മതത്തിന്‍റെ ആരംഭം

പ്രരംഭകം :

നമ്മുടെ സംസ്കാരം രൂപം കൊണ്ടത്‌ കൃഷിയുടെ ആവിര്‍ഭാവം മൂലമാണെന്നും അതില്‍ നിന്നും നഗരങ്ങള്‍ ഉല്‍പത്തി ചെയ്തെന്നും തന്മൂലം കാലക്രമേണ എഴുത്ത് , കല , മതം മുതലായവ രൂപമെടുത്തെന്നും നമുക്ക്‌ അറിയാം .ഈവിധം ഉണ്ടായിട്ടുള്ള വികസപ്രവര്‍ത്തനങ്ങള്‍ നല്‍കുന്ന ചിത്രത്തില്‍ നിന്നും വിഭിന്നമാണ് ഈ അടുത്ത കാലം നടന്ന ഒരു കണ്ടെത്തല്‍. ഒരു പുരാതന ആരാധനാലയസമുച്ചയം , അത് നമ്മെ ഇപ്പോള്‍ നിലവിലുള്ള ചരിത്രവസ്തുതകള്‍ക്കും അപ്പുറമുള്ള സംസകരികപഴമയിലേക്ക് കൊണ്ടുപോകുന്നു.

വേട്ടയാടി ജീവിച്ചിരുന്ന ഒരു തലമുറ കലച്ചക്രത്തിന്‍റെ കറക്കതിനനുസൃതമായികൃഷിയെ ആധാരമാക്കിയ ജനതയായി മാറുന്ന പരിണാമപ്രക്രിയക്ക് ഒരു നൂതന മനം നല്‍കുന്നു ഈ ആരാധനാലയം.

ഗോബെക്‌ലീ റ്റെപെ എന്നാ ഈ ആരാധനസമുച്ചയം തുര്‍ക്കിയിലാണ് കണ്ടെത്തിയത്. തുര്‍ക്കിയുടെയും സിറിയയുടെയും ഇറാഖിന്‍റെയും അതിര്‍ത്തിപ്രദേശമാണീ സ്ഥലം.

സ്റ്റോണ്‍ഹെഡ്ജ് എന്നാ പുരതനകല്‍ക്ഷേത്രത്തിനു സമാനമായതും അതിനും ഏകദേശം ഏഴായിരം വര്‍ഷം മുന്‍പ്‌ പണിതീര്‍ന്നതുമാണിത് എന്നും ശാസ്ത്രിയമായി തെളിയിക്കപ്പെട്ടിരിക്കുന്നു.

ചുരുക്കത്തില്‍ പതിനോരായിരത്തി അറുനൂറു ക്രിസ്തുവര്‍ഷം മുന്‍പ് വൃത്തിയായി ചെത്തിമിനുക്കിയ, ധാരാളം കല്ചിത്രങ്ങള്‍ കൊണ്ട് സമ്പന്നമായ ( പാമ്പ്‌ , കുറുക്കന്‍ , തേള്‍ , ബോറുകള്‍ ഇത്യാദി ) കൂറ്റന്‍ ചുണ്ണാമ്പ് കല്ലുകളാല്‍
പണിതുയര്‍ത്തിയ ഈ മന്ദിരം ലോകത്തിലെ ഒരു പക്ഷെ ആദ്യത്തെതും ആയ വസ്തുസംരംഭം ആകാം.

ഈ കാലഘട്ടത്തില്‍ മനവികസംസ്കാരം രൂപമെടുത്തിട്ടില്ല എന്ന നിഗമനം ഇതിനാല്‍ തന്നെ അല്‍ഭുതമുളവാക്കുന്നു. പ്രത്യേകിച്ചും എങ്ങനെ അവര്‍ ഏകദേശം പതിനാറു ടണ്‍ ഭാരമുള്ള കുമ്മായകല്ലുകള്‍ ഭംഗിയായി ചെത്തി രൂപപ്പെടുത്തിയെടുത്തു എന്നതും കല്ച്ചക്രമോ മൃഗങ്ങളെ മെരുക്കാനും കഴിഞ്ഞിട്ടില്ലാത്ത കാലഘട്ടത്തില്‍ ഇത് പണിതത്‌ എന്നതും.

