Western Mythology of Cortes, Pizzaro and James Smith

Cortés scuttling his own fleet off the coast of Veracruz in order to eliminate the possibility of retreat. (via Wikipedia) — Cortés scuttling his own fleet off the coast of Veracruz in order to eliminate the possibility of retreat (via Wikipedia).

In Western mythology, Hernan Cortes is a larger-than-life hero. He was responsible for single handedly conquering the Aztecs with a small army. From a story telling perspective think about the impact of this foundational story: a rich and powerful empire was conquered by few soldiers. According to one myth making site,

Hernán Cortés, marqués del Valle de Oaxaca, was a Spanish conquistador who overthrew the Aztec empire and won Mexico for the crown of Spain. He marched to Tenochtitlán, the Aztec capital and home to ruler Montezuma II. Cortés took Montezuma hostage and his soldiers raided the city. Cortés left the city after learning that Spanish troops were coming to arrest him for disobeying orders. After facing off against Spanish forces, Cortés returned to Tenochtitlán to find a rebellion in progress. The Aztecs eventually drove the Spanish from the city, but Cortés returned again to defeat them and take the city in 1521.

You can imagine myth making before the time of the printing press. Western socities have continued this myth making that continues to this day. Remember the Weapons of Mass Destruction myth making that happened right in front of our eyes. During the destruction of Native Americans in North America the myths around Pocahontas and James Smith was created. The same was done for Francisco Pizarro’s conquest of Peru, again with a few hundred men.
Artificially created myths have an expiry date. When Peruvian archaeologists revisited the history written by the victors they discovered that the romantic tales woven by the Conquistadors were – well, tales. Out of the many skeletons found in the grave near Lima, only three were found to be killed by Spanish weapons; the rest by Incas. A testimony by Incas who were present in the battle was found in the Archive of the Franciscans at the Convent of San Francisco de Lima, which mentioned that it was not a great battle, but just a few skirmishes. Pizzaro was helped by a large army of native American allies and the battle was not between the Spaniards and Incas, but between two Inca groups. It was also found that size of rebels were not in tens of thousands, but in thousands and there was no cavalry charge.
In the case of Pocahontas, according to the popular narrative, Smith was about to be executed by the Powhatan tribe, based on an order by Pocahontas’ father. As they were about to strike, Pocahantas threw herself on James Smith and he is spared. In the Disney version, they settle in a dugout canoe and sing, while a talking raccoon fawns. According to a discussion in BBC’s In Our Time, this incident never happened. Pocahontas, who lived nearby, visited the colony often and her age at that time was around 10 which makes it unlikely that she threw herself to save a 30 year old Smith. Also, in a narrative written by James Smith in 1608, this incident is never mentioned. In another version written in 1624, seven years after Pocahontas died, this incident appears. Not just that, in his voyages, there seems to be a pattern; James Smith is saved by maidens three other times as well.
How true is the story that Cortes managed to conquer a vast, wealthy empire with only 250 soldiers? The reality of what happened will give good exercise to your eyebrows. Many interesting events happened after the arrival of the Spaniards, whom the Aztecs called Castillians. By November 1519, the emperor Montezuma was finished as an emperor, but had territory and army. When the Spaniards showed up, he could have killed them, because they had aligned with Tetzcoco and Tlaxcala who had defeated the Aztecs in battle. After the Spaniards arrived at Tenochtitlan, they spent 235 days as the guest of Montezuma. This is puzzling: why did Montezuma trust the foreigners who came with the Aztec enemy? Anyway, after their long stay, the Spaniards took the emperor as prisoner, but had to flee very soon. They came back in 1520, as part of a military alliance made up of Tlaxcalteca warriors. In the composition of that army, the Spaniards were one in two hundred. That victory was rewritten to make it seem as if the Spaniards won on their own.
All of thse episodes make you wonder about the edifice on which Western history is built. Conquests which were brutal, required a mythological origin to erase the reality of a violent origin. It also required some larger-than-life heroes — Cortes, Pizzaro, James Smith. The themes also varied. The 19th century conquest of Native Americans was about Manifest Destiny; now a days it is about spreading freedom and democracy. The Pocahontas myth — the affair between a Native American and a White settler — gave imperialism a human face. Cortes’ adventures required a different literary imagination. Though the real victors were Tetzcoco and Tlaxcala, the Spaniards established their government, grabbed land, and imposed their language. This military and economic success required a foundational narrative, powered by literary conceit to justify land grabbing and the subsequent loot.

