JYOTIRLINGAS—PART  FOUR—MAHAKALESHWAR

                                               

Mahakaleshwar Jyotirlinga is one of the most famous temples dedicated to Shiva . It is located in the ancient city of Ujjain. The temple is situated on the side of the Rudra Sagar lake. The presiding deity is believed to be Swayambhu, deriving currents of power from within itself as against the other images and lingams that are ritually established and invested with mantra-shakti.  Because of the number of golden towers of several temples, Ujjain  is also known as “Swarna Sringa.”

                                                    

The idol of Mahakaleshwar is known to be  Dakshinamurti meaning-- facing the south. This is a unique feature, upheld by the tantric shivnetra tradition to be found only in Mahakaleshwar among the 12 Jyotirlingas. The idol of Omkareshwar Mahadev is consecrated in the sanctum above the Mahakal shrine. The images of Paravati,Ganesha, Kartikeya  are installed in the west, north and east of the sanctum sanctorum. To the south is the image of Nandi, the vehicle of Lord Shiva. The idol of Nagchandreshwar on the third storey is open for darshan only on the day of Nag Panchami.

The temple has five levels, one of which is underground. The temple itself is located in a spacious courtyard surrounded by massive walls near a lake. The  Shikara or the spire is adorned with sculptural finery. Brass lamps light the way to the underground sanctum. It is believed that prasada (holy offering) offered here to the deity can be re-offered unlike all other shrines.

The presiding deity of time, Shiva, in all his splendor, reigns eternally in the city of Ujjain. The temple’s Shikhar soars into the sky--an imposing façade against the skyline, evoking primordial awe and reverence.

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On the day of Maha Shivaratri, a huge fair is held near the temple, and worship goes on through the night.

In the precincts of the Mahakaleshwar temple is Shri Swapaneshwar Mahadev temple, where devotees pray to Shiva as Mahakaal, to realize the most important dreams of their lives. Here Mahadev is Swapaneshwar and Shakti is Swapaneshwari.

  The Upper Lip of Sati Devi is said to have fallen here and the Shakti is called as Mahakali.

According to the Puranas, the city of Ujjain was called Avantika and was famous for its beauty and its status as a devotional epicenter. It was also one of the primary cities where students went to study holy scriptures. According to legend, there was a ruler of Ujjain called Chandrasena, who was a pious devotee of Lord Shiva and worshiped him all the time. One day, a farmer's boy named Shrikhar was walking on the grounds of the palace and heard the King chant the Lord's name and rushed to the temple to start praying with him. However, the guards removed him by force and sent him to the outskirts of the city near the river Kshipra. Rivals of Ujjain, primarily King Ripudamana and King Singhaditya of the neighboring kingdoms decided to attack the Kingdom and take over its treasures around this time. Hearing this, Shrikhar started to pray and the news spread to a priest named Vridhi. He was shocked to hear this and upon the urgent pleas of his sons, started to pray to Lord Shiva at the river Kshipra. The Kings chose to attack and were successful ; with the help of the powerful demon Dushan, who was blessed by Lord Brahma to be invisible, they plundered the city and attacked all the devotees of Lord Shiva.

Upon hearing the pleas of the  helpless devotees, Lord Shiva appeared in his Mahakala form and destroyed the enemies of King Chandrasena. Upon the request of his devotees Shrikhar and Vridhi, Lord Shiva agreed to reside in the city and become the chief deity of the Kingdom and take care of it against its enemies and to protect all devotees. From that day on, Lord Shiva resided in his  form as Mahakala in a Lingam. 

Bharthari was the elder son of King Gandharva-Sena, and received the kingdom of Ujjain from the celestial God Indra and the King of Dhara.

When Bharthari was King of 'Ujjayani' (modern day Ujjain) in his state there lived a Brahman who after years of austerities was given the fruit of immortality from the celestial tree of Kalpavriksha. The Brahman presented the same to his monarch, Raja Bharthari, who in turn, passed it on to his love, the beautiful, Pinglah Rani or Ananga Sena--- Raja Bhartrhari's last and youngest wife. The Queen, being in love with the Head police officer of the State, Mahipaala, presented the fruit to him, who further passed it on to his beloved, Lakha, one of the maids of honour. Eventually, Lakha being in love with the King presented the fruit back to the King. Having completed the circle, the fruit revealed the downsides of infidelity to the King and  he summoned the Queen and ordered her beheading, and ate the fruit himself. After that he abdicated the throne, and became a religious mendicant.

