title: Swaminarayan Sampradaya

text: Ramanand Swami died on 17 December 1801, and Sahajanand Swami became the new leader of the remains of the Uddhav Sampraday, despite "considerable opposition." Several members left the group, or were expelled by Sahajanand Swami, and one group established a new group, together with one of the four temples of Ramanand. While the Krishna-iconography in the original temples, as well as the Vachanamritam and the Shikshapatri, reflect a belief in Krishna as Purushottam, as early as 1804, Sahajanand Swami himself was described as the manifestation of God, and over his life, he would be worshipped as God by thousands of followers. Nevertheless, according to Kim in the original sampradaya Sahajanand Swami is not "necessarily" regarded as Purushottam.


title: Swaminarayan Sampradaya

text: In time, both the leader and the group became known by the name "Swaminarayan." According to the "Swaminarayan origin narrative", shortly after his succession, Sahajanand Swami directed devotees to chant a new mantra, "Swaminarayan" ("Svāmīnārāyaṇa"), a compound of two Sanskrit words: Swami ("Svāmī") and Narayan ("Nārāyaṇa"), that is, Vishnu c.q. Purushottam. According to the Swaminarayan-tradition, Narayana was also a second name given to Naharajand when he was initiated as an ascetic.


title: Swaminarayan Sampradaya

text: The sampradaya grew quickly over the 30 years under Swaminarayan's leadership, with British sources estimating at least 100,000 followers by the 1820s. He was a charismatic personality, and in the early period of the Swaminarayan movement, followers were often induced into a visionary trance state interpreted as samadhi, either by direct contact with Swaminarayan or by chanting the Swaminarayan mantra, in which they had visions of their "chosen deity" ("istadevata"). Swaminarayan was criticized for receiving large gifts from his followers after renouncing the world and assuming leadership of the fellowship. Swaminarayan responded that he accepts gifts because "it was appropriate for the person to give" and to satisfy the devotion of his followers but he does not seek it out of personal desire.


title: Swaminarayan Sampradaya

text: In the first fifteen years of his leadership, until the arrival of the British colonizers in Gujarat, Swaminarayan's ministry "faced great opposition," and a number of attempts at his life, "by both religious and secular powers," are reported. Swaminarayan accepted people from all castes, undermining caste-based discrimination, which lead to criticism and opposition from high-caste Hindus. While Sahajanand's ethical reforms have been regarded as a protest against immoral Pushtimarg practices, Sahajanand was in fact influenced by and positive towards Vallabha and other Vaisnava-traditions, and he incorporated elements of Vallabha's Pushtimarg, popular in Gujarat, to gain recognition. His reforms may have been primarily targeted against Tantrics, and against practices "associated with village and tribal deities."


title: Swaminarayan Sampradaya

text: According to David Hardiman, the lower classes were attracted to Swaminarayan's community because they aspired the same success and merchantile ideology. It grew, states Hardiman, in an era of British colonial rule where land taxes were raised to unprecedented heights, lands were "snatched from village communities", and poverty spread. According to Hardiman, Sahajanand's pacifist approach to community re-organization and reaching out to the lowest classes of his day found support with the British rulers, but it also furthered their exploitation by the British, the local moneylenders and richer farmers.


title: Swaminarayan Sampradaya

text: Swaminarayan ordained 3,000 swamis over the span of his leadership, with 500 of them into the highest state of asceticism as "paramhansas", thereby allowing them to suspend all distinguishing practices, like applying sacred marks. Swaminarayan encouraged his swamis to serve others. During the devastating famine of 1813–14 in Kathiawar, for example, the swamis collected alms in unaffected regions of Gujarat to distribute among the afflicted. As teachers and preachers, they were instrumental in spreading Swaminarayan's teachings throughout Guajarat, which aided to the rapid growth of the sampradaya, and they created the "sacred literature" of the sampradaya,


title: Swaminarayan Sampradaya

text: Toward the end of his life, Swaminarayan institutionalized his charisma in various ways: the building of temples to facilitate worship; the writing of sacred texts; and the creation of a religious organization for the initiation of ascetics. He instituted the mandir tradition of the sampradaya to provide followers a space for devotional worship (upasana, "upāsanā") to God. He constructed six mandirs in the following locations, housing images of Krishna which are regarded as representations of Swaminarayan by his followers:


title: Swaminarayan Sampradaya

text: Swaminarayan installed murtis of various manifestations of Krishna in the temples. For example, idol of Vishnu was installed with his consort Lakshmi and idol of Krishna was installed with his consort Radha to highlight the representation of God and his ideal devotee in the central shrines of each of these temple. He also installed his own image in the form of Harikrishna in a sideshrine at the mandir at Vadtal. The BAPS initiated the tradition of installing murtis of God (Swaminarayan) and his ideal devotee to facilitate his followers' pursuit of moksha.


title: Swaminarayan Sampradaya

text: In the early years of the sampradaya, Swaminarayan personally directed control of the spiritual and administrative duties. Swaminarayan later delegated responsibilities amongst swamis, householders, and the members of his family. Before his death, Swaminarayan established two dioceses, the Laxmi Narayan Dev Gadi (Vadtal Gadi) and Nar Narayan Dev Gadi (Ahmedabad Gadi) as recorded in the Lekh, based on the Vadtal and Ahmedabad mandirs, respectively.


title: Swaminarayan Sampradaya

text: On 21 November 1825, he appointed two of his nephews as acharyas to administer the two gadis, or dioceses, adopting them as his own sons and establishing a hereditary line of succession. These acharyas came from his immediate family after sending representatives to search them out in Uttar Pradesh. They were authorized to "administer his temple properties" which are distributed among them. Ayodhyaprasadji, son of his elder brother Rampratap, became acharya of the Nar Narayan Dev Gadi (Ahmedabad diocese), and Raghuvirji, son of his younger brother Ichcharam, became acharya of the Laxmi Narayan Dev Gadi (Vadtal diocese). Siddhant paksh believes Ajendraprasad is the current acharya of the Vadtal Gadi. Due to Swaminarayan's initiation into the Uddhav sampradaya, the Vadtal and Ahmedabad-branches trace the authority of their acharyas to Ramanuja's guru parampara.


title: Swaminarayan Sampradaya

text: Swaminarayan died on 1 June 1830, but the sampradaya continued to grow, with British officials counting 287,687 followers by 1872. By 2001, the number of members had grown to an estimated 5 million followers.


title: Swaminarayan Sampradaya

text: In the 20th century, due to "different interpretations of authentic successorship," various branches split-off from the diocees, the largest being the BAPS. All groups regard Swaminarayan as the manifestation of God but differ in their theology and the religious leadership they accept.


title: Swaminarayan Sampradaya

text: The Vadtal Gadi and Ahmedabad Gadi are the original institutions, with a hereditary leadership in the form of acharyas. The succession was established in the "Lekh", a legal document authored by Swaminarayan. It is followed by the Nar-Narayan (Ahmedabad) and Laxmi-Narayan (Vadtal) branches, but "downplay[ed] or ignored" by other branches that "emphasis the authority of the sadhus over the acharya."


title: Swaminarayan Sampradaya

text: Williams notes that "this important function of the acharya as religious specialist is emphasized in all the Swaminarayan scriptures including the Desh Vibhag Lekh. In the Shikshapatri Verse 62: 'My followers should worship only those images of the lord that are given by the acharya or installed by him. In Vachanamrut Vadtal I-18.4 and in other scriptures, Swaminarayan signifies the importance of Dharmakul (family of Dharmadev, Swaminarayan's father), and states that those who know him to be their deity and desire moksha shall follow only the Swaminarayan Sampraday under the leadership of the acharyas which he has established and their successors.


title: Swaminarayan Sampradaya

text: According to the Vadtal branch, "Gopalanand Swami was the chief ascetic disciple of Sajahanand," and "the acharyas have the sole authority to initiate sadhus and to install images in the temples." According to the BAPS, the largest Swaminarayan offshoot, Gunatitanand Swami was appointed successor of Sajahanand, and "the chief ascetics had been given the authority to perform the primary rituals of the group, including the initiation of sadhus," and "this authority had not been revoked when the acharyas were appointed." They furthermore argue that those who life a strictly virtuous life are the ones worthy of inheritance. According to Williams, "[t]he emphasis is on the spiritual lineage rather than the hereditary lineage, and the claim is that the one who observes the rules should be the acharya."


title: Swaminarayan Sampradaya

text: According to the BAPS, Swaminarayan established two modes of succession: a hereditary administrative mode through the "Lekh"; and a spiritual mode established in the Vachanamrut, in which Swaminarayan conveyed his theological doctrines. According to the BAPS, Swaminarayan described a spiritual mode of succession whose purpose is purely soteriological, reflecting his principle that a form of God who lives "before one's eyes" is necessary for aspirants to attain moksha (liberation). They venerate "a lineage of "akṣaragurus", or living gurus, [which] has been retroactively traced back to Gunatitanand Swami." According to the BAPS, Swaminarayan identified Gunatitanand Swami as the first successor in this lineage. For the sadhus of the Vadtal diocee, the idea that Swaminarayan had appointed Gunatitanand as his spiritual successor was a heretical teaching, and they "refused to worship what they considered to be a human being."


title: Swaminarayan Sampradaya

text: The Bochasanwasi Akshar Purushottam Swaminarayan Sanstha (BAPS) was formed in 1907, by Shastriji Maharaj (Shastri Yagnapurushdas). Shastriji Maharaj's separated from the Vadtal diocese and created of BAPS due to his interpretation of Akshar (Aksharbrahma) and Purushottam. As articulated in the BAPS-theology of "Akṣara-Puruṣottama Upāsanā", BAPS adherents, following Shastriji Maharaj, believe that Swaminarayan introduced Gunatitanand Swami as his ideal devotee, from which a spiritual lineage of gurus began, reflecting Shastriji Maharaj's idea that a form of God who lives "before one's eyes" who is to be worshipped is necessary for aspirants to attain moksha (liberation).


title: Swaminarayan Sampradaya

text: The Yogi Divine Society (YDS) was established in 1966, by Dadubhai Patel and his brother, Babubhai after they were excommunicated from BAPS by Yogiji Maharaj. The brothers were expelled after it was discovered that Dadubhai illicitly collected and misappropriated funds and, falsely claiming that he was acting on the organization's behalf, led a number of young women to renounce their families and join his ashram under his leadership. After Dadubhai's death in 1986, an ascetic named Hariprasad Swami became the leader of the Yogi Divine Society. Yogi Divine Society became known as the Gunatit Samaj and consists of several wings: namely, YDS, The Anoopam Mission, and The Gunatit Jyot.


