culture Flashcards
Rani Abbakka Chowta
Rani Abbakka Chowta was the first Tuluva Queen of Ullal who fought the Portuguese in the latter half of the
16th century.
• She belonged to the Chowta dynasty who ruled over parts of coastal Karnataka (Tulu Nadu).
• Their capital was Puttige. The port town of Ullal served as their subsidiary capital.
Aurobindo ghosh
Aurobindo Ghose was an Indian philosopher, yoga guru, poet and Indian nationalist. Born in 1872, in
Calcutta, he went on to complete his education at King’s College in England.
• After returning to India he took up various civil service works under the Maharaja of the Princely state of
Baroda.
• Later he became increasingly involved in the nationalist politics and joined the Indian National Congress in 1906.
• He was one of the founders of the youth club Anushilan Samiti which protested against the atrocities of the British government
• Aurobindo, a revolutionary and a militant nationalist, was charged in the Alipore Bomb Case (1906-1910)
and was sentenced to jail.
At Pondicherry, Sri Aurobindo developed a spiritual practice he called Integral Yoga. He believed in a spiritual realisation that not only liberated but transformed human nature, enabling a divine life on earth.
Guru Nanak
To spread the message of oneness and to break barriers across faiths by engaging in spiritual dialogues, the founder of Sikhism, Guru Nanak Dev, travelled far and wide during the 15th and 16th centuries.
• From Mecca to Haridwar, from Sylhet to Mount Kailash, Guru Nanak visited hundreds of interfaith sites related to Hinduism, Islam, Buddhism, and Jainism throughout his journeys (also called udaasis).
• At some sites, gurdwaras were constructed to commemorate his visit.
• Later his travels were documented in texts called ‘janamsakhis’. These sites are now spread across nine nations as per current geographical divisions — India, Pakistan, Iran, Iraq, China (Tibet), Bangladesh, Saudi Arabia, Sri Lanka, and Afghanistan
Adi Shankaracharya
The Prime Minister unveiled a 12-foot statue of Adi Shankaracharya at Kedarnath, where the acharya is believed to have attained samadhi at the age of 32 in the ninth century.
He was a devotee of Shiva.
• Propounded the Doctrine of Advaita (Monism) and wrote many commentaries on the Vedic canon (Upanishads, Brahma Sutras and Bhagavad Gita) in Sanskrit.
• He was opposed to Buddhist philosophers.
• Major Work ➔ Brahmasutrabhasya (Bhashya or commentary on the Brahma Sutra), Bhajagovinda Stotra, Nirvana Shatakam, Prakaran Granths.
Established four Mathas in the four corners of India at Shingeri, Puri, Dwaraka and Badrinath– for propagation of Sanathana Dharma.
Onake Obavva
Onake Obavva is a woman warrior who fought the forces of Hyder Ali single-handedly with a pestle (‘onake’ in Kannada) in Chitradurga in the 18th century.
• She died protecting the Chitradurga Fort, which was ruled by Madakari Nayaka in the 18th century.
• Chitradurga Fort, locally known as Elusuttina Kote, (the fort of seven circles in Kannada), is situated in Chitradurga, 200 km northwest of Bengaluru.
• Onake Obavva was the wife of soldier Kahale Mudda Hanuma, who was the guard of the fort.
Rani Kamlapati
Rani Kamlapati was the Gond queen of the Bhopal region in the 18th century.
• She was one of the seven wives of Gond ruler Nizam Shah.
• Kampalati is known to have shown great bravery in facing aggressors during her reign after her husband was killed.
• Kamlapati was the “last Hindu queen of Bhopal”, who did great work in the area of water management and set up parks and temples
Devasahayam
A Hindu man from Tamil Nadu, who converted to Christianity in the 18th century, is set to become the first Indian layman to be declared a saint by the Vatican for “enduring increasing hardships” to embrace Christianity.
Born as Neelakanda Pillai in Nattalam village of Kanyakumari District in Tamil Nadu in 1712, he went on to serve as a soldier in the court of Travancore’s Maharaja Marthanda Varma.
• Here, he met a Dutch naval commander, who taught him about the Catholic faith.
