Dictionary of Proper Names

Selected from Glossary and Index of Proper Names in Sri Aurobindo’s Works (1989/1996)

P

Padmanābha (1878-1970), South Indian statesman & social reformer.

Padma Purana describes the Yuga when creation was a golden padma, lotus

Pal, Bepin (Chandra) (1858-1932) born in Sylhet, now in Bangladesh, began his career as a journalist. Perhaps, his excellent command over English & his impressive knowledge of English polity & the state of affairs under Brit rule, led to his becoming a founding member of the INC (Bombay, December 1885) & one of its dynamic speakers. E.g., interpreting Pherozshah Mehta’s decision to keep the proletariat out of the INC, he declared: “India could not reasonably expect to build up a real modern democracy by enlisting the masses to the service of the Congress before they were sufficiently advanced in social ideas & had been properly educated. The continuance of Brit authority was necessary for building up a real freedom movement” & establish a Govt. “which would be a Govt. of the people, by the people & for the people.” He took a leading part in organising the movement against the partition of Bengal that erupted in 1905. When Pal started the English daily Bande Mataram on 6 August 1906, with barely Rs. 500, donated by Haridas Hāldār, in his pocket, he invited Sri Aurobindo to be his Joint Editor. But an English daily paper whatever the mesmerising appeal of its name, could hardly be run on the outlay of Rs. 500. So when Pal went on a tour of the eastern Districts of Bengal to spread the message of nationalism, Sri Aurobindo was in charge of the paper, & he took the opportunity to call a private meeting of the young nationalists to chalk out their future programme. He told them what was needed was an all-India nationalist party organised & capture the Congress organisation. The one all-India leader with the requisite intellectual & moral eminence & record of national service & sacrifice was Tilak, & hence the nationalists of Bengal should join hands with those of Maharashtra, the Punjab & elsewhere, & follow Tilak’s leadership. Secondly, to give the national party a mouthpiece on a nation-wide basis, the party should adopt the Bande Mataram paper & give it adequate financial & other support. In the meantime, Subodh & Nirod Mullick offered to keep the paper going, & Bepin Pal, enjoying as he did the support of C.R. Das & others, remained editor; but differences unfortunately developed between him & two of the editorial assistants, Shyamsundar Chakravarti & Hemendra Prasad Ghose. This ended in Pal’s separation from the journal towards the end of 1906. Sri Aurobindo would not have consented to this but the separation was effected behind Sri Aurobindo’s back when he was convalescing. …. Although Sri Aurobindo wrote most of the leading articles & made other contributions as well, his name did not figure as Editor except once…. His editorial assistants, Shyamsundar, Hemendra Prasad & Bejoy Chatterjee, were also brilliant writers who could on occasion successfully imitate their chief. By the end of September, Sri Aurobindo & his three colleagues, B.C. Pal himself being away most of the time, had given the Bande Mataram its distinguishing stamp as the supreme hot-gospeller in the cause of national independence & regeneration. ― Pal had also joined Sri Aurobindo in putting up Tilak & Lajpat Rai as leaders of their New Party which became an all-India Nationalist Party aiming to achieve Swaraj for India through boycott of everything foreign & developing Swadeshi in all spheres of national life. In fact, soon Lal-Bal-Pal became the acknowledged leaders of the Nationalist Party. After the 1906 Calcutta Congress, Tilak spent three months speaking & organizing in Bengal & the United Provinces. Pal also spoke in U.P. & afterwards went on a pioneering tour of the Andhra country in the politically ‘backward’ Madras Presidency. It was partly as a result of Bepin Pal’s sensational tour of Madras in 1907 that, like Bengal, Maharashtra & the Punjab, the southern Province too witnessed Nationalist & revolutionary activity on a truly portentous scale. In his article on “The Tuticorin Victory’, Sri Aurobindo paid a well-merited tribute to V.O. Chidambaram Pillai, Subramania Siva & Padmanābha Iyengar. ― On 8 June 1907 the Bande Mataram was warned that if it did not toe the Govt. line police action will ensue. On 30 July, its office was searched & on 16 August a warrant for Sri Aurobindo’s arrest was issued. But the police found no evidence of his being the editor. So Bepin Pal, being the founder of the paper was put on the witness box to prove Sri Aurobindo was indeed the editor. But Pal, who had long since severed his connection with the paper, refused to name him &, on September 11^th, he was sentenced to six months’ simple imprisonment in Buxar Jail in Bihar. It was “the maximum penalty permitted by the law for the crime of possessing a conscience” commented the Bande Mataram of 12 September, for obeying not the Govt.’s dictate but “the imperative command of his conscience” which he held to be a “more sacred & binding law than the Penal Code”. When Pal was released, the Bande Mataram declared “We welcome back today not Bepin Chandra Pal, but the speaker of a God-given message; not the man but the voice of the Gospel of Nationalism.” In a subsequent article, Sri Aurobindo described Pal as “the standard-bearer of the cause of Nationalism, the great voice of its heart, the beacon-light of its enthusiasm”. [In 1908-09] Pal & Lajpat Rai took up residence respectively in England & America. When Pal returned, Motilal Nehru made him editor of his The Independent (q.v.). “But late in life,” concludes Prof S. Bhattacharya’s brief 17-line secularised note on Pal, “he lost some of his old fire, did not agree with Gandhi on the issues of non-violent non-co-operation & the Khilafat movement & retired from active political life.” [Based K.R.S. Iyengar’s Sri Aurobindo – a Legend & a History, 2006; Purani’s Life of Sri Aurobindo; P. Heehs’ Brief bio…, & Lives…]

Pal, Kristo Das (1838-84), “Educated at the Oriental Seminary & Metropolitan College, Calcutta: appointed Assistant Secretary to the British Indian Association, Calcutta (organisation of Bengali zamindars) Dec. 1858 & Secretary in 1879: made editor in Nov. 1861 & subsequently manager of the Hindoo Patriot (q.v.), then the leading native paper: in 1863 appointed a Justice of the Peace in Calcutta, & took prominent position in municipal affairs: nominated a Member of the Bengal Legislative Council in 1872 & an additional Member of the Gov.-Gen.’s Legislative Council in Feb. 1883 as representative of the Bengal zamindars in the discussions on the Bengal Tenancy Bill: his services were highly valued by Govt.: his natural eloquence was developed by constant practice, while his force of character, combined with industry & independence, gave him a leading position in public affairs: in advocating the cause of the natives of India his moderation conduced greatly to his success. Sir C.P. Ilbert said of him: ‘A great orator & a great journalist, who would have made his mark in any country & at any time.’ He was made Rai Bahadur in 1877 & C.I.E. [Companion of Brit-Indian Empire] in 1878: on July 24, 1884, a statue was erected in his honour at Calcutta.” [Buckland]

Paladin any of 12 Peers of Charlemagne’s court, of whom Count Palatine was chief.

Palit, T. Sir Tārak Nath Palit (1831-1914), a highly successful barrister of Calcutta who made munificent donations for the spread of the knowledge of science & for national education. He took the initiative in founding a Technical Institute in Calcutta. After some time, however, he was disappointed by its performance & withdrew his patronage. In the political field, Palit was a leader of the Moderate group. [Dict. of National Biography, Ed. S.P. Sen, Institute of Historical Studies, Calcutta, 1972-74; Bengal Past & Present, July-Dec. 1979, Ed. P.C. Gupta, Calcutta Historical Society, p.59]

Palladium the statue of Pallas Athene sent down by Zeus from Olympus as the guardian of Troy to Dardanus king of Troy or to his descendant Ilus (q.v.). Diomedes & Odysseus destroyed or carried it off making possible the sack of Troy.

Pallava(s) The Pallavas were the first well-known dynasty in the history of South India; they gained prominence in the 4^th century after the fall of their overlords, the Śatavāhana dynasty (founded in c.60 BC) ruling Ᾱndhra the region between rivers Godāvari & Krishnā; their languages Prakrit as well as Tamil. The Pallavas were mostly Vaishnavas or Shaivites; the Pallava dynasty was established by Simhavarman I in 275 CE with Kānchipūram as their capital & ended in 897 CE under Aparājitavarman who was defeated by Aditya I of the Cholā Empire & the eastern Chālukyas. The Pallavas became a major power during the reign of Mahendravarman I (571-630) & under Narasimhavarman (ruled 630-688) the Pallava territories included the Chālukya (Telugu) territories occupied by them, & northern parts of Tamil region (covering present districts of North & South Arcot, Madras, Tiruchchirappalli & Thanjavur, & at times even beyond). They are most noted for their patronage of architecture, the finest examples being the Shore Temple in Māmallapūram, & the well-planned city of Kānchipūram which they turned into a city of magnificent temples & sculptures. They established foundations of South Indian architecture. Derived from the Grantha script the Pallava script is still used to write Sanskrit, esp. in Manipravalam. The Saṇgam period classic, Maṇimekalai, attributes its origin to the first Pallava king from a liaison between the daughter of a Nāga king of Maṇipallava named Pilli Valai (Pillivalai) with Cholā king Killivalavan, out of the union was born a prince, who was lost in shipwreck & found with a twig (Pallava) of Tondai (Cephalandra Indica) around his ankle & hence named Tondai Mān. In another version “Pallava” was born from the union of the immortal Ashwatthāmā with a Naga princess also supposedly supported in the 6^th verse of the Bāhur plates which states “From Ashwatthāmā was born the king named Pallava”. The Pallavas themselves claimed to descend from Lord Brahma & Ashwatthāmā. Historically, early relations between the Nāgas & Pallavas became well-established before the myth of Pallava’s birth to Ashwatthāmā took root.

Pamela or Virtue Rewarded, first novel of Samuel Richardson.

Pan Greek god of fertility, was worshipped principally in Arcadia.

Panchadasi book in verse on Vedanta by Vidyāranya.

Pāñchajanya an Asura who lived in a conch-shell; as he kidnapped his guru Sandipani’s son, Sri Krishna killed him & blew the conch on battlefields.

Pāñchāla Shatapatha Brāhmaṇa suggests that Pāñcāla was the later name of the Krivi clan who, according to in Rigvedic times lived on the bank of the Indus. Later Vedic literature uses the term Pāñcāla to describe the close associates of the Kurus (see Drupada). It was divided into Uttara-Pāñcāla & Dakshīna-Pāñcāla, covering the region to the east of the Kurus, between the upper Himalayas & the Gungā. Uttara (northern) Pāñchāla had its capital at Ahichchhatrā, also known as Adhichhatra & Chakravarti while the Dakshīna had it capital at Kāmpīlya. The famous city of Kanyakubja or Kanauj was situated in the kingdom of Pāñcāla. By 5th cent BC, it became one of the śodaśa-mahājanapada (16 major democracies). After being absorbed into the Mauryan Empire, Pāñcāla regained its independence until it was annexed by the Gupta Empire in the 4th cent AD.

Pāñchāli Śapatham “Draupadi’s Vow” by Subramania Bharati – an epic in two parts, respectively comprising two cantos of 204 verses & three cantos of 104 verses.

Panchatantra animal fables for children in prose & verse by Vishnu Sharma.

Pandemian an epithet of Aphrodite as native of Pandemos & goddess of all the people for her role in conjugal life (s/a Uranian for Aphrodite Urania).

Pānd(o)u Pāndu, with a whitish-yellow skin due to pāndu-rōga, jaundice (from French jaune, yellow). Pāṇdu succeeded his father Vichitravīrya as the king of Hastināpura. He was so born because his mother Ambālikā had turned pale in fear when Veda Vyāsa was blessing her with a son through his yogic powers at the behest of his mother Queen Satyavatie. Pāṇdu, trained by Bhīṣma, excelled in warfare, esp. archery, & administration, & expanded & consolidated the Kuru kingdom by conquering Sindhu, Kāshi, Aṇga, Trigarta, Kaliṇga, Magadha, etc. Pāṇdu was first married to Kūnti (q.v.) who bore him three sons & later to Mādri (q.v.) who bore him two sons. Once he shot dead a couple of deers in the forest, but it turned out they were a rishi & his wife making love in the form of deers. The dying rishi cursed him that he & his wife will die if he ever made love. One day, when he & Mādri were alone, they failed to control themselves & both died.

Pāndyā(s) In Saṇgam lexicon the word Pāndyā means old country in contrast with Cholā meaning new country, Cherā meaning hill country & Pallava meaning branch in Sanskrit. The Cherā, Cholā & Pāndyā are the traditional Tamil siblings & together with the Pallavas are the major rulers of ancient Tamilakkam. Among the mentions in the Mahābhārata are: “Pāndyā, who dwells on the coast-land near the sea, came accompanied by troops of various kinds to Yudhishthira, the king of kings.” (5:19); “Steeds that were all of the hue of the Atruśa flower bore a hundred & forty thousand Mahārathīs accompanying Sarangadhwaja, the king of the Pāṇdyās.” (7.23); “Malayadhwaja (son of the first Pāndyan king Kulasekharan) pierced the son of Drōṇa with a barbed arrow. Then Drona’s son struck Pāndyā with some fierce arrows, capable of penetrating into the very vitals & resembling flames of fire.” (8:20). Malayadhwaja & his queen Kanchanamala had one daughter Meenakshi who succeeded her father & reigned successfully. The Madurai Meenakshi Amman temple was built after her. The city of Madurai was built around this temple. The first Pāndyan king mentioned in the Saṇgam works recovered so far is Nedunj Cheliyan I, who ruled from the coastal town of Korkai, at the mouth of river Tamraparni. Nedunj Cheliyan I invaded the kingdom of Kudal (later renamed Madurai), which was under the rule of an independent chieftain, Akutai. He was succeeded by his son Pudappandiyan, who expanded the kingdom by conquering Ollaiyur (near present Pudukottai). Nedunj Cheliyan I & Pudappandiyan were both poets who contributed to the Purananuru collection. Pudappandiyan was succeeded by Nedunj Cheliyan II who was succeeded by Mudukudumi Peruvaludhi who performed the Ashwamedha yajña. The next king, Nedunj Cheliyan III, is considered the greatest of all Early Pāndyan kings. Notable among his successors were Musiri Mutriya Cheliyan in whose court that flourished the great Tiruvalluvar. ― The Early Pāndyan kingdom extended between the Southern Vellaru River on the north & Cape Comorin on the south & the Coromandel Coast on the east to the Achchankovil Pass leading to Travancore on the west. It was well known for pearl fishery, with had extensive commercial relations with overseas countries which were carried on through its ports, Korkai, & later on, Kayal. Some of the exports were pearls, spices, ivory & shells, while the imports included horses, gold, glass & wine. Whether independent or tributary, seventeen Pāndyan kings are said to have ruled the country from 1100 to 1567, the most powerful of whom was Jatāvarman Sundara who reigned from 1251 to 1271 & held sway over the whole of the eastern coast from Nellore to Cape Comorin. In 1310 the Pāndyā kingdom was over-run by jihadis under Malik Kāfur, the general of Alā-ud-din Khalji. In 1378, it was absorbed into the Hindu kingdom of Vijayanagaram.