title: Swaminarayan Sampradaya

text: The Swaminarayan Gadi (Maninagar) was founded in the 1940s by Muktajivandas Swami after he left the Ahmedabad diocese with the belief that Gopalanand Swami, a paramhansa from Swaminarayan's time, was the spiritual successor to Swaminarayan. The current spiritual leader is Jitendrapriyadasji Swami.


title: Swaminarayan Sampradaya

text: Followers of the Swaminarayan Gadi accept the Rahasyarth Pradeepika Tika, a five-volume work written by Abji Bapa, as an authentic exegesis of the Vachanamrut.


title: Swaminarayan Sampradaya

text: Swaminarayan's views are found in the Vachanamrut ("Vacanāmṛta"), the principal theological text of the Swaminarayan Sampradaya. As followers believe Swaminarayan to be the manifestation of "Parabrahman", or "Puruṣottama", his views are considered a direct revelation of God. In the Vachanamrut, Swaminarayan describes that the ultimate goal of life is moksha ("mokṣa"), a spiritual state of ultimate liberation from the cycle of births and deaths and characterized by eternal bliss and devotion to God.


title: Swaminarayan Sampradaya

text: Swaminayaran's "siddhanta" ("view," "doctrine") emerged within the Vedanta tradition, particularly the Vaishnava tradition as articulated by Ramanuja, Madhva, Vallabha, and Chaitanya. Swaminarayan's interpretation of the classical Hindu texts has similarities with Ramanuja's Vishistadvaita, for which he stated his affinity. He also incorporated elements of Vallabha's Pushtimarg, which belongs to Shuddhadvaita, to gain recognition. Yet, there are also metaphysical and philosophical divergences between Swaminarayan's and Ramanuja's teachings, most notably the distinction between Purushottam and Aksharbrahman, referred to by BAPS-swamis as the Akshar-Purushottam Darshan (philosophy) and used to set apart Swaminarayan's teachings from other Vedanta traditions. While the Vadtal Mandir states that "Swaminarayan propagated a philosophy called Vishistadvaita," a number of BAPS-swamis argue that Swaminarayan's teachings are a distinct system within the Vedanta-tradition.


title: Swaminarayan Sampradaya

text: In Swaminarayan's soteriology, the ultimate goal of life is to become "Brahmarūp", attaining the form ("rūpa") of Aksharbrahman, in which the "jiva" is liberated from "maya" and "saṃsāra" (the cycle of births and deaths), and in which the "jiva" offers "sādhya bhakti", continuous and pure devotion to God. Whereas identification with Purushottam is impossible, "Brahmarūpa" as identification with Akshrabrahman is feasible and encouraged, though the jiva or ishwar remains distinct from Aksharbrahman.


title: Swaminarayan Sampradaya

text: To become "Brahmarūp", an individual must overcome the ignorance of maya, which Swaminarayan describes as self-identification with the physical body, personal talents, and material possessions. Swaminarayan explains in the Vachanamrut that ekantik dharma is a means to earn God's grace and attain liberation. Ekantik dharma ("ekāntik dharma") consists of dharma ("dharma"; religious and moral duties), gnan ("jñāna"; realization of the atman and Paramatman) vairagya ("vairāgya"; dispassion for worldly objects), and bhakti (recognition of Swaminarayan as Purushottam and devotion to him, coupled with the understanding of God's greatness).


title: Swaminarayan Sampradaya

text: Various branches of the Swaminarayan Sampradaya differ in their belief of how to attain moksha. The Narnarayan and Laxminarayan Gadis believe moksha is attained by worshipping the sacred images of Swaminarayan installed by acharyas. In the BAPS reading of the Vachanamrut and other scriptures, the jiva becomes "brahmarūp", or like Aksharbrahman, under the guidance of the manifest form of God. The Swaminarayan Gadi (Maninagar) believes that moksha can be attained through the lineage of gurus beginning with Gopalanand Swami.


title: Swaminarayan Sampradaya

text: Ekantik dharma ("ekāntik dharma") is an important element of the Swaminarayan Sampradaya, and its establishment is one of the reasons why Swaminarayan is believed to have incarnated. Ekantik dharma consists of dharma, gnan, vairagya, and bhakti.


title: Swaminarayan Sampradaya

text: "Dharma" consists of religious and moral duties according to one's responsibilities and situation. All Swaminarayan Hindus who are householders maintain five basic vows: abstaining from theft, gambling, adultery, meat, and intoxicants like alcohol. As part of their dharma, swamis additionally endeavor to perfect the five virtues of non-lust (nishkam/"niṣkāma"), non-greed (nirlobh/"nirlobha"), non-attachment (nissneh/"nissneha"), non-taste (niswad/"nissvada"), and non-ego (nirman/"nirmāna"). Another aspect of the practice of dharma is the Swaminarayan diet, a type of vegetarianism, similar to that practiced generally by Vaishnava sampradayas, that entails abstaining from animal flesh, eggs, onions, and garlic.


title: Swaminarayan Sampradaya

text: "Gnan" is knowledge of Parabrahman and realizing oneself as the atman. Basic practices of gnan include the daily study of scriptures like the Vachanamrut and Shikshapatri and weekly participation in congregational worship services (sabha/"sabhā") at the mandir (temple), in which scriptural discourses geared towards personal and spiritual growth occur. According to the BAPS, in the Vachanamrut Swaminarayan explains that adhering to the Aksharbrahman Guru's commands is commensurate with perfectly embodying gnan—that is, realizing oneself as the atman.


title: Swaminarayan Sampradaya

text: "Vairagya" is dispassion for worldly objects. Swaminarayan Hindus cultivate vairagya through practices like fasting on Ekadashi days, two of which occur every month, and observing extra fasts, during the holy months of Chaturmas (a period of four months between July and October) Vairagya is realized by adhering to the codes of conduct, inclusive of these practices, serving other devotees physically, listening to discourses, and engaging in devotion.


title: Swaminarayan Sampradaya

text: "Bhakti" involves devotion towards God, while understanding God's greatness and identifying one's inner core — atman — with Aksharbrahman. Adherents believe that they can achieve moksha, or freedom from the cycle of birth and death, by becoming aksharrup (or brahmarup), that is, by attaining qualities similar to Akshar (or Aksharbrahman) and worshipping Purushottam (or Parabrahman; the supreme living entity; God). Important bhakti rituals for Swaminarayan Hindus include puja ("pūjā"; personal worship of God), arti ("ārtī"; the ritual waving of lighted wicks around murtis, or images), thal ("thāl"; the offering of food to murtis of God), and cheshta ("ceṣtā"; the singing of devotional songs that celebrate the divine acts and form of Swaminarayan).


title: Swaminarayan Sampradaya

text: During puja, adherents ritually worship Swaminarayan, and for the BAPS and some other denominations, also the lineage of Aksharbrahman Gurus through whom Swaminarayan is believed to be manifest. At the beginning of the puja ritual, men imprint a symbol known as the tilak chandlo on their forehead, and women imprint a chandlo. The tilak which is a U-shaped saffron-colored symbol made of sandalwood represents God's feet. The chandlo is a red symbol made of kumkum to symbolize Lakshmi, the goddess of fortune and prosperity. Collectively the two symbolize Lakshmi living in the heart of Swaminarayan.


title: Swaminarayan Sampradaya

text: The worship of Swamianarayan is an important element of the swaminarayan religion. For the Ahmedabad and Vadtal diocese, Swaminarayan is present in his images and in his sacred scriptures. For the BAPS, Narayan, who is Purushottam, can only be reached through contact with Purushottam, in the form of the guru, the abode of god. For the BAPS, by associating with and understanding that Aksharbrahman guru, alternatively referred to as the Satpurush, Ekantik Bhakta or Ekantik Sant, spiritual seekers can transcend the influences of maya and attain spiritual perfection.


title: Swaminarayan Sampradaya

text: Other bhakti rituals included in Swaminarayan religious practice are abhishek ("abhiśeka"), the bathing of a murti of God, mahapuja ("māhāpūjā"), a collective worship of God usually performed on auspicious days or festivals, and mansi ("mānsi") puja, worship of God offered mentally.


title: Swaminarayan Sampradaya

text: In general, Swaminarayan was positive about "other Vaishnava and Krishnite traditions," and Swaminarayan "adopted three aspects of Vallabhacharya practice," namely "the pattern of temple worship, fasts, and observances of festivals."


title: Swaminarayan Sampradaya

text: Swaminarayan's view on god was theanthropic, the idea that "the most extalted of the manifestations of god are in a divine form in human shape," teaching that "god's divine form has a human-shaped form." Most followers believe that Swaminarayan was the 'manifest' form of this supreme God. By 'manifest', it is understood that the very same transcendent entity who possesses a divine form in his abode assumes a human form that is still "totally divine," but "accessible" to his human devotees.


title: Swaminarayan Sampradaya

text: Three stances regarding the ontological position of Sahajanand Swami, c.q. Swaminarayan, can be found in the tradition and its history: as guru, as an avatar of Krishna, or as a manifestation of God c.q. Purushottam, the highest Godhead, himself.


title: Swaminarayan Sampradaya

text: According to Williams, "Some followers hold the position that Sahajanand taught that Krishna was the highest maifestation of "Parabrahman" or "Purushottam" and that he was the only appropriate object of devotion and meditation." According to Kim, in the original sampradaya "Sahajanand Swami is not necessarily seen to occupy the space of ultimate reality," "purna purushottam", and the Krishna-iconography in the original temples, as well as the Vachanamritam and the Shikshapatri, reflect a belief in Krishna as Purushottam.


title: Swaminarayan Sampradaya

text: According to Williams another, more accepted idea, is that "Sahajanand was a manifestation of Krishna," an understanding reflected in the Ahmedabad and Vadtal mandirs, where statues of NarNarayan and Lakshmi Narayan are enshrined, but where Swaminarayan's uniqueness is also emphasized.


title: Swaminarayan Sampradaya

text: Most followers, including the BAPS, take a third stance, that "Swaminarayan is the single, complete manifestation of Purushottam, the supreme god, superior to [...] all other manifestations of god, including Rama and Krishna." He was thus "not a manifestation of Krishna, as some believed," but "the full manifestation of Purushottam, the supreme person himself." These other manifestations of God, of which Rama and Krishna are two examples, are known as avatars, and according to Paramtattvadas Purushottam (or God) is believed to be "metaphysically different" from them and their cause, the avatarin, whom Swaminarayan revealed as himself.


