Mahatma Gandhi-his idea of Basic Education.

All along Mahatma Gandhi favored drastic changes in country’s basic education.

The core of Mahatma Gandhi’s proposal was the introduction of productive handicrafts

In school curriculum. The idea was not simply to introduce handicrafts as a compulsory

subject, but to make the learning of a craft the axis of the entire teaching program. It

implied a radical restructuring of the sociology of school knowledge in India, where

productive handicrafts had been associated with the lower class of people.

Knowledge of the production processes involved in crafts, such as spinning, weaving, leatherwork, pottery, metal-work, basket-making and book-binding, was the specialty of the poor class of society.. Many of them

belonged to the category of untouchables. India’s indigenous tradition of education and

the colonial education system had emphasized the skills such as literacy

which the upper castes had a monopoly.  

Mahatma  Gandhi’s proposal

intended to stand the education system on its head. The social philosophy

of basic education thus favoured the child belonging to the lowest stratum of society.

It implied a program of social transformation. It sought to alter the symbolic meaning

of education and thereby to change the established structure of opportunities.

The rationale Mahatma Gandhi proposed for the introduction of production processes in

school was not as startling as this interpretation. The rationale he proposed was that it

must be self-supporting, as far as possible, for two reasons. One was purely financial:

that a poor society could not provide education to all its children unless schools could

generate the physical and financial resources to run them. The other was political: that

financial self-sufficiency alone could protect schools from dependence on the State and

interference by it. As values, both self-sufficiency and autonomy were close to Mahatma  Gandhi’s heart.

They belonged to his vision of a society based on truth and non-violence. Financial  self-sufficiency was linked to truth, and autonomy to non-violence. An individual

that did not participate directly in the process of production for survival could afford

to truth for long. Such an individual or institution would have to depend on the State to

extent that would make violence, in one form or another, inevitable. A State system of

education was a contradiction of Mahatma Gandhi’s view of education. The possibility of

developing the resources for its own maintenance showed a way out of this anomaly.

The idea of productive schools clearly came from the two communities Mahatma had

established in South Africa. Phoenix  Farm, started in 1904, and Tolstoy Farm,

established in 1910, provided him with a lasting interest and faith in the potential of life

rural commune. The first of these experiments was apparently inspired by John Ruskin’s Unto this Last.

Mahatma Gandhi drew three lessons from this book, or rather, as Louis Fischer has explained,

Mahatma Gandhi read three messages into the book.

 The first message was that the benefit of all is

what a good economy is all about; the second was that earnings from manual work su

that of a barber have the same value as mental work such as that of a lawyer; and the

one was that a life worth living was that of a laborer or craftsman. Mahatma Gandhi in

autobiography that he decided to put these messages into practice as soon as he had

read Ruskin’s book on a train journey.

The kind of life that Mahatma Gandhi’s ‘basic education’ proposal projected as the ‘good’ life

was first practiced by him at Phoenix Farm and, somewhat more rigorously at

Tolstoy Farm a little later. As the name indicates, by the time of this latter experiment,

He had read the works of, and had established contact with, the Russian writer and thinker Leo Tolstoy.

The inspiration Mahatma Gandhi received from Tolstoy spanned a wide range of

concerns. Prominent among them was to fight the sources of violence in human society.

Tolstoy’s celebration of the individual’s right to live in peace and freedom, negation of

all forms of oppression, brought him close to Mahatma Gandhi.

The right to autonomy that Mahatma Gandhi’s educational plan assigns to the teacher

of the school’s daily curriculum is consistent with the libertarian principles he shared

with Tolstoy. Mahatma Gandhi wanted to free the Indian teacher from the slavery of the bureaucracy.

The schoolteacher’s job had come to be defined under colonial rule as one transmitting

elucidating the forms and content of knowledge selected by bureaucratic authorities for

inclusion in the prescribed textbook. Exposing the link between the mandatory use of

textbooks and the feeble position of the teacher, Mahatma  Gandhi wrote: ‘If textbooks

are vehicle for education, the living word of the teacher has very little value. A teacher

who teaches from textbooks does not impart originality to his pupils.’

 Gandhi’s basic education

plan implied the end of the teacher’s subservience to the prescribed textbook and the

curriculum. For one thing, it presented a concept of learning that could not be fully

implemented with the help of textbooks. More important, however, was the freedom and

authority that the basic education plan gave to the teacher in matters concerning the

curriculum. It was a libertarian plan inasmuch as it denied the State the power to decide

precisely what the teacher must do in the classroom. In accordance with his wider

philosophy of social life and politics, this aspect of Mahatma Gandhi’s educational plan implied a dramatic reduction of state’s sphere of authority.

The Arya Samaj Path of Indian Religion.

Swami Dayanand Saraswati.

Arya Samaj.

A reformer of different character was Dayanand Sarasvati, who was trained as a yogi but steadily lost faith in yoga and many other aspects of Hinduism. After traveling widely as an itinerant preacher, he founded the Arya Samaj in 1875, and it rapidly gained ground in the west of India. Dayanand rejected image worship, sacrifice, and polytheism and claimed to base his doctrines on the four Vedas as the eternal word of God. Later Hindu scriptures were judged critically, and many of them were believed to be completely evil. The Arya Samaj did much to encourage Hindu nationalism, but it did not disparage the knowledge of the West, and it established many schools and colleges. Among its members was the revolutionary Lala Lajpat Rai.

Society Of Aryans, vigorous reform sect of modern Hinduism, founded in 1875 by Dayananda Sarasvati , whose aim was to reestablish the Vedas, the earliest Hindu scriptures, as revealed truth. He rejected all later accretions to the Vedas as degenerate but, in his own interpretation, included much post-Vedic thought, such as the doctrines of karman and of rebirth.

The Arya Samaj has always had its largest following in West and North India. It is organized in local samaj that send representatives to provincial samajas and to an all-India samaja. Each local samaja elects its own officers in a democratic manner.The Arya Samaj opposes idolatry, animal sacrifice, ancestor worship, a caste system based on birth rather than on merit, untouchability, child marriage, pilgrimages, priestly craft, and temple offerings. It upholds the infallibility of the Vedas, the doctrines of karman and rebirth, the sanctity of the cow, the importance of the individual sacraments samskaras, the efficacy of Vedic oblations to the fire, and programs of social reform. It has worked to further female education and intercaste marriages, has built missions, orphanages, and homes for widows, and has undertaken famine relief and medical work. It has also established a network of schools and colleges. From its beginning it was an important factor in the growth of nationalism. It has been criticized, however, as overly dogmatic and militant on occasion and as having exhibited an aggressive intolerance toward both Christianity and Islam.

Saint Ramanuja.

Ramanuja. 1017-1137.

