Constant, or Kostan Zarian (; February 2, 1885 – December 11, 1969) was an Armenian writer who produced short lyric poems, long narrative poems of an epic cast, manifestos, essays, travel impressions, criticism, and fiction. The genre in which he excelled, however, was the diary form with long autobiographical divagations, reminiscences and impressions of people and places, interspersed with literary, philosophical and historical meditations and polemics.

Early years

Kostandin Yeghiazarian was born in 1885 in Shamakhi (modern-day Azerbaijan). Through his mother, he was first cousins with the author Alexander Shirvanzade and the actor Hovhannes Abelian. His father, Christopher Yeghiazarov, was a prosperous general in the Russian Army, "a strong man, profoundly Christian and Armenian," who spent most of his life fighting in the mountains of the Caucasus. He died when Zarian was four years old, which prompted his family to move to Baku. He was then separated from his mother and placed with a Russian family, who enrolled him in a Russian gymnasium.

After attending the Russian Gymnasium of Baku, in 1895, when he was ten, he was sent to the College of Saint Germain in Asnières, near Paris. He continued his studies in Belgium, and, after obtaining a doctorate in literature and philosophy from the Free University (Université libre) of Brussels, he spent about a year writing and publishing verse in both French and Russian, delivering lectures on Russian literature and drama, and living a more or less bohemian life among writers and artists. Zarian became involved in the Russian Social Democratic Party, where he became personally acquainted with Vladimir Lenin. After 1909, he was a political exile in Europe, as the tsarist government had reportedly banned his return to the Caucasus because of his revolutionary activities, for which he spent a year and a half in a German jail (1907–08). He published a few poems in Russian in the revolutionary magazine Raduga and contributed to Belgian publications with prose, poems and critical essays in French. Speaking of this period in his life, Zarian wrote: "We used to have cheap food with Lenin in a small restaurant in Geneva, and today, a syphilitic boozer with his feet on a chair and hand on revolver is telling me: 'You counter-revolutionary fanatic nationalist Armenian intellectuals are in no position to understand Lenin.'" In addition to Lenin, Zarian also met and befriended such poets, artists, and political thinkers as Guillaume Apollinaire, Pablo Picasso, Georgi Plekhanov, Giuseppe Ungaretti, Louis-Ferdinand Céline, Paul Éluard, Fernand Léger, as well as the Belgian poet and literary critic Emile Verhaeren. It was Verhaeren who advised him to study his own mother tongue and write in the language of his ancestors if he wanted to reveal his true self. Heeding his advice, Zarian studied Classical Armenian and Modern Armenian with the Mekhitarists on the island of San Lazzaro degli Armeni in Venice (1910–1912), where he also published Three Songs (1915), a book of poems in Italian (originally written in Armenian), one of which, titled La Primavera (Spring), was set to music by Ottorino Respighi and first performed in 1923.

Zarian then moved to Constantinople, which was then the most important cultural center of the Armenian diaspora, though he often travelled between Venice and Constantinople. During such a trip, when leaving Constantinople on the ship S.S. Montenegro in 1912, he met his future wife Takuhi (Rachel) Shahnazarian and married her in Venice on December 4, 1912 before returning to Constantinople with her two months later.  In 1914, together with Daniel Varoujan, Hagop Oshagan, Kegham Parseghian, and , he founded the literary periodical Mehian, which means pagan temple in Armenian. This constellation of young firebrands became known as the Mehian writers, and like their contemporaries in Europe—the French surrealists, Italian futurists, and German expressionists—they defied the establishment, fighting against ossified traditions and preparing the way for the new. "In distant cities people argued and fought around our ideas," wrote Zarian, "ignorant school principals had banned our periodical. Well-known scholars looked upon us with suspicion. They hated us but did not dare to say anything openly. We were close to victory..."  The tone of the publications in Mehian was politically, aesthetically and religiously radical, with a strong influence from German philology—with Zarian specifically advocating an anti-Semitic idea that was present in many of his later works of fiction: that Armenians were an Aryan people who needed to overcome the Semite within themselves.

A year later, the Young Turk government decided to exterminate the entire Armenian population of Turkey. The Armenian genocide that followed claimed 1–1.5 million victims, among them 200 of the most prominent Armenian poets and authors, including two of the Mehian writers, Varoujan and Parseghian. Zarian was able to escape to Bulgaria before the closing of the borders in November 1914, and then to Italy, establishing himself in Rome and later in Florence.

In 1919, as a special correspondent to an Italian newspaper, he was sent to the Middle East and Armenia. He returned to Constantinople in late 1921 and there, together with Vahan Tekeyan, Hagop Oshagan, Schahan Berberian, and Kegham Kavafian, he founded another literary periodical, Partsravank (Monastery-on-a-Hill), in 1922. He also published a second book of poems, The Crown of Days (Istanbul, 1922).

Later years
Following the establishment of Soviet rule in Armenia, Zarian moved there and taught comparative literature at the Yerevan State University from 1922 to 1924. Thoroughly disappointed with the Soviet state, in 1924 he again went abroad where he conducted a nomadic existence, living in Paris (where he founded the short-lived French-language periodical La tour de Babel), Rome, Florence, the Greek island of Corfu, the Italian island of Ischia, and New York City. On August 31, 1934 he married his second wife, the American artist Frances Brooks. In New York he taught the history of Armenian culture at Columbia University and edited the English-language periodical The Armenian Quarterly (1946) which lasted only two issues, but was the first Armenian studies journal in the United States and published the work of such scholars as Sirarpie Der Nersessian, Henri Grégoire, Giuliano Bonfante, and writers such as Marietta Shaginyan. From 1952–54 he taught history of art at the American University of Beirut (Lebanon). Following an interlude in Vienna and Rapallo, he taught at Berkeley.

Friendship with Lawrence Durrell

The British author Lawrence Durrell and Zarian were friends for many years, exchanging letters between 1937 and 1951 (only twenty-five written by Durrell still exist) in which Durrell addressed Zarian as "Dear Master" and "Chère Maître," and spending time together in Greece and Italy (1937–54), Corfu (1937), Ischia (1950) and Cyprus (1954). They shared a fascination with classical Greek culture and the felt need for an existential reconnection to it via Hellenic culture and geography, self-realization through physical health and spiritual integration.  In 1952, Durrell wrote an essay entitled Constant Zarian: Triple Exile in the magazine The Poetry Review in which he wrote that:

It was no conscious choice that made Zarian a classical man—it was the development of a natural style of mind, founded in bitter experience and in a tenacious belief that if man was to be saved from destruction he stood in need of major artists of a new type—responsible men.  His own task was no longer to reject, to criticize, to whine—but in the deepest sense of the word, to submerge in the swift currents of history and to give their impulse direction and form.  "To endure and contribute"—that was the new motto: and he had never deviated by a hairsbreadth from it in his attitude to his work and his people. He was now a triple exile: exiled by both Czarist and Bolshevik; and doubly exiled from the current of European thought by his choice of language.

In a 1950 poem, Durrell describes Zarian in Ischia:

We came originally here to see
A character from Prospero called C.
(It stands for Constant) Zarian,
Then wild and roguish literary man
Who with his painter wife lives on this island,
A life romantic as one could in…Thailand.
Together we tasted every wine,
Most of the girls (I mean the Muses Nine)
And some small favours accident affords
To such poor chaps as we—as deal in words

You get here by super motor-launch
Crowded with chattering girls from Naples O
Such animation such colossal brio
It makes one feel much younger just to see,
At least so Zarian says. (He's sixty-three)
He scales a mountain like a wild chamois
Despite a certain—bulk—avoirdupois
And swears Per Baccho loud as any peasant:
Together we've enjoyed a very pleasant
Month of mad cookery and writing talk,
Such food, such wine—a wonder we can walk.

Final years

While teaching at UC Berkeley, Zarian was visited by the Catholicos of All Armenians Vazgen I, who asked him to return to Armenia after many years of exile. In 1963 Zarian once more returned to Soviet Armenia where he worked at the Charents Museum of Literature and Arts in Yerevan. He died in Yerevan on December 11, 1969, leaving behind three children from his first marriage, Vahe, Armen, and Nevart Zarian, and a son from his second marriage, Hovan Zarian.

Selected works
 Three Songs (1916)
 Crown of Days (1922)
 The Traveler and His Road (1926–28)
 West (1928–29)
 Cities (1930)
 The Bride of Tetrachoma (1930)
 Bancoop and the Bones of the Mammoth (1931–34)
 Countries and Gods (1935–38)
 The Ship on the Mountain (1943)
 The Island and a Man (1955)

References

 The Traveller & His Road, a partial English translation of Gosdan Zarian's work by Ara Baliozian, (Copyright Ara Baliozian 1981) (summarized by Shant Norashkharian)
 Armenian Constantinople, edited by Richard G. Hovannisian and Simon Payaslian (Copyright Mazda Publishers 2010)

External links
 Spania by Costan Zarian
 Excerpts from "The Ship on the Mountain"
 Poem "Paris"
 Poem "The Guest"
 Poem "My Song"
 Essay "Armenian Architecture"
 Excerpts from "Countries and Gods"

1885 births
1969 deaths
20th-century Armenian writers
People from Shamakhi
Armenian male writers
Russian expatriates in France
Russian expatriates in Belgium
Armenian writers in French
Writers from the Ottoman Empire in French
Writers from the Russian Empire in French
Russian-language writers
Russian exiles
Prisoners and detainees of Germany
San Lazzaro degli Armeni alumni
Exiles from the Ottoman Empire
Academic staff of Yerevan State University
Academic staff of the American University of Beirut
Columbia University faculty
University of California, Berkeley faculty
Soviet emigrants to the United States

Gostan Zarian


John Todd Stuart (November 10, 1807 – November 28, 1885) was a lawyer and a U.S. Representative from Illinois.

Born near Lexington, Kentucky, Stuart graduated from Centre College, Danville, Kentucky, in 1826. He then studied law,  was admitted to the bar in 1828, and commenced practice in Springfield, Illinois. He was a major in the Black Hawk War in 1832, where he first met Abraham Lincoln, who was in the same battalion as Stuart.

He served as member of the Illinois House of Representatives between 1832 and 1836. Stuart encouraged Lincoln to study law and the two subsequently became law partners, between 1837 and 1841. If not for Stuart's influence, it is conceivable that Lincoln might never have been interested in the law - and thus, might not ever have become president.

