title: Ahalya

text: In all versions of the tale, after marrying Gautama, Ahalya settles into his ashram (hermitage), which generally becomes the site of her epic curse. The "Ramayana" records that Gautama's ashram is in a forest ("Mithila-upavana") near Mithila, where the couple practices asceticism together for several years. In other scriptures, the ashram is usually near the river bank. The "Brahma Purana" says that it is near the river Godavari and the "Skanda Purana" (701–1200 CE) places it near the river Narmada. The "Padma Purana" and the "Brahma Vaivarta Purana" (801–1100 CE) describe the ashram as near the holy city of Pushkar.


title: Ahalya

text: The "Brahmana"s (9th to 6th centuries BCE) are the oldest scriptures to mention a relationship between Ahalya and Indra in the ""subrahmanya" formula", a chant used by Vedic priests "at the beginning of a sacrifice to invite the main participants: Indra, the gods and the Brahmins" (priests). The "Jaiminiya Brahmana" and the "Sadvimsha Brahmana" from the Samaveda tradition, the "Shatapatha Brahmana" and the "Taittiriya Brahmana" from the Yajurveda tradition and two "Shrautasutra"s ("Latyayana" and "Drahyayana") invoke Indra, the "lover of Ahalya ... O Kaushika [Brahmin], who calls himself Gautama". The Samaveda tradition identifies her as Maitreyi, who the commentator Sayana (died 1387) explains is "the daughter of [the god] Mitra".


title: Ahalya

text: In the "subrahmanya" formula, Ahalya does not have a husband. The "Sadvimsha Brahmana" does not explicitly state that Ahalya has a husband, although Kaushika (interpreted by most scholars as Ahalya's husband) is present in the story and his relationship to her can be inferred through Indra's adoption of the Brahmin's form to "visit" Ahalya. Renate Söhnen-Thieme, research associate at the School of Oriental and African Studies, feels that the Kaushika of the "Sadvismha Brahmana" is the same individual described as cursing Indra in the 5th- to 4th-century BCE epic "Mahabharata" (discussed below in "Curse and redemption").


title: Ahalya

text: The "Shatapatha Brahmana"'s commentator, Kumarila Bhatta (c. 700), reasons that the Ahalya–Indra narrative is an allegory for the Sun or the light (Indra) taking away the shade of night (Ahalya). Edward Washburn Hopkins, an American indologist, interpreted the Ahalya of the "subrahmanya" formula not as a woman, but literally as "yet unploughed land", which Indra makes fertile.


title: Ahalya

text: The "Bala Kanda" of the "Ramayana" is the earliest text to describe Ahalya's seduction in detail. It states that Indra becomes enamoured by Ahalya's beauty, learns of her husband's absence and comes to the ashram disguised as Gautama to request sexual intercourse with her, praising her as a shapely and slim-waisted woman. She sees through his disguise, but consents owing to her "curiosity". According to another interpretation, Ahalya's pride in her beauty compels her. Having satiated his lust, Ahalya requests that Indra, her "lover" and the "best of gods", flee and protect them from Gautama's wrath. The "Kathasaritsagara" (11th century CE) is one of the few texts that mirror the "Bala Kanda"'s Ahalya, who makes a conscious decision to accept Indra's advances. However, in this text Indra arrives undisguised.


title: Ahalya

text: Although the "Bala Kanda" mentions that Ahalya consciously commits adultery, the "Uttar Kanda" of the "Ramayana" and the "Puranas" (compiled between the 4th and 16th centuries CE) absolve her of all guilt. The "Uttar Kanda" recasts the tale as Ahalya's rape by Indra. In one allusion in the "Mahabharata", King Nahusha reminds Brihaspati, Indra's guru, how Indra "violated" the "renowned" "rishi-patni" (wife of a sage) Ahalya. According to Söhnen-Thieme, the usage of the words "violated" and "renowned" indicates that Ahalya is not considered an adulteress.


title: Ahalya

text: The "Puranas" introduce themes that are echoed in later works, including the deception of the unsuspecting Ahalya by Indra's devious disguise as Gautama in his absence. The "Padma Purana" states that after Gautama leaves for his ritual bath, Indra masquerades as Gautama and asks Ahalya to satisfy him. Ahalya, engrossed in worship, rejects him, considering it inappropriate to have sex at the cost of neglecting the gods. Indra reminds her that her first duty is to serve him. Finally Ahalya gives in, but Gautama learns of Indra's deception through his supernatural powers and returns to the ashram. A similar account is found in the "Brahma Purana". At times, Indra takes the form of a cock that crows to dispatch Gautama for his morning ablutions, as in the 18th-century Telugu rendition of the tale by the warrior-poet Venkata Krishnappa Nayaka of the Madurai Nayak Dynasty. In other versions, he uses an accomplice, such as the moon-god Chandra, to distract Gautama. In the "Brahma Vaivarta Purana", Ahalya comes to bathe in the "Svarnadi" (heavenly river) and Indra becomes infatuated with her when he sees her. Assuming Gautama's form, Indra has sex with her until they sink to the river bed in exhaustion. However, Gautama catches them in the act. Another version in the same "Purana" focuses on the question of how the chaste Ahalya was seduced by Indra. In this version, Indra approaches Ahalya on the banks of the Mandakini river in his own form to ask for a sexual favour, which is flatly refused by Ahalya. Indra subsequently poses as Gautama and fulfils his objective.


title: Ahalya

text: In some versions, though initially deluded by Indra's disguise, Ahalya eventually recognises the impersonator. In the "Skanda Purana", Ahalya smells Indra's celestial fragrance and realises her folly as he embraces and kisses her and "so forth" (probably indicating a sexual act). Threatening Indra with a curse, she compels him to reveal his true form. However, Kamban's 12th-century Tamil adaptation of the "Ramayana", the "Ramavataram", narrates that Ahalya realises that her lover is an imposter but continues to enjoy the dalliance. Here, Ahalya agrees to have sex with the disguised Indra because she has long been craving affection from her ascetic husband.


title: Ahalya

text: In Venkata Krishnappa Nayaka's Telugu rendition, Ahalya is depicted as a romantic adulteress. When Brahma creates Ahalya as the most beautiful being, she falls in love with Indra and longs for him, but Brahma grants her to Gautama. After Ahalya's marriage, Indra too craves for her. He frequently visits her and flirts with her in Gautama's absence. At one point, Ahalya receives a visit from Indra's female messenger, who proceeds to mock husbands who avoid sex by saying that it is not the right day for pleasure. Ahalya protests, maintaining that she imagines Gautama to be Indra as they have sex and that a woman should be a stone, forgoing all thought of sexual gratification. That night, when Ahalya longs for conjugal bliss, Gautama refuses her, saying that she is not in her fertile period. Agitated, she wishes that Indra was there to satisfy her. Indra perceives her wish and comes in Gautama's disguise, but is revealed by his seductive speech. Ignoring the deception, Ahalya joyously makes love to him.


title: Ahalya

text: According to some folklores, many women in that era were angry as the social system allowed polygamy back then. They wanted their husbands loyal to themselves. Some of those women pleased Rati, the goddess of love. Rati gave them 'Animeya', as special kind of potion, that could reduce human size and could turn a human as small as a finger. Those women used the potion to shrunk their husbands and then they had full control over their husbands. Shurpanakha, sister of Ravana stole Animeya potion from Rati. Later when Ravana's son Meghanada captured Indra, Shurpanakha was attracted to Indra and used Animeya to shrink him. Miniature Indra was able to escape from Shurpanakha but due to Meghanada's attack, he temporarily lost most of his divine powers and thus he could not fly to reach Indraloka. Indra knew that he could get antidote of 'Animeya' from the Ashrama of Gautama. However, since the Antidote was made by Rati too, there were some rules; Indra could not take the antidote by himself, a woman and only a woman must feed him the antidote. Also he would have to make love with that woman before taking antidote. Indra knowing that, took form of miniature Gautama and went in front of Ahalya. Ahalya, upon seeing miniature form, recognized him to be Indra. Ahalya was already attracted to Indra and after grabbing him she started giggling and making love using his full miniature body. Indra, even in miniature form was able to survive as he was a Deity. After that, Ahalya restored Indra's size.


title: Ahalya

text: While most versions agree that Gautama curses Ahalya after discovering the affair, the curse varies from text to text. However, almost all versions describe Rama as the agent of her liberation and redemption.


title: Ahalya

text: The "Bala Kanda" mentions that Gautama spots Indra, who is still in disguise, and curses him to lose his testicles. Gautama then curses Ahalya to remain invisible to all beings for thousands of years, fast by subsisting only on air, suffer and sleep in ashes and be tormented by guilt. Nevertheless, he assures her that her sin will be expiated once she extends her hospitality to Rama, who will visit the ashram. Thereafter, Gautama abandons the ashram and goes to the Himalayas to practise asceticism. The Ayodhya prince Rama, his brother Lakshmana and their guru, the sage Vishvamitra pass Gautama's desolate ashram while travelling to King Janaka's court in Mithila. As they near the ashram, Vishvamitra recounts the tale of Ahalya's curse and instructs Rama to save Ahalya. Although Ahalya is cursed, Vishvamitra nevertheless describes her as goddess-like and illustrious, repeatedly calling her "mahabhaga", a Sanskrit compound ("maha" and "bhaga") translated as "most illustrious and highly distinguished"; this interpretation contrasts with that of Rambhadracharya, who believes that the word "mahabhaga", in the context of Ahalya's story, means "extremely unfortunate" ("maha" and "abhaga"). Following Vishvamitra, the princes enter the ashram to see Ahalya, who, up till then, had been hidden from the universe. Ahalya is described as glowing from the intensity of her ascetic devotion, but hidden from the world like the Sun obscured by dark clouds, the light of a full moon hidden by mist or a blazing flame masked by smoke. Under the direction of his guru, Rama considers Ahalya pure and unblemished and, accompanied by Lakshamana, gives her obeisance by touching her by his feet, an act that restores her social status. She greets them, recalling Gautama's words that Rama would be her redeemer. Ahalya extends her warmest reception, making a "welcome offering" of forest fruits and washing their feet, an act of respect according to the rites of that era. The gods and other celestial beings shower Rama and Ahalya with flowers and bow to Ahalya, who has been purified through her penance. Gautama then returns to his ashram and accepts her.


title: Ahalya

text: In one instance in the "Mahabharata", Indra is said to have been cursed by having his beard turned to gold as he seduces Ahalya, while a curse by Kaushika (sometimes interpreted as synonymous to Gautama) is cited as the reason for his castration. In the "Uttara Kanda", Indra is cursed to lose his throne and endure captivity and bear half the sin of every rape ever committed, while the innocent Ahalya is cursed to lose her status as the most beautiful woman, as it had prompted Indra's seduction. Ahalya claims her innocence (this part is not found in all manuscripts), but Gautama agrees to accept her only when she is sanctified by offering Rama hospitality.


