Monthly Archives: March 2012

saMmelana song of the vIra

It was the saMmelana of the holders of the kapAla in the great shmashAna of kollagiri, in quest of mahAnaya. We were reclined in the haze of the pyres; the embrace of our dUtI fanning the inner fires; the fire … Continue reading

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Hindu “butterfly effect” tales

Lorenz is supposed to have said that a flap of a butterfly might end up in a hurricane weeks later. In his retelling of the pa~nchatantra, vasubhAga has several such childish tales (2.13, 2.14 and 2.15). 2.13: Once a group … Continue reading

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ghR^itaM and khristós: Did the Greeks lose ghee?

vayaM nAma pra bravAmA ghR^itasyAsmin yaj~ne dhArayAmA namobhiH | upa brahmA shR^iNavach ChasyamAnaM chatuH shR^i~Ngo .avamId gaura etat || RV 4.58.2 Let us proclaim the name of ghee and hold it up with homage at this ritual. Let the brahman … Continue reading

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A page from the chIna-Tibet encounter

A wordy exchange between a chIna general and a Tibetan minister during the height of the great Tibetan-Chinese contest in the Kokonor region in the late 600s of the common era. The chIna-s were always conscious of applying their numerical … Continue reading

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Meanderings in the vedAnta-nAstika interface

One of the central figures of classical advaita vedAnta is the AchArya gauDapAda. Hagiographic tradition holds that gauDacharaNa was the paramaguru of the great advaitAchArya shaMkara bhagavatpAda (and guru of govinda bhagavatpAda). This is confirmed by shaMkara in his concluding … Continue reading

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