Zeluco is a 1789 novel by Scottish author John Moore that centers on the vicious deeds of the eponymous anti-hero, the evil Italian nobleman Zeluco. The novel's full title is Zeluco: Various Views of Human Nature, Taken from Life and Manners, Foreign and Domestic. A combination of proto-Gothic villainy and Enlightenment rationality, Zeluco contains both main plot incidents and lengthy sections of social commentary.

Plot summary

Early intrigues
The first quarter of the novel details Zeluco's numerous initial wrongdoings in rapid succession. The novel opens with an incident that, according to the narrator, illustrates Zeluco's violent temper and uncontrollable impulses. Irritated by his pet sparrow, the young Zeluco crushes it to death in his hand and ignores the remonstrances of his horrified tutor.  Grown into a handsome, selfish, and cruel young man, Zeluco seduces and impregnates the niece of an important noblewoman. He then deserts the niece and spends two decadent years in Italy, draining his mother's resources. Once his mother has given him the last of her money, Zeluco drops his pretence of affection, and she dies of disappointment at his anger and spite. Unconcerned about his mother's death, Zeluco attempts to marry Rosolia, a young woman with a vast potential inheritance. Rosolia's mother, convinced that Zeluco is only after her daughter's money, pretends to be pregnant. Certain that Rosolia's inheritance will be greatly reduced, Zeluco abandons her, travels to Spain, enlists as an officer in the military, and follows his regiment to Cuba. Zeluco mistreats his men in an attempt to gain a promotion, but after being chastised by his superior officer, he turns his attention to a wealthy widow. Though he offers the widow tender affections until she agrees to marry him, he treats her with cold indifference once she signs over her money and property to him, and she dies of grief. Newly interested in the wife of his rich Portuguese neighbor, Zeluco courts the wife secretly until she refuses to meet him for fear of discovery and confesses her flirtations to her husband. The Portuguese disguises himself and stabs Zeluco. After a difficult recuperation, Zeluco attempts to avenge himself upon the Portuguese by making the man think Zeluco to be the father of his newborn son. After this plot fails, Zeluco leaves Cuba for Naples.

Pursuing Laura
The remaining three-quarters of the novel is devoted to Zeluco's interactions with a particular circle of aristocrats in Italian high society. Once established in Naples, Zeluco becomes interested in Laura Seidlits, the beautiful daughter of the widow Madame de Seidlits. Determined to meet Laura, he attempts to ingratiate himself with the nobleman Signora Sporza, Madame de Seidlits' first cousin. Though she pretends to oblige him, Signora Sporza distrusts Zeluco and senses his cruel character. Laura also instinctively dislikes Zeluco and refuses his proposal of marriage. Infuriated by Laura's disdain, Zeluco stages a false attempt of robbery, rape, and murder by having his valet attack Laura and Signora Sporza's carriage. Despite Zeluco's apparently heroic false rescue, Laura remains unmoved and unwavering in her decision not to marry Zeluco. Madame de Seidlits' bank fails, however, and after learning of her mother's financial distress and being pressured by Father Pedro, Laura agrees to marry Zeluco to preserve her mother's happiness and wellbeing.

After the marriage
As in the case of the rich widow, Zeluco treats Laura cruelly as soon as he achieves his goal and sates his appetites. Laura bears his ill treatment meekly, hides her misery, and presents a positive image of her married life. Signora Sporza, as well as Laura's newly arrived half-brother Captain Seidlits and his friend Baron Carlostein, suspects the true state of affairs. Laura and Baron Carlostein begin to fall in love with one another, but Laura cuts the relationship short because she is unwilling to violate her marriage vows. Oblivious to Laura's love for Carlostein, Zeluco erroneously believes Laura to be in love with a nameless Italian nobleman. Bored with Laura, Zeluco begins an affair with Nerina, a deceitful woman who pretends to be in love with men for financial gain. Nerina manipulates Zeluco through pretended fits of jealously and eventually convinces him that his and Laura's newborn son is really the bastard child of Captain Seidlits. Giving in to his natural jealousy and furious impulses, Zeluco snatches his son from Laura's lap and strangles the child. Laura immediately faints and remains out of her senses for a number of weeks. When Laura partially regains her senses, she sees a painting of the Massacre of the Innocents, screams, and falls into a feverish frenzy. When Baron Carlostein, Captain Seidlits, and Signora Sporza examine the picture, they realize that one of the soldiers strangling a child bears a strong resemblance to Zelcuo. Laura recovers from her fever with her senses intact and writes to Zeluco asking for a separation and promising she will tell no one about the murder. Captain Seidlits, however, labels the soldier in the picture with Zeluco's name. Baron Carlostein provokes Zeluco into a duel to spare Captain Seidlits. The night before the duel is to take place, Zeluco goes to Nerina's house unannounced and catches her with another lover, who stabs him in the stomach. On his deathbed, Zeluco repents of his amoral conduct and apologizes to Captain Seidlits. After arranging her affairs and giving monetary gifts to Zeluco's relations, Laura agrees to marry Baron Carlostein and moves to Berlin with her family.

List of characters

The novel includes a plethora of characters and subplots.  Many remain unnamed, deemphasizing their identities and highlighting Zeluco's indiscriminating evildoing, but others command large sections of the text. The "sheer number of secondary characters and the range of subplots mean that Zeluco himself frequently disappears for large sections of the book and that interest in the central plot is diffused by an increasing focus on comic secondary characters."

Zeluco: The novel's title character, a brutal, vain, selfish Sicilian nobleman interested only in gaining riches and fulfilling his own desires.

Zeluco's early intrigues
Zeluco's father: The only person who successfully disciplines Zeluco. His death gives Zeluco's self-indulgent nature a free rein.

Zeluco's mother: Enamored of her son, she gives in to his every desire until she is no longer of use to him and dies of a broken heart.

Countess Brunella: A noblewoman who delights in railing against young women who are unchaste.

Countess Brunella's niece: The first young woman who Zeluco pursues. He has a love affair with her until she becomes pregnant, then abandons her.

Rosolia: The young heiress who Zeluco attempts to marry. She is prevented from doing so only by her mother's ingenuity.

The widow: Zeluco's first wife. After obtaining all her lands and money, he treats her cruelly and she dies of a broken heart.

Hanno: One of the widow's favorite slaves. Zeluco beats him so severely that he dies. His ill usage and Zeluco's violent treatment of his other slaves prompts the Physician's antislavery debate with Zeluco.

The Cuban Physician: The doctor who attends both Zeluco and the Portuguese. Providing a voice of reason, he asks Zeluco to treat his slaves more kindly and convinces the Portuguese of his wife's innocence.

The Portuguese: Zeluco's neighbor. He disguises himself in his wife's clothing and stabs Zeluco in the chest after learning that Zeluco was pursuing his wife.

The Portuguese's wife: Zeluco's would-be paramour, unjustly accused of bearing his bastard child.

The Seidlits circle
Signora Sporza: Madame de Seidlits' first cousin. A perceptive society woman, she dearly loves Laura and her mother, but her unwillingness to become involved in the affairs of others keeps her from preventing Laura and Zeluco's marriage.

Madame de Seidlits: Laura's mother and Colonel Seidlits' wife. A devoted wife and mother, her one failing is her expensive tastes. Her inability to live within her income level contributes to Laura's willingness to marry Zeluco.

Colonel Seidlits: Madame de Seidlits' late husband. A Protestant, he firmly refuses to attempt to convert his Catholic wife and rebuffs her attempts to convert him.

Captain Seidlits: Colonel Seidlits' son and Laura's devoted half-brother. An excellent soldier whose fiery temper succeeds in the battlefield but leads to social tension.

Laura Seidlits: Madame de Seidlits' daughter. Beautiful, intelligent, honorable, and accomplished, Laura is sensible of her own desires and strong enough to protect them. Only her affection for her mother weakens her resolve not to marry Zeluco.

Baron Carlostein: Captain Seidlits' friend and fellow officer. His visit to the Seidlits household in Laura's childhood forms her idea of an ideal man. In love with Laura, he is willing to do anything to protect her from the evils of Zeluco.

Father Mulo: A Neapolitan priest. A long-winded and opinionated relation of Laura and Madame de Seidlits, he persuades Madame de Seidlits to attempt to convert Colonel Seidlits to Catholicism.

Father Pedro: Father confessor to Signora Sporza, Laura, and Madame de Seidlits. An insincere priest, he colludes with Zeluco to persuade Laura to marry him after accepting a bribe ostensibly used to improve the church.

The English
Mr. N—: A young English nobleman, nephew to a baronet and friend to Signora Sporza, Mr. Steele, and Mr. Squander, as well as Captain Seidlits and Baron Carlostein. He also loves Laura but does not express his feelings in deference to Carlostein.

Mr. Transfer: A rich businessman who retired to the English countryside. Uncle to Mr. Steele and brother to Mrs. Steele, he eventually learns to value his relations in addition to his fortune after connecting with his nephew.

Mrs. Steele: Mr. Transfer's sister, who married a poor man Mr. Transfer deemed an inappropriate husband. Though initially ignored by Mr. Transfer after her husband's death, she reconciles with her brother and comes to live with him after Mr. Steele brings them together.

Mr. Steele: Nephew of Mr. Transfer. Jovial, amicable, unaccomplished, and in love with Miss Warren, he eventually gains her hand in marriage after being improved by his travels with Mr. N—.

Miss Warren: Friend and companion of Lady Elizabeth, she lost her father in a naval battle. She initially refuses to marry Mr. Steele because of his mediocre education and skills.

Lady Elizabeth: A noblewoman who is Mr. Transfer's neighbor, she is the benefactor of Miss Warren.

Mr. Squander: A dour Englishman who gambles compulsively.

The Servants
The valet: Zeluco's valet, willing to assist Zeluco in his various plots. Notably, he seduces the Portuguese's wife's maid and pretends to be robber threatening Laura's carriage. He betrays Zeluco to Signora Sporza, however, after Zeluco ignores him after courting Nerina.

George Buchanan: Mr. N—'s Scottish servant. A Protestant, Buchanan attempts to sever any connection between Mr. N— and Laura for fear of his master marrying a Catholic. A Whig, Buchanan opposed the Jacobite Rising of 1745.

Duncan Targe: Captain Seidlits' Scottish servant. Targe supported the Jacobite uprising, and his and Buchanan's political differences lead them to duel with claymores.

Other characters
The Italian Nobleman: A member of high society in Italy. Because of his interest in Laura, Zeluco erroneously suspects that Laura returns the Nobleman's affections

Nerina: A young con artist who attracts Zeluco's attention and places him under her power. Nerina's pretended affection for Zeluco and jealousy of Laura cause Zeluco to murder his son and lead to his downfall.

Bertram: morally upright son of a clergyman. Zeluco wins a huge portion of Bertram's money through gambling. Zeluco initially considers employing Bertram as a confederate in his plots, but reconsiders after discovering Bertram's good character.

