#Association of Publishers in India

[sixteenseveredhands]

Emerald Spectacles from India, c. 1620-1660 CE: the lenses of these spectacles were cut from a single 300-carat emerald, and it was believed that they possessed mystical properties

These eyeglasses are also known by the name "Astaneh-e ferdaws," meaning "Gate of Paradise," based on the symbolic associations between the color green and the concept of spiritual salvation/Paradise. That symbolism (which is rooted in Islamic tradition) was especially popular in Mughal-era India, where the spectacles were made.

The lenses were crafted from two thin slices of the same emerald. Together, the lenses have a combined weight of about 27 carats, but given the precision, size, and shape of each lens, experts believe that the original emerald likely weighed in excess of 300 carats (more than sixty grams) before it was cleaved down in order to produce the lenses. The emerald was sourced from a mine in Muzo, Colombia, and it was then transported across the Atlantic by Spanish or Portuguese merchants.

Each lens is encircled by a series of rose-cut diamonds, which run along an ornate frame made of gold and silver. The diamond-studded frame was added in the 1890s, when the original prince-nez design was fitted with more modern frames.

The emerald eyeglasses have long been paired with a second set of spectacles, and they were almost certainly commissioned by the same patron. This second pair is known as "Halqeh-e nur," or the "Halo of Light."

The Halo of Light features lenses that were made from slices of diamond. The diamond lenses were cleaved from a single stone, just like the emerald lenses, with the diamond itself being sourced from a mine in Southern India. It's estimated that the original, uncut diamond would have weighed about 200-300 carats, which would make it one of the largest uncut diamonds ever found.

The lenses are so clear and so smoothly cut that it sometimes looks like they're not even there.

Both sets of spectacles date back to the mid-1600s, and it's generally believed that they were commissioned by a Mughal emperor or prince. The identity of that person is still a bit of a mystery, but it has been widely speculated that the patron was Shah Jahan -- the Mughal ruler who famously commissioned the Taj Mahal after the death of his wife, Mumtaz Mahal. Shah Jahan did rule as the Mughal emperor from about 1628 to 1658.

The emerald and diamond lenses may have been chosen for symbolic, sentimental, and/or cultural reasons, or they may have been chosen simply because they're pretty and extravagant; the original meaning and purpose behind the design is still unclear. Experts do believe that the eyeglasses were designed to be worn by someone, though.

At times, it was believed that the spectacles had spiritual properties, like the ability to promote healing, to ward off evil, to impart wisdom, and to bring the wearer closer to enlightenment. Those beliefs are largely based on the spiritual significance that emeralds and diamonds can have within certain Indic and Islamic traditions -- emeralds may be viewed as an emblem of Paradise, salvation, healing, cleansing, and eternal life, while diamonds are similarly associated with enlightenment, wisdom, celestial light, and mysticism.

The Gate of Paradise and the Halo of Light were both kept in the collections of a wealthy Indian family until 1980, when they were sold to private collectors, and they were then put up for auction once again in 2021. They were most recently valued at about $2 million to $3.4 million per pair.

Sources & More Info:

Sotheby's: Mughal Spectacles

Architectural Digest of India: At Sotheby's auction, Mughal-era eyeglasses made of diamond and emerald create a stir

Only Natural Diamonds: Auspicious Sight & the Halqeh-e Nur Spectacles

The Royal Society Publishing: Cleaving the Halqeh-Ye Nur Diamonds

Gemological Institution of America: Two Antique Mughal Spectacles with Gemstone Lenses

Manuscript: From Satan's Crown to the Holy Grail: emeralds in myth, magic, and history

CNN: The $3.5 million Spectacles Said to Ward off Evil

BBC: Rare Mughal Era Spectacles to be Auctioned by Sotheby's

[runawaysiren940]

Here's the full script for the most recent video, minus where I ad libbed:

Dr. Moumita Debnath, a 31 year old doctor trainee, was found dead on August 9th, 2024. After taking a break half-way through a 36 hour shift, her corpse was found on a blood stained mattress. Her body bore the wounds of torture, from the wounds to her eyes, her pelvis, genitals, arms and legs. As noted in The Publica’s report, “The post-mortem report also noted that over 150 mg of semen was recovered from the doctor’s body, indicating that up to 30 men could have been involved in the violation of Debath’s body. The normal volume of semen produced by a male upon ejaculation typically varies from 1.5 to 5.0 mg, according to the online medical encyclopedia MedlinePlus” (Biase). Her family was told that she died via suicide, though her wounds made it obvious that this was not the case; however, this claim allowed the principal of the school to avoid filing a police report. The attempts to hide the crime did not succeed, and have resulted in protests across India and the medical industry, both in response to the lack of protections for medical staff, and because of the attempt to hide the crime. 

In the aftermath, searches for footage of Debnath’s gang rape have trended, as “According to Google Trends, queries such as “Moumita Debnath porn” and “Dr. Moumita Debnath video” have experienced surges across India, with “Moumita Debnath rap[e] video” experiencing a 110% increase in searches. As of the time of this writing, of all the queries associated with her name, “Moumita Debnath photo video” is the 5th most searched in India, while “Moumita Debath last video” is the 12th most searched overall” (Biase).

This isn’t the only horrific case of gang rape, torture, or extreme violence against women. In fact, back in 2023, Vidya Krishnan wrote an opinion piece published in the New York times on the topic titled, “In India’s Gang Rape Culture, All Women Are Victims”, where she writes: 

It is the specific horror of gang rape that weighs most heavily on Indian women that I know. You may have heard of the many gruesome cases of women being gang-raped, disemboweled and left for dead. When an incident rises to national attention, the kettle of outrage boils over, and women sometimes stage protests, but it passes quickly. All Indian women are victims, each one traumatized, angry, betrayed, exhausted. Many of us think about gang rape more than we care to admit.

In 2011 a woman was raped every 20 minutes in India, according to government data. The pace quickened to about every 16 minutes by 2021, when more than 31,000 rapes were reported, a 20 percent increase from the previous year. In 2021, 2,200 gang rapes were reported to authorities.

But those grotesque numbers tell only part of the story: 77 percent of Indian women who have experienced physical or sexual violence never tell anyone, according to one study. Prosecutions are rare.

Indian men may face persecution because they are Muslims, Dalits (untouchables) or ethnic minorities or for daring to challenge the corrupt powers that be. Indian women suffer because they are women. Soldiers need to believe that war won’t kill them, that only bad luck will; Indian women need to believe the same about rape, to trust that we will come back to the barracks safe each night, to be able to function at all. (Krishnan)

Just from recent memory, I can recall several other horrifying cases. 

In a rare case of justice, in May 2024, a pair of brothers were sentenced to death for the rape and murder of a 12 year old girl. To hide the crime, they then burned her alive in a coal furnace. (The Hindu Bureau)

In 2012, 22 year old Jyoti Singh was “beaten, gang-raped, and tortured in a private bus in which she was travelling with her male friend, Avnindra Pratap Pandey. There were six others in the bus, including the driver, all of whom raped the woman and beat her friend.” She later succumbed to her wombs, while her friend supposedly committed suicide. (Khan)

Many rape cases end with the woman dead. It is horrifying to me, from across the globe, to know that women live under constant threat of sexual assault, and while all assaults are horrific, the cases which break into the international news sphere from India are especially cruel and disturbing. It is the culmination of a deeply traditional and patriarchal society, wherein the devaluation of women is compounded with caste and religious issues, along with the rise of pornography. Porn is the instruction, and rape is the practice; though clearly, there was no need for instruction. 

Famous cases include:

The Suryanelli rape case, where in 1996, a sixteen year old was lured with a marriage promise, kidnapped, and was raped by 37 men during her forty day captivity. Although initially 35 of 39 accused were found guilty, in 2005, all 35 convicted were acquitted of charges. 

The Pararia mass rape, where in 1988, at least 14 women were gang raped by the police force, and had their homes looted after they protested against being removed to make way for a damn being built. “India Today reported Sinha's concluding statements were: "It cannot be ruled out that these ladies might speak falsehood to get a sum of Rs 1,000, which was a huge sum for them." (Bonner)

In many caste altercations, women are targeted because to rape a woman is not done just to her, but is meant to be an insult to the community and the community’s honor. In an environment where religious and social conflict occurs, women are especially vulnerable as targets of sexual violence. 

However, what the internet has provided is an avenue to share the debasement and horror of gang rape with other men. It prolongs the suffering and harm to the victim and her family; but also serves as a warning to other women, and as an enticement to other men. Come, they say. Look at what we did. See how we were despicable and got away with it? You can too. 

A 28 year old tourist and her husband were robbed, then man beaten, and the woman, raped by seven men in March of 2024. Since they have taken down the video detailing the event from their social media, I will not show that here, or go deeply into detail. However, in the reactions to the incident, one can note a pattern of behavior, not just from Indian men, but also women. 

The BBC reported: 

“The chief of India's National Commission for Women, Rekha Sharma, also sparked criticism after she responded to a post from a US journalist who wrote that while India was one of his favourite places, "the level of sexual aggression" he witnessed while living in the country was "unlike anywhere else I have ever been". He also gave a couple of examples of sexual assault faced by women he knew.

"Did you ever report the incident to police?" Ms Sharma wrote. "If not then you are totally an irresponsible person. Writing only on social media and defaming whole country is not good choice."” (Sebastian)

Victim blaming is constant, and serves as a deterrent from seeking help, reporting incidents, or enacting change. In the aftermath of the 2019 gang rape and murder of 27 year old Priyanka Reddy, Indian filmmaker Daniel Shravan ranted on social media that  “The government should encourage and legalize rape without violence,” and, “Girls above 18 should be educated on rapes and not deny the sexual desires of men.” He also went on to say that, “Rapists are not finding a way to get their bodily sexual desires [met],” which is compelling them to kill.” (“After a Woman in India was Raped and Murdered, Her Name Trended on Porn Sites”). Because assault and violence against women is so common in India, it makes sense that victim blaming, from both sexes remains so strong, as “according to Inside Southern, the reason for victim blaming is: “People may blame a victim in order to remove themselves from an unpleasant event and therefore confirm their own invulnerability to the risk. Others may perceive the victim as different from themselves if they label or accuse the victim. People console themselves by saying, “Because I’m not like her, and I don’t do that, this would never happen to me.”” (Ram).  In other words, it a pacifier, a way to manage the dread that comes with realizing the ubiquitousness and unpredictability of sexual assault. If there is something you can do to avoid being assaulted, then it must be her fault. And you must be safe, because you don’t make those choices. 

