An objective measure of how majestic a mountain is

Ever since our days in Seattle, I have been endlessly fascinated with mountains like Rainier and Denali - mountains that stand much taller than their neighbouring mountains thereby offering dramatic and spectacular views, often from long distances. It turns out there is an objective measure that measures this quality: topographical prominence (thanks to a Windows screen saver photo of Mt. Kilimanjaro which led me to this Wikipedia page). Some really high peaks (like K2) don't have as much topological prominence as they are surrounded by mountain masses that are also very high.

By Muhammad Mahdi Karim - Own work, GFDL 1.2, Link

The definition of topographic prominence is a bit tricky but makes intuitive sense if you think about it. Wikipedia defines it as " the height of a mountain or hill's summit relative to the lowest contour line encircling it but containing no higher summit within it". Basically:

1. Find the maximal land area surrounding the peak which contains no higher peak. 
2. Find the lowest point in that area. 
3. Topographic prominence is the height of the peak from that point. 

Now, which mountain do you think is #1 in terms of topological prominence? As per another helpful Wikipedia page on the Ranking of Mountains by Topological prominence, it is indeed Mt. Everest. Well, no surprise there, you might say. But I was actually surprised. I knew that you need to get to a very high altitude before you even see Everest. The base camp for a mountaineer making an attempt at Mt. Everest is at a whopping 17000 ft. So I would have thought Mt. Everest's topological prominence would be around 12000 ft, not that high. I thought even Mt. Rainier might beat it, Denali for sure. You can see Denali from 100 miles. 

But then if you go back and read the definition again, Mt. Everest gets the top nod based on a technicality. You see, as per step 1, you need to find the maximal area surrounding the peak which contains no higher peak. Since there is no higher peak than Everest, the maximal area is the Earth's entire landmass (or at least Eurasia if you want to be very precise). And the lowest point in that area (step 2) is sea level. Hence the topological prominence of Everest is its entire height from sea level, all 29000ft of it. So the measure actually doesn't really work that well for the tallest mountain in the world because it is no. 1 by definition, but it works well for others. So none of the high peaks in the Himalayas other than Mt. Everest  come up in the top 10, because they are surrounded by really high contiguous landmasses that includes higher peaks  and they don't stand out as much. 

Not surprisingly, Mt. Aconcagua and Mt. Denali the tallest mountains in South and North America respectively are 2nd and 3rd in the list. And Mt. Kilimanjaro, the highest mountain in Africa is fourth.  And my favourite neighbourhood Mt. Rainier comes in at a respectable 21st  in the list. 

- Balaji

BSVI, diesel cars and air quality

Overdrive magazine has been serving the needs of my inner car-buff, replacing Car and Driver from earlier days. Recently they have been publishing some good primers on automobile technology including one on electric cars. In the latest issue they have a good in-depth article on the new BSVI (BS-6) emission standards (http://overdrive.in/…/everything-you-need-to-know-about-bs…/) that is going to come into effect from April 1, 2020. What this means is that all new vehicles (big and small, 2-3-4 wheelers) sold after this date have to comply with BSVI emission requirements which are much more stringent than BSIV (BS-4) which was adopted in 2017. BSVI is based on the European standard Euro 6.

BSVI impacts diesel cars more because diesel engines pollute more and car-makers will have to equip diesel cars with cleaner running engines and more importantly install post-emission devices like DPF (diesel particulate filters) to meet the standards. This means that diesel cars will get more expensive. Also, in order to meet BSVI, diesel cars also need to use BSVI diesel. Indian gas refineries have been working on producing the cleaner burning diesel which should become available throughout the country by April 1st. Cars sold before the date of course can continue to run and they can use the BSVI diesel and will emit a bit less. BSVI implies significant reduction in nitrous oxides, sulphur content and particulate matter (80-90% reduction) all of which have been linked with respiratory and other illnesses. It will perhaps take years to see any noticeable improvement in air quality as more BSVI vehicles replace older cars. But it looks like a good thing.

In a nutshell, cleaner diesel, less emissions from new diesel vehicles, more expensive diesel cars.

Spreading positivity - kudos to Indigo Airlines

So, for a while now, when I read the newspaper in the morning, I get depressed because almost everything being reported is negative. This happens to some extent in social media as well. I recently participated in a Mindfulness workshop where people echoed this concern. So I have made a resolution to do my small bit and spread positivity around.

