Most interesting stories from India:
First story:
The story of Panini is one of my favourite because it always help me remind that there is something which is always above luck and fate.
Panini is known as the Father of Sanskrit Grammar, which is known to have contributed to many languages of the world.
Around 600-500 BC, there lived a great scholarPani, on the banks of the river Indus. Pani's wife later delivered a healthy son. The son came to be known as Panini, the offspring of Pani.
The little boy was very active and was the star of his parents' eyes. He grew up to be a sweet child always bringing a smile to his parents.
Once a great scholar, astrologer and palmist visited Pani. He was a great friend of Pani. Pani and his family treated the great man courteously. He was served the best food and was treated with the best services. After lunch, the great man called the child Panini and asked him to sit with him. Panini readily agreed and sat with the great man.
The great man looked at the right palm of the child. He sat there gazing at the palm for several minutes. The expression on his face changed from that of cheerfulness to that of concern. Looking at this change, Pani inquired the great man about what was bothering him.
The great man looked at Pani with pitiful eyes and said "Oh Pani! My friend! You are such a renowned scholar and people around the world come to you for advice. Alas! Fate has it that this child of yours will remain illiterate. He has no Education Line on his palm."
Pani asked his friend- "Please forgive me. I am not saying this because I doubt your expertise, but would it be possible that you haven't checked my son's palm correctly?"
The great man looked at Pani, whose eyes tried to hold their grief back, and said "My friend! I have checked the boy's palm thoroughly, not once but twice and there is no Education Line here. He is bound to remain illiterate."
Pani could no longer hold his grief. He closed his eyes and muttered under his breath "If the lord wishes it to be so, so be it!"
Panini, who was listening to the conversation, gently asked the great man "Sir, could you please tell me where on my palm would the education line be, if it had been?"
The great man showed the child the location of the education line on his own palm. He felt sympathetic towards the child, who was so well mannered and soft spoken.
The child ran out of the house and returned back in a few minutes. He held out his right palm and asked the great man "Will I be a scholar now? Will I be able to uphold my father's name?"
The great man and Pani looked at the child's hand and were shocked. Blood was oozing out of the palm and where there had to be the education line, there was a deep line which was etched with a sharp stone. The two men had no words.
As he grew up, Panini was educated by his father and Pani was astonished by his son's insatiable quest for knowledge. To attain more knowledge, Panini meditated on Lord Shiva and performed penance for many years and finally wrote the rules of grammar.
Panini is believed to have formulated the rules of Sanskrit morphology, syntax and semantics in fourteen verses.
He didn't worked on anything specifically related to mathematics but it's said grammar created by him have shocking resemblance to programming language used today.
I find this very interesting.
Edit:1. For those who would like to go in a bit of insights regarding the reverent Panini's work of sanskrit grammar, Shashank Sharma has provided a very nice link in the comments section: Where Sanskrit meets computer science. So, do try it if you are interested in knowing linguistics a little more for a general understanding.
2. This story of Panini may or may not be real, but chanakya's story is. Aman Rai has written a very interesting event of history about chanakya and gupta kingdom under this same question. So, you might wanna enjoy some more reading it.
Second story:
Beginning of India's Largest Empire
Taxila ,one of the topmost centers of education at that time in India, became Chanakya’s home where he acquired knowledge in the practical and theoretical aspect of politics and military. The four Vedas, archery, hunting, elephant-lore and 18 arts of martial arts were taught at the university of Taxila.
Downfall of Gandhar Republic, nowadays known as Afghanistan,by ALexander reached the ears of Chanakya, who now started to believe that there was a chance of invasion of the Indian subcontinent soon.
Fear of this external threat and internal problem,made Chanakya move from Taxila to Pataliputra with the aim of convincing the rulers of Nanda to mount a plan to fight these threats in coming years. But after getting snubbed by the ruler , Chanakya felt humiliated and vowed revenge on the Nanda Empire.
Chanakya took Chandragupta , who would be molded by to become the first Emperor of the Mauryan Empire, as an apprentice as he saw in the boy the right characters required of someone to be a strong and benevolent ruler. He groomed the boy to bring down Nanda empire and fight the Alexander's troops. Soon Chanakya within ten years got together an army and under the leadership of his protege brought down the Nanda kingdom. After anointing Chandragupta s the Emperor Chanakya advised the Chandragupta to start consolidating his power in the subcontinent so it can finally stop Alexander's conquest at the borders of India.
Though Alexander the Great died during the time Maurya Empire was consolidating its power in the subcontinent, Alexander's General Seleucus took control of the Central Asian region of Alexander's Empire , like how other Generals broke up the Empire. So the threat was still present.
But soon the Maurya Empire defeated Seleucus's troops and Chanakya advised Seleucus to give his daughter's hand in marriage to Chandragupta. Through this alliance by marriage Chanakya was finally able to achieve what he set out to do , decades earlier. He stopped Alexander's army and started India's largest empire.
Chanakya wrote Arthashastra where he explained various strategies and policies on statecraft, economic policy and military strategy.He also focused on issues of social welfare such as redistribution of wealth during a famine or floods , and the collective ethics that hold a society together. it also explained how to setup the entire legal and bureaucratic framework for administering a kingdom.
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