AT WHICH THE UNLAWFUL COPYING APPEARED TO HAVE OCCURRED. THANK YOU FOR RESPECTING THE RIGHTS OF COPYRIGHT OWNERS.

“By this time the soma had begun to work. Eyes shone, cheeks were flushed, the inner light of universal benevolence broke out on every face in happy, friendly smiles”

-- Brave New World, Aldous Huxley, 1932

Abstract

Ethnopharmacological relevance: Food is medicine and vice versa. In Hindu and Ayurvedic medicine, and among human cultures of the Indian subcontinent in general, the perception of the food-medicine continuum is especially well established. The preparation of the exhilarating, gold-coloured Soma, Amrita or Ambrosia, the elixir and food of the ‘immortals’ -- the Hindu pantheon -- by the ancient Indo-Aryans, is described in the Rigveda in poetic hymns. Different theories regarding the botanical identity of Soma circulate, but no pharmacologically and historically convincing theory exists to date. We intend to contribute to the botanical, chemical and pharmacological characterisation of Soma through an analysis of two historical Amrita recipes recorded in the Bower Manuscript. The recipes are referred therein as panaceas (clarified butter) and also as a medicine to treat nervous diseases (oil), while no exhilarating properties are mentioned. Notwithstanding this, we hypothesise, that these recipes are related to the ca. 1800 years older Rigvedic Soma. We suppose that the psychoactive Soma ingredient(s) are among the components, possibly in smaller proportions, of the Amrita recipes preserved in the Bower Manuscript.

Materials and methods: The Bower Manuscript is amedical treatise recorded in the 6th century A.D. in Sanskrit on birch bark leaves, probably by Buddhist monks, and unearthed towards the end of the 19th century in Chinese Turkestan. We analysed two Amrita recipes from the Bower Manuscript, which was translated by Rudolf Hoernle into English during the early 20th century. A database search with the updated Latin binomials of the herbal ingredients was used to gather quantitative phytochemical and pharmacological information. Results: Together, both Amrita recipes contain around 100 herbal ingredients. Psychoactive alkaloid containing species still important in Ayurvedic, Chinese and Thai medicine and mentioned in the recipe for ‘Amrita-Prâsa clarified butter’ and ‘Amrita Oil’ are: Tinospora cordifolia (Amrita, Guduchi), three Sida spp., Mucuna pruriens, Nelumbo nucifera, Desmodium gangeticum, and Tabernaemontana divaricata. These species contain several notorious and potential psychoactive and psychedelic alkaloids, namely: tryptamines, 2-phenylethylamine, ephedrine, aporphines, ibogaine, and L-DOPA. Furthermore, protoberberine alkaloids, tetrahydro- - carbolines, and tetrahydroisoquinolines with monoamine oxidase inhibitor (MAO-I) activity but also neurotoxic properties are reported.

Conclusions: We propose that Soma was a combination of a protoberberine alkaloids containing Tinospora cordifolia juice with MAO-I properties mixed together with a tryptamine rich Desmodium gangeticum extract or a blending of Tinospora cordifolia with an ephedrine and phenylethylamine-rich Sida spp. extract. Tinospora cordifolia combined with Desmodium gangeticum might provide a psychedelic experience with visual effects, while a combination of Tinospora cordifolia with Sida spp. might lead to more euphoric and amphetaminelike experiences.

1. Introduction

The attempt of botanically identifying Soma, or the ingredients of soma-rasa, the ritual and intoxicating drink of the ancient Indo-Aryans, produced a wealth of theories and literature (e.g. Wasson, 1968; Falk, 1989; Flattery and Schwartz, 1989; McKenna, 1992; McDonald, 2004). Praised in the Rigveda as ‘Soma’ and in the Avesta as ‘Haoma’, both terms have their origin in the Indo-Iranian ‘sau’ meaning to “crush or grind by pressing with a pestle in a mortar” (Flattery and Schwartz, 1989, p.: 117). The Rigveda is the oldest text transmitted from the Vedic period, which lasted from approximately 1900 B.C. to around 1200 B.C. (Witzel, 1997). In the Vedas, Soma was simultaneously conceived of as a god, a plant, and as the earthly equivalent to Amrita (‘non-death’–‘a-mrta’), the celestial food of the immortals (see McDonald (2004)). The central geographic area of the Rigveda is the Punjab (Eastern Pakistan and North-western India), which coincides with what is generally regarded as the homeland of the Indo-Aryans (Witzel, 1987; McDonald, 2004).

Most commentators who approached the botanical identification of ‘the’ soma plant were tempted by the scarce hints at plant morphology occurring in the 9th book (‘Mandala’, Sanskrit: ) of the Rigveda (see for example: http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/ The_Rig_Veda/Mandala_9). The contradictory and multi-interpretable metaphors and botanical allusions throughout the 114 hymns dedicated to Soma in the 9th Mandala, however, render an unambiguous botanical identification very difficult. In fact, the different commentators do not even agree whether Soma was an herb, a creeper, a tree or even a fungus. Hymn 96, verse 2 alludes to a climber or vine: “Men decked with gold adorn his golden tendril…”. Hence, different commentators agreed that Soma was a vine or a climber. Srivastava (1954, p.: 26) writes that in the Rigveda soma “is described as a milky climbing plant, the juice of which was immensely liked by the celestial gods…” and that soma-rasa (the Soma juice) was prepared by pounding the entire creepers collected in the morning (p.: 28). Although Shrivastava gives no references he states that several authors suggested different botanical identification including Sarcostemma acidum (Roxb.) Voigt (Apocynaceae). Also Lewin (1973, p.: 216) mentions, amongst other species, two latex-bearing Apocynaceae as possible ingredients for Soma: Periploca aphylla Decne. (unresolved, Apocynaceae) and Sarcostemma brevistigma Wight & Arn. (= Sarcostemma acidum (Roxb.) Voigt, Apocynaceae). Milk plays indeed an important role in the preparation of Soma but there are no clues that the soma plant itself had a milky juice or latex. Rather it appears that a golden or yellow (also red-brownish) watery plant juice produced with the help of pressing stones, was either first blended with milk and then cleansed by means of a fleece or sheep's wool or that the juice was first cleansed and then blended with milk and subsequently mixed with a sort of oil:

Rigveda, Mandala 9, hymn 101, verse 11: “Effused by means of pressing-stones…” h. 101, v. 12: “These Soma juices, skilled in song, purified, blent with milk and curd, when moving and when firmly laid in oil, resemble lovely suns”. H. 69, v. 9: “…effused, they pass the cleansing fleece, while, gold-hued, they cast their covering off to pour the rain down.” H. 72, v. 1: “They cleanse the gold-hued: like a red steed is he yoked, and Soma in the jar is mingled with the milk.” H. 103, v. 2: “Blended with milk and curds he flows on through the long wool of the sheep.” H. 107, v. 26: “Urged onward by the pressers, clad in watery robes, Indu is speeding to the vat.” H. 8, v. 6: “When purified within the jars, Soma, bright red and golden-hued, hath clothed him with a robe of milk.” H. 109, v. 21: “…they cleanse thee for the gods, gold-coloured, wearing water as thy robe.” H. 107, v. 10: “Effused by stones, o Soma, and urged through the long wool of the sheep, thou, entering the saucers as a man the fort, gold-hued hast settled in the wood.” H. 31, v. 5: “For thee, brown-hued! the kine have poured imperishable oil and milk.” H. 98, v. 7: “Him with the fleece they purify, brown, golden-hued, beloved of all, who with exhilarating juice goes forth to all the deities”. H. 78, v. 4: “He whom the gods have made a gladdening draught to drink, the drop most sweet to taste, weal-bringing, red of hue.” H. 107, v. 4: Cleansing thee, Soma, in thy stream, thou flowest in a watery robe: Giver of wealth, thou sittest in the place of law, o god, a fountain made of gold.” (See: http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Rig_Veda/Mandala_9).

Flattery and Schwartz report that Sarcostemma acidum is one of the plants used today by Brahmans as a substitute for the ancient Soma and also Padhy and Dash (2004) have gathered anecdotal evidence that in some parts of India a sort of soma ritual is still being practiced employing Sarcostemma acidum, which, however, does not have the capacity to alter one's state of mind. This results in the paradoxical situation that, while in present day soma rituals the recited liturgies allude to the intoxicating effects of the potion, the plants used in contemporary settings lack any intoxicating properties (Flattery and Schwartz, 1989, p.: 4). In fact, the hymns in the 9th Mandala of the Rigveda speak of “granter of bliss” (h. 1, v. 3), “runs forth to the luminous realm of heaven” (h. 37, v. 3), “rapturous joy” (h. 45, v. 3), “bring us all felicities” (h. 62, v. 1), “bringing wisdom and delight” (h. 63, v. 24), “light that flashes brilliantly” (h. 64, v. 28) “gladdening draught to drink” (h. 78, v. 4), or “exhilarating juice” (h. 98, v. 7). Flattery and Schwartz (1989) defend the opinion that the botanical identity of ‘Haoma’ in the Iranian traditions as well as that of ‘Soma’ of the Hindu traditions is the Syrian rue (Peganum harmala L., Nitrariaceae) containing harmala alkaloids with monoamine oxidase inhibitory (MAO-I) activity. Falk (1989) on the other hand argues that “there is no need to look for a plant other than Ephedra for the original Soma” since ephedrine (30) containing Ephedra spp. are referred to as ‘hum’, ‘hom’, ‘som’ or ‘soma’ in different languages and because the Parsi in Iran still use Ephedra sp. in their Haoma ritual. Hints from the artistic and mythic wealth of India and southeast Asia led McDonald (2004) to hypothesise that the botanical identity of Soma is to be found in the ‘eastern’ or ‘sacred’ lotus (Nelumbo nucifera Gaertn., Nelumbonaceae). The sacred lotus is not only a highly symbolic plant associated with Hindu and Buddhist gods (McDonald, 2004) but also an important food and medicinal plant (Mukherjee et al., 2009).

We argue that focusing on the identification of a single “soma species” or single soma recipe contributed much to the inconsistencies present in the different identification attempts and the apparent contradictions between the proposed theories and botanical species. In this contribution we attempt to circumscribe the plant species that come into consideration for the preparation of Soma and try to identify Soma's botanical identity. Systematic and multidisciplinary botanical and medico-therapeutic analyses of ancient medical scripts and herbal books can help to provide more verified insights into the history and evolution of plant use (Leonti, 2011). We assume that over the course of time the Soma recipe evolved and that more than only one soma recipe existed and that Soma was a more or less complex herbal drug formulation including different species, some more symbolic, some less indispensable for the mind-altering effect, than others. Our attempt of botanically identifying soma is based on the analysis of two herbal formulations reported in the so-called “Bower Manuscript” referred therein as (I) “Amrita-Prâsa clarified butter” (Hoernle, 2011, p.: 90–91) and (II) “Amrita Oil” (Hoernle, 2011, p.: 106–107).

2. The Bower Manuscript


Fig. 1. Pôthi of the Bower Manuscript, taken from Hoernle (2011, Plate VII).

The Bower Manuscript (BM) was dug out from a man-made, mound-like construction called ‘stûpa’ close to the underground city of Ming-oï-Qumturâ, 16 miles west from Kuchar (Hoernle, 2011, p.: iv). Kuchar is an oasis settlement with a Buddhist history situated on the Silk Road in Eastern Turkestan (China) north of Takla Makan. The manuscript is named after Lieutenant Hamilton Bower, who acquired the script in Kuchar in 1890 (Hoernle, 2011). The BM is written in, as Rudolf Hoernle [1841–1918] calls it, ungrammatical Sanskrit, a mixture of literary and popular Sanskrit. The script used throughout the manuscript is known as the ‘Gupta’ script coinciding with the era of the Gupta Empire [300–550 A.D.] of northern India (p.: xxvi). Remarkably, the BM is the hitherto oldest known original medical treatise from the Indian subcontinent (Hoernle, 2011, foreword and p.: lxviii). Written by four different authors (p.: xxxvii) on birch bark leaves (cut from periderm of Betula utilis D. Don (Betulaceae)), the BM is actually a collection of seven separate manuscripts originally presented in the form of a ‘pôthi’ (Fig. 1; p.: xvii) a collection of loose leaves in-between two wooden boards held together “by a string which passes through a hole drilled through the whole pile” (p.: xvii). Pôthis seem to be South Indian in origin, since the palm-leaf of Corypha umbraculifera L. (Arecaceae) was the original writing support of pôthis and thereby also determined their overall shape (p.: xviii). Himalayan birch, (Betula utilis) is native only to Kashmir and Udyâna in the North of India (p.: xx). The writing style and the fact that the authors used birch bark for their records led Hoernle to conclude that the scribes of parts I–III and parts V–VII, most probably Buddhist monks, migrated from an unknown location in India via Kashmir or Urdyâna to Kuchar, where they finally manufactured the manuscripts.