title: Swaminarayan Sampradaya

text: The BAPS puts a strong emphasis on the distinction between Akshar and Purushottam, which it sees as a defining difference between Ramanuja's Vishistadvaita and other systems of Vedanta, and Swaminarayan's teachings. While his preference for Ramanuja's theology is stated in the sacred text, the Shikshapatri ("Śikṣāpatrī"), in his discourses collected in the Vachanamrut Swaminarayan gave a somewhat different explanation of the classical Hindu texts. In Ramanuja's understanding, there are three entities: Parabrahman, maya ("māyā"), and jiva ("jīva"). Throughout the Vachanamrut, Swaminarayan identifies five eternal and distinct entities: Parabrahman, Aksharbrahman ("Akṣarabrahman", also Akshara, "Akṣara", or Brahman), maya, ishwar ("īśvara"), and jiva. This distinction between Akshar and Purushottam is referred to by the BAPS as "Akshar-Purushottam Darshan" or "Aksarabrahma-Parabrahma-Darsanam", ("darśana", philosophy) and used as an alternate name for "Swaminarayan Darshana", Swaminarayan's views or teachings. This emphasis on the distinction between Akshar and Purushottam is also reflected in its name and the prominent position of Akshar as the living guru.


title: Swaminarayan Sampradaya

text: God is Parabrahman, the all-doer ("kartā", "omniagent"), possessing an eternal and divine form ("sākār,") but transcending all entities ("sarvoparī", ), and forever manifests on Earth to liberate spiritual seekers ("pragat").


title: Swaminarayan Sampradaya

text: Aksharbrahman, from "akshar" (अक्षर, "imperishable," "unalterable"), and "Brahman", is the second highest entity and has four forms: 1) Parabrahman's divine abode; 2) the ideal devotee of Parabrahman, eternally residing in that divine abode; 3) the sentient substratum pervading and supporting the cosmos (chidakash, "cidākāśa"); and 4) the Aksharbrahman Guru, who serves as the manifest form of God on earth. In the BAPS, the gurus is the ideal devotee and Aksharbrahman Guru through whom God guides aspirants to moksha. This further interpretation of Akshar is one of the features that distinguishes Swaminarayan's theology from others.


title: Swaminarayan Sampradaya

text: Maya refers to the universal material source used by Parabrahman to create the world. Maya has three gunas ("guṇas", qualities) which are found to varying degrees in everything formed of it: serenity (sattva), passion (rajas), and darkness (tamas). Maya also refers to the ignorance which enshrouds both ishwars and jivas, which results in their bondage to the cycle of births and deaths (transmigration) and subsequently suffering.


title: Swaminarayan Sampradaya

text: Ishwars are sentient beings responsible for the creation, sustenance, and dissolution of the cosmos, at the behest of Parabrahman. While they are metaphysically higher than jivas, they too are bound by maya and must transcend it to attain moksha.


title: Swaminarayan Sampradaya

text: Jivas, also known as atmans, are distinct, eternal entities, composed of consciousness that can reside in bodies, animating them. The jiva is inherently pure and flawless, though under the influence of maya, jivas falsely believe themselves to be the bodies they inhabit and remain bound to the cycle of transmigration.


title: Swaminarayan Sampradaya

text: The Swaminarayan Sampradaya is well known for its mandirs, or Hindu places of worship. From Swaminarayan's time through the present, mandirs functioned as centers of worship and gathering as well as hubs for cultural and theological education. They can vary in consecration rituals and architecture, which can be adapted to the means of the local congregation.


title: Swaminarayan Sampradaya

text: The Swaminarayan Sampradaya is a bhakti tradition that believes God possesses an eternal, divine, human-like, transcendent form. Thus, Swaminarayan mandirs facilitate devotion to God by housing murtis which are believed to resemble God's divine form. The murtis are consecrated through the prana pratishta ("prāṅa pratiṣṭha") ceremony, after which God is believed to reside in the murtis. Consequently, the worship practiced in Swaminarayan mandirs is believed to directly reach God.


title: Swaminarayan Sampradaya

text: After the consecration of a mandir, various rituals are regularly performed in it. Arti is a ritual which involves singing a devotional song of praise, while waving a flame before the murtis. Arti is performed five times per day in shikharbaddha mandirs and twice per day in hari mandirs. Thal, a ritual offering of food to God accompanied by devotional songs, is also regularly offered three times per day to the murtis in Swaminarayan mandirs. The sanctified food is distributed to devotees after the ritual.


title: Swaminarayan Sampradaya

text: In all major Swaminarayan temples, usually Radha Krishna, Lakshmi Narayan, Nar Narayan and Swaminarayan idols are worshipped.


title: Swaminarayan Sampradaya

text: Devotees also engage with the murtis in a Swaminarayan mandir through other worship rituals, including darshan, dandvat, and pradakshina. Darshan is the devotional act of viewing the murtis, which are adorned with elegant clothing and ornaments. Dandvats ("daṇdavat"), or prostrations, before the murtis symbolize surrendering to God. Pradakshina ("pradakṣiṇā"), or circumambulations around the murtis, express the desire to keep God at the center of the devotees' lives.


title: Swaminarayan Sampradaya

text: Swaminarayan mandirs also serve as hubs for congregational worship and theological and cultural education. Singing devotional songs, delivering katha (sermons), and performing rituals such as arti all occur daily in Swaminarayan mandirs. In addition, devotees from the surrounding community gather at least once per week, often on a weekend, to perform these activities congregationally.


title: Swaminarayan Sampradaya

text: Cultural and theological instruction is also delivered on this day of weekly congregation. Cultural instruction may include Gujarati language instruction; training in music and dance; and preparation for festival performances. Theological instruction includes classes on the tradition's history and doctrines, and the life and work of the tradition's gurus.


title: Swaminarayan Sampradaya

text: Swaminarayan followers conduct their worship in various types of mandirs. The homes of Swaminarayan devotees contain ghar mandirs, or home shrines, which serve as spaces for the daily performance of worship and ritual activities such as arti, thal, and reading sermons or scripture.


title: Swaminarayan Sampradaya

text: The majority of freestanding public Swaminarayan mandirs are hari mandirs, whose architectural style and consecration rituals are adopted to the means available to the local congregation.


title: Swaminarayan Sampradaya

text: As a means of expressing their devotion to Swaminarayan and their guru, some congregations elect to construct stone, shikharbaddha mandirs following Hindu architectural scriptures. In addition to being an expression of devotion, congregants strengthen their sense of community by cooperatively volunteering to construct these mandirs.


title: Swaminarayan Sampradaya

text: A fourth type of mandir, called a mahamandiram ("mahāmandiram") can be found in India, in New Delhi and Gandhinagar, Gujarat. These mahamandirs are the largest type of mandir constructed and they contain exhibits which present the life of Swaminarayan and the history of Hinduism in various formats with the goal of inspiring introspection and self-improvement.


title: Swaminarayan Sampradaya

text: In addition to Swaminarayan's acceptance of perennial Hindu texts such as the four Vedas, Vedanta-sutras, and the Bhagavad Gita, Swaminarayan encouraged the creation of a scriptural tradition specific to the Swaminarayan Sampradaya, as part of the institutionalization of his charisma. Along with theological texts with revelatory status, the genres of textual production in the Swaminarayan Sampradaya include sacred biographies, ethical precepts, commentaries, and philosophical treatises.


title: Swaminarayan Sampradaya

text: The Vachanamrut, literally the 'immortalizing ambrosia in the form of words', is the fundamental text for the Swaminarayan Sampradaya, containing Swaminarayan's interpretations of the classical Hindu texts. The text is a compilation of 273 discourses, with each discourse within the collection also called a Vachanamrut. Swaminarayan delivered these discourses in Gujarati between the years of 1819–1829, and his senior disciples noted his teachings while they were delivered and compiled them during Swaminarayan's lifetime. In this scripture, Swaminarayan gives his interpretation of the classical Hindu texts, which includes five eternal entities: jiva, ishwar, maya, Aksharbrahman, Parabrahman. He also describes the ultimate goal of life, moksha ("mokṣa"), a spiritual state of ultimate liberation from the cycle of births and deaths and characterized by eternal bliss and devotion to God. To attain this state, Swaminarayan states that the jiva needs to follow the four-fold practice of ekantik dharma to transcend maya and become brahmarup and reside in the service of God.


title: Swaminarayan Sampradaya

text: As followers believe Swaminarayan to be God, the Vachanamrut is considered a direct revelation of God and thus the most precise interpretation of the Upanishads, Bhagavad Gita, and other important Hindu scriptures. This scripture is read by followers regularly and discourses are conducted daily in Swaminarayan temples around the world.


title: Swaminarayan Sampradaya

text: The Shikshapatri is a composition of 212 Sanskrit verses believed to be authored by Swaminarayan and completed in 1826. As an 'epistle of precepts,' the verses primarily communicate the Swaminarayan Sampradaya's moral injunctions for devotees which should be read daily. Swaminarayan states that the Shikshapatri is not merely his words but his personified form and merits worship in its own right.


title: Swaminarayan Sampradaya

text: The Swaminarayan Sampradaya has produced voluminous biographical literature on Swaminarayan. The Satsangi Jivan, a five volume Sanskrit sacred biography of Swaminarayan, consists of 17,627 verses written by Shatananda Muni that also incorporates some of Swaminarayan's teachings. The Bhaktachintamani is a sacred biography of Swaminarayan composed by Nishkulanand Swami. Consisting of 8,536 couplets, this biography serves as a record of Swaminarayan's life and teachings. The Harililamrut is a longer biographical text in verse written by Dalpatram and published in 1907. The Harilila Kalpataru a 33,000-verse Sanskrit biographical text, was written by Achintyanand Brahmachari, at the suggestion of Gunatitanand Swami. These and many other sacred biographies complement the theological texts, insofar as their incidents serve as practical applications of the theology.


title: Swaminarayan Sampradaya

text: The Swamini Vato is a compilation of teachings delivered by Gunatitanand Swami over the course of his forty-year ministry, which is valued by the BAPS. He was one of Swaminarayan's foremost disciple, and according to the BAPS and some denominations of the Swaminarayan Sampradaya, he was the first manifestation of Swaminarayan in a lineage of Aksharbrahman Gurus. Similarly to the Vachanamrut, Gunatitanand Swami's followers recorded his teachings, which were compiled in his lifetime and reviewed by Gunatitanand Swami himself. These teachings were first published by Balmukund Swami in 5 chapters and then 7 chapters by Krishnaji Ada. The text consists of approximately 1,478 excerpts taken from Gunatitanand Swami's sermons. In his teachings, he reflects on the nature of human experience and offers thoughts on how one ought to frame the intentions with which they act in this world, while also elaborating on Swaminarayan's supremacy, the importance of the sadhu, and the means for attaining liberation. Often, Gunatitanand Swami elaborates upon topics or passages from the Vachanamrut, which lends the text to be considered a 'natural commentary' on the Vachanamrut within the Swaminarayan Sampradaya. In addition, he often made references to other Hindu texts, parables, and occurrences in daily life in order not only to explain spiritual concepts, but also to provide guidance on how to live them.


