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Why an Indian Princess’s memorial in Ayodhya is a big draw for South Korean tourists

South Korea has a special connection with Uttar Pradesh’s Ayodhya, the birthplace of Lord Ram. No, it has nothing to do with Lord Ram.

Every year, hundreds of South Koreans visit the holy city of Ayodhya to pay tribute to Queen Huh Hwang-ok. It is believed that several South Koreans have their ancestral roots in Ayodhya.

Who was Queen Huh Hwang-ok?

Legend has it that Queen Huh Hwang-ok, also known as Princess Suriratna, was the princess of Ayodhya before she went to South Korea and married King Kim Suro of Karak Clan in 48 AD.

As per a research paper by Dr Uday Dokras, “Ancient Korean text Samguk Yusa chronicles King Suro’s wife to have been a princess of a distant kingdom called Ayuta, which people relate to be the holy city of present-day Ayodhya.”

Queen Huh Hwang-ok has a memorial in Ayodhya

The South Korean queen’s memorial was first inaugurated in 2001 in Ayodhya.

In 2015, PM Narendra Modi and former South Korean President Moon Jae-in signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) during the PM’s visit to South Korea for expansion of the memorial.

Later, the memorial was beautified to honour the queen’s legacy, and the memorial park was inaugurated in 2022.

According to UP tourism’s official website, around 60 lakh people of the Karak clan consider Ayodhya as their maternal home.

In 2019, commemorative Rs 25 and Rs 5 postage stamps for the queen were also issued by India. 

From Ayodhya to South Korea by boat

As per the UP government website, it is believed that Princess Suriratna reached Korea on a boat. She was only 16 when she got married.

She is believed to be the first queen of King Suro of Geumgwan Gaya.

According to some Chinese-language texts, the then King of Ayodhya was ordered by god to send his 16-year-old daughter to South Korea to marry King Kim Suro in a dream, says a BBC report.

The same publication mentioned that the king and queen had ten sons, adding that they both lived over 150 years.

Back in 2020, the then South Korean Ambassador to India, Shin Bong-kil, told ANI, “Ayodhya has important relations with Korea.” 

Shin Bong-kil mentioned that in Korea’s ancient history book, it’s written that a princess from Ayodhya married a Korean king, adding that in archaeological findings from Kim Suro’s tomb, artefacts belonging to Ayodhya have been discovered.

Where is Queen Huh Hwang-ok’s memorial?

  • The memorial park portrays the journey of Princess Suriratna from Ayodhya to Korea.
  • The legend is inscribed on a stone structure that was shipped from South Korea.
  • The park has been built on the bank of the Sarayu River, on a reported budget of Rs 21 crore.
  • The south-east corner of the memorial features a statue of Queen Huh Hwang-ok.
  • The north-east corner has a statue of King Kim Suro.
  • The princess’s sea journey has been recreated at the memorial with the help of a pond and footbridge.
  • The park also features an egg made of granite. It is believed that Princess Suriratna took a golden egg along during her journey to Korea.

INSTA

Queen Huh Hwang-ok’s Tamil connection 

There is another theory about the queen by Dr Kannan Narayan, a retired professor and former Scientific Advisor and Coordinator of Korea Institute of Ocean Science and Technology.

In his theory, based on Chinese legends, Kannan Narayan stated that the queen’s name points to the South Indian kingdom of Pandya – the Pandyas of Madurai, says a Deccan Herald report.

He added that the twin fish symbol seen on the walls of Ayodhya possibly dates back to a time when it was a part of the United Provinces. He mentioned that it was also the national symbol of the Pandya Dynasty.

The retired professor said that it’s a possibility that the queen left the port of Athiyuthu from Tamil Nadu and not Ayodhya and the same has been modified over time to ‘Ayutha’.

source/content: indiatoday.in (headline edited)

INDIA: INFRA-STRUCTURE : INDIA’s LONGEST: Atal Setu: Mumbai gets India’s Longest Sea Bridge, operations begin today

PM inaugurates the Mumbai Trans Harbour Link project.

The Mumbai Trans Harbour Link (MTHL), perhaps the most anticipated infrastructure project in the city, is set to open for regular traffic this Saturday, after Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated India’s longest sea bridge on Friday. 

Named the Atal Bihari Vajpayee Sewri-Nhava Sheva Atal Setu, the 21.8 km-long, six-lane engineering marvel, of which 16.5 km is in the sea, has been built at a cost of Rs 17,840 crore, and will cut the distance between the Mumbai island city and its satellite city Navi Mumbai shorter. 