നമ്മുടെ ഇതുവരെയുള്ള അറിവനുസരിച്ച് നിയോലിത്തിക് പരിണാമം സംഭവിച്ചത് മോസോപ്പോട്ടെമിയ (ടൈഗ്രിസ്‌ , യൂഫ്രട്ടീസ് നദികളുടെ ഇടയില്‍ )
തെക്കേ ഇറാഖിലാണ്. പിന്നീട് ഇന്ത്യ , യൂറോപ്പ് എന്നിവിടങ്ങിളിലേക്ക് വികാസം പ്രാപിച്ചു.

പുരാവസ്തുഗവേഷകരുടെ നിഗമത്തില്‍ ഹിമയുഗാവസാനത്തില്‍ ഉണ്ടായ ഉഷ്ണമേഖലാ കാലഘട്ടത്തില്‍ പല കൂട്ടമായിരുന്ന മനുഷ്യസമൂഹം ഒന്നിക്കുകയും കൃഷിയുടെ ബാലപാഠങ്ങള്‍ ആരംഭം ആവുകയും ചെയ്തു.
ആയിരക്കണക്കിന് വര്‍ഷങ്ങള്‍ കൊണ്ട് വിപ്ലവകരമായ സാംസകാരിക ഊന്നത്യം കൈവരിക്കുകയും ചെയ്തു.

ഈ വീക്ഷണത്തില്‍ ആദ്യം സമൂഹവല്‍കരണവും പിന്നെ കൃഷി അതിനു ശേഷം മതപരമായ കാഴ്ച്ചപ്പാടിലേക്കും കടന്നു എന്ന് കാണാം. പക്ഷേ ഗോബെക്‌ലീ റ്റെപെ ഇതിനു പുതിയ മനം തരുന്നു.

ലോകത്തിലെ പ്രധാനപ്പെട്ട മതാധിഷ്ടിതമായ സ്ഥലങ്ങളെല്ലാം തന്നെ ഇപ്പോഴും എപ്പോഴും തീര്‍ഥാടന പ്രാധാന്യമുള്ളവയാണ്.അവയെല്ലാം ഈശ്വരനെ വന്ദിക്കുവാനുള്ള സ്ഥാനമാണ്. ഉദാഹരനത്തിനു മെക്ക , വത്തിക്കാന്‍ , ബുദ്ധ ഗയ എന്നിവ.

അപ്പോള്‍ ഏകദേശം ഏഴായിരം വര്‍ഷം സ്റ്റോണ്‍ ഹെഡ്‌ജിനു മുന്‍പ് മനുഷ്യരാശിയുടെ തീര്‍ഥാടന കേന്ദ്രമാണ് ഇതെന്നും അതിനാല്‍ മതപരമായ വികാസം മൂലമാണ് മനവികസമൂഹം കൃഷിയിലെക്കും സാമൂഹിക സാംസകാരിക ഉന്നതിയിലേക്കും വളര്‍ന്നതെന്ന് മനസിലാക്കാം.

The old man and Sea by Ernest Hemingway

For 84 days, the old fisherman Santiago has caught nothing. Alone, impoverished, and facing his own mortality, Santiago is now considered unlucky. So Manolin (Santiago's fishing partner until recently and the young man Santiago has taught since the age of five) has been constrained by his parents to fish in another, more productive boat. Every evening, though, when Santiago again returns empty-handed, Manolin helps carry home the old man's equipment, keeps him company, and brings him food.

On the morning of the 85th day, Santiago sets out before dawn on a three-day odyssey that takes him far out to sea. In search of an epic catch, he eventually does snag a marlin of epic proportions, enduring tremendous hardship to land the great fish. He straps the marlin along the length of his skiff and heads for home, hardly believing his own victory. Within an hour, a mako shark attacks the marlin, tearing away a great hunk of its flesh and mutilating Santiago's prize. Santiago fights the mako, enduring great suffering, and eventually kills it with his harpoon, which he loses in the struggle.

The great tear in the marlin's flesh releases the fish's blood and scent into the water, attracting packs of shovel-nosed sharks. With whatever equipment remains on board, Santiago repeatedly fights off the packs of these scavengers, enduring exhaustion and great physical pain, even tearing something in his chest. Eventually, the sharks pick the marlin clean. Defeated, Santiago reaches shore and beaches the skiff. Alone in the dark, he looks back at the marlin's skeleton in the reflection from a street light and then stumbles home to his shack, falling face down onto his cot in exhaustion.

