Life and Ttravel in India

Recollections of a journey before the days of Railroads

By Anna Harriette Leonowens (1834-1914)
​
Published by Porter and Coates , Philadelphia - 1884

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Book Preface

In the following pages, gathered from voluminous notes of early travel, I have tried to give a faithful account of life in India, as well as of the sights and scenes visited by me, with my husband, before the days of railroad travel. 

It is well known that the introduction of the railroad into India has in no sense affected the life of the people, and has only very slightly modified the general appearance of the country. India is still what it was in the Vedic period, a land of peasant classes ; she still invokes, as did the ancient Aryans in the Rig Veda, the “ Khetra-pati,” or the divinity of the soil, for blessings on the land.

The Hindoo to-day lives, as did his forefathers, close to the heart of Nature, deifying the mountains, streams, woods, and lakes, while the sun, moon, stars, fire, water, earth, air, sky, and corn are his highest deities. The most beautiful personification in the Ram ay an a of womanly grace and virtue is called Sita, “a furrow,” showing how deep was the national reverence paid to the plough ; and to this day at the Rathsaptimi, the day on which the new sun is supposed to mount his heavenly chariot, a feast is observed in honor of the sun, and the ryots on this occasion decorate with flowers and paint their ploughs, and worship them as the saviors of the land. 

I do not, however, mean to say that India has made no progress whatever in all these years — her imaginative and glorious youth has no doubt been succeeded by the calm reason of mature age — but this transition has been gradual and progressive rather than fitful and sudden. 

The transfer of India by the East India Company to the British Crown, and the recent laws for the protection of the ryot — or more properly the raiyat , a leaser of land held in perpetuity — against the oppressions of the zemindars, or governmental landlords, with the right of underletting the land, have to an extraordinary degree awakened the inborn desire of the Hindoo to become possessor of the soil and to return to his hereditary occupation of agriculture.

To these may be added the security which England has conferred upon India, now that she is no longer disturbed by frequent wars, which desolated the land, and every now and then forced the people to abandon their villages and fly to the jungles and mountains for safety, under the Afghans, Mohguls, Mahrattas, and other predatory chiefs.

Among the lasting benefits to India it may be mentioned that sutteeism, infanticide, self-immolation to the idols, Thuggism, and slavery have all been partially, if not quite, abolished by the strong arm of the law.

Railroads have been built, the country has been opened, schools established, civil service appointments thrown open to the natives and Europeans alike, good roads made, canals and huge reservoirs for water excavated, ancient water-courses reopened, giving an impetus to private enterprise and industry in every direction.

All these happy changes have been the result of the more liberal policy of England toward India since the days of the terrible mutiny of 1857 ; and it may fairly be hoped that British India has before her as glorious a future as her brilliant youth and maturity have foreshadowed for her. 

Sunnyside, Halifax, Nova Scotia, 
August 7, 1884.

"Anna Harriette Leonowens (1834-1914) own account, in Margaret Landon's 1944 best-selling novel Anna and the King of Siam, as well as films and television series based on the book, most notably Rodgers and Hammerstein's 1951 hit musical The King and I."

Rare Book Society 

Bharat Mata - 1905
Painted by Abanindranath Tagore

Bharat Mata is a work painted by the Indian painter Abanindranath Tagore in 1905. The work depicts Bharat Mata, or Mother India, in the style of a Hindu Goddess. The painting was the first illustrated depiction of the concept, and was painted during with Swadesh ideals during the larger Indian Independence movement.

Background

Abanindranath Tagore was born in August 7, 1871 to Gunendranath Tagore. A nephew of the Indian poet and artist Rabindranath Tagore, Abanindranath was exposed at an early age to the artistic inclinations of the Tagore family.

Tagore had been exposed to learning art when he first studied at the Sanskrit College in Kolkata in the 1880s. In his early years, Tagore had painted in the European naturalistic style, evident from his early paintings such as The Armoury. In about 1886 or 1887, Tagore's relative Gyanadanandini Devi had set up a meeting between Tagore and E.B Havell, who was the curator of the Government school of Art in Calcutta. The meeting resulted in a series of exchanges between Havell and Tagore, with Havell gaining a native art collaborator with ideas in the same direction of his own, and Tagore gaining a teacher who would teach him about the 'science' of Indian art history.

