Interesting Facts about India

India never invaded any country in her last 100000 years of history.
When many cultures were only nomadic forest dwellers over 5000 years ago, Indians established Harappan culture in Sindhu Valley (Indus Valley Civilization)
The name 'India' is derived from the River Indus, the valleys around which were the home of the early settlers. The Aryan worshippers referred to the river Indus as the Sindhu.
The Persian invaders converted it into Hindu. The name 'Hindustan' combines Sindhu and Hindu and thus refers to the land of the Hindus.
Chess was invented in India.
Algebra, Trigonometry and Calculus are studies, which originated in India.
The 'Place Value System' and the 'Decimal System' were developed in India in 100 B.C.
The World's First Granite Temple is the Brihadeswara Temple at Tanjavur, Tamil Nadu. The shikhara of the temple is made from a single 80-tonne piece of granite. This magnificent temple was built in just five years, (between 1004 AD and 1009 AD) during the reign of Rajaraja Chola.
India is the largest democracy in the world, the 6th largest Country in the world, and one of the most ancient civilizations.
The game of Snakes & Ladders was created by the 13th century poet saint Gyandev. It was originally called 'Mokshapat'. The ladders in the game represented virtues and the snakes indicated vices. The game was played with cowrie shells and dices. In time, the game underwent several modifications, but its meaning remained the same, i.e. good deeds take people to heaven and evil to a cycle of re-births.
The world's highest cricket ground is in Chail, Himachal Pradesh. Built in 1893 after leveling a hilltop, this cricket pitch is 2444 meters above sea level.
India has the largest number of Post Offices in the world.
The largest employer in India is the Indian Railways, employing over a million people.
The world's first university was established in Takshila in 700 BC. More than 10,500 students from all over the world studied more than 60 subjects. The University of Nalanda built in the 4th century was one of the greatest achievements of ancient India in the field of education.
Ayurveda is the earliest school of medicine known to mankind. The Father of Medicine, Charaka, consolidated Ayurveda 2500 years ago.
India was one of the richest countries till the time of British rule in the early 17th Century. Christopher Columbus, attracted by India's wealth, had come looking for a sea route to India when he discovered America by mistake.
The Art of Navigation & Navigating was born in the river Sindh over 6000 years ago. The very word Navigation is derived from the Sanskrit word 'NAVGATIH'. The word navy is also derived from the Sanskrit word 'Nou'.
Bhaskaracharya rightly calculated the time taken by the earth to orbit the Sun hundreds of years before the astronomer Smart. According to his calculation, the time taken by the Earth to orbit the Sun was 365.258756484 days.
The value of "pi" was first calculated by the Indian Mathematician Budhayana, and he explained the concept of what is known as the Pythagorean Theorem. He discovered this in the 6th century, long before the European mathematicians.
Algebra, Trigonometry and Calculus also originated in India.Quadratic Equations were used by Sridharacharya in the 11th century. The largest numbers the Greeks and the Romans used were 106 whereas Hindus used numbers as big as 10*53 (i.e. 10 to the power of 53) with specific names as early as 5000 B.C.during the Vedic period.Even today, the largest used number is Terra: 10*12(10 to the power of 12).
Until 1896, India was the only source of diamonds in the world (Source: Gemological Institute of America).
The Baily Bridge is the highest bridge in the world. It is located in the Ladakh valley between the Dras and Suru rivers in the Himalayan mountains. It was built by the Indian Army in August 1982.
Sushruta is regarded as the Father of Surgery. Over2600 years ago Sushrata & his team conducted complicated surgeries like cataract, artificial limbs, cesareans, fractures, urinary stones, plastic surgery and brain surgeries.
Usage of anaesthesia was well known in ancient Indian medicine. Detailed knowledge of anatomy, embryology, digestion, metabolism,physiology, etiology, genetics and immunity is also found in many ancient Indian texts.
India exports software to 90 countries.
The four religions born in India - Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, and Sikhism, are followed by 25% of the world's population.
Jainism and Buddhism were founded in India in 600 B.C. and 500 B.C. respectively.
Islam is India's and the world's second largest religion.
There are 300,000 active mosques in India, more than in any other country, including the Muslim world.
The oldest European church and synagogue in India are in the city of Cochin. They were built in 1503 and 1568 respectively.
Jews and Christians have lived continuously in India since 200 B.C. and 52 A.D. respectively
The largest religious building in the world is Angkor Wat, a Hindu Temple in Cambodia built at the end of the 11th century.
The Vishnu Temple in the city of Tirupathi built in the 10th century, is the world's largest religious pilgrimage destination. Larger than either Rome or Mecca, an average of 30,000 visitors donate $6 million (US) to the temple everyday.
Sikhism originated in the Holy city of Amritsar in Punjab. Famous for housing the Golden Temple, the city was founded in 1577.
Varanasi, also known as Benaras, was called "the Ancient City" when Lord Buddha visited it in 500 B.C., and is the oldest, continuously inhabited city in the world today.
India provides safety for more than 300,000 refugees originally from Sri Lanka, Tibet, Bhutan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh, who escaped to flee religious and political persecution.
His Holiness, the Dalai Lama, the exiled spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhists, runs his government in exile from Dharmashala in northern India.
Martial Arts were first created in India, and later spread to Asia by Buddhist missionaries.
Yoga has its origins in India and has existed for over 5,000 years.

Seeking porn pleasure

Pornography had started influencing us long before it came out of the underground and crept into Wall Street boardrooms a couple of decades ago.

But now, with porn stars bagging the status of 'crossover artistes', XXX has seeped into our very sexual identities, convincing obsessive users that the art of lovemaking begins and ends like the way it is shown on screen. Gail Dines, American anti-porn activist and professor of sociology, exchanges notes with Arghya Ganguly about her new book, 'Pornland: How Porn Has Hijacked Our Sexuality' and how the multibillion-dollar industry is shaping people's lives, sexuality and relationships ...

In your book, you say that in American society, porn is probably the most articulate teller of sexual stories for men. In your land of vibrant literature, it's a bold statement to make...

