Marco Polo- The Customs of Kingdoms of Malabar Coast, India ~1290AD

The Malabar Coast, Kerala, 13th century India.

Marco Polo[1254-1324], a Merchant from Venice, at the age of 17 set off on a 24 year odessey across Asia,(estimated to be around 24,000km!) with his merchant father and uncle. His accounts, boldly titled "Description of the World", revealed to the Europeans places never before described, or even dreamed of, and profoundly influenced centuries of exploration and imagination, (including that of Columbus, Vasco Da Gama et al.).
This is now seen as a blend of correct careful information and some stuff from figment of imagination, that got into his descriptions.
(More here:National Geographic magazine- May& June,2001.Special Feature on Marco Polo's adventures.
http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/0105/feature1/index.html)

              This was a Kerala before Kathakali was born,

              And before Thakkaali (Tomato) was known! ;))

              It was a land without Coffee or Tea..

              As they were centuries away from arriving by Sea! ;))

              Indeed, the whole Known World of The West n The East..

              Hadn't yet known how Papaya or Pineapple, taste;

              Neither ever heard of 'Chilli Peppers', Potato, Tomato,

              Nor of Cassava, Corn or Cocoa!

              As they had to wait for Columbus & Conquistadors..

              Sailing to the unknown world of the Americas, &into power corridors.

{ Note:

It was almost 200years after this journey of Marco Polo, that Columbus started his journey to find the sea route to India and reached the Americas, though he always insisted it was part of Asia. Columbus was inspired by Marco Polo's book, and he had his own copy of it.

Tomato, Potato, Papaya, Pineapple, Cassava, 'Chilli Peppers', Corn, Cocoa are all originally from Central or South America, and were known to the rest of the world only after Columbus' voyages starting from 1492.

Coffee is known to originate in Ethiopia, and spread through Arabia.  The earliest credible evidence of coffee drinking appears in the middle of the 15th century, in the Sufi monasteries of Yemen in southern Arabia.[Source: wikipedia]

Tea plant is native to the areas around NorthEast India, Southwest China/Tibet. But Tea was not popular in other parts of India or the west until Chinese trade with Europeans spread it in 19th century.

}

Marco Polo wrote about such things as in the sample pages below:
 [Click on the images to enlarge and read]

 -On Clothing.

-Of idol worship. Of the custom of 'not killing' Ox. Of worshipping the Ox.
Of Kings who sit on the earth.
Of people who supposedly killed St Thomas (1 of the 12 Apostles of Jesus, who spread Christianity on this Coast,in 1st century)

-Of Eating, Drinking, and Washing.
Of Saracens ( as Muslims were referred to by the Europeans, then)

-Of a King's Justice, and of his Debts to a Foreign Merchant.

-Of reading Omens in everything from sneezing, and seeing birds and animals ;).
[After 700+years, I guess, we are still not very far from it! ;)) ]

-Of reading Omens from house-lizards/Geckos &Spiders ;)
Of Astrologers and Diviners.
Of how Boys, when they are 13, are trained to fend for themselves and learn to Trade,
 as they are denied meals from home!!.

-Of Birds,
 and of Girls offered to the idols to sing and dance and entertain the idols ;)

-Of What Maidens do in the Temples!!

-Of maidens singing and dancing to make the God reconcile with the goddess

-Of Coconuts.
Of the tomb of St Thomas, and that it was a pilgrim site for both Christians and Muslims of that era!.

{The upper half talks about another kingdom, Motupalli, Marco says 1000miles north of Malabar. This seems to be in Andhra Pradesh[near Chirala, known for its handloom textiles, which once traded through the ancient port of Motupalli, now an obscure village.  There, Marco talks about "clothes of finest texture and highest value; There is no king or queen in the world who would not gladly wear a fabric of suc delicacy and beauty". (Then returns to the description of Malabar) }

Of the place of the tomb of St Thomas' and Miracle of the Saint.

The Darkest Man is the most highly esteemed,
and considered better than others.

--Of Brahmin Traders, who would not tell a lie..

The Literary City of Dublin!

