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Subject: History

  • Who are the Tangams?

    Last week Arunachal CM released a book titled “Tangams: An Ethnolinguistic Study Of The Critically Endangered Group of Arunachal Pradesh”.

    Try this question from CSP 2019:

    Q.Consider the following statements about Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups (PVTGs) in India:

    1. PVTGs reside in 18 States and one Union Territory.
    2. A stagnant or declining population is one of the criteria for determining PVTG status.
    3. There are 95 PVTGs officially notified in the country so far.
    4. Irular and Konda Reddi tribes are included in the list of PVTGs.

    Which of the statements given above are correct?

    (a) 1, 2 and 3

    (b) 2, 3 and 4

    (c) 1, 2 and 4

    (d) 1, 3 and 4

    Who are the Tangams?

    • The Tangams is a little-known community within the larger Adi tribe of Arunachal Pradesh and resides in the hamlet of Kugging in Upper Siang district’s Paindem circle.
    • In 1975, the community’s population was pegged at 2,000 spread across 25 villages.
    • From 2016 to 2020, a team from the Centre for Endangered Languages (CFEL) of Rajiv Gandhi University (RGU), carried out extensive field research and documented the community.
    • Their survey revealed that Tangams were now concentrated in only one village (Kugging), with only 253 reported speakers.
    • As per the UNESCO World Atlas of Endangered Languages (2009), Tangam — an oral language that belongs to the Tani group, under the greater Tibeto-Burman language family — is marked ‘critically endangered’.

    Why are there only a few speakers?

    • Kugging is surrounded by a number of villages inhabited by Adi subgroups such as Shimong, Minyongs, as well as the Buddhist tribal community of Khambas, among others.
    • To communicate with their neighbours over the years, the Tangams have become multilingual, speaking not just Tangam, but other tongues such as Shimong, Khamba and Hindi.
    • They rarely speak their own language now since their population is restricted to a single village. Moreover, the Tangams are relatively unknown — even within their state.
    • The village lacks proper infrastructure in all basic sectors of education, health, drinking water facilities, road and electricity. Roads have reached Kugging only in 2018.
    • Not a single person from the community has gone to university.

    Why are the languages at risk?

    • The diversity of languages has led various communities to depend on English, Assamese and colloquial variety of Hindi called Arunachalee Hindi as the link languages.
    • Many believe this shift has led to the loss of native languages of the tribal communities.
    • Even the numerically larger tribes like Nyishi, Galo, Mishmi, Tangsa etc. whose population exceed the ten thousand mark are also not safe from endangerment, hence marked unsafe.
    • The younger generation of these tribes especially in the urban areas has mostly discarded the use of their mother tongue.

  • [pib] Mongolian Kanjur Manuscripts

    The Ministry of Culture has taken up the project of reprinting of 108 volumes of Mongolian Kanjur under the National Mission for Manuscripts (NMM).  The first sets of five volumes were presented to the President of India.

    Try this question from CSP 2011:

    Q.India maintained its early cultural contacts and trade links with Southeast Asia across the Bay of Bengal. For this preeminence of early maritime history of Bay of Bengal, which of the following could be the most convincing explanation/explanations?

    (a) As compared to other countries, India had a better ship-building technology in ancient and medieval times.

    (b) The rulers of southern India always patronized traders, Brahmin priests and Buddhist monks in this context.

    (c) Monsoon winds across the Bay of Bengal facilitated sea voyages.

    (d) Both (a) and (b) are convincing explanations in this context.

    Mongolian Kanjur

    • Mongolian Kanjur, the Buddhist canonical text in 108 volumes is considered to be the most important religious text in Mongolia.
    • In the Mongolian language ‘Kanjur’ means ‘Concise Orders’- the words of Lord Buddha in particular. It has been translated from Tibetan.
    • It is held in high esteem by the Mongolian Buddhists and they worship the Kanjur at temples and recite the lines of Kanjur in daily life as a sacred ritual.
    • The Kanjur is kept almost in every monastery in Mongolia.
    • The language of the Kanjur is Classical Mongolian and it is a source of providing a cultural identity to Mongolia.

    About National Mission for Manuscripts

    • The Mission was launched in February 2003 under the Ministry of Tourism and Culture, with the mandate of documenting, conserving and disseminating the knowledge preserved in the manuscripts.
    • One of the objectives of the mission is to publish rare and unpublished manuscripts so that the knowledge enshrined in them is spread to researchers, scholars and the general public at large.
    • Under this scheme, reprinting of 108 volumes of Mongolian Kanjur has been taken up by the Mission.