Themes and motifs

"Vice leads to endless misery": Present in the opening sentence in the novel, this theme recurs through comments from both the narrator and the characters. As Kelly notes, remarks about Zeluco's inner feelings illustrate Moore's Enlightenment emphasis on characters' internal states.

Being uneducated: Zeluco disdains learning, Mr. Steele receives a mediocre education, the servants hold irrational prejudices in favor of their own countries, and Mr. Transfer confuses the Roman statues in his garden.

Public opinion: People in Zeluco's and Countess Brunella's social circles are delighted when they suffer, but every person who knows Laura grieves at her distress.

Constant mental suffering of wrongdoers: The narrator frequently comments on Zeluco's persistent unhappiness despite his material wealth and comfortable situation.

Bumbling, interfering servants: The Portuguese couple's maid is used against them, Buchanan steers Mr. N— away from Laura because he deems her religion unacceptable, Buchanan's letter becomes an object of amusement for the aristocrats and the reader.

Reason versus passion: Laura, the Cuban physician, and Colonel Seidlits embody reason, while Zeluco, his mother, and Captain Seidlits give in to their emotions.

Physiognomy: Laura and Madame de Seidlits discuss whether or not a person's character manifests itself in his or her appearance; the narrator remarks that Zeluco is handsome despite his evil nature.
Manipulation, power and control: Zeluco dissembles in order to achieve his sexual conquests; he becomes obsessed with forcing Laura to yield to his desires; he feels the need to both display her beauty and prevent other people from interacting with her.

Incorrect assumptions: Zeluco initially assumes that Laura is attracted to him and is astonished when she refuses his proposal; he later believes that she is attracted to the Italian Nobleman; he never doubts Nerina's affection for him. The Portuguese and later Zeluco himself are easily led to believe that their sons are bastards based only on manufactured circumstantial evidence.

Love versus money: Mrs. Steele marries for love, while Mr. Transfer is shocked that she does not choose the more affluent match he arranges for her; Laura adamantly refuses to marry Zeluco because she does not love him, but is eventually forced into doing so because of a need for money.

Filial affection: Laura is willing to sacrifice her personal happiness for her mother's; Zeluco cares only about himself and disregards his filial duty to his mother.

Parallels

As Zeluco himself notes, his strangulation of his son mirrors the crushing of his sparrow when he was a child.

As the narrator notes but Zeluco fails to see, Nerina seduces Zeluco just as he seduces Rosolia and the widow; she also convinces him that his child is a bastard, just as he convinces the Portuguese of the same untruth.

Foils

Bertram as Zeluco's foil: Bertram delights in helping others and values moral satisfaction over material comforts; Zeluco thinks only of his own pleasure and is disturbed by Bertram's mention of economy and charity.

Laura's near-death as the foil to Zeluco's: When Laura sinks into illness after her son's death, her servants dread her death; when Zeluco lies ill after the Portuguese's stabbing, his slaves mourn his recovery.

Style

Point of View: The narrator is third person omniscient; although not an epistolary novel, Zeluco does include letters from one character to another.

Mixing Genres: The narrator claims in the opening paragraphs that the novel is a morality tale, but Zeluco is really a complex combination of genres. The book is often portrayed as an early Gothic novel, but the text does not adhere strictly to the Gothic genre, emphasizing realistic situations rather than fantastical Gothic settings and events. Moreover, Zeluco lacks the deliberate creation of supernatural or apparently supernatural terror present in novels such as Ann Radcliffe's The Romance of the Forest. Instead, the novel focuses on the everyday causes of Zeluco's evil (an impulsive, selfish nature and an overindulgent parent) and his downfall (the vain assumption that his lover truly cares for him). Pam Perkins, editor of the 2008 edition of Zeluco, succinctly explains this odd combination: "In Zeluco, Enlightenment rationality meets Gothic excess." Gary Kelly also links Zeluco to the Enlightenment, noting that all of Moore's novels serve as "vehicle[s] for Enlightenment social criticism." (See discussion of social commentary below.) Zeluco is the novel's most unenlightened figure, and his excessive passions and uncontrolled impulses lead to his downfall; moral characters such as Bertram privilege rational thought over emotion and are rewarded for doing so. Zeluco also reflects Moore's earlier works of travel literature: character reactions to and descriptions of the countries they visit echo the writings in a travel diary.

Humor: Zeluco contains many instances of dry humor. One example occurs when Rosolia claims that the suitor she marries after Zeluco abandons her is the only man who can make her completely happy. Her mother responds, "I hope, my dear, […] he is the only man who ever will attempt it."  Other characters, such as Buchanan, Targe, and the various priests, are mocked for their small-mindedness and obstinacy, illustrating Moore's Enlightenment emphasis on reason and education.

Tone: Though serious when discussing Zeluco's mental disturbance due to his wrongdoing, the narrator's "urbanely amused voice" acts as a "unifying force" for the novel. As both 18th century and contemporary critics note, this humorous tone renders Zeluco's moral message and long interludes unrelated to the main plot palatable to readers.

Epigraphs: Almost all of the novel's 100 chapters begins with brief quotations from well-known authors such as Alexander Pope, Shakespeare, Ovid, Virgil, and François de La Rochefoucauld. Each quotation corresponds to the subject matter of the chapter it introduces. For example, the chapter in which Zeluco mistreats his troops out of a vain desire to impress his superior officers begins with "La ferocité naturelle fait moins de cruels que l'amour proper" ("Natural ferocity makes fewer people cruel than does self-love"). The epigraphs, many of which are in Latin or French, provide a marked contrast Zeluco's lack of education and also imply that Moore wrote for an educated readership that could "share the narrator's easy cosmopolitanism"

Social Commentary: Many critics note the novel's extensive asides regarding social issues of Moore's time; some argue that the social commentary equals or overshadows the overtly moral message of the primary plot.

Examples of social commentary

The Slavery Debate: The debate on slavery takes place early on in the novel, after Zeluco gains a plantation in Cuba (one location in the novel that Moore notably did not visit) and becomes a cruel master of the slaves there. The titular villain is unsurprisingly pro-slavery, while an educated physician – possibly provided as a stand-in for Moore's own opinions on the subject – makes the arguments against slavery. These arguments cover the differing perspectives of the time, including whether or not the slaves were better off in slavery than they were in their own countries. They also argue whether the African people are equal to Europeans, and notions of property and the right to own people as property. This debate eventually leads to the question of whether it is better to be seen as "the distributor of happiness" or the "inflictor of pain", a problem that will follow Zeluco throughout the story, both in his military career and eventual marriage to the virtuous Laura.

Moore's anti-slavery stance in Zeluco is particularly notable because of its being published in 1789, which marked roughly the beginning of the British abolitionist movement. The first meeting of the Society for Effecting the Abolition of the Slave Trade was formed on 22 May 1787 – 20 years before the slave trade was abolished with the passage of the Slave Trade Act 1807. The campaign was heavily influenced by slave uprisings in the West Indies, which was where Zeluco held his own fictional plantation, and was supported by hundreds of thousands of people, including – in all probability, judging by the arguments in Zeluco – Moore himself. Moore also provides a sympathetic slave character in the form of Hanno to stand opposite his villainous slave owner, just another piece of evidence for his anti-slave trade stance.

Religious Intolerance: Protestantism vs. Catholicism: In one of quite a few asides Moore makes for his minor characters, a debate takes place between the late Colonel Seidlits and his Protestant clergyman relation about whether or not it is proper to convert Colonel Seidlit's Catholic wife to Protestantism, which Moore – a Protestant himself – tends to portray as the superior religion. Throughout the novel, priests are shown as either corrupt (like the bumbling and easily bought Father Pedro), incompetent (like the Cuban priest who riles up the Portuguese and his wife rather than helping them), or unnecessarily long-winded (like Father Mulo). They also tend to interfere where they should not, like in Laura's ill-advised marriage to Zeluco, the multiple failed conversions from both Protestantism to Catholicism and vice versa, and the dangerous ruse against the Portuguese family.

This division between Protestantism and Roman Catholicism can be traced all the way back to the Protestant Reformation in the early 16th century, when Martin Luther, among other Protestant leaders, sought to break away from the old customs and rituals of the church in order to make religion more accessible. In his debate with Colonel Seidlets, the clergyman makes reference to the arguments against the Catholics placing too much faith in rituals like transubstantiation, and directly refers to historical events taking place during the Reformation, as well.

Despite this divide between the two religions (which can also be seen in Buchanan's refusal to allow his Protestant master, Mr. N—, to marry the Catholic Laura), Colonel Seidlits steadfastly refuses to denounce his wife's religion and insists that everyone should be able to practice their own religious beliefs without feeling pressure to convert. In this way he stands in sharp contrast to the negatively portrayed priests and clergymen who disdain every religion except their own, so it could be argued that Moore is not so much supporting Protestantism but encouraging freedom of religion.

Scottish Politics: Being a Scotsman himself, Moore also includes a debate on the state of Scottish politics about three quarters of the way through the novel, in which two proud Scottish servants – Buchanan and Targe – argue about the Jacobite Rising of 1745, during which Charles Edward Stewart attempted to reclaim the British throne. This eventually leads to an argument about Scottish nationalism, including whether Mary, Queen of Scots plotted to kill her husband Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley, and whether Scotland should have joined with England under the Acts of Union 1707. The issues are presented as polarizing the Scottish nation, showing the divisions between the Whig and Tory parties in particular, and especially their opinions on kings and the rights of royalty. Targe – the Tory – has loyalty for the divine right of kings, whereas Buchanan – the Whig – is more loyal to country than king.

Moore's inclusion of this debate and the resulting duel shows the powerful nature of Scottish national pride, which is also shown when the overly patriotic Buchanan is injured in a duel between the two Scotsmen and refuses treatment from a French physician, instead insisting that he will wait until one of his own countrymen is available.

National Stereotypes: In 1772 Moore was hired as the tutor and private physician to the young Duke of Hamilton, and ended up accompanying the young nobleman on his Grand Tour through Italy, Germany and France. This Tour was meant to expose the young Duke to foreign societies, through which he would learn about other countries' languages, architecture, geography, and culture and return to his own country ready to join the British ruling class. During this time Moore was exposed to high-class societies that a man of his station would normally never get to see, and the experience – notably his time among the upper echelons of Italy – greatly influenced his portrayal of high Italian society seen in Zeluco.

Moore's visits to other countries can also be seen in his characters' – particularly Baron Carlostein, Captain Seidlits, Mr. N—, and Mr. Steele – discussions of the traits of people from different countries, especially France, Italy and England. The English are generally portrayed as "reserved" and melancholy, whereas the Italian are "ingenious" and "civilized" and the French are "frank" and – according to the minor character Thomas Dawson – quite dissimilar to the Scottish, particularly in their armies and unequal treatment of women.

