title: Bartleby, the Scrivener

text: Melville's major source of inspiration for the story was an advertisement for a new book, "The Lawyer's Story", printed in the "Tribune" and the "Times" on February 18, 1853. The book, published anonymously later that year, was written by popular novelist James A. Maitland. This advertisement included the complete first chapter, which started: "In the summer of 1843, having an extraordinary quantity of deeds to copy, I engaged, temporarily, an extra copying clerk, who interested me considerably, in consequence of his modest, quiet, gentlemanly demeanor, and his intense application to his duties." Melville biographer Hershel Parker said nothing else in the chapter besides this "remarkably evocative sentence" was notable. Critic Andrew Knighton said Melville may have been influenced by an obscure work from 1846, Robert Grant White's "Law and Laziness: or, Students at Law of Leisure", which features an idle scrivener.


title: Bartleby, the Scrivener

text: Melville may have written the story as an emotional response to the bad reviews garnered by "", his preceding novel. Christopher Sten suggests that Melville found inspiration in Ralph Waldo Emerson's essays, particularly "The Transcendentalist", which shows parallels to "Bartleby".


title: Bartleby, the Scrivener

text: More specifically, he has been described as a copyist “who obstinately refuses to go on doing the sort of writing demanded of him." During the spring of 1851, Melville felt similarly about his work on "Moby-Dick". Thus, Bartleby may represent Melville's frustration with his own situation as a writer, and the story is "about a writer who forsakes conventional modes because of an irresistible preoccupation with the most baffling philosophical questions." Bartleby may also represent Melville's relation to his commercial, democratic society.


title: Bartleby, the Scrivener

text: Melville made an allusion to the John C. Colt case in "Bartleby". The narrator restrains his anger toward Bartleby by reflecting upon "the tragedy of the unfortunate Adams and the still more unfortunate Colt and how poor Colt, being dreadfully incensed by Adams ... was unawares hurled into his fatal act."


title: Bartleby, the Scrivener

text: The narrator and the text do not explicitly explain the reason for Bartleby’s behavior, leaving it open to interpretation.


title: Bartleby, the Scrivener

text: Bartleby shows classic symptoms of depression, especially his lack of motivation. He is a passive person, and good at the work he agrees to do. He refuses to divulge any personal information to the narrator. Bartleby's death is consistent with depression—having no motivation to survive, he refrains from eating until he dies.


title: Bartleby, the Scrivener

text: Bartleby has been interpreted as a "psychological double" for the narrator that criticizes the "sterility, impersonality, and mechanical adjustments of the world which the lawyer inhabits." Until the end of the story, Bartleby’s background is unknown and may have sprung from the narrator's mind. The narrator screens off Bartleby in a corner, which has been interpreted as symbolizing "the lawyer's compartmentalization of the unconscious forces which Bartleby represents."


title: Bartleby, the Scrivener

text: Psychoanalyst Christopher Bollas says the main focus of the story is the narrator, whose "willingness to tolerate [Bartleby's] work stoppage is what needs to be explained ... As the story proceeds, it becomes increasingly clear that the lawyer identifies with his clerk. To be sure, it is an ambivalent identification, but that only makes it all the more powerful."


title: Bartleby, the Scrivener

text: Bartleby's employer provides a first-person narrative of his experiences working with Bartleby. He portrays himself as a kind and generous man. When Bartleby's work ethic declines, the narrator allows his employment to continue. He portrays himself as tolerant towards the other employees, Turkey and Nippers, who are confrontational in the afternoon and morning, respectively. The narrator is torn between his feelings of responsibility for Bartleby and his desire to be rid of the threat that Bartleby poses to the office and to his reputation on Wall Street.


title: Bartleby, the Scrivener

text: "Bartleby, the Scrivener" alludes to Jonathan Edwards's "Inquiry into the Freedom of the Will" and Jay Leyda, in his introduction to "The Complete Stories of Herman Melville," comments on the similarities between Bartleby and "The Doctrine of Philosophical Necessity" by Joseph Priestley. Both Edwards and Priestley wrote about free will and determinism. Edwards states that free will requires the will to be isolated from the moment of decision, in which case Bartleby's isolation from the world would allow him to be completely free. He has the ability to do whatever he pleases. The reference to Priestley and Edwards in connection with determinism may suggest that Bartleby's exceptional exercise of his personal will, even though it leads to his death, spares him from an externally determined fate.


title: Bartleby, the Scrivener

text: "Bartleby" is also seen as an inquiry into ethics. Critic John Matteson sees the story (and other Melville works) as explorations of the changing meaning of 19th-century "prudence." The story's narrator "struggles to decide whether his ethics will be governed by worldly prudence or Christian "agape"." He wants to be humane, as shown by his accommodations of the four staff and especially of Bartleby, but this conflicts with the newer, pragmatic and economically based notion of prudence supported by changing legal theory. The 1850 case "Brown v. Kendall", three years before the story's publication, was important in establishing the "reasonable man" standard in the United States, and emphasized the positive action required to avoid negligence. Bartleby's passivity has no place in a legal and economic system that increasingly sides with the "reasonable" and economically active individual. His fate, an innocent decline into unemployment, prison, and starvation, dramatizes the effect of the new prudence on the economically inactive members of society.


title: Bartleby, the Scrivener

text: An element of the story that leads to tragedy is the failure of Bartleby and his employer to communicate with each other. One day, Bartleby simply stops following orders. From this point on, his reply to any order or request is passive resistance. But the rebellious employee seems either unable or unwilling to explain what motivates his sudden rebellion. On the other hand, his employer is evidently unable to comprehend that Bartleby may have reasons to resist his orders. The employer's refusal to accommodate Bartleby or his needs is what leads to Bartleby's tragic end.


title: Bartleby, the Scrivener

text: Melville devotes time to introducing the office environment which Bartleby joins, and the nature of his employer and his co-workers. The employer is an elderly lawyer and describes himself as unambitious. He previously had tenure as a "master" in the New York Court of Chancery. He employs scriveners (law-copyists) to deal with his legal documents.


title: Bartleby, the Scrivener

text: The eldest scrivener at the office is nicknamed Turkey. He is in his late 50s, and the narrator implies that he is a heavy drinker. He spends his lunch hour drinking. The younger scrivener is nicknamed Nippers. His employer considers him overly ambitious. The only other employee besides the scriveners is an office boy. He has been nicknamed Ginger Nut, because he brings ginger nuts for the scriveners.


title: Bartleby, the Scrivener

text: Bartleby is initially hired because he appears "sedate and respectable" in demeanor, unlike the other two scriveners. For two days, Bartleby is an industrious worker. He works quietly behind a folding screen that prevents him from maintaining eye contact with his employer. His only view through the office window is a wall.


title: Bartleby, the Scrivener

text: On his third day at the office, Bartleby is asked to proofread legal documents. He refuses a direct order from his employer for the first time. His employer considers firing Bartleby, but changes his mind when he notices Bartleby's "perfect composure". Days later, Bartleby refuses a similar order. His employer demands an explanation, but Bartleby offers none. The employer points out that his initial order was reasonable, and tries to appeal to Bartleby's common sense. When Bartleby again fails to obey, the employer has his three other employees work on persuading Bartleby. Bartleby's behavior does not change.


title: Bartleby, the Scrivener

text: As days pass, Turkey offers to beat up Bartleby for his employer. The employer refuses to resort to violence. By chance, the employer finds out that Bartleby has moved into the legal office. Bartleby has no other home of his own. The employer pities Bartleby for his loneliness, but he also feels fear and revulsion for Bartleby.


title: Bartleby, the Scrivener

text: Upon closer observation of Bartleby's behavior, the employer notices that it is stranger than he previously thought. Bartleby no longer reads anything, and makes no effort to converse with other people. He spends much of his time staring at walls, and Bartleby's blank gaze implies that something is off.


title: Bartleby, the Scrivener

text: After Bartleby refuses to explain anything about his personal life to his employer, the employer becomes determined to get rid of him. Up to this point in the story, Bartleby has kept copying legal documents. He simply refuses any orders about proofreading. Afterwards, Bartleby stops his copying work. The employer waits for a few days to see if Bartleby is willing to resume work. When there is no such sign, he gives a deadline to Bartleby. The scrivener must vacate the premise within six days.


title: Bartleby, the Scrivener

text: With the end of the deadline, the employer fires Bartleby. He pays Bartleby his full wages, plus twenty dollars. The next day, Bartleby is still in the office. The employer decides against using physical force or calling the police. He tries to ignore Bartleby's unwanted presence in his office, but soon realizes that people are gossiping about Bartleby's behavior. He fears that his professional reputation is at risk, but again decides to not confront Bartleby. He instead moves into a new office.


title: Bartleby, the Scrivener

text: The story was first published anonymously as "Bartleby, the Scrivener: A Story of Wall-Street" in two installments in "Putnam's Monthly Magazine", in November and December 1853. It was included in Melville's "The Piazza Tales", published in by Dix & Edwards in the United States in May 1856 and in Britain in June.


title: Bartleby, the Scrivener

text: Though no great success at the time of publication, "Bartleby, the Scrivener" is now among the most noted of American short stories. It has been considered a precursor of absurdist literature, touching on several of Franz Kafka's themes in such works as "A Hunger Artist" and "The Trial". There is nothing to indicate that the Bohemian writer was at all acquainted with the work of Melville, who remained largely forgotten until some time after Kafka's death.


title: Bartleby, the Scrivener

text: Albert Camus, in a personal letter to Liselotte Dieckmann published in "The French Review" in 1998, cites Melville as a key influence.


title: Bartleby, the Scrivener

text: On November 5, 2019, the "BBC News" listed "Bartleby, the Scrivener" on its list of the 100 most influential novels.


title: The Long Home

text: The Long Home is an unreleased American indie drama film directed by and starring James Franco, based on the 1999 novel of the same name by William Gay. It also stars Josh Hutcherson, Tim Blake Nelson, Courtney Love, Timothy Hutton, Giancarlo Esposito, Ashton Kutcher, Josh Hartnett, Zoe Levin, Lio Tipton, Scott Haze, and Robin Lord Taylor. Principal photography began on May 1, 2015.


title: The Long Home

text: Dallas Hardin, a corrupt businessman and bootlegger who dominates his small Tennessee town, murders honest workingman Nathan Winer in 1932. In the 1950s, Nathan Winer Jr., the dead man's son, is unaware of Hardin's role in his father's death and works as a carpenter for Hardin. Nathan Jr. is in love with Amber Rose, a young local girl whom Hardin employs as an escort. Elderly local recluse William Tell Oliver has evidence to prove Hardin is a murderer. Eerie events hint at a supernatural justice working its way out.


title: The Long Home

text: James Franco would direct, produce (through Rabbit Bandini Productions), and star in the film adaption of the William Gay novel of the same name. Robert Halmi Jr. and Jim Reeve would be executive producers.


