Love 200 years after Darwin (Navhind Times, feb. 14, 2009) In this article the term love is used purely in a restricted biological sense because it has many non biological and religious/spiritual connotations. Higher primates like Homo sapiens would not have survived as a species without romantic love, parental bonding, love and care. Both have profound Darwinian implications. In other words Darwinism is the cornerstone of understanding sociobiological phenomena. Understanding Darwinism is crucial in understanding the birth of human offsprings and even the competition between human spermatozooa. Is it not a wonder that the healthiest, the best and fastest sperm among the millions always wins the race?. Does the nature care for the wastage of millions of spermatozooas?. Then why such a prodigious number is produced?. If we follow Darwinism the answer is simple- nature doesnt put all the eggs in a single basket. There are millions of copies of same male DNA. But chances of taking the best male genetic payload for union with female egg increase only when there is a competition between the best. Human birth is still considered a miracle. But to make it possible hundreds of factors have to come in play. Procreation is also possible without bonding and love. But Darwinism demands that the parental love and care is essential for the offsprings. This is not possible without bonding of the parents. Bonding is elusive without love. Love originates from evolutionary urges. Lactating mothers automatically express it in a complex fluid biochemical form as colostrum and milk. Even if a mother begins to hate the baby under certain extraordinary circumstances-the flow would not stop. Darwinism tells us about the compulsions of nature. India, the land of worlds most famous text on art and science of love-Vatsyayanas Kamsutra virtually forgot Charles Darwins bicentenary of birth celebrated in more than 50 countries on February 12 th. What Kamsutra has to do with Charles Darwins evolutionary theory?. To answer this question one has to read a galaxy of authors beginning from bestseller ethologist Desmond Morris to biologist Richard Dawkins. Desmond Morris told the plain truth in his the Naked ape and the naked woman and Dawkins extended Darwinian argument further in his selfish gene the extended phenotype and the blind watchmaker. Darwinism is not just the theory of the survival of the fittest. It is also about adjustment, informed choice, adaptation and ensuring survival of the species. In its simplest form Darwinism, contrary to popular misconception that it is anti-religious dry theory-is a celebration of Love. Of course biologists would not simplify a complex term like love easily. They may mask what they have to say under technical jargon. They may produce hormonal data, brain maps, EEG readings-but basically despite its inbuilt violent nature, it is the love which keeps the human species going on and on. Love is the essential driving force behind evolution of intelligent higher animals. Meeting, mating, bonding, pairing , romance, sex, production of offsprings , parental love and care-all the phenomena can be explained by Darwinian approach. Without Charles Darwin it is difficult to understand the evolutionary urges and evolutionary adaptations. Love as it can be understood in a Darwinian sense is all about bonding and altruism. Love-its ecology, biology and science 200 years after Darwin, 150 years after his classic book origin of species is understood much better as an evolutionary urge of the species attempting to conserve the genes. If Dawkins says that were not really using the genes but the genes are using us-the genes being selfish-then Love becomes our most fundamental genetic urge. It also explains the charm and magnetism associated with it. Even under the worst circumstances couples who love one another make sacrifices. Parental love is much superior than love resulting in pair bonding. Darwinism offers an insight into the evolution of parental care. Parental care ensures security of the offsprings and the ultimate survival of the species. Biologists have attempted to demystify the urge which drives the parents to care for their offsprings. There is complex evolutionary programming behind it. Even if we take our own species, at least seven million years have been spent in programming our genes and the wiring of our brains. Thats why modern humans-the Homo sapiens could search and find love, affection, compassion, company, shelter and could manage to evolve culturally and technologically. It may take many years to mine the human genome and discover a molecular basis, a genetic basis for love and parental care. But when that discovery would be made Darwin would be proven correct. The gene for Love would not be selfish but it may turn out to be a keystone gene without which humans would not be able to function normally as social animals. Darwinism would get better and better with refined theories and ultimately humankind would able to fully understand the chemistry and molecular basis of love.