  • What is the Hagia Sophia?

    Turkey’s highest court this week convened to decide whether Istanbul’s iconic Hagia Sophia museum can be turned into a mosque.

    Try this question:

    Q. The iconic Hagia Sophia, a UNESCO World Heritage site was recently in news. It is situated in:

    a) Greece b) Turkey c) Israel d) Iran

    What is the Hagia Sophia?

    • The construction of this iconic structure in Istanbul started in 532 AD during the reign of Justinian I, the ruler of the Byzantine Empire when the city was known as Constantinople.
    • The structure was originally built to become the seat of the Patriarch of the Eastern Orthodox Church and remained so for approximately 900 years.
    • In 1453, when Constantinople fell to Sultan Mehmet II’s Ottoman forces, the Hagia Sophia was ransacked by the invading forces and turned into a mosque shortly after.
    • For a long time, the Hagia Sophia was Istanbul’s most important mosque.
    • The 1,500-year-old structure, listed as a UNESCO World Heritage site, was originally a cathedral before it was turned into a mosque.

    What is the controversy about?

    • In the 1930s, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the founder of the Republic of Turkey, shut down the mosque and turned it into a museum in an attempt to make the country more secular.
    • There have been calls for long from extremists groups to convert the Hagia Sophia back into a mosque.

  • Festival in news: Bahuda Yatra

    The Bahuda Yatra, the return journey of the deities to the Puri Jagannath temple after the annual Rath Yatra, was recently concluded amid permitted restrictions.

    Bahuda Yatra

    • A/c to folk stories Lord Jagannath and his siblings, Goddess Shubhadra and Lord Balabhadra, returns from their aunt’s place at Gundicha Temple to Jagannath Temple.
    • This journey is known as Bahuda Yatra.
    • Nine days after the Rath Yatra, the yatra or the return journey takes place.

    About Jagannath Rath Yatra

    • Ratha Jatra, the Festival of Chariots of Lord Jagannatha is celebrated every year at Puri, the temple town in Orissa, on the east coast of India.
    • It involves a public procession with a chariot with deities Jagannath (Vishnu avatar), BalaBhadra (his brother), Subhadra (his sister) and Sudarshana Chakra (his weapon) on a ratha, a wooden deula-shaped chariot.
    • The huge, colourfully decorated chariots, are drawn by hundreds and thousands of devotees on the bada danda, the grand avenue to the Gundicha temple, some two miles away to the North.
    • It attracts over a million Hindu pilgrims who join the procession each year.

    Back2Basics: Puri Temple Architecture

    • Jagannath Temple is a very big temple and covers an area of 37000m2. The height of the outer wall is 6.1m.
    • It is surrounded by a high fortified wall 6.1 m high is known as Meghanada Pacheri.
    • The main portion of the temple is also surrounded by a wall known as Kurma Bheda.
    • The temple is built in Rekha Deula style and 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)
    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)

    Try this question from CSP 2019:

    Q.Building ‘Kalyaana Mandapas’ was a notable feature in the temple construction in the kingdom of-

    (a) Chalukya (b) Chandela (c) Rashtrakuta (d) Vijayanagara

  • Kodumanal Megalithic Burial Site

    The Kodumanal excavation in Erode Dist. of Tamil Nadu has threw light on burial rituals and the concept of afterlife in megalithic culture.

    Must read:

    Chapter 1 | Stone Age – Paleolithic, Mesolithic and Neolithic

    About these sites

    • The researchers have identified 250 cairn-circles at the village in Erode district.
    • Earlier excavations revealed that the site served as a trade-cum-industrial centre from 5th century BCE to 1st century BCE.
    • The rectangular chambered cists, each two metres long and six metres wide, are made of stone slabs, and the entire grave is surrounded by boulders that form a circle.
    • The grave could be of a village head or the head of the community as the size of two boulders, each facing east and west, are bigger than other boulders.
    • Believing that the deceased person will get a new life after death, pots and bowls filled with grains were placed outside the chambers.

    What are Megaliths?