title: Swaminarayan Sampradaya

text: From its early history, the Swaminarayan Sampradaya has also been involved in the practice of producing Sanskrit commentarial work as a way of engaging with the broader scholastic community. The classical Vedanta school of philosophy and theology is of particular import for the Swaminarayan Sampradaya, which has produced exegetical work on the three canonical Vedanta texts—the Upanishads, Brahmasutras, and the Bhagavad Gita. While Swaminarayan himself did not author a commentary on these texts, he engaged with them and their interpretations in the Vachanamrut. The earliest Vedanta commentarial literature in the Swaminarayan Sampradaya reflects a heavy dependence on the Vedanta systems of Ramanuja and Vallabha. Although authorship of these nineteenth-century and early twentieth-century texts are attributed to two of Swaminarayan's eminent disciples, Muktanand Swami and Gopalanand Swami,


title: Swaminarayan Sampradaya

text: The most comprehensive commentarial work on Vedanta in the Swaminarayan Sampradaya is the Swaminarayan Bhashyam authored by Bhadreshdas Swami, an ordained monk of BAPS. It is a five-volume work written in Sanskrit and published between 2009 and 2012. The format and style of exegesis and argument conform with the classical tradition of Vedanta commentarial writing. In more than two thousand pages, the commentator Bhadreshdas Swami, offers detailed interpretations of the principal ten Upanishads, the Bhagavad Gita, and the Brahmasutras (Vedanta Sutras) that articulate Swaminarayan's ideas and interpretations.


title: Swaminarayan Sampradaya

text: The Swaminarayan Bhashyam has led to some recognition for Swaminarayan's Akshar-Purushottam distinction as a distinct view within Vedanta. The Shri Kashi Vidvat Parishad, an authoritative council of scholars of Vedic dharma and philosophy throughout India, stated in a meeting in Varanasi on 31 July 2017 that it is "appropriate to identify Sri Svāminārāyaṇa's Vedānta by the title: Akṣarapuruṣottama Darśana," and that his siddhanta ("view," "doctrine") on the Akshar-Purushottam distinction is "distinct from Advaita, Viśiṣṭādvaita, and all other doctrines." Swaminarayan's Akshar-Purushottam "darshan" was also acclaimed as a distinct view within Vedanta in 2018 by professor Ashok Aklujkar, at the 17th World Sanskrit Conference, stating that the Swaminarayan Bhashyam "very clearly and effectively explains that Akshar is distinct from Purushottam."


title: Swaminarayan Sampradaya

text: In addition to his efforts in social reform, Swaminarayan was instrumental in providing humanitarian aid to the people of Gujarat during turbulent times of famine. When given the opportunity to receive two boons from his guru, Swaminarayan asked to receive any miseries destined for followers and to bear any scarcities of food or clothing in place of any followers. In the initial years of the sampradaya, Swaminaryan maintained almshouses throughout Gujarat and directed swamis to maintain the almshouses even under the threat of physical injury by opponents. During a particularly harsh famine in 1813–14, Swaminarayan himself collected and distributed grains to those who were suffering, and he had step wells and water reservoirs dug in various villages. He codified devotees' engagement with humanitarian service in the Shikshapatri, instructing followers to help the poor and those in need during natural disasters, to establish schools, and to serve the ill, according to their ability.


title: Swaminarayan Sampradaya

text: Consequently, various denominations of the Swaminarayan Sampradaya currently engage in humanitarian service at a global scale. ISSO Seva, a subsidiary of the Ahmedabad diocese, is involved in disaster relief, food and blood donation drives in the United States and providing accessible healthcare in Africa. BAPS Charities, a humanitarian services wing of the Baps, engages in medical, educational, and disaster relief efforts. The Gunatit Samaj also hosts medical camps, provides educational services, healthcare, and other social services in India. The Swaminarayan Gadi (Maninagar) diocese primarily hosts health camps and other social services in the UK, Africa and North America. SVG Charity, a subsidiary of the Laxmi Narayan Dev Gadi, is involved in disaster relief, food and medicine donations, blood drives, and organ donation registration drives across the United States, Europe, Canada, and India.


title: Swaminarayan Sampradaya

text: During Swaminarayan's time, the oppressive nature of caste-based customs, like endogamy, dress codes, and commensality, pervaded many aspects of society. Religious groups and other institutions often regulated membership based on caste, and Swaminarayan too supported the caste system. According to Williams, caste distinctions and inconsistencies between caste theory and practice still exist within the Swaminarayan sampraday.


title: Swaminarayan Sampradaya

text: Dalits or the former untouchables were banned from Swaminarayan temples from the beginning of the sect. There was however one case a separate temple being built at Chhani near Vadodra for the dalits. After the Indian Independence in 1947, in order to be exempted from the Bombay Harijan Temple Entry Act of November 1947, which made it illegal for any temple to bar its doors to the previously outcaste communities, the BAPS went to court to claim that they were not 'Hindus', but members of an entirely different religion. Since the sect was not "Hindu", they argued that the Temple Entry Act did not apply to them. The sect did win the case in 1951, which was later overturned by the Indian Supreme court.


title: Swaminarayan Sampradaya

text: Swaminarayan demanded a vow from his followers that they would not accept food from members of lower castes, and explicated this in the Shikshapatri, in which Swaminarayan states that his followers should follow rules of the caste system when consuming food and water:


title: Swaminarayan Sampradaya

text: BAPS-member Parikh attributes this statement to "deep-rooted rigidities of age-old varna-stratied society," and speculates that "Possibly, Swaminarayan sought to subtly subvert and thereby undermine the traditional social order instead of negating it outright through such prescriptions."


title: Swaminarayan Sampradaya

text: BAPS-sadhu Mangalnidhidas acknowledges that Swaminarayan accepted the caste system, which according to Mangalnidhidas may have been "a strategic accommodation to the entrenched traditions of the various elements in Hindu society," but acknowledging that this may have had "unintended negative consequences such as the reinforcement of caste identities." Mangalnidhidas states that, in the early years of the Swaminarayan Sampradaya, high-caste Hindus criticized Swaminarayan for his teachings, inclusiveness, and practices that undermined caste-based discrimination, and argues that, overall, Swaminarayan's followers, practices and teachings helped reduce the oppressive nature of caste-based customs prevalent in that era and drew individuals of lower strata towards the Swaminarayan sampraday.


title: Hard Rain (film)

text: Hard Rain is a 1998 disaster heist action thriller film directed by former cinematographer-turned director Mikael Salomon, written by Graham Yost, produced by Ian Bryce, Mark Gordon, and Gary Levinsohn, and starring Morgan Freeman, Christian Slater, Randy Quaid, Minnie Driver, and Ed Asner. An international co-production among the United States, the United Kingdom, Denmark, Germany, and Japan, the plot centers around a heist and man-made treachery amidst a natural disaster in a small Indiana town.


title: Hard Rain (film)

text: During a heavy rainstorm, Tom and Uncle Charlie, two armored truck drivers, are collecting money from banks in the town of Huntingburg, Indiana, which has been evacuated due to flooding. They are ambushed by Jim and his gang of armed robbers, Kenny, Mr. Mehlor, and Ray. Charlie calls the National Guard and is shot dead by Kenny as Tom escapes and hides the cash in a cemetery.


title: Hard Rain (film)

text: The gang chases Tom, who takes refuge in a nearby church. There he is mistaken for a looter by Karen who knocks him out. Tom wakes up in a cell and tells Sheriff Mike Collig about the gang and the money. Sheriff Collig and Chief Deputy Wayne Bryce leave him locked up and investigate, whilst Deputy Phil is ordered to take Karen out of town. Karen pushes Phil out of the boat to return to protect the church, which she is restoring.


title: Hard Rain (film)

text: The town's dam operator Hank is forced to open a spillway, causing a large wave and deeper flooding. Tom is trapped in his cell as the water rises. After protecting the church, Karen rescues him and they hide from the gang. Kenny is electrocuted. They enter a house and are mistaken for looters by the elderly residents Doreen and Henry Sears, who have refused to evacuate and are protecting their property. Henry is persuaded to give Tom their boat to return to the armored truck. Resurfacing from the submerged truck, he finds the gang holding the elderly couple hostage. Tom says he will tell them where the money is.


title: Hard Rain (film)

text: Jim reveals to Tom that Uncle Charlie was in cahoots with the gang, and did not actually call the National Guard; he was only killed because Kenny was not told Uncle Charlie was on their side. Tom finds the money has disappeared. They are ambushed by Sheriff Collig and his deputies plus Hank, who have found Karen and intend to keep the money for themselves.


title: Hard Rain (film)

text: Mr. Mehlor and Ray are killed in the shootout, and Jim and Tom escape and hide in the church. Wayne takes Karen to her house intending to rape her. The others gasoline-bomb the church and drive their boats through the stained glass windows. Karen stabs and kills Wayne. Hank shoots Phil for not shooting Tom when he had the chance.


title: Hard Rain (film)

text: The dam overtop alarm sounds. Collig suggests Tom and Jim should let Hank and him go with a couple of the bags of money. Tom agrees, but Jim does not. Tom leaves to try to save Karen, before Collig shoots Jim with a revolver he was hiding, although Jim isn't badly hurt. Collig and Hank escape in a boat. Hank is pushed out by Collig and is killed in a gas explosion.


title: Hard Rain (film)

text: Tom finds Karen handcuffed to a banister. He frees her and they climb to the roof to avoid the water where they are caught by Collig. Jim comes from behind them in a boat. Collig shoots at him, disabling the steering, forcing him to go over the roof. As he does so, the engine breaks off and collides with the sheriff, knocking him into the water. Collig tries to shoot Karen as he grabs a bag of money, but Tom and Jim shoot the corrupt sheriff dead. Tom tells Jim he should leave, just as the Indiana State Police arrive. Jim picks up Collig's bag of money and rows away, as Tom tells Karen the fire damage to her church was not too bad and can be repaired.


title: Hard Rain (film)

text: The production of the film was a collaborative effort among numerous film studios, one of which was the British Broadcasting Corporation. Christian Slater himself served as co-producer. At one point, John Woo was attached to direct the film, but he left the project to direct "Face/Off" instead and the project was taken over by Mikael Salomon.


title: Hard Rain (film)

text: The film was originally titled "The Flood", but it was changed because the film-makers did not want audiences to assume it was primarily a disaster film and not a heist-thriller. A massive, deadly flood the previous year from the Ohio River that caused millions in damages was still fresh in the minds of moviegoers also prompted the name change. However, the film still retained that title in numerous other countries.


title: Hard Rain (film)

text: The film was shot in Huntingburg, Indiana, where the film is set (in reality there is no major river or dam nearby, although there are two reservoirs near the town), as well as a $6 million set in an aircraft hangar in Palmdale, California where the B-1 Lancer bomber was manufactured, and some exteriors in Etobicoke, Toronto, Canada.


