Introduction to the Rajputs Essay Example for Free

Introduction to the Rajputs Essay A Rajput is a member of one of the landowning patrilineal clans of central and northern India. Rajputs consider themselves descendants of one of the major ruling warrior groups of the Hindu Kshatriya varna ( social order ) in the Indian subcontinent, particularly North India. The Rajputs rose to prominence during the 6th to 12th centuries, and until the 20th century Rajputs ruled in the â€Å"overwhelming majority† of the princely states of Rajasthan and Saurashtra, where the largest number of princely states were found. They are divided into three major lineages. The Rajput empire spread in many countries: Afghanistan, Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh, India, Southeast Asia and some parts of Tibet. The four Agnivanshi clans namely the Pariharas (Pratihara), Solankis (Chalukya dynasty) Paramaras and Chahamanas rose to prominence first, establishing territories and creating kingdoms. The Rajputs were mainly feudal lords under the over-lordship of the rulers belonging to Pratiharas – a dynasty that ruled until the 10th century. Gradually, they attained the status of independent rulers. Their dominion spread over most parts of north India. In the north-west region known as Rajputana, which comprises the present day Rajasthan and parts of Pakistan. The Rajput community comprised of the Chauhans of East Punjab, Northern Rajasthan and Delhi, the Rathores of Uttar Pradesh, the Paramaras of Central India and the Tomars of Gwalior and later, Delhi. Of these the Chauhans and the Rathores were dominant clans. The Rajput though brave and chivalrous often succumbed to inter-clan rivalries, which proved advantageous for the Muslim rulers during the medieval period. The Rajputs being a dominant Hindu clan offered heavy resistance to the Muslim rulers who spread their rule over India during the medieval period. The Rajput princes maintained their own independent princely kingdoms. Some of the brave Rajput rulers who have been made their names eternal in Indian history are Prithviraj Chauhan, Rana Kumbha, Rana Sangram Singh, Rana Udai Singh and Maharana Pratap. Prithviraj Chauhan proved to be the last Rajput ruler of Delhi. The Chauhans, led by Govinda, grandson of Prithviraj, later established a small state centered around Rathambore in present-day Rajasthan. The Rajput lifestyle was designed to foster a martial spirit, with men even forging a bond with their sword. The double-edged scimitar known as the khanda was a popular weapon among the Rajputs of that era. On special occasions, primary chief would break up a meeting of his vassal chiefs with khanda nariyal, the distribution of daggers and coconuts. Many Rajputs are nostalgic about their past and keenly conscious of their genealogy, emphasizing a Rajput ethos that is martial in spirit, with a fierce pride in lineage and tradition. The Rajput rulers had a keen sense of beauty in art and architecture which is seen in the artistic excellence of their temples, forts and palaces. The Indo-Aryan style of architecture developed in North India and Upper Deccan and the Dravidian style in South India during the Rajput period. Both sculpture and architecture attained a high degree of excellence. e.g. The Rathas of Mahabalipuram or Mammallapuram, the Kailash temple at Ellora and the sculpture of Elephanta belonging to the early Rajput period ( 600 Ad to 900 AD ) The temple architecture of Orissa, Khajuraho, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and the Pallava, Chola and Hoysala temples in the South belong to the later Rajput period. ( 900 AD to 1200 AD )

