MAREK KAPOLKA

If, video replaces our thoughts with moving images, then games will replace our thoughts with systems. Whereas non-interactive media provide representations, games provide simulations. As such, the cognitive processes used to understand a game are completely different from those used to understand passive media. Even on a basic level the player is required to learn a complex network of causes and effects in order to successfully navigate any game.

This mode of thinking has the potential to create a framework for scientific curiosity. In science, as in game analysis, the observer asks a series of “why” questions down through layers of complexity in order to understand the systems that drive their subject. With the systemic fluency provided by playing games and a finely developed sense of agency, gamers will not only have a lucid vision of the social order they want to live in but will also be able to design the rules of such a society.

Thomas Asmuth

In Homo Ludens the act of Play was quoted as being ‘older than culture’ itself by Dutch historian and theorist Johan Huizinga. In his argument,

Play transcends the milestones by which we would frame ‘civilization’ and ‘culture’. The impetus for play and gaming is an innate drive in man and other mammals and, when framed within Huizinga’s theory, the topic ‘Future of Games’ sounds hyperbolic. The desire to play and game is instinctual stuff that we carry with us all the time.

Contemporary popularization and interest in gaming is firmly rooted in the massive rise of the personal computing and networking industries. The games industry regularly outsells Hollywood with annual sales in the 100’s of billions of US dollars. These cyclopean revenues have inspired a creative generation of software engineers, artists and sociologists. These game culturalisms are all focused on the nature of gaming and the possibilities it can kindle.

This emergent global gaming culture transcends geographical, social, and national boundaries: this is where the Future of Games gains traction. There is a very real sense of community formation within, and surrounding, gaming systems. It may be one of the best ways humanity can collaborate and collectively bring forth models for discourse, change and cultural improvement. The Future of Games is in the massively interconnected society that thrives within games and the evolving culture that surrounds them.

Source: https://generic.ephesusday.com/marek-kapolka/

Mohammed Khoiruzm Shah

In the same year that Sultan Mohammed Khoiruzm Shah, for some weighty reason, made peace ith the King of Khatai, I entered the mosque of ashghur, where I saw a boy of incomparable beauty id remarkably elegant in his form, such as those ho have been thus described : ‘ The master perfect- l you in bold and captivating manners, in tyranny, blandishment, forwardness, and severity: I never saw any mortal possessed of such beauty, such temper, such stature, and accomplishments ; but you may have been instructed by a fairy.’

He held in his hand the instruction to the syntax of Zemukslxery, and was repeating, “Zeid struck Omar, and became the injurer of Omar.” I said, “Young man, Khovaruzm and Khatai have made peace ; and does there still continue the contention between Omar and Zeid? ” He laughed, and asked where I was born? I answered, “At Shiraz.” He asked, “What have you of S&dy’s compositions?” I replied, in Arabic, “I am enamoured with the student of syntax, who attacks me as furiously as Zeid does Omar, and is so intent on repeating his lesson that he lifts not up his head; for how can the disdainful person look upon others?” He replied, “ The greater part of his verses to be met with in this country are in the Persian language; if you would repeat some of those we should more readily comprehend them.

Speak to men according to their capacity.” Whilst you fix your attention on syntax, our minds are bereft of reason; alas, thou ravisher of hearts, I am thinking on you only, and you are engrossed by Omar and Zeid. Probably some of the caravan had told him that I was SMy, for on the morning of our departure I saw him come running. He showed kindness and lamented my departure, saying, “How was it that you should have been so long without telling me that you are Sady, in order that I might have rendered you every service in my power? ” I answered, that I had not power to discover myself in his presence.

He added, “What objection can there be to your remaining here, and favouring us with your company a few days longer? ” I replied, “ I cannot, on account of the following incident which once befel me :I saw in the mountain a wise man, who, having retired from the world, dwelt in a cave. I asking why he did not frequent the city to relieve his mind? He replied, There dwell many of exquisite beauty: and where there is much clay, the elephants lose their footing.’ ” After making this speech, we mutually kissed and bid each other adieu. What benefit is there in kissing the cheek of a friend at the instant that you are bidding him adieu? It is like an apple with one cheek red and the other yellow. If I die not of grief on the day that I bid adieu, you will not consider me faithful in friendship.

Inhabitants of Baghdad

They asked one of the inhabitants of Baghdad his opinion of handsome youths. He replied, “No good is to be found amongst them as long as they appear delicate, for then they are insolent ; but when they become rough, they are courteous ; or, in other words, whilst handsome and delicate, their behaviour is rude ; and when they become rough, they are kind and friendly. The youth, whilst his face continues smooth, has bitter words and a morose disposition; when his beard appears and he is arrived at manhood, he mixes with society and cultivates friendship.”

Place with a beautiful girl

They asked a learned man, “ If a man is sitting in a secret place with a beautiful girl, the doors shut and the rivals asleep, the passions, inflamed and lust raging, (as the Arabs say, 4 The dates ripe and the watchman not hindering,’) whether he thought his virtue would protect him ? ” He replied, “Ifhe escapes from the beautiful girl, he will not escape from slanderers.”

If the man has not suffered his passions to

overcome his virtue, yet the suspicious world will think ill of him. One may

perchance restrain his passions, but he will not be able to curb men’s tongues.

Cage with a parrot

They shut up a crow in the same cage with a parrot, who, distressed at the other’s ugly appearance, was saying, ‘What is this detestable countenance, this odious form, this cursed object with unpolished manners? Thou crow of the desert, would to God we were as far asunder as the east is from the west. Whosoever should behold your face when he is rising, it would convert a goodly morning into a dark evening. Such an ill- fated wretch should have a companion like yourself; but where in the world can your equal be found? ”

What is the most strange, the crew was equally distressed by the society of the parrot, and lamenting his fate, complained of the vicissitudes of Fortune, and rubbing the claws of sorrow one against the other, was saying, “ What ill luck, Avah mean fate, what a reverse of fortune ! It suited my dignity to be strutting on a garden wall in company with another crow. It is sufficient imprisonment for a holy man that he should be compelled to associate with profligates. How far have I sinned, that in punishment thereof my life should be spent in a company with such a worthless conceited prattler? No one will approach a wall on which your picture is painted. If you had admittance into paradise, everyone would prefer hell to your company.”

I have brought this example to show, that

how much sever men of understanding may despise the ignorant, these are a

hundred times more distressed in the company of the wise.

A devotee being at a singing party in

company with some profligates, one of the beauties of Balk said to him, “If you

are displeased don’t look sour, for you are bitter enough to us already. In an

assemblage of roses and tulips, you resemble a dry stick placed in the midst; or

like a contrary wind, or intense coldness; or driven snow or frozen ice.”

The deliverance from Turkish rule brought with it a gradual revival

The Jugoslavs form a national unit and are ethnologically part of the Slavonic race. Jugoslav literature begins with translations of the Bible by Cyril and Methodius, the “Slavonic Apostles,” about the middle of the Ninth Century. During the first period of the nation’s literary history, from the Twelfth to the Fifteenth Century, several biographies and chronicles were produced.

Toward the end of the Fourteenth Century and until the beginning of the Nineteenth Century the Jugoslavs fell under the domination of the Turks, who practically arrested national life. There were, however, those who, despite this catastrophe, tried to carry on the traditions of their literature.

The deliverance from Turkish rule brought with it a gradual revival. At first, however, little was written in the Jugoslav languages (Serbian, Croatian, and Slovenian), because the printing presses throughout the country had been destroyed by the Turks. The books imported from Russia were printed in Russian, and were not familiar to the mass of readers. Dositey Obradovich (1739-1811), writing in the vernacular, became immensely popular, so much so that he was appointed Minister of Public Education, in which capacity he established the first Serbian college at Belgrade.

Vuk Karajich (1787-1864) is considered by many as the father of modern Serbian literature. He collected some ten volumes of national poetry and songs which served as an inspirational source for other writers.

Stefan Sremacs

The Jugoslavs have as yet no great novelist, but they have some successful short story writers, among whom Dr. Lazarevich (1851-1890) takes high rank. Another popular author is Stefan Sremacs, whom literary critics have dubbed the “Serbian Dickens.” Sima Matavulj, another much read author, paints vivid pictures of the Dalmatian and Montenegrin Serbians in his delightful stories.

The division designated as “Jugoslav” includes the political groups speaking the Serbian, Croatian, and Slovenian tongues. Certain territories, which were before 1914 under Austrian rule, are now joined with Serbia, forming Jugoslavia.

The short story is a comparatively recent development. In the three examples included in the present volume no one can fail to observe the folk element, which characterizes the work of the best Jugoslav writers.

Source: https://www.doholiday.com/jugoslavia/

Company of learned men

A sensible young man, who had made

considerable progress in learning and virtue, was at the same time so discreet,

that he would sit in the company of learned men without

littering a word. Once his father said to him, “My son, why do you not also say

something what you know? ”He replied, “I fear lest they should question me

about something of which I am ignorant, whereby I should suffer shame.”

Have you not heard of a Soofee that was

driving some nails into his sandals, when an officer laying hold of his sleeve,

said, ‘Come and shoe my horse? ’ Whilst you are silent, no one has any business

with you; but when you speak, you must be ready with your proofs.