South Indian theologian and philosopher, the single most influential thinker of devotion.        After a long pilgrimage, Ramanuja settled in Shrirangam, where he organized temple worship and founded centers to disseminate his doctrine of devotion to Lord Vishnu.                              He provided an intellectual basis for the practice of bhakti in three major commentaries,          the Ved-artha-samgraha ,on the Veda, the Shri-bhasya, on the Brahma-sutras, and the Bhagavad-gita-bhasya .

Ramanuja's contribution to philosophy was that thought is necessary in man's search for the ultimate truth, that the phenomenal world is real and provides real knowledge, and that the exigencies of daily life are not detrimental or even contrary to the life of the spirit.

In this emphasis he is the antithesis of Shankara, of whom he was sharply critical and whose interpretation of the scriptures he disputed. Like other adherents of the Vedanta system, Ramanuja accepted that any Vedanta system must base itself on the three "points of departure," namely, the Upanisads, the Brahma-sutras, brief exposition of the major tenets of the Upanisads, and the Bhagavadgita.

He wrote no commentary on any single Upanisad but explained in detail the method of understanding the Upanisads in his first major work, the Vedartha-samgraha. Much of this was incorporated in his commentary on the Brahma-sutras, the Shri-bhasya, which presents his fully developed views. His commentary on the Bhagavadgita, the Bhagavadgita-bhasya, dates from a later age.

Although Ramanuja's contribution to Vedanta thought was highly significant, his influence on the course of our religion has been even greater. By allowing the urge for devotional worship bhakti into his doctrine of salvation, he aligned the popular religion with the pursuits of philosophy and gave bhakti an intellectual basis. The goal of the human soul, is to serve God just as the body serves the soul. Anything different from God is but a shesa of him, a spilling from the plenitude of his being. All the phenomenal world is a manifestation of the glory of God Vibhuti, and to detract from its reality is to detract from his glory.

Ramanuja transformed the practice of ritual action into the practice of divine worship and the way of meditation into a continuous loving pondering of God's qualities; both in turn a subservient to bhakti, the fully realized devotion that finds God. Thus, release is not merely a shedding of the bonds of transmigration but a positive quest for the contemplation of God, who is pictured as enthroned in Vaikuntha, with Sri and attendants. Ramanuja's doctrine, was passed on and augmented by the Shrivaisnavas, got divided into two sub-castes, the northern, or Vadakalai, and the southern, or Tenkalai.

At issue between the two schools is the question of God's grace. According to the Vadakalai, who in this seem to follow Ramanuja's intention more closely, God's grace is certainly active in man's quest for him but does not supplant the necessity of man's acting toward God.

The Tenkalai, on the other hand, hold that God's grace is paramount and that the only gesture needed from man is his total submission to God. The site of Ramanuja's birthplace in Shriperumbudur is now commemorated by a temple and an active Vishist-advaita school. The doctrines he promulgated still inspire a lively intellectual tradition, and the religious practices he emphasized are still carried on in the two most important Vaishnava centres in southern India, the Ranganatha temple in Shrirangam, and the Venkateshvara temple in Tirupati,

The Holy River Ganges.

The king of Ayodhya, Sarga desired children, but had no issue. His elder wife was Keshini, the second Sumati, sister fo Garuda. With these twain he came to Himalaya to practise an austere penace. When a hundred years had passed, the rishi Brigu, whom he had honoured, granted him his wish. "Thou shalt attain unparalledled renown amongst men," he said. "One wife of thine, Keshini, shall bring forth a son who will perpetuate thy race; the other shall give birth to sixty thousand sons." Those daughters of kings were glad, and worshipping the rishi, they asked: "Who of us shall have one son and who many we would know." He asked their will. "Who wished for which boon?" he said, "a single perpetuator of the line, or sixty thousand famous sons, who yet shall not carry on their race?" Then Keshini chose the single son, and Garuda's sister chose the many. Thereafter the king revered the saint with circumambulation and obeisance and returned again to his city.

In due course Keshini bore a son, to whom was given the name of Asamanja. Sumati bore a gourd, and when it burst open the sixty thousand sons came forth; the nurses fostered them in jars of ghee until they grew up to youth and beauty. But the eldest son, the child of Keshini, loved them not, but would cast them in the Sarayu river and watch them sink. For this evil disposition and for the wrongs he did to citizens and honest folk Asamanja was banished by his father. But he had himself a son named Suman, fair-spoken to all and well-beloved.

When many years had passed Sagara determined to celebrate a mighty sacrifice. The place thereof was in the region between the Himalaya and Vindhya. There the horse was loosed, and Anshumat, a mighty chariot-fighter, followed to protect it. But it befell that a certain Vasava, assuming the form of a rakshasi, stole the horse away. Then the Brahman priests informed the king, and commanded him to slay the thief and bring back the horse, lest the sacrifice should fail and misfortune should follow all concerned.

Then Sagra sent forth his sixty thousand sons to seek the horse. "Search ye the whole sea-girt earth," he said, "league by league, above the ground and under it." Then those great princes ranged the earth. Finding not the horse upon its surface, they began to delve with hands like thunderbolts and mighty ploughshares, so that the earth cried out in pain. Great was the uproar of the serpents and the demons that were slain then. For sixty thousand leagues they dug up as if they would reach the very lowest deep. They undermined all Jambudwipa, so that the very gods feared and went into counsel unto Brahma. "O great grandsire," they said, "the sons of Sagara are great grandsire," they said, "the sons of Sagara are digging out the whole earth and many are slain therefor. Crying that one hath stolen Sagara's horse, they are bringing havoc on every creature." Then Brahma answered: "This entire earth is Vasudeva's consort; he is indeed her lord, and in the form of Kapila sustains her. By his wrath the sons of Sagara will be slain. The farsighted have forseen the fated digging out of earth and the death of Sagara's sons; therefore ye should not fear." Then having riven the entire earth and ranged it all about, the sons returned to Sagara and asked wht they sould do, for they cound not find the horse. But he commanded them again to burrow in the earth and find the horse. "Then cease," he said, "not before." Again they plunged into the depths. There they came on the elephant Virupasksha, who bears on his head the whole world with its hills and forests, and when he shakes his head that is an earthquake. Him they duly worshipped and passed on. To the south they came next, to another mighty elephant, Mahapadma, like a moutain, bearing the earth upon his head; in like wise they came also to the western elephant named Saumanasa, and thence to the north , where is Bhadra, white as snow, bearing the earth upon his brow. Passing him by with honour, they came to quarter east of north; there they beheld the eternal Vasudeva in the shape of Kapila, and hard by him they saw the horse browsing at his will. They rushed on Kapila in fury , attacking him with trees and boulders, spades and ploughs, crying: "Thou art the theif; now thou hast fallen into the hands of the sons of Sagara." But Kapila uttered a dreadful roar and flashed a burning flame upon the sons that burned them all to ashes. No news of this came back to Sagara.