The first one I want to do is to appreciate Indigo Airlines for their on-time performance and how seriously they take it. I have been taking some late evening flights recently; while it is par for the course for most airlines to accumulate delays over the day, I was impressed how Indigo was on-time even in these evening flights. They seem to obsess about it to the point which causes some inconvenience to passengers (like they put you in the bus and go wait in the tarmac while the arriving passengers from the plane you're about to board are still disembarking; this helps parallelize and shorten the deboarding/boarding process); but I will take this minor inconvenience any day over waiting in the airport for a flight that got delayed by 2 hours. They also do smart things like adding some buffer to their flying time. This surely implies that they are not jamming in as many flights as they possibly could in a day at the cost of on-time performance. 

And there are some signs that this may be infectious. In the last GoAir flight I took, they started asking the passengers to help in getting the cabin ready for the next flight to shorten the time they are on the ground (something Indigo has been doing for many years). 

- Balaji

A Tale of Two Lakes

It is the monsoon season and we seem to be enjoying a normal monsoon here in Hyderabad. With the water crisis in Chennai being in the news, can't help but feel thankful to be in a city that hasn't reached that crisis point.   We see quite a few lakes within the city of Hyderabad still filled with water especially during the business end of the monsoon season and this year I look at them with a bit more appreciation.

My wife recently told me about the Aminpur Lake which is less than 5km from our house. She thought it could be a nice picnic spot. The lake is reachable from Miyapur by hanging a left off of the Bolaram Road. To reach the lake you have to continue as the street becomes a dirt road perhaps better navigated on a vehicle with high clearance. You have to walk across an expanse of brush to reach the lake. Along the way there is enough flat ground for kids nearby to have appropriated as a cricket field. Past the makeshift cricket field, as you approach the lake, if you're lucky, you will see - what do you know? - a flock of flamingos, pink ones!  As we walked closer for a better look, we must have breached their safety zone and the entire flock took to flight and settled themselves further inside in the lake.  Clearly the lake is not very deep even in the middle.

The entire flock assuming their flight pose of outstretched legs and long necks was a sight to behold. I was too stunned, that I missed the moment to capture it on camera. Apparently flamingos have been transiting through this lake every year as a stop in their migratory route. Word has it that in recent years, they - confused allegedly by climate change - have settled here in the lake for good.

The other lake that we have come across recently is the Shaikpet Kotha (New) Cheruvu (Lake). Multiple NGOs are attempting a cleanup of this lake (see recent Indian Express news article). This lake is right in the middle of town with settlements all around. The lake has clearly seen better days and looks anything but new. At some point the city saw fit to build a wall around the lake with what looks like a walkway that goes around the lake inside the wall. However, the whole setup is in a sad state of disrepair. The walkway is overrun with vegetation. The wall has been breached on one end close to the main road and GHMC seems to be using it as a garbage dump area. Sewage is being dumped on the other side. Plastic and construction waste is everywhere. Places that are clean enough are taken up by vendor stalls and vehicles many of them old and abandoned.

The lake itself is brimming with water and could be a great place to hang out for the neighbourhood if it can be cleaned up and the already existing walkway around the lake is made usable. Right now, it looks like a herculean task but there are some tenacious folks from Ananda Foundation and Krithi Foundation who are on this, so here is hoping for the best.

- Balaji

சு. வெங்கடேசனின் வேள்பாரி

தமிழில் எழுதும் முயற்சி, வெகு நாட்களுக்கு பிறகு.

வீரநாயகன் வேள்பாரி ஆனந்த விகடனில் தொடராக வந்த மிகவும் பரபரப்பாக பேசப் பட்ட நாவல். சமீபத்தில் புத்தக வடிவில் வெளியிடப்பட்டுள்ளது. நான்கு பாகங்கள் இரண்டு புத்தகங்களாக வந்துள்ளன.

இதற்கு முன்பு சு. வெங்கடேசனின் காவல் கோட்டம் நாவல் பாதி வரைக்கும் படித்தேன். அப்புத்தகத்தின்  ஆழத்தையும்  பரப்பையும் அனுபவிப்பதற்கு  மிகுந்த பொறுமை வேண்டும். அது அந்த சமயத்தில் என்னிடம் இல்லை. வேள்பாரி படித்த பிறகு காவல் கோட்டம் மீது மற்றொரு முயற்சி எடுப்பேன் என்று நம்புகிறேன்.

