text
stringlengths
0
3.86k
= = Iconography = =
= = = Textual descriptions = = =
The Agamic texts like the Amsumadbhedagama , the Uttara @-@ kamaikagama and the Purva @-@ Karanagama prescribe the iconography of the Kalyanasunadara icon .
A young four @-@ armed Shiva and a beautiful two @-@ armed Parvati should be the central figures , performing the panigrahana ( " accepting the hand " ) ritual of a Hindu wedding , where the groom accepts the bride by taking her right hand in his . Shiva stands in tribhanga posture , with one of his legs straight and ...
The god Vishnu and his consorts Lakshmi and Bhudevi should be represented as taking the place of Parvati 's parents in the ceremony . The four @-@ armed Vishnu should be shown in the background in between Shiva and Parvati ; in one of his front hands is a golden pot from which he pours water over the hands of the coup...
The four @-@ headed god Brahma should be shown seated on the ground in the foreground officiating as the wedding priest and making offerings to the homa ( sacred fire ) in the kunda ( fire @-@ altar ) . The four @-@ armed god holds a sruka and sruva ( sacrificial ladle and spoon ) in his front arms and a kamandalu ( w...
The figure of Shiva should be tallest , followed by that of Vishnu , Parvati and Vishnu 's wives . Various deities like the eight guardians of the directions , the eight Vasus , the seven Matrika goddesses , celestial beings such as Yakshas and Gandharvas , sages and siddhas may be depicted standing with folded arms i...
= = = Depictions = = =
The complete scene of the wedding is not always depicted . Sometimes , only the principal participants are shown . Chola bronzes featuring only Shiva and Parvati as described in the wedding scene are found . South Indian sculptures , like those from Madurai , feature only the couple and Vishnu . In this configuration ...
Other deviations from the texts may appear in the attributes held by the divine couple . Parvati may hold a mirror , instead of the lotus . Shiva may be shown holding the trishula ( trident ) and damaru ( drum ) in his back hands . Regional variations in iconography may also occur . In Bengal , Shiva holds a karttari ...
Various wedding guests are depicted in the scene . Shiva 's attendant ganas enjoy the festivities ; playing drums or dancing . The vahanas ( vehicles ) of the couple , Shiva 's bull Nandi and Parvati 's lion , are sometimes pictured in the scene . In vertical panel depictions , the celestial guests are often shown fly...
= = Worship = =
Though Kalyanasundara icons are found across India in caves , sculptures and temple walls , no sect is centred on their worship . The icon is a popular feature on temple gopurams ( temple towers ) .
In South Indian Shiva temples like those in Tiruvenkadu and Chidambaram , the bronze Kalyanasundara images of Shiva and Parvati are used in annual temple festivals to commemorate the divine union . Special halls are reserved for the annual ceremonial wedding of the deities . The Kalyanasundara bronzes are used only in...
At the Meenakshi Amman Temple , women worship the Kalyanasundara sculpture to find husbands .
Kalyanasundara is worshipped in Thirumanancheri as god of Marriages . The idols of Lord shiva in the form of Kalyanasundara and Parvathi is worshipped by the unmarried men and women for early marriage . There are also people who have completed the marriages come here to complete rituals .
= SS El Sol =
SS El Sol was a cargo ship built in 1910 for the Morgan Line , a subsidiary of the Southern Pacific Company . During World War I , she was known as USAT El Sol in service with the United States Army and as USS El Sol ( ID @-@ 4505 ) in service with the United States Navy . At the end of war , she reverted to her origi...
SS El Sol was one of four sister ships that carried cargo and a limited number of passengers for the Morgan Line . She was acquired by the U.S. Army after the United States entered World War I in April 1917 , and converted to carry horses and mules to France . In August 1918 , the ship was transferred to the U.S. Navy...
El Sol returned to the Morgan Line in 1919 and sailed with them until March 1927 , when she sank in New York Harbor after colliding with Sac City of the American Diamond Line . A portion of the ship 's cargo was salvaged but the ship was scrapped later in the year .
= = Early career = =
SS El Sol was a cargo and passenger steamship launched on 11 May 1910 by the Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Co. of Newport News , Virginia ( yard no . 130 ) , and delivered to the Atlantic division of the Morgan Line on 20 August 1910 . She was the first of four sister ships ; the other three being El Mundo , ...
= = World War I = =
After the United States declared war on Germany in April 1917 , El Sol was requisitioned by the United States Shipping Board ( USSB ) on behalf of the United States Army , who designated her as an animal transport ship . Although there is no information about the specific conversion of El Sol , for other ships this ty...