title: The Long Home

text: Franco posted on Instagram a list of "The Long Home" cast which included Josh Hutcherson, Timothy Hutton, Keegan Allen, Ashley Greene, Tim Blake Nelson, Jim Parrack, and Scott Haze.


title: The Long Home

text: Tim Blake Nelson collaborated with Franco for the seventh time as Hovington, a bootlegging patriarch. Josh Hutcherson starred as Nathan Winer. Hutton and Courtney Love were cast. Giancarlo Esposito played William Tell Oliver, "a Southern salt-of-the-earth man with a colorful, checkered life spent entirely within the confines of the country". Several other actors signed on to the cast: Ashton Kutcher, Josh Hartnett, Zoe Levin (as Amber Rose), Lio Tipton, Haze, and Robin Lord Taylor.


title: The Long Home

text: Principal photography began on May 1, 2015 in Hamilton. This coincided with filming of another Franco film, "Goat", which was shot "pretty much simultaneously". Filming began in Eaton on May 17. Production on the film wrapped on May 23, 2015, with filming lasting 23 days.


title: The Long Home

text: "The Long Home" was tentatively expected to be released in 2017, and in November of that year, the sales rights to the movie were acquired by Great Point Media. However, it has yet to be released in any format as of 2022.


title: German East Africa

text: German East Africa (GEA; ) was a German colony in the African Great Lakes region, which included present-day Burundi, Rwanda, the Tanzania mainland, and the Kionga Triangle, a small region later incorporated into Mozambique. GEA's area was , which was nearly three times the area of present-day Germany and double the area of metropolitan Germany at the time.


title: German East Africa

text: The colony was organised when the German military was asked in the late 1880s to put down a revolt against the activities of the German East Africa Company. It ended with Imperial Germany's defeat in World War I. Ultimately GEA was divided between Britain, Belgium and Portugal and was reorganised as a mandate of the League of Nations.


title: German East Africa

text: Like other colonial powers the Germans expanded their empire in the Africa Great Lakes region, ostensibly to fight slavery and the slave trade. Unlike other imperial powers, however they never formally abolished either slavery or the slave trade and preferred instead to curtail the production of new "recruits", regulating the existing business of slavery.


title: German East Africa

text: The colony began when Carl Peters, an adventurer and the founder of the Society for German Colonization, signed treaties with several native chieftains on the mainland which is opposite Zanzibar. On 3 March 1885, the German government announced that it had granted an imperial charter, which was signed by Chancellor Otto von Bismarck on 27 February 1885. The charter was granted to Peters' company and was intended to establish a protectorate in the African Great Lakes region. Peters then recruited specialists who began exploring south to the Rufiji River and north to Witu, near Lamu on the coast.


title: German East Africa

text: The Sultan of Zanzibar protested and claimed that he was the ruler of both Zanzibar and the mainland. Chancellor Bismarck sent five warships which arrived on 7 August 1885, training their guns on the Sultan's palace. The Sultan was forced to accept the German claims on the mainland outside a 10-mile-strip along the coast. In November 1886 Germany and Britain reached an agreement declaring they would respect the sovereignty of the Sultan of Zanzibar over his islands and the 10-mile-strip along the coast. They otherwise agreed on their spheres of interest along what is now the Tanzanian–Kenyan border The British and Germans agreed to divide the mainland between themselves, and the Sultan had no option but to agree.


title: German East Africa

text: German rule was established quickly over Bagamoyo, Dar es Salaam, and Kilwa. Oscar Baumann was sent to explore Masailand and Urundi. During his expedition he discovered the source of the Kagera river, the Alexandra Nile. The caravans of Tom von Prince, Wilhelm Langheld, Emin Pasha, and Charles Stokes were sent to dominate "the Street of Caravans". The Abushiri Revolt of 1888 was put down with British help the following year. In 1890, London and Berlin concluded the Heligoland–Zanzibar Treaty, which gave Heligoland to Germany and decided the border between GEA and the East Africa Protectorate controlled by Britain, although the exact boundaries remained unsurveyed until 1910.


title: German East Africa

text: The stretch of border between Kenya and Tanganyika, running from the sea to Lake Victoria, was surveyed by two British brothers: Charles Stewart Smith (British Consul at Mombasa) and his younger brother George Edward Smith (an officer and later a general with the Royal Engineers). Stewart Smith had been appointed British Commissioner in 1892 for the delimitation of the Anglo-German Boundary in Africa, and in the same year they both surveyed the 180-mile line from the sea to Mount Kilimanjaro. Twelve years later George Edward Smith returned to complete the survey of the remaining 300 miles from Kilimanjaro to Lake Victoria.


title: German East Africa

text: Between 1891 and 1894, the Hehe people which were led by Chief Mkwawa resisted German expansion. They were defeated because rival tribes supported the Germans. After years of guerrilla warfare, Mkwawa was cornered and committed suicide in 1898.


title: German East Africa

text: The Maji Maji Rebellion occurred in 1905 and was put down by Governor Gustav Adolf von Götzen, who ordered measures to create a famine to crush the resistance. It may have cost as many 300,000 lives. Scandal followed with allegations of corruption and brutality. In 1907, Chancellor Bernhard von Bülow appointed Bernhard Dernburg to reform the colonial administration.


title: German East Africa

text: German colonial administrators relied heavily on native chiefs to keep order and collect taxes. By 1 January 1914, not including local police, the military garrisons of the "Schutztruppen" (protective troops) in Dar es Salaam, Moshi, Iringa, and Mahenge numbered 110 German officers (including 42 medical officers), 126 non-commissioned officers, and 2,472 Askari (native enlisted men).


title: German East Africa

text: Germans promoted commerce and economic growth. Over were put under sisal cultivation which was the largest cash crop. Two million coffee trees were planted, rubber trees grew on , and there were large cotton plantations.


title: German East Africa

text: Beginning in 1888 the Usambara Railway was built from Tanga to Moshi to bring these agricultural products to market. The Central Railroad covered and linked Dar es Salaam, Morogoro, Tabora, and Kigoma. The final link to the eastern shore of Lake Tanganyika was completed in July 1914 and was cause for a huge and festive celebration in the capital with an agricultural fair and trade exhibition. Harbor facilities were built or improved with electrical cranes, with rail access and warehouses. Wharves were remodeled at Tanga, Bagamoyo, and Lindi.


title: German East Africa

text: In 1912, Dar es Salaam and Tanga received 356 freighters and passenger steamers and over 1,000 coastal ships and local trading-vessels. Dar es Salaam became the showcase city of all of tropical Africa. By 1914, Dar es Salaam and the surrounding province had a population of 166,000, among them 1,000 Germans. In all of the GEA, there were 3,579 Germans.


title: German East Africa

text: Gold mining in Tanzania in modern times dates back to the German colonial period, beginning with gold discoveries near Lake Victoria in 1894. The Kironda-Goldminen-Gesellschaft established one of the first gold mines in the colony, the Sekenke Gold Mine, which began operation in 1909 after the finding of gold there in 1907.


title: German East Africa

text: Germany developed an educational program for Africans that included elementary, secondary, and vocational schools. "Instructor qualifications, curricula, textbooks, teaching materials, all met standards unmatched anywhere in tropical Africa." In 1924, ten years after the beginning of the First World War and six years into British rule, the visiting American Phelps-Stokes Commission reported, "In regards to schools, the Germans have accomplished marvels. Some time must elapse before education attains the standard it had reached under the Germans."


title: German East Africa

text: In the most populous colony of the German Empire, there were more than 7.5 million locals. About 30% were Muslim and the remainder belonged to various tribal beliefs or Christian converts, compared to around 10,000 Europeans, who resided mainly in coastal locations and official residences. In 1913, only 882 German farmers and planters lived in the colony. Approximately 70,000 Africans worked on the plantations of GEA.


title: German East Africa

text: General Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck had served in German South West Africa and Kamerun. He led the German forces in GEA during World War I. His military consisted of 3,500 Europeans and 12,000 native Askaris and porters. Their war strategy was to harry the British/Imperial army of 40,000, which was at times commanded by the former Second Boer War commander Jan Smuts. One of Lettow-Vorbeck's greatest victories was at the Battle of Tanga (3–5 November 1914). In the battle German forces defeated a British force which was more than eight times larger.


title: German East Africa

text: Lettow-Vorbeck's guerrilla warfare compelled Britain to commit significant resources to a minor colonial theatre throughout the war and inflicted more than 10,000 casualties. Eventually the weight of numbers, especially after forces coming from the Belgian Congo had attacked from the west (Battle of Tabora) as well as dwindling supplies forced Lettow-Vorbeck to abandon the colony. He withdrew south into Portuguese Mozambique and then into Northern Rhodesia where he agreed to a ceasefire three days after the end of the war after receiving news of the armistice between the warring nations.


title: German East Africa

text: After the war Lettow-Vorbeck was acclaimed as one of Germany's heroes. His "Schutztruppe" was celebrated as the only colonial German force during World War I that was not defeated in open combat, although they often retreated when outnumbered. The Askari colonial troops that had fought in the East African campaign were later given pension payments by the Weimar Republic and West Germany.


title: German East Africa

text: The SMS "Königsberg", a German light cruiser, also fought off the coast of the African Great Lakes region. She was eventually scuttled in the Rufiji delta in July 1915 after running low on coal and spare parts and was subsequently blockaded and bombarded by the British. The surviving crew stripped out the remaining ship's guns and mounted them on gun carriages, before joining the land forces which added considerably to their effectiveness.


title: German East Africa

text: Another and smaller campaign was conducted on the shores of southern <nowiki>Lake Tanganyika </nowiki> over 1914–15. It involved a makeshift British and Belgian flotilla, and the "Reichsheer" garrison at Bismarckburg (modern-day Kasanga).


title: German East Africa

text: The Supreme Council of the 1919 Paris Peace Conference awarded all of German East Africa (GEA) to Britain on 7 May 1919, over the strenuous objections of Belgium. The British colonial secretary, Alfred Milner, and Belgium's minister plenipotentiary to the conference, , then negotiated the Anglo-Belgian agreement of 30 May 1919 where Britain ceded the north-western GEA districts of Ruanda and Urundi to Belgium. The conference's Commission on Mandates ratified this agreement on 16 July 1919. The Supreme Council accepted the agreement on 7 August 1919.


title: German East Africa

text: On 12 July 1919, the Commission on Mandates agreed that the small Kionga Triangle south of the Rovuma River would be given to Portugal; it eventually became part of independent Mozambique. The commission reasoned that Germany had virtually forced Portugal to cede the triangle in 1894.


title: German East Africa

text: The Treaty of Versailles was signed on 28 June 1919, although the treaty did not take effect until 10 January 1920. On that date, the GEA was transferred officially to Britain, Belgium, and Portugal. Also on the same day, "Tanganyika" became the name of the British territory.


title: German East Africa

text: Some names in German East Africa continued to bear German spellings of the local names for a while, such as "Udjidji" for Ujiji and "Kilimandscharo" for Mount Kilimanjaro, "Kleinaruscha" for Arusha-Chini and "Neu-Moschi" for the city now known as Moshi. (Kigoma was known for a time as "Rutschugi".)


