Murti
A murti is an image, statue or idol of a deity or person in Indian culture. In Hindu temples, it is a symbolic icon. A Murti is itself not the god in Hinduism, but it is a shape, embodyment or manifestation of a deity. Murtis are found in some nontheistic Jainism traditions, where they serve as symbols of revered persons inside Jain temples, are worshipped in Murtipujaka rituals. A Murti is made by carving stone, wood working, metal casting or through pottery. Ancient era texts describing their proper proportions and gestures include the Puranas and Samhitas; the expressions in a Murti vary in diverse Hindu traditions, ranging from Ugra symbolism to express destruction and violence, as well as Saumya symbolism to express joy and harmony. Saumya images are most common in Hindu temples. Other Murti forms found in Hinduism include the Linga. A Murti is an embodiment of the Ultimate Reality or Brahman to some Hindus. In religious context, they are found in Hindu temples or homes, where they may be treated as a beloved guest and serve as a participant of Puja rituals in Hinduism.
In other occasions, it serves as the center of attention in annual festive processions and these are called Utsava Murti. The earliest murtis are mentioned by Pāṇini in 4th century BCE. Prior to that the agnicayana ritual ground seemed to served as a template for the temple. Murti is sometimes referred to vigraha or pratima. Murti means any solid body or form with definite shape or limits produced from material elements, it contrasts with mind and the immaterial in ancient Indian literature. The term refers to any embodiment, incarnation, appearance, idol or statue of a deity; the earliest mention of the term Murti occurs in primary Upanishads composed in the 1st millennium BCE in verse 3.2 of Aitareya Upanishad, verse 1.13 of Shvetashvatara Upanishad, verse 6.14 of Maitrayaniya Upanishad and verse 1.5 of Prashna Upanishad. For example, the Maitrayaniya Upanishad uses the term to mean a "form, manifestation of time"; the section sets out to prove Time exists, acknowledges the difficulty in proving Time exists by Pramana inserts a theory of inductive inference for epistemological proof as follows, The section includes the concept of Time and non-Time, stating that non-Time as that which existed before creation of universe, time as which came into existence with the creation of universe.
Non-Time is indivisible, Time is divisible, the Maitri Upanishad asserts that "Year is the Murti of time". Robert Hume translates the discussion of Murti of time, in verse 6.14 of the Maitri Upanishad, as "form". Most scholars, such as Jan Gonda, Max Muller, PV Kane and Stephanie Jamison, state that there were neither Murti nor temples nor idol-facilitated worship in the Vedic era; the Vedic Hinduism rituals were directed at nature and abstract deities called during yajna with hymns. However, there isn't universal consensus, with scholars such as AC Das, pointing to the word Mūradeva in Rig Veda verses 7.104.24, 10.87.2 and 10.87.14. This word may refer to "Deva, fixed" or "Deva, foolish"; the former interpretation, if accurate, may imply that there were communities in the Vedic era who had Devas in the form of Murti, the context of these hymns suggest that the term could be referring to practices of the tribal communities outside of the Vedic fold. One of the earliest firm textual evidence of Deva images, in the sense of Murti, is found in Jivikarthe Capanye by the Sanskrit grammarian Pāṇini who lived about 4th century BCE.
He mentions Acala and Cala, with former referring to images in a shrine, the latter meaning images that were carried from place to place. Panini mentions Devalaka, meaning custodians of images of worship who show the images but do not sell them, as well as Jivika as people whose source of livelihood was the gifts they received from devotees. In ancient Sanskrit texts that follow Panini's work, numerous references are found to divine images with terms such as Devagrha, Devakula and others; these texts, states Noel Salmond suggest that temples and Murti were in existence in ancient India by about 4th century BCE. Recent archaeological evidence confirms that the knowledge and art of sculpture was established in India by the Maurya Empire period. By early 1st millennium BCE, the term Murti meant idols, image or statue in various Indian texts such as Bhavishya Purana verse 132.5.7, Brihat Samhita 1.8.29 and inscriptions in different parts of India. The term Murti has been a more generic term referring to an idol or statue of anyone, either a deity, of any human being, animal or any art.
