The People’s Republic of Kampuchea

The People’s Republic of Kampuchea will

advance decisively along the road of independence, peace, democracy and

nonaligne ment along the road of socialism, actively contributing in this way

to the preservation of the peace and stability in SouthEast Asia.

The Kampuchean people will continue to

develop their traditional solidarity with all fraternal socialist countries and

in particular with Viet Nam, the Soviet Union and the People’s Republic of

Bulgaria.

Our people are delighted that the relations

of friendship, fraternal solidarity and cooperation between Kampuchea and

Bulgaria develop incessantly in the interest of both nations, to the benefit of

social progress, thus affirming the position of the two nations in the world.

Express our deep gratitude to Comrade

Finally I would like to express our deep

gratitude to Comrade Todor Zhivkov, for the invitation to take part in the

celebration of this festive jubilee. I would like to extend to him personally,

to the leaders of the Party and the State, to the entire Bulgarian people my

best wishes for health, fiery energy and full success in the further

construction of developed socialism in the People’s Republic of Bulgaria,

carrying into effect the decisions of the Twelfth Congress of the Bulgarian

Communist Party.

The People’s Republic of Kampuchea and the

People’s Republic of Bulgaria will march always together along the road of the

victorious MarxismLeninism.

Long live the friendship, the militant

solidarity and the cooperation between the parties, the governments and the

peoples of Kampuchea and Bulgaria.

Pen Sovan, Secretary General of the

People’s Revolutionary Party of Kampuchea and Chairman of the Council of

Ministers.

TO

TODOR ZHIVKOV, SECRETARY GENERAL OF THE

CENTRAL COMMITTEE OF THE BULGARIAN COMMUNIST PARTY AND CHAIRMAN OF THE STATE

COUNCIL OF THE PEOPLE’S REPUBLIC OF BULGARIA, GRISHA FILIPOV, CHAIRMAN OF THE

COUNCIL OF MINISTERS OF THE PEOPLE’S REPUBLIC OF BULGARIA, STANKO TODOROV

CHAIRMAN OF THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY OF THE PEOPLE’S REPUBLIC OF BULGARIA

On the occasion of the celebrations for the

1300th Anniversary from the foundation of the Bulgarian State, we are sending

you comrade, and through you to all the brotherly Bulgarian people affectionate

greetings and good wishes.

13 centuries the Bulgarian people

For the past 13 centuries the Bulgarian

people overcame a road filled with abstacles and different hardships, a road of

heroic and continuous battles gave countless cherished victims for the

strengthening and progress of its fatherland. Thanks to the continuous work and

selfdenying the Bulgarian people reached a considerable succes in its economic

and cultural developement, contributing in the history of the Balkans and

Europe.

Miss Tempy’s Watchers part 1

Sarah Orne Jewett (1849-1909)

Sarah Orne Jewett was born at South Berwick, Maine, in 1849. She was one of the leading exponents of New England life in fiction. She came of an old and cultured family. In 1887 she published her first book, Deephaven, a study of New England life in the form of an autobiography. This was followed by a number of other books, novels and short stories concerned with the life and character of New England folk.

Miss Tempy’s Watchers is reprinted from The King of Folly Island, etc. Copyright, 1888, Houghton Mifflin & Co., by whose permission it is here used.

Miss Tempy’s Watchers

The time of year was April; the place was a small farming town in New Hampshire, remote from any railroad. One by one the lights had been blown out in the scattered houses near Miss Tempy Dent’s; but as her neighbors took a last look out-of-doors, their eyes turned with instinctive curiosity toward the old house, where a lamp burned steadily. They gave a little sigh. “Poor Miss Tempy!” said more than one bereft acquaintance; for the good woman lay dead in her north chamber, and the light was a watcher’s light. The funeral was set for the next day, at one o’clock.

The watchers were two of the oldest friends, Mrs. Crowe and Sarah Ann Binson. They were sitting in the kitchen, because it seemed less awesome than the unused best room, and they beguiled the long hours by steady conversation. One would think that neither topics nor opinions would hold out, at that rate, all through the long spring night; but there was a certain degree of excitement just then, and the two women had risen to an unusual level of expressiveness and confidence.

Each had already told the other more than one fact that she had determined to keep secret; they were again and again tempted into statements that either would have found impossible by daylight. Mrs. Crowe was knitting a blue yarn stocking for her husband; the foot was already so long that it seemed as if she must have forgotten to narrow it at the proper time. Mrs. Crowe knew exactly what she was about, however; she was of a much cooler disposition that Sister Bin- son, who made futile attempts at some sewing, only to drop her work into her lap whenever the talk was most engaging.

Their faces were interesting of the dry, shrewd, quick-witted New England type, with thin hair twisted neatly back out of the way. Mrs. Crowe could look vague and benignant, and Miss Binson was, to quote her neighbors, a little too sharp-set; but the world knew that she had need to be, with the load she must carry of supporting an inefficient widowed sister and six unpromising and unwilling nieces and nephews.

The eldest boy was at last placed with a good man to learn the mason’s trade. Sarah Ann Binson, for all her sharp, anxious aspect, never defended herself, when her sister whined and fretted. She was told every week of her life that the poor children never would have had to lift a finger if their father had lived, and yet she had kept her steadfast way with the little farm, and patiently taught the young people many useful things, for which, as everybody said, they would live to thank her. However pleasureless her life appeared to outward view, it was brimful of pleasure to herself.

Source: https://bulgarian.marietaminkova.com/miss-tempys-watchers-part-1/

Title Special Events and places in Arbanasi

The Miracle of the Church

of the Birth of Christ

In the

Eastern Orthodox calender, Easter is one of the largest celebration of the

Christian faith, and at this time many of the faithful make their way to this

church, as legend has it that on Easter Saturday water appears on the scared

throne (the altar), which the faithful believe has miraculous powers of

healing. They take a few drops of this to relieve illness and pain, and it is

said if the water remains until the suns rise the following day, it is a sign

of Gods blessing and a prosperous year for all ahead.

The Circle of Life

In the same

Church, on the East wall of the loft is placed a most unusual mural depicting

“The Circle of Life” with all signs of the zodiac making up a circle

around a face which is a depiction of Christ. Around that are four naked

figures representing the four seasons, and yet gain around that is the

representation of twelve human figures lying in a clockwise direction. On a

wider circumference are nine figures holding staffs of equal length encircling

the entire mural? In the first half the figures represent the growth cycle of

life, the second half showing the decline and final end of this mortal life,

with an interesting inscription.

This

complicated composition would seem to owe much too Far Eastern philosophy, but

with a focus on the life of Christ, and is a most unusual find in a Christian

church. It has a particular mystery that enchants the viewer for many a time

after.

The Outcasts of Poker Flat Part 1

Bret Harte (1839-1902)

Francis Bret Harte was born at Albany in 1839, and after receiving an ordinary school education, went to California, in 1854. He tried teaching and mining, but without success, and then worked as compositor on a San Francisco paper. During that time he published a few verses and sketches. On the appearance of The Luck of Roaring Camp in the Overland Monthly, he was hailed as a man of exceptional talent as indeed he was.

It was he who popularized the Western story. Such tales as The Luck of Roaring Camp and The Outcasts of Poker Flat are typical of Harte at his best. He was often over-sentimental and at times he wrote primarily in order to exhibit a trick-ending, in the manner of O. Henry, but the story included in this volume shows that he could interpret and describe human beings in a masterly fashion.

This story is reprinted from the volume The Luck of Roaring Camp, etc. Copyright, 1872, by Houghton Mifflin & Co., Boston, by whose permission it is here used.

The Outcasts of Poker Flat

As Mr. John Oakhurst, gambler, stepped into the main street of Poker Flat on the morning of the 23d of November, 1850, he was conscious of a change in its moral atmosphere since the preceding night. Two or three men, conversing earnestly together, ceased as he approached, and exchanged significant glances. There was a Sabbath lull in the air, which, in a settlement unused to Sabbath influences, looked ominous.

Mr. Oakhurst’s calm, handsome face betrayed small concern in these indications. Whether he was conscious of any predisposing cause was another question. “I reckon they’re after somebody,” he reflected: “likely it’s me.” He returned to his pocket the handkerchief with which he had been wiping away the red dust of Poker Flat from his neat boots, and quietly discharged his mind of any further conjecture.

In point of fact, Poker Flat was “after somebody.” It had lately suffered the loss of several thousand dollars, two valuable horses, and a prominent citizen. It was experiencing a spasm of virtuous reaction, quite as lawless and ungovernable as any of the acts that had provoked it. A secret committee had determined to rid the town of all improper persons. This was done permanently in regard to two men who were 1 lien hanging from the boughs of a sycamore in the gulch, and emptily in the banishment of certain other objectionable characters.

I regret to say that some of these were ladies. It is but due to the sex, however, to state that their impropriety was professional, and it was only in such easily established standards of evil that Poker Flat ventured In sit in judgment.

