scholarly journals Fusing the Mythological with the Contemporary: A Study of the Revisionist Version of Sita in Amish Tripathis Sita: Warrior of Mithila

Author(s):  
Tanya Ramola
Keyword(s):  

Abstract: Sita: Warrior of Mithila (2017), the second book in the Ramachandra series by Amish Tripathi, is a true representative of the genre of revisionist writings. Using the technique of hyperlink, the author portrays Valmiki’s leading lady as a fierce woman unlike other versions of the classical text wherein the character of Sita is docile and much more suppressed without a voice of her own. She is practical and intelligent and has the habit of taking decisions on her own during her adolescence. She is completely opposed to the caste system practised in India that acts as a hindrance in the progress of the country where people blindly follow the rigid caste system, giving utmost importance to their caste and not to their skills or karmas. Tripathi projects the carefree and adventurous character of Sita skilled in various arts. Relationship between nature and Sita is depicted in most of the chapters wherein nature is shown as the protector as well as the destroyer. This paper is an attempt to study the revisionist portrayal of Sita as projected by Amish Tripathi and the various ways this portrayal is different from the various other portrayals of Sita in other contemporary revisionist texts. Keywords:  Dharma  Nation  Complexion  Nature  Caste system  Patriarchy

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ramkumar Unnipillai Santhakumari

A partial decipherment of Indus script is described. Sound values for Indus characters , readings obtained and conclusions derived are explained here. The Indus script seems derived from Protocuneiform script and in turn Brahmi script seems derived from the Indus script. The decipherment seems to indicate that the seals were a form of identification. There is evidence of an early form of caste system prevalent among Dalits in Southern India in these seals. The readings show that the language used was of Dravidian origin


Author(s):  
M. R. Maniar ◽  
K. S. Patel ◽  
I. U. Mistry

Mental retardation is still elusive to researchers due to multidimensionality of psychological, medical, educational and social aspects, which alters mental functions and capability. Mental sub capability divided in 4 categories, Mild, Moderate, Severe and Profound. Chief aim of management of mental retardation is to make child more capable of performing common activities of everyday life by positive improvement in mental sub-capability. Mental retardation required multidimensional management approach. Present study focused on medicinal intervention, particularly analysis of comparative effectiveness of selected drug formulations (Astamangalghrita and Jyotismatitaila) from classical text of Ayurveda. Study design with the aims to compare the effectiveness of Jyotismatitaila and Astamangal Ghrita Nasya on Mental retardation. Assessment were based on Mental Status Score and IQ score taken before starting of treatment and after completion of treatment in both group. Obtained data was analyzed statistically. In this study, from result we conclude that both drugs are effective to improve Mental Status parameter and in IQ, but higher percentage and significance wise Jyotismati Taila had better result than Astamangal Ghrita Nasya.


Author(s):  
Stuart Gray

How can scholars critically engage premodern Indic traditions without falling prey to Hindu conservatism or Brahmanical-Hindu apologism? This question is pressing for Indic political theory and contemporary Indian democracy because of ethnically exclusivist, Hindu nationalist movements that have emerged in the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. This chapter argues that a positive answer to the question must begin by taking seriously the tremendous pluralism in India’s political and philosophical history, which requires systematically engaging with premodern source material and uncovering the internal pluralism within a longer and larger Brahmanical-Hindu tradition of political thought. The author explains how it is both possible and politically necessary to internally subvert Brahmanical-Hindu political thought, which can help diffuse essentialist and exclusivist arguments coming from the Hindu right. Locating such plurality and engaging in internal subversion can help challenge historical justifications for Indian nationalism and contribute to decolonization, thus contesting the Hindu right on its own conceptual and genealogical turf. To advance this argument, the author provides a critical reinterpretation of the infamous “Puruṣa Sūkta,” which is often viewed as the locus classicus of the modern caste system, providing a novel interpretation that challenges caste hierarchy and supplies new resources for democratic thought and practice in India.


2021 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Chris Bauer ◽  
Ralf Herwig ◽  
Matthias Lienhard ◽  
Paul Prasse ◽  
Tobias Scheffer ◽  
...  

Abstract Background There is a huge body of scientific literature describing the relation between tumor types and anti-cancer drugs. The vast amount of scientific literature makes it impossible for researchers and physicians to extract all relevant information manually. Methods In order to cope with the large amount of literature we applied an automated text mining approach to assess the relations between 30 most frequent cancer types and 270 anti-cancer drugs. We applied two different approaches, a classical text mining based on named entity recognition and an AI-based approach employing word embeddings. The consistency of literature mining results was validated with 3 independent methods: first, using data from FDA approvals, second, using experimentally measured IC-50 cell line data and third, using clinical patient survival data. Results We demonstrated that the automated text mining was able to successfully assess the relation between cancer types and anti-cancer drugs. All validation methods showed a good correspondence between the results from literature mining and independent confirmatory approaches. The relation between most frequent cancer types and drugs employed for their treatment were visualized in a large heatmap. All results are accessible in an interactive web-based knowledge base using the following link: https://knowledgebase.microdiscovery.de/heatmap. Conclusions Our approach is able to assess the relations between compounds and cancer types in an automated manner. Both, cancer types and compounds could be grouped into different clusters. Researchers can use the interactive knowledge base to inspect the presented results and follow their own research questions, for example the identification of novel indication areas for known drugs.