Then Sagara addressed his grandson Suman, bidding him seek his uncles and learn their fate, "and," said he, "there be strong and mighty creatures dwelling in earth; honour such as do not hinder thee, slay those that stand against thee, and return, accomplishing my desire." He came in turn to the elephants of east and south and west and north, and each assured him of success; at last he came to the heap of ashes that had been his uncles; there he wailed with heavy heart in bitter grief. There, too, he beheld the wandering horse. He desired to perform the funeral lustrations for the uncles, but he might find no water anywhere. Then he beheld Garuda passing through the air; he cried to Anshumat: "Do not lament; for these to have been destroyed is for the good of all. The great Kapila consumed these mighty ones; therefore thou shouldst not make for them the common offerings fo water. But there is Ganga, daughter of Himalaya; let that purifier of every world lave this heap of ashes; then shall the sixty thousand sons of Sagara attain to Heaven. Do thou also take back the horse and bring to completion thy grandfather's sacrifice." Then Anshumat led back the horse, and Sagara's ceremony was completed; but he knew not how to bring the daughter of Himalaya. Sagara died and Anshumat was chosen king. He was a great ruler, and at last resigned the kingdom to his son and retired to dwell alone in the Himalayan forests; in due time he also passed away and reached Heaven. His son, King Dilipa, constantly pondered how to bring down Ganga, that the ashes might be purified and Sagara's sons attain heaven. But after thirty thousand years he, too, died, and his son Bhagiratha, a royal saint, followed him. Ere long he consigned the kingdom t the care of a counsellor and went to the Himalayan forests, performing terrible austerities for a thousand years to draw down Ganga from the skies. Then Brahma was pleased by his devotion, and appeared befre him, granting a boon. He prayed that the ashes of the sons of Sagara shuld be washed by the water of Ganga, and that a son might speedily be born to him. "Great is thy aim," replied the grandsire, "but thou shuldst invoke Mahadeva to recieve the falling Ganga,for earth may not sustain her. None but he who sways the trident may sustain her fall."

Then fr a year Bhagiratha worshipped Shiva; and he, well pleased, undertook to bear the moutain-daughter's fall, receiving the river upon his head. Then Ganga, in mighty torrent, cast herself down from Heaven on to Shiva's gracious head, thinking in her pride: "I shall sweep away the Great God in my waters, down to the nether regins." But when Ganga fell n Siva's tangled locks she might not even reach the earth, but wandered there unable to escape for many a long year. Then Bhagiratha again engaged in many hard austerities, till Shiva would set the river free; she fell in seven streams, three to the east, three to the west, while one followed after Bhagiratha's car. The falling waters made a sound like thunder; very wonderful the earth appeared, covered with fallen and falling fishes, tortises, and porpoises. Devas, rishis, gandharvas, and yakshas witnessed the great sight from their elephants and horses and self-moving charoits; every creature marvelled at the coming down of Ganga. The presence of the shining devas and the brightness of their jewels lit up the sky as if with a hundred suns. The heavens were filled with speeding porpoises and fishes like flashes of bright lightning; the flakes of pale foam seemed like snow-white cranes crossing heavy autumn clouds. So Ganga fell, now directly onward, now aside, sometimes in ascending hills, then falling again into a valley. Very fair was that vision of the water falling from Heaven the Shandara's head, and from Shandara's head to earth. All the shining ones of Heaven and all the creatures of the earth made haste to touch the sacred waters that wash away all sin. Then Bhagiratha went forward on his car and Ganga followed; and after her came the devas and rishis, asuras, rakshasas, gandharvas and yakshas, kinnaras and nagas adn apsaras, and all creatures that ingabit water went along with them. But as Ganga followed Bhagiratha she flooded the sacrificial ground of the puissant Jahna, and he was greatly angered, and in his wrath he drank up all her wondorus waters. Then the deities besought and prayed him t set her free, till he relented and released her through his ears, and again she followed Bhagiratha's car. At last she came to the mighty river Ocean and plunged into the nether regions; there she laved the heap of ashes, and the sixty thousand sons of Sagara were cleansed of every sin and attained to Heaven.

Then Brahma spoke to Bhagiratha. "O most puissant of men, "he said, "the sons of Sagara have now gone up to Heaven, and shall endure there so long as ocean's waters endure on earth. Ganga shall be called thy daughter and receive thy name. Now do thou make offerings of this sacred water for thy ancestors, Sagara and Anshumat and Dilipa, and do thou thyself bathe in these waters and, free from every sin, ascend to Heaven, whither I now repair." "And, O Rama," said Vishvamitra, "I have now related to thee the tale of Ganga. May it be well with thee. He that recites this history wins fame, long life, and Heaven; he that heareth attains to legnth of days, and fulfilment of desires, and the wiping out of every sin."

Indian Religion-Vedanta.

Vedant

one of the six orthodox systems (darshans) of Indian philosophy and the one that forms the basis of most modern schools of Hinduism. The term Vedanta means in Sanskrit the "conclusion" (anta) of the Vedas, the earliest sacred literature of India; it applies to the Upanishads, which were elaborations of the Vedas, and to the school that arose out of the "study" (mimamsa) of the Upanishads. Thus Vedanta is also referred to as Vedanta-Mimamsa ("Reflection on Vedanta"), Uttara-Mimamsa ("Reflection on the Latter Part of the Vedas"), and Brahma-Mimamsa ("Reflection on Brahma").The three fundamental Vedanta texts are: the Upanishads (the most favoured being the longer and older ones such as the Brhadaranyaka, the Chandogya, the Taittiriya, and the Katha); the Brahma-sutras (also called Vedanta-sutras), which are very brief, even one-word interpretations of the doctrine of the Upanishads; and the famous poetic dialogue, the Bhagavadgita ("Song of the Lord"), which, because of its immense popularity, was drawn upon for support of the doctrines found in the Upanishads.No single interpretation of the texts emerged, and several schools of Vedanta developed, differentiated by their conceptions of the nature of the relationship and the degree of identity between the individual self (atman) and the absolute (brahma). These range from the nondualism (Advaita;) of the 8th-century philosopher Shankara to the theism (Vishistadvaita; ) of the 11th-12th-century thinker Ramanuja and the dualism (Dvaita; ) of the 13th-century thinker Madhva.The Vedanta schools do, however, hold in common a number of beliefs; transmigration of the self (samsara) and the desirability of release from the cycle of rebirths; the authority of the Veda on the means of release; that Brahman is both the material (upadana) and the instrumental (nimitta) cause of the world; and that the self (atman) is the agent of its own acts (karma) and therefore the recipient of the fruits, or consequences, of action (phala). All the Vedanta schools unanimously reject both the heterodox (nastika) philosophies of Buddhism and Jainism and the conclusions of the other orthodox (astika) schools (Nyaya, Vaishesika, Samkhya, Yoga, and, to some extent, the Purva-Mimamsa).The influence of Vedanta on Indian thought has been profound, so that it may be said that, in one or another of its forms, Hindu philosophy has become Vedanta. Although the preponderance of texts by Advaita scholastics has in the West given rise to the erroneous impression that Vedanta means Advaita, the nondualistic Advaita is but one of many Vedanta schools.