title: German East Africa

text: In 1914, a series of drafts were made for proposed Coat of Arms and Flags for the German Colonies. However World War I broke out before the designs were finished and implemented and the symbols were never actually used. Following its defeat in the war, Germany lost all its colonies and the prepared coat of arms and flags as a result were never used.


title: Gandhara

text: Gandhāra is the name of an ancient region located in the northwestern region of the Indian subcontinent, more precisely in present-day north-west Pakistan and parts of south-east Afghanistan. The region centered around the Peshawar Valley and Swat river valley, though the cultural influence of "Greater Gandhara" extended across the Indus river to the Taxila region in Potohar Plateau and westwards into the Kabul Valley in Afghanistan, and northwards up to the Karakoram range.


title: Gandhara

text: Gandhara has a deep rooted history of Hinduism mentioned in Indian scripts and epics including Rig Veda, Ramayana and Mahabharata. Famed for its unique Gandharan style of art which is heavily influenced by the classical Greek and Hellenistic styles, Gandhara attained its height from the 1st century to the 5th century CE under the Kushan Empire, who had their capital at Peshawar ("Puruṣapura"). Gandhara "flourished at the crossroads of India, Central Asia, and the Middle East," connecting trade routes and absorbing cultural influences from diverse civilizations; Buddhism thrived until the 8th or 9th centuries, when Islam first began to gain sway in the region. It was also the centre of Vedic and later forms of Hinduism. Gandhara was the home of Gandhari, the princess of Gandhara Kingdom.


title: Gandhara

text: Gandhara's existence is attested since the time of the Rigveda (), as well as the Zoroastrian Avesta, which mentions it as "Vaēkərəta", the sixth most beautiful place on earth created by Ahura Mazda. It was one of the 16 Mahajanapadas of Vedic era. Gandhara was conquered by the Persian Achaemenid Empire in the 6th century BCE, Alexander the Great in 327 BCE, and later became part of the Maurya Empire before being a centre of the Indo-Greek Kingdom. The region was a major centre for Greco-Buddhism under the Indo-Greeks and Gandharan Buddhism under later dynasties, including Indo-Scythians, Indo-Parthians and Kushans. Gandhara was also a central location for the spread of Buddhism to Central Asia and East Asia.


title: Gandhara

text: The region steadily declined after the violent invasion by Alchon Huns in 6th century, and the name Gandhara disappeared after Mahmud Ghaznavi's conquest in 1001 CE.


title: Gandhara

text: Gandhara was known in Sanskrit as ' (), in Avestan as ', in Old Persian as "Gadāra" (Old Persian cuneiform: , "Gadāra", also transliterated as "Gadāra" since the nasal "n" before consonants was omitted in the Old Persian script, and simplified as "Gandara"), in Akkadian and Elamite as "Paruparaesanna" (""), in Chinese as ("Qiántuóluó"), and in Greek as ("Gandhara").


title: Gandhara

text: One proposed origin of the name is from the Sanskrit word "", meaning "perfume" and "referring to the spices and aromatic herbs which they (the inhabitants) traded and with which they anointed themselves.". The Gandhari people are a tribe mentioned in the Rigveda, the Atharvaveda, and later Vedic texts. They are recorded in the Avestan language of Zoroastrianism under the name "Vaēkərəta". The name "Gandhāra" occurs later in the classical Sanskrit of the epics.


title: Gandhara

text: A Persian form of the name, "Gandara", mentioned in the Behistun inscription of Emperor Darius I, was translated as "Paruparaesanna" ("", meaning "beyond the Hindu Kush") in Babylonian and Elamite in the same inscription.


title: Gandhara

text: Kandahar is sometimes etymologically associated with Gandhara. However, Kandahar was not part of the territory of Gandhara. It is instead etymologically related to "Alexandria".


title: Gandhara

text: The boundaries of Gandhara varied throughout history. Sometimes the "Peshawar" Valley and "Taxila" were collectively referred to as Gandhara; sometimes the Kabul Valley and Swat (Sanskrit: "Suvāstu") were included. The kingdom was ruled from capitals at "Kapisi" ("Bagram"), "Pushkalavati" ("Charsadda"), "Taxila", "Puruṣapura" ("Peshawar") and in its final days from "Udabhandapura" ("Hund") on the River Indus. Historically, it bordered ancient regions of Bactria and Ariana to the north and Arachosia and Sattagydia to the south.


title: Gandhara

text: Evidence of the Stone Age human inhabitants of Gandhara, including stone tools and burnt bones, was discovered at Sanghao near Mardan Pakistan in area caves. The artefacts are approximately 15,000 years old. More recent excavations point to 30,000 years before the present.


title: Gandhara

text: Gandhara’s first recorded civilization was the Grave Culture that emerged "c." 1400 BCE and lasted until 800 BCE, and named for their distinct funerary practices. It was found along the Middle Swat River course, even though earlier research considered it to be expanded to the Valleys of Dir, Kunar, Chitral, and Peshawar. It has been regarded as a token of the Indo-Aryan migrations, but has also been explained by local cultural continuity. Backwards projections, based on ancient DNA analyses, suggest ancestors of Swat culture people mixed with a population coming from Inner Asia Mountain Corridor, which carried Steppe ancestry, sometime between 1900 and 1500 BCE.


title: Gandhara

text: The first mention of the Gandhārīs is attested once in the as a tribe that has sheep with good wool. In the , the Gandhārīs are mentioned alongside the Mūjavants, the Āṅgeyas. and the Māgadhīs in a hymn asking fever to leave the body of the sick man and instead go those aforementioned tribes. The tribes listed were the furthermost border tribes known to those in , the Āṅgeyas and Māgadhīs in the east, and the Mūjavants and Gandhārīs in the north.


title: Gandhara

text: The Gāndhārī king Nagnajit and his son Svarajit are mentioned in the s, according to which they received Brahmanic consecration, but their family's attitude towards ritual is mentioned negatively, with the royal family of Gandhāra during this period following non-Brahmanical religious traditions. According to the Jain , Nagnajit, or Naggaji, was a prominent king who had adopted Jainism and was comparable to Dvimukha of Pāñcāla, Nimi of Videha, Karakaṇḍu of Kaliṅga, and Bhīma of Vidarbha; Buddhist sources instead claim that he had achieved .


title: Gandhara

text: By the later Vedic period, the situation had changed, and the Gāndhārī capital of Takṣaśila had become an important centre of knowledge where the men of went to learn the three Vedas and the eighteen branches of knowledge, with the recording that s went north to study. According to the and the , the famous Vedic philosopher Uddālaka Āruṇi was among the famous students of Takṣaśila, and the claims that his son Śvetaketu also studied there. In the , Uddālaka Āruṇi himself favourably referred to Gāndhārī education to the Vaideha king Janaka.


title: Gandhara

text: During the 6th century BCE, Gandhāra was an important imperial power in north-west Iron Age South Asia, with the valley of Kaśmīra being part of the kingdom, while the other states of the Punjab region, such as the Kekayas, Madrakas, Uśīnaras, and Shivis being under Gāndhārī suzerainty. The Gāndhārī king Pukkusāti, who reigned around 550 BCE, engaged in expansionist ventures which brought him into conflict with the king Pradyota of the rising power of Avanti. Pukkusāti was successful in this struggle with Pradyota, but war broke out between him and the Pāṇḍava tribe located in the Punjab region, and who were threatened by his expansionist policy. Pukkusāti also engaged in friendly relations with the king Bimbisāra of Magadha.


title: Gandhara

text: Due to this important position, Buddhist texts listed the Gandhāra kingdom as one of the sixteen "s" ("great realms") of Iron Age South Asia.


title: Gandhara

text: By the later 6th century BCE, the founder of the Persian Achaemenid Empire, Cyrus, soon after his conquests of Media, Lydia, and Babylonia, marched into Gandhara and annexed it into his empire. The scholar Kaikhosru Danjibuoy Sethna advanced that Cyrus had conquered only the trans-Indus borderlands around Peshawar which had belonged to Gandhāra while Pukkusāti remained a powerful king who maintained his rule over the rest of Gandhāra and the western Punjab.


title: Gandhara

text: However, according to the scholar Buddha Prakash, Pukkusāti might have acted as a bulwark against the expansion of the Persian Achaemenid Empire into north-west South Asia. This hypothesis posits that the army which Nearchus claimed Cyrus had lost in Gedrosia had in fact been defeated by Pukkusāti's Gāndhārī kingdom. Therefore, following Prakash's position, the Achaemenids would have been able to conquer Gandhāra only after a period of decline of Gandhāra after the reign of Pukkusāti combined the growth of Achaemenid power under the kings Cambyses II and Darius I. However, the presence of Gandhāra, referred to as in Old Persian, among the list of Achaemenid provinces in Darius's Behistun Inscription confirms that his empire had inherited this region from conquests carried out earlier by Cyrus.


title: Gandhara

text: It is unknown whether Pukkusāti remained in power after the Achaemenid conquest as a Persian vassal or if he was replaced by a Persian satrap (governor), although Buddhist sources claim that he renounced his throne and became a monk after becoming a disciple of the Buddha. The annexation under Cyrus was limited to Gandhāra proper, after which the peoples of the Punjab region previously under Gāndhārī authority took advantage of the new power vacuum to form their own states.


title: Gandhara

text: Under Persian rule, a system of centralized administration, with a bureaucratic system, was introduced into the Indus Valley for the first time. Provinces or "satrapy" were established with provincial capitals.


title: Gandhara

text: The inscription on Darius' (521–486 BCE) tomb at Naqsh-i-Rustam near Persepolis records Gadāra (Gandāra) along with Hindush (Hənduš, Sindh) in the list of "satrapies". By about 380 BC the Persian hold on the region had weakened. Many small kingdoms sprang up in Gandhara.


title: Gandhara

text: In 327 BCE, Alexander the Great conquered Gandhara as well as the Indian "satrapies" of the Persian Empire. The expeditions of Alexander were recorded by his court historians and by Arrian (around 175 CE) in his "Anabasis Alexandri" and by other chroniclers many centuries after the event.


title: Gandhara

text: In the winter of 327 BCE, Alexander invited all the chieftains in the remaining five Achaemenid satraps to submit to his authority. Ambhi, then ruler of Taxila in the former Hindush satrapy complied, but the remaining tribes and clans in the former satraps of Gandhara, Arachosia, Sattagydia and Gedrosia rejected Alexander's offer.