“The inauguration of Atal Setu exemplifies India’s infrastructural prowess and underscores the country’s trajectory toward a ‘Viksit Bharat’,” Modi after inaugurating the bridge. He arrived at the programme in Navi Mumbai in the evening, after his convoy drove across the sea bridge – the foundation stone of which the PM had laid around seven years ago.  

The prime minister also laid foundation stones for other development projects in the state worth more than Rs 12,700 crore. “…a budget of Rs 44 trillion for infrastructure has been presented in the 10 years of the present government. In Maharashtra alone, the central government has either completed infrastructure projects worth about Rs 8 trillion or work on them is in progress,” he said. 

The MTHL project is one of the four main infrastructure projects in the city that are likely to become operational this year — an election year for both country and Maharashtra.  

The other three, along with MTHL, are estimated to cost upwards of Rs 84,000 crore.

The MTHL project — 80 per cent of which has been funded through a debt from Japan International Cooperation Agency, where the MMRDA is the borrower – is expected to spur further economic development in Mumbai and Navi Mumbai. The MMRDA, or Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority, is the nodal agency for the project.

Sanjay Mukherjee, the Metropolitan Commissioner of MMRDA, anticipates “a consistent uprising in business opportunities and economic growth in the surrounding regions” as one of the many positive outcomes of the project.

“The Atal Setu will be a huge contributor to the steady escalation of the MMR’s humongous share in our nation’s GDP in the forthcoming years,” he said.

Sanjay Sethi, chairperson for Jawaharlal Nehru Port Agency (JNPA), located in Navi Mumbai, said: “The increased connectivity, especially in the JNPA vicinity, will open up new trade opportunities, attracting investments in warehousing and logistics infrastructure, further boosting JNPA SEZ’s economy.”

The MTHL project — first conceived in the 1970s and finally awarded in 2017 – was to be completed in the early part of 2022. However, its execution saw delays, partly because of pandemic-related supply chain woes.


source/content: business-standard.com (headline edited)

NATIONAL: EQUINES: Bhimthadi Horses get stamp of Independent Breed

The pride of the cavalry of the Maratha Army in the 17th and 18th centuries, Bhimthadi horses to get the status of an independent breed.

Ranjeet Pawar, founder, All India Bhimthadi Horse Association, in a joint announcement with Sharad Mehta, head, regional station, National Research Centre of Equines, Bikaner, Rajasthan at Deccan Gymkhana on Tuesday, said that authorities will soon issue a gazette notification officially recognising the indigenous breed.

According to Pawar, Bhimthadi breed of horses originated on the banks of Bhima River in Maharashtra and “thadi” means a riverbank. The breed is found on the plateau of Deccan, including some parts of Pune, Satara, Solapur, Ahmednagar, Sangli and Kolhapur districts.

The breed was part of the cavalry of the Maratha Army in its fight against the Mughals

“As this indigenous breed was not officially recognised in India, with the support of the Agricultural Development Trust (ADT) at Baramati, a team was formed in association with the National Research Centre for Equines, Bikaner to fulfil the administrative and scientific requirements for its inclusion in the national list. A delegation of scientists led by Dr Sharad Mehta visited Baramati and surrounding areas where they interacted with farmers and horse keepers to understand the hardiness and utility of the breed,” Pawar said.

According to Mehta, blood samples of over 1,000 Bhimthadi horses were tested at the National Research Centre on Equines, Bikaner while DNA testing of over 500 samples was done to ensure that the animal does not share its DNA with any of the established breeds in India.

“The process took about three years. Of the 66 applications received for getting the recognition, eight have been approved by the committee and Bhimthadi horse is one of them. The gazette notification is expected in a month’s time,” Mehta said.

“As per the government records, the current population of Bhimthadi horses in India is 5,134,” he said.

Pawar plans to introduce Bhimthadi horses in sports like endurance and polo after getting the official stamp. Breed shows and educational workshops would also be conducted through the state to retain the breed characteristics and to improve the breeding practices of the animal.

source/content: hindustantimes.com (headline edited)

Navy gets its first MALE drone made by Adani as Army awaits next, larger order in play

The Indian Navy Wednesday took delivery of its first India-made Medium Altitude Long Endurance (MALE) drone, acquired under emergency procurement mechanism, to augment India’s ability to keep a close eye on the waters of the Indian Ocean.

Manufactured by Adani Defence and Aerospace in partnership with the Israeli firm Elbit, in Hyderabad, the Drishti 10 StarLiner, with an endurance of 36 hours, satellite connectivity and the ability to carry a payload of 450 kg, is the Indian version of the original Hermes StarLiner.

Navy chief Admiral R. Hari Kumar, who took the delivery of the first Drishti 10 Starliner Wednesday, said: “True to its name, (the drone) has seen the light of the day in just ‘10 months’ post the conclusion of the contract.”

