August 2019
Sri K.T. Appanna hailed from the Aruvelu Brahmin sect. He was originally from Kollegal. His father was Sri Tirumalaswamayya working as a First Division Clerk at the Bangalore General Post Office, earning about ₹ 70-80 a month. This was a big salary in those days. But he had a family big enough to match it. Tirumalaswamayya’s wife’s elder brother Sri Ramaswamayya and his wife and children, Tirumalaswamayya’s sister-in-law (a traditional widow),...
Adherence to Sahaja-karma
It is evident that the central teaching of the Gītā is the performance of sva-dharma. The Gītā also speaks about the varṇa system, which came into being as a function of an individual’s guṇa and karma.[1] It is not merely for the well-being of the society that Kṛṣṇa expects all people to be rooted in their sva-dharma; it has a more philosophical background to it. While presenting sahaja-karma—i.e., the work attuned to...
The fourteenth day of the war began with Droṇa arranging the Kaurava army in the śakaṭa-vyūha formation within which he arranged the army in the padma-vyūha and inside that created a sūcī-vyūha. At the front of the sūcī, he had arranged Kṛtavarma, Kāmbhoja, Jalasandha, Duryodhana, Karṇa, and along with these heroes, thousands of other warriors; behind all of them stood Jayadratha. Droṇa himself stood at the front of the śakaṭa.
The day’s battle...
ಋಷಿಕುಮಾರ ಋಷ್ಯಶೃಂಗ ಹೆಣ್ಣನ್ನೇ ಕಾಣದೆ ಬೆಳೆದವನು. ಅವನು ಮೊದಲ ಬಾರಿಗೆ ಬೈತಲೆ ತೆಗೆದುಕೊಂಡು ಹೆರಳು ಹಾಕಿಕೊಂಡ ಹೆಂಗಸರನ್ನು ಕಂಡಾಗ ಅವರ ಹಣೆಯೇ ಎರಡು ಪಾಲಾದಂತೆ ಭ್ರಮಿಸುತ್ತಾನೆ. ಅದನ್ನು ತುಂಬ ಚಮತ್ಕಾರಕವಾಗಿ ಮಹಾಭಾರತ ಹೇಳುವ ಪರಿ ಹೀಗಿದೆ:
ದ್ವೈಧೀಕೃತಾ ಭಾಂತಿ ಸಮಾ ಲಲಾಟೇ (೩.೧೧೨.೯)
ತೀರ್ಥಯಾತ್ರೆಗೆಂದು ಪ್ರಭಾಸಕ್ಕೆ ಬಂದ ಪಾಂಡವರನ್ನು ಬಲರಾಮ ಮಾತನಾಡಿಸುತ್ತ “ದುರ್ಯೋಧನನಿಗೆ ಭೂಮಿಯು ಎಡೆಯನ್ನು ಕೊಡುವುದಿಲ್ಲ” ಎಂದು ಹೇಳಿ ಸಮಾಧಾನ ಪಡಿಸುತ್ತಾನೆ. ಲೋಕರೂಢಿಯಲ್ಲಿ ಯಾರನ್ನಾದರೂ ಆಕ್ಷೇಪಿಸುವಾಗ ನಾವು “ಅವರಿಗೆ ಇಲ್ಲಿ ಬದುಕೋಕೆ ಜಾಗ ಇರೋಲ್ಲ”...
I have mentioned earlier[1] that Karpura Srinivasa Rao was one of the founding fathers of Karṇāṭaka Sāhitya Pariṣad. In any activity beneficial to the nation, he would always make himself counted.
Like Visvesvaraya, Srinivasa Rao too began his career with the Government of Bombay and retired after serving in prominent positions in the Government of Mysore. Seven or eight days after the demise of Gopal Krishna Gokhale in February 1915, a few...
The Debauchery of the Art of Dance
No one would mistake the intention of deterring the profession of prostitution. But it cannot be accepted that the art of dance is the causal factor or an impetus for adultery. If we supress the art, can the other reasons for prostitution also be supressed? In today’s current newspaper’s business advertisements, how many attractive images and display of the body appear? What all kinds of movies are being made?...
Like Sawai Jai Singh, the other warrior who toiled for the cause of Sanatana Dharma during the period of the downfall of the Mughal Empire was the ideal woman Ahalyabai Holkar. Before her were women like Jijabai (Shivaji’s mother) and Yesubai, the wife of Sambhaji, Shivaji’s son. Sambhaji who was caught and imprisoned by the Mughals did not convert to Islam despite the horrific tortures he endured, and finally died a martyr. After his death,...
A popular dhyāna-śloka (benedictory verse) for the Bhagavad-gītā is as follows:
bhīṣma-droṇa-taṭā jayadratha-jalā gāndhāra-nīlotpalā
śalya-grāhavatī kṛpeṇa vahanī karṇena velākulā |
aśvatthāma-vikarṇa-ghora-makarā duryodhanāvartinī
sottīrṇā khalu pāṇḍavai raṇa-nadī kaivartakaḥ keśavaḥ ||[1]
The Pāṇḍavas crossed this great war-river –
of which Bhīṣma and Droṇa were its banks
Jayadratha, the flowing water
Śakuni, the blue lily
Śalya, the whale...
I shall narrate my recollections of certain public institutions in Bangalore. I have written elsewhere about political institutions.[1] I will reminisce about socio-cultural organizations here.
Ranade Society
One of the oldest among the institutions that sprung up for the upliftment of society and culture was one by name Ranade Society.
The Literary Union was established even earlier than the Ranade Society. It appears that this was established...
The next morning Duryodhana told Droṇa, “Ācārya, although Yudhiṣṭhira came as close as the eyes could see, you failed to capture him. Therefore it appears like you consider us as the enemy; even if the devatas were protecting him, if you put your mind to it, you could have captured him. It was you who was delighted and granted me the boon and now you’re drifting from your word. The noble ones should not dampen the hopes of those who have taken...