Indian Religion.Mimansa.

Mimansa

Sanskrit MIMAMSA ("Reflection," or "Critical Investigation"), one of the six orthodox systems (darshans) of Indian philosophy. Probably the earliest of the six, Mimamsa is fundamental to Vedanta and has deeply influenced the formulation of Hindu law.The aim of Mimamsa is to give rules for the interpretation of the Vedas and to provide a philosophical justification for the observance of Vedic ritual. Because Mimamsa is concerned with the earlier parts of the Vedas (called the Karmakanda), it is also referred to as Purva-Mimamsa ("Prior Study"), or Karma-Mimamsa ("Study of the Acts"). Vedanta, which deals with the later portion, the Upanisads, is called Uttara-Mimamsa ("Posterior Study"), or Jñana-Mimamsa ("Study of Knowledge").The earliest work of the system is the Mimamsa-sutra of Jaimini (c. 4th century BC). A major commentary was written by Shabarasvamin (1st century BC?), who was followed by a long line of interpreters and teachers, most notably Kumarila Bhatta and Prabhakara (7th/8th century Ad).The goal of Mimamsa is to provide enlightenment on dharma, which in this school is understood as the set of ritual obligations and prerogatives that, if properly performed, maintains the harmony of the world and furthers the personal goals of the performer. Since dharma cannot be known through either perception or reasoning, one must depend on revelation in the Veda, which is considered eternal, authorless, and absolutely infallible.To find out what one's dharma is on specific occasions, examples of direct or implicit command in the Vedic text must be relied upon. If the command is implicit, one must judge from parallels; if a text fails to detail how a priest proceeds with an action, this detail must be provided from other texts. This concern with precise statement necessitates meticulous examination of the structure of a sentence conveying a command.Although it was purely practical in origin, Mimamsa became a powerful intellectual force. Mimamsa, in the person of Kumarila, is traditionally credited with the defeat of Buddhism in India. It has also contributed to the direction, method, and content of Hindu erudition.

The Upanishada.

Upanishada.

also spelled UPANISAD, Sanskrit UPANISAD ("session"), any of the speculative texts that contain elaborations in prose and verse of the Vedas, the most ancient Hindu sacred literature.The name Upanishad implies sitting at the feet of the teacher, and the Upanishads, of which approximately 108 are known, record the views of a succession of Hindu teachers and sages who were active as early as 1000 BC and who flourished about 600 BC. The texts form the basis of much of later Indian philosophy. They represent the final stage in the tradition of the Vedas, so the teaching based on them is known as the Vedanta (Sanskrit: "Conclusion of the Veda"). The older Upanishads may be part of the Brahmanas (commentaries) of their respective Vedas but are distinguished from them both by increased philosophical and mystical questioning and by their diminished concern with Vedic deities and sacrificial rites.The special philosophical concern of the Upanishads is with the nature of reality. There is a development toward the concept of a single supreme being, and knowledge is directed toward reunion with it. Of fundamental importance to all Hindu thought is the equation in some of the Upanishads of atman (the self) with Brahman (ultimate reality). The nature of morality and of eternal life is discussed, as are such themes as the transmigration of souls and causality in creation.The appearance in Europe in the early 19th century of second- and third-hand translations of the Upanishads had a profound effect on certain thinkers, notably in Germany; the philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer fully acknowledged their influence on his thought

he Hindu Religion. The Daily Offering.

Daily Offerings.

There are five obligatory offerings: (1) offerings to the gods (food taken from the meal); (2) a cursory offering (bali) made to "all beings"; (3) a libation of water mixed with sesame offered to the spirits of the deceased; (4) hospitality; and (5) recitation of the Veda. Although some traditions prescribe a definite ritual in which these five "sacrifices" are performed, in most cases the five daily offerings are merely a way of speaking about one's religious obligations in general.Other private ritesThe morning and evening adorations (sandhya), being a very important duty of the traditional householder, are mainly Vedic in character, but they have, by the addition of Puranic and Tantric elements, become lengthy rituals. If not shortened, the morning ceremonies consist of self-purification, bathing, prayers, and recitation of mantras, especially the Gayatri mantra (Rigveda 3.62.10), a prayer for spiritual stimulation addressed to the Sun. The accompanying ritual includes (1) the application of marks on the forehead, characterizing the adherents of a particular religious community, (2) the presentation of offerings (water, flowers) to the Sun, and (3) meditative concentration. There are Shaiva and Vaishnava variants, and some elements are optional. The observance of the daily obligations, including the care of bodily purity and professional duties, leads to mundane reward and helps to preserve the state of sanctity required to enter into contact with the divine.

Manu-Smrity.

Manu Smriti.

(Sanskrit: "Tradition of Manu"), traditionally, the most authoritative of the books of the Hindu code (Dharma-shastra) in India. Manu-smrti is the popular name of the work, which is officially known as Manava-dharma-shastra. It is attributed to the legendary first man and lawgiver, Manu. In its present form, it dates from the 1st century BC.The Manu-smrti prescribes to the Hindu his dharma--i.e., that set of obligations incumbent on him as a member of one of the four social classes (varnas) and engaged in one of the four stages of life (ashramas). It contains 12 chapters of stanzas, which total 2,694. It deals with cosmogony, the definition of the dharma, the sacraments (samskaras), initiation (upanayana) and study of the Veda, marriage, hospitality, obsequies, dietary restrictions, pollution and means of purification, the conduct of women and wives, and the law of kings. The last leads to a consideration of matters of juridical interest, divided under 18 headings, after which the text returns to religious topics, such as donations, rites of reparation, the doctrine of karman, the soul, and hell. The text makes no categorical distinction between religious law and practices and secular law in its treatment. Its influence has been monumental.

The Vedas and the Sutras.

Grihya Sutra.

any of the Hindu religious manuals detailing the domestic (grhya) religious ceremonies performed by the householder over his own fire. They make up, together with the Shrauta-sutras (which deal with the grand Vedic sacrifices) and the Dharma-sutras (which deal with rules of conduct), the Kalpa-sutras--collections of brief aphoristic texts that emerged within the different schools of the Veda (the earliest sacred literature of India). The Grhya-sutras describe the ceremonies (samskaras) that mark each stage of a man's life, from the moment of his conception to his final death rites; the five daily sacrifices (mahayajña); seasonal ceremonies; and those observed on special occasions, such as house-building or cattle-breeding.