பாரி நாம் பள்ளியில் படித்த முல்லைக்கு கொடியாக தனது தேரைக்  கொடை கொடுத்த அதே வள்ளல் தான். கதை எழுதப்பட்ட காலத்தில் காடு, மலை நிலங்களில் வாழும் வேளிர் குலங்களின் வாழ்க்கை முறை மூவேந்த்தர் நாட்டு மக்களின் வாழ்க்கை முறைக்கு முற்றிலும் வேறாக சித்தரிக்கப் பட்டுள்ளது. அவ்வேளிர் குலங்களுக்குள் பறம்பு நாட்டுக்குலத்தின் தலைவன்  பாரி. வேளிர் மக்களின் வாழ்க்கை இயற்கையோடு ஒன்றி இருக்கிறது. அவர்கள் விவசாயம், வணிகம் ஆகியவற்றில் ஈடுபடடுவதில்லை. வன விலங்கு மாமிசம், பழ கிழங்கு வகைகளே அவர்களுக்கு  உணவாகும். 

கதையின் முதல் பாதி மிகவும் மெதுவாகவே நகர்கிறது. சங்கப் புலவர் கபிலர், பாரியின் பெருமைகைளைப் பற்றிக் கேள்விப்பட்டு அவற்றை நேரில் காண பறம்பு நாட்டுக்குச்  செல்கிறார். அவருடைய கண்களின் மூலம் பறம்பு நாட்டின் வாழ்க்கை முறையைக் காண்கிறோம்.  பாரியைத் தவிர, குல ஆசான் தேக்கன்,  மாவீரன் நீலன் போன்ற கதாபாத்திரங்களும் நமக்கு அறிமுகம் செய்யப்படுகின்றனர். பாண்டிய நாட்டில் இளவரசன் பொதிய வெற்பனுக்கும், பெருவணிகர் குலத்து மங்கை  பொற்சுவைக்கும் திருமண ஏற்பாடுகள் மதுரையில் நடக்கின்றன. தற்செயலாக தேவாங்கு எனும் பறம்பு நாட்டு விலங்கு ஒன்றின் விசித்திரமான குணம் ஒன்று பாண்டிய நாட்டுத்  தலைவர்களுக்குத்  தெரிய வருகிறது. கப்பல் பயணம் மற்றும் வணிகத்துக்கு  அக்குணத்தின் முக்கியத்துவம் பறம்பு நாட்டின் மேல் தாக்குதல் செய்ய சாக்காக அமைகிறது. 

காதல், காமம் முதற்கொண்டு வானியல், அரசியல், போர் என்று எல்லாவற்றிலும் வெங்கடேசனின்  தனிப்பட்ட நடை, ஆழம், யதார்த்தத்தோடு மிளிர்கின்றது.  

கதையில் வரும் எண்ணற்ற கதா பாத்திரங்களில் என்னைக் கவர்ந்த இரண்டு பேர் -  பாண்டிய நாட்டு ஆஸ்தான வானியல் நிபுணர் (கணியர்) திசை வேழரும், மேலே குறிப்பிட்ட பொற்சுவையும் தான். இரண்டாம் பாதியில் நடைபெறும் பெரும் போரில் பாண்டியர் தரப்பில் நடுவராக (கோள்சொல்லி என்று அழைக்கப்படும்) திசை வேழர் தயக்கத்துடன் ஆற்றும் பணி இக்கதையின் மிகவும் அருமையான ஒரு உபகதையாகஅமைந்துள்ளது. பொற்சுவையோ வெகு சில பக்கங்களே வந்தாலும்  தனது அறிவு, கலை ரசனை, தியாகம் மற்றும் மகத்தான செயல்களால் படிப்பவர் உள்ளத்தில் இடம் பிடிக்கின்றாள்.  

வெங்கடேசனின் போர்ச் சித்தரிப்பு இரண்டாம் பாதியின் தலையம்சம். மிகவும் சிறிய படையுடன் பறம்பு நாட்டுப் படையினரின்  போர்த் தந்திரங்களும், இயற்கையைத் தங்களுக்கு அனுகூலமாக எப்படி பயன்படுத்துகின்றனர் என்பதும் குறிப்பிடத்தக்கன. போரில் பயன்படுத்தும் ஒவ்வொரு ஆயுதத்திலும் பறம்பு நாட்டினரின்  (வாட்களை கூறு செய்யும் சிறப்புக் கல் முதல் முயல் இரத்தத்தில் தோய்த்த வில்லின்  நாண்  வரை) மேலாண்மை தெரிகிறது. ஆனால் சில இடங்களில் இது கொஞ்சம் அதிகம் என்றே  தோன்ற வைக்கின்றது. 