In the Early Pāndyan, the head of the Government was the king, a hereditary monarch. His power was restricted by the Aimberunguzhu or the Five Great Assemblies, which consisted of the representatives of the people, priests, physicians, astrologers & the ministers. There was another assembly of officials that served the king called the Enberaayam which some scholars believe consisted of the important persons of the capital city, the leaders of the elephant corps & of the cavalry. The principal officers of State were the high priest, the chief astrologer, the ministers & the commanders of the army. The king divided his territory into a number of administrative units or principalities, each called a Kootram. A Kootram was further divided into provinces called Mandalam, which in turn was divided into many sub-provinces called Nādus, with each Nadu consisting of many villages. A locality inside a town or village was called Ur & each neighbourhood inside an Ur was called a Cheri. While the king ruled over his entire territory from the capital, he often placed one or more Kootram under the near-sovereign government of some senior member of the royal family or a feudatory. The village was the most fundamental unit of administration under the Pāṇdyās. The affairs of a village were the responsibility of its elders, who supervised the judicial, administrative & financial functions. Justice was administered free of charge, by special officers appointed as judges & magistrates, but the king was supreme & the final arbiter in all civil & criminal cases. Mortgage, lease, trust property, loans, breach of contract were some common sources of civil litigation, while criminal offences included theft, adultery, forgery & treason. The punishments were very severe & hence crimes were rare: one caught in the act of burglary, adultery or spying was given the death penalty & one giving false testimony would have his tongue cut off. The king was the chief commander of the army & usually led his army in the battlefield. The military was said to be fourfold: the infantry, the cavalry, the elephantry & the chariotry. A wide variety of war weapons filled the military arsenal including shields, swords, spears, tridents, maces, bows & arrows. Land tax, paid in cash or kind, & income tax, equal to one-sixth of an individual’s income, were the major types of taxes collected. Other sources of revenue include tributes paid by feudal subordinates; war booty presents by loyal & visiting subjects, treasure-troves, cess & forced gifts. The items incurring expenditure for the king included the military, gifts to poets & temples, maintenance of educational & health services, building infrastructure such as roads & irrigation & the palace household expenses.

The Tamil society during the Early Pāndyan age had several class distinctions among the people, which were different from the Brāhmaṇical classification of Brahmins, Kshatriyas, Vaishyas, & Shudras. Women were exposed to education; a fact testified by the presence of many women poets in the Saṇgam works. They include Avvaiyār, Mudatamakkanniar, Kākkaippaadiniyār, Nāchchellayār, Nāgaiyār, Nanmullaiyār, Ponmudiyār, Ilaveyiniyār, & Nappasaliyār. A variety of clothing was used by people during this age, including those made of cotton & silk. People living in hilly & deserted areas wore dresses made of foliage & flowers. Sheaths of grassy weeds, Korai, were used for making dress by the hill & forest area people. Skins of animals & barks of trees were also used. Men of the poorer classes wore only one piece of cloth around the waist. Women covered their upper body with a kind of dress called, kachchu. Among the higher classes, men wore two pieces: one around the waist & the other, the upper cloth, thrown over the shoulders. Women of sophisticated society wore half sarees, made of the finest cotton & silk fabrics, with embroidery. Both men & women sported long tresses of hair. The diet was plain, rice being the staple cereal, with millet, milk, butter & honey being in common use. Meat eating was common - people ate flesh of rams, deer, hare, fowl, porcupines, pigs & boar, fresh & dried fish. The kind of housing was determined by the type of geography of the land & the economic status of the occupants. The rich built their houses with tiled roofs & walls made of burnt bricks & mud, while the poor built their huts with mud & thatched it with grass, coconut leaves or Palmyra palm leaves. Both in the huts & houses, the flooring was smeared with cow dung. The affluent had houses with porticoes, many storeys, open terraces & furnished their houses well. The inner walls of their houses were decorated with flowers & paintings, with cottages to protect them from the wind. Cots were in common use – the rich had luxurious beds decked with swan’s feathers & flowers, while the common people had beds woven with the straw of maize & the poorest people used beds made of grass or hay.

Panini author of Paṇiniyām or Ashtādhyāyi, the oldest known grammar of Sanskrit. He received a large portion of his work by direct inspiration from Lord Shiva. [See European Enlightenment for American Prof. Whitney’s opinion of ‘native system of Sanskrit grammar’.]

Pāṇīpat town in Karnal district of Punjab (now in Haryana state), 56 miles north of Delhi. It had been the scene of three momentous battles, each one of which replaced one foreign scourge with a deadlier foreign scourge upon India’s vitally exhausted natives. (1) Pāṇīpat I (21Apr.1526) was between Ibrahim Lodi, 3^rd & last sultan of Delhi & Babur the Afghan invader, while Lodi’s own subās looked on hoping for a share in the spoils; Babur killed Ibrahim, kicked out the jackals, occupied Delhi & Agra & originated the Mogul scourge. (2) Pāṇīpat II (5Nov.1556) was between an Afghan army led by a Hindu slave general-minister of the Afghan king Adīl Shah Sur & Mogul prince Akbar. A chance arrow struck the slave & Akbar captured & killed him, inflicting three centuries of Mogul tyranny. (3) In Pāṇīpat III (14Jan.1761) Mogul emperor Shah Alam II was attacked by the Afghan invader Ahmad Shah Abdali reinforced by the Afghan-spawned Najib-ud-daulah of Rohilkhand, while Shah Alam’s Wazir Shuja-ud-daulah, Nawab of Oudh (with tacit support of the Brit) looked on hoping for a share in the spoils. Caught in between were the armies of the Maratha confederacy led by 3^rd Peshwa, Bālāji Bājirao, son of the great Bājirao, being treaty-bound to fight for Shah Alam II “as protectors & auxiliaries”. Sadāshiv Rao Bhāo the general in charge & other veteran warriors died or disappeared, one of them Pratāp Rao Gaekwad, the ancestor of Sayājirao III. Heart-broken, the Peshwa died six months later. [Based on Bhattacharya & Karandikar; s/a Mahratta/ Maratha]

Pānis lords of the lower sense-mentality who steal from us the rays of the illumined consciousness, the brilliant herds of the sun, & pen them up in the caverns of the subconscient in the dense hill of matter.

Pannyre aux talons d’or poem by the French poet Albert Samain.

Pansies poem by D. H. Lawrence.

Pantheos Greek for all gods; the Godhead as cosmic spirit.

Paphia epithet of Aphrodite, who had a sanctuary at Paphos.

Paphian marriage Paphia (Aphrodite) was the wife of Hephaestus, but she loved Ares to whom she bore Eros & Anteros. She also gave her favours to Anchises.

Paphlagonia mountainous region of Asia Minor, between Bithynia & Pontus on the Black Sea coast. In the Trojan War the Paphlagonians were allies of Troy.

Paphos in SW Cyprus was the centre of the worship of Astarte or Aphrodite.

Paracelsus Philippus Aureolus Theophrastus Bombastus von Hohenheim (1493-1541); Swiss physician, alchemist, & chemist: wrote many medical & occult works.

Paradise Lost Milton’s epic in blank verse. Published in 1667, its theme is the fall of man & it is dominated by the fallen archangel Lucifer.

Paradise Regained Milton’s epic in blank-verse, sequel to Paradise Lost; it deals with the temptation of Christ in the desert by Satan.

Parameshti epithet of the Great Gods.

S.M. Paranjape Shivaram Mahādev Paranjape (1864-1929): scholar, author, orator, professor of Sanskrit at Maharashtra College, Pune, started & edited two weeklies, the Marathi Kāl, & English Swarājya. “Shri Arvind Ghose, who had at Surat met the followers of Tilak…after a short stay at Bombay, visited Poona & stayed there for a couple of days early in January…. Prof Paranjape had invited Arvind to his residence…. A band of young men had, in strict secrecy, succeeded in manufacturing a few crude bombs. Arvind Babu’s presence in Poona was…the right opportunity for demonstrating their experiment. Tilak who accompanied Arvind was naturally an eye-witness to all that happened.” [Karandikar: 279]

Parāsara Vedic Rishi, father of Vyāsa, author of Parāsara Dharma-Saṁhitā & eight treatises on various branches of knowledge.

Paras(h)urāma (Rām(a) of the Axe) son of Jamādagni (q.v.) was the 6^th Avatāra Lord Vishnu. Because his mother was kidnapped by a Kshatriya king & he had to kill her on the orders of his father. He then performed her last rites at Siddhpur (q.v.). Thereafter, he set forth to rid the earth of all Kshatriyas & giving their lands to the sages. When crown prince Rāmachandra of Ayodhya broke the great bow of Shiva at the swayamvara of Sītā in her father King Janak’s court, Parashurāma rushed there to fight him. But when he saw in him the 7^th Avatāra of Lord Vishnu, he gave up his vendetta & retired to Kailās. He & Rāvaṇa were considered the greatest devotees of Lord Shiva.

Pariah once referred to the Paraiyan (literally & perhaps originally drummers, beating on skin drums), a Tamil caste employed as labourers & servants. Western rulers affixed the word as a generic term for all low-caste Hindus.

Parichaya Bengali monthly started around 1920; edited by Pramatha Chowdhuri.

Parikshit son of Abhimanyu & Uttara & father of Janamejaya. He succeeded Yudhishthīra as emperor of Hastināpura; as a result of a curse he died of snake-bite.

Pārjanya Vedic god of Rain; also an Aditya, & god of the constellation Kumbha.

Parmānanda Bhai Parmānanda (1874-1947) was dismissed by DAV College (Lahore) in 1910 when was charged him with possessing incriminating documents & bound over for three years. In 1915, in the Lahore Conspiracy Case, he was sentenced to death, but Hardinge permitted his being sent instead to Andamans. On return he joined the Hindu Mahāsabhā of Punjab, & was elected its president in 1933.

Parnassians 19^th-century French poets headed by Leconte de Lisle, who in reaction to the imprecisions of the Romantics, contributed to the anthology Le Parnasse Contemporain (l866) stressing restraint, objectivity, technical perfection, & precision.

Parnassus mountain in Phocis (Greece), sacred to Apollo, Dionysus, & the Muses.

Parnell, Charles Stewart (1846-91), nationalist leader who united Irish patriots, & promoted boycott as a means of bringing pressure on landlords & land agents. Parnell was arrested & put in prison; from there he issued a no-rent manifesto, the popularity of which caused him to be referred to as the “uncrowned king of Ireland”.

Parthasārathi S. Parthasārathi Aiyangar (1880-1929), younger brother of Mandāyam S. Srinivāsāchariyār (see Srinivasa); born & brought up in the spiritual culture of their motherland they joined the revolutionaries (see Bhārati, Subramania).

Parthenon temple dedicated to the Pallas Athene, on the Acropolis at Athens, the masterpiece of Greek architecture built between 447 & 432 BC under Pericles.

Parthia ancient country of West Asia, southeast of the Caspian Sea. In 250 BC Parthians overthrowing Seleucidae, founded the Pārthian empire which in 1^st cent. BC, extended from the Euphrates to the Indus & from the Oxus to the Indian Ocean.

Parushni see Irāvatie.

Pārvati/ Gauri/ Haimāvati/ Umā As daughter of Parvat (king of mountains) she is Pārvati, as daughter of king Hīmavan or Hīmavat or Himālayās (Hīma, snow, + ālaya, abode) she is Haimāvati. Her other names associated with mountains are Shailajā, Adrijā, Nagajā, Shailaputri, Girijā or Girirājaputri. She is also known as Gauri the fair one, Ishwari & Maheshwari counterpart of Shiva as Ishwara & Mahā-Isha or Mahesha. She is an embodiment of the Divine Mother who is simultaneously Transcendent, Universal, & Immanent. Two of Pārvati’s most famous epithets are Umā & Aparnā. Umā is used for Sati (Shiva’s first wife who was reborn as Pārvati) in earlier texts. She is also Ambikā (Mother), Shakti (Power), Dūrga (Invincible), Bhairavi (Fearful), & Bhawāni. As Shakti, she is Sheer Power & Energy; her wrath crystallizes into Shyāmā (dark, black) a blood-thirsty, tangled-hair Goddess with an open mouth & a drooping tongue. This goddess is usually identified as the terrible Mahākāli. ― The Ten Mahāvidyās are the ten aspects of Shakti. In Tantra, all have importance & all are different aspects of Pārvati. The fifty-two Shakti-Peethas suggest all goddesses are expansions of the goddess Pārvati. The Nava-Dūrga are nine forms of Pārvati worshipped during Navarātri. She is also known as Meenākshi, goddess with eyes shaped like a fish; Kāmākshi, goddess of love & devotion; Lalita, the playful Goddess of the Universe, the Lalitā sahasranāma contains a list of 1,000 names of Pārvati as Lalita; Akhilandeshwari, found in coastal regions of India, is the goddess associated with water; Annapūrna, the Mother who fulfils all man’s wishes, waiting for when he yearns only Her Presence & Love.

Pascal Blaise (1623-62) French mathematician, physicist, & philosopher; he devised the theory of probabilities. His ideas influenced Rousseau, Bergson, & Existentialists.

Pas(h)u the lowest of the ten forms of consciousness in the evolutionary scale of man. In this stage mind is concentrated entirely on the Annam (matter). Der: Pāshavi

Pas(h)upati Paśupati is Lord of all wild life; it is with his help as Pramathanātha that Mahākāli effects the most crucial turning-points of evolution. The Paśupatināth Temple is located on the banks of the Baghmati River 5 km NE of Kathmandu Valley in Kathmandu. The temple serves as the seat of Lord Paśupatināth represented by a Swayambhu Jyotirlinga an Infinite Pillar of Light the form in which Shiva appeared to Brahma & Vishnu. Its five faces represent five incarnations of Shiva: Sadyojata (or Barun), Vāmadeva (or Uma Maheshwara), Tatpurusha, Aghōra & Ishāna. They face West, North, East, South, & the Zenith respectively, & represent the five primary elements. The temple was rebuilt in 15^th century by Lichhavi King Supuśpa.