Dispute with an infidel

A man, famous for his learning, happened to

have a dispute with an infidel, and finding that argument had

no effect, he gave up the contest and retired. Somebody said, “How happens it

that you, who possess so much superiority in learning, virtue, and wisdom, are

not a match for this infidel?” He replied, u My learning is the Koran, the

traditions of the prophet, and the doctrines of the fathers, which he will

neither hear nor believe ; and what use is there in my listening to his

blasphemy ? To him who will not be convinced by the Koran and the traditions,

the proper answer is, not to answer him.”

A wise man and disgrace

Galen, on seeing a blockhead lay hold of

the collar of a wise man and disgrace him, said, “If

this man had been really wise, matters would not have come to this pass with

the ignorant. Strife and contention will not happen between two wise men, and a

wise man will not contend with a blockhead. If an ignorant fellow in his

brutality speaks rudely, the wise man will answer him with mildness. Two wise

men will not break a hair: it is the same case between an obstinate person and

one of a mild disposition; but if they are both ignorant, they will break a

chain.”

Considered as unrivalled

Suhban Wahil has been considered as unrivalled in

eloquence, in so much that if he spoke before an assembly for the space of a

year, he did not repeat the same word twice; and if the same meaning recurred,

he expressed it in a different form: and this is one of the qualifications for

a courtier. Although a discourse be captivating and sweet, commanding belief

and admiration, yet when you have once delivered it repeat it not again; for

when you have once eaten sweetmeats it is enough.

Towards Turkish Republic

First steps towards the Republic

When we take a tour at the history section it is possible to name many civilizations such as Assyrians, Hittites, Cimmerians, Phrygians, Romans, Danisments, Etratna, Seljuks, llkhanids and Ottomans that though did not settle and remain for many years but lodged in Sivas.

Sivas is one of rare provinces in Turkey that still significantly conserves this cultural and historical heritage bestowed by its past. The facts that Sivas is one of the regions witnessing the Sivas Congress realized by Mustafa Kemal Ataturk on 4 September 1919 and then the foundation of Republic, increase

A beautiful example of Ottoman mosques built in the 19th century under the Western impression. Built by Kizil Arslan bin Ibrahim between years 1196-1197, Ulu Mosque is one of the oldest mosques of the city. It was restored during the reign of Izzettin Keykavus I, in 1212.

Even Evliya Celebi’s pen failed to express

Famous traveler Evliya Celebi says, “Languages are barren, pens are broken in its praise” for the Great Mosque.

The purpose of your Sivas visit does not matter; you must visit the Great Mosque by facing up to that challenging road between Kangal-Divrigi…

The structure is included in the UNESCO’s World Heritage List with its architectural features as well as the traditional Anatolian stonemasonry. It is a first in Turkey in this aspect. Stonemasonry of the kiblah (direction of Mecca) door is a tremendous work. This unique monument having its place in world art history with the name of ‘Divrigi Ulu Camii and Daru’l-Sifasi’ is constructed by Ahmet Shah the Ruler of Mengucek and the Sifahane (medical center) by Melike Turan, wife of Ahmet Shah in the period of Mengucek Beylik (1228). Three dimensional detailed geometric styles and ornaments, asymmetric figures carved into doors and walls must be seen.

Where to saty?

Best options for accommodation in Sivas are Fatih Hotel One of the most important values of Sivas is Kangal shepherd dogs. This brave, very strong, fast and agile breed is truly loyal to its owner. With their grey bodies, they look noble and beautiful.

Source: https://docappadocia.com/towards-turkish-republic/

Caravan trembling through fear

Sick and wounded he fell in with a caravan, which from necessity he followed. In the evening they arrived at a place that was infested by robbers. He saw the people of the caravan trembling through fear, and looking as if they expected to die. He said, “Be not afraid, for I am one amongst you who will encounter fifty men, and other men will support me.” The men, encouraged by his boasting, rejoiced at being in his company, and they supplied him with victuals and drink. The cravings of the young man’s appetite being very powerful, he ate and drank so much that at length the inner demon was quieted, and being overpowered with fatigue he fell asleep.

An old experienced man who had seen the world and was in the caravan, said, “0 companions, I am more afraid of your guard than of the robbers, for they tell a story of an Arab who, having collected together some money, would not sleep alone in his house, for fear of being robbed by the Lowrains, but got one of his friends to stay with him, from the apprehension he had of being alone. He stayed with him several nights; but, as soon as he got intelligence of the dimers, he seized them and made off.

The next morning, they saw the Arab despoiled lamenting. They asked, What can be the matter, excepting that the thieves may have stolen your money? He replied, ‘By God, not they; but the person who was the guard.’ I never thought myself secure from the serpent, because I knew his disposition.

A wound from the teeth of an enemy is most severe when it is given under the semblance of friendship. How do you know, my friends, but what this young man may be one of the thieves, who by stratagem has introduced himself amongst us, in order that, when he finds an opportunity, he may give intelligence to his comrades? My advice therefore is this, that we leave him asleep arid depart.”

The advice of the old man was approved by

his juniors; and as they were suspicious of this strong man, they took up their

baggage, and, leaving him asleep, departed. The young man, when the sun shone

on his shoulders, lifted up his head and discovered that the caravan was

departed. Lie wandered about a long time, without being able to find the road.

Thirsty and without food, he laid his head on the ground, in a state of

despondency: “Who will converse with me now that the yellow camels are departed?

A traveller has no friend besides a traveller. He is the readiest to distress a

traveller, who has not himself experienced the difficulties of travelling.” He

was uttering this sentence when the King’s son, having lost his attendants in

pursuit of game, happening to come to the spot, overheard him, and seeing him

of good appearance and in distressed circumstances, asked, from whence he was,

and how he came there? He gave a short account of what had befallen him ; and

the King’s son compassionating him, bestowed on him a garment and money, and

ordered a trusty person to accompany him, and see him safe to his own city. The

father was rejoiced at the sight of him, and thanked God for his safe return.

Heart desired

They asked a sick man, what his heart desired? He replied, “Only this, that it may not desire anything.” When the stomach is oppressed and the belly suffering pain, there is benefit in having all other matters in perfection.

Butcher in the city

A butcher in the city of Wasit, to whom the Soofees had contracted some debts was every day importuning them for payment, and made use of very harsh language. The society was much distressed at his reproaches, but had no remedy besides • patience. A holy man of their fraternity said, “It is easier to satisfy the appetite with a promise of food, than to put off the butcher with promise of payment. It is better to relinquish the favour of the great man, than to suffer violence from his porter. It is better to die from want of meat, than to endure the importunities of the butcher.”

Grievously wounded

A certain gallant man was grievously wounded in an expedition against the Tartars. Somebody said, “Such a merchant has an unguent, of which perhaps he might give you a little were you to ask it.” The merchant was notorious for his parsimony. If the sun had been on his table instead of bread, no one would have seen light in the world until the Day of Judgment. The gallant man replied, “ If I ask for the unguent, it is uncertain whether he will give it or not; and-if he should give it, the effect is doubtful. On every account, to ask of such a man is a deadly poison.”

That which you obtain by entreaty from mean

people may benefit the body, but it injures the soul; and the sages have said,

‘If the water of immortality, for example, was to be sold in exchange** for

reputation, the wise man would not purchase it; for an honorable death is

preferable to a disgraceful life.’ If you eat colocynth from the hand of a kind

man, it is preferable to a sweetmeat given by one who has a crabbed

countenance.

Diminution of affection

A certain learned man, who had a large family to support with very scanty means represented his case to a great man, who entertained a favorable opinion of him. He disapproved of the application, deeming it unworthy of a man of spirit. When you are dissatisfied with your fortune, approach not your dearest friend, or you will turn his pleasure into sorrow. When you expose your distress, preserve a lovely and smiling appearance: he never fails in his pursuit, who maintains a joyful countenance. It is said, that the great man increased his pension a little, but treated him with less respect than formerly.

After some time, perceiving his diminution of affection, he said, “Evil is that food which you obtain in the time of distress; the kettle is indeed upon the hearth, but your reputation diminished. He increased my bread and lessened my honour: it is better to be destitute of means, than to suffer the disgrace of solicitation.”

Certain Richman

I heard of a certain rich man, who was as

notorious for parsimony as Hatim Tai for liberality. His external form was

adorned with wealth, but the meanness of his disposition was so radiated, that

he never gave even a loaf of bread to any one: he would not have bestowed a

scrap on the cat of Abu Horiera, nor thrown a bone to the dog of companions of

the cave. In short, no one ever saw his door open nor his table spread. A

Durwesh never knew his victuals, excepting by the smell; no bird ever picked up

any crumbs that fell from his table. I heard that he was sailing on the

Mediterranean Sea towards Egypt, with all the pride of Pharaoh in his

imagination, according to the word of God, ‘Until the time that he was

drowned.’ Suddenly a contrary wind assailed the ship, in the manner as they

have said, ‘What can the heart do that it may not record with your sorrowful disposition;

the north wind is not always favourable for the ship.’ He lifted up the hands

of imploration, and uttered ineffectual lamentations. God hath said, ‘“When you

embark on ships offer up your prayers unto the Lord.’