Source: https://bulgaria.tourhints.info/the-outcasts-of-poker-flat-part-1/

Chapel was dark

Being ignorant of all architectural lore, I could form no opinion as to the antiquity of the building. The chapel was so dark, the walls and pavements were so obscured with the smoke of wax-tapers, that it was impossible to decipher the inscriptions on the flags, or to discover what the blotches of faded colours on the walls were intended to represent. The prior seemed to know as little about the convent’s history as I did myself, and all he could tell us was that both it and the chapel were very old indeed, and that there was no money forthcoming to place the chapel in proper repair, with new crosses, new pictures of the Virgin, new missals, and new vestments, such as would befit the historic dignity of the shrine. It struck me that to any one at all versed in ecclesiastical architecture, the chapel would have proved a sort of treasure-trove. But the opinion of the prior seemed to be that it was quite good enough as it stood, for all the use that was ever made of it.

Greek Good Friday

The day on which I visited the place was the Greek Good Friday, but there had been no service performed there that day, as the peasants of the neighbouring village had all gone to Sofia to attend the weekly market, and nobody had come to church. At its very fullest, the chapel could not well contain more than a score of people. Altogether, I should consider the prior had a very easy berth, and, even in wealthier countries, would have been considered well paid for such clerical labours as he performed.

He told us that he owned two houses in Sofia, and that in the winter time he resided there himself, because the air in the hills was too keen and too sharp for a man of his age. In his absence, the curate looks after the spiritual requirements of the village, and the prior only returns when the visitors commence driving out from the capital. I saw no reason to suppose that the prior neglected his duty, either in his own opinion or in that of his parishioners.

The reason why I have dwelt upon his personal position, as he told it to us, is that the incident seems to me to be a curious illustration of Bulgarian national character. Here was a man who, in virtue of his position, was of more than average education, who was certainly not unintelligent, and who was possessed of means which would have enabled him to live in considerable comfort; yet he was content to pass his life as a peasant amongst peasants, not from any high ideal of the existence best befitting a minister of God, but simply because the sort of life he thus led was the one most in accordance with his own tastes, as it is with those of the great mass of his fellow-country men.

Appointed by Bulgarian Government

The judges are functionaries of the State. They are appointed by the Government, paid by the Government, and may be removed by the Government. In every commune, however small, there is a judge who forms an ex officio member of the Communal Council, elected by the in-habitants. These communal judges have very limited juris-diction. They have no power to inflict personal punishment in criminal cases; all they can do is to impose a fine, not exceeding sixteen shillings in amount, for a breach of the law; and in civil cases they only possess the right of summary jurisdiction when the amount at issue does not exceed £2. Their sentences have to be submitted to the approval of the district judges of the district in which the commune is situated.

These district judges hold office on the same tenure as the communal judges, but their jurisdiction is more extensive. They can impose fines to the extent of £2, and can decide suits concerning sums not exceeding £4; they may also try charges of theft, not aggravated by violence. Next in the legal hierarchy come the judges of First Instance, who hold courts in the chef lieux of every province. They have authority to adjudicate in all civil and criminal cases, but their decision may be referred to the Courts of Appeal, of which there are four in Bulgaria; and from these courts there lies a reference to the Supreme Court of Appeal at Sofia.

Opinion of the Government

Trial by jury is still amidst the reforms of the future. In the opinion of the Government, the country is not yet ripe for its institution. The present generation of adult peasants have had little or no education; and their ideas of justice are formed on what may be called the Cadi principle. When a new generation comes to the front, which has been educated at the national schools, and which has learned discipline in the national army, the peasants, it is thought, may become fit to act as jurymen ; but as things are, the estimation in which a Bulgarian prisoner might hold, whether for good or bad, in the opinion of his fellowtownsmen, would have much more to do with his conviction or acquittal, than the strength of the evidence connecting him with the perpetration of the particular crime of which he stood accused.

In the Courts of First Instance, however, a system has been of late years introduced, which possesses some of the advantages of trial by jury. In all criminal cases of a serious character, a certain number of towns-peoplemen, as a rule, of some education and local standingare appointed to sit with the judges and to hear the evidence adduced for or against the prisoner.

When the case is concluded, the verdict is given by the judges and assessors in conjunction, the vote of the majority deciding the question of guilt or innocence. With the giving of the verdict of “ Guilty ” or ” Not guilty,” the functions of the assessors are at an end; and the question of the punishment to be inflicted, in the event of conviction, is left to the sole arbitrament of the judges. Thus, in cases where political bias may be supposed to enter, the prisoner has the advantage of being tried before a tribunal composed of private citizens as well as of functionaries of the Government townsmen, would have much more to do with his conviction or acquittal, than the strength of the evidence connecting him with the perpetration of the particular crime of which he stood accused. In the Courts of First Instance, however, a system has been of late years introduced, which possesses some of the advantages of trial by jury. In all criminal cases of a serious character, a certain number of towns-people—men, as a rule, of some education and local standing—are appointed to sit with the judges and to hear the evidence adduced for or against the prisoner.

When the case is concluded, the verdict is given by the judges and assessors in conjunction, the vote of the majority deciding the question of guilt or innocence. With the giving of the verdict of “ Guilty ” or ” Not guilty,” the functions of the assessors are at an end; and the question of the punishment to be inflicted, in the event of conviction, is left to the sole arbitrament of the judges. Thus, in cases where political bias may be supposed to enter, the prisoner has the advantage of being tried before a tribunal composed of private citizens as well as of functionaries of the Government

Please don’t say anything to grandpa

Grandfather’s oldest son, Blagoye, Arsen’s father, is the third member of the home council. The rest of the family listens and obeys. The three elders sometimes leave the house intentionally, to give the children a chance to play to their heart’s desire, the women to talk as much as they might please and the men to smoke freely. The moment, however, one of the “big three” steps into the house, every one becomes quiet and busy.

Grandpa, being an old man, would frequently behave like a child. At times he would lose his temper for the least trifle, then he would rage, scold, and, in his excitement, strike at the nearest one. Again, he would be gentle, generous, play with the youngsters, give them coppers. Then again, for no reason in the world, he would begin to cry: “I am left alone in this world like a withered tree on a mountain.”

Youth has its frivolity, old age its senility.

The day following Arsen’s adventure, Blagoye came to Radoyka with a serious mien, saying, “Auntie! Arsen, God forgive us, is crazy about Burmas’ devil of a girl.”

“Arsen? Is that the boy who was a major last summer?”

“That’s the one.”

“Did you say Burmas’ dare-devil?”

“Yes ”

“Anoka?”

“The same.”

“She is no good for our house.”

“No, no! I think so too. But Arsen, the Lord forgive us our sins, is deeply in love with her. Velinka tells me he behaved badly last night.”

“How! What did he do?”

“Please don’t say anything to grandpa.”

“Never.”

“Velinka told me he was drunk, and that he threatened to kill Philip Marichich, because, you know—this fellow is after Anoka.”

“What do you say?” Grandma meditated a while, then said, “I’ll take the matter to grandpa and see what he says.”

“Please don’t mention a thing about last night, you know.”

“God forbid!”

Radoyka went to grandpa

Radoyka went to grandpa and told him the story; he was obviously worried. After a silence he looked at the old woman and said: “You know, my dear sister-in-law, it is just as you say. But I have head our old people say that it does no good to break young people’s hearts and disregard their desires. I believe our community has some eighty souls.”

“By far more.”

“Thank God! Why, then, shouldn’t Anoka be able to adjust herself and become one of us?”

“God bless your words.”

Several days later Anoka said to one of her friends, “I knew every-thing would turn out favorably! I am the prettiest girl in the nine villages hereabout!” She took a mirror from a little box under her blouse and began to primp her curly hair.

After becoming one of the members of the zadruga Jedanich, she remained the same spoiled girl as of old. She was always vain and obstinate; she would never do what was required of her, being always ready with a retort:

“I didn’t do this in my father’s house!”

“Why should I knead dough for a whole army? One loaf of bread is sufficient for me and my Arsen!”

Source: https://istanbulgaria.info/at-the-well-part-3/

Grant concessions

The Government has the right to grant concessions to any company, native or foreign, for the working of mines, the reclamation of lands, or the establishment of manufactures; and the Ministers are not indisposed to accord such concessions. But the concessionaire, when he has obtained his concession, finds himself hampered and thwarted at every step by the claims of the commune in which his enterprise has to be conducted.

The authority of the commune within its own area is very great; and any member of the commune can raise difficulties which would militate against the concession being worked successfully, on the plea that it interfered with his supply of water, his rights of pasturage, or the cultivation of his lands. There is as yet no clear law with reference to the relative rights of the State and the commune, when the rights of the former come into conflict with local interests. The communal system is so identified with the ideas and customs of the nation, that it is difficult to modify the powers of the State over the internal administration of the communes to the disadvantage of the latter, until the Bulgarian public are brought to see that they have a personal interest in augmenting the legal authority of the central Government.

