GS Paper: GS1-01.Indian Culture- Salient aspects of Art Forms, Literature and Architecture from ancient to modern times.

The Prime Minister has greeted the people of Goa on the day of the Feast of St. Francis Xavier.

St. Francis Xavier (1506-1552)

• Francis Xavier venerated as Saint Francis Xavier, was a Catholic missionary and saint who was a co-founder of the Society of Jesus.
• He was born in Javier, Kingdom of Navarre (in present-day Spain), he was a companion of Ignatius of Loyola and one of the first seven Jesuits.
• He led an extensive mission into Asia, mainly in the Portuguese Empire of the time and was influential in evangelization work, most notably in India.

His works

• He has asked for a special minister to the king of Portugal whose sole office would be to further Christianity in Goa.
• He also was the first Christian missionary to venture into Japan, Borneo, the Maluku Islands, and other areas.
• In those areas, struggling to learn the local languages and in the face of opposition, he had less success than he had enjoyed in India.
• Xavier was about to extend his missionary preaching to China when he died on Shangchuan Island.
• Known as the “Apostle of the Indies” and “Apostle of Japan”, he is considered to be one of the greatest missionaries since Paul the Apostle.

Try this question from CSP 2021

Q. Consider the following statements:

1. Francis Xavier was one of the founding members of the Jesuit Order.
2. Francis Xavier died in Goa and a church is dedicated to him there.
3. The Feast of St. Francis Xavier is celebrated in Goa each year.

Which of the statements given above are correct?

(a) 1 and 2 only

(b) 2 and 3 only

(c) 1 and 3 only

(d) 1, 2 and 3

 

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The Government of India has initiated a Scheme known as “Scheme for Protection and Preservation of Endangered Languages of India” (SPPEL) informed the Minister of Culture and Tourism.

About SPPEL

• The Scheme was instituted by Ministry of Human Resource Development in 2013.
• The sole objective of the Scheme is to document and archive the country’s languages that have become endangered or likely to be endangered in the near future.
• The scheme is monitored by the Central Institute of Indian Languages (CIIL) located in Mysuru, Karnataka.
• The CIIL has collaborated with various universities and institutes across India for this mission.
• University Grants Commission (UGC) is also providing financial assistance for the creation of centres for endangered languages at Central and State Universities.

What are Endangered Languages?

• At the moment, the languages which are spoken by less than 10,000 speakers or languages that are not been linguistically studied earlier are considered endangered language.

Present status of the scheme

• Presently, 117 languages have been listed for the documentation.
• Documentation in the form of grammar, dictionary and ethno-linguistic profiles of about 500 lesser known languages are estimated to be accomplished in the coming years.

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Odisha CM will lay the foundation stone of the much-awaited Puri Heritage Corridor.

Puri Heritage Corridor Project

• Conceived in 2016, the Puri Heritage Corridor Project was unveiled in December 2019 to transform the holy town of Puri into an international place of heritage.
• The project includes redeveloping major portions of the holy town and in the vicinity of the temple for visitors and tourists.

About Jagannath Temple

• The Jagannath Temple is an important Vaishnavite temple dedicated to Jagannath, a form of Sri Krishna in Puri in Odisha.
• The present temple was rebuilt from the 10th century onwards, on the site of an earlier temple, and begun by Anantavarman Chodaganga Deva, the first king of the Eastern Ganga dynasty.
• The Puri temple is famous for its annual Ratha Yatra, or chariot festival, in which the three principal deities are pulled on huge and elaborately decorated temple cars.

Its architecture

• With its sculptural richness and fluidity of the Oriya style of temple architecture, it is one of the most magnificent monuments of India.
• The huge temple complex covers an area of over 400,000 square feet and is surrounded by a high fortified wall.
• This 20 feet high wall is known as Meghanada Pacheri.
• Another wall known as kurma bedha surrounds the main temple.

The temple has four distinct sectional structures, namely:

1. Deula, Vimana or Garba griha (Sanctum sanctorum) where the triad deities are lodged on the ratnavedi (Throne of Pearls). In Rekha Deula style;
2. Mukhashala (Frontal porch);
3. Nata mandir/Natamandapa, which is also known as the Jagamohan (Audience Hall/Dancing Hall), and
4. Bhoga Mandapa (Offerings Hall)

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Pochampally village in Telangana is set to be named as one of the best Tourism Villages by the United Nations World Tourism Organisation.

Best Tourism Villages Initiative

• The Best Tourism Villages by UNWTO Pilot initiative aims to award those villages which are outstanding examples of rural destinations and showcase good practices in line with its specified nine evaluation areas.
• It also aims to support villages to enhance their rural tourism potential through training and access to opportunities for improvement.

Key objectives

• Reduce regional inequalities in income and development
• Fight rural depopulation
• Progress gender equality and women’s and youth empowerment
• Enhance education and skills development

About Pochampally

• Pochampally, 50 Kms from Hyderabad, is a town in Nalgonda district of Telangana.
• It is often referred to as the Silk City of India for the exquisite sarees that are woven through a unique style called Ikat.
• It is also known as Bhoodan Pochampally to commemorate the Bhoodan Movement that was launched by Acharya Vinobha Bhave from this village on April 18th, 1951.
• Currently, a two-room Vinobha Bhave Mandir exists within the village which was earlier the place where Vinobha Bhave resided during his visit to the village.