The next morning, Manolin finds Santiago in his hut and cries over the old man's injuries. Manolin fetches coffee and hears from the other fisherman what he had already seen —that the marlin's skeleton lashed to the skiff is eighteen feet long, the greatest fish the village has known. Manolin sits with Santiago until he awakes and then gives the old man some coffee. The old man tells Manolin that he was beaten. But Manolin reassures him that the great fish didn't beat him and that they will fish together again, that luck doesn't matter, and that the old man still has much to teach him.

That afternoon, some tourists see the marlin's skeleton waiting to go out with the tide and ask a waiter what it is. Trying to explain what happened to the marlin, the waiter replies, "Eshark." But the tourists misunderstand and assume that's what the skeleton is.

Back in his shack, with Manolin sitting beside him, Santiago sleeps again and dreams of the young lions he had seen along the coast of Africa when he was a young man.

Hudor War always all times: Идиот by Fyodor Dostoyevsky

Hudor War always all times: Идиот by Fyodor Dostoyevsky: After spending several years in a Swiss mental institution, where he was treated for epilepsy, Prince Lyov Myshkin returns penniless t...

Идиот by Fyodor Dostoyevsky

After spending several years in a Swiss mental institution, where he was treated for epilepsy, Prince Lyov Myshkin returns penniless to Petersburg and visits distant relatives — the Epanchins. He proves himself a master of calligraphy and is hired by General Epanchin, who finds that he is strangely fond of the prince. Myshkin is then introduced to the general's wife and daughters and, afterward, he goes home with Ganya Ivolgin, the general's secretary; Myshkin will board with the Ivolgins.

At Ganya's, Myshkin meets the Ivolgin family and quickly finds himself involved in a family quarrel when he mentions that Ganya has received a portrait of Nastasya Filippovna. Ganya's family is fearful that Ganya will marry Nastasya — a beautiful, but well-known "kept" woman. In the midst of the quarreling, Nastasya appears. She is as bewitchingly beautiful as Rogozhin (a fellow Myshkin met on the morning train) said she was; Myshkin immediately understands Rogozhin's sworn devotion to her. And Nastasya is as striking as the portrait which Ganya showed earlier in General Epanchin's office.

Nastasya is polite to the Ivolgins only momentarily. She turns surly and is sarcastic to Ganya's mother and sister and then turns on Myshkin, asking him why he finds her attractive. She is fascinated by the prince's confession concerning his meeting with Rogozhin on the train but she is even more fascinated when Rogozhin himself suddenly storms into the Ivolgin house.

Rogozhin is shocked to discover Nastasya, but he is not deterred from his purpose in coming. He offers to buy Nastasya from Ganya; then, he offers to pay a final bid of 100,000 rubles to Nastasya — in exchange for herself. The company is thrown into an uproar. Varya condemns Nastasya, and Ganya, lashing out to slap his sister, strikes Myshkin, who has stepped in front of the girl. This chivalry quiets the party and, after Rogozhin and Nastasya leave, Myshkin is taken to his room.

Later that night, Myshkin goes to Nastasya Filippovna's birthday party. He is uninvited but is welcomed by Nastasya. After champagne is served and games are played, Nastasya announces that, at last, she will reveal whether or not she has decided to marry Ganya Ivolgin. She turns to Myshkin and says that his decision will be her fate. Myshkin whispers that she must not marry Ganya and, amidst loud protestations, Rogozhin and his noisy band of followers are ushered in. Rogozhin has brought the 100,000 rubles he promised to pay Nastasya, but Nastasya changes her mind; she will begin her new life penniless. Under those conditions, no one would have her. Myshkin objects; he would marry her and he reveals that he is heir to a fortune of a million and a half rubles. Nastasya instantly agrees to Myshkin's proposal, then impulsively refuses and flees into the night with Rogozhin.