Through a comparative analysis of particularities in the script-style of the BM, Sander (1987) argues that especially parts I–III contain elements typical for ancient Kashmiri scripts and that the BM is in reality a product of Kashmir itself. Sander (1987) provides also evidence suggesting that the BM was written between the beginning and the middle of the sixth century A.D. shifting the date of origin proposed by Hoernle around 150 years towards the present and towards the end of the Gupta Empire. According to Hoernle (p.: xxxvi), the author of part II, which contains the two recipes that are the object of this analysis, probably came from the northern fringe of the northern part of the Indian ‘Gupta script’ area (Hoernle, p.: xxxvi).

3. Methods

The plant species contained in both formulations, the “Amrita-Prâsa clarified butter” (I) and the “Amrita oil” (II), botanically identified by Hoernle (2011) through an analysis of their Sanskrit names and provided with Latin binomials were cross-checked with theplantlist.org (http://www.theplantlist.org/) for synonyms and their accepted contemporary Latin binomials. The updated Latin binomials appear framed in square brackets in recipes I (4.1.) and II (4.2.).

A literature search focusing on psychoactive secondary metabolites and associated pharmacologic effects was performed with the updated Latin binomials and the help of search engines such as Scopus and Pubmed. Special attention was given to quantitative phytochemical analyses.

4. Recipes

4.1. (I) The Amrita-Prâsa clarified butter (Hoernle, 2011, pp.: 90–91).

The numbers in brackets refer to the ślôka [sûtras], see also Srivastava (1954, p.: 153), while the superscript numbers are identical to Hoernle's text and refer to notes therein.

“The Amrita-Prâsa Clarified Butter,55 in 11 ślôka and 1 pâda. (Verses 108-119a.). I will now describe the ambrosia-like elixir, which increases the strength of men, the so-called Amrita-prâśa (or Food of the Immortals), a most noble kind of clarified butter. (109) Take one prastha each of the juice of emblic myrobalan [Phyllanthus emblica L., (Phyllanthaceae)], Kshîravidârî (Ipomoea digitata) [Ipomoea cheirophylla O'Donell, (Convolvulaceae)] and sugar cane [Saccharum officinarum L., (Poaceae)], and similarly of the milk of a heifer (110) one prastha, and add one well-measured prastha of fresh clarified butter. Throw in, also, pastes33made of one half pala each of the following drugs: (111) Rishabhaka56 [unknown and substituted], Riddhi56 [unknown and substituted], liquorice [Glycyrrhiza glabra L., (Fabaceae)], Vidârigandhâ (Desmodium gangeticum) [Desmodium gangeticum (L.) DC., (Fabaceae)], nPayasyâ (Gynandropsis pentaphylla) [Cleome gynandra L., (Cleomaceae)], Sahadêvâ (Sida rhomboidea) [Sida rhombifolia L., (Malvaceae)], Anantâ (Hemidesmus indicus) [Hemidesmus indicus (L.) R. Br. ex Schult., (Apocynaceae)], Madhûlikâ (Bassia latifolia) [Madhuca longifolia (J. König ex L.) J.F. Macbr., (Sapotaceae)] and Viśvadêvâ (Sida spinosa) [Sida spinosa L., (Malvaceae)], (112) both Mêdâ56 [unknown and substituted], Rishyaprôktâ (Sida cordifolia) [Sida cordifolia L., (Malvaceae)], Śatâvarî (Asparagus racemosus) [Asparagus racemosus Willd., (Asparagaceae)], Mudgaparnî (Phaseolus trilobus) [Vigna trilobata (L.) Verdc., (Fabaceae)] and Mâshaparnî (Teramnus labialis) [Teramnus labialis (L. f.) Spreng., (Fabaceae)], Śrâvanî (Sphaeranthus indicus) [Sphaeranthus indicus L., (Asteraceae)], cowhage [Mucuna pruriens (L.) DC., (Fabaceae)] and Vîrâ (Uraria lagopodioides) [Uraria lagopodoides (L.) DC., (Fabaceae)]. (113) Further add one kudava each of raisins [Vitis sp., (Vitaceae)], dates [Phoenix dactylifera L., (Arecaceae)], jujubes [Ziziphus jujuba Mill., (Rhamnaceae)], and half as much each of walnuts [Juglans regia L., (Juglandaceae)], Tinduka (Diospyors Embryopteris) [Diospyros atrata (Thwaites) Alston or Diospyros albiflora Alston, (Ebenaceae)] and Nikôchka (Alangium decapetalum) [Alangium salviifolium (L.f.) Wangerin, (Cornaceae)].

(114) Having boiled and strained the whole, let it stand in a clean vessel, and when it has cooled, add one prastha of well-clarified honey, (115) and sixteen pala of choice white sugar. Then take one half pala of black pepper [Piper nigrum L., (Piperaceae)] and one pala of small cardamoms [Elettaria cardamomum (L.) Maton, (Zingiberaceae)] (116) powder them finely, and, having sprinkled them over the whole, stir it with a ladle. Of this preparation a dose suited to the patient's power of digestion may be administered, (117) and when it is digested, rice-milk, together with the broth of the flesh of land-animals, may be given. This Amrita-prâśa is an excellent preparation for increasing the strength and colour of men; (118) it may be given in cases of weakness induced by consumption or ulcers, also to the old, the feeble and the young, also to those who are suffering from fainting, asthma, and hiccough. (119a) This preparation of clarified butter, being a composition of Âtrêya's, is famed under the name Amrita (or ‘ambrosia’).”

HASCHICH FUDGE
(which anyone could whip up on a rainy day)

This is the food of Paradise -- of Baudelaire's Artificial Paradises: it might provide an entertaining refreshment for a Ladies' Bridge Club or a chapter meeting of the DAR. In Morocco it is thought to be good for warding off the common cold in damp winter weather and is, indeed, more effective if taken with large quantities of hot mint tea. Euphoria and brilliant storms of laughter; ecstatic reveries and extensions of one's personality on several simultaneous planes are to be complacently expected. Almost anything Saint Theresa did, you can do better if you can bear to be ravished by 'un evanouissement reveilli.' [Google translate: a wakened fainting.]

Take 1 teaspoon black peppercorns, 1 whole nutmeg, 4 average sticks of cinnamon, 1 teaspoon coriander. These should all be pulverised in a mortar. About a handful each of stoned dates, dried figs, shelled almonds and peanuts: chop these and mix them together. A bunch of canibus sativa can be pulverised. This along with the spices should be dusted over the mixed fruit and nuts, kneaded together. About a cup of sugar dissolved in a big pat of butter. Rolled into a cake and cut into pieces or made into balls about the size of a walnut, it should be eaten with care. Two pieces are quite sufficient.

Obtaining the canibus may present certain difficulties, but the variety known as canibus sativa grows as a common weed, often unrecognised, everywhere in Europe, Asia and parts of Africa; besides being cultivated as a crop for the manufacture of rope. In the Americas, while often discouraged, its cousin, called canibus indica, has been observed even in city window boxes. It should be picked and dried as soon as it has gone to seed and while the plant is still green.

-- Haschich Fudge, from "The Alice B. Toklas Cook Book," by Alice B. Toklas

I love you Alice B. Toklas
And so does Gertrude Stein
I love you Alice B. Toklas
I'm going to change your name to mine
Red velvet trees and lions grinning lions
Candy witches eating lychee leaves spinning rainbowing light
Green lily golden gardens Marvin gardens
coriander baby elephants singing silent night
Sweet cinnamon and nutmeg shake the powder tell your teeth what [inaudible]
Clean cannabis sativa, sweet sativa chocolate melting so
I love you Alice B. Toklas
And so does Gertrude Stein
I love you Alice B. Toklas
I'm going to change your name to mine
I love you Alice B. Toklas
And so does Gertrude Stein
I love you Alice B. Toklas



[Nancy] I decided to split -- Made you some groovy brownies. Love, Nancy.

[Joyce] Look. Look, I found some brownies.

[Father] They look fresh baked.

[Mother] Do you have saccharine, Harold?

[Joyce] Oh, I have some in my purse.

[Mother] Oh, you're a darling. Thank you.
Well, looks like a nice brownie, Harold.
From Rubins?

[Harold] I don't remember.
A small bakery on Fairfax.

[Mother] Better than Rubins.

[Father] Better than Rubins? That's a brownie.



[Joyce] This is delicious.

[Harold] They're very good.
They're ...
They're groovy.

[Father] I wish Herbie was here with us now. He loves sweets.

[Joyce] Herbie is a very sweet boy. Do you know what I think?
I think that this is just a stage that he's going through, that's all.

[Mother] To a funeral he wears his Indian suit.

[Harold] Oh, these are really good.



[Joyce] Thank you.

[Father] One more.



[Mother] Ben.

[Father] My last one.

[Mother] All right.











[Mother] Ben.
Benjie.
What was his name?
What was his name, your cousin from Milwaukee?



You know what he did?

[Harold] What did he do?

[Mother] He came out of the bathroom.

[Joyce] What did he do when he came out of the bathroom?

[Mother] Don't say bathroom and I won't laugh.
I said it!

[Joyce] Take me.
Take me.



[Mother] Remember? Remember?

[Joyce] Oh, Harold, take me.
Harold.



[Father] I wanna play miniature golf.

***

[Joyce] Where's Harold?

***

[Anita] You know, I just can't. I've tried. I can't take the pills.
I blow up like a house.
It's really such a drag. These pills are so groovy.
But a diaphragm, forget it. It's just the worse.
Listen, thanks for coming in.

[Nancy] Harold!

[Harold] Hey. Hi.

[Nancy] Harold, this is Anita.

[Anita] Oh, my God, you look just like a guy I used to go with.

[Harold] Yeah?

[Anita] You're a little better-looking.

[Harold] Oh, thanks.

[Anita] Nice.

[Harold] Um.

[Nancy] What?

[Harold] I came to thank you for the brownies.

[Nancy] You're welcome.

[Harold] I came to see you.

[Nancy] Groovy.

[Harold] Yeah. Groovy.
You're very pretty.

[Nancy] And so are you.

[Harold] Yeah?
You should've told me what was in those brownies.

[Nancy] Thank Alice B. Toklas. It's her recipe.

[Harold] Yeah?

[Nancy] She wrote a freaky cookbook.

[Harold] And she turned my parents into junkies.

[Nancy] She did?

[Harold] Oh, yeah.
They were --

[Nancy] Excuse me. I'll be right back.
Can I help you, sir?

[Man in Dress Shop] Yes.
I'd like to see something in a minidress. Something lightweight.

[Nancy] These just came in. What size does she wear?

[Man in Dress Shop] It's for me.

[Nancy] Well, I don't know if we happen to have your size.

[Man in Dress Shop] I'm a perfect 12.

[Nancy] These are 12's.

[Man in Dress Shop] Thank you.

[Harold] Don't look at me.

[Nancy] I think he wants it to go to a Halloween party.

[Harold] I hope so.

[Man in Dress Shop] Miss.

[Nancy] Did you find something you like?

[Man in Dress Shop] Yes.
Yes, I like this one. Is there any place I can try it on?

[Nancy] Right over there.

[Man in Dress Shop] Oh, thank you.

[Harold] I can't help it. I can't.

[Nancy] Have a cookie.

[Harold] Alice Toklas?

[Nancy] Chocolate chip.

[Man in Dress Shop] Miss?

[Nancy] Yes, sir. Yes, sir.

[Man in Dress Shop] Do you do alterations here in the shop?

[Nancy] Yes, we do. Anita!

[Man in Dress Shop] What I'd like to get would be to get this just about two inches shorter.
About like that.

[Nancy] Well, Anita does the alterations.
Anita, can we shorten this about --?

[Man in Dress Shop] No, that's it. Right there.

[Nancy] Two inches?

[Anita] No, no, no.
That's not your color.

***

[Nancy] I have a butterfly.

[Harold] I know.
It's a monarch, isn't it?

[Nancy] Yeah.
Yeah.



[Harold] I never got that close to a butterfly.
Wait a second.

[Mother] Hello, Harold?

[Harold] Yes, Ma.

[Mother] You sound like your asthma is worse.

[Harold] No, Mama, the earth just moved.

[Mother] So where did you disappear to?



Stop it.
Oh, listen, I changed my mind.
I'm not putting Aunt Tanya next to Uncle Murray.
She's got that bladder trouble, poor thing ...
... so I'm gonna put her closer to the door.
Listen, Harold, I picked up some of those --
Go to sleep.
I picked up some of those brownies. You know, it must be a different bakery.
Oh, they're terrible. Rubins is better than those.
So anyway, I ordered the Jello-O-mold.
It's gonna be a green Jell-o with cherries.









-- I Love You, Alice B. Toklas -- Illustrated Screenplay, directed by Hy Averback, written by Paul Mazursky & Larry Tucker

Hoernle states(55) that this formula, although with more ingredients and different proportions, occurs also in the Charaka VI and Âshtânga Hridaya IV. Hoernle(56) mentions that the eight drugs known to the ancients and now substituted are: 1. Jîvaka, 2. Rishabha, 3. Mêdâ, 4. Mahâmêdâ, 5. Kâkôlî, 6. Kshîra-kâkôlî, 7. Riddhi, 8. Vriddhi; 1 and 2: Root of Vidârî (Batatas paniculata [Ipomoea mauritania Jacq, (Convolvulaceae)]) 3 and 4: Roots of Śatâvarî (Asparagus racemosus [Asparagus racemosus Willd., (Asparagaceae)]) 5 and 6: Aśhvagandhâ (Withania somnifera [Withania somnifera (L.) Dunal, (Solanaceae)]), 7 and 8: Tubers of the Varâhî or Bhadramustra (Cyperus pertenuis [Cyperus articulatus L. or C. tenuiflorus Rottb., (Cyperaceae)]).