The UAV will fly from Hyderabad to Porbandar in Gujarat to be pressed into naval maritime operations.

Both the Navy and the Army have gone in for two drones each, with a service ceiling of 30,000 feet, under emergency procurement which allows them to bypass tardy bureaucratic procedures for deals up to Rs 300 crore. 

Asked about the indigenous content on the drone, sources involved with the project said that it stood at 70 percent and the company plans to scale it up.

ThePrint first reported how Adani Group in January 2019 wrote to the defence ministry to offer its Hermes 900 UAV under the Indigenously Designed Developed and Manufactured (IDDM) category of the Defence Procurement Procedure — which allows equipment with 40 or 60 percent indigenous content to be considered for acquisition.

While only four of these UAVs have been ordered for now, the military is looking at acquiring about 150 MALE drones.

“Indian Navy and Indian Army have placed orders for two each of these Drishti-10 drones to meet our emergent requirement for satellite communication-enabled drones,” Lt Gen Ajay Suri, Director-General of Army Aviation, said at the event in Hyderabad Wednesday.

Underlining the importance of drones in modern warfare, Admiral Kumar said autonomous systems are becoming a preferred choice in the ‘order of battle’ for countries across the globe. 

“Both our immediate neighbours collectively hold a very large inventory of UAVs. Therefore, it is only prudent that we, as a nation, and as armed forces, continue to harness our resident expertise in this domain, by remaining agile, adaptable and ahead of the curve,” he said.

The navy chief, meanwhile, added that with state-of-the-art sensors, enhanced endurance, advanced communication capabilities as well as new-age technologies like automatic take-off and landing (ATOL), Drishti would be a potent force multiplier, adding more capability and credibility to Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) missions across the Indian Ocean region. 

He added that, additionally, the versatility and flexibility offered through modularity and mobility of ground support equipment would enable us to operate it from any naval air stations across “Bharat”.

The drone is qualified for flight in civilian non-segregated airspace and in adverse weather conditions thanks to its unique and unlimited deicing mechanism. According to the company, the drone also has Starliner features over-the-horizon, persistent multi-mission, multi-sensor capabilities with a class-leading payload carrying capacity.

The Navy currently operates tactical drones in addition to the four High Altitude Long Endurance (HALE) drones called ‘Sea Guardians’.

The Army, which has procured a number of drones of varying capabilities, has already bought four Satellite Communication-enabled Israeli Heron Mark-II drones. The Indian military plans to upgrade the existing fleet of Heron Mark-I with similar capabilities that will allow it to operate them with longer endurance and capabilities, as reported earlier.

The Herons currently have an endurance of about 24 hours and can transmit back live video feed and images within a range of about 200-250 km. With satellite-link, they will have almost unlimited range of transmission and can be fully exploited to their endurance capabilities. 

While it was earlier planning to arm these upgraded drones in the next phase, the idea was later dropped, as reported first by ThePrint. 

Meanwhile, the Army, Navy and the Air Force are looking at the acquisition of 31 HALE (MQ-9B) drones which will be inducted into the Indian military over the next three-four years. Of the 31, Navy will get 15 MQ-9B drones in maritime and anti-submarine warfare kits, while the Army and the Indian Air Force (IAF) will get eight each of the land version.

(Edited by Amrtansh Arora)

source/content: theprint.in (headline edited)

Ayodhya to get world’s largest ‘solar powered street lights line’ , set Guinness record

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath’s vision to transform Ayodhya into a solar city is about to get a boost through establishment of the world’s largest ‘solar powered street lights line’, with the installation of 470 solar street lights over an area of 10.2 km city between Guptar Ghat and Nirmali Kund.

The unique feat will also see Ayodhya find entry into the the Guinness Book of World Records once again, with the earlier one taking place during Deepotsav with the lighting of the highest number of earthen lamps.

Under the guidance of CM Adityanath, the Uttar Pradesh New and Renewable Energy Development Agency (UPNEDA) has already completed approximately 70 per cent of the installation work, while the remaining 160 solar street lights will be installed before January 22.

Ayodhya UPNEDA project officer Praveen Nath Pandey said here on Tuesday that by January 22, a world record will be set in the temple city with the installation of 470 solar street lights in a 10.2 km stretch from Lakshman Ghat to Guptar Ghat, extending up to Nirmali Kund.

He added that under the project, 310 solar lights have been installed from Lakshman Ghat to Guptar Ghat, while work is ongoing to install 160 solar-powered street lights in the stretch between Guptar Ghat and Nirmali Kund, covering a distance of 1.85 km. All these solar-powered street lights are LED-based, operating at 4.4 watts, and equipped with smart technology. Through their installation, the 10.2 km stretch from Lakshman Ghat to Nirmali Kund will be illuminated with a radiant glow.

