Wednesday, March 19, 2014

Weekend Workout (week starting March 17, 2014)



Happy Holy!
(remember: larger versions of all visuals can be seen by clicking on them)

1. Name this gentleman, one of the founders of the Western academic field of Indian studies and the discipline of comparative religion. He wrote both scholarly and popular works on Indology, a discipline he introduced to the British reading public. One of his great achievements was 'Sacred Books of the East', a massive, 50-volume set of English translations prepared under his direction. His name is commemorated in cultural institutions operated by his country's government in several cities in India.

2. One of the early WW sets had a question on the Quakers. What related term – applied as a mocking description of their rituals of trembling, shouting, dancing, singing, and speaking in tongues – was given to The United Society of Believers in Christ’s Second Appearing, a Protestant religious sect that originated in 18th-century USA?

3. In Greek myth, he was the first of the Protogenoi (the 'first-born' gods, who preceded the Olympians) and the god of the air.  His name means 'gaping void' in Greek. What now-common English word?

4. Simple one – watch this video of a man speaking of facial hair. What's his real name, and what's the honorific he is generally known by? [Half points for each part]

5. On the April 6, 1941 edition of his popular radio programme 'The Catholic Hour', what did American Bishop (later Archbishop) Fulton J. Sheen refer to as the "double cross", implying that siding with its proponents would be a "double-crossing" of Christianity?

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6. The events of the Robert Rodriguez film 'Once Upon a Time in Mexico' take place in a short timespan leading up to which festival, whose origins can be traced to an Aztec festival dedicated to a goddess called Mictecacihuatl? The movie climaxes appropriately with much mayhem during the festival itself, depicted in the above still from the film.

7. Built in 629CE and named after the Chera king Cheraman Perumal, this edifice is generally considered to be the first of its kind in India. Peruman himself is supposed to be the first person in India to have taken what has now become a contentious step. Tell me (a) what 'first' is connected with the building; and (b) what related 'first' is associated with Cheraman Perumal. [Half points for each part]

8. What was created in 2005 by a physics graduate named Bobby Henderson as a satirical protest against the decision by the Kansas State Board of Education to permit the teaching of intelligent design as an alternative to evolution in public schools? Arguing that any conceivable entity could fulfill the role of the unspecified "Intelligent Designer", he called for his theory of creation to be allotted equal time in science classrooms alongside intelligent design and evolution.

9. In the mythology of its original tribes, this land was discovered by a great chief called Kupe, who left his cousin Hoturapa to drown during a fishing expedition and kidnapped his wife, Kuramarotini, with whom he fled in her great canoe Matahourua. During their subsequent journeys, they overcame numerous monsters and sea demons, including a great octopus named as Te Wheke-a-Muturangi. When they first came in sight of the land, his wife/hostage cried, "He ao! He ao!" ("A cloud! A cloud!"), taking that as a sign of nearby land. Which place is this?


10. (a) Who is this person, described by a contemporary chronicler as "The hammer of heretics, the light of Spain, the saviour of his country, the honour of his order"? (b) Among other things that he was famous for, he was one of the chief supporters of the Alhambra Decree of 1492, which called for what? [1 point each]


Answers

1. Max Mueller

Yes, the country in question is actually Germany, not England.

2. The Shakers, from 'Shaking Quakers'

3. Chaos or Khaos

4. (a) Jaggi Vasudev; (b) Sadguru

5. The swastika

Mention of the Nazis earns half points.

6. The Day of the Dead

The word 'Dead' in the answer gets half points.

7. (a) First mosque in India; (b) First Indian to convert to Islam

This is the Cheraman Perumal Juma Masjid today.

8. The Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster, aka Pastafarianism

9. New Zealand, which in the Maori language is referred to as Aotearoa, meaning 'land of the long white cloud'

10. (a) Tomás de Torquemada, the first Inquisitor General of Spain; (b) The expulsion of all Jews from Spain.

11 comments:

  1. 1. Frank Anthony
    2. Shakers
    3.
    4. Osho
    5. Swastika
    6.
    7.
    8. Pastafarianism, or worship of the Flying Spaghetti Monster
    9.
    10.

    ReplyDelete
  2. No cricket or music, thank you.

    1. Max Muller. ("English translations" - ha!).
    2. Shakers
    3. 'Gaping Void'? Didn't know the Greeks had a god named Congress Leadership. Chasm? Cavity? Canyon?
    4. Sadguru Jaggi Vasudev
    5. 1941 and 'double cross' sounds like the swastika, and Nazi Germany.
    6. Damn, I should know that. But I don't. Feast of the Dead?
    7. The first mosque in India. (Do you know they have replaced the central portion with a hideous green dome?). Cheraman Perumal converted to Islam and also undertook the Hajj. Dunno which is more 'contentious' -- I'll go with conversion.
    8. The Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster. Ramen!
    9. New Zealand, I think.
    10. Hey, every second monk was a 'hammer of something' in that era. But dunno.

    ReplyDelete
  3. 1. Max Mueller
    2. Movers and Shakers
    3. Abyss or Chasm
    4. Acharya Rajneesh / Osho
    5. Something to do with the shape of the cross?
    6. Carnival?
    7.
    8. Scientology
    9. Hawaii
    10. Thomas de torquemada / expulsion of jews from Spain

    ReplyDelete
  4. question 4 : Honorific name 'Saadhu'.

    ReplyDelete
  5. question 4 : Sadhu Vaswani and Sadguru

    ReplyDelete
  6. Nice set, religion, one of my pet peeves. Here goes...

    1. Max Mueller
    2. Shakers
    3. Vacuum? Pure guesswork, but what the hell
    4. Osho? Ashamed to say I don't have a clue, reduced to guessing.
    5. Allying with Nazi Germany?
    6.
    7.
    8. Flying Spaghetti Monster
    9. Hawaii.
    10. St Ignatius Loyola

    ReplyDelete
  7. 1. Max Mueller
    2. Shakers?
    3. Zephyr?
    4. No idea.
    5. The Nazi Swastika?
    6. The Procession of the Dead or something like that.
    7. No clue. First temple in India with a woman priest?
    8. The Flying Spaghetti Monster!
    9. Hawaii?
    10. Thomas Aquinas? If that part is right then I'll go with the Alhambra Decree being about the so-called Missionary Position.

    ReplyDelete
  8. 1. Max Mueller
    2. Shakers
    3. Vaccuum?
    4. Osho, Rajaneesh Jain
    5. Communists
    6.Festival of the dead
    7. First Church, converted to Christaianity
    8. Flying Spaghetti Monster,
    9. Hawaii
    10. ???, Inquisition.

    ReplyDelete
  9. 1 max muller
    3 chaos
    5 nazi swastika
    8 flying spaghetti monster
    9 hawaii
    Julian DCosta

    ReplyDelete
  10. 1. Stafford Cripps
    2. Shakers

    – Paul

    ReplyDelete
  11. Dear Annie,
    Thank you for the quiz. Quite a spiritful workout.
    1. Max muller
    2. Shakers
    3.
    4.Sadhguru. Dont know the real name
    5.
    6. Halloween
    7. First mosque in india. B) first to accept islam in India.
    Btw I had never heard of the Cheras until i came across the name last year in Wendy Donigers controversial book. Probaby our textbooks felt they were not important enough to mention and some intelligent organisation felt that Indians are betteroff not knowing their history well. The Tanjavur temple was built by Raja Raja by looting the Cheras.
    8. Church of sphagetti . Pastafarian
    9.
    10. Some thing to do with moors getting chased off Spain.
    Lovely quiz Annie.
    Thank you and warm regards
    Delson

    ReplyDelete