Increased prosperity

In view of the greatly increased prosperity of the trading classes, and the rapid growth of the towns, the peasantry consider—and this opinion of theirs is also held by the Government—that they contribute an unduly large proportion to the public revenue. Not only is the land-tax unreasonably heavy, so heavy, indeed, as to cripple the resources which ought to be available for the improvement of the land; but, owing to the taxes being now collected directly by the Government instead of indirectly by the farming system, and owing to the repayment of these taxes being at present enforced in cash and not in produce, the burden of taxation weighs more heavily nowadays on the peasants than it did in the old times.

Any proposal, therefore, to shift the burden of taxation to any material extent from agriculture to trade would not only be just in itself, but would be so popular as to reconcile public opinion to a considerable restriction of communal autonomy. For the present, however, the Capitulations stand in the way of any adequate redistribution of the taxes as against the towns and in favour of the country. Bulgaria is still nominally an integral portion of the Ottoman Empire, and is, therefore, subject to the provisions of the Capitulations.

Bulgarians first contact Balkan

The Bulgarians’ first contact with the Balkan Peninsula is dated to the end of the fifth and the beginning of the 6th centuries. They settled gradually in the regions of the former Roman provinces of Moesia, Dacia and Macedonia. The territories had suffered invasions of the Barbarians in the 3rd—5th centuries but the Bulgarians revived them, bringing economic, political and cultural prosperity. The following expressive statement refers to such a prospering country:

“They say that the land of Alexandaros Ogal Sosmanoz [Tsar Yoan Shishman (1371—1395)], son of Alexandar [Tsar Yoan Alexandar (1331—1371)], is on the bank of the river Tuna [Danube] and belongs to the region of Edirne [Odrin]…

It [the land of the Bulgarians] was a very fertile region. It exported honey, butter and sheep across the world. In general, there were all kinds of goods in it, more than in other regions.”

From Book of Description of the World by Mehmed Neshri. Translated by I. Tataria. Kitab-i Gihannuma, Mehmed Nesri, Ankara, 1949.

Medieval Bulgarian state

The medieval Bulgarian state in Southeastern Europe occupied the lands to the south of the Balkan Mountains in the direction of Constantinople. The dream of conquering the Byzantine metropolis was alive until the death of Tsar Simeon the Great (893 927). The policy of inhabiting the lands in the south-southwest turned out however to be more productive.

The territories south of the Rhodope Mountains to the Aegean Sea and in the west to Morava River, present day Macedonia and parts of Northern Thessaly, Albania, Kosovo were joined at the time of Kan Presian (836 852). These regions and the whole of Moesia and Thrace formed the historical ethnic cultural space of the Bulgarians in Southeastern Europe in the middle Ages.

Most European states

The territories of most European states, including Bulgaria, took shape in the early Middle Age Period. Only the lands of modem Italy and Germany are an exception; they became state territories in the second half of the 19th century.

In most cases, the causes of wars were the defense of territories already possessed, rather than the taking control of new ones with a foreign population. Medieval Bulgarians lived under the impression of occupying vast territories, which they usually referred to as “Upper Land” (Moesia with the lower flows of the rivers Timok and Bulgarian Morava, as well as the plains up to the Carpathian Mountains) and “Lower Land” (Thrace, the Aegean coast and present-day Macedonia). In the period 7- 14th centuries, the Bulgarians who were the most numerous people in the Balkan Peninsula, settled permanently in their ethnic lands.

Source: https://www.doholiday.com/bulgarians-first-contact-balkan/

Completing the elementary education

The first class in the high schools is occupied with testing and, if necessary, completing the elementary education that the pupils have received in the elementary schools. The highest class embraces the study of chemistry, conic sections, the differential calculus, and political economy. There is no instruction given in dead or foreign languages. In the intermediate classes between the first and last, the pupils pass through the various stages of education in such studies as mathematics, history, geography, astronomy, and general science. Of course, when you have to communicate by the aid of an interpreter, it is not easy to ascertain what degree of learning the pupils have actually acquired. But, judging from the diagrams, maps, models, and text-books which I saw in use, the instruction imparted was certainly of a higher and more serious character than that given in any ordinary public school of our own country. The boys appeared to me to follow the explanations of their teachers with extreme attention and interest, and had none of the listless, bored look, which, if my recollection serves me rightly, used to be—and I dare say is—so characteristic of English school-boys in a class-room. The teachers seem to take great interest in their pupils, and were obviously most anxious to impress a stranger with the extent of their scholars* attainments. They all declared that the children, as a general rule, were anxious to learn, and quick at learning. Any religious difficulty is got over by allowing the children of different sects to receive religious instruction in separate class-rooms, imparted by ministers of their own creed.

Orthodox Greeks

As the building has any amount of space, and as there are only four important schismatic denominations — the Orthodox Greeks, the Catholics, the Mahommedans, and the Jews—there is no difficulty about finding separate accommodation for the purpose. The religious teaching is always given, either at the commencement or at the end of the day’s lessons, so as to leave the regular school work uninterrupted. From what I could learn, no very great importance is attached by the parents to religious instruction being given one way or the other, so long as no attempt at proselytizing is made or suspected of being made. The boys themselves, in common with all Bulgarian lads, were strong, stout-built fellows, not unintelligent in look, but with a sort of peasant aspect, which characterizes the whole race.

INDUSTRIES AND TRADES

SKETCH OF THE ECONOMIC CONDITION OF THE

PRINCIPALITY

BULGARIA is an agricultural country. The

prosperity of the inhabitants depends almost entirely on the harvests, which in

consequence serve as a criterion for judging the economic state of the country.

The consequences of a good or bad harvest are felt not only in agricultural

circles but in commerce, trades, and industries, and this to such an extent

that to judge whether the harvest of any year was good or bad one has only to

look at the statistics of trade with other countries. The extent of foreign trade

is in direct proportion with the crops : a good harvest is followed by a great

increase of trade with foreign countries, which a bad harvest almost

immediately paralyses.

It is easy to see the truth of this

statement from the following table, where the figures for grain export are

compared with the figures for the general foreign trade (both import and

export) for a period of ten years.

Yew.      Imports.

Francs. Exports.

Francs. Total.

Francs. Export

of cereals. Francs.

Z894 ..  99,229,193          72,850,675          172,079,868        55,871,305

1895 ..  69,020,295          77,685,546          146,705,841        60,473,405

1896 ..  76,530,278          108,739,977        185,270,255        94,089,072

1897 ..  83,994,236          59,790,511          143,784,747        46,418,601

I898 ..   72,730,250          66,537,007          139,267,257        48,491,343

Year.     Imports.

Franca. Exports.

Francs. Total.

Francs. Export

of cereals. Francs.

1899 ..  60,178,079          53,467,099          113,645,178        32,801,247

1900 . . 46,342,100          53,982,629          100,324,729        27,128,280

I9OI . .   70,044,073          82,769,759          152,813,832        51,717,228

1902 ..  71,246,492          103,684,530        174,931,022        63,699,691

1903 ..  81,802,281          108,073,639        189,876,220        74,215,803

Importance of our foreign trade

On the other hand the importance of our foreign trade may be estimated by the operations of the Bulgarian National Bank, which is chiefly occupied with exchange and current accounts operations. It has been established during the last ten years that the exchange operations and the amount of current accounts which correspond to years with good harvests differ considerably from those of years with poor crops. This may be seen from the following table :   

Whatever may be the importance of the

agricultural exports—and the progress made in the development of this branch

gives confident hope for the future—Bulgaria cannot be called a rich country.

As in all agricultural countries, our sole source of national wealth is the

land. Industries are only beginning; agriculture itself is carried on by the

expansive system, whereas it is the intensive system which is generally a

characteristic of rich agricultural countries and advanced cultivation.

Agricultural Bank is exceedingly

The Agricultural Bank is

exceedingly useful in encouraging agriculture. In a very short space

of time it has so extended the number of its operations and the amount of its

capital as to have gained a high rank among institutions of the kind.

Year. Operations in francs.          Difference.

1899      493,759,18721  21,989,64202

1900      507,307,50260

+ X3,548,3X5’39

1901      535,575,I8203

+ 28,267,67943

1902      827,690,47723

+ 292,115,29520

1903      972,538,557’22

+ 144,848,079*99

Although the object of the Agricultural

Bank is to assist the agricultural classes, it deals with merchants and

manufacturers, as can be seen from the following table showing the securities

held by the bank distributed between agriculturists and no agriculturists:

Year.     Fn.         Agriculturists.    Frt.         Nonugricnltnrists.

1899      349,377                54,823,95570     12,410   5,943,59660

1900      282,161                56,628,82280     13,470   6,140,51910

1901      395,320                57,321,66861     14,905   6,385,34305

1902      296,966                54,408,96926     15,837   6,335,60552

1903      274,601                50,403,78613     15,173   6,273,86145

HANDICRAFTS

Up to the time of our national

emancipation, agriculture and small handicrafts had always been the sole

resource of the Bulgarian people. With widespread poverty, few practicable

roads, and an apathetic Government, until the time of which we speak, all the

circumstances combined to condemn such few attempts at industrial enterprise as

were made to failure.