Yes. It is bold, but it's a statement I stand by. Boys are not going to great works of literature or art to learn about sex; they are going to porn. They first learn about sex in a culture steeped in porn imagery, so they develop a pornographic way of looking at women's bodies at a young age. Just watching TV, going to the movies, or playing video games introduces boys to images that reduce women to sex objects. With this pornographic gaze well established by adolescence, boys graduate to actual porn. Most porn on the internet is hardcore, and boys are catapulted into a world of body-punishing sex that is based on the dehumanisation of women. We have no alternative images in the culture that counter this way of looking at women, so this one becomes dominant.

The message porn sends to men is that they are entitled to access women's bodies. In porn, the man makes hate to the woman, as each sex act is designed to deliver the maximum amount of degradation. Whether it be choking her or brutal intercourse, the goal of porn is to illustrate how much power he has over her. The narrative about women is that they are all whores by nature, ready and willing to do whatever men want. In this world, women are never concerned about pregnancy, STDs, or damage to the body, and are astonishingly indifferent to being called whores. This is an uncomplicated world where women don't need equal pay, healthcare, retirement plans, or good schools for their children. It is a world filled with one-dimensional women, who are nothing more than a collection of holes.

The story pornography tells about men is much simpler than the one about women, since men in porn are depicted as nothing more than soulless, amoral life-support systems for erect penises who are entitled to use women in any way they want. No matter how uncomfortable or in pain the woman looks, these men are utterly oblivious to her as a person. She is to them just a set of orifices. These stories get delivered to men's brains via the penis. The younger the boy is when he first views porn - the average age of first viewing is 11 - the more likely these stories are going to form the core of his sexual identity.

You also talk about how women have internalised the men's gaze and they spend hours in front of the mirror due to it. 'Porn penises' have also become the standard against which men judge themselves. Do you suppose it will be a good idea to rehabilitate the youth by showing Renaissance art - for instance, Michelangelo's 'David' - which mostly feature modestly endowed men?

Unfortunately, we live in a world in which culture is commercialised through the mass media, so there is little room for fine art. A better idea would be for men to stop using porn. They do measure themselves against male porn performers, and many feel like sexual losers. Their penises are not as big, nor can they perform the same way as the Viagra-fortified penises in porn. Many feel let down by actual sex, because they get used to masturbating to industrial-strength sex that is supposed to give their partners screaming orgasms. Next to this, real sex looks and feels bland and boring. I don't think we need to 'rehabilitate' men; rather we need to raise their consciousness as to the harm of porn. I believe that the more men learn about the ways in which porn affects their sexual identity, the more they will think before clicking on a porn site. Girls and women have indeed internalised men's gaze, and they are increasingly turning themselves into objects. This makes absolute sense when you think about the images that they are bombarded with. Flip through the pages of popular women's magazines and you'll see slight variations on a theme: a heavily made-up, young, attractive, technologically perfected woman devoid of body hair, cellulite, age lines or physical disabilities. She's minimally clothed, with a seductive look plastered on her face. Whether it be an almost naked Britney Spears writhing around on stage or a Victoria's Secret model clad in a plunging bra and thong, women and girls today are overwhelmed by images of themselves as sex objects whose worth is measured only by their 'hotness.'

Do you agree with the historical argument that if the Great Depression and WW II didn't occur then Playboy wouldn't have been able to successfully advertise its anti-woman ideology?

Yes. It was no accident that Playboy became so successful in the 1950s.The obvious question here is how a porn magazine became a best seller in what was one of the most conservative decades of the second half of the twentieth century. To understand this, it is pivotal to map out some of the economic and cultural themes that marked this era. The post-World War II America required a consumer population that would spend money to build the economy. However, the targeted group - the emerging white suburban middle class - was born during a depression and raised during a war, circumstances that lead to frugality. To nurture consumerism, businesses adopted a number of techniques, not the least of which was a massive marketing campaign, to turn frugal people into spenders. The expansion of television helped spread the ideology of consumerism through advertisements and sit-coms, which were often thirty-minute ads for how to furnish a suburban home. However, women were typically targeted by television, so there were few avenues for luring men into buying products they did not need.

Enter Hugh Hefner, a failed cartoonist who - by design or accident - hit on an idea that meshed beautifully with the needs of capitalism. He created a lifestyle magazine for men that placed consumerism at the centre of the new identity of the upwardly mobile male. Playboy spent much of its early years crafting a magazine that taught men what clothes to wear, what furniture to buy for the office, what food to cook, and, most important, how to consume to a level that would attract women, whose goal was to marry out of the working class. Playboy promised men that if they bought the products they would get the real prize: lots of women, just like the ones in the centerfolds. Playboy thus not only commodified sexuality, it also sexualised commodities.

Why has the US government been insouciant with respect to porn? Is it because 'Pornland' is a capitalist's dream?

Porn is indeed a capitalist's dream, since it is a multi-billion-dollar-a-year machine with ties to other major industries. This is a business with considerable political clout, with the capacity to lobby politicians, engage in expensive legal battles, and use public relations to influence debate. The porn industry sells the idea that women who enter the industry do so because they love sex and enjoy what they are doing. What we don't hear about are their economic circumstances. Jenna Jameson is a major recruitment tool for the porn industry. She is a walking ad for what a woman can supposedly achieve by doing porn. I don't think the solution to porn will come through the government. In a capitalist society, the role of the government is to protect the rights of corporations, not the people. If we are going to tackle this problem, it has to be through a mass movement.

Is it fair to conclude that dinners, vanilla sex and post-coital affection are passe due to capitalism and its tag team partner, porn?

I would say what we are witnessing is a move away from relationships toward a hook-up culture where sex, rather than an ongoing relationship, is the expectation. The increasing pornification of our society has been instrumental in shifting heterosexual relationships. Given its lack of commitment and intimate connection, hookup sex is a lot like porn sex, and it is being played out in the real world. If porn and women's media are to be believed, these women are having as good a time as the men. But research is finding that women do hope for more than just sex from a hook-up - many express a desire for the encounter to evolve into a relationship. Sociologist Kathleen Bogle, for example, found in her study of college-age students that many of the women 'were interested in turning hook-up partners into boyfriends', while the men preferred it 'with no strings attached'.

Do you approve of film schools having porn in their curriculum?

I don't think educational institutions should support the porn industry in any way. I do, however, believe courses on porn are appropriate for a college classroom as long as they critically explore different ways of thinking about porn, not just ones that celebrate it. Showing movies or stills can be tricky, given the effect it may have on students. In my classes, I show stills, but only after much discussion and the establishment of a clear set of guidelines that allow students to not attend or to leave if they feel uncomfortable or upset. I also worry about students who have a history of abuse, since such images can trigger memories. Given that we live in a porn culture, we should be providing our students with media literacy skills.