பாரியின் சிறப்புகளை அவனது செய்கைகளைவிட அவனது தளபதிகள், வீரர்கள், கபிலர் ஆகியோர் அவன் மீது காட்டும் மதிப்பு, விசுவாசம் மூலமாக சித்தரிப்பது ரசிக்கக் கூடிய அம்சம்.  

ஒரு சின்ன நெருடல் - நாம் பெருமையுடன் நோக்கும் தமிழ் மூவேந்தர்களும் வில்லர்களாக வருகின்றனர். அவர்களில் ஒருவரை மையமாக வைத்து கூடிய சீக்கிரத்தில் இன்னொரு நாவலை வெங்கடேசன் நமக்குப் படைப்பார் என்று நம்புகிறேன். 

இரா. பாலாஜி 

Trip to Kanchipuram - Vaikunta Perumal Temple

As mentioned in my previous entry about the trip to the Kailasanathar Temple, Kanchipuram warrants multiple trips given the number of Pallava and Chola era temples that should be in anyone's itinerary. In this trip, I visited the Vaikunta Perumal temple and the Ekambareswarar temple along with a couple of smaller temples. In this post, I will cover the Vaikunta Perumal temple. One thing to note about the Kanchi Pallava temples is that they are made of sandstone unlike Mamallapuram where the Pallavas used granite. Sandstone being a much softer stone, the sculptures and temple structures from the Pallava period really show their age.

The Vaikunta Perumal temple is from the 8th century built during the reign of the Pallava king Nandivarman II. Nandivarman is from a parallel line of the ruling Pallavas, a descendant of Bhimavarman, who was the brother of Pallava king Simhavishnu. After Paramesvaravarman II's death in 729, there was a succession conflict since Paramesvaran did not have a heir who could ascend the throne. As per inscriptions in the Vaikunta Perumal temple, the Pallava nobles traveled to a distant land crossing mountains and water bodies to appeal to Hiranyavarman. Hiranyavarman declined to take on the Pallava throne and instead asked his sons. Interestingly enough, the elder sons also declined and the youngest son Paramesvara agreed to become king and ascended the throne at Kanchi at the age of 12 and ruled under the name Nandivarman (II) for more than 60 years.

A noteworthy feature of the temple is the three-tiered sanctum with Vishnu in a seated pose in the ground level, reclined on Adiseshan in the middle level and in a standing posture on the top tier. The middle level is accessible through a staircase, but there is no access left to the top tier. At the ground level, the shrine is surrounded by cloisters on the inner side of which is a colonnade adorned with seated lions, a typical Pallava feature. The cloister walls have a sequence of relief sculptures depicting the history of the Pallava dynasty as per the interpretation of Dr. C. Minakshi who has written a book on the temple; the following iconography is as per Dr. Chithra Madhavan's lecture where she cites this book as her primary source. In the space below the panels, inscriptions can be found below some of them describing the scene, while many others do not have inscriptions or the inscriptions have faded and we need to rely on scholar's educated guesses.

The first set of panels show the supposedly divine lineage of the Pallavas starting from Brahma, followed by Angiras, Brihaspathi, Bharadvaja, Drona and Ashvatthama. The panel showing Drona has a pot near his feet which is a clue to the identity as Drona is said to have been gestated in a pot. Asvatthama is shown in penance (see photo above) and there is a rather crude sculpture of what appears to be an over-sized baby to his right, who is supposedly the first Pallava king. These panels are followed by panels depicting the actual Pallava kings themselves. A typical panel shows the king on the left frame of the panel. In some cases, the coronation of the king is shown as can be seen by priests pouring sacred water on his head. The right side of the panel shows battle scenes or other events during that monarch's reign. The panel that shows Simhavishnu curiously shows another coronation on the top right side (see picture below). C. Minakshi's interpretation is that this must be Simhavishnu's brother Bhimavarman who was crowned elsewhere to head a parallel dynasty. Bhimavarman is the ancestor of Nandivarman II, as was mentioned above.

