October 2016

निरर्थकं जन्मगतं नलिन्यायया न दृष्टं तुहिनांशुबिम्बम् ।उत्पत्तिरिन्दोरपि निष्फलैवकृता 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. Wanting to showcase his talents, Bilhana toured the entire country. With his prodigious scholarship, he defeated scholars in Mathura, Brindavan, Kashi, Somanath and...
Kosambi accuses the Bhagavad-Gita of being a perverse tool used by brahmanas to justify their actions: “The main conclusion is surely the following: Practically anything can be read into the Gita by a determined person, without denying the validity of a class system. THE GITA FURNISHED THE ONE SCRIPTURAL SOURCE WHICH COULD BE USED WITHOUT VIOLENCE TO ACCEPTED BRAHMIN METHODOLOGY, TO DRAW INSPIRATION AND JUSTIFICATION FOR SOCIAL ACTIONS IN SOME...
The Sanskrit Podcast hosted by Shoba Narayan and featuring Vikram Phadke, where he discusses the legal systems in ancient India.
Now from the Vedas, Itihasas, and Puranas, we come to the era of reality. As such, there is no separate demarcation that separates our ancient texts from history. All the details of the lineage of kings that we find in the Vedas are part of history. For example, an ancient king who is mentioned in the Vedas is Divodasa. His son was Sudasa. The purohita of Sudasa was Vasishta. The Rigveda speaks about the Battle of Ten Kings (दाशराज्ञयुद्ध), in...
रे रे ग्रामकुविन्द कन्दलतया वस्त्राण्यमूनि त्वयागोणीविभ्रमभाजनानि शतशोऽप्यात्मा किमायास्यते ।अप्येकं रुचिरं चिरादभिनवं वासस्तदासूत्रतांयेन्नोज्झन्ति कुचस्थलात् क्षणमपि क्षोणीभृतां वल्लभाः ॥ Among the princely states that were popular in ancient India, Gurjura is one of the most famous. During 12th century C.E., it was ruled by the emperor Viradhavala. In those days, poets were found in large numbers in royal courts, and quarrels between them...
We can evade taxes but can we do about death? Many of us have seen death from close quarters in our lives and those who have not, are most definitely aware of the idea. But imagine when the earliest humans experienced the death of someone around them. They would have seen one of their own people fall down, never to get up again. Their recognition of the phenomenon of death would have suddenly given them a definition for life. Until that time,...
The history of the world has been biased towards men but there is ample evidence of the immense contribution of women in various disciplines. Starting from the earliest scriptures of India all through our classical and pre-colonial history, we see how women have played a vital role in shaping our civilization and our country. Compared to the rest of the world, historically India seems to have been far more open-minded and compassionate towards...
Art and its purpose In the words of Prof M. Hiriyanna, the purpose of art is to transcend all other purposes. ‘Ananda’ or ‘Enjoyment’, is both the process and purpose of art and is non – exclusive. To state that only the ‘purpose’ of Art is to achieve enjoyment (and that the process is not enjoyable) will demean the beauty of ‘Ananda’ or ‘rasaananda’ in art. Although the ultimate aim or purpose of any art would be enjoyment, it must be noted...
A short documentary of Masti Venkatesha Iyengar, one of the doyens of Kannada literature. Masti introduced the 'short story' genre to Kannada.  
In chapter 13 of the Gita (verses 7 to 11) Krishna gives the various parameters that constitute true knowledge: अमानित्वमदम्भित्वं अहिंसा क्षान्तिरार्जवम् | आचार्योपासनं शौचं स्थैर्यमात्मविनिग्रहः |७| इन्द्रियार्थेषु वैराग्यं अनहङ्कार एव च | जन्ममृत्युजराव्याधि दुःखदोषानुदर्शनम् |८| असक्तिरनभिष्वङ्गः पुत्रदारगृहादिषु | नित्यं च समचित्तत्वं इष्टानिष्टोपपत्तिषु |९| मयि चानन्ययोगेन भक्तिरव्यभिचारिणी | विविक्तदेशसेवित्वं ...