Do you reckon that feminists fighting for sexual liberation in the '60s and '70s erred somewhere, because all they got is sexuality that has its roots in porn?

Feminism fought for a sexuality based on equality and respect, and what we got was a pornified, plasticised, formulaic sexuality that is an industrial product rather than a reflection of women's authentic desires. This is not the fault of the feminist movement, but the result of a predatory porn industry that has become the main producer and disseminator of sexual images, ideologies, and messages. I have been doing work in this area for over twenty years, and I never expected porn to get so mainstream or cruel and brutal so quickly. Remember also that the feminism of the '60s and '70s was not just about sex, but about radical economic, political, and social change. This feminism understood that without equal access to material resources, women would always be oppressed. Today, feminism talks a lot about sex, but not much about the economic and social conditions of women's lives.

arghya.ganguly@timesgroup.com

The XXX effect
The global porn industry was estimated to be worth around $96 billion in 2006 with the US market worth around $13 billion. Each year, over 13,000 porn films are released and, despite their modest budgets, pornography revenues rival those of all the major Hollywood studios

A key factor driving the growth of the porn market has been the development of technologies. There are 420 million internet porn pages, 4.2 million porn web sites and 68 million search engine requests for porn daily. However, officials estimate DVD sales were down by 50 per cent in the last year due to a weak economy, piracy and free or cheap porn on the Internet.

50 Passwords you should never use

TOI Tech The attack on Gawker Media site recently once again showed the risk of using weak passwords. Using the same username and password for multiple sites may be convenient, but it can prove costly. An analysis of the passwords stolen in the Gawker incident show that many people are choosing poor passwords, that are easy for online criminals to guess. In fact, post Gawker attack, several websites like Google, Twitter, LinkedIn and Yahoo advised users to change their passwords. According to Sophos, many users (33% in its research) use the same password on every single website. This means that if their password gets stolen in one place (say on Gawker's Gizmodo or Lifehacker websites), it can be used to unlock access to other sites too. The security company has also released a list of world's 50 worst passwords. Time to go through them and make sure your password isn't part of the list.

• 123456
• Password
• 12345678
• Lifehack
• qwerty
• abc123
• monkey
• consumer
• 111111
• 12345
• Letmein
• dragon
• trustno1
• 1234567
• kotaku
• Baseball
• superman
• gizmodo
• internet
• Sunshine
• whatever
• 1234
• princess
• starwars
• Shadow
• iloveyou
• cheese
• 123123
• football
• nintendo
• Computer
• f--you
• 654321
• blahblah
• password
• master
• soccer
• michael
• jennifer
• 666666
• gawker
• password
• jordan
• pokemon
• michelle
• killer
• pepper
• welcome
• batman

10 Things you didn’t know USB drive can do

1. The Amazing World of Portability

The humble pen drive has been around for a long time. Prices have never been cheaper, and larger capacities are easily available too. If you're a computer user, you probably have several of them. Apart from using them to just transport your data, there are a myriad other uses for one, as long as you have a one with a decent capacity and speed. For most of these uses, a 2GB drive (prices start at Rs 250) is more than sufficient, though as is always the case with digital storage, more the merrier!

2. Run PortableApps

PortableApps is a Windows launcher that can run entirely from your USB drive. What this means is that you can carry a suite of all your favorite applications like Firefox, Chrome, VLC Media Player, Foxit Reader, 7-Zip and more, all on the drive. Plug it into any remote computer and you’ll have all your favorite applications with you. All you have to do is head to the website and download the PortableApps programme. There are even pre-selected app bundles available for download.Get it from http://www.portableapps.com/

3. Computer maintenance & troubleshooting

A USB drive can play host to various applications that can help fix, maintain or troubleshoot a computer in need. First, you can start with Trend Micro’s HouseCall or Kaspersky’s virus removal tool. Glary Utilities can be run to do a complete maintenance check (registry clean, removal of temporary files, manage startup programs). Finally, Ultimate Defrag can be used organise the files for better speed and reliability.Get all the apps from http://www.pendriveapps.com/

4. Run an alternate operating system

Linux and various versions of it are available for free. But some special versions of Linux like Puppy Linux, Damn Small Linux and Xubuntu are small and light enough to be run completely from a USB drive. This means that you can run and check out Linux for yourself on any existing Windows computer, without making any changes to it! The added advantages of these ‘Live’ builds of Linux is that they have very minimal hardware requirements, which makes them blazing fast, even on older machines. Get them from www.puppylinux.org, www.damnsmalllinux.org, http://www.xubuntu.org/

5. Automated backup of selected folders

You may have a 500GB hard drive in your computer, but the most important data to you on that drive will be lesser. It could be a folder of your photographs, videos, songs or important documents. Rather than take a complete backup of the drive which is a time-consuming process, you can use Microsoft's SyncToy to selectively backup and synchronise certain folders between the hard drive and an external USB flash drive. Once configured, all you have to do is plug the drive in to backup the folder. Get it from: http://goo.gl/Zz77V

6. Run a complete media player

XBMC (Xbox Media Center) started out as media center for the Microsoft Xbox, but is now versatile software for PCs to playback multiple formats of multimedia files in a slick interface. XBMC Live is a special version, designed to run from USB drives and it can be used to run a pre-configured version of XBMC on any machine for demo purposes. Pretty much anyone who sees the Live version gets the full version instantly. Get it from: http://xbmc.org/download

7. Encrypted Data with self-destruct feature

If you're paranoid about someone stealing data from your USB drive, you can secure the data with USB SafeGuard. It encrypts data on the drive with advanced AES 256-bit encryption. You can assign a password to selected folders or to the entire drive. And there’s a setting that can erase the entire contents of the drive if someone enters a wrong password too many times.Get it from http://usbsafeguard.altervista.org/

8. Work securely on a remote computer

Democrakey offers a suite of handy applications that you can store and run from your USB drive. When you are away from your own PC and want to use the Internet on an unknown PC, Democrakey can keep your data and information safe. It includes the Tor Browser (for anonymous web browsing), Clamwin (to check the PC for viruses), AbiWord (to read Word documents) Thunderbird Portable (with pre-installed add-ons to send anonymous email) and TrueCrypt (for file encryption). Get it from http://www.democrakey.com/

