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20 Questions with Yudhistira

In their years of exile, the Pandavas lived in the picturesque Dvaitavana abounding in beautiful trees and delicious fruits. One day, a deer carried away – between its antlers – the fire-producing sticks of a poor priest who was performing an important yajña. The priest came to the Pandavas seeking help. The five brothers took up their arms and went looking for the deer. Even after exhausting all their knowledge in hunting and combat, they were unable to catch the deer.

Yakshagana and allied art forms - Part II

Let us look at Yakshagana and its allied art-forms from the point of view of angikaabhinaya (communication through the body and gesture language). Kuchupudi and Bhagavatamela are rich in angikaabhinaya. However, in recent times, Kuchupudi has been relinquishing its theatrical format, i.e., the format of Yakshagana and Kalaapa, and is heading towards becoming a dance (nrtya) format.

Conversations with a Butcher

In the Vana Parva (Book 3) of the Mahabharata, during the course of Yudhistira’s discussion with sage Markandeya, the latter narrates the story of Kaushika and Dharmavyadha. It is a wonderful episode of how a learned ascetic obtains life-lessons from an unlettered butcher in Mithila.

Following a series of incidents, Kaushika lands up at the shop of Dharmavyadha, who is busy selling deer and buffalo meat. Seeing the ascetic, Dharmavyadha rises from his seat and walks up to him. “Welcome, O holy one! Come, let us go to my house.”

A Story for a Verse – Mankha

एतद्बभ्रुकचानुकारिकिरणं राजद्रुहोऽह्नः शिर-
श्छेदाभं वियतः प्रतीचिनिपतत्यब्धौ रवेर्मण्डलम् ।
एषापि द्युरमा प्रियानुगमनं प्रोद्दामकाष्ठोत्थिते
सन्ध्याग्नौ विरचय्य तारकमिषाज्जातास्थिशेषस्थितिः ॥

The Tradition of Kshaatra in India – The Influence of Alexander

The Influence of Alexander

(continued)

When a great emperor decentralizes a vast kingdom, if he doesn’t use his absolute sovereignty to establish friendly relationships and maintain constant communication with all the regions, if he doesn’t keep his eyes and ears open all the time, his empire will collapse. We get examples for this in Ashoka’s time itself. Why, even in the case of the ambitious Alexander who set out to conquer the world and establish an enormous empire, his sovereignty had an untimely end.

The Story of 'Da'

Buried beneath and interspersed among the numerous layers of terse and detailed philosophical expositions are the thousands of amazing stories in the Upanishads. It is indeed a tragedy of our modern education system—that treats the human as no better than a component of economic production—that these stories have completely vanished from our school syllabi, supplanted instead by mindless Christian moral education.

A Story for a Verse - Mankha

यद्वक्रेण पथा प्रयासि सततं यद्वासि विद्वन्मन-
श्चौरी यच्च करोषि पूर्वसुकविप्रौढिप्रथोत्पुंसनम् ।
तस्माद्भारति सद्भिरत्रभवती तीक्ष्णेति संभाविता
तूर्णं पार्श्वममुष्य पार्थिवमणेरभ्येहि शुद्ध्यर्थिनी ॥