Perhaps it’s not a coincidence, that a proud literary city welcomes you with captivating words! – “Céad Míle Fáilte” (pronounced "kaid meel-a fal-cha") : 'A Hundred Thousand Welcomes!!', in Irish Gaelic,

The jolly good cab driver told me, as I started scratching the surface of Irish culture with him.

The City of 4 Nobel Laureates- Jonathan Swift, Bernard Shaw, WB Yeats, and  Samuel Beckett..

The Dublin, of the most celebrated author James Joyce who wrote the book of short stories titled ‘Dubliners’, and whose highly regarded novel Ulysses, which some literature pundits treats among the 100 most influential books in world literature, of all time, and The Modern Library placed it  #1 on the top 100 books of the 20^th century.

It was only fitting, then, that I started exploring the city, with a bridge connected to the author and his book. James Joyce bridge, is only one of the many across the River Liffey connecting the working-class north and the affluent south sides of the city. But it has a very interesting story to tell!- of celebrating Literary Art and Romance!

Moon over the James Joyce bridge, Opened on Bloomsday, 2003.

The people of Dublin, and indeed many of the Irish diaspora across the globe celebrate Bloomsday on June 16, because James Joyce’s novel Ulysses tells the story of the fictional protagonist Leopold Bloom, of his one day through Dublin, on June 16 . The novel is full of parallels with the Greek epic Odyssey, of its protagonist Odysseus (Latin version of his name being Ulysses).

The significance of the date which Joyce selected to portray the life in Dublin through the story of that novel, is that it was the day of his first date with his wife-to-be and later life-long companion, Nora.

Interestingly, I first read about this James Joyce bridge being opened in Dublin, and its connection with the Bloomsday and Ulysses, in the editorial of the Korean English newspaper Joong Ang Ilbo, back in 2003, and I kept that newspaper cutting with me, as I was reading the first book of James Joyce, Dubliners on the flight to Seoul that time, and after landing, realised that I had left that book in the flight. Had chosen that book, as a starter before laying my hands on the supposedly very tough Ulysses. I bought Dubliners again last year.

Newspaper cutting from Seoul, Korea of Joong Ang Ilbo, 2003. (Click image to enlarge)

The article title alludes to Joyce's semi-autobiographical novel, 'A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man'.

Apparently the novel Ulysses is very difficult to read and understand at first shot- very intendedly so designed by Joyce, by the use of the different techniques used for its story telling. Joyce is quoted as saying to a French translator, (who had begged him for the scheme of the book, but Joyce gave only parts of it and said,) "If I gave it all up immediately, I'd lose my immortality. I've put in so many enigmas and puzzles, that it will keep the professors busy for centuries, arguing over what I meant, and that's the only way of insuring one's immortality".  Apparently he meant it as a wry remark, but it is usually quoted out of context, giving a feel that he wrote it for the professors, and not the broader reading public! [ From 'Who Reads Ulysses?: The Common Reader and the Rhetoric of the Joyce Wars', by Julie Sloan Brannon ]. I've tread that cliched quote(given out of context,) a few times myself, in a few places.

The curious Statue of Oscar Wilde, 

In a setting, rather wild,

Sitting with a garish attire,

Setting stage for inviting satire,

 Sitting on a rock

Ogling in the park!! ;))

The Samuel Beckett bridge, Shaped like a Lyre/Harp, Opened in Dec 2009

James Joyce statue, also known locally as "The Prick with the Stick" ;)

Wandered through the Literary City of Dublin..in the nights, past midnight. For 2 nights during the 5-nights stay, listened to some lovely, lively, filling, high tempo live band music- banjo, accordion and guitar with some vocals in between reverberating in a pub thriving with people. Tried some local special, Irish Coffee- that’s hot black coffee with sugar, a bit of whiskey, and topped with whipped cream layer. I never had whiskey before as I never liked its flavour or aroma, which never appealed to me- compared to the fruity acidic feel of wine or champagne; but this coffee was interesting. 