4.2. (II) The Amrita Oil (Hoernle, 2011, pp.: 106–107):

“(IV) The Amrita Oil,116 in 25 ślôka and 1 pâda. (287–312a.) The two truth-speaking Aśvins, the divine physicians, honoured by the Dêvas, have declared the following excellent health-promoting oil, (288) which relieves all diseases, is fit for a king, and is as good as ambrosia. It is known by the name of Amrita (or ‘ambrosia’), and is an oil able to make men strong. (289) At the time of Pushya117, after having said prayers118, performed purification rites, and asked the Brâhmans' blessing in a few words, take out liquorice-roots grown in a favourable place. (290) Of the fresh juice of these roots take four pâtra9, and add four pala each of the following drugs: Papaundarîka119 [a fragrant wood], Amritâ (Tinospora cordifolia) [Tinospora cordifolia (Thunb.) Miers, (Menispermaceae)], knots of lotus-stalks [Nelumbo nucifera Gaertn., (Nelumbonaceae)], Śatâvarî (Asparagus racemosus) [Asparagus racemosus Willd., (Asparagaceae)], (291) Śringâtaka (Trapa bispinosa) [Trapa natans var. bispinosa (Roxb.) Makino, (Lythraceae)], emblic myrobalan [Phyllanthus emblica L., (Phyllanthaceae)], Undumbara (Ficus glomerata) [Ficus racemosa L., (Moraceae)], Kaśêruka (Scripus Kysoor) [Actinoscirpus grossus var. kysoor (Roxb.) Noltie, (Cyperaceae)], the bark of each of the (five) trees with a milky sap120 [Nyagrôdha (Ficus indica) [Ficus sp., (Moraceae)], Udumbara (Ficus glomerata) [Ficus racemosa L., (Moraceae)], Asvattha (Ficus religiosa) [Ficus religiosa L., (Moraceae)], Plaksha (Ficus infectoria) [Ficus sp., (Moraceae)], Pârîsha (Thespesia populnea) [Thespesia populnea (L.) Sol. ex Corrêa, (Malvaceae)], (292) roots of Kuśa (Poa cynosuroides) [Desmostachya bipinnata (L.) Stapf, (Poaceae)], Kâsa (Saccharum spontaneum) [Saccharum spontaneum L., (Poaceae)] and Ikshu (Saccharum officinarum) [S. officinarum L., (Poaceae)], also of Śara (Saccharum Sara) [Saccharum bengalense Retz., (Poaceae)] and Vîrana (Andropogon muricatus)121 [Chrysopogon zizanioides (L.) Roberty, (Poaceae)], also roots of Gundrâ (Panicum uliginosum) [Sacciolepis interrupta (Willd.) Stapf, (Poaceae)], of Nadikâ122 [not identified] and of the lotus [N. nucifera], (293) Vadarî (Ziziphus Jujuba) [Z. jujuba], Vidârî (Ipomoea digitata) [I. cheirophylla], Vêtasa (Calamus Rotang) [Calamus rotang L., (Arecaeea)], Adurûshaka (Adhatoda vasica) [Adhatoda vasica Nees, unresolved (Acanthaceae)], Nîm [Azadirachta indica A. Juss., (Meliaceae)], Sâlmalî (Bombax malabaricum) [Bombax ceiba L., (Malvaceae)], dates [P. dactylifera], cocoanut [Cocos nucifera L., (Arecaceae)], Priyangu (Aglaia Roxburghiana) [Aglaia elaeagnoidea (A. Juss.) Benth., (Meliaceae)], (294) Patôla (Trichosanthes dioica) [unresolved ev. Mukia maderaspatana (L.) M.Roem, (Cucurbitaceae)], Kutaja (Holarrhena antidysenterica) [Wrightia antidysenterica (L.) R.Br. or Holarrhena pubescens Wall. ex G. Don, (Apocynaceae)], raisins [Vitis sp.], leaf-stalk of the lotus [N. nucifera], sandal [Santalum sp., (Santalaceae)], Kakubha (Terminalia Arjuna) [Terminalia arjuna (Roxb. ex DC.) Wight & Arn., (Combretaceae)], Aśvakarna (Shorea robusta) [Shorea robusta Gaertn., (Dipterocarpaceae)], Lâmajjaka (Adropogon laniger) [Cymbopogon jwarancusa subsp. olivieri (Boiss.) Soenarko, (Poaceae)], and plumbago-root [Plumbago zeylanica L., (Plumbaginaceae)], (295) also other astringent, sweet or cooling drugs, as many as may be obtainable. Boil all these in two drôna of water, (296) and when the whole is reduced to one-eight of the original quantity, boil in it pastes made of fine powder of one pala each of the following drugs: Balâ (Sida cordifolia) [Sida cordifolia L., (Malvaceae)], Nâgabalâ (Sida spinosa) [Sida spinosa L., (Malvaceae)], Jîvâ (Dendrobium multicaule) [Conchidium muscicola (Lindl.) Rauschert, (Orchidaceae)], cowhage [M. pruriens], Kasêruka (Scirpus Kysoor) [A. grossus var. kysoor], (297) Nata (Tabernaemontana coronaria) [Tabernaemontana divaricata (L.) R.Br. ex Roem. & Schult., (Apocynaceae)], juice of sugar-cane123, Sprikkà (Trigonella corniculata) [Trigonella balansae Boiss. & Reut., (Fabaceae)], small cardamoms [E. cardamomum] and cinnamon-bark [Cinnamomum sp., (Lauraceae)], Jîvaka56 [unknown and substituted] Rishabhaka56 [unknown and substituted] Mêdâ56 [unknown and substituted], Madhuka (Bassia latifolia) [M. longifolia var. latifolia, (Sapotaceae)], and blue lotus [Nymphaea nouchali var. caerulea (Savigny) Verdc., (Nymphaeaceae)] (298), the colour producing saffron [Crocus sativus L., (Iridaceae)], aloe-wood [Aquilaria sp., (Thymelaeaceae)], and cinnamon-leaves [Cinnamomum sp.], Vidârî (Ipomoea digitata) [I. cheirophylla], Kshîrakakôlî63 [said to be unknown], Vîrâ (Uraria lagopoides) [Uraria lagopodoides (L.) DC., (Fabaceae)], and Śârivâ (Ichnocarpus frutescens) [Ichnocarpus frutescens (L.) W.T. Aiton, (Apocynaceae)], (299) Śatâvarî (Asparagus racemosus) [A. racemosus], Priyangu (Aglaia Roxburghiana) [A. elaeagnoidea], Gudûchî (Tinospora cordifolia) [Tinospora cordifolia], filaments of the lotus [N. nucifera], Lâmajjaka (Andropogon laniger) [C. jwarancusa subsp. olivieri], red and white sandal [Santalum spp.], and fruits of Râjâdana (Mimusops hexandra) [Manilkara hexandra (Roxb.) Dubard or Mimusops coriacea (A.DC.) Miq., (Sapotaceae)], (300) pearl, coral, conch-shell, moon-stone, sapphire, crystal, silver, gold, and other gems and pearls, (301) liquorice [G. glabra], madder [Rubia tinctorum L., (Rubiaceae)], and Amśumatî (Desmodium gangeticum) [Desmodium gangeticum]. Boil the whole slowly over a gentle fire (302) with four pâtra of (sweet) oil and eight times as much of milk, adding also tamarind juice [Tamarindus indica L., (Fabaceae)] and vinegar of rice124 one half as much as the milk. (303) This boiling should be repeated a hundred or even a thousand times; and when it is thoroughly done, it may be known by this sign, (304) that on the approach of the proper time the oil stiffens by exposure to the rays of the sun.125 After asking the Brâhmans’ blessing, performing purificatory rites and saying prayers, (305) this Amrita (or ‘ambrosial’) oil, highly esteemed by the Dêvas, may be administered to the patient, in the form of an injection per anum or per urethram,110 or as a draught, or an errhine, or a liniment.

(306) It serves the purpose of relieving disease and imparting strength to the organs of sense. For those who suffer from morbid heat and thirst it makes an excellent and beneficial liniment. (307) It promotes the growth of the hair in the old and that of the body in the young; it produces loveliness and grace in women; and also ensures numerous offspring, (308) for, by the use of this ambrosial oil, women are predisposed to conception. It cures the eighty nervous diseases109, also those due to derangement of the blood or the bile (309) or the phlegm or all the humours concurrently.126 By its use as an errhine or a liniment the eyes become as sharp as those of an eagle. (310) It keeps of calamities, averts all fortune, and promotes prosperity. By the use of this oil the Maharshi Chyavana92 regained (311) his youth, and was delivered from decrepitude and disease; and the blessed Maharshi Mârkandêya127, who was desirous of a long life, (312a) obtained his desire by the regular use of this oil.”

Hoernle(116) was not able to find this formula elsewhere and notes that it is a “phenomenally long one” containing 83 ingredients. Hoernle(9) gives some explanations on the measures and states that pâtra is also called âdhaka. Paramhans (1984) explains the medieval Indian weight measurement system as follows: 2 pala = 1 prasrti, 2 prasrtis = 1 añjali or kudava, 2 añjalis = 1 śaravâ, 2 śaravâs = 1 prastha, 4 prasthas = 1 âdhaka, 4 âdhakas = 1 drôna. Since over the course of time the overall mass changed but the proportions within the Indian weight measurement system remained the same, a translation into Western weight equivalents makes no sense.

5. Theoretical frame of the research question

What at first sight caught our attention were the names of the two recipes along with the description of “good as ambrosia” or “ambrosia-like elixir”. ‘Amrita’ means ‘immortality’ and is a synonym of Soma, ‘Amrita-prâsa’ means ‘food of the immortals’ and ‘ambrosia’ can be translated as ‘food of the gods’ or ‘nectar’. While we use here Amrita as a synonym of Soma, nothing about the description of the recipes, not even the therapeutic indications, suggest or allude to any exhilarating, intoxicating or psychoactive property of ‘Amrita clarified butter’ or ‘Amrita oil’. However, the ‘Amrita oil’ is also said to cure “the eighty nervous diseases” (p.: 107). As further reading on the ethnomedical concept of nervous diseases Hoernle(119) indicates the commentary on the Hindu system of medicine by Wise (1845) as well as the Bhâva Prakâśa and the Charaka Samhitâ, both edited by Pandit Jibananda V. at Calcutta in 1875 and 1877, respectively. Due to external forces (e.g. dryness, cold, light types of food, wet cloths), physical overstraining (e.g. excessive sexual practice, improper exercise) or psychological reasons (too much thinking, sorrow, grief, fear, anger) air is deranged, which causes different kind of symptoms, such as: “persons speak nonsense”, “affected parts shake”, “pain in the chest, head and temples”, body is “bent like a bow”, “spasmodic convulsions”, “difficulties in breathing”, “person cannot speak”, “dyspepsia and drowsiness”, “trembling and shivering”, “head is always shaking” (Wise, 1845, pp.: 250–258). Moreover, ‘Amrita-prâsa’ as well as ‘Amrita oil’ are said to relieve all diseases and to “increase the strength of men” or “make men strong”. The term ‘men’ in the text evidently refers to men and women since the Amrita oil is reported to produce “loveliness and grace in women” and to predispose women to conception.

The original Soma rite, central to which was the taking of a psychoactive Soma potion conferring the participants a god-like perspective, came into disuse but neither is it clear when exactly the Soma rite was abandoned nor what was its cause or reason. Besides the cultural transition taking place towards the end of the Rigvedic period, neurotoxic side effects of the Soma potion might have conditioned the loss of the Soma rite. A Soma (Amrita) recipe written down in the 6th century A.D., around 1800 years after the demise of the Rigvedic period can be expected to have received modifications in its formulation as well as in its medico-therapeutic application. The evolution of the Amrita recipes possibly affected the number of ingredients, proportions, overall indications and therapeutic use as well as the medico-philosophical frame. Although the evolution of these aspects evades a closer scientific analysis we argue that if these two recipes are derivatives of an ancient Soma formulation (or formulations), the core species required for the induction of a psychoactive effect should, eventually in smaller proportions, be present among the ingredients. In more general terms we argue that the Soma plant(s), so central to the Indo-Aryan culture, did not vanish from the Indian herbal scenery but linger on in herbal medicine as genuine medicinal plants.

6. Research questions

(i) Are there plant species among the ingredients of the two recipes able, either in combination or alone, to induce mind-altering effects upon ingestion?

(ii) If so, is the concentration of central nervous system (CNS) active compounds in the species under examination sufficient in order to induce perceivable pharmacologic effects? i.e. is the processing and practical application of the quantity of (crude) drugs needed to induce perceivable pharmacologic effects feasible? This includes that the potentially psychoactive constituents should not only be present at physiologically relevant amounts in the plant material but also be bio-available and extractable with water or an emulsion such as milk in reasonable quantities. Moreover, should a suggestion that makes practical sense also consider bio-geography and the theoretical availability of the species in the region of the Punjab.