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Christmas Markets around the World Christmas is a magical holiday and it is celebrated everywhere in the world by creating a fantasy scenery on the streets and in every shop and house. Around Christmas time, all the big cities in the world turn into a magical place, decorated with huge Christmas trees and with thousands of Christmas lights. But that is not all. In many cities around the world, no matter whether they are the capital city of a country or a small town, there are organized Christmas Markets every year. The Christmas markets fill the streets with a wonderful smell of traditional delicacies related to Christmas and so everybody is attracted to the markets by the wonderful, fantasy-like smell coming from there. In these markets, people can also find original, unique ideas to buy as gifts for their loved ones, as merchandisers usually sell hand-made items in these markets. And let’s not forget about the beautiful Christmas decorations, which you can also find at any of these markets. Austria is one of the countries in which Christmas Markets are an old tradition. There, you can find at least one Christmas Market in any major city or town, but the most famous of all remains, of course, Vienna’s Christmas Market. There are also plenty of other cities where the magical atmosphere of Christmas is sustained by the Christmas Markets, such as: Innsbruck, Graz, Salzburg and Linz. Belgium is another country which celebrates Christmas by organizing Christmas Markets in some of the greatest cities in the country. The smell of traditional Christmas food and the beautiful coloured Christmas trees attract the visitors to Christmas Markets in Belgium. Some of the most famous Markets opened for Christmas Holidays in Belgium are in A... ...er cultures. In the last few years, the Christmas Markets became popular in the USA as well, so that today you can enjoy the wonderful celebrations of Christmas at Christmas Markets in USA, where you will be delighted by beautiful music, tasty food and lots of entertainment. Canada is least famous for its Christmas Markets, yet it owns some. In the last few years, Christmas Markets flourished in Toronto, Vancouver, Quebec and other regions in Canada. People can find wonderful Christmas themed presents to buy from these Markets. The magical atmosphere of Christmas is flourishing with these very special and wonderful Christmas Markets around the world, where people can enjoy the beautiful Christmas Carols, huge Christmas Trees, amazing decorations and lights, tasty food delicacies for Christmas, as well as unique Christmas gifts that they can buy from the Markets.