Exclusive for Goa today, published in January 2009 issue
The mysterious archeoastronomical heritage of Goa-I
Nandkumar Kamat
Before I delve on some archeoastronomical mysteries of Goa let me confess about my fascination with the subject. Since my childhood I was in love with the bright starlit sky. I used to stare at the garland of milky way, our own beautiful galaxy for hours. I made some attempts to build a small telescope. It was the early dawn viewing of comet Ikeya seki in 1966 which further stirred my interest in heavenly phenomena. Astronomy as a subject captivated my mind from school days. In the seventh standard, I was awarded a book for winning an elocution competition. It was a Marathi translation ofYakov Perelman’s Russian book on Astronomy. I was thrilled after reading that book. After Perelman- a series of translated books by George Gamow left a powerful imprint on my mind. This was followed by Arthur Clarke and Asimov’s works and later during college days the works of Carl Sagan- who is still my hero. By the time I left the school I had developed a lasting interest in astronomy. It was the meeting with Indo-Portuguese historian and conservationist, Mr. Percival Noronha in 1982 which brought me closer to popularization of astronomy. Mr. Noronha was the architect of Association of friends of astronomy –AFA-a NGO devoted to popularization of astronomy at all levels. He associated me with AFA’s activities and deputed me as an observer to 120 th symposium of International Astronomical Union (IAU) held at FortAguada from Dec. 3-7, 1985. That was also the year of apparition of Halley’s comet. At IAU symposium I could interact with famous astrochemists like Dalgarno, Yamamoto, Khare, Ben Zuckerman, Krishnaswamy-a specialist on comets. That was the first time I could meet India’s topmost astronomer and cosmologist Prof. Jayant Naralikar. Prof. Naralikar stood behind AFA and impressed upon thethen ex-CM Mr. Pratapsingh Rane and the CS Mr. K.K. Mathur the need to establish a public astronomy observatory. The observatory was inaugurated on 28 February 1990 on the terrace of Panaji’s Junta house. Prof. Naralikar also chose Goa to host ICGC-1987- a great congregation of astronomers and cosmologists from the world. ICGC-1987 proved to be a feast of knowledge for me. I could meet and interview some of the greatest astronomers. Among them were sir Fred Hoyle, Joseph burbridge, Abhay Ashtekar and many others. ICGC-1987 was followed by an international workshop on supernova 1987 A held at Hotel Mandovi in 1990. All these events generated considerable interest among Goa’s small tribe of amateur astronomers.In its’ silver jubilee year AFA has seen the tribe growing and ready to celebrate the new year with a lot of enthusiasm.This year is being celebrated as ‘International year of astronomy’-IYA-2009-supported by UNESCO and the general assembly of UN. The theme is –‘the universe, yours to discover’. It marks the 400 years of Galileo’s use of telescope to make astronomical observations and publication of Johannes Kepler’sfamous work Astronomia nova which describes the fundamental laws of planetary motions. IAU founded in 1919 is the apex body which is coordinating the global programs.A special portal http://www.astronomy2009.org has been created to keep the public well informed about international and national programs. Goa has a large number of amateur astronomers and an active NGO-Association of friends of astronomy (AFA)dedicated to promote astronomy. It has branches at Panaji and Margao where two public astronomy observatories have been established with generous support from science and technology department of Government of Goa. Besides, Goa Vidyaprasrak Mandal has established a beautiful dome shaped astronomy observatory at the college premises in Ponda. Goan intellectuals like the Dnyanapeetha award winner Konkani scholar Mr. Ravindra Kelekar and well known Marathi novelist, physicist Dr. Arun Heblekar love astronomy. Mr. Kelekar views the night sky from his vintage refractor telescope at Priol. He published the first book in Konkani on amateur observational astronomy- “Brahmandatale tandav’ in early 80s. This has to be compared with “Nakshtraloka” –a Marathi book by pandit Mahadevshastri Joshi. Shastriji has roots in Sattari. He practiced astrology for some time but then gave it up but compiledvarious archeo-astronomical and puranic myths and legends in his book. IYA-2009 has identified 11 cornerstone projects. One of this is-astronomy and world heritage: universal treasures, which aspires to establish a link between science and culture on the basis of research aimed at acknowledging the cultural and scientific values of properties connected with astronomy. Archeoastronomy is a new field started in the 1960s. It beganwith discoveries atthe megaliths of Stonehenge. Archeoastronomy pays attention to the astronomical practices, mythologies, and religions of ancient cultures. Archeoastronomy has been called the 'anthropology of astronomy' to distinguish it from the history of astronomy. What are Goa’s archeoastronomical traditions?. Where do we start to look for evidence?. We need to start from Goa’s violent