The Luni is the largest river in the Thar Desert of northwest India. It originates in the Pushkar valley of the Aravalli Range, near Ajmer, passes through the southeastern portion of the Thar Desert, and ends in the marshy lands of Rann of Kutch in Gujarat, after travelling a distance of . It is first known as Sagarmati, then after passing Govindgarh, it meets its tributary Sarasvati, which originates from Pushkar Lake and from then on it is called Luni.

In 1892, Maharaja Jaswant Singh II of Jodhpur constructed Jaswant Sagar in Pichiyak village between Bilara and Bhawi of Jodhpur district. It is one of the largest artificial lakes in India and irrigates more than . It is one of the internal drainage rivers in India; it does not meet with Arabian Sea. It is drained before it reaches the Arabian Sea.

{{OpenStreetMap | lat = 26.52408 | long = 74.66082 | zoom = 3 | layer = standard }}

Etymology
The Luni is also known as the Lavanavari or Lavanavati, which means "salt river" in Sanskrit, due to the high salinity of its water.

Overview
The Luni River basin is 37,363 km², which includes all or part of the Ajmer, Barmer, Jalore, Jodhpur, Nagaur, Pali and Sirohi districts of Rajasthan and the Banaskantha and Patan districts of northern Gujarat. Its major tributaries are the Sukri, Mithri, Bandi, Khari, Jawai, Guhiya and Sagi from the left and the Jojari from the right.

The Luni River begins near Ajmer in the Pushkar valley of the western Aravalli Range at an elevation of about 550m.  At this point, the river is also known as the Sagarmati.  The river then flows in the southwest direction through the hills and plains of the Marwar region in Rajasthan.  The river flows south-west and enters the Thar Desert before dissipating into the Rann of Kutch, traversing a total of 495 km. In spite of the high salinity, it is a major river in the region and serves as a primary source of irrigation.  The Luni is not saline until it reaches Balotra, where high salt content in the soil impacts the river.

The Luni may have been the southern portion of the historic Ghaggar-Hakra river channel.

Tributaries
The Jawai, Sukri, Guhiya, Bandi and Jojari rivers are the main tributaries of Luni river. The Jojari is the only tributary that merges to the right-bank of the river while other 10 tributaries reach its left bank. All the tributaries except Jojari originates from the Aravalli hill.

Dams and irrigation
The dams in Luni river are:
Sipu dam
Jaswant Sagar Dam - built in 1892 by Maharaja Jaswant Singh.It is one of the largest artificial lakes in India.

The two major irrigation projects on Luni river are SardarSamand and Jawai dam.
Sardar Samand dam was constructed in 1905.

Flash floods
Flash floods have occurred in the Luni river as the river flows on a shallow bed and the riverbank soil is easily flattened by the rain water.

The worst flood happened in 2006, when the desert region received heavy rain. The water levels rose to 15–25 feet submerging the surrounding region. The 2006 flash floods caused water levels to rise to as high as 15–25 feet submerging many parts along the river in the Barmer district. A large number of people and animals died in the flood.

In 2010, another flood occurred but there were less casualties.

Industrial Pollution Impact

The degradation of the Luni River's water quality is primarily attributed to the discharge of hazardous pollutants by textile industries located along its banks, including Balotra, Bithuja, Jasol, and Pali. The pollution has resulted in the loss of the river's natural flow, transforming freshwater into saline water as it reaches Balotra. This pollution not only affects the river itself but also contaminates groundwater and surface water bodies in the surrounding areas.

Efforts to Combat Pollution

Several individuals and organizations have been actively involved in combating the pollution of the Luni River. The 'Pradushan Niwaran and Paryavarn Sanrakshan Samiti,' a voluntary organization, has been at the forefront of the fight against river pollution. Their efforts include advocating for the enforcement of green norms, raising awareness about the issue, and pushing for compensation to farmers whose crops have been damaged due to contaminated water.

Legal Interventions

The National Green Tribunal (NGT) and the Rajasthan High Court have played significant roles in addressing the pollution problem. The NGT, in response to a public interest litigation, declared the Luni water unfit for irrigation due to pollution from textile dyeing units. The court ordered the shutdown of around 800 textile units for violating green norms, and subsequent assessments were conducted to monitor the situation.

Ongoing Challenges

Despite legal interventions and efforts by various stakeholders, challenges persist in addressing the pollution of the Luni River. Textile industries continue to discharge pollutants into the river, and encroachments in the catchment area exacerbate the problem. The lack of full compliance with environmental quality standards by some industries and the failure to achieve zero liquid discharge (ZLD) remain areas of concern.

Fish diversity
The fish diversity assessment of Luni river led by ICAR-National Bureau of Fish Genetic Resources, Lucknow from October, 2018 - November, 2019 reported the occurrence of 27 species belonging to 22 genera, dominated by Cyprinids. The highest fish diversity of 12 species was reported in Samdhari and Gandhav. In this study, the wide distribution of Invasive Fish Species such as African Catfish (Clarias gariepinus) and Mozambique tilapia (Oreochromis mossambicus) were also reported from the river Luni.

References

Rivers of Rajasthan
Barmer district
Aravalli Range

Luni River


Tu or TU may refer to:

Language
 Tu language
 Tu (cuneiform), a cuneiform sign
 tu or tú the 2nd-person singular subject pronoun in many languages; see personal pronoun
 T–V distinction (from the Latin pronouns tu and vos), the use in some languages, of a different personal pronoun for formality or social distance

People and names
 Tū (Tūmatauenga), a supernatural being in Māori mythology
 Tu people, the Monguor people of the People's Republic of China
 Tu language
 Tu Holloway (born 1989), basketball player for Maccabi Rishon LeZion in the Israeli Basketball Premier League
 Tu (surname) 屠, a rare Chinese family name
 Du (surname) 杜 or Tu, a common Chinese family name

Music
 Tú (Canadian band), a Canadian pop music duo in the late-1980s
 Tu (American band), an American duo, formed by member of King Crimson

Songs
 "Tu" (Umberto Tozzi song), 1978
 "Tu", a song by Umberto Bindi, 1959
 "Tu", a song by Ewa Farna, 2015

Other
 Tu (film) Here (2003 film) or Tu, a Croatian film
 Tu, a brand of clothing from Sainsbury's
 Tu (cake), a type of Tibetan cake

Acronyms

Companies and organizations
 TU (union), the international union for T-Mobile workers
 TU Media, a Digital Multimedia Broadcasting mobile companies in Korea
 Toimihenkilöunioni (Union of Salaried Employees), a Finnish trade union
 Tunisair (IATA airline code TU)
 Transunion, a consumer credit reporting agency
 Tupolev, a Russian aerospace and defence company
 Teknisk Ukeblad, a Norwegian engineering magazine
 The Times Union, an Albany newspaper
 New York City Teachers Union (1916–1964), commonly known as the "TU"
 Trout Unlimited, conservation group

Units of measurement
 TU (Time Unit), a unit of time equal to 1024 microseconds
 Transmission unit, a historical unit of loss in long distance telephony
 Tritium unit, a measure of tritium concentration in water
 Tuberculin Units, a measure of strength of tuberculin

Universities

In the United States
 Taylor University, Indiana
 Temple University, Pennsylvania
 Thomas University, Georgia
 Touro University California, California
 Touro University Nevada, Nevada
 Towson University, Maryland
 Trinity University, Texas
 Troy University, Alabama
 Tulane University, Louisiana
 Tuskegee University, Alabama
 University of Tulsa, Oklahoma
 t.u., a derisive reference to the University of Texas at Austin by students and supporters of in-state rival Texas A&M University

In other countries
 University of Tartu (Tartu Ülikool), Estonia
 Any Technische Universität, i.e. university of technology in German-speaking countries
 Technische Universiteit Delft, Netherlands
 Technische Universiteit Eindhoven, Netherlands
 Tezpur University, Assam, India
 Thapar University, Patiala, India
 Thammasat University, Thailand
 Tianjin University, Tianjin, China
 Tibet University, Lhasa, Tibet Autonomous Region, China
 Tooling University, an American non-profit educational technology company
 Tribhuvan University, Kathmandu, Nepal
 Technological Universities of Myanmar

Other uses
 Tren Urbano, the metro system in San Juan, Puerto Rico
 Tu Hundred, a district of Vccästmanland in Sweden
 Universal Time, "Tempus Universalis"
 Thulium, a chemical element with obsolete symbol Tu
 Translation unit, a single cognitive unit of text
 Translation unit (programming), the ultimate input to the compiler

See also
 Tú (disambiguation)
 UT (disambiguation)
 Tuesday

TU


The Tortured is a 2010 Canadian-American horror-thriller film directed by Robert Lieberman, written by Marek Posival, and starring Erika Christensen, Jesse Metcalfe, Fulvio Cecere, and Bill Moseley.

Plot
The film tells the story of a couple, Elise Landry (Erika Christensen) and her husband, Craig Landry (Jesse Metcalfe), whose lives are shattered when a serial killer named John Kozlowski (Bill Moseley), kidnaps, tortures, and kills their only son, Benjamin.

Craig feels immense guilt, as he saw Benjamin being kidnapped, but could not catch up to the fleeing vehicle. Elise blames Craig for not watching the child more closely. During the trial, Kozlowski makes a plea bargain, and in exchange for providing details on other murders, is sentenced to only 25 years to life. Elise and Craig are livid with the court's verdict. Elise asks Craig to get her a gun so that she can kill Kozlowski, but Craig refuses. Elise moves out of the house and Craig, left alone, contemplates suicide. Later, he meets Elise to say that just killing Kozlowski will not be enough, and the two formulate a plan to kidnap the killer.