European Origins of Manifest Destiny

Across The Continent, an 1868 lithograph illustrating the westward expansion of white settlers By Currier & Ives (publisher). James Merritt Ives & Fanny Palmer (artists). – (via Wikipedia)

In the 19th century, American settlers moved West grabbing frontier lands. The term Manifest Destiny was coined, which claimed special virtues for American people. It was imperative that they fulfill this essential duty. The United States used muscle power to deprive the indigenous people of their land. Once the natives were conquered, this theory was applied to rest of the world and soon Puerto Rico, Cuba and Philippines came under American control, apparently to rescue them from Spanish tyranny. The Native Americans lost their land, traditions, and religion. They watched helplessly as a flood of settlers flocked to their land.
This asuric behavior had its origin from the crusades in the 11th century. During that time, there was a major movement of European population driven by religious fervor. They figured out how to move long distances, take control, and displace existing population. This process took a break as the continent experienced Black Death. Till the Middle Ages, Europe became an insignificant entity on the world stage with nothing of value to offer to the world. Then they embarked on a series of voyages of discovery and came upon plundering as a nation-building option.

The 20th episode of Tides of History goes into detail about this period. Much before the voyages of Columbus and Vasco da Gama, Castille, Aragon, and Portugal started expanding to other areas kickstarting the process of invasion and settlement. After Aragon conquered the Island of Majorca, in the middle of the Mediterranean, the king distributed the land among the nobles who accompanied him. Then came the settlers — Catalans, Italians, Navarrese — who took possession of the property obtained during the conquest. There was a similar movement of people all over into Hungary, Romania, Sicily, Greece.
Following the conquest of Southern Spain by Castille, the Moors slowly disappeared. They were forced or enslaved and those who stayed were converted to Christianity. They replaced rebellious leaders with leaders over whom they had control. They were familiar with the process for populating newly conquered frontier lands and enticing settlers to those new lands. This was an established process by the time Vasco da Gama set sail to India. Remember, he did not come for spices alone. He was also looking for Prester John to liberate Jerusalem.

Revisiting Out of Africa, Hominins in Philippines

Map of sites with ages and postulated early and later pathways associated with modern humans dispersing across Asia during the Late Pleistocene. (Science Mag, Fair Use)

Around 200,000 years back, Sapiens evolved in Africa. Then around 60,000 years back they left East Africa towards the Arabian Peninsula and from there to India following, maybe a coastal route. This is what the Out of Africa theory says. When these sapiens reached Europe, they met other species such as Neanderthals and Denisovans and interbred with them. The other species died out and now we are the only homo species that remain. At least, that’s what we believed so far.
There not even a slender certainty that it is true. Sapien remains have been found at multiple sites in China that have been dated to between 70,000 and 120,000 years ago. Additional finds indicate that modern humans reached Southeast Asia and Australia prior to 60,000 years ago. This predates the time span normally attributed to the Out of Africa theory, implying that there were previous migrations from 120,000 years back. Here is the interesting data point: all of us — all non-Africans — are descendants of a single ancestral population dating back to 60, 000 years. This implies that the migrations prior to 60, 000 years, was probably a tiny population. Even though they were not that large, they left markers around the world for us to discover. Later a major migration occurred, leading to all of us.
It’s fancy to believe in a simple West to East migration in a linear time frame. Unfortunately, nature behaves differently. Human migration requires complicated models.
The second interesting data point comes from a discovery from a butchered rhino at Kalinga in the Philippines. The bone bed where this rhino met its grim death had 57 stone tools and was dated to between 777 – 631 thousand years before present. This pushes the date of appearance of hominins in the Philippines by hundreds of thousands of years. It is a big discovery. Of course, these were not sapiens, but Homo erectus. It seems there were no land bridges to the Philippines during that time and the only way these hominins could have reached there would have been by deliberately constructing rafts. Think about it, around 700, 000 years, our ancestors built rafts and crossed channels that were 10 KM wide.