(iii) A more specific question relates to the pharmacology of the formulations and if they contain monoamine oxidase (MAO) substrates and/or MAO inhibitors (MAO-I):

Are there neurotransmitter mimicking MAO substrates (possibly easy extractable alkaloids) as well as secondary metabolites able to interrupt the catabolic MAO pathways present in the species listed among the ingredients of recipe I and II?

The pharmacologic potentiation resulting from a combination of tryptamines with MAO inhibiting -carbolines has been described for South American snuffs (Holmstedt and Lindgren 1967, p.: 365) and Ayahuasca (Callaway et al., 1999). Such a potentiation of pharmacologic effects can theoretically also be achieved with the -carboline containing Peganum harmala seeds (see theory put forward by Flattery and Schwartz for Haoma).

7. Results

7.1. Analysis of the two recipes

A comparison of the ingredients of the two recipes shows that only few species make part of both formulations namely: Asparagus racemosus, Phyllanthus emblica, Ipomoea cheirophylla, Mucuna pruriens, Sida spinosa, Sida cordifolia, Madhuca longifolia, Uraria lagopodoides and Desmodium gangeticum. Species with potentially psychoactive metabolites detected in recipe (I) are: Sida spinosa, Sida cordifolia, Sida rhombifolia, Mucuna pruriens and Desmodium gangeticum. An analysis of recipe (II) revealed the following species with potentially psychoactive metabolites: Sida spinosa and Sida cordifolia, Mucuna pruriens, Desmodium gangeticum, Nelumbo nucifera, Tinospora cordifolia, Tabernaemontana divaricata. Neither Ephedra spp. nor Peganum harmala have been identified by Hoernle (2011) among the different recipes reported in the BM. Notably, the recipes do not contain any clear indication regarding the dose at which the mixtures should be applied for the treatment of the various health conditions and purposes for which they are recommended.

7.2. Species with potentially psychoactive metabolites detected in recipes I and II and their main constituents

7.2.1. Desmodium gangeticum (Fabaceae)

Desmodium gangeticum is a prostrate to sub-erect perennial weed growing throughout the Indian subcontinent in hilly areas up to 1500 m a.s.l. Under favourable conditions the plant can reach several metres in height (Ramakrishnan, 1964). The herb is called ‘salpan’ or ‘salpani’ in Hindi and ‘shalaparni’, ‘amśumatî’ or ‘vidârigandhâ’ in Sanskrit and is an important medicinal species within the Ayurvedic system of medicine (Hoernle, 2011; Rastogi et al., 2011). Chemical evaluations of above and below-ground tissues of Desmodium gangeticum by Banerjee and Ghosal (1969), as well as by Ghosal and Bhattacharya (1972) revealed the presence of different -phenethylamines (2-phenylethylamine (PEA, 1), hordenine (2), N-methyltyramine (3), candicine (4), N,N-dimethyl-2-oxo-2-phenylethylamine (5)), indolylalkylamines (N,N-dimethyltryptamine (DMT, 6) and its Nb-oxide, 5-methoxy-N,N-dimethyltryptamine (5-MeODMT, 7) and its Nb-oxide and hypaphorine (8)) and -carbolines (6-methoxy-2-methyl- -carbolinium cation (9) and 1,2-dimethyl-2,3,4, 9-tetrahydro-1H- -carboline (1,2-Me-THBC, 10)).

From 1 kg fresh above ground plant material Banerjee and Ghosal (1969) obtained the following quantities of alkaloids: From the aqueous acidic extract (derived from the extracted chloroform layer) basified with ammonia and extracted with chloroform: 5-MeO-DMT (570 mg), DMT (not quantified), DMT-Nb-oxide (210 mg) and 5-MeO-DMT-Nb-oxide (180 mg). The chloroform soluble acetates were identified as Nb-methyltetrahydroharman (1,2-Me-THBC, 30 mg), DMT (410 mg) and DMT-Nb-oxide (120 mg), while from the aqueous mother liquor 210 mg of 6-methoxy-2-methyl- -carbolinium cation was obtained. Altogether more than 1730 mg of alkaloids were extracted from 1 kg of fresh plant material and Banerjee and Ghosal (1969) note that dried plant material contains higher proportions of 5-MeO-DMT with respect to fresh material.



7.2.2. Mucuna pruriens (Fabaceae)

Mucuna pruriens is an annual herb growing throughout the Indian plains and cultivated as a vegetable and fodder called ‘kavach’ in Hindi and ‘atmagupta’ or ‘vanari’ in Sanskrit (Williamson, 2002; Misra and Wagner, 2004). The seeds of Mucuna pruriens contain high amounts of L-DOPA (L-3,4-dihydroxyphenylalanine, 11). Mahajani et al. (1996) quantified the L-DOPA content of 10 g dried Mucuna pruriens seeds at around 330 mg, while Raina and Khatri (2011) found L-DOPA concentration in dried seeds of different accessions to vary considerably from 2.2 to 5.3% of dry weight. From the pods, seeds, leaves and roots several indole-3-alkylamines including DMT (6), DMTNb- oxide, bufotenine (5-OH-DMT, 12), 5-MeO-DMT (7), two not closer characterised 5-oxyindole-3-alkylamines and one -carboline were isolated (Ghosal et al., 1971). Misra and Wagner (2004) furthermore report on the isolation of four 1,2,3,4-tetrahydroisoquinoline alkaloids (13-16, 94 mg altogether) from 500 g dried seeds.

[admin]

Part 2 of 2

7.2.3. Nelumbo nucifera (Nelumbonaceae)

The natural distribution of Nelumbo nucifera ranges from the Caspian Sea to eastern Asia (McDonald, 2004), while Holm et al. (1979, p.: 246) list N. nucifera as a weed for India. The species is known in India as ‘lotus’, ‘kamala’ or ‘padma’ (Mukherjee et al., 2009). From the seeds, flower buds and the leaves a range of benzyltetrahydroisoquinolines, bisbenzylisoquinolines and aporphine type alkaloids have been isolated (Kunitomo et al., 1973; Shoji et al., 1987; Sugimoto et al., 2010; Nakamura et al., 2013). For a comprehensive review on the phytochemical constituents of the different lotus tissues see Mukherjee et al. (2009). From 3 kg of dried Nelumbo nucifera leaves Kashiwada et al. (2005) obtained 275 mg (þ)-(R)-coclaurine (17), 28 mg (-)-1(R)-N-methylcoclaurine (18) and 507 mg of (-)-1(S)-norcoclaurine (19). From the EtOAc fraction of 1 kg flower buds Nakamura et al. (2013) extracted nuciferine (20, 148mg), N-nornuciferine (21, 11.2mg), lysicamine (22, 36.5 mg) and from the butanol fraction N-methylasimilobine (23, 6.6 mg), lysicamine (102 mg) and pronuciferine (24, 56.0 mg). From the EtOAc fraction of 900 g powdered leaves N-methylasimilobine-N-oxide (3.3 mg), nuciferine (67.3 mg) nuciferine-N-oxide (40.7 mg), N-nornuciferine (2.3 mg), dehydronuciferine (25, 3.9 mg), lysicamine (41.8 mg) and from the butanol fraction nuciferine (83.0 mg), nuciferine N-oxide (22.1 mg), N-methylasimilobine (282 mg), asimilobine (26, 149 mg), (-)-lirinidine (27, 7.2 mg), 2-hydroxy-1-methoxy- 6a,7-dehydroaporphine (28, 2.9 mg), lysicamine (3.0 mg), D,L-armepavine (29, 27.4 mg), and pronuciferine (8.3 mg) were obtained (Nakamura et al., 2013).



7.2.4. Sida rhombifolia, Sida spinosa and Sida cordifolia (Malvaceae)

All three Sida species are worldwide weeds (including India; Holm et al., 1979, p.: 335-356). In Hindi Sida species are called ‘bariara’, ‘kareta’, ‘bhundli’, ‘lal berela’ and in Sanskrit ‘sahadêvâ’, ‘viśvadêvâ’, ‘rishyaprôktâ’, ‘nâgabalâ’, ‘balâ’ (Rajan and Sethuraman, 2008; Hoernle, 2011). The roots of Sida cordifolia contain the -phenylethylamine type alkaloids PEA (1) ephedrine (30), pseudoephedrine, the carboxylated tryptamines hypaphorine (8) and S-(þ)-Nb-methyltryptophan methyl ester (31) and the quinazoline alkaloids vasicine (peganin, 32), vasicinol (33) and vasicinone (34, Ghosal et al., 1975). The same substances are reported from the roots and aerial parts of Sida spinosa and Sida rhombifolia, with the exception of methyltryptophan methyl ester and the additional presence of hypaphorine methyl ester in Sida spinosa and that, while the aerial parts of Sida rhombifolia seem to lack carboxylated tryptamines, they additionally contain N-methyl- -phenethylamine (35, Prakash et al., 1981). Chaves et al. (2013) furthermore report the presence of the indoquinoline alkaloids cryptolepine (36) and cryptolepinone (37) in the aerial parts of Sida rhombifolia.

From 3.5 kg dried roots of Sida cordifolia Ghosal et al. (1975) obtained PEA (42 mg), ephedrine (22 mg), þ-ephedrine (13 mg), plus a 22 mg mixture of ephedrine and þ-ephedrine, vasicinone (126 mg), vasicine (37 mg), vasicinol (31 mg), choline (76 mg), hypaphorine (14 mg), and betaine (84 mg). Quantitative extraction of the alkaloid content of 5 kg dried aerial parts of S. rhombifolia by Prakash et al. (1981) afforded PEA (470 mg), N-methyl- -phenylethylamine (190 mg), ephedrine (136 mg), þ- ephedrine (98 mg), vasicinol (12 mg), vasicinone (36 mg), vasicine (32 mg) choline (85 mg) and betaine (93 mg).



7.2.5. Tabernaemontana divaricata (Apocynaceae)

Tabernaemontana divaricata is a widespread latex bearing garden plant, rich in indole alkaloids from the vincosan, aspidospermatan, plumeran, bis-indole and ibogan group (Pratchayasakul et al., 2008). In Hindi the species is referred to as ‘cadni’ and in Sanskrit ‘nata’ or ‘nandivrksah’ (Sala, 2010, p.: 232; Hoernle, 2011). Kam et al. (2003) isolated 23 alkaloids with an overall yield of 1068 mg kg 1 from the leaves of the double flower variety of Tabernaemontana divaricata. Alkaloids affording the highest yields were voaphylline (38, 260 mg), apparicine (39, 220 mg), N(1)-methylvoaphylline (40, 120 mg), conophylline (41, 116 mg) and conofoline (42, 105 mg), while only 2 mg ibogaine (43) was obtained (Kam et al., 2003). From the stem-bark of the same Tabernaemontana divaricata variety Kam et al., (2004) characterised 42 alkaloids with an overall yield of 647.7 mg kg 1. The highest yields were obtained for vobasine (44, 97 mg) voacangine (45, 91 mg), voacristine (46, 58 mg), (3R/3S)-3-ethoxyvoacangine (47, 56 mg) but only 2.4 mg ibogaine was obtained. Kam et al. (2004) for the first time isolated conolidine (48, 1.3 mg/kg) a C5-nor stemmadenine, which was found to exert promising analgesic activity in mice (Tarselli et al., 2011). Chaiyana et al. (2013) estimated the content of the bis-indole alkaloid 3’-R/S-hydroxyvoacamine (49) obtained from 3.36 kg Tabernaemontana divaricata stem at 3390 mg. Bao et al. (2013) obtained 42 grams of alkaloidal fraction and isolated the psychoactive ibogaine (50 mg), several voacangine derivatives and a number of other ibogaine type alkaloids from 5 kg dried T. divaricata stem.



7.2.6. Tinospora cordifolia (Menispermaceae)


Fig. 2. Tinospora cordifolia–foto taken in Kathmandu, Nepal, March 2009 and courtesy of Todd Caldecott.


Fig. 3. Tinospora cordifolia stem powder extracted with baking soda (NaHCO3) and water.