Havell attempted to induct Tagore as the Vice Principal of the art school, which was faced with heavy opposition in the school. Havell had to bend much of the school rules to do this, and tolerated many of Tagore's habits including the smoking of hookah in the classrooms and refusing to stick to time schedules. Havell introduced innovations to his teaching program in an attempt to more accurately reproduce Indian art pedagogy, and replaced European copies of art with Indian originals. The English art curator had also reportedly spent many hours behind closed doors explaining the details of "Hindu art and sculpture" to Tagore. One of these paintings, of a stork by a Mughal-era artist, had been shown to Tagore by Havell, causing the former to remark that he was unaware until then of the "embarrassment of riches" that "our art" had contained.
Subject

Bharat Mata is depicted as a saffron-clad woman, holding a book, sheaves of paddy, a piece of white cloth and a rosary in her four hands. The painting holds historical significance as it is one of the earliest visualizations of Bharat Mata, or "Mother India."

Themes and composition

The work was painted during the Swadeshi movement. The movement began as a response to the Partition of Bengal (1905), when Lord Curzon split the largely Muslim eastern areas of Bengal from the largely Hindu western areas. In response, Indian nationalists participating in the swadeshi movement resisted the British by boycotting British goods and institutions, holding meetings and processions, forming committees, and applying diplomatic pressure.

The painting's central figure holds multiple items associated with Indian culture and the economy of India in the early twentieth century, such as a book, sheaves of paddy, a piece of white cloth and a garland. Moreover, the painting's central figure has four hands, evocative of Hindu imagery, which equates multiple hands with immense power.
The painting has been characterized as "an attempt of humanisation of ‘Bharat Mata’ where the mother is seeking liberation through her sons," by Jayanta Sengupta, curator of the Indian Museum in Kolkata, India.
After completion

Since 1905, many iterations of the Bharat Mata have been made in paintings and other forms of art. However, the significance of Tagore's original painting is still recognized. In 2016, Bharat Mata was put on display at the Victoria Memorial Hall in Kolkata, India.
Sister Nivedita, the inspiration behind the Bengal School of Art, praised the painting by saying:

From beginning to end, the picture is an appeal, in the Indian language, to the Indian heart. It is the first great masterpiece in a new style. I would reprint- it, if I could, by tens of thousands, and scatter it broadcast over the land, till there was not a peasant's cottage, or a craftman's hut, between Kedar Nath and Cape Comorin, that had not this presentment of Bharat-Mata somewhere on its walls. Over and over again, as one looks into its qualities, one is struck by the purity and delicacy of the personality portrayed.

- Wikipedia 
Image:
Bharat Mata

Painted by Abanindranath Tagore

Date: 1905
Waterrcolor 

Credit: Victoria Memorial, Kolkata

​Rare Book Society

The Life Of Ramakrishna

By Romain Rolland

Translated from the Original in French by E.F.Malcolm-Smith
Published by Advaita Ashrama, Almora - 1931

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Sri Ramakrishna was born on 18 February 1836 in the village of Kamarpukur about sixty miles northwest of Kolkata. His parents, Kshudiram Chattopadhyaya and Chandramani Devi, were poor but very pious and virtuous. As a child, Ramakrishna (his childhood name was Gadadhar) was dearly loved by the villagers. From early days, he was disinclined towards formal education and worldly affairs. He was, however, a talented boy, and could sing and paint well. He was fond of serving holy men and listening to their discourses. He was also very often found to be absorbed in spiritual moods. At the age of six, he experienced the first ecstasy while watching a flight of white cranes moving against the background of black clouds. This tendency to enter into ecstasy intensified with age. His father’s death when he was seven years old served only to deepen his introspection and increase his detachment from the world.

As a Priest at Dakshineswar Temple

When Sri Ramakrishna was sixteen, his brother Ramkumar took him to Kolkata to assist him in his priestly profession. In 1855 the Kali Temple at Dakshineswar built by Rani Rasmani was consecrated and Ramkumar became the chief priest in that temple. When he died a few months later, Ramakrishna was appointed the priest. Ramakrishna developed intense devotion to Mother Kali and spent hours in loving adoration of her image, forgetting the rituals of priestly duties. His intense longing culminated in the vision of Mother Kali as boundless effulgence engulfing everything around him.

Intense Spiritual Practices

Sri Ramakrishna’s God-intoxicated state alarmed his relatives in Kamarpukur and they got him married to Saradamani, a girl from the neighbouring village of Jayrambati. Unaffected by the marriage, Sri Ramakrishna plunged into even more intense spiritual practices. Impelled by a strong inner urge to experience different aspects of God he followed, with the help of a series of Gurus, the various paths described in the Hindu scriptures, and realized God through each of them. The first teacher to appear at Dakshineswar (in 1861) was a remarkable woman known as Bhairavi Brahmani who was an advanced spiritual adept, well versed in scriptures. With her help Sri Ramakrishna practised various difficult disciplines of the Tantrik path, and attained success in all of them. Three years later came a wandering monk by name Totapuri, under whose guidance Sri Ramakrishna attained Nirvikalpa Samadhi, the highest spiritual experience mentioned in the Hindu scriptures. He remained in that state of non-dual existence for six months without the least awareness of even his own body. In this way, Sri Ramakrishna relived the entire range of spiritual experiences of more than three thousand years of Hindu religion.