Kalpa Sutra.

manual of Hindu religious practice, a number of which emerged within the different schools of the Veda, the earliest sacred literature of India. Each manual explains the procedures (kalpa) of its school as it applies to three different categories: the sacrificial ritual (the Shrauta-sutras; see Shrauta-sutra), the domestic ritual (the Grhya-sutras; see Grhya-sutra), and the conduct of life (the Dharma-sutras; see dharmashastra). They are written in the short aphoristic style of the sutra (literally "thread") so that they could be committed easily to memory. Kalpa is one of six fields of scholarly discipline known as vedangas ("accessories to the Vedas"). As they are regarded to be of human origin, they are considered Smrti ("tradition") as distinct from the earlier Vedic literature, which is Shruti ("revelation).

Shraut Sutra.

any of a number of Hindu ritual manuals used by priests engaged in the performance of the grander Vedic sacrifices, those requiring three fires and the services of many specialized priests. The manuals are called shrauta (from Sanskrit shruti, "revelation") because they are based directly on the older Vedic literature considered as a class to be Shruti, or revealed. The Shrauta-sutras, together with the Grhya-sutras (dealing with domestic ceremonies) and the Dharma-sutras (dealing with rules of conduct), make up the Kalpa-sutras, collections of brief aphoristic texts that emerged within the different schools of the Veda. Each Shrauta-sutra guides the priests of its own particular Vedic school in the performance of specialized functions. The texts deal with such subjects as the laying of the three fires, the full and new moon ceremonies, and the various animal and soma sacrifices.

Importance of Vedas.

Importance of the VedasThe Veda, meaning "Knowledge," is a collective term for the sacred scriptures of the Hindus. Since about the 5th century BC, the Veda has been considered to be the creation of neither human nor god; rather, it is regarded as the eternal Truth that was in ancient times directly revealed to or "heard" by gifted and inspired seers (rishis) who transcribed it into the most perfect human language, Sanskrit. Although most of the religion of the Vedic texts, which revolves around rituals of fire sacrifice, has been eclipsed by Hindu doctrines and practices, the absolute authority and sacredness of the Veda remains a central tenet of virtually all Hindu sects and traditions. Even today, as it has been for several millennia, parts of the Veda are memorized and recited as a religious act of great merit

It is generally thought among scholars that the Indus Valley civilization was terminated by the arrival of bands of semi-nomadic tribesmen, the Aryans, who descended into India from the northwest, probably in the first half of the 2nd millennium BC. An important aspect of Aryan religious life was the bard-priest who composed hymns in praise of gods, to be sung or chanted at sacrifices. This tradition was continued in the invaders' new home in northern India until a sizable body of oral religious poetry had been composed. By about 1000 BC this body of chanted poetry had apparently grown to unmanageable proportions, and the best of the poems were formed into an anthology called Rigveda, which was then canonized. It was not committed to writing, but text and chanting formula were carefully handed down by word of mouth from one generation to the next, up to the present period. The poems in the Rigveda are arranged according to the priestly families who used and, presumably, had composed the hymns. Shortly after this a new Veda, called the Yajurveda, basically a methodical rearrangement of the verses of the Rigveda with certain additions in prose, was created to serve as a kind of manual for the priest officiating at the sacrifices. At approximately the same time, a third Veda, the Samaveda, was created for liturgical purposes. The Samaveda was also derived from the hymns of the Rigveda, but the words were distorted by the repetition of syllables, pauses, prolongations, and phonetic changes, as well as the insertion of certain meaningless syllables believed to have magical significance. A fourth Veda, the Atharvaveda, was accepted as a Veda considerably later and is quite unrelated to the other three. It represents the more popular aspects of the Aryan religion and consists mostly of magic spells and incantations.Each of these Vedas has several ancillary texts, called the Brahmanas, Aranyakas, and Upanisads, which are also regarded as part of the Vedas. These ancillary texts are concerned primarily with mystical speculations, symbolism, and the cosmological significance of the sacrifice. The Vedic literature was oral and not written down until very much later, the first reference to a written Vedic text being in the 10th century AD. In order to ensure the purity of the Vedas, the slightest change was forbidden, and the priests devised systems of checks and counterchecks, so that there has been virtually no change in these texts for about 3,000 years. Underlying this was the belief that the correct recitation of the Vedas was "the pivot of the universe" and that the slightest mistake would have disastrous cosmic consequence unless expiated by sacrifice and prayer. The Vedas are still chanted by the Brahmin priests at weddings, initiations, funerals, and the like, in the daily devotions of the priests, and at the now rarely held so-called public sacrifices.From the Vedic literature it is apparent that music played an important part in the lives of the Aryan peoples, and there are references to stringed instruments, wind instruments, and several types of drums and cymbals. Songs, instrumental music, and dance are mentioned as being an integral part of some of the sacrificial ceremonies. The bow harp (vina), a stringed instrument (probably a board zither) with 100 strings, and the bamboo flute were the most prominent melody instruments. Little is known of the music, however, apart from the Vedic chanting, which can still be heard today.

The Vedas. The Rig Veda.

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The Rig Veda is the oldest of the Vedas. All the other Vedas are based upon it and consist to a large degree of various hymns from it. It consists of a thousand               such hymns, each hymn averaging around ten verses.

The Rig Veda is the book of Mantra. It contains the oldest form of all the Sanskrit mantras. It is built around a science of sound which comprehends the meaning and power of each letter. Most aspects of Vedic science like the practice of yoga, meditation, mantra and Ayurveda can be found in the Rig Veda and we still                  use many terms that come from it.

While originally several different versions of the Rig Veda were said to exist, only one remains. Its form has been structured in several different ways to guarantee its authenticity and proper preservation through time.

The practice of chanting Hymns dates back at least 3,000 years and is probably the world's oldest continuous vocal tradition. The earliest collection, or Samhita, of Vedic texts is the Rig Veda, containing about 1,000 hymns. These are chanted in syllabic style--a type of heightened speech with one syllable to a tone. Three levels of pitch are employed: a basic reciting tone is embellished by neighboring tones above and below, which are used to emphasize grammatical accents in the texts. These Rig-Veda hymns are the basis for a later collection, the Sam-Veda.