Of what benefit will it be to the servant

in the time of need, to lift up his hands in imploration, which are extended

during prayers, but when any favour is wanted are folded under his arms?

‘Bestow comfort on others with silver and gold, and from thence derive also

benefit yourself. Know thou, that this edifice of yours will remain, use

therefore bricks of gold and bricks of silver.’

They have related, that he had poor

relations in Egypt, who were enriched with the remainder of his wealth. At his

death they rent their old garments and made up silks and damask. In that same

week I saw one of them riding a fleet horse, with an angelic youth running

after him. I said, “Alas if the dead man should return amongst his tribe and

relations, the heirs would feel more sorrow in restoring him his estate than

they suffered on account of his death.” On the strength of the acquaintance

which had formerly subsisted between us, I pulled his sleeve, and said, “Enjoy

thou, 0 good man of happy endowments, that wealth which the late possessor

accumulated to no purpose.”

Certain rich man

I heard of a certain rich man, who was as

notorious for parsimony as Hatim Tai for liberality. His external form was

adorned with wealth, but the meanness of his disposition was so radiated, that

he never gave even a loaf of bread to any one: he would not have bestowed a

scrap on the cat of Abu Horiera, nor thrown a bone to the dog of companions of

the cave. In short, no one ever saw his door open nor his table spread. A

Durwesh never knew his victuals, excepting by the smell; no bird ever picked up

any crumbs that fell from his table. I heard that he was sailing on the

Mediterranean Sea towards Egypt, with all the pride of Pharaoh in his

imagination, according to the word of God, ‘Until the time that he was

drowned.’ Suddenly a contrary wind assailed the ship, in the manner as they

have said, ‘What can the heart do that it may not record with your sorrowful disposition;

the north wind is not always favourable for the ship.’ He lifted up the hands

of imploration, and uttered ineffectual lamentations. God hath said, ‘“When you

embark on ships offer up your prayers unto the Lord.’

Of what benefit will it be to the servant

in the time of need, to lift up his hands in imploration, which are extended

during prayers, but when any favour is wanted are folded under his arms?

‘Bestow comfort on others with silver and gold, and from thence derive also

benefit yourself. Know thou, that this edifice of yours will remain, use

therefore bricks of gold and bricks of silver.’

They have related, that he had poor

relations in Egypt, who were enriched with the remainder of his wealth. At his

death they rent their old garments and made up silks and damask. In that same

week I saw one of them riding a fleet horse, with an angelic youth running

after him. I said, “Alas if the dead man should return amongst his tribe and

relations, the heirs would feel more sorrow in restoring him his estate than

they suffered on account of his death.” On the strength of the acquaintance

which had formerly subsisted between us, I pulled his sleeve, and said, “Enjoy

thou, 0 good man of happy endowments, that wealth which the late possessor

accumulated to no purpose.”

Debilitated fisherman

A powerful fish fell into the net of a debilitated

fisherman, who not being able to hold it, the fish got the

better of him, snatched the net out of his hand, and escaped. A boy went to

fetch water from the river: the flood tide came in and carried him away. The

net had hitherto always taken the fish, but this time the fish escaped and

carried away the net. The other fisherman grieved at the loss, and reproached

him, that having such a fish in his net, he had not been able to hold it. He

replied, “Alas, my brethren what could be done, seeing it was not my lucky day,

and the fish had yet a day remaining? A fisherman without luck cachet not fish

in the Tigris, neither will the fish without fate expire on the dry ground.

Killed a millipede

One who had neither hands nor feet having killed

a millipede, a pious man passing by said, “Holy God, although

this had a thousand feet, yet when fate overtook him he could not escape from

one destitute of hands and feet. When the enemy who seizes the soul comes

behind, fate ties the feet of the swift man. At that moment when the enemy

attacks us behind, it is needless to draw the Ivianyan bow.”

Fat blockhead clad

I saw a fat blockhead clad in

a rich dress and mounted on an Arab horse, with fine Egyptian linen round his

head. Someone said, “0 Sady, what is your opinion of this notable dress on this

ignorant brute?” I replied, “It is like bad writing executed in water-gold. In

truth, amongst men he is an ass with the form and bleating of a calf. You

cannot say this brute resembles a man excepting in his garment, his turban, and

external form: of all his property, estate, and bodily faculties, it is not

lawful to take anything but his blood. If a man oi noble birth should happen to

be poor, imagine not that his dignity will be thereby lessened; but should a

Jew be so rich as to drive a gold nail into his silver threshold, do not on

that account esteem him noble.”

Obtain a grain of silver

A thief said to a mendicant, “Are you not

ashamed to hold out your hand to every sordid wretch to obtain a grain of silver?”

He replied, “It is better to stretch out the hand for a grain of silver than to

have it cut off for having stolen a dang and a half.”

Certain rich man

I heard of a certain rich man, who was as

notorious for parsimony as Hatim Tai for liberality. His external form was

adorned with wealth, but the meanness of his disposition was so radiated, that

he never gave even a loaf of bread to any one: he would not have bestowed a

scrap on the cat of Abu Horiera, nor thrown a bone to the dog of companions of

the cave. In short, no one ever saw his door open nor his table spread. A

Durwesh never knew his victuals, excepting by the smell; no bird ever picked up

any crumbs that fell from his table. I heard that he was sailing on the

Mediterranean Sea towards Egypt, with all the pride of Pharaoh in his

imagination, according to the word of God, ‘Until the time that he was

drowned.’ Suddenly a contrary wind assailed the ship, in the manner as they

have said, ‘What can the heart do that it may not record with your sorrowful disposition;

the north wind is not always favourable for the ship.’ He lifted up the hands

of imploration, and uttered ineffectual lamentations. God hath said, ‘“When you

embark on ships offer up your prayers unto the Lord.’

Of what benefit will it be to the servant

in the time of need, to lift up his hands in imploration, which are extended

during prayers, but when any favour is wanted are folded under his arms?

‘Bestow comfort on others with silver and gold, and from thence derive also

benefit yourself. Know thou, that this edifice of yours will remain, use

therefore bricks of gold and bricks of silver.’

They have related, that he had poor

relations in Egypt, who were enriched with the remainder of his wealth. At his

death they rent their old garments and made up silks and damask. In that same

week I saw one of them riding a fleet horse, with an angelic youth running

after him. I said, “Alas if the dead man should return amongst his tribe and

relations, the heirs would feel more sorrow in restoring him his estate than

they suffered on account of his death.” On the strength of the acquaintance

which had formerly subsisted between us, I pulled his sleeve, and said, “Enjoy

thou, 0 good man of happy endowments, that wealth which the late possessor

accumulated to no purpose.”

Romania Clayton

Thomas J. Clayton who visited many

countries passed through Bulgaria also. Going from Varna to Ruse and then on to

Romania

Clayton was “surprised” to discover that both Bulgaria and

Romania were “such fertile countries.” He wrote that he “never saw better

pasture lands or wheat fields” anywhere else in the world. These lands reminded

him of the prairie lands of Illinois. He was also surprised to find that there

were no farm houses like in America. The lands, he stated, were “tilled by

peasants who live in miserable little huts, or in villagesOur route lay through

a spur of the Balkan Mountains and was very picturesque very beautiful and

entertainingThe scenery of these mountains is soft and has a soothing rather

than a stirring influence upon the beholder.” The author believed that if peace

prevailed in these parts of the world, Bulgaria and Romania “will soon become

rich and prosperous.”

There are few more accounts by Americans on

Bulgaria. However, they are not much more different than those presented. Many

a time what Americans said about the Bulgarians or for that matter about other

peoples, reflected on their own personal character or how they valued American

culture and way of life. The descriptions presented by these travelers on a

variety of topics, like national character and even the history of Bulgaria are

hardly scientific or correct accounts.

Bulgarian personality

Almost all of these travelers present

nothing but clichés. They did not have the necessary expertise to carefully

analyze the Bulgarian

personality, their ethnic typicalness in terms of common

national cultural values. The frame of reference these travelers used was

founded on their perspective of American history and culture as the

repositories of values of liberty, freedom, democracy, justice, religion,

discipline, industry and progress.

Almost all of the authors sympathized with

the plight of the Bulgarian people under Ottoman domination. They all condemned

the alien system of despotism and many a time showed their preference for

republicanism. The Ottoman system did not permit the development of the

individual, the arts and crafts as well as agriculture and industry. The

authors were aware that the Ottoman state was in its stages of disintegration.

Those who visited Bulgaria before 1878 believed that the Bulgarians would

become free and those who travelled after the liberation of the country praised

the attempts of the Bulgarians to preserve their independence.

Process Mesopotamia

We must now consider more closely the

manner in which these artificial hills come to be created. Any of the mounds

which we have mentioned in the preceding paragraphs would probably serve to

illustrate the broad lines of this process: but those in Mesopotamia will

perhaps serve our purpose best, since they are uncomplicated by the presence of

large stone buildings and at the same time provide examples of some anatomical

eccentricities seldom found elsewhere. This process, then, by which in

antiquity the repeated rebuilding’s of human habitations on a single site

created a perpetually increasing elevation, is by no means difficult to

understand.

