Beloved TS Subramanian - who wrote this article is to be honoured in our August meet. We have already posted his extensive coverage of Big Temple Frescos in the Frontline.
Dr. nagaswamy has written and published a book on UTHIRAMERUR. Pls ref his web-site : www.tamil arts academy. (through MSN )
Dear SPS, I very much enjoyed reading this link and will check out Dr Nagasamy's website today, thank you!!
Just curious to know - is there any reference of women being voted to power through this system, are there any caste/hierarchies among people like so and so can vote and so and so cannot, what age was considered adulthood - would be very interesting to know all that and how it compares to the present day world.
I was just wondering why this system never became popular? We do have a record of lost legacies. We are the original inventors of the arabic numeral system, we discovered calculus before newton, we were the inspiration for the greek philosophy and now we are one of the forerunners of democracy. Why are we never given credit for such things? Why was Gandhi never given Nobel Peace Prize? Why wasn't Dr. George Sudarshan recognised?
Are we too modest, too diffident? Or were we just too maganimous when others infringed our copyright, so to speak? Oh, this is cool, are we the forerunners of free and open source knowledge philosophy?
> > Just curious to know - is there any reference of women being voted to power through this system,
Hi Maloo yours was a technical question but i sensed a small streak of concern on women rights withing. but do you think women rulers are going to improve the conditions of wome. we have had women rulers( queens and PMs) in lands where the emancipation of women was the slowest. a piece of trivia- we had queens in england before women were allowed to vote.
Actually Venkat it really does not matter who does. I know women have had place sof power i just wanted to know exactly what you said on England, if voting rights were there and if they could be voted to power that is all.
May I ask how is a 'Ahikarichini' referred to - what were her duties/responsiblities?
Also is there a word like this for servant maid - maybe she was a professional 'maid' like they have in the west :)) who serviced royal families, or a 'daasi' of some kind?
Hi Maloo a slight detour. I was doing a small piece on creativity enhancement. i came across the concept of bicycle. actually i was probing which great inventors were bicycle mechanics other than the wright brothers. i had bit more than what i had bagained for. the history of the bicycle has so much of female emancipation in europe giving them the freedom of movement. one social scientist went onto say the bicycle had done more for women liberation than any other contraption invented.
> Actually Venkat it really does not matter who does. I know women have had place sof power i just wanted to know exactly what you said on England, if voting rights were there and if they could be voted to power that is all. > > Thanks!!
Our system is bad, yes, but that doesn't obscure the fact that we have talent. A cursory glance at history will show you that the older the civilisation, the greater the contribution. Have you counted the number of Jewish geniuses? And Judaism is like 4500 years old. We just had the misfortune of having feckless rulers who couldn't distinguish between "veera vilayattu" and the ruthless conquerors who meant business.
"Basically KARMA (performance without expecting benefit) has gone into our BLOOD .. from time immemorial.. ."
Yeah, basically we had this habit of attributing everything we do to divine blessings. When will our philosophers realize that God is only a way of dealing with uncertainties, insecurities and thousand other things that come in the way of pure thought?
In a way it isn't bad. Knowledge belongs to all. Only, i wouldn't be too pleased when somebody steals my paper and announces it as his. The only thing that keeps a scientist going is recognition. A.R.Rahman can do without Oscars, but what if someone steals his music? Will he put it all on Karma and keep playing? Once again a case of not protecting our own.
I don't give a damn about recognition in the field of arts. It's the fans recognition that matters, the one and only indicator of a true mastero. It's a matter of taste and A.R.Rahman will remain immortal because of the transcendence of his music, oscar or no oscar. Everybody knows "Slumdog Mill.." was not even close to his best.
What i'm saying hereafter is totally out of the blue. Just a stray thought.
I'm saying that achievements in the field of knowledge belong to humankind. Science is one area where we need to breakdown all barriers. But never ever deny due recognition for a scientist. He might have contributed to mankind, but it was HE who did it. We must learn to stand up for them and not brush it off as karma. Marconi stole the radio from J.C.Bose and told blatantly that he did it. If somebody did that to me and my country didn't speak for me, i'd go to where my talents are recognized.
The ideal way is: Subsidise education globally under a common agency. The UN can do this, because it's no good at politics. I'm sure most countries would be glad to wash educational responsibility off their hands. People who deal with knowledge shouldn't have to think about sourcing money. Recognition by his peers is the ultimate reward.
The pursuit of knowledge has the ability to bring the world together. It is the only common cause the world can agree upon. The practitioners of the pure sciences belong to one brotherhood and it is in interests of mankind that no barriers exist between them.
The bicycle yes I couldn't agree more..can't say the same on type writer and sweing machine (not to put down the inventiosn but what they are with regards to women). Typewriter created the stereotyped 'women typist' and sewing machine..yes the hard working mom or someone pedalling away (in 40s and 50s almost every tamil movie will have a teary woman, usually a widow running a sewing machine!!