Pratima includes Murti as well as painting of any non-anthropomorphic object. In contrast, Bera or Bimba meant "idol of god" only, Vigraha was synonymous with Bimba. A Murti in contemporary usage is any statue, it may be found inside or outside a temple or home, installed to be moved with a festive procession, or just be a landmark. It is a significant part of Hindu iconography, is implemented in many ways. Two major categories include: Ugra - are images that were meant to terrify, induce fear; these have wide, circular eyes, carry weapons, have skulls and bones as adornment. These idols were worshipped by soldiers before going to war, or by people in times of distress or errors. Raudra deity temples were not set up inside villages or towns, but invariably outside and in remote areas of a kingdom. Shanta and Saumya - are images that were pacific and expressive of love, compassi
Rubble masonry
Rubble masonry is rough, unhewn building stone set in mortar, but not laid in regular courses. It may appear as the outer surface of a wall or may fill the core of a wall, faced with unit masonry such as brick or cut stone. Snecked masonry - Masonry made of mixed sizes of stone but in regular courses
Commander-in-Chief, India
During the period of the British Raj, the Commander-in-Chief, India was the supreme commander of the British Indian Army. The Commander-in-Chief and most of his staff were based at General Headquarters and liaised with the civilian Governor-General of India. Following the Partition of India in 1947 and the creation of the independent dominions of India and Pakistan, the post was abolished, it was replaced by the position of Supreme Commander of India and Pakistan before the role was abolished in November 1948. Subsequently, the role of Commander-in-Chief was merged into the offices of the Governors-General of India and Pakistan before becoming part of the office of President of India from 1950, of the President of Pakistan from 1956. Prior to independence, the official residence was the Flagstaff House, which became the residence of the first Prime Minister of India; this is a list of people who were the military Commander-in-Chief, India until 1947. The rank and title are the final ones for the officer's career and not applicable to his tenure as Commander-in-Chief, India.
Commanders-in-Chief have been: Secretary of State for India Governor-General of India Chief of the General Staff British Raj British Empire History of India History of Pakistan Chronological List of Commanders-in-Chief, India to 1947
Haifa
Haifa is the third-largest city in Israel – after Jerusalem and Tel Aviv – with a population of 281,087 in 2017. The city of Haifa forms part of the Haifa metropolitan area, the second- or third-most populous metropolitan area in Israel, it is home to the Bahá'í World Centre, a UNESCO World Heritage Site and a destination for Bahá'í pilgrims. Built on the slopes of Mount Carmel, the settlement has a history spanning more than 3,000 years; the earliest known settlement in the vicinity was Tell Abu Hawam, a small port city established in the Late Bronze Age. In the 3rd century CE, Haifa was known as a dye-making center. Over the millennia, the Haifa area has changed hands: being conquered and ruled by the Canaanites, Phoenicians, Hasmoneans, Byzantines, Crusaders and the British. Since the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948, the Haifa Municipality has governed the city; as of 2016, the city is a major seaport located on Israel's Mediterranean coastline in the Bay of Haifa covering 63.7 square kilometres.
It is the major regional center of northern Israel. According to researcher Jonathan Kis-Lev, Haifa is considered a relative haven for coexistence between Jews and Arabs. Two respected academic institutions, the University of Haifa and the Technion, are located in Haifa, in addition to the largest k-12 school in Israel, the Hebrew Reali School; the city plays an important role in Israel's economy. It is home to Matam, one of the largest high-tech parks in the country. Haifa Bay is a center of petroleum refining and chemical processing. Haifa functioned as the western terminus of an oil pipeline from Iraq via Jordan; the ultimate origin of the name Haifa remains unclear. One theory holds; some Christians believe. Another theory holds it could be derived from the Hebrew verb root חפה, meaning to cover or shield, i.e. Mount Carmel covers Haifa. Other spellings in English included Caipha, Caiffa and Khaifa; the earliest named settlement within the area of modern-day Haifa was a city known as Sycaminum.