The average life of a mud brick building

today seldom exceeds the span of a single generation: and in earlier times,

military conquest or localized raiding on a smaller scale would certainly have

accounted for demolitions that are more frequent. Roofs would be burnt or

collapse and the upper parts of the walls subside, filling the rooms to about a

third of their height with brick debris. Before rebuilding, the site would

usually be systematically levelled, the stumps of the old walls being used as

foundations for the new.

Prehistoric fortresses at Mersin

Thus, after a time, the town or village

would find itself occupying the summit of a rising eminence; a situation, which

had the double advantage of being easily defensible and of affording an

expansive view of the surrounding countryside. One remembers in a connection

how the walls of the little prehistoric fortresses at Mersin in Cilicia were

lined with identical small dwellings for the garrison; and each was provided

with a pair of slit openings from which a watch could be kept on the approaches

to the mound.

What, then, an excavator is concerned with

is the stratified accumulation of archaeological remains, unconsciously created

by the activities of these early builders. By reversing the process and

examining each successive phase of occupation, from the latest (and therefore

uppermost) downwards, he obtains a chronological cross section of the mound’s history,

and can, if circumstances are favorable, reconstruct a remarkably clear picture

of the cultural and political vicissitudes through which its occupants have

passed.

However, it must be remembered that the

procedure, which he adopts, itself involves a new form of demolition. For as

the architectural remains associated with each phase of occupation are cleared,

examined and recorded, they must in turn be removed in order to attend to the

phase beneath. In a Near Eastern mound, the product of an operation of this

sort is often a deep hole in the ground and very little else that could

interest a subsequent visitor to the site of the excavation.

Museum of Pennsylvania

This road of course prolonged itself

through the Taurus passes, where the mounds are rare. However, once the

Anatolian plateau is reached, they start again and increase in size at the

approach to the great cities of Phrygia. The crossing of the Sangarius River is

marked by a colossal mound representing the remains of the old Phrygian

capital, Gordion, and a wide area around it is studded with tumuli covering the

graves of the Phrygian kings.

Excavations by the University Museum of

Pennsylvania in the side of the hill have revealed a gigantic stone gateway,

from which travelers on the Royal Road must have set out on their journey

northward. Half a mile further on, a stretch of the road itself is exposed,

where it passes between the tumuli; and its fifteen foot width of stone

pavement is still perfectly preserved.

(1) A. H. Layard, Nineveh and its Remains.

(2) Published in “Iraq”,

(3) Happening to visit the excavations when

this section of the road had just been located. I found the pavement newly

cleared and, standing in the center of it, the American director, a volume of

Herodotus in his hand, from which he was declaiming the passage in praise of

the Persian couriers who carried the royal dispatches from Sardis to Susa.

Anatolia or Kurdistan

However, it is not only on great highways

of this sort that the purpose of mounds can be identified. In every major

highland valley of Anatolia or Kurdistan, there, probably at a river crossing

or road junction, is a substantial mound; the market town or administrative center

of an agricultural district, which may still be crowned by the ruined castle of

a feudal landlord—the “derebey” of Ottoman times. Scattered elsewhere over the

face of the valley are smaller mounds, which were mere villages or farmsteads.

There are mounds making obvious frontier

posts, and lines of mounds sketching in the communications, which served

military defense systems of the remote past: and there are skeins of more

recent defenses, like the fortresses of Diocletian’s Hines.1 and finally, there

are tiny, insignificant looking mounds standing no more than a few feet above

the level of the plain. In addition, sometimes these prove to be the most

important of all: for they have not been occupied for many thousands of years,

and the relics of their prehistoric occupants lie directly beneath the surface.

Future of Bulgaria

The majority of Americans who wrote on

Bulgaria or visited the country showed energy, curiosity, sense of wonder, and

faith in the future of Bulgaria and mankind even when they

were disappointed in some particular aspect of their travel experience. They considered

knowledge, and their travel experiences important, their individual responses

and reactions significant and worth preserving. Although they were usually

unfamiliar with the Bulgarian language, history and customs, their comments on

the Bulgarian character were generally positive.

It was difficult for the American traveler,

who knew little about the country, to come to terms with the complex cultural

milieu of Bulgarians, Greeks, Turks, etc. and to resolve the difference

sometimes subtle, sometimes blatant between the Balkan mind cushioned on a

multi-layered rich past and a modern American mind formed in the New World free

from the burden of the past.  The

Bulgarians, busy with their struggle to free themselves and maintain their

independence, thought little about and did even less to attract tourists.

For the American tourists the Balkans were

on the periphery of their travel plans. Most of those who visited the country

went there as passers-by and caught only a glimpse of Bulgaria. Bulgaria in the

view of the American traveler was either a peasant society or a society in

transition with many Oriental traits still present. The Bulgarians were

described as simple, natural, methodological, disciplined, and diligent. There

were, of course, some descriptions which were tendentious and even misleading.

The Orthodox Church was criticized, in part, in the belief that this would make

Americans come to the support of the American missionaries working in Bulgaria.

However, the commentaries of these pioneer

American travelers are not without merit. Through sharing their travel

experiences with their countrymen, the American travelers contributed toward

making Bulgaria known to Americans. Although most of the descriptions were

brief, they nonetheless were good enough to create an image of a country with a

long history, a relatively heroic past and a people struggling to free itself,

and modernize its country.

Fourteenth century caravanserai

As a result, the actual level of occupation

remains precisely where it was six centuries ago. Seeking a full contrast in

regional conditions, my mind turns to mediaeval Baghdad. There, in 19411 was

concerned with the repair and restoration of a magnificent fourteenth century

caravanserai in the center of the town. Inside the building, occupational

debris had accumulated until only the tops of the main arches were any longer

visible; and this had to be removed before it could again be put into use.

When the task was finished the fine

proportions of the vaulted hall became apparent; but the pavement upon which

one stood was now found to be exactly nine feet beneath the level of the street

outside, and a stairway had to be built in order to reach it.

In a town built largely of mud brick and

subjected during the past centuries to a series of appalling political and

natural disasters, the level of habitation had risen at the rate of eighteen

inches per hundred years. So here at once is a first clue to the regional

character of mound formation; two central factors which have been conducive to

their creation in the countries of the Near East.

One is the almost universal employment in

those countries of sun-dried brick as a building material; the other,

historical insecurity, coupled with the extraordinary conservatism, which makes

eastern peoples, cling tenaciously to a site once occupied by their ancestors

and obstinately return to it however often they are ejected.

Visit to Egypt

It is interesting to recollect that even

Herodotus, during his visit to Egypt, was already able to observe a

phenomen22on caused by the accumulation of occupational debris in an Egyptian

city, though his conclusion regarding its explanation was understandably at

fault. In his description of Bubastis he says—“The temple stands in the middle

of the city, and is visible on all sides as one walks round it; for as the city

has been raised up by embankment, while the temple has been left untouched in

its original condition, you look down upon it whosesoever you are.

“I In fact, as one sees today at Luxor and

elsewhere, the temples, with their massive stone walls and pillars, have mostly

survived at the original level of their foundation. while the surrounding

dwelling houses and other buildings of the city, whose mud and reed walls have

continually been demolished and renewed, rose gradually above them, leaving

them in a deep hollow, like the Forum of Trajan at Rome.

Country west of Mosul

To confirm this, it may be interesting to

quote at random the reactions of a nineteenth century traveler to the

appearance of the country west of Mosul, during a journey in the spring 1840.

Sir Henry Layard had reached the market town called Tell Afar on his way to the

Sin jar Hills, and he describes his surroundings as follows “Towards evening I

ascended the mound and visited the castle….

From the walls, I had an uninterrupted view

of a vast plain, stretching westward towards the Euphrates, and losing itself

in the hazy distance. The ruins of ancient towns and villages arose on all

sides; and as the sun went down, I counted above one hundred mounds, throwing

their dark and lengthening shadows across the plain. These were the ruins of

Assyrian civilization and prosperity. Centuries have elapsed since a settled

population dwelt in this district of Mesopotamia.

Now, not even the tent of a Bedouin could

be seen. “I Layard was of course wrong in thinking only of the Assyrian nation;

for many of the mounds he was looking at were in fact occupied as early as the

sixth millennium B.C. However, he did not exaggerate their number. During a

survey in 1937, I myself recorded the surface pottery from seventy-five mounds

in that area, and these were only a few selected sites, which I could easily

reach by car during a short three weeks reconnaissance.2

However, apart from the close concentration

of mounds in certain areas of this sort, the pattern, which they make, is often

worth observing. AH over Iraq, and for that matter in neighboring countries, a

glance at the disposal of mounds in a landscape will often reveal to one in the

lividest possible manner some aspect of historical geography, whether political

or economic.

Royal Road

The city of Erbil, for instance, (PL. I)

stands within its fortress walls on a mound whose height almost justifies its

local reputation as the “oldest city in the world”: and from its rooftops, over

the undulating plain to the Zaab river crossings.

