Brahma: The God of Gods

Though there is no founder in Hinduism, there are a lot of Gods and Goddesses. The one I chose to do is Brahma:

Brahma is the first god of the Hindu Trinity. Many Hindus add Lord in-front of the name to emphasize, Lord Brahma is recognized as the creator of the Universe according to the Hindus. Brahma is the Supreme Being, the head of gods (Like in Greek, they have Zeus, in Hinduism, they have Brahma). Brahma is the generator of mankind. It symbolizes the work of mind and in the intellect. Something strange about Brahma is that there is a possible reason that worship of Brahma is not popular among Hindus. But it is known that he is worshiped by seekers of knowledge.

As I looked up on the site, it mentioned that

“As an individual is god gifted with the mind and intellect, then it may be assumed that a person has already attained Brahma.”

I chose to select Brahma, since I thought it was the pioneer of Hindu Deities.

As you can see Brahma doesn't look like a creature; the 4 arms symbolize the importance the armed, bearded deity. Hindus believe that Brahma is the foundation of all the knowledge required for the creation of the earth.

Brahma:

Characteristics :	Creator, Generator
Other Names :	Nabhija, Hiranyagarbha, Kanja
Consort :	Saraswati
Abode :	Brahmaloka
Weapon :	Brahmastra
Vahana (Vehicle) :	Swan
Brahma Gayatri Mantra:	Aum Parmeshwaraye Vidmahe Paratattvaye Dheemahi Tanno Brahma Prachodayat

Bibliography:

IloveIndianGroup. "Brahma." I Love India. N.p., n.d. Web. 22 May 2011.
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City of Mounds "Mohenjo-Daro"

"Faceless" Indus Valley City Puzzles Archaeologists

5/22/2011

Many Archaeologists have pondered about this city for a long period of time; many were puzzled about this city due to the fact that this city lacked ostentatious palaces, temples, or monuments.This city situated in Sindh, Pakistan was once one of the largest settlements in Indus Valley. The Indus Valley civilization was unknown until, when archaeologists revealed the ancient city "Monhenjo-Daro."

The excavation have proven that Mohenjo-Daro emerged around 4500 years ago. It is know that its civilization spread out over over 100 (hectares).This city became an interest to archaeologists due to the unknown signs. Signs of evidences proved that they believed in sorts of Gods and Goddesses however there were no proofs of the government, religion, or anything related to them. Modesty, order, and cleanliness were apparently preferred.

On the other hand, the occupants of the Indus Valley were skilled urban planners; they were capable of controlling the water. Evidences have proven that, they maintained a drainage system, this only not made lives easier. The canals helped controlling flooding by catching overflow from the water. As a result, this led to a developed civilization.

No one knows for sure how Mohenjo-Daro disappeared. The unknown city described as abandoned, or destroyed is still a mystery for everyone.

Bibliography:

John Roach. "'Faceless' Indus Valley City Puzzles Archaeologists." National
Geographic Archaeology: n. pag. National Geographic Articles. Web. 22 May
2011. .

Unit Reflection: Ancient Egypt

Ancient Egypt

5/6/2011

• What I learned this unit?
• Egyptian Art and Map
• Learner's Profile

What I learned this unit?

As we approached to the last quarter, we didn't have that much time to focus one topic and others that were associated with it; we had to rush through a bit. As soon as I knew the topic was Ancient Egypt, I thought that short amount of time wasn't enough, since Ancient Egypt was a strong Kingdom, which maintained a lot of histories until today. From my perspective, we focused more on the geography and more of religion, art, cultures instead of big topics such as government, rulers etc. What really interested me was the fact that the Nile River gave a lot of importance to Egyptians. Though Nile is known as the biggest river in the world, I didn't knew, it was an important source to others who lived along the coast. The 6650km long river gave fertile soil, trading relationships, and even food resources for the Egyptians and others to be developed in trading relationships and be open minded in traveling. On the other hand, what I enjoyed in this unit was the architecture. I especially liked this was because I had an opportunity to explain it and the architecture was just incredible. As many archaeologists say, when Mesopotamian built ziggurats, Egyptians constructed Pyramids; both were for same reasons, but there were huge differences. There are endless sentences about Egypt, as like today, famous subjects are more worth to write for.