Craig steals medical supplies and drugs from the hospital where he works. They follow Kozlowski when he is being transferred to prison via police van. The officers soon stop to get some coffee. Craig distracts them, while Elise spikes their drinks. After some time, the police van pulls over, and Craig is successful in hijacking the van with the prisoner inside. In the confusion and panic of the escape, Craig crashes the van and it rolls over a bridge. Elise, following behind in her car, is relieved to see Craig is all right, and the prisoner, though thrown from the van and severely injured, is also still alive. Elise soon receives a call from the case detective (Fulvio Cecere) informing her that Kozlowski had taken the police van and escaped. She is able to sound normal to avoid arousing any suspicion.

They take their captive to the basement of an abandoned cabin and chain him up, just as he did to their son. They gag him, stating that nothing he could say will make them change their minds. They berate him as less than human for his abominable actions. They begin to torture him in various painful ways. During one session, Craig hangs the key to the chains above the captive, taunting him. As the torture progresses over several days, both Elise and Craig are haunted by their deeds, but carry on, remembering the horrific loss of their son.

Meanwhile, the police manhunt for the escaped Kozlowski begins narrowing down to the area near the cabin.

Back in the basement, Craig removes the gag in an attempt to suffocate the captive, who begs for a chance to talk. He explains he has no recollection of anything before the van accident. He claims he does not think he could be a vicious killer. The Landrys are taken aback, and retreat upstairs to discuss. Craig feels the torture is unnecessary on someone who cannot even remember his crimes. Elise is certain he is merely lying to avoid any more suffering. They return to the basement and begin crushing his foot in a vice until he tells the truth. Elise demands that he speak their child's name. Under duress, he eventually says 'Benjamin', which convinces Craig that they can continue with their plan. They leave him alone for the evening, promising that the next day's torture will be the worst yet. Through extreme agony, he manages to reach the key and free himself. He makes his way upstairs and there is a struggle. Craig is knocked down the stairs and the captive escapes out the back door. The police finally track down and apprehend the captive in the woods nearby.

Flashbacks show that unknown to the Landrys, the prison van was actually carrying two convicts; Kozlowski, and another man, Patrick Galligan, serving time for tax evasion. Following the crash, Craig mistook the bloodied man thrown from the vehicle as Kozlowski and took him as a hostage to torture instead. The real Kozlowski later emerged from the van relatively unhurt and went on the run. Coming by the cabin, Kozlowski witnessed Elise's and Craig's torture of the amnesiac Galligan.

At the cabin, Elise and Craig enter the barn, finding Galligan (who they believe is Kozlowski) just as he hangs himself in the barn, with a note in hand. Based on what the couple did to him, having amnesia, he believes he must be a monster, and that he deserved everything they had done and would continue to do to him. In the letter, he apologizes and begs forgiveness, stating his cowardice and being unable to stand any more torture as his reasoning for hanging himself.

Satisfied, the Landrys get in their car and leave, unknowingly passing the police - who are returning Kozlowski to prison. The film ends before the Landrys discover the man they tortured was not Kozlowski.

Cast

Production
The Twisted Pictures film features Erika Christensen, Bill Moseley, and Jesse Metcalfe in the lead roles. It is based on the screenplay, "Act of Redress" by Czech screenwriter, Marek Posival, and was directed by Rob Lieberman.

The scenes involving the fictional "Paz Fuels" truck stop were shot in Langley, British Columbia, while the others scenes were filmed in Vancouver, British Columbia. Mark Burg, Oren Koules, Carl Mazzocone and Marek Posival produced the film for Twisted Light Productions. Minor roles are played by Zak Santiago, Lynn Colliar, Chelah Horsdal, and Fulvio Cecere. The role of Kozlowski was to originally be played by Charlie Sheen, but Sheen left the project on 30 June 2008.

Soundtrack
The multi-instrumentalist Jeff Rona composed the score.

Release
Eclectic Film Sales released the film on 8 November 2009 over the American Film Market. It had its premiere as part of the 2010 FrightFest. The film was released on DVD and Blu-ray in the UK on 18 October 2010. In 2012, it was released limitedly in theaters and on VOD in the US.

Critical reception
The Tortured received negative reviews. On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has a 5% approval rating, based on 19 reviews. On Metacritic, the film also has a score of 9 out of 100, based on 8 reviews. Rex Reed of The New York Observer wrote that the film is "unconvincingly written" and "awkwardly directed". Elizabeth Weitzman of the New York Daily News wrote, "There's really nothing here to recommend, other than bravely stalwart performances from the leads. It is bluntly written, poorly shot and edited, and cruel without being clever."

Notes

External links

2010 films
2010s English-language films
2010 horror films
2010 horror thriller films
2010s exploitation films
American horror thriller films
Canadian horror thriller films
English-language Canadian films
Films shot in Vancouver
American independent films
American mystery thriller films
Rape and revenge films
Canadian independent films
Films directed by Robert Lieberman
Films scored by Jeff Rona
Torture in films
2010s Canadian films
2010s American films

The Tortured


Saint Pancras is an active Roman Catholic parish church serving the town centre of Ipswich, England. The neo-gothic church was built as part of the British Catholic revival in the nineteenth century, and was the target of anti-Catholic riots soon after completion.

Building and dedication of the church

The construction of St Pancras was largely financed from the estate of L'Abbé Louis Simon.  Abbé Simon was a French émigré priest who came to Ipswich in 1793, during the French Revolution, and became the first Catholic priest to celebrate Mass regularly in Ipswich since the Reformation. Simon was from an aristocratic family in Normandy and sold property he inherited in Normandy to fund church building in his adopted home of Ipswich.

The church was built by George Goldie, a prominent Catholic architect. According to the church's website, Goldie may have intended St Pancras to develop into a larger structure, a cathedral for a future Catholic diocese of East Anglia. The church and the area surrounding St Pancras were originally part of the Catholic parish of St Mary's, Woodbridge Road in the Diocese of Northampton. St Pancras was consecrated by the Bishop of Northampton, Francis Amherst, with the future Cardinal Manning preaching the sermon.

History

Two years after the church was consecrated, in 1863, St Pancras was the target of a series of anti-Catholic riots. This led to the curate barricading himself in the presbytery for two days after disturbances during Guy Fawkes night. The riot was suppressed only when the Mayor of Ipswich enrolled 200 special constables, although the riots were credited with creating sympathy for the church and the Catholic community among local dignitaries. In 1871 the church became a separate parish, for the first ten years under the care of the Pallottines, an Italian order. In 1885 St Pancras merged with St Mary's to become a single parish, this time based in the more central St Pancras.

In 1919 St Mary's split from St Pancras to become its own parish. St Pancras was originally the Catholic parish that served Old Stoke and the Chantry Estate to the southwest of Ipswich, although this section of the parish became the parish of Saint Mark's. In the 1940s it became the centre of the Polish community in Ipswich although later the parish of St Mary became the pastoral centre of the Polish community.

In 1976 St Pancras, with all the other Catholic parishes in Suffolk, was transferred to the new Diocese of East Anglia. On Christmas Day 1985 the church was badly burned in an arson attack which meant that the choir loft and organ had to be rebuilt.

Architecture and fittings

St Pancras is a grade II listed building built of red brick with a slate roof.

The main altar is at the east end of the church. Behind the altar are reredos and above the reredos are five large statues depicting Jesus Christ flanked by the four evangelists. To the north of the main altar is a small Lady chapel with an ornamental marble floral altar built against the east wall on which stands a statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary and the altar of repose. The tabernacle is directly behind the standalone altar, with a Victorian, ceiling-hung tabernacle lamp between the main altar and the Lady Chapel.

The choir loft is at the west end of the church. It was largely rebuilt in the 1980s after a fire in 1985. The church organ is in the choir loft. The organ was built in 1891 and has two manuals. At the back of the choir loft there is a large modern, stained glass rose window in plate tracery style that depicts the descent of the Holy Spirit, which was completed by the Ipswich artist Danielle Hopkinson for the Millennium.

Beneath the choir loft and behind wrought iron gates is a Caen stone baptismal font as well as two war memorials, a mounted marble wall plaque dedicated in 1922 to the Catholics of Ipswich who died during the First World War and a painted copy of the icon of Our Lady of Czestochowa donated by the crew of Polish armoured train C who were based in Ipswich during the Second World War.

The nave and sanctuary are in the Venetian style where the arches are alternately red and white brick. The interior was once multi-coloured but is now mostly white-washed. There is an elaborate wooden roof and the wooden pews are original.

To the west of the church is the presbytery with a small parish garden in which there is a copy of the statue of Our Lady of Ipswich. There is also a parish centre built in the 1970s.  The original presbytery was built in the eighteenth century and demolished in a road-widening scheme by Ipswich Borough Council.

References

External links

Saint Pancras
Grade II listed churches in Suffolk
Grade II listed buildings in Ipswich
Roman Catholic churches completed in 1861
19th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in the United Kingdom
Grade II listed Roman Catholic churches in England
Ipswich
1861 establishments in England
English churches dedicated to St Pancras

St Pancras Church, Ipswich


Joseph Dorgan (born July 3, 1975) is an American professional wrestler currently under contract to Impact Wrestling, using the ring name Johnny Swinger. Dorgan is also known for his appearances with World Championship Wrestling and Extreme Championship Wrestling under the Johnny Swinger name (sometimes shortened to simply Swinger) and with World Wrestling Entertainment as Johnny Parisi.

