Monthly Archives: February 2007

Are nAstika-s valid successors of the vedic tradition

Posted on February 23, 2007 by mAnasa-taraMgiNI

We had a discussion with ekanetra, the master of Asita-krIDa. ekanetra and me were long-standing students of laukIka itihAsa, and itihAsa-purANa and had spent endless hours talking to each other about history and even enacting it when other youths like … Continue reading →

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A note on the curriculum at takShashila

Posted on February 21, 2007 by mAnasa-taraMgiNI

ST asked me whether takShashila was a bauddha or Hindu university — ekanetra who has a rather large bookish knowledge of history told her that takShashila was a buddhist vihAra. To drive home the point to our inquisitive lady we … Continue reading →

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Babylon and India: Mesopotamian hymns

Posted on February 19, 2007 by mAnasa-taraMgiNI

The great Lokamanya Tilak believed that he saw similarities between the Mesopotamian ritual texts and the vedas, and called the former the “Chaldean Vedas”. He thought that the atharva veda bore words suggesting an influence of these Mesopotamian texts. He … Continue reading →

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vaikhAnasa childhood rites pertaining to kumAra

Posted on February 19, 2007 by mAnasa-taraMgiNI

Childhood rites in connection kumAra, ShaShThi and their gaNa-s are widespread in Hindu tradition. An early example of this offered by the vaikhAnasa tradition. In the ceremony of nAmakaraNa a series of blessings are bestowed on the child by the … Continue reading →

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The greatest temple of shiva

Posted on February 15, 2007 by mAnasa-taraMgiNI

We converged on this issue via a peculiar way –We were blessed after many years to enjoy the sUpa-kalA of ST. For our tongues, which are dead as that of the prince of shrI-lanka in the Indian pleasure house, it … Continue reading →

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Chatting with ST and more averaging experiments

Posted on February 14, 2007 by mAnasa-taraMgiNI

We were hemmed in by the terrible fury of vAta and rudra which gave us an excuse to squander time as we used to do in our days of youth with ST who was similarly holed up in our regions … Continue reading →

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Three enigmatic vedic tales

Posted on February 11, 2007 by mAnasa-taraMgiNI

The yaj~na went away from the devas in the form of viShNu, and entered the earth. The devas searched him by digging with their hands. indra passed over him. viShNu asked: “who has passed over me?” [indra]: “I am he … Continue reading →

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Pheromones of humans and other vertebrates

Posted on February 10, 2007 by mAnasa-taraMgiNI

1) 2-methylbut-2-enal: The rabbit milk pheromone. Induced nipple search behavior of pups and directs them towards the nipples of the mother. Given that rabbits feed their young only once a day this behavior is critical for survival. 2) (methylthio)methanethiol: Mouse … Continue reading →

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The puzzling amnesia

Posted on February 7, 2007 by mAnasa-taraMgiNI

A number of threads suddenly converged in this direction:Sharada mentioned that some scholarly advaitins on a web-list saw similarity between Sufism and advaita! She said it is really interesting that these scholarly Hindus are so utterly lacking in historical sense. … Continue reading →

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The temporal sequence of texts and emergence of later Hindu deities

Posted on February 4, 2007 by mAnasa-taraMgiNI

The idea here is not trace the history of Hindu deities to their proto-Indo-European past, but only to investigate their relative times of emergence and the chronology of the texts referring to them. Further, all Hindu texts including the vedic … Continue reading →

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TB 2.5.8.12

Posted on February 2, 2007 by mAnasa-taraMgiNI

apaM bhumAnam upa naH sR^ijeha |send down to earth, upon us the showers.yaj~na pratitiShTha sumatau sushevA A tva |You who are favorably established in this Sacrifice, the two well-disposed onesvasUni purudhA vishantu |entering many good forms repeatedlydirgham Ayur yajamanaya kR^iNvan … Continue reading →

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