9. Increase performance with Ready Boost

With Windows Vista and Windows 7, if you have a fast enough USB flash drive, you can use it for Ready Boost. Ready Boost is a feature that uses the space on your USB drive as extra RAM, instantly boosting the overall speed of your Windows system and programmes. Not all USB drives are fast enough to be used for Ready Boost. To check, right click on the drive's icon in My Computer, click Tools and then the Ready Boost tab.For more information: http://goo.gl/JztRI

10. Use it as a 'key' to access several PCs

You might have seen this before in the movies; a USB drive is inserted into a computer and it immediately springs to life. A free application called Predator can be used for exactly the same thing. Download and install Predator, and pair a USB drive with it. With the USB drive plugged in, you can continue to work, but as soon as it is removed, the screen darkens, the computer locks, and keyboard/mouse input is disabled. Plug it back in, and normal usage is restored. Get it from: www.montpellier-informatique.com/predator

11. Make a "life-backup"

This can literally be a life saver. Many of us may have not stopped to think about what would happen if we lost all our belongings in a fire, flood or natural calamity. The size and portability of a USB flash drive is actually ideal to store digital copies of all your important documents like bank information, credit card details, birth certificates, legal papers, insurance papers and anything else that ties into yours or your family’s life. Be sure to keep one away at in a locker or at a friend's place in another city for extra peace of mind. -- TNN

Facts About Antarctica

The South Pole is considered the coldest spot on Earth and it’s the least traveled continent. Here’s some facts you may not have known about this icy place.

1)Out of 17 penguin species, only 6 can be found in Antarctica.
2)In the water surrounding Antarctica are whales, seals and fish.
3)The temperature is always below freezing, the lowest reaching -129 degrees in 1983.
4)Antarctica holds 1/3 of the fresh water that can be found on Earth.
5)All the countries of the world have agreed to investigate this continent and use it for science purposes.
6)The snow on Antartica often turns to ice because it never gets a chance to melt.
7)The South pole is the fifth largest continent on the planet with 98% of it covered in ice and snow.
8)McMurdo Station, the largest research station on Antarctica, hosts about 1,100 researchers each summer. In the winter, only 200 stay and work hereRead more

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Hyderabad India

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Sufism and Pakistan

Sufism and Pakistan

Sufism and Pakistan

Sufi’s are lovers of truth.

The message of Sufis, the mystics who touch our mind and soul, is universal. Because of truth, richness, and its down to earth approach, Sufi philosophy finds a following amongst elite as well as the masses – irrespective of color, creed or religion.

Though Sufis’ message of love reached almost every nook and corner in the subcontinent, it was particularly so in Pakistan where it spread to find big success with the common folk, yet the universality of Sufis’ message found support and following equally amongst the nobility.

Sufis’ message being part of people’s psyche now, rich tributes are paid to these noble souls at their birth or death anniversaries. Involvement of common men in paying tributes is so deep, so vehement that these have taken the form of ecstatic celebrations, celebrations which have almost acquired the form of carnivals.

Every year many such festivals are celebrated across the whole of Pakistan. The homage to these godly souls is so deep rooted that such occasions are perhaps the only places where true demonstration of secular gatherings is observed. Here one finds Muslims and non Muslims of different sects who otherwise will not offer prayers with each other, but in Sufi shrines at a particular Urs they would not only celebrate but dine, sleep and, pray together. Such is the force of Sufis’ following: these people feel themselves like children of same father, the patron saint under whose blessings they feel like brothers and sisters. Before partition, at such celebrations the Hindus and Sikhs in the area joined these celebrations with same enthusiasm and attachment as their Muslim counterparts because they believed the message was as much applicable to their lives as those of their Muslim followers.

Sufism is a blend of Islam and Mysticism

The mystic tradition of Sufism found home inIslam encompassing a diverse range of beliefs and practices dedicated to Allah and divine love to help a fellow man. Its not surprising, therefore, that Sufi orders associated with every branch of Islam exist.

It is widely believed though that Sufi thought emerged from theMiddle East in the eighth century, yet its adherents are now found every where in the world.

Almost all traditional Sufi schools (orders) trace their “chains of transmission” back to the Prophet (PBUH) via his cousin and son-in-law Imam Ali ibn Abi Talib, except the Naqshbandi order which traces its origin to Caliph Abu Bakr. From their point of view, the esoteric teaching was given to those who had the capacity to contain the direct experiential gnosis of God, and then passed on from teacher to student through centuries.

Sufi is the Arabic word for “wool”, in the sense of “cloak”, referring to the simple cloaks the original Sufis wore, but the Sufis use the composing letters of the words to express hidden meanings, and so the word could also be understood as “enlightenment.”

Sufism became organised and adopted a form and institution in the 12th and 13th centuries A.D. The two great pioneers in this field were Sheikh Abdul Qadir Jilani and Hazrat Shahabuddin Suhrawardy. By introducing the system of ’silsila’ which was a sort of association / order, and takia / khankha, a lodge or hospice, they invested the movement with a sense of brotherhood and provided it with a meeting place. The ’silsila’ and the takia / khankha were the king-pins of the organization. With a stream of selfless workers available and with no dearth of devoted and assiduous leadership, the movement made swift progress and spread far and wide.

The character of Sufi movement was such that it did not require official patronage or military protection. It succeeded without both in a number of countries like Malaya, Indonesia, East and West Africa. The same is true of their work in Pakistan. In fact, power was a hindrance rather than a help to the progress of Sufi mission. Eminent Sheikh Nizamuddin refused to consider a proposal made by Mohammad Tughlaq to coordinate missionary activity with political expansion.” (Indian Muslim by Prof. M. Mujeeb)

The Sufi Spirit

Sufism has universal appeal and its characteristics are universally acclaimed. Sufism on the whole is primarily concerned with direct personal experience, and as such may be compared to various forms of mysticism such as Zen Buddhism andGnosticism. It negates rigidity and promotes free religious thought that emphasizes God’s love and mercy that sustains the whole universe. Sufism stresses the essence of faith rather than mere observance of rituals. It shuns wealthy, monarchic and bureaucratic infestations of big cities and detests false values based on pelf and power and charters to restore morality in its proper place.

