Identification Of Poisonous And Non Poisonous Snake

Identification Of Poisonous And Non Poisonous Snake INTRODUCTION Snakes are one of the most interesting reptilian creatures of earth. They are interesting as for the purpose of study as well as research and that is so because of the one character they possess in them and that is there Poison which is called by the name of Venom. Unlike all reptile snakes are poisonous but not all of them. A few species among them failed to obtain that character. This venom act as both useful weapon as well as defense shield against its pray and enemy. The snake venom is a hazardous protein and characterized by very complex compositions. It is slimy egg-like viscous liquid having slightly fishy smell. It is the complex set of harmful toxicants as well as proteins. Other than toxicants and proteins the snake venom contains several peptides, amino acids, carbohydrates, lipids, nucleosides, biological amines and metal ions, which make it even more complex than other normal proteins. Venom contains more than 20 kinds of enzymes and toxins, but the main ingredients of the venom are toxic proteins. The toxic component present in snake venom varies according to the snake species or even the venom secreted by the same snake in different season may also vary. This changes the characteristic of different snake venom and decides its role in pharmacological, toxicological and medical field. Snake venom mainly consists of neurotoxins, cardiotoxins, toxins that cause blood clotting, bleeding toxins (that stops the blood clotting and blood remains to flow continuously even after injury), harmful enzymes and other major components. The cytotoxic venom is more effective than the neurotoxic type venom, and it will work almost immediately to the prey such as the mouse and frogs. Although the snakes are very calm and hideous animals (except a few ones) yet mortality rate associated with the snakebites is a serious public health problem in almost all the region of the world, especially in rural areas where medical facilities are low or absent. In India, majority of bites and mortality are due to King cobra, Naja naja, Daboia Russelli Russells viper, Bangarus caeruleus (common krait) and Echis carinatus (saw-scaled viper). [1.1] Frequency of snake bite About 35,000 to 50,000 people reportedly die of snake bite in India every year; however, the unreported cases may be more in rural India. Estimated snake bites and (death) cases were reported as 25,000(30) in Europe; 6 20,000(100) in Middle East; 45,000(15) in USA and Canada; 3,00,000( 5,000) in Central and South America; 10,00,000(20,000) in Africa; 40,00,000 (1,00,000) in Asia; 10,000 (200) in Oceania all total worldwide 5 million ( 1,25,000). Death incidence due to snake bite is rather rare in Australia, Europe and North America but frequent in South Asia, South-East Asia and Sub-Sahar an Africa. In Zimbabwe on 274 cases studied, 4 out of 5 3, 6, 7 children died who are under 8 years old. [1.2] Identification of poisonous and non-poisonous snake (source:www.buzzle.com//venomous-snake-identification-identifying-poisonous-snakes.html) Poisonous snakes generally possess the characters like Vertically elliptical shaped cat like pupil. A small depression (termed pit) between the eyes and nostrils. Triangle shaped head e.g. Copperheads and rattle snakes, exception- Elapids. Underside scales of tail go completely all the way across in a single row from the anal plate; the very tip of the tail may possess two scale rows. Head and body both are seen during swimming time. Generally of multiple colors. In contrast, non-poisonous snakes generally possess the characters like: Round pupil in the center of eye. U shaped head. Two rows of scales from the vent to the tail end. Only head is seen during swimming time. Generally of one color. Mostly stripes are from head to tail. [1.3] Utility of Snake Venom Snake venoms are used to control heart diseases, high blood pressure, cancer (contortrostain produced by Agkistrodon contortrix- is cytostatic in nature and found to lower the growth rate of breast cancer in mice), tumor, polio, neurological disorders (enzymes from cobra venom were found to cure Parkinson s and Alzheimers diseases), excessive bleeding (a blood clotting protein in Taipan venom stop bleeding during surgery or after major trauma), blood clotting (ancrod obtained from Malyan pit viper, used to develop angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitors to treat stroke victims), severe allergies amongst others. Other interesting areas of snake venom include the treatment of viruses (as venom contain phospholipidases which break down cell membrane), aging and some are even used in commercial wrinkle cream! [1.4] Phospholipase-A2 Phospholipase A2 is one of the most intensively studied membrane proteins which hydrolyze phospholipids at the sn-2 position to form fatty acid and lysophospholipid products. These are small proteins and the 3-D structures are known to high resolution for several species. Phospholipase A2 proteins are of high pharmaceutical concern since they are responsible for the release of arachidonic acid from membranes, and since the subsequent conversion of this fatty acid to leukotrienes and prostaglandins is part of the inflammatory response. The enzyme also shows very interesting interactions with the membrane on which it binds. It is activated in some way when it interacts with aggregated forms of the substrate, such as in micelles or in bilayers. Electrostatic and hydrophobic interactions are suspected to be involved in the binding of the enzyme to the membrane. Very little is known of the enzyme-membrane complex structure and why the enzyme reacts much more efficiently once it binds its substrates in an aggregated form. The phospholipid molecule consists of a glycerol-3-phosphate (blue colour) esterified at its sn-1 and sn-2 positions to non-polar fatty acids (R1 and R2, respectively) and at its phosphoryl group to a polar head group, X. Phospholipase A1 and phospholipase A2 cleave the acyl ester bonds at sn-1 and sn-2, respectively. Phospholipase C cleaves the glycerophosphate bond whereas phospholipase D removes the head group, X. PLA, phospholipase A; PLC, phospholipase C; PLD, phospholipase D. Phospholipases2.png Fig-1.1: Phospholipase A2 Structure [1.5] Phospholipase-A2 (PLA2) Activity After entering inside the body of human being venom containing PLA2 enzyme start affecting the cell membranes of almost all the cell organelles. Since cell organelles containing cell membrane are made up of phospholipids, hence this this phospholipids act as a reactant for phospholipase a2 and start reacting with it. This phospholipase a2 tends to form arachidonic acid which has an inflammatory sensation and this arachidonic acid further converted into PGG2 by using cyclooxygenases. This PGG2 further transcribed into PGH2 which forms 3 basic compounds PGD2, PGF2, and PGE2. On the basis of the ester bond that is cleaved within a phospholipid molecule, phospholipases are grouped into four families, namely A, B, C and D. Phospholipase A enzymes cleave the acyl ester bond at either the sn-1 (phospholipase A1) or sn-2 (phospholipase A2) position (Figure 1). The Whoterm phospholipase B is given to phospholipases that hydrolyze acyl ester bonds at both sn-1 and sn-2 positions. Enzymes grouped under phospholipase C cleave the glycerophosphate bond, while phospholipase D enzymes remove the polar head group. C:UsersAMITDesktopFINAL PROJECTicb200456f1.gif Fig-1.2:Activity Chain of Phospholipase A2 inside Cell Membrane Phospholipase A2 is being suppressed by Lipocortins which is also known as Annexin. In human Annexin the common cellular protein is found inside the cell. However outside the cell the annexin is also found inside the blood because they are transported out of the cell into the blood. This is because of the lack of a signal peptide necessary for protein to be transported out of the cell. Since there are different dataset had been already prepared but could not found the IC50 value, due to which the working on this dataset could not be carried out further. [1.6] Quantitative Structure Analysis Relationship (QSAR) QSAR plays an important role in lead structure optimization and it can be predicted that QSAR method will become essential for handling the huge amount of data associated with combinatorial chemistry. 3D-QSAR has already been successfully applied to many data sets of enzyme and receptor ligands. The biological activity of molecules is usually measured in assays to establish the level of inhibition of particular signal transduction or metabolic pathways. Chemicals can also be biologically active by being toxic. Drug discovery often involves the use of QSAR to identify chemical structures that could have good inhibitory effects on specific targets and have low toxicity (non-specific activity). Of special interest is the prediction of Log P, which is an important measure used in identifying drug-likeness according to Lipinskis Rule of Five. While many Quantitative Structure Activity Relationship analyses [9] involve the interactions of a family of molecules with an enzyme or receptor bi nding site, QSAR can also be used to study the interactions between the structural domains of proteins. As in the article Structural modeling extends QSAR analysis of antibody-lysozyme interactions to 3D-QSAR, protein-protein interactions can be quantitatively analyzed for structural variations resulted from site-directed mutagenesis. In this study, a wild-type antibody specific for lysozyme and 17 single and double mutants of the antibody were investigated. Quantitative models for the affinity of the antibody-antigen interaction were developed. [1.6.1] 3D-QSAR The 3D-QSAR methods have been developed to improve the prediction accuracies of 2D methods. 3D methods are computationally more complex and demanding than 2D approaches. In general, there are two families of 3D-QSAR methods: alignment-dependent methods and alignment-independent methods. Both families need experimentally or computationally derived bioactive conformations of ligands as templates for studies. QSAR study revealed that alignment- independent descriptor and distance- based topology index are the most important descriptor in predicting apoptosis- inducing activity. 3D-QSAR study was performed using k-nearest neighbor molecular field analysis (kNN-MFA) approach for both electrostatic and steric fields. Three different kNN-MFA 3D- QSAR methods (SW-FB, SA, and GA) were used for the development of models and tested successfully for internal (q2>0.62) and external (predictive r2> 0.52) validation criteria. Thus, 3D- [1.7] Objectives To retrieve the three- dimensional coordinates of protein and known active molecules against phospholipase-A2. To generate significant three-dimensional Quantitative Structure Activity Relationship model from active molecules. To analyze protein-ligand interaction of known actives against phospholipase-A2 molecular docking studies. To identify important scaffold of compound and their structural modification with helps in designing new molecules with improve activities.

Macbeth...Tragic Hero? Essays -- essays research papers

Macbeth is a butcher.† Discuss this statement exploring the ideas of Macbeth as a tragic hero and that the murder may or may not be entirely his fault. In your answer consider the role of the witches, Lady Macbeth, Macbeth’s indecision and his fatal flaw, ambition. You must support your answer with specific reference to and quotes from the play. The play, â€Å"Macbeth† by Shakespeare is entirely focused on the main character, Macbeth. In this play there are many complex themes and symbols that ties in with Macbeth’s character. One particular debate is on whether Macbeth’s a tragic hero or a â€Å"butcher†. This is a particularly difficult topic to discuss as Macbeth’s character constantly fluctuates as the play progresses. Despite many actions taken by Macbeth are seen as tyrannical and evil, he is nevertheless a typical Shakespearean hero. He is courageous, sympathetic, trapped by his own imagination and guilt, has a weakness that leads to his downfall and is driven by forces beyond his control. Macbeth embodies all the characteristics of a tragic hero. At the beginning of the play, Macbeth is seen as a â€Å"brave†, â€Å"noble† and â€Å"valiant† man. He was described as â€Å"Bellona’s bridegroom† (ACT 1 SCENE 2) He fought hard in the battle for Duncan and has earned many people’s respect. He was seen as a hero. Later on, he meets the three witches who hail Macbeth as the â€Å"Thane of Glamis† whom he is at the present, â€Å"Thane of Cawdor† and â€Å"who shall be king thereafter† (ACT 1 SCENE 3). Macbet...