Critical reception

Initial response
Zeluco was immediately and immensely successful. Although anonymous, the book was generally attributed to Moore because of its similarity in style to his travel literature. Most reviews at the time of publication lauded both the literary technique and moral message of the novel. In June 1789, Scots Magazine asserted that Zeluco "is not a common novel," praising Moore for creating a work of lasting merit and a positive moral message "which, until men change their natures, can never be too often inculcated, or too powerfully enforced." The European Magazine and London Review expressed a similar opinion in October 1789 and placed a particular emphasis on Moore's ability to express serious messages in a "lively style" and create a narrator who is a "laughing philosopher." The September 1789 issue of The English Review, however, was highly critical, deeming Zeluco a merely mediocre novel. The reviewer disparaged Moore's many subplots and asides as useless digressions and takes issue with his mocking portrayal of priests and his favorable portrayal of physicians.

Influence
Zeluco provided inspiration for the title character of Lord Byron's poem Childe Harold's Pilgrimage and was transformed into a stage play in 1812. Anna Laetitia Barbauld's glowing review in an 1810 edition of The British Novelists seemed to indicate the novel's lasting success. Zeluco's popularity faded, however, and the novel remained out of print from 1827 to 2008.

Modern views
Twentieth century literary critics tended to ignore Zeluco, and their opinions of the book were generally not favorable. Patricia Meyer Spacks asserts that Zeluco's wholly evil character is flat rather than compelling, and that Laura's sensibility serves only to remove all traces of her agency. She claims that the combination of Zeluco's and Laura's intrinsically opposite personalities leads only to a "narrative stalemate." Pam Perkins, however, argues against such negative criticism, maintaining that the central plot of the novel was not Moore's sole focus. Examining Zeluco's Enlightenment-driven narrative style and incisive social commentary, she contends, can offer new insights into life at the end of the 18th century.

Notes

References
Online version:
 Volume I
 Volume II

Barbauld, Anna Laetitia, ed. Zeluco. The British Novelists 34(1810): i-vii.
Kelly, Gary. "Enlightenment and Revolution: The Philosophical Novels of Dr. John Moore." Eighteenth-Century Fiction 1.3 (1989): 219-237.
Moore, John. Zeluco. Ed. Pam Perkins. Kansas City: Valancourt Books, 2008.
Perkins, Pam. "Introduction." Zeluco. By Moore. Kansas City: Valancourt Books, 2008. vii-xxxv.
Spacks, Patricia Meyer. Desire and Truth: Functions of Plot in Eighteenth-Century Gothic Novels. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1990.
"Zeluco." The English Review, or, an Abstract of English and Foreign Literature" 14(1789:Sept.): 216-222.
"Zeluco." European Magazine and London Review. 16(1789:Oct.): 249-254; Zeluco (conclusion) 16(1789:Nov.): 346.
"Zeluco." Scots Magazine'' 51 (1789:June): 279-283.

Scottish novels
1789 novels
Novels set in Italy
1789 in Scotland

Zeluco


Egyptian Islamic Jihad (EIJ), originally called al-Jihad, is an Egyptian terrorist group based on an extreme interpretation of Islam. It has been active since the late 1970s. It is under worldwide embargo by the United Nations as a group linked to al-Qaeda. It is also banned by several governments around the world, including that of the Russian Federation.

Since 1991 it has been led by Ayman al-Zawahiri, who is now the leader of al-Qaeda. According to Zawahiri, the EIJ was "different from the Takfir wal Hijra group as we do not consider people infidels because of their sins. And we are different from the Muslim Brotherhood because sometimes they do not oppose the government".

The organization's original main goal was to overthrow the Egyptian government and replace it with an Islamic state based on the way it thought Islam should be. Later it broadened its aims to include attacking the United States and Israel, and other interests in Egypt and abroad.

Islamic Jihad was responsible for the assassination of Anwar Sadat in 1981. Sadat's Sinai treaty with Israel, which recognized the Jewish state, made them very angry.

Link with Al Qaeda
In June 2001, Al Qaeda and Egyptian Islamic Jihad, which had been associated with each other for many years, merged into 'Qaeda al-Jihad'.

"...the members of Islamic Jihad and its guiding figure, Ayman al-Zawahiri, have provided the backbone of [al-Quaeda's] leadership. According to officials in the C.I.A. and the F.B.I., Zawahiri has been responsible for much of the planning of the terrorist operations against the United States".

References

Islamic terrorism
Rebel militia groups in Africa
1970s establishments in Egypt
Islamic organizations based in Egypt

Egyptian Islamic Jihad


Annapurna Theatre is the pioneer of Odia Theatre Company.

Formation
In 1933, Somnath Das formed Jayadurga Natya Mandali, an opera party in Khandualkote village in the undivided Puri district. A couple of years later, the organizers decided to switch over to theatre proper. By this time, a few artists from Banamali Art Theatre and Bauri Bandhu Mohanty, an able manager, had joined them. Mohanty had ample experience in the theatrical field. Within a short time he reconstituted the party and founded Annapurna Theatre in 1936. Within a very short time Annapurna Theatre became a touring troupe.

Branching out
In 1939, Kartik Kumar Ghose translated P.W. D. that is a Bengali play into Odia and it was produced by Annapurna Theatre. Its success encouraged the organizers to march ahead. Later, Aswini Kumar Ghose wrote a number of works for them. As the number of artists increased, it was decided to divide the company into two branches. The A-group was stationed in Puri, headed by Mohanty, and the B-group in Cuttack, both on permanent stages. Ramchandra Mishra's Social Play, Manager, inaugurated the Cuttack theatre in 1945. Ties between the two groups were cordial in the primary phase. Even a third group, Annapurna-C was started for a short period. But, gradually, relations soured and the branches separated.

End of Theatres
Managed by Lingaraj Nanda, Annapurna-B had its permanent stage at Tinkonia Bagicha in Cuttack. The building still stands at the place. Till 1968 at least five or six performance played in the Annapurna-B theatre annually. Dramatists like Ramchandra Mishra, Bhanja Kishore Patnaik, Kamal Lochan Mohanty, and Bijay Mishra were products of this playhouse. The A-group at Puri saw its own heyday, regularly touring for two months throughout the state. But, slowly, both companies lost their financial stability and decadence crept in owing to mismanagement. In between 1977-1988 under Rabindra Parija few plays were carried out and that was the golden period where eminent personalities like Hara Pattnaik, Mihir Das, Jayram Lenka, Brajraj Singh, Harish Mohanty, Chandi Parija, Padyumna Lenka, Suresh Bal, Pranab Kar etc. were born.  Annapurna Theatre created a dramatic tradition and took a leading role in producing performers, playwrights, and other stage personalities. Both the theatres Annapurna (A&B) group were closed for short period of time, but now Annapurna Theatre B group has resumed functioning back with an agenda of carrying out of one play on 29th of each month.

Notable performers
 Bhanumati Devi

References
3. Odia news daily : The Samaja, 30-01-2022, page -9.
Odia language
Odia culture

Annapurna Theatre


Jon Andrew McBride (born August 14, 1943), is a retired NASA astronaut and American naval officer.

Over the course of his career with the United States Navy, McBride served as an aviator, a fighter pilot, a test pilot, and an aeronautical engineer. He had achieved the rank of captain when he retired in 1989.

McBride was also an astronaut with NASA, a role in which he piloted STS-41-G, and would have been commander of STS-61-E had the mission not been cancelled in the wake of the Challenger disaster.

Early life, education and personal life
Jon McBride was born August 14, 1943, in Charleston, West Virginia, but considers Beckley, West Virginia, to be his hometown. He graduated from Woodrow Wilson High School, Beckley, West Virginia in 1960, then attended West Virginia University 1960–1964, and received a Bachelor of Science degree in Aeronautical Engineering from the U.S. Naval Postgraduate School in 1971. He did graduate work in Human Resource Management at Pepperdine University. At West Virginia, McBride became a member of the Phi Delta Theta fraternity.

McBride has three children: Richard M. (born March 3, 1962 - January 14, 1992)), Melissa L. (December 12, 1966), and Jon A. (born October 21, 1970). He has 8 grandchildren: Megan, Collin, Richard, Austin, Cadi, Bailey, Ryan (1999-2021), and Kendall.

Military career
McBride's naval service began in 1965 with flight training at Naval Air Station Pensacola, Florida. After being designated a Naval Aviator and receiving his wings in August 1966, he was assigned to Fighter Squadron 101 (VF-101) based at Naval Air Station Oceana, Virginia, for training in the F-4 Phantom II aircraft. He was subsequently assigned to Fighter Squadron 41 (VF-41) where he served 3 years as a fighter pilot and division officer. He has also served tours with VF-11 and VF-103. While deployed to Southeast Asia, McBride flew 64 combat missions during the Vietnam War.

He attended the U.S. Air Force Test Pilot School (Class 75A) at Edwards Air Force Base, California, prior to reporting to Air Test and Development Squadron Four (VX-4) at Naval Air Station Point Mugu, California, where he served as maintenance officer and Sidewinder project officer. He has flown over 40 different types of military and civilian aircraft and piloted the Navy "Spirit of '76" bicentennial-painted F-4J Phantom in various air shows during 1976, 1977, and 1978. He holds current Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) ratings which include civilian commercial pilot certificate (multi-engine), instrument, and glider; and he previously served as a Certified Flight Instructor (CFI).

He logged over 8,800 hours flying time—including 4,700 hours in jet aircraft and over 600 carrier landings.

NASA career

Selected as an astronaut candidate by NASA in January 1978, McBride became an astronaut in August 1979. His NASA assignments have included lead chase pilot for the maiden voyage of Space Shuttle Columbia, software verification in the Shuttle Avionics Integration Laboratory (SAIL), capsule communicator (CAPCOM) for STS-5, STS-6, and STS-7, Flight Data File (FDF) Manager, and orbital rendezvous procedures development.

McBride was pilot of STS-41-G, which launched from Kennedy Space Center, Florida, on October 5, 1984, aboard the Orbiter Challenger. This was the first crew of seven. During their eight-day mission, crew members deployed the Earth Radiation Budget Satellite, conducted scientific observations of the Earth with the OSTA-3 pallet and Large Format Camera, and demonstrated potential satellite refueling with an EVA and associated hydrazine transfer. Mission duration was 197 hours and concluded with a landing at Kennedy Space Center, Florida, on October 13, 1984.

McBride was scheduled to fly next in March 1986, as the commander of STS-61-E crew. This flight was one of several deferred by NASA in the wake of the Challenger accident in January 1986.

On July 30, 1987, McBride was assigned to NASA Headquarters to serve as Assistant Administrator for Congressional Relations, with responsibility for NASA's relationship with the United States Congress, and for providing coordination and direction to all Headquarters and Field Center communications with Congressional support organizations. He held this post from September 1987 through March 1989. In 1988, McBride was named to command the crew of the STS-35 (ASTRO-1) mission, scheduled for launch in March 1990, but chose to retire from NASA instead.