Accordion, Guitar and vocalist with violin

Irish Coffee

The Pub-lic making merry;)

Sneaking out during lunch break, from the last day of the week-long global conference, which is trying to define the 4G mobile technology, the next generation of advanced mobile communications, within half an hour, I plunged from all the tech jargons of 4G technolgy, into how pre-historic settlers communicated in the island……and how their communication improved with more and more clearings made in the woodlands!;)

 I munched on history for lunch at the National Museum of Ireland, including gulping, looking at the dried hazelnuts from 3000BC, preserved in the caves!. There was also fascinating ethnology and geology describing the origin of much of the Celtic Gold and crude bulky ornaments from 2200BC~500BC, part of an exhibition there titled, Ór - Ireland's Gold.

The ethnology part also described that the first farming/agriculture and domestication of animals started on the earth in the SouthWest of Asia- The Sumerians started farming first, around 9500BC.( By 7000 BC, agriculture had been developed in India and Peru separately; by 6000 BC, to Egypt; by 5000 BC, to China. About 2700 BC, agriculture had come to Central america.). But after the first farming and domestication of animals started in SW Asia, it took at least 5000 years for such lifestyles to reached Ireland- almost towards the end of stone-age.Last stone-age (Neolithic) began in Ireland around 3000BC, and Neolithic people were Ireland's first farmers, who raised animals and cultivated the soil. 

 Of the earliest inhabitation in the island:

After the last ice age, around 12000BC, ice receded from the island and slowly greenery and trees started growing some millennia later, and woods followed, and later animals arrived from European main-land, followed by humans, by 8000BC (Britain was re-populated by 12000BC). It is known that the Britain remained connected by land to the mainland Europe during 8000-6000BC, which got submerged later due to sea level changes.

(Interestingly, happened to watch a documentary last week, on the under-sea volcanic eruptions that created the British isles (including Ireland) 400 million years ago, when the continental plates of America was connected to these lava islands. But only in the last 90million years, America drifted 2000miles away.. and before I drift too far into geology through history, let me cut back to the present!;)

From first impressions, I found the Irish people much warmer and relaxed than the English, though they’ve adapted the same language of their English oppressors who exploited them so badly, so atrociously, that it ended up in a famine- The Potato Famine of the 1840’s, which added momentum for calls of independence from Britain.

The Famine Memorial statues. 

Ireland lost half its population- 1 million died, and another million emigrated during The Potato Famine.

All the 5 or 6 cab drivers I interacted with, except one, were local Irish. All were nice and warm to talk to. Especially, the last, a 64 year old with 14 grand children, who is also a musician, and grew up as a farmer’s boy and did farming himself for some years. He said, one of the most wonderful feelings in life, was that of feeling connected to the Earth.

He told me about this excellent literary tour conducted by the students of Trinity College for the visitors, and recommended that I try it next time, after I tried to know a bit about the popularity of famous authors, among common folk.. I know I would go back there one day for that and to experience traditional Irish farming villages.

George Bernard Shaw's birthplace, in a working class neighbourhood.

We had a very nice conversation for about an hour, wandering through the history, politics, environment, places, people and culture of Ireland.. and India. I also asked him to share about his life as a farmer. During that he mentioned that I should join politics and he felt it will be good for my country! He even voluntarily gave me his mobile number and asked to contact the next time around in Dublin, so he could give tips on all the places for tradition and history that he knows of. When he dropped me at the airport, patted me with thanking for the conversation parting greetings and adding “hope to see you some day as a minister”!! ;) We had a good laugh, waving at each other.

Literary Aspects of GitaGovinda by Jayadeva, the 12th century poet

Jayadeva was a well known Sanskrit poet and lyricist who was born in Kenduli, Orissa circa 1200 AD. The works of Jayadeva have had a profound influence on Indian culture. It forms the basis of the east Indian classical dance form, Odissi, and has strongly influenced the Bharatanatyamclassical dance as well as Carnatic music. Jayadeva's composition, 2 hymns, has also been incorporated in the Guru Granth Sahib, the holy book of the Sikh religion.The Gita Govinda is the best known composition of Jayadeva, ranks among the finest examples of Sanskrit poetry. Jayadeva was instrumental in popularizing the Dasavatara, the ten incarnations of Vishnu in another composition, Dasakritikrite.Additionally, the Gita Govinda begins with a Dasavatara stotra. In July 2009, the government of India's Department of Posts released 11 stamps in Bhubaneswar to commemorate the birth of Jayadeva. One stamp depicts the poet himself, while the other ten depict the Dasavatara {This introduction part is collated from Wikipedia}