Egyptian Art and Map

• Art

As I observed Egyptians arts drawn on stones and papyrus, I was stunned due to their creativity. I found that Egyptians were interested in writing and drawing daily lives and hieroglyphics on stones and papyrus. What is good about stones was that, it will stay for a long period but papyrus is portable and light however could be worth nothing when water is poured.

Another reason why I chose art to discuss about was because we had an privilege to draw god and goddess; as my previous blog entry accounted for the importance of my drawing, I chose to explain about it. What really was unique about mine was the difference between others; while other tend to draw about god's vocation, I drew about the opinions of citizens.

" If there is a period of joy, there is a period of sorrow," was the point of my drawing. As today, though a country might be rich, it will always have weakness. Therefore, I found that it would be better drawing about the people's view.

• Map

The map project was fun since it was partner project and everyone loved to draw. This was one of the best moments in humanities where I got to decorate, show my creativity and finish it up with writing some importance of the Nile River. Since it was a decorating project, I had to be organized and a participant, which influenced my organization and participation in a good way.

Learner's Profile: (Thinkers and Communicators)

Thinkers:

This unit required a lot of thinking to do especially when it got to the final visual project where each one of us gets to pick a topic to talk about. According to what I think, I needed to think a lot since I had to think about the importance about Egypt and what could be the best thing to talk about my topic. Even in the Atlantis project, I had to fight for my opinion, so I had to consider a lot of what will make me confident. As a result, those reasons made me think more, and be more knowledgeable.

Communicators:

What I thought that this unit had to do with communication was that, sometimes, we had to be discussing about the ancient Egypt and the present Egypt, the differences similarities. Also, we were discussing about Egypt and their relationships with other countries, making us communicative. To add on, Mrs. Moore let us watch horrible histories video to learn and communicate about the Egypt, to know better. I believe so that those small stuffs (games, jeopardy, quizzes) made us know better about the topic.

Egyptian Art Design

Egyptian Art

4/18/2011

Kyle C.

As you can see above, the picture explains everything that you can imagine. While others focused on mostly gods and other important part of the Egyptian designs, I managed to draw one based on the life differences of Egypt. To summarize, this is the part where Osiris (Far right) and his son Horus (Next to Osiris) is checking if the world is balanced, meaning how the world is changing. Starting from the left, you can tell by the size and the action, they are peasants and farmers working. The tools are not that sophisticated and the clothing isn't either, it’s even perhaps worse, since they don't have any ornaments with them. Next up, it’s the artisan group, where he is trying to build something. The size of one is bigger than but not as great as one on the right sides. As we go on, there is the pharaoh, looking at the poor wondering what to do (that’s why hieroglyphics above says "Wonders of the Egypt.") He maintains some nice jewelry and some cross representing the religion/royalty. Next two up stands for the same level "Gods," except the one on the right edge, is located in a higher position. They are more colorful, holds authority, and what I like about is that they have a nice hat. Lastly, as you can see above the two gods, there are the symbols representing, to stand out. Overall, I have drawn this nice piece of art to emphasize that "once Egypt was mighty as a stone, but over time, it was weak as a beggar coveting food.

How do natural features such as rivers, lakes, and mountains help unite people or keep them isolated from each other?

How do natural features such as rivers, lakes, and mountains help unite people or keep them isolated from each other?

3/30/2011

Kyle C.

Weather and Geography Conditions:

In the ancient times, communities and groups dwell together to form a place; when the population of groups increased, the space dominated by a certain group became smaller and there were level-headed leaders to charge the land. As the communities/lands were all isolated from one another, there were lack of communication going on; to add insult to injury, there were severe weather and disasters (flood for example), which caused people there to suffer. Though each community had an idea to prevent this accidence, they needed extra support. The only solution they had was to gather together and create a stop to this by inundating; by uniting, their lives could've been easier from the harmful disasters.

