Art & Culture

CURRENT AFFAIRS august 2019

Indus Valley seals carried meaning like

modern coins do, shows study

Context: A majority of the Indus Valley inscriptions were written

logographically (by using word signs) and not by using phonograms
(speech sounds units), claims a recent research paper published in
Palgrave Communications, a Nature group journal.
About the research: The paper, titled "Interrogating Indus inscription to
unravel their mechanism of meaning conveyance", points out that the
inscriptions can be compared to the structured messages found on
stamps, coupons, tokens and currency coins of modern times.

Epigraphic analysis:
Discovered from nearly 4,000 ancient inscribed objects, including seals,
tablets, ivory rods, pottery shards, etc., the Indus inscriptions are one of
the most enigmatic legacies of the Indus Valley civilisation which have not
been deciphered due to the absence of bilingual texts, extreme brevity of
the inscriptions, and ignorance about the language(s) encoded by the
Indus script.
“This article mainly focuses on understanding how Indus inscriptions
conveyed meanings, rather than on deciphering what they conveyed,”
Bahata Ansumali Mukhopadhyay, the author of the paper said.
For the study, Ms. Mukhopadhyay has used the digitised corpus of Indus
inscriptions compiled by well-known epigraphist and Indus scholar
Iravatham Mahadevan. She studied it using computational analyses and
various interdisciplinary measures.

www.studyiq.com
Art & Culture august 2019
CURRENT AFFAIRS
Ancient tokens
In the publication that runs into 37 pages, Ms. Mukhopadhyay classifies the
signs into nine functional classes. Based on archaeological evidence, she
says, “The inscribed seals and tablets were used in some administrative
operation that controlled the commercial transactions prevalent in the
trade-savvy settlements of the ancient Indus Valley civilisation. These
inscriptions can be compared to the messages found on stamps, coupons,
tokens and currency coins of modern times, where we expect formulaic
texts that encode certain type of information in some pre-defined ways,
rather than freely composed narrative.”
A common perception among some scholars is that the Indus script is logo-
syllabic, where one symbol can be used as a word sign at one time and as a
syllable sign at another.
The researcher said that the popular hypothesis that the seals were
inscribed with Proto-Dravidian or Proto-Indo-European names of the seal-
owners does not hold water. It is not that no other Indus scholar has
proposed the logographic theory before. Mr. Mahadevan himself tried to
read these inscriptions logographically for decades, just that the
logographic theory was not articulated well enough. Ms. Mukhopadhyay
said her current work could serve as a basis in future for the deciphering
of the script.

www.studyiq.com
Art & Culture
CURRENT AFFAIRS august 2019

Oral History Project sees fresh push from Delhi govt

Context: Delhi government launched the ‘Oral History Programme’ at the

India International Centre on Monday (5/08/2019) . An MoU
(Memorandum of Understanding) was signed between Delhi Archives
department and the Ambedkar University (AUD).

Background:
It was in the ‘80s that the Delhi Archives department first began an oral
history project by interviewing 56 personalities about the city, its history
and changing nature.
From politician Gulzari Lal Nanda, who served as the acting Prime Minister
twice in the ‘60s, to Sushila Nayar, a close aide of Mahatma Gandhi the
interviews, stored in audio cassettes, detail their memories of Delhi.
However, this project was stopped due to lack of resources and
manpower.
Now, the Delhi govt, is trying to revive the project and they are planning to
add 100 more interviews.

Significance:
Unlike “written history,” oral history empowers the voiceless.
“An illiterate person cannot write down what s/he knows but s/he can tell
that story and that needs to be recorded.”

www.studyiq.com
Art & Culture
CURRENT AFFAIRS august 2019

Hampi Flooding

Issue
Heavy rains in catchment areas of Karnataka have resulted in flooding of
World famous heritage site of Hampi.

Background
Many places along the banks of Tungabhadra river, including the world
heritage site Hampi, are facing flood threat after  water was released from
the Tungabhadra reservoir on Sunday morning.
The reservoir was receiving heavy inflow, thanks to the downpour in
Tungabhadra catchment area in the Western Ghats for the last one week

Hampi- UNESCO world Heritage site

Hampi was the last capital of the Vijayanagara rulers. Its rulers built
temples and palaces, which have been sites of admiration ever since.
Constructed between the 14th and 16th centuries, the region was
conquered and pillaged by the Deccan confederacy in 1565.
A popular tourist attraction in Karnataka, Hampi was declared a UNESCO
World Heritage Site in 1986.

www.studyiq.com
Art & Culture
CURRENT AFFAIRS august 2019

Monuments of Hampi
Vittala Temple Complex
Virupaksha Temple
Virupaksha Bazar
Krishna Temple
Ugra Narasimha statue
Lotus Mahal
Elephant Stables
Hazara Rama Temple

Vijayanagara Empire
The Vijayanagara Empire (also called Karnata Empire,[3] and the Kingdom
of Bisnegar by the Portuguese) was based in the Deccan Plateau region
in South India. It was established in 1336 by Harihara I and his
brother Bukka Raya I of Sangama Dynasty.
The empire rose to prominence as a culmination of attempts by the
southern powers to ward off Islamic invasions by the end of the 13th
century. It lasted until 1646, although its power declined after a major
military defeat in the Battle of Talikota in 1565 by the combined armies of
the Deccan sultanates. The empire is named after its capital city
of Vijayanagara, whose ruins surround present day Hampi,

www.studyiq.com
Art & Culture
CURRENT AFFAIRS august 2019

Athi Varadar- A once in 40 years festival

Issue
The Athi Varadar temple festival has come to close.

