A list of curious facts

One: Did you know that there are over 300 Ramayanas written in Urdu? The tradition of translating the Ramayana dates back to the rule of emperor Akbar—who first ordered a Farsi version of the religious text. The earliest version of Ramayana in Urdu was written by Khushtar Ramayan in the 18th century:

Khushtar started reading Ramayan only at the age of 40 and thereafter he set the Ramayan in Urdu verses without changing the basic story of Ramayan. He started his Ramayan with Bismillah-ir-Rahman-ir-Rahim; then a Hamd and Naat in praise of Allah and then seeks permission from Allah to write his poetic interpretation of Ramayan.

Even today, the Ramayana is performed in Urdu by the theatre group Shraddha Ramlila—who recently staged a performance of ‘Dastan-e-Ramayan’ in Delhi.

Bonus fact: There is an entire genre of Urdu poetry dedicated to incidents and characters from the Ramayana. The most impressive among these is the 1908 poem ‘Ram’ by Dr Muhammad Iqbal—whose verse is “brimming over with love and respect for ‘Ram-e Hind’, whose very name is a badge of honour for the people of Hind, it lays claim to Ram in unequivocal terms, as someone that every Indian is proud of”:

Labrez hai sharaab-e haqiqat se jaam-e Hind

Sab falsafi hain khitta-e maghrib ke Ram-e Hind

 

(The goblet of Hind is brimful with the wine of reality

All the philosophers of the west are taken in by Ram of Hind)

Dawn has a wonderful piece profiling the poetry. The Print has more on ‘Dastan-e-Ramayan’—while Outlook looks at the history of Ramayana in Urdu and Farsi. The lead image is of the king of Awadh—Wajid Ali Shah—included in the ‘Ramayan-e Khushtar’.

Two: The most brutal sport in the world is called Kok-boru—aka kokpar (Kazakh) or buzkashi (Persian). The national sport of Kyrgyzstan is a bizarre mix of polo, wrestling, and horseback riding. As for the scoring system, it is kinda like football but with some interesting differences:

In 1996, kok-boru made its first step towards becoming a recognizable sport, when the famous Kyrgyz movie director Bolot Shamshiyev introduced rules for it… Shamshiyev also introduced a special goal called tai-kazan in the shape of large cauldrons placed at the two ends of the field. To score, players must throw a goat carcass into opponents’ tai-kazan.

That carcass weighs a hefty 40 kg. The sport gained international recognition in 2014, when it was included in the first World Nomad Games (yes, that is a thing). FYI:  Last year’s competition resulted in the death of a player. You can get a glimpse of the madness of the sport below. (Global Voices)

Three: The Japanese green syllid worm—also known as Megasyllis nipponica—has an odd method of procreation—known as stolonisation. It refers to the “posterior organ” called stolon—which can be full of either sperm or eggs. When it’s time, the worm’s arse detaches itself entirely and heads out to make babies: “This detached butt swims around by itself and spawns when it meets another stolon of the opposite sex.” The really creepy bit:

In order to swim by themselves, the stolon have to develop their own eyes, antennae, and swimming bristles while still attached to their original body. How this happens has been a mystery. The formation of the stolon itself begins when the gonads near the worm’s butt mature. A head is then formed in the front of the developing stolon, with the eyes, antennae, and swimming bristles following close behind. It develops its nerves and the ability to sense and behave independently before the stolon detaches from the rest of the body.

We insist you watch this video of a Megasyllis nipponica and its stolon. (Popular Science)