Tinospora cordifolia is a deciduous twiner with heart shaped leaves occurring from Kumaon (Uttarakhand), Jammu and Kashmir state in the north to the extreme south of India (Williamson, 2002, p.: 302; Kumari et al., 2013). The colour of the succulent stems varies from a creamy greenish brown to yellowish brown (Fig. 2). It is reported that freshly cut stems immediately assume a yellow colour when exposed to air (Neeraja and Margaret, 2013). Holm et al. (1979, p.: 363) list the species as a weed for India. The species is called ‘gudûchî’, ‘guluchi’ or ‘amritâ’ in Sanskrit and ‘gulancha’, ‘guruchi’, ‘giloy’ or ‘amrita’ in Hindi (Bisset and Nwaiwu, 1983; Williamson, 2002; Sala, 2010, p.: 283; Hoernle, 2011). From Tinospora cordifolia, which is called ‘Amrita’, both in the BM and Ayurvedic herbal medicine, Phan et al. (2010) report the isolation and identification of two aporphine glycosides, N-formylasimilobine-2-O- -D-glucopyranosyl-(1-2)- - D-glucopyranoside (50, 28 mg) and N-acetylasimilobine-2-O- -D-glucopyranosyl-(1-2)- -D-glucopyranoside (51, 2.5 mg) from 2 kg aerial parts. From 920 g powdered Tinospora cordifolia stem Patel and Mishra (2011) obtained 28 g extract and from a 15 g aliquot thereof isolated the two protoberberine bases palmatine (52, 2467 mg) and jatrorrhizine (53, 748 mg) as well as 140 mg of the aporphine alkaloid magnoflorine (54). Srinivasan et al. (2008) furthermore estimate the berberine (55) concentration based on a HPLC method at around 0.3% of dried plant material. Extrapolated on the hypothetical extraction of 1 kg Tinospora cordifolia stem, around 1500 mg jatrorrhizine, 4900 mg palmatine and 3000 mg berberine could potentially be obtained. Palmatine has a yellow colour, jatrorrhizine is reddish-brown and berberine has an intense yellow colour and is therefore also used to dye textiles (Römpp-Lexikon, Regitz, 1997, p.: 520). We have extracted Tinospora. cordifolia stem powder obtained from online sources with water and baking soda (sodium bicarbonate, NaHCO3) receiving an amber or honey coloured golden shining extract (Fig. 3).



8. Discussion

Flattery and Schwartz suggested that the Syrian rue (Peganum harmala) corresponds to Haoma as well as Soma. P. harmala, is a drought tolerant species today distributed around the Mediterranean basin extending east to the northern part of India and listed as a weed for Turkey and Afghanistan (Holm et al., 1979). Flattery and Schwartz (1989), however, also acknowledge that Peganum harmala seems to have become established in India only more recently being introduced by Muslim societies, since the local names used in India derive directly from either the Arabic (harmel) or Persian (isfan; p.: 42). The fact that Peganum harmala has not been identified throughout the BM by Hoernle (2011) does lend additional support to the concerns raised by Flattery and Schwartz. With respect to the theory that Soma was nothing else but an Ephedra sp., Falk (1989) does not ignore that on the Indian subcontinent Ephedra spp. grow only in the northern and mountainous regions of Afghanistan, Pakistan and India at altitudes between 1200 and 4000 m a.s.l. Ephedra species would thus have had to be traded (“Soma-buyer”) if they played a role in the Vedic Soma ritual (Falk, 1989). McDonald (2004) on the other hand acknowledges, that the hypothesis, that lotus as a single species would be the equivalent of soma, lacks a chemical and pharmacological analysis and verification.

No such biogeographic doubts and far less phytochemical uncertainties exist with the species presented in the results section and contained in the Amrita recipes of the BM. All eight species are common throughout India. Altogether, the chemistry of these eight species (D. gangeticum, M. pruriens, N. nucifera, Sida cordifolia, Sida rhombifolia, Sida. spinosa, T. cordifolia and T. divaricata) includes several notorious and potential psychoactive and psychedelic substances, and alkaloid classes, namely tryptamines, phenylethylamine, ephedrine, aporphine alkaloids, ibogaine, and L-DOPA. Moreover, MAO and AChE interfering protoberberine alkaloids as well as potentially neurotoxic tetrahydroisoquinolines and -carbolines are present. The presence of aporphine alkaloids and the asimilobine moiety in both ingredients of the Amrita oil, N. nucifera as well as Tinospora cordifolia, is intriguing. The phytochemical profile and associated pharmacology of Nelumbo nucifera renders McDonald's (2004) hypothesis, that Nelumbo nucifera corresponds directly to Soma, not very plausible, however. By adding small amounts of the amphoteric sodium bicarbonate to the watery maceration of Tinospora cordifolia stem powder we obtained a stronger gold-brown colouring than extracting with pure water, but the relevance to the present discussion is not yet clear.We are aware that for many other species mentioned in these Amrita recipes no or only scarce phytochemical and pharmacological data exist and that ongoing research efforts may help to identify more species with potential psychoactive properties.

8.1. Serotoninergic, dopaminergic and adrenergic interactions

Upon oral ingestion the hallucinogenic tryptamines (5-MeO-DMT, 5-OH-DMT, DMT and tryptamine) as well as the psychoactive PEA are readily catabolized by MAO. Tryptamines are mainly deaminated by MAO-A (Shen et al., 2010) and in occasions when MAO-A is deactivated they may also be catabolized by the B isoform (Nagatsu, 2004). PEA is predominantly catabolized by the B subtype (Buckholtz and Boggan, 1977). The potent psychedelic 5-MeO-DMT is either deaminated by MAO-A or O-demethylated by cytochrome P450 2D6 resulting in the even more active 5-OH-DMT (bufotenine), which is finally deaminated by MAO (Shen et al., 2010). 5-OH-DMT is about three-times more potent towards the serotonin (5-HT) receptor (affinity: 5-HT2A 4 5-HT1A) than 5-MeO-DMT (affinity: 5-HT1A45-HT2A), which is up to 10 times more potent than DMT in humans (Shen et al., 2010).

1-Me-tetrahydrobetacarboline (1-Me-THBC), was shown to inhibit 3H-5-HT (tritiated serotonin) and 3H-DA (tritiated dopamine) uptake by human platelets with IC50 values of 6.4 and 1.0 mM respectively (Airaksinen et al., 1980). Moreover, Komulainen et al. (1980) have shown that 1-Me-THBC inhibits 5-HT uptake by rat synaptosomes (IC50 ¼ 12 μM), the DA uptake into striatal synaptosomes (IC50¼70 μM) as well as noradrenaline (NA) uptake by cortical rat synaptosomes (IC50¼92 μM). Similar to these in vitro data assessed for 1-Me-THBC, 1,2-Me- THBC (10) present in D. gangeticum might lead to elevated inter-synaptical 5-HT, DA and NA concentration in human brain tissues.

Nornuciferine obtained from Nelumbo nucifera and asimilobine, present in Nelumbo nucifera and in its glucosylated N-formyl and N-acetyl form also in Tinospora cordifolia, have been shown to interact agonistically with the 5-HT1A receptor in vitro with Ki values of 10 and 20 μM, respectively (Hasrat et al., 1997). Also the bisbenzylisoquinoline neferine isolated from the seeds and leaves of Nelumbo nucifera (Kashiwada et al., 2005; Sugimoto et al., 2010) was shown to exert antidepressant-like effects in mice mediated via the 5-HT1A receptor (Sugimoto et al., 2010). Shoji et al. (1987), however, report 5-HT antagonistic properties for asimilobine as well as lirinidine. Apomorphine (56), used as an agent in the treatment of Parkinson’s Disease (PD) and closely related to magnoflorine found in Tinospora cordifolia as well as nuciferine, asimilobine and lysicamine obtained from Nelumbo nucifera, shows considerable affinities towards different subtypes of dopamine, serotonine and adrenergic receptors (Millan et al., 2002).

Berberine and palmatine, both present in Tinospora cordifolia were found to interact with the 5-HT2 receptor, displacing the radioligand with an IC50 of 1.9 and 2.9 μM, respectively (Schmeller et al., 1997). It remains, however, unclear what kind of effect berberine and palmatine mediate through 5-HT2 receptor interaction. Berberine and palmatine also bind to alpha1- and alpha2-adrenergic receptors displacing bound radioligands with an IC50 of 3.2 and 0.476 μM (berberine) and 5.8 and 0.956 μM (palmatine) probably transmitting antagonistic effects (Schmeller et al., 1997).

Ephedrine, present in Sida spp., apart from releasing noradrenaline, leads to increased extracellular dopamine concentrations in brain tissues including the striatum and the substantia nigra (Bowyer et al., 2000; Munhall and Johnson, 2006).

The pharmacologic interactions of ibogaine and ibogaine type alkaloids present in Tabernaemontana divaricata within the CNS are multiple and therefore particularly complex. Low micro molar affinities of ibogaine with the serotonergic, nicotinic, N-methyl-D-aspartate, m and κ opioid system, sigma receptors as well as sodium channels have been detected (Alper, 2001).

Excessive intake of L-DOPA through Mucuna pruriens seeds has been associated with toxic psychosis and peripheral side effects such as palpitations and headache (Infante et al., 1990; Mahajani et al., 1996) and can therefore not be considered to contribute to an acceptable psychedelic effect. Such as the Amrita-oil was indicated against the 80 nervous diseases, Mucuna pruriens seeds are still used in Ayurvedic medicine for the treatment of PD and murine data indicates that L-DOPA containing Mucuna pruriens seed extract is more effective than an equivalent dose of L-DOPA, suggesting synergistic effects (Kasture et al., 2009).



8.2. Monoamine oxidase inhibition

Jatrorrhizine was shown to inhibit both, MAO-A and B obtained from rat brain using 5-HT and PEA as a substrate in a non-competitive manner with IC50 values of 4 and 62 mM, respectively, while berberine inhibited MAO-A with an IC50 of 126 mM (Kong et al., 2001). Castillo et al. (2005) assessed with two independent in vitro assays that berberine also inhibits MAO-B obtained from mouse liver mitochondria with IC50 values of 89 mM (benzylamine as substrate) and 90 mM (fluorescence method). Lee et al. (1999) measured the IC50 of plamatine with mouse brain MAO and kynuramine as substrate at 90.6 mM, but Kong et al. (2001) found no inhibitory activity of plamatine up to a concentration of 200 mM. Due to the slightly conflicting results and divers assay conditions a standardized assessment of the MAO-I properties of these protoberberine isoquinolines could provide clarifications. No pharmacologic data are available for 2-methyltetrahydroharman (1,2-dimethyl-1,2,3,4-tetrahydro- -carboline, 10) but the closely related tetrahydroharman (1-methyl-1,2,3,4-tetrahydro- -carboline) has been found to moderately inhibit (EC50 ¼ 120 mM) mouse brain MAO with tryptamine as a substrate (Buckholtz and Boggan, 1977).

Bembenek et al. (1990) as well as Thull et al. (1995) report on the inhibitory activity of a range of isoquinoline derivatives including 1,2,3,4-tetrahydroisoquinolines (TIQ) and N-methyl-TIQ on MAO-A and B. Bembenek et al. (1990) identified the N-methylated TIQ as an inhibitor of human MAO-A with a Ki value of 27 mM. Inhibitory values (IC50) found by Thull et al. (1995) range from 1 to 130 mM for the A subtype and from 10 to 270 mM for the B subtype. The most potent MAO-B inhibitors were 1,2,3,4-tetrahydroisoquinoline and 2-methyl- 1,2,3,4-tetrahydroisoquinoline with Ki’s of 15 and 1 mM, respectively (Thull et al., 1995).

8.3. Acetylcholine and butyrylcholine metabolism interactions

Berberine binds, probably mediating agonistic effects, to the muscarinic (mAChR) and nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChR) displacing bound radioligands with an IC50 of 1 and 35.5 μM, while palmatine interacts only with the mAChR with an IC50 of 4.1 μM. At the same time both alkaloids inhibit acetyl- and butyrylcholine esterase with an IC50 of 167.4 and 55.8 μM (berberine) and 124.5 and 425.6 μM (palmatine; Schmeller et al., 1997).

The benzyltetrahydroisoquinolines coclaurine, N-methylcoclaurine, and armepavine present in N. nucifera were shown to inhibit different cloned human nACh receptor subtypes with IC50 values in the range of 132 –4 500 μM (coclaurine), 23 –4 500 μM (Nmethylcoclaurine) and 14–18 μM (armepavine), and IC50 values for the functional affinity of 18 –4 200 μM (coclaurine), 4.8–25 μM (armepavine; Exley et al., 2005).

Moreover, 30-R/S-hydroxyvoacamine from Tabernaemontana divaricata was found to non-competitively inhibit acetylcholine esterase with an IC50 value of 7.00 μM (Chaiyana et al., 2013).

8.4. The MAO-I ‘Ayahuasca-hypothesis’

Ott (1997) reports his subjective threshold-level for the perception of a psychedelic effect with harmine (57) and DMT (6) to be 1.5 mg/kg harmine (120 mg/80 kg body weight) combined with 30 mg DMT (0.375 mg/kg; see also Callaway, 1999). Callaway (1993) states that a 0.5–1 mg/kg oral dose of harmine combined with 0.5 mg/kg DMT or 0.1 mg/kg 5-MeO-DMT (7) is also effective. Hence, there seems to be some range of tolerance in the dosage of the two components since it appears that more MAO substrate can compensate for lower MAO-I concentration. The MAO-I activity of harmine has been assessed in vitro with mouse brain MAO and tryptamine as a substrate at an EC50 of 0.08 μM (Buckholtz and Boggan, 1977). Compared to the in vitro MAO-A inhibition of jatrorrhizine (53, IC50¼4 μM) assessed with rat brain MAO and serotonin as a substrate (Kong et al., 2001), harmine shows 50 times higher potency. However, harmine selectively inhibits MAO-A (Gerardy, 1994), while jatrorrhizine, berberine (55) and eventually also palmatine (52) concomitantly inhibit MAO-B (Lee et al., 1999; Kong et al., 2001; Castillo et al., 2005). Therefore, synergistic MAO-I effects can be expected by a protoberberine-rich Tinospora cordifolia extract.