geological history. Goa has evolved with the Gondwana supercontinent but sports some of the ancient rocks on Earth-known as trondhjeimitic gnesiss dated to almost three billion years. Was the landmass ofGoa hit by meteorites?. Were there saurians (dinosaurs and other giant reptiles) crawling in Goa?. A few years ago, I received a strange phone call from an engineer in Panaji. He had read my article onGoa’s geological history. He told me that while on a tour to Coorg in Karnataka, he happened to meet an American geologist who showed him a satellite map ofGoa and told him that part ofGoa’s landmass is located within an extinct volcanic/meteoritic crater- a fact which nobody knew. Now Deccan volcanism is an event which happened a long, long time, almost 64-65 millions years ago. The only evidence of volcanic material is the small section of Deccan trap on Goa’s border. Was there a meteoritic hit somewhere in the western ghats, near Sosogad hills?. Because I was handed over a sample ofround glasslike objects-which looked typically like tektites formed after meteoritic impact. The sample was collected by some trekkers from top of the Sosogarh hill in Sattari. I ruled out the possibility of frictional forces of monsoon mountain stream which could shape these round pebbles. There is a large deposit of these presumptive tektites strewn over sosogarh. Could this be an underexplored site of meteoritic impact?. Recently, I came across photographs of tektites found in south east Asia. These are known as Indochinites. Are the round polished glasslike pebbles on Sosogarh-Indochinites-the molten material formed after a meteoritic impact?. Local geologists have no priority to climb up Sosogarh and do a careful survey. The legends behind “swayambhu lingas” are intimately linked to stony iron meteorites. All of a sudden people used to discover pieces of strange rocks embedded in fields. These were considered as ‘Sacred lingas” and came to be worshipped. A piece of Stony iron meteorite must have landed on top of Chandranath mountain. Today it is worshipped as “Chandrashila” or “ Sacred moon rock”. The temple ofLord Chandranath was built over this sacred rock during the period of Bhojas of Chandor. Today it is a famous pilgrimage centre. Near the Vaishnavaite monastery of Partagal, Canacona there is a small crater-known as “Viza bain” (the well created by lightening stroke). The legend has it that the crater was created when a piece of meteorite struck the place violently about 60-70 years ago. As children we were not allowed to go near the crater during early 70s during our visit to the monastery. Interestingly no geologist has ever considered this is an opportunity to investigate the crater and the impact debris. Today the crater has been filled with rubbish. At Calapur, in the segun bairro ward, close to old Panaji-Agacaim road, there is a location called “don fatarankoden”. A cross has been built at this place. You notice two large polished, shining greenish brown rocks near the cross. As a local resident ,when I tried to investigate their origin I was told that people earlier used to call them “noketranchem fator’. Literally translated this means “extraterrestrial rocks”. Owing to veneration of these rocks I could not obtain any sample for petrological studies. But their description matches those of hard stony iron meteorites. There is no stone quarry in this area. Nobody remembers the antiquity of these presumptive iron meteorites. It is a big challenge to prove or disprove their extraterrestrial origins. I was shown similar type of rock near Mandrem beach, close to a local temple. Goa may have many scattered pieces of meteorites but unless a careful hunt is undertaken it is difficult to find them. I strongly believe that the sacred stone, shaped like a lingam worshipped in the sanctum sanctorum of Kudneshwara temple in Sarvona Bicholim could be of meteoritic origin. Interestingly, close to the temple is a flat hillock-called “dhupacho temo’ on which stands a presumptive necropolis. These miniature temples dated to 11 th century erected in dressed lateriteremind us of megalithic traditions and the German indologist Prof. Mitterwalner who catalogued these structures in detail, speculated about their purpose. Goa government excavation efforts did not find any remains. However the layout of the miniature temples could have archeoastronomical significance. One has to take seasonal measurements during equinoxes to prove or disprove this postulate. I would shed light on some more archeoastronomical mysteries encountered in Goa in the second part of this article. Perhaps this information may galvanize young researchers to work more intensively in archeoastronomical heritage of Goa during IYA-2009. Queries regarding IYA-2009 could be sent to me on iya09info@gmail.com. ( to be continued)
Part II
An exclusive for Goa Today, Published in February 2009
The Archaeoastronomical heritage of Goa-II
By
Nandkumar Kamat