Stuart was an unsuccessful candidate for election in 1836 to the Twenty-fifth Congress.  He was, however, elected as a Whig to the Twenty-sixth and Twenty-seventh Congresses (March 4, 1839 - March 3, 1843), winning over Stephen A. Douglas in 1838. He was not a candidate for renomination in 1842.

Stuart established a law partnership with Benjamin S. Edwards in 1843, a partnership that would last for forty years.  Stuart served as member of the Illinois Senate between 1848 and 1852. He was the unsuccessful Constitutional Union candidate for Governor of Illinois in 1860.

Stuart was elected as a Democrat to the Thirty-eighth Congress (March 4, 1863 - March 3, 1865), and served there while Lincoln was president.  His vote on the Thirteenth Amendment is recorded as Nay.

Stuart was a favorite cousin of Mary Todd Lincoln and as a member of Congress after his election in 1862 over Republican Leonard Swett was a frequent visitor at the White House even though he was an anti-emancipation Democrat.

He was defeated in 1864 by Republican Shelby Moore Cullom, a Lincoln ally.

Following his defeat in 1864, Stuart resumed the practice of law in Springfield. He died there and was interred in the Oak Ridge Cemetery.

In the fall of 2007, Centre College (Stuart's alma mater) dedicated Stuart Hall, a building that once housed the College's bookstore but is now a residence hall, in honor of the influence Stuart had over Lincoln's career path as well as Stuart's contribution to law.

The firm that he founded in Springfield Illinois, once known as "Stuart and Lincoln," is still operating under the name "Brown, Hay, & Stephens," and includes his great-great-grandson as a partner.

References

 Congressional Biography
Robert A. Stuart, Jr.. Leading Lawyers Network. Accessed March 4, 2009.
Paul M. Angle, "One Hundred Years of Law," Springfield, Illinois:  Brown, Hay and Stephens, 1928.

External links

1807 births
1885 deaths
Illinois state senators
Members of the Illinois House of Representatives
Politicians from Springfield, Illinois
Centre College alumni
Illinois lawyers
Illinois Whigs
Illinois Constitutional Unionists
American people of the Black Hawk War
Abraham Lincoln
United States Army officers
Whig Party members of the United States House of Representatives
Democratic Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Illinois
19th-century American politicians

John T. Stuart


Volta is a 2007 album by Icelandic rock singer Björk. She has claimed the album is about "returning to her roots". The style of the album is electronic pop. Five singles were released from it. The first single "Earth Intruders" was released April 2007. It was produced by Timbaland.

Songs
 "Earth Intruders"
 "Wanderlust"
 "The Dull Flame of Desire"
 "Innocence"
 "I See Who You Are"
 "Vertabrae by Vertabrae "
 "Pneumonia"
 "Hope"
 "Declare Independence"
 "My Juvenile"

2007 albums
Björk albums
Pop albums

Volta (album)


Yaakov Ben-Tor (; 1910–2002) was an Israeli geologist.

Biography
Ben-Tor was born as Kurt Winter in the Baltic city of Königsberg, East Prussia, Germany, (since 1945 Kaliningrad, now in Russia) in 1910.

Winter began studying law at the University of Königsberg, continuing in Berlin and then studied Linguistics at the University of the Sorbonne in Paris, prior to leaving Europe. With the rise of the Nazi Party in Germany, he emigrated to the then British Mandate of Palestine (now Israel) in 1933, where he later hebraicized his name.

Ben-Tor joined the Geology Department at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and continued on to doctoral studies in Switzerland, where he was erroneously arrested at the outbreak of the Second World War on suspicion of being a German spy, but he managed to flee home to Mandate Palestine. Not long after, he completed his thesis in Geology at the Hebrew University, becoming the first person to be awarded a doctoral degree by the University.

Ben-Tor served from 1944-1948 in the state-to-be's Provisional Council, as a member of the Aliyah Hadashah Party, comprising immigrants from Germany. He was also active in the Haganah (the underground Jewish defence force) and was asked to serve in Hemed, its Scientific Division, by Professor Yisrael Dostrovski. At the height of the  1947–1949 Palestine war, together with Leo Picard and Akiva Vroman, he conducted geological mapping surveys of the Negev, for the purpose of locating potential deposits of oil and uranium: however, they found only phosphate deposits Oron, near Dimona, and copper at Timna. For this work, he and Vroman were later awarded the Israel Prize.

During this period, Ben-Tor also completed a second doctorate with distinction, this time at the Sorbonne. In 1953, he served as the head of the Israel Geological Society and in 1954 he was appointed head of the Israel Geological Survey. He later became Head of the Geology Department at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and later was also a professor at the University of California, San Diego, in the United States of America.

The mineral Bentorite, discovered in the Hatrurim Formation of the Dead Sea in 1980 by Shulamit Gross, was named in his honour.

The dinoflagellate cyst Spiniferites bentorii was also named in his honour.

Awards
 In 1955, Ben-Tor was awarded the Israel Prize, for his contribution to Life Sciences.

See also
List of Israel Prize recipients
Amnon Ben-Tor

References

External links
  Bentorite Mineral Data

1910 births
2002 deaths
University of Königsberg alumni
Humboldt University of Berlin alumni
Academic staff of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Hebrew University of Jerusalem alumni
University of Paris alumni
University of California, San Diego faculty
Israel Prize in life sciences recipients
Israel Prize in life sciences recipients who were geologists
Israeli geologists
Jewish emigrants from Nazi Germany to Mandatory Palestine
Scientists from Königsberg
People from East Prussia
20th-century geologists
German expatriates in France
Burials at Har HaMenuchot

Yaakov Ben-Tor


Henry John Gauntlett (9 July 1805 in Wellington, Shropshire – 21 February 1876 in London) was an English organist and songwriter known in British music circles for his authorship of many hymns and other pieces for the organ.

Biography
Henry John Gauntlett was born in Britain on 9 July 1805, at Wellington, Shropshire. He became the organist at Olney church in Buckinghamshire, where his father Henry Gauntlett was then curate, and later vicar, at the age of nine.

He was intended for a career in law, and he remained a lawyer until he was almost forty years of age, when he abandoned the profession and devoted himself to music.

He was organist at a number of leading London churches, including All Saints Notting Hill and St Olave's in Tooley Street, Southwark from 1827 to 1846, where he designed a new grand organ which was built, installed and perfected to his satisfaction between 1844 and March 1846, and Union Chapel, Islington from 1852 to 1861.

Eventually the degree of Mus. Doc. was conferred on him by the Archbishop of Canterbury, he being the first to receive such a degree from that quarter for over 200 years. He did much to raise the standard of church music both mechanically and musically.

In 1852 he patented an "electrical-action apparatus" for organs. He wrote much music and over 1,000 hymn tunes, and edited many hymn books. His most famous tune is "Irby", the tune to which the Christmas carol, "Once in Royal David's City" is usually sung.

Gauntlett died in London aged seventy in 1876 and was buried at Kensal Green Cemetery.

Hymns
 hymn tune 'St Alphege' put to words in Latin 'Sic breve vivitur' by Bernard of Cluny.
 'University College'

References

External links

Free scores at the Mutopia Project

1805 births
1876 deaths
Christian hymnwriters
English classical organists
British male organists
People from Olney, Buckinghamshire
People from Wellington, Shropshire
Burials at Kensal Green Cemetery
19th-century English musicians
19th-century British male musicians
Male classical organists
19th-century organists

Henry Gauntlett


Chandragupta I (Gupta script:  Cha-ndra-gu-pta, r. c. 319–335 or 319–350 CE) was a king of the Gupta Empire, who ruled in northern and central India. His title Maharajadhiraja ("great king of kings") suggests that he was the first emperor of the dynasty. It is not certain how he turned his small ancestral kingdom into an empire, although a widely accepted theory among modern historians is that his marriage to the Licchavi princess Kumaradevi helped him extend his political power. Their son Samudragupta further expanded the Gupta empire.

Period of reign

Chandragupta was a son of the Gupta king Ghatotkacha, and a grandson of the dynasty's founder Gupta, both of whom are called Maharaja ("great king") in the Allahabad Pillar inscription. Chandragupta assumed the title Maharajadhiraja ( "great king of kings") and issued gold coins, which suggests that he was the first imperial ruler of the dynasty.

Chandragupta certainly reigned in the first quarter of the 4th century CE, but the exact period of his reign is uncertain. His assumption of the title Maharajadhiraja has led to suggestions that he founded the Gupta calendar era, and that the epoch of this era marks his coronation. Based on this argument, several historians, including V. A. Smith and P. L. Gupta, date Chandragupta's ascension to 319–320 CE, which they believe to be the beginning of the Gupta era. However, this is merely an assumption, and the identity of the founder of the Gupta era is not certain. Some historians, such as D. C. Sircar and R. C. Majumdar, theorize that the Gupta era marks the coronation of his son Samudragupta. S. R. Goyal theorizes that the era was started by the later king Chandragupta II, but its beginning was dated to Samudragupta's ascension.

Chandragupta I probably had a long reign, as the Allahabad Pillar inscription suggests that he appointed his son as his successor, presumably after reaching an old age. However, the exact period of his reign is debated.

Various estimates for Chandragupta's reign include:

 A. S. Altekar: 305–325 CE
 S. R. Goyal: 319–350 CE
 Tej Ram Sharma: 319–353 CE
 Upinder Singh: 319-335/336 CE  CE

Marriage to Kumaradevi

Chandragupta married the Lichchhavi princess Kumaradevi. Licchavi is the name of an ancient clan that was headquartered at Vaishali in present-day Bihar during the time of Gautama Buddha. A Lichchhavi kingdom existed in the present-day Nepal in the first millennium CE. However, the identity of Kumaradevi's Lichchhavi kingdom is not certain.

An 8th-century inscription of the Lichchhavi dynasty of Nepal claims that their legendary ancestor Supushpa was born in the royal family of Pushpapura, that is, Pataliputra in Magadha. According to some historians, such as V. A. Smith, the Lichchhavis ruled at Pataliputra during Samudragupta's time. However, this inscription states that Supushpa ruled 38 generations before the 5th-century king Manadeva, that is, centuries before Chandragupta's period. Therefore, the claim made in this inscription, even if true, cannot be taken as concrete evidence of the Lichchhavi rule at Pataliputra during Chandragupta's time.

The Lichchhavi kingdom of Kumaradevi is unlikely to have been located in present-day Nepal because Samudragupta's Allahabad Pillar inscription mentions Nepala (that is, Nepal) as a distinct, subordinate kingdom. Given the lack of any other evidence, historian R. C. Majumdar assumed that during Chandragupta's time, the Lichchhavis ruled at Vaishali, which is the only other base of the clan known from the historical records.