title: Ahalya

text: Ahalya's defence plea is also found in some of the "Purana"s. In the "Brahma Purana", Ahalya is cursed to become a dried up stream, but pleads her innocence and produces servants, who were also deceived by Indra's disguise, as witnesses. Gautama reduces the curse on his "faithful wife" and she is redeemed when she joins the Gautami (Godavari) river as a stream. Indra is cursed to carry his shame in the form of a thousand vulvae on his body, but the vulvae turn into eyes as he bathes in the Gautami. The "Brahma Purana" is a rare exception where Rama is dropped from the narrative. Instead, the greatness of the Gautami river is illustrated. The "Padma Purana" tells that as Indra attempts to flee in the form of a cat, Gautama curses him to lose his genitals and to bear a thousand vulvae on his body. The beguiled Ahalya declares herself blameless, but Gautama considers her impure and curses her to be reduced to a mere skeleton of skin and bones. He decrees that she will regain her beautiful form when Rama laughs at seeing her so afflicted, dried out (a reminder of the dried stream motif), without a body (the "Ramayana" curse) and lying on the path (an attribute often used to describe a stone). When Rama comes, he proclaims her innocence and Indra's guilt, whereupon Ahalya returns to her heavenly abode and dwells with Gautama.


title: Ahalya

text: In the popular retelling of the legend in later works, as well as in theatre and electronic media, Ahalya is turned to stone by Gautama's curse and returns to her human form only after being brushed by Rama's foot. Pradip Bhattacharya, author of "Panch-Kanya: The Five Virgins of Indian Epics", argues that this version of the tale is the result of a "male backlash" and patriarchal myth-making that condemns her as a non-entity devoid of emotions, self-respect and social status.


title: Ahalya

text: According to the "Brahma Vaivarta Purana", Gautama curses Indra to bear a thousand vulvae, which will turn to eyes when he worships the sun-god Surya. Ahalya, though innocent, is turned to stone for sixty thousand years and destined to be redeemed only by Rama's touch. Ahalya accepts the verdict without debate. In another version in the same "Purana", Gautama catches Indra fleeing as a cat and curses him with castration. Ahalya's plea of innocence is acknowledged by Gautama, who declares that her mind is pure and she has kept the "vow of chastity and fidelity", but another man's seed has defiled her body. Gautama orders her to go to the forest and become a stone until rescued by the touch of Rama's feet. In Venkata Krishnappa Nayaka's Telugu rendition, when Indra reluctantly leaves, Gautama arrives and curses Ahalya to become a stone, to be later purified by Rama's feet. After she is freed from the curse, Gautama and Ahalya are reconciled and they spend their days in bed, exploring sexual techniques.


title: Ahalya

text: The "Skanda Purana" tells that when Gautama arrives, Ahalya explains the whole tale truthfully, but is cursed by Gautama to become a stone, because he believes that she acted as a rolling stone, unable to recognise the difference between Indra's and Gautama's gestures and movements. The touch of Rama's feet is prophesied to be her saviour. The terrified Indra escapes as a cat and is cursed with castration. Ahalya's truthfulness is also observed in the "Kathasaritsagara". When Gautama arrives after the act, Indra tries to flee as a cat but is cursed to bear the marks of a thousand vulvae. When asked by Gautama about her visitor, Ahalya wittily answers that it was a "majjara", a word meaning either "cat" or, when split as "ma-jara", "my lover". Gautama laughs and curses her to be turned into stone, but decrees that she will be released by Rama since she at least spoke the truth.


title: Ahalya

text: The petrification motif also appears in non-scriptural works. The "Raghuvamsa" of Kalidasa (generally dated 4th century CE) notes that the wife of Gautama (unnamed here) momentarily becomes the wife of Indra. Without explicitly mentioning the curse, it relates further that she regains her beautiful form and casts away her stony appearance, owing to the grace provided by the dust of Rama's feet, which redeems her. Gautam Patel, author of many works about Kalidasa, credits him as the first person to introduce the petrification motif. In the "Ramavataram" too, Rama does not have to touch Ahalya with his foot; the dust from his feet is enough to bring her back to life. As in other versions of the tale, the repentant Ahalya is turned to stone, only to be liberated by Rama, and Indra runs away disguised as a cat but is cursed to bear the marks of a thousand vulvae. The "Ramavataram" is an example of the Bhakti-era poets who exalt Rama as a saviour.


title: Ahalya

text: Although opinions differ on whether the "Bala Kanda" narrative of Ahalya refers to the divinity of Rama, later sources assert Rama's divine status, portraying Ahalya as a condemned woman rescued by God. The Bhakti-era poets use the episode as an archetypal example to demonstrate God's saving grace. The main theme of such narratives is her deliverance by Rama, which is seen as proof of his compassion.


title: Ahalya

text: Most of the fifth chapter of the "Bala Kanda" Book of the "Adhyatma Ramayana" (embedded in the "Brahmanda Purana", c. 14th century) is dedicated to the Ahalya episode. Like most other versions of the story, Ahalya is turned into stone and advised to engross herself in meditation of Rama, "the Supreme Lord". When Rama touches the stone with his foot on Vishvamitra's advice, Ahalya rises as a beautiful maiden and sings a long panegyric dedicated to Rama. She describes his iconographic form and exalts him as an avatar of Vishnu and source of the universe to whom many divinities pay their respects. After worshipping him, she returns to Gautama. At the end of the narrative, Ahalya's hymn is prescribed as an ideal benediction for a devotee to gain Rama's favour. The Awadhi "Ramacharitamanasa" (16th century) drops the narrative of Indra's visit to Ahalya. In this epic, Vishvamitra tells Rama that the cursed Ahalya has assumed the form of a rock and is patiently awaiting the dust from Rama's feet. Ahalya tells Rama that Gautama was right to pronounce the curse, and she deems it as the greatest favour, for as a result, she feasted her eyes on Rama, who liberated her from her worldly existence. As in the "Adhyatma Ramayana", Ahalya lauds Rama as the great Lord served by other divinities, asks for the boon of eternal engrossment in his devotion and afterwards leaves for her husband's abode. The narrative ends with praise for Rama's compassion. Tulsidas alludes to this episode numerous times in the "Ramacharitamanasa" while highlighting the significance of Rama's benevolence. Commenting on this narrative in the "Ramacharitamanasa", Rambhadracharya says that Rama destroyed three things: the sin of Ahalya by his sight, the curse by the dust of his feet and the affliction by the touch of his feet, evidenced by the use of the "Tribhangi" (meaning "destroyer of the three") metre in the verses which form Ahalya's panegyric.


title: Ahalya

text: In some rare exceptions, the curse is dropped. In an instance in the "Mahabharata", where details of the seduction are absent, an agitated Gautama orders his son Chirakari to behead his "polluted" mother and leaves the ashram. However, Chirakari is hesitant to follow the order and later concludes that Ahalya is innocent. Gautama returns and repents his hasty decision, realising that Indra is the guilty party. In the Bhil "Ramayana", Gautama attacks and imprisons Indra, who is freed when he promises to shower rain on the crops as the rain god. He must also ensure that one quarter of the crops is dedicated to Gautama. Here, Ahalya is interpreted as dry and burnt land, eager for the rains sent by Indra, who is tamed by the wild cyclonic Gautama.


title: Ahalya

text: Ahalya has been examined in a new light by several modern writers, most commonly through short stories or through poetry in various Indian languages. Although Ahalya is a minor character in all ancient sources, "stigmatised and despised by those around her" for violating gender norms, modern Indian writers have elevated her to the status of an epic heroine, rather than an insignificant figure in the saga of Rama. However, in modern devotional "Ramayana" adaptations where Rama is the hero, the redemption of Ahalya continues to be a supernatural incident in his life.


title: Ahalya

text: Ahalya's tale lives on in modern-day poetry, including works by Rabindranath Tagore in Bengali and English; P. T. Narasimhachar's 1940 Kannada poetic drama, "Ahalya", which weighs "kama" against "dharma" (pleasure against duty); and the works of the Sanskrit scholar and poet Chandra Rajan. It is retold numerous times in stage enactments as well as in film and television productions. Ahalya is a popular motif in the Mahari temple-dancer tradition of Odisha. Other works and genres of performance art that have been used to tell her story include the "mohiniyattam" dance of Kerala; "Ahalyamoksham", a play by Kunchan Nambiar staged in the "ottamthullal" tradition; and "Sati Ahalya", a "padya-natakam" drama from Andhra Pradesh.


title: Ahalya

text: Early in the 20th century, the old norms were reasserted. Pa. Subramania Mudaliar in his Tamil poem (1938) describes Ahalya lecturing Indra on chastity, but Indra's lust compels him to rape her. Gautama turns Ahalya to stone to free her from the trauma. The Tamil writer Yogiyar portrays an innocent Ahalya, who sleeps with the disguised Indra, overcome with guilt and asking for punishment. Sripada Krishnamurty Sastry's Telugu version of "Ramayana" (1947), one of the most censored versions of the tale, reduces Ahalya's contact with Indra to a handshake.


title: Ahalya

text: Other authors reinterpreted the Ahalya legend from a very different perspective, often depicting Ahalya as a rebel and telling the story from her angle. R. K. Narayan (1906–2001) focuses on the psychological details of the story, reusing the old tale of Indra's disguise as Gautama, his flight as a cat and Ahalya's petrifaction. The theme of adulterous love is explored in Vishram Bedekar's musical Marathi play "Brahma Kumari" (1933) and the Malayalam works of P. V. Ramavarier (1941) and M. Parvati Amma (1948). The Ahalya of the Tamil short story writer Ku Pa Rajagopalan (1902–44) also secretly longs for Indra and enjoys dalliance with him. Pratibha Ray's Odia novel "Mahamoha" (1997, "Great Lust") portrays an independent and nonconformist Ahalya as a tragic heroine, who offers herself to Indra so that he can fulfil his lust and she her womanhood. When Gautama persuades her to lie to society by claiming to have been raped, she debates chastity and freedom of mind with him.


title: Ahalya

text: Some writers try to imagine Ahalya's life after the curse and redemption, a denouement which remains undisclosed in the ancient scriptures. Pudhumaipithan's Tamil story "Sapavimocanam" (1943, "Deliverance from the Curse") and K. B. Sreedevi's Malayalam language work (1990) translated as "Woman of Stone" focus on Rama's "double standard" from a feminist perspective. They ask why Rama frees Ahalya from being cursed for adultery, but punishes his wife Sita over false accusations of adultery with her kidnapper, Ravana. In Pudhumaipithan's tale, Ahalya turns back into stone after hearing that Sita had to undergo a trial by fire to prove her chastity. Sreedevi portrays her turning into stone upon learning that Sita was banished from the kingdom on charges of adultery even after proving her chastity through the trial. Pudhumaipithan also narrates how, after the redemption, Ahalya suffers from "post-trauma repetition syndrome", repeatedly re-experiencing Indra's seduction and Gautama's fury, as well as suffering the ire of a conservative society that rejects her. Gautama also suffers from self-recrimination at his hasty decision to curse Ahalya. In another story, "Ahalya" by Pudhumaipithan, Gautama forgives both Ahalya and Indra.