title: Hard Rain (film)

text: As of April 2016, upon speaking with the Huntingburg City Office, film historian Adam Nichols was informed of and shown a museum located upstairs in the city office where several props, costumes, media, and production stills are displayed featuring this film and the 1992 film "A League of Their Own" that was also partially filmed in Huntingburg.


title: Hard Rain (film)

text: About the ending, Morgan Freeman said: "I played a bad guy in a movie ["Hard Rain"] and they showed it to an audience – and we're letting an audience tell us what to do now – y'know, and the audience said, 'Well, I don't want him – Morgan can't die!' And I was a thief. 'He should get some money'. We went back into the studio and re-shot it so that I didn't die and I did get some money."


title: Hard Rain (film)

text: "Hard Rain" opened on the Martin Luther King long weekend in 1998 earning fifth place with $7.1 million from Friday to Sunday and $8 million including the holiday Monday. In the end, the film made $19.9 million in the US on a $70 million budget.


title: Hard Rain (film)

text: Due to its poor box office performance in the US, the film was released straight to video in most countries. In the UK, a 2004 showing on BBC One was very well received. The film gained a significant following in the video rental market.


title: Hard Rain (film)

text: "Hard Rain" received polarized reviews, some very positive and some very negative. A positive review was on timeout.com favorably compared the plot of "Hard Rain" to writer Graham Yost's earlier and more financially successful project, "Speed", and suggested that it could be considered a spiritual sequel to "Speed". Another review, on starpulse.com, praised the action scenes of "Hard Rain" yet criticized the plot, calling it "mindless" yet "entertaining". One particularly negative review came from Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times, who gave the film one star out of a possible four and stated: ""Hard Rain" is one of those movies that never convince you its stories are really happening. From beginning to end, I was acutely aware of actors being paid to stand in cold water. Suspension of my disbelief in this case would have required psychotropic medications." Although he criticised the plot and some of the casting, he did praise the special effects. On the TV show Siskel & Ebert & the Movies, he and his colleague Gene Siskel gave the film "two thumbs down". Commenting on its commercial performance, "Total Film" called it the "biggest flop of 1998" but said it deserved to perform better because of its "fun tension-cranking moments". Christopher Young's score was praised.


title: Hard Rain (film)

text: On Rotten Tomatoes it has a 31% approval rating based on 45 reviews. The site's consensus states: ""Hard Rain" is an implausible heist movie soaked in disaster movie trappings." Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B−" on an A+ to F scale.


title: Survive the Game

text: Survive the Game (also known as Killing Field) is a 2021 American action thriller film directed by James Cullen Bressack, and starring Chad Michael Murray and Bruce Willis.


title: Survive the Game

text: When David, a cop, gets injured during a drug bust gone wrong, his partner, Cal, pursues the two culprits to a remote farm owned by Eric, a troubled veteran. As Cal and Eric plan their defense, more of the gang arrives—along with a wounded David. Outnumbered, the three men must now use stealth, smarts and marksmanship to take down the drug-dealing mob.


title: Survive the Game

text: The film was released in select theaters and on VOD on October 8, 2021 and on Blu-ray and DVD on October 12, 2021.


title: Survive the Game

text: Bobby LePire of "Film Threat" rated the film an 8 out of 10 and wrote ""Survive The Game" may tell an oft-told story, but the script avoids most well-worn tropes in favor of a no-frills actioner."


title: Survive the Game

text: Jim Morazzini of "Voices from the Balcony" gave the movie a 3.5/5 and calls it "A better-than-average formula thriller that manages to deliver more than the usual amount of action."


title: Survive the Game

text: Bruce Willis was nominated for his performance in this movie, as he was for all movies he appeared in, in 2021, in the category Worst Performance by Bruce Willis in a 2021 Movie at the Golden Raspberry Awards. The category was later rescinded after he announced his retirement due to aphasia.


title: 9/11 truth movement

text: The 9/11 truth movement supports a conspiracy theory that disputes the general consensus of the September 11 attacks that a group of Al-Qaeda terrorists had hijacked four airliners and crashed them into the Pentagon and the original World Trade Center Twin Towers, which consequently collapsed. The primary focus is on missed information that adherents allege is not adequately explained in the official National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) report, such as the collapse of 7 World Trade Center. They suggest a cover-up and, at the least, complicity by insiders.


title: 9/11 truth movement

text: They analyze evidence from the attacks, discuss different theories about how the attacks happened and call for a new investigation into the attacks. Some of the organizations assert that there is evidence that individuals within the United States government may have been either responsible for or knowingly complicit in the September 11 attacks. Motives suggested by the movement include the use of the attacks as a pretext to fight wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and to create opportunities to curtail American civil liberties. Support for the movement is negligible from professionals in relevant fields, such as civil and aerospace engineering.


title: 9/11 truth movement

text: "9/11 truth movement" is a term that has been applied to loosely affiliated organizations and individuals that question whether the United States government, agencies of the United States or individuals within such agencies were either responsible for or purposefully complicit in the September 11 attacks. The term is also being used by the adherents of the movement, who call themselves "9/11 skeptics", "truth activists", or "9/11 truthers", while generally rejecting the term "conspiracy theorists".


title: 9/11 truth movement

text: Adherents of the movement come from diverse social backgrounds. The movement draws adherents from people of diverse political beliefs including liberals, conservatives, and libertarians.


title: 9/11 truth movement

text: Lev Grossman of "Time" magazine has stated that support for the movement is not a "fringe phenomenon", but "a mainstream political reality." Others, such as Ben Smith of "Politico" and the "Minneapolis Star Tribune" have stated that the movement has been "relegated to the fringe". "The Washington Post" editorial staff went further describing the movement as "lunatic fringe." Mark Fenster, a University of Florida law professor and author of the book "Conspiracy Theories: Secrecy and Power in American Culture", says that "the amount of organisation" of the movement is significantly stronger than the organization of the movement related to doubts about the official account of the assassination of John F. Kennedy, though this is likely the result of new media technologies, such as online social networks, blogs, etc.


title: 9/11 truth movement

text: In 2004, John Buchanan ran for president on a 9/11 truth platform. Jeff Boss ran in the 2008, 2012, 2016, and 2020 US presidential elections on platforms promoting the movement.


title: 9/11 truth movement

text: In a 2011 article in "Skeptical Inquirer", Jamie Bartlett and Carl Miller gave an overview and analyzed the members of the 9/11 truth movement. The authors found that people involved in this movement, which seemingly is a disparate group with very diversified backgrounds, could be classified into three groups. They join the movement for different reasons, loosely self-assemble to fill different roles, and are united by their shared mistrust in experts and the establishment (government and reputable sources of knowledge) and have a conspiratorial stance. Through their engagement, they each find their own fulfillment and satisfaction. Together, they contribute to the persistence, resilience, and exaggerated claims of acceptance (in general public) of the movement.


title: 9/11 truth movement

text: Many believers in the movement say that United States government insiders played a part in the attacks, or may have known the attacks were imminent, and did nothing to alert others or stop them. Some within the movement who argue that insiders within the United States government were directly responsible for the September 11 attacks often alleging that the attacks were planned and executed in order to provide the U.S. with a pretext for going to war in the Middle East, and, by extension, as a means of consolidating.


title: 9/11 truth movement

text: According to these allegations, this would have given the Bush administration the justification for more widespread abuses of civil liberties and to invade Afghanistan and Iraq to ensure future supplies of oil. In some cases, even in the mainstream media, "hawks" in the White House, especially then vice-president Dick Cheney and members of the Project for the New American Century, the neoconservative think-tank, have been accused of either being aware of, or involved in, the alleged plot.


title: 9/11 truth movement

text: A relatively common, but not exclusive view within the movement alleges that the buildings of the World Trade Center were destroyed by controlled demolition.


title: 9/11 truth movement

text: The Internet plays a large role both in the communication between adherents and between local groups of the 9/11 truth movement and in the dissemination of the views of the movement to the public at large. Colorado Public Television has aired several films produced by the movement such as "9/11 Explosive Evidence: Experts Speak Out", a documentary produced by Architects and Engineers for 9/11 Truth, which once was one of the "most shared" and "most watched" programs on the national PBS site. The station's airing of such films has been controversial for the affiliate and PBS.


title: 9/11 truth movement

text: In the aftermath of the September 11 attacks, different interpretations of the events that questioned the account given by the U.S. government were published. Among others, Michael Ruppert and Canadian journalist Barrie Zwicker, published criticisms or pointed out purported anomalies of the accepted account of the attacks. French author Jean-Charles Brisard and German authors Mathias Bröckers and Andreas von Bülow published books critical of media reporting and advancing the controlled demolition thesis of the destruction of the World Trade Center towers. In September 2002, the first "Bush Did It!" rallies and marches were held in San Francisco and Oakland, California, organized by The All People's Coalition.


title: 9/11 truth movement

text: In October 2004, the organization 9/11 Truth released a statement, signed by nearly 200 people, including many relatives of people who perished on September 11, 2001, that calls for an investigation into the attacks. It also asserted that unanswered questions would suggest that people within the administration of President George W. Bush may have deliberately allowed the attacks to happen. Actor Edward Asner, former presidential candidate Ralph Nader, former congresswoman Cynthia McKinney, former assistant secretary of housing Catherine Austin Fitts, author Richard Heinberg, Enver Masud, founder of The Wisdom Fund, professors Richard Falk of the University of California, Mark Crispin Miller of New York University, Douglas Sturm of Bucknell University, Burns H. Weston of the University of Iowa College of Law and others signed the statement. In 2009, Van Jones, a former advisor to President Obama, said he had not fully reviewed the statement before he signed and that the petition did not reflect his views "now or ever."


title: 9/11 truth movement

text: In 2006, Steven E. Jones, who became a leading advocate of the demolition theory, published the paper "Why Indeed Did the WTC Buildings Completely Collapse?". He was placed on paid leave by Brigham Young University following what they described as Jones's "increasingly speculative and accusatory" statements in September 2006, pending a review of his statements and research. Six weeks later, Jones retired from the university. Skepticism arose as to the scientific claims made by Jones and the efficacy of the peer-review process involved in the publication of his hypotheses, and conspiracy theorists responded to criticism by positing still more elaborate ostensible cover-ups.


title: 9/11 truth movement

text: In the same year, 61 legislators in the U.S. state of Wisconsin signed a petition calling for the dismissal of a University of Wisconsin lecturer Kevin Barrett, after he joined the group Scholars for 9/11 Truth. Citing academic freedom, the university provost declined to take action against Barrett.