The world record that the state government aims to break through a solar energy-powered project is currently registered in the name of Malham of Saudi Arabia, where 468 solar-powered lights were installed over a stretch of 9.7 km in 2021. Now, the Yogi government is gearing up to surpass this record in Ayodhya by installing 470 solar-powered lights in an area spanning 10.2 km.

Earlier, Ayodhya got listed in the Guinness Book of World Records during Diwali in 2023, when 25,000 volunteers from Avadh University lit 22.23 lakh lamps together at the ghats of river Sarayu.

Discussions are underway between the local administration, officials of UPNEDA, and representatives of the Guinness Book of World Records in this context.

source/content: thestatesman.com (headline edited)

NATIONAL: HORTICULTURE: ROSES : 40th All India Rose Convention and Rose Show at KIIT, Odisha

The 40th All India Rose Convention and Rose Show got off to a colourful start at the KIIT campus with the unveiling of four new varieties of rose on Friday.

The four new rose varieties, Lord Jagannath, Lord Lingaraj, Sephali and Radha, were unveiled by KIIT & KISS founder Dr Achyuta Samanta.

Dr Samanta highlighted the significance of the rose, tracing its origins 3.3 million years back and acknowledging its revered position as the king of flowers.

The three-day convention is a collaborative effort of the KIIT Rose Society in association with the Odisha University of Agriculture and Technology, Orissa Horticulture Society, and Directorate of Horticulture, Department of Agriculture, Government of Odisha.

The rose exhibition is open for the public from 9 am to 6 pm on January 6 and 7.

source/content: dailypioneer.com (headline edited)

IIT Kanpur’s landmark research offers new hope in cancer, brain disorder treatment

The Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur has achieved a breakthrough in biomedical research with their study of G protein-coupled receptors and chemokine receptor D6 shedding new light on the potential treatment of cancer and brain disorders such as Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and schizophrenia.

he Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur has achieved a breakthrough in biomedical research with their study of G protein-coupled receptors and chemokine receptor D6 shedding new light on the potential treatment of cancer and brain disorders such as Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and schizophrenia.

“The path-breaking research opens the doors to a new era in targeted medicine that can deliver solutions for cancer and neurological conditions for millions across the world. These diseases, which cause immense suffering and economic burden, could see a new era of effective treatment developed based on these findings! The success of this research project is also a testament to our successful collaboration with scientists across the world,” Prof S Ganesh, Director, IIT Kanpur said here on Friday.

“This project saw the team from IIT Kanpur working with researchers from Japan, the Republic of Korea, Spain, and Switzerland. Hearty Congratulations to Prof Arun Shukla and team, who have been doing outstanding research in GPCRs (G protein-coupled receptors) biology,” he said.

GPCRs are like tiny antennas on the surface of brain cells which help them to communicate and play a key role in many brain functions. When these receptors do not work properly, there are issues with communication between the brain cells leading to diseases like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s. This leads to symptoms and progression seen in these diseases.

Similarly, the chemokine receptor D6 functions in the immune system and is involved in the response to inflammation. In cancer, the receptor can influence the tumour environment, affecting how the cancer cells grow and spread.

The findings of the new research from IIT Kanpur will help in a greater understanding of the working of these receptors and lead to the development of new therapeutic approaches and targeted treatments for conditions such as Alzheimer’s, which affects over 50 million people worldwide, and cancer, responsible for over 10 million deaths annually.

The researchers used a high-tech method called cryogenic-electron microscopy (cryo-EM) to create detailed three-dimensional images of the receptors. This allowed them to study the 3D images of the receptors at the molecular level in great detail, helping to identify and design new drug-like molecules to correct problems with these receptors that cause disease conditions.

The research team from the Laboratory of GPCR Biology, IIT Kanpur included Prof Arun K Shukla, Department of Biological Sciences and Bioengineering and Principal Investigator GPCR Lab; Ramanuj Banerjee, Post-Doctoral Fellow; Manish Yadav, Post-Doctoral Fellow; Ashutosh Ranjan, Post-doctoral fellow, currently Faculty at Lucknow University; Jagannath Maharana, PhD scholar now heading to the Max Planck Institute of Molecular Physiology as a post-doctoral fellow; Madhu Chaturvedi, PhD scholar now heading to UCSF as a post-doctoral fellow; Parishmita Sarma, PhD student; Vinay Singh, Project JRF, now headed to IMPRS on Cellular Biophysics, Frankfurt as a PhD student; Sayanatan Saha, Project Research Fellow; and, Gargi Mahajan, Project Research Fellow.

source/content: thestatesman.com (headline edited)