title: Gandhara

text: The first tribe they encountered were the Aspasioi tribe of the Kunar Valley, who initiated a fierce battle against Alexander, in which he himself was wounded in the shoulder by a dart. However, the Aspasioi eventually lost and 40,000 people were enslaved. Alexander then continued in a southwestern direction where he encountered the Assakenoi tribe of the Swat & Buner valleys in April 326 BCE. The Assakenoi fought bravely and offered stubborn resistance to Alexander and his army in the cities of Ora, Bazira (Barikot) and Massaga. So enraged was Alexander about the resistance put up by the Assakenoi that he killed the entire population of Massaga and reduced its buildings to rubble. A similar slaughter then followed at Ora, another stronghold of the Assakenoi. The stories of these slaughters reached numerous Assakenians, who began fleeing to Aornos, a hill-fort located between Shangla and Kohistan. Alexander followed close behind their heels and besieged the strategic hill-fort, eventually capturing and destroying the fort and killing everyone inside. The remaining smaller tribes either surrendered or like the Astanenoi tribe of Pushkalavati (Charsadda) were quickly neutralized where 38,000 soldiers and 230,000 oxen were captured by Alexander. Eventually Alexander's smaller force would meet with the larger force which had come through the Khyber Pass met at Attock. With the conquest of Gandhara complete, Alexander switched to strengthening his military supply line, which by now stretched dangerously vulnerable over the Hindu Kush back to Balkh in Bactria.


title: Gandhara

text: After conquering Gandhara and solidifying his supply line back to Bactria, Alexander combined his forces with the King Ambhi of Taxila and crossed the River Indus in July 326 BCE to begin the Archosia (Punjab) campaign. Alexander nominated officers as Satraps of the new provinces, and in Gandhara, Oxyartes was nominated to the position of Satrap in 326 BCE.


title: Gandhara

text: After a battle with Seleucus Nicator (Alexander's successor in Asia) in 305 BCE, the Mauryan Emperor extended his domain up to and including present Southern Afghanistan. With the completion of the Empire's Grand Trunk Road, the region prospered as a centre of trade. Gandhara remained a part of the Mauryan Empire for about a century and a half.


title: Gandhara

text: Ashoka, the grandson of Chandragupta, was one of the greatest Indian rulers. Like his grandfather, Ashoka also started his career in Gandhara as a governor. Later he became a Buddhist and promoted Buddhism. He built many "stupas" in Gandhara. Mauryan control over the northwestern frontier, including the Yonas, Kambojas, and the Gandharas, is attested from the Rock Edicts left by Ashoka.


title: Gandhara

text: According to one school of scholars, the Gandharas and Kambojas were cognate people. It is also contended that the Kurus, Kambojas, Gandharas and Bahlikas were cognate people and all had Iranian affinities, or that the Gandhara and Kamboja were nothing but two provinces of one empire and hence influencing each other's language. However, the local language of Gandhara is represented by Panini's conservative "bhāṣā" ("language"), which is entirely different from the Iranian (Late Avestan) language of the Kamboja that is indicated by Patanjali's quote of Kambojan śavati 'to go' (= Late Avestan šava(i)ti).


title: Gandhara

text: The decline of the Mauryan Empire left Gandhara open to Greco-Bactrian invasions. Present-day southern Afghanistan was absorbed by Demetrius I of Bactria in 180 BCE. Around about 185 BCE, Demetrius moved into Indian subcontinent; he invaded and conquered Gandhara and the Punjab. Later, wars between different groups of Bactrian Greeks resulted in the independence of Gandhara from Bactria and the formation of the Indo-Greek kingdom. Menander I was its most famous king. He ruled from Taxila and later from Sagala (Sialkot). He rebuilt Taxila (Sirkap) and Pushkalavati. He became a Buddhist and is remembered in Buddhist records for his discussions with the great Buddhist philosopher, Nāgasena, in the book "Milinda Panha".


title: Gandhara

text: Around the time of Menander's death in 140 BCE, the Central Asian Kushans overran Bactria and ended Greek rule there.


title: Gandhara

text: Around 80 BCE, the Sakas, diverted by their Parthian cousins from Iran, moved into Gandhara and other parts of Pakistan and Western India. The most famous king of the Sakas, Maues, established himself in Gandhara.


title: Gandhara

text: By 90 BCE the Parthians had taken control of eastern Iran and, around 50 BCE, they put an end to the last remnants of Greek rule in today's Afghanistan. Eventually an Indo-Parthian dynasty succeeded in taking control of Gandhara. The Parthians continued to support Greek artistic traditions. The start of the Gandharan Greco-Buddhist art is dated to about 75–50 BCE. Links between Rome and the Indo-Parthian kingdoms existed. There is archaeological evidence that building techniques were transmitted between the two realms. Christian records claim that around 40 CE Thomas the Apostle visited the Indian subcontinent and encountered the Indo-Parthian king Gondophares.


title: Gandhara

text: The Parthian dynasty fell in about 75 to another group from Central Asia. The Kushans, known as Yuezhi in the Chinese source Hou Han Shu (argued by some to be ethnically Asii) moved from Central Asia to Bactria, where they stayed for a century. Around 75 CE, one of their tribes, the Kushan (Kuṣāṇa), under the leadership of Kujula Kadphises gained control of Gandhara. The Kushan empire began as a Central Asian kingdom, and expanded into Afghanistan and northwestern India in the early centuries CE.


title: Gandhara

text: The Kushan period is considered the Golden Period of Gandhara. Peshawar Valley and Taxila are littered with ruins of "stupas" and monasteries of this period. Gandharan art flourished and produced some of the best pieces of sculpture from the Indian subcontinent. Many monuments were created to commemorate the Jatakas.


title: Gandhara

text: Gandhara's culture peaked during the reign of the great Kushan king Kanishka the Great (127 CE – 150 CE). The cities of Taxila (Takṣaśilā) at Sirsukh and Purushapura (modern day Peshawar) reached new heights. Purushapura along with Mathura became the capital of the great empire stretching from Central Asia to Northern India with Gandhara being in the midst of it. Emperor Kanishka was a great patron of the Buddhist faith; Buddhism spread from India to Central Asia and the Far East across Bactria and Sogdia, where his empire met the Han Empire of China. Buddhist art spread from Gandhara to other parts of Asia. Under Kanishka, Gandhara became a holy land of Buddhism and attracted Chinese pilgrims eager to view the monuments associated with many Jatakas.


title: Gandhara

text: In Gandhara, Mahayana Buddhism flourished and Buddha was represented in human form. Under the Kushans new Buddhists "stupas" were built and old ones were enlarged. Huge statues of the Buddha were erected in monasteries and carved into the hillsides. Kanishka also built a great 400-foot tower at Peshawar. This tower was reported by Chinese monks Faxian, Song Yun, and Xuanzang who visited the country. This structure was destroyed and rebuilt many times until it was finally destroyed by Mahmud of Ghazni in the 11th century.


title: Gandhara

text: The Kidarites conquered Peshawar and parts of northwest Indian subcontinent including Gandhara probably sometime between 390 and 410 from Kushan empire, around the end of the rule of Gupta Emperor Chandragupta II or beginning of the rule of Kumaragupta I. It is probably the rise of the Hephthalites and the defeats against the Sasanians which pushed the Kidarites into northern India. Their last ruler in Gandhara was Kandik, around 500 CE.


title: Gandhara

text: The Alchon invasion of the Indian subcontinent eradicated the Kidarite Huns who had preceded them by about a century, and contributed to the fall of the Gupta Empire, in a sense bringing an end to Classical India.


title: Gandhara

text: The Hūṇas (as they were known in India) were initially based in the Oxus basin in Central Asia and established their control over Gandhara in the northwestern part of the Indian subcontinent by about 465 CE. From there, they fanned out into various parts of northern, western, and central India. The Hūṇas are mentioned in several ancient texts such as the Rāmāyaṇa, Mahābhārata, Purāṇas, and Kalidasa's Raghuvaṃśa.


title: Gandhara

text: Numerous incidents of violence were reported during this period. The Dharmarajika Stupa at Takṣaśilā has evidence of a massacre there by the Huns. Mihirakula is said to have become a "terrible persecutor" of Buddhism which may have contributed to decline of Buddhism in the Gandhara region. Xuanzang tells us that initially Mihirakula was interested in learning about Buddhism, and asked the monks to send him a teacher; the monks insulted him by recommending a servant of his own household for the purpose. This incident is said to have turned Mihirakula virulently anti-Buddhist, although some have suggested the anti-Buddhist reputation was exaggerated. It is possible that Mihirakula, who may have been inclined toward Shaivism (although his coins also have representations of other deities such as the goddess Lakshmi), was inimical toward both Buddhists and Jainas.


title: Gandhara

text: The travel records of many Chinese Buddhist pilgrims record that Gandhara was going through a transformation during these centuries. Buddhism was declining, and Hinduism was rising. Faxian traveled around 400, when Prakrit was the language of the people, and Buddhism was flourishing. 100 years later, when Song Yun visited in 520, a different situation was described: the area had been destroyed by the White Huns and was ruled by Lae-Lih, who did not practice the laws of the Buddha. Xuanzang visited India around 644 CE and found Buddhism on the wane in Gandhara and Hinduism in the ascendant. Gandhara was ruled by a king from Kabul, who respected Buddha's law, but Taxila was in ruins, and Buddhist monasteries were deserted.


title: Gandhara

text: After the fall of the Sassanid Empire to the Arabs in 651 CE, the region south of the Hindukush along with Gandhara came under pressure from Muslims. After failure of multiple campaigns by Arabs they failed to extend their rule to Gandhara.


title: Gandhara

text: Gandhara was ruled from Kabul by the Kabul Shahi for next 200 years. Sometime in the 9th century the Kabul Shahi were replaced by the Hindu Shahi.


title: Gandhara

text: Based on various records it is estimated that Hindu Shahi was formed in 850 CE. According to Al-Biruni (973–1048), Kallar, a Brahmin minister, founded the Hindu Shahi dynasty around 843 CE. The dynasty ruled from Kabul, later moved their capital to Udabhandapura. They built great temples all over their kingdoms. Some of these buildings are still in good condition in the Salt Range of the Punjab.


title: Gandhara

text: Jayapala was the last great king of the Hindu Shahi dynasty. His empire extended from west of Kabul to the river Sutlej. However, this expansion of Gandhara kingdom coincided with the rise of the powerful Ghaznavid Empire under Sabuktigin. Defeated twice by Sabuktigin and then by Mahmud of Ghazni in the Kabul valley, Jayapala gave his life on a funeral pyre. Anandapala, a son of Jayapala, moved his capital near Nandana in the Salt Range. In 1021 the last king of this dynasty, Trilochanapala, was assassinated by his own troops which spelled the end of Gandhara. Subsequently, some Shahi princes moved to Kashmir and became active in local politics.


title: Gandhara

text: The city of Kandahar in Afghanistan is said to have been named after Gandhara. According to H.W. Bellow, an emigrant from the collapsing Gandhara region in the 5th century brought this name to modern Kandahar.