title: 9/11 truth movement

text: Several organizations of family members of people who have died in the attacks are calling for an independent investigation into the attacks. In 2009, a group of people, including 9/11 truth activist Lorie Van Auken and others who have lost friends or relatives in the attack, appealed to the City of New York to investigate the disaster. The New York City Coalition for Accountability Now collected signatures to require the New York City Council to place the creation of an investigating commission on the November 2009 election ballot. The group collected more than enough signatures to put the proposal before the voters, but New York Supreme Court Justice Edward Lehner stated that the petition overstepped what is allowable by city law, and ruled that, despite wording in the petition to allow for elements ruled invalid to be stricken, it would not be allowed to appear on the ballot.


title: 9/11 truth movement

text: According to some adherents of the 9/11 truth movement, many of the questions that the 9/11 Family Steering Committee put to the 9/11 Commission, chaired by former New Jersey Governor Thomas Kean, were not asked in either the hearings nor in the Commission Report. Lorie Van Auken, one of the Jersey Girls, estimates that only 30% of their questions were answered in the final 9/11 Commission Report, published July 22, 2004.


title: 9/11 truth movement

text: The 9/11 Family Steering Committee produced a website summarizing the questions they had raised to the commission, indicating which they believe had been answered satisfactorily, which they believe had been addressed but not answered satisfactorily, and which they believe had been generally ignored in or omitted from the Report.


title: 9/11 truth movement

text: In addition, "The 9/11 Commission Report: Omissions and Distortions" written by David Ray Griffin, claimed the report had either omitted information or distorted the truth, providing 115 examples of his allegations. Griffin has characterized the 9/11 Commission Report as "a 571-page lie".


title: 9/11 truth movement

text: On May 26, 2008, adjunct religious studies professor Blair Gadsby began a protest and a hunger strike outside the offices of Senator and Republican Party nominee for President John McCain's office requesting McCain meet with the principal scientists and leaders of the 9/11 truth movement, specifically Richard Gage, Steven E. Jones, and David Ray Griffin. McCain had written the foreword to the book "Debunking 9/11 Myths: Why Conspiracy Theories Can't Stand Up to the Facts", published by the magazine "Popular Mechanics".


title: 9/11 truth movement

text: Arizona Republican State Senator Karen Johnson joined the protest in support. On June 10, Johnson with Gadsby as her guest and other 9/11 truth movement members in the audience, spoke before the Arizona State Senate espousing the controlled demolition theory and supporting a reopening of the 9/11 investigation.


title: 9/11 truth movement

text: Following the initial government investigation, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Report (May 2002) NIST Report, numerous responses were written by members of the 9/11 truth movement. Many of these responses claimed that it ignored key evidence suggesting an explosive demolition, "distorted reality" by using deceptive language and diagrams, and attacked straw man arguments, such as the 2005 article by Jim Hoffman entitled "Building a better mirage: NIST's 3-year $20,000,000 Cover Up of the Crime of the Century".


title: 9/11 truth movement

text: In late 2005, Steven E. Jones, then a professor at Brigham Young University, announced a paper criticizing the NIST Report and describing his hypothesis that the WTC towers had been intentionally demolished by explosives. This paper garnered some mainstream media attention, including an appearance by Jones on MSNBC. This was the first such programming on a major cable news station. Jones was criticized by his university for making his claims public before vetting them through the approved peer review process. He was placed on paid leave and has since retired.


title: 9/11 truth movement

text: Accordingly, in April 2007, some 9/11 victims' family members and some members of the new "Scholars for 9/11 Truth and Justice" submitted an additional request for correction to NIST, containing their own views on the defects in the report. NIST responded to this request in September 2007 supporting their original conclusions; the originators of the request wrote back to them in October 2007, asking them to reconsider their response.


title: 9/11 truth movement

text: Members of the movement distributed pamphlets that they say told the "truth" about the attacks at the National September 11 Memorial & Museum when the Museum opened in May 2014.


title: 9/11 truth movement

text: Since the publication of the official reports, a number of interconnected 9/11 truth movement organizations have been formed.


title: 9/11 truth movement

text: Architects & Engineers for 9/11 Truth is an organization of architectural and engineering professionals who support the World Trade Center controlled demolition conspiracy theories and are calling for a new investigation into the destruction of the Twin Towers and WTC 7. The group is collecting signatures for a petition to the United States Congress that demands "a truly independent investigation with subpoena power" of the September 11 attacks, which, according to the organization, should include an inquiry into the possible use of explosives in the destruction of the World Trade Center buildings. Richard Gage, a San Francisco Bay area-based architect, founded "Architects & Engineers for 9/11 Truth" in 2006.


title: 9/11 truth movement

text: Investigations by the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have concluded that the buildings collapsed as a result of the impacts of the planes and of the fires that resulted from them. Gage criticized NIST for not having investigated the complete sequence of the collapse of the World Trade Center towers in its report, and claims "the official explanation of the total destruction of the World Trade Center skyscrapers has explicitly failed to address the massive evidence for explosive demolition." To support its position, the group Architects & Engineers for 9/11 Truth points to the "free fall" pace of the collapse of the buildings, the "lateral ejection of steel", and to the "mid-air pulverization of concrete", among other things.


title: 9/11 truth movement

text: "9/11 Truth" was launched in June 2004 and has become a central portal for many 9/11 truth movement organizations. It is run by Janice Matthews (executive director), David Kubiak (International Campaign Advisor) and Mike Berger (Media Coordinator), among others, and its advisory board includes Steven E. Jones and Barrie Zwicker.


title: 9/11 truth movement

text: The organization co-sponsored opinion polls conducted by the U.S. market research and opinion polling firm Zogby International that have shown substantial numbers of people believing the government did not tell the full truth about the September 11 attacks.


title: 9/11 truth movement

text: The original Scholars for 9/11 Truth was founded by James H. Fetzer, a former philosophy professor, and physicist Steven E. Jones, in December 2005. It was a group of people of differing backgrounds and expertise who rejected the mainstream media and government account of the September 11 attacks. Initially the group invited many ideas and hypotheses to be considered. However, leading members soon came to feel that the inclusion of some theories advocated by Fetzer—such as the use of directed energy weapons or miniature nuclear bombs to destroy the Twin Towers—were insufficiently supported by evidence and were exposing the group to ridicule. By December 2006, Jones and others set up a new scholars group, Scholars for 9/11 Truth and Justice, which described its focus as the use of scientific analysis. The original members took a vote on which group to join and the majority voted to move to the new group.


title: 9/11 truth movement

text: Scholars for 9/11 Truth & Justice (STJ) formed in January 2007 and is a self-described "group of scholars and supporters endeavoring to address the unanswered questions of the September 11, 2001 attack through scientific research and public education". The group is composed of more than 900 members, including Richard Gage, Steven E. Jones, Jim Hoffman, David Ray Griffin, and former Congressman Daniel Hamburg. Most members support the conspiracy theory that the World Trade Center Towers and the third skyscraper, WTC 7, were destroyed through explosive demolition.


title: 9/11 truth movement

text: In 2008 and 2009, several members of the Scholars for 9/11 Truth & Justice published essays in science and engineering journals. In April 2008, a letter by some of its members, was published in "The Open Civil Engineering Journal". In July 2008, an article by Steven E. Jones and others was published in "The Environmentalist."


title: 9/11 truth movement

text: In October 2008, a comment by STJ member James R. Gourley describing what he considers fundamental errors in a Bažant and Verdure paper was included in an issue of the "Journal of Engineering Mechanics". In April 2009, Danish chemist and STJ member Niels H. Harrit, of the University of Copenhagen, and eight other authors, including some STJ members, published a paper in "The Open Chemical Physics Journal", entitled "Active Thermitic Material Discovered in Dust from the 9/11 World Trade Center Catastrophe". The paper, which caused the editor and only peer-reviewer, Professor Pileni, to resign, claiming it was published without her knowledge, concludes that chips consisting of unreacted and partially reacted nano-thermite ("super-thermite") appear to be present in samples of the dust.


title: 9/11 truth movement

text: 9/11 Citizens Watch was formed in 2002 by John Judge and Kyle Hence and, along with the Family Steering Committee, played an active role in calling for the establishment of the 9/11 Commission, and monitoring the commission closely.


title: 9/11 truth movement

text: Founded in 2011 by Senator Mike Gravel, the 9/11 Commission Campaign's objective is to enact subpoena-capable, state-level commissions through state ballot initiatives, namely in Oregon, Alaska and California. These commissions are envisioned as citizen-driven, independent organizations that would form a semi-unified grassroots national presence by exercising joint powers authority.


title: 9/11 truth movement

text: The Hispanic Victims Group is a group created after the 9/11 attacks, founded by William Rodriguez, a supporter of the 9/11 truth movement. The group was one of the key forces behind the creation of the 9/11 Commission. William Rodriguez, as founder of the group, was a member of the Families Advisory Council for the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation (LMDC).


title: 9/11 truth movement

text: Members of the 9/11 truth organizations, such as 911truth.org and Scholars for 9/11 Truth and Justice, held meetings and conferences to discuss ongoing research about 9/11 and to strategize about how best to achieve their goals during the early 2000s and 2010s. Many of these conferences are organized by 911truth.org, and some have been covered by the international media.


title: 9/11 truth movement

text: Matt Taibbi of "Rolling Stone" assessed that the movement "gives supporters of Bush an excuse to dismiss critics of this administration", and expressed concerns about the number of people who believe in 9/11 conspiracy theories.


title: 9/11 truth movement

text: Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) engineering professor Thomas W. Eagar was at first unwilling to acknowledge the concerns of the movement, saying that "if (the argument) gets too mainstream, I'll engage in the debate". In response to Steven E. Jones' publication of a hypothesis that the World Trade Center was destroyed by controlled demolition, Eagar said that adherents of the 9/11 truth movement would use the reverse scientific method to arrive at their conclusions, as they "determine what happened, throw out all the data that doesn't fit their conclusion, and then hail their findings as the only possible conclusion".


title: 9/11 truth movement

text: Calling conspiracy theorists "the truthers", Bill Moyers has quoted journalist Robert Parry by stating that the theorists "...threw out all the evidence of al-Qaeda's involvement, from contemporaneous calls from hijack victims on the planes to confessions from al-Qaeda leaders both in and out of captivity that they had indeed done it. Then, recycling some of the right's sophistry techniques, such as using long lists of supposed evidence to overcome the lack of any real evidence, the 'truthers' cherry-picked a few supposed 'anomalies' to build an 'inside-job' story line".


title: 9/11 truth movement

text: Al-Qaeda has sharply criticized Iran's ex-president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, over his suggestions that the U.S. government was behind the September 11 attacks, dismissing his comments as "ridiculous".


title: 9/11 truth movement

text: Some skeptics—who oppose conspiracy as the "a priori" explanation to events, and who find most of the questions posed by the Truthers to be either easily answered or based on misleading or false ideas—have claimed that some of the Truthers are knowingly disseminating false information with no care for the grieving families, and have accordingly called them "disrespectful" or even "sickos".