Taj Mahal

128 ebba koch EBBA KOCH THE TAJ MAHAL: ARCHITECTURE, SYMBOLISM, AND URBAN SIGNIFICANCE Much has been written on the Taj Mahal, but little has been said about its architecture. There has been only one interpretation of the symbolism of the mausoleum,1 and the urban situation of the monument in the city of Agra has been almost entirely neglected. In brief form, this essay presents the main results of a recently completed monograph in which I address these issues. 2 The Taj Mahal is the Mughals’ great contribution to world architecture, and, as the contemporary sources reveal, it was conceived as such from the very beginning (? . 1). In the words of Shah Jahan’s early historian Muhammad Amin Qazwini, writing in the 1630s: And a dome of high foundation and a building of great magni? cence was founded—a similar and equal to it the eye of the Age has not seen under these nine vaults of the enamel-blue sky, and of anything resembling it the ear of Time has not heard in any of the past ages†¦it will be the masterpiece of the days to come, and that which adds to the astonishment of humanity at large. 3 Not only was the monument to be a magni? cent burial place for Mumtaz Mahal, Shah Jahan’s beloved wife (d. 631), but also—and this is explicitly pointed out by the emperor’s main historian {Abd al-Hamid Lahawri—it was to testify to the power and glory of Shah Jahan (r. 1628–58) and Mughal rule: They laid the plan for a magni? cent building and a dome of high foundation which for its loftiness will until the Day of Resurrection remain a memorial to the sky-reaching ambition of His Majesty, the Sahib Qiran-Thani (Second Lord of the Auspicious Conjunction of the Planets Jupiter and Venus), and its strength will represent the ? rmness of the intentions of its builder. In other words, the Taj Mahal was built with posterity in mind, and we the viewers are part of its concept. I came to study the Taj Mahal in the conte xt of a survey of the palaces and gardens of Shah Jahan that I have been conducting since 1976 as part of a larger survey of Mughal architecture. With the assistance of Dr. Yunus Jaffery from Dr. Zakir Hussain College in Delhi,5 I have established from the Persian sources a corpus of thirty-? ve Shahjahani palaces (sing. dawlatkh? na) and garden residences (sing. b? gh), of which twenty-four proved upon ? ld investigation to exist in varying sizes and states of preservation. In the whole of Islamic architecture, this is the largest extant body of palaces built by a single patron. Entirely new measured drawings of seventeen palaces were prepared by the Indian architect Richard A. Barraud, who drew them on the basis of measurements he and I made during extensive ? eldwork,6 which I undertook because many of these complexes are hardly or not at all recorded. Altogether, Mughal architecture, like the Islamic architecture of India in general, is not well documented.The art historian cann ot rely on measured drawings to the same extent possible for the better-documented areas of Islamic architecture or for Western historical architecture in general. The pioneering surveys of the Archaeological Survey of India from the end of the nineteenth and the ? rst half of the twentieth centuries included several Mughal sites, but only a few—such as the monographs of Edmund W. Smith on Fatehpur Sikri and on Akbar’s Tomb at Sikandra—were published. 7 More often than not, when one wants to have an exact plan of a building one has to go and measure it.On the other hand, while establishing this basic documentation, the art historian is confronted by all the questions the discipline has developed in the span of its existence, during which the approach has moved from formal assessment and analysis towards contextual studies. I began my survey of the palaces at Agra and, during the 1980s, spent months in the Red Fort, measuring and photographing its buildings. From here the Taj Mahal was always before my eyes at a distance across the river Yamuna, popularly called Jamna (? g. 2), and one of these views eventually became the cover image of my book Mughal Architecture (1991), in which he taj mahal: architecture, symbolism, and urban signi? cance 129 Fig. 1. Agra, Taj Mahal (1632–43), mausoleum and flanking buildings seen from the upper level of the gate. (Photo: Ebba Koch, 1996) I dealt with the Taj Mahal for the ? rst time, albeit only brie? y. 8 I felt overwhelmed by its perfection, splendor, and sheer size. Eventually I realized that as a scholar I was not alone in my awe of the famous building. The vast literature on the Taj Mahal comprises surprisingly few serious scholarly studies and, as I pointed out at the beginning, there is as yet no monograph or modern analytical treatise dedicated to its architecture. At the same time I came to realize that many answers to my questions about Shah Jahan’s palaces and gardens lay in the Taj Mahal as the ultimate project of his architectural patronage. The ? nal incentive to study it in detail came in 1994, when the editors of the second edition of the Encyclopaedia of Islam asked me to write the article on the building. 10 This started my project of newly documenting and analyzing the entire mausoleum complex; I am the ? rst Western scholar since India gained independence in 1947 to have received permission for such an undertaking, through the generosity of the Archaeological Sur- ey of India. With Richard Barraud I have been measuring and photographing the buildings of the complex in intermittent expeditions during the last ten years. 11 The survey has brought me into the remotest corners of the Taj Mahal, and this close encounter with the architecture has revealed the contribution of the anonymous workmen who inscribed their mason marks on the stones. 12 I began my analysis by looking at the entire complex of the Taj Mahal and at its urban situation. I could not help noticing that the Taj Mahal invites an approach that coincides with what since the 1970s might be termed a â€Å"deconstructive reading. According to Jaques Derrida, the main propagator of this method of disassembling and questioning established notions, all Western thought is based on the idea of centers—Origin, Truth, Ideal Form, Fixed Point, Immovable Mover, Essence, God, and Presence—that guarantee all meaning. The problem with these centers is that they attempt to exclude. In doing so they ignore, repress, or marginalize others. 13 Even those 130 ebba koch Fig. 2. Taj Mahal, mausoleum flanked by mosque (right) and Mihman Khana (left), seen across the river Jamna. (Photo: Ebba Koch, 1985) ho are tiring of deconstruction will see that the idea of center-and-margin illustrates the perception of the Taj too tellingly not to be included in this discussion. Traditionally, the white building of the mausoleum takes the position of the center in the conception of th e beholder, who hardly notices the large complex at the end of which it stands. Due to the prominence of the tomb, its surrounding architecture has received very little attention—in other words, it has been marginalized. It thus seems important ? rst to consider the entire complex, especially its subsidiary courtyards, which emerge as integral components of its design.In addition, I have extended the investigation of the surroundings of the Taj to its larger environment, to its relationship to the city of Agra. ANALYSIS OF THE COMPLEX The mausoleum is set at the northern end of the main axis of a vast oblong walled-in complex that mea- sures 896. 10 x 300. 84 m (? g. 3), which works out to 1112. 5 x 374 Shahjahani gaz. Of this complex, the tomb garden and its forecourt are fully preserved; we measured it as 561. 20 x 300. 84 (300) m, that is, 696 x 374 (373) gaz (? g. 4). 14 The Shahjahani linear yard, called gaz or zir? , corresponds to about 81–82 cm, or 32 inches; o ur ? eld studies have shown that it was not an exact unit but a relative, proportionally used one, the length of which could vary slightly, even within one and the same building complex. For the overall length of the Taj complex, the average gaz ? gure comes to 80. 55 cm. The tomb garden consists of two main components: a cross-axial, four-fold garden—in the form of a classical ch? rb? gh (? g. 3: B)—and, towards the river, a raised terrace on which are placed the mausoleum and its ? anking buildings (? g. 3: A).In this, the Taj Mahal garden follows the form of the typical garden of Mughal Agra, the waterfront garden. As I have shown elsewhere, this is a speci? c form of the ch? rb? gh developed by the Mughals in response to the the taj mahal: architecture, symbolism, and urban signi? cance geographic conditions of the Indo-Gangetic plain, and more speci? cally for the riverfront situation at Agra. Here the water source was not a lively spring on a mountain slope, as i n the Mughals’ native Central Asia, but a large, slow-? owing river, from which the desired running water had to be brought into the garden by means of water lifts.Accordingly, the Mughals conceived a garden type to take advantage of this waterfront situation; the main building was not placed in the center of the garden, as in the classical Mughal ch? rb? gh, but rather on an oblong terrace (kurs? ) running along the riverfront. The garden component was on the landward side of the terrace. This shift towards the riverfront provided the main garden pavilions with the climatic advantages of running water and presented a carefully composed front to viewers on a boat or across the river (? g. 2). From the garden itself, the buildings presented an equally satisfying backdrop (? . 1). 15 URBAN CONTEXT Mughal Agra consisted of two bands of such riverfront gardens lining the Jamna, of which only a few survive today. The key to my reconstruction of this riverfront scheme, which formed the urban context of the Taj, is a plan of Agra dating from the 1720s, in the Maharaja Sawai Man Singh II Museum in the City Palace in Jaipur; to my knowledge it is the earliest plan of the city (? g. 5). 16 It shows forty-four garden complexes (including the Agra Fort) along the river and gives their names, which are usually those of their owners, in Devanagari script. 7 Information about these gardens can also be pieced together from the Mughal histories and eulogistic descriptions of Agra, in which gardens of members of the imperial family and of nobles are occasionally mentioned, especially in the context of an imperial visit. Another source is topographical descriptions of Agra written in Persian by local informants for British administrators after the British took Agra in 1803. In his Tafr? h al-{im? r? t (1825–26), Sil Chand describes the gardens of Agra by the same names as feature on the Jaipur plan. 8 The main owners of the riverfront gardens of Agra were the emper ors Shah Jahan and Aurangzeb, members of their imperial family, and their nobility the amirs and man? abd? rs. Even Mumtaz Mahal had a garden at Agra, which she bequeathed to her daughter Jahanara; what is left of this Bagh-i Jahanara is now known by the corrupted name Zahara Bagh and lies south of the 131 Ram Bagh, originally Nur Jahan’s Bagh-i Nur Afshan (? g. 5: 3 and 4; ? g. 6). 