DASHAIN AND TIHAR

                              HOMEWORK

                 NATIONAL PERSONALITIES             

                        SIDDARTHA GAUTAM

       Siddhartha Gautama was born about 583 BCE, in Lumbini. His father, King Suddhodana, was leader of a large clan called the Shakya. His mother, Queen Maya, died shortly after his birth.When Prince Siddhartha was a few days old, a holy man prophesied the Prince would be either a great military conqueror or a great spiritual teacher. King Suddhodana preferred the first outcome and prepared his son accordingly. He raised the boy in great luxury and shielded him from knowledge of religion and human suffering. The Prince reached the age of 29 with little experience of the world outside the walls of his opulent palaces.

     One day, overcome with curiosity, Prince Siddhartha asked a charioteer to take him on a series of rides through the countryside. On these journeys he was shocked by the sight of an aged man, then a sick man, and then a corpse. The stark realities of old age, disease, and death seized and sickened the Prince.Finally, he saw a wandering ascetic. The charioteer explained that the ascetic was one who had renounced the world and sought release from fear of death and suffering.

     One night he wandered the palace alone. The luxuries that had once pleased him now seemed grotesque. Musicians and dancing girls had fallen asleep and were sprawled about, snoring and sputtering. Prince Siddhartha reflected on the old age, disease, and death that would overtake them all and turn their bodies to dust.

      One night he wandered the palace alone. The luxuries that had once pleased him now seemed grotesque. Musicians and dancing girls had fallen asleep and were sprawled about, snoring and sputtering. Prince Siddhartha reflected on the old age, disease, and death that would overtake them all and turn their bodies to dust.Then Siddhartha reached out his right hand to touch the earth, and the earth itself roared, "I bear you witness!" Mara disappeared.
And as the morning star rose in the sky, Siddhartha Gautama realized enlightenment and became a Buddha.

      The Buddha devoted himself to teaching, attracting hundreds of followers. Eventually hebecame reconciled with his father, King Suddhodana. His wife, the devoted Yasodhara, became a nun and disciple. Rahula, his son, became a novice monk at the age of 7 and spent the rest of his life with his father.The Buddha tirelessly traveled and taught until his death at age 80. His last words to his followers:

"Behold, O monks, this is my last advice to you. All component things in the world are changeable. They are not lasting. Work hard to gain your own salvation."

                             AMAR SINGH THAPA

         Amar Singh Thapa, also known as "Living lion of Nepal", was the General of the Nepalese forces of western front in the Anglo–Nepalese War. He is regarded as one of the National heroes of Nepal.He was born in 1808 BS in Gorkha the son of Bhim Singh Thapa and Umadevi Thapa.Bhim singh Thapa was also a soldier of Gorkha. He was killed in the Palanchok war when King Prithvi Narayan Shah was unifying Nepal.After the death of Bhim Singh Thapa, Amar Singh Thapa was brought to the Palace and trained by King Prithvi Narayan Shah.

     Amar Singh Thapa joined the army of Gorkha at the age of 17. When King Prithvi Narayan Shah attacked Kantipur, Amar Singh Thapa also got involved himself in that war and got the opportunity to show his bravery.King was very plesed with his bravery and gave him the post of Sardar. After this war he continuously got involved in the process of unifying Nepal.

    He carried out small wars, especially with the King of Punjab, Ranjit Singh. He also engaged in defending the western fronts of Nahan, Chamba, Almora, Kangra, Saharanpur, Dehradun against his British counterpart, General David Ochterlony. Although he lost these areas to British, he is praised for his bravery by both Nepalese and British personalities.Thapa also built a temple of the goddess Ganga in the early 18th century. The town of Gangotri in Uttarakhand, India is centred around this temple. To this day, it is one of the four sites in the Char Dham pilgrimage circuit, the most important Hindu pilgrimage circuit in the Indian Himalayas.

     Amar Singh Thapa served as the Nepalese care taker of the western principalities and protectorates west of the Mahakali River. He carried out small wars, especially with King of Punjab, Ranjit Singh engaged in defending the western fronts of Nahan, Chamba, Almora, Kangra Saharanpur, Dehradun against his British counterpart General David Ochterrlony. He was not in favour of the Sugauli Treaty but of a temporary armistice so that after some time it would have been possible to claim on the Nepalese possessions ceded to the British.

     Later on, he was given the title of Bada Kaji. Many of the small states of Nepal were unified under the strong leadership of Amar Singh Thapa.Amar Singh Thapa voluntarily retired and died on his pilgrimage to Gosaikunda. in 1873 BS.

     

                     INTERNATIONAL PERSONALITIES

                            

                       FLORENCE  NIGHTINGALE

Florence Nightingale, the daughter of the wealthy landowner, William Nightingale of Embly Park, Hampshire, was born in Florence, Italy, on 12th May, 1820.As a child, Florence was
very close to her father, who, without a son, treated her as his friend and companion. He took responsibility for her education and taught her Greek, history,mathematics and so on.
Florence was a good mimic.She suffered from bouts of depression and feelings of unworthiness,and she questioned the purpose of life for the upper classes. Unlike her mother and sister, who were content to do good works on the estates, she pondered on the need for charity and the causes of poverty and unemployment.

     From a very young age, Florence Nightingale was active in philanthropy, ministering to the ill and poor people in the village neighboring her family’s estate. By the time she was16 years old, it was clear to her that nursing was her calling. She believed it to be her divine purpose.When Nightingale approached her parents and told them about her ambitions to become a nurse, they were not pleased. In fact, her parents forbade her to pursue nursing.