During a Mohiniyattam dance performance in London, I heard this song(translation and links below), which is a composition done for the dance. The lyrics are of an "Ashtapadi" from GitaGovinda, the 12th century sanskrit poetry by Jayadeva. I was doing some photography for the dance performed by Padmini Parameswar &Shiju Menon, friends I've known from here.

Those in the music and dance world might be quite familiar with GitaGovinda. 

Since i felt it as quite beautiful song to listen to,..  and with quite a soothing rendition, may be to do with its intricate details of poetic qualities as well.. (and the dance I saw was also very beautifully and gracefully done!! ), May be due to "the whole experience of it", the song quite influenced me.. Even though I couldn't get some of the sanskrit words, but could only make broad sense in those instances, There was something deeply touching, drawing me into it deep,  and was trying to find more about it.

That's when I landed on this very interesting essay on the Literary Aspects of Gita Govinda, some excerpts from it are collated in a section below.

For me, it was interesting to read that : Gita-govinda was composed at a time when Indian classical music was not divided into two regional streams, namely Hindustani and Karnatic, and thus was one single tradition.

About Gita Govinda /wiki:

The Gita Govinda ( गीत गोविन्द) (Song of Govinda) is a work composed by the 12th-century poet, Jayadeva, who was born in Kenduli Sasan near Puri in Orissa. It describes the relationship between Krishna and the gopis (female cow herders) of Vrindavana, and in particular one gopi named Radha. This work has been of great importance in the development of thebhakti traditions of Hinduism.

The Gita Govinda is organized into twelve chapters. Each chapter is further sub-divided into twenty four divisions called Prabandhas. The prabandhas contain couplets grouped into eights, called Ashtapadis. It is mentioned that Radha is greater than Krishna. The text also elaborates the eight moods of Heroine, the Ashta Nayika in its verses, which over the years has been an inspiration for many a compositions and choreographic works in Indian classical dances.^[1]

-x-

The translation of the Ashtapadi I heard is added below, with the link to the Original Sanskrit lyrics ( all digged out separately through google) 

Original Sanskrit Lyrics of the Ashtapadi song at  http://www.karnatik.com/c1522.shtml

Translation from the book: 
 [ # Love Song of the Dark Lord - Jayadeva’s GitaGovinda, 

 by Barbara Stoler Miller, Columbia University Press, New York, 1977. ]

# {Introduction }

On the banks of the river Yamuna in a bower of flowers
Krishna was sitting brooding immersed in his thoughts about Radha
when her dear friend appeared before him
And she begins to narrate the plight of Radha

{ 1 }  Anything cool, she rejects be it sandalwood paste or the moonlight
and she considers the cool breeze from the south as laden with poison
Smitten by the arrows of Eros the poor girl is in anguish
In her separation Radha pines for you    … 1

{ 2 }  In her heart of hearts she has put you on a pedestal
and she tries to protect that image with the shield of tender lotus blooms
Even as the Love God is relentless
she still tries to keep you away from his sharp arrows    … 2

{ 3 }  The bed of flowers she so carefully made,
to be with you and to forget herself in your fond embrace,
is now piercing her like arrows  … 3

{ 4 }  Any moment her dark eyes may burst forth like the monsoon clouds
Her face is oozing ambrosia even when it sparkles
like the full moon being devoured at the time of the eclipse   … 4

{ 5 }  When she is alone she draws the picture of your likeness
She paints her hands with the flags of the Love God with the crocodile ensign
and mango leaves that are his choice arrows   … 5

{ 6 }  One moment she is lost, another moment she is pensive
One moment she cries, another moment she laughs
Her thoughts are always about you
her worship is always your image  … 6

{ 7 }  Without any inhibitions she has fallen at your feet
and repeatedly she utters your name
You ignored her, and in your separation
even the caress of moonbeams
makes her jump up as if it were fire … 7

{ 8 }  Thus spoke to Krishna, the dear friend of Radha
of her mate’s loneliness and suffering in the absence of Krishna
These words of apt description by the poet Jayadeva
are worth reading again and again … 8

Radha’s dwelling as disorderly as a forest
She considers even her close friends a distraction
Her shallow breaths have a feverish tinge
Alas, the Love god is playing with her
as a tiger ready to pounce on the hapless deer.

