28. "Discarded chicken scraps bought from a restaurant barely make a meal for Untouchables in Bihar, one of India's poorest states. These villagers belong to the Musahar, or rat-eaters, caste, its members known for hunting rodents. From "India's Untouchables," June 2003, National Geographic magazine
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32. Indian rescue workers cremate the body of a tsunami victim in Nagapattinam, 350 kilometres south of the city of Madras. Reuters
33. "Undisguised hatred of Untouchables [members of the lowest Hindu castes] incites members of a private army in a Bihar village. Outraged by the wage and land-reform demands of Untouchables, the Ranvir Sena, a militia led by landowners, has been implicated in the massacres of more than 500 Untouchables. The attackers have gone largely unpunished. Activists fear that the recent surge in violent incidents across India will only intensify as more Untouchables try to break the chains of caste."
37. Rama being welcomed back to Ayodhya , also shown him flying in the Pushpak Vimana , the day in now celebrated as Diwali
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Editor's Notes
tilak, Sanskrit tilaka (“mark”), in Hinduism, a mark, generally made on the forehead, indicating a person’s sectarian affiliation. The marks are made by hand or with a metal stamp, using ash from a sacrificial fire, sandalwood paste, turmeric, cow dung, clay, charcoal, or red lead . Among some sects the mark is made on 2, 5, 12, or 32 parts of the body as well as on the forehead. Among Shaivas (followers of Shiva ), the tilak usually takes the form of three horizontal parallel lines across the forehead, with or without a red dot. Sometimes a crescent moon or trident denotes a Shaiva. Among Vaishnavas (followers of Vishnu ), the many tilak variations follow a general pattern of two or more vertical lines resembling the letter U and representing the foot of Vishnu, with or without a central line or dot. Marks worn by women on the forehead (most commonly a red dot for unwidowed women) may indicate sect affiliation, but more frequently they vary according to the fashion prevailing in a particular part of India.
Ganesha has been represented with the head of an elephant since the early stages of his appearance in Indian art. [43] Puranic myths provide many explanations for how he got his elephant head. [44] One of his popular forms, Heramba-Ganapati , has five elephant heads, and other less-common variations in the number of heads are known. [45] While some texts say that Ganesha was born with an elephant head, in most stories he acquires the head later. [46] The most recurrent motif in these stories is that Ganesha was born with a human head and body and that Shiva beheaded him when Ganesha came between Shiva and Parvati . Shiva then replaced Ganesha's original head with that of an elephant. [47] Details of the battle and where the replacement head came from vary according to different sources. [48] In another story, when Ganesha was born, his mother, Parvati, showed off her new baby to the other gods. Unfortunately, the god Shani (Saturn), who is said to have the evil eye , looked at him, causing the baby's head to be burned to ashes. The god Vishnu came to the rescue and replaced the missing head with that of an elephant. [49] Another story says that Ganesha was created directly by Shiva's laughter. Because Shiva considered Ganesha too alluring, he gave him the head of an elephant and a protruding belly. [50]
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