Myshkin follows the couple, and after the three live for a time in Moscow (where Nastasya decides to marry Rogozhin, then refuses, and comes to Myshkin for comfort), Myshkin returns to Petersburg. He visits Lebedyev (a fellow he met on the train with Rogozhin) and also visits Rogozhin. He tries to convince Rogozhin that the two men are not rivals for Nastasya and, seemingly, Rogozhin understands and swears to be Myshkin's spiritual brother. But after Myshkin leaves Rogozhin, he wanders absently and finds himself at Nastasya Filippovna's house. The girl is not at home but Myshkin senses that Rogozhin has followed him. He is correct; Rogozhin has followed Myshkin to see if he would go to Nastasya as the victorious suitor. Rogozhin then follows Myshkin back to his hotel and attempts to murder the prince but Myshkin suffers an epileptic attack when he realizes that it is Rogozhin who is hiding in the dark with a raised knife. The attack saves the prince's life.

Recuperating at Lebedyev's villa in Pavlovsk Myshkin is visited by the Epanchins and, during their visit, several young men demand to see the prince. Before the Epanchins, the young men demand money from Myshkin; he is not the true son of Pavlishtchev, while Burdovsky (one of the intruders) is, although illegitimate, and they demand that Myshkin give Burdovsky his rightful inheritance.

Myshkin exposes the young men as frauds; he has known of Burdovsky's claim and has had Ganya verifying the facts of the case. Myshkin says that he will not give the men conscience money, but, he says, because Pavlishtchev did take an interest in Burdovsky (the boy is the nephew of a woman Pavlishtchev was once in love with), he offers to give Burdovsky 10,000 rubles — approximately what Pavlishtchev spent on Myshkin's education and medical bills. Madame Epanchin is aghast at such unnecessary extravagance and, after Ippolit, one of the young men, damns the company, she gathers up her family and leaves.

As they leave, a carriage drives up and a voice shouts to Radomsky, an admirer of Aglaia Epanchin, about some lOUs; Myshkin recognizes the voice as Nastasya Filippovna's.

Soon afterward, Myshkin accompanies the Epanchins and friends to the park, and when Nastasya enters, and is insulted, Myshkin rushes to her aid and defends her from the wrath of an army officer. Aglaia is sure that Myshkin will be forced to duel with the officer, but Myshkin is unconcerned. He celebrates his birthday and, afterward, the company listens to Ippolit as he reads a long testament describing his thoughts on death and life, then raises a pocket pistol to his temple and fires. There is no cap in the gun and the company roars in laughter. Ippolit swears that he meant to kill himself, then collapses.

Unable to sleep, Myshkin goes walking in the park, falls asleep on a bench, and is awakened by Aglaia Epanchin. She tells Myshkin that she can no longer bear her family and that she wants to elope with Myshkin to Europe. Myshkin says that the idea is preposterous and, suddenly, Madame Epanchin stands before them demanding an explanation.

After Myshkin confesses that he would like to marry Aglaia, and Aglaia consents, a betrothal party is planned: Myshkin must be introduced to Petersburg society. The party is a disaster. Myshkin launches into one of his long-winded, emotional tirades — this time against the Catholic church — breaks an expensive vase, and finally collapses in an epileptic seizure.

When Myshkin recovers, Aglaia asks him to go with her to Nastasya Filippovna's house and Myshkin agrees. Rogozhin is also there and he and Myshkin witness a violent argument between the two women. Nastasya has hoped to arrange a marriage between Aglaia and Myshkin, but Aglaia accuses Nastasya of toying with the prince and damns her for her past and for her corrupting Myshkin. To retaliate, Nastasya reminds Aglaia that Myshkin has promised to marry her and that she can force him to do so. Myshkin acquiesces and tries to follow Aglaia as she runs from the house, but turns to aid Nastasya when he sees that she has fainted.

The wedding is arranged and Myshkin waits at the church for Nastasya. Nastasya, however, has changed her mind again. She cannot bring herself to marry the prince; he is too good and she too tarnished. She asks Rogozhin to take her away. Myshkin is told that the two have fled and he goes into Petersburg and finally finds Rogozhin waiting for him. Rogozhin takes the prince home with him and shows him Nastasya's body. He has killed her and laid her on a bed. She is covered with good leather and surrounded by bottles of uncorked disinfectant.

Myshkin ministers to the feverish Rogozhin, soothing his brow and cheeks, and when the two are discovered, Rogozhin is babbling and Myshkin has lost his sanity. Eventually Rogozhin recovers from brain fever and is tried and sentenced to Siberia. Myshkin is taken back to Dr. Schneider's sanitarium in Switzerland; the possibilities for his ever recovering are slight.