Ambubachi Mela is a four-day fair to mark the annual menstruation of the goddess at Kamakhya temple in Nilachal Hills in Guwahati, Assam.
Kamakhya temple is one of 51 shaktipeeths or seat of Shakti followers.
Shakti peeth is originated based on the story of the death of goddess Sati.
God Shiva who held her dead body, then started his dance of destruction, causing Sati's body to disintegrate and fall into pieces.
The sites where these portions of Sati goddess fell, are the Shakti peeth.
Kamakhya temple’s sanctum sanctorum houses the yoni - female genital symbolised by a rock.
Ambubachi Mela is also considered as an occasion to promote awareness on menstrual hygiene.
This ritualistic fair is one of the reasons why the taboo associated with menstruation is less in Assam compared with other parts of India.
Four Major Shakthi Peeths in India - Jagannath Temple, Puri; Kamakhya Temple near Guwahati; Dakshina Kalika in Kolkata; Tara Tarini near Brahmapur, Odisha.
Spanish Flu
The outbreak of Spanish Flu in 1918 is the history’s worst known infectious disease.
It is considered to be one of the global pandemics that causes death of 40 millions in 1918-1919 across the world.
Influenza is a virus that is known to cause the flu.
The virus attacks mainly the upper respiratory tract such as the nose, throat and bronchi and rarely also the lungs.
The different types of influenza include A, B and C.
The serotypes of influenza A virus like the H1N1, H5N1, H3N2, etc., have caused pandemics in humans.
H1N1 is the strain that caused Spanish outbreak which acquired the ability to infect humans and then to become transmissible among humans.
The virus is easily passed from person to person through the air by droplets and small particles excreted when infected individuals cough or sneeze.
The influenza virus enters the body through the nose or throat and takes between 1 to 4 days for the person to develop symptoms.
Disease spreads very quickly among the population especially in crowded circumstances.
Cold and dry weather enables the virus to survive longer outside the body than in other conditions and, as a consequence, seasonal epidemics in temperate areas appear in winter.
Indo-UN Small Satellites Programme (UNSSP)
UNSSP is launched by ISRO to train 90 qualifying engineers from various countries to build and test three small satellites each year.
ISRO’s Bengaluru-based U.R. Rao Satellite Centre (URSC) until recently known as ISAC will train the overseas students.
Students will be hosted in Bengaluru for two months each year and work in three annual batches of 30.
This capacity-building programme is in response to a request that the UN Office for Outer Space Affairs had made to space-faring nations last year.
UNISPACE+50 - It is an event marking the 50th year of the first UN Conference on the Exploration and Peaceful Uses of Outer Space.
Eruption of Japan Volcano
A Japanese volcano that figured in a 1960s James Bond movie erupted explosively.
Shinmoedake volcano is in the southernmost main island of Kyushu, Japan.
It is located in a mainly rural area about 985 km from Tokyo.
It recently erupted after a strong earthquake of 6.1 magnitude shook the country’s west Osaka region.
Few months back, “Mount lo” erupted for the first time after 250 years.
It is a part of the Mount Kirishima group of volcanoes and located few kilometres away from Shinmoedake.
Country in news – Tajikstan
A high level global conference on “International Decade for Action: Water for Sustainable Development” was recently organised in Tajikstan.
Tajikstan lies in the heart of Central Asia.
It is bordered by Kyrgyzstan on the north, China on the east, Afghanistan on the south, and Uzbekistan on the west and northwest.
Tajikistan was a constituent (union) republic of the Soviet Union from 1929 until its independence in 1991. The capital is Dushanbe.
The Trans-Alay range, part of the Tien Shan system, reaches into the north and peaks of the Pamir mountain system occupy the southeast.
The largest valley is the western portion of the Fergana Valley in the north.
Lake Karakul, is the largest lake lying at an elevation of about 13,000 feet.
