the Kannada language of South India during the Vijayanagar Empire
(14th–16th centuries). The Vijayanagara empire was established in 1336
by Harihara I and his brother Bukka Raya I. The empire is named after
its capital city Vijayanagara, whose ruins surround modern Hampi, now a
World Heritage Site in Karnataka (Virupaksha Temple pictured). Kannada
literature during this period consisted of writings relating to the
socio-religious developments of the Veerashaiva and Vaishnava faiths,
and to a lesser extent to that of Jainism. Authors included poets,
scholars, and members of the royal family, their ministers, army
commanders of rank, and nobility. Writers popularised use of the native
metres: shatpadi (six-line verse), sangatya (compositions meant to be
sung to the accompaniment of a musical instrument), and tripadi (three-
line verse). The development of Veerashaiva literature was at its peak
during the reign of King Deva Raya II, the best-known of the Sangama
Dynasty rulers. The rule of King Krishnadeva Raya of the Tuluva Dynasty
and his successors was a high point in Vaishnava literature.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vijayanagara_literature_in_Kannada>
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Today's selected anniversaries:
284:
Diocletian (bust pictured) became Roman emperor, eventually
establishing reforms that ended the Crisis of the Third Century.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diocletian>
1739:
War of Jenkins' Ear: A British naval force captured the
settlement of Portobello in the Spanish Main (modern Panama).
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Porto_Bello>
1902:
While discussing how to promote the newspaper L'Auto, sports
journalist Géo Lefèvre came up with the idea of holding a cycling race
that later became known as the Tour de France.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tour_de_France>
1968:
An explosion at a coal mine in West Virginia, US, killed 78
people and served as the catalyst for several new laws that were passed
to protect miners.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Farmington_Mine_disaster>
1994:
In accordance with the Lusaka Protocol, the Angolan government
signed a ceasefire with UNITA rebels in a failed attempt to end the
Angolan Civil War.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lusaka_Protocol>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
spoiler:
1. One who spoils; a plunderer, pillager, despoiler.
2. A document, review or comment that discloses the ending or some key
surprise or twist in a story.
3. (automotive) A device to reduce lift and increase downforce.
4. (US, chiefly politics, sports) An individual, unable to win themselves,
who spoils the chances of another's victory.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/spoiler>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
Many of the world's great movements, of thought and action,
have flowed from the work of a single man. A young monk began the
Protestant Reformation, a young general extended an empire from
Macedonia to the borders of the earth, and a young woman reclaimed the
territory of France. It was a young Italian explorer who discovered the
New World, and 32-year-old Thomas Jefferson who proclaimed that all men
are created equal. "Give me a place to stand," said Archimedes, "and I
will move the world." These men moved the world, and so can we all.
--Robert F. Kennedy
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Robert_F._Kennedy>
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