title: Gandhara

text: Writing in , Al Biruni reported on the devastation caused during the conquest of Gandhara and much of north-west India by Mahmud of Ghazni following his defeat of Jayapala in the Battle of Peshawar at Peshawar in 1001:


title: Gandhara

text: By the time Gandhara had been absorbed into the empire of Mahmud of Ghazni, Buddhist buildings were already in ruins and Gandhara art had been forgotten. After Al-Biruni, the Kashmiri writer Kalhaṇa wrote his book "Rajatarangini" in 1151. He recorded some events that took place in Gandhara, and provided details about its last royal dynasty and capital Udabhandapura.


title: Gandhara

text: In the 19th century, British soldiers and administrators started taking an interest in the ancient history of the Indian Subcontinent. In the 1830s coins of the post-Ashoka period were discovered, and in the same period Chinese travelogues were translated. Charles Masson, James Prinsep, and Alexander Cunningham deciphered the Kharosthi script in 1838. Chinese records provided locations and site plans for Buddhist shrines. Along with the discovery of coins, these records provided clues necessary to piece together the history of Gandhara. In 1848 Cunningham found Gandhara sculptures north of Peshawar. He also identified the site of Taxila in the 1860s. From then on a large number of Buddhist statues were discovered in the Peshawar valley.


title: Gandhara

text: Archaeologist John Marshall excavated at Taxila between 1912 and 1934. He discovered separate Greek, Parthian, and Kushan cities and a large number of "stupas" and monasteries. These discoveries helped to piece together much more of the chronology of the history of Gandhara and its art.


title: Gandhara

text: After 1947 Ahmed Hassan Dani and the Archaeology Department at the University of Peshawar made a number of discoveries in the Peshawar and Swat Valley. Excavation of many of the sites of Gandhara Civilization are being done by researchers from Peshawar and several universities around the world.


title: Gandhara

text: Gandhara's language was a Prakrit or "Middle Indo-Aryan" dialect, usually called Gāndhārī. Hindko from Peshawar, which was the capital of Gandhara, came from Shuraseni prakrit a language spoken in Gandhara. Under the Kushan Empire, Gāndhārī spread into adjoining regions of South and Central Asia. It used the Kharosthi script, which is derived from the Aramaic script, and it died out about in the 4th century CE.


title: Gandhara

text: Linguistic evidence links some groups of the Dardic languages with Gandhari. The Kohistani languages, now all being displaced from their original homelands, were once more widespread in the region and most likely descend from the ancient dialects of the region of Gandhara. The last to disappear was Tirahi, still spoken some years ago in a few villages in the vicinity of Jalalabad in eastern Afghanistan, by descendants of migrants expelled from Tirah by the Afridi Pashtuns in the 19th century. Georg Morgenstierne claimed that Tirahi is "probably the remnant of a dialect group extending from Tirah through the Peshawar district into Swat and Dir". Nowadays, it must be entirely extinct and the region is now dominated by Iranian languages brought in by later migrants, such as Pashto. Among the modern day Indo-Aryan languages still spoken today, Torwali shows the closest linguistic affinity possible to "Niya", a dialect of Gāndhārī.


title: Gandhara

text: Mahāyāna Pure Land sutras were brought from the Gandhāra region to China as early as 147 CE, when the Kushan monk Lokakṣema began translating some of the first Buddhist sutras into Chinese. The earliest of these translations show evidence of having been translated from the Gāndhārī language. Lokakṣema translated important Mahāyāna sūtras such as the "Aṣṭasāhasrikā Prajñāpāramitā Sūtra", as well as rare, early Mahāyāna sūtras on topics such as samādhi, and meditation on the Buddha Akṣobhya. Lokaksema's translations continue to provide insight into the early period of Mahāyāna Buddhism. This corpus of texts often includes and emphasizes ascetic practices and forest dwelling, and absorption in states of meditative concentration:


title: Gandhara

text: Some scholars believe that the Mahāyāna "Longer Sukhāvatīvyūha Sūtra" was compiled in the age of the Kushan Empire in the 1st and 2nd centuries CE, by an order of Mahīśāsaka bhikṣus which flourished in the Gandhāra region. However, it is likely that the longer "Sukhāvatīvyūha" owes greatly to the Mahāsāṃghika-Lokottaravāda sect as well for its compilation, and in this sutra there are many elements in common with the Lokottaravādin "Mahāvastu". There are also images of Amitābha Buddha with the bodhisattvas Avalokiteśvara and Mahāsthāmaprāpta which were made in Gandhāra during the Kushan era.


title: Gandhara

text: The "Mañjuśrīmūlakalpa" records that Kaniṣka of the Kushan Empire presided over the establishment of the Mahāyāna Prajñāpāramitā teachings in the northwest. Tāranātha wrote that in this region, 500 bodhisattvas attended the council at Jālandhra monastery during the time of Kaniṣka, suggesting some institutional strength for Mahāyāna in the north-west during this period. Edward Conze goes further to say that Prajñāpāramitā had great success in the north-west during the Kushan period, and may have been the "fortress and hearth" of early Mahāyāna, but not its origin, which he associates with the Mahāsāṃghika branch of Buddhism.


title: Gandhara

text: Swat Valley in Pakistan has many Buddhist carvings, and "stupas", and Jehanabad contains a Seated Buddha statue. Kushan era Buddhist "stupas" and statues in Swat valley were demolished after two attempts by the Taliban and the Jehanabad Buddha's face was dynamited. Only the Buddhas of Bamiyan were larger than the carved giant Buddha statues in Swat near Manglore which the Taliban attacked. The government did nothing to safeguard the statue after the initial attempts to destroy the Buddha, which did not cause permanent harm. But when a second attack took place on the statue, the feet, shoulders, and face were demolished. Taliban and looters destroyed many of Pakistan's Buddhist artefacts from the Buddhist Gandhara civilization especially in the Swat Valley.


title: Gandhara

text: Gandharan Buddhist missionaries were active, with other monks from Central Asia, from the 2nd century CE in the Han-dynasty (202 BC – 220 CE) at China's capital of Luoyang, and particularly distinguished themselves by their translation work. They promoted scriptures from Early Buddhist schools as well as those from the Mahāyāna. These translators included:


title: Gandhara

text: The Chinese Buddhist monk Xuanzang visited a Lokottaravāda monastery in the 7th century, at Bamiyan, Afghanistan. The site of this monastery has since been rediscovered by archaeologists. Birchbark and palm leaf manuscripts of texts in this monastery's collection, including Mahāyāna sūtras, have been discovered at the site, and these are now located in the Schøyen Collection. Some manuscripts are in the Gāndhārī language and Kharoṣṭhī script, while others are in Sanskrit and written in forms of the Gupta script. Manuscripts and fragments that have survived from this monastery's collection include the following source texts:


title: Gandhara

text: A Sanskrit manuscript of the "Bhaiṣajyaguruvaiḍūryaprabhārāja Sūtra" was among the textual finds at Gilgit, Pakistan, attesting to the popularity of the Medicine Buddha in Gandhāra. The manuscripts in this find are dated before the 7th century, and are written in the upright Gupta script.


title: Gandhara

text: Gandhāra is noted for the distinctive Gandhāra style of Buddhist art, which shows influence of Parthian, Scythian, Roman, Graeco-Bactrian and local Indian influences from the Gangetic Valley. This development began during the Parthian Period (50 BCE–75 CE). The Gandhāran style flourished and achieved its peak during the Kushan period, from the 1st to the 5th centuries. It declined and was destroyed after the invasion of the White Huns in the 5th century. Siddhartha shown as a bejeweled prince (before the Sidhartha renounces palace life) is a common motif.


title: Gandhara

text: Stucco, as well as stone, were widely used by sculptors in Gandhara for the decoration of monastic and cult buildings. Stucco provided the artist with a medium of great plasticity, enabling a high degree of expressiveness to be given to the sculpture. Sculpting in stucco was popular wherever Buddhism spread from Gandhara – Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, Central Asia, and China.


title: Gandhara

text: Buddhist imagery combined with some artistic elements from the cultures of the Hellenistic world. An example is the youthful Buddha, his hair in wavy curls, similar to statutes of Apollo.


title: Gandhara

text: Sacred artworks and architectural decorations used limestone for stucco composed by a mixture of local crushed rocks (i.e. schist and granite which resulted compatible with the outcrops located in the mountains northwest of Islamabad.


title: Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya

text: Sviatlana Heorhiyeuna Tsikhanouskaya (' Pilipchuk; born 11 September 1982) is a Belarusian educator and the leader of the Belarusian democratic movement. She ran in the 2020 Belarusian presidential election as the main opposition candidate after her husband Sergei Tikhanovsky was arrested in Hrodna by Belarusian authorities. After Lukashenko declared himself the winner she fled via Lithuania and since August 2020 she has worked with a staff of 16 people in exile in Poland.


title: Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya

text: She has been nominated twice for the Nobel Peace Prize for playing a leading role in non-violently challenging Belarusian president Alexander Lukashenko and calling for fair elections.


title: Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya

text: Until 2020 Tsikhanouskaya was an English teacher and interpreter. She spent many summers in Roscrea, Co. Tipperary, Ireland, as part of a programme for children affected by the Chernobyl disaster. She is married to YouTuber, blogger, and pro-democracy activist Sergei Tikhanovsky, who was arrested in May 2020. The couple have a son and a daughter.


title: Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya

text: After her husband's arrest on 29 May, Tsikhanouskaya announced her intention to run in his place. She registered as an Independent candidate on 14 July 2020. After registering, she was endorsed by the campaigns of Valery Tsepkalo and Viktar Babaryka, two prominent opposition politicians who were barred from registering, with one being arrested and the other fleeing the country. During the presidential campaign a photo of Tsikhanouskaya with Maria Kolesnikova (Babaryka's campaign chief), and Veronika Tsepkalo (Valery Tsepkalo's wife), became a symbol of her campaign.


title: Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya

text: The night before the election, police detained senior staffers from Tsikhanouskaya's campaign and she chose to go into hiding in Minsk, before re-emerging on election day at a polling station.


title: Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya

text: Before the presidential campaign, Belarusian president Alexander Lukashenko insisted that the country was not ready for a female president. Her campaign began as Amnesty International condemned Belarus's discriminatory treatment of women opposition activists, including threats of sexual violence and threats by authorities to take children away from opposition figures and send them to state-run orphanages. In response to the threats, Tsikhanouskaya sent her children abroad to live with their grandmother. During the presidential campaign, Tsikhanouskaya was repeatedly threatened, recounting phone calls from unknown numbers, addressing to her: "We will put you behind bars and place your children in an orphanage." Tsikhanouskaya said she then decided to persevere in her campaign: "There must be a symbol of freedom."


title: Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya

text: Tsikhanouskaya said that she ran for president out of love, to free her husband from prison. She has vowed to free all political prisoners in Belarus, to introduce democratic reforms to the country, and to move away from the union treaty with Russia, which many Belarusian opposition activists view as an infringement on the country's sovereignty. She has also pledged to set a referendum on returning to the original draft of the 1994 Belarusian constitution, reinstating a limit of two terms for the president. She has said that her main goal is to establish free and fair elections. She views the current election as illegitimate due to the government's refusal to register Lukashenko's main political opponents as candidates. She has pledged to deliver a plan for transparent and accountable elections within six months of taking office.