2021 ◽  
pp. 2455328X2110093
Author(s):  
Tahira Tashneem

As one of the major pillars of Indian social structure, the caste system distinguishes Indian culture from all other cultures of the world. Though the Constitution of India assures equality of status and opportunity for all citizens and various academic and political discourses also appealed for the complete eradication of the caste system, it has not been eradicated even after five decades of democracy. In this context, it becomes really interesting to re-examine the views on caste as reflected in Jawaharlal Nehru’s prose writings. Nehru’s major prose works unquestionably delineate his concern for caste. Focusing mainly on An Autobiography and the Discovery of India, this article seeks to examine the different representations of caste in his prose works and will also try to locate the gaps and the shifts underlying his views on caste.


Author(s):  
Arun Kumar ◽  
Hari Bapuji ◽  
Raza Mir

AbstractScholars of business and management studies have recently turned their attention to inequality, a key issue for business ethics given the role of private firms in transmitting—and potentially challenging—inequalities. However, this research is yet to examine inequality from a subaltern perspective. In this paper, we discuss the alleviation of inequalities in organizational and institutional contexts by drawing on the ideas of Dr. B. R. Ambedkar, a jurist, political leader and economist, and one of the unsung social theorists of the twentieth century. Specifically, we focus on Ambedkar’s critique of the Indian caste system, his outline of comprehensive reform, and prescription of representational politics to achieve equality. We contend that an Ambedkarite ethical manifesto of persuasion—focussed on state-led institutional reforms driven by the subaltern—can help management researchers reimagine issues of inequality and extend business ethics beyond organizational boundaries.


Entropy ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 23 (3) ◽  
pp. 338
Author(s):  
Jingqiao Wu ◽  
Xiaoyue Feng ◽  
Renchu Guan ◽  
Yanchun Liang

Machine learning models can automatically discover biomedical research trends and promote the dissemination of information and knowledge. Text feature representation is a critical and challenging task in natural language processing. Most methods of text feature representation are based on word representation. A good representation can capture semantic and structural information. In this paper, two fusion algorithms are proposed, namely, the Tr-W2v and Ti-W2v algorithms. They are based on the classical text feature representation model and consider the importance of words. The results show that the effectiveness of the two fusion text representation models is better than the classical text representation model, and the results based on the Tr-W2v algorithm are the best. Furthermore, based on the Tr-W2v algorithm, trend analyses of cancer research are conducted, including correlation analysis, keyword trend analysis, and improved keyword trend analysis. The discovery of the research trends and the evolution of hotspots for cancers can help doctors and biological researchers collect information and provide guidance for further research.


Religions ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 121
Author(s):  
Tiasa Basu Roy

For centuries, various denominations of Christian missionaries have contributed in a larger way towards the spread of Christianity among the people of Indian sub-continent. Each Church had its own principles of preaching the word of God and undertook welfare activities in and around the mission-stations. From establishing schools to providing medical aids, the Christian missionaries were involved in constant perseverance to improve the ‘indigenous’ societies not only in terms of amenities and opportunities, but also in spiritual aspects. Despite conversion being the prime motive, every Mission prepared ground on which their undertakings found meanings and made an impact over people’s lives. These endeavours, combining missiological and theological discourses, brought hope and success to the missionaries, and in our case study, the Basel Mission added to the history of the Christian Mission while operating in the coastal and hilly districts of Kerala during the 19th and the 20th centuries. Predominantly following the trait of Pietism, the Basel Mission emphasised practical matters more than doctrine, which was evident in the Mission activities among the Thiyyas and the Badagas of Malabar and Nilgiris, respectively. Along with addressing issues like the caste system and spreading education in the ‘backward’ regions, the most remarkable contribution of the Basel Mission established the ‘prototype’ of industries which was part of the ‘praxis practice’ model. It aimed at self-sufficiency and provided a livelihood for a number of people who otherwise had no honourable means of subsistence. Moreover, conversion in Kerala was a combination of ‘self-transformation’ and active participation which resulted in ‘enculturation’ and inception of ‘modernity’ in the region. Finally, this article shows that works of the Basel Mission weaved together its theological and missiological ideologies which determined its exclusivity as a Church denomination.


2020 ◽  
pp. 030631272098346
Author(s):  
Ryan Higgitt1

Neanderthal is the quintessential scientific Other. In the late nineteenth century gentlemen-scientists, including business magnates, investment bankers and lawmakers with interest in questions of human and human societal development, framed Europe’s Neanderthal and South Asia’s indigenous Negritos as close evolutionary kin. Simultaneously, they explained Neanderthal’s extinction as the consequence of an inherent backwardness in the face of fair-skinned, steadily-progressing newcomers to ancient Europe who behaved in ways associated with capitalism. This racialization and economization of Neanderthal helped bring meaning and actual legal reality to Negritos via the British Raj’s official ‘schedules of backward castes and tribes’. It also helped justify the Raj’s initiation of market-oriented reforms in order to break a developmental equilibrium deemed created when fair-skinned newcomers to ancient South Asia enslaved Negritos in an enduring caste system. Neanderthal was integral to the scientism behind the British construction of caste, and contributed to India’s becoming a principal ‘Third World’ target of Western structural adjustment policies as continuation of South Asia’s ‘evolution assistance’.


Asian Survey ◽  
2012 ◽  
Vol 52 (2) ◽  
pp. 395-422 ◽  
Author(s):  
Divya Vaid

Abstract This paper empirically analyzes the association between caste and class in India. I find a tentative congruence between castes and classes at the extremes of the caste system and a slight weakening in this association over time. Although Scheduled Castes have low upward mobility, higher castes are not entirely protected from downward mobility.


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