On September 23, 2011, the NASA Independent Verification and Validation Facility (IV&V) in Fairmont, West Virginia dedicated a NASA software laboratory to the West Virginia native Jon McBride. The laboratory's official name is the Jon McBride Software Testing and Research Laboratory, or JSTAR. JSTAR is NASA IV&V's environment for adaptable testing and simulation, designed to enhance tools and methods used to critically assess mission and safety critical software across NASA's missions.  The lab supports end to end testing on mission flight software through the application of analytical rigor to reduce the threat of software-related mission failure.

In September 2012, at the JSTAR one year celebration, NASA's IV&V Program launched the JSTAR website. The JSTAR website highlights all the work being performed under the JSTAR umbrella at NASA's IV&V facility.

Post-NASA career

Business career
In May 1989, McBride retired from NASA and the U.S. Navy, in order to pursue a business career. He was President and Chief Executive Officer of the Flying Eagle Corporation in Lewisburg, West Virginia, and President of the Constructors' Labor Council of West Virginia (heavy/highway construction contractors).

Political career
In 1996, he unsuccessfully vied for the Republican nomination for Governor of West Virginia, losing to Cecil H. Underwood.

In subsequent years, he left West Virginia to pursue business opportunities in Arizona.

Kennedy Space Center & Retirement
By 2008, McBride was retired and living near Cocoa, Florida. According to a short interview on September 20, 2017, during a "Meet an Astronaut" event, he was also actively working on improving the Space Shuttle Experience ride. He proposed to assist in the development of a landing sequence for the ride. McBride remained active supporting the "Lunch with an Astronaut" program at Kennedy Space Center until 2020 when he announced his retirement from duty at the visitor's center.

Organizations
Association of Naval Aviation
Veterans of Foreign Wars
American Legion
Society of Experimental Test Pilots
Phi Delta Theta
National Honor Society
West Virginia University Engineering Visiting Committee (Chairman, 1990–1992)
University System of West Virginia Board of Trustees (1992–1995)
Co-Chairman (with wife), American Cancer Society fund-raising (State of West Virginia) 1990
Executive Committee, Boy Scouts of America
President, Association of Space Explorers (USA) (1997–1998)
Executive Committee, Association of Space Explorers (Co-President, 1995–1996)
March of Dimes
American Red Cross Disaster Relief
Shawnee Hills Mental Health Group

Awards and honors
Legion of Merit
Defense Superior Service Medal
Air Medals (3)
Navy Commendation Medal with Combat V
Navy Unit Commendation
National Defense Service Medal
Vietnam Service Medal
NASA Space Flight Medal
West Virginia Secretary of State's "State Medallion" and appointed "West Virginia Ambassador of Good Will Among All Men" (1980)
Honorary Doctorate in Aerospace Engineering from Salem College (1984)
Honorary Doctorate of Science from West Virginia University (1985)
Honorary Doctorate of Science from University of Charleston (1987)
Honorary Doctorate of Science from West Virginia Institute of Technology (1987)
West Virginia Society's "Son-of-the-Year" (1988), City of Beckley
West Virginia "Hall of Fame"
Distinguished Alumni; West Virginia University (1988)
West Virginia's "Honorary Italian-American" (1988)
Kanawha County, West Virginia's "Famous Person Award" (1988)
West Virginia Broadcasters' "Man-of-the-Year" (1989)
City of Hope's "Spirit of Life Award Winner" (1991)
Daughters of the American Revolution "Medal of Honor" (1993)

See also

List of spaceflight records

References

External links

Astronautix biography of Jon McBride
Spacefacts biography of Jon McBride
McBride at Spaceacts

1943 births
Living people
1984 in spaceflight
United States Navy astronauts
People from Charleston, West Virginia
Woodrow Wilson High School (Beckley, West Virginia) alumni
West Virginia University alumni
Naval Postgraduate School alumni
Pepperdine University alumni
American business executives
American aerospace engineers
U.S. Air Force Test Pilot School alumni
United States Navy captains
United States Naval Aviators
Aviators from West Virginia
Military personnel from Beckley, West Virginia
United States Navy personnel of the Vietnam War
Recipients of the Legion of Merit
Recipients of the Air Medal
Recipients of the Defense Superior Service Medal
American astronaut-politicians
West Virginia Republicans
NASA people
People from Cocoa, Florida
Commercial aviators
Space Shuttle program astronauts
University System of West Virginia trustees
Businesspeople from West Virginia

Jon McBride


The Independence hypothesis is a proposed solution to the synoptic problem. It holds that Matthew, Mark, and Luke are each original compositions formed independently of each other, with no documentary relationship.

Scholars have long noted that the three synoptic gospels have a great deal in common, not just in content but also in order and precise Greek wording. Most scholars have assumed that this must be due to some sort of literary interrelationship among the gospels, with fragments of text copied from one source to another, but have struggled to find a satisfactory theory of who copied from whom. The independence theory rejects this consensus of documentary dependence; rather, each evangelist has independently drawn from eyewitness accounts and perhaps liturgy and other oral tradition.

The similarities among the synoptic gospels, the whole basis for the synoptic problem, are held to be, first of all, vastly overstated, and secondly, explainable as artifacts of relying on the same witnesses or of different witnesses to the same events.

The witnesses to the gospel content, especially apostles such as Peter, would have preached their testimony countless times before contributing to the gospels, and such numerous rehearsals tend to make a story settle into a relatively consistent wording. Any of this material that entered public liturgy (e.g., the Lord's prayer) would become even more stabilized. On the other hand, different witnesses nearly always preserve different details and present numerous minor inconsistencies. So, too, does a single witness consulted on different occasions. Moreover, sayings and anonymous healings may have recurred many times in a similar fashion, so that seemingly similar accounts actually preserve distinct events. What we would expect to see in the gospels according to this method of composition, goes the theory, is exactly what we find: many similar accounts, often with virtually identical wording, but many additions and omissions, a somewhat different selection of content in each, and apparent inconsistencies of order and details.

Some see the independence theory as especially consistent with divine inspiration of the gospels, with the similarities among the gospels explained by the Holy Spirit ensuring a faithful record of Christ's words and deeds.

Protestant theologian Eta Linnemann argues that the reason for four independent Gospels stems from the legal principle of : "On the evidence of two or three witnesses a matter shall be confirmed."

See also

 Oral gospel tradition
 Hebrew gospel hypothesis
 Criterion of multiple attestation

References

Sources
 Richard Bauckham, Jesus and the Eyewitnesses: The Gospels as Eyewitness Testimony (2006).
 Werner Kelber, The Oral-Scribal-Memorial Arts of Communication in Early Christianity (2008).
 Eta Linnemann, Is There a Synoptic Problem?: Rethinking the Literary Dependence of the First Three Gospels (1992).
 Bo Reicke, The Roots of the Synoptic Gospels (1986).
 John M. Rist, On the Independence of Matthew and Mark (1978).
 Robert L. Thomas (ed.), Three Views on the Origins of the Synoptic Gospels (2002).
 John W. Wenham, Redating Matthew, Mark, and Luke: A Fresh Assault on the Synoptic Problem (1991).

Synoptic problem
Hypotheses

Independence hypothesis


Peter Joseph Weatherson (born 29 May 1980) is an English former professional footballer who mainly played as a striker for Greenock Morton. Weatherson also played for Newcastle Blue Star, Queen of the South and Annan Athletic. Weatherson was also joint player-manager of Shettleston in the Scottish Juniors, West Region.

Weatherson started his senior career with Dumfries club Queen of the South from 2000 until 2003, after initially playing with local club Newcastle Blue Star. Weatherson then went on to play for Greenock Morton for a decade from 2003 until 2013 and then Annan Athletic from 2013 until 2016, before going to Shettleston in the Scottish Juniors, West Region as joint player-manager. Weatherson returned to Annan Athletic for a second spell on 13 January 2017, leaving Shettleston after only five months in charge and retired from playing football at the end of the 2016–17 season, as he approached 37 years old on 29 May 2017.

Career

Early years
Born in North Shields, Weatherson began his career with local non-league club Newcastle Blue Star.

Queen of the South
In the summer of 2000, John Connolly, the Dumfries club Queen of the South's manager, signed Weatherson to play in the Scottish Football League, where he mainly featured as a striker and occasionally played as a right midfielder. During the 2001–02 season, Weatherson scored 15 league goals in 33 league appearances, as the Palmerston Park club won the Scottish Football League Second Division Championship. Under the captaincy of Jim Thomson, the title was clinched after a 3–0 win at Forfar Athletic on 20 April 2002. In that match, Weatherson scored the first two Queens goals and the third goal was scored by Sean O'Connor, who Queens signed from Dundee United, having watched him play for Greenock Morton during his loan spell at Cappielow.

At the end of the 2002–03 season, Partick Thistle made an offer of £10,000 to Queens for Weatherson, however this offer was rejected and this allowed Greenock Morton to table a bid of £30,000 that was then accepted by Queens.

Greenock Morton
Weatherson moved from Dumfries to Greenock at the start of the 2003–04 season. Weatherson scored 14 league goals in 31 league appearances in his first season, scoring a total of 20 goals in 37 appearances in all competitions. Morton led by 12 points at New Year before Weatherson broke a metatarsal ruling him out injured for six weeks. Their form promptly collapsed compounded by allegations of a booze culture among players and toxifying unproven rumours reported in the press of Weatherson and other players betting against Morton. Morton finished fourth.

Weatherson started playing in defence after manager Jim McInally used him as a utility centre-back in a 7–1 Tennent's Scottish Cup win away at Cove Rangers. Weatherson played at right back for Greenock Morton in the 2006–07 season, from where he still scored goals. On 6 October 2007 Weatherson scored a hat-trick versus Partick Thistle as a striker.

On 10 March 2007, Peter Weatherson scored his 100th career goal in a 3–0 victory versus Alloa Athletic at Recreation Park. Weatherson was the Greenock club's top scorer for the 2006–07 season, scoring  four goals in a 9–1 win at Cappielow versus Forfar Athletic and his season's total was then 17 goals, 15 of them scored from playing in defence and 2 from playing in midfield.

Weatherson finished four of his first seven seasons at Greenock Morton as the club's leading goalscorer. The seasons when Weatherson did not achieve this feat was the 2005–06 season, when he finished second behind returning fans' favourite Derek Lilley, then in season 2008–09 when he finished second again, this time behind Brian Wake and finally in season 2010–11, when he finished third behind Brian Graham, who was first and Allan Jenkins, who was second.

Weatherson is Ton's fourth highest post-World War II league goalscorer with 93 league goals, 5 goals short of another former Queens striker, Rowan Alexander with 98 league goals, who is in third. (See table on club page).