The Sufi Traditions in Pakistan

Pakistan and Sufism are inter-related, inter-woven and inseparable from each other. If Pakistan’s beginning is traced back to the conquest of this sub-continent by Muslims armies, as is erroneously thought, then the whole sub-continent should have become Pakistan since Muslim arms were successful throughout the area. But Pakistan emerged only in those territories where Sufism met with success. Pakistan, therefore, can be described as the fruit of the Sufi movement.

Early in the 8th century A.D. when Mohammad Bin Qasim conquered Sind (which included most of Punjab), yet the general conversion to Islam in Pakistan, according to scholars, began on a sizeable scale two hundred years later from the 13th century. This period starts with the arrival of Hazrat Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti in the subcontinent followed by a large number of Chishti and Suhrawardy Sufis.

The great pioneers of the 13th century Sufi movement in the areas of present-day Pakistan were the four friends known as ‘Chahar Yar:’ Hazrat Fariduddin Masud Ganj Shakar of Pak Pattan (1174-1266), Hazrat Syed Jalaluddin Bukhari of Uch-Bahawalpur (1196-1294), Hazrat Bahauddin Zakaria of Multan (1170-1267) and Hazrat Lal Shahbaz Qalandar of Sehwan (1177-1274). It is said that 17 leading tribes of the Punjab accepted Islam at the hands of Hazrat Fariduddin Masud Ganj Shakar.

But the Sufis did not do their work in a hurry. They first set an example of highest probity by their personal acts and propagated the message of Islam in a simple, yet forceful manner without exerting any political or economic pressure so that the work of conversion continued for centuries throughout the Delhi Sultanate, down to the days of the British Raj.

Contrary to conventional Islam, music also played a significant role in spread of Islam through Sufi’s creed. Classic music is the only art where a synthesis between Hindu and Muslim artistic traditions took place in the Indian subcontinent. Sufis with their spiritual preoccupations also remained in the forefront of this synthesis. Khawaja Moeenuddin Chishti, the founder of the Chishtyia order in the subcontinent and his successor Khwaja Bakhtiyar Kaki, both listened to music as a spiritual stimulant. In the assemblies of Nizamuddim Auliya, Amir Khusro’s ghazalswere sung along with the other pieces of music.

The Chishti tradition regarded music as an indispensable aid to ecstasy and a means to attain revelations through it. It relied on Persian verse as the content to musical composition but in some provinces it soon borrowed or adapted mixed Persian and Hindi wording.

It is said that the Sufi practice of listening music first took place in the Indo-Pak subcontinent and then passed on to rest of the Muslim world. Our Sufi poets such as Baba Farid, Shah Husain, Sultan Bahu, Shah Latif Bhitai, Bulleh Shah, Sachal Sarmast, Khwaja Ghulam Farid, Mian Muhammad Bakhsh and Maulvi Ghulam Rasul continued the finest tradition of poetry and music. Still today, the shrines of these Sufi saints host classical music contests. Festivals and carnivals abound with dhamal, whirling in a ritual reverie. Men, and sometimes women, in bright traditional robes dance and shout around frantically following their own path to enlightenment. A traditional drum called dholbeats deafeningly and hypnotically, making everyone to dance to forget surrounding and tread in a voyage of ecstasy. Another popular genre of Sufi music is qawwali,the most important and widespread in the Khusrau tradition, which has remained alive for more than seven centuries.

Sufi festivals and Tourism

The fairs at Sufi shrines or Sufi saints (popularly called the Urs) generally mark the death anniversary of a saint. At every Urs, devotees assemble in large numbers and pay homage to the memory of a saint. Soul inspiring music with dhamaal (when devotees dance in ecstasy on beat of a drum) on such occasions takes the colour of a folk festival and appeals to all and sundry. It forms a part of the folk music carrying mystic messages (verses) of the Sufi or saint which throbs the heart of every one and people from all walks of life throng the dargah or mausoleum. The countryside of Punjab but not excluding the urban centres or metropolises, abound with Urses like the ones of Data Ganj Bakhsh, Hazrat Mian Mir and Shah Hussain in Lahore, Urs of Baba Farid Ganj Shakar in Pakpattan, Urs of Hazrat Bahaudin Zakria in Multan, Urs of Sakhi Sarwar Sultan in Dera Ghazi Khan, Urs of Hazrat Bulleh Shah in Kasur and Urs of Hazrat Imam Barri Lateef in Islamabad. A big fair is organized at Jandiala Sher Khan in the Sheikhupura district on the Mausoleum of Syed Waris Shah.

A great festival of lights, called Mela Chiraghan, is held in the last week of March, outside the Shalimar Gardens, Lahore, in the memory of Sufi poet Madhu Lal Hussain. Every year, no less than 500,000 people come from across the country and from abroad to attend the festival.

The touristic importance of these festivals is so strong that they need be incorporated in the overall tourism policy of the country. In the tourism year 2007 one of the slots was to organise Sufi Festivals in Multan and Sehwan. Such type of events directly relate to Islam’s eternal message of peace, tolerance and international human brotherhood promoted through the works of our Sufi saints. These festivals could be held in the month of September, in synchronization with the Urs of our great Sufi Saint Lal Shahbaz Qalandar which is held every year from Sep. 3^rd to Sep. 6^th .

Multan is famous as the city of Peers and Shrines, and has some landmarks in this regard. Shams Tabriz’s Shrine is a beautiful tourist attraction. The sky-blue engravings and glazed red bricks further add beauty to this monument. Shah Rukh-e-Alam Shrine is popular for its large domes. The shrine was built during the period of Tughlaq. The Sheikh Yusuf Gardez shrine is the other place worth visiting.

Uch Sharif is another beautiful and the historical site. Located at the confluence of the two rivers Sutlej and Chenab, Uch Sharif is a wonderful tourist destination. Basically famous for its various beautiful shrines and tombs, the place offers another venue to host Sufi festival. Its beautiful shrines and tombs attract thousands of general tourists and people of Sufi following from almost every place in the world. Famous shrines in Uch Sharif include Hazrat Jalaluddin Surkh Bukhari, Makhdoom Jahanian Jahangasht, Hazrat Bahawal Haleem, Shaikh Saifuddin Ghazrooni and Bibi Jawandi.