Passage to India Whitman’s poem first published in his Leaves of Grass in 1871.

The Passions, an Ode for Music one of the odes of Collins.

Pastorals by Pope (q.v.) written when he was sixteen; & published in 1709.

Pātāla nethermost of the seven regions below the earth ruled by Vāsuki.

Patanjali contemporary of King Pushyamitra (q.v.); though many of the compositions mentioned by Patanjali existed long before the Mauryas, some of them may have been products of the Maurya epoch. He knew the epics as also ākhyānas by Yavakrita, Yayāti, Vāsavaduttā, & others, mentions a Vārarucha Kāvya, a Yavana overlord of the lower Indus valley & his compatriot Dattāmitra, possibly Demetrios. He authored the Yogasutras, a categorisation of Yogic thought arranged in four volumes, & the Mahābhāśya, which is both a defence of Pāṇini’s Ashtādhyāyi against his chief critic & detractor Katyāyana & a refutation of some Sutras of Pāṇini’s. [Bhattacharya; s/a Maurya(s)]

Patel Viṭhalbhai Jhaverbhai Patel (1873-1933), elder brother of Vallabhbhai (Sardar Patel). In 1905, he went to England & studied at the Middle Temple Inn in London, completing the 36-month course in 30, as the topper of his class. There he met Naoroji & was converted to constitutionalism. Back in India, he started working as a barrister in Bombay & Ahmedabad. In 1913 he was elected to the Bombay Legislative Council as a representative of the District Local Board of Gujarat. As a member of the Council he, along with Gokuldas Parekh & others, not only raised issues relating rights of elected representatives but also of farmers & common people, esp. the injustices to Hindu women by enforcing irrational medieval Hindu customs under ‘Hindu Law’ while ignoring the more rampant injustices to Moslem women; their efforts got the Compulsory Education Bill & the Ayurvedic & Yunāni Medicine Bills passed. In 1918, he was nominated to the Imperial Legislative Council & the next year to the Viceregal Legislative Council. In both these institutions his work was path-breaking. He introduced The Hindu Marriages (Validity) Bill in the Imperial Council on 5 September 1918 meant to provide legal sanction to marriages between Hindus of different castes. The Bill was condemned by orthodox Hindus, & found inadequate by West-blinded Hindu ‘reformers’ but believed by Hindu leaders like Lajpat Rai as a step in the right direction. “Many of our present social forms were shaped, many of our customs originated, in a [time] of contraction & decline. They had their utility..., but are a drag upon our progress in the present hour when we are called upon once again to enter upon a free & courageous self-adaptation & expansion. I believe in an aggressive & expanding, not in a narrowly defensive & self-contracting Hinduism.” [CWSA 36:274-5]

When the Central Budget for 1922-23 doubled the salt tax, Patel who had joined the Swaraj Party got that clause thrown out of the Budget & the Viceroy put it back proving the reforms had not granted elected Indians the power to control the budget. In 1924 Patel was elected the Mayor of the City of Bombay, but resigned his Mayorship rather than receiving the Viceroy who was recognized as a symbol of the state of the country’s subjugation. The same year in 1924 he was elected to the Central Legislative Assembly along with Motilal & others of the Swaraj Party. They were doing very well there when Gandhi, prematurely released from jail, tripped & tied them up in his coils. Patel, Das & Motilal fumed in vain, knowing that Gandhi’s ‘civil disobedience’ would once again lead the nation in to chaos. Nevertheless they took the bait Gandhi offered & were re-elected in 1925. ― After Das’s death, Patel was the chief thorn in Gandhi’s side; Motilal who had taken over the Party’s reins & was under the thumb of Gandhi got rid of Viṭhalbhai by making him stand & win the Speakership of the Central Assembly. During his tenure healthy traditions were set out & democratic institutions matured in an unprecedented way. For instance, since 1921, Delhi’s Central Assembly had separate toilets marked for Europeans & non-Europeans; he removed this segregation. He maintained the dignity & status of the Chair by ruling that the Viceroy wouldn’t enter the House with pomp & retinue but would enter from the Speaker’s chamber & occupy a chair next to him. This practice was never witnessed before. He also didn’t permit the Commander-in-Chief to address the House till an apology was received for disregarding the House by absenting from the House when his speech was under discussion. In 1929, Govt. introduced a Public Safety Bill to deal with terrorist crimes in the Central Assembly. On 8^th April, before Patel could give his ruling on the Bill, Bhagat Singh threw a bomb on the Assembly floor. Three days later Patel ruled the Bill out of order as the issues it raised were sub judice in the Meerut conspiracy case against certain Communists & would be prejudicial to a fair trial. Viceroy Lord Irwin issued an ordinance enacting the measure. In September, when Irwin referred to these happenings, Viṭhalbhai, as Speaker of the House, wrote to him that no one could question his ruling within the precincts of the House. Irwin wrote back that he had not meant to question the ruling & expressed regret for his remarks. Later, seeing how the Simon Commission’s Report (5-Sept-1929) had created a furore with Congress declaring it would take up ‘civil disobedience’ in 1930 if Govt. did not accept the new constitution framed by the Nehru Report in 1928, Irwin persuaded Macdonald to announce a Round Table Conference but Gandhi dismissed the promise of Dominion Status “as undated & undefined”. Viṭhalbhai succeeded to modify Gandhi’s stand & a statement signed by Gandhi, Malaviya, Motilal, Sapru, Ansari, Jawaharlal & Mrs Besant conceded Govt.’s sincerity in wanting to satisfy Indian aspirations. Viṭhalbhai arranged a meeting between these leaders & Irwin on 23 December 1929 but a terrorist bomb damaged Irwin’s bogie in the train bringing him to Delhi. When Irwin couldn’t promise the immediately operative Dominion Status that Gandhi demanded, the talks broke down. Dispirited, Patel told Durga Das, “You can lead a horse to water but cannot make him drink. I wash my hands of all this.” In 1930, compelled by Gandhi’s hare-brained ‘civil disobedience’, Patel resigned; he & Motilal were swallowed up in his Gandhi’s disruptive mobs & imprisoned. When they were released in 1931, their health was broken – Motilal died the same year & Viṭhalbhai went into a sanatorium in Vienna. When Durga Das met him there he recalled with a touch of asperity how, though he had brought Gandhi & Irwin together, he had not been asked to accompany Gandhi to the Round Table Conference where he would have dealt with the wily diplomatic manoeuvrings of the Brit far better than Gandhi. Gandhi had insulted him further by getting his younger brother rather than him to preside over INC’s Karachi session in 1931. Sabhās Bose, released from Bhowali Sanatorium too ended up in Vienna for further medical treatment & met Patel – the two had worked together after Gandhi’s Salt Satyagraha. While Bose’s health improved & he travelled extensively throughout Europe gathering funds & political support, while Viṭhalbhai started declining further. Since Patel trusted Bose implicitly, he bequeathed to two lakhs of rupees to him to spend for the national work he planned, knowing he had neither private means to earn, nor would he receive a single penny from Congress. He passed away on October 22, 1933 in Geneva; & Sardar Patel, ever the obedient soldier of Gandhi who hated Bose, filed a suit in a Brit law court in India & got the bequest of his deceased brother nullified. Viṭhalbhai body was brought back to India & cremated in Bombay on November 10. [Based on Bhattacharya; Durga Das, From Curzon to Nehru & After, 1969; Ravindra Kumar’s V. J. Patel: A Great Freedom Fighter & Parliamentarian]

Pater, Walter Horatio (1839-94), English critic & essayist, known for his painstakingly fastidious style. His highly personal criticisms of painting & of literature were halfway between scholarship & original artistic creation.

Pathān Pashtu-speaking tribes of south-eastern Afghanistan & north-western Pakistan. The Pathāns on the frontiers of India belong to various tribes like the Waziris & the Afridis (q.v.). Many of them are astute money-lenders who come to India & thrive by lending money at exorbitant rates of interest. Out of political & economic considerations Aurangzeb had to follow a forward policy on his NW frontier, where the turbulent Muslim tribes had all along proved a source of great anxiety to the Mughal Empire. The scanty produce of the fields of that region forced upon the growing numbers of the hardy Afghan clans living there the habits of highway robbery & of blackmailing the rich cities of the north-western passes open & the valleys at their foot safe, the govt. of Aurangzeb first tries to win over these hillmen by payments of money. But “even political pensions were not always effective in securing obedience”. Troubles began in early 1667 AD when the Yūsufzāīs rose in arms under one of their leaders names Bhāgū. A large number of them crossed the Indus above Attock & invaded the Hazarā district, while other bands began to ravage the western Peshāwar & Attock districts…. But in 1672 the Afridis rose in revolt against the Mughals under their chieftain Akmal Khan, who crowned himself king & summoned all the Pathāns to organise themselves in a sort of national war. In the month of May 1672…the Mughals lost everything. This victory increased the prestige & resources of Akmal Khan & lured more recruits to his side so that “the whole of the Pathān land from Attock to Qandahar” rose in arms.” ― “While the principal Indian powers were falling one by one before the growing Brit supremacy, Central India remained steeped in utter confusion & anarchy due to the turbulence & nefarious activities of predatory hordes like the Pindaris & the Pathāns. In Rājputāna it was also partly due to the feudal rivalries among its different states, & partly to the ravages associated with the Maratha penetration into it during the second half of the 18^th century. The continuance of this state of things over a wide area could not be tolerated by the English at a time when they were trying to establish their paramountcy over India. So after the close of the Nepal war, Lord Hastings turned to deal with disturbed regions, particularly because the Pindaris had recently carried their raids into Brit territory & were also enlisted as mercenaries in the armies of the hostile Maratha chiefs. There is no doubt that by the year 1823 the greater part of India, extending from the Sutlej to the Brahmaputra & from the Himalayas to Cape Comorin, fell under Brit control. But there were beyond the western & eastern limits already reached by the Brit arms, powers whose activities had been a source of great anxiety to the Mughuls & whose subjugation was indispensably necessary for the rising Brit power before it could establish an all-India Empire on a firm & secure basis. This was proved by the subsequent conflicts of the English with the Sikhs, the Sindhis, the Pathān & Baloch tribes of the NW frontier, & the Afghans beyond the Khyber Pass, & with the Burmese & the Assamese to the east of the Brahmaputra. [Advanced History of India, R.C. Majumdar et al, pp.487, 716, 723]

Patiālā is about 125 miles to the northwest of Delhi. With Jind & Nabha, Patiālā formed the Phulkian princely states created in 1763 after the capture of Sirhind by the Sikh Confederacy. Their rulers descended from Phul a Sikh descendant of Jaisal Bhatti, the Rajput founder of Jaisalmer in Rajasthan. Hamīr Singh became its first ruler. In 1809, the Cis-Sutlej states Jind & Nabha & Patiālā came under the protection of the E.I. Co. (See Ranjit Singh). Sir Narindar Singh (1823-62) succeeded his father, Karam Singh, as ruler of Patiālā in Dec.1845: assisted Govt. in Sikh wars & was rewarded with lands, privileges, & assurance of protection. In 1857, he again showed his unswerving & conspicuous loyalty to Govt., by sending an auxiliary force to Delhi, Gwalior & Dholpur, & keeping open communications on the Grand Trunk Road. His services were acknowledged by grant of territory, an adoption sanad, & a K.C.S.I. (Knight Commander of Star of India), 1861: Member of Gov.-Gen.’s Legislative Council, 1862. Rajendra Singh (1872-1900) succeeded his father Mahendra Singh in 1876: for his military services in Mohmand campaign of 1897, a G.C.S.I. (Knight Grand Commander of the Star of India) in 1898; he offered his services in the Transvaal [see Boer(s) & Gen Delarey]. Bhupendra Singh (1891-1938) greatly developed the state. [Buckland; s/a Nabha]

Patmore, Coventry (1823-96), English poet who appreciated metaphysical poetry.

Patmos smallest (22 sq. miles) of the original twelve Greek islands in the Aegean Sea off the coast of Asia Minor. St John wrote his Gospel & Revelation on this island.

Pātan refers to Siddhpur-Pātaṇ once capital of Hindu Gujarat; part of Sayājirao’s Baroda State. It is about 70 miles NNW of Ahmedabad.

Pattison, Mark (1813-84), English scholar devoted to devotional literature.

Patwardhan, Anna Saheb (1847-1917), “Maharshi of Poona”, guru of Lokamāṇya Tilak; he presided over the meeting held on Tilak’s premises, the Gayakawādā (q.v.), on 13 January 1908 which was addressed by Sri Aurobindo.

Paulomie daughter of Puloman & wife of Indra.

Pausanias (d.470/465 BC) son of Sparta’s King Cleombrotus I of the Agiad royal family (see Agis), & nephew of King Leomidas (see Lemnian). In the Greco-Persian Wars he commanded the Spartan armies but was made the scapegoat for their defeat.

Pāwaka epithet of Agni, the purifying Fire.

Pax Britannica Hyndman’s Report: “The Brit Empire in India is the most striking example in the history of the world of the domination of a vast territory & population by a small minority of an alien race. Both the conquest & the administration of the country have been exceptional, & although the work has been carried on, save in a few directions, wholly in the interest of the conquerors, we English have persistently contended that we have been acting really in the interests of the subdued peoples. As a matter of fact, India is, & will probably remain, the classic instance of the ruinous effect of unrestrained capitalism in Colonial affairs. It is very important, therefore, that the International Social-Democratic Party should thoroughly understand what has been done, & how baneful the temporary success of a foreign despotism enforced by a set of islanders, whose little starting-point & head-quarters lay thousands of miles from their conquered possessions, has been to a population of at least 300,000,000 human beings.... To begin with, India was conquered for the Empire not by the English themselves but by Indians under English leadership, & by taking advantage of Indian disputes.”

Karandikar: Pax Britannica took hold outwardly due to (a) the reigning political anarchy, (b) the Indian mind’s tendency to trust Europeans in preference to Indians, (c) Indian traders helping European mercenaries defraud Indian rulers; & (d) inwardly, due to the creative powers of Indian culture & life having lapsed into an inadaptive torpor. Emboldened by the success of their devious dealings with the weak native rulers, Dalhousie (Gov.-Gen. 1848-56) invented the Doctrine of Lapse to annex by ruse & battles, territories whose independence they had recognised by treaties.