Impact of marriage

The gold coins attributed to Chandragupta bear portraits of Chandragupta and Kumaradevi, and the legend Lichchhavayah ("the Lichchhavis"). Their son Samudragupta is described as Lichchhavi-dauhitra ("Lichchhavi daughter's son") in the Gupta inscriptions. Except Kumaradevi, these inscriptions do not mention the paternal family of the dynasty's queens, which suggests that the Gupta family considered Kumaradevi's marriage to Chandragupta an important event.

Numismatist John Allan theorized that Chandragupta defeated a Lichchhavi kingdom headquartered at Vaishali, and that Kumaradevi's marriage to him happened as part of a peace treaty. He suggested that the Guptas considered this marriage a prestigious one simply because of the ancient lineage of the Lichchhavis. However, the ancient text Manusamhita regards the Lichchhavis as "unorthodox and impure" (vratya). Therefore, it is unlikely that the Guptas proudly mentioned Samudragupta's Lichchhavi ancestry to increase their social prestige. Also, it is unlikely that the Guptas allowed the name of the Lichchhavis to appear on the dynasty's coins after defeating them.

It is more likely that the marriage helped Chandragupta extend his political power and dominions, enabling him to adopt the title Maharajadhiraja. The appearance of the Lichchhavis' name on the coins is probably symbolic of their contribution to the expansion of the Gupta power. After the marriage, Chandragupta probably became the ruler of the Lichchhavi territories. Alternatively, it is possible that the Gupta and the Lichchhavi states formed a union, with Chandragupta and Kumaradevi being regarded as the sovereign rulers of their respective states, until the reign of their son Samudragupta, who became the sole ruler of the united kingdom.

Extent of kingdom

Little is known about Chandragupta other than his ancestry, his marriage, and his expansion of the Gupta power, as evident from his title Maharajadhiraja. The territorial extent of Chandragupta's kingdom is not known, but it must have been substantially larger than that of the earlier Gupta kings, as Chandragupta bore the title Maharajadhiraja. Modern historians have attempted to determine the extent of his kingdom based on the information from the Puranas and the Allahabad Pillar inscription issued by his son Samudragupta.

The Allahabad Pillar inscription names several kings subjugated by Samudragupta. Based on the identity of these kings, several modern historians have tried to determine the extent of the territory that he must have inherited from Chandragupta. For example, since the king of the northern part of the Bengal region is not mentioned among the kings subjugated by Samudragupta, these historians theorize that northern Bengal was a part of Chandragupta's kingdom. However, such conclusions cannot be made with certainty, as the identity of several of the kings subjugated by Samudragupta is a matter of debate. Nevertheless, the information from the inscription can be used to determine the territories that were not a part of Chandragupta's kingdom:

 In the west, Chandragupta's kingdom probably did not extend much beyond Prayaga (modern Prayagraja), as Samudragupta defeated the kings of present-day western Uttar Pradesh.
 In the south, Chandragupta's kingdom did not include the Mahakoshala area of Central India, as Samudragupta defeated the kings of the forest region, which is identified with this area.
 In the east, Chandragupta's kingdom did not include southern Bengal, because the Allahabad Pillar inscription mentions Samatata in that region as a frontier kingdom. Moreover, the Delhi Iron Pillar inscription suggests that Vanga kingdom in that region was conquered by the later king Chandragupta II.
 In the north, the Allahabad Pillar inscription mentions Nepala (in present-day Nepal) as a frontier kingdom.

A passage in the Vayu Purana states that the Guptas ruled over Saketa (modern Ayodhya), Prayaga, and Magadha. Based on this, multiple modern scholars have theorized that Chandragupta ruled over these territories. However, this conclusion is not certain, as the Vayu Purana does not mention the name of a specific ruler. Scholars critical of this theory argue that the passage describes the territories of either the dynasty's founder Gupta or its 6th century rulers who oversaw the kingdom's decline. Critics also point out that the corresponding passage in the Vishnu Purana states that the Guptas and the Magadhas jointly ruled over Prayaga and Magadha, and does not mention Saketa at all. The corresponding passage in the various manuscripts of Bhagavata Purana either does not mention the word "Gupta", or uses it as a common noun meaning "protected" instead of using it as the name of a specific dynasty. Even somes manuscripts of the Vayu Purana use the words "Guhya", "Sapta" or "Manidhanyaka" instead of "Gupta". Supporters of the theory dismiss these as scribal mistakes. Historian Ashvini Agrawal argues that the Vayu Purana passage cannot be a reference to the Gupta territories during the empire's period of decline, as it does not mention Bengal, which formed a part of the Gupta kingdom during this period.

According to historian R. C. Majumdar, Chandragupta's kingdom may have included the whole of present-day Bihar, and a part of present-day Uttar Pradesh and Bengal. Historian Dilip Kumar Ganguly believes that he ruled a large kingdom extending from Allahabad in the west to the Ganga river in Bengal in the east; the kingdom excluded south-eastern Bengal (Samatata), southern Bengal (Vanga), eastern Bengal, and western Bengal (the kingdom of Chandravarman). Historian Ashvini Agarwal states that his kingdom included central and eastern Uttar Pradesh (including Prayaga and Awadh), and Bihar; but not Bengal.

Coinage

Gold coins bearing portraits of Chandragupta and Kumaradevi have been discovered at Mathura, Ayodhya, Lucknow, Sitapur, Tanda, Ghazipur, and Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh; Bayana in Rajasthan; and Hajipur in Bihar. The obverse of these coins depicts portraits of Chandragupta and Kumaradevi, with their names in the Gupta script. The reverse shows a goddess seated on a lion, with the legend "Li-ccha-va-yah" (𑁊, "the Lichchhavis").

Various scholars, including numismatist John Allan, have considered that the gold coins bearing the portraits of Chandragupta and Kumaradevi were issued by Samudragupta to commemorate his parents, while others have attributed the issue of these coins to Chandragupta himself, or even suggested that these coins were issued by the Lichchhavis.

V. S. Pathak theorized that the coins show the royal couple in the vaivahika (nuptial) pose, but there is no concrete evidence that the coins depict the royal wedding. S.V. Sohoni theorized that the coins depicted Chandragupta taking leave of Kumaradevi while going on a military campaign, but this is doubtful given the lack of a phrase indicative of military prowess (unlike the coins of their son Samudragupta). The coins probably simply depict Chandragupta and Kumaradevi as joint rulers.

The identity of the female figure appearing on the reverse of these coins is uncertain. It is unlikely that she was a Gupta queen, as the depiction of a female figure seated on a lion is characteristic of a goddess in historical art of India. Some historians, such as A. S. Altekar, have identified the goddess as Durga. However, although Durga is often represented as seated on a lion, this attribute is not unique to her: Lakshmi has also been depicted as seated on a lion. For example, Hemadri's works mention Simha-vahini ("having lion as her vahana") Lakshmi, and images from Khajuraho depict Simha-vahini Gajalakshmi. Some scholars, such as John Allan, have identified the goddess on the coins as Lakshmi, who is the goddess of fortune and the wife of Vishnu. She may have been featured on the coins as a symbol of the Guptas' royal prosperity, or as a mark of their Vaishnavite affiliation, but this cannot be said with certainty. The goddess may also have been a tutelary goddess of the Lichchhavis, whose name appears below her image, but this cannot be said with certainty either.

Successor

The Allahabad Pillar inscription and the Eran stone inscription of Samudragupta state that his father Chandragupta selected him as the next king. The Allahabad Pillar inscription states that Chandragupta appointed him to "protect the earth", which suggests that Chandragupta renounced the throne in his old age, and appointed his son as the next king.

The discovery of the coins issued by a Gupta ruler named Kacha have led to some debate about Chandragupta's successor. According to one theory, Kacha was another name for Samudragupta. Another theory is that Kacha was the elder brother of Samudragupta, and succeeded their father Chandragupta.

The Kaliyuga-raja-vrttanta section of the Bhavishyottara Purana mentions that Kacha was a son of Chandragupta I from a Licchavi princess. It describes Kacha as jointly ruling with his father, and states that Samudragupta killed their father. However, these passages (and possibly the entire text) are a modern forgery.

References

Bibliography

Gupta emperors
4th-century Indian monarchs

Chandragupta I


Roberta Metsola (; née Tedesco Triccas; born 18 January 1979) is a Maltese politician. A member of Malta's Nationalist Party (PN) and the European People's Party (EPP), she has been serving as president of the European Parliament since January 2022.

Metsola was first elected to as a member of the European Parliament (MEP) in 2013, and became the First Vice-President of the European Parliament in November 2020. Following the death of the incumbent president David Sassoli, Metsola was elected as president of the European Parliament on 18 January 2022, becoming the youngest ever president, the first Maltese person to hold the office, and the first female president since 2002.

Biography

The Tedesco Triccas family stems from Swieqi, near St. Julian's, Malta, and she grew up with her father Geoffrey (son of Emmanuel Tedesco and Helen Triccas Dimech), her mother Rita (daughter of Carmelo Bezzina and Francesca Briffa), and her two sisters, Ann and Lisa, in Gżira. She studied at St Joseph School in Sliema, St Aloysius' College sixth form, graduated in law from the University of Malta in 2003,  and obtained a diploma in European studies from the College of Europe in Bruges in 2004.

Tedesco Triccas and her Finnish husband Ukko Metsola (National Coalition Party) met in 1999 and married in Rabat, Malta, on 1 October 2005. Together, they have four sons: Luca Matias (born 2007), Alec Emil (born 2008), Marc (born 2012), and Kristian (born 2016). As members of the European People's Party (EPP), they both ran for the 2009 European Parliament election, becoming the first married couple to run in the same European Parliament election from two different member states.

Tedesco Triccas has been active since youth within Malta's Nationalist Party (PN), serving within the party's international secretariat and volunteering with the PN's election arm ELCOM. In her student years, she formed part of the SDM (Studenti Demokristjani Maltin), KNZ (The National Youth Council), and MŻPN (Moviment Żgħażagħ Partit Nazzjonalista), before being elected as Secretary General of the European Democrat Students (EDS), the student branch of the EPP, as well as to posts within the European Youth Forum (YFJ).