Shah Hussain (1538 - 1599)

Shah Hussain (1538 - 1599)

Introduction

Shah Hussain (1538 - 1599) was a Punjabi poet and Sufi saint. He was born in Lahore (present-day Pakistan). His tomb and shrine lies in Baghbanpura, adjacent to the Shalimar Gardens.

His urs (annual death anniversary) is celebrated at his shrine every year. It is known as "Mela Chiraghan" ("Festival of Lights") and is the second largest festival in Lahore after Basant. It used to be the biggest festival of the Punjab.

Shah Hussain's love for a Brahmin boy called "Madho" or "Madho Lal" is famous, and they are often referred to as a single person with the composite name of "Madho Laal Hussain". Madho's tomb lies next to Hussain's in the shrine.

Shah Hussain was the pioneer of the kafi form of Punjabi poetry.

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Kafiyan ٍShah Hussain

In the new Lahore lies buried Shah Husain and with him lies buried the myth of Lal Husain. Still, at least once a year we can hear the defused echoes of the myth. As the lights glimmer on the walls of Shalamar, the unsophisticated rhythms of swinging bodies and exulting voices curiously insist on being associated with Husain. This instance apparently defies explanation. But one is aware that an undertone of mockery pervades the air - released feet mocking the ancient sods of Shalamar and released voices mocking its ancient walls. Husain too, the myth tells us, danced a dance of mockery in the ancient streets of Lahore. Grandson of a convert weaver, he embarrassed every one by aspiring to the privilege of learning what he revered guardians of traditional knowledge claimed to teach.

Then again, fairly late in life, he embarrassed every one by refusing to believe in the knowledge he had received from others, and decided to know for himself. He plucked the forbidden fruit anew.

The myth of Lal Husain has lived a defused, half-conscious life in the annual Fare of Lights. The poetry of shah Husain which was born out of common songs of the people of the Punjab has kept itself alive by becoming a part of those very songs. In recent past, the myth of Madhu Lal Husain and the poetry of Husain have come to be connected. But the time for the myth to become really alive in our community is still to come.

Husain's poetry consists entirely of short poems known as "Kafis." A typical Husain Kafi contains a refrain and some rhymed lines. The number of rhymed lines is usually from four to ten. Only occasionally a more complete form is adopted. To the eye of a reader, the structure of a "Kafi" appears simple. But the "Kafis" of Husain are not intended for the eye. They are designed as musical compositions to be interpreted by the singing voice. The rhythm in the refrain and in the lines are so balanced and counterpointed as to bring about a varying, evolving musical pattern.

It may be asserted that poetry is often written to be sung. And all poetry carries, through manipulation of sound effects, some suggestion of music. Where then lies the point in noticing the music in the "Kafis" of Shah Husain? Precisely in this: Husain s music is deliberate - not in the sense that it is induced by verbal trickery but in the sense that it is the central factor in the poet's meaning.

The music that we have here is not the vague suggestion of melodiousness one commonly associates with the adjective "lyrical : it is the symbolic utterance of a living social tradition. The "Kafis" draw for their musical pattern on the Punjabi folk songs. The Punjabi folk songs embody and recall the emotional experience of the community. They record the reactions to the cycle of birth, blossoming, decay and death. They observe the play of human desire against the backdrop of this cycle, symbolizing through their rhythms the rhythms of despair and exultation, nostalgia and hope, questioning and faith. These songs comprehend the three dimensions of time - looking back into past and ahead into future and relating the present to both. Also, these songs record the individual s awareness of the various social institutions and affiliations and clinging to them at the same time - asserting his own separate identity and also seeking harmony with what is socially established.

Through this deliberate rhythmic design, Shah Husain evokes the symbolic music of the Punjabi folk songs. His "Kafis" live within this symbolic background and use it for evolving their own meaning.

By calling into life the voice of the folk-singer, Husain involves his listeners into the age-old tension which individual emotions have borne it its conflicts with the unchanging realities of Time and Society. But then, suddenly one is aware of a change. One hears another different voice also. It is the voice of Husain himself, apparently humanized with the voice of the folk-singer, and yet transcending it. The voice of the folk-singer has for ages protested against the bondage of the actual, but its fleeting sallies into the freedom of the possible have always been a torturing illusion. The voice of the folk-singer is dragged back to its bondage almost willingly, because it is aware of the illusory nature of its freedom and is reluctant run after a shade, fearing the complete loss of its identity. The voice of Shah Husain is transcending folk-singer s voice brings into being the dimension of freedom - rendering actual what had for long remained only possible:

Ni Mai menoon Kherian di gal naa aakh Ranjhan mera, main Ranjhan di, Kherian noon koori jhak Lok janey Heer kamli hoi, Heeray da wer chak

Do not talk of the Kheras to me, O mother, do not. I belong to Ranjha and he belongs to me. And the Kheras dream idle dreams. Let the people say, "Heer is crazy; she has given her-self to the cowherd." He alone knows what it all means. O mother, he alone knows. Please mother, do not talk to me of Kheras.

At first , the little "Kafi" deftly suggests the underlying folk-song patter. The usual figures in the marriage song - the girls, the mother, the perspective husband and the perspective in-laws are all there. And the refrain calls the plaintive marriage-song address of the girl to he mother on the eve of her departure from the parents house.

But the folk-song pattern remains at the level of an underlying suggestion. The mother and the daughter in the folk-song were both helpless votaries of an accepted convention, bowing before the acknowledged power of an unchanging order. Here in the "Kafi" the daughter assumes the power of choice and rejection. She stands outsides the cycles of time and society. The mother continues to represent the social order and the accepted attitudes according to her convictions, the Kheras offer the best possible future for her daughter because they assure mundane security and prestige, within a decaying order. But the daughter I snow determined to go beyond this order and seek further inner development. To her the Kheras, her unacceptable in-laws, represent the tyranny of the actual forced on the individual. To her, Ranjha, the socially condemned cowherd, represents the consummation of her revolt, promising a union which is the real inner fulfillment. The accepted attitudes are based on a superficial vision, which takes appearance to be the only reality. Ranjha, who always hides his real self behind the shabby garb of a jogi or a cowherd can never be understood and can never be preferred to the wealthy Kheras. His real identity is a mystery that can be realized only in Heer's individual emotions. And for such a realization, a conscious break with the order of appearances is a prerequisite. Husain's triumph is achieved, not by evading the bondage s of the actual but by suffering them and finally transforming them. The mother remains a part of the daughter s consciousness - in addressing her she addresses herself. But this part of her consciousness is now subjected to more vital individual self. In the refrain:

Ni Mai menon Kherian di gal naa aakh

there is a tone of confidence - a mixture of earnest protestation and assured abandon.

