When I was young ,and that is a long time ago , alas! but I was; though my students , my own kids and my subordinates would find it hard to believe ; I would sit with my dear father , and watch him check the bundles of answer sheets of B.Sc.& M.Sc.( there was no central checking then and bundles used to be sent to the professors).
In my childish naivety, I would tell him to give more marks to a particular answer , as I felt that Papa was being too strict or I found the handwriting nice or the diagram fascinating and more often than not my loving father would acquiesce. Maybe that is what prompted me to choose biology and later botany as the subject of my studies even though I had a penchant for the creative arts and writing.
Out of the umpteen fascinating things that the ever changing knowledge we have in the field of biology ; the DNA holds a sacred place. As a ‘WhatsApp student , everyone knows something (in fact nothing ) about the wonder molecule.
A key figure of the ‘central dogma’ in almost all the living world (biology is also a science of exceptions , as I always tell my students ) ,it codes for proteins that build up our bodies, is transferred from one generation to the next (the blueprint of life); again , in almost all living beings (told you-exception is the rule) and looks like the spiral ladder in outmoded or vintage libraries .But I don’t want to get into a lecture here-
Well , to cut a long story short
To bore you is the intention naught
Taking you to a world, with mysteries fraught
Parables, google stuff and some stuff taught
NOW , LET US LEARN A BIT MORE WITH FUN
One day Arun was bent over his microscope , busy and lost when suddenly his computer , placed next to the instrument he was working on blinked and he heard a soft giggle . He looked up and lo and behold , there was a DNA strand bouncing on the screen .”I must be tired,” he thought rubbing his eyes and looked again . But then the DNA strands wiggled and seemed to wink.
“Hey!” said a tiny voice from his screen. “Could you stop staring? We’re having a meeting here!”
Arun blinked in shock. “Did… Did you just speak?”
“Of course!” said the left strand, folding itself into a little bow. “I’m G, and this here’s my partner, C.”
“Hiya!” chirped C, twisting into a curly shape.
The right strand, now straightening up, chimed in. “I’m A, and this is T. We’re all pretty tired from all your sequencing, you know.”
“We’ve been winding and unwinding all day!” A grumbled. “Can’t we get a break?”
Arun couldn’t believe what he was hearing. “I’ve been trying to understand you for months, and now you’re talking?”
G chuckled. “Well, decoding us isn’t that hard if you’d just ask! We love a good conversation.”
T, in a hushed tone, added, “Just don’t mix us up with the RNA folks—they’re wild.”
Arun burst out laughing. “Okay, fine! How about a coffee break for everyone?”
“Perfect!” they all chimed together. The DNA strands untangled and began waltzing across the screen, leaving Nina to wonder if she’d had too much caffeine—or just enough.
From that day on, decoding DNA was never boring again!
But there is more. I always believe in the antiquity and all-pervading knowledge that our ancients had. So here goes
NOW COMES THE MEETING POINT OF SCIENCE &VEDAS
As suggested by Scholars like Dr Chandra P Dwivedi , the pictographic seals found in the excavations at the Indus Valley civilization sites are cytological models for teaching and they explore the cellular genetic evolution on the earth with genetic recombination
“Four feet and four frame – biotic and a-biotic components – the symbol with four dots on the four corners and the cross The four dots on four corner is the symbol for the generation of four components of the atom (electron, proton, neutron and the generation of the energy in the atom), which constitute the base of the creation, the four lines in the square is the symbol for the four bases (Adenine, Guanine, Thymine, and Cytosine), which constitute the base of the DNA and the living-beings.
Rig-Veda 4-58-2, 3
Bhaga fashioned the four feet; Bhaga fashioned the four frame pieces (? Usyala; Tvasta adorned (pic) the straps (? vardhna) along in the middle; let her be to us of excellent omen Atharvaveda 14-1-60
Symbolically the four feet and four frames express the four components of atom, and the four frames express the four bases of the DNA. They constitute the base of the living and non-living objects. The Tvasta is the shaper of the forms with triple bond in the centre of the two strips of the DNA.Atharvaveda 14-1-53
Atharvaveda 14-1- 61
The well developed cell in the nature has been expressed as well flowered, all-formed bridal- car metaphorically. It has been prayed to sun to make a bridal-car pleasant to husbands. Metaphorically the husband is the term for the organic carbon, the chemical energy has been expressed as wife, and the cell is bridal-car.
Rig-Veda 1-161-7
The synthesis of the genetic material has been expressed as a horse, and the development of the photosynthetic system in the primitive condition has been expressed as horse out of horse. Accordingly, the cell became well equipped on the journey in the nature.”
SECRET OF CREATION
Religion and Science – PROF. CHANDRA P-TRIVEDI
Certain vedic hymns when decoded, relate to the complex processes like the synthesis of chromosome, DNA replication, protein translation, and nucleotide pairs for nuclear reaction.
Demonstrating one of the decoded hymns of the Rig Veda Dr Trivedi explained, “The Tvasta (as the DNA is referred to in the Rig Veda- “In the Rigveda, Tvashtr is stated to be the creator of forms, and is often stated to be the crafter of living beings and wombs”- wikipedia) the creator who fashioned all living beings, that gives shape to all creatures is termed as an omni form (visvarupa) and it proves that DNA is present in all living beings.
Another wonderous thing is that if you look at the top view of a DNA, it resembles a ‘mandalam’ . Quoting from university of Geneva
“ Mandalas are symbolic illustrations in Hinduism and Buddhism that have been created for religious purposes for many thousands of years. The circular patterns – “mandala” is a Sanskrit word meaning circle – are mainly known from colouring books in our part of the world. Now they have found their place in molecular biology.
To illustrate the results of their statistical DNA analyses, a team led by Jeremy Luban at the University of Geneva created chromosome mandalas.”
Did they know it already ? Alas ! we hardly know anything about our ancestors.
