NARSINHMEHTRAI: NEW SPECIES OF SPIDER

NARSINHMEHTRAI: NEW SPECIES OF SPIDER 

Context:

As of February 25 2022, researchers of Bhakta Kavi Narsinh Mehta University (BKNMU), Junagadh, discovered a new spider species.

Key Point:

• The new spider species is named Narsinhmehtai in honour of Narsinh Mehta, a 15th-century poet who was a devotee of Lord Krishna and put his name on the global map. 

Objection on the name:

• Members of the Brahmin community's Nagar sub-caste group, where Mehta was born, and followers of the poet opposed the appellation, stating that bard was already a worldwide name and that there was no need to associate his name with a spider.

About Narsinh Mehta:

• Mehta is believed to have been born in Talaja in the present-day Bhavnagar district in 1410 and to have died in Junagadh in the 1480s.
• The family originated in Vadnagar in the north of Gujarat. The name of the caste is believed to be Pandya. Still, since the family members were officers in the kingdoms of those days, they were called Mehta (the keeper of accounts) later on became the family name. 
• His father died when Mehta was only five years old, and it is believed that Mehta learned to speak only at the age of eight after a holy man asked him to say the name of Lord Krishna.

His poems:

• Mehta wrote more than 750 poems called padd in Gujarat. 
• Primarily they deal with devotion to Lord Krishna, Gyan (wisdom) vairagya (departure from worldly affairs).