title: Ahalya

text: S. Sivasekaram's 1980 Tamil poem "Ahalikai" examines the stone motif in Ahalya's tale: she marries a husband who is no more interested in her than a stone and briefly encounters joy with Indra, only to end up cursed to become a lifeless stone. The poet asks if it was better for Ahalya to remain physically a stone and retain her dignity rather than return to a stony marriage. "Uyir Maga" ("Life-woman") by the Tamil poet Na. Pichamurthy (1900–76) presents Ahalya as an allegorical representation of life, with Gautama as the mind and Indra pleasure. The Marxist critic Kovai Gnani, in his poem "Kallihai", represents Ahalya as the oppressed class and Rama as an ideal future without exploitation. Gautama and Indra represent feudalism and capitalism. The character of Ahalya played by Kamala Kotnis in the 1949 movie "Sati Ahalya" ("chaste Ahalya") was described as still relevant by contemporary film critics due to its portrayal of the predicament of a stained woman.


title: Ahalya

text: Love, sex and desire become important elements of the plot in Sant Singh Sekhon's Punjabi play "Kalakar" (1945), which places the epic drama in the modern age. It depicts Ahalya as a free-spirited woman, who dares to be painted nude by Inder (Indra), a pupil of the art professor, Gautama, and defends her decision against her husband's criticisms. N. S. Madhavan's Malayalam story (April 2006) also retells Ahalya's tale in a modern setting, wherein Ahalya, accused of adultery, is beaten by her husband, leaving her in a coma from which the neurologist, Rama, revives her. However, the practice of retelling the classical Ahalya–Indra tale in a contemporary setting is not new. The "Yoga Vasistha" (1001–1400) narrates a tale of two adulterous lovers, Queen Ahalya and the Brahmin Indra. Here, Ahalya and Indra fall in love and continue their affair, despite being punished by Ahalya's jealous husband. After death, they reunite in their next birth. The 2015 short film "Ahalya" gives a feminist twist to the tale where the policeman Indra turns into a stone doll, after visiting Ahalya.


title: Ahalya

text: The "Ramayana" mentions Ahalya's son, Shatananda (Satananda), the family priest and preceptor of King Janaka of Mithila. In this version, Shatananda asks Vishvamitra anxiously about the well-being of his "renowned" mother. By contrast, the "Mahabharata" mentions two sons: Sharadvan, born with arrows in his hand, and Chirakari, whose extensive brooding over his actions leads to procrastination. Besides these, an unnamed daughter is also alluded to in the narrative. The "Vamana Purana" mentions three daughters: Jaya, Jayanti and Aparaji.


title: Ahalya

text: Another legend, generally told in Indian folk tales, states that Aruna, the charioteer of the sun-god Surya, once became a woman named Aruni and entered an assembly of celestial nymphs, where no man except Indra was allowed. Indra fell in love with Aruni and fathered a son named Vali. The next day, at Surya's request, Aruna again assumed female form, and Surya fathered a son, Sugriva. Both children were given to Ahalya for rearing, but Gautama cursed them, causing them to turn into monkeys, as he did not like them. In the Thai version of the Ramayana, the "Ramakien", Vali and Sugriva are described as Ahalya's children from her liaisons with Indra and Surya. Although Ahalya initially passes them off as sons of Gautama, her daughter by Gautama – Anjani – reveals her mother's secret to her father. He consequently drives the brothers away and curses them to become monkeys. Enraged, Ahalya curses Anjani to give birth to a monkey too. Anjani bears Hanuman, the monkey-god and friend of Rama. Similar tales are also found in the Malay adaptation, "Hikayat Seri Rama", and Punjabi and Gujarati folk tales. However, Anjani is cursed by Gautama in these versions, generally for aiding Indra and Ahalya in concealing the secret.


title: Ahalya

text: Some Tamil castes trace their ancestry to Ahalya and Indra's liaison; the castes are named after Ahalya's children. Gautama finds the three boys and names them according to their behaviour: Agamudayar (derived from "brave"), who confronts Gautama, Maravar (derived from "tree"), who climbs a tree and Kallar (derived from "thief" or "rock"), who hides like a thief behind a large rock. A fourth child, Vellala, is added in some versions. In another variant, the liaison is replaced by penance and worship offered by Ahalya to Indra, who gifts her the children as a reward.


title: Ahalya

text: Orthodox Hindus, especially Hindu wives, remember the "panchakanya", the five virgins or maidens, in this daily morning prayer. One view considers them "exemplary chaste women" or "mahasati"s ("great chaste women") as per the Mahari dance tradition, and worthy as an ideal for "displaying some outstanding quality". According to this view, Ahalya is the "epitome of the chaste wife, unjustly accused of adultery", while her "proverbial loyalty to her husband" makes her venerable. Ahalya is often regarded as the leader of the "panchkanya" due to the "nobility of her character, her extraordinary beauty and the fact of her being chronologically the first "kanya"". In the "Devi-Bhagavata Purana", Ahalya is included in a list of secondary goddesses, who are "auspicious, glorious and much praiseworthy", alongside Tara and Mandodari as well as some of the "pancha-sati"s ("five "sati"s or chaste wives") Arundhati and Damayanti.


title: Ahalya

text: Another view does not regard the "panchakanya" as ideal women who should be emulated. Bhattacharya, author of "Panch-Kanya: The Five Virgins of Indian Epics" contrasts the "panchakanya" with the five "sati"s enlisted in another traditional prayer: Sati, Sita, Savitri, Damayanti and Arundhati. He rhetorically asks, "Are then Ahalya, Draupadi, Kunti, Tara, and Mandodari "not" chaste wives because each has 'known' a man, or more than "one", other than her husband?" Because they exhibited sexual behaviours that were non-ideal and even unethical according to traditional norms, Indian social reformer Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay was perplexed by the inclusion of Ahalya and Tara in the "panchakanya". Although Ahalya's transgression blemished her and denied her the high status and reverence accorded to women like Sita and Savitri, this action made her immortal in legend.


title: Ahalya

text: The place where Ahalya is held to have practised her penance and was redeemed has been celebrated in scriptures as a sacred place called the "Ahalya-tirtha". A "tirtha" is a sacred place with a body of water, where pilgrims generally bathe to purify themselves. The location of the "Ahalya-tirtha" is disputed: according to some scriptures, it is on the river Godavari, others place it on the river Narmada. Two sites are widely held to be the "Ahalya-tirtha". One is located near Ahalyeshvara Temple in Bhalod, on the banks of the Narmada; another is located in Darbhanga district, Bihar. The "Ahilya Asthan" temple in "Ahalya-gram" ("Ahalya's village") in the same district is dedicated to Ahalya. For those seeking to attract women and be handsome like the love-god Kamadeva, the "Matsya Purana" and the "Kurma Purana" prescribe the worship of Ahalya at the "Ahalya-tirtha". This is to be done on the day of Kamadeva, in the Hindu month of Chaitra. According to the texts, he who bathes in the "tirtha" will enjoy pleasure with the celestial nymphs.


title: Ahalya

text: For Bhattacharya, Ahalya is the eternal woman who responds to her inner urges and the advances of the divine ruler, a direct contrast to her ascetic husband, who did not satisfy her carnal desire. The author regards Ahalya as an independent woman who makes her own decisions, takes risks and is driven by curiosity to experiment with the extraordinary and then accept the curse imposed on her by patriarchal society. It is this undaunted acceptance of the curse that makes the "Ramayana" praise and venerate her. V. R. Devika, author of "Ahalya: Scarlet Letter", asks, "So is it right to condemn adultery and physical encounters as modern afflictions and against our [Indian/Hindu] culture? Or do we learn from Ahalya who made a conscious choice to fulfil her need and yet has been extolled?"


title: Ahalya

text: Like Bhattacharya, Meena Kelkar, author of "Subordination of Woman: a New Perspective", feels that Ahalya was made venerable due to her acceptance of gender norms; she ungrudgingly accepted the curse while acknowledging her need for punishment. However, Kelkar adds that another reason for making Ahalya immortal in scripture could be that her punishment acts as a warning and deterrent to women. Patriarchal society always condemns Ahalya as a fallen woman. In Bhavabhuti's 8th-century play "Mahaviracharita", which alludes to Ahalya's redemption in a verbal spat with Parashurama, Satananda is mocked as the son of Ahalya, the adulteress. Jaya Srinivasan, in her discourses on tales from the Hindu epics, says that though Ahalya's action was "unpardonable", she was redeemed by the divine touch of dust from Rama's feet. Jaya adds that Ahalya's actions and the resultant curse are a warning that such immoral behaviour leads to doom, although sincere penitence and complete surrender to God can erase the gravest sins. In Hindu Tamil weddings in India and Sri Lanka, Ahalya appears as a symbolic black grinding stone, which the bride touches with her foot while promising not to be like Ahalya. The bride is also shown the star associated with the chaste Arundhati, who is cast as her ideal. The well-known treatise on sexual behaviour, the "Kama Sutra" (301–600), also mentions Ahalya and Indra while discussing how lust destroys men. However, it also urges men to seduce women by telling the romantic tales of Ahalya. The sixth-century Tamil epic "Manimekalai"


title: Ahalya

text: The right-wing Hindu women's organisation Rashtra Sevika Samiti considers Ahalya the symbol of "Hindu woman's (and Hindu society's) rape by the outsider", especially British colonisers and Muslim invaders, but also Hindu men. The feminist writer Tarabai Shinde (1850–1910) writes that the scriptures, by depicting gods such as Indra who exploit chaste wives such as Ahalya, are responsible for promoting immoral ways; she asks why so much importance is then given to "pativrata dharma", the devotion and fidelity to the husband which is said to be the ultimate duty of a wife.


title: Ahalya

text: A similar tale of divine seduction appears in Greek mythology, where Zeus, a king-of-the-gods figure akin to Indra, seduces Alcmene by assuming the form of her husband, resulting in the birth of the legendary hero Heracles. Like Ahalya, Alcmene falls victim to Zeus's trickery in some versions or, recognising his true identity, proceeds with the affair in others. The main difference between the tales is that the "raison-d'être" of Alcmene's seduction is the justification of Heracles's divine parentage, so she is never condemned as an adulteress or punished; in contrast, Ahalya faces the ire of the scriptures as her encounter is regarded as purely erotic (not resulting in procreation).


title: Noli me tangere

text: Noli me tangere ('touch me not') is the Latin version of a phrase spoken, according to , by Jesus to Mary Magdalene when she recognized him after his resurrection. The biblical scene has been portrayed in numerous works of Christian art from Late Antiquity to the present. The phrase has also been used in literature, and later in a variation by military units since the late 18th century.


title: Noli me tangere

text: The original Koine Greek phrase, ("mḗ mou háptou"), is better represented in translation as "cease holding on to me" or "stop clinging to me", i.e. an ongoing action, not one done in a single moment.


title: Noli me tangere

text: According to Maurice Zundel (1897–1975), in asking Mary Magdalene not to touch him, Jesus indicates that once the resurrection is accomplished, the link between human beings and his person must no longer be physical, but must be a bond of heart to heart. "He must establish this gap, she must understand that the only possible way is faith, that the hands can not reach the person and that it is from within, from within only, that the we can approach Him." Likewise, later, when Thomas reached out to touch the wounds of Jesus, Christ declares: "blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed" [] because "He knows it is useless."


