Hindu Notes from General Studies-01

Editorials are covered separately. HINDU NOTES are available free date wise| CLICK HERE

Proto-historic settlement of artisans unearthed.

News

• Minute bone and crystal drills of less than 2 cm size used for making beads, different varieties of beads of semi-precious stone, bone points as well as a large number of microlithic tools have been unearthed by archaeologists of the University of Calcutta during a recent excavation at Asuralay village in West Bengal’s Birbhum district.

Beyond News

• A month-long excavation from the first week of March to April 2018, on a mound, which is about two metres from the surface of the earth, has revealed a proto historic settlement.
• The initial estimate tells that the settlement could date to the second millennium BC (about 3500 years from the present times).
• They found evidence of raw materials in the form of bones and stones, finished materials like minute stone tools and beads, tools like stone and bone drills used for making these products and several hearths or fire places at the excavation site used for making the tools.
• A large amount of black and red ware pottery (BRW), which signifies a proto historic level of human occupation in different parts of India, has also been found at the site in large quantities.
• Researchers of the department working at the excavation site, said both coarse and fine varieties of BRW pottery, which appear to be remains of bowls and handis, have been discovered.
• There is evidence of high temperature burning and charcoal deposits at the mud floor of this monocultural site . The cultural deposit, varies from 60 cm to 1.2 metres, at various levels of the 7,700 sq.m. excavation site.

Rare sculpture of Rudrama Devi’s ‘last’ battle discovered.

News

• A sculptural slab carved in granite that has a life-size portrait of Kakatiya warrior queen Rudrama Devi was discovered by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) in the sanctum sanctorum of Trikuta temple at Bekkallu village in Siddipet district.

Beyond News

• Stating that the discovery has unravelled the mystery of her death, the officials said Rudrama Devi was killed during a war by her own subordinate chief Kayastha King Ambadeva somewhere near Warangal.
• During an extensive exploration survey to ascertain the antiquity and architectural ascendancy of ancient shrines that flourished under the celebrated regime of Kakatiyas (11th to 13th century) in both the Telugu States.
• Superintending Archaeologist, Temple Survey Project (Southern Region), ASI Chennai, discovered the sculptural slab in which the portrait of Rudrama Devi is carved, a week ago.
• The discovery of the portrait sculpture is a first of its kind that displays a fierce fighting scene between Rudrama Devi and Ambadeva and it stands as a supporting evidence to the recent findings in Telangana.
• Uniqueness of the sculpture was that it vividly shows Rudrama Devi (A.D. 1262-1289) as a commanding and imperial personality with characteristic gesticulations of a ferocious warrior.
• Archaeologist said the sculptured panel in a rectangular frame superbly represents the imperial personality of Rudrama Devi who is riding a horse with a sword in her right hand while her left hand holds the reigns.
• Describing the sculpture, Archaeologists said the queen’s arms and wrists are embellished with warrior shields.
• She is wearing robes of a male warrior with a waist belt and has her left leg over the hanging pedal while a shield is securing her chest.
• Ambadeva, the rebellion sub-ordinate chief, is in his war robes with a tightly-fixed lower garment, a waist belt and arm guards.
• He escaped the blows of Rudrama Devi and overpowered the horse and harmed it. The horse falls on its face and Rudrama Devi is surprised of his sudden action of rebel. Finally, Ambadeva kills her and she attains 
• Archaeologists said that,the patron and artisan who carved the sculpture acted with far-sightedness who thought that these would serve as commemorative visual aids on Rudrama Devi for her successive generations, the queen’s domestic help must have carved the sculpture.

Megalithic burial site in a state of neglect

News

• Located in the little-known Venkatapuram village tucked between Chengareddypalle and Karakambadi, it is a megalithic burial site believed to date back to 500-300 B.C.

Beyond News

• The region is full of history and is an indicator to the likely presence of prehistoric human civilisation.
• The burial of corpses by megalithic people bears a distinct signature. Some used cairn packing (pouring heap of pebbles over the tomb), some drew anthropomorphic figures on the tombstone and some had a Dolmen’s chamber with a capstone.
• However, what one finds in Venkatapuram is a ‘stone circle’, that is, a circle formed by placing boulders around the grave.
• Megalithic people believed in life after death and that the soul would travel to other worlds. Hence they kept food items and tools inside the chamber for use by the dead person.

Plenty of evidences

• Chittoor district has wide presence of megalithic culture. In fact, this particular area bounded by Karakambadi, Mallemadugu, Vedallacheruvu and Rallakaluva has a rich history.
• Around 300 megalithic burial sites have been identified so far across Chittoor district. Many of them are in a state of disarray and some have already vanished.

Hindu Notes from General Studies-03

Healing wounds with leather, meat waste

News

• Protein extracted from discarded animal tissues can now be put to better use wound healing and human tissue engineering.

Beyond News

• This waste-to-wealth feat was demonstrated by researchers from the Chennai-based CSIR-Central Leather Research Institute (CSIR-CLRI).
• In the meat industry, tonnes of animal tissues that are rich in collagen (protein) go waste.
• The researchers have found that various collagenous tissues available as inedible by-products in abattoirs can be successfully used for the production of collagen-based products for biomedical applications.
• Collagen has been reported to play a major role in healing of tissues, but their low mechanical strength and fast biodegration has restricted its use.
• They tried to overcome these limitations by incorporating the collagen with another biopolymer, chitosan, obtained from shells of crustaceans.
• The collagen-chitosan scaffold was cross-linked with an amino-acid L-arginine to impart stability. It also helps avoid side-effects caused by toxic chemical cross linkers.

T.N. to get additional 500 MW power soon

News

• Power allocation to Tamil Nadu from NLC India Ltd (NLCIL) is expected to increase by an additional 500 MW with the first unit of the Neyveli New Thermal Power Project (2×500 MW) to be commissioned in the next three months.

Beyond News

• A top official in the NLCIL said the erection activities for the project had been completed and testing work was under way.
• The first unit will be synchronised with the grid in the next three months.
• At present, out of the total installed capacity in Tamil Nadu, NLCIL-owned lignite, coal based and renewable energy projects account for 2,223 MW.
• The lignite-based component includes 1,517 MW from NLCIL’s Thermal Power Station I, II; Thermal Power Station I and II Expansion, 415 MW from coal-based Tuticorin power plant.
• Tamil Nadu is also dependent on renewable energy projects of NLCIL drawing close to 291 MW to meet its power requirement. The entire power from renewable energy was allocated to the State.
• Power sharing to Tamil Nadu was done only as per the prescribed percentage.
• The State gets an allocation of 55% of the power generated by NLCIL, while other southern States and the Union Territory of Puducherry get smaller allotments.
• Some of the major projects in the pipeline include coal-based 4,000 MW in Odisha, renewable energy projects in various states (2,601 MW), Thermal Power Station II Expansion (2,640 MW) in Neyveli.

CLICK HERE TO SEE DATE WISE CURRENT AFFAIRS