The remains of the ancient town can be found in a coastal tell, or archaeological mound, known in Hebrew as Tel Shikmona, meaning "mound of the Ficus sycomorus", in Arabic as Tell el-Semak or Tell es-Samak, meaning "mound of the sumak trees", names that preserved and transformed the ancient name, by which the town is mentioned once in the Mishnah for the wild fruits that grow around it. The name Efa first appears during Roman rule, some time after the end of the 1st century, when a Roman fortress and small Jewish settlement were established not far from Tel Shikmona. Haifa is mentioned more than 100 times in the Talmud, a work central to Judaism. Hefa or Hepha in Eusebius of Caesarea's 4th-century work, Onomasticon, is said to be another name for Sycaminus; this synonymizing of the names is explained by Moshe Sharon, who writes that the twin ancient settlements, which he calls Haifa-Sycaminon expanded into one another, becoming a twin city known by the Greek names Sycaminon or Sycaminos Polis.
References to this city end with the Byzantine period. Around the 6th century, Porphyreon or Porphyrea is mentioned in the writings of William of Tyre, while it lies within the area covered by modern Haifa, it was a settlement situated south of Haifa-Sycaminon. Following the Arab conquest in the 7th century, Haifa was used to refer to a site established on Tel Shikmona upon what were the ruins of Sycaminon. Haifa is mentioned by the mid-11th-century Persian chronicler Nasir Khusraw, the 12th- and 13th-century Arab chroniclers, Muhammad al-Idrisi and Yaqut al-Hamawi; the Crusaders, who captured Haifa in the 12th century, call it Caiphas, believe its name related to Cephas, the Aramaic name of Simon Peter. Eusebius is said to have referred to Hefa as Caiaphas civitas, Benjamin of Tudela, the 12th-century Jewish traveller and chronicler, is said to have attributed the city's founding to Caiaphas, the Jewish high priest at the time of Jesus. Haifa al-'Atiqa is another name used by some locals to refer to Tell es-Samak, when it was the site of Haifa while a hamlet of 250 residents, before it was moved in 1764-5 to a new fortified site founded by Zahir al-Umar 1.5 miles to the east.
The new village, the nucleus of modern Haifa, was first called al-imara al-jadida by some, but others residing there called it Haifa al-Jadida at first, simply Haifa. In the early 20th century, Haifa al'Atiqa was repopulated with many Arab Christians in an overall neighborhood in which many Middle Eastern Jews were established inhabitants, as Haifa expanded outward from its new location. A town known today, it was a fishing village. Mount Carmel and the Kishon River are mentioned in the Hebrew Bible. A grotto on the top of Mount Carmel is known as the "Cave of Elijah", traditionally linked to the Prophet Elijah and his apprentice, Elisha. In Arabic, the highest peak of the Carmel range is called the Muhraka, or "place of burning," harking back to the burnt offerings and sacrifices there in Canaanite and early Israelite times In the 6th c
Connaught Place, New Delhi
Connaught Place is one of the largest financial and business centres in New Delhi, India. It is abbreviated as CP and houses the headquarters of several noted Indian firms; as of July 2018, Connaught Place was the ninth most expensive office location in the world with an annual rent of USD 153 per sq ft. The main commercial area of the new city, New Delhi, occupies a place of pride in the city and are counted among the top heritage structures in New Delhi, it was developed as a showpiece of Lutyens' Delhi with a prominent Central Business District. Named after Prince Arthur, 1st Duke of Connaught and Strathearn, construction work began in 1929 and was completed in 1933. A metro railway station built under it is named Rajiv Chowk. Prior to the construction of Connaught Place, the area was a ridge, covered with kikar trees and populated with jackals and wild pigs. Residents of the Kashmere Gate, Civil Lines area visited during the weekends for partridge hunting; the Hanuman Temple attracted many visitors from the old walled city, who came only on Tuesdays and Saturdays and before sunset, as the return trip was considered dangerous.
Residents of villages including Madhoganj, Jaisingh Pura and Raja ka Bazaar were evicted to clear the area for the construction of Connaught Place and the development of its nearby areas. The villages were once situated along the historic Qutb Road, the main road connecting Shahjahanabad, the walled city of Delhi to Qutb Minar in south Delhi since the Mughal era; the displaced people were relocated in Karol Bagh to the west, a rocky area populated only by trees and wild bushes. However, three structures were spared demolition; these were Hanuman temple, a Jain temple in Jaisinghpura and the Jantar Mantar. and in the Classical style. However Nicholls left India in 1917, with Lutyens and Baker busy working on larger buildings in the capital, design of the plaza fell to Robert Tor Russell, chief architect to the Public Works Department, Government of India. Named after Prince Arthur, 1st Duke of Connaught, third son of Queen Victoria and uncle of King George VI of England, who visited India in 1921 and laid the foundation of the Council House.