title: Noli me tangere

text: Christians of Western catholic tradition, namely Roman Catholics, Lutherans, and Anglicans, would say this statement is to be received in relation to the Ascension of Jesus. That is, because he had not yet ascended to the right hand of God, it was more of a "not yet" statement rather than a "never" cling to me. Jesus became incarnate for the sake of humanity and is explicitly said to retain his human body. When Jesus ascended to the right hand of the Father, he "fills all things" (e.g. Eph. 1:23), and can properly be clung to in the means of grace he provides, such as in the Eucharist.


title: Noli me tangere

text: The words are a popular trope in Gregorian chant. The supposed moment in which they were spoken was a popular subject for paintings in cycles of the "Life of Christ" and as single subjects, for which the phrase is the usual title.


title: Noli me tangere

text: In the Eastern Orthodox Church, the Gospel lesson on "Noli me tangere" is one of the Twelve Matins Gospels read during the All Night Vigil on Sunday mornings.


title: Noli me tangere

text: In medicine, the words were occasionally used to describe a disease known to medieval physicians as a "hidden cancer" or "cancer absconditus"; the more the swellings associated with these cancers were handled, the worse they became.


title: Noli me tangere

text: The touch-me-not balsam is known by the binominal name "Impatiens noli-tangere"; its seed pods can explode when touched, dispersing the seeds widely. "Hibiscus noli-tangere" has sharp glass-like needles that detach from its leaves when touched.


title: Noli me tangere

text: Like other significant scenes in the Gospels, this expression was used repeatedly in Christian culture, specifically literature. Following 14th century poet Petrarch, 16th-century poet Sir Thomas Wyatt, in his lyric poem "Whoso list to hunt", says the speaker is hunting a hind, who stands for the elusive lover. The doe wears an inscribed collar: "There is written, her fair neck round about: / "Noli me tangere", for Caesar's I am". Pliny the Elder had an account about deer of "Caesar", which lived 300 years and wore collars with that inscription. In another source, Solinus (fl. 3rd century AD) wrote that after Alexander the Great collared deer, they survived 100 years. He did not mention any inscription on the collars.


title: Noli me tangere

text: D. H. Lawrence refers to the phrase on several occasions, most notably in his poem "Noli Me Tangere" satirizing cerebralism.


title: Noli me tangere

text: Filipino poet and activist José Rizal used this phrase as the title of his novel, "Noli Me Tángere" (1887), criticizing the Spanish colonization of the Philippines. He writes that ophthalmologists use this phrase in reference to a cancer of the eyelids. It symbolized the people's blindness to the ruling government, which Rizal deemed a social cancer that people were too afraid to touch.


title: Noli me tangere

text: The thirteen-hour version of the experimental film "Out 1" (1971) is sometimes subtitled "Noli Me Tangere", as an ironic reference to it being the uncut version favoured by the director Jacques Rivette (as opposed to the edited version, "Out 1: Spectre", which is four hours long).


title: Noli me tangere

text: Historically, the phrase was used by Revolutionary-Era Americans in reference to the Gadsden flag—with its derivation "don't tread on me"—and other representations dating to the American Revolutionary War.


title: Noli me tangere

text: In the United States military, the phrase is the motto of the US Army's oldest infantry regiment, the 3rd U.S. Infantry Regiment (The Old Guard), located at Fort Myer, Virginia. The snake symbol can be found in the coat of arms of the 369th Infantry Regiment, known as the Harlem Hellfighters. "Don't tread on me" is also used in the First Navy Jack of United States Navy. It is also the motto of the U.S Army 4th Infantry Regiment, located in Hohenfels, Germany. The Royal Air Force adopted this motto for the No. 103 (Bomber) Squadron.


title: Noli me tangere

text: A piece of forehead flesh covered by skin, previously attached to the alleged skull of Mary Magadalene, is kept in the cathedral of Saint-Maximin-la-Sainte-Baume in southern France. The relic is purported to be from the spot above Mary's temple touched by Jesus at the post-resurrection encounter in the garden.


title: Noli me tangere

text: The biblical scene of Mary Magdalene's recognizing Jesus Christ after his resurrection was repeatedly represented as the subject in a long, widespread, and continuous iconographic tradition in Christian art from Late Antiquity until today. Pablo Picasso, for example, used the c. 1525 painting "Noli me tangere" by Antonio da Correggio, stored in the Museo del Prado, as an iconographic source for his 1903 painting "La Vie" (Cleveland Museum of Art) from his so-called Blue Period.


title: Rudolf Anderson

text: Rudolf Anderson Jr. (September 15, 1927 – October 27, 1962) was an American and United States Air Force major and pilot. He was the first recipient of the Air Force Cross, the U.S. military's and Air Force's second-highest award and decoration for valor. The only U.S fatality by enemy fire during the Cuban Missile Crisis, Anderson died when his U-2 reconnaissance aircraft was shot down over Cuba. He had previously served in Korea after the Korean War ended.


title: Rudolf Anderson

text: Anderson was born in Spartanburg, South Carolina near Greenville. He earned the rank of Eagle Scout from Boy Scout Troop 19 in Greenville and was a member of Recovery Lodge no. 31, Greenville's oldest Masonic Lodge. After graduating from Augusta Circle Elementary School in Greenville, he graduated from Greenville High School in 1944. In 1948, he earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Textile Engineering from Clemson University in Clemson, South Carolina as a member of Air Force ROTC Detachment 770. For the next three years, he was employed in Greenville.


title: Rudolf Anderson

text: He entered the Air Force in November 1951 during the Korean War. Commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in 1952, Anderson completed Primary and Advanced pilot training and received his U.S. Air Force aeronautical rating as a pilot; he received his pilot wings in February 1953. He began his operational career flying RF-86 Sabres and earned two Distinguished Flying Crosses for reconnaissance missions after the war ended, when he was assigned to the 15th Tactical Reconnaissance Squadron at Kunsan Air Base in South Korea and flying missions out of Komaki Air Base in Japan. In April 1955, he returned to the United States. After qualifying on the U-2 on September 3, 1957, "he became the 4080th Strategic Reconnaissance Wing's top U-2 pilot with over one thousand hours, making him a vital part of the United States' reconnaissance operation over Cuba in late October of 1962."


title: Rudolf Anderson

text: Originally flown by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), the Lockheed U-2 high-altitude reconnaissance missions over Cuba were taken over by the Air Force on October 14, 1962, using CIA U-2 aircraft that were repainted with USAF insignia. Anderson was part of the 4028th Strategic Reconnaissance Weather Squadron, 4080th Strategic Reconnaissance Wing, headquartered at Laughlin Air Force Base, Texas. On October 15, when CIA analysts studied reconnaissance film from the first 4080th overflight, they found SS-4 medium-range ballistic missiles. These pictures triggered the Cuban Missile Crisis.


title: Rudolf Anderson

text: On Saturday, October 27, Anderson took off on his sixth mission over Cuba in a U-2F Dragon Lady (AF Serial Number "56-6676", former CIA Article 343), from a forward operating location at McCoy Air Force Base in Orlando, Florida. A few hours into his mission, he was shot down by one of two Soviet-supplied S-75 Dvina (NATO designation SA-2 Guideline) surface-to-air missiles that were fired at his aircraft high over Banes, Cuba. "The loss of the U-2 over Banes was probably caused by intercept by an SA-2 from the Banes site, or pilot hypoxia, with the former appearing more likely on the basis of present information" stated a CIA document dated 0200 hrs, October 28, 1962. Anderson was killed when fragmentation from the exploding proximity warhead punctured his pressure suit, causing it to decompress at high altitude; two Soviet generals, stationed in Havana, had given the order to a Soviet anti-aircraft rocket unit at the Banes Surface-to-Air Missile Site to shoot down Anderson's U-2 aircraft.


title: Rudolf Anderson

text: On October 31, Acting United Nations Secretary-General U Thant returned from a visit with Premier Fidel Castro and announced that Anderson was dead. His body was released by Cuba on Sunday, November 4, and he was buried at Woodlawn Memorial Park in Greenville two days later.


title: Rudolf Anderson

text: By order of President John F. Kennedy, Anderson was posthumously awarded the first Air Force Cross, as well as the Air Force Distinguished Service Medal, the Purple Heart, and the Cheney Award. On July 26, 2011, Anderson was inducted into the Air Force Reserve Officer Training Corps Distinguished Alumni in a ceremony at Maxwell AFB, Alabama, officiated by Lieutenant General Allen G. Peck, Commander, Air University.


title: Rudolf Anderson

text: Anderson was the only combat death among the eleven U-2 pilots that flew over Cuba during the Cuban Missile Crisis; the other ten pilots were each awarded Distinguished Flying Crosses. Three reconnaissance-variant Boeing RB-47 Stratojets of the 55th Strategic Reconnaissance Wing crashed between September 27 and November 11, 1962, killing a total of 11 crewmembers. Seven more airmen died when a Boeing C-135B Stratolifter delivering ammunition to Naval Base Guantanamo Bay in Cuba stalled and crashed on approach on October 23.


title: Rudolf Anderson

text: Some of the wreckage of Major Anderson's aircraft is on display in three museums in Cuba. One of the engine intakes is at the Museo de la Lucha contra Bandidos in Trinidad. The engine and portion of the tail assembly from the U-2F is at the Museum of the Revolution in Havana. The right wing, a portion of the tail assembly, and front landing gear are at the Fortaleza de San Carlos de la Cabaña, or La Cabaña, Havana. The two latter groups of parts were previously displayed at the Museo del Aire, Havana.


title: Rudolf Anderson

text: The President of the United States of America takes pride in presenting the Air Force Cross (Posthumously) to Rudolf Anderson, Major, United States Air Force, for extraordinary heroism in connection with military operations against an armed enemy while serving with the 4080th Strategic Reconnaissance Wing, Strategic Air Command (SAC), from 15 October 1962 to 27 October 1962. During this period of great national crisis, Major Anderson, flying an unescorted, unarmed aircraft, lost his life while participating in one of several aerial reconnaissance missions over Cuba. While executing these aerial missions, Major Anderson made photographs which provided the United States government with conclusive evidence of the introduction of long-range offensive missiles into Cuba and which materially assisted our leaders in charting the nation's military and diplomatic course. Through his extraordinary heroism, superb airmanship, and aggressiveness in the face of the enemy, Major Anderson reflected the highest credit upon himself and the United States Air Force.


title: Rudolf Anderson

text: The shooting down of Anderson's U-2 reconnaissance flight over Cuba is featured in the 2000 film "Thirteen Days" starring Kevin Costner; actor Charles Esten plays the role of Anderson.


title: 7.5 cm Pak 40

text: The 7.5 cm Pak 40 ("7,5 cm Panzerabwehrkanone 40 -" "7.5cm armour defence cannon [19]40") was a German 75 millimetre anti-tank gun of the Second World War.