Sources do not reveal all of El Sol 's movements , but it is known that she departed on her second trip to France from Newport News on 10 February 1918 . Carrying 650 animals , El Sol headed to New York to join in a convoy with fellow Army transport Pastores , and U.S. Navy troop transports Covington , DeKalb , Manchu...
The next recorded activity of El Sol was on 3 August , when she was transferred from the Army to the U.S. Navy and commissioned the same day with Lieutenant Commander G. Anderson , USNRF , in command . El Sol was assigned to the Naval Overseas Transportation Service ( NOTS ) and continued to carry animals and supplies...
By August , each animal transport ship had a transport veterinarian and a permanent veterinary detachment to care for the animals while on board the ship . El Sol had also been joined by two of her sister ships , El Oriente and El Occidente in animal transport duty . She next departed Newport News on 23 August 1918 wi...
El Sol made two more roundtrips for the NOTS over the next five months . While returning to the United States from her last NOTS sailing in late March 1919 , El Sol responded to distress calls from Scranton , a Navy troop transport which had a damaged rudder and was disabled . El Sol came to the aid of the stricken sh...
At the conclusion of her last NOTS voyage on 3 April , El Sol was converted to a troop transport and assigned to the Navy 's Cruiser and Transport Force on 15 April . El Sol returned 2 @,@ 714 healthy and wounded American servicemen from France in two voyages . Decommissioned on 18 September , El Sol was returned to t...
= = Postwar civilian service = =
El Sol resumed cargo service with the Morgan Line , where she had 8 years of uneventful operation . On 11 March 1927 , however , El Sol was inbound to New York with a $ 1 @,@ 000 @,@ 000 cargo of pig iron , copper , and bales of cotton . When a heavy fog settled over New York Harbor , Captain Charles H. Knowles ordere...
El Sol settled on the bottom at a 45 ° angle with only the tops of her masts protruding above the surface ; the Morgan Line house flag — a blue house flag with a red M inside a white star — still fluttered in the breeze . Even though the sunken vessel was not considered a hazard to navigation , in another fog two days...
In a hearings before the United States Steamboat Inspection Service , Captain Knowles of El Sol and the captain of Sac City were both cleared of wrongdoing in the collision , and the blame was laid on the heavy fog . On 31 July , The New York Times reported on the cargo salvage operations still underway on the wreck o...
= Hoover Dam =
Hoover Dam , once known as Boulder Dam , is a concrete arch @-@ gravity dam in the Black Canyon of the Colorado River , on the border between the U.S. states of Nevada and Arizona . It was constructed between 1931 and 1936 during the Great Depression and was dedicated on September 30 , 1935 , by President Franklin D. ...
Since about 1900 , the Black Canyon and nearby Boulder Canyon had been investigated for their potential to support a dam that would control floods , provide irrigation water and produce hydroelectric power . In 1928 , Congress authorized the project . The winning bid to build the dam was submitted by a consortium call...
Hoover Dam impounds Lake Mead , the largest reservoir in the United States by volume . The dam is located near Boulder City , Nevada , a municipality originally constructed for workers on the construction project , about 30 mi ( 48 km ) southeast of Las Vegas , Nevada . The dam 's generators provide power for public a...
= = Background = =
= = = Search for resources = = =
As the United States developed the Southwest , the Colorado River was seen as a potential source of irrigation water . An initial attempt at diverting the river for irrigation purposes occurred in the late 1890s , when land speculator William Beatty built the Alamo Canal just north of the Mexican border ; the canal di...
As the technology of electric power transmission improved , the Lower Colorado was considered for its hydroelectric @-@ power potential . In 1902 , the Edison Electric Company of Los Angeles surveyed the river in the hope of building a 40 @-@ foot ( 12 m ) rock dam which could generate 10 @,@ 000 horsepower ( 7 @,@ 50...
In the following years , the Bureau of Reclamation ( BOR ) , known as the Reclamation Service at the time , also considered the Lower Colorado as the site for a dam . Service chief Arthur Powell Davis proposed using dynamite to collapse the walls of Boulder Canyon , 20 miles ( 32 km ) north of the eventual dam site , ...
= = = Planning and agreements = = =
In 1922 , the Reclamation Service presented a report calling for the development of a dam on the Colorado River for flood control and electric power generation . The report was principally authored by Davis , and was called the Fall @-@ Davis report after Interior Secretary Albert Fall . The Fall @-@ Davis report cite...