He later became a disciple of Pattinatthar (Swetharanyar or Pattinatthu Chettiyar is the poorvashram name of this saint from Poompuhar,Tamil Nadu) who first indulged in an argument about samsari and sanyasi with King Bhartrhari. Later during the conversation Pattinathar said that all women have 'dual mind' and it might be the true case even with Parameswari. King conveyed this news to Rani Pinglah and she ordered Pattinathar to be punished and to sit in 'Kalu Maram' (Tree, whose top portion would be sharpened like a pencil and whole tree is fully coated with oil, a person who is punished to sit in the top will be split into 2 pieces), they tried to kill Pattinathar, but Kalu Maram started burning and nothing happened to Pattinathar. The King came to know this news and went directly to Pattinathar and asked him to get ready to die the next day, but Pattinathar replied, " I'm ready right now, to die". The next day King came with tears in his eyes and released the saint from jail because he actually noticed Queen Pinglah in love with horsemen that night, He threw away his empire, wealth, even full coat dress and dressed in a simple loin cloth, the King became a disciple of Pattinatthar and got mukthi (salvation) in the Kalahasthi temple.

The temple complex was destroyed by Sultan Shas-ud-din lltutmish during his raid of Ujjain. 1234-5.

The present structure was built by the Maratha General Ranoji Scindia in 1736 CE. Further developments and management was done by other members of his dynasty. 

  The biggest religious fair “The Kumbh “ is  held here. Millions of devotees come here to be a part of this holistic ceremony and  consider themselves, very fortunate after having bath in Shipra River and  a  darshan of Lord Mahakaleshwar-- Shiva-Lingam.

 One of the major attractions of Mahakaleshwar Mandir is the Mahakaleshwar Jyotirlinga Bhasma Aarti. The divine ceremony includes worshipping the idol with holy ash brought from the ghats and ash from funeral pyres and applied with sacred chants. Amidst vedic chants and strotras and sounds of cymbals, conchs and damru, the Bhasma aarti is performed every morning. It is performed to wake  Lord Shiva, do “Shringar” (anoint and dress him for the day), and carry out the first aarti .

                                               

 Veda Vyasa sang the  glory of Mahakala in Mahabharat and so did poets like Kalidasa, Banabhatta and Bhoja. In 11th century, the temple was renovated during the Parmar regime. In 1234, Sultan Iltutmish of Delhi attacked on Ujjain and demolished Mahakal temple. From the Shivapuran reference, it appears that the temple was built eight generations before Nanda, the guardian of Lord Krishna The present beautiful temple was constructed by Sukhtankar Ramchandra Baba Shenavi, a divan of Ranoji Shinde during Bajirao Peshwa regime in 18th century.

Once there lived a Brahman who had four sons, who were all devotees of Siva. The wicked demon king Dushan came to Avantika after attaining a boon from Lord Brahma and started torturing the erudite Brahmins of Avantika. But the Brahmins who were so engrossed in their worship of Shiva did not even notice.

The demon King sent all four of his henchmen with the orders that they have to ensure that no Vedic Dharmanushtan activities are to take place. The harassed people came running to the BrahmIns seeking help. The BrahmIns assured the people and pacified them. They immediately started praying to Lord Shiva.

Meanwhile, just as the Demon king tried to attack the BrahmInas, the earth would split open near the Parthiv Murty with a loud noise and a huge crater was formed  there. In this manner, Siva assumed the colossal form of Mahakal and appeared. He ordered the wicked Demon from going anywhere near the Brahmins. But the wicked Demon king did not pay heed. As a result, Siva burnt him to ashes with just one grunt. Seeing Lord Siva in this Avatar, Brahma, Vishnu and Indra and other Devas came down and prayed to the Lord and pleased Him.