In 2002, at the age of 23, Tedesco Triccas was elected as one of the two vice-presidents of the executive board of the Youth Convention on the Future of Europe. The following year, she actively campaigned with the PN for a Yes vote in the 2003 Maltese European Union membership referendum. Following her engagement in the European Union referendum campaign, the 25-year-old Tedesco Triccas was encouraged, by Malta's then prime minister Lawrence Gonzi, to run for the 2004 European Parlaiment election in Malta as a candidate for the PN. She was not elected. In October 2004, she joined the Permanent Representation of Malta to the EU in Brussels, headed by Richard Cachia Caruana, where she worked for eight years as legal and judicial cooperation attaché, also participating for Malta in the negotiations of the Lisbon Treaty and working on files like the set-up of the European Asylum Support Office in Malta.

Metsola ran again for the 2009 European Parliament election in Malta for the PN, without being elected. In 2013–2014, she briefly served as legal advisor to the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Catherine Ashton.

Member of the European Parliament

On 24 April 2013, Metsola successfully contested the casual election to fill the vacated seat of Simon Busuttil, becoming one of Malta's first female members of the European Parliament (MEPs). In the European Parliament, she sits as a member of the European People's Party Group (EPP).

Following her re-election at the 2014 European Parliament election in Malta, Metsola was elected as a vice-chair of the Committee on Petitions (PETI) in July 2014. In addition, she served as a member of a number of committees and delegations. She also joined the parliamentary intergroup on children's rights. Metsola was further re-elected at the 2019 European Parliament election in Malta; in this legislature, she closely followed the party line, voting together with the EPP delegation in over 90% of the cases.

In 2014, Metsola led the EPP representation in the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (LIBE) in the work on the non-binding EU roadmap against homophobia and discrimination on grounds of sexual orientation and gender identity, whose rapporteur was European Green Party MEP Ulrike Lunacek. She was the parliament's rapporteur on the European Border and Coastguard Regulation in 2019 and was co-rapporteur on an anti-SLAPP report in 2021. Metsola also co-authored a non-binding report on the European migrant crisis in 2016, aimed at establishing a "binding and mandatory legislative approach" on resettlement and new EU-wide readmission agreements, which should take precedence over bilateral ones between EU and non-EU countries.

From 2016 until 2017, Metsola was part of the Parliament's Committee of Inquiry into Money Laundering, Tax Avoidance and Tax Evasion (PANA) that investigated the Panama Papers revelations and tax avoidance schemes more broadly. Within LIBE, where she chaired the EPP representation between January 2017 and 2020, she has been part of the Rule of Law Monitoring Group (ROLMG) since 2018.

In 2019, during the controversies following the murder of Daphne Caruana Galizia, Metsola famously refused to shake hands with Malta's then prime minister Joseph Muscat at a meeting with the MEPS from Malta. She wrote: "If he thinks he can try to brush off responsibility he is sorely mistaken. Get out now, before you do irreparable damage to the country." In 2020, Metsola considered contesting the leadership of the PN but decided against it. She stated: "Some ceilings need a few more cracks before they can be smashed through." The post was later filled by Bernard Grech.

In October 2020, in the discussion in LIBE on a parliamentary resolution on "the rule of law and fundamental rights in Bulgaria", Metsola tabled amendments, on behalf of the EPP, which were widely interpreted as shielding Bulgaria's EPP government from criticism, including by proposing to remove references to Venice Commission findings and to the misuse of EU funds and high-level corruption allegations directly involving the then prime minister Boyko Borisov. Other amendments, which she later withdrew, also alleged that a gambling boss had been financing the 2020–2021 Bulgarian protests. This caused outrage in Bulgaria, leading to Metsola's social media accounts being flooded by protest messages, including threats and misogyny. The EPP amendments were finally defeated, and the resolution was adopted as it had been originally proposed.

In November 2020, Metsola was elected as First Vice-President of the European Parliament, replacing Mairead McGuinness, who had become European Commissioner. She was the first Maltese MEP to become a vice-president.

President of the European Parliament

In November 2021, Metsola was chosen as EPP candidate to succeed David Sassoli as president of the European Parliament on the expiry of his term as president in January 2022. Sassoli had been hospitalised with pneumonia in September 2021, and in December announced that he would not seek a second term as president, making Metsola his likely successor. Following further hospitalisation, Sassoli died on 11 January 2022, one week before the end of his term. On Sassoli's death, Metsola became the acting president of the European Parliament.

On 18 January 2022, on her 43rd birthday, Metsola was elected president of the European Parliament for a two-and-a-half-year term. She was elected in the first round of voting, receiving an absolute majority of 458 votes out of the 690 cast. As the candidate of the EPP, she was also supported by the S&D and Renew Europe parliamentary groups, after the three groups reached an agreement on the election of the president and the vice-presidents and legislative priorities for the second half of the European Parliament's term. On her election, Metsola became the youngest ever president, the first Maltese person to hold the office, and the first woman president since 2002 and only third woman president ever. She made a statement days after being present as Belgian police searched the residence of Greek MEP Eva Kaili in the widening Qatar corruption scandal at the European Parliament over alleged corruption, money laundering, and other offenses in relation to possible schemes of Qatar, Morocco, NGOs, and the FIFA World Cup.

On 21 May 2023, Metsola participated in the European Moldova National Assembly together with President of Moldova Maia Sandu. This was a massive pro-European rally in the Moldovan capital Chișinău with tens of thousands of participants. Metsola gave rally participants a message during her speech:  ("Europe is Moldova! Moldova is Europe!").
Metsola has called for strengthening the powers of the European Parliament.

Anti-abortion views
Metsola had consistently voted for anti-abortion resolutions. From the beginning of her tenure, she faced questions over her opposition to abortion, which is legal in every EU member state, except Malta and Poland. In a 2015 press release, she and fellow Maltese MEPs declared that they were "categorically against abortion". On her election as president of the European Parliament, she stated that during her tenure she would represent the European Parliament's position, which recognises safe access to abortion as a human right.

Other activities
 Wilfried Martens Centre for European Studies, member of the Executive Board
 Friends of Europe, member of the Board of Trustees (since 2020)

Honours

  Recipient of the First Class of the Order of Princess Olga
 United Transitional Cabinet of Belarus
Cross of Good Neighbourhood

References

External links

1979 births
Living people
People from St. Julian's, Malta
Presidents of the European Parliament
MEPs for Malta 2009–2014
MEPs for Malta 2014–2019
MEPs for Malta 2019–2024
Nationalist Party (Malta) MEPs
Women MEPs for Malta
University of Malta alumni
20th-century Maltese women politicians
20th-century Maltese politicians
21st-century Maltese lawyers
21st-century Maltese women politicians
21st-century Maltese politicians
Articles containing video clips

Roberta Metsola


John Joseph Briggs (6 March 1819 – 23 March 1876), naturalist and topographer, was born in the village of Kings Newton (or King's Newton), Derbyshire on 6 March 1819. His father, John Briggs, who married his cousin, Mary Briggs, was born and resided for 88 years on the same farm, at Kings Newton, which had been the freehold of his ancestors for three centuries.

Education
In 1828, John went to the boarding school of Thomas Rossell Potter, the historian of Charnwood Forest at Wymeswold in Leicestershire, and in 1833 to the Rev. Solomon Saxon, of Darley Dale. He was apprenticed to Mr. Bemrose, the head of the printing firm of William Bemrose & Sons, Derby, but ill-health compelled him to give up his indoor occupation, and continue his ancestors' occupation of farming at Elms Farm in Kings Newton.

Chronicler

He became the faithful chronicler of the seasons, and recorded all the facts and occurrences coming within his observation during at least thirty years. He kept these notes carefully bound in manuscript volumes, and shortly before his death they were announced as ready for publication.

He utilised his notes regularly in the magazine The Field, in which as early as 1855 he had originated "The Naturalists" column,' and entered into correspondence with the leading naturalists of the time. In 1863 he was in correspondence with Charles Darwin concerning the regrowth of fishes' fins. His notes in the Zoologist, Critic,  Reliquary, Sun, Derby Reporter, and Leicestershire Guardian (edited by his old schoolmaster, Mr. Potter), were full of picturesque descriptions of nature and sketches of places and objects in the Midland counties of archaeological and antiquarian interest. His History of Melbourne included references to Robin Hood, John Wesley's early journeys and how the Duke of Bourbon was imprisoned in the reigns of Henry V and Henry VI.

Memberships
He became a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, and a member of the British Archaeological Association.

Family
In 1869 he married Hannah Soar of Chellaston. Shortly before his death he had retired upon an ample competency, but his health failed, and he died at the place of his birth on 23 March 1876, leaving a widow, a son, and three daughters.

Major works
 Melbourne, a Sketch of its History and Antiquity, 1839
 History of Melbourne, including Biographical Notices, with plates and woodcuts, Derby, 1852
 The Trent and other Poems, Derby, 1857, (with additions, Derby, 1859)
 The Peacock at Rowsley,' London, 1869, 8vo, a gossiping book about fishing and country life with a descriptive of a well-known resort of anglers at the junction of the Wye and River Derwent.
 Guide to Melbourne and King's Newton, Derby, 1870.
 History and Antiquities of Hemington, Leicestershire, twelve copies, privately printed, with coloured lithographs and woodcuts, London, 1873.

Besides these works and the unpublished observations on natural history, Briggs had been for many years collecting materials for a book to be entitled The Worthies of Derbyshire, for which we believe he had notes for at least 700 memoirs. This work was not published in his lifetime.

Further reading

 Melbourne 1820-1875: A Diary by John Joseph Briggs, edited by Philip Heath,  was published in 2005 by Derbyshire County Council in conjunction with Melbourne History Society
 Derbyshire Record Office archives, Papers of John Joseph Briggs

References

People from King's Newton
English naturalists
1819 births
1876 deaths
Fellows of the Royal Society of Literature

John Joseph Briggs


The Gahal Alignment was an Israeli political party from 1965 until the establishment of Likud in 1973. Gahal is an abbreviation for Gush Herut Liberalim, which is Hebrew for "Freedom-Liberal Bloc".  It was created by Menachem Begin who was at the time the leader of the Herut Party when Begin decided to form an alliance with the Liberal Party of Israel.  Gahal was fiscally conservative because the Liberals were and strongly in favour of security because Herut was. In 1973, Gahal joined with a number of other political parties including  the Free Centre, the National List and the Greater Israel movement to become Likud under the leadership of Menachem Begin.

Former political parties in Israel
Zionist parties
Liberal parties

Gahal


Luke Snyder and Noah Mayer are fictional characters and a supercouple from the American CBS daytime drama As the World Turns. Luke was portrayed by Van Hansis, and Noah was portrayed by Jake Silbermann. On Internet message boards, the couple is referred to by the portmanteau "Nuke" (for Noah and Luke). They are notable for being one of American daytime television's first gay male couples.

