Wikipedia:Main Page history/2021 May 23

Extent of the Western Chalukya Empire (c. 1100)

A large body of Western Chalukya literature in the Kannada language was produced during the empire's reign (973–1200) in present-day India (map pictured). Kannada literature from this period, usually considered Old Kannada, constituted the bulk of the Chalukya court's textual production and pertained mostly to the socio-religious development of the Jain faith, with some of that of the Shaiva faith. Important literary contributions in the Kannada language came not only from court poets, noblemen, royalty, ascetics and saints who wrote in the marga (mainstream) style, but also from commoners and artisans, including cobblers, weavers, cowherds and shepherds who wrote in the desi (folk) style. These poets revolutionised Kannada literature, rejecting traditional themes that eulogised kings and noblemen, and writing didactic poems that were closer to the spoken and sung form of the language. In addition to hundreds of male poets, over thirty female poets have been recorded. (Full article...)

Kerttu Saalasti

• ... that the University of Oulu renamed an institute after Finnish politician Kerttu Saalasti (pictured) in 2017, six decades after she introduced the bill that established the university?
• ... that the Golden Age short story "The Voyage That Lasted 600 Years" includes the first use of a generational starship in fiction?
• ... that Kidsgrove Athletic F.C. became the first football club in England to have father and son goalkeepers when they signed Steve Cherry in 2003?
• ... that "O komm, du Geist der Wahrheit" is an 1833 German-language hymn for Pentecost in which the "Spirit of Truth" is called to come and restore the attitude of early Christianity?
• ... that because of her striking beauty and sense of high fashion, soprano Annamary Dickey was dubbed the "Glamour Girl of the Met" in 1949?
• ... that the statue of Billie Holiday in Upton, Baltimore, also depicts a crow eating a gardenia?
• ... that the Nakba – the destruction of Palestinian society, their homeland, and the permanent displacement of a majority of the Palestinian people – has been described as an ongoing catastrophe?
• ... that the design of Suffolk Downs station was inspired by medieval fortified churches?

Naomi Mataʻafa

• After more than 200 deaths, a ceasefire is enacted in the Israel–Palestine crisis.
• Results of the
  Naomi Mataʻafa
  (pictured).
• Darwin's Arch, a rock formation in the Galápagos Islands, collapses due to natural erosion.
• Cyclone Tauktae makes landfall in Gujarat, killing at least 122 people in India and Pakistan and forcing the evacuation of over 200,000 others.