After scoring the first of his two goals versus Queens on 8 November 2008, Weatherson reached the milestone of 100 league goals in the Scottish Football League, having scored 38 goals for Queens and at that particular time, 62 goals for Greenock Morton.

In January 2010, Weatherson signed a two-year extension to his existing contract, after rejecting an approach by Partick Thistle for the second time in his career.

On 16 October 2010, versus Queens at Cappielow, Weatherson's brace of goals were his 100th and 101st for Greenock Morton, in all competitions.

In May 2012, Weatherson received another one-year extension to his contract, after which he was granted a testimonial for playing a decade at the Renfrewshire club. Weatherson's testimonial match was versus St Johnstone on 13 July 2013, even though he had already signed for the Dumfries and Galloway club, Annan Athletic for season 2013–14. Weatherson departed Greenock Morton in the summer of 2013, having played well over 400 matches and scoring 121 goals in all competitions.

Annan Athletic
In the summer of 2013, Weatherson signed for Annan Athletic. On 27 July 2013, Weatherson scored versus former club Greenock Morton as Annan Athletic won 1–0 and knocked the Greenock club out of the Scottish Challenge Cup.

In May 2015, Weatherson signed a contract extension at Annan Athletic for the 2015–16 season.

Shettleston Juniors
Weatherson was then announced as one of the joint player-managers at Shettleston in March 2016, alongside his Galabankies teammate Ryan McStay, with their tenure to commence at the start of the 2016–17 season in the Scottish Juniors, West Region.

Weatherson departed Shettleston by mutual consent, alongside joint player-manager McStay on 9 January 2017, after a 1–1 draw at home to Irvine Meadow on 7 January 2017.

Return to Annan Athletic
Weatherson signed for a second spell at Scottish League Two club Annan Athletic on 13 January 2017, as he re-signed for the Galabankies for the rest of the 2016–17 season, less than one week after leaving Shettleston, where he was joint player-manager.

Retirement
Weatherson announced his retirement from playing football at the end of the 2016-17 season, as he approached 37 years old on 29 May 2017.

Honours

Club
Queen of the South
Scottish Football League Second Division: Winners 2001–02
Morton
Scottish Football League Second Division: Winners 2006–07

Personal
Queen of the South Top Scorer: 2000–01
Greenock Morton Top Scorer: (5) 2003–04, 2004–05, 2006–07, 2007–08, 2009–10
Annan Athletic Top Scorer: 2014–15
Scottish Second Division Player of the Year: Nominee 2006–07
SPFA League Two Team of the Year: 2014–15
League Two Top Goalscorer: 2014–15
SPFL Top League Goalscorer: 2014–15
SPFL Team of the Year: 2014–15

References

External links

Living people
1980 births
Footballers from North Shields
English men's footballers
Queen of the South F.C. players
Greenock Morton F.C. players
Scottish Football League players
Annan Athletic F.C. players
Men's association football forwards
Newcastle Blue Star F.C. players
Greenock Morton F.C. non-playing staff
Scottish Professional Football League players
English football managers
Glasgow United F.C. players
Scottish Junior Football Association players

Peter Weatherson


Ardhanarishvara (), is a form of the Hindu deity Shiva combined with his consort Parvati. Ardhanarishvara is depicted as half-male and half-female, equally split down the middle. The right half is usually the male Shiva, illustrating his traditional attributes.

The earliest Ardhanarishvara images are dated to the Kushan period, starting from the first century CE. Its iconography evolved and was perfected in the Gupta era. The Puranas and various iconographic treatises write about the mythology and iconography of Ardhanarishvara. Ardhanarishvara remains a popular iconographic form found in most Shiva temples throughout India, though very few temples are dedicated to this deity.

Ardhanarishvara represents the synthesis of masculine and feminine energies of the universe (Purusha and Prakriti) and illustrates how Shakti, the female principle of God, is inseparable from (or the same as, according to some interpretations) Shiva, the male principle of God, and vice versa. The union of these principles is exalted as the root and womb of all creation. Another view is that Ardhanarishvara is a symbol of Shiva's all-pervasive nature.

Names
The name Ardhanarishvara means "the Lord Who is half woman." Ardhanarishvara is also known by other names like Ardhanaranari ("the half man-woman"), Ardhanarisha ("the Lord who is half woman"), Ardhanarinateshvara ("the Lord of Dance (Who is half-woman),
Parangada, Naranari ("man-woman"), Ammaiyappan (a Tamil Name meaning "Mother-Father"), and Ardhayuvatishvara (in Assam, "the Lord whose half is a young woman or girl"). The  Gupta-era writer Pushpadanta in his Mahimnastava refers to this form as dehardhaghatana ("Thou and She art each the half of one body"). Utpala, commenting on the Brihat Samhita, calls this form  Ardha-Gaurishvara ("the Lord whose half is the fair one"; the fair one – Gauri – is an attribute of Parvati). The Vishnudharmottara Purana simply calls this form Gaurishvara ("The Lord/husband of Gauri).

Origins and early images

The conception of Ardhanarishvara may have been inspired by Vedic literature's composite figure of Yama-Yami, the Vedic descriptions of the primordial Creator Vishvarupa or Prajapati and the fire-god Agni as "bull who is also a cow," the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad's Atman ("Self") in the form of the androgynous cosmic man Purusha and the androgynous myths of the Greek Hermaphroditus and Phrygian Agdistis. The Brihadaranyaka Upanishad says that Purusha splits himself into two parts, male and female, and the two halves copulate, producing all life – a theme concurrent in Ardhanarishvara's tales. The Shvetashvatara Upanishad sows the seed of the Puranic Ardhanarishvara. It declares Rudra – the antecedent of the Puranic Shiva – the maker of all and the root of Purusha (the male principle) and Prakriti (the female principle), adhering to Samkhya philosophy. It hints at his androgynous nature, describing him both as male and female.

The concept of Ardhanarishvara originated in Kushan and Greek cultures simultaneously; the iconography evolved in the Kushan era (30–375 CE), but was perfected in the Gupta era (320-600 CE). A mid-first century Kushan era stela in the Mathura Museum has a half-male, half-female image, along with three other figures identified with Vishnu, Gaja Lakshmi and Kubera. The male half is ithyphallic or with an urdhvalinga and makes an abhaya mudra gesture; the female left half holds a mirror and has a rounded breast. This is the earliest representation of Ardhanarishvara, universally recognized. An early Kushan Ardhanarishvara head discovered at Rajghat is displayed at the Mathura Museum. The right male half has matted hair with a skull and crescent moon; the left female half has well-combed hair decorated with flowers and wears a patra-kundala (earring). The face has a common third eye. A terracotta seal discovered in Vaishali has half-man, half-woman features. Early Kushan images show Ardhanarishvara in a simple two-armed form, but later texts and sculptures depict a more complex iconography.

Ardhanarishvara is referred to by the Greek author Stobaeus () while quoting Bardasanes (–222 AD), who learnt from an Indian embassy's visit to Syria during the reign of Elagabalus (Antoninus of Emesa) (218–22 AD). A terracotta androgynous bust, excavated at Taxila and dated to the Saka-Parthian era, pictures a bearded man with female breasts.

Ardhanarishvara is interpreted as an attempt to syncretise the two principal Hindu sects, Shaivism and Shaktism, dedicated to Shiva and the Great Goddess. A similar syncretic image is Harihara, a composite form of Shiva and Vishnu, the Supreme deity of the Vaishnava sect.

Iconography

The iconographic 16th century work Shilparatna, the Matsya Purana and Agamic texts like Amshumadbhedagama, Kamikagama, Supredagama and Karanagama – most of them of South Indian origin – describe the iconography of Ardhanarishvara. The right superior side of the body usually is the male Shiva and the left is the female Parvati; in rare depictions belonging to the Shaktism school, the feminine holds the dominant right side. The icon usually is prescribed to have four, three or two arms, but rarely is depicted with eight arms. In the case of three arms, the Parvati side has only one arm, suggesting a lesser role in the icon.

Male half

The male half wears a jata-mukuta (a headdress formed of piled, matted hair) on his head, adorned with a crescent moon. Sometimes the jata-mukuta is adorned with serpents and the river goddess Ganga flowing through the hair. The right ear wears a nakra-kundala, sarpa-kundala ("serpent-earring") or ordinary kundala ("earring"). Sometimes, the male eye is depicted smaller than the female one and a half-moustache is also seen. A half third eye (trinetra) is prescribed on the male side of the forehead in the canons; a full eye may also be depicted in middle of forehead separated by both the sides or a half eye may be shown above or below Parvati's round dot. A common elliptical halo (prabhamandala/prabhavali) may be depicted behind the head; sometimes the shape of the halo may differ on either side.

In the four-armed form, a right hand holds a parashu (axe) and another makes an abhaya mudra (gesture of reassurance), or one of the right arms is slightly bent and rests on the head of Shiva's bull mount, Nandi, while the other is held in the abhaya mudra gesture. Another configuration suggests that a right hand holds a trishula (trident) and another makes a varada mudra (gesture of blessing). Another scripture prescribes that a trishula and akshamala (rosary) are held in the two right hands. In the two-armed form, the right hand holds a kapala (skull cup) or gestures in a varada mudra. He may also hold a skull. In the Badami relief, the four-armed Ardhanarishvara plays a veena (lute), using a left and a right arm, while other male arm holds a parashu and the female one a lotus.

The Shiva half has a flat masculine chest, a straight vertical chest, broader shoulder, wider waist and muscular thigh. He wears a yagnopavita (sacred thread) across the chest, which is sometimes represented as a naga-yagnopavita (a snake worn as a yagnopavita) or a string of pearls or gems. The yajnopavita may also divide the torso into its male and female halves. He wears ornaments characteristic of Shiva's iconography, including serpent ornaments.

In some North Indian images, the male half may be nude and also be ithyphallic (urdhavlinga or urdhavreta: with an erect phallus), however, connotes the very opposite in this context. It contextualize "seminal retention" or practice of celibacy (illustration of Urdhva Retas), and represents the deity as "the one who stands for complete control of the senses, and for the supreme carnal renunciation", other images found in North India include full or half phallus and one testicle. However, such imagery is never found in South Indian images; the loins are usually covered in a garment (sometimes a dhoti) of silk or cotton, or the skin of a tiger or deer), typically down to the knee, and held in place by a sarpa-mekhala, serpent girdle or jewellery. The right leg may be somewhat bent or straight and often rests on a lotus pedestal (padma-pitha). The whole right half is described as smeared with ashes and as terrible and red-coloured or gold or coral in appearance; however, these features are rarely depicted.

Female half
The female half has karanda-mukuta (a basket-shaped crown) on her head or well-combed knotted hair or both. The left ear wears a valika-kundala (a type of earring). A tilaka or bindu (a round red dot) adorns her forehead, matching Shiva's third eye. The left eye is painted with black eyeliner. While the male neck is sometimes adorned with a jewelled hooded serpent, the female neck has a blue lotus matching it.