title: Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya

text: Tsikhanouskaya's economic platform emphasizes increasing the importance of small and medium-sized businesses in the Belarusian economy. She plans to offer interest free loans to small and medium-sized businesses, cancel state inspections of private entities and provide legal protection for foreign investors. Tsikhanouskaya intends to allow profitable state owned enterprises to continue to operate, while requiring unprofitable state owned enterprises to get help from outside professionals.


title: Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya

text: Though running as an independent candidate, Tsikhanouskaya attracted support from across the spectrum of Belarus's political opposition. Vital Rymašeŭski, co-leader of Belarusian Christian Democracy, announced his party's support, as did the Belarusian Social Democratic Party (Assembly), United Civic Party of Belarus and Belarusian Women's Party "Nadzieja". She also received support from 2010 presidential candidate Mikola Statkevich. Ivonka Survilla, president of the Rada of the Belarusian People's Republic expressed her support for Tsikhanouskaya.


title: Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya

text: Rallies in support of Tsikhanouskaya and in opposition to Lukashenko have been the largest in the history of post-Soviet Belarus, attracting crowds of 20,000 in Brest and 60,000 in Minsk.


title: Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya

text: The official results published by the Central Election Commission of Belarus gave Tsikhanouskaya 588,622 votes, or 10.12% of the vote, to Lukashenko's 80.10%. However, allegations of widespread fraud were immediately made public, including a formal complaint to the Central Election Commission (CEC) by Tsikhanouskaya.


title: Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya

text: After Belarusian state television released an exit poll showed Lukashenko winning by an overwhelming margin, Tsikhanouskaya said that she didn't trust that poll, saying, "I believe my eyes, and I see that the majority is with us." She filed a formal complaint with the Central Election Commission on election night, but was detained for seven hours in retaliation. After her release from detention, Tsikhanouskaya chose to flee to Lithuania in fear of repercussions, which could have possibly affected her children. She was escorted to the Lithuanian border by Belarusian security forces, reportedly a condition of a deal securing the release of her campaign manager, Maria Moroz.


title: Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya

text: On 11 August 2020 Lithuanian foreign minister Linas Linkevičius announced that Tsikhanouskaya was "safe" in Lithuania while also acknowledging that she had "few options". Also on 11 August, the State Security Committee of Belarus announced that an attempt was being made on Tsikhanouskaya's life, saying that the protesters needed a "sacred sacrifice". Later that night, state television released a video message from Tsikhanouskaya in which she seemingly conceded defeat and urged the end of protests. However, the stark change in demeanor and message led allies to claim that the video had been coerced, with some going as far as to liken it to a hostage video.


title: Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya

text: The Polish government allotted a residence for Tsikhanouskaya and other members of the Belarusian opposition in the Praga-Południe district of Warsaw. She opened the residence along with the Belarusian House in Warsaw during a visit to Warsaw a couple days later where she met with Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki. Her fellow opposition activist Valery Tsepkalo has also moved to Poland from Ukraine. On 20 July 2021, Tsikhanouskaya said that she had asked officials of the US Biden administration to impose further sanctions on Belarusian companies of potash, oil, wood and steel sectors, during a visit to Washington, D.C.


title: Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya

text: On 14 August 2020 Tsikhanouskaya released a video in which she claimed to have defeated Lukashenko in the first round by a decisive margin, with as little as 60% of the vote and as much as 70%. She appealed to the international community to recognise her as the winner. Tsikhanouskaya also announced the establishment of a Coordination Council to handle the transfer of power from Lukashenko. Applications for membership in the council were open to any Belarusian citizen who recognised the election as having been falsified, and who was trusted by a social group by being an authoritative figure such as a doctor, a teacher, a business leader, an author or a sportsperson.


title: Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya

text: On 17 August 2020 Tsikhanouskaya released a video where she stated that she was ready to head a transitional government and organise a new, free and fair presidential election.


title: Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya

text: On 20 August 2020 Lithuanian prime minister Saulius Skvernelis invited Tsikhanouskaya to his office and publicly referred to her as "the national leader of Belarus". On 31 August, Svetlana Tikhanovskaya was invited to address the United Nations Security Council.


title: Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya

text: On 8 September 2020 Tsikhanouskaya addressed the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe. She called for sanctions against Lukashenko, and "stated that Lukashenko doesn't have any legitimacy after stealing the vote, warning other countries against making any deals with the Belarussian government", and said that "He does not represent Belarus any more."


title: Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya

text: On 9 September 2020 Tsikhanouskaya said that the Belarusian opposition wants to have good relations with all nations, including Russia: "We cannot turn away from Russia because it will always be our neighbor, and we need to have good relations with them."


title: Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya

text: On 10 September 2020 a law was passed by the Lithuanian Parliament which recognises Tsikhanouskaya as the "elected leader of the people of Belarus" and the Coordination Council as the "only legitimate representatives of the Belarusian people". The resolution also declares that Lukashenko is an "illegitimate leader".


title: Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya

text: On 17 September 2020, the European Parliament recognised the coordination council as the "interim representation of the people demanding democratic change" in Belarus. On the same day, she released a black list of OMON officers, dubbed "Taraikovsky's List" after Alexander Taraikovsky who was killed by the OMON.


title: Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya

text: Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya was the first speaker at the Helmut Schmidt Lecture of the Bundeskanzler-Helmut-Schmidt-Stiftung on 10 November 2021, which took place under the title "Living Democracy!" and in cooperation with the Global Public Policy Institute (GPPi) in Berlin.


title: Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya

text: On 26 February 2022, in response to Belarus' participation in the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, Tsikhanouskaya posted a tweet stating "…I declared myself as the national leader of Belarus to protect the sovereignty & independence of our country, represent it in security negotiations & crisis management in the region", and mentioned that she "will create a transitional cabinet", after claiming that "Belarus has lost its independence" and alleged President Lukashenko "committed high treason" in the video in the tweet.


title: Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya

text: On 2 March 2022 Tsihanouskaya announced an anti-war mobilisation and posted a manifesto of the anti-war movement calling Belarusians to oppose Russian invasion in Ukraine and imploring Belarusian soldiers to refuse to participate in the war.


title: Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya

text: On 11 March 2022 Tsikhanouskaya endorsed the creation of the Belarusian volunteer battalion fighting in Ukraine Kastuś Kalinoŭski Battalion, she noted that "more and more people from Belarus join to help Ukrainians defend their country".


title: Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya

text: On 9 August 2022 at a conference held in Vilnius, Tsikhanouskaya announced the creation of the United Transitional Cabinet. It initially consisted of Pavel Latushko (responsible for the transition of power), Aliaksandr Azarau, (responsible for the restoration of law and order), Valery Kavaleuski, (foreign affairs), and Valery Sakhashchyk (defense and national security). In September 2022, Tatsiana Zaretskaya for finance and economy and Alina Koushyk for "national revival" (culture and education) were added to the Cabinet.


title: Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya

text: Tsikhanouskaya was on the list of the BBC's 100 Women announced on 23 November 2020. and was included in the 2020 edition of The Bloomberg 50.


title: Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya

text: Tsikhanouskaya and other Belarus leaders of the country's democratic opposition were awarded the European Parliament's 2020 Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought in a ceremony on December 16 in Brussels.


title: Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya

text: In 2021, she was nominated for the 2021 Nobel Peace Prize by President of Lithuania Gitanas Nausėda and multiple Norwegian members of parliament.


title: Roti

text: Roti (also known as chapati) is a round flatbread native to the Indian subcontinent. It is popular in India, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh, Maldives, Myanmar, Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, Thailand, Guyana, Suriname, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, Mauritius and Fiji. It is made from stoneground whole wheat flour, traditionally known as gehu ka atta, and water that is combined into a dough. Roti is consumed in many countries worldwide. Its defining characteristic is that it is unleavened. "Naan" from the Indian subcontinent, by contrast, is a yeast-leavened bread, as is "kulcha". Like breads around the world, roti is a staple accompaniment to other foods.


title: Roti

text: Roti dough may be rolled out with a rolling pin to create flat, round pieces. This may be done on a circular, flat board called a roti board.


title: Roti

text: Many variations of flatbreads and roti are found in many cultures across the globe, from the Indian subcontinent to Africa to Oceania to the Malay Peninsula to the Americas. The roti is a traditional flatbread from the Indian subcontinent. It is normally eaten with cooked vegetables or curries; it can be called a carrier for them. It is made most often from wheat flour, cooked on a flat or slightly concave iron griddle called a "tawa". Traditionally, rotis have also been made from the flour of millet, maize, jowar, bajra, and even rice. Tandoori roti is cooked by sticking the flattened dough to the inside wall of a tandoor oven, where it bakes quickly at a high temperature. Chapatis are made of whole-wheat flour known as atta, mixed into dough with water, edible oil and optional salt in a mixing utensil called a "parat", and is cooked on a "tava" (flat skillet). It is known as "phulka" in Punjabi and Saraiki, and "maani" in Sindhi.


title: Roti

text: In Sri Lanka, there is a variant of roti called "pol roti" (coconut roti), made of wheat flour, and/or kurakkan flour, and scraped coconut. Sometimes, chopped green chilis and onion are added to the mixture before cooking. These are usually thicker and harder than other roti types. They are usually eaten with curries, or some types of "sambol" or "lunu miris" and considered a main meal rather than a supplement.


title: Roti

text: Another variety of roti popular in Sri Lanka is "kottu roti", which is made up of "paratha "or "godamba roti", These are cut into small pieces, small in size and rectangular or square in shape. Then on a square heating pan, vegetables and onions are fried. Eggs, cooked meat, or fish are added to fried vegetables and heated for a few minutes. Finally, the pieces of cut "paratha" are added. These are chopped and mixed by repeated pounding using heavy iron blades/spatula, the sound of which can be heard from a long distance. Depending upon what ingredients are used, the variations are vegetable, egg, chicken, beef, mutton, and fish "kottu roti". It is sometimes prepared and served as a fast food dish.


title: Roti

text: "Godamba roti" is another variety found in Sri Lanka. Plain" godamba roti" is eaten with curry or it can also be wrapped around a savory filling.


title: Roti

text: Roti is eaten widely across the Caribbean, especially in countries with large Indo-Caribbean populations such as Trinidad and Tobago, Guyana, Suriname, and Jamaica. Originally brought to the islands by indentured laborers from the Indian subcontinent, roti has become a popular staple in the culturally rich cuisines of these countries. In the Caribbean, roti is commonly eaten as an accompaniment to various curries and stews. The traditional way of eating roti is to break the roti by hand, using it to sop up sauce and pieces of meat from the curry. However, in the Caribbean, the term roti may refer to both the flatbread (roti) itself and the more popular street food item, in which the roti is folded around a savory filling in the form of a wrap.


