Monthly Archives: January 2006

The Activist Indologist

Posted on January 31, 2006 by mAnasa-taraMgiNI

Edgar Hoover had made leftism a matter of the past in American politics. Hunted mercilessly by Hoover and McCarthy they leftists found refuge in American academia from where they mainly concentrated on social issues taking the side of the Islamists, … Continue reading →

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The Triassic crurotarsans

Posted on January 30, 2006 by mAnasa-taraMgiNI

A phytosaur and the shuvosaurid Effigia. The archosaurs of the crurotarsan clade (the crocodile line) had their heydays in the Triassic, taking up the dominance of the terrestrial and semi-aquatic ecosystems from the synapsid promammals. Chatterjee had claimed in the … Continue reading →

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The three yakShinis

Posted on January 30, 2006 by mAnasa-taraMgiNI

After long we spoke to droNajA of fair complexion. We marvelled at how she remained resplendent firing the imagination of admirers as she did 15 years ago, when she was at the height of her glory. She was then like … Continue reading →

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Purussaurus and crocodylian recursiveness

Posted on January 29, 2006 by mAnasa-taraMgiNI

The 5 foot skull of Purussaurus the giant nettosuchid caiman of the Miocene epoch from the Amazon system. One of the largest ever crocodiles Studies on the snout morphology of crocodylians points to 5 recurrent skull types repeatedly evolving their … Continue reading →

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The crocodile line

Posted on January 28, 2006 by mAnasa-taraMgiNI

The footage of the carnage by the giant Nile crocodiles on the Mara river was remarkably inspiring and it brought memories of a remarkable sight I had seen in the halcyon days: The cow being downed by a mugger in … Continue reading →

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Prestosuchus

Posted on January 28, 2006 by mAnasa-taraMgiNI

The Prestosuchids appear to be a sister group to the proper rauisuchians, branching off after the ornithosuchians. They were top carnivores in the Gondwana regions. But the phylogenetic relationships of the suchian archosaurs remain far less understood than the ornithodiran … Continue reading →

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Alick Walker

Posted on January 28, 2006 by mAnasa-taraMgiNI

Late Alick Walker was an English gentleman who studied archosaurian anatomy. He was a retiring kind of person who is said to have put in tremendous effort to study in great depth the anatomy of reptiles. He is said to … Continue reading →

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The vrata of our great goddess

Posted on January 28, 2006 by mAnasa-taraMgiNI

We bow humbly to the 6th part of prakR^iti. On the 6th bright lunar day or for pediatric purposes on the 6th day after childbirth he performs the vrata to ShaShThI dhyAnaM suputradAM cha shubhadAM dayA-rUpAM jagat-prasU | shveta-champaka-varNAbhAM ratna-bhUShaNa-bhUShitAM … Continue reading →

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In abode of the greatest one

Posted on January 26, 2006 by mAnasa-taraMgiNI

vishvasmAd indra uttaraH |indra is greater than all! vishvAmitro ha vA indrasya priyaM dhAmopjagAma shastreNa cha vratacharyayA |vishvAmitra indeed went to the dear abode of indra due to his vedic compositions and rites. taM hendra uvAcha vishvAmitra varaM vR^iNIShveti |To … Continue reading →

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The three-headed one

Posted on January 25, 2006 by mAnasa-taraMgiNI

oM drAM dattAtreya namaH oM aiM kroM klIM clUM hrAM hrIM hrUM sauH dattAtreyAya svAhA || The three-headed one, also known as the terrifying trishiro-bhairava, wandered around carefree in the great forests of himaparvatas. With one of his arms was … Continue reading →

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agnichayana Altars

Posted on January 23, 2006 by mAnasa-taraMgiNI

A number of archaic altars shapes existed for the agnichayana of which the practical geometric knowledge is largely lost in the surviving shrauta tradition. The most famous which are still performed are: 1) the broad winged ShaDpatrika shyenachiti or the … Continue reading →

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Iran and the Terrorist state of Pakistan

Posted on January 21, 2006 by mAnasa-taraMgiNI

The ascendency of USA came as a result of it literally being the “New World”. The natives of the land stretching from the cold reaches of Canada to the Southern tip of Patagonia, had only used up all the megafauna … Continue reading →

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The vighnas

Posted on January 17, 2006 by mAnasa-taraMgiNI

We thought of the freedom of Jx and wondered what our fate might be. Our spasha reported that even before the khANDava event there was much fear that all were targets. The spasha stated that the khANDava event only took … Continue reading →

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The kaumAra vidyA

Posted on January 16, 2006 by mAnasa-taraMgiNI

Having paid respect with to rAja bhojadeva, who stands in the line of the teachers from ShaShThinAtha we salute the god who is in the embrace of sUryasunuduhitR^i. The cryptic mantra goes thus:vAk (holy speech) is the varman (armour)the karNabindvADhya … Continue reading →

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Delusions

Posted on January 12, 2006 by mAnasa-taraMgiNI

It is fashionable these days for some parents to describe their daughters by the following terms:1) Modern 2) Forward 3) City-type 4) Progressive 5) Modern but Indian. 6) Modern but Spiritual. The simple message is that one must be beware … Continue reading →

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The signal in saMdhyAbhASha

Posted on January 8, 2006 by mAnasa-taraMgiNI

We invoked the wondrous yakShini ullAsamekhalA again. She appeared in the first of her forms ‘OJ’. We asked where does the high one go? She manifested in her second form ‘GW’. It was 10 times more dazzling than ‘OJ’. She … Continue reading →

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The mysteries in the radiation of feliformia

Posted on January 7, 2006 by mAnasa-taraMgiNI

Asian Lisang There are several grey areas in the evolutionary history of feliformia. The main problem appears to be that of repeated convergent evolution. Certain carnivore body plans have repeatedly emerged in the mammalian lineage, due to the basic constraints … Continue reading →

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The evolution of Cats

Posted on January 6, 2006 by mAnasa-taraMgiNI

The classical felid or the Neofelid lineage appears first in the fossil around 35 Myrs in the middle of the Priabonian age of the Eocene. They are clearly distinguished by many distintinguishing anatomical features, such as their ossified septate auditory … Continue reading →

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Same place same time phase shifted

Posted on January 1, 2006 by mAnasa-taraMgiNI

Phase shifted by an year we were there forced to spend time with the wild Northerners, more precisely characterized as the fallen brahmins and kShatriyas. Luckily for us we had our own inner circle with whom we could explore the … Continue reading →

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