Prekshaa articles feed

A story for a verse – Mysore Vasudevacharya's Anger

अलङ्कारशय्यानिमित्तेन शेषः
पुरारेर्मुरारेर्श्च गात्रानुषङ्गात् ।
त्यजन् सर्पतां भीकरीं सज्जनानां
मनुष्यत्वमानन्ददं संप्रपेदे॥

Tipu Sultan: A Temple Destroyer Par Excellence

One of the most characteristic features of almost all medieval Muslim invaders and rulers of India is their religion-fueled zeal for destroying Hindu temples. From Muhammad Ghaznavid to Babur to Malik Kafur to Muhammad Bin Tughlaq to Aurangzeb to Nadir Shah, every single Muslim invader and/or ruler made temple destruction his mandatory religious duty. In this, Tipu Sultan stands shoulder-to-shoulder with these temple destroyers extraordinaire.

Myths, Legends and Rituals in Bhyrappa’s Novels – Part 5

'Nele’ and ‘Saakshi’ unveil the myths, rites, rituals, and customs related to death, funerals, the world after death, against the realistic backdrop the life in this world. These two works explore the roots of existence, ethics and emotions and lay bare the inner psyche of man, by fusing our realistic world, which is comprehensible through the senses, with the incomprehensible, surrealistic world of myths and mythological characters and situations.

The Hinduism Series: A Glossary of Technical Terms

This is a short glossary of some of the technical terms often seen in Hindu literature. A glossary such as this becomes inevitable on most occasions since many of these terms don't have single word equivalents in English or any non-Indic language, since these concepts are often not found in other cultures.

artha • wealth; motive; cause. It refers to the material objectives and accomplishments of a person. One of the four puruṣārthas.

ātman • soul; spirit; the inner, higher Self of an individual.

The Hinduism Series: Hindu Scriptures and their Overview

The foundational works of Hinduism have, for centuries, been transmitted by means of an oral tradition – teachers taught their disciples, who committed every word to memory and then passed it on to their disciples without any variation. Needless to say, many ancient texts have been lost over the years. For ease of understanding, in this article we use the term ‘texts’ instead of ‘works,’ or ‘compositions,’ or ‘treatises,’ but they include both orally composed works and written texts.

A story for a verse - Ramana Maharshi's eka-śloki

हृदयकुहरमध्ये केवलं ब्रह्ममात्रं

ह्यहमहमिति साक्षादात्मरूपेण भाति |

हृदि विश मनसा स्वं चिन्वता मज्जता वा

पवनचलनरोधादात्मनिष्ठो भव त्वम् ||