Background
The Athi Varadar temple festival is one of the unique festival which is held
every 40 years. The idol of the deity is taken out and worshipped for a
period of 48 days during that time.

Details
Every 40 years, the festival is celebrated at the Varadaraja Perumal temple
in Kancheepuram.
The deity, Athi Varadhar will be brought up from the depths of
‘Ananthasaras,’ the tank at the Sri Varadharaja Perumal temple, and
remained for darshan over the next 48 days. After the completion of
rituals, the deity carved out of fig wood will be immersed in the tank and
remain there for the next 40 years.
About 60 kilos of Sandhanadhi Thailam, containing, among other
ingredients, saffron, sambrani, cardamom, jaadhikka, lavangam and other
ingredients would be applied by the priests thrice to protect the idol from
fungus and termite attacks. The idol will be placed inside a granite stone
tub underground of the Ananthasaras tank.
Naga stones will be placed on the idol’s shoulders, feet and hip to prevent it
from floating up. Once the idol is placed inside the vault, priests predict
rain that will help fill the tank up.
www.studyiq.com
Art & Culture
CURRENT AFFAIRS august 2019

‘Moi Virundhu’- Tamil Nadu’s crowd funded feast

Issue
The traditional moi virundhu is a source of crowd-funding during hard
times. A family feeds the community and is bestowed with cash gifts by
invitees, a favour that is appreciated, recorded in ledgers, and returned in
future.

Background
Moi virundhu, in its traditional form, used to be a poor person’s call for
help, where one would organise a feast for friends and family in times of
distress in return for monetary help.
 But over the past decade or so, the custom has evolved into an annual
feature when families take turns to organise the feast, and raise
money.       

Details
It goes by different names  illa vizha (family function) or vasantha
vizha (spring function). Both these functions have no ritual or ceremony,
but are organised with the sole objective of collecting moi or cash gifts.
Idea behind the feast is to financially help local community members who
had fallen on bad times.
The community elders used to utilise the excess money to benefit the
financially weaker section of the community and thus, ‘Moi Virunthu’ came
into existence.

www.studyiq.com
Art & Culture
CURRENT AFFAIRS august 2019

The ‘Moi’ amount collected can be spent on any productive enterprise

like new business, house, child’s education, bank savings etc., but the
person will have to wait for five years for the next feast.
Those who contributed to the fund, through ‘Moi’, will get back the money
through ‘Moi’ when they organise the feast of their own.
Modern inventions like a moi-specific software have been developed to
handle accounts for “ Moi Virundhu’.

Notes

www.studyiq.com
Art & Culture
CURRENT AFFAIRS august 2019

New GI Tags announced

Issue
Kondagi sarees and Dindigul locks from Tamil Nadu have been awarded
Geographical Indication tags.

Background
The Geographical Indication sign is used on products which correspond to
a specific geographical location. The use of a geographical indication may
act as a certification that the product possesses certain qualities, enjoys a
certain reputation, due to its geographical origin.

Details
Dindigul Locks
The lock making unit was set up by Sankaralingachari brothers in Dindigul
more than 150 years ago. Lock making is a popular cottage industry. The
industry in Dindigul is more than 100 years old and spread over five
villages.
It has evolved its unique craftsmanship distinct from other lock making
hubs, such as Aligarh in UP and Das Nagar in West Bengal.
Every lock is designed and possesses a unique style and special name
such as Mango Lock, Door Lock, Almirah Lock, Export Lock etc. Every lock
possesses a unique style.

www.studyiq.com
Art & Culture
CURRENT AFFAIRS august 2019

Kandagi sarees
Karaikudi is the home for products like the hand-woven Kandangi
sarees.Kandangi sarees are hand-woven by highly skilled weavers in the
town. They take nearly a week to make an exquisite saree.
Kandangi cotton sarees are made by weavers of Devanga Chettiars for
women of Chettiar community, also referred to as Nakarathars or
Nattukottai Chettiars.The sarees are being made in the town for more than
150-years.
Traditionally, Kandangi sarees were all brick-red, black and mustard, a
combination that suits any type of complexion. The traditional Kandangi
cotton saree is known to be distinctly characterised in the border by the
design of temple checks.

www.studyiq.com
 state psc courses

Madhya Pradesh Uttar Pradesh Bihar PSC

PSC PSC
Rs.57,000 Rs.57,000 Rs.52,000
Rs.28,000 Click Rs.27,500 Click Rs.28,000 Click
Here Here Here
Rs.24,500 Rs.24,500 Rs.22,500

Jharkhand PSC Himachal Pradesh

Rs.52,000 Rs.48,000
Rs.25,000 Click Rs.27,000 Click
Here Here
Rs.22,500 Rs.21,500

Tamil Nadu
PSC Maharashtra Gujarat PSC
PSC
Rs.48,000 Rs.52,000 Rs.55,000
Rs.27,000 Click Rs.26,000 Click Rs.25,000 Click
Here Here Here
Rs.21,500 Rs.22,500 Rs.21,000

Andhra Pradesh Karnataka PSC

PSC
Rs.55,000 Rs.52,000
Rs.26,000 Click Rs.26,000 Click
Here Here
Rs.22,500 Rs.22,500