Malabar Theechamundi theyyam

Theechamundi theyyam – ritual fire dance of Malabar

This variety of Theyyam, the ritual dance performance, is presented during the night.

An offering to Lord Vishnu’s incarnation- Narasimhavathra – part lion part man- this ritual dance is an awe inspiring one and it is believed that the performer of this gets possessed by the spirit of the god. Thee Chamundi Theyyam performance is based on the mythological story of Hiranyakashipu, Narasimha and his disciple Prahlada.

Story

Hiranyakashipu (the king of Asuras), is a demon in Hindu myths. His younger brother, Hiranyaksha was killed by Vishnu, during his Varaha incarnation. Enraged at this, he decided to kill Vishnu by acquiring magical powers from Brahma by performing a penance for him. At last he succeeded in securing a boon from Brahma that he would not die on earth or in space, or in fire or water, not during the day or night, not inside or outside and not by the hand of a human, god, animal or any other animate or inanimate species.

Hiranyakashipu is the uncle of Prahlada (son of Hiranyaksha), who is an ardent devotee of Lord Vishnu. The asura king, whose wish is to kill Lord Vishnu tries a number of times to burn Prahlada alive. Finally the Narashimha, the incarnation of Lord Vishnu with a lion head kills Hirayakashipu.

Performance

In theyyam, the number of times Prahlada is thrown to the fire resembles the number of times the theyyam enters the fire. This way mythology is related to performance. The rather scientific part of the same is that when chicken pox or the other sort of virus born diseases pervades in villages, it is believed that the germs are burnt and the villagers will be saved from the epidemic.

The body of the dancer is decorated with tender coconut leaves. With vigorous chanting, at the climax of the dance, the performer jumps on top of a huge bonfire. It is believed that because of the arduous spiritual observances the dancer has undergone he becomes resistant to burns.

Malabar Thira

Thira is originally originated in Malabar region and is known in other regions as theyyam has its own culture and rituals

Malabar a land with a resonant past. Myths and legends abound. The ships of Solomon, they say anchored along our coasts to collect timber for building the ‘Temple of the Lord’. Malabar has always been a favorite destination of the intrepid foreign traveler. Europeans, Chinese and Arabs have visited our coasts. In his book of travels Marco Polo recounts his visit to the area circa 1250 A.D. Other visitors included Fahian, the Buddhist pilgrim and Ibn Batuta, writer and historian of Tangiers.

The word Malabar used first by Al-Biruni (973-1048 A.D.) and the Arab writers seems to be derived from mala (hill) --Cosmas Indicopleustus (6th century) refers to the Kerala Coast as male- and varam(country). Medieval Tamil writers called the land malainadu(the land of hills). The term Malayalam, which is the language of Malabar, is the indigenous word for denoting the country; it is composed of mala (hill) and alam (land).

Theyyam alias Thira

Theyyam or Thira of Malabar is one of the most popular ritualistic dances of Kerala. This is a devotional performing ,in symbols and presentations. One can see the Divine Power through the person performing the Theyyam. All the dancing Theyyams are gods of different origin. We can see and pray gods and dead respectable persons in Theyyam. Theyyam is a kind of symbolic worship. Gods, godesses, demi-gods, epic characters, demons ,spirits, lower animals like snakes ,great ancestors and heroic men are worshiped through Theyyams. Formerly, when there was outbreak of smallpox, deities like "Puthiya Bhagavathy", "Kantakarnan", “Vasoori Mala” and “Dandadevan” were performed. For getting children "Makka Bhagavathy" and Naga Bhagavathy” were performed. For smooth and safe delivery “Uchitta” was performed. Deities like “Puthiya Bhagavathy”, “Kathuvannur Veeran” were performed for the fulfillment of desires and safety from dangers. Some are performed for good harvest. Theyyams are performed at temples and big Tharavads . Kavu, Palliyara,

Kottam and Mundya are places of Theyyam Deities. Theyyam also is related to the worship of trees. Deities have sanctum in Coves.Theyyam derives from “Daivam” which means God. Some Theyyams are called “Thira”.The songs of Theyyam are called “Thottam Pattu”Depending on facial decoration, the crown and the dress there are different varieties of Theyyakolams.Vattamudi,Neelamudi,Pookkattimudi,Peelimudi,Chettamudi,Purathattu,Omkaramudi,Olamudi and Palamudi are different varieties depending on the Crown. Velumban, Kani and Vithanathana are some of the dresses. Pookkattimudi Theyyam wears Chirakuduppu with frills.Some Theyyams use only tender leaves of coconuts (Kuruthola).Theppu and ezhuthu are the two types of facial decoration. Body too is decorated. There are different names for the body paintings. Manayola, chayilium ,turmeric red and rice powder are used for painting. Rice powder paste is covered on the body of Karuvannur Veeran, Kanikkorumakan and Velutha Bhootham.