• In 1745, soon after he was baptised, he assumed the name ‘Lazarus’ or ‘Devasahayam’ meaning ‘God is my help’.
• But he then faced the wrath of the Travancore state, which was against his conversion.
• False charges of treason and espionage were brought against him and he was divested of his post in the royal administration.
• While preaching, he particularly insisted on the equality of all people, despite caste differences. This aroused the hatred of the higher classes.
• He faced harsh persecution and imprisonment after he converted to Christianity, ultimately resulting in his killing in 1752.
• Devasahayam was declared Blessed in 2012, 300 years after his birth.
Kartarpur Sahib Gurudwara corridor
The Kartarpur corridor connects the Darbar Sahib Gurdwara in Narowal district of Pakistan with the Dera Baba Nanak shrine in Gurdaspur district in India’s Punjab province.
• The corridor was built to commemorate 550th birth anniversary celebrations of Guru Nanak Dev, founder of Sikhism on 12th November 2019.
• The agreement will facilitate visa-free movement of Indian pilgrims who would just need a permit to cross over to Pakistan.
The gurdwara in Kartarpur stands on the bank of the Ravi, about 120 km northeast of Lahore.
o It was here that Guru Nanak assembled a Sikh community and lived for 18 years until his death in 1539.
Sabz Burj
Built in 1530, Sabz Burj is one of the earliest Mughal-era monuments in Delhi.
• The tomb does not have any markings pointing to the identity of those buried under it.
• However, it is of immense significance due to the ceiling on its double dome structure painted in pure gold and lapis, which is the earliest surviving painted ceiling for any monument in India.
• The painting on the ceiling that has floral motifs predates similar work that was seen in miniature paintings and textiles from the Mughal era.
Rani Gaidinliu
Rani Gaidinliu was a spiritual and political leader of the Rongmei Naga tribe.
At 13, she became associated with freedom fighter and religious leader, Haipou Jadonang, and became his lieutenant in his social, religious and political movement.
• Jadonang, who was also a Rongmei, started the ‘Heraka movement’, based on ancestral Naga religion, and envisioned an independent Naga kingdom (or Naga-Raja).
• Rani Gandiliu’s association with Jadonang prepared her to fight the British. After the execution of Jadonang, she took up the leadership of the movement — which slowly turned political from religious.
• Rani started a serious revolt against the British and was eventually imprisoned for life. She was released after 14 years, in 1947.
o Acknowledging her role in the struggle against the British, Jawaharlal Nehru called her the “Daughter of the Hills” and gave her the title “Rani” or queen.
Namda craft
Namda is a form of matting.
• They are made from wool by practice of felting the wool rather than weaving it. The Felted carpets are predominantly made of pure wool
• Namda is usually a sandwich of many layers of wool flattened over each other. After a layer is spread, it is sprinkled homogenously with water and pressed with a tool known as ‘pinjra’(woven willow wicker)
• It is widely thought to have originated in the 11th century during the reign of Mughal emperor Akbar.
Ramappa Temple
got UNESCO’s world heritage city tag.
Constructed in 1213 AD during the reign of the Kakatiya Empire by Recharla Rudra, a general of Kakatiya king Ganapati Deva.
• Location ➔ Situated in Telangana’s Warangal.
• Presiding Deity ➔ The temple’s presiding deity is Ramalingeswara Swamy.
• The temple is named after its architect, Ramappa.
The temple stands on a 6 feet high star-shaped platform with walls, pillars, and ceilings adorned with intricate carvings that attest to the unique skill of the Kakatiya sculptors.
o The foundation of the temple is built with the “sandbox technique”. The flooring of the temple is granite and the pillars are of basalt.
o Sandbox technique involved filling the pit — dug up for laying the foundation — with a mixture of sand-lime, jaggery (for binding), and karakkaya (black myrobalan fruit) before the buildings were constructed on these ‘sandboxes’.This technique acts as a cushion in case of earthquakes.
o The lower part of the temple is built with red sandstone, while the white gopuram is built with light bricks that reportedly float on water.
o Moreover, the main temple is flanked by the collapsed structures of Kateshwarayya and Kameshwaraya temples in Palampet about 220 km from Hyderabad.