Professional wrestling career

Early career (1993–1995)
After training in Toronto, Ontario, Dorgan started wrestling on the independent circuit in 1993 as "Johnny Paradise". After he discovered that another wrestler was already using that name, he renamed himself "Johnny Hollywood Swinger" and began to make a name for himself as a villain in Scott D'Amore's "Syndicate" faction in Border City Wrestling.

World Championship Wrestling (1995)
Dorgan received his first national exposure when he appeared on World Championship Wrestling (WCW)'s show WCW Pro. Shortening his name to "Johnny Swinger", he lost to Chris Jericho on June 11 and Johnny B. Badd on the July 29 episode of Pro. On August 8 at a WCW Pro taping in Gainesville, Georgia, Swinger faced Dave Sullivan. Later that month he made an appearance on WCW's then-flagship program, WCW Saturday Night. Teaming with Terry Richards (later known as Rhyno), the young wrestler lost to the Nasty Boys in an episode that aired on September 16.

World Wrestling Federation (1995)
Eleven days later, Dorgan would work for the World Wrestling Federation going by his real name, Joe Dorgan, following in the footsteps of his uncle, Tony Parisi, who worked for the WWWF under Vince McMahon, Sr. Johnny Swinger appeared on WWFs flagship program, WWF RAW, facing Shane Douglas in a nationally televised broadcast on September 25, 1995. A day later, Dorgan would wrestle Hunter Hearst Helmsley at a WWF Superstars taping in Valparaiso, Indiana. On the October 30 edition of Raw, Dorgan would also get an opportunity to face Marty Jannetty.

Cleveland All Pro Wrestling (1996)
In April 1996, Dorgan joined Cleveland All Pro Wrestling, an independent promotion run by JT Lightning. He made his debut on April 13, 1996 at the CAPW Spring Slam, winning a battle royal and later challenging unsuccessfully for the vacated CAPW Junior Heavyweight Championship against Steve Nixon. On June 16 he defeated Bobby Blayze to win the CAPW North American Heavyweight Championship.

World Championship Wrestling (1996–1999)
Swinger returned to World Championship Wrestling on May 26,1997 losing to the Giant in a three versus one match. Also on December 12, he wrestled Alex Wright on WCW Pro. He was utilized primarily on syndication & TBS programs, appearing on WCW Saturday Night and WCW World Wide. Swinger also made appearances on both of the company's flagship programs Monday Nitro (on TNT) and Thunder (on TBS). His broadcast appearances include the highest rated Monday Nitro in July 1998, losing to Chavo Guerrero Jr. in front of a sold-out Georgia Dome; this same night, Goldberg defeated Hollywood Hogan for the WCW World Heavyweight Championship. Swinger remained in WCW for three years until joining Extreme Championship Wrestling.

Extreme Championship Wrestling (2000–2001)

Swinger joined ECW in 2000. He was placed in a tag team with Simon Diamond by booker Paul Heyman in May 2000 and shortened his name to "Swinger." He remained with ECW until it folded in April 2001.

Return to WCW (2001)
Swinger returned to WCW for one week for the Cruiserweight Tag Team Tournament. On the February 26, 2001 edition of Nitro where he and Jason Lee were defeated by Billy Kidman and Rey Mysterio Jr. He also wrestled on the February 28, 2001 edition of WCW Thunder where Swinger (accompanied by Jason Lee) lost to Shane Helms. Shortly after, WCW was purchased by the WWF and its programming ceased.

Border City Wrestling (2001–2002)
Following the closure of WCW, Swinger moved to Border City Wrestling. He made his debut on March 7, 2001 at an event in Oldcastle, Ontario, Canada and teamed with Otis Apollo to win the BCW Tag-Team Championship from Dyson Price and Geza Kalman Jr. They would lose the belts three months later to Nova and Tommy Dreamer. In the fall of 2001 he formed a new tag-team with Simon Diamond, and on November 27, 2001 in Oldcastle he would win an eight man gauntlet match against CW Anderson, Larry Destiny, Little Guido, Otis Apollo , Scott D'Amore, Simon Diamond, and Steve Corino and captured the BCW Can-Am Heavyweight Championship.

Swinger remained champion for the remainder of 2001 and through all of 2002, defending the title against Jerry Lawler, Bobby Rude, Chris Sabin, Gangrel, and Jerry Lynn. After a 464-day reign, he would finally lose the title to D-Lo Brown in Oldcastle on March 6, 2003.

World Wrestling All-Stars (2003)
Swinger had a brief stint in the earlier part of 2003 in the World Wrestling All-Stars promotion. The promotion featured primarily talents known from other wrestling promotions, boasting talents such as Bret Hart, Sting, Lex Luger, Jeff Jarrett, and others. Swinger's highest profile match in the promotion came on May 23, 2003, when he faced Chris Sabin, Frankie Kazarian, and Jerry Lynn in an inter-promotional match for the WWA International Cruiserweight and NWA-TNA X-Division Championships. Swinger also appeared and was victorious on World Wrestling All Stars International card "Retribution" in Glasgow Scotland, teaming with Buff "The Stuff" Bagwell to defeat Norman Smiley and Malice.

Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (2002–2005)

On July 24, 2002, Simon Diamond and Swinger debuted as a team in Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA). They feuded with America's Most Wanted (Chris Harris and James Storm) for some time before winning the NWA World Tag Team Championships. The team split on February 18, 2004 when Swinger turned into a villain by pledging allegiance to Jeff Jarrett, and feuded with one another. Swinger eventually formed a stable known as "The New York Connection" with Glenn Gilbertti, Vito and Trinity.

World Wrestling Entertainment (2005–2006)
Dorgan signed a developmental deal with World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) in 2005 and began training at Ohio Valley Wrestling (OVW) in May 2005. He made his WWE debut on the July 31, 2005 episode of Sunday Night Heat as "Johnny Parisi" winning his debut match for the company. He was a main stay on Heat. His ring name was derived from his great uncle Tony Parisi.

In September 2005, Parisi was sent to Deep South Wrestling wrestling there for two months while also wrestling on Sunday Night Heat, until being taken off of television in November due to an injury. He came back in December 2005, but was sent back to DSW. He worked two more Heat matches for WWE in February 2006, losing competitively to Chavo Guerrero and Kane. He was released on June 29, 2006.

Return to the independent circuit (2006–2019)
After being released from the WWE he went back to wrestling on the independent circuit mainly wrestling for Great Championship Wrestling (GCW). He has great title success there winning the GCW Heavyweight title on 2 occasions and the GCW Tag Titles twice, once with Glenn Gilberti and once with Bull Buchanan. Raven came to GCW to help Swinger with his feud against Michaels Inc. in December 2006. After winning the GCW title from Chris Stevens, Swinger turned on Raven and joined Michaels Inc. In January 2007, Swinger began challenging TNA wrestlers to try to come to challenge him in GCW. In response to this, TNA Director of Authority, Jim Cornette came to a GCW show to confront Swinger. Swinger and Bull Buchanan were defeated by Raven and David Young on January 31. Afterwards, David Young challenged Swinger for the GCW title. He later lost the title to Scotty Beach in a steel cage match via submission. On September 15, he defeated Scotty Beach for the GCW title once again. On September 29 he faced Bull Buchanan in a losing effort within a steel cage at the fourth-annual Fred Ward Memorial Show.

He returned to WWE to face Ron Simmons in a match on WWE Heat, and on October 14, 2007, appeared for TNA's flagship pay-per-view, Bound for Glory, competing in a dark match with Joey Matthews against The Motor City Machineguns. Swinger recaptured the GCW Heavyweight Championship from Bull Buchanan on December 15, 2007, in a triple threat match that also included another TNA veteran, Sonny Siaki. Swinger spent most of 2008 fighting off challenges of various contenders for the GCW Championship, including Scotty 2 Hotty, Disco Inferno, and Bull Buchanan.

On July 29, 2010, it was confirmed that Swinger would take part in TNA's ECW reunion show Hardcore Justice on August 8. At the event Swinger, Simon Diamond and Kid Kash were defeated by Little Guido, Tony Luke and Tracy Smothers of The Full Blooded Italians in a six-man tag team match.

In 2011, Johnny Swinger continued success for Peachstate Wrestling Alliance in Georgia, feuding with Bill the Butcher, Ultimate Dragon, and others. Swinger continues to be one of the most popular babyfaces in the organization, despite spending the majority of his career as a heel. He is also currently training pro wrestlers and hopefuls with Rick Steiner at Hard Knocks Gym in Kennesaw, Georgia.

In 2017, Johnny Swinger started to co-host The Raven Effect podcast on Podcast One with fellow pro wrestler Raven; however after a couple of weeks, he was replaced by comedian and former WCW employee Buttsby Berkeley, and backyard wrestler Joseph Feeney due to poor ratings.

Return to Impact Wrestling (2019–present)
In 2019, Swinger re-signed with TNA, now known as Impact Wrestling. He debuted on the September 27, 2019 episode of Impact Wrestling. After a brief feud with Petey Williams establishing himself as a villainous character with the gimmick of an out-of-touch 80's wrestler, Swinger would proceed to get beaten by Ken Shamrock. After this match with Shamrock, Swinger would briefly reunite with former tag team partner Glenn Gilbertti. From there, Swinger would force himself into a temporary tag team informally known as the Mack and Pack Connection with Willie Mack on the February 19, 2020 episode of Impact. After Mack won the X Division Championship, Chris Bey would inform Swinger of Mack's disdain for Swinger, leading to a match between the two, which was won by Mack. After losing the contest Swinger engaged in post-match beatdown. Swinger started to manage and team with Bey.