Which led to Nineveh and the north, one

sees a line of smaller mounds, pointing the exact direction of the age old

caravan route, which the Achaemenian Persians, coming from Susa, prolonged as

far as their new capital at Sardis. They called it the Royal Road, though it

had existed for several thousand years before their time. Wherever it crossed a

wade and there was a source of water, there also, today, there is a mound; and

villages, which make convenient stopping places on the modem motoring road,

crown many of them.

Certain characteristics

Interesting as this illustration is of how

strati graphical formations can be created, this early mention of Egypt must

serve as an occasion to introduce certain reservations regarding that country,

in relation to the subject under discussion. For it should be said at once that

Egypt has certain characteristics which make it less suitable than others do

for the study of mounds.

This is perhaps partly to be attributed to

the abundant supply and general use of building stone, which greatly prolonged

the survival of Egyptian buildings. But it is also partly due to the fact that,

in the narrow valley of Upper Egypt, land is too valuable to allow large ruin

fields of brick buildings to remain derelict; and the fellahin have long since

discovered that the occupational debris with which such ruins are Hide, when

spread over their fields, makes the finest fertilizer available.

Burin any case, those who have approached

the subject of Egyptology will know that archaeology in Egypt, when it took the

form of actual excavation, has always been concerned almost exclusively with

stone temples, tombs and cemeteries. Mounds in Egypt are confined for the most

part to the Delta of the Nile; and, with so much else to attend to, their

excavation has till now been very considerably neglected.

So let us glance once again at the pattern

of countries in which mounds are everywhere found and have been more generally

excavated. From Egypt they spread northward through the Levant and westward

through Anatolia to the Balkans. Eastward they follow the curve of Breasted’s

“crescent” through the rich farmlands in the foothills of the Armenian

mountains to Iraq and Persia and so, southward of the Elburz range, to

Afghanistan and the Indus valley.

Mesopotamia

But the focal point of the whole area,

where mounds are so plentiful that they become the most characteristic feature

of the landscape, is the twin river valley of Mesopotamia which is in fact not

a valley at all but a vast province of partially irrigated alluvial desert. It

is a habit of thought to apply the name Mesopotamia to this basin of alluvium,

which represents half of modem Iraq. But it has come to be known to our own

generation that the first human settlers in this province, the ancestors of the

later Sumerians, were themselves comparative latecomers, and that the

undulating hill country of northern Iraq had a much earlier record of Neolithic

farming communities.

This may help to explain the impression,

which has grown upon one, after long periods of travel in those parts, that the

Assyrian uplands around Mosul and their westward extension through the valleys

of the Khabur and Balik rivers into North Syria must have been the most thickly

populated area of the completely ancient world. Certainly today, they are more

thickly studded with ancient mounds than any other part of the Near East.

Bulgarian Language

The majority of Americans who wrote on

Bulgaria or visited the country showed energy, curiosity, sense of wonder, and

faith in the future of Bulgaria and mankind even when they were disappointed in

some particular aspect of their travel experience. They considered knowledge,

and their travel experiences important, their individual responses and

reactions significant and worth preserving. Although they were usually

unfamiliar with the Bulgarian language, history and customs, their

comments on the Bulgarian character were generally positive.

It was difficult for the American traveler,

who knew little about the country, to come to terms with the complex cultural

milieu of Bulgarians, Greeks, Turks, etc. and to resolve the difference

sometimes subtle, sometimes blatant between the Balkan mind cushioned on a

multi-layered rich past and a modern American mind formed in the New World free

from the burden of the past.  The

Bulgarians, busy with their struggle to free themselves and maintain their

independence, thought little about and did even less to attract tourists.

American tourists in Balkans

For the American tourists the Balkans were

on the periphery of their travel plans. Most of those who visited the country

went there as passers-by and caught only a glimpse of Bulgaria. Bulgaria in the

view of the American traveler was either a peasant society or a society in

transition with many Oriental traits still present.

The Bulgarians were described as simple,

natural, methodological, disciplined, and diligent. There were, of course, some

descriptions which were tendentious and even misleading. The Orthodox Church

was criticized, in part, in the belief that this would make Americans come to

the support of the American missionaries working in Bulgaria.

However, the commentaries of these pioneer

American travelers are not without merit. Through sharing their travel

experiences with their countrymen, the American travelers contributed toward

making Bulgaria known to Americans. Although most of the descriptions were brief,

they nonetheless were good enough to create an image of a country with a long

history, a relatively heroic past and a people struggling to free itself, and

modernize its country.

Archaeological monument

An alternative situation arises, when an

important building or civic lay out is encountered, of the sort which may

afterwards need to be preserved as an archaeological monument. In this case,

the excavation will merely be extended to cover as much as is required of the

stratum concerned, and if a strati graphical sounding to a greater depth is

required, it will be made elsewhere.

However, to return to the creation and

development of mounds themselves, it would be a mistake to think that the

process is always as simple and straightforward as that already described. A

wide variety of circumstances may serve to disrupt their symmetry and

complicate their stratification.

For instance, the diminishing living space

at the summit or a sudden increase in the settlement’s population may cause the

focus of occupation to move away from its original center. In order to make

this clear, we may at this point enumerate some of the principal variations of

the theme of anatomical development, which are to be found, particularly in

Mesopotamian mounds.

Orthodox sequence

As a point of departure then, let us take

the orthodox sequence of developments illustrated in the upper part of Fig. 1.

This diagram represents the habitation of a village community with a static

population. The superimposed remains of five principal occupations have

gradually created a small artificial hill: but as the site of the village rose

in level, the building space on the summit became more and more restricted by

the sloping sides of the mound.

It may well have been for this reason that

the place was eventually abandoned. In any case, after the inhabitants of the

fifth settlement had departed, the ruins of their houses were molded by the

weather to form the peak of a symmetrical tumulus. Vegetation started to grow

upon it, and soon all traces of occupation had disappeared beneath a shallow

mantle of humus soil.

The second and third diagrams in Fig. I

both illustrate cases where the focus of occupation has shifted. The former

represents a phenomenon, which we shall later have an opportunity of studying

in detail at a particular site tell Hassuna in northern Iraq, which will

provide a perfect example.

I in the diagram, after five principal

periods of occupation, a small mound has been formed in a maimed exactly

similar to that in the previous instance. However, from this point onwards,

occupation has continued, not on the summit of the mound, since that had become

inadequate, but terraced into its sloping flank and spreading over an extended

area of new ground beneath.

Anti Russian and pro German

He was surprised to see in the Eiffel

Restaurant the waiters “puffed tobacco smoke as they took the guests’ orders,

and reclined at full length on a bench in the lull of business.” He tried to

explain this by making a sarcastic comment that democracy seemed to have made

some headway since the liberation of the country. However, the author liked the

friendliness and great hospitality of the Bulgarian people he met along the

Danube.

Bigelow was anti-Russian and pro-German.

He was very critical of Russia’s policy in Bulgaria and thought that Germany

ought to have the final say in Southeastern Europe. He attempted to explain

Bulgarian politics by quoting an unnamed Bulgarian diplomat critical of Russian

policy toward his country, and hoping that not the Russian Tsar but the German

Emperor would become the “Protector of the Danube.”

James M. Buckley travelled through Bulgaria

in 1888. He believed that each traveler saw “what he took with him,” and for

this reason he thought that his experiences were worth recording because

“several views are more illuminating than one.” In his books Travels in Three

Continents: Europe, Africa, Asia he described his trip through Eastern Rumelia

and Bulgaria.

 “The

view as we rode along was wonderfully beautiful. Villages and towns are far

apart, and one might easily have fancied himself travelling through a

succession of parks connected with some ancestral estate, his only perplexity

that he saw no house or castle, and few persons.” He was impressed by the

“immense masses of granite” that surround and underlie Plovdiv. He praised the

political “independent existence” of Eastern Rumelia which gave “it much more

interest to Western travelers than would have if still a province of Turkey.”

Bulgarian Orthodox Church

He took part in a convention in Sofia of

the Bulgarian Protestants and was impressed with their work. However, like

Mutchmore, he was very critical of the Bulgarian Orthodox

Church. In his view the Bulgarian Church “was a very low form of

Christianity,” for which the principles of the Gospel were “concealed under the

mask of superstitions; no intelligible instruction is given; pomp, ceremony,

priest craft, support the religion, which exerts little influence over the

daily lives of the people, and can afford little or no comfort in their

experience of privation and toil.”

Sofia, the capital city, did not impress

him much. Were it not for the palace, one or two elaborate hotels of an Eastern

style, and the Bulgarian letters on the signs, he wrote, it would be easy to

“mistake the place for an American prairie town already endeavoring to put on

the airs of a city.” He was more impressed by the fertility of the land, the

number of rivers which flew into the Danube and with the herds of cattle and

flocks of sheep. Many Bulgarians, he wrote, were very “striking-looking men.”

However, the general aspect of the country was “not one of prosperity, and a

primitive scene was that of buffaloes drawing carts.”

State of the Matharas

The most important of them is the state of

the Matharas, who are also called Pitribhaktas. At the peak of their power they

dominated the area between the Mahanadi and the Krishna. Their contemporaries

and neighbors were the Vasisthas, the Nalas and the Manas.