19 The evidence indicates that most of these gardens followed the riverfront design, with the main building on a terrace overlooking the river and a ch? rb? gh on the landward side. 0 ANALYSIS OF THE COMPLEX RESUMED The design of the Taj garden thus introduces an established Mughal residential garden type into the context of a monumental imperial mausoleum. The waterfront scheme not only determines the shape of the funerary garden of the Taj, it is also a key element in the planning of the entire Taj complex. At the part of it to the south of the garden is a large rectangle (? g. 3: C) whose centr al square forms the Taj forecourt, called jilawkh? na by Shah Jahan’s chroniclers, the of? cially appointed court historian {Abd al-Hamid Lahawri and Muhammad Salih Kanbu, who wrote on his own account.Both provide us with almost identical detailed descriptions of the entire Taj Mahal complex, on the occasion of its of? cial completion on 17 Dhu ’l-Qa{da 1052 (February 6, 1643). 21 Both historians are remarkably consistent in their use of architectural terms; I follow their terminology. The jilawkh? na square (? g. 3: 11) is framed on both of its shorter sides by two smaller courtyard enclosures. An open bazaar street (? g. 3: 12a, 12b) divides these courtyards and provides the main access to the jilawkh? na and, beyond that, through a monumental gateway (? g. 3: 9), to the tomb garden.The northern pair of courtyards contained the residential quarters for the tomb attendants, the khaw p? ras (? g. 3: 10a, 10b). The southern pair contained subsidiary tomb gardens of less er wives of Shah Jahan, whose identity is still under debate (? g. 3: 13a, 13b). These tomb enclosures echoed the design of the main tomb garden on a smaller scale because they followed the characteristic waterfront scheme of a cross-axial ch? rb? gh combined with an oblong terrace on which stood the tomb structure and its ? anking buildings. (These buildings, with one exception, are no longer preserved. On the outside of the Taj complex are three buildings, two to the west (? g. 3: 20, 21) and one to the east; the latter represents another subsidiary tomb complex of this type (? g. 3: 13c). The waterfront scheme is thus transferred to a landlocked situation in these miniature replicas of the main garden. Not only that, but the waterfront garden is also used as the ordering scheme for the entire sub- 132 ebba koch Fig. 3. Site plan of the Taj Mahal with terms derived from the Persian descriptions by Lahawri and Kanbu of 1643: A. riverfront terrace (kurs? ), B. tomb garden (b? gh), C . omplex of the forecourt (jilawkh? na), D. complex with cross-shaped (ch? r s? ) bazaar and four caravanserais (sar? }? ), 1. mausoleum (raw ¬a), 2. mosque (masjid), 3. assembly hall (mihm? n kh? na), 4a–f. wall towers (burj), 5. pool (haw ¬), 6. first temporary burial site of Mumtaz Mahal, 7a, b. garden wall pavilions ({im? rat) popularly called Naubat Khana (Drum House), 8. double arcaded galleries to the south of the garden (? w? n dar ? w? n), 9. gate (darw? za), 10a, b. quarters for tomb attendants (khaw p? ra), 11. forecourt (jilawkh? na), 12a–f. bazaar streets (b? z? r), 13a–c. ubsidiary tombs (maqbara) all popularly called Saheli Burj (Tower of the Female Friend), 14. gates (darw? za): 14a. popularly called Fatehpuri Gate, 14b. popularly called Fatehabad Gate, 15. gate (darw? za) popularly called Sirhi Darwaza, 16. caravan> the taj mahal: architecture, symbolism, and urban signi? cance 133 Fig. 4. Plan of the preserved complex. (Drawing: Richard A. Barraud and Ebba Koch) serai (sar? }? ) known since the eighteenth century as: 16a Katra (Market) Omar Khan, 16b. Katra Fulel (Market of Perfumes), 16c. Katra Resham (Silk Market), 16d. Katra Jogidas, 17. entral square (chawk), 18a, b. west and east gates of the bazaar and caravanserai complex, 19. south gate of the bazaar and caravanserai complex popularly called Dakhnay Darwaza, 20. outer western tomb, 21. mosque popularly called Fatehpuri Masjid. (Drawing: Richard A. Barraud and Ebba Koch) 134 ebba koch Fig. 5. Plan of Agra, drawn with added numbering after a plan painted on cloth datable to the 1720s, 294 x 272 cm, in the Maharaja Sawai Man Singh II Museum, City Palace, Jaipur (cat. no. 126): 3. Ram Bagh (Bagh-i Nur Afshan), 4. Zahara Bagh (Bagh-i Jahanara), 9. Tomb of I{timad al-Dawla, 17.Mahtab Bagh, 20. Taj Mahal, 28. Agra Fort. (Drawing: Richard A. Barraud and Ebba Koch) sidiary complex of the Taj. In order to understand the complete design, we must turn to contemporary desc ription and look at eighteenth- and nineteenthcentury plans (compare ? gs. 3 and 7). 22 From these it becomes apparent that south of the jilawkh? na there was another courtyard complex with a cross-axial arrangement (? g. 3: D). It was formed by open, intersecting bazaar streets (? g. 3: 12c, 12d, 12e, 12f), which corresponded to the walkways of the garden, and four squarish sar? }? , that is, caravanserais or inns (? g. 3: 16a, 16b, 16c, 16d), taking the place of the four gar- den plots. We meet here with a unique and highly creative transfer of a ch? rb? gh design onto a complex of utilitarian civic architecture. Hence the con? guration of the rectangular unit containing the jilawkh? na and the cross-axial unit to its south echoed the waterfront scheme of the Taj garden. The entire complex of the Taj Mahal thus consisted formally of two units following the waterfront design—that of the Taj garden, a true waterfront garden, and that of the landlocked variant of the subsidiar y units.The tomb garden and the subsidiary complex were the taj mahal: architecture, symbolism, and urban signi? cance 135 Fig. 6. Plan of preserved and reconstructible building substance of the so-called Zahara Bagh, identified as Bagh-i Jahanara (late 1620s to 1630s), Agra. (Drawing: Richard A. Barraud and Ebba Koch) connected not only formally but also functionally. The utilitarian unit serviced the funerary unit of the tomb garden. By imperial command the upkeep of the tomb was ? nanced by the income generated from the bazaars and caravanserais, in addition to that of thirty villages from the district of Agra. 3 The service unit was the counterpart (qar? na)24 of the tomb complex, linked to it by design and function. The two zones, the funerary and the â€Å"wordly,† relate also to the dialectics of the Islamic concept of d? n waduny? }, the domains of the spiritual and the material life. 25 Furthermore, the addition to the mausoleum complex of quarters for merchants and foreign travelers ensured â€Å"that the whole world should see and admire its magni? cence,† in the words of the French jeweler and traveler Jean-Baptiste Tavernier, who was in Agra in 1640–41, and again in 1665. 6 Its reception through world travelers—jah? n-naward? n or rawandah? – 136 ebba koch yi {? lam, as the Mughals called them27—thus forms an integral part of the concept of the Taj Mahal. Of this two-part service unit, the southern cross-axial component is the great mystery of the Taj Mahal: we do not really know how much of it survives. Hardly anybody who walks through the southern gate of the jilawkh? na (? g. 3: 15) and enters the narrow street with the marble inlay workshops realizes that this area, known as the Taj Ganj, was originally part of the Taj complex.Here a densely built city quarter has grown up in which the architecture of Shah Jahan has been buried almost entirely; today one can make out only fragments of the wings of the original bazaars and caravanserais. The four gates of the central square or chawk are preserved (although two only in part) and protected by the Archaeological Survey of India (? g. 8). The Taj Ganj is, however, an integral part of the Taj Mahal, an indispensable component of its planning. It has been lost, but there is no doubt that it should be given back to the Taj by some means.I am planning to do this in the form of an architectural model that will reconstruct the entire complex of the Taj Mahal, the River Jamna, and the imperial garden called Mahtab Bagh on the opposite side of the river. The model will enable visitors to understand that the Taj is unique not only because of the grandness of the tomb building but also because of the carefully planned creative design, the scale, and the multifunctional complexity of the entire compound. It will also draw attention to the Taj Mahal as a constituent part of the urban scheme of Agra.I envisage placing the model in the new Visitors ’ Center at the Taj Mahal, in the eastern and western courtyards of the khaw p? ras (? g. 9), today called, respectively, Fatehabad Gate Court and Fatehpuri Gate Court. The Taj Mahal Visitors’ Center is part of a new initiative for â€Å"the conservation and restoration†¦of the Taj Mahal and surrounding areas and a new site visitor management,† realized since 2001 in a partnership between the Indian government, represented by the Archaeological Survey of India, and the private sector—the Indian Hotels Company Ltd. that is, the Tata Group of Hotels. The project is monitored by the Taj Mahal Conservation Collaborative, directed by the conservation architect Rahul Mehrotra and by Amita Baig, and advised by a body of global experts of which I am part. 28 Fig. 7. Plan of the entire Taj Mahal complex with designations of the main buildings in Persian, late eighteenth or early nineteenth century, Museum fur Indische Kunst, Berlin, MIK 10060. the taj mahal: architecture, symbolism, and urban signi? cance 137 Fig. 8. Taj Mahal, bazaar and caravanserai complex (fig. : D), gate of the central chawk (square) leading to the northeastern caravanserai today called Katra Fulel (fig. 3: 16b). The area is now built in and over by the city quarter Taj Ganj; in the background can be seen the gate of the Taj Mahal garden, behind it part of the mausoleum, and to the right the Mihman Khana. (Photo: Ebba Koch, 1999) THE TAJ AS BUILT ARCHITECTURAL THEORY The reconstruction of the original complex of the Taj establishes the determinant role of the waterfront garden in its planning.The complex of the Taj Mahal not only explores the potential of the waterfront garden as an ideal funerary and a utilitarian worldly form, it also expresses canonically the architectural principles of the period. We have no texts to turn to because the Mughals had no written architectural theory, and one wonders to what extent they were affected by the ancient Shastric traditi on of building theory. The Sanskrit texts translated in an extensive program under Akbar did not include the outstanding Indian genre of art and architectural theory, the shilpa sh? stras and v? st? sh? tras, respectively; theorizing about art was not a Mughal literary preoccupation. True, it was hardly a major theme elsewhere in the Islamic world, but one would have expected the Mughals to become interested in the ancient Indian textual tradition of art theory, all the more since, like the Muslim dynasties in India before them, they continued to absorb Indian artistic conventions into their art and architecture, and even newly revived them. However, the fact that no texts exist does not mean that architectural theory was absent from Mughal thinking, especially in the time of Shah Jahan.My investigations have shown that theory was laid down in the architecture itself. As in painting—and I have tried to establish this for the historical images illustrating Shah Jahan’s history, the P? dsh? hn? ma29—the ruler’s buildings and formal gardens express these concepts so systematically that we can derive them from their form itself. The Taj is 138 ebba koch Fig. 9. Taj Mahal, view from the roof level of the gate towards southeast onto the khaw p? ra (quarter of attendants) now called Fatehabad Gate Courtyard (fig. 3: 10b) and the subsidiary tomb to the east of the jilawkh? na (fig. 3: 13b). Photo: Ebba Koch, 1995) â€Å"built architectural theory,† which can be read almost like a literary text once we have mastered the grammar and vocabulary of the architectural language. The buildings speak to us â€Å"with mute eloquence† (bazab? n b? zab? n? ), as Lahawri puts it. 30 We note here the purest expression of a consistent formal systematization characteristic of the entire art of Shah Jahan; it represents a distinctive and outstanding contribution speci? c to this period. The principles of Shahjahani architecture, which interact closely with one another, can be identi? ed as follows: 1. Geometrical planning. . Symmetry. Favored in particular is bilateral symmetry, for which we even have a term in contemporary descriptions of buildings, namely, qar? na,31 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. an Arabic word that expresses the notion of pairing and counterparts but also of integration, thus ? tting conceptually into the ideas of universal harmony that played a great role in the imperial ideology of Shah Jahan. In a typical Shahjahani qar? na scheme, two symmetrical features, one mirroring the other, are arranged on both sides of a central, dominant feature. Hierarchy. This is the overriding principle, which governs all the others.Proportional formulas expressed in triadic divisions. Uniformity of shapes, ordered by hierarchical accents. Sensuous attention to detail. Selective use of naturalism. Symbolism. the taj mahal: architecture, symbolism, and urban signi? cance 139 Fig. 10. Agra Fort, courtyard now called Machchhi Bhawan, originally the â€Å"Ground Floor Courtyard of the Hall of Private Audiences† (Dawlat Khana-i Khass), south wing with marble baldachin for Shah Jahan’s throne, 1630s (Photo: Ebba Koch, 1980) A palace wing of the so-called Machchhi Bhawan (1630s) in the Agra fort illustrates these principles very clearly (? . 10). The wing consists of uniformly shaped arcades with a hierarchical accent in the center, in the form of the emperor’s marble baldachin. The central feature and the identical arcades on both sides express in a triadic division bilateral symmetry, or qar? na. The baldachin attains its hierarchical accentuation by the use of nobler material—namely, white marble—and with selective naturalism: it is formed of organic baluster columns, decorated with naturalistically sculpted acanthus leaves that also appear in stucco as decoration of the interior cupola.These elements are shaped with sensuous attention to detail and are in stark contrast to the plainer arcades of the wings. The organic plant forms of the baldachin symbolize the emperor, whose throne stood below it, as the generator of blossoming and wellbeing. 32 This is underlined by the pot with over? owing leaves out of which grows each of the four columns—a p? r? a ghata or p? r? a kalasha, in Indian architecture an ancient symbol of growth, fecundity, and prosperity (? g. 11). 33 This example is meant to suggest that the same principles govern the entire architecture of Shah Jahan— palaces, gardens, mosques, and mausoleums.They are, however, expressed most grandly and most consistently in the Taj Mahal, whose architecture epitomizes the Shahjahani system. THE PRINCIPLES OF SHAHJAHANI ARCHITECTURE AS EXPRESSED IN THE TAJ MAHAL First, a rational and strict geometry is ensured by the use of grid systems based on the Shahjahani gaz. Different modules are used for the garden and the subsidiary 140 ebba koch gate (darw? za) to the garden (? g. 3: 9), the fore court (jilawkh? na) (? g. 3: 11) and its southern gate (? g. 3: 15), the square (chawk) (? g. 3: 17), and the southern gate of the bazaar and caravanserai complex (? g. : 19). These elements are ? anked on both sides by pairs of identical buildings: the mosque (masjid) (? g. 3: 2) and the assembly hall (mihm? n kh? na) (? g. 3: 3), two garden wall pavilions (cim? rat), now called Naubat Khana (? g. 3: 7a, 7b), and, to accentuate the corners of the enclosure wall and the terrace step, three pairs of tower pavilions (burj) (? g. 3: 4a, 4b, 4c, 4d, 4e, 4f). The elements of the subsidiary unit (? g. 3: C, D) are arranged in the same mirror symmetry. Integrated into the overall qar? na symmetry are centrally planned elements, namely the four-part garden (b? gh) (? g. : B), the four-part bazaar-and-caravanserai complex (? g. 3: D), the miniature ch? rb? ghs of the subsidiary tombs (? g. 3: 13a, 13b); the individual buildings of the mausoleum (? g. 3: 1) and gate (? g. 3: 9) are raised ove r central plans (compare ? gs. 3 and 4). Each element plays an indispensable part in the composition; if just one part were missing, the balance of the entire composition would be destroyed. Bilateral symmetry dominated by a central accent has generally been recognized as an ordering principle of the architecture of rulers aiming at absolute power—a symbol of the ruling force that brings about balance and harmony.For Earl E. Rosenthal, this is expressed in the palace built into the Alhambra in Granada by Charles V in 1526 as a statement of the Christian Reconquista of Spain, â€Å"a striking symbol of the strati? cation of aristocratic society under centralized authority. †35 Third, triadic divisions bound together in proportional formulas determine the shape of plans, elevations, and architectural ornament of the Taj. A leitmotif is the tripartite composition consisting of a dominant feature in the center ? anked by two identical elements; the con? uration relates in turn to hierarchy as well as to qar? na symmetry (? gs. 1 and 12). Fourth is the hierarchical grading of material, forms, and color down to the minutest ornamental detail. Particular striking is hierarchical use of color: the only building in the whole complex faced entirely with white marble is the mausoleum. All the subsidiary structures of the Taj complex are faced with red sandstone; special features such as domes may be clad in white marble (? gs. 1, 2, 12). This hierarchic use of white marble and red sandstone is typical of impe- Fig. 11.Marble baluster column of the baldachin of Shah Jahan’s throne, topped with an acanthus capital and growing out of a pot with overflowing acanthus leaves, the Indian pur? a ghata. (Photo: Ebba Koch, 1979) complexes, and even individual buildings have their own grid. The unit of the garden and the riverfront terrace is based on a grid with a 23-gaz module, and the unit of the jilawkh? na and bazaar and caravanserai complex on a 17-gaz mo dule. In the planning of the mausoleum a 7-gaz module is used and in that of the gate a 3-gaz module. 34 Second, there is perfect symmetrical planning with emphasis on bilateral symmetry (qar? a) along a central axis on which are placed the main features. The main axis running north-south is represented by the garden canal and the bazaar street in its extension. On it are set the dominant features: the mausoleum (raw ¬a) (? g. 3: 1), the pool (haw ¬) (? g. 3: 5), the the taj mahal: architecture, symbolism, and urban signi? cance 141 Fig. 12. Taj Mahal, Mihman Khana (Photo: Ebba Koch, 1996) rial Mughal architecture, but here it is explored with unparalleled sophistication. It represents the clearest link to pre-Islamic Indian Shastric concepts and expresses social strati? cation.The Mughals elaborated here an architectural praxis that already had been adopted by the early sultans of Delhi and that conforms to older Indian concepts laid down in the Shastric literature. The Vishnud harmottara, an authoritative compilation composed in Kashmir in about the eighth century, recommended white-colored stone for Brahmin buildings and red for those of the Kshatriyas, the warrior caste:36 â€Å"White, it would seem, is opposed to red as the purity of the Brahmin is opposed to the ruling power of the Kshatriya. † The synthesis of the two colors had an auspicious connotation. 7 By using white and red in their buildings, the Mughals represented themselves in the terms of the two highest levels of the Indian social system: architecturally speaking, they were the new Brahmins and the new Kshatryas of the age. Until Aurangzeb, the Mughal emperors were concerned to de? ne themselves as rulers in Indian as well as Muslim terms; the historian {Abd al-Qadir Bada}uni (d. 1004/1595–96), who was an orthodox Muslim and wrote a history of Akbar on his own account, criticized the emperor for letting himself be addressed as an incarnation â€Å"like Rama, Krishna, and ot her in? del kings. 38 Fifth is the uniformity of shapes, ordered by hierarchical accents: for instance, only one type of columnar support—the Shahjahani column—is used in the entire complex. It has a multifaceted shaft, a muqarnas capital, and a base formed of multicusped-arched panels39 and is always combined with a multicusped arch. The proportions and details of the columns may vary according to their position in the complex. In the galleries on both sides of the gate (? g. 3: 8a, 8b) they form monumental arcades (? g. 13, and cf. ?g. 10); on the roof level of the mausoleum similar arcades on a smaller scale are set in the back sides of the p? ht? qs (portals), and Shahjahani half-columns 142 ebba koch Fig. 13. Taj Mahal, galleries south of garden on both sides of the gate (fig. 3: 18), Shahjahani column with faceted shaft, muqarnas capital, and base formed of four multicusped panels, each enriched with a flowering plant in relief. (Photo: Ebba Koch, 1995) Fig. 14. Taj Mahal, roof level, pillar with paired Shahjahani half-columns of roof chhatr? (kiosk), behind the back side of the p? sht? q (porch) with gallery formed of Shahjahani columns and multicusped arches. (Photo: Ebba Koch, 1996) ?ank the pillars of the four marble chhatr? (kiosks) surrounding the main dome (? g. 14). This uniformity is true of the entire architectural vocabulary and its decoration; it applies to the paneling of the walls with shallow multicusped niches and cartouches, and to the treatment of vaults. One type of decorative facing is used for the main vaults and the half vaults of the mausoleum and gate (? gs. 15, 16)—a network developed from points arranged in concentric circles, which Shah Jahan’s authors described as q? lib k? r? , or mold work, because in the original plaster form of the vault the pattern was applied by means of molds (? g. 15).The design was transferred into marble in the central dome and half vaults of the p? sht? qs of the mausoleu m (? g. 16). Sixth, the principle of sensuous attention to detail is expressed most exemplarily in the ? owers of the mausoleum dado and in the exquisite pietra dura (literally, â€Å"hard stone†: gemstone inlay) decoration of the cenotaphs of Mumtaz Mahal and Shah Jahan and the screen that surrounds them (? gs. 17, 18, 20, 21). Seventh, in the Taj the selective use of naturalism emphasizes hierarchy. The most naturalistic decor appears in the chief building of the entire complex, the mausoleum (? s. 17, 18, 20, 21). Eighth, the sophisticated symbolism in the architec- the taj mahal: architecture, symbolism, and urban signi? cance 143 Fig. 15. Taj Mahal, garden gate, half vault of the southern p? sht? q showing plaster facing with q? lib k? r? , that is, a network forming kite-shaped compartments developed from stars arranged in concentric tiers. (Photo: Ebba Koch, 1996) Fig. 16. Taj Mahal, mausoleum, central dome with q? lib k? r? in marble relief. (Photo: Ebba Koch, 1996) 1 44 ebba koch brought to its ultimate monumentalized design; thus it was raised to a level above the sphere of mortals.The concept of the eschatological house also governs the elaborate program of the inscriptions, designed by Amanat Khan Shirazi. Z. A. Desai and Wayne Begley have shown that passages of the Qur}an selected for the inscriptions focus on themes of the Last Judgment, divine mercy, the reward of the faithful, and Paradise (? g. 19). 