 Chandrasena, the King of Ujjain was not only a scholar, but also a staunch devotee of Lord Siva. Once his friend Maheswari’s follower Manibahdra gave him a beautiful gemstone called Sundara Chintamani. It shone so bright and beautiful when Chandrasena wore it on his neck, that he looked even more glorious than the celestial gods. It would make even them feel jealous. Once, some kings went and asked Chandrasena to part with the jewel and Chandrasena promptly refused to do so. This angered the Kings, who in turn attacked Chandrasena’s kingdom. When Chandrasena realized that he was surrounded by the enemy he sought the help of Mahakal. Bhagawan Shiva was pleased with his prayers and showed him a solution for his problem. An illiterate boy once saw the King performing Puja and the boy installed the stone  in his empty house. He imagined it to be an incarnation of Shiva and started worshipping it. The boy became so engrossed in prayer and chanting, that he even forgot all about food. When his mother went to call him, any number of calls had no affect on him. He was silently praying. Angered by this, the mother who was still bound by worldly love, threw away the Siva Linga. She destroyed all the items of worship. The boy was very sad at what his mother had done. He started to pray to Shiva with his entire concentration. Siva was not long in coming to the rescue of his devotee. This stone Siva Linga which was brought by the son of a cowherd soon became adorned with gemstones and turned into a Jyotirlinga. After singing in praise of Lord Siva, when the boy returned to his house, he was amazed to find a beautiful palatial home instead. Thus, with the Grace and Blessings of Lord Siva, the boy became rich and led a very happy life.

P.P.Ramachandran

03 / 04 / 2017

TCA SRINIVASA RAGHAVAN 

                                                    

Dialogue of the Deaf by T.C.A.Srinivasa Raghavan ; Published by Tranquebar ; Pages 250 ; Price Rs 599/-

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The author of this book, Shri.T.C.A.Srinivasa Raghavan  ( hereafter TCA )was connected closely for eight years with the  R B I—as  Consultant for Volumes Three and Four of the Bank’s History. He had met forty five retired officials of R B I  for an oral history of the bank. He was associated with several business journals. Presently he is with “ Business Standard “.

The book under review  is the history of the Politics of Monetary Policy in India. The core of the book is the rather convoluted relationship between the  R B I  and the Government of India. At the time when the RBI  was at a discussion stage,  Governor of the Bank of England Sir Montague Norman declared, “ R B I has  to play the role of a ‘ Hindoo Wife’ who offers advice but never asserts herself ”. Analysing the history of Central Banking the author asserts that “..Central Banks have become a very important instrument of the State …they have been formed by the acts of the Legislature but their powers have been left blurry around the edges so that their accountability is unclear.”

The Bank of International Settlements serves central banks in their pursuit of monetary and fiscal stability to foster international co-operation in those areas and act as a bank for central banks. It has recommended broad supervisory standards for banks and the financial system generally. They have introduced Capital Adequacy Norms.

TCA  turns to the politics of monetary policy. Monetary policy is not something that is determined in the simplistic way monetary economists like to imagine. There are social and political forces that play a  larger role than simple demand and supply equations.       “ R B I ‘s research has been singularly deficient because it has it has been based on technical models that ignore political and social factors. This has led to an intellectual disjunction which has not stood anyone in good stead.”

J.M.Keynes’s work led to fiscal policy replacing monetary policy as the instrument that calibrates the levels of economic activity in a country. TCA  provides a neat summary of the evolution of the  R BI—the Hilton Young Commission —the role of J.M.Keynes—the Central Banking Enquiry Committee and the birth of  R B I  on April 1, 1935. Time there was when  R B I  was compared to the then popular—“ H M V “—“ His Master’s Voice”—Voice of the Government. We have a scintillating account of the story of Sterling Balances and this is followed by the mysterious tale of the resignation of the first R B I Governor. TCA  recapitulates events such as the resignation of  RB I’s First Governor, the absurd and acerbic relationship the Finance Minister T.T.Krishnamachari has with Governor Rama Rau leading to the latter’s exit, the nationalisation of the Imperial Bank of India.

He sums up cryptically—“ there was a constant wrangling between the Government, the  R B I, the  S B I  and although the  R B I won the battles Government  led by the indefatigable T T K  always won the war”.

 All through the 1970s fiscal policy dominated and the  R B I played second fiddle. A fractious democracy has mandated that there is complete fiscal dominance. TCA  pays tribute to Rangarajan and Tarapore for the monetary policy reforms of the 1990s. He calls for “ injection of more professional technical expertise into the R B I and the Finance Ministry”.