Here is a "Kafi" presenting a different emotion:

Sujjen bin raatan hoiyan wadyan Ranjha jogi, main jogiani, kamli kar kar sadian Mass jhurey jhur pinjer hoyya, karken lagiyan hadyan Main ayani niyoonh ki janan, birhoon tannawan gadiyan Kahe Husain faqeer sain da, larr tairay main lagiyaan

Nights swell and merge into each other as I stand a wait for him. Since the day Ranjha became jogi, I have scarcely been my old self and people every where call me crazy. My young flesh crept into creases leaving my young bones a creaking skeleton. I was too young to know the ways of love; and now as the nights swell and merge into each other, I play host to that unkind guest - separation.

The slower tempo of the refrain sets the mood of the "Kafi." The voice of the singer stretches in an ecstasy of suffering along the lengthening vowel sounds. The vowel sounds initiated by the refrain are taken up by rhythms and several other words.

The Heer-Ranjha motif is used here in a different emotional background. The intense loneliness here contrasts sharply with the confidence of fulfillment shown in the earlier "Kafi." Here people s preoccupation with appearances is not treated with indifference;

Ranjha jogi, main jogiani, kamli kar kar sadian

instead it adds to the plain. But in the notes of suffering, there is a strange quality of single-mindedness. One is not aware of any fidgety second thoughts. The plain does not evince any desperation: in fact there is an air of contemplative pose, born out of the awesome finality of commitment.

In another "Kafi" using the Heer-Ranjha motif, we are taken back to a still earlier stage of the poet s emotional Odyssey:

Main wi janan dhok Ranjhan di, naal mare koi challey Pairan paindi, mintan kardi, janaan tan peya ukkaley Neen wi dhoonghi, tilla purana, sheehan ney pattan malley Ranjhan yaar tabeeb sadhendha, main tan dard awalley Kahe Husain faqeer namana, sain senhurray ghalley

Travelers, I too have to go; I have to go to the solitary hut of Ranjha. Is there any one who will go with me? I have begged many to accompany me and now I set out alone. Travelers, is there no one who could go with me?

The River is deep and the shaky bridge creaks as people step on it. And the ferry is a known haunt of tigers. Will no one go with me to the lonely hut of Ranjha?

During long nights I have been tortured by my raw wounds. I have heard he in his lonely hut knows the sure remedy. Will no one come with me, travelers? <

The folk-song locale is present here in the shape of a river, a ferry and a batch of travelers. The travelers gather to set off to remote places for business, duty and other reasons. And there is the self conscious girl who comes daily to hear some chance gossip drop a word about her friend. The river for centuries has flowed between desire and fulfillment. No one knows where it goes; it has no beginning and no end. The river is ancient and unfathomable - holding mysterious dangers. It causes both life and death but shows a fascinating indifference that compels awed men and women to kneel and worship the river. There is another reason for this homage. The river bounds the village. It limits and defines the known and tried capacities of humanity. The girl s father has no possessions beyond the river. What she was born with lies placidly marked this side of the river. What is beyond, is vaguely threatening. But this hazardous unknown fascinates the girl and seeks to lure her out of the complacent peace she was born with.

But the girl in the "Kafi" differs from the girl in the folk-song in one vital respect. The girl in the folk-song has for ages, waited on this side of the river. She visits the ferry and moves among the travelers with questioning looks. But in her words and looks there lurks the knowledge of perpetual impossibility, the acknowledge that desire is never more than a wish is often less than it. The girl in the "Kafi" is prepared to bridge the gap between desire and attainment. She too is aware of the hazards of her ways but for her he imperative need to set out has become the supreme fact.

The image of a patient, desperately looking for a last remedy contains subtle implications. When Heer fakes illness in the house of her in-laws, Ranjha the fake jogi was approached for some magic cure. Heer was cured in a way the people did not foresee and her illness turned out to be of an unexpected nature. Those believing in appearances as the only reality were given a dramatic lesson. Here in the "Kafi", the metaphorical background is recreated. The girl earnestly wishes to align herself with ordinary motives and measures. But the uncommon purpose of her journey and the uncommon destination still stand out among the group of travelers. Her request for some one to accompany her only throws into stranger relief her unique loneliness. The ecstatic rhythm brings to the refrain a tone of finality, a finality comparable to that of death. The journey across the river is a transition as radical as death. The two worlds of experience are as different from each other as the familiar life and the unknown beyond.

Kafian کافیاں

ربا میرے حال دا محرم تُوں!
اندر تُوں ہیں، باھر تُوں ہیں ،رُوم رُوم وِچ تُوں
تُوں ہیں تانا، تُوں ہیں بانا،سبھ کجھ میرا تُوں
کہے حسین فقیر نماناں،میں ناہیں، سب تُوں

اوکھے لفظاں دے معنے

مِحرم: واقف
رُوم رُوم: لُوں لُوں

(2)

چرخہ میرا رنگڑا رنگ لال!
جے اوڈ چرخہ،تے ڈومنے ہُن کہہ گیا باراں اپنے
سائیں کارن،لوئن رُنّے روئے ونجایا حال
جے وڈ چرخہ،تے وڈگُھمائن سبھے آئیاں،سیس گندائِن
کائی نہ آیا حال ونڈائِن ہن کائی نہ چلدی نال
وچّھے کھاہد گوہڑا واڑا سبھولڑ دا ویہڑا پار
میں کیہہ پھیڑیا ویہڑے دا نی سبھ پئیاں میرے خیال
جے وڈ چرخہ تے وڈ پچھی ماپیاں میرے سر تے رکھی
کہے حسین فقیر سائیں دا ھر دم نال سنبھال

اوکھے لفظاں دے معنے

رنگڑا: رنگیا ہویا
اوڈ: جنا
لوئن رُنّے: اکھیاں روندیاں ہین
سائیں:مالک۔رب
ونجایا: برباد کیتا۔ کافیاں شاہ حسین:کافی3-4

(3)