Let us first explain what we mean by the

word “ handicraft’. In Bulgaria any permanent occupation is called “

handicraft.” An “ artisan ” is a man who devotes his time to one of these

handicrafts, either by himself or in company with his workmen and apprentices.

In order to become a master, one must have been both apprentice and workman,

and have brought one’s craftsmanship to a certain degree of perfection,

attested by a regular certificate. Every craft is represented by a guild which

formulates all the rules concerning the exercise of its business. For the last

twenty five years the handicrafts have been declining, and at present it is

only in a few out of the way places that they preserve their original

character. The reason for this is that, directly after our political

emancipation, the influence of West European capitalistic production made

itself felt. On the one hand, the large estates in the country were being

divided in consequence of the disappearance of large patriarchal families, and

the population of the towns was rapidly increasing. On the other, in conformity

with the spirit of the constitution, Bulgaria was declared open for trading

purposes. Foreign products also came in, and social life was completely

changed, in part by the new political regime and the new administrative

organisation. In fact, requirements increased to such an extent that the

population chiefly occupied in small handicrafts or with agriculture could no

longer cope with the fresh expenses of the State, the less so as these weighed

heavily on farmers and artisans. For this reason, many of the latter shut up

shop and departed to seek their living elsewhere.

Romania Clayton

Thomas J. Clayton who visited many

countries passed through Bulgaria also. Going from Varna to Ruse and then on to

Romania

Clayton was “surprised” to discover that both Bulgaria and

Romania were “such fertile countries.” He wrote that he “never saw better

pasture lands or wheat fields” anywhere else in the world. These lands reminded

him of the prairie lands of Illinois. He was also surprised to find that there

were no farm houses like in America. The lands, he stated, were “tilled by

peasants who live in miserable little huts, or in villagesOur route lay through

a spur of the Balkan Mountains and was very picturesque very beautiful and

entertainingThe scenery of these mountains is soft and has a soothing rather

than a stirring influence upon the beholder.” The author believed that if peace

prevailed in these parts of the world, Bulgaria and Romania “will soon become

rich and prosperous.”

There are few more accounts by Americans on

Bulgaria. However, they are not much more different than those presented. Many

a time what Americans said about the Bulgarians or for that matter about other

peoples, reflected on their own personal character or how they valued American

culture and way of life. The descriptions presented by these travelers on a

variety of topics, like national character and even the history of Bulgaria are

hardly scientific or correct accounts.

Bulgarian personality

Almost all of these travelers present

nothing but clichés. They did not have the necessary expertise to carefully

analyze the Bulgarian

personality, their ethnic typicalness in terms of common

national cultural values. The frame of reference these travelers used was

founded on their perspective of American history and culture as the

repositories of values of liberty, freedom, democracy, justice, religion,

discipline, industry and progress.

Almost all of the authors sympathized with

the plight of the Bulgarian people under Ottoman domination. They all condemned

the alien system of despotism and many a time showed their preference for

republicanism. The Ottoman system did not permit the development of the

individual, the arts and crafts as well as agriculture and industry. The

authors were aware that the Ottoman state was in its stages of disintegration.

Those who visited Bulgaria before 1878 believed that the Bulgarians would

become free and those who travelled after the liberation of the country praised

the attempts of the Bulgarians to preserve their independence.

Process Mesopotamia

We must now consider more closely the

manner in which these artificial hills come to be created. Any of the mounds

which we have mentioned in the preceding paragraphs would probably serve to

illustrate the broad lines of this process: but those in Mesopotamia will

perhaps serve our purpose best, since they are uncomplicated by the presence of

large stone buildings and at the same time provide examples of some anatomical

eccentricities seldom found elsewhere. This process, then, by which in

antiquity the repeated rebuilding’s of human habitations on a single site

created a perpetually increasing elevation, is by no means difficult to

understand.

The average life of a mud brick building

today seldom exceeds the span of a single generation: and in earlier times,

military conquest or localized raiding on a smaller scale would certainly have

accounted for demolitions that are more frequent. Roofs would be burnt or

collapse and the upper parts of the walls subside, filling the rooms to about a

third of their height with brick debris. Before rebuilding, the site would

usually be systematically levelled, the stumps of the old walls being used as

foundations for the new.

Prehistoric fortresses at Mersin

Thus, after a time, the town or village

would find itself occupying the summit of a rising eminence; a situation, which

had the double advantage of being easily defensible and of affording an

expansive view of the surrounding countryside. One remembers in a connection

how the walls of the little prehistoric fortresses at Mersin in Cilicia were

lined with identical small dwellings for the garrison; and each was provided

with a pair of slit openings from which a watch could be kept on the approaches

to the mound.

What, then, an excavator is concerned with

is the stratified accumulation of archaeological remains, unconsciously created

by the activities of these early builders. By reversing the process and

examining each successive phase of occupation, from the latest (and therefore

uppermost) downwards, he obtains a chronological cross section of the mound’s history,

and can, if circumstances are favorable, reconstruct a remarkably clear picture

of the cultural and political vicissitudes through which its occupants have

passed.

However, it must be remembered that the

procedure, which he adopts, itself involves a new form of demolition. For as

the architectural remains associated with each phase of occupation are cleared,

examined and recorded, they must in turn be removed in order to attend to the

phase beneath. In a Near Eastern mound, the product of an operation of this

sort is often a deep hole in the ground and very little else that could

interest a subsequent visitor to the site of the excavation.

Museum of Pennsylvania

This road of course prolonged itself

through the Taurus passes, where the mounds are rare. However, once the

Anatolian plateau is reached, they start again and increase in size at the

approach to the great cities of Phrygia. The crossing of the Sangarius River is

marked by a colossal mound representing the remains of the old Phrygian

capital, Gordion, and a wide area around it is studded with tumuli covering the

graves of the Phrygian kings.

Excavations by the University Museum of

Pennsylvania in the side of the hill have revealed a gigantic stone gateway,

from which travelers on the Royal Road must have set out on their journey

northward. Half a mile further on, a stretch of the road itself is exposed,

where it passes between the tumuli; and its fifteen foot width of stone

pavement is still perfectly preserved.

(1) A. H. Layard, Nineveh and its Remains.

(2) Published in “Iraq”,

(3) Happening to visit the excavations when

this section of the road had just been located. I found the pavement newly

cleared and, standing in the center of it, the American director, a volume of

Herodotus in his hand, from which he was declaiming the passage in praise of

the Persian couriers who carried the royal dispatches from Sardis to Susa.

Anatolia or Kurdistan

However, it is not only on great highways

of this sort that the purpose of mounds can be identified. In every major

highland valley of Anatolia or Kurdistan, there, probably at a river crossing

or road junction, is a substantial mound; the market town or administrative center

of an agricultural district, which may still be crowned by the ruined castle of

a feudal landlord—the “derebey” of Ottoman times. Scattered elsewhere over the

face of the valley are smaller mounds, which were mere villages or farmsteads.

There are mounds making obvious frontier

posts, and lines of mounds sketching in the communications, which served

military defense systems of the remote past: and there are skeins of more

recent defenses, like the fortresses of Diocletian’s Hines.1 and finally, there

are tiny, insignificant looking mounds standing no more than a few feet above

the level of the plain. In addition, sometimes these prove to be the most

important of all: for they have not been occupied for many thousands of years,

and the relics of their prehistoric occupants lie directly beneath the surface.

Future of Bulgaria

The majority of Americans who wrote on

Bulgaria or visited the country showed energy, curiosity, sense of wonder, and

faith in the future of Bulgaria and mankind even when they

were disappointed in some particular aspect of their travel experience. They considered

knowledge, and their travel experiences important, their individual responses

and reactions significant and worth preserving. Although they were usually

unfamiliar with the Bulgarian language, history and customs, their comments on

the Bulgarian character were generally positive.

It was difficult for the American traveler,

who knew little about the country, to come to terms with the complex cultural

milieu of Bulgarians, Greeks, Turks, etc. and to resolve the difference

sometimes subtle, sometimes blatant between the Balkan mind cushioned on a

multi-layered rich past and a modern American mind formed in the New World free

from the burden of the past.  The

Bulgarians, busy with their struggle to free themselves and maintain their

independence, thought little about and did even less to attract tourists.

For the American tourists the Balkans were

on the periphery of their travel plans. Most of those who visited the country

went there as passers-by and caught only a glimpse of Bulgaria. Bulgaria in the

view of the American traveler was either a peasant society or a society in

transition with many Oriental traits still present. The Bulgarians were

described as simple, natural, methodological, disciplined, and diligent. There

were, of course, some descriptions which were tendentious and even misleading.

The Orthodox Church was criticized, in part, in the belief that this would make

Americans come to the support of the American missionaries working in Bulgaria.

However, the commentaries of these pioneer

American travelers are not without merit. Through sharing their travel

experiences with their countrymen, the American travelers contributed toward

making Bulgaria known to Americans. Although most of the descriptions were

brief, they nonetheless were good enough to create an image of a country with a

long history, a relatively heroic past and a people struggling to free itself,

and modernize its country.

