Monthly Archives: May 2006

The result

Posted on May 28, 2006 by mAnasa-taraMgiNI

kR^iShamukha and paraShumukha organized their attack at us with the deep hate and hope of overthrowing us for good– the mahochChATanaM. We were enveloped by the kR^ityA-s of dhUmAvatI that they had sent. Our senAnI had warned us well of … Continue reading →

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draupadi ammAL and chunItan

Posted on May 22, 2006 by mAnasa-taraMgiNI

A sub-set of the smarta brahmins of Gingee, Melaccheri Kadu and parts of the modern Telugu country upwards of Kalahasti, usually belonging to the great sect of bR^ihatcharaNaM or rarely the vaDamas (northerners), are called pAratiyAr-s. There are other pAratiyAr-s … Continue reading →

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The bhR^igu-s of the R^igveda

Posted on May 21, 2006 by mAnasa-taraMgiNI

From the accounts of vedic tradition the bhR^igu-s were the foremost of the R^iShi-s. It appears that they were the founders of the fire ritual which is at the heart of the vedic religion. They are not authors of many … Continue reading →

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The Arimaspas, dinosaurs, griffins and sharabha.

Posted on May 20, 2006 by mAnasa-taraMgiNI

A persistant Indo-Iranian motif is that of the griffin, occuring in India as the sharabha. The sharabha may be described as an imaginary animal or as an incarnation of rudra in that form. The famous sharbhAstra weapon and the sharabhAstra … Continue reading →

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A Sanskrit history of the conquest of parNAla-parvata

Posted on May 19, 2006 by mAnasa-taraMgiNI

“Brahmins do not have it in them to fight” was a common refrain I had heard despite being brought up on the tales of the bhR^igu conquests of yore- r^ichIka, jamadagni, rAma, agni aurva and all of them. I had … Continue reading →

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Qaidu’s daughter

Posted on May 18, 2006 by mAnasa-taraMgiNI

The learned vaiShNava narrated to me a tale he gathered during his travels in the lands of the hUnas. Qaidu was the son of Qashi, who was the son of Ogodei, who was the 3rd son of the most illustrious … Continue reading →

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In memory of the Oxalate

Posted on May 17, 2006 by mAnasa-taraMgiNI

A recent conversation brought to mind the our famed oxalate experiment. Oxalic acid first caught my fancy in the summer vacations of 6th class. I was intrigued by it and sought to extract if from the sorrel that grew abundantly … Continue reading →

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The mahApralaya

Posted on May 14, 2006 by mAnasa-taraMgiNI

The Hindu kingdom of Mataram in Yavadvipa, associated with the famous tantra of the vajramaNDala, came to an end in 1006. It was take to its peak by the rAjan named: makuTa-vamsha-vardhana ishAna kula-sUrya. Due to the recent revival of … Continue reading →

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The passing characters

Posted on May 14, 2006 by mAnasa-taraMgiNI

Fancying myself as the wandering vrAtya I wandered in the mAnuSha lokaH. I noticed many leaving images in the eye and then in the brain. At face value these images are useless, but who knows, they may be the well-springs … Continue reading →

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Tracked by the 3 kR^ityA-s

Posted on May 13, 2006 by mAnasa-taraMgiNI

Mn, Jx and me assembled for the long awaited Kuriltai of the clan on the steppes. The only one missing from our old clan assembly was the muni, who was doing his time beside the somesha shrine where we spent … Continue reading →

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An early shaiva formula

Posted on May 12, 2006 by mAnasa-taraMgiNI

Very little is preserved of the ancestral tantric shaiva lineage prior to its split into the five fold path. An early formula of the lineage that survives is seen in the garuDa tantra termed hara tantram, which itself does not … Continue reading →

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The shaivas: the pAshupata-s

Posted on May 10, 2006 by mAnasa-taraMgiNI

The early evolution of the shaiva fold is a topic of tremendous interest (I am only grazing the surface with regards to a few points here. One may see some other notes on this topic elsewhere on this site). We … Continue reading →

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An old gAtha

Posted on May 9, 2006 by mAnasa-taraMgiNI

During the train journey we talked about ancient gAtha-s going back to the PIE period. Some of these are clear cut sayings that were probably present from the earliest days of the Indo-European crown group. An early American scholar pointed … Continue reading →

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The second circle

Posted on May 8, 2006 by mAnasa-taraMgiNI

We had sought she who dwells in the midst of the kiri chakra. Our AchArya’s AchArya the one learned in the great atharvan lore with all its parishiShTha-s, kalpa-s brAhmaNa and upaniShads retired to live in the most picturesque land … Continue reading →

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The first circle

Posted on May 7, 2006 by mAnasa-taraMgiNI

There we moved swiftly on our vAhana and placed it on the stalls. The two shUdra-s kR^iShNamukha and shUdra-shiromaNi met us at the ashvashAla where we kept our horses. One of the shUdra-s asked, O foreign brahmin, should we participate … Continue reading →

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Kosambi and numerical analysis of the mahAbhArata

Posted on May 6, 2006 by mAnasa-taraMgiNI

Various kinds of numerical analysis on the mahAbhArata need to be carried out. The pioneers in this were the two unlikeable characters DD Kosambi and E Kulkarni. The former was definitely a very learned man, with whom I share intellectual … Continue reading →

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Theories for the bhArata conundrum

Posted on May 5, 2006 by mAnasa-taraMgiNI

We earlier described the major problem termed the bhArata conundrum, where we notice a silence regarding the pANDavas alone in the vedic textual layers, but they are prominently mentioned in all the later texts of Sanskrit and prakrit literature. The … Continue reading →

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The mystery of the pANDava-s

Posted on May 4, 2006 by mAnasa-taraMgiNI

While the bhArata epic is a central to understanding the rise of the Indian state and the very culture of the Indian people, there are some mysterious issues associated with it which still leave a major gap in understanding this … Continue reading →

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A brief history of shubhakara siMha

Posted on May 1, 2006 by mAnasa-taraMgiNI

The mahA-chInAchArya, shubhakara siMha, a nAstIka of the second varNa, was a remarkable, even if forgotten, figure in history largely forgotten in his homeland India. He was a descendent of the ikShvAku chieftain amR^itodana whose clan held a small kingdom … Continue reading →

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Some old drawings-II

Posted on May 1, 2006 by mAnasa-taraMgiNI

This was her piece on the goddesses- it is a ‘combined’ vision, though the drawings are entirely hers. It was done during the most dreary of all lectures, the geography class, during which even DoM, DamAr, tuNDika, duShTa-durmukha and others … Continue reading →

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Some old drawings of devatA-s

Posted on May 1, 2006 by mAnasa-taraMgiNI

While cleaning up, I found some old pictures R had drawn for me while in school. It brought me some nostalgia and with due permissions I scanned them to put them up. She drew much better later in life, but … Continue reading →

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