Roman Emperors

 

Dictators and emperors have been some of the most cruel and craziest individuals in human history. Modern ones like Idi Amin, Hitler or Pol Pot have got drunk with power and committed terribly heinous acts. In ancient times, some of the Roman generals and emperors were extraordinary in lives of debauchery, violence and plain madness so much so that they defy imagination.

Julius Caesar(pic on top):

He was strictly the first among equals of the First Triumvirate that ruled Rome. Some of his  acts include:

- He was against luxury and he sent inspectors to dining rooms to catch people eating illegal fine dishes.

- His public spectacles involved armies of infantry, cavalry and elephants fighting. The wild beast hunting parties went on for five days.

- His sexual escapades were numerous and had no rules. He was referred to as 'every woman's husband and every man's wife.'

- As a consul, he stole gold and replaced them with bronze.

Nero:

The infamous Nero (pictured above) fiddled while Rome burnt and his acts defy cross all limits.

- At night he would attack people going back from dinner, kill them with a knife and drop them into sewers without any reason whatsoever.

- He took a fancy to a boy Sporus, castrated him and married him. He was passionately fond of his mother Agrippina too. Subsequently, he also tried to murder her by various means and finally sicceeded in doing so.

-He once got disgusted by the old-fashioned buildings in a part of the city and set fire to them which lasted for a week. While the fire was raging, he sang ' The Fall of Troy'.

Caligula:

He was the third Roman emperor, ruled for less than 4 years and was insane, to say the least.

- He made his high officials run on foot beside his chariot for great distances in their togas.

- He had a wild animal retinue and once decide to feed them the meat of prisoners and watched it standing in the colonnade.

-He had sexual relations with hostages, his sisters and wives of all his nobles as he fancied.

- He had a cruel face and even after that, practised in front of a mirror to make his expressions more fearful.

Marcus Aurelius, much later, was the wise and thoughtful one.

 

Budget Journeys

 

Sir C.D. Deshmukh (pic above), the first Indian Governor of the Reserve Bank of India in 1843, was the finance minister from 1950 to 1956 and presented the annual statement of receipts and expenditures of the Union Government, called the budget in 1951-52, effectively the first year after India became a republic.  

A quick comparison of this budget with the latest one shows how much changes in 70 to 75 years.

The revenue receipts in 1951-52(FY 52) were expected to be 370 cr INR and the expenditure 375 cr with a deficit of 5cr.

Cut to estimates for 2023-24 (FY 24). The revenue receipts are INR 26.3 lac cr. A jump of 7108 times. But expenditures have increased even more relatively. The total expenditure budgeted is INR 45 lac cr i.e. 12,000 times.

Inflation and growth - both have played their parts.

Amongst other interesting items, the Government in FY 52 was planning to import 2 million tonnes of wheat from the USA, the balance of payments was positive at 66 cr INR.

The number of taxpayers was however not insubstantial in the context then. Against a population of 45 cr, we had 6 to 7 lac income taxpayers. 

In FY 19, we had 6.7 cr taxpayers (including companies and firms) with about one lac of individuals reporting more than 1 cr income.

The defence used to have a very high proportion of expenditure earlier. Out of 375 cr in FY 52, defence accounted for 180 cr. In FY 24, it is expected to be 5.96 lac cr ( 3311 times of FY 52) out of the total of 45 lac cr.

Propaganda for Kings

 Krishnadevaraya was a powerful king who ruled in Vijaynagara in modern Andhra Pradesh from 1509 to 1529. He ruled over a vast kingdom that included an area encompassing Bengal to Karnataka. 

Allasani Peddana was a great Telugu poet and fancied himself as 'Andhrakavitapitamaha' or the Creator of Telugu poetry. He was in Krishnadevaraya's court. 

We get disturbed by propaganda and exaggerated hero worship when we see it with political leaders. In te age of democracy and equality it seems so baffling. We treat mere men as Gods. This probably has a genesis in the way in a feudal society we treated our kings. They were arbiters of justice, commanders of the army, divine inheritors who lived in the fanciest of palaces. They also had poets eulogising them to the skies.

Peddana's classic 'The Story of Manu' begins with a encomiums to the glory and prowess of the king. Some of it will embarrass even our most praise-hungry modern leaders.

" For one rich in such qualities,

for an expert rider adept at handling any sort of horse,

for one who is quiet at heart,

whose brilliant fame turned all space white,

whose sword is like a snake filling its belly with the life breaths

of enemies trembling the darkness caused by dust

kicked up by his horses' hooves in one continuous charge,

for Karma reborn, a paragon of the art of giving,

for one who is loyal to good people,

for the lover of lady poetry,

for one whose fame rolls like waves to the end of space,

makes the sun redundant,

who captured the son of the Kalinga king 

in less than half a minute,

whose mind, with all its thoughts and words, rests at the feet

of Lord Venkatesvara, the ultimate source of kindness."