Fourteenth century caravanserai

As a result, the actual level of occupation

remains precisely where it was six centuries ago. Seeking a full contrast in

regional conditions, my mind turns to mediaeval Baghdad. There, in 19411 was

concerned with the repair and restoration of a magnificent fourteenth century

caravanserai in the center of the town. Inside the building, occupational

debris had accumulated until only the tops of the main arches were any longer

visible; and this had to be removed before it could again be put into use.

When the task was finished the fine

proportions of the vaulted hall became apparent; but the pavement upon which

one stood was now found to be exactly nine feet beneath the level of the street

outside, and a stairway had to be built in order to reach it.

In a town built largely of mud brick and

subjected during the past centuries to a series of appalling political and

natural disasters, the level of habitation had risen at the rate of eighteen

inches per hundred years. So here at once is a first clue to the regional

character of mound formation; two central factors which have been conducive to

their creation in the countries of the Near East.

One is the almost universal employment in

those countries of sun-dried brick as a building material; the other,

historical insecurity, coupled with the extraordinary conservatism, which makes

eastern peoples, cling tenaciously to a site once occupied by their ancestors

and obstinately return to it however often they are ejected.

Visit to Egypt

It is interesting to recollect that even

Herodotus, during his visit to Egypt, was already able to observe a

phenomen22on caused by the accumulation of occupational debris in an Egyptian

city, though his conclusion regarding its explanation was understandably at

fault. In his description of Bubastis he says—“The temple stands in the middle

of the city, and is visible on all sides as one walks round it; for as the city

has been raised up by embankment, while the temple has been left untouched in

its original condition, you look down upon it whosesoever you are.

“I In fact, as one sees today at Luxor and

elsewhere, the temples, with their massive stone walls and pillars, have mostly

survived at the original level of their foundation. while the surrounding

dwelling houses and other buildings of the city, whose mud and reed walls have

continually been demolished and renewed, rose gradually above them, leaving

them in a deep hollow, like the Forum of Trajan at Rome.

Certain characteristics

Interesting as this illustration is of how

strati graphical formations can be created, this early mention of Egypt must

serve as an occasion to introduce certain reservations regarding that country,

in relation to the subject under discussion. For it should be said at once that

Egypt has certain characteristics which make it less suitable than others do

for the study of mounds.

This is perhaps partly to be attributed to

the abundant supply and general use of building stone, which greatly prolonged

the survival of Egyptian buildings. But it is also partly due to the fact that,

in the narrow valley of Upper Egypt, land is too valuable to allow large ruin

fields of brick buildings to remain derelict; and the fellahin have long since

discovered that the occupational debris with which such ruins are Hide, when

spread over their fields, makes the finest fertilizer available.

Burin any case, those who have approached

the subject of Egyptology will know that archaeology in Egypt, when it took the

form of actual excavation, has always been concerned almost exclusively with

stone temples, tombs and cemeteries. Mounds in Egypt are confined for the most

part to the Delta of the Nile; and, with so much else to attend to, their

excavation has till now been very considerably neglected.

So let us glance once again at the pattern

of countries in which mounds are everywhere found and have been more generally

excavated. From Egypt they spread northward through the Levant and westward

through Anatolia to the Balkans. Eastward they follow the curve of Breasted’s

“crescent” through the rich farmlands in the foothills of the Armenian

mountains to Iraq and Persia and so, southward of the Elburz range, to

Afghanistan and the Indus valley.

Mesopotamia

But the focal point of the whole area,

where mounds are so plentiful that they become the most characteristic feature

of the landscape, is the twin river valley of Mesopotamia which is in fact not

a valley at all but a vast province of partially irrigated alluvial desert. It

is a habit of thought to apply the name Mesopotamia to this basin of alluvium,

which represents half of modem Iraq. But it has come to be known to our own

generation that the first human settlers in this province, the ancestors of the

later Sumerians, were themselves comparative latecomers, and that the

undulating hill country of northern Iraq had a much earlier record of Neolithic

farming communities.

This may help to explain the impression,

which has grown upon one, after long periods of travel in those parts, that the

Assyrian uplands around Mosul and their westward extension through the valleys

of the Khabur and Balik rivers into North Syria must have been the most thickly

populated area of the completely ancient world. Certainly today, they are more

thickly studded with ancient mounds than any other part of the Near East.

Bulgarian Language

The majority of Americans who wrote on

Bulgaria or visited the country showed energy, curiosity, sense of wonder, and

faith in the future of Bulgaria and mankind even when they were disappointed in

some particular aspect of their travel experience. They considered knowledge,

and their travel experiences important, their individual responses and

reactions significant and worth preserving. Although they were usually

unfamiliar with the Bulgarian language, history and customs, their

comments on the Bulgarian character were generally positive.

It was difficult for the American traveler,

who knew little about the country, to come to terms with the complex cultural

milieu of Bulgarians, Greeks, Turks, etc. and to resolve the difference

sometimes subtle, sometimes blatant between the Balkan mind cushioned on a

multi-layered rich past and a modern American mind formed in the New World free

from the burden of the past.  The

Bulgarians, busy with their struggle to free themselves and maintain their

independence, thought little about and did even less to attract tourists.

American tourists in Balkans

For the American tourists the Balkans were

on the periphery of their travel plans. Most of those who visited the country

went there as passers-by and caught only a glimpse of Bulgaria. Bulgaria in the

view of the American traveler was either a peasant society or a society in

transition with many Oriental traits still present.

The Bulgarians were described as simple,

natural, methodological, disciplined, and diligent. There were, of course, some

descriptions which were tendentious and even misleading. The Orthodox Church

was criticized, in part, in the belief that this would make Americans come to

the support of the American missionaries working in Bulgaria.

However, the commentaries of these pioneer

American travelers are not without merit. Through sharing their travel

experiences with their countrymen, the American travelers contributed toward

making Bulgaria known to Americans. Although most of the descriptions were brief,

they nonetheless were good enough to create an image of a country with a long

history, a relatively heroic past and a people struggling to free itself, and

modernize its country.

Archaeological monument

An alternative situation arises, when an

important building or civic lay out is encountered, of the sort which may

afterwards need to be preserved as an archaeological monument. In this case,

the excavation will merely be extended to cover as much as is required of the

stratum concerned, and if a strati graphical sounding to a greater depth is

required, it will be made elsewhere.

However, to return to the creation and

development of mounds themselves, it would be a mistake to think that the

process is always as simple and straightforward as that already described. A

wide variety of circumstances may serve to disrupt their symmetry and

complicate their stratification.

For instance, the diminishing living space

at the summit or a sudden increase in the settlement’s population may cause the

focus of occupation to move away from its original center. In order to make

this clear, we may at this point enumerate some of the principal variations of

the theme of anatomical development, which are to be found, particularly in

Mesopotamian mounds.

Orthodox sequence

As a point of departure then, let us take

the orthodox sequence of developments illustrated in the upper part of Fig. 1.

This diagram represents the habitation of a village community with a static

population. The superimposed remains of five principal occupations have

gradually created a small artificial hill: but as the site of the village rose

in level, the building space on the summit became more and more restricted by

the sloping sides of the mound.

It may well have been for this reason that

the place was eventually abandoned. In any case, after the inhabitants of the

fifth settlement had departed, the ruins of their houses were molded by the

weather to form the peak of a symmetrical tumulus. Vegetation started to grow

upon it, and soon all traces of occupation had disappeared beneath a shallow

mantle of humus soil.

The second and third diagrams in Fig. I

both illustrate cases where the focus of occupation has shifted. The former

represents a phenomenon, which we shall later have an opportunity of studying

in detail at a particular site tell Hassuna in northern Iraq, which will

provide a perfect example.

I in the diagram, after five principal

periods of occupation, a small mound has been formed in a maimed exactly

similar to that in the previous instance. However, from this point onwards,

occupation has continued, not on the summit of the mound, since that had become

inadequate, but terraced into its sloping flank and spreading over an extended

area of new ground beneath.

Anti Russian and pro German

He was surprised to see in the Eiffel

Restaurant the waiters “puffed tobacco smoke as they took the guests’ orders,

and reclined at full length on a bench in the lull of business.” He tried to

explain this by making a sarcastic comment that democracy seemed to have made

some headway since the liberation of the country. However, the author liked the

friendliness and great hospitality of the Bulgarian people he met along the

Danube.

Bigelow was anti-Russian and pro-German.

He was very critical of Russia’s policy in Bulgaria and thought that Germany

ought to have the final say in Southeastern Europe. He attempted to explain

Bulgarian politics by quoting an unnamed Bulgarian diplomat critical of Russian

policy toward his country, and hoping that not the Russian Tsar but the German

Emperor would become the “Protector of the Danube.”

James M. Buckley travelled through Bulgaria

in 1888. He believed that each traveler saw “what he took with him,” and for

this reason he thought that his experiences were worth recording because

“several views are more illuminating than one.” In his books Travels in Three

Continents: Europe, Africa, Asia he described his trip through Eastern Rumelia

and Bulgaria.