Apple's iPad set to sale

Apple Inc. began selling its much-anticipated iPad on Saturday, drawing eager customers intent on being among the first owners of the tablet-style devices.

Some of these initial iPad buyers were drawn by the ability to read electronic books, watch video and run a myriad of useful or fun applications.

Outside an Apple Store in Freehold, Ray Majewski came with his 10-year-old daughter, Julia, partly as a reward for getting straight A's in school. He decided on an iPad over Amazon.com Inc.'s Kindle electronic-book reader.

"I like the electronic books, and my daughter is really getting into them as well," Majewski said. "I was thinking of getting a Kindle but then said to myself, `Why not get an iPad because I can get so much more from that than just reading books."

Nonetheless, although Apple is adept at generating frenetic buzz for not-yet-released products, it may have to work extra hard once the initial iPad excitement settles. Many companies have tried to sell tablet computers before, but none have caught on with mainstream consumers.

Apple will need to convince people who may already have smart phones, laptops, set-top boxes and home broadband connections to buy yet another Internet-capable device with many of the same functions.

And while early adopters who pre-ordered an iPad in recent weeks gush about all the ways they hope to use the iPad casual Web searches on the couch, sharing photo albums with friends, reading books skeptics point to all the ways the iPad comes up short.

They argue the on-screen keyboard is hard to use and complain that it lacks a camera and ports for media storage cards and USB devices such as printers. They also bemoan the fact that the iPad can't play Flash video, which means many Web sites with embedded video clips will look broken to surfers using Apple's Safari browser. And the iPad can't run more than one program at a time, which even fans hope will change one day soon.

Those shortfalls didn't stop customers from lining up outside Apple Stores and some Best Buys to buy one.

Carlos Herrela came to New York from Barcelona, Spain, because it won't be on sale there for a few more weeks. The 33-year-old school teacher said he wants to show his colleagues how the device can be used in classrooms. He has turned his iPad trip into a weeklong vacation.

Similar in design but much larger than Apple's popular iPhone, the iPad is a half-inch thick, weighs 1.5 pounds and has a touch screen that measures 9.7 inches on the diagonal nearly three times the iPhone's. Also like the iPhone, it has no physical keyboard, but sports an accelerometer, which lets gamers tilt the device to control what's happening on the screen.

For now, Apple is selling versions of the iPad that can only connect to the Internet using Wi-Fi. Those models start at $499. Versions that also have a cellular data connection will be available by the end of the month. They will cost $130 more, with the most expensive ringing up at $829.

PM to visit US for Nuclear Security Summit

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will be visiting Washington next week to attend US President Barack Obama's initiative for an international summit on nuclear security.
Speaking to reporters here Sunday, Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao said India saw the summit as an "important element in strengthening the international resolve to cooperate on nuclear security and supporting the expanded use of nuclear energy for peaceful purposes".
"This will be to India's benefit, given our concerns on terrorism as well as our interest in the expansion of civil nuclear energy," she said, adding: "We have welcomed this initiative and have contributed substantively to the summit's preparations."