Taking into account, both the qualitative as well as the quantitative phytochemical profile of the discussed species we argue that a psychoactive potion could most probably be obtained by mixing a concentrated MAO-I juice of Tinospora cordifolia with either a Desmodium gangeticum and/or a Sida sp. extract, eventually as described in the 9th Mandala and the BM, previously brought into an oily form. We propose that Tinospora cordifolia in high doses blended with Desmodium gangeticum potentially leads to colourful psychedelic visions, while Tinospora cordifolia blended with Sida spp. would induce exhilarating amphetamine-like sensations. Also Nelumbo nucifera and Tabernaemontana divaricata have the potential to add to the overall psychoactivity of a multi-extract combination.

8.5. Toxicity

Tetrahydro-carbolines (TH C) and tetrahydroisoquinolines (TIQ) are considered potential endogenous and exogenous neurotoxins relevant in the aetiology of PD (Nagatsu, 1997). Especially the N-methylated TIQ of Nelumbo nucifera (18 and 29) as well as the 1,2- dimethylated TH C (10) and the N-methylated -carbolinium cation (9) of Desmodium. gangeticum are of toxicological concern. N-Methylated TH C and N-methylated TIQ are structural analogues of 1-methyl-4-phenyl-1,2,3,6-tetrahydropyridine (MPTP, 58), a precursor, which upon catalyzation by MAO-B within non-dopaminergic cells converts to MPPþ (59), a PD inducing neurotoxin (Przedborski et al., 2000). The high affinity of MPPþ towards the plasma membrane dopamine transporter permits a selective accumulation of MPPþ in dopaminergic cells (Przedborski et al., 2000). Once inside dopaminergic cells, MPPþ inhibits mitochondrial activity, which leads to a degeneration of the dopaminergic neurons in the substantia nigra (Fields et al., 1992; Neafsey et al., 1995; Nagatsu, 1997). Endogenously or environmentally derived -carbolines and TIQ oxidised by haem peroxidases or MAO (Naoi et al., 1989a; Herraiz et al., 2007) and bio-activated by N-methyltransferases (Naoi et al., 1989b; Gearhart et al., 2000) are therefore being discussed as possible pro-toxins in the aetiology of PD (Nagatsu, 1997). In the cerebro-spinal fluid of deceased Parkinson patients elevated levels of N-methyl- -carbolinium cations have been found (Matsubara et al., 1993; 1995). Moreover, subcutaneous administration of 22 mg/kg 1-benzyl-1,2,3,4-tetrahydroisoquinoline daily over 66 days to a subject of Macaca fasciularis led to the appearance of symptoms typical for PD (Kotake et al., 1996). Remarkably, the N-methylated- -carbolinium (9) present in Desmodium. gangeticum does not need to be activated by MAO-B or methyltransferase because it presents the structural features of a neurotoxin already. Also, upon oxidation by MAO the N-methylated TIQ may readily become MPPþ analogues.

Amphetamine-like compounds are potentiated by MAO-I, which can trigger hypertensive crisis including symptoms such as headache, sweating, pallor, nausea, vomiting and fright (DeKorne et al., 2002, p.: 18). When experimenting with MAO-I one should take dietary precautions and avoid ingesting food with high amine content such as “cheese, especially aged cheese, beer, wine pickled herrings, snails, chicken livers, yeast products, figs, raisins, pickles, sauerkraut, coffee, chocolate, soy sauce, cream or yogurt” (DeKorne et al., 2002, p.: 18).

9. Conclusions

The multidisciplinary analysis of two Amrita recipes recorded during the 6th century A.D. in the Bower Manuscript and advertised amongst others as panaceas and as a remedy to cure nervous diseases revealed several plant species containing CNS interacting and psychoactive alkaloids. We argue that these recipes are related to the Rigvedic Soma since they are called ‘Amrita’ (non-death), a synonym for ‘Soma’, and referred to as ‘Ambrosia’ (food of the gods). All identified and discussed alkaloid-rich species (Tinospora cordifolia, Sida spp., Mucuna pruriens, Nelumbo nucifera, Desmodium gangeticum, Tabernaemontana divaricata) are widely used medicinal herbs with an important role in Ayurvedic, Chinese and Thai Medicine. We suggest that the Rigvedic Soma was a mixture of a watery, protoberberine alkaloid-rich Tinospora cordifolia extract with MAO-I properties and a tryptamine-rich Desmodium gangeticum and/or an ephedrine and PEA containing Sida spp. extract. Tinospora cordifolia mixed with Desmodium gangeticum might provide a psychedelic experience with visual effects, while a combination of Tinospora cordifolia with a Sida spp. extract might lead to more euphoric and amphetamine-like experiences. Although the reviewed phytochemical analyses were not strictly quantitative, the alkaloid yields, especially for Tinospora cordifolia, which is still called Amrita today, as well as for Desmodium gangeticum, are considerable. Under acidic conditions alkaloids are generally water-soluble and under neutral and basic conditions liposoluble. With curdled milk, water and plant oils as reported in the description of the Soma preparation of the 9th Mandala, the ancient Indo-Aryans[??? 6th C.] were in possession of the means to extract the pharmacologically relevant compounds.We can, however, not exclude that among the herbal ingredients mentioned in the Amrita recipes other species with psychoactive secondary metabolites are present than the ones we have identified. Only an experimental in vivo study can clarify what kind of pharmacologic effects on the human psyche a mixture of extracts made from Tinospora cordifolia, Desmodium gangeticum and Sida spp. has. The same accounts for the overall Amrita recipes described in the Bower Manuscript. Although synergistic effects of such a mixture can be anticipated, for the induction of a psychoactive effect elevated doses of the different ingredients would be required. Considering the structural features of the chemical compounds present in these species, concerns regarding the neurotoxicity of a highly concentrated potion are appropriate.

“And if anything should go wrong, there's soma. Which you go and chuck out of the window in the name of liberty, Mr. Savage. Liberty! He laughed.”

-- Brave New World, Aldous Huxley, 1932

Acknowledgements

I am grateful to Micaela Morelli for comments on a draft version of this paper and Caroline Weckerle for helping me out with literature.

_______________

References:

Airaksinen, M.M., Svensk, H., Tuomisto, J., Komulainen, H., 1980. Tetrahydro-
-carbolines and corresponding tryptamines: in vivo inhibition of serotonin and dopamine
uptake by human blood platelets. Acta Pharmacologica et Toxicologica 46, 308–313.
Alper, K.R., 2001. Ibogaine: a review. The Alkaloids: Chemistry and Biology 56, 1–38.
Bao, M.F., Yan, J.M., Cheng, G.G., Li, X.Y., Liu, Y.P., Li, Y., Cai, X.H., Luo, X.D., 2013. Cytotoxic indole alkaloids from Tabernaemontana divaricata. Journal of Natural Products 76,
1406–1412.
Banerjee, P.K., Ghosal, S., 1969. Alkaloids of the roots of Desmodium gangeticum (Leguminosae). Australian Journal of Chemistry 22, 2029–2031.
Bembenek, M.E., Abell, C.W., Chrisey, L.A., Rozwadowska, M.D., Gessner, W., Brossi, A., 1990. Inhibition of monoamine oxidases A and B by simple isoquinoline alkaloids:
racemic and optically active 1,2,3,4-tetrahydro-, 3,4-dihydro-, and fully aromatic isoquinolines. Journal of Medicinal Chemistry 33, 147–152.
Bisset, N.G., Nwaiwu, J., 1983. Quaternary alkaloids of Tinospora species. Planta Medica 48, 275–279.
Bowyer, J.F., Newport, G.D., Slikker Jr., W., Gough, B., Ferguson, S.A., Tor-Agbidye, J., 2000. An evaluation of l-ephedrine neurotoxicity with respect to hyperthermia and
caudate/putamen microdialysate levels of ephedrine, dopamine, serotonin, and glutamate. Toxicological Sciences 55, 133–142.
Buckholtz, N.S., Boggan, W.O., 1977. Monoamine oxidase inhibition in brain and liver by
-carbolines: structure-activity relationships and substrate specificity. Biochemical
Pharmacology 26, 1991–1996.
Callaway, J.C., 1993. Tryptamines,
-carbolines and you. MAPS Newsletter of the Multidisciplinary Association of Psychedelic Studies 4, 30–32.
Callaway, J.C., McKenna, D.J., Grob, C.S., Brito, G.S., Raymon, L.P., Poland, R.E., Andrade, E.N., Andrade, E.O., Mash, D.C., 1999. Pharmacokinetics of Hoasca alkaloids in healthy
humans. Journal of Ethnopharmacology 65, 243–256.
Castillo, J., Hung, J., Rodriguez, M., Bastidas, E., Laboren, I., Jaimes, A., 2005. LED fluorescence spectroscopy for direct determination of monoamine oxidase B inactivation.
Analytical Biochemistry 343, 293–298.
Chaiyana, W., Schripsema, J., Ingkaninan, K., Okonogi, S., 2013. 30-R/S-hydroxyvoacamine, a potent acetylcholinesterase inhibitor from Tabernaemontana divaricata.
Phytomedicine 20, 543–548.
Chaves, O.S., Gomes, R.A., Tomaz, A.C., Fernandes, M.G., das Graças Mendes Jr., L., de Fátima Agra, M., Braga, V.A., de Fátima Vanderlei de Souza, M., 2013. Secondary
metabolites from Sida rhombifolia L. (Malvaceae) and the vasorelaxant activity of cryptolepinone. Molecules 18, 2769–2777.
DeKorne, Aardvark, D., Trout, K., 2002. Ayahuasca analogues and plant-based tryptamines. The best of the entheogen review 1992–1999. The Entheogen Review, POB 19820
Sacramento, CA 95819-0820 USA.
Exley, R., Iturriaga-Vásquez, P., Lukas, R.J., Sher, E., Cassels, B.K., Bermudez, I., 2005. Evaluation of benzyltetrahydroisoquinolines as ligands for neuronal nicotinic
acetylcholine receptors. British Journal of Pharmacology 146, 15–24.
Falk, H., 1989. Soma I and II. Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies (BSOAS). 52. UCL Press, London, pp. 77–90.
Fields, J.Z., Albores, R.R., Neafsey, E.J., Collins, M.A., 1992. Inhibition of mitochondrial succinate oxidation—similarities and differences between N-methylated beta-carbolines
and MPPþ. Archives of Biochemistry and Biophysics 294, 539–543.
Flattery, D.S., Schwartz, M., 1989. Haoma and Harmaline. The Botanical Identity of the Indo-Iranian Sacred Hallucinogen “Soma” and its Legacy in Religion, Language, and
Middle Eastern Folklore. University of California Press, Berkley, CA.
Gearhart, D.A., Collins, M.A., Lee, J.M., Neafsey, E.J., 2000. Increased beta-carboline 9N-methyltransferase activity in the frontal cortex in Parkinson's disease. Neurobiology of
Diseases 7, 201–211.
Gerardy, J., 1994. Effect of moclobemide on rat brain monoamine oxidase A and B: comparison with harmaline and clorgyline. Progress in Neuropsychopharmacology and
Biological Psychiatry 18, 793–802.
Ghosal, S., Singh, S., Bhattacharya, S.K., 1971. Alkaloids of Mucuna pruriens: chemistry and pharmacology. Planta Medica 19, 279–284.
Ghosal, S., Bhattacharya, S.K., 1972. Desmodium alkaloids. Pt-II chemical and pharmacological evaluation of Desmodium gangeticum. Planta Medica 22, 434–440.
Ghosal, S., Rama Ballav, P.S.C., Mehta, R., 1975. Alkaloids of Sida cordifolia. Phytochemistry 14, 830–832.
Hasrat, J.A., De Bruyne, T., De Backer, J.P., Vauquelin, G., Vlietinck, A.J., 1997. Isoquinoline derivatives isolated from the fruit of Annona muricata as 5-HTergic 5-HT1A receptor
agonists in rats: unexploited antidepressive (lead) products. J. Pharmacy and Pharmacology 49, 1145–1149.
Herraiz, T., Guillén, H., Galisteo, J., 2007. N-methyltetrahydro-beta-carboline analogs of 1-methyl-4-phenyl-1,2,3,6-tetrahydropyridine (MPTP) neurotoxin are oxidised to
neurotoxic beta-carbolinium cations by haem peroxidases. Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications 356, 118–123.
Hoernle, R.A.F., 2011. The Bower Manuscript. Facsimile leaves, Nagari transcript, Romanised transliteration and English translation with notes, Calcutta, Superintendent
Government Printing, India 1912, New Delhi, Reprint for Aditya Prakashan.
Holm, L., Pancho, J.V., Herberger, J.P., Plucknett, D.L., 1979. A Geographical Atlas of World Weeds. John Wiley & Sons, New York.
Holmstedt, B., Lindgren, J., 1967. Chemical constituents and pharmacology of South American snuffs. In: Efron, D.H., Holmstedt, B., Kline, N.S. (Eds.), Ethnopharmacologic
Search for Psychoactive Drugs. US Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C, pp. 339–373 (Public Health Service Publication No. 1645).
Huxley, A., 1932. Brave New World. Triad Grafton Books, London.