Connaught Place's Georgian architecture is modelled after the Royal Crescent in Bath, designed by the architect John Wood the Younger and built between 1767 and 1774. While the Royal Crescent is semi-circular and a three storied residential structure, Connaught Place had only two floors, which made a complete circle intended to house commercial establishments on the ground with residential space on the first floor; the circle was designed with two concentric circles, creating an Inner Circle, Middle Circle and the Outer Circle with seven roads radiating from a circular central park. As per the original plan, the different blocks of Connaught Place were to be joined from above, employing archways, with radial roads below them. However, the circle was'broken up' to give it a grander scale; the blocks were planned to be 172 metres in height, but reduced to the present two-storied structure with an open colonnade. Government plans to have New Delhi Railway Station built inside Central Park were rejected by railway authorities as they found the idea impractical, instead chose the nearby Paharganj area.
Construction work began in 1929, with construction of the Viceroy House, Secretariat Building, Parliament House, All-India War Memorial, India Gate were completed by 1933, long after the inauguration of the city in 1931. Early commercial establishments belonged to traders from the Kashmere Gate area: Kanter's, Galgotia and Snowhite. Most of the rulers of the Indian princely states had their local homes in the nearby areas around King's way, would frequent shops for designer clothes, artefacts and pianos. Regal cinema, the first cinema in Connaught Place, opened around this time and went on to host popular concerts, theatre groups, ballet performances; the Odeon and Rivoli followed the Regal, while the Indian Talkie House opened in 1938. Only Indian snacks were available in the area, but restaurants opened in the plaza, with names like Kwality, United Coffee House and others offering Continental and Mughlai cuisines. Wenger's, the confectioners, was one of the first shops in Connaught Place, the firm owned the largest restaurant in New Delhi on the first floor of their present A-Block outlet.
Established in 1926 as Spencers in Kashmere Gate, Wenger's was owned by a Swiss couple and introduced Delhi to pastries and homemade Swiss chocolates, though in its early years it too was patronised by British officers, Indian royalty and some foreign-returned businessmen, for Delhi was still the city of classical taste within the walled city. Davico's across Connaught Plaza, the Standard restaurant was popular for decades before fading away. Another old timer, the Embassy Restaurant, opened in 1948; the Imperial, New Delhi’s first luxury hotel opened in 1931 on Queen's Way, became a haunt for the royalty and a place for political discussions. It was here that Jawaharlal Nehru, Mohandas K. Gandhi, Muhammad Ali Jinnah and Lord Mountbatten met to discuss the Partition of India and the birth of Pakistan. Residents moved into first floor quarters, which were full by 1938, but it was another decade before the plaza became the busy marketplace that it became as World War II started and the Independence movement reached a feverish pitch.
Markets experienced dwindling sales. Until the 1980s, a Phatphat Sewa, a Har
Education in Delhi
Education is based on three-tier model which includes primary schools, followed by secondary schools and tertiary education at universities or other institutes of same level. Education Department of the Government of Delhi is a premier body which looks into the educational affairs.the RTE right to education describes children from the age of 6 to 14 have to cumpulsolarily need to be educated. 25% of the schools are reserved for the low privileged children. Tertiary education is administrated by the Directorate of Higher Education. Delhi has to its credit some of the premier institutions in India like the Indian Institute of Technology, National Institute of Technology Delhi, the School of Planning and Architecture, the Netaji Subhas Institute of Technology, the Delhi Technological University, the All India Institute of Medical Sciences,for accountancy education The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India set up by an Act of Parliament in 1949, University of Delhi, Jawaharlal Nehru University, the National Law University, AJK, Mass Communication Research Centre under Jamia Millia Islamia University, indian statistical institute and the Indian Institute of Mass Communication.