On the July 28 episode of Impact!, Swinger joined a bunch of wrestlers in the reality show Wrestle House. The following week, he lost against Alisha Edwards and Susie in a mixed gender handicap match. During Night 2 of Emergence, Swinger lost to Crazzy Steve in a Blindfold match, and had to dress like him the next week. On the September 1 episode of Impact!, he and the rest of the Wrestle House cast returned to the Impact Zone during Knockouts Champion Deonna Purrazzo's Black Tie Affair. In November, Swinger was accused by Tommy Dreamer for shooting John E. Bravo and was found with a gun in his fanny pack. He was taken to Wrestler's Court to defend himself and it was revealed that Larry D (as his alter-ego "Lawrence D") shot Bravo for taking Rosemary away from him.

In early 2021, Swinger established "Swinger's Palace", an underground casino in the Impact Zone, which was used as a location for feuds to play out, having John E. Bravo (whom he consistently called Dino) as his pit boss and Hernandez as his bouncer. The casino was shut down by Scott D'Amore on the September 30, 2021 episode of Impact! after Swinger nonchalantly admitted that he didn't have a license from the Tennessee Gaming Commission. In October, Swinger entered a tournament to determine the inaugural Impact Digital Media Champion, where he was defeated by eventual tournament winner Jordynne Grace in the first round. At Bound for Glory, he participated in the Call Your Shot Gauntlet match, where the winner could choose any championship match of their choice, but was eliminated by The Demon. On the November 25 episode of Impact!, Swinger joined a bunch of wrestlers in the reality show Wrestle House 2, where he was brought in to be cheered up, per Bravo's request. He lost to Downtown Daddy Brown (Willie Mack's throwback gimmick) in a grudge match but was able to beat Larry D in his "Lawrence D" alter-ego, winning the affection of Swingerella 1 and her hand in marriage. During the wedding, it was revealed that Bravo slept with Swingerella 1 to not be a virgin and escape the deal he made with Rosemary.

In 2022, with Impact resuming full time touring and no longer having a set location for Swinger's Palace, Swinger switched his focus to being a mentor for Zicky Dice, training him as part of his "Swinger's Dungeon" wrestling school.

Personal life
Dorgan is the nephew of wrestler Tony Parisi, who died from an aneurysm on August 19, 2000, at the age of 59.

Dorgan and his wife, Meghan, have two daughters and one son.

Championships and accomplishments
American Premier Wrestling
APW Tag Team Championship (1 time, current) - with Antonio
Border City Wrestling
BCW Can-Am Heavyweight Championship (2 times)
BCW Can-Am Tag Team Championship (2 times) – with Scotty Summers and Otis Apollo
Cleveland All-Pro Wrestling
CAPW North American Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
Elite Wrestling Federation
EWF Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Scott D'Amore
Georgia Championship Wrestling / Great Championship Wrestling
GCW Heavyweight Championship (6 times)
GCW Tag Team Championship (2 times) – with Glenn Gilberti (1) and Bull Buchanan (1)
Lariato Pro Wrestling
W4CC Championship (1 time, current)
Maximum Pro Wrestling
MXPW Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Simon Diamond
Mid Atlantic Championship Wrestling
MACW Heavyweight Championship (1 time, current)
MACW Junior Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
Motor City Wrestling
MCW Tag Team Championship (2 times) – with Johnny Paradise
NWA Main Event
NWA Mid-America Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
Peachstate Wrestling Alliance
PWA Heritage  Championship (2 times)
PWA Southern Cruiserweight Championship (1 time)
PWA Tag Team Championship (1 time) - with Rick Michaels
Pro Wrestling Illustrated
Ranked No. 447 of the top 500 singles wrestlers in the PWI 500 in 2021
Total Nonstop Action Wrestling
NWA World Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Simon Diamond
Universal Championship Wrestling
UCW World Championship (1 time)
Universal Independent Wrestling
UIW Heavyweight Championship (1 time, current)

References

External links

1975 births
American male professional wrestlers
Living people
Sportspeople from Buffalo, New York
Professional wrestlers from New York (state)
20th-century professional wrestlers
21st-century professional wrestlers
NWA World Tag Team Champions
Dangerous Alliance members

Johnny Swinger


The Champagne Bath, officially the Champagne Fitness Centre, is a historic public bath in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.  It is located at 321 King Edward Avenue in Lower Town.

Originally, the structure was built for the greater hygiene of the largely working class residents of the neighbourhood, many of whom had no baths in their homes.  The structure was also originally home to a library.  Work began on the building in 1921 and it was completed in 1924.  The building, a blend of the Spanish Colonial Revival and Prairie Styles, was designed by Werner Ernst Noffke.  It was named after Ottawa mayor Napoléon Champagne.  It was Ottawa's first municipal swimming pool and was one of the first indoor pools in Canada.  The pool was also unusual in that it used salt water, which meant it did not need to be chlorinated.  It was soon followed by the Plant Bath, which was built on the western side of town.

It was segregated by sex until 1967 with separate ground level entrances for women and men.  While popular for many years, usage declined as the facility aged.  In the 1980s, after the completion of the Le Patro facility, the city proposed closing the Champagne Bath.  After public protest it was decided to renovate instead, at the cost of some two million dollars.  The transformed facility opened in 1990.

See also
 List of designated heritage properties in Ottawa
 Baths and wash houses in Britain

References

External links
 Champagne Fitness Centre

Government buildings completed in 1924
Colonial Revival architecture
Prairie School architecture
Designated heritage properties in Ottawa
Public baths in Canada

Champagne Bath


Frank "Chip" Cipolla (August 24, 1926 – July 10, 1994) was an American radio announcer for the New York Football Giants and other professional sports teams in the New York City area.

Cipolla was born in the Bronx, the son of Italian-Americans Henry Cipolla and Rose DiSanto Cipolla. He had a sister, Gloria Rocks. Has a daughter Nancy Lynn Cipolla (Harrington)

A graduate of Fordham University, class of 1950, Cipolla worked for 19 years at WNEW Radio.  From 1960-65 he served as the station's sports editor. He was a color commentator for the Giants, as part of the broadcasting team that included Marty Glickman, Al DeRogatis and Kyle Rote. He was also a regular on WNEW's highly rated morning program, Klavan & Finch. On November 9, 1965, WNEW pressed Cipolla into duty as a street reporter during the Northeastern blackout, reporting from various Manhattan locations much of the night. Cipolla later did the morning news on the Jay Thomas Show on 92.3 WKTU in New York in the early 80's.

He later broadcast games of the New York Mets, New York Rangers, New Jersey Nets and New York Cosmos, the North American Soccer League team which presented him with a 1972 championship ring.

Cipolla was inducted into the Fordham University Athletics Hall of Fame in 1981.

Cipolla died of cancer at Lenox Hill Hospital, aged 67.

References

External links
 Fordham University Athletic Hall of Fame

1926 births
1994 deaths
People from the Bronx
American sports announcers
Fordham University alumni
Major League Baseball broadcasters
National Basketball Association broadcasters
National Football League announcers
National Hockey League broadcasters
New York Giants announcers
Sports in New York (state)
American people of Italian descent

Chip Cipolla


Visolela Rosalinda "Rosa" Namises (born 1958), nicknamed the "Rosa Luxemburg of Namibia", is a Namibian politician, human-rights activist and chief of a faction of the ǀKhomanin, a clan of the Damara people. She is a former member of Parliament and founding member and former secretary-general of the Namibian Congress of Democrats (CoD). A prominent voice on gender issues, human-rights violations, and violence against women and children in Namibia, she is the director of Woman Solidarity Namibia and works at the Dolam Residential Child Care centre, a day-care centre for vulnerable children.

Early life and education
Namises was born on 20 April 1958 as one of nine children to an Angolan father and Damara mother in the Old Location of Windhoek, the capital of Namibia. She grew up with her father until she was 15 years old and attended the Augustineum Secondary School in Windhoek. After graduating she worked first as a cleaner, then as a nursing assistant, and in parallel she completed her matric through a correspondence course with Sukses College.

Her political activism first landed her in jail and then led her into exile, conditions that forced her to discontinue her education. Only in 1990 when Namibia became independent did she continue to study. She obtained a Diploma in Adult and Basic Education from UNISA and a Diploma in Gender Development and Planning from the University of London. She further holds a Diploma in Women in Management, has had some paralegal education, and acquired counselling and facilitation skills.

Political career
In the early 1980s Namises joined the then-illegal SWAPO party. She organised meetings, acquired new members, and distributed promotional material. She was caught and spent two months in solitary confinement but soon returned to her activist's activities. In 1985 she lost her job in the hospital after having been seen holding hands in public with a white doctor, violating apartheid legislation on racial segregation. She was also jailed a second time for her political activities, this time for 14 months.

Once released she was offered a job by the Catholic Church as community development officer. In the same year Ben Ulenga was released from Robben Island prison. Namises and Ulenga met and became a couple soon thereafter. When she was pregnant with their second child in 1987 but they still refused to marry each other, Namises was fired. She also abandoned her Catholic faith at that time, and for that reason. Namises then went into exile and worked in Europe and America. She only returned after the Independence of Namibia in 1990. Not long thereafter several past human rights violations by SWAPO were uncovered. When the party subsequently erected a wall of silence instead of reappraising what had happened, Namises ceased her SWAPO membership in 1992.

When the Congress of Democrats (CoD) was founded in 1999, Namises was one of its founding members. In the subsequent parliamentary elections, the CoD gained seven seats, and Namises as secretary-general became a Member of Parliament for the 3rd National Assembly. When the CoD only gained five seats in the next elections in 2004, Namises was one of the politicians not to return to parliament. However, after the party expelled Nora Schimming-Chase in 2009, Namises took her seat for the remainder of the legislative period.