title: 9/11 truth movement

text: The Mysterious Collapse of World Trade Center 7: Why the Final Official Report About 9/11 Is Unscientific and False, Interlink Publishing, September 2009, ISBN 1-56656-786-6; Arris Books UK, September 2009, ISBN 1-84437-083-6


title: 9/11 truth movement

text: In September 2004, the interactive "Complete 9/11 Timeline" website by Paul Thompson, a collection of mainstream media reports presented chronologically, was made into the book, entitled "The Terror Timeline".


title: Ladybeard

text: Richard Magarey (born 3 August 1983) is an Australian stunt actor, professional wrestler, singer and YouTuber, known for his bearded crossdressing persona named . He is currently vocalist of the band BABYBEARD, formerly with the band Ladybaby and Deadlift Lolita.


title: Ladybeard

text: According to GirlsWalker, Magarey first started crossdressing when he was 14 years old using his sister's school uniform. Ever since then, cute outfits have been part of his eventual wrestling gimmick.


title: Ladybeard

text: Magarey graduated from the Flinders University of South Australia Drama Centre in 2004 with a Bachelor of Creative Arts before moving to Melbourne to train in Hong Kong-style martial arts and cinematic stunt work with Paul Andreovski of the Jackie Chan Stunt Team.


title: Ladybeard

text: Originally from Adelaide, Magarey moved to Hong Kong in 2006 to kickstart his martial arts stunt career in films, later becoming a hit in Hong Kong as a cross-dressing pro wrestler. He held roles in two Michael Gleissner movies: Irreversi, shot in 2010 in Hong Kong (where Magarey was also the stand-in for lead actor Ian Bohen), and Deep Gold, shot in 2011 in the Philippines. He also starred as the main foreign villain in The Fortune Buddies. In October 2013 he moved to Tokyo, Japan to attempt a similar career there. On January 1, 2015 Ladybeard released the DVD+CD "Ladybeard Justice Fight Ai To Yuki To Bikini To Hige To". In 2017 Ladybeard was part of the Australian documentary "Big in Japan".


title: Ladybeard

text: In addition to his native English, Ladybeard has conversational levels of Japanese, Cantonese, Mandarin Chinese and can understand some German.


title: Ladybeard

text: Ladybeard's musical style is described as Kawaiicore, a portmanteau of kawaii (Japanese for "cute") and the -core suffix associated with hardcore metal genres. His motto is "Sing, dance, destroy!".


title: Ladybeard

text: In 2015, he formed the band with singers Rie Kaneko and called Ladybaby. On 4 July, the group released their first track and music video titled 'Nippon Manju' ('Japanese Bun', in English) which is a song that covers all the things they love about Japan. Released in July 2015, the music video went viral on YouTube, at one point gathering 1 million views in 2 days. Their second single, released in Japan on 13 January 2016, debuted at number 15 in the daily Oricon charts. Ladybeard has since withdrawn from the group. The group re-branded itself, going by "The Idol Formerly Known as LADYBABY". in 2018, the group returned to the original name after Rei left the group and three other girls joined. Ladybeard did however make a guest appearance on the EP "ホシノナイソラ -Starless_Sky-", providing additional growling vocals on the song "ビリビリマネー -Biri Biri Money-".


title: Ladybeard

text: On 28 February 2017, Ladybeard announced the formation of a new group, "Deadlift Lolita", with bodybuilding model and wrestler Reika Saiki. They are joined by guitarist , who also accompanied Babymetal. Their first single "Six Pack Twins" was released on 31 March 2017.


title: Ladybeard

text: On 1 January 2015 Ladybeard released the single CD bonus of the DVD "LadyBeard Justice Fight – Ai to Yuki to Bikini to Hige to -", with the single and four remixes of the song "Ladybeard Justice Fight". On 20 January 2016 Ladybeard was featured in Shiori Tomita single "Valentine Kiss Cover", version of "Valentine Kiss", from Sayuri Kokushō. On 19 October 2016 Ladybeard released a collaboration single with PEE and Yuuka Furukawa, "Wanchan Aruchan". On 28 October 2016 he released a collaboration single with the Chinese idol group ATF, "Ghost Script". On 23 May 2018 he released a collaboration single with the drummer MURATA TAMU, "Super D & D ~Kanzen ni Lead Shite I My Me~", with "D zettai! Samurai in the rain" as b-side. On 7 July 2020 he made screams in the single from Zakk Cash "Limit Break X Survivor (Dragon Ball Super Collaborative Cover) (feat. Amalee, Ladybeard, Samuel Cristea, Eric Emery, Julian Comeau, Mark Barela, Callgirl & Christian Grey"). All the proceeds from streams are going to Action Against Hunger, supporting victims of the Aussie bushfires, and those most affected by Covid.


title: Ladybeard

text: On April 12, 2021, Ladybeard announced the formation of a new group called BABYBEARD with singers Suzu and Kotomi. Their debut releases "Nippon Kara Konnichiwa" and "PIENIZER" began streaming on April 28, 2021. "Nippon Kara Konnichiwa" reached iTunes Store • J-Pop Top Songs • Australia • TOP 2 on April 28, 2021 and iTunes Store • J-Pop Top Songs • America • TOP 4 on April 29, 2021. Songs for the group were written by Takashi Asano and Natsumi Tadano, the writers of Ladybaby's "Nippon Manju".


title: Ivan Glasenberg

text: Ivan Glasenberg (born 7 January 1957) is a South African business executive and former chief executive officer of Glencore, one of the world's largest commodity trading and mining companies. In December 2020 it was announced that Glasenberg will retire as chief executive by June 2021. Glasenberg has or had citizenship of South Africa and Australia. He became a Swiss citizen in 2011. He is also on the board of mining company Minara Resources Ltd.


title: Ivan Glasenberg

text: Glasenberg was born 7 January 1957 in South Africa to a Jewish family. His father, Samuel Glasenberg, was "a luggage manufacturer and importer born in Lithuania", and his mother, Blanche Vilensky, was South African. The family lived in Illovo, a suburb of Johannesburg. Glasenberg was an athlete, and by his early 20s was national junior champion in race walking. Ivan married Elana Beverley Orelowitz in 1984. In his youth Glasenberg was also a friend of Mick Davis, who would become the CEO of mining company Xstrata.


title: Ivan Glasenberg

text: Glasenberg graduated with a Bachelor of Commerce and a Bachelor of Accountancy from the University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa. Glasenberg was with Nexia Levitt Kirson, a firm of chartered accountants, for five years and is a Chartered Accountant, South Africa [CA (SA)]. He received his MBA from the IBEAR program at University of Southern California in 1983.


title: Ivan Glasenberg

text: Glasenberg joined Glencore in 1984, working in the coal department in South Africa and Australia. He managed Glencore's Hong Kong and Beijing offices from 1989 to 1990, and became head of the company's coal department in 1991. He was named CEO in 2002.


title: Ivan Glasenberg

text: In 2005, "BusinessWeek" referred to Glasenberg as a key figure in the secretive commodities trading of Marc Rich's company Mark Rich & Co. AG. Rich was a billionaire commodities trader, who was charged with tax evasion and illegal deals with Iran, but later pardoned by US President Bill Clinton. Glencore is the corporate successor to Marc Rich & Co AG.


title: Ivan Glasenberg

text: In September 2011, using his own dividends, Glasenberg started buying a larger share of Glencore, buying up to an additional 54 million of Glencore stock. In April 2012 it was reported that Glasenberg held more than 15 per cent of Glencore's stock, placing him as the 20th richest mining billionaire, with "Forbes" estimating his net worth at US$7.3 billion.


title: Ivan Glasenberg

text: In December 2020, Glasenberg announced that he will be retiring in 2021 thus stepping out of the CEO position after nearly 20 years. He was succeeded by fellow South African Gary Nagle, who was running the firm's coal business.


title: Ivan Glasenberg

text: Glasenberg became CEO of the merged entity created when Glencore and Xstrata finalised one of the largest mining company mergers in history creating an US$88 billion company. Originally Xstrata CEO Mick Davis was to be CEO while Glasenberg would be President in a merger-of-equals transaction, however, due to holding out of major Xstrata shareholder Qatar, it became a takeover target, with a 3.05 Glencore to 1 Xstrata Share exchange to create the new entity Glencore Xstrata with Glasenberg becoming CEO. Davis left the company in July 2013.


title: Ivan Glasenberg

text: Glasenberg has served an executive director of Xstrata Plc (since 2002); and as a non-executive director of Minara Resources Ltd (since 2000); of Rusal Plc (since 2007); and Century Aluminum Co. (between 2010–2011).


title: Ivan Glasenberg

text: Glasenberg has been a champion race-walker for both South Africa and Israel, and runs and swims daily to maintain his fitness. He is married with two children, and a resident of the village of Rüschlikon in Switzerland. Glasenberg paid 360 million SFr (£240m) in taxes to Rüschlikon following Glencore's flotation on the London Stock Exchange. The money enabled the residents to cut their taxation rate by 7%, which was approved by large majority after a public vote, and attracted criticism from some villagers about Glencore's alleged controversial business practices.


title: Africatown

text: Africatown, also known as AfricaTown USA and Plateau, is a historic community located three miles (5 km) north of downtown Mobile, Alabama. It was formed by a group of 32 West Africans, who in 1860 were included in the last known illegal shipment of slaves to the United States. The Atlantic slave trade had been banned since 1808, but 110 slaves held by the Kingdom of Dahomey were smuggled into Mobile on the "Clotilda", which was burned and scuttled to try to conceal its illicit cargo. More than 30 of these people, believed to be ethnic Yoruba, Ewe, and Fon, founded and created their own community in what became Africatown. They retained their West African customs and language into the 1950s, while their children and some elders also learned English. Cudjo "Kazoola" Lewis, a founder of Africatown, lived until 1935 and was long thought to be the last survivor of the slaves from the "Clotilda".


title: Africatown

text: In 2019, scholar Hannah Durkin from Newcastle University documented Redoshi, a West African woman who was believed at the time to be the last survivor of slaves from the "Clotilda." Also known as Sally Smith, she lived to 1937. She had been sold to a planter who lived in Dallas County, Alabama. Redoshi and her family continued to live there after emancipation, working on the same plantation. Durkin later published research indicating that another slave, Matilda McCrear, in fact outlived Smith, dying in 1940.


title: Africatown

text: The population of Africatown has declined markedly from a peak population of 12,000 in the 20th century, when paper mills operated there. In the early 21st century, the community has about 2,000 residents. It is estimated 100 of them are descendants of the people from the "Clotilda". Other descendants live across the country. In 2009, the neighborhood was designated as a site on Mobile's African American Heritage Trail. The Africatown Historic District was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2012. Its related Old Plateau Cemetery, also known as Africatown Graveyard, was founded in 1876. It has been given a large historical plaque telling its history.