The two made history on August 17, 2007, when the show "featured the first-ever" gay male kiss in American daytime. The YouTube video of the kiss was one of the top-watched the following day. The kiss was later labeled "legendary" and was, at the time, one of the most viewed selections in the history of YouTube with over 2 million hits.

In other press, the two were named one of television's top power couples by TV Guide and one of the great supercouples by Entertainment Weekly. They are American soap operas' first gay male supercouple.

Background
When Noah Mayer arrived in Oakdale in June 2007 and entranced resident gay character Luke Snyder, CBS's As the World Turns "became the first soap to depict a fully realized romantic male couple as an integral part of the show". There had been other gay male characters on U.S. daytime television, before; for example, One Life to Live Billy Douglas (portrayed by a young Ryan Phillippe), but Luke and Noah represented a change in the genre. Noah was at first presented as heterosexual and devoted to girlfriend Maddie Coleman. This soon began to change. The writers had always planned for Noah to be revealed as gay. The storyline and his interaction with Luke were promised to viewers as the start of a depiction of a healthy gay male romance.

Within the story, after spending time with Luke, Noah is seen struggling to come to terms with his sexuality, and is often angry and confused. Luke and Noah's portrayers, Hansis and Silbermann, spoke with magazine The Advocate about the attention the storyline has generated. "The fan response has been really great to both the individual characters and where we're taking the relationship," Silbermann stated. "Noah and Luke were voted top couple in a Soap Opera Digest poll. The funny thing is, a lot of people want them to be happy, but a lot want them to suffer heartache and tragedy — because that's what couples on daytime TV do. It's a good sign, actually." Hansis said that "it does throw you a bit, especially since this was [his] first big role on television" and "You go from waiting tables to doing interviews with national magazines and people saying that you changed their lives. It's definitely tricky".

Addressing the depth of his character's romance with Luke and its effects on people, Silbermann cited his disbelief. "I knew what the role was when I signed on," he said. "But I guess I'm jaded — I honestly didn't think it would get so much press. Of course, I'm grateful and honored to be telling this story and doing it in an interesting and respectful way."

Actors' approach
Actors have been known to bring some part of their real experience into the roles they portray. Hansis and Silbermann also spoke of this aspect regarding their own roles; they detailed what, if anything, they find useful in their lives when creating Luke and Noah. Hansis stated, "Luke is all about the need to be loved and accepted. I think that need is universal. Life is about acceptance from the people who you want to love you. If that means family, a wife, a husband, a girlfriend/boyfriend, a best friend, you just want people to love you for who you are. Anyone can relate to that." Silbermann said, "I don't bring any specific experiences to Noah. I think we can all relate to an unrequited love or a romance filled with obstacles. That's really all this story is."

As the World Turns executive producer Chris Goutman stated in a WGN radio interview that Hansis and Silbermann are "both very modest actors". He credited them with having the ability to show the proper emotions in subtle and effective ways (i.e. "Luke's knowing smile and longing look at Noah, Noah's inner pain and fear of his father"). When asked if they rehearse together to decide which facial expressions they will use to convey these emotions in any given scene, Hansis replied, "No. We rehearse together to make sure we have the lines right. But it's not usually about the acting, its just running lines." He said that the "acting comes" when the cameras are on. "We are comfortable with each other as actors, so if one of us does something new during taping, the other just rolls with it and it usually creates some nice moments," said Hansis.

Addressing the couple's possibility of marriage, children, and divorce, Hansis pondered "why can't people on soaps just date?" He said "maybe five years down the line they should have a kid, but not now" and that "[c]ollege has a whole slew of potential soap-worthy storylines. I think a lot of cool stories could come out of that". Silbermann voiced not knowing what the writers may have planned for the couple, but that "the audience can assume it won't be smooth sailing". Hansis clarified: "We have no idea what's happening until we get the scripts, which happens about a week in advance. We can talk to the producers if we want. I have done that once or twice, but they keep the writers and actors pretty separate."

Hansis and Silbermann cited their offscreen friendship as the reason for their ease when portraying intimate scenes between Luke and Noah. "It makes them easier. Jake is a good friend. I know he's got my back and is not going to make me look like an ass onscreen. I hope I return the favor," said Hansis. "I think we work well together and I couldn't have asked for a cooler person to play opposite. Jake is just very down to earth and funny and open to different ideas. It makes every scene very comfortable." Silbermann added, "I think we had become friends before the first kiss... If anything, I think it makes it more comfortable."

Storyline
Luke and Noah meet at WOAK, a local television station in Oakdale, where they are working as interns, but their relationship is complex from the beginning. Luke's first crush for Kevin Davis ended badly when he "came out" to Kevin and was fiercely rejected, and Noah is involved with co-worker Maddie Coleman. In fact, Noah thinks jealously that Luke is pursuing his girlfriend until Luke reveals first his sexual orientation and then his attraction to Noah. After this, Noah struggles with his own feelings for Luke. One day, when Luke is helping Noah with his tie, Noah impulsively kisses him; he tries to shrug this off as a joke before finally admitting to himself and Luke that he meant it. He isn't, however, ready to deal with being gay. Although Luke urges him to be honest with Maddie and to acknowledge his own sexuality, Noah hesitates.

Not completely unaware of the undercurrents between them, Maddie is forced to confront the budding romance between Noah and Luke when her brother Henry tells her that Noah's homophobic father, Army Colonel Winston Mayer, suspects the pair are involved. She asks Luke, and when he urges her to speak to Noah, realizes the truth. She breaks off her relationship with him.

Colonel Mayer does what he can to prevent the young men from coming together, even threatening Luke's mother Lily, but just when he thinks Noah is safely reconciled with Maddie, he comes upon his son and Luke sharing their second kiss. Colonel Mayer disowns his son but later launches a more devious plot to kill Luke and get him out of Noah's life - a plot that is thwarted by Noah and Luke's parents. Noah and Luke come closer than ever as Luke uses physical therapy to recover the use of his legs, paralyzed in the Colonel's attempted murder.

The relationship is not completely smooth, as Noah is still struggling somewhat with his own homosexuality, not able to express his feelings as freely as Luke. Noah continues to work on it, and it is at his instigation that the pair become housemates. While Noah had wanted to get an apartment alone with Luke, he compromises on Luke's suggestion by moving into Luke's family home, although the couple are not permitted to share a bed.

Their new-found closeness is challenged when they meet a young Iraqi woman, Ameera Ali Aziz, who is in the United States on temporary visa and soon to be deported. Noah marries Ameera to help her remain in the United States, which requires that he hide his relationship with Luke and eventually move into a separate house with Ameera to make their relationship seem more legitimate. Ameera, it seems, would like for their relationship to be legitimate, but Noah continues to be devoted to Luke, whom he kisses again while shopping for a birthday present for Ameera.

When Noah visits his father in prison, he crushes the Colonel's hopes by revealing that his marriage to Ameera is in name only and that he and Luke are still a couple. Not long thereafter, Ameera disappears, leaving a note saying that she will be able to stay in the country without the marriage and will have it annulled. Luke and Noah have little time to celebrate before they are advised that the Colonel has escaped from prison, which leads Noah to fear for his boyfriend's safety and also to worry that Ameera has been kidnapped. When Noah tries to track him down, the Colonel assaults him, but he manages to get away and reunite with Luke and Ameera, who has also escaped the Colonel. The Colonel is determined to get Ameera back under his control and tricks the young men with some fake police officers, but Luke calls upon his grandmother Lucinda, who brings real police to protect them. Following a confrontation with his son, the Colonel dives into the water and does not resurface; he is believed dead. Noah blames Luke for this for a time, but the couple eventually reunite after Cyndi Lauper, in town on the True Colors Tour, dedicates a set to Luke. Noah tells Luke he wants to be with him, and the couple kiss again.

After Noah's decision to enlist in the army is derailed by the Don't Ask Don't Tell policy, which he defies, the couple resume living together at the Snyder farm, although they still do not share a bed. Soon thereafter, Luke starts the Luke Snyder Foundation for sick children with money inherited from his birth father's family, and the attorney they hire, Brian, begins throwing road blocks between them, cautioning Luke that being openly gay will hurt his foundation with conservative investors. Ultimately, however, it is Luke himself who causes the couple to break up, when he finds himself pitched in a dirty political campaign against his first love, Kevin. To counter the homophobic attacks of Kevin's supporters, Luke winds up permitting Casey Hughes to stuff the ballot box to ensure that he will win. Noah cannot take part in this dishonesty and refuses to lie for Luke when they are challenged. Feeling also that Luke has unresolved issues about Kevin, he moves out and distances himself.

Luke begins drinking again and while drunk is kissed by Brian, who has married Luke's grandmother Lucinda. Later, Brian tells Luke that, while attracted to Luke, he loves Lucinda. In spite of their agreement, this will not remain secret long. Luke and Noah are struggling to reconnect, but when Luke is jealous of Noah's continued relationship with Maddie (who has interrupted their planned tryst on New Year's Eve), he kisses Brian himself. Noah, who sees this, is angry with Luke for some time, but when the pair finally come together to discuss the matter their anger is overwhelmed by their feelings for each other, and they finally consummate their relationship.

It isn't long before they decide to finally live together in a place of their own. But when they are denied housing because they are gay, Luke turns his Luke Snyder Foundation to LGBT rights. This increases the amount of hate targeted at Luke, who becomes the victim in a hit and run.

After Noah is blinded in an accident at film school, he breaks off with Luke, feeling a need to be independent and blaming Luke, because the couple had been arguing at the time of the accident. Noah finds a specialist, neurosurgeon Reid Oliver, whom he believes he can cure his sight, and Luke tries to lure the arrogant doctor to Oakdale; when promises of money do not work, he successfully blackmails him. In spite of this rocky start, the pair gradually begin a hesitant relationship. When Noah eventually begins to consider reuniting with Luke, Luke is torn - both angry at Noah's prior treatment and confused by his feelings for Reid. Reid eventually resigns from the hospital when he realizes that he must either do so or break off his relationship with Luke, the hospital's biggest donor, but is soon reinstated. Eventually, Reid is mortally injured when his car is struck by a train.

During this time, Noah has been offered a grant to make a film in Los Angeles. When Reid dies, Noah comforts his love, Luke, but while he is willing to remain in Oakdale,  Luke urges him to pursue his dream. They share a kiss, and agree that they will visit and one day may finally reunite.

Luke and Noah's last scenes together aired the day before the show's finale.  After a 54-year run, As The World Turns was cancelled as of Sept 17, 2010.  Luke and Noah's story ended onscreen at WOAK, but as the Executive Producer of the show has said, "Their relationship will endure."