In the four-armed form, one of the left arms rests on Nandi's head, while the other is bent in kataka mudra pose and holds a nilotpala (blue lotus) or hangs loosely at her side. In the three-armed representation, the left hand holds a flower, a mirror or a parrot. In the case of two-armed icons, the left hand rests on Nandi's head, hangs loose or holds either a flower, a mirror or a parrot. The parrot may be also perched on Parvati's wrist. Her hand(s) is/are adorned with ornaments like a keyura (anklet) or kankana (bangles).

Parvati has a well-developed, round bosom and a narrow feminine waist embellished with various haras (religious bracelets) and other ornaments, made of diamonds and other gems. She has a fuller thigh and a curvier body and hip than the male part of the icon. The torso, hip and pelvis of the female is exaggerated to emphasize the anatomical differences between the halves. Though the male private parts may be depicted, the female genitalia are never depicted and the loins are always draped. She wears a multi-coloured or white silken garment down to her ankle and one or three girdles around her waist. The left half wears an anklet and her foot is painted red with henna. The left leg may be somewhat bent or straight, resting on a lotus pedestal. In contrast to the Shiva half, the Parvati half – smeared with saffron – is described as calm and gentle, fair and parrot-green or dark in colour. She may be draped in a sari covering her torso and legs.

Postures and vahana

The posture of Ardhanarishvara may be tribhanga – bent in three parts: head (leaning to the left), torso (to the right) and right leg or in the sthanamudra position (straight), sometimes standing on a lotus pedestal, whereupon it is called samapada. Seated images of Ardhanarishvara are missing in iconographic treatises, but are still found in sculpture and painting. Though the canons often depict the Nandi bull as the common vahana (mount) of Ardhanarishvara, some depictions have Shiva's bull vahana seated or standing near or behind his foot, while the goddess's lion vahana is near her foot.

Eight-armed form

The Parashurameshvara Temple at Bhubaneswar has a dancing eight-armed Ardhanarishvara. The upper male arms hold a lute and akshamala (rosary), while the upper female ones hold a mirror and a book; the others are broken. Another non-conventional Ardhanarishvara is found at Darasuram. The sculpture is three-headed and eight-armed, holding akshamala, khadga (sword), pasha, musala, kapala (skull cup), lotus and other objects.

Other textual descriptions

The Naradiya Purana mentions that Ardhanarishvara is half-black and half-yellow, nude on one side and clothed on other, wearing skulls and a garland of lotuses on the male half and female half respectively. The Linga Purana gives a brief description of Ardhanarishvara as making varada and abhaya mudras and holding a trishula and a lotus. The Vishnudharmottara Purana prescribes a four-armed form, with right hands holding a rosary and trishula, while the left ones bear a mirror and a lotus. The form is called Gaurishvara in this text.

Legends

The mythology of Ardhanarishvara – which mainly originates in the Puranic canons – was developed later to explain existent images of the deity that had emerged in the Kushan era.

The unnamed half-female form of Shiva is also alluded to in the epic Mahabharata. In Book XIII, Upamanyu praises Shiva rhetorically asking if there is anyone else whose half-body is shared by his spouse, and adds that the universe had risen from the union of sexes, as represented by Shiva's half-female form. In some narratives, Shiva is described as dark and fair-complexioned, half yellow and half white, half woman and half man, and both woman and man. In Book XIII, Shiva preaches to Parvati that half of his body is made up of her body.

In the Skanda Purana, Parvati requests Shiva to allow her to reside with him, embracing "limb-to-limb", and so Ardhanarishvara is formed. It also tells that when the demon Andhaka wanted to seize Parvati and make her his wife, Vishnu rescued her and brought her to his abode. When the demon followed her there, Parvati revealed her Ardhanarishvara form to him. Seeing the half-male, half-female form, the demon lost interest in her and left. Vishnu was amazed to see this form and saw himself in the female part of the form.

The Shiva Purana describes that the creator god Brahma created all male beings, the Prajapatis, and told them to regenerate, which they were unable to do. Confronted with the resulting decline in the pace of creation, Brahma was perplexed and contemplated on Shiva for help. To enlighten Brahma of his folly, Shiva appeared before him as Ardhanarishvara. Brahma prayed to the female half of Shiva to give him a female to continue creation. The goddess agreed and created various female powers from her body, thereby allowing creation to progress. In other Puranas like the Linga Purana, Vayu Purana, Vishnu Purana, Skanda Purana, Kurma Purana, and Markandeya Purana, Rudra (identified with Shiva) appears as Ardhanarishvara, emerging from Brahma's head, forehead, mouth or soul as the embodiment of Brahma's fury and frustration due to the slow pace of creation. Brahma asks Rudra to divide himself, and the latter complies by dividing into male and female. Numerous beings, including the 11 Rudras and various female shaktis, are created from both the halves. In some versions, the goddess unites with Shiva again and promises to be born as Sati on earth to be Shiva's wife. In the Linga Purana, the Ardhanarishvara Rudra is so hot that in the process of appearing from Brahma's forehead, he burns Brahma himself. Ardhanarishvara Shiva then enjoys his own half – the Great Goddess – by "the path of yoga" and creates Brahma and Vishnu from her body. In the repetitive cycle of aeons, Ardhanarishvara is ordained to reappear at the beginning of every creation as in the past.

The Matsya Purana describes how Brahma, pleased with a penance performed by Parvati, rewards her by blessing her with a golden complexion. This renders her more attractive to Shiva, to whom she later merges as one half of his body.

Tamil temple lore narrates that once the gods and sages (rishi) had gathered at Shiva's abode, they prayed their respects to Shiva and Parvati. However, the sage Bhringi had vowed to worship only one deity, Shiva, and ignored Parvati while worshipping and circumambulating him. Agitated, Parvati cursed Bhringi to lose all his flesh and blood, reducing him to a skeleton. In this form Bhringi could not stand erect, so the compassionate ones who witnessed the scene blessed the sage with a third leg for support. As her attempt to humiliate the sage had failed, Parvati punished herself with austerities that pleased Shiva and led him to grant her the boon of uniting with him, thereby compelling Bhringi to worship her as well as himself in the form of Ardhanarishvara.  However, the sage assumed the form of a beetle and circumambulating only the male half, drilling a hole in the deity. Amazed by his devotion, Parvati reconciled with the sage and blessed him. The seventh-century Shaiva Nayanar saint Appar mentions that after marrying Parvati, Shiva incorporated her into half of his body.

In the Kalika Purana, Parvati (called Gauri here) is described as having suspected Shiva of infidelity when she saw her own reflection in the crystal-like breast of Shiva. A conjugal dispute erupted but was quickly resolved, after which Parvati wished to stay eternally with Shiva in his body. The divine couple was thereafter fused as Ardhanarishvara. Another tale from North India also talks about Parvati's jealousy. Another woman, the river Ganga – often depicted flowing out of Shiva's locks – sat on his head, while Parvati (as Gauri) sat on his lap. To pacify Gauri, Shiva united with her as Ardhanarishvara.

Only in tales associated with the cult of Shakta (in which the Goddess is considered the Supreme Being) is the Goddess venerated as the Maker of All. In these tales, it is her body (not Shiva's) which splits into male and female halves.

Symbolism

Ardhanarishvara symbolizes that the male and female principles are inseparable. The composite form conveys the unity of opposites (coniunctio oppositorum) in the universe. The male half of Ardhanarishvara stands for Purusha and female half is Prakriti. Purusha is the male principle and passive force of the universe, while Prakriti is the female active force; both are "constantly drawn to embrace and fuse with each other, though... separated by the intervening axis". The union of Purusha (Shiva) and Prikriti (Shiva's energy, Shakti) generates the universe, an idea also manifested in the union of the Linga of Shiva and Yoni of Devi creating the cosmos. The Mahabharata lauds this form as the source of creation. Ardhanarishvara also suggests the element of Kama or Lust, which leads to creation.

Ardhanarishvara signifies "totality that lies beyond duality", "bi-unity of male and female in God" and "the bisexuality and therefore the non-duality" of the Supreme Being. It conveys that God is both Shiva and Parvati, "both male and female, both father and mother, both aloof and active, both fearsome and gentle, both destructive and constructive" and unifies all other dichotomies of the universe. While Shiva's rosary in the Ardhanarishvara iconography associates him with asceticism and spirituality, Parvati's mirror associates her to the material illusory world. Ardhanarishvara reconciles and harmonizes the two conflicting ways of life: the spiritual way of the ascetic as represented by Shiva, and the materialistic way of the householder as symbolized by Parvati, who invites the ascetic Shiva into marriage and the wider circle of worldly affairs. The interdependence of Shiva on his power (Shakti) as embodied in Parvati is also manifested in this form. Ardhanarishvara conveys that Shiva and Shakti are one and the same, an interpretation also declared in inscriptions found along with Ardhanarishvara images in Java and the eastern Malay Archipelago. The Vishnudharmottara Purana also emphasizes the identity and sameness of the male Purusha and female Prakriti, manifested in the image of Ardhanarishvara. According to Shaiva guru Sivaya Subramuniyaswami (1927–2001), Ardhanarishvara signifies that the great Shiva is "All, inseparable from His energy" (i.e. his Shakti) and is beyond gender.

Across cultures, hermaphrodite figures like Ardhanarishvara have traditionally been associated with fertility and abundant growth. In this form, Shiva in his eternal embrace with Prakriti represents the eternal reproductive power of Nature, whom he regenerates after she loses her fertility. "It is a duality in unity, the underlying principle being a sexual dualism". Art historian Sivaramamurti calls it "a unique connection of the closely knit ideal of man and woman rising above the craving of the flesh and serving as a symbol of hospitality and parenthood". The dual unity of Ardhanarishvara is  considered "a model of conjugal inseparability". Padma Upadhyaya comments, "The idea of ... Ardhanārīśvara is to locate the man in the woman as also the woman in the man and to create perfect homogeneity in domestic affairs".

Often, the right half of Ardhanarishvara is male and the left is female. The left side is the location of the heart and is associated with 'feminine' characteristics like intuition and creativity, while the right is associated with the brain and 'masculine' traits – logic, valour and systematic thought. The female is often not equal in the Ardhanarishvara, the male god who is half female; she remains a dependent entity. Ardhanarishvara "is in essence Shiva, not Parvati". This is also reflected in mythology, where Parvati becomes a part of Shiva. It is likewise reflected in iconography: Shiva often has two supernatural arms and Parvati has just one earthly arm, and his bull vahana – not her lion vahana – typically accompanies them.

Worship

Ardhanarishvara is one of the most popular iconographic forms of Shiva. It is found in more or less all temples and shrines dedicated to Shiva all over India and South-east Asia. There is ample evidence from texts and the multiple depictions of the Ardhanarishvara in stone to suggest that a cult centred around the deity may have existed. The cult may have had occasional followers, but was never aligned to any sect. This cult focusing on the joint worship of Shiva and the Goddess may even have had a high position in Hinduism, but when and how it faded away remains a mystery. Though a popular iconographic form, temples dedicated to the deity are few. A popular one is located in Thiruchengode, while five others are located in Kallakkurichi taluk, all of them in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu.

