Classics Retold

"Running a rig"  or "running such rig" is a phrase often associated with the 18th century poem The Diverting History of John Gilpin by William Cowper, meaning to play a trick, engage in a frolic, or suffer a ridiculous, chaotic, or unexpected adventure.  In the poem, John Gilpin is a linen draper, who goes on a disastrous horse ride, of which the narrator says, "He little dreamt, when he set out, of running such a rig. A rig here means a sportive trick, a frolic, or a rowdy mocking or deceptive act.  It describes someone experiencing an, unexpected, messy, or embarassing situation. A young person, an urchin etc.  In Far From The Madding Crowd the situation that Bathsheba Everdene faces when he went in search of Sergeant Francis Troy to inform him of Boldwood's Fury and warn him of some untoward incidents to Gilpin's Rig.

Cracked and mouldy halls of Bathsheba's house.  Maryann was was the lone occupier of the halls.  The church clock struck eleven. The village of Weatherbury was quiet as a graveyard.  Maryann turned in her bed with a sense of being distributed. She was in the midst of sleep.  A dream was the cause of her awakening: something had happened. She sat up in the bed, and walked towards the window and looked out.  The paddock touched this end of the building.  She could just discern the uncertain gray moving figure approaching the horse that was feeding there.  The figure seized the horse by the forelock, and led it to the corner of the field.  Here stood a vehicle.  Minutes later, which she thought was spent in harnessing, she heard the trot of horse mingled with the sound of light wheels.  Maryann feared it were robbers.  She hastily slipped on clothes, stumped down the disjointed staircase with its hundred creaks, ran to Coggan's the nea...

Born as Ramachandra Pandurang Tope (also called Tantia Tope) around 1814, he was a member of  Deshastha Brahmin  community who had access to the ruling elite of Marathas including Peshwa (Chief Minister) of Maratha confederacy based at Poona. His father Pandurang Rao Tope was a court official in the service of Peshwa, Baji Rao II, of Maratha confederacy. After the Peshwa was defeated by East India Company he was forced to move to Bithoor, and Tope family moved along with him. This gave Tatya an opportunity to get familiar with Nana Saheb and other Maratha nobles.  He was not a mercenary outsider, but an insider of Maratha royal and witnessed the decay of it.  Even though he was not a member of the royal class he was attached to administrative and military class. They enjoyed status, education and proximity to power. He took pride in the glory of the Maratha Empire and grieved over loss of its political presence. He was committed to restore the lost glory of Marathas....

Hindu Brahmin subcaste originating from Maharashtra and North Karnataka belonging to Pancha Dravida group known for their scholarly contributions.  They are concentrated in Maharashtra, Karnataka, Telagana and Andhrapradesh; with Marathi and Kannada as common mother tongues. Historically engaged in priesthood, agriculture, and administration.  They were always a part of ruling elite and held positions like Peshwa and Divan.  Deshastha means resident of the land or country.  The valleys of Rivers Krishna and Godavari and the Deccan plateau were their ancestral home. 

Next evening, Bathsheba with the idea of getting out of the way of Boldwood in the event of his coming to answer her note proceeded to fulfil an engagement made with Liddy.  Liddy had been granted a week's leave to visit her sister in Yalbury. Her sister's husband was a thriving hurdler and cattle-crib maker.  They were living in a delightful labyrinth of hazel copse not far From Yalbury. Miss Everdene was to honour them by visiting them for a day or two to familiarise with some ingenious contrivences which this man of wood had introduced into his wares.  Leaving her instructions with Gabriel and Maryann that they were to see everything for the night she set out at the close of a timely thunder-shower, which had refined the air, and gracefully bathed the surface of the land.  She had walked nearly three miles, when she saw advancing over the hill, the very man she sought to elude. Instead of his usual gait,  she saw him stunned and sluggish. Boldwood had for the...

Nationalists always expose Jallianwala Bagh Massacre as an example of British Cruelties. But acts of cruelties were not new to the Indian subcontinent since the dawn of history. Literary evidence of Aryan cruelties on indigenous tribes is available in Rigveda.  Aryan chief Indra was called dasyuhata meaning the slaughterer of dasa or dasyu the indigenous peoples. Indra was Purandara  meaning the destroyer of forts, the fortified cities of Harappan civilization.  Caste is the fundamental institution of what we now call Hinduism, an exonym evolved through centuries, and put to use in the Census records by the British officials in the course of data compilation, when they were baffled by myraid of castes.  The endonym is Sanatana Dharma.  Its tool of oppression is caste system by which they subjugate people outside the four varnas. Look at the Kalinga war for wanton brutality. Later look at the Shunga Brahminical brutalities against Jain and Buddhists. Leading ...