42 Such themes are entirely ? tting for the mausoleum in their evocation of the abode prepared for Mumtaz in Paradise. Begley, however, uses the evidence for another, less close-at-hand reading and sees in the Taj Mahal an architectural realization of an Islamic cosmological scheme—namely, the oncept of the Throne of God on the Day of Judgment, as envisaged and recorded in a diagram by the thirteenth-century Spanish mystic Ibn al-{Arabi in his Fut t al-Makkiyya (1238). 43 Why then, as Maria Eva Subtelny has pointed out, 44 is the famou s Throne verse (Qur}an 2:255) extolling God’s majesty45 absent from the inscriptional program of the Taj Mahal? Begley’s interpretation ignores not only that, but also the use of an established Agra garden plan for the layout of tural program expresses, as I have suggested, the concept of the mausoleum as earthly realization of the mansion of Mumtaz in the garden of Paradise.This is clearly formulated by Lahawri in the of? cial history of the emperor’s reign: †¦the exalted mausoleum, which imitates the gardens of Rizwan [the guardian of Paradise], and which gives an impression of Paradise (literally, the holy enclosures) (raw ¬a-i mu}all? ki az riy?  ¬-i Ri ¬w? n hik? yat kard wa az ha }ir[rat al-] quds nish? n dahad). 40 Mughal eulogistical references have a complexity of their own; while they may represent a purely literary convention, they can also have a direct bearing on the work of architecture or art that they praise.In order to arrive at their meaning, the metaphors used in such eulogies thus have to be carefully evaluated against the evidence brought forth by formal analysis. 41 In the Taj Mahal, every aspect of the architecture supports the concept of the paradisiacal mansion. It is expressed in the overall planning of the entire complex. The waterfront garden, a typical residential garden form of Agra, was realized in ideal forms and Fig. 17. Taj Mahal, p? sht? q of mausoleum, marble dados with rows of naturalistic flowers representing heavenly flowerbeds. (Photo: Ebba Koch, 1978) he taj mahal: architecture, symbolism, and urban signi? cance 145 Fig. 18. Taj Mahal, p? sht? q of the mausoleum, dado flowers of mixed botanical species, detail. (Photo: Ebba Koch, 1978) the mausoleum. 46 He also disregards another highly relevant aspect, that is, the ? oral decoration that forms an integral part of the building. In a direct appeal to our senses, the concept of the paradisiacal garden house is expressed in the delicate ? ow ers that appear on the dados, at the eye level of the beholder. They are carved in sensuous detail and represent naturalistic but not necessarily identi? ble botanical species47 that transform the lower walls of the mausoleum into ever-blooming paradisiacal ? owerbeds (? gs. 17, 18). The naturalistic decoration culminates in the interior, in the central ensemble of the cenotaphs of Mumtaz and Shah Jahan and the screen that surrounds them. These are covered with spectacular ? owers and plants inlaid with semi-precious stones, in commesso (composition) di pietre dure; the Mughals called the technique parch? n k? r? (literally: â€Å"driven-in work†) (? g. 20). The poet Abu Talib Kalim tells us that the painterly effects that could be obtained with parch? k? r? made it possible to create the desired naturalistic ? owers, permanent and thus superior images of their counterparts in nature: On each stone a hundred colors, paintings, and ornaments Have become apparent through the ch isel’s blade. Fig. 19. Taj Mahal, interior of the central hall, south arch. End of the inscription of Qur}an 39:53–54, with the colophon of the calligrapher, reading â€Å"Finished with His [God’s] help; written by the humble faqir Amanat Khan al-Shirazi, in the year one thousand and forty-eight Hijri [1638–39], and the twelfth of His Majesty’s auspicious accession. (Photo: Ebba Koch, 2001) 146 ebba koch Fig. 20. Cenotaphs of Mumtaz Mahal (1632) and Shah Jahan (1666) in the main tomb hall. (Photo: Ebba Koch, 1981) Fig. 21. Cenotaph of Shah Jahan in the lower tomb chamber (â€Å"crypt†). Detail of poppies and yellow flowers set in cartouches, inlaid with semi-precious stones in pietra dura/parch? n k? r? technique. (Photo: Ebba Koch, 2002) the taj mahal: architecture, symbolism, and urban signi? cance The chisel has become the pen of Mani48 Painting so many pictures upon the translucent marble (? b-i marmar). †¦.Pictures become manifest from every stone; In its mirror behold the image of a flower garden. They have inlaid flowers of stone in the marble: What they lack in smell they make up with color. Those red and yellow flowers that dispel the heart’s grief, are completely out of carnelian and amber. †¦. When of such stones the surface of a tomb is made, The deceased will [want to] clasp the flower pictures to her heart. 49 147 and to provide a lasting memorial to his fame. Strict formal principles served to express within each work of art and each building the hierarchy and timeless order of Shahjahani rule.With their successful appeal to our senses, the seductive aesthetics make the message the more persuasive. It is the fusion of the intellectual and the sensuous that has made the Taj Mahal such a successful monument up to the present day. Lastly, the close connection between form and meaning in Shahjahani art makes it a methodological exemplar of general art-historical relevance; it reminds us tha t formal analysis should not be in opposition to a contextual approach but rather a starting point for art as history.Institute fur Kunstgeschichte University of Vienna NOTES Author’s note: A visiting fellowship from the Aga Khan Program for Islamic Architecture at Harvard University in autumn 2002 enabled me to work on the manuscript of Taj Mahal, and to present my ? ndings in a lecture in the Aga Khan Program Lecture Series on Nov. 14, 2003, which forms the basis of this article. I thank Gulru Necipoqlu, David Roxburgh, Jeffery Spurr, Andras Riedlmayer, and Sunil Sharma for their interest in my research and their help during my stay in Cambridge.For supporting my project of the documentation and analysis of the Taj Mahal, I wish to thank the Jubilaumsfonds der Osterreichischen Nationalbank, the Bundesministerium fur Unterricht und Kulturelle Angelegenheiten, Austria, and Mr. E. Alkazi. 1. W. E. Begley, â€Å"The Myth of the Taj Mahal and a New Theory of its Symbolic Meanin g,† The Art Bulletin 61 (1979): 7– 37. Begley’s interpretation of the building as a replica of the Throne of God became widely known, probably because of its eccentricity and also because there was no proposed alternative; it even made its way into the popular travel guide literature: see Lonely Planet: India, 8th ed. Hawthorne: Victoria, Australia, 1999), 392. 2. The Complete Taj Mahal and the Riverfront Gardens of Agra (London: Thames and Hudson, forthcoming 2006). 3. Mu? ammad Am? n Qazw? n? , P? dsh? hn? ma, British Library Asia, Paci? c, and Africa Collections (henceforth BL APAC), Or. 173, fol. 234b (librarian’s refoliation 235b), my translation; cf. the translation of this passage in W. E. Begley and Z. A. Desai, Taj Mahal: The Illumined Tomb: An Anthology of Seventeenth-Century Mughal and European Documentary Sources (Cambridge, MA: Aga Khan Program for Islamic Architecture and Seattle: University of Washington Press, ca. 989), 42. 4. {Abd al-Yam? d L? hawr? , The B? dsh? hn? mah (Persian text), ed. M. Kab? r al-D? n A? mad and M. {Abd al-Ra m (Calcutta: Asiatic Society of Bengal, 1865–72) vol. 1, pt. 1, 403, my trans. ; cf. the trans. of this passage in Begley and Desai, Taj Mahal: The Illumined Tomb, 43. 5. I thank Dr. S. M. Yunus Jaffery for his continuing assistance in reading and translating Mughal source material. On both cenotaphs of Shah Jahan, which were placed next to those of Mumtaz after his death in 1666, the decoration with paradisiacal ? owers was given preference even over inscriptions.Inscriptions had decorated the sarcophagus-like element of both cenotaphs of Mumtaz, the one in the lower and the other in the upper tomb chamber, and full ? owering plants appear only on the platform of her upper cenotaph. But both of Shah Jahan’s cenotaphs are covered all over with ? owers (? gs. 20, 21); the only epigraphy appears in the form of a brief historical epitaph at the south end of each cenotaph. The w eight given to ? oral decoration is in tune, on the one hand, with the overall concept of the mausoleum as paradisiacal garden house, but the exclusively ? oral decoration of the emperor’s cenotaphs makes a more speci? statement, relating, even after his death, to the use of ? ora in his court settings to express imperial propaganda. The court poets and writers tell us that Shah Jahan was â€Å"the spring of the ? ower garden of justice and generosity,†50 the renewer (mujaddid) under whose rule â€Å"Hindustan has become the rose garden of the earth, and his reign†¦has become the spring season of the age in which the days and nights are young. †51 CONCLUSION From our investigations, the reign of Shah Jahan emerges as a time when the visual arts were most consistently and systematically explored as a means of promulgating imperial ideology.The written texts and the arts were seen as equally necessary means to represent the ruler and his state for a wider pub lic 148 6. ebba koch My ? eld research provides the material for a constantly expanding archive, which today comprises several hundred architectural drawings prepared mainly by Richard A. Barraud and ca. 50,000 photographs taken by myself. E. W. Smith, The Moghul Architecture of Fathpur-Sikri, Archaeological Survey of India: New Imperial Series (henceforth ASINIS) 18, 4 vols. (1894–98, repr.Delhi: Caxton Publications, 1985); idem, Akbar’s Tomb, Sikandarah near Agra, Described and Illustrated, ASINIS 35 (Allahabad: Superintendent Government Press, United Provinces, 1909). In the second Indian edition (New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2002), 98–101. The most useful studies are Muhammad Abdulla Chaghtai, Le Tadj Mahal d’Agra (Brussels, 1938); R. A. Jairazbhoy, â€Å"The Taj Mahal in the Context of East and West: A Study in Comparative Method,† Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes 24 (1961): 59–88; Dieter Brandenburg, Der Taj Mahal in Agra (Berlin, 1969); R.Nath, The Immortal Taj Mahal (Bombay, 1972); and Lisa Golombek, â€Å"From Tamerlane to the Taj Mahal,† in Islamic Art and Architecture: In Honor of Katharina Otto-Dorn, ed. A. Daneshvari, Islamic Art and Architecture, 1 (Malibu, 1981), 43–50. Muhammad Moin-ud-din, The History of the Taj (Agra, 1905), recorded for the ? rst time the inscriptions of the Taj; his pioneering effort was superseded by Begley and Desai, Taj Mahal: The Illumined Tomb. For excellent photographs by Jean Nou, see Amina Okada and M. C.Joshi, Taj Mahal (New York, London, and Paris: Abbeville Press, 1993): unfortunately the illustrations are only partly identi? ed. For further literature on the Taj Mahal, see Ebba Koch, â€Å"T? dj Ma? all,† Encyclopaedia of Islam, 2nd ed. (henceforth EI2) (Leiden: Brill, 1960–2004), vol. 10, 58–60, and idem, Complete Taj Mahal. Koch, â€Å"T? dj Ma? all,† ? g. 4 presents my new overall plan of the complex for the ? rst time. A brief assessment based on this survey is idem, â€Å"The Taj Mahal,† in The Seventy Architectural Wonders of Our World, ed. Neil Parkyn (London: Thames and Hudson, 2002), 57–61.We measured the buildings with metal and plastic tapes and with a laser measuring instrument called Disto Basic, made by Leica. Based on our survey, Richard Barraud did the scale drawings by hand; I took the photographs with a Nikon FS Photomic. All plans and photographs illustrating this article are part of this survey. A selection is published in Koch, â€Å"Taj Mahal,† 60. Jaques Derrida, â€Å"Structure, Sign, and Play,† Writing and Difference, trans. A. Bass (Chicago, 1978). The width of the complex at the southern, jilawkh? na, end measures 300. 