Activism
As Namises went in and out of politics, she spent the time in between as an activist and lobbyist. Her first formal role was her work at the Legal Assistance Centre in the early 1990s, a job she took after quitting SWAPO. She helped to discover and fight human rights violations there, a step she described as "revenge".

She is the director of Woman Solidarity Namibia, an organisation fighting violence against women and children. Namises is also the founder and main operator of Dolam Residential Child Care, a day-care facility for vulnerable children. There are  21 children at the centre.

In the media
 Rosa und Uria, a German film about Rosa Namises and Uria Kariere's lives at the eve of Namibian independence
 Portrait einer beeindruckenden Frau [Portrait of an impressive woman], by Dora Borer

References

External links
 The Dolam Children's Home Trust official site

1958 births
Politicians from Windhoek
Congress of Democrats politicians
Living people
Members of the National Assembly (Namibia)
Namibian feminists
Namibian nurses
University of South Africa alumni
Alumni of the University of London
Augustineum Secondary School alumni
South West African anti-apartheid activists
Violence against women in Namibia
Children's rights activists
Women's rights activists
Feminism and history
Namibian people of Angolan descent
20th-century Namibian women politicians
20th-century Namibian politicians
21st-century Namibian women politicians
21st-century Namibian politicians
Women members of the National Assembly (Namibia)

Rosa Namises


German art has a tradition of the visual arts. Examples have been found from as early as the Venus of Hohle Fels; Research shows that it is from between 40,000 and 35,000 years ago,

The archeological finds of Bronze Age gold hats, have Germany in its center; The same goes for  the "central" form of Urnfield culture, and Hallstatt culture.

Middle Ages

German art from the Middle Ages begins with the Frankish Empire of Charlemagne (d. 814), the first state to rule the majority of the modern territory of Germany, as well as France and much of Italy.  Of Carolingian art, there were a small number of objects. The most common type of object to survive is the illuminated manuscript; Wall paintings were  common but, like the buildings that they were in, they have nearly all disappeared.

Renaissance painting and prints

Printmaking by woodcut and engraving was already more developed in Germany and the Low Countries than anywhere else, and the Germans took the lead in developing book illustrations. The woodblocks were often (on loan, or) lent to printers of editions in other cities or languages. The greatest artist of the German Renaissance, Albrecht Dürer, began his career as an apprentice to a leading workshop in Nuremberg, that of Michael Wolgemut, who had largely gone away from painting so that he instead could work with [and profit] from the new medium. Dürer worked on the book, the Nuremberg Chronicle, published by his godfather Anton Koberger, Europe's largest printer-publisher at the time.

The making of the Isenheim Altarpiece, ended in 1515; It was made by Matthias Grünewald; It is widely looked at as the greatest German Renaissance painting. The piece has Renaissance principles of composition; the work is in the Gothic form of a multi-winged triptych.

The art movement, the Danube school of painting started with a [group of, or a] circle of artists during the first third of the 16th century in Bavaria and Austria, including Albrecht Altdorfer, Wolf Huber and Augustin Hirschvogel. With Altdorfer at the front, the movement made the first examples of independent landscape art in the West (nearly 1,000 years after China), in both paintings and prints.  Their religious paintings had an expressionist style somewhat similar to Grünewald's. Dürer's pupils Hans Burgkmair and Hans Baldung Grien worked largely in prints, and Baldung kept working on the subject of witches, in a number of prints.

Sculpture

In Catholic parts of South Germany the Gothic tradition of wood carving continued to [its popularity, and to] flourish until the end of the 18th century. Veit Stoss (d. 1533), Tilman Riemenschneider (d.1531) and Peter Vischer the Elder (d. 1529) were Dürer's contemporaries, and their long careers covered the transition between the Gothic and Renaissance periods; Their ornament often stayed Gothic even after their compositions began to reflect Renaissance principles.

Two and a half centuries later, Johann Joseph Christian and Ignaz Günther were leading masters in the late Baroque period, both dying in the late 1770s, almost a decade before the French Revolution. Famous work on German Baroque interiors came from the Wessobrunner School, a later term for the stuccoists of the late 17th and 18th centuries. Another result of German skill in working on sculptures, was in porcelain; The most famous modeller is Johann Joachim Kaendler of the Meissen factory in Dresden, but the best work of Franz Anton Bustelli for the Nymphenburg Porcelain Manufactory in Munich is often considered the greatest achievement of 18th-century porcelain.

17th to 19th-century painting

Baroque, Rococo and Neoclassicism

Baroque painting was slow to arrive in Germany, with very little before about 1650. The period remains little-known outside Germany, and though it "never made any claim to be among the great schools of painting", its neglect by non-German art history remains striking.  Many foreign painters spent time working in Germany for princes, among them Bernardo Bellotto in Dresden, and Gianbattista Tiepolo, who spent three years painting the Würzburg Residence with his son. Many German painters worked abroad, including Johann Liss who worked mainly in Venice, Joachim von Sandrart and Ludolf Bakhuisen, the leading marine artist of the final years of Dutch Golden Age painting. In the late 18th century the portraitist Heinrich Füger and his pupil Johann Peter Krafft, whose best known works are three large murals in the Hofburg, had both moved to Vienna as students and stayed there.

Early artists of Neoclassicism in Germany were Anton Raphael Mengs (d. 1779), the Danish painter Asmus Jacob Carstens (d. 1798), and the sculptor Gottfried Schadow (d. 1850).  Mengs was one of the most highly regarded artists of his day, working in Rome, Madrid and elsewhere, and finding an early Neo-Classical style.  Carstens' shorter career was turbulent and troubled, leaving a trail of unfinished works, but through pupils and friends such as Gottlieb Schick, Joseph Anton Koch and Bonaventura Genelli, more influential.  Koch was born in the mountains of the Austrian Tyrol and became the leading Continental painter of landscapes, concentrating on mountain views, despite spending much of his career in Rome.

Romanticism and the Nazarenes

From the German Romanticism, Caspar David Friedrich is well-known outside Germany. Other noted artists are Philipp Otto Runge, who like Friedrich had trained at the Copenhagen Academy and was forgotten after his death until a revival in the 20th century.  Friedrich painted almost entirely landscapes, with a distinctive Northern feel, and always a feeling of quasi-religious stillness.  Often his figures are seen from behind – they like the viewer are lost in contemplation of the landscape.  Runge's portraits, mostly of his own circle, are naturalistic except for his huge-faced children, but the other works in his brief career increasingly reflected a visionary pantheism.  Adrian Ludwig Richter is mainly remembered for his portraits, and Carl Wilhelm Kolbe was an etcher, whose later prints show figures almost swallowed up by gigantic vegetation.

The Nazarene movement started with a group of early 19th-century German Romantic painters who had a goal to revive honesty and spirituality in Christian art. The principal motivation of the Nazarenes was a reaction against Neoclassicism and the routine art education of the academy system. They rejected what they saw as the superficial virtuosity of later art. Their programme (had similarities with, or) was not dissimilar to that of the English Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood in the 1850s, although the core group took it as far as wearing pseudo-medieval clothing.  In 1810 Johann Friedrich Overbeck, Franz Pforr, Ludwig Vogel and the Swiss Johann Konrad Hottinger moved to Rome, where they occupied the abandoned monastery of San Isidoro. They were joined by Philipp Veit, Peter von Cornelius, Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld, Friedrich Wilhelm Schadow and a loose grouping of other German artists. They met up with the Austrian romantic landscape artist Joseph Anton Koch, (d. 1839) who became an unofficial tutor to the group. In 1827 they were joined by Joseph von Führich, and Eberhard Wächter was later associated with the group.  Unlike the strong support given to the Pre-Raphaelites by the dominant art critic of the day, John Ruskin, Goethe was dismissive of (or did not agree with,) the Nazarenes: "This is the first case in the history of art when real talents have taken the fancy to form themselves backwards by retreating into their mother's womb, and thus found a new epoch in art."

The art movement, Düsseldorf school of painting, was a group of artists who painted mostly landscapes, and who studied at, or were influenced by the Düsseldorf Academy. The academy's influence grew in the 1830s and 1840s, while the painter Wilhelm von Schadow was chief; It had many American students, several of whom got connected with the Hudson River School.

Naturalism and beyond

Biedermeier is a style in literature, music, the visual arts and interior design. It started in the time period between the end of the Napoleonic Wars in 1815 and the revolutions of 1848.  Biedermeier art was interesting for the rich middle classes; This realism in art, often [held high, or] celebrated domestic virtues, and came to dominate over French-leaning tastes of the aristocracy, as well as the yearnings of Romanticism. Carl Spitzweg was a leading German artist in the style.

Adolph Menzel followed the development of early Impressionism to create a style that he used for depicting grand public occasions, among other subjects like his Studio Wall. Karl von Piloty was a leading academic painter of history subjects  who did teaching at in Munich; Among his more famous pupils were Hans Makart, Franz von Lenbach, Franz Defregger, Gabriel von Max and Eduard von Grützner. "Munich school" is used about both of German and of Greek painting, after Greeks like Georgios Jakobides studied under him. . Piloty's most influential pupil was Wilhelm Leibl. Being the head of the so called Leibl-Circle, an informal group of artists with a non-academic approach to art, he did important work on Realism in Germany.

The Berlin Secession was a group started in 1898 by painters including Max Liebermann, who got much inspiration from the art of Manet and the French Impressionists, and Lovis Corinth then still painting in a naturalistic style.  The group existed until the 1930s. Its regular exhibitions [was important for, or] helped launch the next two generations of Berlin artists.  Near the end of the century, the Benedictine Beuron Art School was known for religious murals, in rather muted colours, with inspiration from Les Nabis. In some ways that art looked forward to Art Nouveau or the Jugendstil ("Youth Style") as it is known in German. Franz Stuck and Max Klinger are the leading German Symbolist painters.

