BHARAT EK KHOJ - DISCOVERY OF INDIA

NOSTALGIC MEMORIES

BHARAT EK KHOJ (1988)
One of my favorite serials when I was a kid was Bharat Ek Khoj (Hindi: भारत एक खोज, translation: Discovery of India)

It was a series of explorations into the different periods of Indian history and was made in 1988 by the writer, director and producer Shyam Benegal.

The serial was based on a book written by the great historian and the first Prime Minister of independent India, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, titled The Discovery of India.

The 53 episode television series was telecast on Doordarshan and dramatically unfolded the 5000 year history of India from its beginnings to the coming of independence in 1947. The starcast included Om Puri and others. Om Puri was also a narrator of the stories. Roshan Seth looked very much like Nehru and was also the narrator of the series.

Lyrics Of The Title Track

The lyrics of the track were so meaningful and the music was excellent. I can’t seem to forget the lyrics after so many years.

“Srishti se pehle sat nahin thaa, asat bhi nahin Antariksh bhi nahin, aakaash bhi nahin thaa. Chhipaa thaa kyaa, kahaan, kisne dhaka thaa? Us pal to agam, atal jal bhi kahaan thaa.

Shrishti kaa kaun hain kartaa? Kartaa hain yeh vaa akartaa? Oonche aakash mein rahtaa. Sadaaa adhyaksh banaa rahtaa. Wohee sach much mein jaantaa..Yaa nahin bhi jaanataa Hain kisi ko nahin pataa, Nahin pataa, Nahin hai pataa, nahin hai pataa.

Voh tha hiranya garbh srishti se pehle vidyamaan. Vohi to saare bhoot jaatee ka swami mahaan. jo hai astitvamaana dharti aasmaan dhaaran kar. Aise kis devta ki upasana kare hum havi dekar?

Jis ke bal par tejomay hai ambar. Prithvi hari bhari sthapit sthir. Swarg aur sooraj bhi sthir. Aise kis devta ki upasana kare hum havi dekar?

Garbh mein apne agni dhaaran kar paida kar, Vyapa tha jal idhar udhar neeche upar, Jagaa jo devon ka ekameva pran bankar, Aise kis devta ki upasana kare hum havi dekar?

Om ! Srishti nirmata swarg rachaiyta purvaj rakhsa kar. Satya dharma palak atul jal niyamak raksha kar. Phaili hain dishayen bahu jaisi uski sab mein sab par, Aise hi devta ki upasana kare hum havi dekar, Aise hi devta ki upasana kare hum havi dekar.”

 

Here's a translation from Sanskrit (by Prof: Raimundo Panikkar, courtesy Google)At first was neither Being nor Nonbeing.
There was not air nor yet sky beyond.
What was wrapping? Where? In whose protection?
Was Water there, unfathomable deep?

There was no death then, nor yet deathlessness;
of night or day there was not any sign.
The One breathed without breath by its own impulse
Other than that was nothing at all.

Darkness was there, all wrapped around by darkness,
and all was Water indiscriminate, Then
that which was hidden by Void, that One, emerging,
stirring, through power of Ardor, came to be.

In the beginning Love arose,
which was primal germ cell of mind.
The Seers, searching in their hearts with wisdom,
discovered the connection of Being in Nonbeing.

A crosswise line cut Being from Nonbeing.
What was described above it, what below?
Bearers of seed there were and mighty forces,
thrust from below and forward move above.

Who really knows? Who can presume to tell it?
Whence was it born? Whence issued this creation?
Even the Gods came after its emergence.
Then who can tell from whence it came to be?

That out of which creation has arisen,
whether it held it firm or it did not,
He who surveys it in the highest heaven,
He surely knows - or maybe He does not!
I discovered later that it was an extract from the Rigveda. In the Rig Veda, there is a sukta or a great hymn called Nasadiya Sukta.