title: 7.5 cm Pak 40

text: The gun was developed in 1939–1941 and entered service in 1942. With 23,303 examples produced, the Pak 40 formed the backbone of German anti-tank guns for the later part of World War II, mostly in towed form, but also on a number of self propelled artillery such as the "Marder" series of "Panzerjäger"


title: 7.5 cm Pak 40

text: A modified version of the gun designed specifically for vehicle-mounting was the 7.5 cm KwK 40, which differed primarily in using more compact ammunition, thereby allowing more rounds to be carried inside the vehicles. The KwK 40 armed many of the German mid-war tank and tank destroyer designs such as the Panzer IV, replacing the Pak 40 in the latter role.


title: 7.5 cm Pak 40

text: The Pak 40 may be referred to as the 7.5/L46, referring to its calibre and the barrel's length in calibres. There were two versions of the KwK 40, which would be referred to as the 7.5/L43 or 7.5/L48.


title: 7.5 cm Pak 40

text: Development of the Pak 40 began after reports of new Soviet tank designs began to reach Berlin in 1939. The German army was equipped with the 3.7cm Pak 36 at the time. A replacement 5 cm Pak 38 was still in testing at this point, but it appeared it would not be powerful enough to deal with these newer designs. Contracts were placed with Krupp and Rheinmetall to develop what was essentially a 7.5 cm version of the Pak 38. However, while the Pak 38 made extensive use of light alloys to reduce overall gun weight, these were now earmarked for aircraft production to supply the "Luftwaffe". As a result, the Pak 40 used steel throughout its construction and was proportionally heavier than the 5 cm model. To simplify production, the Pak 38's curved gun shield was replaced by one using three flat plates. A version called the 7.5 cm FK 7M59 was proposed towards the end of the war to fill a dual-purpose role of field gun and anti-tank gun. The carriage was modified to provide +35° of elevation which increased maximum range to . Another dual purpose variant was the 7.5 cm FK 7M85 which used the gun and recoil system of the Pak 40 on the carriage of the 10 cm le FH 18/40.


title: 7.5 cm Pak 40

text: The project was initially given low priority, but following the invasion of the USSR in 1941 and the appearance of heavily armoured Soviet tanks such as the T-34 and KV-1, it was given an increased priority. The first pre-production guns were delivered in November 1941. In April 1942, the "Wehrmacht" had 44 guns in service; by 1943, the Pak 40 formed the bulk of German anti-tank artillery.


title: 7.5 cm Pak 40

text: The Pak 40 was the standard German anti-tank gun until the end of the war, and was supplied by Germany to its allies. Some captured guns were used by the Soviet Red Army.


title: 7.5 cm Pak 40

text: 23,303 Pak 40s were produced, and about 3,500 more were used to arm tank destroyers. The unit manufacturing cost amounted to 2,200 man-hours at 12,000 RM


title: 7.5 cm Pak 40

text: A lighter version of the Pak 40 was used as the "BK 7,5" automatic "weapon system" in the Henschel Hs 129B-3 and the Junkers Ju 88P-1 ground attack aircraft. This version of the Pak 40 was the heaviest of the "Bordkanone" series of heavy calibre aircraft guns, incorporating a twelve-round magazine. This version of the gun was also intended as a production fitment for a possible He 177A-3/R5 heavy bomber adaptation late in 1942, originally prototyped in the field with BK 5 cannons, themselves adapted from the 5 cm KwK 39 tank gun from the Panzer III.


title: 7.5 cm Pak 40

text: During the second half of World War II, some Romanian anti-tank platoons each had three Pak 40 guns. These were used interchangeably with Romania's own 75 mm Reșița Model 1943 anti-tank gun.


title: 7.5 cm Pak 40

text: The weapon was effective against almost every Allied tank until the end of the war, only struggling to penetrate heavier vehicles like the Russian IS tanks, the American M4A3E2 Sherman 'Jumbo' assault tank and M26 Pershing, and later variants of the British Churchill tank. The Pak 40 was much heavier than the Pak 38; its decreased mobility meant that it was difficult or even impossible to move without an artillery tractor on boggy ground.


title: 7.5 cm Pak 40

text: The Pak 40 was first used in the USSR where it was needed to combat the newest Soviet tanks. It was designed to fire the same low-capacity APCBC, HE and HL projectiles that had been standardized for use in the long barrelled "Kampfwagenkanone" KwK 40 tank-mounted guns of the mid-war and later marks of the Panzer IV medium tank. In addition, there was an APCR shot ("Panzergranate" 40) for the Pak 40, a munition which - reliant on supplies of tungsten - eventually became very scarce. According to the German "Panzertruppen" news journal, 5,000 APCR rounds were expected in Dec. 1942 as replenishment for the Winter offensive.


title: 7.5 cm Pak 40

text: The main differences amongst the rounds fired by 75 mm German guns were in the length and shape of the cartridge cases as well as the primers used. The 7.5 cm KwK 40 (75x495mm) used in tanks had a fixed cartridge case twice the length of that used by the 7.5 cm KwK 37, the short barrelled 75 mm used on earlier tanks, and the 7.5 cm Pak 40 cartridge was a third longer than that used by the KwK 40. The Pak 40 used a percussion primer, while the vehicle mounted 75 mm guns used electrical primers. Other than minor differences with the projectiles' driving bands, all German 75 mm guns used the same 75mm projectiles.


title: 7.5 cm Pak 40

text: The longer cartridge case of the Pak 40 allowed a larger charge to be used and a higher velocity for the PzGr 39 armour-piercing capped ballistic cap round to be achieved. The muzzle velocity was about as opposed to for the KwK 40 L/43 and for the L/48. The only 75mm fighting vehicle gun in general use by Germany that possessed a longer barrel than the Pak 40, the 7.5 cm KwK 42 on the Panther tank, could achieve a higher muzzle velocity of 935 m/s (3,070 ft/s) using more propellant in a larger cartridge fixed to it for the KwK 42's use.


title: 7.5 cm Pak 40

text: For unknown reasons, some 75 mm APCBC cartridges appear to have been produced with a charge that gave a muzzle velocity of about . The first documented firing by the US of a Pak 40 recorded an average muzzle velocity of 776 m/s for its nine most instrumented firings. Probably because of these results, period intelligence publications ("Handbook on German Military Forces") gave about 770 m/s as the Pak 40 APCBC muzzle velocity. Post war publications corrected this.


title: 7.5 cm Pak 40

text: German sources differ; the Official Firing Table document for the 75 mm KwK 40, StuK 40 and the Pak 40 dated October, 1943, gives 770 m/s on one of the APCBC tables.


title: 7.5 cm Pak 40

text: After the war, the Pak 40 remained in service in several European armies, including Albania, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Finland, Norway, Hungary and Romania. In 1955, USSR supplied 33 captured guns to Austria. They were kept in service into the 1960s. North Vietnam also received some during the Vietnam War. Six ex-Portuguese Army Pak 40s divided into two artillery detachments were stationed in Dili during the Indonesian invasion of East Timor in 1975.


title: 7.5 cm Pak 40

text: Pak 40s are or have been held in several military museums, outside museums or free entrance open-air fields:


title: Ip Ching

text: Ip Ching (born Ip Hok-ching; 7 July 1936 – 25 January 2020) was a Hong Kong martial artist. He was one of five Grandmasters of the Ip Man (Yip Man) family of Wing Chun Kung Fu.


title: Ip Ching

text: He was born Ip Hok-ching in Foshan in 1936 as the second son of Ip Man and his wife Cheung Wing-sing. This was short-lived as his parents and his sister Ip Nga-sum had to leave and travel to Hong Kong in about 1950 in search of a better life for the family, and only his mother and sister returned home later on.


title: Ip Ching

text: In 1962, due to the Cultural Revolution, Ip Ching and his older brother Ip Chun were forced to leave Foshan and moved to Hong Kong to join their father.


title: Ip Ching

text: His father Ip Man taught from his home. At one point his father walked out of his home to live elsewhere due to a dispute with him and Ip Chun over his Shanghai mistress and his illegitimate son Ip Siu-wah . His father barely interacted with him and his brother since then, except for their training lessons.


title: Ip Ching

text: As well as learning Wing Chun at his father's home, Ip Ching also was an avid observer of his father teaching other students, in turn gaining valuable insight on his father's teaching methods.


title: Ip Ching

text: After Ip Man's death in 1972, Ip Ching left the training hall but continued to reside in his father's home. He later ran a manufacturing business in Lam Tei, New Territories, and continued to teach Wing Chun privately to his disciples in his home.


title: Ip Ching

text: He served as a Wing Chun consultant alongside his brother Chun on the film "Ip Man 3". Jim Liu portrayed the character of Ip Ching in the film.


title: Balk

text: In baseball, a pitcher can commit a number of illegal motions or actions that constitute a balk. Most of these violations involve pitchers pretending to pitch when they have no intention of doing so. In games played under the Official Baseball Rules that govern professional play in the United States and Canada, a balk results in a dead ball or delayed dead ball. In certain other circumstances, a balk may be wholly or partially disregarded. Under other rule sets, notably in the United States under the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS Baseball Rules), a balk results in an immediate dead ball. In the event a balk is enforced, the pitch is generally (but not always) nullified, each runner is awarded one base, and the batter (generally) remains at bat, and with the previous count. The balk rule in Major League Baseball was introduced in 1898.


title: Balk

text: The reason a balk is prohibited is given in the Official Baseball Rules: "Umpires should bear in mind that the purpose of the balk rule is to prevent the pitcher from deliberately deceiving the base runner."


title: Balk

text: A pitcher is restricted to a certain set of motions and one of two basic pitching positions before and during a pitch. If these regulations are violated with one or more runners on base, an umpire may call a balk. The batter at home plate does not advance on a balk.


title: Balk

text: With a runner on base and the pitcher on or astride (with one leg on each side of) the rubber, under Official Baseball Rules, it is a balk when the pitcher:


title: Balk

text: The pitcher's acts of spitting on the ball, defacing or altering the ball, rubbing the ball on the clothing or body, or applying a foreign substance to the ball are not balks; however, it will result in the pitcher's ejection from the game if caught.


title: Balk

text: A pitcher was allowed to feint toward third (or second) base, and then turn and throw or feint to first base if the pitcher's pivot foot disengaged the rubber after the initial feint. This is called the "fake to third, throw to first" play. However, Major League Baseball classified this as a balk beginning with the 2013 season.


title: Balk

text: If no runners are on base and the pitcher commits an otherwise balkable action, there generally is no penalty. However, delivering a quick return or pitching while off the rubber (which constitute balks when runners are on base) results in a ball being called with the bases empty. If the pitcher commits an act confusing to the batter with nobody on, stops their delivery, or otherwise violates, play is restarted without penalty and time is called. If a pitcher repeatedly commits illegal actions without runners on base, they may be subject to ejection for persistently violating the rules.


title: Balk

text: If, during an attempt to execute the "hidden ball trick" (where the defensive team deceives the runner(s) as to the ball's location while the play is live), the pitcher stands on the rubber prior to the fielder revealing the ball and applying the tag, the runner is not out. Instead, it is a balk, with all runners on base being awarded their next base.