The Vasisthas ruled on the borders of

Andhra m south Kalmga, the Nalas in the forest area of Mahakantara, and the

Manas in the coastal area m the north beyond the Mahanadi. Each state developed

its system of taxation, administration and military organization.

 The

Nalas, and probably the Manas, also evolved their system of coinage. Each

kingdom favored the brahmanas with land grants and even invited them from

outside, and most kings performed Vedic sacrifices not only for spiritual merit

but also for power, prestige and legitimacy.

Elements of advanced culture

In this period elements of advanced culture

were not confined to the coastal belt known as Kalmga, but appeared in the

other parts of Orissa. The find of the Nala gold coins in the tribal Bastar

area in Madhya Pradesh is significant. It presupposes an economic system in

which gold money was used in large transactions and served as medium of payment

to high functionaries. Similarly the Manas seemed to have issued copper coins,

which implies the use of metallic money even by artisans and peasants.

The various states added to their income by

forming new fiscal units in rural areas. The Matharas created a district called

Mahendrabhoga in the area of the Mahendra Mountains. They also ruled over a

district called Dantayavagubhoga, which apparently supplied ivory and no gruel

to its administrators and had thus been created in a backward area.

The Matharas made endowments called

agroharas, which consisted of land and income from villages and were meant for

supporting religious and educational activities of the brahmanas. Some

agraharas had to pay taxes although elsewhere in the, country they were tax-free.

The induction of the brahmanas through land grants in tribal, forest and red

soil areas brought new lands under cultivation and introduced better methods of

agriculture, based on improved knowledge of weather conditions.

Formerly the year was divided into three

units, each consisting of four months, and time was reckoned on the basis of

three seasons. Under the Matharas, in the middle of the fifth century began the

practice of dividing the year into twelve lunar months. This implied a detailed

idea of weather conditions, which was useful for agricultural operations.

Spread of Civilization in Eastern India

Signs of Civilization

A region is considered to be civilized if

its people know the .art of writing, have a system for collecting taxes and

maintaining order, and possess social classes and specialists for performing

priestly, administrative and producing functions. Above all a civilized society

should be able to produce enough to support not only the actual producers

consisting of artisans and peasants but also consumers who are not engaged in

production. All these elements make for civilization. But they appear in a

large part of eastern India on a recognizable scale very late. Practically no

written records are found in the greater portions of eastern Madhya.

Pradesh and the adjoining areas of Orissa,

of West Bengal, of Bangladesh and of Assam till the middle of the fourth century

A.D The period from the fourth to the seventh century is remarkable for the

diffusion of an advanced rural economy, formation of state systems and

delineation of social classes in eastern Madhya Pradesh, Orissa, eastern Bengal

and southeast Bengal, and Assam, This is indicated by the distribution of a

good number of inscriptions in these areas in Gupta times Many inscriptions

dated in the Gupta era are found in these areas.

They are generally in the form of land

grants made by feudatory princes and others for religious purposes to Buddhists

and brahmanas and also to Vaishnavite temples and Buddhist monasteries. These

beneficiaries played an important role in spreading and strengthening elements

of danced culture the process can be understood by attempting a region wise

survey.

Orissa and Eastern and Southern Madhya Pradesh

Kalinga or the coastal Orissa, south of the

Mahanadi, leapt into importance under Asoka, but a strong state was founded in

that area only m the first century B. C. Its ruler Kharavela advanced as far as

Magadha. In the first and second centuries AD the ports of Orissa carried on

brisk trade m pearls, ivory and muslin.

Excavations at Sisupalgarh, the site of

Kalinganagari which was the capital of Kharavela at a distance of 60 km from Bhubaneswar,

have yielded several Roman objects indicating trade contacts with the Roman Empire.

But the greater part of Orissa, particularly northern, Orissa, neither

experienced state formation nor witnessed much commercial activity. In the

fourth century Kosala and Mahakantara figure in the list of conquests made by

Samudragupta. They covered parts of northern and western Orissa. From .the

second half of the fourth century to the sixth century several states were

formed in Orissa, and at least five of them can be clearly identified.

Religious purposes

For a century from A D 432-33 we notice a

series of land sale documents recorded on copperplates Pundravardhanabhukti,

which covered almost the whole of north Bengal, now mostly in Bangladesh, Most

land grants indicate that land was purchased with gold coins called dinara. But

once land was given for religious purposes, the dunes did

not have to pay any tax. The land transactions show the involvement of leading

scribes, merchants, artisans landed classes, etc.’., in local administration,

which was manned by the governors appointed by the Gupta emperors.

The land sale documents not only .indicate

the existence of different’ social groups and local functionaries but also shed

valuable light on the expansion of agriculture Mostly land purchased for

religious endowments is described as fallow, uncultivated, and therefore imitated

Without doubt the effect of the grants was to bring plots of land within the

purview of cultivation and settlement.

The deltaic portion of Bengal formed by the

Brahmaputra and called Samatata was made to acknowledge the authority of

Samudragupta It covered southeast Bengal. A portion of this territory may have

been populated and important enough to attract the attention of the Gupta

conqueror.

But possibly it was not ruled by brahmamsed

princes, and consequently it neither used Sanskrit nor adopted the varna

system, as was the case in north Bengal. From about A D. 525 the area came to

have a fairly organized state covering Samatata and a portion of Vanga which

lay on the western boundary of Samatata. It issued a good number of gold coins

in the second half of the sixth century.

Dacca area

In addition to this state, m the seventh

century we come across the state of the Khadgas, literally swordsmen, in the Dacca

area. We also notice the kingdom of a brahmana feudatory

called Lokanatha and that of the Rates, both in the Comilla area all these

princes of southeast and central Bengal issued land grants in the sixth and

seventh centuries.

Like the Orissa n kings they also created

agraharas. The land charters show cultivation of Sanskrit, leading to the use

of some sophisticated meters in the second half of the seventh century. At the

same time they attest the expansion of cultivation and rural settlements. A

fiscal and administrative unit called Daudabhukti was formed in the border

areas lying between Bengal and Orissa. Danda means punishment, and bhakti enjoyment.

Apparently the unit was created for taming and punishing the tribal inhabitants

of that region. It may have promoted Sanskrit and other elements of culture in

tribal areas.

Finally compiled in Gupta

The Puranas follow the lines of the epics,

and the earlier ones were finally compiled in Gupta times. They are full of

myths, legends, sermons, etc., which were meant for the education and

edification of the common people. The period also saw the compilation of

various Smritis or the law books written in verse. The phase of writing

commentaries on the Smritis begins after the Gupta period.

The Gupta period also saw the development

of Sanskrit grammar based on Panini and Patanjali. This period is particularly

memorable for the compilation of the Amarakosa by Amara Sinha, who was a

luminary in the court of Chandragupta II. This lexicon is learnt by heart by

students taught Sanskrit in the traditional fashion.

On the whole the Gupta period was a bright

phase in the history of classical literature. It developed an ornate style,

which was different from the old simple Sanskrit. From this period onwards we

find greater emphasis on verse than on prose. We also come across a few corner tarries.

There is no doubt that Sanskrit was the court language of the Guptas. Although

we get a good deal of brahmanical religious literature, the period’ also

produced some of the earliest pieces of secular literature.

Science and Technology

In the field of mathematics we come across

during this period a work; called Aryabhatiya written by Aryabhata, who

belonged to Patali porta It seems that this mathematician was | well versed in

various kinds of calculations. A Gupta inscription of 448 from Allahabad

district suggests that the decimal system was known in India at the beginning

of the fifth century AD In the fields of astronomy a book called Romaka

Sidhanta was compiled It was influenced by Greek ideas, as can be inferred from

its name.

The Gupta craftsmen distinguished

themselves by their work in iron and bronze. We know of several bronze images

of the Buddha, which began to be produced on a considerable scale because of

the knowledge of advanced iron technology In the case of iron objects the best

example is the iron pillar found at Delhi near Mehraub.

Manufactured m the fourth century A.D., the

pillar1 has not gathered any ’ rust m the subsequent 15 centuries, which is a

great tribute to the technological skill of the craftsmen It was impossible to

produce such a pillar in any iron foundry m the West Until about a century ago.

It is a pity that the later craftsmen could not develop this knowledge further

Appeared in Prakrit

In the coastal Orissa writing was certainly

known from the third century B C., and inscriptions up to the middle of the

fourth century A. D. appeared in Prakrit. But from about A.D. 350 Sanskrit

began to be used. What is more significant, charters in this language appear

outside the coastal belt beyond the Mahanadi in the north.

Thus the art of writing and Sanskrit

language spread over a good portion of Orissa, and some of the finest Sanskrit

verses are found in the epigraphs of the period. Sanskrit served as the vehicle

of not only brahmanical religion and culture but also of property laws and

social regulations in new areas. Verses from the Puranas and Dharmasastras are

quoted in Sanskrit charters, and kings claim to be the preservers of the Varna

system. The affiliation of the people to the culture of the Gangetic basin is

emphasized. A dip in the Ganga at Prying at the confluence of the Ganga and the

Yamuna is considered holy, and victorious kings visit Pitaya

Bengal

As regards Bengal, portions of north Bengal,

now in Bogra district, give evidence of the prevalence of writing in the time

of Asoka. An inscription indicates several settlements maintaining a storehouse

filled with coins and food grains for the upkeep of Buddhist monks. Clearly the

local peasants were m a position to spare a part of their produce for paying

taxes and making gifts.