{ Literary Aspects of the Gita-govinda  }

(found this commentary quite interesting- you could overlook the website name and the hinduism tag there.. I was purely looking at the literary aspects, and the commetary is just that. Some excerpts below)

From    http://www.indiadivine.org/articles/208-literary-aspects-gita-govinda.html  : 

Gita-govinda was composed at a time when Indian classical music was not divided into two regional streams, namely Hindustani and Karnatic, and thus was one single tradition.

Written by the 12th century poet Jayadeva, the Gita-govinda is one of the finest specimens of love poetry written in any language. It describes the divine love and pangs of separation of Radha and Krishna. Jayadeva has masterfully interwoven a religious theme with the science of erotica. In Gita-govinda, we have on the one hand, the love of Radha and Krishna as a means of worship and devotion, (the theme of Upasya and Upasaka - of god and devotee), and on the other, the theme of Nayaka and Nayika - of the hero and heroine in love.

The poems (ashtapadis) of Gita-govinda have been set to music throughout India. They are perhaps the earliest examples of regular musical compositions, each set to a specific raga and tala. (The Tevaram and Tiruvacagam in Tamil are earlier than the Ashtapadis, but only the ragas are mentioned in these texts and not the talas.)
Some scholars suggest that Jayadeva has used a diction filled with poetic syntax as well as luxuriant growth of rhymes and inter-rhymes by which the erotic descriptions have been very cleverly sublimated, making it more acceptable and popular, and hauntingly beautiful at the same time.

One of the most distinctive features of Jayadeva’s diction is the abundant use of alliteration, the repetition of the same sound, rhymes and inter-rhymes (Antyanuprasa and Madhyanuprasa). Rhyming started around seventh or eighth century, largely under the influence of folk poems or the local vernacular and culminated with all its splendour in Jayadeva’s Gitagovinda.

It seems Jayadeva had adapted the musical moraic meters of vernacular poetry in order to create a medium of song within conventional Sanskrit poetry. No doubt the Gita-govinda is the most significant poem in the history of Sanskrit literature so far the metrical innovations and rhymes are concerned.

In many of the poems it is the sound rather than the sense that overpowers the whole poetic structure, thus creating an atmosphere of intoxication through its cadence and rhythm.

It has been a tradition of the Gwalior gharana ever since, to sing each Ashtapadi-composition along with dhrupad, khayal, tappa, etc. The Ashtapadis were composed in the raga and tala of their own choice and sung in the true khayal style.

The tradition of singing Ashtapadis on classical music platforms as well as in temples is still prevalent in Gwalior.

-x-

Ashtapadi Singing in the Temples of Kerala:

During the 14th and 15th centuries, when Ashtapadi singing was implemented in the temples of Kerala, they were rendered in the Sopana style of singing.

 Sopanam came to prominence in the wake of the increasing popularity of Jayadeva's Gita Govinda or Ashtapadis. Sopana sangeetham (music), as the very name suggests, is sung by the side of the holy steps (sopanam) leading to the sanctum sanctorum of a shrine.

Culture- Inception and its Transmission

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Godwin's_law
Godwin's law (also known as Godwin's Rule of Nazi Analogies or Godwin's Law of Nazi Analogies)^[1][2] is a humorous observation made by Mike Godwin in 1989 which has become an Internet adage. It states: "As an online discussion grows longer, the probability of a comparison involving Nazis or Hitler approaches 1."
It says:

Godwin has stated that he introduced Godwin's law in 1990 as an experiment in memetics.^[2]

Godwin's law does not claim to articulate a fallacy; it is instead framed as a memetic tool to reduce the incidence of inappropriate hyperbolic comparisons.