Reception and impact
Same-sex couples on American broadcast television were rare at the time. This adds to the inclusion of same-sex pairings being considered "a very big deal". When Luke and Noah, a gay male teen couple at the time, were added to the soap opera As the World Turns, the decision especially constituted "an actual milestone" in gay visibility, stated Michael Jensen, Editor of AfterElton.com, a website that focuses on the portrayal of gay and bisexual men in the media. CBS's As the World Turns "made that breakthrough in 2007 when Luke Snyder (Van Hansis) fell hard for newcomer Noah Mayer (Jake Silbermann). And viewers fell just as hard for the couple, quickly naming them Nuke as their growing popularity helped to push the show's ratings up". The couple became "so popular" that a 2007 poll named them "the most popular couple on As the World Turns and one of the seven hottest couples on all of daytime television".

Groundbreaking kiss and romance

On August 17, 2007, Luke helps close friend Noah adjust his tie. Their eyes meet. Without warning, and in close-up, the two young men kiss full on the lips. The five-second kiss between Luke and Noah made history as the first gay male kiss on American daytime television. The guy-on-guy kiss "sizzled screens across America and sent the Internet into a tizzy".  Fans of the soap opera were divided on whether the kiss was a step forward or a sign of national moral decay. The kiss has been described as legendary, and, in 2008, it was one of the most viewed videos in the history of YouTube, with over 1 million views. It has currently been viewed more than 2 million times.

Not long after the kiss, TV Guide named the couple one of soap opera's best supercouples, and Entertainment Weekly listed their kiss as one of the Landmark moments in Gay Hollywood, later titling the pairing as one of the greatest supercouples in the genre's history.

More than six months after the kiss, Luke and Noah had "overcome Noah's sexual confusion and his stern, homophobic father, who shot Luke on a camping trip, temporarily confining him to a wheelchair. Noah nursed Luke back to health and helped him get back on his feet again. From there, their affection for each other blossomed."

When Luke and Noah's love story began, the ratings for As the World Turns rose considerably. The serial was near the bottom of the ratings competition in 2007, but began to regularly rank third behind The Young and the Restless and The Bold and the Beautiful in the daytime Nielsens. This vastly contrasts from 1989, when As the World Turns sent a gay character away after protests from religious groups. "I don't see it as that big a deal," Hansis stated. "I was just stoked to get a steady job as an actor." "There aren't many gay characters on daytime," Silbermann said. "It means a lot to know that this story is part of something."

YouTube and influence on other countries
In large part due to the internet, both actors have received mail from viewers in countries that do not air As the World Turns. "YouTube now hosts a version of the Luke and Noah storyline that is edited by fans. In countries where it may not be OK to be gay, people hungry to see themselves accurately portrayed onscreen can go to YouTube and follow the 'Nuke' storyline in sequence," stated David Alexander Nahmod of Bay Area Reporter.

"Some producers balk at having their material posted at free sites like YouTube," Nahmod added. "Producers of the former NBC soap Passions, [which later aired on DirectTV's The 101 as a subscription-only service], pulled its episodes off of YouTube. Likewise, episodes of British soap Coronation Street were also pulled from YouTube." CBS, however, is content in letting the Luke and Noah love story stay on the file sharing sites because it is good and free publicity for the show. "Many gay viewers, for example, who are introduced to the Luke and Noah storyline on the internet may become interested in the whole show and start tuning into the CBS broadcasts. CBS also offers its own online broadcast of the show and www.CBS.com/daytime/ATWT." Lisa Lugassy, press representative for As the World Turns, however, cited that [they] prefer people to watch the CBS airings. "It's the CBS audience, and not the online viewers, who give us our ratings," she said.

Hansis and Silbermann have acknowledged that they would like to do other acting projects when time permits, but that they are happy and content with the jobs they have now. "I hope to be playing Luke for a long, long time to come," said Hansis.

Controversy and praise

Kiss debate, campaign and the media attention
Months after Luke and Noah's first kiss made national press, as well as their additional second kiss, the couple's time together was drastically reduced by the series. This was changed again when they were allowed to spend more onscreen time in each other's company but with an alteration; this alteration had the pairing no longer seen kissing onscreen. Any intimate interaction that took place onscreen between the couple was now showcased in the form of hugs, longing stares, talks and cut-away kisses (kisses that viewers do not see but almost get a glimpse of as the camera pans away or cuts to another scene). Frustrated, fans of the pairing organized what they called the "Kiss Campaign", in hopes to coax CBS and Procter & Gamble Productions into giving Luke and Noah another onscreen kiss.

"Soaps, like all businesses, live and die by consumer response to a product," campaign founder Jerome wrote at AfterElton.com. "And while email complaint letters certainly get noticed, it's the more-grandiose gestures that usually succeed in eliciting a response." In a different campaign, Jerome was responsible for the decision to have fans of the television series Jericho send thousands of nuts to network executives in order to get the once-canceled show back on the air, and advised Luke-Noah supporters to flood CBS Daytime Programs Senior Vice President Barbara Bloom with Hershey's Kisses. "The symbolism," Jerome noted, "is obvious."

Acknowledgment of the kiss campaign soon reached prominent media outlets such as The Boston Globe and the Associated Press. Boston Globe reporter Joanna Weiss began her report of the campaign by stating, "Once upon a time, in the melodramatic environs of CBS's As the World Turns, there was a boy named Luke and another boy named Noah, and they fell in love. They shared in self-discovery, made it through a trying time when Luke was paralyzed from the waist down, celebrated his miraculous recovery, and kissed onscreen. Twice. Then they stopped kissing. And some fans were happy. And some fans got very, very angry." Addressed was that fans of the romance, referred to as Luke-and-Noah champions by Boston Globe, pointed to two major near-misses since the couple's two onscreen kisses. Once, during an episode of the soap opera near Christmas, Luke and Noah moved toward a kiss, and the camera quickly panned to a mistletoe, an event dubbed "Mistletoegate" by frustrated and disappointed fans. Then, on a "very special" Valentine's Day episode, every other couple on the show shared a kiss while Luke and Noah hugged.

Boston Globe relayed that AfterElton.com created a running ticker of the time that had elapsed since Luke and Noah last kissed on the lips onscreen. At press time, it was 157 days and running. Also noted was Luke-and-Noah supporters having launched a publicity drive. During the drive, they "blitzed" reporters with long, heartfelt statements about their feelings for the pairing. "We appreciate so much that the show is doing this," stated George Hinds, a youth employment counselor in Cambridge who helps run the fansite lukeandnoahfans.com. Hinds praised As the World Turns for airing a gay kiss within American daytime television. "The campaign is really here to let them know we think it's time to move forward. We think America can handle it."

Despite supporters of the Luke and Noah storyline, the producers of the series felt that showing a same-sex love story was a sensitive subject to show. "We're trying to make a show that appeals to our entire audience," said Jeannie Tharrington, a spokeswoman for Procter & Gamble Productions, which produces the series. Tharrington said that she had been receiving complaints and applause from all sides since Luke and Noah's romance first began. The recent changes, she voiced, were implemented "because of some of the feedback that [they'd] gotten, and because of what [they] thought was best for the show creatively."

Boston Globe detailed that gay characters on television are common by now, "both on cable and on network shows such as ABC's hit drama Brothers and Sisters". They noted that Luke and Noah "follow in a long tradition of daytime soap characters with coming-out stories and with daytime talk show hosts such as Rosie O'Donnell and Ellen DeGeneres, both openly gay, having attracted broad fan bases".

Within the series, Luke and Noah had talked about love, and had conversations about when they would first have sex. All this, combined with their very occasional kisses, made Luke and Noah representative of a new aspect within the soap opera world. "This was one more programming frontier," said Andy Towle, who runs the popular gay-theme blog towleroad.com and keeps readers up to date on Luke and Noah developments.

Luke's story of coming to terms with his sexuality began in late 2005, as the son of one of the show's longstanding couples, Holden Snyder and Lily Walsh. Bloom, CBS's senior vice president for daytime television, said the show's executive producer and head writer laid out a tentative long-term plotline in advance, unfolding it slowly so that the audience would conclude that Luke was gay before he officially announced it. From the start, she made clear, the writers hoped Luke would go on to become a central character, with everything that entails: "It's daytime television. It's the love story business."

Luke's coming-out story garnered praise in the gay community and an award from the gay-rights group Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD). Hansis and the actress who portrayed his mother (Martha Byrne) appeared in public service announcements on CBS. Tharrington said that due to Luke's storyline being successful, the writers eventually added Noah. "Everyone in the town came to accept Luke as he was, and the viewers did, too," she elaborated. "What we kept hearing from viewers is, 'We love Luke. We want him to have a love interest, too.'"

In 2008, Luke and Noah's story drew another GLAAD award nomination for the series. The storyline has often attracted gay men, who follow the show with "a mix of activist pride and love-struck glee". Luke and Noah clips on YouTube "have been edited from the episodes down to the relevant scenes". Hinds said he had started to watch the soap opera in its entirety, "because [he] just wanted the show to be successful — to support the storyline".

Though the Luke and Noah romance garnered positive reaction, Tharrington and CBS officials said they heard complaints from viewers opposed to the storyline. They would not say which side draws a bigger response. The American Family Association, a conservative group based in Tupelo, Mississippi, had received hundreds of complaints about the Luke and Noah romance — particularly their kisses, said Randy Sharp, the group's spokesman. "It was a big turnoff for them," Sharp said. "The word 'repulsive' was used once or twice. 'Offensive' was used more than once.... It was overtly gratuitous. It's not necessary to the storyline itself."

In 2004, Sharp's group supported a boycott of Procter & Gamble. They complained about some of its gay-friendly corporate policies. With the Luke and Noah story, Sharp detailed that group leaders had a phone conference with Procter & Gamble officials and asked members to contact the company. "Our request to them was to do away with the homosexual characters," he cited. "Your writers can come up with good storylines that the general public would watch and not be offended by."

In contrast to Sharp's views, Hinds felt that the show's approach of implied kisses without showing them was likely not pleasing anyone. "Conservative fans," he pointed out, "still see the intimacy."

Despite the protests against the Luke and Noah pairing, Bloom stated that support for it had been solid. "We have never in any way asked them to censor that story or pull it back," she said. There are signs that, overall, the story has been good for As the World Turns, Bloom further relayed. Over the course of Luke's saga, Bloom noted, the show had moved into a solid position as the third-rated soap across all networks.