title: Roti

text: The roti wrap is the commercialization of roti and curry together as a fast-food or street-food item in the Caribbean. This wrap form of roti originated in southern Trinidad. It was first created in the mid-1940s by Sackina Karamath, who later founded Hummingbird Roti Shop in San Fernando, Trinidad and Tobago. The wrap was convenient, as the meal could be eaten faster and while on the go, as well as keeping one's hands from getting dirty. In Trinidad and Tobago, various wrapped roti are served, including chicken, conch, goat, beef, and shrimp. Vegetables can also be added including potato, pumpkin, and spinach as well a variety of local condiments, with pepper sauce (hot sauce) and mango chutney being the most popular. The roti wrap quickly gained popularity across the island and spread throughout the rest of the Caribbean. The wrap is now simply referred to as a roti or just roti. The growth in popularity has recently led to referring to the flatbread itself (roti) that surrounds the filling as a "roti skin" or "roti shell", a practice that is now common in both restaurants and commercial companies. Various types of roti are eaten throughout the West Indies. They are most prominently featured in the diets of people in Trinidad and Tobago, Guyana, and Suriname. Caribbean-style roti is primarily made from wheat flour, baking powder, salt, and water, and cooked on a "tawa". Certain rotis are also made with ghee or butter.


title: Roti

text: "Dosti roti" is common in Guyana. A small amount of fat is placed in each piece of dough before it is rolled out to make the roti softer. Usually, vegetable oil is used, but butter, or margarine can also be used. Ghee is not used in everyday cooking, but is used on special occasions, especially amongst Hindus. The roti is usually clapped by hand or beaten a bit, hot off the "tava", so it softens but does not break.


title: Roti

text: In Suriname, roti refers mainly to "dhalpuri" or "aloo puri". It is most often eaten with curried chicken. As in Trinidad and the West Indies, roti can also refer to the stuffed roti wrap. This dish is usually eaten out of hand. Due to a mass emigration of Indian Surinamese in the 1970s, roti became a popular take-out dish in the Netherlands. It usually includes chicken curry, potatoes, a boiled egg, and various vegetables, most notably the "kousenband" or yardlong bean. Another variation includes shrimp and aubergine. The meat with gravy, potatoes, egg, and yardlong beans are served side by side on a plate, with the "aloo puri" folded in fours on top.


title: Roti

text: In Indonesia and Malaysia, the term encompasses all forms of bread, including Western-style bread, as well as the traditional Indian breads.


title: Roti

text: In Thailand, โรตี refers to the "maida" "paratha"—known in Indonesia as "roti maryam, roti cane", or "roti konde", in Malaysia as "roti canai", and in Singapore as "roti prata".


title: Roti

text: In Cambodia, រ៉ូទី is a dessert that is sold as street food. It is similar to both a crêpe and paratha.


title: Roti

text: Roti was initially introduced to South Africa by Indian migrants during the 19th century, and subsequently became incorporated into Durban cuisine. It is widely eaten by the Indian communities living in South Africa, and is either eaten as a flat bread or a wrap with locally made curries.


title: Roti

text: Similarly as with other countries that were part of the Indian diaspora, roti was introduced to Mauritius by Indian migrants/indentured labourers during the 19th century, and has since been a staple of Mauritian cuisine and a common street food. Roti generally refers to "farata" (a local pronunciation of paratha), a pancake made of wheat flour and water; other variants include "dholl puri", which is layered, and stuffed with boiled and ground dal/split peas, and "ti puri", a smaller roti that is fried and usually served with seven different curries.


title: Roti

text: In Iran, the two variants of roti are called "khaboos" and "lavash". These two breads (the former of which is almost exactly prepared like Indian roti) are quite similar to other rotis.


title: Roti

text: Roti shops are now abundant in Trinidad and Tobago, Guyana, Suriname, Jamaica, the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, and the Netherlands. Owing to Canada's considerable immigrant populations from both South Asia and the Caribbean, roti and its variants are popular there. As Indo-Caribbeans moved to North American cities such as Toronto, New York City, Miami, Los Angeles, and Montreal, they exported with them the wrapped version of roti. A distinct Toronto offering is the "East Indian roti", a variation on the stuffed roti from the West Indies.


title: Isaac Hempstead Wright

text: Isaac Hempstead Wright is a British actor. He is best known for his role as Bran Stark in the HBO television series "Game of Thrones" (2011–2019), which earned him a Young Artist Award nomination as Best Young Supporting Actor in a TV Series. He also voiced Eggs in the 2014 animated film "The Boxtrolls".


title: Isaac Hempstead Wright

text: Isaac Hempstead Wright was born in Surrey, England. His mother and father are both teachers, and his step-father runs a printing company.


title: Isaac Hempstead Wright

text: He had no interest in acting until he joined a drama club to avoid playing football on Saturday mornings during the cold months of the year; he later studied acting at the Kent Youth Theatre in Canterbury.


title: Isaac Hempstead Wright

text: Hempstead Wright's big break was as Bran Stark in the hit television series "Game of Thrones," which premiered in April 2011. He was part of the initial starring cast and remained a member of the starring cast for the second, third, and fourth seasons, which earned him two Screen Actors Guild Awards nominations as Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in Drama Series at the 18th and 20th Screen Actors Guild Awards. He did not appear in Season 5, but returned as part of the main cast in season 6. The eighth and final season of the show premiered in April 2019, with Hempstead Wright in a starring role, making him one of a handful of "Game of Thrones" actors who have remained on the show over its nine years of production.


title: Isaac Hempstead Wright

text: Hempstead Wright's film debut was as Tom Hill in the horror film "The Awakening", which premiered in September 2011. Hempstead Wright also had a supporting role in the 2013 crime thriller "Closed Circuit". Hempstead Wright also voice acted in the 2014 animated fantasy-comedy film, "The Boxtrolls", a 2014 episode of the American show "Family Guy", and Part 2 of the 2016 TV special "Revolting Rhymes".


title: Isaac Hempstead Wright

text: Hempstead Wright appears in the Foals song "Exits" music video. Directed by Albert Moya, it also features French actress Christa Théret as students at a clandestine fencing academy in a random series of interconnected vignettes of a surrealist nature. The video was filmed in Budapest.


title: Isaac Hempstead Wright

text: In 2018, Hempstead Wright was cast in the feature film "The Blue Mauritius." The heist movie was expected to begin filming in Cape Town, South Africa in mid-2018 but has remained in pre-production. As of 2021, he is still attached to the project.


title: Isaac Hempstead Wright

text: In April 2019, it was announced that Hempstead Wright was attached to the upcoming sci-fi film "Voyagers" as part of an ensemble cast which includes Colin Farrell and Tye Sheridan. The film was produced in 2019 and was released in April 2021.


title: Isaac Hempstead Wright

text: Beginning in 2017, Hempstead Wright was a student at the University of Birmingham until dropping out early in order to focus on his acting career. In 2019 he returned to university to study neuroscience in London, saying that he intended to continue to act while doing so.


title: Isaac Hempstead Wright

text: In December 2019, Hempstead Wright, a secular humanist, became a patron of the humanist charity Humanists UK.


title: Al Bundy

text: Al Bundy is a fictional character and the protagonist of the American television series "Married... with Children".


title: Al Bundy

text: Played by Ed O'Neill, Bundy is a misanthropic, working-class father of two who is portrayed as a somewhat tragicomedic figure. Although he is a born loser who constantly laments his lot in life, he nevertheless stands by his family, displaying wit, self-sacrifice, and resilience in times of crisis.


title: Al Bundy

text: He and his wife, Peggy, were rated the 59th best characters on television by Bravo. In a 2016 interview, O'Neill said he based his interpretation of Al Bundy on one of his uncles.


title: Al Bundy

text: Al Bundy was born on November 7, 1948 in Chicago, Illinois. He was a star running back on the Polk High School Football team. However, a literal shotgun-marriage to his high-school sweetheart Peggy Wanker (Katey Sagal), which happened after Al got her pregnant and while he was drunk, and a broken leg prevented him from attending college on a football scholarship. His favorite song is "Anna (Go to Him)".


title: Al Bundy

text: Al and Peggy have two children: Kelly (Christina Applegate), a promiscuous, dim-witted blonde, and Bud (David Faustino), an intelligent but sex-crazed and unpopular schemer named after Budweiser beer. His next door neighbor, Marcy (Amanda Bearse), is his archnemesis, and the two frequently squabble.


title: Al Bundy

text: Al lives in a suburb of Chicago and is the proud owner of a 1970s Dodge Demon. He works as a shoe salesman at the fictional Gary's Shoes and Accessories for Today's Woman in the fictional New Market Mall. Al hates his job, loses it several times throughout the series, yet always ends up coming back to it. There is a running joke throughout the show that Al makes minimum wage. Despite Al's hatred of his job, its only redeeming feature in his opinion is the fact it gets him out of the house and away from Peggy.


title: Al Bundy

text: In one episode, Al is offered early retirement and given a year's pay: $12,000, yet in another he says that after taxes and Peggy's spending he only gets one nickel out of every paycheck. In "My Mom, The Mom", Al states he earns a 10% commission on each sale. In "Weenie Tot Lovers and Other Strangers", Peg states his paycheck was for "80 pesos". The family also brought in income through game-shows, theft, various absurd schemes, and mooching off of the Rhoades/D'Arcy's wealth.


title: Al Bundy

text: Throughout the series, Al is continually saddled with massive debts caused by everything from the various disasters he becomes involved in to his wife's extravagant spending habits. However, he never appears to miss a mortgage payment or file for bankruptcy. The "Bundy Will", passed down from generation to generation as a punishment, indebted the "benefactor" with these debts Al Bundy has incurred. In the episode "England Show I", it was stated Al's ancestor, Seamus McBundy, insulted an obese witch, and brought a curse upon the fictional Bundy ancestral town of Lower Uncton in England.


title: Al Bundy

text: In flashbacks, it is revealed Al's mother may have been an alcoholic. While pondering his shortcomings over a toothpaste sandwich, he relives a moment where his mother tells him that he can become anything while audibly saying "Yeah right, Mom, try saying that when you're sober!" In a similar situation, he asks her if she wants her Bloody Mary. In one flashback episode, Al had an overdue library book for 30 years; he tries to get out of paying a $2,163.20 library fine by tricking the librarian (an old enemy of his) into believing he had returned it years before, only to have his trick revealed on closed-circuit Chicago television.


title: Al Bundy

text: Most of the show's running gags concern Al. Aside from his bad luck, Al also maintains a "do-it-yourself" attitude whenever something in the house needs repair. Combined with his creativity, poor judgment, and lack of skill, this usually produces absurd results, and often involves physical injury to Al.


title: Al Bundy

text: Al is also frequently described as being careless about hygiene: he is often told he smells bad. He is often seen leaving restrooms, even public ones, with a newspaper tucked under his arm, to the sound of a toilet flushing. A running gag is that Al showers and brushes his teeth as rarely as he has sex, which is extremely infrequent, as he continually rejects and avoids Peggy's advances.