It is a happy coincidence. This issue is being published during the bicentenary year of Charles Darwin’s birthday (February 12). Darwin caused a “big bang’ in biology, in 1848 with his theory of evolutionby natural selection and changed our world view of the web of life, its’ origin and diversity. Modern astronomy changed our old concepts of cosmic evolution. Celebrating the two ideas-Darwinian model of biological evolution and big bang model of cosmic evolution in a composite manner would be an intellectual treat for all the scientists. Taken together the two grand celebrations-international year of astronomy and bicentenary year of Darwin need to galvanize us to think deeply about our intellectual evolution. My three years old son Nachiketas is my living anthropological laboratory. When he was just six months old, I used to take him out for a night stroll in our campus which still offers an uncluttered view of the night sky. I used to repeatedly turn his head to facethe silvery disc of the moon in the sky, the twinkling Orion nebula and the miniscule Pleiades constellation-as if I was programming his brain yet to wired synaptically. I found him focusing and guessing at the moon. To see the specks of moonlight reflected from his tiny pupils used to give me some idea about humankind’s innocent but fearful childhood, the obsession of struggling ancestors of my species with those unknown mysterious objects in the sky which they would understand much later. How does the universe communicate with our consciousness?. In the pre-fire age, enveloped by pervasive darkness but bathed under the eerie glow of the galaxy, the shapeless, formless constellations, what primordial thoughts, visions, dreams and nightmares could have filled the minds of our hunter , food gatherer ancestors?. As I observed my son growing and taking giant leaps in evolution-compressing time, rapidly completing phases of mental, intellectual growth which our ancestors had taken thousands of years-it was like watching human evolution with the finger on fast forward button. Today, familiar with pictures, Nachiketasdraws shapes of stars, planets, galaxies and nebulae and easily identifies Sirius, Venus, Moon and Pleiades. I was stunned when I found him repeatingthe same sequence of dots, lines , shapes and symbols-which we often find in global rock art. It was like watching the expression of an undeciphered gene-from which the impulse is born-the subconscious urge to overthrow the hidden neurogenetic memories of long , dark, Paleolithic childhood and swiftly cross over to contemporary reality. The slice ofSun rising between two hills is a common, favourite theme for many children when they learn to draw landscapes. When did archeoastronomy really begin?. If we turn to an authority on the subject Dr. Edwin C. Krupp, his research of 1300 locations across the world could convince us that our ancestors were keen watchers of the sky and they left the records behind-on rocks, bones, ivory, metal, wood. Unfortunately we forgot the evidence because we never acknowledged that it existed. Who were the ‘Saptamatrikas’ –the seven holy goddesses?. Their theogony is derived from our ancestors’ fascination with the constellation of Pleiades- the kritikas.Krupp’s important books- Echoes of the Ancient Skies: the Astronomy of Lost Civilizations (1983), Beyond the Blue Horizon: Myths and Legends of the Sun, Moon, Stars, and Planets (1991), Skywatchers, Shamans & Kings: Astronomy and the Archaeology of Power (1996) leave no doubt that archaeoastronomical traditions need to be taken seriously. Krupp provided a clearcut definition of thethe interdisciplinary field of archeoastronomy as embracing "calendrics; practical observation; sky lore and celestial myth; symbolic representation of celestial objects, concepts, and events; astronomical orientation of tombs, temples, shrines, and urban centers;" and other, similar trappings of culture andsymbolic representation of celestial objects" in rock art. Following Krupps’ footsteps in a humble manner, I started digging deeper into Goa’s archeoastronomical heritage. This subject may need a separate book which I intend to write soon. It would certainly fill a gap in our current knowledge of Indian archaeoastronomical traditions. We need to begin from the Paleolithic period in Goa’s history. I have always found the transition of human societies from Paleolithic to Neolithic period intriguing and fascinating. The transitional period differs from continent to continent but it was humankind’s coming of age. And the most surprising part was the development of an universal consciousness-humans thinkingand dreaming alike, taking the same decisions, having the same visions, confronting the same challenges for survival. We are talking about the twilight before the dawn of the human civilization and a clonal human mind which explains identical forms in global rock art. There appears in global rock art- the first evidence of archeoastronomy- symbols for sun, moon and stars, for constellations like pleaides and Corona borealis. An immense body of scholarly work on Paleolithic rock art has found something very simple- the childlike innocent mind of the developing human brain. Entheogens –consumption of certain psychoactive compounds of plant origin created an altered state of consciousness from which sprang fountains of absolute spirituality. In a trance