Every bit of Queen Victoria’s Declaration of 1858 (q.v.) was brazen burlesque. In 1875, Sec. of State Lord R.A.T. Gascoigne-Cecil Salisbury (1830-1903; Sec. of State 1866-67 & 1874-78, & thrice Prime Minister) decreed: “As India must be bled, the bleeding should be done judiciously.” The chief industry in India was the weaving of cotton, silk, & wool, manufacture & export of sugar, jute; brass, copper & bell-metal wares, jewellery, stone-carving, filigree work in gold & silver, & artistic works in marble, sandalwood, ivory, & glass; arts & crafts like tannery, perfumery, paper-making, etc. the carrying trade was also largely in the hands of the Indians. Down to the beginning of the 19^th century AD the ship-building industry was more developed in India than in England. Like the Indian textile industry, it aroused the jealousy of English manufacturers & its progress & development were restricted by legislation. The decay of trade & industry in India set in towards the close of the 18^th & its ruin was well-nigh complete by the middle of the 18^th century. The prominent causes were the policy of the Brit Parliament, the competition of cheap goods produced by machinery, & the unwillingness of the Brit-Indian Govt. to protect or encourage Indian arts & crafts.” India became an agricultural reservoir & market for Brit goods which were admitted duty free, Indian manufactures were barred from England by high tariffs & native handicrafts, esp. textile weaving were thoroughly destroyed.

Eager to follow Bismarck, Prime Minister Disraeli passed the Royal Titles Act of 1876, declared Victoria Queen of Great Britain & Ireland & Empress of India, reducing native Indian rulers to feudatories. Lord E.R.B. Lytton (1831-91), as Viceroy (1876-1880) announced Victoria’s new title at his extravagant Delhi Durbar in Jan.1877. “While the Durbar held by Lytton at Delhi to celebrate the declaration of the Royal Titles Act of 1876 declaring the Queen of Great Britain & Ireland also the Empress of India, was in motion ‘some five million men, women & children perished. Entire villages were wiped out. ‘I do not know what we should have done without the dogs & vultures,’ declared a British witness.’ Lytton ‘eventually appointed a famine commission, but his overworked officials could not do much [=did not care to]. There was simply not enough money to feed all the starving people.’ Compare this with the reaction of Chandragupta Maurya when famine struck his subjects. The highlights of Lytton’s rule were the disastrous Afghan war of 1878-80 at the expense of native money & blood, discriminating laws, esp. the Arms Act which snatched every weapon including sticks & knives from natives to prevent any thought of another 1857, reduction of the age limit for the Civil Services Exams (1876) to prevent natives from aspiring to high posts, Vernacular Press Act (1878) to suppress any adverse criticism of governmental measures, Ilbert Bill (q.v.) to place Europeans charged with any crime on a separate class from natives so charged, inflicting heavier Salt Tax, abolishing the duty of 5% hitherto imposed on low-quality textiles imported from second-rate English textile factories to obstruct expansion of better-quality native factories – all aimed at slashing native population through recurring famines & vicious epidemics. In 1894, Elgin (Viceroy & Gov.-Gen 1862-3 & 1894-9) re-imposed import duties of 5% that were repealed in 1882 “to counter his revenue deficit of 2.25 crores”. The result was spiralling rural indebtedness, heart-breaking fragmentation of landholdings & emergence of hybrid rural classes that destroyed the traditional fabric of the village systems. Even Sir C.A. Elliot (1835-1911), Lt-Governor of Bengal (1890-95), whose commitment to ruthless imperialism (1850-95) was highly praised by all he served under, including Lytton, admitted (says Lajpat Rai), “I do not hesitate to say that half of our agricultural population never know from year’s end to year’s end what it is to have their hunger fully satisfied.” The Bundelkhand district of Agra Province experienced drought in the autumn of 1895 as a result of poor summer monsoon rains. The summer monsoon of 1896 brought only scanty rains, & soon the famine had spread to the United Provinces, Central Provinces & Berar, portions of the presidencies of Bombay & Madras, & of the provinces of Bengal, Punjab, & even Upper Burma. The native states affected were Rājputāna, Central India Agency, & Hyderabad. All in all, during the two years, the famine affected an area of 800,000 km2 & a population of 69.5 million. In spite of or because the ‘relief’ imposed by the Govt., over one million people “are thought to have died as a result of the famine” & no figures were officially published for the deaths due to accompanying epidemics. The summer monsoon rains of 1897 were abundant, but particularly heavy in some regions, set off a malaria epidemic which killed many people; soon thereafter, an epidemic of the bubonic plague began in the Bombay Presidency, which although not very lethal during the famine year, would, in the next decade, become more virulent & spread to the rest of India. ― The daily wage of an average Indian was 2 shillings in 1850, 1½ in 1882, & ¾ in 1900; there was seven famines over 1½ million deaths in 1800-58, 24 with over 28½ million deaths in 1858-1900, 18 of them in 1875-1900; with native culture being crushed out & agriculture steadily deteriorating, the yearly drain of wealth from India was £35,000,000 in 1907, by which time anything in the shape of patriotism or national feeling was punished, & its advocates persecuted & imprisoned.

Sri Aurobindo: Pax Britannica is now seen to be the cause of our loss of manliness & power of self-defence, a peace of death & torpor, security to starve in, the ease of the grave. British law has been found to be a fruitful source of demoralisation, an engine to destroy ancient [royal] houses, beggar wealthy families & drain the poor of their little competence. Brit education has denationalised the educated community, laid waste the fertile soil of the Indian intellect, suppressed originality & invention, created a gulf between the classes & the masses & done its best to kill that spirituality which is the soul of India…. The ancient Romans had a class of slaves who…were allowed to speak with the most unbounded licence…to play tricks sometimes of a most injurious character…; let the master’s temper turn sour or break into passion & the lash was called into requisition. The freedom of speech enjoyed by us under the bureaucratic rule has been precisely of this kind. [“Freedom of Speech”, SABCL 1:790-91]

In 1914 the Indian National Congress thanked Hardinge for the prompt despatch of an expeditionary force & a free gift of 100 million pounds sterling “affording Indians an opportunity of showing that, as equal (sic) subjects of His Majesty, they are prepared to fight in defence of right & justice (sic), & the cause of the Empire.” By All Fools Day 1918, Govt. spent 128 million pounds sterling in addition to the 2.1 million extorted from Princes & public, not counting what the country paid for war equipment. Viceroy Hardinge declared in Parliament that India had been “bled white”. Tail-piece: Among the beneficial Acts of Lord Richard Colley Wellesley (1760-1842), 4^th Gov.-Gen. of E.I. Co. (1798-1805): “Every native Indian regardless of caste, creed, & common sense, shall observe the Christian dogma of avoiding official work on Sundays; & all Hindu religious & educational bodies are to be administered by appointees of the Govt. who need not be Hindus.” Alleluia!

[Based on Hyndman: “Reports of the Social Democratic Federation, Ruin of India by Brit Rule”, in Histoire de la IIe Internationale, vol. 16 (Geneva: Minkoff Reprint, 1978, 1907), 513-33; Transcribed: by Thomas Schmidt; S.L. Karandikar, Lōkamānya Bal Gangādhara Tilak – The Hercules & Prometheus of Modern India, 1957, p.112; P. Heehs, Bomb in Bengal; R.C. Majumdar et al, Advanced History of India, 3rd Ed., 1973-1974; Bhattacharya; Tail-piece by Present Editor]

Payoshini the sacred river that rises in the Vindhyās & flows southward.

Commander Peary Robert Edwin Peary (1856-1920), American naval officer & explorer, he ‘discovered’ of North Pole on 6 April 1909.

Pecksniff hypocrite in Dickens’ Martin Chuzzlewit; commonly used for hypocrites.

Peele George (1556-96), English dramatist & clergyman experimented with many forms of theatrical art: pastoral, history, melodrama, tragedy, folk play, & pageant.

Pegasus winged horse, offspring of Poseidon & Medusa, companion of Bellerophon. The spring Hippocrene, sacred to the Muses, was made by a print of his hoof; it gave the gift of song to all who drank of it.

Pehlava/ Pahlava people of Pārthian origin who came to India in the 1^st cent. BC & established some kingdoms in northwest India in cooperation with the Śakas.

Peitho “Persuasion” Greek goddess, daughter of Oceanus, attendant of Aphrodite.

Pelasgian Pelasgians inhabited the Aegean area & were assimilated by the Achaians.

Peleid/ Pelides epithets of Achilles as son of Peleus & the sea-nymph Thetis (q.v.).

Peleus was son of Aeacus the king of Myrmidons (q.v.).

Pelion mountain of Thessaly, near the Aegean coast, on which lived the centaurs; the giants Aloidae who also lived there once piled Pelion on Ossa to reach heaven.

Pellico, Silvio (1789-1854), Italian dramatist whose Le mie prigioni (my memoirs as a political prisoner), inspired widespread sympathy for the Risorgimento (Italy’s nationalist movement).

Pelops son of Tantalus. In childhood he was killed & cooked by his father, who served his flesh to the gods to see if they could tell it was not that of a beast. Demeter inadvertently ate part of his shoulder. The gods brought Pelops back to life, replacing his lost part by ivory, & punished his father with everlasting torture. Later, Pelops, to win the hand of Hippodamia, had to defeat her father Oenomaus, king of Elis, in a chariot race. He bribed the king’s charioteer to wreck the chariot & won the bride. But he refused to give the charioteer his promised reward & threw him into the sea. The dying man cursed Pelops & this curse continued to work its effects on Pelops’ family. Succeeding to the throne of Oenomaus, Pelops conquered the rest of the peninsula & named it Peloponnesus – Greek for “Pelops’ island”.

Penal Code, Indian (1) Buckland: Peacock, Sir Barnes (1810-90): practised as a special pleader: called to the bar at the Inner Temple 1836: Q.C. & Bencher of this Inn 1850: Legal Member of the Supreme Council April 1852 to June 1859: in charge of the Indian Penal Code when it became law: Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Calcutta 1859-62 & of the High Court 1862-70: Member of the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council 1872. Prinsep, Justice (q.v.) …made Registrar of the Sadr Court in Jan. 1862 & of the High Court on its establishment in July 1 of the same year…presided over the Jury Commission 1893-4: joined the Gov.-Gen.’s Legislative Council to assist in revising the Codes of Criminal & Civil Procedure: knighted 1894, made Knight Commander of Indian Empire on retirement in 1904. For 26 years he was District Grand Master of the Freemasons in Bengal. [Buckland] (2) Bhattacharya: The Indian Penal Code was the fruit of the labours of the Law Commission appointed during the Gov.-Gen.-ship of Lord William Bentinck (q.v.)…. The Indian Law Commission was appointed in 1833 with Lord Macaulay as the President. It laboured (sic) for many years & on the basis of its work the Indian Penal Code was enacted in 1860 & the

Codes of Civil & Criminal Procedure in 1861. Thus Brit India came to possess uniform codes of law. [S. Bhattacharya] (3) Sri Aurobindo: It is perfectly true that one of the main preoccupations of the executive mind has been the maintenance of order & quiet in the country, because a certain kind of tranquillity was essential to the preservation of an alien bureaucratic control. This was the secret of the barbarous system of punishments which make the Indian Penal Code a triumph of civilised savagery; of the license & the blind support allowed by the Magistracy to a phenomenally corrupt & oppressive Police; of the doctrine of no conviction no promotion, which is the gospel of the Anglo-Indian executive, holding it better that a hundred innocent should suffer than one crime be recorded as unpunished. This was the reason of the severity with which turbulent offences have always been repressed, of the iniquitous & oppressive system of punitive Police & of the undeclared but well-understood Police rule that any villager of strong physique, skill with weapons & active habits should be entered in the list of bad characters. By a rigid application of these principles the bureaucracy have succeeded in creating the kind of tranquillity they require. The Romans created a desert & called the result peace Pax Romana; the British in India have destroyed the spirit & manhood of the people & call the result law & order. [SABCL Vol.1:215; for IPC & CCCP in action see Golāb Bāno Case & Rand]

Penates Di Penates, household gods of Romans & other Latinos. Associated with other deities of the house, such as Vesta & the Lares (q.v.), they were worshipped as protectors of households & of the state.

Peneus a river in the Peloponnesus, emptying into the Ionian Sea. (See Daphne)

Pentateuch Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy of Old Testament.

Pentaur an ancient Egyptian poet who wrote on the conquests of Rameses (q.v.).

Pentecostal of Pentecost, major Christian festival celebrated on the Sunday that falls on the 50^th day after Easter to commemorate the descent of the Holy Spirit on the disciples, which occurred on the Jewish Pentecost (a Jewish harvest festival), after the death, resurrection, & ascension of Jesus Christ.

Penthesilea queen of the Amazon & daughter of Ares. She came to the aid of the Trojans in the last year of the war after Hector was killed & gave them new hope, slaughtering the Greeks, who fought without Achilles. When Achilles, finally killing her in battle, removed her helmet & looked on her face, he fell wildly in love with her & was filled with remorse.

Percy, Thomas (1729-1811), whose collection of ballads etc. (see Reliques) awakened widespread interest in English & Scottish traditional songs.

P鑽e Goriot hero of the French novel Le Père Goriot, a masterpiece of Balzac.

Peri Persian supernatural female comparable to apsarā or fairy.

Pericles (c.495-429 BC), Athenian statesman who brought democracy to its height & nearly established Athens as the leading power in Greece; he also encouraged all arts.

Perigune a daughter of Sinnis (q.v.).

Permanent Settlement a colonial system of land tenure & revenue collection introduced in 1793 by Cornwallis (1738-1805, Gov.-Gen. 1786-93 & Jul–Oct.1805) against the advice of Sir John Shore. According to it the zamindar was recognised as the proprietor of the land on condition that he paid to the Govt. 90% of the estimated annual revenue that he received from the Ryots who held lands at his pleasure. Diametrically opposite views were expressed as to its benefits to the Govt., the zamindar, & the people. (See Bāpat Case). The system was abolished (only?) in Bengal by ‘our’ India some time after ‘our’ Independence (!)

Persepolis ceremonial capital of the Persian Empire under Darius & his successors. The administrative capitals were elsewhere – notably at Susa & Babylon.

Perseus son of Zeus & Danaë.

Persian Eclogues by Collins (q.v.) when 17, inspired by Pope’s Pastorals (q.v.).

