Category Geography

Which is the emperor who appointed wise and witty Birbal to his court?

Birbal, or Raja Birbal, was a Hindu advisor and main commander of army in the court of the Mughal emperor, Akbar. He is mostly known in the Indian subcontinent for the folk tales which focus on his wit. Birbal was appointed by Akbar as a Minister and used to be a Poet and Singer in around 1556–1562. He had a close association with Emperor Akbar and was one of his most important courtiers, part of a group called the navaratnas. In 1586, Birbal led an army to crush unrest in the north-west Indian subcontinent where he was killed along with many troops in an ambush by the rebel tribe. He was the only Hindu to adopt Din-i Ilahi, the religion founded by Akbar.
By the end of Akbar’s reign, local folk tales emerged involving his interactions with Akbar, portraying him as being extremely clever and witty. As the tales gained popularity in India, he became even more of a legendary figure across the Indian subcontinent. These tales involve him outsmarting rival courtiers and sometimes even Akbar, using only his intelligence and cunning, often with giving witty and humorous responses and impressing Akbar.

Birbal was born as Mahesh Das Brahmbhatt in 1528, to a Hindu Brahmin family in Sidhi, Madhya Pradesh, India; in a village called Ghoghra. His father was Ganga Das and mother, Anabha Davito. He was the third son of the family which had a previous association with poetry and literature.

Educated in Hindi, Sanskrit and Persian, Birbal wrote prose, specialised in music and poetry in the Braj language, thus gaining fame. He served at the Rajput court of Raja Ram Chandra of Rewa (Madhya Pradesh), under the name “Brahma Kavi”. Birbal’s economic and social status improved when he married the daughter of a respected and rich family, contrary to the notion that he was on poor economic terms before his appointment at Mughal Emperor Akbar’s imperial court.

 

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Who wrote Panchatantra?

Vishnu Sharma is said to be an Indian scholar and author who is believed to have written the Panchatantra collection of fables. The exact period of the composition of the Panchatantra is uncertain, and estimates vary from 1200 BCE to 300 CE scholars place him in the 3rd century BCE.

Various locations where the text was composed have been proposed but this has been controversial. Some of the proposed locations include Kashmir, Southwestern or South India. The text’s original language was likely Sanskrit. Though the text is now known as Panchatantra, the title found in old manuscript versions varies regionally, and includes names such as Tantrakhyayika, Panchakhyanaka, Panchakhyana and Tantropakhyana. The suffix akhyayika and akhyanaka mean “little story” or “little story book” in Sanskrit.

The text was translated into Pahlavi in 550 CE, which forms the latest limit of the text’s existence. The earliest limit is uncertain. It quotes identical verses from Arthasastra, which is broadly accepted to have been completed by the early centuries of the Common Era. According to Olivelle, “the current scholarly consensus places the Panchatantra around 300 CE, although we should remind ourselves that this is only an educated guess”. The text quotes from older genre of Indian literature, and legends with anthropomorphic animals are found in more ancient texts dated to the early centuries of the 1st millennium BCE such as the chapter 4.1 of the Chandogya Upanishad. According to Gillian Adams, Panchatantra may be a product of the Vedic period, but its age cannot be ascertained with confidence because “the original Sanskrit version has been lost”.

 

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Which is the sage that associated with yoga sutras?

Patañjali was a sage in India, thought to be the author of a number of Sanskrit works. The greatest of these are the Yoga Sutras, a classical yoga text.

The truth is that nobody really knows much about Patanjali. We don’t even know exactly when the sage lived. Some practitioners believe he lived around the second century BCE and also wrote significant works on Ayurveda (the ancient Indian system of medicine) and Sanskrit grammar, making him something of a Renaissance man. 

But based on their analyses of the language and the teaching of the sutras, modern scholars place Patanjali in the second or third century CE and ascribe the medical essays and grammar to various other “Patanjalis.”

Like many tales about the world’s spiritual heroes, the story of Patanjali’s birth has assumed mythic dimensions. One version relates that in order to teach yoga on earth, he fell from heaven in the form of a little snake, into the upturned plans (a gesture known as anjali) of his virgin mother, Gonika, herself a powerful yogini. He’s regarded as an incarnation of the thousand-headed serpent-king named Remainder (Shesha) or Endless (Ananta), whose coils are said to support the god Vishnu.