What is Pochampally Ikat?

• Ikat is a Malaysian, Indonesian word that means “Tie and Dye”.
• For this style, Pochampally Ikat, received a Geographical Indicator (GI Status) in 2004.
• Ikat involves the process of wrapping (or tying) and dyeing sections of bundled yarn to a predetermined colour pattern before they are woven.
• The dye penetrates into exposed sections while the wrapped section remains undyed.
• This pattern formed by the yarn in this process is woven into fabric.

Back2Basics: Bhoodan Movement

• The Bhoodan movement (Land Gift movement), also known as the Bloodless Revolution, was a voluntary land reform movement.
• It was initiated by Vinoba Bhave, a staunch Gandhian in 1951 at Pochampally village, which is now in Telangana, and known as Bhoodan Pochampally.
• The movement attempted to persuade wealthy landowners to voluntarily give a percentage of their land to landless people.
• Philosophically, Bhave was influenced by Mahatma Gandhi’s Sarvodaya movement and Gram Swarajya.
• Landless laborers were given small plots that they could settle and grow their crops on.
• Bhoodan Acts were passed that stated that the beneficiary had no right to sell the land or use it for non-agricultural purposes or for forestry.

Try this PYQ:

Q. With reference to land reforms in independent India, which one of the following statements is correct?

(a) The ceiling laws were aimed at family holdings and not individual holdings

(b) The major aim of land reforms was providing agricultural land to all the landless

(c) It resulted in cultivation of cash crops as a predominant form of cultivation

(d) Land reforms permitted no exemptions to the ceiling limits

 

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PM has unveiled a 12-foot statue of Adi Shankaracharya at Kedarnath, where the acharya is believed to have attained samadhi at the age of 32 in the ninth century.

Adi Shankaracharya (788-820 AD)

• Adi Shankaracharya was an Indian philosopher and theologian whose works had a strong impact on the doctrine of Advaita Vedanta.
• He founded mathas, which are believed to have helped in the historical development, revival and propagation of his philosophy.
• The story recounted today has been reconstructed from multiple Shankaravijayas (Conquests of Shankara) written over the centuries.

Birth and death

• He is said to have been born in Kaladi village on the bank of the Periyar, the largest river in Kerala.
• He is believed to have attained samadhi at Kedarnath; however, Kanchi and Thrissur are also talked about as places where Adi Shankara spent his last days.

His literary works

• Adi Shankara is generally identified as the author of 116 works.
• Among them the celebrated commentaries (bhashyas) on 10 Upanishads, the Brahmasutra and the Gita, and poetic works including Vivekachudamani, Maneesha Panchakam, and Saundaryalahiri.
• He composed the Kanakadhara Stotram, following which there was a rain of golden amlas, which brought prosperity to the household.
• It has also been claimed that Adi Shankara composed texts like Shankarasmrithi, which seeks to establish the social supremacy of Nambuthiri Brahmins.
• His great standing is derived from his commentaries of the prasthanatrayi (Upanishads, Brahmasutra and Gita), where he explains his understanding of Advaita Vedanta.

His philosophy: Advaita Vedanta

• Advaita Vedanta articulates a philosophical position of radical nondualism, a revisionary worldview which it derives from the ancient Upanishadic texts.
• According to this, the Upanishads reveal a fundamental principle of nonduality termed ‘brahman’, which is the reality of all things.
• Advaitins understand brahman as transcending individuality and empirical plurality.
• They seek to establish that the essential core of one’s self (atman) is brahman. It is pure non-intentional consciousness.
• It is one without a second, nondual, infinite existence, and numerically identical with brahman.
• This effort entails tying a metaphysics of brahman to a philosophy of consciousness.

Do you know?

There are six major schools of Vedic philosophy—Nyaya, Vaisheshika, Samkhya, Yoga, Mīmāṃsā and Vedanta, and five major heterodox (sramanic) schools—Jain, Buddhist, Ajivika, Ajñana, and Charvaka.

Shankara’s contested legacy

• Custodians of the caste system cite from Shankara’s commentaries to justify the unequal and unjust social order.
• It is argued that the Advaita Vedanta borrowed the categories of Buddhist thinkers and called him the Prachhanna Buddha (Buddha in disguise).
• Sri Narayana Guru offered a radical reading of Advaita Vedanta to dismantle the theory and praxis of caste.

His political appropriation

• His works transcends the political boundaries of his time.
• The mathas are believed to have established in Sringeri, Dwaraka, Puri, and Joshimath for the spread of Advaita Vedanta.
• They are seen as custodians of Hinduism, and Shankara’s digvijaya (conquest) often interpreted as a near nationalistic project where faith, philosophy and geography are yoked together to imagine a Hindu India.

Try this PYQ:

Q. Which one of the following pairs does not form part of the six systems of Indian Philosophy?

(a) Mimamsa and Vedanta

(b) Nyaya and Vaisheshika

(c) Lokayata and Kapalika

(d) Sankhya and Yoga

 

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