Peshawar originally it was part of Gāndhāra & known as Puruṣapura. Zend Avesta knew it then as Vaēkərəta, the 7^th most beautiful place on earth created by Ahura Mazda. Puruṣapura, which held sway over Takshashilā, & was for centuries the junction for trade between Bactria, South Asia, & Central Asia, was renamed Peshawar by Akbar who conquered it in 1595.

The Peshwas Chhatrapati Shivaji was succeeded by his son Shambhāji (1680-89), then his second son Rajaram (d.1700), then Shambhāji’s son Shivaji-II better known as Shahu, who after an internecine war with Rajaram’s queen Tārā Bai, adopted Rajaram’s son Ramraja or Shivaji-III. In 1713, Bālāji Vishwanath Bhat, one of eight ministers of Shahu, became the first Peshwa or Prime Minister in 1713. (In one account Bālāji V. Bhat was preceded by five distinguished Prime ministers: Moro Pant Triambakrao Pingle, Moreshwar Pingle, Rāmachandra Pant, Bahiroji Pingle, & Parashurāma Triambakrao Kulkarni). On Bālāji’s death in 1720 Shahu appointed his son Bājirao I to the office of Peshwa. Bāji Rao laid the foundation of the Maratha Confederacy which under his son Bālāji Bāji Rao could have replaced the Mogul empire with a Hindu one but for the wily British octopus & the perfidy of the Mogul emperor’s governor. In 1749, on the death of the childless Raja Shahu, the history of the Peshwas became the history of the Confederacy. As long as Nana Fadnavis was alive he managed to hold together both the Peshwaship & the Mahratta Confederacy. “With his death in 1800,” writes the British historian Grant Duff, “departed all the wisdom & moderation of the Mahratta Confederacy”. One after the other, the Gaekwad, Peshwa Bājirao II, the Bhonsle, the Sindhia, & the Holkar signed fatal bi-lateral-treaties upon treaties with the Octopus which by 1818 reduced them each in its own sweet time & wily means to its pitiable feudatories with not even an iota of the power they had under the greatest Peshwa Bājirao I.

Pestalozzi Johann Heinrich (1746-1827), Swiss educational reformer who was among the first to stress the need for better popular education. His theories laid the foundation of modern elementary education.

Peters Probably the following rulers (emperors & czars) of Russia are meant: Peter I or Peter the Great (1672-1725), emperor (1721-25) & Czar (1682-1725); Peter II (1715-30), emperor & Czar (1727-30); Peter III (1728-62), emperor & Czar (1762).

Peter the Great Peter I (1672-1725), the first emperor (1721-25) & Czar (1682-1725) Russia. His capital St. Petersburg remained the capital of the Russian empire until 1917. The name was changed to Petrograd (1914-24), then to Leningrad (1924-92), & back to St. Petersburg in 1992.

Petrarch Francesco (1304-74), Italian scholar, humanist, & poet whose poems to Laura inspired a Renaissance of lyric poetry in Italy, France, Spain, & England.

Pfleiderer Otto (1839-1908), German Protestant theologian & religious historian.

Phaethon son of Helios (Sun-god), who, ignoring his father’s warning, drove the Sun-Chariot across the heavens, the horses bolted from the course. To save the earth from being burnt up, Zeus hurled a thunderbolt at Phaethon, who fell into the River Eridanus. His sisters wept till they were turned into poplars, whose oozing, since then, hardens into amber. (2) Civilised Europe applied the word to a type of its light four-wheeled horse-drawn vehicle.

Pharaohs literarily great house/ royal palace of ancient Egyptian kings, it began to be used as a title of respect & later added to the king’s personal name.

Pharisee(s) one of the two great Jewish religious parties that arose within the synagogue. The opponents were the Sadducees (q.v.).

Pharnabazus (5^th-4^th cent. BC), a Persian satrap of Dascylium, under Darius II & Artaxerxes II; he was governor of Hellespont & an outstanding military & naval commander in Persia’s wars against Athens & Sparta.

Pharsalia Greek district of Thessaly surrounding the city of Pharsalus.

Pharsalus city in Thessaly (Greece); site of a battle where Caesar defeated Pompey.

Phelps, Myron of the New York Bar. In June 1907 he addressed a letter to the Indians, pointing to the necessity of more organised propaganda for the Indian cause in America. He drew their attention to parallelism between American refusal to buy British goods & India’s Swadeshi movement’s boycott of English goods.

Phidias/ Pheidias (c.500-c.432 BC), Greek sculptor, considered Greece’s greatest.

Philip (1) Philip II (382-336 BC), king of Macedon (359-336 BC). He unified his nation & made it supreme in Greece, laying the foundations for the great expansion accomplished by his son Alexander the Great. (2) Philip II Augustus, of France (1165-1223), first great Capetian king of medieval France (ruled from 1180 to 1223) who destroyed the Angevin empire of the great kings of England. (3) Philip II (1527-98), king of Spain (1556-98), & also of the Netherlands, Franche Comte, Sicily, Sardinia, Naples, & Milan, as well as the Spanish possessions in America. He was the most powerful monarch in Christendom, determined to strengthen royal power in Spain. His ambitious foreign policy led him to aim at the subjugation of England, to intervene actively in the struggles of France, & to war with the powerful Ottoman Empire. (4) Philip IV “the Fair” (1268-1314), king of France (1285-1314). He was one of the greatest kings of France’s Capetian dynasty; he established his authority in ecclesiastical matters over the papacy & instituted important reforms in government. In 1303 he deposed Pope Boniface VIII & transferred the papacy to Avignon.

Phillips, Stephen (1864-1915): he prepared for the civil service, but in 1885 joined his cousin F.R. Benson’s dramatic company at Wolverhampton & played various small parts until 1891. In 1890 a slender volume of verse was published at Oxford with the title Primavera, which contained contributions by him & by his cousin Laurence Binyon, Manmohan Ghose & other Oxford graduates. In 1894 he published Eremus, a long poem of loose structure in blank verse of a philosophical complexion. In 1896 appeared Christ in Hades, forming with a few other short pieces one of the slim paper-covered volumes of Elkin Matthews’s Shilling Garland. This poem caught the eye of the critics, & when it was followed by a collection of Poems in 1897 his position as a new poet of exceptional gifts was generally recognized. This volume contained a new edition of Christ in Hades, together with Marpessa, The Woman with the Dead Soul, The Wife, & shorter pieces, including To Milton, Blind. The new edition won the prize of £100 offered by the Academy newspaper for the best new book of its year, ran through half a dozen editions in two years, & established Phillips’s rank as poet, which was sustained by the publication, in the Nineteenth Century in 1898 of his poem Endymion.

Philo Philo Judaeus, Alexandrian Jewish philosopher whose doctrines also influenced Christian religious writings.

Philoctetes king of the Malians of Mt. Oeta. He was a friend of Hercules & inherited his bow & poisoned arrows. On the way to the Trojan War, he was bitten by a snake, & his companions left him on the desolate island of Lemnos. When the oracle declared that Troy would not be taken without the weapons of Hercules, Philoctetes was brought by Diomedes & Odysseus to Troy, where he was healed of his wound by Machson, son of the physician Asclepius. Philoctetes killed Paris in the war.

The Philosophy of Benedetto Croce by Carr, published in 1917.

Phineus the blind & aged king whom the Argonauts (a band of fifty heroes sent to fetch the Golden Fleece in the ship “Argo”) met at the entrance to the Euxine (q.v.). Phineus told them the course to Colchis & how to pass through the Cyanean rocks – two cliffs that moved on their bases & crushed whoever sought to pass through them.

Phocian of Phocis, region in Greece comprising the valleys of middle Cephissus & Crisa, which are linked loosely by passes over the southern spurs of Mt. Parnassus.

Phoebus Apollo as Sun-god. He took on many aspects of the older sun-god Helios.

Phrygia ancient region which included varying portions of the central plateau & western flank of Asia Minor. In Greek literature the Phrygians are sometimes identified with the Trojans as descendants of Phryx.

Phryne nickname of Athenian courtesan Muesarete charged with impiety. She was defended by Hyperides, one of her lovers who secured her acquittal by appealing to the views of the jury, throwing open her dress & showing the beauty of her bosom.

Phthia district & town of Thessaly, the realm of Achilles who is hence a Phthian.

Mr Pickwick main character of Dickens’ The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club (1836-37); in a Pickwickian sense refers to words or epithets usually of a derogatory or insulting kind, which, in the circumstances in which they are employed, do not have quite the same force or implication as they normally would have.

Pictish of Picts, a Scottish clan who forged its own kingdom before uniting in AD 843 with the rest of Scotland.

Piedmont a major battlefield in the Italian Wars (16^th cent.), the wars of Louis XIV, & the French Revolutionary Wars. The dukes of Savoy, who in 1720 became kings of Sardinia, acquired all of present Piedmont by 1748. From 1798 to 1814 Piedmont was annexed to France. After its restoration to the kingdom of Sardinia it was the nucleus of Italian unification during the Risorgimento.

Pierre Gaston, supporter of Lemaire in the 1914 election to the French Chamber. He came to Pondicherry as a judge, later resigned & soon became an eminent lawyer.

The Pilgrim’s Progress in two parts, by John Bunyan (q.v.): progress a devout Christian through life, once almost as popular as the Bible.

Pillai, Chidambaram V.O.C. Pillai (1872-1936) nationalist pleader of Tuticorin who galvanised the local merchants to launch the Swadeshi Steam Navigation Company (q.v.) in late 1906, which began to run steamers between Tuticorin & Colombo giving the British shipping company a run for its money. By then he was one of Tilak’s staunchest lieutenants in the South. After at the 1907 Surat Congress Session which he had attended, Tilak chose him to represent Madras Presidency at the future Congresses. As his steam company grew from strength to strength, he led a major strike of the labourers in the European-owned Coral Mills of Tuticorin. Swadeshi meetings led to widespread nationalist mobilisation in Madras. On 9^th March, 1908, he delivered a speech in Tirunelveli (q.v.) asking people to boycott everything foreign & assuring them that in three months they would obtain Swaraj. The Octopus turned its Eye him & Pillai, Subramania Shiva & seven other colleagues were seized on 12^th March on the charge of distributing among students a pamphlet describing a secret organisation of the Russians. In Tamil Nadu, the Brits wrecked the Swadeshi Steam Navigation Co. leading to the formation the Bhārata-Matha Association & uprisings in Tuticorin & Tirunelveli in which, Govt. claimed, furniture & records in its buildings were set on fire. Reports of these happenings appeared in Tilak’s Maratha & Sri Aurobindo’s Bande Mataram. Later he obeyed Tilak’s arrangement to work with Annie Besant’s Home Rule League. In 1920, when Tilak floated his new party in 1920, he nominated Pillai as a Secretary. After Gandhi took over the Congress at Calcutta, Pillai resigned from the Congress & back home took part in the labour movement, the non-Brahmin movement & the social reform movements in Tamil Nadu. [Vide R. Venkatachalapathy, V.O.C. Pillai, Tilak’s Southern Lieutenant, Open Page, The Hindu; R.C. Majumdar’s History of the Freedom Movement…, Vol.2, p.315-16]

Pināka the bow of the Shiva.

Pindi Das (1886-1969) a journalist who started an Urdu weekly The India from Gujranwala, Punjab in 1907. A special feature of the journal was the publication, under the pen name of Shiv Shambhoo, of a series of articles called “Shiv Shambhoo kā Chiṭhā” which exposed the misdeeds of British officials.

Pioneer English daily newspaper (tri-weekly from 1865 to 1869), founded in 1865 by George Alien. Originally published from Allahabad, it was shifted to Lucknow.

Pippa of Pippa Passes, poetic drama by Robert Browning; Pippa is an Italian girl of Asolo, whose songs as she passes through streets on New Year’s Day changes peoples’ lives.

Pippalāda Rishi mentioned in the Prashna Upanishad.

Pisgah mountain ridge in Jordan from which Moses viewed the Promised Land.

Pis(h) ācha the third type from below in the ten forms of earthly consciousness on the evolutionary scale. The Pishāchic mind is concentrated on the senses.

Pisistratus (c.605-527 BC), Greek statesman, tyrant of Athens.

Pitrilōka loka of the Pitris (Fathers): Rishis, Prajāpatis, & ancestors; it is the second of the eight lōkas or worlds of material existence recognised by the Sāṅkhya & Vedanta.

Pizarro Francisco (c. 1475-1541), Spanish conqueror of the Inca Empire of Peru.

Planck Max (Karl Ernst Ludwig) (1858-1947), German theoretical physicist who originated the quantum theory. He was awarded the 1918 Nobel Prize for physics.

Plantagenet royal house of England (1154-1485), descendants of Geoffrey, Count of Anjou & the Empress Matilda, daughter of the English king Henry I.

Plassey village in Nadia district of Bengal. It was the scene of the decisive victory of Robert Clive (q.v.) over Nawab Sirāj-ud-Daulah on 23 June 1757…a mere skirmish lasting only a few hours, it marked the beginning of British domination of India.

S.L. Karandikar: “More than two thousand years before Aurangzeb’s death (1707), a small event of far-reaching importance had happened in South India. It was the arrival at Calicut in May 1498 of a few Portuguese ships under Vasco de Gama. The spread of the power of Portugal along the western coast of India, the subsequent arrival of the Dutch, the French & the English, the transfer of Bombay by the Portuguese to the English, &, Anglo-French rivalry in India as part of their rivalry for world supremacy [led to] the assertion of English superiority over the French by the middle of the 18^th century, & the penetration of the English bacilli into Bengal, the right lung of India, in 1757, which is the fateful battle of Plassey. [In] Sardar Pannikar’s…view Plassey was not a battle but a transaction. The grant in 1764 by the Emperor of Delhi to the East India Co. of the Diwani of the very extensive & rich territories of Bengal, Bihar & Orissa pushed the English to the fore as a force to be reckoned with in the race of all-India supremacy.” [Lōk. B.G. Tilak…, pp.5-6]

Plataea ancient city in southern Boetia (Greece), below the modern village of Plataiai. It was the site of a Greek victory during the Greco-Persian Wars.

Plato (c. 428-348/347 BC), 2^nd of the Great Trio of ancient Greeks – Socrates, Plato, & Aristotle – who laid the philosophical foundations of Western culture & system of philosophy that was ethical yet basically rationalistic. Plato was a pupil & friend of Socrates. In Athens he founded a school in the grove of Academus where he taught mathematics & philosophy until his death. Plato’s greatest work is contained in his ‘Dialogues’. [“Irish Plato” in SABCL 3:3, refers to Oscar Wilde].