Movie: Spotlight – Exposing child abuse in the Catholic church in Boston

“I find that the city flourishes when its great institutions work together”

In the wild, a predator stalks a herd, identifies the weakest animal and then preys on it. It was the same tactic that Boston Catholic priests used to prey on kids. They would identify kids whose families were in a disarray or were low income. These kids did not have anyone to look up to and religion was an important part of their lives. A priest would take advantage of this, give them them attention and reward them with treats. This guardian angel would then abuse them, physically and spiritually. This abuse was not a secret. The parishioners knew it and so did the Cardinal. But no one spoke against it.
The movie, which is based on real life incidents, starts with the arrival of a new editor at the Boston Globe, who reignites the investigation. A team, called Spotlight, consisting of four reporters start digging through. They knew about a previous settlement, but the documents were sealed by the court. Due to this, they have to find innovative ways to get the information. They contact victims who had settled and lawyers who had tried before and get them to talk. During the process, many people caution against moving forward as it amounted to suing the church. Another reason was that 53% of the readership was Catholic. The Cardinal, who knew about all this, but quietly settled, tells the editor that a city flourishes when its institutions work together. Others ask them to look at the good work that the church is doing and ignore the few bad apples.

<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=47575397>By Source, Fair use</a> — By Source, Fair use

Many abuse cases were settled previously and there were lawyers knowledgeable of these incidents. Most of the times, it was the attorney for the victim negotiating with the church lawyers. Since it was a private settlement, there were no documents in court. There was no PR damage too since the victims did not want to appear on TV; Most of them wanted an acknowledgement of the wrong that was done. The court orders of a previous settlement were sealed and the team tries their best to get hold of it. A lawyer who was involved in the previous effort tries to help by guiding them to some documents which are public, but the team finds that the documents have mysteriously disappeared. Finally, when they get it unsealed and they get to know the ugly truths behind the Catholic church.
The Catholic church which had the duty to protect the innocent children protected the priests instead. These child molesters were transferred from parish to parish. Some were sent for rehabilitation and then circulated again. As the reporters continue, they meet one of the priests who admits that he fooled around with boys, but got not pleasure out of it. At the end of their discovery, they find that around 90 priests were involved. It shows that an independent media can do, if it really wants to go after the culprits. The team wrote around 600 articles and won the Pulitzer for exposing the cover ups.

The movie does not relies on dialogue and no theatrics, but remains riveting till the end. It is an important expose into a culture of pervasive child abuse that was intentionally hidden. The movie is revealed through the eyes of the journalists. Some of the sordid details that the victims say are absolutely painful. Those are just words that we hear, but none of us can imagine that the pain that was inflicted on those children. The movie won the Academy Award for Best Picture and Best Original Screenplay.
What is deeply disturbing is that this was not an isolated incident. It was systemic and the institution did nothing to prevent it. Instead they spent their energy in covering it up. At the end of the movie, they show a list of places such abuses happened, and it covers few screens. Since the reach of the church is worldwide, the abuse is globalized. Take a look at the list of abuses world wide or look at this. In far away Kerala, Sister Jesme has documented the abuse that adults go through. There is the Sister Abhaya murder case, which shows the “how a city flourishes when institutions work together.”

The Paninian Prakriya

(It is recommended that you read The brilliance of Panini before this article)

Panini's Ashtadhyayi — Panini’s Ashtadhyayi

रामः पठति – Rama studies. If it happened in the past, you would say, रामः अपठत् and if it is going to happen in the future, it would be रामः पठिष्यति. You can see the transformations of the word पठ and you would think that is the root word. According to Panini, the root is पठं. That is the dhatu or the verbal root. That root has some extra attachments which is then transformed through a set of operations, which we can call a Paninian Prakriya, to the commonly used form. We don’t use all the letters in a dhatu while speaking or common usage and so the dhatu has to be cleaned up.
Given that there are around 1943 dhatus, how do you come up with rules that can be applied to derive the common form? That’s where you see the brilliance of Panini, who built on top of the work of other grammarians. Paninian grammar is the only complete, explicit, rule-bound grammar of any human language and studying this grammar gives insight into the mind of our rishis.
To give concrete examples of how the Paninian prakriya works, let’s look at a set of rules called it-saṁjñā. As we saw, the dhatu has a bunch of extra additions and they need to be cleaned up. In it-saṁjñā, Panini specifies a sequence of rules which are applied to the dhatu. Each rule attaches a flag to certain letters in the dhatu. Once you run through all the rules, the last rule says, drop all the letters that have been marked. With this, the dhatu is cleaned up.