Though Bloom and Tharrington insisted that the series would continue the Luke and Noah love story, they made no promises in regards to it. Drawn-out love stories, Bloom pointed out, are a daytime drama staple. "In the soap-opera business, you walk a very fine line between love stories, happily-ever-after, yearning, and obstacles," Bloom cited. "The drama comes from the quest."

On March 2, 2008, David Bauder of the Associated Press put out an article regarding the controversy over Luke and Noah's non-kisses. "The love affair between two young men on the venerable CBS soap opera As the World Turns has triggered a protest campaign by angry viewers," the report opened with. "It's just not the sort of protest you'd expect," stated Bauder. "Fans of the fictional romance between Luke Snyder and Noah Mayer are baffled about why the two characters haven't kissed on-screen since September, wondering whether it's a sign of squeamishness by CBS or show sponsors Procter & Gamble Co."

"We totally support this show and applaud the show for doing this storyline," said Roger Newcomb, a computer worker from New York's northern suburbs and the man behind the campaign. "We just don't understand why they have to be censored or treated differently." Newcomb found it unrealistic that Luke and Noah had not been shown kissing onscreen since their first kiss.

Tharrington assured that there was/is no kissing ban on Luke and Noah, although she would not say what would happen in future shows. She described the mistletoe shot as a "creative decision". "It's always hard to please a diverse audience," Tharrington added, "and we have a diverse audience." One fan had recalled reading a handful of letters in soap opera publications after Luke and Noah's first kiss along the lines of "I don't care if Luke is gay, but I don't want to see it." Bloom stated that there was a "minimal" negative reaction from viewers about the storyline. Despite this, she could not clarify what "minimal" meant in this case. There had been no organized campaign by conservative or parent advocacy groups that monitor television content. "It's entirely new to me," said Tim Winter, president of the Parents Television Council. "I hadn't heard anything about it."

The American Family Association website took a "take-action alert" against Procter & Gamble. They called the company the "top pro-homosexual sponsor on television". The group came to its conclusion based on the number of Procter & Gamble products advertised on primetime television shows with gay or lesbian characters. As the World Turns were not mentioned.

One viewer along with Newcomb were more bothered by other things they had seen on the soap opera. They cited that a 14-year-old boy shot a man who was attacking his mother in 2008, and that "one character was so desperate for a baby that she slept with her ex-brother-in-law and was nearly caught having sex in an elevator. Another woman, they said, led her children and ex-husband into believing she had a brain tumor just to get him back". They felt that these incidents within the series were more offensive than two men kissing, and that the show should not have gone through with the Luke and Noah storyline if they were not going to finish it.

A complicated factor to the Luke and Noah controversy is the couple's popularity. At the time, some 140 scenes featuring the two were posted online, a number that has since grown. The message board on Vanhansis.net gets posts from around the world. While competitors One Life to Live and Days of Our Lives saw double-digit drops in viewership over the past year, As the World Turns was down only 2 percent.

Speculated was that the show's producers wanted and still want it "both ways" — to get credit for having a gay couple but no backlash from long-term viewers for showing intimacy, relayed Carolyn Hinsey, editor of Soap Opera Weekly. Despite the speculation, Bloom stated that she would like to see Luke and Noah's romance continue. "If that means there is a natural progression to the physical relationship, I would be in support of it," she said.

Tharrington laughed when asked about any behind-the-scenes debates over showing intimacy between the two men. "You wouldn't even believe," she told Associated Press. Producers are committed to telling the story of the romance, she added, stating that she hoped the audience would recognize what As the World Turns is showing, instead of just what it is not: "We feel like we're doing so much right here. We're telling a story that no one else is doing. We're telling a story that has really engaged our audience."

Within hours, all other news outlets such as CNN and FOX NEWS reported the Associated Press article, as debate about the no-kiss controversy became evident across the internet.

On April 23, 2008, the two men kissed again for the third time onscreen, after months of campaigning from relentless fans of the couple. Washington Blade stated:

Following Luke and Noah's third kiss, the show slowly allowed more and more physical intimacy between the two. Throughout the month of August 2008, every episode featuring Luke and Noah also included at least one kiss.

Consummation Clock
A debate regarding whether or not Luke and Noah would be allowed a sex scene led AfterElton.com to change their "LipLock Clock" to a "Consummation Clock" which counted how many days the couple had gone without having sex. This was done to try and persuade the producers and writers to portray their relationship with the same freedoms as they would a heterosexual couple. On January 12, 2009, the clock stopped when the couple finally consummated their relationship; they had sex for the first time, which pleased a significant portion of the audience. However, the love scene was not shown onscreen. TV Guide columnist Michael Logan said that the lack of promotion for the sex scene may have been a deliberate strategy to avoid giving protesters a chance to pressure the network from cutting the storyline. "Are they being savvy or scared?" he said. "I don't know." In addition, Logan commented on how long it took the series to have the two become physically intimate with each other. "It was getting goofy-ridiculous how long it took," said Logan. "But it happened. It's historic, I guess."

Criticism

Airtime
Gay and Lesbian Times reported receiving 20 letters from fans complaining about Luke and Noah's lack of airtime as a couple. In June and April, Luke and Noah were showcased in a total of seven episodes, which caused an uproar. Fans began campaigning in various ways in hopes of getting the couple featured more.

In contrast to the usual praise for the couple's campaigns, the Gay and Lesbian Times criticized fans of the couple on September 4, 2008, for their campaign efforts. They called it unbelievable that people counted the number of episodes Luke and Noah appeared in and shared together and that it would be "easy to laugh at the trivial nature of the fans concerns" if not for "the state of all nonfiction (read: real) gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people nationwide and internationally". Gay and Lesbian Times stated that there are more important things in life than the romance of two soap opera characters.

At the time, Luke and Noah had appeared in only 12 of 60 episodes and shared "a scant 36 minutes together" onscreen; the heterosexual couples had been sexually intimate 23 times onscreen, but not Luke and Noah.

See also
List of supercouples
Reid Oliver

References

External links
VanHansis.net - VAN HANSIS' fansite
NoahandLuke.com - a Luke & Noah fansite
Worth the Wait - a Luke & Noah fanlisting
Luke and Noah Wiki - LukeandNoahFans.com
The Nuke Fancast - a weekly Luke and Noah podcast
AfterElton.com interview with Jake Silbermann

2007 in American television
As the World Turns characters
Fictional gay men
Fictional LGBT couples
Soap opera supercouples

Luke Snyder and Noah Mayer


Vallinayagam Olaganathan Chidambaram Pillai  (5 September 1872 - 18 November 1936), also known as Kappalottiya Tamizhan ("Tamil Helmsman"), was an Indian freedom fighter and a prominent leader in the Indian independence movement. He founded the Swadeshi Steam Navigation Company in 1906 to compete against the monopoly of the British India Steam Navigation Company (BISNC). He launched the first indigenous Indian shipping service between Tuticorin (India) and Colombo (Sri Lanka) with the Swadeshi Steam Navigation Company (SSNC), competing against British ships. Tuticorin Port Trust, one of India's thirteen major ports, is named after him. Once a member of the Indian National Congress, he was later charged with sedition by the British government and sentenced to life imprisonment, and his barrister license was revoked.

Early life
V. O. Chidambaram Pillai was born in Ottapidaram, Tirunelveli District to Olaganathan Pillai and Paramayee Ammal. When Chidambaram was six years old, he learned Tamil from teacher Veeraperumal Annavi. He heard stories about Shiva from his grandmother and stories from the Ramayana from his grand father. He heard stories from Mahabharatha told by Allikulam Subramanya Pillai etc. In his childhood, he learned horse riding, silambattam, archery, sword fighting and played kabaddi, swimming, stilt walking, wrestling and chess.

He learned English from a Taluk officer named Krishnan Iyyengar in the evenings.  When Iyyengar was transferred, Chidambaram Pillai's father built a school for him and appointed Aramvalarthanatha Pillai from Ettayapuram as the English teacher.  The school was run by a priest at Pudhiamuthur. At fourteen, Chidambaram Pillai went to Thoothukudi to continue his studies.  He studied at CEOA High School and Caldwell High School and in Thoothukudi at the Hindu College High School, Tirunelveli.

Chidambaram Pillai worked as Taluk office clerk for some time before his father sent him to Tiruchirappalli to study law. He passed his pleadership exam in 1894, returning to Ottapidaram to become a pleader in 1895.

In Madras, Chidambaram Pillai met Swami Ramakrishnananda, a saint who belonged to Swami Vivekananda Ashram (monastery), who advised him to serve the nation. Here he met the Tamil poet Bharathiyaar who shared his political ideology. The two men became close friends.

Political life

Background

In the 1890s and 1900s India's independence movement and the Swadeshi movement, which confirms the politic parcel initiated by Bal Gangadhar Tilak and Lala Lajpat Rai of the Indian National Congress (INC), were at their peak. From 1892 Chidambaram Pillai was influenced by Tilak Maharaj and became his disciple. Along with Subramanya Siva and Subramanya Bharathi, he became a prominent spokesperson for the cause in the Madras Presidency. Following the partition of Bengal in 1905, Chidambaram entered politics, joining the Indian National Congress and taking a hardliner stance. He also presided at the Salem District Congress session.

Companies and institutions

Chidambaram Pillai established many institutions like Yuvanesh Prachar Sabha, Dharmasanga Nesavu Salai, National Godown, Madras Agro-Industrial Society ltd and Desabimana Sangam.

In response to the British India Steam Navigation Company's trade monopoly, Chidambaram started an Indian-owned shipping company. He registered the Swadeshi Shipping Company in October 1906. The capital of the company was ten lakh rupees.  The number of shares was 40,000 and the face value of each share was Rs. 25/-. Any Asian could become a shareholder. The director of the company was Pandi Thurai Thevar, Zamindar of Palavanatham and the founder of "Madurai Tamil Sangam".And Haji pakkir Mohammed Rowther Sait paid 200,000 INR and purchased 8000 shares of company, become secretary of the company.

In the beginning, the Company owned no ships, instead leasing them from Shawline Steamers Company. The B.I.S.N.C. pressured Shawline Steamers to cancel the lease; in response, Chidambaram Pillai leased a single large freighter from Sri Lanka. Realizing the need for the Swadeshi Steam Navigation Company to own its own vessels, Chidambaram Pillai travelled around India selling shares in the company to raise capital. He vowed, "I will come back with ships. Otherwise I will perish in the sea". He managed to secure sufficient funds to purchase the company's first ship, the S.S. Gallia; shortly afterwards, they were able to acquire the S.S. Lavo from France.