Although there are other Vedas written, the most important is the Rig Veda, which contains over 1,000 hymns directed to the Gods.  The content of these hymns includes praises, blessings, sacrifices, and curses.  These hymns are the major way in which we praised  Gods.  The subject of the hymns is the personification of the powers of nature.  The hymns are written in poetic form:
"This light hath come, of all the lights the fairest,
The brilliant brightness hath been born, far-shining,
Urged on to prompt the sun-god's shining power.
Night and Morning clash not, nor yet do linger." 
Every hymn has very poetic language.  This can be chanted, creating a worshipful mood in a person. When you chant these words, you are transported into another state of mind.  At the end of the Rig Veda, 
The scholars added a summary of the philosophy of the Veda. The Upanishads became the basis of Hinduism.  They serve as a summary of all of the knowledge of the Veda as well as a commentary on them.
The religion that sprang forth from the Vedas helped shape the society.  For example, the Rig Veda and Vedic literature were used in the development of the caste system.  The Rig Veda describes how the God Purusha sacrificed himself. Each of the pieces of his body developed into a different portion of society. His mouth became the priests; his arms became the Kshatriyas or warriors; his thighs became the Vaisya or merchants, farmers, herders and artisans; and the feet became the Sudra or slaves and servants. Thus, while each part of society had its own role, it was still and a single body.

The Vedas. The Sam Veda.

Sam Veda.

Sam Veda is the religious chant of, the expression of hymns from the Vedas.                         The practice dates back at least 3,000 years and is probably the world's                                        oldest continuous vocal tradition. The earliest collection, or Samhita, of Vedic                                                  texts is the Rigveda, containing about 1,000 hymns. These are chanted in                                                      syllabic style--a type of heightened speech with one syllable to a tone.                                                      Three levels of pitch are employed: a basic reciting tone is embellished by                                  neighboring tones above and below, which are used to emphasize                                       grammatical accents in the texts. These Rig-veda hymns are the basis                                                                                        for a later collection, the Sama-veda, theVeda of the Chants, the hymns of                                                         which are sung in a style that is more florid, melodic, and melismatic,                                                               one word to two or more note, rather than syllabic, and the range of tones is                         extended to six or more. A simple, numerical system of notation--together with                                               an oral tradition that stresses absolute precision in text, intonation, and bodily                                           gestures--has served to perpetuate this stable tradition and to ensure its uniformity                               throughout India. The Vedas are chanted today exactly as they were centuries ago.

1.    Invite ye Indra with a song to drink your draught of Soma steeds, juice,
All-conquering Satakratu, most munificent of all who live
2. Sing ye a song, to make him glad, to Indra, Lord of tawny
The Soma-drinker, O my friends!
3. This, even this, O Indra, we implore: as thy devoted friends
The Kanvas praise thee with their hymns!
4. For Indra, lover of carouse, loud be our songs about the juice
Let poets sing the song of praise.
5. Here, Indra, is thy Soma draught, made pure upon the sacred grass:
Run heither, come and drink thereof
6. As a good cow to him who milks, we call the doer of good deeds
To our assistance duty by day.
7. Hero, the Soma being shed, I pour the juice for thee to drink
Sate thee and finish thy carouse!
8. The Soma, Indra, which is shed in saucers and in cups for thee,
Drink thou, for thou art lord thereof!
9. In every need, in every fray we call, as friends, to succour us,
Indra, the mightiest of all.
10. O come ye hither, sit ye down: to Indra sing ye forth your song,
Companions, bringing hymns of praise.

The word Sama means sweet songs or hymns. It is said that Sama Veda                                                                      had originally 1000 sakhas but only 13 are available now -
1. Ranayana
2. Shatyamukhya
3. Vyasa
4. Bhaguri
5. Oulundi
6. Goulgulvi
7. Bhanuman-oupamayava
8. Karati
9. Mashaka Gargya
10. Varsgagavya
11 Kuthuma
12. sgakugitra
13. Jaimini
At present only three Ramayana, Kuthuma and Jaimini, are available.                                                                  Samaveda consists of 1875 mantras. These mantras are divided into                                                                                                      two broad groups- puravachika (650 mantras) and Uttarachika (1225 manrtas).                                                     Purvachika is further divided into four sections or kandas: agneya, aindra,                                               pavamana and aranya kandas. The Uttarachika consists of 21chapters.

The Four Vedas. Yajur Ved.

The Yajur Veda is also a liturgical collection and was made to meet the demands of a ceremonial religion. The Yajur Veda practically served as a guidebook for the priests who execute sacrificial acts muttering simultaneously the prose prayers and the sacrificial formulae yajus. It is similar to ancient Egypt’s “Book of the Dead”. There are no less than six complete recessions of Yajur Veda - Madyandina, Kanva, Taittiriya, Kathaka, Maitrayani and Kapishthala.

The Yajur Veda is thought to contain hymns for ceremonial purposes. But a closer look reveals that hymns in Yajur Veda also deal with the art of living a successful and wholesome life. It was used by the adhvaryu, priests who recited appropriate formulas from the Yajur-Veda while actually performing the sacrificial actions. There are six complete recessions of Yajur Veda - Madyandina, Kanva, Taittiriya, Kathaka, Maitrayani and Kapishthala.
There are two primary schools of Yajur-Veda are shukla and krishna -

·         Shukla Yajur-Veda (vaajasaaniiya) consists of 40 chapters in metrical form. Sukla Yajur-Veda follows the Aditya sampradaya,  and is more popular in the North India. Out of the 17 sakas in this school, only 2 are available now.

·         Krishna Yajur-Veda (taittiriiya) has some portions which are in metrical form and some portion in prose forms and some portions contains a mixure of both.

·         Krishna Yajur-Veda follows the Brahma sampradaya,  and is more popular in the South India. It was supposed to be having 82 branches or sakas out of which only 4 are available now.

Socialism

SOCIALISM means the discarding of private property by transforming it into public property. Socialism advocates to divide public income equally and indiscriminately among the population. It reverses the policy of Capitalism.

