Professor R.B. Singh (1955-2021), an Icon of Indian Geography: A Passage on the Path of Lineage, Legacy and Liminality

Professor R.B. Singh (1955-2021) had been the first Indian Geographer to have the dual distinction of holding the position of the IGU Secretary General and ICSU Scientific Committee Member. He was the first Indian and second Asian Secretary General and Treasurer of the IGU (2018-2022). Professor Singh was a distinguished geographer of 21st Century India who had made distinct academic contributions over the last five decades, illustrated with publishing 16 books, 40 anthologies, and around 260 research papers. He has covered and profusely published researches in 11 fields—Environmental Studies, Geoecology; Land resources, Land use/ Land cover; Water issues, Hydrology; Disaster, Natural Hazard; Quality of Life, Livelihood; Climatic Change, Air Pollution study; Urban Environment, Health, and wellbeing; Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs); Environmental Monitoring; Geography, Development Studies R-U; Mountain Studies, Forestry, Tourism; and RS, GIS, Recent trends appraisal. He had supervised 39 PhD and 81 MPhil dissertations. This paper presents an appraisal of his life journey on the path of Lineage, Legacy and Liminality—a type of biographical highlights in the frame of his practising geography, while also emphasising various niches, distinctions, networks, and collaborative programmes

Kashi and Cosmos: Spatial manifestation and the five pilgrimage journeys of Banaras

Historically, Hindu rituals, sacred journeys, festivities, deities and their symmetrical links, have come together to form sacred spatial systems that are still observed by both pilgrims and devotees. These pilgrimage traditions are deeply rooted in local space / place, as well as in the cultural inheritance and mentality of their adherents. This structure is reflected symbolically in the spatial frame of Hinduism in which both complexity and temporal stability meet, mediating between people and the cosmos, i.e., in a mesocosm. In Varanasi (Banaras/Kashi) this spatial frame is clearly expressed in a series of sacred territorial boundaries defined by pilgrimage routes. Varanasi, known as the microcosm of India and one of the most sacred cities of Hinduism, has maintained its cosmic layout which was developed in the deep historical past. The passage from macrocosmos (heaven) into the mesocosmos (earth) and further down into the microcosmos (temple or body) is made spatially visible here, and is regulated by the network of pilgrimage routes. This is what we call pilgrimage mandala. In theory, the four inner sacred routes of Kashi meet at the point of axis mundi, Jnanavapi, while the outer circle covers the rest and meets in the west at Dehli Vinayaka, the gate to the cosmic territory. The five circuits symbolise the five heavenly gross elements of Hindu cosmogony - sky / ether, earth, air, water and fire - parallel to five parts of the human body, i.e. head, legs, face, blood and heart. In this paper, these five extraordinary pilgrimage routes are described and their present scenarios illustrated

Culture's Compass: Deeply-Rooted Education and Sustainable Future

[EN] The World Congress of Culture in Mexico City (28-30 September 2022) allowed us to put people's values and the role of culture education for the future of the younger generations at the center. This text describes the reflection proposed within the congress by the study group of the international pedagogical project "Reconnecting with your culture" for the development of methodological approaches aimed at enhancing the local cultural heritage to make a constructive international dialogue possible.[ES] El Congreso Mundial de la Cultura en la Ciudad de México (28-30 de septiembre de 2022) ha permitido poner en el centro los valores de las personas y el papel de la educación cultural para el futuro de las generaciones más jóvenes. Este texto describe la reflexión propuesta en el marco del congreso por el grupo de estudio del proyecto pedagógico internacional Reconnecting with your culture para el desarrollo de enfoques metodológicos destinados a potenciar el patrimonio cultural local para hacer posible un diálogo internacional constructivo.Niglio, O.; Schafer, P.; Singh, RP. (2022). Culture's Compass: Deeply-Rooted Education and Sustainable Future. Culturas. Revista de Gestión Cultural. 9(2):24-35. https://doi.org/10.4995/cs.2022.1848424359

Sveti vodeni bazeni hinduističkih svetih krajolika u sjevernoj Indiji

The basic metaphysical frame of life in ancient India, that of sacred water (paviṭra jala) and the notion that “Water itself is life” (jala hī jivan hai), can be illustrated with case studies of two cities. Settled continuously since 1000 BCE, the cities of Varanasi and Ayodhya have been eulogized as the salvific holy-heritage cities in India known for their ritualscapes associated with sacred waters and pools. According to the ancient treatises and tales, there were fifty-four sacred tanks (kunds) and wells (kūpas) in each of these cities, and they became important sites for purification rituals, pilgrimage, healing and festive celebration by devout Hindus. After providing descriptions of the sacred water pools, this essay in part explores traditions associated with a water-pool sacred to the Sun god in both the cities. More broadly, using ancient texts, present participatory surveys, and ethnological narration, the essay considers the long-lived sacrality of water pools in these holy cities and current development strategies involving them.Osnovni metafizički okvir života u drevnoj Indiji, onaj svete vode (paviṭra jala), te predodžba da je “voda sam život” (jala hī jivan hai) mogu se ilustrirati studijama slučaja dvaju gradova. Nastanjeni kontinuirano od 1000. godine prije Krista, gradovi Varanasi i Ayodhya u Indiji slave se kao spasiteljski sveti i baštinski gradovi, poznati po svojim obrednim krajolicima povezanima sa svetim vodama i bazenima. Prema drevnim raspravama i pričama, u svakom od tih gradova postojale su pedeset i četiri svete cisterne (kunds) i bunara (kūpas), koji su postali važna mjesta za rituale pročišćavanja, hodočašće, ozdravljenja i svečana slavlja pobožnih hinduista. Nakon opisa svetih vodenih bazena, u radu se djelomično istražuju tradicije vezane uz vodene bazene posvećene bogu sunca u oba grada. U širem smislu, koristeći se drevnim tekstovima, današnjim participativnim anketama i etnološkim pripovijedanjem, u radu se razmatra dugovječna sakralnost vodenih bazena u spomenutim gradovima te s njima povezane aktualne razvojne strategije

Quantum Critical Behavior and Possible Triplet Superconductivity in Electron Doped CoO2 Sheets

Density functional calculations are used to investigate the doping dependence of the electronic structure and magnetic properties in hexagonal Na$_x$CoO$_2$. The electronic structure is found to be highly two dimensional, even without accounting for the structural changes associated with hydration. At the local spin density approximation level, a weak itinerant ferromagnetic state is predicted for all doping levels in the range $x=0.3$ to $x=0.7$, with competing but weaker itinerant antiferromagnetic solutions. The Fermi surface, as expected, consists of simple rounded hexagonal cylinders, with additional small pockets depending on the $c$ lattice parameter. Comparison with experiment implies substantial magnetic quantum fluctuations. Based on the Fermi surface size and the ferromagnetic tendency of this material,it is speculated that a triplet superconducting state analogous to that in Sr$_2$RuO$_4$ may exist here.Comment: 4 pages, 1 figur

Superconductivity near the vibrational mode instability in MgCNi3

To understand the role of electron-phonon interaction in superconducting MgCNi$_{3}$ we have performed density functional based linear response calculations of its lattice dynamical properties. A large coupling constant $\lambda$= 1.51 is predicted and contributing phonons are identified as displacements of Ni atoms towards octahedral interstitials of the perovskite lattice. Instabilities found for some vibrational modes emphasize the role of anharmonic effects in resolving experimental controversies.Comment: 4 pages, 4 eps figures, replaces the older versio