1.2. NASADIYA SUKTA NARRATION
The NASADIYA SUKTA also of Rig Veda gives another account which says " In the beginning there was neither existence nor non- existence, no realm, no sky, no air, no earth. There was neither mortality nor immortality, neither any form nor name, neither day nor night.; Darkness concealed darkness. There was, however, only one thing: 'Breath which breathed breathlessly.' This breath desired to create and there was creation. The Gods themselves were not there. How was it formed or was it not formed at all? God only knows; Maybe he knows; Maybe he knows not"2
Thus desire- Kama ( desire or lust ) is found to be the cause of creation. Whose desire was that? No one knows. From 'ASAT' -( Non-being) arose 'SAT'- (being). The opposites that are yet complementary entities whose interaction produced and maintained everything.
Does this not sound like the saying " The Lord said 'let there be light ' and there was light"?
The music for the the title track was done by the famous composer Vanraj Bhatia. The track was a mixture of Sanskrit Slokas from Rigveda, and their translations in Hindi.
One of the singers of the Vedas was Mr. Gauri Shankar, I was an active Chinamayite then. Mr Gauri Shankar had attended the Chinmaya Balavihar Camp at the Sandeepany Sadhnalaya Ashram at Powai and taught us some shlokas. He also told us that he is one of the singers of the title track of Bharat Ek Khoj, that made me watch the serial. I was so proud to know that I know one of the persons in the credits of the track.

List of Episodes

1. Bharat Mata Ki Jai

2. The Beginnings

3. The Vedic People and the Rigveda

4. Caste Formation

5. Mahabharatha Part 1

6. # Mahabharatha Part 2

1. Republics and Kingdoms

2. Acceptance and Negation of Life

3. Chankya and Chandragupta Part 1

4. Chankya and Chandragupta Part 2

5. Ashoka Part 1

6. Ashoka Part 2

7. Sangam Period and Sillapadirakam Part 1

8. Sangam Period and Sillapadirakam Part 2

9. The Classical Age

10. Kalidasa Part 1

11. Kalidasa Part 2

12. Bhakti

13. Chola Empire Part 1

14. Chola Empire Part 2

15. Delhi Sultanate Part 1 (Arrival of Turk-Afgan)

16. Delhi Sultanate Part 2 (Prithvi Raj Raso)

17. Delhi Sultanate Part 2 (Padmavat)

18. Synthesis

19. Vijaynagar Empire

20. Fall of Vijaynagar

21. Akbar Part 1 (Deem-E-Ilahi)

22. Akbar Part 2

23. Golden India

24. Aurangzeb Part 2

25. Aurangzeb Part 2

26. Shivaji Part 1

27. Shivaji Part 2

28. Company Bahadur

29. Tipu Sultan

30. Bengal Renaissance and Raja Ram Mohan Roy

31. 1857 - Part 1

32. 1857 - Part 2

33. East India Company -Indigo Revolt

34. Mahatma Phule

35. Sir Syed Ahmed Khan

7 DONT'S AFTER A MEAL

7 DONT'S AFTER A MEAL

* Don't smoke-Experiment from experts proves that smoking a cigarette after meal is comparable to smoking 10 cigarettes (chances of cancer is higher).

* Don't eat fruits immediately - Immediately eating fruits after meals will cause stomach
to be bloated with air. Therefore take fruit 1-2 hr after meal or 1hr before meal.

* Don't drink tea - Because tea leaves contain a high content of acid. This substance will
cause the Protein content in the food we consume to be hardened thus difficult to digest.

* Don't loosen your belt - Loosening the belt after a meal will easily cause the intestine to
be twisted &blocked.

* Don't bathe - Bathing will cause the increase of blood flow to the hands, legs & body
thus the amount of blood around the stomach will therefore decrease. This will weaken the digestive system in our stomach.

* Don't walk about - People always say that after a meal walk a hundred steps and you
will live till 99. In actual fact this is not true. Walking will cause the digestive system to
be unable to absorb the nutrition from the food we intake.

* Don't sleep immediately - The food we intake will not be able to digest properly. Thus
will lead to gastric & infection in our intestine.