That men make up a large contingent of the judges and lawmakers that in turn pass the laws which allow rapists to walk free iillustrates the universal truth that Anna Maria Mozzoni, a popular Italian feminist theorist, wrote about in 1895, “You will find that the priest who damns you is a man; that the legislator who oppresses you is a man, that the husband who reduces you to an object is a man; that the libertine [anarchist] who harasses you is a man; that the capitalist who enriches himself with your ill- paid work and the speculator who calmly pockets the price of your body, are men.”

It’s easy to forget when the violence is not happening in front of you, when you can excuse it, or look away, or claim that there are forces at play that you don’t understand. It’s easy to say that the problem is with a people or a religion- 

But the truth is that woman hating is universal. A passing interest in anthropology will only show the manifestations of this hatred in creative ways throughout space and time.

Works Cited

“After a Woman in India was Raped and Murdered, Her Name Trended on Porn Sites.” Fight The New Drug, December 2019, https://fightthenewdrug.org/woman-in-india-raped-and-murdered-her-name-trended-on-porn/. Accessed 21 August 2024.

Biase, Natasha. “Name Of Female Doctor Who Was Gang Raped And Murdered In Indian Hospital Appears On Porn Sites As Men Seek Out Footage Of The Assault.” The Publica, 19 August 2024, https://www.thepublica.com/female-doctor-who-was-gang-raped-and-murdered-in-indian-hospital-appears-on-porn-sites-as-indian-men-search-for-footage-of-crime/. Accessed 21 August 2024.

Bonner, Arthur. “Pararia mass rape (1988).” Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pararia_mass_rape_(1988). Accessed 21 August 2024.

The Hindu Bureau. “Two get death for raping, burning alive minor girl in Bhilwara.” The Hindu, 20 May 2024, https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/rajasthan/two-sentenced-to-death-by-pocso-court-in-rajasthan-court-for-raping-burning-alive-minor-girl/article68195867.ece. Accessed 21 August 2024.

Khan, Aamir. “2012 Delhi gang rape and murder.” Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2012_Delhi_gang_rape_and_murder. Accessed 21 August 2024.

Krishnan, Vidya. “Opinion | In India's Gang Rape Culture, All Women Are Victims (Published 2023).” The New York Times, 2 June 2023, https://www.nytimes.com/2023/06/02/opinion/india-women-rape.html. Accessed 21 August 2024.

Ram, Anjali. “Never Ending Tales Of Victim Blaming And Shaming.” Feminism in India, 12 December 2022, https://feminisminindia.com/2022/12/12/never-ending-tales-of-victim-blaming-and-shaming/. Accessed 21 August 2024.

Sebastian, Meryl. “Outrage over Brazilian tourist's gang rape in India.” BBC, 3 March 2024, https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-68444993. Accessed 21 August 2024.

[reasonsforhope]

Researchers from Western and Brown University have made groundbreaking progress towards identifying the root cause and potential therapy for preeclampsia.

The pregnancy complication affects up to eight per cent of pregnancies globally and is the leading cause of maternal and fetal mortality due to premature delivery, complications with the placenta and lack of oxygen.

The research, led by Drs. Kun Ping Lu and Xiao Zhen Zhou at Western, and Drs. Surendra Sharma and Sukanta Jash at Brown, has identified a toxic protein, cis P-tau, in the blood and placenta of preeclampsia patients.

According to the study published in Nature Communications, cis P-tau is a central circulating driver of preeclampsia – a “troublemaker” that plays a major role in causing the deadly complication...

“The root cause of preeclampsia has (so far) remained unknown, and without a known cause there has been no cure. Preterm delivery is the only life-saving measure,” said Lu, professor of biochemistry and oncology at  Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry...

“Our study identifies cis P-tau as a crucial culprit and biomarker for preeclampsia. It can be used for early diagnosis of the complication and is a crucial therapeutic target,” said Sharma...

Until now, cis P-tau was mainly associated with neurological disorders like Alzheimer’s disease, traumatic brain injuries (TBI) and stroke. This association was discovered by Lu and Zhou in 2015 as a result of their decades of research on the role of tau protein in cancer and Alzheimer’s.

An antibody developed by Zhou in 2012 to target only the toxic protein while leaving its healthy counterpart unscathed is currently undergoing clinical trials in human patients suffering from TBI and Alzheimer’s Disease. The antibody has shown promising results in animal models and human cell cultures in treating the brain conditions.

The researchers were curious whether the same antibody could work as a potential treatment for preeclampsia. Upon testing the antibody in mouse models they found astonishing results.

“In this study, we found the cis P-tau antibody efficiently depleted the toxic protein in the blood and placenta, and corrected all features associated with preeclampsia in mice. Clinical features of preeclampsia, like elevated blood pressure, excessive protein in urine and fetal growth restriction, among others, were eliminated and pregnancy was normal,” said Sharma.

Sharma and his team at Brown have been working on developing an assay for early detection of preeclampsia and therapies to treat the condition. He believes the findings of this study have brought them closer to their goal...

“The results have far-reaching implications. This could revolutionize how we understand and treat a range of conditions, from pregnancy-related issues to brain disorders,” said Lu.

-via India Education Diary, September 22, 2023

[jeannereames]

How many love interest did Alexander have in all of his life? I just recently found out he had an affair with a prostitute named Camaspe and apparently she was the one who was the first to have a physical relationship with him although not for long.

Love your work! 💕

Alexander’s Reported Lovers

Just an FYI … Kampaspe (Campaspe in Latin, also Pancaste) is a character in the second volume of Dancing with the Lion (Rise), as I wanted a second female voice and also a slave’s perspective. Even better that she was born to privilege, then lost it. She was reportedly a Thessalian hetaira from Larissa, which was handy as the Argeads had a long history of ties to the city of Larissa. I wrote about her before in a post from the blog tour the publisher had me do when the books first came out. You can read it HERE.

That said, she’s probably a Roman-era invention, mentioned only by late sources (Lucian, Aelian, and Pliny) all with one (repeated) story: Alexander as Super-patron. Reputedly, he gave her to his favored painter Apelles when, commissioned to do a nude,  Apelles fell in love with her. Alexander kept the painting, Apelles got the girl. You bet I’ll have some fun with that. Kampaspe will remain a major character throughout the series…but not as Alexander’s mistress.

When trying to figure out how many sexual partners Alexander had, we must ask which were invented—or denied. Remember: ancient history wasn’t like modern (academic) history. It was essentially creative non-fiction. It inserted speeches, dialogue, even people and events to liven things up and/or to make a moral point. Or it obscured people and events, if that worked better.

Modern readers of ancient sources must always ask WHO wrote this, WHEN was it written, and what POINT did the author intend? Also, especially with anecdotes, look at the wider context. People are especially prone to take anecdotes at face value and treat them as isolated little tales. Yet CONTEXT IS KING.

A lot of our information about Alexander’s love life comes from Plutarch, either in his Life of Alexander or his collection of essays now called the Moralia. Another source is Curtius’s History of Alexander. And finally, Athenaeus’s Diepnosophistai or The Supper Party (really, The Learned Banqueters). All wrote during the Roman empire and had tropes and messages to get across.

Of the WOMEN associated with Alexander, I’m going to divide them into the historical and the probably fictional, or at least their relationship with Alexander was fictional.

Of the certain, we can count one mistress, three wives, and one probable secret/erased liaison.

Barsine is his first attested mistress for whom we have ample references across multiple sources. Supposedly, she bore Alexander a son (Herakles). Herakles certainly existed, but whether he was Alexander’s is less clear to me. As the half-Persian, half-Greek daughter of a significant satrap, she had no little influence. Monica D’Agostini has a great article on Alexander’s women, btw, in a forthcoming collection I edited for Colloquia Antiqua, called Macedon and Its Influences, and spends some time on Barsine. So look for that, probably in 2025, as we JUST (Friday) submitted the last of the proof corrections and index. Whoo! Anyway, Monica examines all Alexander’s (historical) women in—you guessed it!—their proper context.

Alexander also married three times: Roxane, daughter of the warlord Oxyartes of Sogdiana, in early 327. He married again in mid-324 in Susa, both Statiera (the younger), daughter of Darius, and Parysatis, youngest daughter of the king before Darius, Artaxerxes III Ochus. Yes, both at once, making ties to the older and the newer Achaemenid royal lines.

Out of all these, he had only one living son, Alexander IV (by Roxane)—although he got his women pregnant four times. If we can trust a late source (Metz Epitome), and I think we can for this, Roxane had a miscarriage while in India. Also, Statiera the younger was reputedly pregnant when Roxane, with Perdikkas’s help, killed her just a few days (or hours!) after Alexander died.

That’s 3 …who had baby #4?

Statiera the Elder, Darius’s wife. Netflix’s proposal of a liaison between them was not spun out of thin air. Plutarch—the same guy who tells us ATG never even looked at her—also tells us she died in childbirth just a week or three before the battle of Gaugamela, Oct. 1, 331. Keep in mind, Alexander had captured her right after Issos, Nov. 5, 333. Um … that kid wasn’t Darius’s. And if you think ANYbody would have been allowed to have an affair with such a high-ranking captive as the Great-King’s chief wife, I have some swampland in Florida to sell you. More on it HERE.

Now, for the probably fictional….

Kampaspe, I explained above.

Kallixena was supposedly hired by Philip and Olympias (jointly!) to initiate Alexander into sex, because he didn’t seem interested in women. (Yes, this little titbit is also in Rise.) Athenaeus reports the story as a digression on Alexander’s drinking, and how too much wine led to his lack of sexual interest. But within the anecdote, the reported reason for his parents’ hiring Kallixena was because mommy and daddy feared Alexander was “womanish” (gunnis).

Thaïs was linked to him by Athenaeus, almost certainly based on her supposed participation in the burning of Persepolis…which didn’t happen (or not as related; archaeology tosses cold water on it). Thaïs was Ptolemy’s mistress, and the mother of some of his children.

Athenaeus also mentions a couple unnamed interests, but all illustrate the same point: Alexander is too noble to steal somebody else’s love. Two are back-to-back: the flute-girl of a certain Theodoros, Proteas’ brother, and the lyre player of Antipatrides. The last is a boy, the eromenos of a certain Kalchis, a story related apart from the women, but with the same point.