On the contrary, as the small groups united, there had to be a particular leader. Due to the fact that there had to be one, all the contenders were in a fight causing troubles in this. It was not the problem of geography conditions, it was all about who was capable of ruling the land. But back to what I said, another impact that could had isolated the nomes, was the fight of the charge of one's land, due to the fact that in the past and still today, people (especially farmers) prefer surfaces where it is easy to farm, meets the weather condition they want, and best of all, the water (lakes, rivers etc.) for the crops. When the land where one was in charge was in a stage of lack of crops, one had to invade and conquer to suit him/herself. In conclusion, the natural features of the world led to unite or to keep apart from others.

Going Along the Nile River

Trip along the Nile River

Kyle C.

Am I heading down or up, doesn’t matter it is still going to be Nile; there it is Nile again, trying to greet me. I see the Nile’s beauty, beauty of 6,670 km, and 22% of Nile course going through Egypt. I am heading down; I see the sun, with its luminous and glaring light, pointing at my golden ring. On the right it’s the farming lands, on the left it’s the pyramids; I’m between them. That is the beauty of the nature, Nile the longest river letting me goes through, fishing, touring, trading. Oh my I say, there is a goat grazing, there is a servant wearing some cloth I know from ancient times, I see the kids doing their laundries, oh I see, the lifestyles of along the Nile. Wait, the sun shines again, the energy of the sun warms my face. I feel different, is it because of the exceeding temperature or the beauty of Nile.

The New Words from the Article

The New Words from the Article

Kyle C.

• Define the word Mummy

A dead body of a human (usually kings), which was prepared as a burial, according to ancient Egyptians. The oldest known mummies, which date back to 7,000 years ago, were found in northern Chile near Arica, a port town of 160,000 at the edge of the Atacama desert.

Experts define a mummy as any ancient cadaver whose soft tissue has partially or wholly resisted decay.

• According to current scientific beliefs, what are some reasons people were intentionally mummified?

Ancient Egyptians mummified dead people to preserve the human remains; they had believed in an afterlife, they thought that the spirit would live for eternity in the after life. The dead bodies were buried next to the belongings since ancient Egyptians believed that they need them after life as well.

• What features of the natural environment can cause bodies to be mummified unintentionally?

Features of the natural environment, which cause bodies to be mummified are surgery.

• In what parts of the world have mummies been found?

Mummies have been discovered all parts of the world however the excavations and the traditions we all know are Egyptians.

• In what types of places (physical geography&climate) have mummies been found?

Ancient Egyptian mummies were found in the pyramids, located in the Sahara Desert is to be known as the hottest place. The physical geography of the pyramid is located at the ancient Giza, the tremendous pyramids consists of traps in-order for invaders to abduct the goods.

• How did Ancient Egyptians preserve their dead?

As I mentioned before, ancient Egyptians had preserved their cadavers in the pyramid. Throughout the century, many traders had failed to steal the goods in the pyramids due to fatal traps; however as more traders became to be interested in ancient goods, the goods and mummies had been stolen.

• Why do you think ancient Egyptians took such care to embalm their dead if the desert could do the job for them?

Ancient Egyptians had to take care of the dead in-order for the cadaver to be jubilant when they are dead; also it could had been a possibility that Ancient Egyptians cared so much due to security.

• List a least FIVE questions that you would ask about a place to determine whether it might be a promising location to find human mummies. Your questions should relate to climate, culture, religion and other factors that you think are important. Include images...

Which Pharaoh of Egypt was the first mummy and why?

How many traps against invaders were installed/made?

In the weather and climate condition, would've the mummy been in a bad position?

Why did you locate the mummy in the pyramid and how was the pyramid built?

How did Egyptian religion/beliefs influence their culture and lives.