Following Other Faiths

With his unquenchable thirst for God, Sri Ramakrishna broke the frontiers of Hinduism, glided through the paths of Islam and Christianity, and attained the highest realization through each of them in a short span of time. He looked upon Jesus and Buddha as incarnations of God, and venerated the ten Sikh Gurus. He expressed the quintessence of his twelve-year-long spiritual realizations in a simple dictum: Yato mat, tato path “As many faiths, so many paths.” He now habitually lived in an exalted state of consciousness in which he saw God in all beings.

Worshipping His Wife

In 1872, his wife Sarada, now nineteen years old, came from the village to meet him. He received her cordially, and taught her how to attend to household duties and at the same time lead an intensely spiritual life. One night he worshipped her as the Divine Mother in his room at the Dakshineswar temple. Although Sarada continued to stay with him, they lived immaculately pure lives, and their marital relationship was purely spiritual. It should be mentioned here that Sri Ramakrishna had been ordained a Sannyasin (Hindu monk), and he observed the basic vows of a monk to perfection. But outwardly he lived like a lay man, humble, loving and with childlike simplicity. During Sri Ramakrishna’s stay at Dakshineswar, Rani Rasmani first acted as his patron. After her death, her son-in-law Mathur Nath Biswas took care of his needs.

Contact with Some Notables

Sri Ramakrishna’s name as an illumined saint began to spread. Mathur once convened an assembly of scholars, and they declared him to be not an ordinary human being but the Avatar of the Modern Age. In those days the socio-religious movement known asBrahmo Samaj, founded by Raja Ram Mohan Roy, was at the height of popularity in Bengal. Sri Ramakrishna came into contact with several leaders and members of Brahmo Samaj and exerted much influence on them. His teaching on harmony of religions attracted people belonging to different denominations, and Dakshineswar became a veritable Parliament of Religions.

Coming of the Devotees

As bees swarm around a fully blossomed flower, devotees now started coming to Sri Ramakrishna. He divided them into two categories. The first one consisted of householders. He taught them how to realize God while living in the world and discharging their family duties. The other more important category was a band of educated youths, mostly from the middle class families of Bengal, whom he trained to become monks and to be the torchbearers of his message to mankind. The foremost among them was Narendranath, who years later, as Swami Vivekananda, carried the universal message of Vedanta to different parts of the world, revitalized Hinduism, and awakened the soul of India.

The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna

Sri Ramakrishna did not write any book, nor did he deliver public lectures. Instead, he chose to speak in a simple language using parables and metaphors by way of illustration, drawn from the observation of nature and ordinary things of daily use. His conversations were charming and attracted the cultural elite of Bengal. These conversations were noted down by his disciple Mahendranath Gupta who published them in the form of a book, Sri Sri Ramakrishna Kathamrita in Bengali. Its English rendering, The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, was released in 1942; it continues to be increasingly popular to this day on account of its universal appeal and relevance.
Last Days

The intensity of his spiritual life and untiring spiritual ministration to the endless stream of seekers told on Sri Ramakrishna’s health. He developed cancer of the throat in 1885. He was shifted to a spacious suburban villa where his young disciples nursed him day and night. He instilled in them love for one another, and thus laid the foundation for the future monastic brotherhood known as Ramakrishna Math. In the small hours of 16 August 1886 Sri Ramakrishna gave up his physical body, uttering the name of the Divine Mother, and passed into Eternity.

Thanks to Rare Book Society 

Source: http://bit.ly/2P3NWy8

​

The Rudra Mantra 

Maha mrityun jaya Mantra 

Sanskrit:  महामृत्युंजय मंत्र or महामृत्युञ्जय मन्त्र, 

mahā mṛtyuṃmjaya mantra 

mahāmṛtyuñjaya mantra.

"Great Death-Conquering Mantra"

 Tryambakam Mantra 


is a verse (sūkta) of the Rigveda (RV 7.59.12).


The sūkta is addressed to Tryambaka

"The Three-eyed One", an epithet of Rudra.

It is identified with Shiva in Shaivism sect.