Pleasures of Imagination epic by Akenside in blank verse derived from Milton’s & modelled on Virgil & Horace.

Pliny Pliny the Younger (61/62-c.113), Roman administrator who left a collection of private letters in ten books intimately illustrating public & private life in the heyday of the Roman Empire. Nine of them were published in his lifetime.

Plotinus (c.205-270), native of Egypt, who transformed a revival of Platonism in the Roman Empire into Neo-Platonism which influenced Islamic & European thought.

Plutarch Greek essayist & biographer whose works influenced the essay, biography, & historical writing in Europe. The English translation of his Parallel Lives supplied the factual bases for Shakespeare’s Coriolanus, Julius Caesar, Antony & Cleopatra, & Timon of Athens.

Pluto/Plutus Greek god of Hades (Romans renamed Pluto to Orcus of Dis). Since ploutos is Greek for Riches or Wealth, ancient Greeks commonly used Hades as possessor of all rich the metals & gems of the earth.

Pocock Edward Pocock(e) (1604-91), English Orientalist.

Poerio, Carlo (1803-67), younger of two Italian brothers distinguished for their services to Liberalism in the Italian Risorgimento. Poerio was active in the revolution of 1848. In 1851 he was sentenced with his fellow Liberals to 24 years in irons. The case became notorious throughout Europe, but Poerio was not released until 1859.

Poetry American monthly founded in 1912; edited by Harriet Monroe.

Poincar / P Raymond Poincaré (1860-1934): born in Bar-le-Duc, France 1860: elected deputy for the French district of Meuse 1887; by 1895, he was chosen vice president of the Chamber of Deputies (French Parliament). He resigned from the Chamber of Deputies in 1903, & practiced law & served in the politically less-significant Senate until 1912. He returned to national prominence when he became prime minister in January 1912, & proved to be a strong leader & foreign minister. To everyone’s surprise, however, the following year he decided to run for the presidency, & he was elected to the post in January 1913. Unlike earlier presidents, he took an active role in policy formation. His strong sense of nationalism moved him to work diligently to secure France’s defence, strengthening alliances with Britain & Russia & supporting legislation to raise national military service from two years to three. Although he worked for peace, as a native of the Lorraine region, Poincaré was suspicious of Germany, which had seized the area in 1871.

When World War I broke out in August 1914, Poincaré proved to be a strong wartime leader & mainstay of French morale. In Dec. 1915, President Poincaré invited volunteers to the French Army. Two batches of Indian volunteers from Chandernagore were trained in Pondicherry & sent to fight in Verdun. All except one survived that rigorous trench warfare. In 1917, he asked his long-time political enemy Georges Clemenceau to form a government, as he believed that Clemenceau was best-qualified to serve & lead the nation, despite his leftist political leanings. But Poincaré soon found himself in serious disagreement with Clemenceau over the terms of the Treaty of Versailles, which was signed in June 1919 & defined the terms of peace following World War I. Poincaré felt strongly that Germany should be subjected to heavy reparations & assume responsibility for starting the war. Although American & British leaders regarded the treaty as overly punitive, the document, which called for substantial financial & territorial reparations from Germany, was not harsh enough to satisfy Poincaré. He further demonstrated his aggressive stance toward Germany when he assumed the position of prime minister again in 1922. He was also minister of foreign affairs during this term. When the Germans failed to meet their reparations payment in January 1923, Poincaré ordered French troops to occupy the Ruhr Valley area, an important industrial region in western Germany. Despite the occupation, the German government refused to make the payment. German workers’ passive resistance to French authority wreaked havoc on the German economy. The German mark failed & the French economy also suffered because of the cost of the occupation. Finally, in 1924, the British & American governments negotiated a settlement that attempted to stabilize the German economy & soften the terms of the reparations. During the same year, Poincaré’s party suffered a defeat in the general election, & he resigned as prime minister. ― In 1926, amidst a serious economic crisis in France, Poincaré was once again asked to form a government & assume the role of prime minister. He moved quickly & forcefully to handle the financial situation by cutting government spending, increasing interest rates, introducing new taxes & stabilizing the value of the franc, basing it on the gold standard. The April 1928 general elections demonstrated popular support for Poincaré’s party & his role as prime minister. On November 7, 1928, under attack from the Radical Socialist Party, Poincaré was forced to resign. He acted swiftly to form a new ministry within the week, marking his final term as prime minister. Citing ill health, Poincaré left office in July 1929, & subsequently refused the offer of yet another term as prime minister in 1930.

Polak Graham Polak & his wife lived in Gandhi’s house in South Africa.

Polonius courtier in Shakespeare’s Hamlet given to offering unwelcome advice.

Polydamas son of Panthous, noted for his sage advice.

Polyxena daughter of Priam & Hecuba. After the fall of Troy, Achilles’ ghost claimed her as his prize & she was sacrificed on his tomb.

Pompey Gracus Pompeius Magnus (106-48 BC), statesman & general of the late Roman Republic. An associate & later opponent of Julius Caesar who defeated him at Pharsalus (q.v.), Pompey moved on to Cilicia & Cyprus & thence to Egypt, where he was murdered.

Pondicherry In the 9^th century “Pallava kings extended their patronage to educational institutions at Kāṅchī & Bāhur. Bāhur had a College where provision was made for the study of the Vedas, Vedāṇgas, Mīmāṁsā, Nyāya, Purāṇas, & Dharmashāstras (9^th century AD).” – Dr H.C. Raychaudhuri [Majumdar et al’s Advanced History, 1973-74, p.191]

J-Dubreuil: “Each time Ananda Ranga Pillai spoke of the temple destroyed in 1748, which was located on the present site of the Catholic cathedral [on Mission Street], he called it ‘The Vedapuri Īshwaran Temple’…. Thus from time immemorial, the city of Pondicherry, inhabited by sages, has been dedicated to the Vedas, i.e., to ‘Knowledge’. – Today, now that we know that the cemetery of Pondicherry goes back to the prehistoric epoch, that the lingam was swayambhu & that the sage Agastya worshipped it, that the city…was consecrated to the Vedas, today we have absolute proof that a temple covered with inscriptions, & already old, existed in the 10^th century…. At the Pondicherry Cathedral [in Mission Street] there are two stones that have written on them the name of god Agastishwara (Shiva adored by Agastya); so it is certain that these are parts of the ruins of the temple of Agastishwara that existed in the same place.” [Extracts from P. Heehs’ Archives & Research Journal, Vo.13, Dec.1989, pp.212-16]

Purani: Bālai Devasharma has written: “After knowing that Sri Aurobindo had gone to Pondicherry, Mono Ranjan Guhāthākurtā & Shyam Sundar Chakravarty wrote a letter requesting him to guide them (& the party) in politics. The letter was answered: its purport was that Sri Krishna had taken the responsibility of freeing India; & so all of us must act from a firm status in yoga. This letter was read out at the house of Shyam Sundar Babu in Vidyāsāgara Street Calcutta.” [Purani, Life of Sri Aurobindo, 1978, 141-42]

Sri Aurobindo: When I came to Pondicherry (4^th April 1910), the Guru of the world who is within us then gave me the complete directions of my path – its full theory, the ten limbs of the body of this Yoga. These ten years He has been making me develop it in experience. But it is not yet finished. [CWSA 36:94; Letter to Barindra, Apr.1920, Champaklal’s Treasures, 2008: 170] ― I need some place of refuge in which I can complete my Yoga unassailed and build up other souls around me. It seems to me that Pondicherry is the place appointed by those who are Beyond…. – Pondicherry is my cave of tapasyā, not of the ascetic kind, but a brand of my own invention. [SABCL 26:423, 429-30]

Nolini: …they said, “Sri Aurobindo has fixed a cemetery for his sādhanā.” [Inaccessible caves & deserted cemeteries are chosen by Shiva (q.v.) for his all-creating tapasyās; s/a “Epiphany”, SABCL 5:73].

CWSA editors: “The Record of Yoga is a diary of Sri Aurobindo’s Yoga…. He kept it fairly regularly from 1912 to 1920, & also a few entries in 1909, 1911, & 1927…. [He] wrote the diary & related materials by hand… [in] a special terminology which included words from Sanskrit & other languages, as well as abbreviations, symbols & markings…. The special terminology is explained (!) in a separate glossary…. The text of the diary entries & related materials, transcribed & arranged by the editors, appears here for the first time (!)….” [Publisher’s Note, CWSA Vol. 10-11]

Sri Aurobindo: [When he left Calcutta on 1^st April 1910] Sri Aurobindo had already realised in full two of the four great realisations on which his Yoga & his spiritual philosophy are founded. The first he had gained while meditating…in January 1908; it was the realisation of the silent, spaceless & timeless Brahman gained after a complete & abiding stillness of the whole consciousness & attended at first by an overwhelming feeling & perception of the total unreality of the world, though this feeling disappeared after his second realisation which was that of the cosmic consciousness & of the Divine as all beings & all that is, which happened in the Alipore jail (2May1908-2May1909) & of which he has spoken in his speech at Uttarpāra (30May1909). To the other two realisations, that of the supreme Reality with the static & dynamic Brahman as its two aspects & that of the higher planes of consciousness leading to the Supermind he was already on his way in his meditations in the Alipore jail. [CWSA 36:94]

Nolini: Like Agastya Sri Aurobindo journeyed south & set up a permanent seat here to emanate a new Light – he was even known in these parts as the Uttara Yogi. In his lines of work & sādhanā too we find a strange affinity with Agastya’s effort, at least in one respect….

The first few years were spent in establishing a seat…where he could work undisturbed. This point about selecting a ‘seat’ occurs in the story of all great spiritual aspirants & in all the disciplines. The Tantriks had need of their ‘seat of five skulls’…Ramakrishna had his pañchavaṭī, the grove of five bunyans. But why this insistence on five? Perhaps the number stood for the five main elements in man & the five worlds that constitute the universe, – what the Upanishads term body, life, mind, supermind & spirit. The Vedas too speak of pañcakṣiti, the five abodes, pañcakṣiti, the five fields of culture, pañcajana, the five births or worlds. Sri Krishna’s conch of pāñchajanya may well occur to mind…. The site once chosen & the seat established, he had now to prepare the ground. There were, as I have said, shifting sands all around, symbolising a changing world where all is in a state of flux. All that had to be cleared & firm ground reached. He spent many long years, even as Agastya had done, in this spade-work. For he was to erect a huge edifice, a temple dedicated to God…. That needed a solid, firm & immovable foundation. For this he had to dig into the farthest abyss, to fix, one might say, the ‘five supporting pillars’. All this he did single-handed during the first four years. Then the Mother came. And, although that was only for a short time, it was then that the plans were laid for the thing that was to be & the shape it was to take, – this new creation of theirs. The work of building the foundation took him till 1920. [Reminiscences, 2015, p.47, 53-55]

The Seven Houses of Sri Aurobindo: (1) Calve Shankara Chettiar’s, Rue Calve Subraya Chettiar: Apr.–Oct.1910. (2) Sunder Chetty’s, Rue Suffren: Oct.1910–Apr.1911. (3) Rāghava Chetty’s, Rue St. Louis: Apr.1911–Apr.1913. (4) On Rue Mātakoil or Rue des Missions Etrangères: Apr.1913–Oct.1913. (5) No. 41, Rue Francois Martin: Oct.1913–Sept.-Oct.1922, [a relevant ‘jotting’ in CWSA’s ‘Record of Yoga’ dated 8 July 1914: Krishnadarshana: Strong sukshma-physical perception at meals of the universal bhokta, Bala Krishna, behind all taking the bhoga of the ego for himself without the knowledge of the ego. (P. Heehs’ A&R: Apr1990:14; perception at meals refers to the four boys then living in Guest House, taking their bhoga (dinner) after returning from their game of football; the house was later names ‘The Guest House’;]. (6) No. 9, Rue de la Marine: Sept.-Oct.1922–February 1927. [‘The Library House’] (7) No. 10, Rue Francois Martin: 8 Feb.1927 [‘The Meditation House’] ― Significances of Numbers 1 to 7 given by the Mother: (1) The One; The Origin. (2) Decision for Creation; Appearance of the Creative Consciousness. (3) Sachchidananda; Beginning of Creation. (4) Manifestation. (5) Power. (6) Creation; New Creation. (7) Realisation. [CWM 15:39-40; the first entry in CWSA’s RoY is dated 17th June 1909. Sri Aurobindo was in Alipore Jail from 2 May 1908 to 2 May 1909. He first spoke of his Krishna Darshana (q.v.) there see his speech in 30 May 1909. The last entry of CWSA’s RoY dated 31 October 1927. Sri Aurobindo moved into the Meditation House in February 1927. The last talk of 1926 published in Purani’s Evening Talks… is on 9th November, the subject is the descent of the Gods.]

Sri Aurobindo: 24^th [November 1926] was the descent of Krishna into the physical. Krishna is not the supramental Light. The descent of Krishna would mean the descent of the Overmind Godhead preparing, though not itself actually bringing, the descent of the Supermind and Ananda. Krishna is the Anandamaya; he supports the evolution through the Overmind leading it towards the Ananda. 29 October 1935 ― If you reach Krishna you reach the Divine; if you can give yourself to him, you give yourself to me. Your inability to identify may be because you are laying too much stress on the physical aspects, consciously or unconsciously…. You can’t expect me to argue about my own spiritual greatness in comparison with Krishna’s…. And then what Krishna must I challenge, – the Krishna of the Gita who is the transcendent Godhead, Paramātma, Parabrahma, Purushottama, the cosmic Deity, Master of the universe, Vāsudeva who is all, the Immanent in the heart of all creatures, or the Godhead who was incarnate at Brindāvan & Dwārkā & Kurukshetra & who was the guide of my Yoga & with whom I realised identity? [SABCL 26:136; CWSA 35:431-32]

*

Sri Aurobindo: …most people whose minds have been rationalised by a modern European education…seek the explanation for everything in their ignorant reason, their surface experience and in outside happenings. They do not see the hidden forces and inner causes which…find their point d’appui in the sadhak himself, in…the extreme sensitiveness of the lower vital ego and now also the physical consciousness with all its fixed or standing opinions, prejudices, prejudgments, habitual reactions, personal preferences, clinging to old ideas and associations, its obstinate doubts and its maintaining these things as a wall of obstruction and opposition to the larger light. This activity of the physical mind is what people call intellect and reason, although it is only the turning of a machine in a circle of mental habits and is very different from the true and free reason, the higher Buddhi, which is capable of enlightenment and still more from the higher spiritual light or that insight and tact of the psychic consciousness which sees at once what is true and right and distinguishes it from what is wrong and false. [CWSA 31:772-73; s/a As(h)ram]

Pontic of Pontus, on the Black Sea coast in NE Asia Minor. “Pontic waters” therefore means Pontus Euxinus or Black Sea.