Socialism arises in the final phases of capitalism. Capitalism leaves behind a division of society into an upper, a middle and a wage earner. In this division the proprietary class is purely parasitic, consuming without producing. As the inexorable operation of the economic law of rent makes this class richer and richer as the population increases, its demand for domestic servants and for luxuries of all kinds creates parasitic enterprise and employment for the middle class and the proletariat, not only withdrawing masses of them from productive industry, but also fortifying itself politically by a great body of workers and employers who vote with the owners because they are as dependent on the owners' unearned incomes as the owners themselves.Meanwhile the competition of employers for custom, which leads to the production of a dozen articles to satisfy the demand for one, leads to disastrous crises of feverish overproduction alternated with periods of bad trade ("booms" and "slumps"), making continuous employment of the proletariat impossible. When wages fall to a point at which saving also is impossible, the unemployed have no means of subsistence except public relief during the slumps.It is in this phase of capitalistic development, attained in Great Britain in the 19th century, that socialism arises as a revolt against a distribution of wealth that has lost all its moral plausibility. Colossal wealth is associated with unproductiveness, and sometimes with conspicuous worthlessness of character; and lifetimes of excessive toil beginning in early childhood leave the toiler so miserably poor that the only refuge left for old age is a general workhouse, purposely made repulsive to deter proletarians from resorting to it as long as they have strength enough left for the most poorly paid job in the labour market. The inequalities become monstrous: hardworking men get four or five shillings a day (post-War rates) in full view of persons who get several thousands a day without any obligation to work at all, and even consider industrial work degrading. Such variations in income defy all attempts to relate them to variations in personal merit. Governments are forced to intervene and readjust distribution to some extent by confiscating larger and larger percentages of incomes derived from property (income tax, supertax, and estate duties) and applying the proceeds to unemployment insurance and extensions of communal services, besides protecting the proletariat against the worst extremities of oppression by an elaborate factory code which takes the control of workshops and factories largely out of the hands of their proprietors, and makes it impossible for them to exact grossly excessive hours of labour from their employees or to neglect their health, physical safety, and moral welfare with complete selfishness.This confiscation of private property incomes for public purposes without any pretence of compensation, which is now proceeding on a scale inconceivable by Victorian ministers, has destroyed the integrity of private property and inheritance; and the success with which the confiscated capital has been applied to communal industries by the municipalities and the central Government, contrasted with the many failures and comparative costliness of capitalist industrial adventure, has shaken superstition that private commercial management is always more effective and less corrupt than public management. In particular, the British attempt to depend on private industry for munitions during the War of 1914-8 nearly led to defeat; and the substitution of national factories was so sensationally successful, and the post-War resumption of private enterprise, after a brief burst of illusory prosperity, was followed by so distressing a slump, that the reversal of the relative efficiency prestige of socialism and capitalism was vigorously accelerated, leaving capitalism unpopular and on the defensive, whilst confiscation of private capital, communal enterprise, and nationalisation of the big industries, grew steadily in popularity in and out of Parliament.This change in public opinion had already deeply penetrated the middle class, because of the change for the worse in the position of the ordinary employer. He, in the 19th century, was admittedly master of the industrial, and, after the Reform of 1832, of the political situation. He dealt directly and even domineeringly with the proprietary class, from which he hired his land and capital either directly or through agents who were his servants and not his masters. But the sums required to set on foot and develop modern industrial schemes grew until they were out of reach of ordinary employers. The collection of money to be used as capital became a special business, conducted by professional promoters and financiers. These experts, though they had no direct contact with industry, became so indispensable to it that they are now virtually the masters of the ordinary routine employers. Meanwhile the growth of joint-stock enterprise was substituting the employee-manager for the employer, and thus converting the old independent middle class into a proletariat, and pressing it politically to the left.With every increase in the magnitude of the capital sums required for starting or extending large industrial concerns comes the need for an increase in the ability demanded by their management; and this the financiers cannot supply: indeed they bleed industry of middle class ability by attracting it into their own profession. Matters reach a point at which industrial management by the old-fashioned tradesman must be replaced by a professionally trained and educated bureaucracy; and as Capitalism does not provide such a bureaucracy, the industries tend to get into difficulties as they grow by combination (amalgamation), and thus outgrow the capacity of the managers who were able to handle them as separate units. This difficulty is increased by the hereditary element in business.An employer may bequeath the control of an industry involving the subsistence of thousands of workers, and requiring from its chief either great natural ability and energy or considerable scientific and political culture, to his eldest son without being challenged to prove his son's qualifications, whilst if he proposes to make his second son a doctor or a naval officer he is peremptorily informed by the Government that only by undergoing an elaborate and prolonged training, and obtaining official certificates of qualification, can his son be permitted to assume such responsibilities. Under these circumstances, much of the management and control of industry gets divided between routine employers who do not really understand their own businesses, and financiers, who, having never entered a factory nor descended a mine shaft, do not understand any business except the business of collecting money to be used as capital, and forcing it into industrial adventures at all hazards, the result being too often reckless and senseless over-capitalisation, leading to bankruptcies (disguised as reconstructions) which reveal the most astonishing technical ignorance and economic blindness on the part of men in high repute as directors of huge industrial combinations, who draw large fees as the remuneration of a mystical ability which exists only in the imagination of the shareholders.II. All this steadily saps the moral plausibility of capitalism. The loss of popular faith in it has gone much further than the gain of any widespread or intelligent faith in socialism. Consequently the end of the first quarter of the 20th century finds the political situation in Europe confused and threatening: all the political parties diagnosing dangerous social disease, and most of them proposing disastrous remedies. National governments, no matter what ancient party slogans they raise, find themselves controlled by financiers who follow the slot of gigantic international usuries without any public aims, and without any technical qualifications except their familiarity with a rule-of-thumb city routine quite inapplicable to public affairs, because it deals exclusively with stock exchange and banking categories of capital and credit. These, though valid in the money market when conducting exchanges of future incomes for spare ready money by the small minority of persons who have these luxuries to deal in, would vanish under pressure of any general political measure like--to take a perilously popular and plausible example--a levy on capital. Such a levy would produce a money market in which there were all sellers and no buyers, sending the Bank Rate up to infinity, breaking the banks, and bringing industry to a standstill by the transfer of all the cash available for wages to the national treasury. Unfortunately the parliamentary proletarian parties understand this as little as their capitalist opponents. They clamour for taxation of capital; and the capitalists, instead of frankly admitting that capital as they reckon it is a phantom, and that the assumption that a person with an income of  5 a year represents to the state an immediately available asset of 100 ready money, though it may work well enough as between a handful of investors and spendthrifts in a stockbroker's office, is pure fiction when applied to a whole nation, ignorantly defend their imaginary resources as if they really existed, and thus confirm the proletariat in its delusion instead of educating it.The financiers have their own ignis fatuus, which is that they can double the capital of the country, and thus give an immense stimulus to industrial development and production, by inflating the currency until prices rise to a point at which goods formerly marked 50 are marked 100, a measure which does nothing nationally but enable every debtor to cheat his creditor, and every insurance company and pension fund to reduce by half the provision for which it has been paid. The history of inflation in Europe since the War of 1914-8, and the resultant impoverishment of pensioners and officials with small fixed incomes, forces the middle classes to realise the appalling consequences of abandoning finance and industry direction to the unskilled, politically ignorant, unpatriotic "practical business men. 

Lord Jesus Christ.

Jesus Christ.    (BC0004 to AD 0032)

Born at Bethlehem

Crucified at Calvary.  He rose on the third day.

Resting Place     The Garden Tomb in Jerusalem.

Home:   Nazareth.

Parents:   Mary and Joseph.

The gospel tradition Sources, the history of the life, work, and death of Jesus of Nazareth reveals nothing of the Christian religion to which he gave rise. He lived and taught in a remote area on the periphery of the Roman Empire. His life was of short duration of 36 years, and knowledge of it remained hidden from most of his contemporary world. None of the sources of his life and work can be traced to Jesus himself. 