Reading this, I started digging Memetics link y'da, as I found this whole study of culture and its transmission bloody fascinating... (There was this documentary on the evolution of culture, showing how it might form, in say, Chimpanzees, showing with an example, where their food is kept inside a cage, not readily accessible, but need to find some way to access it.. and they are outside.. and how one smart 'chap' chimp finds a way to get the food out, and in no time, others star to copy the exact same idea, in exact same way, by using a stick, in certain angle to push, and hold the body in certain way to collect the food falling from a container.. and it became part of their 'culture' ;)

 

 It seems this whole Memetics business is trying to define and quantify something, to analyse it and "make it a science" though, I feel quite strongly that, one of the important factors in culture and its "internalisation", "assimilation" and "transmission", must have something to do with Feelings and Emotions!.. and they don't talk a word of it.

 

May be, Evolutionary Psychology, is more appropriate a zone to talk about what they are trying to define with Memetics ??

 

No Wonder, then, that it didn't really take off!, (after 25 years! into attempted inception into.. a 'new realm of Science'?)

 

[Quote From the section about Maturity (of Memetics as a new 'science')]

-->In 2005, the Journal of Memetics – Evolutionary Models of Information Transmission ceased publication and published a set of articles on the future of memetics. The website states that although "there was to be a relaunch...after several years nothing has happened".^[7]

 

Nevertheless, I found THIS para from that section very interesting: 

-->

Susan Blackmore (2002) re-stated the definition of meme as: whatever is copied from one person to another person, whether habits, skills, songs, stories, or any other kind of information. Further she said that memes, like genes, are replicators in the sense as defined by Dawkins.^[8] That is, they are information that is copied. Memes are copied by imitation, teaching and other methods. The copies are not perfect: memes are copied with variation; moreover, they compete for space in our memories and for the chance to be copied again. Only some of the variants can survive. The combination of these three elements (copies; variation; competition for survival) forms precisely the condition for Darwinian evolution, and so memes (and hence human cultures) evolve. 

Large groups of memes that are copied and passed on together are called co-adapted meme complexes, ormemeplexes. In her definition, the way that a meme replicates is through imitation. This requires braincapacity to generally imitate a model or selectively imitate the model. Since the process of social learning varies from one person to another, the imitation process cannot be said to be completely imitated. The sameness of an idea may be expressed with different memes supporting it. This is to say that the mutationrate in memetic evolution is extremely high, and mutations are even possible within each and every interaction of the imitation process. It becomes very interesting when we see that a social system composed of a complex network of microinteractions exists, but at the macro level an order emerges to create culture.

And with my perception of the world, and limited knowledge, I tend to side with these to people in the Criticism section below! (in the sense, some of it were the thoughts in my mind when reading the rest of the stuff about the topic of Memetic;) 

Criticism

Luis Benitez-Bribiesca, a critic of memetics, calls it "a pseudoscientific dogma" and "a dangerous idea that poses a threat to the serious study of consciousness and cultural evolution" among other things. As factual criticism, he refers to the lack of a code script for memes, as the DNA is for genes, and to the fact that the meme mutation mechanism (i.e., an idea going from one brain to another) is too unstable (low replication accuracy and high mutation rate), which would render the evolutionary process chaotic.^[9]

Another criticism comes from semiotics, (e.g., Deacon,^[10] Kull^[11]) stating that the concept of meme is a primitivized concept of Sign. Meme is thus described in memetics as a sign without its triadic nature. In other words, meme is a degenerate sign, which includes only its ability of being copied. Accordingly, in the broadest sense, the objects of copying are memes, whereas the objects of translation and interpretation are signs.

Mary Midgley criticises memetics for at least two reasons: One, culture is not best understood by examining its smallest parts, as culture is pattern-like, comparable to a ocean current. Many more factors, historical and others, should be taken into account than only whatever particle culture is built from. Two, if memes are not thoughts (and thus not cognitive phenomena), as Daniel C. Dennett insists in "Darwin's Dangerous Idea", what, then, are they? What ontological status do they have? Do they, as memeticists (who are alsoreductionists) insist, in fact exist?