(Pontius) Pilate Roman procurator of Judaea (c.26-36/37) who condemned Jesus Christ to be crucified. Various legends stressing Pilate’s efforts to release Jesus, whom he considered innocent but whom he condemned in order to escape accusation of disloyalty to the Emperor, made him almost a hero in some Christian traditions.

Poona Puṇe was made the capital of his kingdom by Shivaji & his son & successor Shambhāji. It was under the first three Peshwas, Bālāji Vishwanatha (1713-1720), his son Bāji Rao (1720-1740), & grandson Bālāji Bāji Rao (1740-1761) that it became the centre of the Maratha Empire that could have replaced the Moghul which began to decline with of Aurangzeb’s death in 1707. In 1817, the Octopus trapped the last Peshwa Bāji Rao II (1775-1852) in its webs of deceit & within a year dismembered the Maratha Confederacy. Poona regained its primacy in 19-20^th century thanks to its stalwart reformers & politicians Ranade, Gokhale, Tilak, & many others.

Pope, Alexander (1688-1744) was born in London, his education was affected by the recently enacted Test Acts, which banned Catholics from teaching, attending a university, voting, or holding public office on pain of perpetual imprisonment. Taught to read by his aunt, he went to two Catholic schools in London which, while illegal, were tolerated in some areas. Pope educated himself mostly by reading Horace, Juvenal, Homer, Virgil, Geoffrey Chaucer, William Shakespeare, John Dryden, while he studied European languages & read English, French, Italian, Latin, & Greek poets. Among his famous friends at Binfield, was John Caryll, the future dedicatee of The Rape of the Lock, who was twenty years older & had many acquaintances in the London literary world. He introduced Pope to the playwright William Wycherley, & William Walsh who helped him revise his first major work, The Pastorals (see Essay on Criticism), & the Blount sisters, Teresa & Martha, who remained lifelong friends. Pope also made friends with Tory writers John Gay (see Shepherd’s Week), Jonathan Swift, Thomas Parnell & John Arbuthnot (see John Bull), who together formed the Scriblerus Club with the aim of satirising ignorance & pedantry in the form of the fictional scholar Martinus Scriblerus. He also made friends with Whig writers Joseph Addison (q.v.) & Richard Steele (see Spectator & Tatler).

Pope used language with genuine inventiveness. His qualities of imagination are seen in the originality with which he handled traditional forms, in his satiric vision of the contemporary world, & in his inspired use of classical models. Around 1719, he is said to have been employed by the publisher Jacob Tonson to produce an opulent new edition of Shakespeare. His friendship with the former statesman Henry St. John Bolingbroke, who had settled a few miles from Twickenham, stimulated his interest in philosophy & led to the composition of An Essay on Man. Some ideas expressed in it were probably suggested by Bolingbroke, e.g., earthly happiness is enough to justify the ways of God to man. In essence, the Essay is not philosophy but a poet’s belief of unity despite differences, of an order embracing the whole multifaceted creation. The most central of Pope’s ideas were the doctrine of plenitude, which Pope expressed through the metaphors of a “chain” or “scale” of being, & that the discordant parts of life are bound harmoniously together. Pope wrote Imitations of Horace from 1733 to 1738. He also wrote many epistles to friends, in defence of his use of personal & political satire. After he wrote the Universal Prayer in 1738, he concentrated on revising & expanding his masterpiece The Dunciad.

Poseidon the sea-god. He bore the trident, & when he shook it he caused storms & earthquakes. A brother of Zeus, he was a son of the Titans Cronus & Rhea. With Apollo, he built the walls of Troy for Laomedon, whose failure to pay for the work turned Poseidon against the Trojans. The Romans called him Neptune.

Pound, Ezra Ezra (Loomis) Pound (1885-1972), American poet & critic.

Poundra Pouṇḍra, kingdom conquered by Pāndu father of the Pandavas.

Poundrian Vāsudeva Pauṇḍraka Vāsudeva, king of Puṇḍra & an ally of Jarāsandha. He claimed to be a descendant Vasudeva & assumed Sri Krishna’s style & insignia. He was supported by the king of Kashi, but he was defeated & killed by Krishna.

Pourujit/ Kuntivardhan Purujit son of Kūntibhōja & brother of Kūnti. He was killed by Droṇāchārya in the Mahabharata battle.

Prabāsi illustrated monthly of Calcutta, edited by Rāmānanda Chatterji. Started in 1901, it was distinguished for its editorials & views & wealth of information.

Prabhāsa-Pātan or Sōmanātha Pātaṇ or Deva Pātaṇ, a town on southern shore of Gujarat near Verāval, in Gīr-Sōmanātha district, is considered a triveni-sangam as the two rivers merging at Talāla (c.20 km upstream) meet the ocean here. It is also called Chandra-Teertha since Sōma (q.v.), who as Chandra (Moon) did intense penance here to free himself from the curse of ceaseless waxing & waning & obtained an eternal place on Shiva’s head. Since Shiva descended into the Lingam he created, it became the first of the twelve Jyotirlingas worshipped by Shaivites. The original temple built by Sōma in gold & rebuilt in silver by Rāvaṇa was rebuilt by Sri Krishna in sandalwood. In 1026, Mahmud of Ghazni looted-destroyed the temple & killed all fifty thousand inhabitants of the city. The temple & city, rebuilt by Bhīmadeva Solanki were looted & destroyed by Alā-ud-din Khilji (1296-1316) & rebuilt by Kumārapāla, one of the great historical rulers of Hindu Gujarat. When Mahmud Begda, Nawab of Gujarat, attacked the temple-city, the king of Saurāshtra rushed to the rescue but in vain. In 1730, Md. Sher Khan Bābi founded the kingdom of Junāgadh which, in 1807, became a protectorate of the Octopus. In 1893, the 8^th scion of the Bābi dynasty (like Nawab Salimullah of East Bengal) inflamed a Jihadi riot. In May 1947, Nawab Md. Mohabat Khanji III as ‘ruler’ of Junāgadh appointed his minister Shah Nawaz Bhutto his Dewan. With independence, his advisor Nabi Baksh informed Mountbatten he was recommending Junāgadh join India. However, as advice by Dewan Bhutto, on 15 August the Nawab announced that Junāgadh had acceded to Pakistan & on 13 September Govt. of Pakistan accepted the accession. The Hindu majority of Junāgadh (inspired by Sardar Patel) revolted & a December plebiscite overwhelmingly voted for merger with India. Mohabat escaped to Pakistan with his treasures & treasury & was honourably settled in Sindh.

The present temple was built under Deputy P.M. Sardar Patel’s aegis & opened by President Prasad. For these crimes against his Secular Socialist Republic, Nehru ostracised Prasad, & ignored Patel’s warning about Chinese intentions in Dec. 1950.

[Based on: The Glory of Gujarat by Rajnee Vyāsa, Gurjara-Anada Prakāshan, Ahmedabad, 1988, pp.71-73; “How Gāndhāra became Kandahār” by Rajiv Malhotra, Infinity Foundation; Lōkamānya Tilak... by S.L. Karandikar, 1957, p.112; & other sources]

Prabuddha Bharat Awakened India, an English monthly journal started by Swami Vivekananda in 1896 at Calcutta. It is a journal of the Ramakrishna Order, & continues to be published from Calcutta. Its editorial office is now at Mayāvati, another centre of the Mission about forty-five miles from Almora.

Pradyōta see Chunda Mahāsegn.

Pradyumna son of Sri Krishna by Rukminie, said to be a reincarnation of Kāmadeva. “Symbolically, Pradyumna is the third Power of the Chaturvyuha, with Love as His manifestation, & sweetness & delight as His attributes; the Dwāpara Yuga is full of Pradyumna, the Vaishya.” [SABCL 3:452-53; s/a Yuga(s)].

Prahlāda son of the Asura king Hiranyakashipu; while yet a boy he became an ardent devotee of Vishnu. This enraged his father, who tried to get him killed in various ways. Prahlāda, however, escaped unhurt every time. Ultimately Vishnu in his incarnation as Narasingha (q.v.) killed Hiranyakashipu.

Prajāpati(s) In the Veda the term Prajāpati is applied to Indra, Savitr, Soma, Hiraṇyagarbha, & other deities; in post-Vedic period the term is applied to Brahmā. Brahma created the four Kumaras or the Chatursana (see Sanatkumāra) to be the progenitors of the human race, but they preferred celibacy & concentration on Lord Vishnu. So for each Manvantara (see Manu), Brahma creates ten Prajāpatis or Mānasputras (i.e. sons born of his Manas, Mind) who are the Fathers of the human race. He also created a daughter, the first woman, Shatarupā (one capable of taking 100 forms), from various parts of his ‘body’ on the various planes of consciousness. Due to his infatuation with her, Brahma developed a fifth head on top of the four facing the four sides to pursue her. Angered at this incestuous misdeed Shiva chopped off that fifth head & banned his worship on earth.

According to Bhāgavatam the first ten Prajāpatis were (1) Marichi (q.v.); (2) Atri (q.v.); (3) Angirasa (q.v.); (4) Pulaha: born of the navel of Brahma, he was burned to death due to Shiva’s curse & reborn as in Vaivasvata Manvantara as Agni’s hair. In his life in the first Manvantara, Pulaha was married to Kshamā one of Daksha’s daughters. They had three sons, Kardama, Kanakapeetha & Urvarivat & a daughter Peevari); (5) Pulastya: one of the Saptarishis in the first Manvantara, he was the medium through which the Puranas were communicated to mankind. He received the Vishnu Purana from Brahma & communicated it through Rishi Parāshara. He married Havirbhoo, one of the nine daughters of Rishi Pulaha’s son Kardama, who gave him two sons: Agastya & Vishravas. Vishravas had two wives Ilavida & Kekasi (a Rākshasi); Ilavidi’s son was Kubera, & Kekasi’s sons were Rāvaṇa, Kumbhakarṇa & Vibhīshaṇa; (6) Kratu: married Santati, one of the daughters of Prajāpati Daksha, who produced 60,000 children whose names occur in the Valakhilyas. As a result of a boon, he was reborn in Vaivaswata Manvantara from the hand of Brahma but had no children & is considered one of the Bhārgavas. He adopted Agastya’s son, Idhavāha; (7) Vasishtha (q.v.), (8) Prachetasa or Daksha: Apparently he was reborn as one of the ten sons of Prāchinavarthis, a son of Prithu. These ten lived 10,000 years in a great ocean concentrating on Lord Vishnu who granted them the boon to become progenitors of mankind; (9) Bhrigu (q.v.), & (10) Nārada (q.v.).

In the Mahābhārata there are fourteen Prajāpatis: Daksha, Prachetasa, Pulaha, Marichi, Kashyapa, Bhrigu, Atri, Vasishtha, Gautama, Angirasa, Pulastya, Kratu, Prahlada, & Kardama; & they are caretakers of the fourteen lōkas above the physical & the tālas below it.

Prakrit one of the languages that represented a departure from the fixed form of Sanskrit. They began as vernacular dialects & eventually developed distinct literary styles.

Pramadvura in Mahabharata, wife of Ruru, mother of the Rishi Sunaka.

Pramathanātha ‘master of the Pramathas’ epithet of Shiva.

Pramatha(s) the fourth type from below of the ten forms of consciousness in the evolutionary scale of man. The Pramatha mind is concentrated on the heart & the emotional & aesthetic part of the Chitta. Pramathas are beings attending on Shiva.

Pramatheshwari epithet of Pārvati for Shiva is Pramatheshwara.

Pramati son of Rishi Chyavana, who fathered Ruaru or Ruru by an Apsarā.

Prāpthie Prāpti daughter of Jarāsandha, & younger sister of Sahadeva. She & her sister Asti (see Ustie) were wives of Kansa.

Prashna Upanishad “Upanishad of the Questions”, an Upanishad of Atharva Veda.

Pratāpāditya (1564-1612?) landlord of Jessore, Khulna, & 24-Parganas who refused to pay tribute to Akbar & defeated a Moghul army, but was later captured.

Pratāp Singh (Mahārāṇā) (1545?-97), son of the coward Rāṇā Udaya Singh II & his Chauhan queen, but a worthy grandson of Rāṇā Saṇga. He ruled Mewār from 1572 till his death on 19 Jan.’1597. He had to face not only the Moghul army but also those of cowardly Rajput kings like Raja Todar Mal (see Akbar) & Raja Mān Singh of Amber. In April 1576, in battle at Haldighāti, Asaf Khan & Mān Singh crushed his small army. When the Rāṇā was severely wounded his companion Jhālā Mān diverted the attacks by donning the Rāṇā’s turban while the Rāṇā’s brother Shakti Singh spirited him away. Shakti Singh & the Rāṇā’s horse Chetak carried him into Chavand in the ancient Aravalli Hills. Then, helped by Bhil archers & warriors, he began ambushing larger & larger Mogul patrols until he defeated a large contingent. “Mughal pressure on Mewār relaxed after 1579 following rebellions in Bengal & Bihar & Mirza Muhammad Hakim’s incursion into the Punjab. In 1582, Mahārāṇā Pratāp attacked & occupied the Mughal post at Dewair (or Dewar). In 1585, Akbar moved to Lahore & remained there for the next twelve years watching the situation in the north-west. No major Mughal expedition was sent to Mewār during this period. Taking advantage of the situation, Mahārāṇā Pratāp recovered Western Mewār including Kumbhalgarh, Udaipur & Gogunda. During this period, he also built a new capital, Chavand, near modern Dungarpur (see Dongurh”. This record inspired British historian Col. Tod to glorify him as the Leonidas of Rajasthan. Mahārāṇā Pratāp died at Chavand.

Pratiśthāna is situated at the confluence of Yamunā & Gungā.

Praxiteles sculptor of Athens (370-330 BC), greatest of the Attic sculptors & artists.