84 m; at the riverfront it is 300 m. This is explained by Richard A.Barraud in his pioneering study â€Å"The Modular Planning of the Taj Mahal,† based on our measurements and illustrated with three drawings, in Koch, Complete Taj Mahal. Barraud refutes Begley’s assumption that the planning of the Taj can be reconstructed by putting a decimal grid over the whole complex and explaining away the features that do not ? t into it. See Begley and Desai, Taj Mahal: The Illumined Tomb, ? gs. 13–15, and W. E. Begley, â€Å"The Garden of the Taj Mahal: A Case Study of Mughal Architectural Planning and Symbolism,† in Mughal Gardens: Sources, Places, Representations, and Prospects, ed. J. L. Wescoat, Jr. and J.WolschkeBulmahn (Washington, DC, 1996). In earlier publications I have given differing measurements of the complex. In Koch, â€Å"T? dj Ma? all,† 58, a misprint occurred in the rendering of the gaz equivalents of the preserved part, which are indicated as 690 x 313 gaz instead of 696 x 374 gaz. In my essay in Seventy Architectural Wonders, 61, the overall length of the complex is given as 897. 3 x 300 m, because we took it from the outer face of the southernmost g ate, which projects 1. 20 m from the enclosure wall. From this comes the overall length of 1114 gaz cited in Koch, â€Å"T? dj Ma? all,† 58, which differs from the one given here as 1112. gaz. Ebba Koch, â€Å"The Mughal Waterfront Garden,† in Gardens in the Time of the Great Muslim Empires: Theory and Design, Supplements to Muqarnas, 7, ed. Attilio Petruccioli (Leiden, New York, and Cologne: Brill, 1997), 140–60, repr. in Ebba Koch, Mughal Art and Imperial Ideology (New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2001), 183–202. Cat. no. 126. The plan is painted on cloth and measures 294 x 272 cm. I have studied it since the mid-1980s and discussed it in several publications: see Ebba Koch, â€Å"The Zahara Bagh (Bagh-i Jahanara) at Agra,† Environmental Design 2 (1986): 30– 37; idem, â€Å"The Mughal Waterfront Garden† in M.C. Beach, Ebba Koch, and Wheeler Thackston, King of the World: The Padshahnama: An Imperial Mughal Manuscript from the Roya l Library, Windsor Castle (London: Azimuth Editions and Washington, DC: Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Smithsonian Institution, 1997), cat. no. 29, 185–87 and cat. no. 45, 209–10, ? g. 132. I thank Dr. B. M. Jawalia, Keeper of Manuscripts, for assisting me in reading the inscriptions of the plan in July 1985 and Feb. 1986, and Dr. A? ok Kumar Das, then Director of the Maharaja Sawai Man Singh II Museum, Jaipur, for the permission to study and to publish it. As no. 45 on the line drawing of ? g. I have added a further complex, which represents the Chhatri of Jaswant Singh (d. probably 1678), a well-preserved funerary complex that does not appear on the Jaipur map. L? lah S? l Chand, Tafr? h al-{im? r? t, compiled for James Stephen Lushington, Acting Collector and Magistrate of Agra, 1825–26, BL APAC, Pers. Or. 6371. I have used the copy prepared in 1836–37 for James Davidson, Sessions Judge, Agra, BL APAC, Pers. ms. 2450. Koch, â€Å"Zahara Bagh (Bagh-i Jahan ara). † For a full discussion of the Agra riverfront scheme, see Koch, Taj Mahal, chap. 1. L? hawr? , B? dsh? hn? ma, vol. 2, 322–31; and Mu? ammad O? li?Kanb? , {Amal-i O? li? , 3 vols. (Lahore, 1967–72) vol. 2, 315– 20; both trans. Begley and Desai in Taj Mahal: The Illumined Tomb, 65–82. On Mughal historiography, see the new study by Stephan Conermann, Historiographie als Sinnstiftung: Indopersische Geschichtsschreibung wahrend der Mogulzeit (932–1118/ 1516–1707) (Wiesbaden: Reichert Verlag, 2002), 422 (on L? hawr? ) and 125, 395–96, and passim (on Kanb? ). In his painstaking assessment, Conermann regrettably does not consider art and architecture as sources of history, as I have pleaded for in the introduction to Mughal Art and Imperial Ideology, xxiii–xxvii.The ? rst dated plan of the entire complex is by the British landscape artists Thomas and William Daniell, who had it prepared in Agra in 1789 and published in th eir Two Views of the Taje Mahel at the City of Agra in Hindostan Taken in 1789 (London, 1801). A similar plan, but painted on cloth, is in the 7. 8. 9. 15. 16. 17. 10. 18. 11. 19. 20. 21. 12 . 13. 14. 22. the taj mahal: architecture, symbolism, and urban signi? cance Museum of the Taj Mahal (acc. no. 22), in the pavilion set in the western wall of the garden; another plan of this type, 280 x 85 cm, is in the Museum fur Indische Kunst, Berlin, no. I 10 060.It has been published in Pratapaditya Pal, Janice Leoshko, Joseph M. Dye III, and Stephen Markel, Romance of the Taj Mahal, exhibition catalogue (London: Thames and Hudson and Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1989), 55, ? g. 41. The plans differ in the areas of the jil? wkhana and the caravansarais. L? hawr? , B? dsh? hn? ma, vol. 2, 329–30; Kanb? , {Amal-i O? li? , vol. 2, 319–20. See also Begley and Desai, Taj Mahal: The Illumined Tomb, 75, 81. For the term, see below. For d? n wa-duny? , see L. Gardet , â€Å"D? n,† EI2, vol. 2, 293–96, in particular 295. Jean-Baptiste Tavernier, Travels in India, 2 vols. English trans. V. Ball, 2nd ed. ed. William Crooke (London: Oxford University Press, 1925; repr. New Delhi: Oriental Books Reprint Corporation, 1977), vol. 1, p. 90. See, e. g. , L? hawr? , B? dsh? hn? ma, vol. 1, pt. 1, 155. The aims of the venture have been laid down in Taj Mahal Agra Site Management Plan, brought out by the Taj Mahal Conservation Collaborative together with the Archaeological Survey of India (March 2003); for my mission statement, delivered on Sept. 28, 2001, at the end of the ? rst advisors’ meeting on the conservation of the Taj Mahal (Sept. 25–28, 2001), see 5–6; for the model, see 66–67 and 70, ? g. 12.Ebba Koch, â€Å"The Principles of Shah-Jahani Painting,† in Beach, Koch, and Thackston, King of the World, 131–43; repr. in Ebba Koch, Mughal Art and Imperial Ideology, 130–62. L? hawr? , B? ds h? hn? ma, vol. 1, pt. 1, 149. See, e. g. , L? hawr? , B? dsh? hn? ma, vol. 2, 327 with regard to the Taj Mahal, namely, the placement of the Mihman Khana and mosque to both sides of the mausoleum. This concept of rulership is explained in more detail below. On the adoption of the p? r? a ghata in Mughal architecture, see R. Nath, History of Decorative Art in Mughal Architecture (Delhi, Varanasi, and Patna: Motilal Banarsidass, 1976), 6– 10.Barraud, â€Å"Modular Planning of the Taj Mahal,† in Koch, Complete Taj Mahal. E. E. Rosenthal, The Palace of Charles V in Granada (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1985), 249–50. See Priyabala Shah, trans. , Shri Vishnudharmottara, a Text of Ancient Indian Arts (Ahmedabad: The New Order Book Co. , n. d. [1990]), 268, 271. Brenda E. F. Beck, â€Å"Colour and Heat in South Indian Ritual,† Man: The Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, n. s. , 4: 553–72; the quoted passage is on 559. Beck investig ates the use of the two colors, red and white, in South Indian ritual; her ? ndings tally with the recommendations of the Vishnudharmotara. Abd al-Q? dir Bad? }? n? , Muntakhab al-Taw? r? kh, English trans. (vol. 2) W. H. Lowe, 2nd ed. (Bengal: Asiatic Society, 1924; repr. Delhi: Idarah-i-Adabiyat-i-Delli, 1973), 336. For Akbar representing himself on Indian terms, see Ebba Koch, â€Å"The 149 39. 40. 41. 23. 24. 25. 26. 42. 27. 28. 43. 44. 45. 46. 29. 30. 31. 32. 33. 47. 34. 35. 36. 48. 49. 37. 50. 38. 51. Intellectual and Artistic Climate at Akbar’s Court,† in John Seyller, The Adventures of Hamza: A Monument of Early Mughal Painting (London: Azimuth Editions and Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution, 2002), 18–31.Koch, Mughal Architecture, 93. L? hawr? , B? dsh? hn? ma, vol. 2, 323; trans. E. Koch; cf. trans. of Begley and Desai in Taj Mahal: The Illumined Tomb, 66. E. Koch, introduction to Mughal Art and Imperial Ideology, xxiii–xxiv; see also idem, â€Å"Diwan-i {Amm and Chihil Sutun: The Audience Halls of Shah Jahan,† Muqarnas 11 (1994): 143–65, in particular 149–52, repr. in Mughal Art and Imperial Ideology, 229–54, in particular 242–43. For a compilation and translation of the inscriptions, see Begley and Desai, Taj Mahal: The Illumined Tomb, 195–244; for a discussion of their meaning, see W. E.Begley, â€Å"Amanat Khan and the Calligraphy on the Taj Mahal,† Kunst des Orients 12 (1978–79): 5–39; W. E. Begley, â€Å"The Myth of the Taj Mahal and a New Theory of Its Symbolic Meaning,† The Art Bulletin 61 (1979): 7–37. Begley, â€Å"Myth of the Taj Mahal,† in particular 25–27. Personal communication, Toronto, Dec. 5, 2002. For the frequent use of the Throne Verse in epigraphical programs, see E. D. Cruikshank Dodd, â€Å"The Image of the Word: Notes on the Religious Iconography of Islam,† Berytus 18 (1969): 35–61, 59; S. S . Blair, Islamic Inscriptions (New York: New York University Press, 1998), 69, 198, 214.I pointed this out in Mughal Architecture, 99; and in â€Å"The Mughal Waterfront Garden,† 143–44, repr. in Mughal Art and Imperial Ideology, 196; but I could not convince Laura Parodi, â€Å"‘The Distilled Essence of the Timurid Spirit’: Some Observations on the Taj Mahal,† East and West 50, 1–4 (Dec. 2000): 535–42, in particular 539, where she considered my interpretation of the â€Å"ideal paradisiacal garden for the deceased† as â€Å"reductive† and preferred Begley’s Throne of God hypothesis. I have come back to the issue in the introduction to Mughal Art and Imperial Ideology, xxiv.Both Begley and Parodi overlook the fact that, however spectacular their realization, the themes of Shahjahani art were conventional, as be? tting a ruler aspiring to classical equilibrium. Robert Skelton ? rst drew attention to the ambivalence of these ? oral creations in â€Å"A Decorative Motif in Mughal Art,† in Aspects of Indian Art: Papers Presented in a Symposium at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Oct. 1970, ed. Pratapaditya Pal (Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1972), 147–52. The founder of the Manicheans, and in Persian lore the ultimate painter. Ab? lib Kal? , P? dsh? hn? ma, Persian ms. , BL APAC, Ethe 1570, fol. 164a margin; my translation differs somewhat from that of Begley and Desai, Taj Mahal: The Illumined Tomb, 83. I thank Sunil Sharma for his advice. Bah? r-i gulist? n-i {adl u karam: Y? jj? Mu? ammad J? n Quds? , Zafarn? ma-i Sh? h Jah? n, BL APAC, Persian ms. Ethe 1552, fol. 129a. Kanb? , {Amal-i O? li? , vol. 3, 24; see also Ebba Koch, â€Å"Mughal Palace Gardens from Babur to Shah Jahan (1526–1648),† Muqarnas 14 (1997): 143–65, quotes on 159; repr. in Mughal Art and Imperial Ideology, 203–28, quotes on 227.