Jesus Christ did not leave a single known written word. Also, there are no contemporary accounts written of his life and death. What can be established about the historical Jesus depends almost without exception on Christian traditions, especially on the material used in the composition of the Gospels of Mark, Matthew, and Luke, which reflect the outlook of the later church and its faith in Jesus.

The Ten Commandments.

The Ten Commandments had no particular importance in Christian tradition until the 13th century, when they were incorporated into a manual of instruction for those coming to confess their sins.

You shall have no other God before me.

You shall not make for yourself a graven image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; you shall not bow down to them or serve them.

You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain; for the Lord will hold him guilty who takes his name in vain.

Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor, and do all your work; but the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord.

Honor your father and your mother.

You shall not kill.

You shall not commit adultery.

You shall not steal.

You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.

You shall not covet your neighbor's wife, or his manservant, or his maidservant.

Christmas and Santa Claus

Santa Claus is a legendary figure who is the traditional patron of Christmas all over the world. His popular image is based on traditions associated with a 4th-century Christian Saint Nicholas.

According to tradition, he was born in the ancient Lycian seaport city of Patara, and, when young, he traveled to Palestine and Egypt. He became bishop of Myra. He distributed gifts to the needy.

His generosity and kindness gave rise to legends of miracles he performed for the poor and unhappy. He was reputed to have given marriage dowries of gold to three girls whom poverty would otherwise have forced into lives of prostitution, and he restored to life three children who had been chopped up by a butcher and put in a brine tub. In the Middle Ages, devotion to Nicholas extended to all parts of Europe.

The resulting image of Santa Claus in the United States crystallized in the 19th century, and he has ever since remained the patron of the gift-giving festival of Christmas.

Under various guises Saint Nicholas was transformed into a similar benevolent, gift-giving figure in The Netherlands, Belgium, and other northern European countries. In the United Kingdom Santa Claus is known as Father Christmas.

He became the patron saint of Russia and Greece; of charitable fraternities and guilds; of children, sailors, unmarried girls, merchants, and pawnbrokers; and of such cities as Fribourg, Switz., and Moscow. Thousands of European churches were dedicated to him, one as early as the 6th century, built by the Roman emperor Justinian I, at Constantinople (now Istanbul). Nicholas' miracles were a favourite subject for medieval artists and liturgical plays, and his traditional feast day was the occasion for the ceremonies of the Boy Bishop, a widespread European custom in which a boy was elected bishop and reigned until Holy Innocents' Day (December 28).After the Reformation, Nicholas' cult disappeared in all the Protestant countries of Europe except Holland, where his legend persisted as Sinterklaas (a Dutch variant of the name Saint Nicholas). Dutch colonists took this tradition with them to New Amsterdam (now New York City) in the American colonies in the 17th century. Sinterklaas was adopted by the country's English-speaking majority under the name Santa Claus, and his legend of a kindly old man was united with old Nordic folktales of a magician who punished naughty children and rewarded good children with presents. The resulting image of Santa Claus in the United States crystallized in the 19th century, and he has ever since remained the patron of the gift-giving festival of Christmas.Under various guises Saint Nicholas was transformed into a similar benevolent, gift-giving figure in The Netherlands, Belgium, and other northern European countries. In the United Kingdom Santa Claus is known as Father Christmas.

Nicholas' existence is not attested by any historical document, so nothing certain is known of his life except that he was probably bishop of Myra in the 4th century. According to tradition, he was born in the ancient Lycian seaport city of Patara, and, when young, he traveled to Palestine and Egypt. He became bishop of Myra soon after returning to Lycia. He was imprisoned during the Roman emperor Diocletian's persecution of Christians but was released under the rule of Emperor Constantine the Great and attended the first Council (325) of Nicaea. After his death he was buried in his church at Myra, and by the 6th century his shrine there had become well known. In 1087 Italian sailors or merchants stole his alleged remains from Myra and took them to Bari, Italy; this removal greatly increased the saint's popularity in Europe, and Bari became one of the most crowded of all pilgrimage centres. Nicholas' relics remain enshrined in the 11th-century basilica of San Nicola, Bari.Nicholas' reputation for generosity and kindness gave rise to legends of miracles he performed for the poor and unhappy. He was reputed to have given marriage dowries of gold to three girls whom poverty would otherwise have forced into lives of prostitution, and he restored to life three children who had been chopped up by a butcher and put in a brine tub. In the Middle Ages, devotion to Nicholas extended to all parts of Europe. He became the patron saint of Russia and Greece; of charitable fraternities and guilds; of children, sailors, unmarried girls, merchants, and pawnbrokers; and of such cities as Fribourg, Switz., and Moscow. Thousands of European churches were dedicated to him, one as early as the 6th century, built by the Roman emperor Justinian I, at Constantinople (now Istanbul). Nicholas' miracles were a favourite subject for medieval artists and liturgical plays, and his traditional feast day was the occasion for the ceremonies of the Boy Bishop, a widespread European custom in which a boy was elected bishop and reigned until Holy Innocents' Day (December 28).After the Reformation, Nicholas' cult disappeared in all the Protestant countries of Europe except Holland, where his legend persisted as Sinterklaas (a Dutch variant of the name Saint Nicholas). Dutch colonists took this tradition with them to New Amsterdam (now New York City) in the American colonies in the 17th century. Sinterklaas was adopted by the country's English-speaking majority under the name Santa Claus, and his legend of a kindly old man was united with old Nordic folktales of a magician who punished naughty children and rewarded good children with presents. The resulting image of Santa Claus in the United States crystallized in the 19th century, and he has ever since remained the patron of the gift-giving festival of Christmas.Under various guises Saint Nicholas was transformed into a similar benevolent, gift-giving figure in The Netherlands, Belgium, and other northern European countries. In the United Kingdom Santa Claus is known as Father Christmas.

The Christmas Tree.

The Christmas tree, depicts Adam and Eve with a fir tree hung with apples representing the Garden of Eden. The Germans make a paradise tree in their homes on December 24, the religious feast day of Adam and Eve. Christmas trees were the height of fashion by the 19th century. They were also popular in Austria, Switzerland, Poland, and The Netherlands. In China and Japan, Christmas trees, introduced by western missionaries in the 19th and 20th centuries, were decorated with intricate paper designs.

It is an evergreen, fir tree, decorated with lights and ornaments as a part of Christmas festivities. The use of evergreen trees, wreaths, and garlands as a symbol of eternal life was an ancient custom of the Egyptians. Tree worship, by way of decorating the house and barn with evergreens at the New Year to scare away the devil and of setting up a tree for the birds during Christmastime; it survived further in the custom, also observed in Germany, of placing a Yule tree at an entrance or inside the house in the midwinter holidays.