 

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Which is the national animal of Germany?

Eagle Is The National Animal of Germany‘s and has been featured on the Coat of Arms for over 800 years. Eagles are known as the rulers of the skies. They symbolize strength, immortality, farsightedness, and courage.

It was chosen because of the Germanic tribes regarded the eagle as a bird of the God, Odin. There are many different kinds of eagles mostly 60 species of eagles are from Eurasia, Nigeria, and Africa. The Germany National Animal Eagle is extremely rapid and It can dive upon their target at speeds of more than 150 miles Per hour.

Eagle is the most popular Bird in Germany. Similarly, it can run in average 150 miles. Ancient people love the Eagle very much and they reflect this in their art. On the other hand, this mighty eagle is considered as National Bird of Germany. The symbolic meaning of eagle is Protection, Freedom, and Action. A German Eagle can go 0.5kg to 7kg (1.1lbs – 15.4lbs). Without Germany, you will find eagle Eurasia, Nigeria, and Africa, Australia, south and North America. Depending on species an eagle can Black, Grey, Brown, White, Yellow in color. Important to realize, that’s why the German’s national animal is the Black Eagle. In other words, it’s the German’s National Bird.

 

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Is Africa or Australia the hottest continent on earth?

The answer is Africa. Yes, the correct answer for Which Is The Hottest Continent In The World is Africa.

Africa is the world’s second-biggest and second-most crowded continent, after Asia in both cases. About 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles), including contiguous islands, covers 6% of Earth’s absolute surface zone and 20% of its territory zone. With 1.3 billion people in 2018, it represents about 16% of the world’s human populace. Africa’s population is the most youthful among all the continents; the middle age in 2012 was 19.7, when the overall middle age was 30.4. Notwithstanding a broad scope of regular assets, the continent has been declared one of the world’s poorest countries.

The heat and humidity are portrayed by exchanging dry and stormy season. The contrast between the seasons turns out to be more denoted as it is closer to the jungles; comparatively, there is more variation in temperatures, resulting in low rainfall. Because of the continent’s size, the impact of latitude prevalent in the northern half of the globe; there is a progression of tropical belts corresponding to the equator.

 

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Is Sargassum seaweed harmful to humans?

In the centre of the North Atlantic Ocean, amidst the vast blue expanse, is a huge floating mat of brown seaweed called sargassum. These mats are quite common in the Sargasso Sea, a region around Bermuda. The region has been named after the seaweed. These floating mats of seaweed were first reported by Christopher Columbus in the 15th Century. But since 2011, the Atlantic Ocean has been witnessing massive sargassum blooms every year. It stretches nearly 9000 km from West Africa to the Gulf of Mexico. Scientists call this the Great Atlantic Sargassum Belt. The seaweed band has been getting bigger every year, posing a serious threat to marine life, coastal ecosystem and the fishing communities dependent on it.

Sargassum is a genus of large brown seaweed (a type of algae) that floats in island-like masses. The seaweed species found in the Great Atlantic Sargassum Belt include Sargassum natans and Sargassum fluitans. They have many leafy appendages, branches, and round, berry-like structures called pneumatocysts, which keep them buoyant and close to the surface. The seaweed band attracts fish, shrimp, crabs, birds, and turtles, providing essential habitats. The seaweed is in turn nourished by the excrement of these organisms. Even larger creatures find plenty to eat amid the sargassum.

While the seaweed can be a boon for marine wildlife under normal circumstances, too much of it can pose a huge problem. As sargassum decays it consumes the oxygen, creating low oxygen conditions that affect marine life. Coral reefs and seagrass ecosystems can suffer when high levels of sargassum change water chemistry and block organisms from moving freely. Thick mats can also block sunlight from reaching the ocean depths. The seaweeds often wash up ashore en masse and choke coastal ecosystems. As the seaweed rots, it releases foul-smelling hydrogen sulphide gas, causing respiratory illness in local populations. They also affect coastal tourism.

Recurrent blooms

Scientists are concerned over the recurrent blooms having become the new normal. They attribute it to various factors such as warming of the ocean due to climate change, discharge of nutrients (nitrogen and phosphorus) from agricultural run-off and wastewater originating from major river basins such as the Congo and the Amazon and the deposition of iron and nutrient-rich Saharan dust on the ocean. Scientists say that multidisciplinary research and international efforts are required to address this issue.

 

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