title: Balk

text: "Catcher's balk" is not a term in the official rules, but is sometimes used to describe an atypical situation relating to an intentional walk: if the catcher is not completely within the catcher's box when the pitcher releases the ball during delivery, it is a violation. The balk is still charged to the pitcher, because such a pitch is defined as a "Pitcher Illegal Action."


title: Balk

text: A pitcher is not required to step off the rubber before throwing to an occupied base in a pick-off attempt. With one foot on the rubber in either the windup position or the "set" position, the pitcher may either: 1) deliver the ball to the batter: 2) throw to a base for a pickoff; or 3) step off the rubber.


title: Balk

text: MLB rules state that: "Pitchers shall take signs from the catcher while in contact with the pitcher’s plate" (the rubber), but the rules do not describe the infraction as a balk.


title: Balk

text: The major league record in a single season is held by Dave Stewart, who had 16 balks in 1988 while pitching for the Oakland Athletics.


title: Balk

text: The major league record for the most balks in one game is held by Bob Shaw, who had five balks in a May 4, 1963, game while pitching for the Milwaukee Braves against the Chicago Cubs. Four of the five balks came when the Cubs' Billy Williams was on base: one in the first inning, then three more in the third inning. In the latter frame, Shaw walked Williams, and then proceeded to balk him to second, third and home. Shaw's balks were blamed on his difficulty adjusting to a then-new point of emphasis in the rules: umpires were told to strictly enforce the section of the balk rule that required the pitcher, when going from the stretch to the set position, to come to a complete stop with his hands together for one full second before pitching. The rule had been virtually ignored before.


title: Balk

text: Knuckleballer Charlie Hough was once called for nine balks in a single major league exhibition game, occurring in March 1988. Hough was called for seven balks in a single inning of the game, as umpires set out to "enforce a full set position" for the coming season.


title: Balk

text: On September 27, 2022, Miami Marlins reliever Richard Bleier was called for three balks in a row by first-base umpire John Tumpane, all while facing New York Mets batter Pete Alonso. Bleier had given up a single, and was then called for three balks while facing Alonso, balking the runner home. Marlins Manager Don Mattingly was ejected for arguing the third balk. After Alonso grounded out for the third out of the inning, Bleier was also ejected for continuing to argue the balks. Until that point, Bleier had never had a balk called against him in his seven-year major league career, over the course of 303 games. This instance tied the record for most balks in an inning. And it set a major league record for most balks in a single at bat. CBS Sports opined: "Some balks are obvious. Those are not... You almost have to be looking for a reason to call a balk to ring Bleier up on that motion three -- again, three! -- times in a single inning."


title: Balk

text: During the 1947 World Series (New York Yankees vs. Brooklyn Dodgers) Spec Shea dropped the ball trying to pick off Jackie Robinson at first base; after at least one other attempt, he dropped the ball and umpire Babe Pinelli waved Robinson to second base.


title: Balk

text: A famous balk came in the first All-Star Game of 1961, when strong winds at Candlestick Park caused pitcher Stu Miller to sway erratically and be called for a balk. This story is often exaggerated in re-tellings of baseball lore, some having Miller being blown off the pitching mound.


title: Balk

text: The Los Angeles Dodgers defeated the Texas Rangers on June 18, 2015, when Rangers relief pitcher Keone Kela committed a balk in the bottom of the ninth inning of a tie game with Dodger Enrique Hernández at third base. There have been at least 23 such walk-off balks (or "balk-offs") in major league history since 1914.


title: Balk

text: On June 14, 2019, Dodgers closer Kenley Jansen intentionally balked during a game with the Chicago Cubs. With the Dodgers leading, 5–3, and two outs in the top of the ninth inning, the Cubs' Jason Heyward was on second base. Concerned that a runner at second base could possibly steal signs, Jansen intentionally balked, advancing the runner to third base. Jansen then struck out batter Víctor Caratini for the final out of the game. Other intentional balks, while rare, have subsequently occurred in MLB.


title: Carlton Cole

text: Carlton Michael George Cole (born 12 October 1983) is an English football coach and former professional footballer who played as a striker. He scored 51 goals in 289 Premier League appearances for four clubs.


title: Carlton Cole

text: Cole began his career at Chelsea in 2001, spending spells out on loan at Wolverhampton Wanderers, Charlton Athletic and Aston Villa before being transferred to West Ham United in 2006. He was released by West Ham in 2013 only to be re-signed several months later, and the club released him for a second time in May 2015. He later had brief spells at Celtic in Scotland, Sacramento Republic in the United States and Persib Bandung in Indonesia.


title: Carlton Cole

text: He made 19 England under-21 appearances (scoring six goals), and made his debut for the England national team on 11 February 2009 in a friendly match against Spain.


title: Carlton Cole

text: Cole was born in Croydon, London to a Sierra Leonean mother. He began his career as a trainee with Chelsea, before signing his first professional contract with the club in October 2000.


title: Carlton Cole

text: He made his first-team debut on 6 April 2002 as a substitute for Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink in a 3–0 home victory against Everton. He made his first senior start three weeks later, scoring a goal as Chelsea beat Middlesbrough at the Riverside Stadium. He made one more appearance for Chelsea in the 2001–02 season, in a 3–1 home defeat against Aston Villa in May.


title: Carlton Cole

text: Cole started the 2002–03 season in the Chelsea first-team squad, scoring a goal and making another in the opening match of the season in a 3–2 win over Charlton Athletic after coming on as a substitute for Gianfranco Zola. He suffered a hairline fracture in his leg in August but returned to action in a League Cup tie against Gillingham on 6 November, scoring both Chelsea goals in a 2–1 home win in the third round. Chelsea manager Claudio Ranieri described Cole as being the best young player that he had ever coached, saying, "I've never coached a young player like Carlton. He's fantastic even though he hasn't really started his career yet. He has a very long contract, and, in my opinion, a very big future at Chelsea". However, with Eiður Guðjohnsen, Hasselbaink and Zola available for selection, Cole's first team opportunities were limited and he was loaned to Wolverhampton Wanderers in November for one month, later extended to two months.


title: Carlton Cole

text: Cole made seven appearances for Wolves, scoring one goal to win the home game against Norwich City on 7 December. His loan spell was cut short as Chelsea, needing cover, recalled him early in January 2003. He made a further 12 league and cup appearances for Chelsea in the season, in addition to the four that he made before going on loan to Wolves. He scored six goals in all for Chelsea that season, including a long-range left-footed strike against Sunderland, and the winner against Bolton Wanderers in April 2003 as Chelsea pressed for a place in the UEFA Champions League.


title: Carlton Cole

text: Cole signed a new six-year contract with Chelsea in July 2003. After the club's purchase by billionaire Roman Abramovich led to the signings of international strikers Adrian Mutu and Hernán Crespo, Cole went to Charlton Athletic on a season-long loan in August. He scored five goals in 22 league and cup appearances, helping Charlton to finish the 2003–04 season in seventh place in the Premier League.


title: Carlton Cole

text: Despite Charlton being keen to retain Cole's services for the 2004–05 season, he joined Aston Villa on a season-long loan in July 2004. This move sparked off a dispute, as Charlton were expecting Cole to return to the club as part of the deal that took Scott Parker from Charlton to Chelsea. The dispute was later resolved when the two clubs reached a settlement.


title: Carlton Cole

text: Cole scored three goals in 30 league and cup appearances for Villa, including a goal on his debut in a 2–0 win over Southampton on 14 August, in a season which was interrupted by a knee injury picked up in an England under-21 match against the Netherlands in February 2005.


title: Carlton Cole

text: He returned to Chelsea in the summer of 2005 where he appeared in pre-season friendlies. However, first team opportunities were limited by the presence of Didier Drogba and Hernán Crespo, and Cole made only 12 league and cup appearances for Chelsea in the 2005–06 season, scoring one goal in an FA Cup win over Huddersfield Town.


title: Carlton Cole

text: He joined West Ham United in July 2006, having made a total of 31 league and cup appearances for Chelsea, scoring eight goals.


title: Carlton Cole

text: Cole joined West Ham United in July 2006 for an undisclosed fee, signing a four-year contract. He scored seconds into his competitive debut for West Ham after coming on as a substitute in injury time to seal a 3–1 home win against Charlton on 19 August. However, in a season of turmoil at West Ham. in which the club only secured their place in the Premier League on the final day of the season, Cole was unable to establish himself in the first team, making 23 league and cup appearances, 15 of which were as substitute, and scoring three goals.


title: Carlton Cole

text: In the 2008–09 season, Cole scored twelve goals in all competitions, as well as picking up a further four assists. He started the season in good form, scoring four goals in his first eight matches. On 26 October 2008, Cole received his first red card of his West Ham career against Arsenal, with a foul on Alex Song at Upton Park. Cole's form earned him a new five-year contract, which he signed in November.


title: Carlton Cole

text: He continued the good form in 2009–10 season, made 30 Premier League appearances, starting 26 of them. He scored ten Premier League goals, including one penalty in the 5–3 home win over Burnley on 28 November. He was then linked with a £20 million January 2010 transfer to Manchester United. After netting six goals in his first ten Premier League matches, he missed the period between 28 November and 26 February with a knee injury. He also made two League Cup appearances, starting the home second-round win over Millwall. He was booked four times over the course of the season.


title: Carlton Cole

text: He was linked with a transfer to Liverpool in August 2010 for a fee reported to be £20m which consisted of £15m including £5m in performance related add-ons. On 26 December, he scored two goals in a Premier League match for the first time in his career, in a 3–1 away win against Fulham at Craven Cottage. He also got a brace in the 4–0 League Cup quarter-final victory over Manchester United on 30 November. On 12 February 2011, Cole scored in a 3–3 draw against West Bromwich Albion at The Hawthorns On 27 February, Cole scored the final goal in West Ham's 3–1 victory against Liverpool within two minutes of coming on as a substitute at Upton Park.


title: Carlton Cole

text: After failed bids from both Turkish club Galatasaray and Premier League club Stoke City, West Ham confirmed that Cole was committed to the club and would be staying. After coming on as a substitute for Frédéric Piquionne in the two opening matches of the Championship season without scoring, he started the next four matches, scoring four goals, including the winning goal in a 4–3 win against Portsmouth on 10 September. On 19 November, Cole scored West Ham's 2000th away league goal in a 2–1 away win against Coventry City. He scored his 50th goal for West Ham in the 1–1 draw with Birmingham City on 26 December. On 19 May 2012, Cole scored the first goal, his 15th of the season, in West Ham's 2–1 win over Blackpool in the play-off final, ensuring an immediate return to the Premier League. Cole played 43 games in all competitions, scoring 15 goals, with 14 coming in league games. He ended the season as West Ham's top goal scorer.


title: Carlton Cole

text: Cole's first goal of the 2012–13 season came in a 3–1 victory against London rivals Chelsea on 1 December 2012, with a header inside the six-yard box to the near post. Cole scored again on 23 December, putting West Ham in the lead in the 14th minute against Everton. In the same match, he was sent off for a dangerous tackle against Leighton Baines. West Ham appealed against the red card and it was overturned by The Football Association on 27 December. For the remainder of the season he was mostly used as a substitute or kept out of the team by Andy Carroll. On 21 May 2013, West Ham announced that Cole would be leaving the club at the end of the season. He had been at the club for seven seasons.


