February 2018
The preeminent name among the Gupta Dynasty is Chandragupta I. He was the son of Ghatotkachagupta. He had married Kumāradevī of the Licchavi clan. Subsequently, Samudragupta and others repeatedly claim that they descended from the Licchavi dynasty. What could be the reason behind this glorification of the Licchavis?
It is well-known that the ṣodaṣa-mahā-janapada (the Sixteen Great Republics) existed during Buddha’s time. The Vajji-gaṇa (or Vṛjji...
The Guptas hailed from the vaiśya community. It has been mentioned earlier that there is no great significance attached to being a kṣatriya by birth. By purposely concealing this fact, our so-called secularists claim that brāhmaṇas and kṣatriyas conspired together to discriminate against and oppress the people of other varṇas. This is far from the truth and there is little merit in this allegation.
Words like viśva, vaiśya, and veśa have all...
At the fag-end of the tournament, when they heard the tumultuous sound at the gates, filled with wonder the spectators asked, “Have the mountains crumbled?” “Has the earth been torn apart?” as they looked in that direction. With naturally endowed armour (kavaca) and earrings (kuṇḍala), Karṇa walked to the center of the arena like a walking mountain. Karṇa was the son of Kuntī, born to her while she was still a maiden from an essence of the Sun...
India’s greatest gift to the world is perhaps Vedānta, the science of reality, which can be hailed as the crown-jewel among the various treasures that our unbroken tradition of over five thousand years has offered. In the wisdom-lineage of the ancient Hindu civilization, four great names that contributed to the siddhānta and the sādhanā—loosely the ‘science’ and the ‘practice’—of Vedānta are, in chronological order, the following: Yājñavalkya,...
Arthāntaranyāsaḥ
uktirarthāntaranyāsasyātsāmānyaviśeṣayoḥ | (C.L. – 119)
In Arthāntaranyāsa, a general statement is used to provide a rationale for a specific case or a specific case is used to justify a general statement.
Iliad - Book 1, lines 217-220
(Achilles says the following to the goddess Athene, who has been sent by the goddess Hera, has come down from the heaven to put a stop to his anger.)
“Goddess, one must observe the words of you...
The primary purpose of any work of art is to evoke ‘rasa’, i.e. aesthetic experience in the connoisseur. The experience of rasa is universal and holds true for all times. This is achieved in poetry through verbal expression, by portraying the emotions of characters under various circumstances and also by employing a variety of imagery. Creative expression is what distinguishes poetry from a non-poetic text. (Here, the word ‘poetry’ is used to...
It was this enduring, prosperous and robust temple ecosystem that the first wave of alien Muslim armies encountered when they knocked on the doors of Bharatavarsha. The incisive historian and scholar, Sita Ram Goel describes[i] this encounter vividly:
On the eve of Islamic invasions, the cradle of Hindu culture was honeycombed with temples and monasteries, in many shapes and sizes. The same sources inform us that many more temples and...
Public life is replete with seeming paradoxes. A person closely involved in the public space cannot be hassled by what other people think about him but if someone accuses him of a wrongdoing, he must be capable of clearing his name. After all, his reputation is one of his greatest assets. A classic example in the case of Krishna is the episode of the śyamantakamaṇi. Satrajit’s brother who had been wearing it was found dead. Krishna was accused...
ಉಪಕ್ರಮ
ನಮ್ಮ ಪರಂಪರೆಯ ವೇದ-ಪುರಾಣಕಥೆಗಳಲ್ಲಿ ಬರುವ ಅನೇಕಪಾತ್ರಗಳನ್ನೂ ಸಂಗತಿಗಳನ್ನೂ ಆಧುನಿಕರು ಬಗೆಬಗೆಯಾಗಿ ವಿಶ್ಲೇಷಿಸುವುದುಂಟು. ಹೀಗೆ ಮಾಡುವಲ್ಲಿ ಅದೆಷ್ಟೋ ಬಾರಿ ಮೂಲದ ತತ್ತ್ವದೃಷ್ಟಿಗೆ ಅಪಚಾರವಾಗುವ ಸಂದರ್ಭಗಳು ಅಪಾರ. ಇಂಥ ಒಂದು ಅಂಶವನ್ನು ನಮ್ಮ ಪುರಾಣಬಾಲಪಾತ್ರಗಳಲ್ಲಿ ಪ್ರಸಿದ್ಧನಾದ ಪ್ರಹ್ಲಾದನನ್ನು ಕುರಿತು ಮಾಡುವ ವಿಶ್ಲೇಷಣೆಯಲ್ಲಿ ಗಮನಿಸಬಹುದು. ಈ ಪ್ರಕಾರ ಪ್ರಹ್ಲಾದನು ಪಿತೃಹತ್ಯಾಪ್ರವೃತ್ತಿಯ (Parricide) ಸಂಕೇತವಾಗಿದ್ದಾನೆ. ಇದರ ತಾತ್ಪರ್ಯವಿಷ್ಟೆ: ಮಕ್ಕಳಿಗೆ ತಮ್ಮ ತಂದೆ-ತಾಯಿಗಳು ಮಾಡಿದ ಎಷ್ಟೋ ಕೆಲಸಗಳು ಸರಿಬರುವುದಿಲ್ಲ....