Even more clearly fictional are his supposed encounters with the Amazon Queen Thalestris and Queen Kleophis of the Massaga (in Pakistan). Reportedly, as Onisikritos was reading from his history of Alexander at the court of King Lysimachos (who’d been a close friend, remember), Lysimachos burst out laughing when Onisikritos got to the Amazon story, and asked, “Where was I when this happened?”

Now, when it comes to his MEN/BOYS, the ice is thinner as no names are definitively given except Bagoas (in a couple sources, chiefly Curtius and Athenaeus). We also have a few generic references to pretty boys, as with Kalchis’s boyfriend mentioned above, and some slave boys offered by a certain Philoxenos, who he turns down, a story told by both Plutarch and Athenaeus.

Curtius alone suggests two more, but at least one is meant to show Alexander’s descent into Oriental Corruption(tm), so it’s possible Curtius made them up. At the very least, he used them for his own narrative purposes. Sabine Müller has a great article on this, albeit in German. Still, if you can read German: “Alexander, Dareios und Hephaistion. Fallhöhen bei Curtius Rufus.” In H. Wulfram, ed., Der Römische Alexanderhistoriker Curtius Rufus: Erzähltechnik, Rhetorik, Figurenpsychologie und Rezeption. Vienna: Austrian Academy of Sciences Press, 2016, 13-48.

Romans had a certain dis-ease with “Greek Love,” especially when it involved two freeborn men. Fucking slaves was fine; they’re just slaves. Citizen men with citizen boys…that’s trickier.

Curtius labels two youths “favorites,” a phrasing that implies a sexual affair. One is mentioned early in the campaign (Egypt) when Alexander is still “good��; the other after Alexander begins his slide into Persian Debauchery. These are Hektor, Parmenion’s son (good), and Euxinippos, described as being as pretty as Hephaistion, but not as “manly” (bad). Curtius employs Bagoas similarly, even claims he influenced imperial policy for his own dastardly goals. Gasp!

Yes, of course I’m being sarcastic, but readers need to understand the motifs that Curtius is employing, and what they really mean. Not what 21st century people assume they mean, or romantically want them to mean. (See my "Did Bagoas Exist?" post.)

What about Hephaistion? I’ve discussed him elsewhere in an article, but I’ll just remind folks that it’s nowhere made explicit until late sources, in large part because, by the time we meet Alexander and Hephaistion in the histories, they were adults, and any affair between them would be assumed to have occurred in the past, when they were youths. (See my “It’s Complicated” and a reply to them maybe being “DudeBros.”)

This is why we hear about Alexander’s interest in youths, not adult men. It would be WEIRD to the ancient mind (= Very Very Bad) if he liked adult men. In fact, by comparing Hephaistion to Euxinippos, Curtius slyly insinuates that maybe he and Alexander were still…you know (wink, wink). That’s meant to be a slam against Alexander (and Hephaistion)! Therefore, we cannot take it, in itself, as proof of anything. Alexander’s emotional attachment to Hephaistion, however, is not doubted by any ancient source.

So, all those people are attached to Alexander in our sources, but over half may not be real, or at least, may not have had a sexual relationship with him. There may be (probably are) some that simply didn’t make it into the surviving sources.

Yet I’ve mentioned before that we just don’t find sexual misconduct as one of Alexander’s named faults. Even Curtius and Justin must dig for it/make up shit, such as claiming Alexander actually used Darius’s whole harem of concubines or held a drunken revel through Karia after escaping the Gedrosian Desert. (Blue Dionysos and drag queens on the Seine at the Paris Olympics got nothing on his Dionysian komos!)

Drink, anger, hubris…he sure as hell ticked all those boxes. But not sex. In fact, a number of sources imply he just wasn’t that randy, despite his “choleric” temperament. Some of the authors credit too much drink (bad), others, his supreme self-control (good). He’s more often an example of sexual continence—as in the stories from Athenaeus related above. He also didn’t rape his captives, etc., etc.

Make of that what you like, but I find it intriguing.

[iphigeniacomplex]

লিখি লোৱা, মই এজন মিঞা ("Write Down 'I am a Miyah'", 2016) by Hafiz Ahmed, translated from Assamese to English by Shalim M. Hussain, began a movement of resistance poetry among Assamese Muslims of Bengali descent, referred to as Miya Poetry after a slur used to describe this community. From Abdul Kalam Azad, for Indian Express ("Write...I am a Miya", 2019):

This poem went viral and other young poets started responding to him through poems. The young poets also started reclaiming “Miya”, a slur used against us, as our identity with pride. This chain of Facebook posts continued for days, reiterating the violence, suffering and humiliation expressed by our community. As time passed, more poets wrote in various languages and dialects, including many Miya dialects. The nomenclature ‘Miya Poetry’ got generated organically but the poets and their associates have been inspired by the Negritude and Black Arts movements, and queer, feminist and Dalit literary movements, where the oppressed have reclaimed the identity which was used to dehumanise them. The trend transcended our community. Poets from the mainstream Assamese community also wrote several poems in solidarity with the Miya poets while some regretted not being poets. Gradually, this became a full-fledged poetry movement and got recognised by other poets, critics and commentators. The quality and soul of these poems are so universal that they started finding prominence on reputed platforms. For the first time in the history of our community, we had started telling our own stories and reclaiming the Miya identity to fight against our harassers who were dehumanising us with the same word. They accused us of portraying the whole Assamese society as xenophobic. The fact is we have just analysed our conditions. Forget generalising the Assamese society as ‘xenophobic’, no Miya poet has ever used the term ‘xenophobic’ nor any of its variants. The guilt complex of our accusers is so profound that they don’t have the patience to examine why we wrote the poems.

Amrita Singh, writing for The Caravan ("Assam Against Itself", 2019), detailed the political backlash against Miya Poetry, in particular the above poem.

On 10 July this year, Pranabjit Doloi, an Assam-based journalist, filed a complaint at Guwahati’s Panbazar police station accusing ten people of indulging in criminal activities “to defame the Assamese people as Xenophobic in the world.” Doloi claimed that the ten people were trying to hinder the ongoing updation of the National Register of Citizens, a list of Assam’s Indian citizens that is due to be published on 31 August. The premise of Doloi’s complaint was a widely-circulated poem called, “Write down I am Miya,” by Hafiz Ahmed, a school teacher and social activist. “Write. Write down I am a Miya/ A citizen of democratic secular republic without any rights,” Ahmed wrote. The police registered a first information report against Doloi’s complaint, booking all ten persons for promoting enmity between groups, among other offences. [...] At the press conference, Mander emphasised that people in Assam are in distress because of the NRC’s arbitrary and rigid procedures. “One spelling mistake when you are writing a Bengali name in English … that is enough for you to be in a detention center, declared a foreigner,” Mander said. “If you are not allowing this lament to come out in the form of poetry, then where is this republic of India going?”

Ahmed's poem is influenced in structure by "Identity Card", a 1964 poem by by Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish which uses the symbolic figure of the Palestinian working man to confront Israeli occupiers. Darwish's identity card, a symbol of Israeli subjugation transformed into a cry of Palestinian national identity, is reshaped by Ahmed into the National Register of Citizens for Assam and the accompanying fear of statelessness and disenfranchisement for the Miya people.

This solidarity between writers from oppressed groups is, of course, not one that ends with Darwish and Ahmed, nor with the Black, queer, feminist, and Dalit influences of Miya Poetry. As long as there is oppression, there will be companionship and recognition reflected in art and activism. On December 13, 2023, Black Agenda Report reprinted Refaat Alareer's "If I Must Die", acknowledging the connection between Alareer's poem and "If We Must Die" by Claude McKay, written in 1919 in response to the Red Summer white supremacist riots. In 2000, Haitian community activist Dahoud Andre translated "If We Must Die" into Kreyòl, and the Black Agenda Report editorial honors Alareer in a similar way, reprinting "If I Must Die" with an accompanying Kreyòl translation. (POEM: If I Must Die, Refaat Alareer, 2023.)

Transcripts under the cut.

[Hafiz Ahmed Transcripts (Assamese and English):

লিখি লোৱা, মই এজন মিঞা

লিখা, লিখি লোৱা মই এজন মিঞা এন. আৰ. চিৰ ক্রমিক নং ২০০৫৪৩ দুজন সন্তানৰ বাপেক মই, অহাবাৰ গ্ৰীষ্মত জন্ম ল’ব আৰু এজনে তাকো তুমি ঘিণ কৰিবা নেকি যিদৰে ঘিণ কৰা মোক?

লিখি লোৱা, মই এজন মিঞা পতিত ভূমি, পিতনিক মই ৰূপান্তৰিত কৰিছোঁ শস্য-শ্যামলা সেউজী পথাৰলৈ তোমাক খুৱাবলৈ মই ইটা কঢ়িয়াইছোঁ তোমাৰ অট্টালিকা সাজিবলৈ, তোমাৰ গাড়ী চলাইছোঁ তোমাক আৰাম দিবলৈ, তোমাৰ নৰ্দমা ছাফা কৰিছোঁ তোমাক নিৰোগী কৰি ৰাখিবলৈ, তোমাৰে সেৱাতে মগন মই অনবৰত তাৰ পিছতো কিয় তুমি খৰ্গহস্ত? লিখা, লিখি লোৱা মই এজন মিঞা গণতান্ত্ৰিক, গণৰাজ্য এখনৰ নাগৰিক এজন যাৰ কোনো অধিকাৰ নাইকিয়া মাতৃক মোৰ সজোৱা হৈছে সন্দেহযুক্ত ভোটাৰ যদিও পিতৃ-মাতৃ তাইৰ নিঃসন্দেহে ভাৰতীয়

ইচ্ছা কৰিলেই তুমি মোক হত্যা কৰিব পাৰা, জ্বলাই দিব পৰা মোৰ খেৰৰ পঁজা, খেদি দিব পাৰা মোক মোৰেই গাঁৱৰ পৰা, কাঢ়ি নিব পাৰা মোৰ সেউজী পথাৰ মোৰ ���ুকুৰ ওপৰেৰে চলাব পাৰা তোমাৰ বুলড্‌জাৰ তোমাৰ বুলেটে বুকুখন মোৰ কৰিব পাৰে থকাসৰকা (তোমাৰ এই কাৰ্যৰ বাবে তুমি কোনো স্তিও নোপোৱা) যুগ-যুগান্তৰ তোমাৰ অত্যাচাৰ সহ্য কৰি ব্ৰহ্মপুত্ৰৰ চৰত বাস কৰা মই এজন মিঞা মোৰ দেহা হৈ পৰিছে নিগ্ৰো কলা মোৰ চকুযুৰি অঙঠাৰ দৰে ৰঙা সাৱধান! মোৰ দুচকুত জমা হৈ আছে যুগ যুগান্তৰৰ বঞ্চনাৰ বাৰুদ আঁতৰি যোৱা, নতুবা অচিৰেই পৰিণত হ’বা মূল্যহীন ছাইত!