Further, people of this area knew Prakrit

and professed Buddhism, Similarly an inscription found in the coastal district

of Noakhali in southeast Bengal shows that people knew Prakrit and Brahmi

script in that area in the second century B.C. But for the greater part of

Bengal we do not hear anything till we come to the fourth .century A.D In about

the middle of the fourth century a king with the title of maharaja ruled in

Pokharna on the Damodara in Bankura district. He knew Sanskrit and was a

devotee of Vishnu, to whom he possibly granted a village.

The area lying between the Ganga and the

Brahmaputra now covering Bangladesh emerged as a settled and fairly Sanskrit educated

area in the fifth and sixth centuries The Gupta governors seem to have become

independent after about A.D. 550, and occupied north Bengal, a portion may have

been seized by the rulers of Kamarupa Local vassal princes called Samantha

maharajas had created their own administrative apparatus and built their

military organization consisting of horses, elephants and foot soldiers and

boats to fight their rivals and collect taxes from the local peasantry. By A.D.

600 the area came to be known as Gaudi with its independent state ruled by

Sasanka, the adversary of Harsha

Turkish girls attend foreign schools in Constantinople

But after all, these changes are

interesting chiefly as indications of the fact that the spirit of Turkish women

has come, to some degree, under the influence of new ideas. Polygamy is on the

decline. Greater attention is now paid to the education of girls among all

classes of the community.

In wealthy families it is common for the

daughters to have English or French or German governesses, and to be instructed

in the ordinary branches of education, even to the extent of doing something so

foreign as to learn to ride. In a few instances, Turkish girls attend foreign schools,

and it is a most significant sign of the times to see the female relatives of

such girls present at the public proceedings of these institutions. Periodicals

providing special literature for ladies have appeared, and there are Turkish

authoresses, some of whom enjoy a great reputation among their countrywomen.

As might be expected, this upward movement

meets with opposition, as upward movements always meet wherever they occur.

Such a thing has been known as an imperial irade, commanding all foreign

governesses to be dismissed from Turkish homes, because teachers of pernicious

ideas. On the eve of Ramadan it is usual to issue strict orders for Turkish

ladies to keep their veils down.

Upon gentleman

A Turkish lady once attended, with her

husband, an “At Home” in a foreign house. Shortly thereafter, the police called

upon the

gentleman, late in the evening, as the custom is in this part

of the world, and informed him that he was wanted at the police-court next

morning on important business.

What that business was the police did not

condescend to say, preferring to make night uncomfortable for the couple, by

keeping them in suspense. Upon appearing at the court, the husband learned that

the visit of his wife to a foreign house, on the occasion referred to, had been

noticed and duly reported to the authorities, and he was warned (under threat

of severe penalty) not to allow the offence to be repeated.

At public gatherings at the Sweet Waters of

Europe and Asia, the police watch the behavior of Turkish ladies as though so

many naughty or helpless children were abroad. One has seen a policeman order a

lady to put up the window of her carriage, because she attracted too much

admiration. At another time, one has seen a company of respectable Turkish

ladies, who were enjoying a moonlight row on the Bosporus, packed home by the

police. The life of educated Turkish women is rendered hard and humiliating by

such restrictions.

Suburbs on the Bosporus

The time-tables of the steamers which ply

between the city and the suburbs on the Bosporus and

the Sea of Marmora, adopt “Turkish time,” and require you to convert the hour

indicated into the corresponding hour from the European or “Frank” standpoint;

and the same two-fold way of thinking on the subject is imposed upon all

persons having dealings with the Government and the native population in

general A similar diversity exists in regard to the length of the year. The

Turkish year consists of twelve lunar months, a thirteenth being added from

time to time to settle accounts with the sun. The question when Ramadan, the

month of fasting by day and of feasting at night begins, or when the festival

of Bagram commences is determined, at least formally, by the appearance of the

new moon, upon the testimony of two Moslem witnesses before a judge in any part

of the Empire.

Different localities

Thus these religious seasons might commence

on different days in different localities, the

moon not being visible in some places, on account of the state of the weather.

The formula in which the approach of these seasons is now announced to the

public, since the increase of astronomical knowledge in Turkish circles, is a

curious compromise between former uncertainty and actual assurance on that

point “Ramadan begins (say) on Tuesday next, provided the new moon is visible.

If not, the Fast will date from Wednesday.” Alongside the

Turkish mode of measuring the year, there

is the method introduced into the Roman world by Julius Caesar, the “Old

Style,” followed by Greeks and Armenians, and also the “New Style,” the mode of

reckoning inaugurated by Pope Gregory XIII., now thirteen days in advance of

the Julian calendar. Accordingly, to prevent mistakes in regard to a date,

letters and newspapers are often dated according to both styles.

With some the year begins in March, with

the advent of spring; with others it commences in September, when autumn

gathers in the fruits of the earth; others make January, in midwinter, their

starting- point The difference between the “Old Style” and the “New Style”

involves two celebrations, as a rule, of Easter, two observances of New Year’s Day,

while Christmas is celebrated three times, the Armenian Church having combined

the commemoration of that festival with the more ancient festival of the

Epiphany. For one section of the community, moreover, the day of rest is

Sunday, for another Saturday, for yet another the day of special religious

services is Friday.

Rule of Constantine

The very geography of the place offers a

wide outlook. As a part of his everyday experience, a resident of

Constantinople lives within sight of Europe and Asia. Every day of his life, he

sees the waterway that runs between the two great continents thronged with

vessels of every nation, hurrying to and fro to bring the ends of the earth

together. Then, how much human power has been enthroned here the dominion of

Byzantium for one thousand years; the rule of Constantine and his successors for

eleven centuries; the sway of the Ottoman Sultans through four hundred and

fifty years. If what we see ought to do with what we are, here is a mound in

which to fashion a large life. But Europe and Asia are present in more than

their physical aspects, or in long periods of their history. Their

civilizations also meet here.

On every side there is the pressure of a

dominant Oriental society and polity, with its theocratic government,

autocracy, the creed of Islam, polygamy, slavery, eunuchs, secluded and veiled

womanhood, men in long robes and turbans, sluggishness, repose, the speech of

Central Asia softened by the accents of Persia and Arabia, minarets, domes

surmounted by the Crescent, graceful but strange salutations, festivals which

celebrate events in a course of history not your own, and express joys which

have never gladdened your soul And mingling, but not blended, with this world

of Asiatic thought and sentiment and manner, is a European world, partly

native, partly foreign, with ideas of freedom, science, education, bustle,

various languages, railroads, tramways, ladies in the latest Parisian fashions,

church bells, the banner of the Cross, newspapers and periodicals from every

European and American capital, knitting scattered children to the life of their

fatherland.

Foreign communities in Istanbul

The members of the foreign communities in the

City of the Sultan do not forget the lands of their birth, or of their race and

allegiance. Though circumstances have carried them far from their native shores

and skies, physical separation does not sever them from the spirit of their

peoples. Nay, as if to make patriotic sentiment easier, foreigners are placed

under the peculiar arrangements embodied in what are termed the Capitulations,

whereby, in virtue of old treaties, they enjoy the privilege of living to a

great extent under the laws of their respective countries, with little

interference on the part of the Ottoman Government.

When your house is your castle, in the

sense that no Turkish policeman dares enter it without the authorization of

your Consulate or Embassy, when legal differences between yourself and your

fellow-countrymen are submitted to judges, and argued by barristers, bred in

the law which rules in your own land, when your church and school can be what

they are at home, and when you can forward your letters, not only to foreign

countries but even to some parts of the Turkish Empire, with a stamp bearing

the badge of your own Government, it is natural that European residents in

Constantinople should be able to preserve their special character, both after

living here for many years, and also from generation to generation.

Istanbul - European world

A Mohammedan polity is opposed to the

assimilation of strangers, unless the aliens become converts to Islam. Whatever

process of assimilation goes on in Constantinople appears in the slow changes

of the East towards some likeness to the West Otherwise, the European

world is as present to the view as the Asiatic, and together

they spread a wide vista before the mind.

Furthermore, what a broad outlook does the

heterogeneous population afford! Whether you walk the streets or stay at home,

on the mart of business, at all large social gatherings, in all public

enterprises, you deal with diverse nationalities and races. Everywhere and

always a cosmopolitan atmosphere pervades your life. One servant in your

household will be a Greek, another an Armenian, a third a German or an

Englishman. Your gardener is a Croat, as tender to flowers as he is fierce

against his foes. The boatmen of your cacique are Turks.

In building a house, the foundations are

excavated by Lazes; the quarrymen must be Croats; the masons and carpenters are

Greeks and Armenians; the hodmen, Kurds; the hamals, Turks; the plumbers,

Italians; the architect is an Englishman, American, or a foreigner of some

other kind; the glaziers must be Jews. Fourteen nationalities are represented

by the students and professors of an international college.