title: Carlton Cole

text: On 3 September 2013, after West Ham failed with a number of bids for strikers at the end of the transfer window, they approached Cole about returning to the club. The move did not take place however, due to concerns over Cole's fitness. After training at the club to regain his fitness, on 14 October, Cole signed a short-term contract with West Ham, keeping him at the club until January 2014. Cole made 6 starts and 8 appearances as a substitute for West Ham during this short-term contract. His first goal in his second spell came on 30 November in his fourth match: coming on as an 81st-minute substitute for Modibo Maïga, Cole scored the second West Ham goal, barely a minute later, and another in the 88th minute, in a 3–0 win against Fulham. He went on to score four more goals, against Manchester United, Arsenal, Cardiff City and Newcastle United. On 15 January 2014, Cole signed an 18-month contract keeping him at the club to the end of the 2014–15 season.


title: Carlton Cole

text: Cole started West Ham's first match of the 2014–15 season, against Tottenham Hotspur. His first goal came in the following match, on 23 August, in a 3–1 away win against Crystal Palace. His only other goals of the season came in a 3–1 away win at Burnley on 10 October and in a 2–2 home FA Cup draw against Everton on 13 January 2015, equalising in the 113th minute to make the match 2–2. West Ham won the match 9–8 on penalties with Cole taking and scoring one for West Ham. In January, Cole was set to join West Bromwich Albion. The deal fell through after West Ham refused to sanction the move after attempts to sign Tottenham striker Emmanuel Adebayor as a replacement striker were blocked by Tottenham chairman Daniel Levy. Cole made 23 league appearances in the season, 15 after coming on as a substitute. He was released by West Ham at the end of the 2014–15 season. Following his release, after nine years with West Ham, Cole stated his intention to seek at least three more seasons playing at the top-level of football.


title: Carlton Cole

text: On 22 October 2015, Cole signed for Scottish champions Celtic on a two-year deal lasting until 2017. He said of the move "When Celtic called and said they wanted me, I just ran over. Being at Celtic is not about the money, it's about wearing the shirt with pride. Celtic are in a great position to win trophies and I want to add that to my career". He made his debut for Celtic on 29 November in a 1–3 victory away to Inverness Caledonian Thistle; coming on as a 61st-minute substitute for Tom Rogic, Cole provided the assist for Celtic's third goal, an own goal by Danny Devine. On 10 January 2016, he scored his only goal for Celtic in a 3–0 win over Stranraer at Stair Park, in the fourth round of the Scottish Cup. On 16 June, Celtic confirmed that Cole had been released by the club after just eight months.


title: Carlton Cole

text: On 9 August 2016, Cole signed for United Soccer League club Sacramento Republic. After four appearances, he left the club to return to the United Kingdom. On 30 March 2017, Cole signed for Indonesian club Persib Bandung in the Liga 1. Signing a ten-month contract, he was reunited with former Chelsea teammate Michael Essien. Cole only played twice as a starter from his five appearances without scoring a goal. On 4 August, Persib officially terminated his contract. Cole was handed a trial by AFC Wimbledon in the beginning of January 2018 and immediately played for their development squad, where he scored a goal in his first game. According to the club's manager, Neal Ardley "Carlton's agent spoke to Simon Bassey [first-team coach] and asked about him coming in. This was back in November and we said yeah". However, he was never handed a contract and despite interest from Hull City and Birmingham City, Cole announced his official retirement on 29 March 2018.


title: Carlton Cole

text: Cole represented England at youth levels, making five under-19 appearances, two under-20 appearances and 19 under-21 appearances (scoring six goals).


title: Carlton Cole

text: He made his debut for the England national team on 11 February 2009 in a friendly match against Spain. Coming on as a 75th-minute substitute, he saw a late effort cleared off the line by Carlos Marchena, after latching onto a David Beckham pass. He made seven appearances for England, all from the substitutes' bench, which is, as of June 2021, a national record.


title: Carlton Cole

text: In December 2018, Cole rejoined West Ham United to work with the club's academy players, providing support to under-18 coaches Jack Collison and Mark Phillips.


title: Carlton Cole

text: In April 2011, Cole was fined £20,000 by The Football Association for comments he made on Twitter regarding England's friendly against Ghana, at Wembley Stadium the previous month, joking that the match was being used as a sting operation by immigration authorities. He requested that the fine be donated to a Ghanaian charity of his choice.


title: Carlton Cole

text: Cole was again charged by The Football Association in March 2015, when in response to a Tottenham fan taunting him on Twitter by asking whether he would consider retirement, he replied "Fuck off you cunt". After admitting the offence, he was fined £20,000.


title: Carlton Cole

text: On 28 November 2021, Cole and BBC Radio 5 Live apologised when he compared a possible football result to The Holocaust. The incident happened on the first day of Hanukkah, a Jewish holiday.


title: Carlton Cole

text: Cole accepted the offer to play in Indonesia as it was close to Malaysia, and his wife, Sofea, had returned there to live, in Kuala Lumpur. In 2018 Cole was declared bankrupt by a court in London.


title: All the King's Men (2006 film)

text: All the King's Men is a 2006 American political drama film written, directed and produced by Steven Zaillian based on the 1946 Pulitzer Prize–winning novel of the same name by Robert Penn Warren. "All the King's Men" had previously been adapted into a Best Picture Oscar–winning film by writer-director Robert Rossen in 1949. The film narrates the rise to power and demise of the Governor Willie Stark (played by Sean Penn), taking his office in the American South. The fictional character is loosely based on the life of Louisiana governor Huey Long, in office between 1928 through 1932. Elected as a U.S. senator, he was assassinated in 1935. The film co-stars Jude Law, Kate Winslet, Anthony Hopkins, James Gandolfini, Mark Ruffalo, Patricia Clarkson and Jackie Earle Haley.


title: All the King's Men (2006 film)

text: Jack Burden, a Louisiana news reporter, takes a personal interest in Willie Stark, an idealistic small-town lawyer and parish treasurer. Circumstances develop that result in Tiny Duffy, a local political leader Burden knows, urging Stark to run for governor. Burden's upbringing makes him familiar with the undercurrent of politics – he was raised by his loving godfather Judge Irwin, a former state attorney general, while his good friend, Dr. Adam Stanton, and his sister Anne Stanton—also Burden's former lover—are the children of a former governor. Burden therefore decides to take Duffy's advice and travels as a reporter on Stark's campaign for governor.


title: All the King's Men (2006 film)

text: The politically astute Burden soon deduces, and Duffy strategist (and Stark mistress) Sadie Burke confirms, that Duffy is using Stark to split his party's vote and thus allow the opposing party to win. They tell Stark, who begins to give speeches in a straightforward manner to appeal to the public, in defiance of the advice given to him by Duffy. His vigorous strategy attacks the corruption of the existing players and promises schools and roads for his "fellow ignorant hicks", resulting in Stark winning the election. He manages Duffy by making him his lieutenant governor. Stark recruits Burden to work for him as an adviser.


title: All the King's Men (2006 film)

text: Stark proves to be a very persuasive governor, delivering on many of his new projects. Irwin disapproves of Stark and publicly supports an investigation of possible graft in the new spending. Burden points out that graft is the elite's word for what the previous politicians had always done, while Stark openly tells his crowds that his "crooks, unlike theirs, are itty bitty" compared to the elite's. Stark convinces Stanton to head a new public hospital while he begins having an affair with Anne, provoking Burke's jealousy and Burden's disappointment.


title: All the King's Men (2006 film)

text: Irwin continues criticizing Stark as political controversies begin to unfold. Stark demands that Burden seek information on the judge to be used against him. Jack insists that there is no such information, but eventually discovers evidence of a bribe that Irwin used to get his appointment many years prior, leading an opponent to commit suicide. Following this revelation, Irwin himself commits suicide. Burden's mother then tells him that Irwin treated him with such love because he was his biological father, which causes a great amount of guilt for Burden.


title: All the King's Men (2006 film)

text: Stark utilizes many methods of corruption to consolidate his power, including patronage and intimidation. Adam is told that Stark is using the hospital project to rob the state and is framing him in the process. Burden and Anne both assure Adam that this is false. Adam also becomes enraged when he learns of Stark's affair with his sister. Adam waits at the state capitol and assassinates Stark, only to be immediately killed by the governor's bodyguard. It is later revealed that Adam was influenced by Duffy and Burke to murder Stark, allowing Duffy to succeed Stark as governor.


title: All the King's Men (2006 film)

text: Filming took place in New Orleans, Morgan City, Donaldsonville, at the Louisiana State Capitol in Baton Rouge and many other places in Louisiana.


title: All the King's Men (2006 film)

text: The film garnered strong Oscar "buzz" and was considered a contender by "Entertainment Weekly" even before its initial opening.


title: All the King's Men (2006 film)

text: The world premiere was held at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 11, 2006, where the film was first screened to the press. A special screening was held at the Tulane University in New Orleans on September 16, 2006.


title: All the King's Men (2006 film)

text: "All the King's Men" grossed $7.2 million in the United States and Canada, and $2.2 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $9.5 million, against a production budget of $50 million.


title: All the King's Men (2006 film)

text: In the film's opening weekend it made $3.7 million from 1,514 theaters, finishing seventh. It then dropped to 11th place with a gross of $1.5 million in its second weekend, and by its third weekend fell to 27th place with $285,993.


title: All the King's Men (2006 film)

text: In spite of its high-profile cast, direction and production team, "All the King's Men" was a massive failure, both with critics and at the box office. On Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds approval rating of 11% based on 159 reviews, with an average rating of 4.30/10. The website's critics consensus reads: "With a scenery-chewing performance from Sean Penn, an absence of political insight, and an overall lack of narrative cohesiveness, these "Men" give Oscar bait a bad name." On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 37 out of 100, based on 37 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews".


title: All the King's Men (2006 film)

text: A. O. Scott of "The New York Times" expressed disappointment with the film: "Nothing in the picture works. It is both overwrought and tedious, its complicated narrative bogging down in lyrical voiceover, long flashbacks and endless expository conversations between people speaking radically incompatible accents." Michael Medved gave "All the King's Men" two stars (out of four) calling it "depressing and disappointing", a "stodgy melodrama" and a "pointless, pretentious, plodding period-piece".


title: All the King's Men (2006 film)

text: Richard Roeper also gave the remake a less than stellar review. Michael Phillips put it on his Worst of 2006 list.


title: All the King's Men (2006 film)

text: Some reviews were positive. Richard Schickel of "Time" magazine liked the movie, arguing that "it's much more faithful to the tone of the novel" than the original. Kenneth Turan ("Los Angeles Times") praised the film's "undeniable moral seriousness" and the actors' "exceptional ensemble work." He argued that Zaillian's script and direction "expertly extracted the core of this greatest of American political novels, a work that is both of its time and outside it."