  TCA  writes on the intractable problem of rural credit which according to him “ could be traced to just one thing: Lack of Expertise”. R B I  lost the power to set the interest rates. And then came Indira Gandhi and swiftly bank nationalisation. Bank nationalisation had one beneficial impact. At the time of nationalisation there were around 8000 bank branches; by the end of 1985 the number had grown to more than 51,000.

The upheaval of the twenty years between 1950 and 1970 would change  R B I  from being a  mere Manager of the monetary system to an active participant in the development efforts. TCA  describes  R B I’s monetary policies between 1970 and 1996 as an “ exercise in credit rationing “. Two ticklish problems he expatiates on are the opening of Indian bank branches abroad and reciprocal opening of branches of foreign banks in the country and “ Gold Auctions”.

The R B I had to deal with an uncooperative Government throughout the 1980s. The first sign came in 1983 when the Government orders the  R B I  to give permission to the Bank of Credit and Commerce International to open a branch in Bombay. In April 1985  R B I allowed banks to determine the maturity structure of their liabilities and banks were given discretion to  fix interest rates on deposits  within a ceiling of 8 per cent, The experiment flopped and the status quo ante was restored. Again the problems of NBFCs proved quite intractable.

The author analyses the effects of the two devaluations of the India Rupee . The  R B I  played a crucial role in the 1990s. There was a Fundamental change in the relationship between the Government and the Bank. It was healthier due  to the Finance Ministers and the key officials of the Finance Ministry having a better understanding of the  R B I’s role. The Finance  Ministry officials needed the  R B I’s technical expertise in an increasingly complex economy. The   R B I  initiated several reforms in the financial sector. The most important change was the delinking of the budget deficit from monetisation.  A limit was fixed to resort to R B I for ad hoc treasury bills by the Central Government. Another important event was the replacement of FERA by  FEMA  which turned out to be a huge success.

In one chapter TCA  provides scintillating snapshots of startling events--  the Ketan Parekh Play ; the Global Trust Fiasco and the Harshad Mehta Affair ( The  then Finance Minister Manmohan Singh declared famously,” He did not lose sleep over the movements in the stock market”) .  He also provides cogent analysis of the two Reports of the Narasimham Committee, the Raghuram Rajan Report, the CFSA Report, etc.

Between Jalan and Reddy “..there was an increase in operational effectiveness of monetary policies through broadening and deepening various segments of the financial markets and redefining the regulatory role of the  R B I, strengthening of prudential and supervisory norms, improvement of the credit delivery system and development of technological and institutional infrastructure for an efficient financial sector.”

Regarding relations of R B I with Government, the author quotes with approval Dr.Y.V.Reddy who worked both as Deputy Governor and Governor—“ We are totally free--within the limits set by the Government.”

Finally TCA declares  that,”.. The huge variety of factors that determine outcomes in India also change, the interface between fiscal and monetary policies too will change. One of the most important factors to influence the change in the relationship will have to be the change in the RBI itself. It needs to re-invent itself to remain relevant”

P.P.Ramachandran.

09 / 04 / 2017

 THOMAS   FRIEDMAN

                                                            

 Thank You For Being Late ------- An Optimist’s Guide to Thriving in the Age of Accelerations; by Thomas L. Friedman; Published by   Farrar, Straus & Giroux ; Pages 486  Price $28.

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Thomas Friedman has bagged three times the  Pulitzer Prize for his work  with the New York Times. We are all familiar with his “ World is Flat” with an introduction to Infosys of Bengaluru. That  book's genesis is the conversation Friedman has with Nandan Nilekani, the CEO of Infosys. Nilekani causally mutters to Friedman: "Tom, the playing field is being leveled."

Ten minutes after his talk with Nilekani, Friedman is pitching a tent in his company van on the road back from the Infosys campus in Bangalore:

As I left the Infosys campus that evening along the road back to Bangalore, I kept chewing on that phrase: "The playing field is being leveled." What Nandan is saying, I thought, is that the playing field is being flattened... Flattened? Flattened? My God, he's telling me the world is flat!

 In his latest book under review Friedman tackles the tremendous speed which distinguishes the pace of  change in technology, globalisation, and global climate.

People at large feel that the world is accelerating away from them — but why is what  they cannot comprehend. People thirst for a simple explanation. Thinkers and analysts should tell us what went wrong and how do we identify and attack the ailment.