The verse also recurs in the Yajurveda 
(TS 1.8.6.i; VS 3.60)

The Mahamrityunjaya Mantra reads:


ॐ त्र्य॑म्बकं यजामहे सु॒गन्धिं॑ पुष्टि॒वर्ध॑नम् ।
उ॒र्वा॒रु॒कमि॑व॒ बन्ध॑नान् मृ॒त्योर्मुक्षीय॒ मा ऽमृता॑त् ।


oṃ tryambakaṃ yajāmahe
sugandhiṃ puṣṭi-vardhanam
urvārukam iva bandhanān
mṛtyor mukṣīya mā 'mṛtāt


ॐ aum = is a sacred/mystical syllable Aum in Hinduism, Jainism, Buddhism & Sikhism

त्र्यम्बकम् tryambakam = the three-eyed one 


त्रि tri = "three"

अम्बक ambaka = "eye"यजामहे yajāmahe = "we worship, we sacrifice"

 ātmanepada of *yaj-)सुगन्धिम्  
sugandhim = "the fragrant, the virtuous, the supreme being" ,

पुष्टिवर्धनम् 

puṣṭi + vardhanam = "the bestower of nourishment, wealth, perfection"
, literally "him who possesses the growth of nourishment पुष्टि puṣṭi = "nourishment, increase, wealth, perfection"

वर्धन vardhana = "increase, growth"उर्वारुकम् urvārukam = "fruit, a kind of cucumber"

;इव iva = "as" in devanagari written together as उर्वारुकमिव urvārukamivaबन्धनान् bandhanān = "from bondage, from the stalk/stem" (ablative case, the ending is actually -āt, which changes to -ān because of sandhi)

Note: bandhanāt here means "from the stem". Thus, read with urvārukam iva, "as a fruit from the stem"; the etymologically prior meaning of "from bondage" resonates here as the fruit is a simile for the worshipper being released from the bondage of death.

मृत्योः mṛtyoḥ = "from death"

)मुक्षीय mukṣīya = "may I be freed/released"

 ātmanepada of the root muc-)by sandhi, the last two words become मृत्योर्मुक्षीय mṛtyormukṣīyaमा ऽमृतात् mā 'mṛtāt = "not (mā) from immortality (amṛtāt)" (ablative case from amṛtam): negative particle mā is also constructed together with mukṣīya.

the last two words become मा ऽमृतात् mā-amṛtātOriginAccording to a legend, Markandeya was the only one on the earth who knew this mantra.

The Moon was once in trouble, when cursed by King Daksha. Markandeya gave the Mahamritryunjaya Mantra to Sati, Daksha's daughter, for the Moon.

According to another version this is the Bija mantra as revealed to Rishi Kahola that was given by Lord Shiva to sage Sukracharya, who taught it to Rishi Dadhichi, who gave it to King Kshuva, through whom it reached the Shiva Purana.

This mantra is also called the Rudra mantra, referring to the furious aspect of Shiva; the Tryambakam mantra, alluding to Shiva's three eyes; and it is sometimes known as the Mrita-Sanjivinimantra (lit., "Reviver of the dead") because it is a component of the "life-restoring" practice given to the primordial sage Śukracharya after he had completed an exhausting period of austerity.

Its Devata (patron deity) is Rudra, i.e.,
Shiva in his fiercest and most destructive roopa or aspect.

In the Vedas it finds its place in three texts -

a) the Rig veda VII.59.12,

b) the Yajur Veda III.60, and

c) the Atharva Veda XIV.1.17.

SignificanceIt is said to be beneficial for :

mental

emotional

physical health

 moksha mantra 

 longevity and immortality.

According to some puranas, the Mahamrityunjaya Mantra has been used by many rishis as well as Sati during the time when Chandra suffered from the curse of
Prajapati Daksha.

By reciting this mantra, the effect of the curse of Daksha, which could make him die, slowed, and Shiva then took Chandra and placed it upon his head.


This mantra is addressed to Shiva for warding off untimely death.

 It is also chanted while smearing Vibhuti over various parts of the Body and utilised in Japa or Homa (havan) to get desired results.

While its energy protects and guides the initiates a mantra re-links consciousness to its deeper and more abiding nature and repetition of the mantra constitutes Japa, the practice of which develops concentration that leads to a transformation of awareness.

Whereas the Gayatri Mantra is:
Purification and Spiritual Guidance

​---------------------------------
Maha mrit yun jaya Mantra:
Healing Rejuvenation and Nurturance

Wikipedia

If there is any misunderstanding that this is not the Dali Lama Singing please listen to Hein Braat's voice in other mantra's, google him.