     In the early 1850s, Nightingale returned to London, where she took a nursing job in a Middlesex hospital for ailing governesses. Her performance there so impressed her employer that Nightingale was promoted to superintendant within just a year of being hired.  Nightingale made it her mission to improve hygiene practices, significantly lowering the death rate at the hospital in the process. The hard work took a toll on her health. She had just barely recovered when the biggest challenge of her nursing career presented itself.

      In October of 1853, the Crimean War broke out. The British Empire was at war against the Russian Empire for control of the Ottoman Empire. Thousands of British soldiers weresent to the Black Sea, where supplies quickly dwindled. By 1854, no fewer than 18,000 soldiers had been admitted into military hospitals.At the time, there were no female nurses stationed at hospitals in the Crimea. But,after the Battle of Alma, England was in an uproar aboutthe neglect of their ill and injured soldiers, who not only lacked sufficient medical attention due to hospitals being horribly understaffed, but also languished in appallingly unsanitary and inhumane conditions.

     In August 1910, Florence Nightingale fell ill, but seemed to recover and was reportedly in good spirits. A week later, on the evening of Friday, August 12, 1910, she developed an array of troubling symptoms. She died unexpectedly at 2 pm the following day, Saturday, August 13, at her home in London.The "Lady with the Lamp" was laid to rest in a family plot at Westminster Abbey.

                                 ABRAHAM LINCOLN

          Abraham Lincoln is one of America’s greatest heroes because of his unique appeal. His is a remarkable story of the rise from humble beginnings to achieve the highest office in the land then, a sudden and tragic death at a time when his country needed him most to complete the great task remaining before the nation.Lincoln was born in Hardin County, Kentucky on February 12, 1809. He moved to Indiana in 1816 and lived there the rest of his youth. His mother died when he was nine  Lincoln himself stated that he had about one year of formal education. However, he was taught by many different individuals. He loved to read and learn from any books he could get his hands on.

     Lincoln worked as a clerk before joining the military. He ran for the state legislature and lost in 1832. He was appointed as Postmaster of New Salem by Andrew Jackson (1833-36). He was elected as a Whig to the Illinois legislature (1834-1842). He studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1836. Lincoln served as a US Representative (1847-49). He was elected to the state legislature in 1854 but resigned to run for the US Senate. He gave his famous "house divided" speech after being nominated.

     Lincoln was nominated for the presidency by the Republican Party in 1860 with Hannibal Hamlin as his running mate. He ran on a platform denouncing disunion and calling for an end to slavery in the territories. The Democrats were divided with Stephen Douglas representing the Democrats and John Breckinridge the National (Southern) Democrats. John Bell ran for the Constitutional Union Party which basically took votes from Douglas. In the end, Lincoln won 40% of the popular vote and 180 of the 303 electors.

   
      On April 14, 1865, Lincoln was assassinated while attending a play at Ford's Theater in Washington, D.C. Actor John Wilkes Booth shot him in the back of the head before jumping onto the stage and escaping to Maryland. Lincoln died on April 15th.On April 26th, Booth was found hiding in a barn which was set on fire. He was then shot and killed. Eight conspiratorswere punished for their roles. Learn about the details and the conspiracies surrounding Lincoln's assassination.

      The main event of Lincoln's presidency was the Civil War that lasted from 1861-65. Eleven states seceded from the Union, and Lincoln firmly believed in the importance of not only defeating the Confederation but eventually reuniting North and South.Abraham Lincoln is considered by many scholars to have been the best President. He is credited with holding theUnion together and leading the North to victory in the Civil War. Further, his actions and beliefs led to the emancipation of African-Americans from the bonds of slavery.

      

     MOTHER TERESA

Mother Teresa was born Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu in Skopje*, Macedonia, on August 26, 1910. Her family was of Albanian descent. At the age of twelve, she felt strongly the call of God. She knew she had to be a missionary to spread the love of Christ. At the age of eighteen she left her parental home in Skopje and joined the Sisters of Loreto, an Irish community of nuns with missions in India. After a few months' training in Dublin she was sent to India, where on May 24, 1931, she took her initial vows as a nun.

From 1931 to 1948 Mother Teresa taught at St. Mary's High School in Calcutta, but the
suffering and poverty she glimpsed outside the convent walls made such a deep impression on her that in 1948 she received permission from her superiors to leave the convent school and  devote herself to working among the poorest of the poor in the slums of Calcutta. Soon shewas joined by voluntary helpers, and financial support was also forthcoming. This made it possible for her to extend the scope of her work.

    On October 7, 1950, Mother Teresa received permission from the Holy See to start her own order, "The Missionaries of Charity", whose primary task was to love and care for those persons nobody was prepared to look after. In 1965 the Society became an International Religious Family by a decree of Pope Paul VI.

     Today the order comprises Active and Contemplative branches of Sisters and Brothers in many countries. In 1963 both the Contemplative branch of the Sisters and the Active branch of the Brothers was founded. In 1979 the Contemplative branch of the Brothers was added, and in 1984 the Priest branch was established.


     The Society of Missionaries has spread all over the world, including the former Soviet Union and Eastern European countries. They provide effective help to the poorest of the poor in a number of countries in Asia, Africa, and Latin America, and they undertake relief work in the wake of natural catastrophes such as floods, epidemics, and famine, and for refugees.The order also has houses in North America, Europe and Australia, where they take care of
the shut-ins, alcoholics, homeless, and AIDS sufferers.

    Mother Teresa's work has been recognised and acclaimed throughout the world and she has received a number of awards and distinctions, including the Pope John XXIII Peace Prize(1971) and the Nehru Prize for her promotion of international peace and understanding (1972). She also received the Balzan Prize (1979) and the Templeton and Magsaysay awards.Mother Teresa died on September 5, 1997.