LIGHTING THE EVENING LAMP

Lighting The Evening Lamp

I have always seen my mother light a small silver lamp in the mornings and evenings in front of the deities in our small pooja room at home. It used to set me thinking that in the days of electricity what was the significance of lighting the lamp. As far as my knowledge goes people in the olden days used to get up early and sleep early. As there was no electricity in those days lamps were lit. I am sure most of us would have questioned our parents. I want this article to enlighten people on why we light the lamp.

Lamps are lit during prayers, festivals, celebrations, religious ceremonies, at opening ceremonies/events where it is usually kept burning up to the end of the ceremony/event.
Lighting lamps is considered auspicious.
Clarified butter (Ghee) or oil is used to light a lamp, it is believed that the clarified butter or oil represents the ego within us, and this needs to be removed or burnt off.
Light represents knowledge and darkness represents ignorance. Lighting one oil lamp enables the lighting of countless number of lamps, just as one knowledgeable person can enlighten others with his knowledge.
Light represents the presence of God as we believe that he is the authority that gives us knowledge and removes ignorance ( as in the Bhagavad Geeta, where Krishna advises Arjuna).
All of mankind is in search of peace and this ultimately comes from the realization of ultimate truth and knowledge. A diya or deep is an oil lamp lit such that everything outside and below the rim of the lamp is dark. The inside of the lamp glows with the flame of the wick, and the trajectory of the light is upwards. Each diya represents a human being.
Once the lamp is lighted, the darkness recedes to bottom of the lamp but does not go away. By lighting the lamp, the individual not only illuminates himself but also everything around him so that the inflated ego is put in its proper place. The ego is not destroyed but transcended by the light of patience, compassion, love, and respect for all beings.
In the darkness of night, all one sees from a distance are the identical flickering lights of the lamps, not the lamps themselves. The row of lamps indicates a row of people. It tells us that it is the illuminated part.
Patience, compassion, love and respect for all beings that unites us in a world of darkness.


Why do we do Aarti?
Aarti being performed with Camphor has a spiritual significance. Camphor burns itself out completely without leaving a trace. Camphor represents our Vasanas, unmanifest desires. So also if we were to take refuge in the Lord, obtain knowledge, these desires will get burnt out. Although the camphor burns itself out, it emits a nice perfume. On a human plane it means that we should sacrifice ourselves to serve society, in the process spread the perfume of love and happiness to all.
We close our eyes while performing the Aarti as if to look within. The Self or Atman is within us. Self realization can be achieved by knowing thyself, with the flame of knowledge.
At the end of the aarti we place the hands over the flame and touch our eyes and top of the head. It means that may the light that illumined the Lord light up my vision, may my thoughts be pure and beautiful. With the Aarti comes the flame which signifies light. There can be light in our lives only if we have knowledge. In an era of darkness there would be ignorance, we would be perpetually running to fulfill our vasanas resulting in unhappiness and stress all around

MANGO PICKLE

Mango pickle
Ingredients
Raw mangoes - 500 gms.
Fenugreek seeds - 3 tbsp.
Fennel seeds - 4 tbsp.
Red chilly powder - 2 tbsp.
Turmeric powder - 2 tsp.
Mustard seeds - 3 tbsp.
Mustard oil - 350 mls.
Salt As per taste

Method
Cut raw mangoes into half, remove seed and then cut ¾th inch sized pieces. Apply turmeric powder and salt, rub nicely and then keep it for half an hour. Drain out excess moisture.
Grind fenugreek seeds, fennel seeds and mustard seeds to a coarse
powder.
Heat mustard oil until smoking point, remove and let it cool.
Mix fenugreek seeds, fennel and mustard powder with red chili powder.
Add half of the mustard oil to this mixture and rub this spice and oil mixture to the mango pieces. Mix thoroughly.
Put this into an earthenware jar and pour the remaining mustard oil.
Cover the jar with a muslin cloth and keep it in the sun for 5-6 days.
Make sure you stir the contents o f the jar for the first two weeks at least once a day. This is to ensure that the mango pieces are always in contact with the oil.

Note: In most of the Indian pickles, salt and oil are used as preservatives.