In response to the new competition, the B.I.S.N.C. reduced the fare per trip to Re.1 (16 annas) per head.  The S.S.N.C responded by offering a fare of Re.0.5 (8 Annas).  The British company went further by offering a free trip to the passengers with a free umbrella; however, nationalist sentiment meant that the free service was underused. The B.I.S.N.C. attempted to buy out Chidambaram, but he refused the deal.

The ships commenced regular service between Tuticorin and Colombo (Sri Lanka) against opposition from British traders and the Imperial Government.

Coral Mill strike

On 23 February 1908 Chidambaram Pillai gave a speech at Thoothukudi, encouraging the workers at Coral Mill (now part of Madura Coats) to protest against their low wages and harsh working conditions. Four days later, the workers of the Coral Mill went on strike lead by Subramanya Siva and Chidambaram himself. Their demands included incremental earnings, weekly holidays and other leave facilities.

Chidambaram ensured the strike was widely publicised, and it quickly gained popular support. On 6 March the head clerk Subramanya Pillai met Chidambaram and said that the management was ready to concede their demands. Chidambaram went with 50 workers and met the managers, who agreed to increase the wages, to reduce the working hours and to give leave on Sundays. The workers went back after a nine-day strike. The outcome of the strike encouraged the workers of other European companies, who also gained increased wages and better treatment. Sri Aurobindo appreciated Chidambaram and Siva for the unequalled skill and courage with which the fight was conducted in his Vande Mataram daily on 13 March 1908.

Arrest and imprisonment

By 1908, Chidambaram's political involvement drew the attention of the British. Hearing of his intention to speak at a rally celebrating the release of Bengali leader Bipin Chandra Pal, Winch, a British official invited Chidambaram to meet him in Thirunelveli with his political comrade Subramanya Siva. At the meeting, Winch expressed concern about Chidambaram's activities and asked him to give assurances that he would not participate in any political revolt. Chidambaram refused to accept his conditions, so he and Siva were arrested on 12 March 1908.

The arrest was followed by widespread protest. In Thirunelveli shops, schools and colleges were closed in protest, and rioting broke out. The Thirunelveli municipal office, post offices, police stations and municipal courts were attacked. A general strike was declared in Thoothukudi, which was the first political strike in India. Public meetings and processions were held, and four people were killed by the police.

Although his supporters were able to raise sufficient funds for bail, Chidambaram refused to leave the jail without the release of Siva and his other comrades. Subramanya Bharathi and Subramanya Siva also appeared in the court for questioning for the case instituted against Chidambaram.  He was charged under sections 123-A and 153-A of the Indian Penal Code for speaking against the British and giving shelter to Siva. Chidambaram refused to take part in the proceedings.

He was charged with sedition, and a sentence of two life imprisonments (in effect forty years) was imposed. He was confined in the Central Prison, Coimbatore from 9 July 1908 to 1 December 1910.

The judgement was widely condemned in the popular press, with even the British Statesmen magazine claiming that it was unjust. Chidambaram appealed the sentence in High Court, gaining a reduced punishment of four years imprisonment and six years in exile.  An appeal to the Privy Council led to a further reduction in sentence.

Chidambaram was interned in Coimbatore and Kannanoor jail. He was not treated as a political prisoner, nor was the sentence de facto of simple imprisonment; rather, he was treated as a convict sentenced to life imprisonment and required to do hard labour, which caused his health to suffer. Historian and Tamil scholar R. A. Padmanabhan later noted in his works that Chidambaram was "yoked (in place of bulls) to the oil press like an animal and made to work it in the cruel hot sun....". From prison Chidambaram continued correspondence, maintaining a steady stream of legal petitions. He was finally released on 12 December 1912.

To his dismay, the Swadeshi Steam Navigation Company had already been liquidated in 1911, and the ships were auctioned to their competitors. The company's first ship, the SS Gallia, was sold to the British Shipping Company.

Later life

Upon Chidambaram's release he was not permitted to return to Tirunelveli district. With his law license stripped from him, he moved to Chennai with his wife and two young sons. There he ran a provisions store and a kerosene store.

Chidambaram had a long correspondence with Gandhi, not yet Mahatma, from 1915 to 1920. In 1915, when Gandhi visited Chennai (Madras then), both had met. Some people in South Africa of Indian origin had collected money to help Chidambaram and transmitted the amount through Gandhi. However, Chidambaram did not receive the money. He had some lengthy correspondence with Gandhi on the subject. In one instance Gandhi wrote a postcard to Chidambaram in Tamil with his own hand. Chidambaram was delighted on seeing the postcard and, for a moment, forgot about the money dispute. However, on 4 February 1916, Chidamabaram wrote to a friend, "Rs. 347-12-0 has come from Sriman Gandhi."

In 1920, Chidambaram quit the Indian National Congress, citing ideological differences with Mahatma Gandhi. He focused his efforts on establishing labor unions in Madras and on writing.

After moving to Coimbatore, Chidambaram worked as a bank manager. Dissatisfied with the income, he petitioned the court, seeking permission to practice law again. Judge E.H. Wallace gave permission to restore Chidambaram's pleadership license; to show his gratitude Chidambaram named his last son Valacewaran.

Chidambaram moved to Kovilpatti and practiced as a lawyer. He rejoined the Congress Party in 1927 and presided over the third political conference held at Salem. He said that he wanted to join Congress again because he noticed a remarkable change in the policies of Congress and was happy to note that the policies of which he did not approve were withdrawn one by one. However, after the Salem conference Chidambaram again severed his contact with Congress.

In 1929 he moved to Thoothukudi, where he spent his time writing and publishing Tamil books. By 1935, he had written commentary on the first book of the Tirukkural (Book of Virtue) and was published under a different title. However, it was only in 2008 that the complete work of his commentary on the Kural was published.

Death
Chidambaram Pillai spent his final years in poverty. He died on 18 November 1936 at the Tuticorin office of the Indian National Congress.

Written works
 Meyyaram 1914
 Meyyarivu 1915
 Anthology 1915
 Autobiography 1946
 Many articles in various magazines
 Translation works
 Literary notes (commentary) on the Tirukkural

Published works

 Thirukural with literary notes of Manakudavar 1917
 Tolkappiam with literary notes of Ilampooranar 1928

Post-independence honours

Posthumously, Chidambaram is known by the titles Kappalottiya Thamizhan ("the Tamizhan who drove the ship") and  "Chekkiluththa Chemmal" ("a great man who pulled the oil press in jail for the sake of his people"). His ship is situated near Marina Beach.

Stamp
The Indian Posts & Telegraphs department of India issued a special postage stamp on 5 September 1972, on the occasion of his birth centenary.

Statues of Chidambaram
Many statues of Chidambaram have been commissioned; some of the more notable are:

 At the entrance of the  Congress committee office, Royapettah, Chennai (1939).
 At the arch of Palayamkottai, Tirunelveli.
 At Marina beach, Chennai. (unveiled at the World Tamil Conference).
 At the port, Thoothukudi. (unveiled by Indira Gandhi, the former Prime Minister).
 At the Entrance of Kattu Paramakudi (V.O.C. Mahal) unveiled at 18 November 2012. By Tamil Nadu V.O.C Peravai, Ramanathapuram District.
 At Simmakkal, Madurai (unveiled by M. G. Ramachandran, former chief minister of Tamil Nadu).
 At the commemorative building of V.O.C., Tirunelveli. (unveiled by J. Jayalalithaa, former chief minister of Tamil Nadu).
 The Tuticorin Port was rechristened as V.O. Chidambaranar Port Trust by Manmohan Singh,  former Prime Minister and G.K. Vasan, Union Minister of Shipping. In 2022, it was again renamed as V.O. Chidambaranar Port Authority by Government of India.
 At Theni district (Chinnamanur center place) & Bodi & (Chilamarathupatti-Bus stand) & (Putthipuram-Bus stand)

Ma. Po. Si. (M.P. Sivagnanam)
M.P. Sivagnanam, popularly known as Ma. Po. Si., wrote a biography of Chidambaram titled Kappalottiya Tamizhan. Later Chidambaram was remembered as 'Kappalottiya Thamizhan'. Ma. Po. Si. brought the fame of Chidambaram to the limelight.

Books written by Ma. Po. Si. on V.O. Chidambaram Pillai are Kappalottiya Thamizhan (1944), Kappalottiya Chidambaranar (1972) and Thalapathy Chidambaranar (1950).

R.A.Padmanabhan, popularly known as Bharathi Aringnyar . He has written an authenticated biography  of V.O.Chidambaram Pillai in English printed and published by the National Book Trust in 1977. R A P gives a greater insight into the life of Chidambaram Pillai focussing Chidambaram Pillai's achievement as the pioneer of Swadeshi Shipping company.

Film portrayal

In 1961 Kannada film director B.R. Panthalu made a film of Chidambaram's life titled Kappalottiya Thamizhan. Chidambaram was portrayed by Sivaji Ganesan, Subramanya Siva by T. K. Shanmugam and Subramanya Barathi by S. V. Subbaiah. The story of this movie is based on Ma. Po. Si.'s biography 'Kappalottiya Tamizhan'.

In RRR film, he was featured and honoured in a song named Ettara Jenda (Koelae).

References

Bibliography
 Appanaswamy, Parambarai (Tamil language), Barathi Boothakalayam, Chen (2004)

External links

 V.O. Chidambaram Pillai – One Hundred Tamils of 20th Century (www.tamilnation.org)
 V.O. Chidambaram Pillai – Heroes of the South
 Stamp on V.O.C by Indian Postal Department
 Ma.Po.Si
 V.O.C.'S original photo
voc songs

1872 births
1936 deaths
Indian independence activists from Tamil Nadu
Indian Tamil people
Tamil history
Trade unionists from Tamil Nadu
Businesspeople from Tamil Nadu
People from Thoothukudi district
Indian businesspeople in shipping
Tamil lawyers
Tamil trade unionists
Swadeshi activists
People convicted of sedition
Indian prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment
Prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment by the United Kingdom
Tirukkural commentators
19th-century Indian businesspeople
20th-century Indian businesspeople
20th-century Indian lawyers
Indian National Congress politicians from Tamil Nadu

V. O. Chidambaram Pillai


An honorary degree or a degree honoris causa (Latin: for the sake of the honour) is an academic degree given by a university to a person who particularly deserves such an honour.  It may be someone who has had nothing to do with that university.  The person does not have to do any examination.  It is purely an honour for whatever good work he or she has already done.  Very often the honorary degree is a doctorate.

Academic degrees

Honorary degree