Write Down ‘I am a Miyah’ Hafiz Ahmed, 2016 trans. Shalim M. Hussain

Write Write Down I am a Miya My serial number in the NRC is 200543 I have two children Another is coming Next summer. Will you hate him As you hate me?

write I am a Miya I turn waste, marshy lands To green paddy fields To feed you. I carry bricks To build your buildings Drive your car For your comfort Clean your drain To keep you healthy. I have always been In your service And yet you are dissatisfied! Write down I am a Miya, A citizen of a democratic, secular, Republic Without any rights My mother a D voter, Though her parents are Indian.

If you wish kill me, drive me from my village, Snatch my green fields hire bulldozers To roll over me. Your bullets Can shatter my breast for no crime.

Write I am a Miya Of the Brahamaputra Your torture Has burnt my body black Reddened my eyes with fire. Beware! I have nothing but anger in stock. Keep away! Or Turn to Ashes.

]

[Mahmoud Darwish Transcripts (Arabic and English):

سجِّل أنا عربي ورقمُ بطاقتي خمسونَ ألفْ وأطفالي ثمانيةٌ وتاسعهُم.. سيأتي بعدَ صيفْ! فهلْ تغضبْ؟ سجِّلْ أنا عربي وأعملُ مع رفاقِ الكدحِ في محجرْ وأطفالي ثمانيةٌ أسلُّ لهمْ رغيفَ الخبزِ، والأثوابَ والدفترْ من الصخرِ ولا أتوسَّلُ الصدقاتِ من بابِكْ ولا أصغرْ أمامَ بلاطِ أعتابكْ فهل تغضب؟ سجل أنا عربي أنا اسم بلا لقبِ صَبورٌ في بلادٍ كلُّ ما فيها يعيشُ بفَوْرةِ الغضبِ جذوري قبلَ ميلادِ الزمانِ رستْ وقبلَ تفتّحِ الحقبِ وقبلَ السّروِ والزيتونِ .. وقبلَ ترعرعِ العشبِ أبي.. من أسرةِ المحراثِ لا من سادةٍ نُجُبِ وجدّي كانَ فلاحاً بلا حسبٍ.. ولا نسبِ! يُعَلّمني شموخَ الشمسِ قبلَ قراءةِ الكتبِ وبيتي’ كوخُ ناطورٍ منَ الأعوادِ والقصبِ فهل تُرضيكَ منزلتي؟ أنا اسم بلا لقبِ! سجلْ أنا عربي ولونُ الشعرِ.. فحميٌّ ولونُ العينِ.. بنيٌّ وميزاتي: على رأسي عقالٌ فوقَ كوفيّه وكفّي صلبةٌ كالصخرِ... تخمشُ من يلامسَها وعنواني: أنا من قريةٍ عزلاءَ منسيّهْ شوارعُها بلا أسماء وكلُّ رجالها في الحقلِ والمحجرْ فهل تغضبْ؟ سجِّل! أنا عربي سلبتُ كرومَ أجدادي وأرضاً كنتُ أفلحُها أنا وجميعُ أولادي ولم تتركْ لنا.. ولكلِّ أحفادي سوى هذي الصخورِ... فهل ستأخذُها حكومتكمْ.. كما قيلا!؟ إذنْ سجِّل.. برأسِ الصفحةِ الأولى أنا لا أكرهُ الناسَ ولا أسطو على أحدٍ ولكنّي.. إذا ما جعتُ آكلُ لحمَ مغتصبي حذارِ.. حذارِ.. من جوعي ومن غضبي!!

Identity Card Mahmoud Darwish, 1964 trans. Denys Johnson-Davies

Put it on record. I am an Arab

And the number of my card is fifty thousand I have eight children And the ninth is due after summer. What's there to be angry about?

Put it on record. I am an Arab

Working with comrades of toil in a quarry. I have eight children For them I wrest the loaf of bread, The clothes and exercise books From the rocks And beg for no alms at your door, Lower not myself at your doorstep. What's there to be angry about?

Put it on record. I am an Arab.

I am a name without a title, Patient in a country where everything Lives in a whirlpool of anger. My roots Took hold before the birth of time Before the burgeoning of the ages, Before cypress and olive trees, Before the proliferation of weeds.

My father is from the family of the plough Not from highborn nobles.

And my grandfather was a peasant Without line or genealogy.

My house is a watchman's hut Made of sticks and reeds.

Does my status satisfy you? I am a name without a surname.

Put it on record. I am an Arab.

Color of hair: jet black. Color of eyes: brown. My distinguishing features: On my head the `iqal cords over a keffiyeh Scratching him who touches it.

My address: I'm from a village, remote, forgotten, Its streets without name And all its men in the fields and quarry. What's there to be angry about?

Put it on record. I am an Arab.

You stole my forefathers' vineyards And land I used to till, I and all my children, And you left us and all my grandchildren Nothing but these rocks. Will your government be taking them too As is being said?

So! Put it on record at the top of page one: I don't hate people, I trespass on no one's property.

And yet, if I were to become hungry I shall eat the flesh of my usurper. Beware, beware of my hunger And of my anger!

]

[metamatar]

Literature produced in the ex-colonial countries but produced directly in languages which had been imported initially from Europe provides one kind of archive for the metropolitan university to construe the textual formation of ‘Third World Literature’; but this is not the only archive available, for the period after decolonization has also witnessed great expansion and consolidation of literary traditions in a number of indigenous languages as well [...] Not much of this kind of literature is directly available to the metropolitan literary theorists because, erudite as they usually are in metropolitan languages, hardly any of them has ever bothered with an Asian or African language. But parts and shades of these literatures also become available in the West, essentially in the following three ways. By far the greater part of the archive through which knowledge about the so-called Third World is generated in the metropolises has traditionally been, and continues to be, assembled within the metropolitan institutions of research and explication, which are characteristically administered and occupied by overwhelmingly Western personnel. Non-Western individuals have also been employed in these same institutions – more and more so during the more recent, post-colonial period, although still almost always in subordinate positions. The archive itself is dispersed through myriad academic disciplines and genres of writing – from philological reconstruction of the classics to lowbrow reports by missionaries and administrators; from Area Study Programmes and even the central fields of the Humanities to translation projects sponsored by Foundations and private publishing houses alike – generating all kinds of classificatory practices. A particularly large mechanism in the assembly of this archive has been the institutionalized symbiosis between the Western scholar and the local informant, which is frequently re-enacted now – no doubt in far more subtle ways –between the contemporary literary theorist of the West, who typically does not know a non-Western language, and the indigenous translator or essayist, who typically knows one or two. This older, multidisciplinary and somewhat chaotic archive is greatly expanded in our own time, especially in the area of literary studies, by a developing machinery of specifically literary translations – a machinery not nearly as highly developed as the one that exists for the circulation of texts among the metropolitan countries themselves, but not inconsiderable on its own terms. Apart from the private publishing houses and the university presses which may publish such translations of their own volition or under sponsorship programmes, there are state institutions such as the Sahitya Akademi in India, as well as international agencies such as UNESCO, not to speak of the American ‘philanthropic’foundations such as the Rockefeller-funded Asia Society, which have extensive programmes for such publications. Supplementing these translations are the critical essay and its associated genres, usually produced by an indigenous intellectual who reads the indigenous language but writes in one of the metropolitan ones. Some of this kind of writing becomes available in the metropolises, creating versions and shadows of texts produced in other spaces of the globe, but texts which frequently come with the authority of the indigenous informant.

Aijaz Ahmed, In Theory: Nations, Classes, Literatures

[fatehbaz]

Christmas pudding [...] [is] a boiled mass of suet - a raw, hard animal fat [...] often replaced with a vegetarian alternative - as well as flour and dried fruits that is often soaked in alcohol and set alight. [...] [I]t is a legacy of the British Empire with ingredients from around the globe it once dominated [...].

Christmas pudding is a relatively recent concoction of two older, at least medieval, dishes. [...] “Figgy pudding,” immortalized in the “We Wish You a Merry Christmas” carol, appeared in the written record by the 14th century. [...] During the 18th century, the two ["plum pottage" and "figgy pudding"] crossed to become the more familiar plum pudding – a steamed pudding packed with the ingredients of the rapidly growing British Empire of rule and trade. The key was less a new form of cookery than the availability of once-luxury ingredients, including French brandy, raisins from the Mediterranean, and citrus from the Caribbean.

Few things had become more affordable than cane sugar which, owing to the labors of millions of enslaved Africans, could be found in the poorest and remotest of British households by mid-century. Cheap sugar, combined with wider availability of other sweet ingredients like citrus and dried fruits, made plum pudding an iconically British celebratory treat, albeit not yet exclusively associated with Christmas.

Such was its popularity that English satirist James Gillray made it the centerpiece of one of his famous cartoons, depicting Napoleon Bonaparte and the British prime minister carving the world in pudding form.

In line with other modern Christmas celebrations, the Victorians took the plum pudding and redefined it [...], making it the “Christmas pudding.” In his 1843 internationally celebrated “A Christmas Carol,” Charles Dickens venerated the dish as the idealized center of any family’s Christmas feast [...].

Three years later, Queen Victoria’s chef published her favored recipe, making Christmas pudding, like the Christmas tree, the aspiration of families across Britain.

Christmas pudding owed much of its lasting appeal to its socioeconomic accessibility. Victoria’s recipe, which became a classic, included candied citrus peel, nutmeg, cinnamon, lemons, cloves, brandy and a small mountain of raisins and currants – all affordable treats for the middle class. Those with less means could either opt for lesser amounts or substitutions [...]. Eliza Acton, a leading cookbook author of the day who helped to rebrand plum pudding as Christmas pudding, offered a particularly frugal recipe that relied on potatoes and carrots. [...] The high alcohol content gave the puddings a shelf life of a year or more, allowing them to be sent even to the empire’s frontiers during Victoria’s reign [...].