Case Preview and Questions for Anagene, Inc. Essay

A start-up company struggles to understand its operating margins. How much of the large monthly fluctuations in margins is real and how much is caused by its costing system? Skim the section on The Genomics Analysis Market on pages 1-3 of the case but pay attention to the information on competitive position. Case Questions: 1. Work the Youngstown Products numerical example on the following page. (This should take only a few minutes and is basically a short refresher on a phenomenon we saw in the Bridgeton case.) Answer is inline in Youngstown case question. 2. The cartridge margins shown in Tables A and B vary from 17% to 65%. What elements of cost account for the difference between the 2000 Actual and 2001 Budget margins in Table A? What elements of cost account for the difference between the margins in the original 2001 Budget in Table A versus the revised 2001 Budget in Table B? For each element, why do you think costs changed between 2000 and 2001 between the original and revised budgets in 2001? What would you predict for each cost in the long-run? The elements account for the difference between 2000 Actual and 2001 Budget are the estimated material and scrap cost, overhead cost based on cartridge production volume. Revised material and scrap cost, overhead cost account for the difference between original and revised 2001 Budget in Table B. The estimated and actual production volume affects each element of cost. Larger volume means lower per unit cost. In long-run, the cost should approach to a steady level. 3.Kelly, Puleski, and Yeltin meet to discuss concerns about both â€Å"long-term profitability of the business† and â€Å"short-term profitability.† Discuss how well the current standard cost systems helps the board and analysts distinguish and understand these two issues. The current system doesn’t do well at estimating the cost. The estimated material and scrap cost, overhead cost depends on estimated production volume rather than capacity. The system can explain short term profitability but has difficulty to explain long term profitability. 4. Suppose sales in 2001 equal 26,000 units, as budgeted in January, and that actual manufacturing expenses turn out to equal budgeted expenses. What should Daniel Yeltin do to â€Å"devise a better way to calculate product costs and gross margins for management decision-making purposes†? (Hint 1: What are the decisions facing management and the board? Hint 2: Consider the suggestion in Activity-Based Costing and Capacity to allocate costs based on capacity, rather than based on production. What is current cartridge manufacturing capacity according to the information in Exhibit 8? What are the costs of providing that capacity according to Exhibit 7? What should Daniel Yeltin do with the cost of unused cartridge manufacturing capacity?) Basically calculating the cost based on production capacity rather than production volume. The current manufacturing capacity is 65000, while the cost of such capacity is $1,299,581. The unused cartridge manufacturing capacity should be written off as an expense. 5.Anagene expects demand for 95,000 cartridges in 2002. What changes can Anagene make to increase capacity to meet higher demand? (See information in the comments column of Exhibit 8 about additional capacity that can be added to the various manufacturing steps.) Assume employees added to increase capacity at any of the various steps cost $100,000 per employee, and assume these costs are treated as part of the overhead cost pool because they are costs of increasing capacity. Under these assumptions, how will the cost of adding capacity affect the overhead component of cartridge manufacturing costs? Youngstown Products, a supplier to the automotive industry, had seen its operating margins shrink below 20% as its OEM customers put continued pressure on pricing. Youngstown produced four products in its plant and  decided to eliminate products that no longer contributed positive margins. Details on the four products are provided below: ProductABCDTotal Production Volume (units)10,0008,000 6,000 4,000 Selling Price$15.0018.00 20.00 22.00 Materials/unit$ 4.00$ 5.00 $ 6.00 $ 7.00 DLH/unit0.240.18 0.12 0.08 Total DLH2,4001,440 720 3204,880 Plant Overhead $122,000 DL rate/hour$30 Youngstown has a traditional cost system. It calculates a plant-wide overhead rate by dividing total overhead costs by total direct labor hours. Assume, for the calculations below, that plant overhead is a committed (fixed) cost during the year, but that direct labor is a variable cost. 1. Calculate the plant-wide overhead rate. Use this rate to assign overhead costs to products and calculate the profitability of the four products. Product 2. If any product is unprofitable with this cost assignment, drop this product from the mix. Recalculate the overhead rate based on the new total direct labor hours remaining in the plant. Apply the new overhead rate to the remaining products. A is not profitable, after dropping out A, the new overhead rate will be 122000/(4880-2400) = 49.19 Product 4. What is happening at Youngstown and why? The total plant overhead is fixed, and when a product line is dropped, each product line has higher overhead allocated, and eventually Youngstown becomes unprofitable. 5. What does the situation at Youngstown (a low-tech manufacturing firm making decisions to shrink sales over time) have to do with the situation at Anagene (a high-tech firm making decisions to grow sales over time)? Anagene is facing a similar situation. If Anagene continues to use budgeted manufacturing volume when determine the cost,  Anagene might have a risk to run into the death spiral as Youngstown (dropping unprofitable product until nothing is profitable).

Modern And Contemporary Arts Of Africa - 2955 Words

Tessa Giller - 619194 Modern and Contemporary Arts of Africa Essay Word count: African art and the politics of identity in the twenty-first century. - ‘Identity is never an a priori, nor a finished product; it is only ever the problematic process of access to an image of totality’ - H. Bhahba (1994:50) Introduction. The second half of the twentieth century saw the liberation of the African continent from colonial rule, a time that occasioned the rise of new pride in and new searches for definitions of identities released from the colonial confines. In the twentieth century the politics of identity became salient in discourses, political, social, and cultural, on Africa. The idea of the diaspora was central to new conceptions on African art, often leading to the exclusion of artist residing in Africa in preference of those living in the nomadic condition. The forefront of Africa in modernity was thus not seen as residing in Africa itself but in those that found themselves in the realms of the hegemonic modernity of the West. Nevertheless independence from colonial rule saw a surge in self-defining nationalisms based on an ideal form of African nation and identity. Ways of being and producing African art were prescribed to artists, though this does not mean that individual agency was lost. As Atk inson states on post-Apartheid South Africa: ‘it is clear that the stakes have shifted, and the country’s reintegration into ‘international art’, culture, and politics, hasShow MoreRelatedThe Influences of Asia, Africa and the Americas Toward Contemporary Society815 Words   |  4 PagesHuman World Views The Influences of Asia, Africa and the Americas toward Contemporary Society September 13, 2015 The progression of morality as it relates to the influence of family, religion and society varies between Asia, Africa, and the Americas. 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