Pilgrimages comes round

When the season of pilgrimages comes round,

the streets are thronged by Tartars, Circassia’s, Persians, Turcoman, on their

way to Mecca and Medina, wild-looking fellows in rough but picturesque garb,

staring with the wonder and simplicity of children at the novelties they see,

purchasing trifles as though treasures, yet stopping to give altos to a beggar,

and groping for the higher life.

Nor is it only in great matters that this wideness of human life comes home to the mind in Constantinople. It is pressed upon the attention by the diversity that prevails, likewise, in matters of comparatively slight importance; in such an affair, for example, as the calculation of time. For some, the pivotal event of history is the birth of Christ; for others, it is the Flight of Mahomet from Mecca to Medina, and accordingly, two systems of the world’s chronology are in vogue.

One large part of the populations still adheres to the primitive idea that a new day commences at sunset, while another part of the community defers that event until the moment after midnight. Hence in your move-mints and engagements you have constantly to calculate the precise time of day according to both views upon the subject.

Gentleman from Istanbul

On the occasion of a visit to a Turkish

gentleman in his garden, it so happened that two of his

nieces, not knowing that any one was calling, came to greet their uncle.

Surprised at seeing a man with him, the young ladies started back, as gazelles

might start at the sight of a hunter. Their uncle, however, summoned them to

return, and with extreme courtesy introduced them to his visitor, with the

information that one of the young ladies could speak English. Conversation in

that language had not gone far, when another gentleman was announced. Instantly

the girls sprang to their feet and darted away as for dear life. “See,” said

the uncle in tones of mingled vexation and sorrow, “See what it is to be an

educated Turkish lady!”

A Turkish gentleman of high rank wishing

his daughters to enjoy the advantage of a European education, but anxious to

spare them as much as possible the chagrin and ennui of being educated above

the station of a Turkish lady, hoped to attain his object by having his girls

learn to speak French without being able to read in that language. Such

experiences are disheartening. But, as the pale flowers which come ere winter

has wholly gone herald the spring and foretell the glory of summer, so the

recent improvements in the lot of Turkish women, however slight they may appear

meantime, warrant the hope of further progress and final emancipation.

EPILOGUE

To live in Constantinople is to live in a

very wide world. The city, it is true, is not a seat of lofty intellectual

thought. Upon none of its hills have the Muses come to dwell. It is not a center

of literary activity; it is not a home of Art Here is no civic life to share,

no far-reaching public works of philanthropy to enlarge the heart, no

comprehensive national life to inspire patriotism, no common religious

institutions to awaken the sense of a vast brotherhood enfolded within the same

great and gracious heavens. If one is so inclined, it is easy for life here to

be exceedingly petty. And yet, it is certain that to live in Constantinople is

to live in a wide world. It is not for any lack of incentive that a resident

here fails “to think imperially” or to feel on an imperial scale.

When a man possessed by the genius of the

place quits the city to reside elsewhere, the horizon of his life contracts and

dwindles, as when a man descends from the wide views of a mountain peak to the

life pent within the walls of a valley. For nowhere else is the mind not only

confronted, but, if one may thus express it, assailed by so many varied

subjects demanding consideration, or the heart appealed to by so many interests

for its sympathy.

Spiritual guide

A pupil complained to his spiritual

guide of being much disturbed by impertinent visitors, who broke in

upon his valuable time, and he asked, How he could get rid of them? The

superior replied, “To such of them as are poor, lend money, and from those that

are rich ask something, when you may depend upon not seeing one of them again.”

If a beggar was the leader of the army of Islamism, the infidels would flee to

China through fear of his importunity.

Actions correspond

A lawyer said to his father, “Those fine

speeches of the declaimers make no impression on me, because 1 do not see that

their actions correspond with their precepts: they teach

people, to forsake the world, whilst themselves accumulate property. A wise

man, who preaches without practicing, will not impress others. That person is

wise who abstained from sin, not he who teaches well to others whilst himself committee

evil.

The wise man who indulges in sensual

gratifications, being himself bewildered, how can he guide others? ” The father

replied, “0 my son you ought not, merely from this vain opinion, to reject the

doctrines of the preacher, thus pursuing the paths of vanity, by imputing

errors to the learned; and whilst you are searching for an immaculate teacher,

are deprived of the benefits of learning; like the blind man, who one night

falling into the mud, cried out, ‘  Moslems bring a lamp to show me the way ? ’ An

impudent woman, who heard him, said, ‘You cannot see a lamp, what then can it

show you? ’

Moreover, the society of the preacher

resembles the shop of a trader, where, until you pay money, you cannot carry

away the goods; and here, unless you come with good inclination, you will not

derive any benefit. Listen to the discourse of the learned man with the utmost

attention, although his actions may not correspond with his doctrine. It is a

futile objection of gainsayers that, ‘How can he who is asleep awaken others? ’

It behooved a man to receive instruction, although the advice be written on a

wall.”

Certain holy man

A certain holy man having

quitted a monastery and the society of religious men, became a member of a

college. I asked, what was the difference between being a learned and a

religious man that could induce him to change his society? He replied, “The

devotee saves his own blanket out of the waves, and the learned man endeavors to

rescue others from drowning.”

Power of intoxication

A drunken man was sleeping on the highway,

overcome by the power of intoxication; a devotee

passed by, and beheld his condition with detestation. The young man lifted up

his head, and said, when you meet an inconsiderate person, pass him with kindness;

and when you see a sinner, conceal his crime and be compassionate. 0 thou, who

despisest my indiscretion, why dost thou not rather pity me? 0 holy man, avert

not thy face from a sinner, but regard him with benignity. If my manners are

unpolished, nevertheless behave yourself towards me with civility.”

Dispute Durwesh

A company of dissolute men came to dispute

with a Durwesh, and made use of improper expressions; at which being

offended, he went to his spiritual guide and complained of what had happened.

He replied, “0 my son, the habit of a Durwesh is the garment of resignation;

whoso ever weareth this garb and cannot support injuries, is an enemy to the

profession, and is not entitled to the dress. A great river is not made turbid

by a stone; the religious man who is hurt at injuries, is as yet but shallow

water. If any misfortune befilth you, bear with it, that by forgiving others

you may yourself obtain pardon. O my brother, seeing that we are at last to

return to earth, let us humble ourselves in ashes before we are changed into

dust.”

Bughdad

Attend to the following story. In the city of Bughdad there happened a contention between the Flag and the Curtain. The Flag, disgusted with the dust of the road and the fatigue of marching, said to the Curtain in displeasure, “You and myself are school-fellows, both servants of the Sultan’s court. I never enjoy a moment’s relaxation from business, being obliged to travel at all seasons ; you have not experienced the fatigue of marching, the danger of storming the fortress, the perils of the lesser, nor the inconveniences of whirlwinds and dust ; my foot is more forward in enterprise, why then is thy dignity greater than mine ?

You pass your time amongst youths beautiful as 1 he moon, and with virgins odoriferous as Jasmin; I am carried in the hands of menial S; reams, and travel with my feet in bands and my head agitated by the wind.” The Curtain replied, “My head is placed on the threshold, and not, like yours, raised up to the sky; whosoever through folly exalts his necklace, precipitates himself into distress.”

Necessary perform conditions

The following story will exemplify what has been said above:—A King, having some weighty affairs in agitation, made a vow that, in case of success, he would distribute a certain sum of money amongst men dedicated to religion. When, on his wish being accomplished, it was necessary to perform the conditions of his vow, he gave a purse of dimers to one of his favorite servants, to distribute amongst the Zahids. It was said that the youth was wise and prudent.

The whole day he wandered about, and at night, when he returned, he kissed the money, and laid it before the King, saying that he had not found any Zahids. The King replied, “What a story is this since I myself know four hundred Zahids in this city.” lie replied, “0 lord of the world those who are Zfihids will not accept of money, and they who take it are not Zahids.” The King laughed, and said to his courtiers, “So much as I want to favor this body of men, the worshippers of God, this saucy fellow thwarts my inclination, and he has justice on his side. If a Zahid accepts direms and dinars, you .must seek somewhere else for a religious man.”

Consecrated bread

They asked a certain wise man, what was his

opinion of consecrated bread? He replied, “If

they receive it in order to compose their minds and to promote their devotions,

it is lawful; but if they want nothing but bread, it is illegal. Men of piety

receive bread to enjoy religious retirement, but enter not into the cell of

devotion for the sake of obtaining bread.”

Durwesh

A Durwesh came to a place where the master of the house was of a hospitable disposition. The company consisted of persons of understanding and eloquence, who separately delivered a joke or pleasantry, in a manner becoming men of wit. The Durwesh having travelled over the desert, was fatigued, and had not eaten anything. One of the company observed to him merrily, that he also must say something.

The Durwesh replied, that he did not possess writ and eloquence like the rest, and neither being learned, he hoped they would be satisfied with his reciting a single distich. They one and all eagerly desired him to speak, when he said, “ I aiii a hungry man, in whom a table covered with food excites strong appetite, like a youth at the door of the female bath.” They all applauded, and ordered the table to be laid for him. The host said, “ 0 my friend, stop a little, as my servants are preparing some minced meat.” The Durwesh raised up his head, and said, “ Forbid them to put forced-meat on my table, for to the hungry, plain bread is a savory dish.”