20th century

["The working-council for art", or] Arbeitsrat für Kunst and November Group, both formed in 1918. In 1922 The November Group, the Dresden Secession, Das Junge Rheinland, and several other progressive groups formed a "Cartel of advanced artistic groups in Germany" (Kartell fortschrittlicher Künstlergruppen in Deutschland).

Die Brücke ("The Bridge") was a group of painters that were important to expressionism in Germany. The group was started in Dresden in 1905 by architecture students who wanted to be painters: Fritz Bleyl (d. 1966), Erich Heckel (d. 1970), Ernst Ludwig Kirchner (d. 1938) and Karl Schmidt-Rottluff (d. 1976), with Max Pechstein and others later joining. Emil Nolde (d. 1956) was for a short time a member of Die Brücke, but was not in agreement with the younger members of the group. Die Brücke moved to Berlin in 1911, and the group ended in 1913. The group was known for use of woodcut in art.

Der Blaue Reiter ("The Blue Rider") was started in Munich, Germany in 1911. Wassily Kandinsky, Franz Marc, August Macke, Alexej von Jawlensky, Marianne von Werefkin and others started the group (because, or) in response to the rejection of Kandinsky's painting Last Judgment from an exhibition by Neue Künstlervereinigung. (Kandinsky had been a member of that group.) The name Der Blaue Reiter came from Marc's enthusiasm for horses, and from Kandinsky's love of the colour blue. For Kandinsky, blue is the colour of spirituality; The darker the blue, the more it awakens human desire for the eternal (see his 1911 book On the Spiritual in Art). Kandinsky had also titled a painting Der Blaue Reiter in 1903. The intense sculpture and printmaking of Käthe Kollwitz was strongly influenced by Expressionism, which also formed the starting point for the young artists who went on to join other tendencies within the movements of the early 20th century.

Die Brücke and Der Blaue Reiter and the Bauhaus had Utopian leanings, and they were trying to combine fine and applied arts (Gesamtkunstwerk) with a view towards creating a better society.

Weimar period
From the early 20th century until 1933, there was a boom (or a big increase) in the production of works of German art of a grotesque style.  Artists using the Satirical-Grotesque genre included George Grosz, Otto Dix and Max Beckmann, at least in their works of the 1920s. The leading artists of Dada in Germany, were Kurt Schwitters and Hannah Höch. They were known for their use of collage for political commentary. Schwitters later developed his Merzbau, a forerunner of installation art. Dix and Grosz were also associated with the Berlin Dada group. Max Ernst led a Dada group in Cologne, where he also worked on collages, but with a great interest in Gothic fantasy. He made a transition into surrealism, and he became the leading German artist of surrealism.  The Swiss-born Paul Klee, Lyonel Feininger and others experimented with cubism.

The New Objectivity (German: Neue Sachlichkeit), was an art movement which started in Germany during the 1920s; It was in opposition (or against) expressionism. Grosz and Dix were at the front of the movement. They were on the "Verist" side of the movement  together with Beckmann and Christian Schad, Rudolf Schlichter, Georg Scholz (in his early work), Elfriede Lohse-Wächtler, and Karl Hubbuch. The other tendency is sometimes called Magic Realism, and included Anton Räderscheidt, Georg Schrimpf, Alexander Kanoldt, and Carl Grossberg. The movement was never a formal group.

Plakatstil, "poster style" in German, was an early style (or kind) of poster design that began in the early 20th century; It had bold, straight fonts with very simple designs, in contrast to Art Nouveau posters. Lucian Bernhard was one of its important people.

Art in the Third Reich

The Nazi regime banned modern art; It was seen as degenerate art (ferman: entartete Kunst). Nazi ideology said that modern art had gone away from the norm of classical beauty. The 1920s to 1940s are considered the heyday of modern art movements. The government looked at avant-garde artists as enemies of the state and a threat to the German nation.  Many artists went into exile (or settled in other countries); Few came back after World War II.  Dix and Pechstein stayed. Nold stayed and made his "unpainted pictures" in secret after being forbidden (or having a prohibition) to paint. Beckmann, Ernst, Grosz, Feininger and others went to America. Klee went to Switzerland, where he died. Kirchner took his own life.

In July, 1937, the Nazis showed the exhibition Entartete Kunst (Degenerate art), in Munich; After that showing, the exhibition was moved to eleven other cities in Germany and Austria.

Art after World War II

The trends in Germany, of art after World War II can be divided into Socialist realism in the DDR (communist East Germany), and in West Germany a variety of movements including  Neo-expressionism and Conceptualism.

Famous artists of socialist realism include Walter Womacka, Willi Sitte, Werner Tübke and Bernhard Heisig.

Famous neo-expressionists include or included Georg Baselitz, Anselm Kiefer, Jörg Immendorff, A. R. Penck, Markus Lüpertz, Peter Robert Keil and Rainer Fetting. Other famous artists include Martin Kippenberger, Gerhard Richter, Sigmar Polke, and Neo Rauch.

Famous German conceptual artists include Bernd and Hilla Becher, Hanne Darboven, Hans-Peter Feldmann, Hans Haacke, and Charlotte Posenenske.

The Performance artist, sculptor, and theorist Joseph Beuys was maybe the most influential German artist of the late 20th century.

The exhibition documenta was held as late as 2022; The next exhibition is scheduled five years after that. Art Cologne and Transmediale are held every year.

Related pages

Düsseldorf school of painting (art movement)

Sources

References
Bartrum, Giulia (1995); German Renaissance Prints, 1490–1550; British Museum Press, 1995,
Bartrum, Giulia (2002), Albrecht Dürer and his legacy: the graphic work of a Renaissance artist, British Museum Press, 2002,
Beckwith, John. Early Medieval Art: Carolingian, Ottonian, Romanesque, Thames & Hudson, 1964 (rev. 1969),
Clark, Sir Kenneth, Landscape into Art, 1949, page refs to Penguin edn of 1961
Dodwell, C.R.; The Pictorial arts of the West, 800–1200, 1993, Yale UP,
Focillon, Henri, The Art of the West in the Middle Ages, Volume II, Gothic Art, Phaidon/Oxford University Press, 3rd edn, 1980,
Gombrich, E.H., The Story of Art, Phaidon, 13th edn. 1982.
Gossman, Lionel, Making of a Romantic Icon: The Religious Context of Friedrich Overbeck's 'Italia und Germania.''' American Philosophical Society, 2007. .
Griffiths, Antony and Carey, Francis; German Printmaking in the Age of Goethe, 1994, British Museum Press,
 Hamilton, George Heard, Painting and Sculpture in Europe, 1880–1940 (Pelican History of Art), Yale University Press, revised 3rd edn. 1983
Harbison, Craig. The Art of the Northern Renaissance, 1995, Weidenfeld & Nicolson,
Hugh Honour and John Fleming, A World History of Art,1st edn. 1982 & later editions, Macmillan, London, page refs to 1984 Macmillan 1st edn. paperback.
Hunter, Sam; John Jacobus, Daniel Wheeler (2000) Modern Art: Painting, Sculpture, Architecture. New York: Prentice Hall and Harry N. Abrams
Kitzinger, Ernst, Early Medieval Art at the British Museum, (1940) 2nd edn, 1955, British Museum
Michael Levey, Painting at Court, Weidenfeld and Nicolson, London, 1971
Novotny, Fritz, Painting and Sculpture in Europe, 1780–1880 (Pelican History of Art), Yale University Press, 2nd edn. 1971
George Savage, Porcelain Through the Ages, Penguin, (2nd edn.) 1963
Schultz, Ellen (ed). Gothic and Renaissance Art in Nuremberg, 1986, New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art,
Scheyer, Ernst, Baroque Painting in Germany and Austria: A Gap in American Studies, Art Journal, Vol. 20, No. 1 (Autumn, 1960), pp. 9–18, JSTOR online text
Snyder, James; Northern Renaissance Art, 1985, Harry N. Abrams,
Trevor-Roper, Hugh; Princes and Artists, Patronage and Ideology at Four Habsburg Courts 1517–1633, Thames & Hudson, London, 1976,
Wood, Christopher, Albrecht Altdorfer and the Origins of Landscape'', 1993, Reaktion Books, London,

German culture

German art


Mad Tea Party is a spinning tea cup ride at five of the six Disneyland-style theme parks around the world. The ride theme is inspired by the Unbirthday Party scene in Walt Disney's Alice In Wonderland, and plays a carousel version of the film's "Unbirthday Song". It was one of the opening day attractions operating at Disneyland on July 17, 1955.

The attraction is called Mad Tea Party at Disneyland and the Magic Kingdom. It is known as Alice's Tea Party at Tokyo Disneyland, Mad Hatter's Tea Cups at Disneyland Paris, and Mad Hatter Tea Cups at Hong Kong Disneyland.

All five versions of the attraction are located in Fantasyland, and all except the Tokyo version were opening-day attractions at their respective parks. The Disneyland, Disneyland Paris, and Hong Kong Disneyland versions do not have a big teapot in the center of the ride platform. The ride has gained infamy over the years for the number of guests who get motion sickness as a result of the spinning component to the ride.

Like Dumbo the Flying Elephant, Disneyland and its Hong Kong counterpart have a replica of one of the teacups located outside the attraction to be used by guests for better photo opportunities.