Few rules of it-saṁjñā

Here we will look at few of the rules and use simple examples. Once these are laid out, we will use some complex examples and see how they all connect as an algorithm. If you don’t get these concepts, it’s fine. How all these play together will be explained in the final section.
Rule 1: उपदेशेऽजनुनासिक इत् It means that any vowel that is nasalized, gets it-saṁjñā For example, take the dhatu धूपँ and split the words as ध् ऊ प् अँ. In this list there is a nasalized vowel, and it is अँ, so the अँ gets the it-saṁjñā. Think of it as underlining the अँ with a red color marker for now.
Rule 2: हलन्त्यम् This means that if there is a consonant (hal) that is at the end (antyam) then it gets the it-saṁjñā. To take an example, इङ् can be split into इ ङ् and since ङ् is a consonant, it gets the it-saṁjñā. What remains is इ. Also take a look at the प्रत्याहारः rules to see what hal means.
Rule 3: न विभक्तौ तुस्माः means that there is an exception to rule #2. This rule falls into a category known as उत्सर्ग-अपवादः The rule says, yes, you can drop the consonant as per rule #2, except when the consonants are त्, थ्, द्, ध्, न्, स्, or म् (the expansion of तुस्माः) or is the end of a विभक्ति . Take the word तस् = त् अ स्. Due to rule #2, स् should be dropped. But स् is at the end of विभक्ति प्रत्यय and hence is not marked as it-saṁjñā.
Rule 4: आदिर्ञिटुदवः ञि, टु, and डु (ञिटुडवः) are marked as इत् if it is at the beginning (आदिः) Take the dhatu डुदाञ् = ड् उ द् आ ञ्. Here डु receives the इत्-संज्ञा by this rule.
Rule 5: षः प्रत्ययस्य The letter ष् (षः) found at the beginning (आदिः) of a प्रत्यय is given the marker इत्. For example, in षाकन् = ष् आ क् अ न् , the first letter ष् receives the इत्-संज्ञा.
Rule 6: चुटू The letters च्, छ्, ज्, झ्, ञ्, ट्, ठ्, ड्, ढ्, or ण् (चुटू) found at the beginning (आदिः) of a प्रत्यय are marked इत्. For example, in णिच् = ण् इ च्. Here ण् receives the इत्-संज्ञा because of this rule.
Rule 7: लशक्वतद्धिते The letters ल्, श्, क्, ख्, ग्, घ्, or ङ् found at the beginning of a प्रत्यय, but not at the beginning of a तद्धित प्रत्यय are marked इत्
Running the above the rules underlines various letters for इत्. The last rule is like the garbage collector in programming languages. It finds all those marked letters and drops them.
Rule 8: तस्य लोपः — All those elements that received the marker इत् (तस्य) disappear (लोपः)

Examples with explanations

Now that we know all the rules, it would help to take some examples and run them through this sequence and see the transformation of a dhatu.

णमुँल् – Breaking down into individual letters, you get ण् + अ + म् + अँ + ल् Now apply rule #1 and since there is a nasalized vowel (अँ), mark it with red color. Then go down the list of rules and see which one matches. The next one that matches is #2 and mark ल् with a red color marker. Scan through the rule set and we find that #6 applies as well. So we mark ण् with our marker. No other rule applies here and so we come to rule #8 which says, drop all those letters which were marked. Doing that gives us अम्
ञिष्विदाँ – Breaking down that again, you get ञ् + इ + ष् + व् + इ + द् + आँ . Going through the rule set, rule #1 applies you we mark आँ with a marker. Then going down, we find that rule #4 also applies, marking ञ. Finally, we come to rule #8 and drop those two letters leaving us with ष्विद्
Let’s do one more. ध्वम्. This breaks down into ध् + अ + व् + म्. Rule #2 applies here and we mark म्. Then the third rule kicks in and says, hold on. You cannot mark it and so we are left with ध्वम् itself.

