The ultimate nowhere-land. Whatever doesn't seem to fit in any of the other categories, post it in here. For example, discussions on Mahatma Gandhi and the latest news on CNN should go here.
Blue Sapphire -
Jagat - Sat, 15 May 2004 16:18:25 +0530
Christie's auction house employee Mariana Bravo displays the world's largest faceted sapphire, a rectangular-cut Kashmir sapphire also known as The Blue Giant of the Orient, estimated to fetch $1 to $1.5-million (U.S.) during a media preview in Geneva Wednesday.
nabadip - Sat, 15 May 2004 17:38:47 +0530
Is sapphire the stone referred to in the Gaudiya texts as Nila-mani? How old is the stone-mining and -cutting industry? I've often wondered about those descriptions of gemstone-trees in lila-shastra, why that is thought of being so beautiful. I am not sure whether a tree studded with gemstones is more beautiful than a real fruit-tree. This single stone here is wonderfully beautiful. But it is also the singularity that makes it so beautiful. If a whole road was covered with sapphire, I doubt it would appear as beautiful. How do you "feel out" those descriptions that overdo it in terms of bringing beauty into the picture, when you see them as real before you?