DHARMA, CONTRACEPTION AND CHATTANOOGA

The more we look the more we learn. A couple of items on the 11^th February give rise to some interesting ideas on the order of things and the duty of the citizen. One in 1826 and another in 1916, 90 years on.

The Shikshapatri (Devanagari) is a religious text consisting of two hundred and twelve verses, written in Sanskrit by Bhagwan Swaminarayan The Shikshapatri is a key scripture to all followers of the Swaminarayan faith and is considered the basis of the faith.

Swaminarayan writing the Shiskhapatri

The Shikshapatri was written in Vadtal on 11^th February, 1826. It is a dharma text, providing detailed instructions on how to live.

The Gazetteer of the Bombay Presidency summarised the teachings of the Shiskshapatri as:

The book of precepts strictly prohibits the destruction of animal life; promiscuous intercourse with the other sex; use of animal food and intoxicant liquors and drugs on any occasion, suicide, theft and robbery; false accusation against a fellow man; blasphemy; company of atheists and heretics, and other practices which might counteract the effect of the founder's teaching.

The Bombay Presidency (Marathi) is a province of British India. It was established in the 17th century as a trading post for the English East India Company, but later grew to encompass much of western and central India, as well as parts of post-partition Pakistan and the Arabian Peninsula.

Dharma  (lit. that which upholds, supports or maintains the regulatory order of the universe) means Law or Natural Law and is a concept of central importance in Indian philosophy and religion. As well as referring to Law in the universal or abstract sense dharma designates those behaviours considered necessary for the maintenance of the natural order of things. Therefore dharma may encompass ideas such as duty, vocation, religion and everything that is considered correct, proper or decent behaviour. The idea of dharma as duty or propriety derives from an idea found in India's ancient legal and religious texts that there is a divinely instituted natural order of things (rta) and justice, social harmony and human happiness require that human beings discern and live in a manner appropriate to the requirements of that order.

  

Sanger

When Maragaret Sanger, an advocate of access to contraception, coined the term "birth control" and disseminated information about various methods in the June 1914 issue of her magazine The Woman Rebel, she received aggressive support from Emma Goldman. Sanger was arrested in August under the Comstock Law, which prohibited the dissemination of "obscene, lewd, or lascivious articles"—including information relating to birth control. Although they later split from Sanger over charges of insufficient support, Emma Goldman and Ben Reitman distributed copies of Sanger's pamphlet Family Limitation (along with a similar essay of Reitman's). In 1915 Goldman conducted a nationwide speaking tour in part to raise awareness about contraception options. Although the nation's attitude toward the topic seemed to be liberalizing, Goldman was arrested the 11th February 1916 and charged with violation of the Comstock Law. Refusing to pay a $100 fine, she spent two weeks in a prison workhouse, which she saw as an "opportunity" to reconnect with those rejected by society.

Reitman

Goldman

The original gold record awards were presented to artists by their own record companies to publicize the achievement of 1,000,000 sales. The first of these was awarded by RCA to Glenn Miller on 11^th February 1942, celebrating 1,200,000 sales of "Chattanooga Choo Choo". This you tube video is just great stuff. It’s an extract from the film Sun Valley Serenade (1941). The Nicholas brothers are fab. The young lady with them is a young Dorothy Dandridge. If this doesn’t brighten your day, nothing will.