Attraction facts

 Ride system: Three small turntables, which rotate clockwise, each holding six teacups, within one large turntable, rotating counter-clockwise
 Theming: The Dormouse can be seen popping his head out of a large teapot in the middle of the large turntable. This occurs only at Magic Kingdom and Tokyo Disneyland, as the other parks do not feature a central teapot;  Hong Kong Disneyland and the March Hare Refreshments at Disneyland Paris feature their own teapots apart from the ride.
 Restrictions: The original attraction at Disneyland is unable to run in the rain because once the turntables are saturated with a moderate amount of water, they slip and can no longer spin.  The other versions of this attraction at Magic Kingdom, Tokyo Disneyland, Disneyland Paris, and Hong Kong Disneyland are covered to prevent such situations, as well as to protect riders from extreme heat and sun. Unlike its Magic Kingdom, Tokyo Disneyland, and Hong Kong Disneyland counterparts, the Disneyland Paris version has a petal-shaped glass roof.

History

Disneyland
Several concepts for the Mad Tea Party were originally much more outrageous compared to today's version. One drawing showed the Mad Hatter's dinner table featured in the center of the ride with various lanterns and decorations all around. Another drawing showed 20 teacups circling a central hub, making it similar to a racetrack with banked curves.

For the first few months after the ride first opened, the tea cups spun on a bare platform before it was painted with the psychedelic spiral that exists today. Also, during the ride's first two years, the tea cups had no brakes or clutches; nothing limited how fast they could be spun.

The attraction's original location was directly behind King Arthur Carrousel and Sleeping Beauty Castle. It was given slight modifications in 1972 with ornamental arches connecting the light posts, and again in 1978 with the platform and teacups being repainted. In 1983, the whole attraction was completely remodeled and relocated to its present location near Matterhorn Bobsleds. It also incorporated a few ideas from the original concepts, such as colorful lanterns.

In 2004, the attraction was modified to make it more difficult to spin fast after a disabled rider lost his balance and slipped from a teacup. Like other remaining 1955 attractions, one of Disneyland's teacups was painted gold in honor of the park's 50th anniversary in 2005.

The installation at Disneyland was manufactured by Arrow Development.

In 1956, the ride was paired with a nearby gift shop, called the "Mad Hatter of Fantasyland"; when the Alice in Wonderland attraction was built in 1958, the store was moved closer to both rides, creating an Alice corner. One of the teacups is positioned outside the hat store, for photo opportunities.

Magic Kingdom

Like Disneyland, Magic Kingdom's original 1971 version of this attraction opened without a roof. It was eventually added in 1973 (along with the central teapot) due to extreme weather conditions. It was updated in 1992 with a new color scheme, new music, and the colorful lanterns. In 2010, the canopy was repainted.

On February 2, 2021, Magic Kingdom reopened after being temporarily closed due to the COVID-19 outbreak's impact on Florida. The ride closed temporarily on February 22 and reopened March 5, in time for Walt Disney World's 50th Anniversary celebration.

Tokyo Disneyland
Unlike any other version of the attraction, Tokyo's version did not open with the park in 1983, instead opening in 1986. It is mostly the same version as in Florida, with a canopy roof to protect from the often rainy Japanese weather and a teapot in the center from which the Dormouse continuously appears.

Originally, the ride was located close next to the former Skyway station to Tomorrowland, on the edge of Fantasyland. However, in late 1998, as part of Tokyo Disneyland's 15th anniversary, the ride was relocated to the center of Fantasyland near Castle Carrousel, while the Skyway station was closed to make room for Pooh's Hunny Hunt. In the process, the ride was given an overhaul, with more swirly designs on the cups and teapot that resemble those from Disneyland Paris and the addition of colorful Japanese lanterns.

Disneyland Paris
The Paris version of the attraction is the only version to feature a petal-shaped glass roof and surrounding gardens. It also uses the Dormouse's teapot outside the ride, near the March Hare's Refreshments. The teacup designs were later used for Tokyo Disneyland and Hong Kong Disneyland's teacups.

See also

 List of Disneyland attractions

References

External links
Disneyland - Mad Tea Party
Magic Kingdom - Mad Tea Party
Tokyo Disneyland - Alice's Tea Party
Disneyland Paris - Mad Hatter Tea Cups
Hong Kong Disneyland - Mad Hatter Tea Cups

Amusement rides introduced in 1955
Amusement rides introduced in 1971
Amusement rides introduced in 1986
Amusement rides introduced in 1992
Amusement rides introduced in 2005
Amusement rides manufactured by Arrow Dynamics
Walt Disney Parks and Resorts attractions
Disneyland
Magic Kingdom
Tokyo Disneyland
Disneyland Park (Paris)
Hong Kong Disneyland
Attractions based on Alice in Wonderland
Fantasyland
Alice in Wonderland (franchise)
1955 establishments in California
1971 establishments in Florida
1986 establishments in Japan
1992 establishments in France
2005 establishments in Hong Kong

Mad Tea Party


Robert Home (1752–1834) was a British oil portrait painter who travelled to the Indian subcontinent in 1791. During his travels he also painted historic scenes and landscapes.

Life and work

Born in Hull in the United Kingdom as the son of an eminent army surgeon from Greenlaw in Berwickshire,  He  trained with Angelica Kauffman, who lodged with his family in London in 1766, and then at the Royal Academy Schools in 1769. He went to Rome in 1773 for further training and remained in Italy until 1777. From 1783 to 1789 he worked in Dublin and London before leaving for India in 1790. On 5 February 1791, Home was allowed to follow Lord Cornwallis' army in the Third Anglo-Mysore War as it moved towards Bangalore.

Home painted some of his well-known paintings such as The Hostage Princes leaving home with the Vakil, Ghulam Ali and Lord Cornwallis Receiving Tipu Sahib's Sons while he was in South India. In November 1792, Home came into contact with artists Thomas Daniell and William Daniell who inspired him to continue painting landscapes. He visited  Mahabalipuram in January/February 1793 and the two paintings he painted as a result, titled Ruins of Mahabalipuram are now in the collection of The Asiatic Society, Kolkata.

In 1795 Home arrived in Calcutta (Kolkata) and continued his work there as an established artist. He was for some time Secretary of the Society and the first Library-in-Charge (1804), and donated his small but valuable art collection. In 1814 he moved to Lucknow and became a court painter of Nawab Ghazi-ud-Din Haider (1769–1827). In 1827, he travelled to Kanpur, where he died in 1834.

His Select Views in Mysore, the Country of Tippoo Sultan were published in London and Madras in 1794, and in Calcutta he made 215 watercolours of Indian mammals, birds and reptiles, some of which he also worked up as oils.

References

External links

18th-century British painters
British male painters
1752 births
1834 deaths
Artists from Kingston upon Hull
Court painters

Robert Home


is a Japanese city in Saitama Prefecture on the island of Honshu.

The city has an estimated population of 153,392 (as of 1 June 2012) and the density of 1,900 people per km².

History
Kuki City absorbed the town known as Shobu on 23 March 2010.  Kuki City is formed by the Minami Saitama District and includes the towns of Kurihashi and Washiyama, both from the Kitakatsushika District.
Kuki City is known for agriculture including rice, soba, plants and flowers.

Geography
Kuki, Saitama is approximately 50 kilometers (31 mi) north of Tokyo. The total area is 82.40 km².  There is a river called Tone in the northeast and a river called Moto-Arakawa in the southwest.

Kuki, Saitama consists of four districts, followed by the wards included in each district as follows:

District of Kuki:
Kamihayami, Kamicho, Kukishin, Kukihon, Kukichuo, Honcho, Minami, Aoge, Aoba, Kukikita, Kurihara, Koguki, Nishi, Noguki, Kukihigashi, Yosiha, Ezura, Otabukuro, Kawaramachi, Kitaaoyanagi, Shimohayami, Hara, Hinokuchi, Yokebori, Kamikioku, Kitanakasone, Kiyokucho, Shimokiyoku, Tokorokuki, Rokumanbu

District of Shobu:
Shobucho Obayashi, Shobucho Kamiosaki, Shobucho Kamikayama, ShobuchoKawarai, Shobucho Sanga, Shobucho Shibayamashigo, Shobucho, Shimokayama, Shobucho Shobu, Shobucho Showanuma, Shobucho Dai, Shobucho Niibori

District of Kurihashi:
Arai, Isaka, Kawaradai, Kitahiroshima, Kotsuka, Kurihashi, Kurihashikita, Kurihashichuo, Kurihashihigashi, Kouemon, Sama, Shimakawa, Takayanagi, Nakazato, Makama, Matsunaga, Midori, Minamikurihashi

District of Washinomiya:
Kamiuchi, Kuhonji, Katsuume, Sakae, Sunahara, Nakatsuma, Washinomiya, Washinomiyachuo, Kamikawasaki, Sakurada, Sotono, Nishidaiwa, Higashidaiwa, Yatsuura

Transportation
Transportation consists of 3 main train lines: the Tobu Isesaki Line, JR Higashi Nihon Utsunomiya Line, and the Tobu Nikko Line. Kuki Station is the central station. It is on the JR Higashi Nihon Utsunomiya and Tobu Isesaki Lines. The other station on the Tobu Isesaki Line is Washinomiya Station. Minami Kurihashi Sation and Kurihashi Station are on the Tobu Nikko Line.

Economy
Kuki, Saitama economy relies mostly on agriculture.  This agriculture is mainly the cultivation of rice growing on the plateau in the low land.  In addition, the cultivation of the strawberries is prosperous, too. The switch from growing rice to producing soba has reduced the acreage under cultivation policy, too and has become a special product recently.