نی اسیں آؤ کھڈا ہاں لُڈّی
نوں تار ڈور گڈی دی، اسیں لے کے ہاں اُڈّی
ساجن دے ہتھ ڈور اساڈی، میں ساجن دی گُڈّی
اس ویلے نوں پچھوتا سیں، جد جائے پوسیں وچ کھڈّی
کہے حسین فقیر سائیں دا، سبھ دنیا جاندی بڈّی

اوکھے لفظاں دے معنے

لُڈی: اک پنجابی ناچ
نوں تار: نو حواس
گُڈی : پتنگ
ساجن: محبوب
پچھو تاسیس: پچھتائے گی۔
کھڈّی : گڑھا جیس وچ جولاہیا تانی بُن دے ویلے پیر رکھدا ہے۔ ایتھے مطلب قبر۔
بُڈی: ڈُب رہی ہے۔

(4)

دل درداں کیتی پوری نی،دل درداں کیتی پوری
لکھ کروڑ جیہناں دے جڑیا،سوبھی جھوری جھوری
بھٹھ پئی تیری چٹی چادر، چنگی فقیراں دی بھوری
سادھ سنگت دے اوہلے رہندے،بُدھ تیہناں دی سوری
کہے حسین فقیر سائیں دا، خلقت گئی اُدھوری

اوکھے لفظاں دے معنے

جڑیا: جمع کرلیا
جُھوری: پریشان ہوئی
بھٹھ: تندور،اگ
بھُوری: لوئی۔ کمبل۔


(5)

میرے صاحبا! میں تیری ہو مُکی آں
منوں نہ وساریں تُوں مینوں،میرے صاحبا! ہرگلّوں میں چُکی آں
او گنہاری نوں کو گُن ناہیں،بخش کرے تاں میں چُٹھی آں
جیوں بھاوے،تیوں راکھ پیاریا، دامن تیرے میں لُکی آں
جے توں نظر مہردی بھالیں، چڑھ چوبارے میں سُتی آں
کہے حُسین فقیر سائیں دا، در تیرے دی کُتی آں

اوکھے لفظاں دے معنے

ہو مُکی آں: مُک گئی آں
منوں: دِلوں
گلوں: گل بات وچ
او گنہگاری :گنہگار
گُن: خوبی۔اچھائی
چھٹی: آزادی ۔رہائی
بھاوے: پسند آوے
راکھ: رکھ
لُکی: چھُپی
مہر: رحمت۔ محبت

(6)

جاگ نہ لدھی آ، سن جند ہبھو وہانی رات
اِس دم دا کیہہ بھرواسا' رہن سرائیں رات
وچھڑے تن من' بوہڑ نہ میلہ' جیوں تروڑٹٹے پات
کہے حسین فقیر سائیں دا،ہوئے گئی پربھات

اوکھے لفظاں دے معنے

جاگ: اثر کرن والی تھوڑی چیز، جیہڑی دوجی شے نوں اپنا بنا لوے۔جیویں ددھ
وچ تھوڑا جیا دہی رلا دیون نال اوہ بھی دہی بن جاندا ہے۔
لدّھی: ملی
جِند: جان
ہبھو: ہوکے
وہانی: لنگھاونی
بھرواسا: بھروسہ
رہن: رہنا مراد دنیا
سرائیں رات: جیویں سرائے وچ رات لنگھاونا
بوہڑ: دوبارہ۔ پھیر
ترور:درخت
پات: پتے
پربھات: تڑکے


(7)

ویلا سمرن دا نی، اٹھی رام دھیائے
ہتھ ملے مل پچھوتا سی، جد ویسی آوقت وہائے
اس تڑے توں بھر بھر گئیاں،تُوں بھی اپنی وار لنگھائے
اکناں بھریا، اِک بھر گئیاں،اک گھرے اِک راہے
کہے حسین فقیر سائیں دا، آتن پھیرا پائے
اوکھے لفظاں دے معنے

سمرن:عبادت
رام دھیائے: اللہ دا ناں لو
وہائے: لنگھ گیا
وار:باری

(8)

سائیں جیہنا ندڑے وَل' تیہناں نوں غم کیندا وے لوکا
سوائے بھلیاں جورب ول آئیاں، جیہناں نوں عشق چروکاوے لوکا
عِشق دی سرکھاری چائیاں، در در دینی آں ہوکا وے لوکا
کہے حسین فقیر سائیں دا ،لدھا ہی پریم جھروکا وے لوکا
سائیں جیہناندڑے ول، تیہناں نوں غم کیندا وے لوکا
ہو میں واری غم کیندا وے لوکا
اوکھے لفظاں دے معنے

وَل: پاسے۔نال
کیندا:کِس کا
لوکا:اے لوکو!
بھلیاں: چنگی
چروکا: پُرانا
کھاری: ٹوکرا
ہوکا: درد بھری آواز
پریم جھروکا: محبت دا طاقچہ

(9)

اک تینوں سُپنا تھیسن،گلیاں بابل والیاں دو
اُڈ گئے،بھور پُھلاں دے کولوں، سَن پَتراں سن ڈالیاں
جِت تن لگے، سو ای تن جانے، ہور گلاں کرن سُکھالیاں
رہ وے قاضی ،دل نہیوں راضی، گلاں ہوئیاں ناہوون والیاں

اوکھے لفظاں دے معنے

سُپنا تھیسَن: واہوا پتہ ہوون گئیاں
بھور:بھونرے
سَن: سنے
جِت:جس
سُکھالیاں: سوکھتاں
رہ وے: پرے ہٹ
سو ١ی:اوہی
لیکھے:حساب

(10)

جت ول مینڈا مِتر پیارا، اوتھے ونج آکھیں میری عاجزی وو
جوگن ہوواں، دھوواں پاواں، تیرے کارن میں مر جاواں تیں ملیاں
میری تازگی وو
راتیں درد وہیں در ماندی ، مرن اساڈا واجبی وو
لٹاں کھول گلے وچ پائیاں ، میں بیراگن آودی وو
جنگل بیلے پھراں ڈھونڈیندی ، کوک نہ سکاں ماری لاج دی وو
کہے حسین فقیر سائیں دا،راتیں دھیں میں جاگدی وو

اوکھے لفظاں دے معنے

مِتر: پیارا۔ محبوب، سنگی
ونج: جا کے
دہیں: دن نون
در ماندی:پریشان
لٹاں: سر دے وال
لاج عزت
دھیں: دن