With little guidance on water allocation from the Supreme Court , proponents of the dam feared endless litigation . A Colorado attorney proposed that the seven states which fell within the river 's basin ( California , Nevada , Arizona , Utah , New Mexico , Colorado and Wyoming ) form an interstate compact , with the ...
Legislation to authorize the dam was introduced repeatedly by Representative Phil Swing ( R @-@ Calif . ) and Senator Hiram Johnson ( R @-@ Calif . ) , but representatives from other parts of the country considered the project as hugely expensive and one that would mostly benefit California . The 1927 Mississippi floo...
On December 21 , 1928 President Coolidge signed the bill authorizing the dam . The Boulder Canyon Project Act appropriated $ 165 million for the Hoover Dam along with the downstream Imperial Dam and All @-@ American Canal , a replacement for Beatty 's canal entirely on the U.S. side of the border . It also permitted t...
= = = Design , preparation and contracting = = =
Even before Congress approved the Boulder Canyon Project , the Bureau of Reclamation was considering what kind of dam should be used . Officials eventually decided on a massive concrete arch @-@ gravity dam , the design of which was overseen by the Bureau 's chief design engineer John L. Savage . The monolithic dam wo...
On January 10 , 1931 , the Bureau made the bid documents available to interested parties , at five dollars a copy . The government was to provide the materials ; but the contractor was to prepare the site and build the dam . The dam was described in minute detail , covering 100 pages of text and 76 drawings . A $ 2 mi...
The Wattis Brothers , heads of the Utah Construction Company , were interested in bidding on the project , but lacked the money for the performance bond . They lacked sufficient resources even in combination with their longtime partners , Morrison @-@ Knudsen , which employed the nation 's leading dam builder , Frank ...
The city of Las Vegas had lobbied hard to be the headquarters for the dam construction , closing its many speakeasies when the decision maker , Secretary of the Interior Ray Wilbur came to town . Instead , Wilbur announced in early 1930 that a model city was to be built in the desert near the dam site . This town beca...
= = Construction = =
= = = Labor force = = =
Soon after the dam was authorized , increasing numbers of unemployed people converged on southern Nevada . Las Vegas , then a small city of some 5 @,@ 000 , saw between 10 @,@ 000 and 20 @,@ 000 unemployed descend on it . A government camp was established for surveyors and other personnel near the dam site ; this soon...
As part of the contract , Six Companies , Inc. was to build Boulder City to house the workers . The original timetable called for Boulder City to be built before the dam project began , but President Hoover ordered work on the dam to begin in March 1931 rather than in October . The company built bunkhouses , attached ...
The Industrial Workers of the World ( IWW or " Wobblies " ) , though much @-@ reduced from their heyday as militant labor organizers in the early years of the century , hoped to unionize the Six Companies workers by capitalizing on their discontent . They sent eleven organizers , several of whom were arrested by Las V...
On the morning of the 9th , Crowe met with the committee and told them that management refused their demands , was stopping all work , and was laying off the entire work force , except for a few office workers and carpenters . The workers were given until 5 p.m. to vacate the premises . Concerned that a violent confro...
A second labor action took place in July 1935 , as construction on the dam wound down . When a Six Companies manager altered working times to force workers to take lunch on their own time , workers responded with a strike . Emboldened by Crowe 's reversal of the lunch decree , workers raised their demands to include a...
= = = River diversion = = =
Before the dam could be built , the Colorado River needed to be diverted away from the construction site . To accomplish this , four diversion tunnels were driven through the canyon walls , two on the Nevada side and two on the Arizona side . These tunnels were 56 ft ( 17 m ) in diameter . Their combined length was ne...
Tunneling began at the lower portals of the Nevada tunnels in May 1931 . Shortly afterward , work began on two similar tunnels in the Arizona canyon wall . In March 1932 , work began on lining the tunnels with concrete . First the base , or invert , was poured . Gantry cranes , running on rails through the entire leng...
Following the completion of the dam , the entrances to the two outer diversion tunnels were sealed at the opening and halfway through the tunnels with large concrete plugs . The downstream halves of the tunnels following the inner plugs are now the main bodies of the spillway tunnels . The inner diversion tunnels were...
= = = Groundworks , rock clearance and grout curtain = = =
To protect the construction site from the Colorado River and to facilitate the river 's diversion , two cofferdams were constructed . Work on the upper cofferdam began in September 1932 , even though the river had not yet been diverted . The cofferdams were designed to protect against the possibility of the river floo...