LIPI ARTS

Hi everyone. Today, we are celebrating National Handwriting Day, which is observed on January 23rd. This day reminds us about the importance and beauty of handwriting.

Handwriting is not just a way of writing — it reflects our personality, thoughts, and creativity. It also improves memory, focus, and brain development. Even in today’s digital world, writing by hand has a special value. It connects us emotionally and helps us learn better.

This day is celebrated on the birthday of John Hancock, whose bold signature became famous in history. Let us use this day to practice good handwriting, write more by hand, and preserve this wonderful skill.

Thank you.


Vidya Sagar Keerthi.

The Pallavas were a powerful dynasty who ruled huge parts of Southern India between the 3rd and 9th centuries CE. They commissioned monumental works of art during the 7th and 8th centuries CE. Atiranachanda Cave Temple, 5 kms to the north of Mamallapuram.

Pallavas adopted Sanskrit as their court language. They created a local script called the Pallava-grantha script to write Sanskrit. If you stand facing the monument, the inscription on your left is Sanskrit written in Pallava-grantha. The inscription on the right is Sanskrit written in Nagari. This inscription is believed to be the oldest Nagari inscription in Tamil Nadu.

This cave temple that excites Epigraphists, archaeologists who study ancient scripts. There are 2 stone inscriptions on either side of its entrance. They contain verses glorifying King Rajasimha Pallava, who commissioned this temple. Both say the SAME thing in the SAME language, Sanskrit, but in two completely DIFFERENT scripts: Pallava-Grantha and Nagari. Which made epigraphists wonder – why two scripts?

“Sila sasanam” of Sadasiva Raya (r. 1542–1570 CE) was an Emperor of Vijayanagara, Found in Tenali - Repalle Route in Guntur District, Andhra Pradesh.

The Famine Stela

• It is an inscription written in Egyptian hieroglyphs on a 2.5 m high and 3 m wide block of granite located on Sehel Island near Aswan, Egypt.

• The stela tells the story of seven years of drought and famine during the reign of Pharaoh Djoser of the Third Dynasty. (ca. 2686 BC-ca. 2613 BC). It is thought that the stele was inscribed during the Ptolemaic Kingdom by King Ptolemy V (205-180 BC).

• The top part of the stele depicts three Egyptian deities and in front of them Djoser carries offerings in his outstretched hands. The text describes how the king is upset and worried as the land has been in the grip of a drought and famine for seven years and how the Egyptians are suffering as a result of the drought and that they are desperate and breaking the laws of the land.

• At the time of the first translation of the stela, it was thought that the story of a seven-year famine was connected to the biblical story in Genesis 41.

• More recent investigations have shown that a seven-year famine was a common thing to nearly all cultures of the Near East: a Mesopotamian legend also speaks of a seven-year-famine and in the well-known Gilgamesh-Epos the god Anu gives a prophecy about famine for seven years.

• Another Egyptian tale talks about a long-lasting drought that appears in the so-called "Book of the Temple.

Art by Razia ( Little Girl)

23 JAN 2023





"The purpose of National Handwriting Day is to alert the public to the importance of handwriting. National Handwriting Day is a chance for all of us to re-explore the purity and power of handwriting."

The rare find that came to light during excavations in Ancient Olympia, Greece in 2018, a clay plaque that preserves 13 verses of Homer's Odyssey is on display at the Archaeological Museum of Olympia.

🔷 The plaque, which has engraved verses from the rhapsody of Odyssey, was found during the surface-geoarchaeological research, in the context of the three-year research program entitled "The multidimensional space of Olympia", which was carried out in places around the sanctuary.

DOCTOR 🏥

Polite letter from 2200 years ago:

"I am ashamed to keep on pestering you with such a trifle but I have asked you both personally and in writing multiple times: please send back my millstone"