Proyaga/ Prayāga formed by prefix pra & root yaga (yajña), Prayāga is situated on an inland peninsula, though since a long time Prayāga has been touched only by the Yamunā (or Jumnā) flowing here into the Gungā, for many Yugas the ancient-most river of the region, the Saraswati (its subterranean traces are now scientifically established), too merged here with the Gungā, making it a Triveṇi Saṇgam a particularly sacred phenomenon. The name Prayāga derives from was the sacred spot chosen for a great yajña. Hence, it is believed, even at the times of the aeonic Pralayas, Prayāga remains an Akshaya kshetra (an undiminishing land). After receiving the four Vedas that had been lost, Prajāpati performed a huge Yajna here; hence, Prayāga is also called ‘Prajāpati kshetra’. Of the five Yajñyavedis (shallow mud or brick structures in which the sacred Fire is lit), namely, Kurukshetra, Gaya, Virāj, Pūshkara & Prayāga, Prayāga is the madhyavedi, the central vedi. Prayāga is also associated with the great Churning of the Ocean of Life by the divine & anti-divine forces to obtain immortalising Amritam (Nectar). Finally, the ceremony of Pinda-dān can be made at Prayāga as well as Benares, Gaya, & Siddhpur Pātaṇ. Due to its great strategic position Prayāga fell prey in 1193 to Mohammad Ghori & the sultans who succeeded until Akbar captured it in 1575, & actuated by goodwill renamed it Illahabad which subsequent proprietors corrected to Allahabad. And thus the site for great Yajñas has become an altar to Allah.

Prayer of Columbus one of the most notable poems of Walt Whitman.

Premānand/ Premānund (c.1636-1734) Gujarati poet. At fifteen he became a disciple of Guru Rāmacharan, learned Sanskrit & Urdu in which he composed his first poems. He developed Gujarati through his ākhyānas, legends depicting his society’s philosophy & psychology, customs & festivals. His most famous works are Nala-upakhyāna, Sūdāmā Charita, Māhmeru.

Presidency College the inevitable official name of what was opened at Calcutta in 1817, by Rammohan Roy & David Hare under the name Hindu College.

Preta spirit of the dead who denied their funeral rites may become a bhūta.

Priam last Trojan king, a son of Laomedon & father of Hector & Paris.

Dr Price Richard (1723-91), English theologian & political theorist: supported the French Revolution for which Burke censured him in his Reflections on the Revolution.

Dr Primrose hero of Goldsmith’s Vicar of Wakefield (1766).

The Prince English of a book in Italian Il principe (1532), Machiavelli’s best-known work. It has made his name a symbol of political immorality.

Prince of Darkness an epithet of Satan.

Prince of Edur is based on the historical personalities of Bāppā, Curran (q.v.), Toramāna (q.v.), & Hooshka (q.v.). Sri Aurobindo had acquired some idea of Gujarat’s feudal history through Nandashankar Mehta’s historical fiction Karan Ghelo (Ghelo stands for both ‘Gehlot’, the dynasty to which he belonged, & ‘besotted’), when he must have read available recorded histories on Rajput & Muhammedan kings of the region (including the Kushāns, Huvishka/ Hooshka etc., & the Huns, Toramāna etc.), as also of Idar. Evidently, the Bāppā of this play was meant to instil in its readers the fire of utter dedication to Mother India, & Curran was meant to illustrate that the Moderates’ petty intrigues would only help the British to derail the freedom movement, & that is what happened at Surat. Perhaps he never cared to finish & publish it because by Jan-Feb. 1907, he realised that few Indian politicians & youth had the tenacity to stand up to invaders as had Bāppā & his descendants.

Prince of Mathura “This fragment, related in theme to Prince of Edur, was written a few years later, probably in 1909 or 1910” [CWSA Vol.03-04, p.1005] between 2 May 1908 & Jan-Feb 1910 Sri Aurobindo grew increasingly close to his Guide Sri Krishna. (1) “I had never heard before of thoughts coming visibly into the mind from outside, but I did not think either of questioning the truth or the possibility, I simply sat down and did it. In a moment my mind became silent as a windless air on a high mountain summit and then I saw one thought and then another coming in a concrete way from outside; I flung them away before they could enter and take hold of the brain and in three days I was free. From that moment, in principle, the mental being in me became a free Intelligence, a universal Mind, not limited to the narrow circle of personal thought as a labourer in a thought factory, but a receiver of knowledge from all the hundred realms of being and free to choose what it willed in this vast sight-empire and thought-empire. I mention this only to emphasise that the possibilities of the mental being are not limited and that it can be the free Witness and Master in its own house.” [SABCL 26:84 & CWSA 35:244] (2) Historical Ajamida (q.v.) was Sri Krishna’s ancestor; Mathura was once under the sway of Kushāns, & Toramāna the Hun did try his luck there; Roodhra is obviously the Shivādry, & Siwalik Hills are just 70-80 km north of Mathura which is on the Yamuna [s/a Siege of Mathura]

Justice Prinsep Henry Thoby (b.1836): educated at Harrow & Haileybury (see I.C.S.): arrived in India 1855: Asst. Magistrate Midnapur during the Mutiny & as Civil Officer accompanied a Naval Brigade with light guns sent from Midnapur to reinforce British troops in wiping out the Kols [“Kols, Bhīls & Muṇḍās, were tribes living in hills & jungles. – Advanced History of India, p.14] who had refused subjugation: in 1862 made Registrar of the Sadr Court in Jan. & of the High Court established on 1 July: held temporary appointments (in one of them, Chairman of the Official Emoluments Commission at Baruipur, Bengal, he was succeeded by Bankim Chandra) before becoming District Judge in 1867: Judicial Commissioner in Mysore 1875-6, officiating Judge of the Calcutta High Court on its establishment on July 1 of same year, confirmed 1878: presided over the Jury Commission 1893-4: joined the Gov.-Gen.’s Legislative Council to assist in revising the Codes of Criminal & Civil Procedure (see Penal Code): knighted 1894: Last of the Civilians educated at Haileybury, for 26 years he was District Grand Master of the Freemasons in Bengal. His father Henry Thoby (1792-1878) came to Bengal in 1809; was Asst. Secretary to Francis Rawdon, 1^st Marquis of Hastings (see Hastings Street); introduced cultivation & manufacture of indigo into Bengal at a factory at Nilganj in 1779: wrote History of the Political & Military Transactions in India during the Administration of the Marquis of Hastings. [Buckland: 193, 321, 343-4]

Prince Paradox See Treneth

The Princess narrative poem by Tennyson interspersed songs.

Prior, Matthew (1664-1721) English epigrammatist.

Prishni in Vedas & Puranas, Earth, mother of Maruts; in Vedas also used for cow.

Prithivi in Vishnu Purana she is the daughter of Prithu, the Giver of Life.

Prithvish Babu Prithwish Chandra Roy (1870-1928), a writer who became a leader of Bengali Moderates hence associated with Gokhale, Watcha, & S.N. Banerji. He edited Indian World & wrote a number of books in English.

Priyamvada companion of Shakuṇtalā in Kālidāsa’s Abhijñāna Śākuntalam.

Procrustean “tending to produce uniformity by violent methods”. The ogre Procrustes kept iron beds on which he compelled his victims to lie, stretching or cutting off their legs to make them fit the bed’s length.

Progress of Poesy Pindaric ode by Thomas Gray.

Prometheus created humans from clay, stole fire from Olympus & taught men the use of it & various arts. Zeus chained him to a ledge high up in the Caucasus for vultures to feast daily on his liver. He bore this torment until Hercules set him free.

Prometheus Unbound one of Shelley’s masterpieces.

The Prophecy of Famine poem by Charles Churchill, published in 1763.

Propontis Greek for ‘fore-sea’; enlightened Europeans renamed it Sea of Marmora.

Protestantism/ Protestant Christianity the third major branch of Christianity, after the Catholic & Orthodox, characterized by its doctrines of justification by grace through faith, priesthood of believers, & primacy of Bible (see Reformation).

Proteus prophet & shepherd of the sea’s flocks, he avoided predicting events. Those who wished to consult him had first to surprise & bind him during his noonday slumber. Even when caught he used his power to assume all sorts of shapes in order to escape having to predict. (cf. Cassandra & Sahadeva)

Prothero George Walter (1848-1922), member of the faculty of King’s College, Cambridge: Fellow, 1872-96; Tutor, 1876-94; Senior Proctor, 1888-89. He was professor of history at Edinburgh University, 1894-99; editor of Quarterly Review, 1899-1922; Director of the historical section of the Foreign Office, 1918-19.

Protho・or Theban prince & a leader of the Boeotians in the Trojan War.

Psalms of Old Testament begin the third section of the biblical canon known as the Writings. In its present form, the collection consists of 150 songs, hymns, laments etc.

Ptolemy astronomer, geographer, & mathematician of Alexandria in 2^nd cent. BC; he held Earth to be stationary; 14 rulers of Egypt (323-30 BC) were named Ptolemy.

Pulomā the Asuric wife of Bhrigu, the mother of Rishi Chyavana.

Puloman father of Sachi, the wife of Indra.

Punjab/ Panjab Pāṅchanāda Bhattacharya: “the land of the five rivers…all tributaries of the Indus. It is connected with the trans-Himālayan countries in the NW by four passes of which the chief is the Khyber. It has, therefore, received immigrants [=unarmed non-violent refugees, escapees from their tyrannised land?] from the west in all ages & is a sort of ethnological museum (?!) of the Europeans across the seas all the invaders who raided India entered this subcontinent through the Panjab & left some marks of themselves on its population. Civilisation flourished in the Panjab in the dim [insignificant?] past. In historical times Panjab was included within [Persia’s] Achaemenian Empire of Darius I in the 5^th century BC, but by the time it was invaded by Alexander…in 326 BC the Panjab had come to be divided into a number of petty states which Alexander conquered…after his death the Panjab formed a part of the Maurya Empire. After… the Panjab came to be successively raided & occupied by the Graeco-Bactrians, the Graeco-Bactrians, the Śakas, Kushāns, & Hunas. Sultan Mahmud of Ghazni was the first Moslem conqueror of the Panjab from whose descendants it was conquered Shiab-ud-din Muhammad Ghuri in 1186. It formed part of the Delhi Sultanate from 1206 & continued to be part of the Moghul Empire till the middle of the 18^th century when it became the theatre of a tripartite conflict amongst the Afghans, the Marathas & the Sikhs. The Maratha power was liquidated by the Afghan Ahmad Shah Abdali at the 3^rd Battle of Pāṇīpat in 1761. Abdali who belonged to the Durrani clan of Afghanistan invaded & occupied Panjab eight times between 1747 & 1767. After his death which followed soon, the Sikhs began to rise to power until Ranjit Singh turned the Panjab into a strong & independent Sikh kingdom.” [A Dict. of Indian History, pp. 1, 713-14, etc.]

Punjabee nationalist journal started in 1904 at Lahore by Lālā Jashwant Rai with K.K. Athavale as editor. Both were ‘convicted’ for sedition in 1907. In February 1910 the paper was taken over by a loyalist syndicate.

Purana(s) constitute, according to the Upanishads, the fifth Veda; the Smṛti considers them commentaries on the Vedas. Traditionally a Purana treats five subjects: cosmogony, cosmology, cosmic cycles, gods & sages, & the principal human dynasties or rather lines of human development. They mix facts, tradition, psychic experiences as well as history in a poetic format, explained Sri Aurobindo in talks with disciples, does it matter, for instance, whether the personality it describes lived on the physical plane or not? The poet may be writing from a knowledge gained on the psychic or intuitive planes or from any other planes. Of those surviving, eighteen are major & eighteen ūpa-purana or minor ones.

Puritan member of the reform movement in Church of England that sought to ‘purify’ the Church from remnants of Roman Catholic “popery” retained after the settlement made under Queen Elizabeth I in 16^th century. Puritanism imposed its doctrines & practices on the English-speaking world.

Purōchana was sent by Duryodhana to build a palace of wax for the Pandavas & kill them by setting fire to it in the night. Informed by his spies, Vidura dispatched a team to dig a tunnel & spirit the Pandavas before Purochana set the fire.

Purōhita Swami facilitated Y.B. Yeats’ English of the Upanishads.

Purudansas/ Purudansha “Manifold in activity”, an epithet of the Ashwins.

Purukutsa son of Māndhātā & ancestor of Trishanku. In Rig-Veda, the tapasyā of Purukutsa & his wife Narmada in the forest of Kurukshetra led to their Moksha.

Pururavas/ Pururavus A Rig-Vedic hymn (X: 95) contains a dialogue between him & Urvasie. In later literature he is a son of Budha & Ilā, grandson of the Chandra, & reigns at Pratiśthāna. He is the hero of Kālidāsa’s Vikramorvasīyam.

Purusha-Sūkta/ Purushasukta the Rig-Vedic hymn in which the four Varṇas (fourfold division of society still found throughout the world) are first mentioned.

Pūrvamimānsa one of the six Darshanas founded by Jaimini. Commonly known as the Mimāṁsā, it emphasizes the value of Vedic rites.

Pushan in Vedas ‘the increaser’, ‘the nourisher’. In later scriptures he is Surya.

Pushyamitra founded the Śuṅga dynasty (c.185 BC). Commander-in-chief of Bṛihadratha, the last & least successful Maurya emperor, whom he was constrained to depose to protect the nation from invaders from north-west emboldened by Buddhist Ashoka’s pacifism. Pushyamitra celebrated his victory by an Ashwamedha yajña thus declaring the revival of the Kshatriya dharma. His dynasty ruled for 112 years.

Putanā daughter of Bali the Asura reigning Pātāla. She was deputed by Kansa of Mathura to kill his nephew Krishna by suckling him; he suckled her life out of her.

Pylos name of three places in the Peloponnesus. It lay at the north end of Navarino Bay of the Ionian Sea, & was ruled by Nestor. In Sri Aurobindo’s Ilion Pylos refers to the city in the southwest, in Messenia.

Pyrrhic victory a futile military success, like that of Pyrrhus (319-272 BC), the king of Hellenistic Epirus. The heavy losses suffered by him in his victory at Asculum in 279 BC caused him to declare, “One more such victory & I am lost”.

Pyrrhus an alternative name for Neoptolemus (q.v.), the son of Achilles.

Pythagoras (c.582-c.507 BC), Greek philosopher & mathematician; he founded of the Pythagorean brotherhood that formulated principles that contributed to the development of Europe’s mathematics & rationalism. The brotherhood’s interest in numbers extended to practical mathematics, & is credited with inspiring the first part of Euclidean geometry & the theorem that bears their name.

Pythian of Pytho (original name of Delphi) as also of Pythia, the medium & oracular prophetess of Apollo at Delphi.

Pythoness Python was a dragon who guarded Delphi & was killed by Apollo when he established his oracle there.