Tom Friedman has put on a medico’s garb and offers medication. He has to his credit highly rated books on topics like  globalisation and climate change. He has the uncanny knack of explain lucidly complicated subjects.

His latest work has twin objectives--Why is our world  the way it is — why many items spin out of control,  and then attempt to convince us that “ God is in his Heaven and all is right with the World” as Robert Browning put it.

According to Friedman--- Man is quick to adapt but this capacity is outpaced by three things that have lightning speed-- technology, the market and climate change. On technology , Friedman writes “ that 2007, which saw the arrival of the iPhone, Android and Kindle, was the year when software began, in the words of Netscape’s founder, “eating the world”. He points out that if Moore’s law (that the power of microchips would double about every two years) had applied to the capabilities of cars, not computer chips, then the modern descendant of the 1971 Volkswagen Beetle would travel at 300,000 miles per hour, cost 4 cents and use one tank of gasoline in a lifetime.

All the  three forces interact, complicating and speeding up one another. In Niger, climate change is wrecking crops even as technology is helping more children survive, so a population of 19 million will reach 72 million hungry people by 2050. On trading floors, technology and markets create “spoofing,” so a 36-year-old geek, operating out of his parents’ flat by Heathrow, can make the Dow Jones index fall 9 percent in a “flash crash.”

 And everything, Friedman warns, will keep getting faster. There are already at least 10 billion things connected to the internet — but that is still less than 1 percent of the possible total as ever more cars, gadgets and bodies join “the internet of things.”

Man has sped up his own response times. It now takes us only 10-15 years to get used to the sort of technological changes that we used to absorb in a couple of generations; but what good is that when technology becomes obsolete every five to seven years?.

The book’s title comes from an offhand comment to a friend whose tardiness allowed a few welcome minutes of contemplation.Along the way we discover that the A.T.M. created more full-time teller jobs at banks (because it allowed banks to increase the number of branches). There are inspiring stories of communities rising to the challenge, and a memorable paean to the virtues of chickens from Bill Gates

 A parallel explosion of economic inter-dependency has created new riches as well as spiralling debt burdens. Meanwhile, Mother Nature is also seeing dramatic changes as carbon levels rise and species go extinct, with compounding results.

Friedman concludes that nations and individuals must learn to be fast (innovative and quick to adapt), fair (prepared to help the casualties of change), and slow (adept at shutting out the noise and accessing their deepest values).

His earlier tomes shot on to the bestseller lists by explaining how the rise of the internet and globalisation have changed our global economy — or made the world “flat”, to borrow the title of his  book “The World is Flat”. This book is woven in with wonderful personal stories. 

The three-time Pulitzer winner puts his familiar methodology—extensive travel, thorough reporting, interviews with the high-placed movers and shakers, conversations with the lowly moved and shaken—to especially good use here, beginning with a wonderful encounter with a parking attendant during which he explains the philosophy and technique underlying his columns and books.

 The book is framed as “an optimist’s guide to thriving and building resilience in this age of accelerations,” in which technology, globalisation, and climate change are advancing at speeds that our feeble human brains can barely comprehend.  Friedman argues that the best response is to roll with the changes.

P.P.Ramachandran.

03 / 04 / 2017

                                  TRIBUTE TO ABID  HUSSAIN

                                      

Shaping India’s Future –Essays in Memory of Abid Hussain ; Edited by Deepak Nayyar and Rana Hasan ; Published by Academic Foundation ; Pages 245 ; Price Rs 995/-

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When the definitive history of post-Independence India comes to be written unquestionably Prof.Abid Hussain’s name will appear in letters of gold. His spectacular contribution covered a remarkable range of areas. He wore several hats with distinction—outstanding civil servant, distinguished diplomat and a citizen totally committed to India’s advancement.

The Editors themselves are highly renowned—Deepak Nayyar has taught in Oxford, Sussex, IIM Kolkata and is currently Professor Emeritus in JNU. He was Vice Chancellor of Delhi University. He was Chief Economic Adviser to the Government of India and Finance Secretary for a number of years. He has 15 books to his credit and over 75 papers in respected journals. Rana Hasan is a Ph.D in Economics from University of Maryland and an M.A from the Delhi School of Economics. He has published books on trade as also several articles in learned journals.