As per the 2011 census, Delhi has a literacy rate of 86.3 % with 80.9 % of females. In 1860-61, the North-Western Provinces education system was abolished in Delhi, Punjab education system was introduced with opening of schools at Narela, Najafgarh and their suburbs. There are about 500,000 university students in Delhi NCR attending around more than 165 universities and colleges. Delhi has twelve major universities: University of Delhi: Central university Indian Institute of Foreign Trade: One of the leading Business schools of India, established by Ministry of Commerce and Industry. Indian Institute of Technology Delhi Jamia Millia Islamia: Central university Delhi Technological University: State university Netaji Subhas University of Technology: State University Indira Gandhi Delhi Technical University for Women: State university Jawaharlal Nehru University: Central university Ambedkar University Delhi: State university Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University: State university National Law University: State law university Indira Gandhi National Open University: World's largest national university.
Jamia Hamdard: Deemed university indian statistical institute: Deemed university Delhi boasts of being home to some of the top engineering colleges in India — IIT Delhi, NIT Delhi, Indraprastha Institute of Information Technology, NSIT, Delhi Technological University and Jamia. Delhi boasts several private and few government engineering institutions like Ambedkar Institute of Advanced Communication Technologies and Research and G. B. Pant Engineering College, New Delhi, which are affiliated to the Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University and a Faculty of Engineering under Jamia Millia Islamia University. Industrial training institute and industrial training centres, constituted under the Ministry of Labour and Employment, provide diploma in technical fields. There are several ITIs in Delhi NCR. A person who has passed 10 standard is eligible for admission to an ITI; the objective of opening of ITI is provide "technical manpower to industries". School of Planning and Architecture, Delhi Faculty of Architecture and Ekistics, Jamia Millia Islamia All India Institute of Medical Sciences is considered amongst the best medical research and treatment centres in India.
Delhi has eight medical institutes, out of which six provide both undergraduate and postgraduate education in medicine while other two are researched based. These medical institutes are either affiliated to the University of Delhi or GGSIPU, only AIIMS is central based. Faculty of Dentistry and Maulana Azad Dental College are some of the dental schools. Schools in Delhi are run either by government or private sector, they are affiliated to one of three education boards: the Council for the Indian School Certificate Examinations, the Central Board for Secondary Education and the National Institute of Open Schooling. As per the survey conducted in 2001, Delhi had some 2416 primary, 715 middle and 1576 secondary schools. In 2004–05 1.5 million students were enrolled in primary schools, 822,000 in middle schools and 669,000 in secondary schools across Delhi. Female students represented 49% of the total enrolment; the same year, the Delhi government spent between 1.58% and 1.95% of its gross state domestic product on education.
Students can opt for two compulsory languages and an optional third language from the list of Scheduled languages or Foreign languages. There are several libraries in Delhi, which are either maintained by the government bodies or private organisations; some of the major libraries in Delhi region are: American Centre Library British Council Library Delhi Public Library Delhi University Library Ramakrishna Mission Library IARI Library Indian Council of Historical Research Indian Council of Social Science Research Maharaja Fatehsinhrao Gaekwad Library and Documentation Centre Max Mueller Bhavan National Archives of India National Science Library Russian Centre Shastri Indo-Canadian Institute Zakir Hussain Central Library, Jamia Millia Islamia University Industrial training institute List of educational institutions in Delhi List of colleges under Delhi University Ajay Kumar Sharma. A History of Educational Institutions in Delhi. Sanbun Publishers. ISBN 93-8021-314-X. Delhi Government Polytechnic Colleges in Delhi Delhi Directorate of Education Education in Delhi Top 10 Engineering College of Delhi
Hyderabad State
Hyderabad State known as Hyderabad Deccan, was an Indian princely state located in the south-central region of India with its capital at the city of Hyderabad. It is now divided into Telangana state, Hyderabad-Karnataka region of Karnataka and Marathwada region of Maharashtra; the state was ruled from 1724 to 1857 by the Nizam, a viceroy of the Great Mogul in the Deccan. Hyderabad became the first princely state to come under British paramountcy signing a subsidiary alliance agreement. Under the leadership of Asaf Jah V it changed its traditional heraldic flag; the dynasty declared itself an independent monarchy during the final years of the British Raj. After the Partition of India, Hyderabad signed a standstill agreement with the new dominion of India, continuing all previous arrangements except for the stationing of Indian troops in the state. Hyderabad's location in the middle of the Indian union, as well as its diverse cultural heritage, was a driving force behind India's invasion and annexation of the state in 1948.