There is one mysterious spot, right after the panel showing Vishnugopa's coronation, where the space is left empty. This purportedly - again highly speculative - shows the invasion and defeat of the Pallava kingdom by Samudragupta from the North. Samudragupta's inscriptions in the Allahabad pillar do mention his victory over Vishnugopa of Kanchi. The panels of Mahendravarman and Narasimhavarman show the battles with Pulakesin II of the Vatapi Chalukyas. Finally, we have the panels that show the search and the finding of a successor after Paramesvaravarman II's early death described earlier.
The panels in the ground tier are thus of interest from a historic perspective and less from an artistic perspective. The patchwork done by Architecture Survey of India (ASI) is at times rather crude. For artistic merit, perhaps the sculpture on the outer wall of the shrine in the middle tier are better examples. They mostly depict the avatars of Vishnu, notably Narasimha, Krishna and Vamana. These include a damaged but very rarely depicted scene of Vishnu as Mohini distributing nectar to the devas. The sculpture might be in ruins, but you still can't help but notice the beautifully delicate stance of Mohini.

- Balaji

The Amaravathi Gallery at the Chennai Museum

I had been to the Bronze Gallery at the Chennai museum two years ago and written about the remarkable Chola bronzes and their iconography as explained by the erudite Chithra Madhavan. Last week, I was in the company of my friend of comparable scholarship on the Amaravathi Gallery at the same museum. He has given a nearly 2 hour lecture on the history and artistic merit of the limestone sculptures at this gallery.

The Amaravathi we are talking about is an ancient town dating from the 2nd century BC, located 35km from Guntur. You might know that the Andhra government is now building a new capital city of the same name near this town. One of the great Buddhist stupas (called Mahachaityas) was built in Amaravathi over a 400 year period spanning 2nd century BCE to 2nd century CE. In 1797, the ruins of the stupa was discovered by the East India Company's Colin Mackenzie who later returned to excavate and also arranged for the limestone slabs bearing the Buddhist sculptures to be moved to the Madras Museum.

So that is what you see in the Amaravathi Gallery, a big air-conditioned hall containing a sizable collection of relief - rectangular slabs and circular panels called medallions - and other sculptures. Many of the sculptures depict stories and scenes from the Jataka Tales and others portray events in the life of Buddha. The sculptural composition might seem chaotic to an untrained eye, but starts making magical sense, when an expert describes the story behind and delineates the various sections of the panel that are sequenced chronologically, often from bottom to top. To take a simpler example, the medallion to the right shows one of the miracles performed by Buddha where he tames Nalagiri, an elephant that was sent to kill him. The left part of the panel is the first frame where you see the elephant charging, frightening people running helter skelter with maidens looking on from their windows on top. On the right, you see the subdued elephant in front of Buddha who you see in the far right.

The Jataka Tales are stories of previous births of Buddha as Bodhisatvas, in some of which he is born as an animal. The fascinating story of Chaddanta, the 6 tusked elephant is shown in one of the more complex panels. Chaddanta had two wives, Culasubhadda and Mahasubhadda. Culasubbha felt Chaddanta had a preference for Mahasubhadda and leaves him ( the bottom of the panel shows her moving away and the other two elephants show Chaddanta and his other wife) and is reborn as queen Subhadda . Chaddanta is still alive and she sends a hunter to kill him and get his tusks. Chaddanta charges the hunter, but seeing his saffron robes stops and learns his intent. The noble beyond belief Chaddanta then offers to have his tusks cut. But since the hunter could not do it, Chaddanta cuts the tusks using its own trunk, gives them to him and dies. When Subhadda looks at the tusks the hunter brings back, she realizes her folly and dies repenting her deeds.

Perhaps the most stunning panel at the gallery is the one depicting the ascension of Buddha's begging bowl to heaven. A man who has renounced everything has few possessions and you can imagine the reverence that Buddhists have for the begging bowl he used. You see a total of 43 human figures surrounding and lifting up the bowl. The composition is unique, where you see the back of some of the figures which is quite unconventional. Everyone's body and face seem to be turned towards the central figure - the bowl - which is placed off center as it is higher up closer to heaven.

The sculptures of Amaravati are unique in the use of limestone and they are reminiscent of European sculptures made of similarly colored white marble (although limestone is not quite marble). We see granite and sandstone in most Indian temples. My friend tells me that these are probably the oldest surviving stone sculptures from the historic period in South India. After visiting many Hindu monuments in the last few years, it was nice to see these great examples of Buddhist art and to hear the stories they tell.

- Balaji