The prime minister will reach Washington on the afternoon of April 12 and attend a dinner hosted at the White House for the 40-plus visiting leaders, including Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and Chinese Premier Hu Jintao.
"The discussions at the dinner will focus on the threat of nuclear terrorism, the primary reason why the summit has been convened," said Rao.
On April 13, there will be two plenary sessions focusing on national measures and on international cooperation to enhance nuclear security, which will be attended leaders from 44 countries
A working lunch would be addressed by the director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Yukiya Amano.
The summit will conclude with the release of a outcome document, which has been under negotiations for the last six months by senior officials, called Sherpas.
"I have led a team of DAE (department of atomic energy) and MEA (ministry of external affairs) officials in discussions on the summit outcome at meetings of the Sherpas in Tokyo and The Hague. The Sherpas will also meet in Washington on the eve of the summit," Rao said.
On India's participation in international efforts to curb nuclear terrorism, Rao pointed out that New Delhi had been "piloting" a resolution at United Nations to prevent terrorists from acquiring weapons of mass destruction.
"We are also active in the works of IAEA on setting and enforcing standards on physical protection of nuclear material and facilities as well as on combating illicit trafficking in nuclear material," she said.
India is also party to international treaties like the Convention on the Physical Protection of Nuclear Material and its 2005 amendment and is also participating in the Global Initiative to Combat Nuclear Terrorism.
When asked if the summit will have any discussion on Iran's or Pakistan's nuclear program, Rao noted that the meeting was "not about a country-specific situation".

Know the Present Ministers of India

 Cabinet Ministers

1.	Prime Minister and also In-Charge of the Ministries/Departments viz: Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances & Pensions; Ministry of Planning; Ministry of Water Resources; Department of Atomic Energy; and Department of Space	Dr. Manmohan Singh
2.	Minister of Finance	Shri Pranab Mukherjee
3.	Minister of Agriculture and Minister of Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution	Shri Sharad Pawar
4.	Minister of Defence	Shri A.K. Antony
5.	Minister of Home Affairs	Shri P. Chidambaram
6.	Minister of Railways	Km. Mamata Banerjee
7.	Minister of External Affairs	Shri S.M. Krishna
8.	Minister of Steel	Shri Virbhadra Singh
9.	Minister of Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises	Shri Vilasrao Deshmukh
10.	Minister of Health and Family Welfare	Shri Ghulam Nabi Azad
11.	Minister of Power	Shri Sushil Kumar Shinde
12.	Minister of Law and Justice	Shri M. Veerappa Moily
13.	Minister of New and Renewable Energy	Dr. Farooq Abdullah
14.	Minister of Urban Development	Shri S. Jaipal Reddy
15.	Minister of Road Transport and Highways	Shri Kamal Nath
16.	Minister of Overseas Indian Affairs	Shri Vayalar Ravi
17.	Minister of Textiles	Shri Dayanidhi Maran
18.	Minister of Communications and Information Technology	Shri A. Raja
19.	Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas	Shri Murli Deora
20.	Minister of Information and Broadcasting	Smt. Ambika Soni
21.	Minister of Labour and Employment	Shri Mallikarjun Kharge
22.	Minister of Human Resource Development	Shri Kapil Sibal
23.	Minister of Mines and Minister of Development of North Eastern Region	Shri B.K. Handique
24.	Minister of Commerce and Industry	Shri Anand Sharma
25.	Minister of Rural Development and Minister of Panchayati Raj	Shri C.P. Joshi
26.	Minister of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation and Minister of Tourism	Kum. Selja
27.	Minister of Food Processing Industries	Shri Subodh Kant Sahay
28.	Minister of Youth Affairs and Sports	Dr. M.S. Gill
29.	Minister of Shipping	Shri G.K. Vasan
30.	Minister of Parliamentary Affairs	Shri Pawan K. Bansal
31.	Minister of Social Justice and Empowerment	Shri Mukul Wasnik
32.	Minister of Tribal Affairs	Shri Kantilal Bhuria
33.	Minister of Chemicals and Fertilizers	Shri M.K. Alagiri

Ministers of State with Independent Charge

1.	Ministry Civil Aviation	Shri Praful Patel
2.	Ministry of Science and Technology; Ministry of Earth Sciences; and Minister of State in the Prime Minister's Office; Minister of State in the Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances & Pensions; and Minister of State in the Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs	Shri Prithviraj Chavan
3.	Ministry of Coal and Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation	Shri Sriprakash Jaiswal
4.	Ministry of Corporate Affairs and Ministry of Minority Affairs	Shri Salman Khursheed
5.	Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises	Shri Dinsha J. Patel
6.	Ministry of Women and Child Development	Smt. Krishna Tirath
7.	Ministry of Environment and Forests	Shri Jairam Ramesh