title: All the King's Men (2006 film)

text: The film was featured in Nathan Rabin's ongoing feature for "The Onion's" A.V. Club, "My Year of Flops". Of three categories (failure, fiasco, or secret success), he labeled "All the King's Men" as a failure and said of the film: "Zaillian’s dud manages the formidable feat of being at once histrionic and agonizingly dull, hysterically over-the-top yet strangely lifeless."


title: All the King's Men (2006 film)

text: Zaillian was stunned by the poor critical and box-office results of this film, which opened with only $3.8 million and barely made $7.2 million at the end of its run in US theaters. Another new wide release from the same weekend, the sequel "Jackass Number Two", made $28.1 million. In an interview with the "Los Angeles Times", Zaillian said that the film's poor performance was "like getting hit by a truck. ... I don't know what to make of it. ... We're all a bit shellshocked. I feel like Huey Long must have felt -- you try to do good and they shoot you for it."


title: All the King's Men (2006 film)

text: The film's score was composed by James Horner, who had previously worked with Zaillian on "Searching For Bobby Fischer".


title: Baji Rao II

text: Shrimant Peshwa Baji Rao II (10 January 1775 – 28 January 1851) was the 13th and the last Peshwa of the Maratha Empire. He governed from 1795 to 1818. He was installed as a puppet ruler by the Maratha nobles, whose growing power prompted him to flee his capital Poona and sign the Treaty of Bassein (1802) with the British. This resulted in the Second Anglo-Maratha War (1803–1805), in which the British emerged victorious and re-installed him as the titular Peshwa. In 1817, Baji Rao II joined the Third Anglo-Maratha War against the British, after they favoured the Gaekwad nobles in a revenue-sharing dispute. After suffering several battle defeats, the Peshwa surrendered to the British, and agreed to retire in return for an estate at Bithoor and an annual pension.


title: Baji Rao II

text: Baji Rao was the son of the former "Peshwa" Raghunathrao and his wife Anandibai. Raghunathrao had defected to the English, causing the First Anglo-Maratha War, which ended with the Treaty of Salbai. Baji Rao was born in 1775, when both his parents were kept in imprisonment by the then Peshwa's cabinet. Until the age of 19, he along with his brothers were kept in confinement and denied even basic rights of education.


title: Baji Rao II

text: Raghunathrao's successor as Peshwa, Madhavrao II, committed suicide in 1795, and died without an heir. A power struggle ensued among the Maratha nobles for control of the Confederacy. The powerful general Daulat Rao Scindia and minister Nana Fadnavis installed Baji Rao II as a puppet Peshwa. Baji Rao II had to carry the unfortunate legacy of his parents who, despite being from the same Brahmin family, were suspected of being involved in the murder of the young fifth Peshwa Narayanrao in 1774. As such, being the son of suspected murderers, he was looked down upon by his ministers, nobility, and even by his subjects. His every action was viewed with prejudice and it is said that though regarded as a good administrator and builder of modern-day Pune, he was often labeled as incapable and a coward Peshwa.


title: Baji Rao II

text: Pandita Ramabai has criticized him in her writings for marrying, at the age of 60, a girl who was only 9 or 10 years old.


title: Baji Rao II

text: After the death of Nana Fadnavis in 1800, Daulat Rao Scindia took complete control over the Peshwa's government. As Scindia started eliminating his rivals within the government, Peshwa Baji Rao II became concerned about his own safety. He turned to British resident Colonel William Palmer for help. General Arthur Wellesley was already in the southern parts of Maratha territory at that time, having concluded a campaign against Dhondia Wagh. However, Baji Rao was reluctant to sign a treaty with the British. In 1802, Scindia's rival chief Yashwant Rao Holkar marched towards Poona. He proclaimed allegiance to the Peshwa, and sent assurances that he only wanted to free Poona of Scindia's control. But Baji Rao was apprehensive since he had earlier ordered the killing of Yashwant Rao's brother Vithoji Rao Holkar. He sought help from Scindia, who was away from Poona at that time. Scindia dispatched an army that arrived in Poona on 22 October 1802. Holkar defeated the joint forces of Peshwa and Scindia in the Battle of Hadapsar on 25 October.


title: Baji Rao II

text: On the morning of 25 October, before the battle, Baji Rao had already sent preliminary terms for a treaty to the British. After the Holkar victory in the battle, he fled to Vasai, where he sought assistance from the British in Bombay. Holkar set up an ad hoc council headed by Baji Rao's adoptive brother Amrut Rao, and ran the Peshwa's government in Amrut Rao's name.


title: Baji Rao II

text: Baji Rao II concluded the Treaty of Bassein in December 1802, in which the British agreed to reinstate Baji Rao II as Peshwa, in return for allowing into Maratha territory a force of 6,000 infantry troops complete with guns, and officered by the British, paying for its maintenance and accepting the stationing of a permanent British political agent (Resident) at Poona. Holkar and Sindhia resisted the British intrusion in Maratha affairs, which resulted in the Second Anglo-Maratha War of 1803–1805.


title: Baji Rao II

text: The British triumphed, and the Marathas were forced to accept losses of territories due to internal rivalries between Holkars and Scindias, and treachery committed in all the battles by Scindia's French and other European officers, who mostly handled the imported guns within the Maratha army—the Marathas failing to train their own men in sufficient numbers to handle imported guns.


title: Baji Rao II

text: The raids of the Pindaris, irregular horsemen who resided in the Maratha territories, into British territory ultimately led to the Third Anglo-Maratha War of 1817–1818, which ended in the defeat of the Bhosles, Holkars, and other Maratha feudatories. In the mid-1810s, the British had intervened in a financial dispute over revenue-sharing between the Peshwa and Gaekwads of Baroda. On 13 June 1817, the Company forced Baji Rao II to sign an agreement renouncing claims on Gaekwad's revenues and ceding large swaths of territory to the British. This treaty of Poona formally ended the Peshwa's titular overlordship over other Maratha chiefs, thus officially ending the Maratha confederacy.


title: Baji Rao II

text: On 5 November 1817, the British Resident at Poona was attacked by Baji Rao II's army led by his Attorney Mor Dixit. Bajirao II could have won this battle had he not halted the progress of his forces by succumbing to the request of British Resident Elphinstone for a ceasefire. Baji Rao watched the battle that ensued between his troops and the British from a hill now called Parvati. This battle on 5 November 1817, referred to as the Battle of Khadki, resulted in Peshwa's defeat.


title: Baji Rao II

text: Afterward, his troops moved to Garpir on the outskirts towards present-day Solapur Road to block the British troops coming from Jalna, but the treason of one of Baji Rao's chiefs, Sardar Ghorpade Sondurkar, led to his force withdrawing. Subsequently, Baji Rao captured Chakan Fort from the British troops. Meanwhile, the British placed Poona under Colonel Burr, while a British force led by General Joseph Smith pursued the Peshwa. Towards the end of December, Colonel Burr received news that the Peshwa intended to attack Pune, and asked the Company troops stationed at Shirur for help. The troops dispatched from Shirur came across the Peshwa's forces, resulting in the Battle of Koregaon. The Peshwa was unsuccessful in defeating the Shirur contingent, and was forced to retreat fearing the arrival of a bigger Company force led by General Smith.


title: Baji Rao II

text: Five British columns set out after Baji Rao II in full cry, slavering at the thought of the 'prize money' that lay at the end of the chase. After running for five months from one fort to another, awaiting the promised help from Scindias, Holkars, and Bhosles that did not come, Baji Rao II surrendered to Sir John Malcolm. Much to the chagrin of the company's Governor-General Francis Rawdon-Hastings, 1st Marquess of Hastings (no relation to Warren Hastings, the first Governor-General of India), Malcolm agreed to keep Baji Rao a lifelong prince, allow him to retain his personal fortune, and pay him an annual pension of £80,000 (£100,000 according to some sources) every year. In return, Baji Rao II would have to live in a place assigned by the British along with his retainers and agree to the condition that he would never return to his homeland, Poona. He would also have to forsake all his claims to his heritage and could not style himself as Peshwa, but there was no objection to calling himself 'Maharaja'. The only reason why Francis Rawdon-Hastings ratified the treaty made by Malcolm was his conviction that Baji Rao II would not live long as he was already above 40 and many of his ancestors did not live much beyond that age.


title: Baji Rao II

text: To keep Baji Rao II under watchful eyes, the British selected a small village on the right bank of the Ganges at a place called Bithur near Kanpur, where they had a large military establishment then. The place selected was exactly six square miles in area and in it, together with his relatives and others who moved from Poona along with him in 1818, there were about 15,000 inhabitants. He had once ruled 50 million. Contrary to the company's wishes, Baji Rao lived for another 33 years and died in 1851 at Bithur.


title: Baji Rao II

text: There were many stories making the rounds in the Court of Gwalior about Baji Rao II, where Manohar Malgonkar's grandfather P. Baburao was a minister. One such story was about the ghost of a slain Peshwa, Narayan Rao, haunting Baji Rao throughout his life, that was widely known to many people due to Baji Rao II's unceasing efforts to exorcise the ghost. Narayan Rao was the ninth Peshwa who was allegedly murdered with the connivance of Baji Rao's parents, as was mentioned earlier. In order to get rid of the ghost, Baji Rao employed the priests of Pandharpur, a temple town of Maharashtra on the banks of the Chandrabhaga. Initially, the priests succeeded in driving away the ghost and in gratitude, Baji Rao II ordered the building of a riverside embankment in Pandharpur, which still bears his name. However, when Baji Rao II was exiled to Bithur, the ghost re-appeared and started haunting again. Since he was forbidden to visit his homeland, he performed religious penances prescribed by the priests of Benares (Varanasi) and was extravagant in distributing alms to Brahmins. He built temples, bathing ghats, performed endless poojas (religious prayers), underwent countless stringent fasts, fell at the feet of sadhus and soothsayers, etc., but the ghost wouldn't leave him. It stayed with him until the end, warning him that his line would end with his successor, his house would burn to ashes, and his clan would perish. Incidentally, after the flare-up of the Indian Rebellion of 1857, Company troops, in July that year, after their successful re-capture of Kanpur under Major-General Henry Havelock initially and later under the then Brigadier James Hope Grant, sacked and burnt down Bithur, including the residence (wada) of Baji Rao II, where many members of his extended family except his adopted son, Nana Sahib, resided.


title: Hamdi Ulukaya

text: Hamdi Ulukaya (born 26 October 1972, Iliç) is a Kurdish-American billionaire businessman, activist, and philanthropist of Kurdish ethnicity based in the United States. Ulukaya is the owner, founder, chairman, and chief executive officer of Chobani, the #1-selling strained yogurt brand in the US. He established production facilities first in upstate New York, and since then has expanded. According to "Forbes," his net worth as of October 2022 is US$2.1 billion. On 26 April 2016, Ulukaya announced to his employees that he would be giving them 10% of the shares in Chobani.


title: Hamdi Ulukaya

text: In an interview with CNN "Money", Ulukaya said that he was very serious about Kurdish rights and left Turkey due to the Turkish state's oppression of its Kurdish minority group. In 2002, he started a modest feta-cheese factory on the advice of his father.