Hare and the Tortoise Essays

Hare and the Tortoise Essays Hare and the Tortoise Essay Hare and the Tortoise Essay Unlike animals, humans are a strange case of self-conscious beings. We can ask questions about ourselves, we can deliberate about others. We form opinions and judgments about others whereas animals are content on feeding themselves and they do not even ask questions about themselves. This is the primary source of the emergence of the human identity. Who am I? is the question that encompasses our identity. But ironically while we call it the I or me, we often fail to realize that a large portion of it is in fact constructed by others- their opinions, ideas, and experiences. Human life and human personality are nothing but a gradual development through the accumulation of knowledge through the various Ways of Knowing (Emotion, Perception, Logic Language). They work collectively through an external medium to form human life and personality. Which of these Ways of Knowing does a novel use? Which Ways of Knowing does scientific psychology use? The answer lies before us! While novels employ all the four ways in great depth, scientific psychology employs mainly logic. Upon reflecting on this alone, one would have to agree to Noam Chomskys claim. From the very beginning, we are brought up with nursery rhymes and fairy tales. Though not evidently, these do give a child a vague concept of what human behavior is like and what generally life is all about from the very start. For instance; the jealous step-mother in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs portrays and emotion Jealousy that every human being undergoes at some stage in life. The Hare and the Tortoise teaches us that Slow and steady wins the race. : The Fox and the Grapes where the fox, upon failing to reach the grapes hanging high up on a vine says The grapes are sour anyway Though Psychology may term this phenomenon rationalization or reduction of cognitive dissonance, the story originated in much simpler terms and in colloquial speech this story refers to most people who after losing deny the intention to win altogether. 1 Hence, besides human behavior, the stories that we have been brought up with also impart the various lessons in life. One would never see a child learning through scientific psychology. The stories, nursery rhymes and fairy tales that we are exposed to in the initial stages of our life are definitely involved in forming the fundamental concepts of human life, personality and behavior. Autobiographical novels are when Emotions and Logic are brought forward through the medium of Language which we then Perceive as we delve into the protagonists life and experiences; this is when one can truly acquire knowledge. In some cases, the author may try to explain a psychological term through the help of a story. For example, D.H. Lawrences Sons Lovers portrays Freuds concept of the Oedipus Complex. Though unbelievable this phenomenon is very common in a place like India where men in their thirties still live with their mothers and in due time, become so dependent on them that they begin to find similar qualities in their lovers. Many novels that are read are third person narration omniscient. The fact that they are omniscient helps us to understand the different emotions that the characters feel and what causes them. Hence, one can get a true understanding of life and personality through logical deductive reasoning. Apart from learning about human life and behavior, novels, much like scientific psychology also help to explore the various myths and instincts embedded deep in our psyche. The Hero Myth for example, which is seen in many a novel. We humans are beset with brokenness and imperfection and are constantly in search of an Ideal Self, the person we all want to be. But society pressures and our own sense of adapting as well as fitting brings us to a realization that the above can only be an ideal case and never a real one. Just like the hero myth, the Mother Myth and the Jealous Romeo myth are also very commonly incorporated in novels. What we read greatly affects our subconscious, to which we then react with what we would term instincts. This also answers the fundamental question in ToK How can we know without knowing that we know? Art is an Area of Knowledge that is grouped in the category of creativity. But TS Eliot in his essay Tradition and the individual talent states that even art is greatly influenced by the artists traditions, experiences and moreover what he reads. No poet, no artist of any art, has his complete meaning alone.2 Novels in a similar way affect our understanding of the other various Areas of Knowledge. Until recently, consciousness which is a great part of psychology was not much studied by the Natural Sciences; it was considered philosophy. Scientific psychology has one immense drawback, that of being non-emotive. Stuart Sutherland wrote in the International Dictionary of Psychology Consciousness is a fascinating but elusive phenomenon; it is impossible to specify what it is, what it does, or why it evolved. Nothing worth reading has been written about it.3 The fact that nothing has been written about it shows how non-emotive psychology really is. Moreover even if there were something substantial written about it, it is not accessible to everyone and not many people would bother to research as much as they would read novels. But when they do come across a concept in a novel, they are left with no choice but to find out what it is all about and that is hen they would consider taking the pains to research on that particular topic which they would not otherwise.

Drugs, Alcohol, Stimulants, Depressants and Theories Essay Example

Drugs, Alcohol, Stimulants, Depressants and Theories Essay Example Drugs, Alcohol, Stimulants, Depressants and Theories Paper Drugs, Alcohol, Stimulants, Depressants and Theories Paper Stimulants are those drugs that provisionally amplify attentiveness and consciousness. They typically have amplified side-effects with augmented efficiency, and the prevailing alternatives are consequently often drug remedies or prohibited drugs. Stimulant drugs boost the doings of neither the central nervous system, sensitive nervous system nor both. Several stimulants generate a feeling of exhilaration, particularly those stimulants that put forth influence on the central nervous system. Stimulant drugs are therapeutically used to boost or sustain attentiveness, to work against fatigue in circumstances where slumber is not convenient, to thwart irregular states that reduce attentiveness perception, to uphold weight loss and to augment legally the capability to contemplate in individuals with attentional disruptions for instance ADHD (CherlandFitzpatrick 1999, p811). Sporadically, stimulants are used to manage depression as well. Stimulant drugs are at times used to increase stamina and efficiency and to repress hunger, consequently also identified to promote eating abnormality like anorexia if ill-treated. The elation created by several stimulants makes recreational purposes, even though this is against the law within major authorities. Caffeine is found in tobacco as well as nicotine, which is also found in beverages such as soft drinks and coffee, are amid some of the most frequently used stimulant drugs. Recognized stimulants comprise amphetamines, ephedrine, cocaine, modafinil, methylphenidate and MDMA. A stimulant drug is usually referred in jargon as the ‘upper’. These drugs with considerable misuse potential are extremely cautiously controlled substances. Some are legally available merely by recommendation (mixed amphetamine salts, methamphetamine, Dexedrine, dexamphetamine, Adderall. Phenethylamine is a monoamine and alkaloid and it is understood to be a neurotransmitter or neuromodulator. Additionally it is the fundamental chemical composition behind the majority of stimulants, particularly the sympathomimetic amine. The term ‘downer’ talks about the whole class of drug recognized as Depressant Drugs. Depressants are chemical drugs which slow down, or hold back, the performance of brain as well as central nervous system. Though several downers are obtainable nowadays, all plunge to one of the two major classes: sedative-hypnotics and tranquilizers. Tranquilizers are drugs that basically anesthetize, or decrease emotional as well as physical tension. The Sedative-hypnotic drugs take things a further step and provoke sleep. A widespread term for the sedative-hypnotics is the sleeping pills. Generally, the temporary effects of depressants are comparable. Major effects take account of augmented muscular repose and reduced nervousness. During the practice, they reduce self-consciousness, slow spontaneous effects, and damage dexterity. Along the negative aspect, depressants have also a propensity for tedious judgment, decrease opinion, and hinder recollection, responsibilities at work, on the road, or further settings that require clear judgment as well as prompt reactions. To the extent that they are comparable, depressants are still different; predominantly in the system they attain their effects. Broadly used as a sleeping pill, the barbiturate (Seconal, Tuinal,) is as obtainable as legal drugs might be. The most accepted sleeping pill and non-barbiturate is Halcion but Halcion has a negative aspect for it abates quickly that several users have apprehension as the drugs outcomes weaken. Abnormal reactions regarding Halcion were reported including hallucinations, amnesia, and violent behavior. In its legal use, tranquilizers, as depressants, are used to lessen delusions, hallucinations, as well as the intensity of rigorous cognitive-affective illness like schizophrenia. Given that main tranquilizers do not generate effects that people experience as gratifying, they are infrequently mistreated. On the contrary, the minor tranquilizers are the big issues. What people are currently ‘into’ is a set of drugs medically known as anxiolytic (anxiety-reducing); major types consist of meprobamate, benzodiazepine (BZD), as well as the painkilling antihistamines. Addictive Drugs: Tobacco, Caffeine and Alcohol Tobacco is widely known as an addictive drug. In general, smoking a cigarette is the initial group-shared drug occurrence, or the first illegal drug occurrence, akin to the use of Marijuana as it’s frequently unseen and outside the family as well as common societal approval values. Smoking can assist drug use afterward through teaching how to acutely breathe in and hold the smoke within the lungs thus cigarettes or tobacco, as smoked drugs, instigate teens into the feeling of gasping a drug as well as desensitize to a sensation of smoke entering into the lungs used for hashish, marijuana, or crack cocaine. The extent of tobacco use is openly associated to several drug uses; decades ago, tobacco companies disclose that if they take away the nicotine addictive element, people will stop buying tobacco products. Caffeine is actually the most established drug and it is within teas, colas, coffees, chocolates, as well as other various things. Caffeine is thus an addictive drug for the reason that functions on our brain, by means of identical mechanisms as cocaine, amphetamines, as well as heroin to rouse our mind. Though it is considered milder than others, caffeine is maneuvering very similar channels therefore it is addictive. Caffeine is in fact the trimethylxanthine having the chemical formula of C8H10N402. When secluded in uncontaminated structure, caffeine is a colorless crystalline particle with pungent taste. Physicians make use of it as cardiac stimulants and as mild diuretics (augment urine production). However usual folks endure it for â€Å"boost of energy† or sensation of sharp attentiveness it provides; it is frequently used to make individuals to be awake longer. Perceptibly, what is occurs is that our body becomes exhausted and requires rest; however, it is fluffed up instead to action. Our body, constantly pushed to greater action when it needs to stop to relax, is slowly dented. Rather than recovering, the organs of our body increasingly deteriorate and ultimately, the weak ones turn out to be unhealthy. Naturally, Caffeine is found in numerous plants, counting cocoa nuts, coffee beans, and tea leaves. As a result of this, it is established in an extensive multiplicity of foods. Additionally, caffeine is included as well in beverages. As the body turns out to be exhausted, the adenosine is manufactured within the brain, and then it binds to the adenosine receptor; this generates sleepiness through slowing the nerve cell activities. Moreover, the adenosine in our brain causes blood vessels to enlarge consequently further oxygen can arrive at the brain throughout sleeping. For the reason that the existence of caffeine is 6 hours, by the instance we get into bed, we cannot be asleep or we will not get hold of a deep sleep we necessitate; if the last cup of coffee was