Ministers of State

1.	Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers	Shri Srikant Jena
2.	Ministry of Railways	Shri E. Ahamed
3.	Ministry of Home Affairs	Shri Mullappally Ramachandran
4.	Ministry of Planning and Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs	Shri V. Narayansamy
5.	Ministry of Commerce and Industry	Shri JyotiradityaScindia
6.	Ministry of Human Resource Development	Smt. D. Purandeswari
7.	Ministry of Railways	Shri K.H. Muniyappa
8.	Ministry of Home Affairs	Shri Ajay Maken
9.	Ministry of Textiles	Smt. Panabaka Lakshmi
10.	Ministry of Finance	Shri Namo Narain Meena
11.	Ministry of Defence	Shri M.M. Pallam Raju
12.	Ministry of Urban Development	Shri Saugata Ray
13.	Ministry of Finance	Shri S.S. Palanimanickam
14.	Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas	Shri Jitin Prasad
15.	Ministry of Steel	Shri A. Sai Prathap
16.	Ministry of External Affairs	Smt. Preneet Kaur
17.	Ministry of Communications and Information Technology	Shri Gurdas Kamat
18.	Ministry of Labour and Employment	Shri Harish Rawat
19.	Ministry of Agriculture and Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution	Professor K.V. Thomas
20.	Ministry of Power	Shri Bharatsinh Solanki
21.	Ministry of Road Transport and Highways	Shri Mahadev S. Khandela
22.	Ministry of Health and Family Welfare	Shri Dinesh Trivedi
23.	Ministry of Rural Development	Shri Sisir Adhikari
24.	Ministry of Tourism	Shri Sultan Ahmed
25.	Ministry of Shipping	Shri Mukul Roy
26.	Ministry of Information and Broadcasting	Shri Mohan Jatua
27.	Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment	Shri D. Napoleon
28.	Ministry of Information and Broadcasting	Dr. S. Jagathrakshakan
29.	Ministry of Health and Family Welfare	Shri S. Gandhiselvan
30.	Ministry of Tribal Affairs	Shri Tusharbhai Chaudhary
31.	Ministry of Communications and Information Technology	Shri Sachin Pilot
32.	Ministry of Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises	Shri Arun Yadav
33	Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports	Shri Pratik Prakashbapu Patil
34.	Ministry of Road Transport and Highways	Shri R.P.N. Singh
35.	Ministry of External Affairs	Shri Shashi Tharoor
36.	Ministry of Water Resources	Shri Vincent Pala
37.	Ministry of Rural Development	Shri Pradeep Jain
38.	Ministry of Rural Development	Ms. Agatha Sangma

Source: www.presidentofindia.nic.in, www.cabsec.nic.in  

UNKNOWN FACTS(GK)

Here are some interesting, but true facts, that you may or may not have known.