Subsequently, Mir Osman Ali Khan, the 7th Nizam, signed an instrument of accession. Hyderabad State was founded by Mir Qamar-ud-din Khan, the governor of Deccan under the Mughals from 1713 to 1721. In 1724, he resumed rule under the title of Asaf Jah, his other title, Nizam ul-Mulk, became the title of his position "Nizam of Hyderabad". By the end of his rule, the Nizam had become independent from the Mughals, had founded the Asaf Jahi dynasty. Following the decline of the Mughal power, the region of Deccan saw the rise of Maratha Empire; the Nizam himself saw many invasions by the Marathas in the 1720s, which resulted in the Nizam paying a regular tax to the Marathas. The major battles fought between the Marathas and the Nizam include Palkhed and Kharda. Following the conquest of Deccan by Bajirao I and the imposition of chauth by him, Nizam remained a tributary of the Marathas for all intent and purposes. From 1778, a British resident and soldiers were installed in his dominions. In 1795, the Nizam lost some of his own territories to the Marathas.
The territorial gains of the Nizam from Mysore as an ally of the British were ceded to the British to meet the cost of maintaining the British soldiers. Hyderabad was a 212,000 km2 region in the Deccan, ruled by the head of the Asaf Jahi dynasty, who had the title of Nizam and on whom was bestowed the style of "His Exalted Highness" by the British; the last Nizam, Osman Ali Khan, was one of the world's richest men in the 1930s. In 1798, Nizam ʿĀlī Khan was forced to enter into an agreement that put Hyderabad under British protection, he was the first Indian prince to sign such an agreement. The Crown retained the right to intervene in case of misrule. Hyderabad under Asaf Jah II was a British ally in the second and third Maratha Wars, Anglo-Mysore wars, would remain loyal to the British during the Indian Rebellion of 1857, his son, Asaf Jah III Mir Akbar Ali Khan ruled from 1768 to 1829. During his rule, a British cantonment was built in Hyderabad and the area was named in his honor, Secunderabad.
The British Residency at Koti was built during his reign by the British Resident James Achilles Kirkpatrick. Sikander Jah was succeeded by Asaf Jah IV, who ruled from 1829 to 1857, was succeeded by his son Asaf Jah V. Asaf Jah V's reign from 1857 to 1869 was marked by reforms by his Prime Minister Salar Jung I. Before this time, there was no regular or systematic form of administration, the duties were in the hand of the Diwan, corruption was thus widespread. In 1867, the State was divided into five divisions and seventeen districts, subedars were appointed for the five Divisions and talukdars and tehsildars for the districts; the judicial, public works, educational and police departments were re-organised. In 1868, sadr-i-mahams were appointed for the Judicial, Revenue and Miscellaneous Departments. Asaf Jah VI Mir Mahbub Ali Khan became the Nizam at the age of three years, his regents were Salar Jung I and Shams-ul-Umra III. He assumed full rule at the age of 17, ruled until his death in 1911.
The Nizam's Guaranteed State Railway was established during his reign to connect Hyderabad State to the rest of British India. It was headquartered at Secunderabad Railway Station; the railway marked the beginning of industry in Hyderabad, factories were built in Hyderabad city. During his rule, the Great Musi Flood of 1908 struck the city of Hyderabad, which killed an estimated 50,000 people; the Nizam opened all his palaces for public asylum. He abolished Sati where women used to jump into their husband's burning pyre, by issuing a royal Firman; the last Nizam of Hyderabad Mir Osman Ali Khan ruled the state from 1911 until 1948. He was given the title "Faithful Ally of the British Empire". Hyderabad was considered peaceful, during this time; the Nizam's rule saw growth of culturally. The Osmania University and several schools and colleges were founded throughout the state. Many writers, poets and other eminent people migrated from all parts of India to Hyderabad during the reign of Asaf Jah VII, his father and predecessor Asaf Jah VI.
The Nizam established Hyderabad State Bank. Hyderabad was the only state in British India which had the Hyderabadi rupee; the Begumpet Airp