Other than agriculture, Kuki, Saitama has also been known to have many various factories for mass-producing anything from small household items to car and mechanical parts.  The industrial business is not as prosperous as their agricultural business, but is still growing as businesses have moved their factories and production outside of the bigger, major cities.

Sightseeing in Kuki, Saitama has also helped the economy with eco-tourism.  In Kuki, Saitama, flowers are a major part of their sightseeing and eco-tourism as various flowers bloom throughout the four seasons as follows:

Early April
Cherry blossom blooms on the Kikoku Sakura Street.

Early May
Wisteria flowers bloom at the Shobu Shrine.

Mid May to Mid June
Poppies bloom at Shobu Kaikan.

Early June to Mid June
Blue flags bloom at Shobu Joshi.

Late June to Early July
Lavenders bloom at Civic Center of Shobu.

Early October to Early November
Cosmos blooms on the Cosmos Fureai Road.

Late October to Early November
Red flower sides bloom at the Civic Center of Kurihashi.

Being that Kuki, Saitama is set in more of an outdoor, nature setting.   Spring is popular because of the blooming cherry blossoms, flowers and spring foliage.  Fall is popular because of the beautiful color changes taking place as the leaves on the trees and plants change color from fall to autumn and begin to fall before winter season comes.  Besides the beautiful cherry blossoms, flowers, trees and foliage of both seasons, you will love the feeling of having fewer people around as well as very few buildings around you, a feeling of freedom.

Washimiya Shrine
There is one other form of tourism in Kuki, Saitama that is as popular as other parts of Japan.  That is visiting the various shrines in Kuki, Saitama to say your prayers to loved ones and family who have passed, ward off evil spirits, to wish for good luck in school, family, work and life in general.  There is one shrine in particular that has gained fame over the years from Japanese and foreign tourists alike.  This is the Washinomiya Shrine (formerly Washimiya Shrine).  The oldest known record of this shrine can be found in the Azuma Kagami, which is the official historical record for the Kamakura Shogun.  The Imperial family and even Shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu had once occupied and helped make this shrine famous.  The Washinomiya Shrine also holds many folk-art and culture events, including the famous Saibara-Kagura Festival.  The traditional dance was handed down through generations and has been designated as a national folk-art and culture asset. The shrine also houses several ancient relics which are on display all the time for the public to view.
During the New Year season, the shrine receives over 100,000 visitors.

Summer Festival
Kuki has a famous festival that runs from July 12th - July 18th. Seven floats are paid out from 7 towns and each one is decorated as a doll of the person who took a subject out of myths with too many things on a festival car and it is pulled a town and is turned in the daytime. It changes quickly to the lantern festival car which a doll is removed, and displayed 500 lanterns on the all sides of the festival car at night.
This lantern festival car becomes the biggest highlight as an event to color summer night. Expand for the musical accompaniment of the lively flute and gong, drum, and a youth in the town block turns a festival car said to be Seki Toichi, and the state to go round in the city is right the best part.

Education
In Kuki, Saitama, there are 23 public elementary schools, 11 public junior high schools and 5 public high schools. The city has 4 civic gyms, 4 public pools and 4 public libraries.

Sister cities
Kuki, Saitama has an International Exchange program with sister cities Esk, Queensland, in Australia, and Roseburg, Oregon, in the United States.

References

Other websites

 Kuki City website

Cities in Saitama Prefecture

Kuki, Saitama


Westmorland Motorway Services Limited is the British holding company that owns Westmorland Limited who run three motorway service stations plus a truckstop close to the M6 motorway and a combined service and visitor/exhibition  centre.

The company is marketed as "The Westmorland Family" and its head office is located at the northbound Tebay services in Cumbria.

The company was formed in the early 1970s to operate the northbound Tebay West services on the M6 at the time this was the only MSA in the UK that was not part of a chain. Originally the company was a partnership between the Dunning and Birkett families though the Dunnings later bought out the other shareholders.

The company's sites are –

 Gloucester – M5 between J11a and J12
 Cairn Lodge (Happendon) – M74 J11 and J12 via B7078
 J38 Truckstop – M6 J38
 Rheged Centre  – A66, A592 roundabout
 Tebay – M6 between J38 and J39

References

Service companies of England
Motorway service areas (United Kingdom)
Companies based in Cumbria

Westmorland Motorway Services


Beltempest is an original novel written by Jim Mortimore and based on the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who. It features the Eighth Doctor and Sam.

Blurb
The people of Bellania II see their sun, Bel, shrouded in night for a month following an impossible triple eclipse. When Bel is returned to them a younger, brighter, hotter star, it is the beginning of the end for the entire solar system...
100,000 years later, the Doctor and Sam arrive on Bellania IV, where the population is under threat as disaster looms—immense gravitational and dimensional disturbances are surging through this area of space.

While the time travellers attempt to help the survivors and ease the devastation, a religious suicide-cult leader is determined to spread a new religion through Bel's system—and his word may prove even more dangerous than the terrible forces brought into being by the catastrophic changes in the sun...

External links

1998 British novels
1998 science fiction novels
Eighth Doctor Adventures
Novels by Jim Mortimore

Beltempest


Jeanne de Dampierre, née de Vivonne ( 1511 - 6 April 1583    ) was a French court official. She served as Première dame d'honneur to the queen of France, Louise of Lorraine, from 1575 until 1583.

Life
Jeanne de Dampierre was the daughter of André de Vivonne, baron de la Chaftaigneraye, and Louise de Daillon du Lude. She married constable Claude de Clermont, baron de Dampierre (died 1545). Their daughter was Claude Catherine de Clermont.

Her mother Louise de Daillon du Lude and sister Anne de Vivonne were both attached to the court of queen Marguerite of Navarre, and she herself attended court from the age of eight.  She was well liked by Marguerite of Navarre, so much so that king Francis I of France on one occasion asked her to act as mediator between him and his sister.

In 1575, she was appointed to the office of Première dame d'honneur to the new queen of France, Louise of Lorraine, and as such responsible for the female courtiers of the queen (one Dame d'atour, 26 Dame and 14 Fille); of controlling the budget, organizing the annual account and staff list, as well as supervising the daily routine and presentations to the queen.   Having attended the French royal court since her childhood, she was given the task to guide queen Louise in court protocol and help her to play her role as queen, a task she is said to have done successfully.

By her sister Anne de Vivonne she was the aunt of Pierre de Bourdeille, seigneur de Brantôme, who often referred to her regarding information about the court in his famous works about the personages in the court of France, and he described her as:
"Mme. de Dampierre, my aunt, a true Court register, and as clever, wise, and virtuous a lady as ever entered a Court these hundred years, and who knew well how to discourse on old things. From eight years of age she was brought up at Court, and forgot nothing ; it was good to hear her talk ; and I have seen our kings and queens take a singu- lar pleasure in listening to her, for she knew all, — her own time and past times ; so that people took word from her as from an oracle. King Henri III. made her lady of honour to the queen, his wife. I have here used recollections and lessons that I obtained from her, and I hope to use many more in the course of these books."

References

Sources

 Jacqueline Boucher,  Deux épouses et reines à la fin du XVIe siècle: Louise de Lorraine et ...
 Brantôme, Pierre de Bourdeille, The book of the ladies (illustrious dames)

1583 deaths
Year of birth unknown
16th-century French people
French ladies-in-waiting
Court of Francis I of France
Court of Henry III of France

Jeanne de Dampierre


The Joga Pradīpikā (जोगप्रदीपिका, "A Small Light on Yoga") is a hatha yoga text by Ramanandi Jayatarama written in 1737 in a mixture of Hindi, Braj Bhasa, Khari Boli and forms close to Sanskrit. It presents 6 cleansing methods, 84 asanas, 24 mudras and 8 kumbhakas. The text is illustrated in an 1830 manuscript with 84 paintings of asanas, prepared about a hundred years after the text.

Topics

The Joga Pradīpikā covers a broad range of topics on yoga, including the nature of the yogic subtle body, preliminary purifications, yogic seals (mudrās), asanas, prānāyāma (breath-control), mantras, meditation, liberation (moksha), and samādhi.

One of the purifications in the text is the mulashishnasodhana, "the cleansing of the anus and the penis", which  calls for water to be drawn into the anus and squirted out through the penis, which James Mallinson and Mark Singleton gloss as "a feat which is, of course, anatomically impossible."

Prānāyāma is stated to result in liberation, on its own, though some of its breath-control techniques also use mantras. The Joga Pradīpikā however asks the yogi to stay on as a physical body to serve the Lord, rather than choosing liberation.

The Joga Pradīpikā conflates the mudrās with asanas by describing the mahāmudrā as one of its 84 asanas. Like other late texts, it describes a relatively large number of mudrās, 24 in all.

On meditation, the text reworks the Bhagavata Purana'''s meditation of the goddess Sītā and the god Rāma. On samādhi, the yogi reaches it by the "bee cave" in the sahasrara chakra, the "thousand-petalled lotus", with an unending "unstruck sound".

Asanas

The description of 84 asanas occupies 314 out of 964 verses in the 1737 version. Most of the asanas are said to bring therapeutic benefits; all of them ask the practitioner to direct the gaze (drishti) at the point between the eyebrows or at the end of the nose.

The 84 asanas described and illustrated in the 1830 document include some that are widely practised in modern yoga, but its selection differs markedly from that in other hatha yoga texts such as the Hatha Ratnavali''. Many of the illustrated poses are seated asanas used for meditation, including the ancient Padmasana and Siddhasana, both of which appear twice in the set of illustrations. The number 84 is symbolic rather than literal, indicating that a set is complete and sacred.

References

Sources

Hatha yoga texts

Joga Pradīpikā