 “The

view as we rode along was wonderfully beautiful. Villages and towns are far

apart, and one might easily have fancied himself travelling through a

succession of parks connected with some ancestral estate, his only perplexity

that he saw no house or castle, and few persons.” He was impressed by the

“immense masses of granite” that surround and underlie Plovdiv. He praised the

political “independent existence” of Eastern Rumelia which gave “it much more

interest to Western travelers than would have if still a province of Turkey.”

Bulgarian Orthodox Church

He took part in a convention in Sofia of

the Bulgarian Protestants and was impressed with their work. However, like

Mutchmore, he was very critical of the Bulgarian Orthodox

Church. In his view the Bulgarian Church “was a very low form of

Christianity,” for which the principles of the Gospel were “concealed under the

mask of superstitions; no intelligible instruction is given; pomp, ceremony,

priest craft, support the religion, which exerts little influence over the

daily lives of the people, and can afford little or no comfort in their

experience of privation and toil.”

Sofia, the capital city, did not impress

him much. Were it not for the palace, one or two elaborate hotels of an Eastern

style, and the Bulgarian letters on the signs, he wrote, it would be easy to

“mistake the place for an American prairie town already endeavoring to put on

the airs of a city.” He was more impressed by the fertility of the land, the

number of rivers which flew into the Danube and with the herds of cattle and

flocks of sheep. Many Bulgarians, he wrote, were very “striking-looking men.”

However, the general aspect of the country was “not one of prosperity, and a

primitive scene was that of buffaloes drawing carts.”

State of the Matharas

The most important of them is the state of

the Matharas, who are also called Pitribhaktas. At the peak of their power they

dominated the area between the Mahanadi and the Krishna. Their contemporaries

and neighbors were the Vasisthas, the Nalas and the Manas.

The Vasisthas ruled on the borders of

Andhra m south Kalmga, the Nalas in the forest area of Mahakantara, and the

Manas in the coastal area m the north beyond the Mahanadi. Each state developed

its system of taxation, administration and military organization.

 The

Nalas, and probably the Manas, also evolved their system of coinage. Each

kingdom favored the brahmanas with land grants and even invited them from

outside, and most kings performed Vedic sacrifices not only for spiritual merit

but also for power, prestige and legitimacy.

Elements of advanced culture

In this period elements of advanced culture

were not confined to the coastal belt known as Kalmga, but appeared in the

other parts of Orissa. The find of the Nala gold coins in the tribal Bastar

area in Madhya Pradesh is significant. It presupposes an economic system in

which gold money was used in large transactions and served as medium of payment

to high functionaries. Similarly the Manas seemed to have issued copper coins,

which implies the use of metallic money even by artisans and peasants.

The various states added to their income by

forming new fiscal units in rural areas. The Matharas created a district called

Mahendrabhoga in the area of the Mahendra Mountains. They also ruled over a

district called Dantayavagubhoga, which apparently supplied ivory and no gruel

to its administrators and had thus been created in a backward area.

The Matharas made endowments called

agroharas, which consisted of land and income from villages and were meant for

supporting religious and educational activities of the brahmanas. Some

agraharas had to pay taxes although elsewhere in the, country they were tax-free.

The induction of the brahmanas through land grants in tribal, forest and red

soil areas brought new lands under cultivation and introduced better methods of

agriculture, based on improved knowledge of weather conditions.

Formerly the year was divided into three

units, each consisting of four months, and time was reckoned on the basis of

three seasons. Under the Matharas, in the middle of the fifth century began the

practice of dividing the year into twelve lunar months. This implied a detailed

idea of weather conditions, which was useful for agricultural operations.

Spread of Civilization in Eastern India

Signs of Civilization

A region is considered to be civilized if

its people know the .art of writing, have a system for collecting taxes and

maintaining order, and possess social classes and specialists for performing

priestly, administrative and producing functions. Above all a civilized society

should be able to produce enough to support not only the actual producers

consisting of artisans and peasants but also consumers who are not engaged in

production. All these elements make for civilization. But they appear in a

large part of eastern India on a recognizable scale very late. Practically no

written records are found in the greater portions of eastern Madhya.

Pradesh and the adjoining areas of Orissa,

of West Bengal, of Bangladesh and of Assam till the middle of the fourth century

A.D The period from the fourth to the seventh century is remarkable for the

diffusion of an advanced rural economy, formation of state systems and

delineation of social classes in eastern Madhya Pradesh, Orissa, eastern Bengal

and southeast Bengal, and Assam, This is indicated by the distribution of a

good number of inscriptions in these areas in Gupta times Many inscriptions

dated in the Gupta era are found in these areas.

They are generally in the form of land

grants made by feudatory princes and others for religious purposes to Buddhists

and brahmanas and also to Vaishnavite temples and Buddhist monasteries. These

beneficiaries played an important role in spreading and strengthening elements

of danced culture the process can be understood by attempting a region wise

survey.

Orissa and Eastern and Southern Madhya Pradesh

Kalinga or the coastal Orissa, south of the

Mahanadi, leapt into importance under Asoka, but a strong state was founded in

that area only m the first century B. C. Its ruler Kharavela advanced as far as

Magadha. In the first and second centuries AD the ports of Orissa carried on

brisk trade m pearls, ivory and muslin.

Excavations at Sisupalgarh, the site of

Kalinganagari which was the capital of Kharavela at a distance of 60 km from Bhubaneswar,

have yielded several Roman objects indicating trade contacts with the Roman Empire.

But the greater part of Orissa, particularly northern, Orissa, neither

experienced state formation nor witnessed much commercial activity. In the

fourth century Kosala and Mahakantara figure in the list of conquests made by

Samudragupta. They covered parts of northern and western Orissa. From .the

second half of the fourth century to the sixth century several states were

formed in Orissa, and at least five of them can be clearly identified.

Finally compiled in Gupta

The Puranas follow the lines of the epics,

and the earlier ones were finally compiled in Gupta times. They are full of

myths, legends, sermons, etc., which were meant for the education and

edification of the common people. The period also saw the compilation of

various Smritis or the law books written in verse. The phase of writing

commentaries on the Smritis begins after the Gupta period.

The Gupta period also saw the development

of Sanskrit grammar based on Panini and Patanjali. This period is particularly

memorable for the compilation of the Amarakosa by Amara Sinha, who was a

luminary in the court of Chandragupta II. This lexicon is learnt by heart by

students taught Sanskrit in the traditional fashion.

On the whole the Gupta period was a bright

phase in the history of classical literature. It developed an ornate style,

which was different from the old simple Sanskrit. From this period onwards we

find greater emphasis on verse than on prose. We also come across a few corner tarries.

There is no doubt that Sanskrit was the court language of the Guptas. Although

we get a good deal of brahmanical religious literature, the period’ also

produced some of the earliest pieces of secular literature.

Science and Technology

In the field of mathematics we come across

during this period a work; called Aryabhatiya written by Aryabhata, who

belonged to Patali porta It seems that this mathematician was | well versed in

various kinds of calculations. A Gupta inscription of 448 from Allahabad

district suggests that the decimal system was known in India at the beginning

of the fifth century AD In the fields of astronomy a book called Romaka

Sidhanta was compiled It was influenced by Greek ideas, as can be inferred from

its name.

The Gupta craftsmen distinguished

themselves by their work in iron and bronze. We know of several bronze images

of the Buddha, which began to be produced on a considerable scale because of

the knowledge of advanced iron technology In the case of iron objects the best

example is the iron pillar found at Delhi near Mehraub.

Manufactured m the fourth century A.D., the

pillar1 has not gathered any ’ rust m the subsequent 15 centuries, which is a

great tribute to the technological skill of the craftsmen It was impossible to

produce such a pillar in any iron foundry m the West Until about a century ago.

It is a pity that the later craftsmen could not develop this knowledge further

Appeared in Prakrit

In the coastal Orissa writing was certainly

known from the third century B C., and inscriptions up to the middle of the

fourth century A. D. appeared in Prakrit. But from about A.D. 350 Sanskrit

began to be used. What is more significant, charters in this language appear

outside the coastal belt beyond the Mahanadi in the north.

Thus the art of writing and Sanskrit

language spread over a good portion of Orissa, and some of the finest Sanskrit

verses are found in the epigraphs of the period. Sanskrit served as the vehicle

of not only brahmanical religion and culture but also of property laws and

social regulations in new areas. Verses from the Puranas and Dharmasastras are

quoted in Sanskrit charters, and kings claim to be the preservers of the Varna

system. The affiliation of the people to the culture of the Gangetic basin is

emphasized. A dip in the Ganga at Prying at the confluence of the Ganga and the

Yamuna is considered holy, and victorious kings visit Pitaya

Bengal

As regards Bengal, portions of north Bengal,

now in Bogra district, give evidence of the prevalence of writing in the time

of Asoka. An inscription indicates several settlements maintaining a storehouse

filled with coins and food grains for the upkeep of Buddhist monks. Clearly the

local peasants were m a position to spare a part of their produce for paying

taxes and making gifts.