The grammarians of India looked at Sanskrit used in scripture and for speaking and then came up with the grammar which was used to build up the rules. The it-saṁjñā is just one of the many such rules.
There is one question though. If you are using the word पठ, then why bother writing it as पठं. and then apply all these rules to drop few characters. That is a topic for another post.

PS:

Based on the lectures by Varun Khanna at Chinmaya International Foundation and my Sanskrit teachers.
Taking धूपँ and splitting up it into ध् ऊ प् अँ is called anupurvi
The dhatu णमुँल् is called sa-anubandha dhatu and the cleaned up version अम् is called the niranubandha dhatu

Sanskrit Notes: Context

(This is the translation of a story which appeared in Sambhashana Sandesha magazine. The translation is mine)
Once upon a time, a pundit went to the river to take a bath. While taking bath, he uttered a shlokam, which meant the following
“The love of a mother is the greatest, so is the strength of the brother.
The light of the sun is the best, so is the water from Ganga.”
A washerwoman, who was listening to this started laughing. Feeling insulted by her laughter, the pundit complained to the village chief, who summoned the woman and asked, “Why did you insult the pundit?”
The woman replied, “I did not insult him”
The pundit got angry, “Didn’t you laugh listening to my shlokam? Isn’t that insulting me?”
“Of course I laughed. That’s because your shlokam is laughable”
The pundit asked, “Isn’t the affection of a mother great? Isn’t the strength of the brother great? Isn’t the rays from the sun, bright? Isn’t the water from Ganga holy?”
The woman replied, “Sure, all those are excellent. But there are other principles, which are better. For example, if there is a fight between the father and son, the mother will support the father. At that time he would find the love of his wife the greatest.
Another example: if an enemy is attacking me, the strength of my shoulders would be the best defense.
If my eyes are weak, then I could become blind. Then the rays of light entering my eyes would be the best.
If there is drought, then life would get miserable. Then if it rains, that water would be the best.”
Everyone admired the wisdom of the washerwoman.
Thus, everything depends on the context.

Turmeric Gets Popular in the West

That was an Ad from Peet’s Coffee. Who would have thought about adding turmeric to coffee? But looks like that is a thing now.
Costco, a popular wholesale store, too is touting the benefits of turmeric in their magazine. After mentioning that it has been used in India for at least 6000 years as medicine, culinary aid, beauty aid and fabric dye, the article invokes the God of Science (as a friend says). Approval from this God is mandatory for the Western world. Science has reported that turmeric can assist in the treatment of cancer, cardiovascular disease, arthritis, Crohn’s disease, ulcertative colitis and renal conditions. There is mention of Ayurveda and the observation that golden milk (milk mixed with turmeric) is getting popular in United States.

Mention of Turmeric in Costco Connection

A recent study also found that curcumin, found in turmeric, is anti-inflammatory with antioxidant properties. It has the ability to reduce brain inflammation, which has been linked to both Alzheimer’s disease and major depression. This is probably why senior citizens in India have lower rates of Alzheimer’s disease and better memory than their counterparts elsewhere.
Next time you order a latte, sprinkle some turmeric or you can buy the Feel Good Organic Turmeric Powder, 16 Ounces for a reasonable price from Costco.

Sanskrit Notes: Tenses

Learning Sanskrit by Avanish Tiwary (Flickr) — Learning Sanskrit by
Avanish Tiwary (Flickr)

Like any language, Sanskrit has the three tenses: the present, past and future. They are called वर्तमानकालः, भूतकालः and भविष्यत्कालः respectively. For the present tense, there is just one way of saying it. In Sanskrit grammar, it is called लट् लकार.
When we look at the past and the future it gets interesting. There is more than one way of representing the future or there are two लकार.

लृट्- Commonly used for future tense
लुट् – is used to represent अनद्यतन events which means any event that did not happen today. Used to refer to events happening tomorrow and after. Thus technically you cannot say,रामः शवः वनं गमिष्यति. The correct version is रामः शवः वनं गन्ता

When it comes to the past, there are three ways

1. लङ्घ् – अनद्यतन भूतकालम means, the event did not happen today.
2. लुङ्ग् – Used commonly
3. लिट् – It happened, but I did not see it with my own eyes

Why did the Renaissance occur in Italy?

