B is for...Balance...

 

Balance – that’s what has vaporised lately. There’s a Bengali proverb which goes as many tears as laughs but it feels untrue right now. Life is super complicated and is made up of more tears than laughter. Or so it seems. On reflection though, it’s a short term reaction, even the direst situation isn’t without its blessings. Just as there is much to grieve, there’s also much to be thankful for, I just have to count harder. The wise, the Bhagavad Gita says, are those who remain equipoised and accept the dualities that life throws at them - success and failure, joy and sorrow, flowers and thorns, and keep on keeping on.

But...that's really not the balance I'm talking about...the one I'm thinking of is far more mundane...it's a weighing scale. Two plates suspended from a beam and  a series of weights, it's a simple technology that dates back several thousand years. The oldest evidence of the use of a balance has been located at the Indus Valley  around 2400-1800 BCE. This is such a simple device that its use almost certainly predates the evidence. Archaeologists have found polished graduated weights from which they have concluded the use of weighing scales in those societies. Uniform cubic polished stones have been found in the Valley which were used as mass setting stones. 

In Egypt, stones with hieroglyphs for gold have been uncovered, the merchants there were obviously using a balance to measure the precious metal - either shipments or yields from mines. Although no actual scales have been found, many sets of weighing stones have been discovered. Murals also show balance scales indicating they were used widely by the Egyptians. In China, evidence for the use of scales go back to third century BCE in Hunan province. 

The balance has had a strong metaphorical value in cultures around the world, from antiquity to modern times.  The Mughal emperors had a tradition wherein the princes were measured against gold on a weighing scale during their birthday celebrations. The Egyptian god Anubis is depicted weighing the heart of the dead to decide the course of their afterlife. A sinless heart would of course be lighter than a feather and therefore gain entry to heaven.  Even in modern societies, the two pan balance particularly is heavy on symbolism as it is held by Lady Justice as an instrument of impartiality, drawing upon this Ancient Egyptian idea. 

A heart as light as a feather. Something to work towards, aspire to. Believe, and so it shall be.

A-Z Challenge 2021