Ancient Rare Ramayan Pics go on display in London(IMAGES)

Nearly 120 ancient paintings charting the life, struggles and eventual triumph of the legendary Indian king Rama go on show to the public on Friday for the first time at the British Library.

The highly detailed and lavishly illustrated pictures which date from the 17th century were formerly bound together in book form and available only for scholarly study.

"I am thrilled that we are able to display the magnificent Mewar Ramayana manuscript, one of the finest manuscripts of the Ramayana epic ever produced," said exhibition curator Jerry Losty.

"This is one of the great secular texts of world literature. Its influence spread not just across India but the whole of South East Asia and endures to this day," he said at a preview on Thursday of "The Ramayana -- love and valour in India's great epic."

The story is still retold regularly in films, dances, songs and puppet shows.

The panels, each accompanied by a text explanation of what is happening and its significance to the story, detail each step in the life of Rama who is considered to be the seventh incarnation of Vishnu, the supreme Hindu god.

Originally comprising 400 paintings and 24,000 verses of text in Sanskrit, the pictures were bound in seven volumes of which the British Library has four and a half.

Source

More fun Click Teentweens

Kisses at Cannes Film Festival 2008 (ALL IMAGES)

French actress Vahina Giocante (L) kisses sensuously her boyfriend French designer Ora Ito, as they arrive for the opening ceremony and the screening of Brazilian director Fernando Meirelles' film 'Blindness' at the 61st edition of the Cannes Film Festival on May 14, 2008 in Cannes

Appealing Aishwarya Rai (C) blows a kiss at the lucky photographers as she arrives with US actress Eva Longoria Parker (L) and French actress Rachida Brakni (R) to attend the opening ceremony and the screening of Brazilian director Fernando Meirelles' film 'Blindness' at the 61st Cannes Film Festival in Cannes.

Uruguyan actress and singer Elli Medeiros (R) kisses Argentinian director Pablo Trapero (L) during a photocall for their film 'Leonera' at the 61st Cannes Film Festival in Cannes on May 15, 2008.

French actress Vahina Giocante kisses her boyfriend, French designer Ora Ito, as they arrive for the screening of Brazilian director Fernando Meirelles' film 'Blindness' at the 61st edition of the Cannes Film Festival on May 14, 2008 in Cannes

Argentinian actress Martina Gusman (L) and Uruguyan actress and singer Elli Medeiros (R) kiss the lucky Argentinian director Pablo Trapero (L) during a photocall for their film 'Leonera' at the 61st Cannes Film Festival in Cannes on May 15, 2008.

US actress Julianne Moore blows a kiss at photographers (so that they click her) as she poses during a photocall for Brazilian director Fernando Meirelles' film 'Blindness' at the 61st edition of the Cannes Film Festival on May 14, 2008 in Cannes. (AFP Photo/Francois Guillot)


French actress Vahina Giocante (L) and her companion, French designer Ora Ito, pose as they arrive for the opening ceremony and the screening of Brazilian director Fernando Meirelles' film 'Blindness' at the 61st edition of the Cannes Film Festival on May 14, 2008 in Cannes.

French actress Vahina Giocante and her partner, French designer Ora Ito, pose as they arrive to attend the opening ceremony and the screening of Brazilian director Fernando Meirelles' film 'Blindness' at the 61st edition of the Cannes Film Festival on May 14, 2008 in Cannes.

Uruguyan actress and singer Elli Medeiros (L) and Argentinian actress Martina Gusman (R) kiss in front of Argentinian director Pablo Trapero during a photocall for their film 'Leonera' at the 61st Cannes Film Festival in Cannesc on May 15, 2008.

US actor Dustin Hoffman (R) and his wife Lisa Gottsegen pose as they arrive to attend the screening of US directors John Stevenson and Mark Osborne's animated film 'Kung Fu Panda' at the 61st Cannes International Film Festival in Cannes on May 15, 2008. (AFP Photo/Francois Guillot)

Visit Teentweens for more fun

True Origins of the Holy Grail-Story Behind the Famous Legend

In the Bible, the cup used by Jesus Christ at the Last Supper is little more than a prop, given no particular prominence. But over the centuries, the fate of this now legendary vessel, the so-called Holy Grail, has come to haunt stories ranging from Arthurian legend to Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.

Because Jesus used the cup during the Last Supper in what became the basis for the Christian Eucharist, the Grail has for many taken on the aura of an extremely holy relic.

The Grail takes on even greater significance from tales that Joseph of Arimathea, in whose tomb Jesus was placed prior to his resurrection, used the cup to collect Jesus' blood while he was being crucified.

Theories abound as to where the cup eventually went. One says the Knights Templar, a medieval military order that persisted for more than 200 years, took it from Jerusalem during the Crusades.

There's also a story in which Joseph carries the Grail to Glastonbury, England, a Roman outpost at the time of Christ's crucifixion. In 1906, in fact, a blue bowl claimed by some to be the Grail was found there, and since then at least four other cups have been proclaimed to be the Grail, two from England and Wales and two from the Middle East.

But the reality, says historian Richard Barber, author of The Holy Grail: Imagination and Belief, is that the Grail stories are just that—stories.

Source

See Historical photos of London Zoo.Click Here
See World's 10 Unsolved Mysteries. Click Here
See World's Largest Photos.Click Here

NAACP picks Ben Jealous as youngest president ever

The NAACP Board of Directors has chosen a new president making 35-year-old Ben Jealous the organization's youngest president ever.

The 64-member board met and voted to elect Jealous in Baltimore and plans to formally announce its decision on Saturday.

As for his experience, Ben is a former news executive and lifelong activist. For the NAACP, they'll get a young well connected leader familiar with black leadership and social justice issues.

Jealous takes the helm as the NAACP's 17th president just months before the organization's centennial anniversary, as the group grapples with dwindling membership and looks to boost its coffers.

The Bottle Computer-A computer in a Bottle

Janos Marton, a hardware moding enthusiast god the idea for this wacky computer, when he decided to make a quiet, low-power home server. But being so passionate about tuning hardware he wanted something unique for the case. So he went ahead and used an empty 1.5 litre bottle of Ballantines whisky. Pretty original work as you can see from the photos and the way he got all the parts to fit in there so smoothly.

Liked this post??Send this link to your friend.Copy and paste this code to your friends' scrapbook

See World's largest photo Here

First European confirmed to be 1.2 millions old.Click Here

See House on a Mango Tree Here

<a href="http://www.onsugar.com/15839855">Amazing Bottle Computer</a>