http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Rig_Veda/Mandala_9.
Infante, M.E., Perez, A.M., Simao, M.R., Manda, F., Baquete, E.F., Fernandes, A.M., Cliff, J.L., 1990. Outbreak of acute toxic psychosis attributed to Mucuna pruriens. Lancet 336,
1129.
Kam, T.S., Pang, H.S., Lim, T.M., 2003. Biologically active indole and bisindole alkaloids from Tabernaemontana divaricata. Organic and Biomolecular Chemistry 1,
1292–1297.
Kam, T.S., Pang, H.S., Choo, Y.M., Komiyama, K., 2004. Biologically active ibogan and vallesamine derivatives from Tabernaemontana divaricata. Chemistry and Biodiversity 1,
646–656.
Kashiwada, Y., Aoshima, A., Ikeshiro, Y., Chen, Y.P., Furukawa, H., Itoigawa, M., Fujioka, T., Mihashi, K., Cosentino, L.M., Morris-Natschke, S.L., Lee, K.H., 2005. Anti-HIV
benzylisoquinoline alkaloids and flavonoids from the leaves of Nelumbo nucifera, and structure-activity correlations with related alkaloids. Bioorganic and Medicinal
Chemistry 13, 443–448.
Kasture, S., Pontis, S., Pinna, A., Schintu, N., Spina, L., Longoni, R., Simola, N., Ballero, M., Morelli, M., 2009. Assessment of symptomatic and neuroprotective efficacy of Mucuna
pruriens seed extract in rodent model of Parkinson's disease. Neurotoxicity Research 15, 111–122.
Komulainen, H., Tuomisto, J., Airaksinen, M.M., Kari, I., Peura, P., Pollari, L., 1980. Tetrahydro-beta-carbolines and corresponding tryptamines: in vitro inhibition of serotonin,
dopamine and noradrenaline uptake in rat brain synaptosomes. Acta Pharmacology and Toxicology 46, 299–307.
Kong, L.D., Cheng, C.H., Tan, R.X., 2001. Monoamine oxidase inhibitors from rhizoma of Coptis chinensis. Planta Medica 67, 74–76.
Kotake, Y., Yoshida, M., Ogawa, M., Tasaki, Y., Hirobe, M., Ohta, S., 1996. Chronic administration of 1-benzyl-1,2,3,4-tetrahydroisoquinoline, an endogenous amine in the brain,
induces parkinsonism in a primate. Neuroscience Letters 217, 69–71.
Kumari, S., Batish, D.R., Singh, H.P., Negi, K., Kohli, R.K., 2013. An ethnobotanical survey of medicinal plants used by Gujjar Community of Trikuta Hills in Jammu and Kashmir,
India. Journal of Medicinal Plants Research 7, 2111–2121.
Kunitomo, J., Yoshikawa, Y., Tanaka, S., Imori, Y., Isoi, K., 1973. Alkaloids of Nelumbo nucifera. Phytochemistry 12, 699–701.
Lee, S.S., Kim, Y.H., Lee, M.K., 1999. Inhibition of monoamine oxidase by palmatine. Archives of Pharmcal Research 22, 529–531.
Leonti, M., 2011. The future is written: impact of scripts on the cognition, selection, knowledge and transmission of medicinal plant use and its implications for ethnobotany
and ethnopharmacology. Journal of Ethnopharmacology 134, 542–555.
Lewin, L., 1973. Phantastica. Die Betäubenden und erregenden Genussmittel. Für Ärzte und Nichtärzte (Reproduction of the edition by Georg Stilke, Berlin 1927), Gerstenberg,
Hildesheim.
Mahajani, S.S., Doshi, V.J., Parikh, K.M., Manyam, B.V., 1996. Bioavailability of L-DOPA from HP-200—a Formulation of Seed Powder of Mucuna pruriens (Bak): Pharmacokinetic
and Pharmacodynamic Study. Phytotherapy Research 10, 254–256.
Matsubara, K., Collins, M.A., Akane, A., Ikebuchi, J., Neafsey, E.J., Kagawa, M., Shiono, H., 1993. Potential bioactivated neurotoxicants, N-methylated beta-carbolinium ions, are
present in human brain. Brain Research 610, 90–96.
Matsubara, K., Kobayashi, S., Kobayashi, Y., Yamashita, K., Koide, H., Hatta, M., Iwamoto, K., Tanaka, O., Kimura, K., 1995. beta-Carbolinium cations, endogenous MPPþ analogs,
in the lumbar cerebrospinal fluid of patients with Parkinson's disease. Neurology 45, 2240–2245.
McDonald, A., 2004. A botanical perspective on the identity of soma (Nelumbo nucifera Gaertn.) based on scriptural and iconographic records. Economic Botany 58,
S147–S173.
McKenna, T., 1992. Food of the Gods. The search for the original tree of knowledge. Bantam Books, New York (A radical history of plants, drugs and human evolution).
Millan, M.J., Maiofiss, L., Cussac, D., Audinot, V., Boutin, J.A., Newman-Tancredi, A., 2002. Differential actions of antiparkinson agents at multiple classes of monoaminergic
receptor. I. A multivariate analysis of the binding profiles of 14 drugs at 21 native and cloned human receptor subtypes. Journal of Pharmacology and Experimental
Therapeutics 303, 791–804.
Misra, L., Wagner, H., 2004. Alkaloidal constituents of Mucuna pruriens seeds. Phytochemistry 65, 2565–2567.
Mukherjee, P.K., Mukherjee, D., Maji, A.K., Rai, S., Heinrich, M., 2009. The sacred lotus (Nelumbo nucifera)—phytochemical and therapeutic profile. Journal of Pharmacy
Pharmacology 61, 407–422.
Munhall, A.C., Johnson, S.W., 2006. Dopamine-mediated actions of ephedrine in the rat substantia nigra. Brain Research 1069, 96–103.
Nagatsu, T., 1997. Isoquinoline neurotoxins in the brain and Parkinson's disease. Neuroscience Research 29, 99–111.
Nagatsu, T., 2004. Progress in monoamine oxidase (MAO) research in relation to genetic engineering. Neurotoxicology 25, 11–20.
Nakamura, S., Nakashima, S., Tanabe, G., Oda, Y., Yokota, N., Fujimoto, K., Matsumoto, T., Sakuma, R., Ohta, T., Ogawa, K., Nishida, S., Miki, H., Matsuda, H., Muraoka, O.,
Yoshikawa, M., 2013. Alkaloid constituents from flower buds and leaves of sacred lotus (Nelumbo nucifera, Nymphaeaceae) with melanogenesis inhibitory activity in B16
melanoma cells. Bioorganic and Medicinal Chemistry 21, 779–787.
Naoi, M., Matsuura, S., Parvez, H., Takahashi, T., Hirata, Y., Minami, M., Nagatsu, T., 1989a. Oxidation of N-methyl-1,2,3,4-tetrahydroisoquinoline into the N-methylisoquinolinium
ion by monoamine oxidase. Journal of Neurochemistry 52, 653–655.
Naoi, M., Matsuura, S., Takahashi, T., Nagatsu, T., 1989b. N-methyltransferase in human brain catalyses N-methylation of 1,2,3,4-tetrahydroisoquinoline into N-methyl-
1,2,3,4-tetrahydroisoquinoline, a precursor of a dopaminergic neurotoxin, N-methylisoquinolinium ion. Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications 161,
1213–1219.
Neafsey, E.J., Albores, R., Gearhart, D., Kindel, G., Raikoff, K., Tamayo, F., Collins, M.A., 1995. Methyl-beta-carbolinium analogs of MPPþ cause nigrostriatal toxicity after
substantia nigra injections in rats. Brain Research 675, 279–288.
Neeraja, P.V., Margaret, E., 2013. Amruthavalli (Tinospora cordifolia) multipurpose rejuvenator. International Journal of Pharmceutical, Chemical and Biological Sciences 3,
233–241.
Ott, J., 1997. Pharmahuasca, Anahuasca and Vinho da Jurema: Human Pharmacology of Oral DMT plus Harmine. Yearbook for Ethnomedicine, 1997/98.
Padhy, S., Dash, S.K., 2004. The Soma drinker of ancient india: an ethno-botanical retrospection. Journal of Human Ecology 15, 19–26.
Paramhans, S.A., 1984. Units of measurements in medieval India and their modern equivalents. Indian Journal of History of Science 19, 27–36.
Patel, M.B., Mishra, S., 2011. Hypoglycemic activity of alkaloidal fraction of Tinospora cordifolia. Phytomedicine 18, 1045–1052.
Phan, V.K., Chau, V.M., Nguyen, T.D., La, V.K., Dan, T.H., Nguyen, H.N., Nguyen, X.C., Hoang, T.H., Trinh, V.L., 2010. Aporphine alkaloids, clerodane diterpenes, and other
constituents from Tinospora cordifolia. Fitoterapia 81, 485–489.
Prakash, A., Varma, R.K., Ghosal, S., 1981. Chemical Constituents of the Malvaceae. Part III. Alkaloidal Constituents of Sida acuta, Sida humilis, Sida rhombifolia and Sida spinosa.
Planta Medica 43, 384–388.
Pratchayasakul, W., Pongchaidecha, A., Chattipakorn, N., Chattipakorn, S., 2008. Ethnobotany & ethnopharmacology of Tabernaemontana divaricata. Indian Journal of Medical
Research 127, 317–335.
Przedborski, S., Jackson-Lewis, V., Djaldetti, R., Liberatore, G., Vila, M., Vukosavic, S., Almer, G., 2000. The parkinsonian toxin MPTP: action and mechanism. Restorative
Neurology and Neuroscience 16, 135–142.
Raina, A.P., Khatri, R., 2011. Quantitative Determination of L-DOPA in Seeds of Mucuna pruriens Germplasm by High Performance Thin Layer Chromatography. Indian Journal
of Pharmaceutical Sciences 73, 459–462.
M. Leonti, L. Casu / Journal of Ethnopharmacology 155 (2014) 373–386 385
Rajan, S., Sethuraman, M., 2008. Folk medicine of the Nigiri hills in southern India. Survey of Medicinal Plants & Collection Unit, Indira Nagar. The Nilgiris and Hill Area
Development Programme, Government of Tamil Nadu, Udhagamandalam, the Nilgiris, Tamil Nadu.
Ramakrishnan, P.S., 1964. Notes on the ecology of Desmodium gangeticum. The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, India, Section B: Biological Sciences 30,
339–347.
Rastogi, S., Pandey, M.M., Rawat, A.K., 2011. An ethnomedicinal, phytochemical and pharmacological profile of Desmodium gangeticum (L.) DC. and Desmodium adscendens
(Sw.) DC. Journal of Ethnopharmacology 136, 283–296.
Römpp-Lexikon, Falbe J., Regitz, M. (Eds.), 1997. Naturstoffe. Georg Thieme Verlag, Stuttgart.
Sala, A.V., 2010. Indian Medicinal Plants. A Compendium of 500 species, vol. 5. Universities Press, Hyderabad.
Sander, L., 1987. Origin and date of the Bower Manuscript, a new approach. In: Yaldiz, M., Lobo, W. (Eds.), Investigating the Indian Arts. Museum für Indische Kunst, Berlin,
pp. 313–323.
Schmeller, T., Latz-Brüning, B., Wink, M., 1997. Biochemical activities of berberine, palmatine and sanguinarine mediating chemical defence against microorganisms and
herbivores. Phytochemistry 44, 257–266.
Shen, H.W., Jiang, X.L., Winter, J.C., Yu, A.M., 2010. Psychedelic 5-methoxy-N,N-dimethyltryptamine: metabolism, pharmacokinetics, drug interactions, and pharmacological
actions. Current Drug Metabolism 11, 659–666.
Shoji, N., Umeyama, A., Saito, N., Iuchi, A., Takemoto, T., Kajiwara, A., Ohizumi, Y., 1987. Asimilobine and lirinidine, serotonergic receptor antagonists, from Nelumbo nucifera.
Journal of Natural Products 50, 773–774.
Srinivasan, G.V., Unnikrishnan, K.P., Rema Shree, A.B., Balachandran, I., 2008. HPLC Estimation of berberine in Tinospora cordifolia and Tinospora sinensis. Indian Journal of
Pharmaceutical Sciences 70, 96–99.
Srivastava, G.P., 1954. 2nd editionDevelopment of Indian Pharmacy, vol. 1. Pindars Limited, Calcutta.
Sugimoto, Y., Furutani, S., Nishimura, K., Itoh, A., Tanahashi, T., Nakajima, H., Oshiro, H., Sun, S., Yamada, J., 2010. Antidepressant-like effects of neferine in the forced
swimming test involve the serotonin1A (5-HT1A) receptor in mice. The European Journal of Pharmacology 634, 62–67.
Tarselli, M.A., Raehal, K.M., Brasher, A.K., Streicher, J.M., Groer, C.E., Cameron, M.D., Bohn, L.M., Micalizio, G.C., 2011. Synthesis of conolidine, a potent non-opioid analgesic for
tonic and persistent pain. Nature Chemistry 3, 449–453.
theplantlist.org
http://www.theplantlist.org/.
Thull, U., Kneubühler, S., Gaillard, P., Carrupt, P.A., Testa, B., Altomare, C., Carotti, A., Jenner, P., McNaught, K.S., 1995. Inhibition of monoamine oxidase by isoquinoline
derivatives. Qualitative and 3D-quantitative structure-activity relationships. Biochemical Pharmacology 50, 869–877.
Wasson, R.G., 1968. Soma: Divine Mushroom of Immortality. Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, New York.
Williamson, E., 2002. Major Herbs of Ayurveda. Churchill Livingstone, UK.
Wise, T.S., 1845. Commentary on the Hindu System of Medicine. Bengal Medical Service, Calcutta.
Witzel, M., 1987. On the Localization of Vedic Texts and Schools. In: Pollet, G. (Ed.), India and the Ancient World. Leuven, pp. 173–213.
Witzel, M., 1997. The Development of the Vedic Canon and Its Schools: The Social and Political Milieu (Materials on Vedic Sakhas, 8, in Inside the Texts, Beyond the Texts.
New Approaches to the Study of the Vedas. In: Witzel, M. (Ed.), Harvard Oriental Series, Opera Minora, vol. 2; 1997, pp. 257–345.