    • Megaliths are the earliest surviving man-made monuments we know of—derived from the Latin mega (large) and lith (stone).
    • Megaliths were constructed either as burial sites or commemorative (non-sepulchral) memorials.
    • The former are sites with actual burial remains, such as dolmenoid cists (box-shaped stone burial chambers), cairn circles (stone circles with defined peripheries) and capstones (distinctive mushroom-shaped burial chambers found mainly in Kerala).
    • The urn or the sarcophagus containing the mortal remains was usually made of terracotta.
    • Non-sepulchral megaliths include memorial sites such as menhirs. (The line separating the two is a bit blurry, since remains have been discovered underneath otherwise non-sepulchral sites, and vice versa.)
    • In India, archaeologists trace the majority of the megaliths to the Iron Age (1500 BC to 500 BC), though some sites precede the Iron Age, extending up to 2000 BC.

    Megaliths in India

    • Megaliths are spread across the Indian subcontinent, though the bulk of them are found in peninsular India, concentrated in the states of Maharashtra (mainly in Vidarbha), Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.
    • According to archaeologists around 2,200 megalithic sites can be found in peninsular India itself, most of them unexcavated.
    • Even today, a living megalithic culture endures among some tribes such as the Gonds of central India and the Khasis of Meghalaya.

    Literary sources

    • Megalithic culture finds several references in ancient Tamil Sangam literature. For instance, menhirs are referred to as nadukal.
    • Ancient Sangam texts lay out, in detail, a step-by-step procedure for laying a memorial stone or nadukal in honour of a fallen hero.
    • Manimekalai (5th century AD), the famous Sangam epic, refers to the various kinds of burials namely cremation (cuṭuvōr), post excarnation burial (iṭuvōr), burying the deceased in a pit (toṭukuḻip paṭuvōr), rock chamber or cist burial (tāḻvāyiṉ aṭaippōr), urn burial encapped with lid (tāḻiyiṟ kavippōr).
    • Even in the Sangam age (when kingship and a well-ordained society had emerged) the above modes of burials survived.

  • What is Axone?

    A movie named Axone — also spelt akhuni —soya bean dish of Nagaland has been recently released.

    The traditional ‘Axone’ dish is very unique in itself. However, one must note that it does NOT carry any GI tag. Still, there is a possibility of it being asked in match the pair type questions.

    What is Axone?

    • Axone — also spelt akhuni — is a fermented soya bean of Nagaland, known for its distinctive flavour and smell.
    • As much an ingredient as it is a condiment, Axone used to make pickles and chutneys, or curries of pork, fish, chicken, beef etc.
    • While it is called ‘axone’ in parts of Nagaland, fermented soya bean is cooked with, eaten and known by different names in different parts of Northeast India, including Meghalaya and Mizoram, Sikkim, Manipur as well in other South, Southeast and East Asian countries.
    • Axone is prepared and eaten across Nagaland but is particularly popular among the Sumi (also Sema) tribe. They use it in every meal.

  • Traditional art of Talamaddale

    The traditional art of ‘Talamaddale’, a variant of Yakshagana theatre, has gone virtual in times of COVID-19.

    Try this question from CSP 2017:

    Q.With reference to Manipuri Sankirtana, consider the following statements:

    1. It is a song and dance performance.
    2. Cymbals are the only musical instruments used in the performance.
    3. It is performed to narrate the life and deeds of Lord Krishna.

    Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

    (a) 1, 2 and 3.

    (b) 1 and 3 only

    (c) 2 and 3 only

    (d) 1 only

    Talamaddale theatre

    • Tala-Maddale is an ancient form of performance dialogue or debate performance in Southern India in the Karavali and Malnad regions of Karnataka and Kerala.
    • The plot and content of the conversation is drawn from popular mythology but the performance mainly consists of an impromptu debate between characters involving sarcasm, puns, philosophy positions and humour.
    • The main plot is sung from the same oral texts used for the Yakshgana form of dance- drama.
    • Performers claim that this was a more intellectual rendition of the dance during the monsoon season.

    How it is different from Yakshagana?

    • Unlike the Yakshagana performance, in the conventional ‘talamaddale,’ the artists sit across in a place without any costumes and engage in testing their oratory skills based on the episode chosen.
    • If music is common for both Yakshagana performance and ‘talamaddale’, the latter has only spoken word without any dance or costumes.
    • Hence it is an art form minus dance, costumes and stage conventions.
    • It has an ‘arthadhari’ who is an orator, a ‘bhagavatha’ (singer-cum-director), and a ‘maddale’ player.