The book under review is in two parts. The first part includes nine essays on                       “ Economics and State” and “ Governance and Society”. The second part comprises tributes to Prof.Hussain by very eminent scholars.

We shall first take up the “ Tributes” and understand the role played by Abid Hussain. 

Jagdish Bhagwati, Professor in Columbia and  Adviser to several International Organisations declares, ”He must be remembered for his pioneering work on community development and his unwavering support for our economic reforms.”

Pratap Bhanu Mehta writes --- “ his contribution to a range of social and economic institutions is enormous. He was an irredeemable believer in India’s prospects and was eternally youthful in his optimism about what India could achieve.”

Deepak Nayyar recalls some attributes of Hussain---” He had remarkable leadership qualities, was embedded in delegation, trust and loyalty ”.

Aravind Panagariya speaks of Hussain’s diplomatic skill. Such were his attainments that the Government felt compelled to eschew the normal practice of appointing a member of the Indian Foreign Service or a politician as our Ambassador to the United States and chose him for that post instead.

Jairam Ramesh recounts how Hussain’s contributions were not confined to Industry and Trade. He authored a Landmark Report on restructuring of the Council of Industrial and Scientific Research and on the Textile Policy in the late 1980s.

Dr.Y.V.Reddy declares that “..his greatest quality has been that his very presence added to happiness all-round in every moment of his life. I had the honour and privilege to be trained by him.”Hussain was the Collector of Vishakhapatnam and Dr.Reddy was his Assistant Collector.”

Let us now deal with the Essays in the book.

Deepak   Nayyar analyses “ The State and the Economy ”. Noting the enormous diversity in the nature of the State in different areas of the world he argues that the success of a variety of models depended on the abilities of the countries and governments to make course corrections. Governments must endeavour to change the nature and quality of its intervention in the markets. differentiating between the functions, the institutional and strategic aspects.

RBI’s Ex--Governor Dr. Reddy in a perceptive essay on “Planning and Finance Commissions” examines the role of the Planning Commission, the NITI Aayog and the Finance Commission. He argues that the Planning Commission’s replacement by the NITI Aayog captures the new realities of macroeconomic management and of Union—State relations, especially the need to foster a spirit of competitive federalism within the context of broader environment of cooperation. The recommendations of the Finance Commission are relevant for NITI Aayog as they enable the States to cement their partnership with the Centre for transformation and development.

Rajiv Kumar emphasises how India chose to undertake simultaneously three distinct transitions—social, political and economic. This is a tremendous task viewing India’s continental size and diversity, He strongly recommends that “Employment Maximisation” must be chosen as the exclusive policy goal that will provide the required analytical framework for policy making in the country.

RBI’s former Deputy Governor Rakesh Mohan focuses on the Transportation needs of the country over the next twenty years. Both the quantum and the types of investment are crucial if the country is to achieve growth rates of 8—9 per cent. He calls for a step-on in public investment in railways and again a coherent and integrated strategy for the transport sector.

A very valuable essay is the unpublished essay of Abid Hussain which deals with bureaucracy in a democratic society like ours. He notes the general disenchantment with bureaucracy. It must recreate the sense of pragmatic idealism which was once its hallmark and should become more mission—oriented with a sense of pride in doing service to the people.

There are some more critical articles which we have not touched upon due to space constraints.

Each chapter has a rich bibliography. The book is a highly useful addition to the literature on India’s development.

P.P.Ramachandran.

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TIT-BITS

1. Abid Saab was a man with a great sense of humour. When he was our Ambassador to USA, he was harassed by journalists during an interview. He diffused the situation by saying ‘ Gentlemen, there seems to be some confusion here. I am “Abid Hussain from India”, not “Sadam Hussain from Iraq”.---P 237

2. An interesting anecdote.”Prime Minister Indira Gandhi once said to him,”Abid Saheb, I gather that you are partial and select only those whom you know or are your friends.”. In reply Abid Hussain said, “ Yes, Madam, that is correct. But I assure you that everyone I chose is better than me !.’—P 235

3. Abid Hussain was the legendary collector of Vishakhapatnam. There is an “Abid Nagar” in that city. Abid’s only daughter was named”Vishakha”—P 240

P.P.Ramachandran.

26 / 03 / 2017