---

In the 1920s, the British Women’s Patriotic League heavily promoted it – calling it “Empire Pudding” in a global marketing campaign. They praised it as emblem of the empire that should be made from the ingredients of Britain’s colonies and possessions: dried fruits from Australia and South Africa, cinnamon from Ceylon, spices from India and Jamaican rum in place of French brandy.

Press coverage of London’s 1926 Empire Day celebrations featured the empire’s representatives pouring the ingredients into a ceremonial mixing bowl and collectively stirring it.

The following year, the Empire Marketing Board received King George V’s permission to promote the royal recipe, which had all the appropriate empire-sourced ingredients. Such promotional recipes and the mass production of puddings from iconic grocery stores like [Sains-bury's] in the 1920s combined to place Christmas puddings on the tables [...].

---

All text above by: Troy Bickham. "How the Christmas pudding, with ingredients taken from the colonies, became an iconic British food." The Conversation. 8 December 2023. [Bold emphasis and some paragraph breaks/contractions added by me. Image and caption shown unaltered as they appear published by Bickham along with the article's text.]

[arminreindl]

Venkatasuchus: Aetosaur from India

Once more I come bearing croc news. For the second time this year we are getting a new type of aetosaur, you know, those weird stem-crocodiles that somewhat converged with ankylosaurs? Yeah those guys. Much like Kryphioparma from just a few months ago, this new genus Venkatasuchus is a member of the Typothoracinae and known only from osteoderms. Thankfully, in the case of Venkatasuchus a lot more of them at least.

I mean sure 8 associated osteoderms plus the connected lateral elements is not that much, but it sure beats the few remains of Kryphioparma.

Anyhow, Venkatasuchus is from the middle Norian to Rhaetian stages of the Triassic of India, more specifically the Lower Dharmaram Formation in the east of the subcontinent. This is actually quite significant as aetosaurs are generally rare in Gondwanan parts of the world and the Dharmaram Formation actually has two: Venkatasuchus and an as of yet undescribed desmatosuchine. Furthermore, the formation actually represents a melting pot of Laurasian and Gondwanan fauna. The aetosaurs and phytosaurs are of Laurasian origin, but the dinosaurs of the formation are Gondwanan lineages.

Much to my surprise, there is ALREADY an illustration of this guy online courtesy of Scott Reid on Twitter, fantastic art, love how he cheekily hides the head and focuses on the armour.

Venkatasuchus - Wikipedia

Of course I jumped at the opportunity to write its wiki page, so far I do believe I managed to cover every new genus published this year.

[radiantlight9]

SWATI

Swati Nakshatra, symbolized by a sword or a blade of grass swaying in the wind, epitomizes a sense of autonomy and fluidity in life's journey. Governed by Vayu, the divine force of wind and vitality, Swati individuals possess an innate inclination towards independence and innovation.

With a focus on material attainment (artha), they navigate life's challenges with a calm and composed demeanor, often excelling in pursuits that require both creativity and practicality.

However, Swati's connection to Rahu, the ruling planet of the nakshatra, adds a layer of complexity. Rahu's influence imbues Swati natives with a sense of restlessness and a tendency towards unconventional thinking. This can manifest as a propensity for indecision and a desire to explore various options before committing to a course of action.

Despite these challenges, Swati individuals harness their determination and discernment, much like the sword symbol of this nakshstra, to cut through obstacles and carve out their paths with precision. They possess a natural charm and sophistication, drawing upon their Venusian influence to navigate social interactions with ease.

The association of Swati with Saraswati, the revered goddess of learning and wisdom, underscores its intellectual acumen and gift for effective communication. Swati natives naturally gravitate towards pursuits that stimulate their minds, displaying a keen curiosity and receptivity to new ideas.

In essence, Swati Nakshatra embodies a harmonious balance between pragmatism and aesthetic sensibility. Its airy nature, combined with the influence of Venus and Rahu, propels individuals towards continuous growth and adaptation, as they strive to find equilibrium between material success and inner fulfillment.

REFERENCES

Sutton, Komilla. Nakshatras: The Stars Beyond the Zodiac. The Wessex Astrologer, 2014.

Tridevi, Prash. The Book of Nakshatras: A Comprehensive Treatise on the 27 Constellations. Sagar Publications, 2005.

Pijan, Barbara. Barbara Pijan Lama (year unknown) . Available at:

https://barbarapijan.com/bpa/Nakshatra_radical/15swati.htm

Holliday, Mike. Mike’s Sleeping Dog website (year unknown). Available at:

https://mikessleepingdog.com/2022/02/05/15-swati-nakshatra/?amp#

Harness, Dennis M.. Nakshastras: The Lunar Mansions of Vedic Astrology. India, Motilal Banarsidass Publishers Pvt. Limited, 2004.

Nakti, Claire. Nakshatra Feature Focus: Swati "Bug Pretty" Eyes (2023)

Available at: https://www.clairenakti.com/post/nakshatra-feature-focus-swati-bug-pretty-eyes

[rjzimmerman]

Excerpt from this National Geographic story:

A 14-year-old boy who went swimming in a pond in India’s sweltering heat. A 13-year-old girl who bathed in a pool during a school excursion, and a five-year-old girl who took a dip in a river near her home. The three children lived in different parts of the southern Indian state of Kerala. Yet they have something in common ⸺all of them succumbed to a brain infection, Primary Amoebic Meningoencephalitis (PAM), caused by a tiny organism found in warm freshwaters and poorly maintained swimming pools. About a dozen others have been undergoing treatment in India, one of whom, a 27-year-old man, has also succumbed.

Although rare, PAM is a deadly infection with a worldwide occurrence. It is caused by Naegleria fowleri, also known as the "brain-eating amoeba”, as it infects the brain and destroys brain tissue. At least 39 countries have reported such infections so far, and the rate of infections is increasing by 4.5 percent every year. In Pakistan alone, 20 deaths are reported every year due to the disease, and in 2024, infections have been reported in India, Pakistan, and Israel. N. fowleri was also detected at a popular freshwater swimming spot in Western Australia and hot springs in the U.S’s Grand Teton National Park. 

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the majority of global case exposures⸺85 percent⸺have been reported during warm, hot, or summer seasons. Several studies have also observed that changes in temperature and climate may further drive a global increase in PAM incidence. A study published in May last year found that PAM infections are on the rise in the northern U.S. "N. fowleri is expanding northward due to climate change, posing a greater threat to human health in new regions where PAM has not yet been documented," the study noted.

Yun Shen, an assistant professor of chemical and environmental engineering at the University of California, Riverside, says that she considers PAM as “a potential emerging medical threat worldwide”. She explains that while warmer temperatures are likely to facilitate the survival and growth of N. fowleri, the risk of exposure may also increase as people indulge in more water-based recreational activities in hotter weather.

N. fowleri is found in warm, untreated freshwater, soil, and dust, says Karen Towne, a clinical associate professor of nursing at the University of Mount Union in Ohio, who co-authored a 2023 study on how the amoeba poses “a new concern for northern climates”. She adds that so far, PAM infections have typically occurred in cases involving swimming, splashing, and submerging one’s head in freshwater lakes, ponds, hot springs, and reservoirs. Meanwhile, less common routes of transmission have included warm hose water, a lawn water slide, splash pad use, and exposure of the nasal membrane to tap water from private well systems.

“Epidemiologically, most cases have occurred in healthy children and young adults⸺more males than females⸺who have had recent contact with untreated fresh water,” Towne told National Geographic in an email interview.

According to Barbara Polivka, an associate dean of research at the University of Kansas School of Nursing, who co-authored the study with Towne, N. fowleri enters the nose via contaminated water, crosses the nasal membrane, and follows the olfactory nerve into the brain, where it incubates for an average of five days. “PAM begins with rapid onset of severe frontal headache, fever, nausea and vomiting, which worsen into stiff neck, altered mental status, hallucinations, coma, and death,” says Polivka.

[zerogate]

At the time, [Ian] Stevenson was Chair of the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Virginia Medical School. During his more than half-century at the University of Virginia, Stevenson carried out pioneering work in the empirical investigation of the mind-body connection, focusing on phenomena suggesting that contemporary scientific hypotheses concerning the nature of mind, and the mind’s relation to matter, may be seriously incomplete.

Stevenson authored a dozen books and more than two hundred scientific publications related to this work. Stevenson was a meticulous scientist and conservative in his interpretation of data. At the same time, he was a true visionary, and courageous in his study of phenomena that lie outside the current scientific mainstream. Under Stevenson’s leadership, DOPS became the largest and longest-running university-based group in the United States devoted exclusively to empirical investigation of phenomena that are not easily encompassed by the current paradigm in the biophysical sciences for understanding the mind. This paradigm maintains that consciousness is entirely generated by, or emerges from, the physical processes of the brain and body, and can in no way be more than that.

[...]

In 1975, Stevenson began a four-volume series of books called Cases of the Reincarnation Type. The different volumes included carefully documented cases from India, Sri Lanka, Lebanon and Turkey, and Thailand and Burma. When the first volume was published, the book review editor of JAMA: The Journal of the American Medical Association, wrote: “In regard to reincarnation he has painstakingly and unemotionally collected a detailed series of cases from India, cases in which the evidence is difficult to explain on any other grounds.”

[...]

Over the years, Stevenson studied cases of children born with birthmarks or defects that corresponded to wounds (usually the fatal wounds) suffered by the deceased individuals whose lives the children appeared to remember. He went to great lengths to verify that the birthmarks or birth defects did in fact match the previous wounds. He always tried to obtain autopsy reports if they were available, along with medical records or police reports. If no written records were available, he would elicit eyewitness testimony about the wounds.

For many years, he put off publishing reports as his collection continued to grow. Finally, in 1997, Stevenson produced Reincarnation and Biology: A Contribution to the Etiology of Birthmarks and Birth Defects, a 2,200-page, two-volume collection of over two hundred such cases.