The Linga Purana advocates the worship of Ardhanarishvara by devotees to attain union with Shiva upon dissolution of the world and thus attain salvation. The Ardhanarinateshvara Stotra composed by Adi Shankaracharya is a popular hymn dedicated to the deity. The Nayanar saints of Tamil Nadu exault the deity in hymns. While the 8th-century Nayanar saint Sundarar says that Shiva is always inseparable from the Mother Goddess, another 7th-century Nayanar saint Sambandar describes how the "eternal feminine" is not only his consort, but she is also part of him. The renowned Sanskrit writer Kalidasa (c. 4th–5th century) alludes Ardhanarishvara in invocations of his Raghuvamsa and Malavikagnimitram, and says that Shiva and Shakti are as inseparable as word and meaning. The 9th-century Nayanar saint Manikkavacakar casts Parvati in the role of the supreme devotee of Shiva in his hymns. He alludes to Ardhanarishvara several times and regards it the ultimate goal of a devotee to be united with Shiva as Parvati is in the Ardhanarishvara form.

See also
 Shatkona, a six-pointed star, with a meaning similar (if not the same) as Ardhanarishvara.
 Harihara: composite form of the gods Shiva and Vishnu
 Jumadi: a regional composite form of Shiva and Parvati
 Vaikuntha Kamalaja: composite form of Vishnu and Lakshmi
 Intersex people are individuals born with any of several sex characteristics do not fit typical binary notions of male or female bodies.

Notes

References

External links

 Ardhanari

Hindu deities
Forms of Shiva
Forms of Parvati
Androgynous and hermaphroditic deities
Intersex in religion and mythology

Ardhanarishvara


Souad Adel Faress (born 25 March 1948) is a stage, radio, television and film actress based in United Kingdom. She is best known for her portrayal of the solicitor Usha Gupta, in the long-running BBC Radio 4 serial The Archers and for her role as the High Priestess of the Dosh Khaleen in the sixth season of the HBO series Game of Thrones. Born in Ghana, she also holds Syrian and Irish citizenships.

Biography
Faress was born in 1948 in Accra, Ghana, to Irish and Syrian parents. She grew up in Southport, Lancashire, studied drama at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama and lives in London. She has been exploring playwriting as a medium since before 2004. Faress completed a writing course at City Literary Institute adult education college. Her other skills include dancing, horse riding, cricket and yoga.

Career
Faress appeared in two episodes of the BBC serial I, Claudius (1976) as a slave girl (shouting fire) and as a dancer who at Messalina's (second and bigamous) marriage party realises troops are coming to arrest them. In another early BBC appearance, she played the character Selma in the Blake's 7 episode 'Horizon'. Since then, Faress has had substantial roles in films such as My Beautiful Laundrette (1985) and Sixth Happiness (1997), as well as much stage work around the UK.

In October 2001 she appeared briefly in Coronation Street as Dev Alahan's mother Umila.

Souad Faress also appeared as the Old Rani in The Sarah Jane Adventures serial The Mad Woman in the Attic in October 2009.

In October 2014, it was announced that Faress would perform in Hurried Steps, Sharon Wood's translation of "Passi Affrettati by Dacia Maraini. The play's narratives were mainly sourced from Amnesty International, the subject matter including rape, honour killings, sex trafficking and other issues of violence against women.

Between 2010 and 2011 she played Jay Faldren's grandmother, Maryam Shakiba, in Casualty.

Faress appeared in an episode of popular nursing drama No Angels as lead character, Anji Mittel's aunt Di. Faress appeared briefly as a hospital doctor in "The Dead of Jericho", the first episode of Inspector Morse.

In 2016 she joined the HBO series Game of Thrones in Season 6 as the High Priestess of the Dosh Khaleen. Faress also appeared in ITV drama Brief Encounters, "a loose adaptation of Ann Summers CEO Jacqueline Gold's memoirs, Good Vibrations".

In 2018, Faress appeared in Clare Holman's short film Only the Lonely.

In 2019, Faress appeared as a recurring character in Daisy Haggard and Laura Solon's sitcom Back to Life and as the mother of Eli Cohen in the OCS/Netflix miniseries The Spy.

See also
 List of Ghanaian actors and actresses

References

External links

1948 births
Living people
Alumni of the Guildhall School of Music and Drama
The Archers
BBC people
British film actresses
British radio actresses
British stage actresses
British television actresses
English people of Irish descent
English people of Syrian descent
Ghanaian emigrants to England
Ghanaian film actresses
Ghanaian people of Irish descent
Ghanaian people of Syrian descent
People from Accra
People from Southport
Actresses from Merseyside

Souad Faress


The Elmina Java Museum is a museum in Elmina, Ghana, dedicated to the history of the so-called Belanda Hitam; soldiers recruited in the 19th century in the Dutch Gold Coast to serve in the Royal Netherlands East Indies Army. The museum is funded by the Edward A. Ulzen Memorial Foundation.

History

Since Arthur Japin published his The Two Hearts of Kwasi Boachi (1997), the history of the Belanda Hitam has attracted renewed attention. Ineke van Kessel, professor at the Centre for African Studies of Leiden University had met the late Edward Ulzen during her research of the history of the Belanda Hitam. This meeting brought her into contact with his son Prof. Thaddeus Patrick Manus Ulzen, who attended the tenth biennial reunion of Belanda Hitam descendants in Schiedam in the Netherlands in September 2000, and announced on that occasion the decision of his family to provide a permanent site for a museum to preserve the history of the Belanda Hitam. In 2003, the Elmina Java Museum was opened to honour the history of the Belanda Hitam at large, and the Ulzen family in particular.His 2013 book "Java Hill: An African Journey" details 10 generations of the Ulzen family history from Brielle, Netherlands to present day Elmina and the story of the founding of the museum, which is the first private museum in Ghana.

The Ulzen family
The Ulzen family traced its origins to Jan Ulsen, a Dutchman from Brielle, who came to the Dutch Gold Coast in 1732 as an employee of the Dutch West India Company. A year later, Jan Ulsen died, leaving his son Roelof Ulsen, whom he had taken with him from the Netherlands, an orphan. Roelof Ulsen is then raised on the Gold Coast by personnel of the Dutch West India Company, and makes a career in local government, eventually serving as acting governor of the Gold Coast between 1755 and 1758.

In 1765, Roelof Ulsen sailed to the Netherland after 29 years of service, together with his Euro-African son Hermanus. In a rather sad recurrence of history, Roelof died on ship during his voyage to the Netherlands, leaving his son an orphan as well. After graduating in the Netherlands, Hermanus sails back to the Gold Coast in 1779, and it his grandson Manus Ulzen who was recruited for the Dutch East Indies Army.

Notes

References

Museums in Ghana
Elmina
2003 establishments in Ghana
Museums established in 2003

Elmina Java Museum


Charles Schreiber (10 May 1826 – 31 March 1884) was an English academic, fine arts collector and Conservative Party politician who sat in the House of Commons between 1865 and 1884.

Early life
Schreiber was born at Colchester, the eldest son of Lieutenant-Colonel James Alfred Schreiber of Melton, Suffolk and his wife Mary Ware, daughter of Thomas Ware, of Woodfort, County Cork. He was educated at Cheltenham College and was a scholar at Trinity College, Cambridge.

Career
In 1848, he won the Browne medal at Trinity College and the Chancellor's Classical medal in 1850. In 1852, Schreiber became a Fellow of Trinity, where he was tutor to Ivor Guest.

In the 1865 general election, Schreiber was elected Member of Parliament (MP) for Cheltenham, but stood down in 1868. In the 1880 general election, he was elected MP Poole and held the seat until his death in 1884.

Personal life
In 1855, he married Lady Charlotte Guest (1812–1895), his former pupil's mother. Lady Charlotte was the daughter of Albemarle Bertie, 9th Earl of Lindsey and widow of John Josiah Guest, 1st Baronet, the owner of Dowlais Ironworks in Wales, and a major figure in the history of Welsh literature. She was famous for her collections of china, fans and playing-cards.

Schreiber and his wife lived at Langham House, Portland Place, London. They spent many years travelling in Europe collecting ceramics and other items. Schreiber died at Lisbon at the age of 57.

Legacy
The collection of English ceramic art bearing his name was presented to the Victoria and Albert Museum.

References

Further reading

External links

1826 births
1884 deaths
People educated at Cheltenham College
Alumni of Trinity College, Cambridge
Fellows of Trinity College, Cambridge
Conservative Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies
UK MPs 1865–1868
UK MPs 1880–1885
Politics of Cheltenham

Charles Schreiber


Events
 Benz builds the first single-cylinder engine for car.
 John K Starley creates the first genuine bicycle, the Rover.
 John Boyd Dunlop invents the pneumatic tire.
 W.S. Gilbert & Arthur Sullivan's The Mikado
 The Times reports that "A lady well known in literary and scientific circles" has been cremated by the Cremation Society in Woking, Surrey. She is the first person to be officially cremated in the United Kingdom.
 Cholera epidemic in Spain – one of the victims is the king Alfonso XII.
 Third Burmese War begins.
 Clint Eastwood defeats Mad Dog Tannen.
 Sitting Bull joins Buffalo Bill.
 Randolph Churchill becomes a viceroy of India.
 Nikola Tesla sells a number of his patents to George Westinghouse.
 William Stanley, Jr. builds the first practical alternating current transformer device, the induction coil.
 Local anesthetic.
 First skyscraper – Home Insurance Building in Chicago, Illinois, USA (10 floors) is built.
 Bicycle Playing Cards are first produced.
 Grover Cleveland replaces Chester A. Arthur as President of the United States

Births
 January 8 – John Curtin, Australia's 14th Prime Minister
 September 17 – George Cleveland, Canadian actor

Deaths
 March 31 – Charlotte Brontë, British writer

1885


Jim Davis (born Marlin Davis; August 26, 1909 – April 26, 1981) was an American actor, best known for his roles in television Westerns. In his later career, he became famous as Jock Ewing in the CBS primetime soap opera Dallas, a role he continued until he was too ill from multiple myeloma to perform.

Life and career
Born in Edgerton in Platte County in northwestern Missouri, Davis attended high school in Dearborn, and the Baptist-affiliated William Jewell College in Liberty. At WJC, he played tight end on the football team and graduated with a degree in political science. He served in the United States Coast Guard during World War II.

He was known as Jim Davis by the time of his first major screen role, which was opposite Bette Davis in the 1948 melodrama Winter Meeting,. His subsequent film career consisted of mostly B movies, many of them Westerns, although he made an impression as a U.S. Senator in the Warren Beatty conspiracy thriller The Parallax View.