Jonathan Körner

One person responsible for making Florence a wealthy place was Cosimo de’ Medici who took over the family bank in 1430s. The Medici bank innovated in bookkeeping, debit-and-credit-accounting and by managing the fortunes of the wealthy, became wealthy themselves. Commercial development brought prosperity. Money and goods flowed into Italy from all around the world and Italy was rich. One of the factors that caused the Renaissance to happen in Italy was this wealth and patronage of wealthy people like the Medici. That was not it though. There was another important factor: the discovery of the past. The Tides of History podcast episode on the Renaissance takes a deeper look.
As the cities became wealthy, there was investment in art, education and architecture. The urbanized Italians, who had morphed into a society of ideas, had lots of questions on such topics and they found their answer in ancient Rome. It provided them guidance on education, linguistics and art, political ideology. There was a yearning for the past and it was a time of rebirth and the old was respectable because it was tried and tested before.
The Italians understood that there was a glorious past and then a fall. Roman concepts had stayed for more than half a millennia and was durable and reverence for the Roman past spread everywhere. This rediscovery caused a cultural revolution and from Italy, it diffused into a wider Europe and freed Europe from its dark past into what they called Enlightenment. (But what they did was to enslave rest of the world and so European progress has to be seen with a huge sack of salt)
A new book on Leonardo da Vinci expands on the idea of the influence of the Roman past. Cosimo de’ Medici was schooled in Greek and Roman literature and was a collector of ancient manuscripts. Brunelleschi, an architect,. traveled to Rome and studied the classical ruins. They measured domes, studied great buildings and read the works of ancient Romans like Vitruvius. Leonardo studied Vitruvius and was fascinated by his detailed study of human proportions. This interest in the ancient past revived the writings of Pliny the Elder who praised artists who depicted nature accurately. The domes, realistic depiction of space, perspective, depiction of human forms — all were influenced by Rome.
Why did Renaissance happen in Italy and not elsewhere. It was not just wealth and the rediscovery of classics that caused the Renaissance to happen. There was a rediscovery of the ancient classics in the 9th century and later again in the 12th. But what made the 14th century rediscovery different was the depth and scale to which people went into the classics. Central and Northern Italy was urban. While there were only five cities with a population more than 40,000 north of the Alps, there were two with 100,000 in Tuscany alone There were many cities surrounded by the countryside. In the 9th and 12th centuries, only a tiny population was literate. Compared to that literacy rates in 14th century Italy was high. That produced a society of ideas instead of a small group of intellectual elite.
PS: Lessons from the Renaissance for India

How George Washington became an American

There were three revolutions in the 18th century which followed one after the other in the Western world. The first one was the American revolution, resulting in the Declaration of Independence in 1776. The second one was the French revolution led by commoners against taxation and elite privileges. The final one — one which rarely is mentioned — is the Haitian revolution. Conducted by self-liberated slaves in 1791 against French colonial rule in Saint-Domingue, it resulted in the colony’s independence.
While the French and the Haitian revolution were by the slaves and commoners, the American revolution was a rich man’s revolution. An important point in this regards comes from the life of the first President George Washington as narrated in an AoM podcast. The question that is asked is: when did George Washington become an American?
According to the podcast, Washington, who had served in the British Army, turned against them towards the end of his commission. He wanted to become a regular British officer compared to what was something like a National Guard. He was promised that by one of his superiors, but that man died. Though Washington lobbied and sucked up, nothing came of it. He went to meet the new British Commander for North America with a plan to defeat the French who had control over territories. The discussion turned to books and the Commander’s impression of Washington was of an uneducated provincial. Their tastes in books were quite different. At that moment, Washington realized he is not going to be a red coat.
He was not erudite enough and did not have enough wealth to buy that commission. One he realized that his dream had been squashed, he became a Virginian. (The term American was not so common then). He then pursues his dream of becoming one of the wealthiest planters in Virginia.
Unlike the Haitian slaves or the French commoner, it was not hardship and suffering or some ideal that caused George Washington to revolt, but an offended sense of honor. Later he scales his personal experience with that of the colonies and believes that they would not get a fair treatment by the British.