He also wrote a shorter synopsis of that work, entitled Where Reincarnation and Biology Intersect. In these books, he included numerous pictures of birthmarks and defects that were often highly unusual. The cases included a girl born with markedly malformed fingers who remembered the life of a man whose fingers were chopped off; a boy with only stubs for fingers on his right hand who remembered the life of a boy in another village who lost the fingers of his right hand in a fodder-chopping machine; and a girl who remembered the life of a man who underwent skull surgery. She had what Stevenson called the most extraordinary birthmark he had ever seen: a three-centimeter wide area of pale, scar-like tissue that extended around her entire head.

He reported that in eighteen cases in which the previous person was shot, the child was born with double birthmarks, ones corresponding to both the entrance and the exit wound on the previous person’s body.

-- David E. Presti (ed.), Mind Beyond Brain: Buddhism, Science, and the Paranormal

[ghostpoetics]

The Picture of Dorian Gray is interesting. Oscar Wilde was a part of aestheticism, or "art for art's sake." This was pretty big because in Victorian England, art was often meant to serve a function; this isn't a new idea. Often, the function was to be didactic, or to prescribe a moral lesson.

That said, I would argue that there is a theme in Dorian Gray about Victorian standards of beauty. There is a strong irony in Dorian being the epitome of (racist, white supremacist) beauty standards: fair skin ("looks as if he was made out of ivory and rose leaves"); "crisp gold hair"; "frank" blue eyes. The irony is because Victorians associated being beautiful with being a good person and being outside this standard with being a bad person. They often used phrenology and physiognomy (most evident in Stoker's description of the Count in Dracula) to tell the reader whether someone is good or bad. And of course, using someone's facial features and the size and shape of one's forehead, nose, etc. to determine whether someone is good or bad has its roots in racism, xenophobia, and antisemitism.

Therefore, there is a disruption of Victorian preconceptions when Dorian fixates on maintaining his youth and beauty and is assumed to be virtuous because of his appearance when he is a horrible, callous person.

That is to say that I think a take on Dorian Gray that explores the beauty/fashion industry would work very well, given how so many of these companies perpetuate unrealistic and negative standards. Dove was being applauded for its body positivity in an ad a while ago, alongside its insistence that it wants to promote self-esteem and good body image, but they reject potential models with any acne or too many freckles. While Dove speaks about being inclusive and promoting women of color, so many of these companies, including Dove, sell skin-lightening creams in countries like India; they promote the idea that light skin is more attractive than dark skin. Unfortunately, there are horrible ways the modern fashion and beauty industries mirror imperialistic Victorian values that, with the right creators, could be explored well in a contemporary Dorian Gray adaptation.

Unfortunately, I was already cynical about any and all Netflix book adaptations, and, regarding the author's biography and the book's themes, I feel like Dorian Gray cannot be removed from its queerness, despite statements such as the PinkNews article, which says, "While The Picture of Dorian Gray isn't explicitly queer, given that it was first published in 1890..."

I would take umbrage with the author's definition of "explicitly queer," given that the book was submitted as evidence of Wilde's "gross indecency" in the counter lawsuit that sent him to prison and shortened his life through years of hard labor and an injury he sustained that later developed into fatal meningitis. Despite Wilde's edits to "restrain" the book's queerness, it was explicit enough to be used as evidence to prove Wilde's homosexuality. I think it's a mistake that highly limits the history of queer art to reduce "explicitly queer" to only depictions of kissing and sex.

Anyway, those are my rambling thoughts about the Dorian Gray Netflix adaptation. Besides the brother thing, I was already skeptical because it's Netflix...

[thegalievthought]

The State of The International Proletariat

The State of The International Proletariat report May 1 2024

Yesterday April 30th marked the 49th anniversary of the liberation of Saigon by the National Liberation Front. Yesterday in Vietnam, celebrations took place reflecting the history and heroics of those who gave their lives to liberate Vietnam from France and then the American occupation government. However, like many celebrations in recent days, since 2023, there has been a shift in the focus of many celebrations. Just as much as yesterday’s celebrations were about a united and free Vietnam, too many it was also about those who were still unfree. This led to the Peoples’ War in Palestine that was reignited on October 7th in what many are calling the 3rd Intifada. And the reactionary genocide that Isreal is carrying out as revenge. Vietnam, however, is not the only nation to stand in solidarity with the Palestinian people in their fight against apartheid. In recent days, people from all around the world have come together and drew a line to say ‘no more’. The international proletariat spearheaded these movements directly. Facing state repression and violence as a reaction to the solidarity of the working class is showing the Palestinian People, So on this the 135th International Workers Day, we wish to publish the State of The International Proletariat to examine the state of causes from the international proletariat and the world more broadly. 

We will break this down into two regions, Asia, and Africa will break this report down. We wish to now necessarily be comprehensive but give a general state of the class warfare and solidarity of class warfare as it has happened between 2023 and now.  

To begin, the first region we will be covering is Asia. Asia has been one of the most active regions in the past decades and the 2020s are no different, being a general hotbed of action. In Southeast Asia, conflicts have been smouldering. The civil war in Myanmar which started in 2021 after the Tatmadaw coup, where the military seized power from the popular bourgeois government in Myanmar. In 2023, the peoples’ war in Myanmar exploded with the various regional factions and the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (the armed wing of the Myanmar National Truth and Justice Party) playing a leading role in challenging the Junta in Myanmar with its allies in the Northern Alliance. Other proletarian groups wage people’s war against the Tatmadaw, such as the People’s Defence Force and People’s Liberation Army, who are also fighting against the Junta. Various working class and bourgeoisie elements have united in this popular front against the Tatmadaw to restore democracy and, for many groups, to gain the autonomy denied to them by previous governments. Additionally, many groups in the Northern Alliance demand to separate from Myanmar and be allowed to be free and independent.

Elsewhere in Asia, typical petty imperialism continues to be prevalent. The reactionary government in Indonesia, which destroyed the revolutionary government in 1965 with the aid of the United States and United Kingdom, continues to wage its destructive and genocidal war in West Papua. The West Papua National Liberation Army continues its decades long war with the Imperialist Indonesian state. Proletarian activists, especially in Australia and New Zealand have begun to bring light to the issue bring the war and genocide in West Papua to be more than a niche geopolitical conflict that gets no attention and put pressure on the bourgeois who make millions funding Indonesias imperialist actions in the region. 

In the Indian subcontinent, tensions continue to rise, especially around the occupied Khalistan. The movement has seen a resurgence, especially after the new head of the movement, Amritpal Singh returned to India to make further moves to fight for Khalistan. In 2023, the fascist Modi government arrested him and many of his associates as part of a larger crackdown on Sikh politics internally and abroad. The Modi government allegedly attempted to assassinate Khalistan activists abroad, including Hardeep Singh Nijjar, whom the Canadian government firmly accused the Indian government of assassinating. Meanwhile, in 2024 tensions only continue to rise in India as rebel groups from Khalistan and many other such as the Naxalites who continue to fight a people’s war in India target senior members of the Bharatiya Janata Party (Party of Prime Minister Modi), police and military targets with many smaller militias all over the subcontinent fighting Modi’s government for various reasons, India, in the opinion of many, is a powder-keg waiting to explode. With many smaller insurgencies only waiting to burst into a wider civil war like in the neighbouring Myanmar, 

Meanwhile, in Pakistan, the working class actively fights against foreign influence and military corruption to secure justice for Prime Minister Imran Khan, who was arrested in 2023. Demonstrations and protests in Pakistan have been common, as many want Imran Khan released and restored as Prime Minister of Pakistan. He and his party, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf have been widely popular because of challenging the norms of Pakistani politics and making real changes to the corrupt system of Pakistan. These protests remained common all the way up till the recent Pakistan general elections. Where the working class accused the corrupt military of Pakistan of rigging the elections in favour of less popular parties. Which sparked widespread outrage and demonstrations which were suppressed by the military and police.

At the same time in occupied Balochistan, both Iran and Pakistan still suppress the region heavily in 2024 strikes being carried out against Islamist separatist militias in Balochistan by Iran, causing temporary tensions between Iran and Pakistan. 

Meanwhile, in Asia, the true defining conflict of  2023 and 2024 has been the start of the Third Intifada, the subsequent genocide carried out against Palestine, by Israel and the regional conflict the war has exploded into. As we all know, on October 7th 2023, the militias of Gaza made the decision due to the continued Israeli blockade and the living situation in Gaza quickly becoming untenable due to population growth, all of which was reported by the UN in 2015. This led to the political situation in Gaza to be one of the necessary change and fast. Before October 7th already many Gazan survived on just three to eight litres of water per day. Which led to the opening battle of the third Intifada, the October 7th Attack. The attack saw various militias take the IDF by surprise and captured numerous positions and held them for many hours, only fully were the militias pushed back to Gaza a few days after October 7th. After that is when Israel cut off all resources to Gaza in what has since been declared by many workers a breach of humanitarian law. This was followed by‌ several weeks of bombing leading up to the ground invasion of Gaza and the beginning of the genocide proper by Isreal. Over the next six months, the conflict which started in Gaza had exploded to the whole region with groups like Hezb-Allah, Ansar-Allah and Kateb Hezb-Allah all striking Israel within weeks of the conflicts beginning and they still play an active and constant Role six months after the fighting has begun. But it is from Palestine and the genocide that many workers worldwide have seen hope still flourish. With statements from two factions fighting the people’s war in Palestine, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine and the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine have played major roles in the Third Intifada, making some of the most inspiring propaganda and unifying the working class in ways not seen in over three decades. And we wish to note that in all the countries and movements we have talked about so far, all of them have shown solidarity and unity with Palestine. Palestine has united the world in bravery and action. And even in America today we see the bravery inspire as students fight for what’s right in universities all over the Americas and world facing violence and repression like they did at CUNY with the NYPD forcefully beating and arresting many students at CUNY the night of April 30th. 

Palestine has, with her actions for her freedom, inspired the whole world to strive for their freedom and to support Palestine in the same. This has led to a certain uptick in activity in Georgia experiencing protests by the working class against corruption and the Russian puppet government, and in Armenia against Azerbaijan expansionism. 