taken at 3pm, thus by 9pm, we still have 100mg in our body. as a result we feel inferior the following morning and we call for caffeine to be up and doing. Alcohol is an exceedingly addictive drug and it is thus categorized as a depressant drug, for the reason that it will slow down our body as well as our mind. A different way to explain it is that alcohol causes sedation, relaxation, and if an adequate quantity is devoured, the consequence will possibly be coma or even death. Judgment and way of thinking are two of the very important personality transformations that take place. The concentration of which is actually dose-related. The momentum of alcohol absorption has an effect on the speed at which one turns out to be drunk. Different from foods, alcohol does not require being unhurriedly absorbed. It is absorbed instantaneously to out blood, directly having passed within and through the walls of our appetite and frequently in our small intestines and the blood speedily conveys it to our brain (Blum 1991, p15). As an individual drinks quicker than an alcohol can be eradicated, the drug mounts up in our body, ensuing in higher quantities of alcohol within our blood. Alcohol is also burned, metabolized, as well as broken down in our body at a rather steady rate; the time-span for alcohol metabolism have an effect on the pace when one happens to be temperate all over again. Drug Abuse: Theories of Anomie, Differential Association and Social Control Anomie Theory drug use along with mistreatment are societal incidents subject to the clarity and response of the society. There is insight within the disputes of sociologists that societal evils, counting drug addiction, are communally created. Robert Merton defined Anomie as a collapse within the cultural formation, predominantly occurring when there’s a severe disjunction connecting the cultural goals and norms as well as the publicly controlled capabilities of the members of a group to do something in agreement with them. The conduct of an addicted person is complicated from several perceptions; it causes a noticeable challenge to an individual eager to stop but powerless to end it. Addiction commences in consumption manners the notion of deviance and habit: consequently the growth of customs, at social and individual plane, with the cognitive system where they depend on should be considered. A person is not located in a vacuity but she/he acts within specific framework, with informal and formal regulations. Cognition takes place from the individual within this structure and awareness has an important function in the creation of genuine models of manners that may perhaps be rather dissimilar among people. Differential Association Edwin Sutherland proposed this theory explaining that by means of interaction with other people, human beings gain knowledge of the attitudes, values, strategies, as well as motives for illegal manners. This assumption claims that unlawful actions are learned manners and learned by way of social relations with other people. It socially grows for people to make an offense, thus to become addicted to drugs. Differential association envisages that a person will prefer to become addicted to drugs when the equilibrium of classifications for misdemeanor goes beyond those for the obedient. This propensity will be toughened if the social connection provides dynamic individuals in the person’s existence. The person, earlier in his/her life, comes under the pressure of those with high status in a group; the further expected the person to pursue in their path. This doesn’t refute that there may possibly be realistic reasons for misdeed. If an individual is starving but without money, there are persuasions to steal however, uses of ‘values’ as well as ‘needs’ are undecided. To a lesser or greater point, criminal and non-criminal people are provoked by the necessity for money as well as public gain. Social Control Theory Travis Hirschi puts forward that peoples beliefs, relations, values, commitments, and norms persuade them not to follow the laws. Consequently, if the ethical codes are realized and people are attached to, and comprise a chance in a wider society, they are willing to limit their tendency for making deviant deeds. The premise aims to comprehend the customs wherein it is probable to decrease the probability of illegal drug use developing in people. It doesn’t mull over motivational concerns, basically claiming that people may prefer to employ in an extensive variety of activities, except that the range is restricted by routes of social learning as well as socialization (Thombs 1994, p27). Furthermore, Hirschi stressed that immoral groups would have no undeviating effect on criminal behavior when communal bonds restraining misbehavior were considered. He disputed that correspondingly uncommitted youth flowed mutually into groups against the law for the reason that weak societal bonds failed to put off relationship with delinquents along with criminal behavior itself. Groups that reinforce bonds were family, constructive groups, spiritual institutions, school, and so forth. This bond has 4 elements (a) connection (parents, school, peers), (b) dedication to conservative actions, (c) participation in accepted activities and (d) conviction in ordinary values. Social Control Theory highlights the reasonableness in the choice whether to connect in crimes and claimed that individuals were less expected to prefer crime if they have strong social bonds. By means of not intentionally disciplined traits and delinquency or unlawful acts independently, it recommends that concepts on low discipline and tendency for illegal deeds are no different. References: Blum, K. (1991). Alcohol and the Addictive Brain: New Hope for Alcoholics from Biogenetic Research. New York: Free Press. pp. 12-15 Cherland, E. and Fitzpatrick, R. (1999). Psychotic side effects of Psychostimulants: A 5-year review. Canadian Journal of Psychiatry, 44, pp811-813. Thombs, D. L. (1994). Introduction to addictive behaviors. New York: The Guilford Press.

Cadbury Schweppes Management Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3250 words

Cadbury Schweppes Management - Case Study Example In these days, cocoa beans were being imported from south and Central America and West Indies. In fact the cocoa beans had so much value and were expensive. It could only be afforded with the wealthy and elite people of the society then. Experimenting with his pestle and mortar, John Cadbury produced a range of cocoa and chocolate drinks with the latter having sugar (Cadbury, 2008). In 1861, John Cadbury the founder handed over the business to his eldest sons Richard and George. It is to their leadership that the success of the Cadbury Brothers limited is owed. In 1899 the business became a private limited company and was branded Cadbury brothers Limited. The growth of the business led to invention of the chocolate bars which were now spiced up with milk The first milk chocolate that was ever made was course, dry and neither sweet nor milky enough for the public taste. At the same time, there was great competition from other continental manufactures of chocolate which led to the need of the Cadbury Company to launch other tastes and variety of chocolates one of them being dairy maid which later became dairy milk and finally evolved to be branded Cadbury dairy milk, which has a unique flavor and smooth. Cadbury Brothers limited later merged with Schweppes Inc in 1969 to form Cadbury Schweppes plc which is a confectionery and Beverage Company that processes non alcoholic beverage. It has an employee base of approximately 59000. Cadbury Schweppes Plc currently has its headquarters in Berkeley Square, London which is in England in United Kingdom. Cadbury Schweppes plc is principally involved in the manufacture, distribution and sale of branded beverages and confectionery, in addition to other related foods. It supplies its products through wholesale and retail outlets of the confectionery which are licensed and registered by the state in which they are located. Cadbury Schweppes plc trades in almost all the countries that are available worldwide because contemporary knowledge, it is one of the leading chocolate producers world wide. Cadbury Schweppes plc markets a range of chocolates, gum and sugar confectionery brands worldwide. These brands are in the form of bars, blocks, bagged pr oducts, packets, rolls, boxed assortments, chocolate eggs and novelties (Cadbury, 2008). There are various myths which have been propagated about management which are supposed to help organizations increase their earnings. Myths in the business arena usually come up as managers try to find ways to survive in the business world which is usually full of challenges and uncertainty. They provide some kind of hope as they provide something that managers can hold onto as they run their businesses. These myths usually influence the way companies make decisions and the way management run firms as much as the strategies have not been proved to be true. These myths help managers come up with a set of policies or strategies that they employ in order to help their organizations achieve certain objectives. Some of these myths according to Foss (2006) include the fact that it is harder to acquire a competitive edge if a company uses outside resources or resources it has purchased instead of using internally produced resources. The root cause of this misunderstanding cropped up from Co ol and Barney argument that only resources that cannot be sold by the company are considered to be valuable. Cadburys has not

Questions on Asian History Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Questions on Asian History - Essay Example The Japanese aspirations for Chinese territories culminated in 1920, when Japan invaded Manchuria and finally in 1931, established the state of Manchukuo (Thomas). The establishment of Manchukuo was only a historical precedent, which marked the beginning of the Japanese invasion of China, culminating in 1937. The relations between Japan and the United States between 1900 and 1931 are much more controversial, than the ones with China. Up until WWI, the relations between the two countries were marked by political balance and mutual trade agreements. Until 1930 Japan and the US enjoyed a tradition of good and peaceful relations. During the Meiji dynasty and the modernization of Japan, the country imported knowledge and technology, as well its political ideas from the developed democracies in Europe, but also from the United States. The tradition of friendship and support however was broken after the Japanese invasion of Manchuria in 1930. This act was perceived by the United States as a n act of territorial aggression, and it was controversial to the ideas of universal human rights and liberal institutionalism, which the country was fervently promoting. Japanese human rights violations in China were the main reasons for the rapid deterioration of the Japanese – US relations in the early twentieth century. The relations between Japan and China and Japan and the US between 1900 and 1931 are contrasting. The Japan-Chinese relations were historically marked by hostility not only because of the different paths of modernization that the two countries chose at the end of the nineteenth century, but because of the Japanese imperial ambitions and expansionist policies. The Japanese – American relations however were marked by traditional friendship until 1931. This changed dramatically with the Japanese invasion of Northern China (Manchuria). The invasion was considered by the US as a major violation of the general tendency towards a universal human rights agen da, which was gaining momentum after WWI. How did the Nationalist Party unify China during the 1920s? The unification of China in the 1920s was largely influenced by the ideological platform of the Nationalist Party (the Kuomintang - KMT) which was founded in 1912. This platform professed a unique blend of Chinese nationalism, ethnicity and national unification. Towards the end of the nineteenth century, China was shattered by a series of riots and civil wars between warlords. The popular demand for social and political reforms was growing. Although China did not fight many wars with â€Å"foreigners†, Chinese national identity is based on the ideal of national superiority and the spiritual uniqueness of the Chinese nation, compared to other nations (Hsu, Murphy). This historical perception of Chinese identity became the ideological base of the Chinese Nationalist Party. It was embraced and implemented as such by the first leader of the Chinese Nationalist Party - Dr.  Sun Yat-sen. His vision of a greater Chinese society, bound by the idea of the state, became the political mechanism for the unification of the country in 1928. It was also transformed into a military strategy, resulting in the so-called Northern expedition, which unified China under