Further, people of this area knew Prakrit

and professed Buddhism, Similarly an inscription found in the coastal district

of Noakhali in southeast Bengal shows that people knew Prakrit and Brahmi

script in that area in the second century B.C. But for the greater part of

Bengal we do not hear anything till we come to the fourth .century A.D In about

the middle of the fourth century a king with the title of maharaja ruled in

Pokharna on the Damodara in Bankura district. He knew Sanskrit and was a

devotee of Vishnu, to whom he possibly granted a village.

The area lying between the Ganga and the

Brahmaputra now covering Bangladesh emerged as a settled and fairly Sanskrit educated

area in the fifth and sixth centuries The Gupta governors seem to have become

independent after about A.D. 550, and occupied north Bengal, a portion may have

been seized by the rulers of Kamarupa Local vassal princes called Samantha

maharajas had created their own administrative apparatus and built their

military organization consisting of horses, elephants and foot soldiers and

boats to fight their rivals and collect taxes from the local peasantry. By A.D.

600 the area came to be known as Gaudi with its independent state ruled by

Sasanka, the adversary of Harsha

Turkish girls attend foreign schools in Constantinople

But after all, these changes are

interesting chiefly as indications of the fact that the spirit of Turkish women

has come, to some degree, under the influence of new ideas. Polygamy is on the

decline. Greater attention is now paid to the education of girls among all

classes of the community.

In wealthy families it is common for the

daughters to have English or French or German governesses, and to be instructed

in the ordinary branches of education, even to the extent of doing something so

foreign as to learn to ride. In a few instances, Turkish girls attend foreign schools,

and it is a most significant sign of the times to see the female relatives of

such girls present at the public proceedings of these institutions. Periodicals

providing special literature for ladies have appeared, and there are Turkish

authoresses, some of whom enjoy a great reputation among their countrywomen.

As might be expected, this upward movement

meets with opposition, as upward movements always meet wherever they occur.

Such a thing has been known as an imperial irade, commanding all foreign

governesses to be dismissed from Turkish homes, because teachers of pernicious

ideas. On the eve of Ramadan it is usual to issue strict orders for Turkish

ladies to keep their veils down.

Upon gentleman

A Turkish lady once attended, with her

husband, an “At Home” in a foreign house. Shortly thereafter, the police called

upon the

gentleman, late in the evening, as the custom is in this part

of the world, and informed him that he was wanted at the police-court next

morning on important business.

What that business was the police did not

condescend to say, preferring to make night uncomfortable for the couple, by

keeping them in suspense. Upon appearing at the court, the husband learned that

the visit of his wife to a foreign house, on the occasion referred to, had been

noticed and duly reported to the authorities, and he was warned (under threat

of severe penalty) not to allow the offence to be repeated.

At public gatherings at the Sweet Waters of

Europe and Asia, the police watch the behavior of Turkish ladies as though so

many naughty or helpless children were abroad. One has seen a policeman order a

lady to put up the window of her carriage, because she attracted too much

admiration. At another time, one has seen a company of respectable Turkish

ladies, who were enjoying a moonlight row on the Bosporus, packed home by the

police. The life of educated Turkish women is rendered hard and humiliating by

such restrictions.

Suburbs on the Bosporus

The time-tables of the steamers which ply

between the city and the suburbs on the Bosporus and

the Sea of Marmora, adopt “Turkish time,” and require you to convert the hour

indicated into the corresponding hour from the European or “Frank” standpoint;

and the same two-fold way of thinking on the subject is imposed upon all

persons having dealings with the Government and the native population in

general A similar diversity exists in regard to the length of the year. The

Turkish year consists of twelve lunar months, a thirteenth being added from

time to time to settle accounts with the sun. The question when Ramadan, the

month of fasting by day and of feasting at night begins, or when the festival

of Bagram commences is determined, at least formally, by the appearance of the

new moon, upon the testimony of two Moslem witnesses before a judge in any part

of the Empire.

Different localities

Thus these religious seasons might commence

on different days in different localities, the

moon not being visible in some places, on account of the state of the weather.

The formula in which the approach of these seasons is now announced to the

public, since the increase of astronomical knowledge in Turkish circles, is a

curious compromise between former uncertainty and actual assurance on that

point “Ramadan begins (say) on Tuesday next, provided the new moon is visible.

If not, the Fast will date from Wednesday.” Alongside the

Turkish mode of measuring the year, there

is the method introduced into the Roman world by Julius Caesar, the “Old

Style,” followed by Greeks and Armenians, and also the “New Style,” the mode of

reckoning inaugurated by Pope Gregory XIII., now thirteen days in advance of

the Julian calendar. Accordingly, to prevent mistakes in regard to a date,

letters and newspapers are often dated according to both styles.

With some the year begins in March, with

the advent of spring; with others it commences in September, when autumn

gathers in the fruits of the earth; others make January, in midwinter, their

starting- point The difference between the “Old Style” and the “New Style”

involves two celebrations, as a rule, of Easter, two observances of New Year’s Day,

while Christmas is celebrated three times, the Armenian Church having combined

the commemoration of that festival with the more ancient festival of the

Epiphany. For one section of the community, moreover, the day of rest is

Sunday, for another Saturday, for yet another the day of special religious

services is Friday.

Rule of Constantine

The very geography of the place offers a

wide outlook. As a part of his everyday experience, a resident of

Constantinople lives within sight of Europe and Asia. Every day of his life, he

sees the waterway that runs between the two great continents thronged with

vessels of every nation, hurrying to and fro to bring the ends of the earth

together. Then, how much human power has been enthroned here the dominion of

Byzantium for one thousand years; the rule of Constantine and his successors for

eleven centuries; the sway of the Ottoman Sultans through four hundred and

fifty years. If what we see ought to do with what we are, here is a mound in

which to fashion a large life. But Europe and Asia are present in more than

their physical aspects, or in long periods of their history. Their

civilizations also meet here.

On every side there is the pressure of a

dominant Oriental society and polity, with its theocratic government,

autocracy, the creed of Islam, polygamy, slavery, eunuchs, secluded and veiled

womanhood, men in long robes and turbans, sluggishness, repose, the speech of

Central Asia softened by the accents of Persia and Arabia, minarets, domes

surmounted by the Crescent, graceful but strange salutations, festivals which

celebrate events in a course of history not your own, and express joys which

have never gladdened your soul And mingling, but not blended, with this world

of Asiatic thought and sentiment and manner, is a European world, partly

native, partly foreign, with ideas of freedom, science, education, bustle,

various languages, railroads, tramways, ladies in the latest Parisian fashions,

church bells, the banner of the Cross, newspapers and periodicals from every

European and American capital, knitting scattered children to the life of their

fatherland.

Foreign communities in Istanbul

The members of the foreign communities in the

City of the Sultan do not forget the lands of their birth, or of their race and

allegiance. Though circumstances have carried them far from their native shores

and skies, physical separation does not sever them from the spirit of their

peoples. Nay, as if to make patriotic sentiment easier, foreigners are placed

under the peculiar arrangements embodied in what are termed the Capitulations,

whereby, in virtue of old treaties, they enjoy the privilege of living to a

great extent under the laws of their respective countries, with little

interference on the part of the Ottoman Government.

When your house is your castle, in the

sense that no Turkish policeman dares enter it without the authorization of

your Consulate or Embassy, when legal differences between yourself and your

fellow-countrymen are submitted to judges, and argued by barristers, bred in

the law which rules in your own land, when your church and school can be what

they are at home, and when you can forward your letters, not only to foreign

countries but even to some parts of the Turkish Empire, with a stamp bearing

the badge of your own Government, it is natural that European residents in

Constantinople should be able to preserve their special character, both after

living here for many years, and also from generation to generation.

Istanbul - European world

A Mohammedan polity is opposed to the

assimilation of strangers, unless the aliens become converts to Islam. Whatever

process of assimilation goes on in Constantinople appears in the slow changes

of the East towards some likeness to the West Otherwise, the European

world is as present to the view as the Asiatic, and together

they spread a wide vista before the mind.

Furthermore, what a broad outlook does the

heterogeneous population afford! Whether you walk the streets or stay at home,

on the mart of business, at all large social gatherings, in all public

enterprises, you deal with diverse nationalities and races. Everywhere and

always a cosmopolitan atmosphere pervades your life. One servant in your

household will be a Greek, another an Armenian, a third a German or an

Englishman. Your gardener is a Croat, as tender to flowers as he is fierce

against his foes. The boatmen of your cacique are Turks.

In building a house, the foundations are

excavated by Lazes; the quarrymen must be Croats; the masons and carpenters are

Greeks and Armenians; the hodmen, Kurds; the hamals, Turks; the plumbers,

Italians; the architect is an Englishman, American, or a foreigner of some

other kind; the glaziers must be Jews. Fourteen nationalities are represented

by the students and professors of an international college.

Pilgrimages comes round

When the season of pilgrimages comes round,

the streets are thronged by Tartars, Circassia’s, Persians, Turcoman, on their

way to Mecca and Medina, wild-looking fellows in rough but picturesque garb,

staring with the wonder and simplicity of children at the novelties they see,

purchasing trifles as though treasures, yet stopping to give altos to a beggar,

and groping for the higher life.