And even in Sudan, a nation which has been gripped by turmoil and civil war as Russian, CAR and UAE backed Rapid Support Forces cause mass death and destruction in the country. Even their solidarity and hope remain as the people’s war led by the Sudanese Communist Party fights against both the RSF and the government to liberate Sudan, and in the Congo, which faces imperialism too from its neighbours. This May Day report is to highlight all the struggles of the 3rd world. Of all oppressed nations. However, in this year 2024, to do that is impossible without giving tremendous praise and support to Palestine. Palestine is the heart of the 3rd world. Palestine is the heart of resistance, Palestine is the heart of the working class. Which is why on this International workers’ day we must remain steadfast and stalwart in support of all people’s wars waging against tyranny and fascism. From the Philippines to West Papua, from West Papua to Myanmar, to Myanmar to Khalistan, From Khalistan and Naxal to Pakistan, from Pakistan and Balochistan to Palestine and Sudan. The whole world must be united in bravery, in solidarity. For a free world, or as Ho Chi Mihn once said. “Nothing is more precious than independence and liberty,”. This remains true today more than ever before. So long live the victory of the people’s war in Vietnam, and pass the banner of victory forward to the new generation of freedom movements. For we have a world to win. Long Live the Victory of People’s War!

Now The Internationale In Arabic

هـبوا ضحايا الاضـــطهاد ضحايـا جـــوع الاضطـرار

بـركــان الـفكـر في اتـّـقاد هــذا آخــــــر انـــفـــــجــار

هــــيا نحــو كــــل ما مـر ثــوروا حـطـموا الـقــــيــود

شــــيـدوا الكون جديد حر كــونـــوا أنــتـم الــــوجـــود

بـجـموع قـوية   هبوا لاح الظفر

غـــد الأمـمــية   يـوحد الــبشــر

يـكـفي عــزاء بــــالخـيال عـــلـيـنا العــبء لا منــاص

فــيا عـــــمّــال لـــلنـضال فـــفي يـــميــنـنا الـخـــلاص

احموا الكور ضعوا الحديد و دقــــــوه على احـــــمـرار

يـريد الــشعــب أن يــسود فـــكـــوا الــــروح من اســار

بـجـموع قـوية   هبوا لاح الظفر

غـــد الأمـمــية   يـوحد الــبشــر

حــكــمٌ و شــــرعٌ ظالمان مــأجـــوران لـلأغـــنــيــــاء

حــديــث فـــارغ الـمعــان ذكــــــر حــقـوق الــفـقـــراء

دعــوا الهـــزء بالــمساواة فـــلـلمـــســـــاواة طــــريــق

الـــحــقــوق بالـواجــبــات و الواجـبــات بـالـــحـــقــوق

بـجـموع قـوية   هبوا لاح الظفر

غـــد الأمـمــية   يـوحد الــبشــر

أســيادنــا المــسـتـثــمرونا فــوق شـــواهــق الــعــروش

كـــم سلــبـونا الملايــيــــنا و لـم يُـــبـقـوا لــنـا الـقـروش

ذهـــــبٌ فــوق أن يُـــــحـدّ مُــصّ مــن دم الـعـــــــروق

يـــريــد الـــشعـب أن يـرد و لــم يــرد ســـوى الحقـوق

بـجـموع قـوية   هبوا لاح الظفر

غـــد الأمـمــية   يـوحد الــبشــر

إنــنــا سـكـرنا مــن دخــانِ أســـيــادٍ ســـمـموا الحــــياة

أذيــعـوا دعـــــوة الأمــــان فـيـنا وســــحـق الــطــــغاة

فـللإضــراب يـا جــيـــوش فـفي إضــرابــنــا الخــلاص

أن يـأبــى ذلــك الـــوحوش فـــعـنـدنـا لــهـم رصــــاص

بـجـموع قـوية   هبوا لاح الظفر

غـــد الأمـمــية   يـوحد الــبشــر

الــعـــــمال والفـــلاحـــونا جــمـيعـا حـزب الكـادحـيـن

أرض مــلــك المــنـتـجـيــنا فــمـا بـــقــاء الــخامــلــيــن

كــم تـمــزق الــــلحم مـــنـا مـــخــالــب الــمــفــترسـين

أجــلــوا سـود الغـربان عـنا تــشـرق الشمس كـل حـيـن

بـجـموع قـوية   هبوا لاح الظفر

غـــد الأمـمــية   يـوحد الــبشــر

Citations: 

 (United Nations. (n.d.). Gaza could become uninhabitable in less than five years due to ongoing ’de-development’– UN report | UN news. United Nations. https://news.un.org/en/story/2015/09/507762)

(Ammar, A. (n.d.). “barely a drop to drink”: Children in the Gaza Strip do not access 90 per cent of their normal water use. UNICEF. https://www.unicef.org/press-releases/barely-drop-drink-children-gaza-strip-do-not-access-90-cent-their-normal-water-use)

(Al Jazeera. (2024, April 8). Anti-coup forces claim control of key myanmar border town. Al Jazeera. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/4/8/anti-coup-forces-claim-control-of-key-myanmar-border-town)

(Al Jazeera. (2024b, April 29). The take: Could Myanmar’s coup come to an end? https://www.aljazeera.com/podcasts/2024/4/29/the-take-could-myanmars-coup-come-to-an-end) 

(Miller, G., Shih, G., & Nakashima, E. (2024, April 29). India’s Intelligence Service takes a deadly turn and stuns Washington - The Washington Post. https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2024/04/29/india-assassination-raw-sikhs-modi/)

(TNN / Updated: Mar 7, 2024. (2024, March 27). BJP worker hacked to death by Maoists; ninth in bastar region since last year: Raipur News - Times of India. The Times of India. https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/raipur/bjp-worker-hacked-to-death-by-maoists-ninth-in-bastar-region-since-last-year/articleshow/108284527.cms)

(Al Jazeera. (2023, April 23). Amritpal Singh: Who is he and why was he arrested? https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/4/23/amritpal-singh-who-is-he-and-why-was-he-arrested)

(Mogul, R. (2023, September 29). India raids 53 sites nationwide as crackdown on Sikh separatists deepens. CNN. https://www.cnn.com/2023/09/29/india/india-anti-terror-raids-khalistan-intl-hnk/index.html)

(Kachmar, O. (2023, September 15). Pakistan faces rising separatist insurgency in Balochistan. New Lines Institute. https://newlinesinstitute.org/nonstate-actors/pakistan-faces-rising-separatist-insurgency-in-balochistan/)

(Davies, P. A. and C. (2024, January 17). Iran admits carrying out deadly strike on Pakistan Territory. BBC News. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-67999465)

(Wangge, H. (2023, March 14). Why Indonesia fails to address the west papua conflict. Al Jazeera. https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2023/3/14/why-indonesia-is-losing-the-west-papua-conflict)

(Ahmed, M. (2024, February 29). Pakistan swears in new Parliament amid chaotic scenes as Imran Khan’s followers protests vote count. AP News. https://apnews.com/article/pakistan-parliament-protest-imran-khan-126fd56bc43edbf2ae9a8499fe79867a)

(CBS Interactive. (n.d.). Pro-Palestinian protests spread, get more heated as schools’ reactions differ. CBS News. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/pro-palestinian-protests-spread-more-heated-schools-reactions-differ-israel-hamas-war/ )

(Al Jazeera. (2024a, February 17). Thousands take part in pro-Palestine protests across the world. Al Jazeera. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/2/17/thousands-take-part-in-pro-palestine-protests-across-the-world )

(Lisa. (2024, January 29). Sudan Communist Party and SLM-aw sign agreement in Juba. Dabanga Radio TV Online. https://www.dabangasudan.org/en/all-news/article/sudan-communist-party-and-slm-aw-sign-agreement-in-juba)

[quill-of-thoth]

Letters from Watson: The Crooked Man

Part 2: The fun bits

Zoology is not Watson's strong suit. A monkey is not going to have the same paw prints as a dog... or really any member of Order Carnivora, weasels included. The intruder's pet is, of course, a Mongoose, but given that Kipling's Rikki-Tikki-Tavi was published in 1894, I don't know how much the public in Britain would have known about them.

To a contemporary audience, a kiss between women to seal a promise probably read as nothing special. Fanfiction authors, however, should take note.

A Florin is two shillings (1/10 of a pound). So the deposit on this Henry Wood's lodgings is about 10 modern pounds, or USD 13.

Either the Victorian route from Waterloo to Aldershot was faster than the modern one, or Watson is being very approximate about arriving in town at midday.

(Edit: After being told I did not operate google maps correctly and the train ride is closer to one hour, Watson's timekeeping is no more approximate than usual.)

The Baker Street boys being referred to as "Street Arabs" means that they're homeless children. (It is also, as should be pretty obvious, rather offensive.)

Bhurtee is a fictional location in India.

Ichneumon is a creature in Egyptian mythology, described by The Metropolitan Museum as "a rodent similar to a mongoose" and associated with Horus and Atum.

Apoplexy is, in this case, a stroke. The twisting of Barclay's face was due to stroke symptoms.

[madamlaydebug]

On this day in 2021...

R.I.P.

Go well … you have fulfilled your purpose 💕https://www.patreon.com/RunokoRashidi

RUNOKO RASHIDI

Runoko Rashidi is an anthropologist and historian with a major focus on what he calls the Global African Presence--that is, Africans outside of Africa before and after enslavement. He is the author or editor of twenty-two books, the most recent of which are My Global Journeys in Search of the African Presence, Assata-Garvey and Me: A Global African Journey for Children in 2017 and The Black Image in Antiquityin 2019. His other works include Black Star: The African Presence in Early Europe, published by Books of Africa in London in November 2011 and African Star over Asia: The Black Presence in the East, published by Books of Africa in London in November 2012 and revised and reprinted in April 2013, Uncovering the African Past: The Ivan Van Sertima Papers, published by Books of Africa in 2015. His other works include the African Presence in Early Asia, co-edited by Dr. Ivan Van Sertima. Four of Runoko's works have been published in French.

As a traveler and researcher Dr. Rashidi has visited 124countries. As a lecturer and presenter, he has spoken insixty-sevencountries.

Runoko has worked with and under some of the most distinguished scholars of the past half-century, including Ivan Van Sertima, John Henrik Clarke, Asa G. Hilliard, Edward Scobie, John G. Jackson, Jan Carew and Yosef ben-Jochannan.

In October 1987 Rashidi inaugurated the First All-India Dalit Writer's Conference in Hyderabad, India.

In 1999 he was the major keynote speaker at the International Reunion of the African Family in Latin America in Barlovento, Venezuela.

In 2005 Rashidi was awarded an Honorary Doctorate degree, his first, by the Amen-Ra Theological Seminary in Los Angeles.