[admin]

One of Harlan Crow's Hitler paintings from his collection of Nazi memorabilia is likely a fake, according to two top experts
by Jack Newsham and Katherine Long
Business Insider
Apr 26, 2023, 8:03 AM MDT


Harlan Crow in his Dallas residence on October 2, 2015. Chris Goodney/Bloomberg via Getty Images

** Real estate magnate Harlan Crow has come under scrutiny over his dealings with Clarence Thomas.
** Questions have been raised about his unusual collection of Nazi and dictator memorabilia.
** But one of his supposed Hitler paintings appears to be fake, two experts told Insider.

Conservative political donor Harlan Crow's lavish gifts to his friend Clarence Thomas have put his collection of Nazi memorabilia in the spotlight — and one of its key pieces might be fake, Insider has learned.

A painting that apparently hung in Crow's library for at least three years, with the signature "A. Hitler" scrawled in the lower-left corner, is "definitely not an authentic Hitler painting," according to Bart FM Droog, a Dutch journalist and researcher who has written widely about Hitler forgeries.

And Bill Panagopulos, whose firm Alexander Historical Auctions has sold some Hitler sketches, said in his opinion there's "no chance" Hitler actually painted the work.

Crow's dealings with Thomas, including a real-estate deal and luxury vacations on Crow's dime that Thomas didn't disclose, have been criticized by Democrats and defended by Republicans.

The attention has also renewed scrutiny of Crow's large collection of artifacts, which includes a garden of dictator statutes and swastika-emblazoned napkins from the Third Reich.

A spokesperson for Crow Holdings, Crow's commercial real estate company, said he forwarded Insider's questions to "people who have more direct access to Harlan," but did not respond to a question about who they are. Crow has defended his relationship with Thomas and said his collection commemorates the good and the bad parts of history. He rejected any suggestion that he has authoritarian sympathies.

"My mom was on a ship that was sunk by Germans during World War II. If you try to kill my mom, I don't like you," he told the Dallas Morning News on April 16. "I mean, that's reasonably obvious. And so the idea that I could have sympathy for Nazism is insane."

Harlan Crow's little-seen Hitler art collection

Little is known about Crow's collection. Mother Jones described a 2019 event where some visitors wandered out of the main area of Crow's library and were upset to find his collection included "two Hitler paintings, a signed copy of Mein Kampf, and swastika embossed linens."

Crow has opened his doors to many visitors over the years. Some have shared photos of his collection on social media: a Stradivarius violin, a waxwork of Winston Churchill, Eisenhower's putter, a silver soup tureen that belonged to Saddam Hussein, and the purported Hitler watercolor.

Insider spoke with a person who attended a 2014 tour of Crow's library, led by Crow's personal librarian, who confirmed that he saw the Hitler watercolor in Crow's collection. Insider also found three photos of the same painting on Facebook and Instagram, posted in 2014, 2015 and 2016. One of those photos was reposted by the Twitter account @PatriotTakes on April 9. Insider was able to confirm that photo was of the watercolor attributed to Hitler in Crow's collection.

PatriotTakes
@patriottakes
An original painting by Adolf Hitler from Harlan Crow’s Nazi memorabilia collection. The painting is signed “A. Hitler” on the corner.



7:45 AM · Apr 9, 2023

The painting appears to be of Vienna's old Carolinian Gate, which was demolished before Hitler was born. Several people are passing in and out, and buildings are visible over the wall. The painting bears a striking resemblance to an illustration that appeared in an 1883 book about Viennese aesthetics – but Crow's watercolor is signed "A. Hitler."

A market for Nazi memorabilia flooded with fakes

The market for Nazi memorabilia and so-called "Hitlerania" is niche, but significant, with buyers from as far afield as China willing to pay tens or even hundreds of thousands of dollars for guns, daggers, coats, and carvings, according to a 2019 story in ArtNet. It is also flooded with fakes.

After World War II, many American soldiers came home with Nazi pins, helmets, and weapons they'd taken as military trophies. The US Army has four Hitler paintings in storage, Renee Klish, a retired Army curator, told Insider. Some European countries restrict the sale of Nazi paraphernalia, but others, like the Netherlands and Denmark, display it in dozens of private and public museums.

Goods connected to Adolf Hitler, who spent some of his late teens and early 20s trying to make it as an artist in Vienna, are especially valuable to some collectors. For decades after the war, a handful of Nazi loyalists and petty criminals who were close to Hitler sought to cash in, hawking sketches and memorabilia whose origins were difficult or impossible to confirm.

The infamous forger Konrad Kujau, who died in 2000, was a source of many of the works. Kujau also created phony versions of "Hitler Diaries" that German magazine Stern paid the equivalent of millions of dollars to obtain.

"One should look at any work of Adolf Hitler, either in writing or watercolor, with great suspicion," said Frederic Spotts, a former diplomat and historian who has written a book about Hitler's art. "Old Nazis wanted to have them, in the way that people around here — some people around here — want a photograph of Donald Trump."

'He was a better artist than this'

Some people familiar with Hitler's artwork said they couldn't be sure if the photos were of a real Hitler painting. Christian Fuhrmeister, an art historian has co-authored papers about Hitler's art with Droog, said the image from Instagram was simply too low-resolution.

Klish, the retired Army curator, said she also couldn't be sure. She said Hitler typically focused on architectural details, and the people in his paintings are typically dwarfed by the buildings, unlike the full-size human figures in Crow's piece.

But Droog, the Dutch researcher, was confident. He told Insider in an email that the piece is among many fakes that were featured in a monograph published by Billy F. Price, a now-deceased Texas businessman who spent years amassing a large collection of supposed Hitler artworks that's viewed with skepticism by Hitler painting experts. Droog shared a scanned page from Price's book that included Crow's painting, one of four paintings on the page that he said he believes are "all forgeries."

Droog also said the painting was likely a forgery because the people in the painting were rendered too well for it to be an authentic Hitler – who, Droog said, never advanced beyond "stick figures."

Panagopulos of Alexander Historical Auctions, who has often disagreed with Droog, also said it was doubtful that Crow's painting was genuine.

While he cautioned that it's impossible to be sure without inspecting the work up close, he said the artist seemed to struggle with perspective — painting far-away figures as tall as close-up ones, for example — in a way that Hitler didn't.

"He was a better artist than this," Panagopulos said.

[admin]

Jean Baptiste Joseph Gentil
by Wikipedia
Accessed: 5/8/23

In December 1776, Anquetil-Duperron received a package from India sent by his friend colonel Jean-Baptiste Le Gentil, the French envoy at Oudh (Awadh). It contained a voluminous Persian manuscript entitled Sirr-i akbar, the Great Secret. While reading its preface, Anquetil-Duperron already sensed that his search for the Veda, that most ancient record of divine revelation and master key to the "Indian religion" that had conquered Asia, was coming to an end. He translated the Persian preface by Prince Dara [Shikoh] (see Chapter 3), written in 1657, word for word to make sure that he did not miss anything. It brought the confirmation that the book's fifty Upanishads contain the very essence of the Vedas.

Anquetil's draft French translation (Bibliotheque Nationale, NAP 8857, Vols.4-5) / English translation of Anquetil's draft French translation (App) / English translation by Hasrat from the Persian (de Bary 1958:440)

After the certitude of these degrees (of that), it was known that in this ancient sect, before all the heavenly books, four heavenly books which (are) the Ragbeid, and the Djedjer Beid, and the Sam Beid, and the Athrban Beid, to the prophets of this time that the greatest of them is Brahma who is Adam chosen by God, on whom be salvation, with all the precepts of conduct: and this meaning is apparent from these books themselves. / And after verifications of these circumstances, it appeared that among this most ancient people, of all their heavenly books, which are the Rig Veda, the Yajur Veda, the Sama Veda, and the Atharva Veda, together with a number of ordinances, descended upon the prophets of those times, the most ancient of whom was Brahman or Adam, on whom be the peace of God, this purport is manifest from these books. And the essence (the purest part, the substance) of these four books, all the secrets of (religious) conduct and the meditation on the pure unity are included in it, and it is called Oupnek'hat. / And the summum bonum of these four books, which contain all the secrets of the Path and the contemplative exercises of pure monotheism, are called the Upanekhats [Upanishads].

...

[A]fter having studied the three celestial books (the Books of Moses, the Psalms of David, and the Evangile of Christ), Prince Dara found the four Vedas, which he saw as God's earliest revelation to Brahma (who is identical with Adam). These four Vedas contain the truth of unity (unitatis veritas), and their essence (cremor) is found in the book called Oupnek'hat, the Upanishads (Anquetil-Duperron 1801:7).30 Anquetil-Duperron first announced his discovery in a 1778 book on Oriental legislation:

Schahdjehan [Shah Jahan, 1592-1666], son of Djehanguir Uahangir, 1569-1627] permits all religions as long as they serve the growth of his empire. Dara Shako [Mohammed Dara Shikuh, 1615-59], the eldest son of Shahdjehan, shows publicly his indifference for Islam. In Delhi in 1656, this prince has brahmins of Benares translate the Oupnekat, a Sanskrit work whose name signifies The Word that must not be enounced (the secret that must not be revealed). This work is the essence of the four Vedas. It presents in 51 sections the complete system of Indian theology of which the result is the unity of the supreme Being [premier Etre] whose perfections and personified operations have the name of the principal Indian divinities, and the reunion [reunion] of the entire nature with this first Agent. I plan to publish as soon as possible the translation of this important work which I received in 1776 from North Bengal from Mr. Gentil, Chevalier of St. Louis and Captain of cavalry in the service of France. This work appears for the first time in Europe; no traveler has mentioned it until now. (Anquetil-Duperron 1778:21)

-- The Birth of Orientalism, by Urs App

Jean Baptiste Joseph Gentil (1726-1799) was a French army colonel, Knight of the Royal and Military Order of Saint-Louis, who worked in India. He is known for the collections he made of historic manuscripts and artifacts from India and for his cartography and documentation of Mughal history.[1]

Gentil was born in Bagnols-sur-Cèze in a noble family on 25 June 1726. He joined the army in 1752 in India and served under Dupleix, Bussy, Law de Lauriston, Comte de Conflans and Lally. After the English took over Pondicherry in 1761, he served with General Lauriston to block the English advance in Chandernagore in Bengal. The French joined hands with Nawab Mir Qasim and declared war on the English East India Company forces. He became a friend of Khwaja Gregory (Gorgin Khan, Armenian minister and commander-in-chief of the Nawab of Bengal from 1760-1763) and was a witness to his assassination following internal conspiracies.[2] Gentil later joined the court of Shuja-ud-Doulah [Sirajud-Daulah] [Siraj ud-Daulah] at Oudh, becoming the French Resident there.[1] He also helped set up a battalion of French mercenaries who served Shuja-ud-Doulah [Sirajud-Daulah]. The battalion was disbanded after his death.[3]

While serving at Oudh, he purchased a large collection of objects of natural history, weapons, medals and manuscripts in many languages. When he returned to France he donated these collections to the royal library and museum. He also produced maps of the region and wrote on the history of the Moghul Empire. He was present at the battle of Buxar.[1]

Gentil married Theresa Velho at Faizabad in 1772. Theresa was a grand-niece of Juliana Dias da Costa.[3] He retired to France in 1778 and died in Bagnols-sur-Cèze in 1799.[1]

References

1. Michaud (1822). "Preface". In Gentil, J. (ed.). Memoires sur L'Indoustan, ou Empire Mogol (in French). Paris. pp. 1–12.
2. Seth, Mesrovb Jacob (1937). "Khojah Gregory, alias Gorgin Khan". Armenians in India. Calcutta: Self published. pp. 383–418.
3. Zaman, Taymiya R. (2013). "Visions of Juliana: A Portuguese Woman at the Courts of the Mughals". Journal of World History. 23 (4): 761–791. doi:10.1353/jwh.2012.0136. S2CID 145722574.

External links

• Gentil Album at the Victoria and Albert Museum
• Documents and pictures in the French digital library