Nor is it only in great matters that this wideness of human life comes home to the mind in Constantinople. It is pressed upon the attention by the diversity that prevails, likewise, in matters of comparatively slight importance; in such an affair, for example, as the calculation of time. For some, the pivotal event of history is the birth of Christ; for others, it is the Flight of Mahomet from Mecca to Medina, and accordingly, two systems of the world’s chronology are in vogue.

One large part of the populations still adheres to the primitive idea that a new day commences at sunset, while another part of the community defers that event until the moment after midnight. Hence in your move-mints and engagements you have constantly to calculate the precise time of day according to both views upon the subject.

Gentleman from Istanbul

On the occasion of a visit to a Turkish

gentleman in his garden, it so happened that two of his

nieces, not knowing that any one was calling, came to greet their uncle.

Surprised at seeing a man with him, the young ladies started back, as gazelles

might start at the sight of a hunter. Their uncle, however, summoned them to

return, and with extreme courtesy introduced them to his visitor, with the

information that one of the young ladies could speak English. Conversation in

that language had not gone far, when another gentleman was announced. Instantly

the girls sprang to their feet and darted away as for dear life. “See,” said

the uncle in tones of mingled vexation and sorrow, “See what it is to be an

educated Turkish lady!”

A Turkish gentleman of high rank wishing

his daughters to enjoy the advantage of a European education, but anxious to

spare them as much as possible the chagrin and ennui of being educated above

the station of a Turkish lady, hoped to attain his object by having his girls

learn to speak French without being able to read in that language. Such

experiences are disheartening. But, as the pale flowers which come ere winter

has wholly gone herald the spring and foretell the glory of summer, so the

recent improvements in the lot of Turkish women, however slight they may appear

meantime, warrant the hope of further progress and final emancipation.

EPILOGUE

To live in Constantinople is to live in a

very wide world. The city, it is true, is not a seat of lofty intellectual

thought. Upon none of its hills have the Muses come to dwell. It is not a center

of literary activity; it is not a home of Art Here is no civic life to share,

no far-reaching public works of philanthropy to enlarge the heart, no

comprehensive national life to inspire patriotism, no common religious

institutions to awaken the sense of a vast brotherhood enfolded within the same

great and gracious heavens. If one is so inclined, it is easy for life here to

be exceedingly petty. And yet, it is certain that to live in Constantinople is

to live in a wide world. It is not for any lack of incentive that a resident

here fails “to think imperially” or to feel on an imperial scale.

When a man possessed by the genius of the

place quits the city to reside elsewhere, the horizon of his life contracts and

dwindles, as when a man descends from the wide views of a mountain peak to the

life pent within the walls of a valley. For nowhere else is the mind not only

confronted, but, if one may thus express it, assailed by so many varied

subjects demanding consideration, or the heart appealed to by so many interests

for its sympathy.

Spiritual guide

A pupil complained to his spiritual

guide of being much disturbed by impertinent visitors, who broke in

upon his valuable time, and he asked, How he could get rid of them? The

superior replied, “To such of them as are poor, lend money, and from those that

are rich ask something, when you may depend upon not seeing one of them again.”

If a beggar was the leader of the army of Islamism, the infidels would flee to

China through fear of his importunity.

Actions correspond

A lawyer said to his father, “Those fine

speeches of the declaimers make no impression on me, because 1 do not see that

their actions correspond with their precepts: they teach

people, to forsake the world, whilst themselves accumulate property. A wise

man, who preaches without practicing, will not impress others. That person is

wise who abstained from sin, not he who teaches well to others whilst himself committee

evil.

The wise man who indulges in sensual

gratifications, being himself bewildered, how can he guide others? ” The father

replied, “0 my son you ought not, merely from this vain opinion, to reject the

doctrines of the preacher, thus pursuing the paths of vanity, by imputing

errors to the learned; and whilst you are searching for an immaculate teacher,

are deprived of the benefits of learning; like the blind man, who one night

falling into the mud, cried out, ‘  Moslems bring a lamp to show me the way ? ’ An

impudent woman, who heard him, said, ‘You cannot see a lamp, what then can it

show you? ’

Moreover, the society of the preacher

resembles the shop of a trader, where, until you pay money, you cannot carry

away the goods; and here, unless you come with good inclination, you will not

derive any benefit. Listen to the discourse of the learned man with the utmost

attention, although his actions may not correspond with his doctrine. It is a

futile objection of gainsayers that, ‘How can he who is asleep awaken others? ’

It behooved a man to receive instruction, although the advice be written on a

wall.”

Certain holy man

A certain holy man having

quitted a monastery and the society of religious men, became a member of a

college. I asked, what was the difference between being a learned and a

religious man that could induce him to change his society? He replied, “The

devotee saves his own blanket out of the waves, and the learned man endeavors to

rescue others from drowning.”

Power of intoxication

A drunken man was sleeping on the highway,

overcome by the power of intoxication; a devotee

passed by, and beheld his condition with detestation. The young man lifted up

his head, and said, when you meet an inconsiderate person, pass him with kindness;

and when you see a sinner, conceal his crime and be compassionate. 0 thou, who

despisest my indiscretion, why dost thou not rather pity me? 0 holy man, avert

not thy face from a sinner, but regard him with benignity. If my manners are

unpolished, nevertheless behave yourself towards me with civility.”

Dispute Durwesh

A company of dissolute men came to dispute

with a Durwesh, and made use of improper expressions; at which being

offended, he went to his spiritual guide and complained of what had happened.

He replied, “0 my son, the habit of a Durwesh is the garment of resignation;

whoso ever weareth this garb and cannot support injuries, is an enemy to the

profession, and is not entitled to the dress. A great river is not made turbid

by a stone; the religious man who is hurt at injuries, is as yet but shallow

water. If any misfortune befilth you, bear with it, that by forgiving others

you may yourself obtain pardon. O my brother, seeing that we are at last to

return to earth, let us humble ourselves in ashes before we are changed into

dust.”

Bughdad

Attend to the following story. In the city of Bughdad there happened a contention between the Flag and the Curtain. The Flag, disgusted with the dust of the road and the fatigue of marching, said to the Curtain in displeasure, “You and myself are school-fellows, both servants of the Sultan’s court. I never enjoy a moment’s relaxation from business, being obliged to travel at all seasons ; you have not experienced the fatigue of marching, the danger of storming the fortress, the perils of the lesser, nor the inconveniences of whirlwinds and dust ; my foot is more forward in enterprise, why then is thy dignity greater than mine ?

You pass your time amongst youths beautiful as 1 he moon, and with virgins odoriferous as Jasmin; I am carried in the hands of menial S; reams, and travel with my feet in bands and my head agitated by the wind.” The Curtain replied, “My head is placed on the threshold, and not, like yours, raised up to the sky; whosoever through folly exalts his necklace, precipitates himself into distress.”

Necessary perform conditions

The following story will exemplify what has been said above:—A King, having some weighty affairs in agitation, made a vow that, in case of success, he would distribute a certain sum of money amongst men dedicated to religion. When, on his wish being accomplished, it was necessary to perform the conditions of his vow, he gave a purse of dimers to one of his favorite servants, to distribute amongst the Zahids. It was said that the youth was wise and prudent.

The whole day he wandered about, and at night, when he returned, he kissed the money, and laid it before the King, saying that he had not found any Zahids. The King replied, “What a story is this since I myself know four hundred Zahids in this city.” lie replied, “0 lord of the world those who are Zfihids will not accept of money, and they who take it are not Zahids.” The King laughed, and said to his courtiers, “So much as I want to favor this body of men, the worshippers of God, this saucy fellow thwarts my inclination, and he has justice on his side. If a Zahid accepts direms and dinars, you .must seek somewhere else for a religious man.”

Consecrated bread

They asked a certain wise man, what was his

opinion of consecrated bread? He replied, “If

they receive it in order to compose their minds and to promote their devotions,

it is lawful; but if they want nothing but bread, it is illegal. Men of piety

receive bread to enjoy religious retirement, but enter not into the cell of

devotion for the sake of obtaining bread.”

Durwesh

A Durwesh came to a place where the master of the house was of a hospitable disposition. The company consisted of persons of understanding and eloquence, who separately delivered a joke or pleasantry, in a manner becoming men of wit. The Durwesh having travelled over the desert, was fatigued, and had not eaten anything. One of the company observed to him merrily, that he also must say something.

The Durwesh replied, that he did not possess writ and eloquence like the rest, and neither being learned, he hoped they would be satisfied with his reciting a single distich. They one and all eagerly desired him to speak, when he said, “ I aiii a hungry man, in whom a table covered with food excites strong appetite, like a youth at the door of the female bath.” They all applauded, and ordered the table to be laid for him. The host said, “ 0 my friend, stop a little, as my servants are preparing some minced meat.” The Durwesh raised up his head, and said, “ Forbid them to put forced-meat on my table, for to the hungry, plain bread is a savory dish.”