title: Al Bundy

text: Al is disliked by most of his neighbors, except for Steve Rhoades (David Garrison) and, after he leaves town, Jefferson D'Arcy (Ted McGinley); both are, at different times, married to Marcy. In "Route 666" Marcy said when they thought Al had died, they all started dancing and singing "Ding dong, the shoe man's dead" and called it a "cruel, cruel hoax" when they learned it was a false alarm—as usual, Al had survived his latest misadventure. In another example of the neighborhood's distaste of Al during "You Better Shop Around", after he blacked out everyone's houses during a heatwave, the neighbors attempt to attack him with pitchforks and torches. Other people pay little to no attention to him and, as a result, his name often ends up misspelled on paychecks, reserved parking spots, etc. (e.g., "Bumby", "Boondy" or "Birdy").


title: Al Bundy

text: Despite being a somewhat phlegmatic and slow person, Bundy has a sarcastic and cynical sense of humor; he also has a definite love for his family. Examples can be seen on the rare occasions when he enjoys luxury and money. In one episode, Peggy and Al receive free first class plane tickets to New York City from Marcy. They are shown sipping champagne together and singing "I Got You, Babe".


title: Al Bundy

text: In another episode, Al's Dodge turns up missing and the only reason he wants it back is to recover an item in the trunk. The item turns out to be a family photo of Al, Peg, Kelly, and Bud together. This suggests his distaste for them is spawned merely by his disappointment in his extremely poor quality of life.


title: Al Bundy

text: Al dislikes obese women and cannot stop himself from insulting them to their faces with one-liners, a behavior he has engaged in since he was a child. He also hates his job, the prospect of having sex with his wife, and his feminist neighbor Marcy.


title: Al Bundy

text: He loves nudie magazines, free beer, bowling, and "nudie" bars, and often cherishes the glory moment of his past: scoring four touchdowns in a single game while playing for the fictional Polk High School Panthers in the 1966 city championship game versus fictional Andrew Johnson High School, including the game-winning touchdown in the final seconds against his old nemesis, "Spare Tire" Dixon (Bubba Smith) in the episode "All-Nite Security Dude".


title: Al Bundy

text: Like all Bundys, Al is profoundly selfish, and is repeatedly depicted engaging, along with the rest of his family, in criminal activity in attempts to get rich such as robbing a group of tourists at gunpoint, demanding their jewelry, scamming the elderly by posing as a elderly female psychic, and attempting to write off his stolen car as worth millions of dollars.


title: Al Bundy

text: Another episode, "Damn Bundys", featured Al selling his soul to the devil (Robert Englund) in order to lead the Chicago Bears to the Super Bowl as the oldest rookie in NFL history; Al scores the touchdown and ends up in hell with his family and neighbors for 300 years. In real life, O'Neill, a college football standout, tried out for the Pittsburgh Steelers in 1969, the first season of Hall of Famers Chuck Noll and "Mean Joe" Greene, but was cut in training camp, leading to O'Neill re-enrolling at Youngstown State University and starting his acting career there.


title: Al Bundy

text: In the Season 10 episode "Dud Bowl II", a scoreboard at Polk High's football stadium was to be dedicated to Al, but Marcy had arranged for it to instead be named after Terry Bradshaw (who says later in the episode he never played football while attending Polk High) out of malice; but after hearing from Kelly how much it would mean to her father if the scoreboard honored him, Bradshaw decides to let the scoreboard to be named after Al. Al did not know this and he arranged to have Jefferson and Bud blow up the scoreboard.


title: Al Bundy

text: He is a fan of oldies music, and a fan of Westerns. His favorite movie is "Hondo" (which he missed once in the episode "Assault and Batteries", after having been knocked unconscious when a cash register he threw at an automatic door in frustration bounced off the door and hit him in the head), and his favorite sitcom is the fictional "Psycho Dad" (he led an unsuccessful protest to have the show put back on the air after it was canceled due to its violent content, leading Al and his NO MA'AM organization members to go to Washington, D.C.). He despises daytime television and often blames Oprah Winfrey for being what he views as a corrupting influence on Peggy and on housewives across the country.


title: Al Bundy

text: Politically, Al appears to have mixed views with a somewhat conservative outlook (various episodes depict him as mocking Rush Limbaugh, whereas others show him as a huge fan of John Wayne, in particular his movie "Hondo"). He is an ardent admirer of President Dwight D. Eisenhower, and he often battles his feminist neighbor Marcy, but his views on economic issues appear to be more left-leaning as he has displayed a populist disdain for the wealthy, including leading a violent protest against a proposed law that would tax beer, but not wine. Al also has an encyclopedic knowledge of sports trivia, which usually demonstrates how he has little interest in anything else. He does however serve his country by joining the Army National Guard in which Al receives the "Bronze Dumpster" for service during a garbage strike.


title: Al Bundy

text: Bundy's favorite magazine is "Big'uns", though an early episode used an issue of "Playboy" instead. He enjoys watching sports and adult movies on television, with his right hand tucked into his waistband (he switches to his left hand on Sundays). Though he almost always resists Peggy's frequent amorous advances, he is shown to have a particular fondness for her breasts, which she refers to as "the guys".


title: Al Bundy

text: Al's talents include bowling (he is an extremely gifted bowler), barbecuing (while wearing an apron that says "Kiss the Cook, Kill the Wife"), and getting into and winning fistfights. He can survive incredible injuries ranging from falling off his roof while installing a satellite dish, getting shocked by that same dish, and being pulverized by a massive woman wrestler (Big Bad Mama from Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling) in Las Vegas, to jumping from an airplane without a parachute, and surviving a huge explosion when he accidentally detonates dynamite in his own yard trying to kill a rabbit who has been eating his vegetable garden.


title: Al Bundy

text: Al Bundy had a highly positive reception. Much of the praise went to O'Neill's portrayal of the character. Al and Peg were named the 59th best TV characters by Bravo.


title: Al Bundy

text: In 2009, "Time" magazine named him among the 10 most memorable fathers in television history. In 2014, BuzzFeed listed Al Bundy as the 10th greatest TV dad of all time.


title: Polemic

text: Polemic () is contentious rhetoric intended to support a specific position by forthright claims and to undermine the opposing position. The practice of such argumentation is called "polemics", which are seen in arguments on controversial topics. A person who writes polemics, or speaks polemically, is called a "polemicist". The word derives , .


title: Polemic

text: Polemics often concern questions in religion or politics. A polemical style of writing was common in Ancient Greece, as in the writings of the historian Polybius. Polemic again became common in medieval and early modern times. Since then, famous polemicists have included satirist Jonathan Swift; Italian physicist and mathematician Galileo; French Enlightenment writer, historian, and philosopher Voltaire; Christian anarchist Leo Tolstoy; socialist philosophers Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels; novelist George Orwell; playwright George Bernard Shaw; communist revolutionary Vladimir Lenin; psycholinguist Noam Chomsky; social critics Christopher Hitchens and Peter Hitchens; existential philosopher Søren Kierkegaard; and Friedrich Nietzsche, author of "On the Genealogy of Morality: A Polemic".


title: Polemic

text: Polemical journalism was common in continental Europe when libel laws were not as stringent as they are now.


title: Polemic

text: To support study of 17th to 19th century controversies, a British research project has placed online thousands of polemical pamphlets from that period.


title: Polemic

text: Discussions of atheism, humanism, and Christianity have remained open to polemic into the 21st century.


title: Polemic

text: In Ancient Greece, writing was characterised by what Geoffrey Lloyd and Nathan Sivin called "strident adversariality" and "rationalistic aggressiveness", summed up by McClinton as polemic. For example, the ancient historian Polybius practiced "quite bitter self-righteous polemic" against some twenty philosophers, orators, and historians.


title: Polemic

text: Polemical writings were common in medieval and early modern times. During the Middle Ages, polemic had a religious dimension, as in Jewish texts written to protect and dissuade Jewish communities from converting to other religions. Medieval Christian writings were also often polemical; for example in their disagreements on Islam or in the vast corpus aimed at converting the Jews. Martin Luther's "95 Theses", nailed to the door of the church in Wittenberg, was a polemic launched against the Catholic Church. Robert Carliell's 1619 defence of the new Church of England and diatribe against the Roman Catholic Church – – took the form of a 250-line poem.


title: Polemic

text: Major political polemicists of the 18th century include Jonathan Swift, with pamphlets such as his "A Modest Proposal", and Edmund Burke, with his attack on the Duke of Bedford.


title: Polemic

text: In the 19th century, Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels's 1848 "Communist Manifesto" was extremely polemical. Friedrich Engels's famous work "Anti-Dühring" was also a polemic against Eugen Dühring.


title: Polemic

text: In the 20th century, George Orwell's "Animal Farm" was a polemic against totalitarianism, in particular of Stalinism in the Soviet Union. According to McClinton, other prominent polemicists of the same century include such diverse figures as Herbert Marcuse, Noam Chomsky, John Pilger, and Michael Moore.


title: Polemic

text: In 2007 Brian McClinton argued in "Humani" that anti-religious books such as Richard Dawkins's "The God Delusion" are part of the polemic tradition. In 2008 the humanist philosopher A. C. Grayling published a book, "Against All Gods: Six Polemics on Religion and an Essay on Kindness".


title: Ergotism

text: Ergotism (pron. ) is the effect of long-term ergot poisoning, traditionally due to the ingestion of the alkaloids produced by the "Claviceps purpurea" fungus—from the Latin "club" or clavus "nail" and for "head", i.e. the purple club-headed fungus—that infects rye and other cereals, and more recently by the action of a number of ergoline-based drugs. It is also known as ergotoxicosis, ergot poisoning, and Saint Anthony's fire.


title: Ergotism

text: Convulsive symptoms include painful seizures and spasms, diarrhea, paresthesias, itching, mental effects including mania or psychosis, headaches, nausea and vomiting. Usually the gastrointestinal effects precede central nervous system effects.


title: Ergotism

text: The dry gangrene is a result of vasoconstriction induced by the ergotamine-ergocristine alkaloids of the fungus. It affects the more poorly vascularized distal structures, such as the fingers and toes. Symptoms include desquamation or peeling, weak peripheral pulses, loss of peripheral sensation, edema and ultimately the death and loss of affected tissues. Vasoconstriction is treated with vasodilators.


title: Ergotism

text: Historically, eating grain products, particularly rye, contaminated with the fungus "Claviceps purpurea" was the cause of ergotism.


title: Ergotism

text: The toxic ergoline derivatives are found in ergot-based drugs (such as methylergometrine, ergotamine or, previously, ergotoxine). The deleterious side effects occur either under high dose or when moderate doses interact with potentiators such as erythromycin.


title: Ergotism

text: Dark-purple or black grain kernels, known as ergot bodies, can be identifiable in the heads of cereal or grass just before harvest. In most plants the ergot bodies are larger than normal grain kernels, but can be smaller if the grain is a type of wheat.