title: Africatown

text: In 1860, some wealthy slaveholders of Mobile and their friends decided to see if they could evade the federal law that prohibited importing slaves from Africa. This Atlantic slave trade had been prohibited by the United States by the 1807 Act Prohibiting Importation of Slaves, although the domestic slave trade continued. The slave traders bet each other and a group of men from New England that they could evade federal authorities. Timothy Meaher, a shipbuilder and landowner; his brother Byrnes (also spelled Burns) Meaher; John Dabey; and others invested money to hire a crew and captain for one of Meaher's ships to go to Africa and buy enslaved Africans.


title: Africatown

text: They used Timothy Meaher's ship "Clotilda", which had been designed for the lumber trade. It was commanded by Captain William Foster. While the ship was in port at Whydah in the Kingdom of Dahomey (present-day port of Ouidah in Benin), additional work was done to accommodate and conceal the transport of enslaved people. Foster bought the slaves and loaded them. The ship sailed in May 1860 from Dahomey for its final destination, Mobile, with 110 persons held as slaves. Foster had paid for 125 slaves, but as he was preparing for departure, he saw steamers offshore and rapidly departed to evade them.


title: Africatown

text: The captives were said to be mostly of the "Tarkbar" tribe, but research in the 21st century suggests that they were Takpa people, a band of Yoruba people from the interior of present-day Nigeria. They had been taken captive by forces of the King of Dahomey. He sold them into slavery at the market of Whydah. The captured people were sold for $100 each to Foster, captain of the "Clotilda".


title: Africatown

text: In early July 1860, the "Clotilda" entered Mobile Bay and approached the port of Mobile. Trying to evade discovery, Foster had the ship towed at night upriver beyond the port. He loaded the slaves onto a steam riverboat and sent them ashore; he set fire to the "Clotilda" and scuttled it to hide the evidence of its smuggling slaves. The Africans were mostly distributed as slaves among the parties who had invested in the venture. Before being taken from Mobile, they were on their own in terms of surviving. They built shelters of whatever they found growing in the Alabama lowlands, and adapted their hunting to the rich game.


title: Africatown

text: Some slaves were sold to areas more distant from Mobile. Among them were Redoshi, a woman from the "Clotilda", and a man who became her husband, who were both sold to Washington Smith of Dallas County, Alabama. He had a plantation in the upcountry of the state, and later founded the Bank of Selma. Redoshi was known as Sally Smith as a slave. She married and the couple had a daughter. The family continued to work at the Smith plantation after emancipation. While Redoshi Smith was interviewed by Zora Neale Hurston and known by others, later in her life and after her death, she was forgotten. In 2019, researcher Hannah Durkin published new information about her: she documented that Redoshi Smith lived until 1937, making her apparently the last survivor of the slaves from the "Clotilda."


title: Africatown

text: Federal authorities prosecuted Meaher and his partners, including Foster. Lacking the ship and related evidence, such as its manifest, the 1861 federal court case of "US v. Byrnes Meaher, Timothy Meaher and John Dabey" did not find sufficient grounds to convict Meaher. The case was dismissed. Historians believe the start of the American Civil War contributed to the federal government's dropping the case.


title: Africatown

text: Meaher initially used 32 of the enslaved Africans as workers on his plantation. After the Civil War (1861–1865) they were emancipated, but they continued to work Meaher's property in the delta north of Mobile on the west side of the river. The formerly enslaved people founded a community known as Africatown, bounded on three sides by water: a bayou, Three Mile Creek (formerly Chickasabogag Creek), and the Mobile River.


title: Africatown

text: Among the founders of Africatown was a man named Cudjoe "Kazoola" Lewis (his Yoruba name was Kazoola or Kossola). He was said to be the oldest slave on the "Clotilda" and a chief. Accounts also refer to Charlie Poteet as a chief. Their medicine man was named Jabez, or Jaba. Charles Lewis ("Oluale" was his Yoruba name) and his future wife Maggie were also among the Africans on the "Clotilda". Cudjoe Lewis lived until 1935 and until 2019 was thought to be the last survivor of the original group. He was a spokesman for the community and was interviewed by early 20th-century writers Emma Langdon Roche and Zora Neale Hurston, among others, who both relied on his accounts for the history of the capture, voyage and community.


title: Africatown

text: In the post-Civil War and emancipation period, the people in Africatown were joined by people from the same ethnic groups who were living in the Mobile area. They gathered as a community to live independently and evade supervision by whites. The community had two major sections: the first and larger one, of about 50 acres, and a second section of about 7 acres, located about two miles west. The latter area was called Lewis Quarters after founder Charlie "Oluale" Lewis and his wife Maggie.


title: Africatown

text: Cudjo Lewis's son Joe (Joseph) learned to read and write at the church which the settlers founded in Africatown. He helped preserve the story of his father and the "Clotilda," as did the families and later community schools, through oral histories. The women raised and sold crops, and the men worked in mills for $1 a day, saving money to purchase the land from Meaher. When possible, they avoided white people.


title: Africatown

text: They established the African Church, later known as the Old Landmark Church. In 1876, they opened the Old Plateau Cemetery, also known as the Africatown Graveyard. In the early 20th century, they replaced the old church with the brick Union Missionary Baptist Church, which is still in use.


title: Africatown

text: The community started its first public school in 1880; it is known as the Mobile County Technical School.


title: Africatown

text: Cudjoe Lewis helped his fellow Africans to adapt to their new country, although they had been badly treated by whites. For decades, he served as a spokesman for the people of Africatown. He was visited by American writers Emma Langdon Roche and Zora Neale Hurston, and educator Booker T. Washington, president of Tuskegee Institute. Roche published a book in 1914 about American slavery and the Africatown community. In 1927, Hurston interviewed Cudjo Lewis for the "Journal of Negro History". Although she never published the article, she made a short film about him. She returned later and frequently visited Lewis over a period of three months. She wrote a book about this experience and Lewis's life but was unable to get it published. Her book was posthumously published as "," in an annotated edition in May 2018.


title: Africatown

text: During interviews, Lewis would tell about the civil wars in West Africa, in which members of the losing side were sold into slavery to Africans and Europeans. His were Takpa people, who had lived in a village in the interior. Cudjo related how he and others from his village had been captured by warriors from neighboring Dahomey, taken to Ouidah and imprisoned within a large slave compound. They were sold by the King of Dahomey to Foster and transported to the U.S. on the "Clotilda". After the Civil War and emancipation, the people asked the U.S. government to repatriate them to Africa, but they were refused.


title: Africatown

text: The community developed along the spine of Telegraph Road in the early 20th century, becoming known both as Plateau, for its high ground, and Magazine. Those areas became part of the cities of Mobile and Prichard, respectively. Considerable company housing was built in Prichard for workers at the shipyards and paper mills.


title: Africatown

text: Up until World War II, Africatown survived as a distinct community, but later it was absorbed as a neighborhood of Mobile. It was also known as Plateau.


title: Africatown

text: The Cudjo Lewis Memorial Statue was placed in front of the Union Missionary Baptist Church in 1959, in recognition of his leadership in the community. In 1977 the Association for the Study of Afro-American Life and History, in cooperation with the Amoco Foundation, gave a bronze plaque to the City of Mobile to commemorate the life of Lewis. It was installed in Bienville Square downtown.


title: Africatown

text: Africatown expanded as newcomers arrived to work in the paper mills of International Paper (IP) and Scott Paper. In this period, the population reached a peak of 12,000. But it declined later in the 20th century, following the closing of the major industries.


title: Africatown

text: In 1997, descendants and friends founded the AfricaTown Mobilization Project to campaign for the community to be designated as an historic district and to promote its redevelopment. The Africatown Historic District was added to the National Register of Historic Places on December 4, 2012.


title: Africatown

text: In 2010, Neil Norman of the College of William and Mary conducted an archeological excavation and preservation project in Africatown. It was funded by local and state agencies. He excavated three homesites of former enslaved people trafficked on the "Clotilda": Peter Lee, Cudjo "Kazoola" Lewis, and Charlie Lewis. They identified some artifacts that may have been brought from Africa. In 2012, there was clean-up work in the newly designated historic district, and the cemetery was cleaned and restored. Also, a large historical marker has been installed outside the cemetery that explains its history and significance.


title: Africatown

text: About 2,000 people live there in 2018, including 100 known descendants of survivors of "Clotilda". Among the descendants of Charles Lewis and his wife Maggie, who was also born in Africa, is a great-great-great grandson Ahmir Khalib Thompson, the 21st-century drummer and music producer known as Questlove. Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, he is descended from their son Joseph and his wife.


title: Africatown

text: Most of the community now lies within Mobile's city limits. Its people passed down the story of its founders and how they were brought to the United States, preserving their history through families, the church, and schools.


title: Africatown

text: Part of the community's land was appropriated by the government for the development of the western approach of the Cochrane-Africatown USA Bridge, completed in 1992. In 1997, descendants and friends formed the Africatown Community Mobilization Project to seek recognition of an Africatown Historic District and encourage the restoration and development of the town site. In 2000 it submitted documentation as a Local Legacy Project to the Library of Congress, through Representative Sonny Callahan from Alabama's 1st congressional district. "Materials include[d] 16 pages of text, 11 color photographs, a map of the AfricaTown district, newspaper articles, information on the AfricaTown Mobilization Project, and a videotape, ""AfricaTown, USA,"" made by a local news station."


title: Africatown

text: Defined as roughly bounded by Jakes Lane, Paper Mill and Warren roads, and Chin and Railroad streets, the historic district was designated in 2009 as a site on Mobile's African American Heritage Trail. The Africatown Historic District was subsequently affirmed as significant by the state and the National Park Service, and it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on December 4, 2012.


title: Africatown

text: Given its location along waterways, this area was developed for mills and other industrial uses, especially in the early 20th century. A paper plant was built in 1928 and operated for decades on land first owned by A. Meaher Jr. on the edge of Africatown. Residents say they have a serious industrial pollution and public health problem, which has caused a high rate of cancer since the late 20th century.


title: Africatown

text: In 2017, a group of about 1,200 residents launched a lawsuit against International Paper (IP), as this company had owned the now-shuttered paper plant. The environmental group claim that IP's improper handling of waste through the decades contaminated the land and water, and the company did not clean up the site as required after closing the plant.


title: Africatown

text: In January 2018, reporter Ben Raines found the charred remains of a ship that he thought might prove to be the "Clotilda". On March 5, 2018, Ben Raines announced that the wreck he had discovered was likely not the "Clotilda" as the wreckage appeared to be "simply too big, with a significant portion hidden beneath mud and deep water".