In August 2010 he was first keynote speaker at the First Global Black Nationalities Conference in Osogbo, Nigeria.

In December 2010 he was President and first speaker at the Diaspora Forum at the FESMAN Conference in Dakar, Senegal.

In 2018 he was named Traveling Ambassador to the Universal Negro Improvement Association & African Communities League RC 2020.

In 2020 he was named to the Curatorial and Academic boards of the Pan-African Heritage Museum.

He is currently doing major research on the African presence in the museums of the world.

As a tour leader he has taken groups to India, Australia, Fiji, Turkey, Jordan, Brazil, Egypt, Ghana, Togo, Benin, France, Belgium, England, Cote d'Ivoire, Namibia, Ethiopia, Kenya, Mexico, Guatemala, Belize, Peru, Cuba, Luxembourg, Germany, Cameroon, the Netherlands, Spain, Morocco, Senegal, the Gambia,Guinea-Bissau,Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand and Myanmar.

Runoko Rashidi's major mission in life is the uplift of African people, those at home and those abroad.

For more information write to Runoko@hotmail.com or call (323) 803-8663.

His website is www.drrunoko.com

[theoutcastrogue]

Khukurī (kukri) types and accessories

[a compilation of articles by Peter Dekker, Mandarin Mansion Antiques, 2020; text and photographs licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License]

The Khukurī (खुकुरी )

A Nepalese khukurī, 1850s

The khukurī (खुकुरी) is the traditional utility and fighting knife of Nepal. It is strongly associated with the Ghurkas, a Nepalese soldier class. Khukurī are characterized by a forward curving blade that widens considerably before forming a fairly sharp point.

The knife goes by many names, but the best-established names and their romanization are khukurī (खुकुरी ) and the simpler khukri (खुक्रि), both appear in comparative and etymological dictionary of the Nepali language of 1931. [1] The simplified word kukri is in common use today, mainly among English speaking collectors.

18th century

The first few reliable images we get of early khukurī  are two 18th century pieces, exhibiting striking similarities even though one is in a Chinese collection and the other was illustrated by an English expedition party.

First, an 18th-century khukurī that appears in the Palace Museum collection in Beijing.1 It was probably captured in battle or presented during the signing of a treaty during the Tibet-Ghurka conflicts of 1788-1792.

Khukurī in the Palace Museum collection, Beijing.

The relatively narrow handle with minimal flare in the pommel is also seen on Kirkpatrick's depiction of the khukurī, the first such illustration to appear in European sources.

Early illustration of a khukurī. From Colonel Kirkpatrick's 1793 account of Nepal.

Another early piece, most likely the late 18th century, was obtained by Lord Egerton in 1855. It was published in his book Indian and Oriental Arms and Armour and is now in the Victoria & Albert Museum. V&A accession number: 3095(IS).

One of the Egerton khukurī

This piece has some early features like the shallow kauro (notch), and the overall form of hilt and blade. The workmanship looks Indian, and it may have been made by Indian craftsmen.

19th century

Some well known early 19th-century depictions of khukurī are in the Fraser Album. A few of them were actually made, commissioned by William Fraser (1784-1835), a late Mughal era British India civil servant in Delhi.

"Nepali soldiers" from the Fraser Album, published 1819.

Notable features seen on khukurī in these drawings are:

Long hilts with gently flaring pommels

Black enbroidered scabbards with small chape

A recurved shape to the scabbard

Types

Hanshee khukurī (हँसिया खुकुरी)

The hanshee khukurī or simply hanshee is an early type of khukurī that is characterized by having a long hilt and a rather long and relatively narrow blade with a strong curve. Other than most types of khukurī which double as fighting and utility knife, the hanshee appears to have been purely used as a weapon. 

The word hanshee derives off the Nepali word hamsiyā (हँसिया) meaning "sickle". Another term used is lambendh, which supposedly means "long handle" containing the word lambe (लम्बे) meaning "long" in Nepali.

The hanshee appears to have been most popular in the late 18th and early 19th century and seems to have fallen out of use by the mid 19th century. Khukurī researcher V.K. Kunwor of Ghurka antiques writes about the hanshee: "These Kukri knives were very popular in the unification period of Nepal (1750-1770) and continued to be used in the Anglo-Nepal War 1814-1816 and up till the Indian Mutiny 1857, from whence it declined in popularity." He also writes that one of the defining features is a handle length of at least 13 cm.

Budhunē khukurī (बुधुने खुकुरी)

The fat-bellied budhunē khukri (bottom) compared to a more conventionally proportioned khukri (top)

Budhunē khukurī (बुधुने खुकुरी) is the name of a variation of khukri with a short, broad blade. It is a term that appears in the Comparative and etymological dictionary of the Nepali language of 1931.

Bhojpure subtype: The term Bhojpure turns up in John Powell's unfinished manuscript on the khukurī. Powell notes that it is a term later in use for the earlier budhunē type.

Well known khukurī researcher Viking Kunwor, writing in 2020 adds: "The Bhojpure (from a town (Bhojpur) in the mid hills of eastern Nepal) is one of several styles within the larger Budhume group (a term which is a based on a broad bellied fish spieces). The many tribes can be attributed to these weapons such as Limbus and Rais make only the deeper bladed Bhojpure, the Gurungs, Tamangs and Chhetris make the seerpat and the Newars are the artisans who are responsible for many of the finely carved wooden scabbards, intricate decoration and engraved blades."

Sirupātē khukurī (सिरुपाते खुकुरी)

A sirupātē khukurī of the early 1800s.

Sirupātē (सिरुपाते) is a word commonly used to describe a long, slender version of a Nepalese khukurī.

The word sirupātē (सिरुपाते) appears in Ralph Lilley Turner’s A Comparative and Etymological Dictionary of the Nepali Language of 1931 and is described as: "सिरु-पाते siru-pāte,adj. Long and slender like a blade of siru"

Siru (सिरु) is the name of a local plant. Pātē (पाते) means "leaf". Turner gives the meaning for siru (सिरु) as the name of two varieties of grass or reed: (1) Imperata arundinacia (= khar-siru, used for thatching); (2) Imperata arundinacia var. latifolia. (Another possibility may be Hypoxis aurea which is called ban siru (बन सिरु) locally.)

Kothimora khukurī (कोथि मुहुड़ा खुकुरि)

Kothimora khukurī refers to a khukurī in an ornamental scabbard, usually with elaborately worked silver mounts but sometimes found in silver with parcel gilding or entirely golden mounts as well. 1

The term primarily applies to the scabbard, there may be a very mundane khukurī inside, although in some cases they were produced together and both of a higher than usual quality.

The word consits of kothi (कोथि), and muhura (मुहुड़ा). Kothi (कोथि) is the Nepali word for the silver chape on the scabbard of a khukurī. 2 Muhura means “face”. Colonel J.P. Cross states that the full wording would be “kothimora dap bha'eko khukurī”.  This would literally translate to "silver chape face scabbard done khukurī", written in Nepali it is कोथिमुहुड़ा दाप् भएको खुकुरी.

John Powell, a pioneer in khukurī studies, distinguished three main types: The "Palace or Court kothimora", "regimental kothimora" and the "box kothimora". He also noted that many do not fall into these set categories, and those can just be referred to as kothimora khukurī. 

Palace or Court kothimora: Usually with black leather covered scabbard with gold or silver scabbard mouth and endpieces. Each fitting worked in repousse or engraved, frequently with the National Coat of Arms of Nepal. 

Palace or Court Kothimora khukurī

Regimental kothimora: The most commonly encountered type. These were primarily made for Ghurka soldiers. Powell describes that sometimes these were just regular fighting khukurī that were brought to the metal worker to fit the scabbard with a fancy dress, usually in repousse silver, as an honour permitted to men of valor.

As military weapons, they sometimes come with regimental insignia, but are more often encountered decorated with traditional local elements. Their wooden scabbards can be covered with leather or silk velvet.

A large kothimora khukurī.

According to Powell, in the British Indian army, regimental kothimoras were worn only by the Pipe Major (senior bagpiper) when on parade and senior NCO and ORs of the Officer's Mess. They were also presented to retiring Ghurka officers, or when an officer moved up rank.

Box kothimora: The main defining feature of this type is that the scabbard does not have separate leather or fabric pockets for karda and chakmak, it is all integrated in a single case, often clad in sheets of silver going around the circumference of the scabbard, and with mouthpiece and endpiece much like the regimental kothimora. These seem to have been primarily pieces that were presented to civilians.

A box kothimora khukurī presented to wildlife conservationalist Peter L. Achard between 1947-1966.

Accessories

a "trousse khukurī" of the first half of the 20th century

Some items are often stored in the khukurī scabbard alongside the main knife.

Karda (कर्द)

Karda (कर्द) is the Nepali word for a small utility knife that was traditionally carried in the scabbard of a khukurī. The term comes from the Persian word kard (کرد), meaning "knife". A typical khukurī carries one, but some carry two of them in their scabbards.

Karda typically follow a similar construction as their parent khukurī, with wood, horn, bone, silver or ivory hilts and a metal bolster. The blades are usually more straight than khukurī.

Cakmak (चक्मक्)

Left: Five cakmak, right: Five karda. Notice the subtle differences at the pommel side and the absence of an edge bevel on the cakmak.

Cakmak (चक्मक्) is the Nepali word for a small knife-shaped fire and sharpening steel that was traditionally carried in the scabbard of a khukurī. [N.B. must be from Ottoman Turkish چاقماق / Turkish çakmak, "firestriker" (and later "lighter") < Common Turkic *čak- (“to strike”)]

The worked pommel ends of cakmak.

Cakmak typically follow a similar construction as their parent khukurī, with wood, horn, bone, silver or ivory hilts and a metal bolster. For easy recognition when sheathed, the back of the hilt is often grooved or ribbed, in contrast to the smoother backs of the typical karda.

The decoration helps differentiate them from the smooth-pommeled karda when sheathed.

The blades are usually shaped like a straight knife, but sometimes also shaped like a khukurī profile. Contrary to the karda, blades on cakmak are typically dull.

Khisā (खिसा)

Khisā (खिसा) is the Nepali word for a small purse that was traditionally carried in the scabbard of a khukurī.

The purse was usually used to hold tinder consisting of the bark of the sago palm, bamboo, or plantain. The tinder was called jhulo (झुलो), literally meaning "fiber".

— Peter Dekker, Mandarin Mansion