    Back2Basics: Yakshagana

    • It is the oldest theatre form popular in Karnataka.
    • It emerged in the Vijayanagara Empire and was performed by Jakkula Varu
    • It is a descriptive dance drama.
    • It is presented from dusk to dawn.
    • The stories are drawn from Ramayana, Mahabharata and other epics from both Hindu and Jain tradition.

  • In news: Raja Parba Festival

    The Prime Minister has extended his greetings to the people of Odisha for the unique Raja Parba festival.

    Match the pair based question can be asked from festivals as such with pairs of name and celebrating state. Recently, the following festivals were also in the news: Ambubachi Mela, Thrisoor Puram, Meru Jatara, Nagoba Jatara etc.

    Also, note the similarities between the Raja Parba and Ambubachi Mela …

     About Raja Parba Festival

    • Raja Parba is Odisha’s three-day unique festival celebrating the onset of monsoon and the earth’s womanhood.
    • As a mark of respect towards the earth during her menstruation days, all agricultural works, like ploughing, sowing is suspended for the three days.
    • Raja Sankranti is the first day of the Ashara month.
    • It is celebrated on the day prior to the Sankranti, (Pahili Raja), the day of Sankranti, and the day after, known as Bhu Daha or ‘Basi Raja.
    • The festival is essentially the celebration of the earth’s womanhood.
    • It is believed that during this time the Mother Earth or Bhudevi undergoes menstruation.
    • The fourth day is the day of the ‘purification bath’.
    • As it is a celebration of womanhood, a lot of the focus is on young women, who wear new clothes, apply ‘Alata’ on their feet and enjoy folk songs while swinging on decorated rope swings.

     

  • Festivals in news: Kheer Bhawani Mela

    In the UT of Jammu and Kashmir, the Annual Kheer Bhawani Mela in Tulmulla village of Ganderbal district has been cancelled by its religious trust.

    Match the pair based question can be asked from festivals as such. Recently, the following festivals were in the news: Ambubachi Mela, Thrisoor Puram, Meru Jatara, Nagoba Jatara etc.

    Try this:

    Q. Consider the following pairs:

    Traditions                                            Communities

    1. Chaliha Sahib Festival              —          Sindhis

    2. Nanda Raj Jaat Yatra                —          Gonds

    3. Wari-Warkari                               —          Santhals

    Which of the pairs given above is/are correctly matched ? (CSP 2017)

    (a) 1 only

    (b) 2 and 3 only

    (c) 1 and 3 only

    (d) None of the above

    Kheer Bhawani Mela

    • The festival witnesses lakhs of Hindu pilgrims from across the country largely the Kashmiri Pandit Community, who throngs the famous Ragyna Devi Temple which is popularly known as “Mata Kheer Bhawani”.
    • The festival falls on the auspicious day of “Zeshta Ashtami”.
    • The term kheer refers to rice pudding that is offered in the spring to propitiate the Goddess, which became part of the name of the temple.
    • The devotees have been asked to cooperate with the authorities and perform the worship of the Goddess at their homes only.
    • However, the holy rituals and Aarti of the Deity will be conducted as per the tradition which will be shared with the devotees via social media.

    Significance

    • Kheer Bhawani Mela is one of the biggest religious functions of Kashmiri Pandit Community.
    • It is believed and rather has been seen that the colour of the water in the spring around the Kheer Bhawani Temple changes its colour with the change in the circumstances of the Kashmir valley.

  • Rail adukku pathiram Utensils of Tamil Nadu

    The rail adukku pathiram a traditional set of kitchen utensils in Tamil Nadu has become the gathered attention of all over the past few days.

    The traditional ‘rail adukku pathiram’ set of utensils are very unique in itself. However, one must note that it does NOT carry any GI tag and is completely out of use. Still, there is a possibility of it being asked in match the pair type questions asking – Q) Which among the following artefacts from Tamil Nadu carries a GI Tag?

    Rail adukku pathiram

    • The rail adukku pathiram consists of 14 vessels of different sizes, neatly placed in a compact manner inside the largest container.
    • The vessels were earlier used by families to carry groceries and cook food during train journeys.
    • These vessels were used to cook food for a mini-wedding. The interesting aspect is the compact size and easy to carry.
    • It has two vessels to cook vegetables, a sippal plate to boil rice, a frying pan, a sombu, a bronze pot to carry water and vessels of varying sizes to cook food.
    • Many in Tamil Nadu had forgotten about the existence of these multi-layered vessels until a video surfaced online recently.