Krishna starts off the Gita by asking Arjuna not to grieve – “Don’t cry for either the living or the dead” (BG 2.11). And he ends his message by asking Arjuna not to grieve – “Just have faith in me. I will grant you the ultimate state. Don’t cry” (BG 18.66). In between these two persuasions of “Don’t cry,” he teaches the Gita. But what of Krishna’s life? Has he ever cried? While all the great warriors of the Mahabharata have shed tears at some point of time or the other, Krishna never sheds a tear. There are instances where he is sad, but he doesn’t show it.

One of the greatest losses of the so-called Dravidian discourse in Tamil Nadu is the loss of a number of Hindu devatas or deities in the civilizational consciousness of the Tamils. More pointedly, the cultural-heritage-loss that accompanied this devata loss has in many cases become irreversible. To restate the obvious, most ancient and medieval era temples in Tamil Nadu today have become dens of corruption, squalor, and pettiness at all levels. This rampant degradation continues unchecked.

R Raghunath Rao had a picturesque personality. His physique, his clothing and style, the eloquence in his speech, and the resourcefulness in his work were such that they could impress anyone who came in contact with him. He was a tall man; one could call his skin color a dull black. A round face, a bit on the thinner side; a long, thick nose that stood out; and a moustache like a festoon of crops. His eyes, always looking here and there, were so lively that it felt as if he was speaking sharp words.

निरर्थकं जन्मगतं नलिन्या
यया न दृष्टं तुहिनांशुबिम्बम् ।
उत्पत्तिरिन्दोरपि निष्फलैव
कृता विनिद्रा नलिनी न येन ॥

Once, in the Pravarapura district of Kashmir, there lived a couple: Jyeshthakalasha and Nagaradevi. They had a son named Bilhana, who grew up to be a poet par excellence.