like condition when the primitive brain looked at Corona borealis-the arc ofstars , known as the northern crown (thisconstellation is found nearly midway between Arcturus and Vega near the first of these stars. From Arcturus move up to Izar (epsilon Bootis) and then east fifteen degrees to alpha CrB)the shape of labyrinth arose. These were known as entoptic (behind the eyes) visions. These visions were superimposed on a medium to create the rock art. We don’t have to go far to find the most ancient archaeoastronomical evidence in Goa-it is carved out there on the site ofa prehistoric riverside nomadic fishing camp of the people of “Kushavati culture” - at Panasaimol, Sanguem (This discovery was reported by the author in the article “Goa’s rock art gallery”in June 1993 issue of this magazine) . It is an entoptic ocular petroglyph of labyrinth (readers may view my uploaded paper by clicking on this weblink- http://www.scribd.com/doc/7458449/Labyrinth-of-GOA-DemystifiedPresentation-made-in-2005-during-history-seminar-Goa-University). This form is strikinglysimilar to the Minoan Cretan labyrinth (Check the weblink-http://www.goa-world.com/goa/magazine/goan_rock_art_news.htm. ). There is, at least so farno archaeological evidence of any Minoan contact or migration to west coast of India. But NIO marine archaeologists claim that they found a Mesopotamian stone anchor in Goa. An undatedquadrangular stone with figure of Greek God of the ocean-Neptune lies partly sunk on the footpath in front of the Cemetry of Sant Inez church. The stone was excavated in 1966-7 from a depth of two metres in silty-sandy soil. This place was once an ancient jetty.Rotten wooden planks of a Greek ship were excavated from the inner courtyard of Mhamai kamat’s house near Panaji’s secretariat in the 70s. A bust of Gautam Buddha’s idol was found in typical Gandhara style among these remains. It was dated to fourth century A.D. The idol came from a wreck of Greek ship in Mandovi. The Minoans worshipped bulls- a form whichinterestingly predominates the bovid zoomorphs at the Kushavati rock art gallery. They used double axe and worshipped symbols like sun disk and serpent. Their religion had a mistress of animals, mistress of harvest, fertility goddess, a protector of cities. However, the only connection between Goa and Mediterranean regionis the arrival of the Dravidian speakers -also known as the Mediterraneans 6-8,000 years ago. They had followed the negritoes and the austrics.Homo erectus populations have been in India for over half a million years. Fossil human remains appear only after 45-50 thousand years agoassociated with middle palaeolithic, or stone age tools. The only connection between the Cretans and the Goans is pastoralism and somewhatstriking physiognomic similarity of Goa’s pastoral tribals-the Goulys/Dhangars to the Greek Shepherds-possibly because of the Caucasoid elements. Only DNA sequencing using special markers would tell us whether we have any Cretan blood in Goa. The fate of the Minoans after a volcanic eruption and invasion by the Mycenaeans is still a mystery. The fate of the sea faring Harappans is also unknown after the massive earthquake of 1400 BC. There is more to the labyrinth. The constellation of the Northern Crown is associated with Minoan ritual dance in which the dancers try to find the way out from the Labyrinth. Classical Greek authors tell us that Daedalus had made a dance floor for Ariadne in Cnossos. It was decorated with with labyrinthine pattern, on the lines ofthe Egyptian Labyrinth. The Cnossioan coins also emphasize the astral character ofthe labyrinth. Besides the Goan labyrinth , there are cup marks or cupules which are thought to have archaeoastronomical importance. Their patterns would have to be compared to constellations visible from the Kushavati river bank. There are single cupules and cupules arranged in oval or elliptical patterns. Such patterns have been studied in the American rock art. Ancient Goans must have also practiced geomancy or divination with earth. We need to explore folk toponymy or the naming of places, routes, locations considered as sacred to explore the geomancing traditions. Two foothills in the western ghats ofSanguem, Goa are named as“chand-surya” or the “lunar and solar” hills. We have probably lost the knowledge of the ancient pre-portuguese locations used as solstice points and observatories. But I am sure that one such ancient observatory was located near the old temple of Mhalsa at Verna and also at the ‘Saibinicho dongor’/ the breathtaking Cansaulim hillock where the feast of three kings is celebrated . An ancient monolithicsun dial was foundamong the archaeological remains at Verna. In the next article, We shall mainly see the archaeoastronomical connection of Goa’s cult of Saptamatrika worship to constellation of pleaides/Krittika and also the impact of sighting of the massive supernova explosion of July 1054 A.D. resulting in theCrab nebula which has a neutron star at center. How did the newly established regime of Goa Kadambas react to this cosmic event? Could the Goans miss what the Chinese could see?. I would try to seek some answers.(to be continued).