1. The Statue of Liberty's index finger is eight feet long.
2. Rain has never been recorded in some parts of the Atacama Desert in Chile.
3. A 75 year old person will have slept about 23 years.
4. Boeing 747's wing span is longer than the Wright brother's first flight. The Wright brother's invented the airplane.
5. There are as many chickens on earth as there are humans.
6. One type of hummingbird weighs less than a penny.
7. The word "set" has the most number of definitions in the English language; 192 Slugs have four noses.
8. Sharks can live up to 100 years.
9. Mosquitos are more attracted to the color blue than any other color.
10. Kangaroos can't walk backwards.
11. About 75 acres of pizza are eaten in in the U.S. everyday.
12. The largest recorded snowflake was 15 Inch wide and 8 Inch thick. It fell in Montana in 1887.
13. The tip of a bullwhip moves so fast that the sound it makes is actually a tiny sonic boom.
14. Former president Bill Clinton only sent 2 emails in his entire 8 year presidency.
15. Koalas and humans are the only animals that have finger prints.
16. There are 200,000,000 insects for every one human.
17. It takes more calories to eat a piece of celery than the celery had in it to begin with.
18. The world's largest Montessori school is in India, with 26,312 students in 2002.
19. Octopus have three hearts.
20. If you ate too many carrots, you would turn orange.
21. The average person spends two weeks waiting for a traffic light to change.
22. 1 in 2,000,000,000 people will live to be 116 or old.
23. The body has 2-3 million sweat glands.
24. Sperm whales have the biggest brains; 20 lbs.
25. Tiger shark embroyos fight each other in their mother's womb. The survivor is born.
26. Most cats are left pawed.
27. 250 people have fallen off the Leaning Tower of Pisa.
28. A Blue whale's tongue weighs more than an elephant.
29. You use 14 muscles to smile and 43 to frown. Keep Smiling!
30. Bamboo can grow up to 3 ft in 24 hours.
31. An eyeball weighs about 1 ounce.
32.The most common name in the world is Mohammed.
33.The name of all the continents end with the same letter that they start with.
34.The strongest muscle in the body is the tongue.
35.There are two credit cards for every person in the United States.
36.TYPEWRITER is the longest word that can be made using the letters only on one row of the keyboard.
37.Women blink nearly twice as much as men!
38.You can't kill yourself by holding your breath.
39.It is impossible to lick your elbow.
40.People say "Bless you" when you sneeze because when you sneeze, your heart stops for a millisecond.
41.It is physically impossible for pigs to look up into the sky
42.The "sixth sick sheik's sixth sheep's sick" is said to be the toughest tongue twister in the English language.
43.If you sneeze too hard, you can fracture a rib. If you try to suppress a sneeze, you can rupture a blood vessel in your head or neck and die.
44.Each king in a deck of playing cards represents great king from history.
Spades - King David
Clubs - Alexander the Great,
Hearts - Charlemagne
Diamonds - Julius Caesar.
45.111,111,111 x 111,111,111 = 12,345,678,987,654,321
46.If a statue of a person in the park on a horse has both front legs in the air, the person died in battle.
If the horse has one front leg in the air,the person died as a result of wounds received in battle.
If the horse has a all four legs on the ground, the person died of natural causes.
47.What do bullet proof vests, fire escapes, windshield wipers and laser printers all have in common?
Ans. - All invented by women.
48.Question - This is the only food that doesn't spoil. What is this?
Ans. - Honey
49.A crocodile cannot stick its tongue out.
50.A snail can sleep for three years.
51.All polar bears are left handed.
52.American Airlines saved $40,000 in 1987 by eliminating one olive from each salad served in first-class.
53.Butterflies taste with their feet.
54.Elephants are the only animals that can't jump.
55.In the last 4000 years, no new animals have been domesticated.
56.On average, people fear spiders more than they do death.
57.Shakespeare invented the word 'assassination' and 'bump'.
58.Stewardesses is the longest word typed with only the left hand.
59.The ant always falls over on its right side when intoxicated.
60.The electric chair was invented by a dentist.
61.The human heart creates enough pressure when it pumps out to the body to squirt blood 30 feet.
62.Rats multiply so quickly that in 18 months, two rats could have over million descendants.
63.Wearing headphones for just an hour will increase the bacteria in your ear by 700 times
64.The cigarette lighter was invented before the match.
65.Most lipstick contains fish scales.
66.Like fingerprints, everyone's tongue print is different
67.And finally 99% of people who read this will try to lick their elbow
68. Coca-Cola was originally green.

dangerous debris from space to be cleared by Tiny cube

Scientists in the UK have developed a device to clear dangerous clouds of debris from the Earth's orbit.

The team plans to launch a demonstration of their Cube Sail at the end of 2011.

It is a small satellite that deploys a thin 25-sq-m plastic sheet. Residual air molecules present in the spacecraft's Low Earth Orbit (LEO) will catch the sheet and pull the object out of the sky much faster than is normal.


The Surrey Space centre team says the concept could be fitted to larger satellites and even rocket stages.

The group also envisages that a mature system would even be sent to rendezvous and dock with redundant spacecraft to clean them from orbit.

"Our system is simple and very low cost; but we need to demonstrate that it can be done," the BBC quoted Dr Vaios Lap pas, lead researcher on the project and senior lecturer in space vehicle control, as saying

"It would help make space a sustainable business. We want to be able to keep on launching satellites to provide new services; but unless we do something, the amount of junk up there is going to grow exponentially."

It is believed that more than 5,500 tonnes of junk now clutters the region of space just a few hundred km above our heads.

In 2009, two satellites even collided, showering their orbit with tiny fragments that now pose additional risk to operational spacecraft.