Davis appeared 13 times on Death Valley Days. In 1954–1955, Davis starred and narrated Stories of the Century. He portrayed Matt Clark, a detective for the Southwest Railroad. In 1957 he played an outlaw with scruples in the 16th episode of Tales of Wells Fargo, entitled "Two Cartridges", with Dale Robertson.

From 1958-1960, Davis starred as Wes Cameron opposite Lang Jeffries in the role of Skip Johnson in the syndicated adventure series Rescue 8. About this time, he guest-starred on the syndicated crime drama, U.S. Marshal, starring John Bromfield.

Davis made two guest appearances on Perry Mason, as George Tabor in the season-six episode of "The Case of the Fickle Filly", and as murder victim Joe Farrell in the 1964, season-eight episode of "The Case of a Place Called Midnight". He also appeared on the Jack Lord adventure series, Stoney Burke. In 1964, Davis played Wyatt Earp in the episode "After the OK Corral" on Death Valley Days; William Tannen played the part of rancher and gunfighter Ike Clanton in the same episode.

Davis appeared 11 times on Gunsmoke and four times each on Daniel Boone, Wagon Train, and Laramie. In the next-to-the-last Laramie episode, entitled "Trapped" (May 14, 1963), he guest-starred with Tommy Sands, Claude Akins, and Mona Freeman. In the story line, Slim Sherman (John Smith) finds an injured female kidnap victim in the woods (Freeman). Dennis Holmes, as series-regular Mike Williams, rides away to seek help, but the kidnappers reclaim the hostage. Slim pursues the kidnappers, but is mistaken as a third kidnapper by the girl's father (Barton MacLane). Sands plays the girl's boyfriend, who had been ordered by her father to stop seeing her. Davis also appeared in an episode of The High Chaparral and in small roles in the 1971 John Wayne vehicles Rio Lobo (1970) and  Big Jake (1971).

In 1974, he starred as Marshal Bill Winter in a short-lived ABC Western series The Cowboys, based on a 1972 film of the same name starring John Wayne.

Dallas and last years
After years of relatively low-profile roles, Davis was cast as family patriarch Jock Ewing on Dallas, which debuted in 1978.

During the recording of season four, he was diagnosed with multiple myeloma, but continued to film the show as long as he could. In many scenes as the season progressed, he was shown seated, and his voice became softer and more obviously affected by his illness. He also wore a wig during the season's latter episodes to conceal his hair loss from chemotherapy.

A season-four storyline regarding the Takapa development and Jock's separation from Miss Ellie was ended abruptly near the end of the season. The writers depicted the couple suddenly leaving to go on an extended second honeymoon in Europe when  Davis obviously could no longer continue to work. Their departure in a limousine in the episode "New Beginnings" was Davis' only scene in that episode, and his condition was so poor that close watching reveals (based on his unsynchronized lip movement) that he overdubbed his one last line of dialogue. It was his final appearance on the show; he was absent from the final two episodes of season four.

He died of complications from his illness while season four was being aired.

The decision had already been made prior to Davis' death not to recast the character with another actor. Furthermore, after he died the producers strongly considered leaving his name and photos in the opening credits for the duration of the series.

The Jock Ewing character remained alive off-screen after Davis' death for the last two episodes of season four and the first 12 episodes of season five.

The season-five storyline was that Jock and Ellie stopped briefly in Washington, D.C., on their way home to Dallas from their second honeymoon so that Jock could take care of some Ewing Oil-related legislative business. While they were there, the State Department asked Jock to go to South America to drill for oil, and Jock relished the opportunity to relive his wildcatting days, when he first made his fortune in Texas during the Depression. Ellie returned to Dallas, and she and other characters were occasionally shown speaking to him on the telephone when he would call from South America to check on the family.

The fifth-season episode "The Search", which confirmed the character's death in a helicopter crash on his way home to Dallas from South America, was broadcast on January 8, 1982, and contained flashback scenes of the character.

A portrait of Davis in his role as Jock Ewing often appeared as a memorial on Dallas after his death.

Personal life

In 1949, after two short failed marriages, he met Blanche Hammerer at the club "Mocambo" on the Sunset Strip. They later married and remained together for more than 30 years, until Davis's death in 1981.

Their only child, daughter Tara Diane Davis, was killed in an automobile accident at the age of 17. Davis later became close to his Dallas co-star Victoria Principal, who had a physical resemblance to his late daughter.

Death
Davis died at his home in Northridge, California, on April 26, 1981, aged 71. He is interred at Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery in Glendale, California.

Recognition
In February 1960, having already appeared as a guest star on 50 episodes across 20 different television series and having been the series lead of both Stories of the Century and Rescue 8, Davis received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, at 6290 Hollywood Boulevard, Hollywood, California.

Filmography

References

External links

 Jim Davis Memorial Page

1909 births
1981 deaths
Male actors from Missouri
American male film actors
American male soap opera actors
American male television actors
Deaths from brain cancer in the United States
Deaths from multiple myeloma
People from Platte County, Missouri
Male actors from Greater Los Angeles
Burials at Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Glendale)
20th-century American male actors
Western (genre) television actors
United States Coast Guard personnel of World War II

Jim Davis (actor)


True north refers to the direction of the North Pole relative to the navigator's position.

True north or True North may also refer to:

Places
 True North, a mine in the Fairbanks mining district
 "True North", a poetic name for Canada, first used by Alfred Lord Tennyson and popularized by the national anthem "O Canada"

Arts, entertainment, and media

Literature
 True North (George book), a business book by Bill George
 True North (novel), by Kathryn Lasky, a young adult novel set in the 1850s against a background of slavery
 True North, a 2004 novel by Jim Harrison, set in Michigan's Upper Peninsula, a family is torn apart by a reckless father
 True North, a memoir by Jill Ker Conway
 True North, a non-fiction book about Canada's territories by William R. Morrison
 True North, a comics anthology edited by Derek McCulloch

Music
 True North (A-ha album and film), 2022
 True North (Bad Religion album), 2013
 True North (Borknagar album), 2019
 True North (Crystal Lake album), 2016
 True North, a 2000 album by Fisher
 True North, a 2008 album by Gustav Bertha
 True North (Michael Chapman album), 2019
 True North Records, Canada's oldest independent record company
 True North: Symphonic Ballet, 2017 ballet to celebrate Canada's 150th anniversary
 True North (Twila Paris album), 1999
 "True North", a 2019 song by Rend Collective from their album Sparkle. Pop. Rampage.
 "True North", a 2020 song by Knuckle Puck from their album 20/20
 "Truenorth", a 2008 song by No-Man from their album Schoolyard Ghosts
 "Truenorth", a 2014 song by In Hearts Wake from their album Earthwalker

Production companies
 Truenorth (production company), an Icelandic film and television production company
 True North Productions, a British television production company based in Leeds

Television
 "True North" (Law & Order), an episode of Law & Order
 "True North" (Once Upon a Time), an episode of Once Upon a Time
 The True North, a 1967 Canadian documentary television series
 Les Pays d'en haut, a 2016-21 Canadian drama television series released as True North in some markets

Other uses in arts, entertainment, and media
 True North (2006 film), a Scottish film
 True North, a radio show on CKLU-FM Sudbury
True North (2020 film), a Japanese-Indonesian animated film based on accounts of North Korean prison camps

Website/news

 True North right-wing news site operated by True North Centre for Public Policy

Brands and enterprises
 True North Sports & Entertainment, a Canadian company that owns the Winnipeg Jets of the National Hockey League
 True North Centre for Public Policy, a conservative Canadian media outlet
 True North Specialty Products, a Canadian company that sells forestry management and vegetation control chemicals
 TrueNorth, a neuromorphic computer chip
 True North, a brand of nuts made by B&G Foods

Ships
 True North, a Canadian yacht in the 1987 America's Cup
 True North Centre, the former name of the MTS Centre in Winnipeg, Manitoba

Thoroughbreds
 True North I (foaled 1940), American Thoroughbred racehorse
 True North III (foaled 1966), American Thoroughbred racehorse
 True North Stakes, a Thoroughbred horse race

True north (disambiguation)


Server-side request forgery (SSRF) is a type of computer security exploit where an attacker abuses the functionality of a server causing it to access or manipulate information in the realm of that server that would otherwise not be directly accessible to the attacker.

Similar to cross-site request forgery which utilises a web client, for example, a web browser, within the domain as a proxy for attacks; an SSRF attack utilizes a vulnerable server within the domain as a proxy.

If a parameter of a URL is vulnerable to this attack, it is possible an attacker can devise ways to interact with the server directly (via localhost) or with the backend servers that are not accessible by the external users. An attacker can practically scan the entire network and retrieve sensitive information.

Types

Basic
In this type of attack the response is displayed to the attacker. The server fetches the URL requested by the attacker and sends the response back to the attacker.

Blind
In this type of attack the response is not sent back to the attacker. Therefore, the attacker has to devise ways to confirm this vulnerability.

Steps

 Exploiting Misconfigurations: An attacker identifies a vulnerable endpoint in a web application. This could be, for example, an endpoint that fetches external resources like images or web pages.
 Crafting the Payload: The attacker crafts a malicious URL targeting internal resources. This could target localhost (127.0.0.1), or other IPs indicative of internal resources, like 10.*.*.* or 192.168.*.*.
 Bypassing Filters: If there are any filters in place, the attacker might try various techniques to bypass them. For instance, by using an IP address instead of "localhost", or by employing different URL schemes and encodings.
 Fetching Internal Resources: The vulnerable server processes the malicious URL and makes a request to the targeted internal resource. This could expose internal services, databases, or even cloud-specific metadata, as in the case of the IMDS vulnerability on cloud platforms for example.
 Exfiltrating Data: Depending on the nature of the SSRF and the responses, the attacker might be able to capture or infer data about the internal network or services.

Examples
Imagine you have a web application that fetches images from URLs and displays them. A user can enter a URL, and the server will download and display the image.

Expected Use:

User inputs: http://somesite.com/image.jpg Server fetches and displays: image.jpg

SSRF Attack:

Attacker inputs: http://localhost/admin If not protected correctly, the server might try to fetch content from its own local admin panel, thus revealing potentially sensitive data.

Mitigations

 Whitelisting: Only allow URLs/hosts that you know are safe.
 Block Private IPs: Ensure the application logic blocks requests to private IP address spaces.
 Minimal Permissions: Run services with minimal permissions to eliminate the SSRF vulnerability or so that, even if there's an SSRF vulnerability, the damage can be contained.
 Up-to-date Libraries: Ensure all libraries/frameworks are updated regularly. Some older libraries have known SSRF vulnerabilities.
 Timeouts: Implement reasonable timeouts to prevent attackers from access sensitive resources, especially if those sensitive resources are associated with slower response times (e.g. from 1 query on 1 large chunk of sensitive data).

References

Computer security exploits

Server-side request forgery