Tag Archives: Hindu

The Vyomavyāpin in the Pāśupata-tantra and a discursion on nine-fold Rudra-mantra-s

The Pāśupata-tantra is a poorly understood śaiva text that is believed to be affiliated with the Pāśupata tradition of Lakulīśa. While the colophons of some manuscripts present it as “Lakulīśa-pravartita-Pāśupata-tantram”, internally, it presents itself as a teaching of Nandin to … Continue reading

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Bhāskara-II’s polygons and an algebraic approximation for sines of pi by x

Unlike the Greeks, the Hindus were not particularly obsessed with constructions involving just a compass and a straightedge. Nevertheless, their pre-modern architecture and yantra-s from the tāntrika tradition indicate that they routinely constructed various regular polygons inscribed in circles. Of … Continue reading

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Origins of the serpent cult and Bhāguri’s snake installation from the Sāmaveda tradition

Mathuran Nāga installations From the few centuries preceding it down to the first few centuries of the Common Era we see numerous installations of snake deities, i.e., Nāga-s, at various archaeological sites throughout northern India (most famously at the holy … Continue reading

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Two simple stotra-s, sectarian competition, and the Varāha episode from the archaic Skandapurāṇa

The Ur-Skandapurāṇa (SkP) or the “archaic” Skandapurāṇa ( the Bhaṭṭārāi edition known as the Ambikā-khaṇḍa) is a Śaiva text with affinities to the Pāśupata branch of that tradition. Though it is aware of the mantra-mārga traditions like the Mātṛ-tantra-s and … Continue reading

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Cārucitrābhisambodhi

Chakkalal and Mundalal saw that Gannaram Dakiya, the owner of the little eatery, had taken a bit too much of an ethanolic beverage and had forgotten to lock the safe with his phone, cards and some cash. They broke into … Continue reading

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RV 10.78

RV 10.77 and 10.78 are similarly themed sūkta-s to the Marut-s by our ancient clansman Syūmaraśmi Bhārgava. He is mentioned twice by authors within the RV – in RV 1.112.16 by Kutsa Āṅgirasa and in RV 8.52.2 by Āyu Kāṇva. … Continue reading

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The turning of the yugacakra

As the wheel turns, what goes up comes down and what is down comes up, again and again. There is a symmetry to the process in the downward and the upward movements, albeit in opposite directions. The old Hindus, right … Continue reading

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A sampler of Ramanujan’s elementary results and their manifold ramifications

As we have remarked before, Ramanujan seemed as if channeling the world-conquering strides of Viṣṇu, when he single-handedly bridged the lacuna in Hindu mathematics from the days of the brāhmaṇa-s of the Cerapada to the modern era. Starting around the … Continue reading

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The Kaumāra cycle in the Skandapurāṇa’s Śaṃkara-saṃhitā

Many khaṇḍa-s, māhātmya-s and saṃhitā-s attach themselves to the sprawling “Mega-Skandapurāṇa”. We use this term to distinguish it from the “Ur-Skandapurāṇa”, which was first published by Bhaṭṭārāi in the late 1980s and is now known to survive as three related … Continue reading

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Some notes on the Indo-European aspects of the Anatolian tradition

Prolegomenon This section is primarily for students of the old religion who approach it from the Indo-Aryan direction and tend to be less aware of the West Asian material. The Anatolian branch of “Indo-European” (in quotes because this appellation becomes … Continue reading

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The death of Miss Lizzie Willink

Late that spring, Somakhya and Lootika were visited by their mleccha friend Irmhild. Letting her sleep off the jet lag, they left for work. Given the good weather, Lootika returned early to check on their friend and go out with … Continue reading

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Indo-European expansions and iconography: revisiting the anthropomorphic stelae

Was there an early Indo-European iconography? The anthropomorphic stelae There is no linguistic evidence for the presence of iconic or temple worship among the early Indo-Europeans. However, after their migrations, when they settled in the lands of sedentary peoples, they … Continue reading

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Phantom impressions-1

Lootika had gotten her kids engaged with the beauty of the connections between multiplication tables, division and geometry. Leaving them to their labors, she went over to Somakhya’s desk to bring him to join her for the afternoon tea. Lootika … Continue reading

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A note on Śrī, Viṣṇu and śṛṅgāra

yaḥ pūrvyāya vedhase navīyase sumaj-jānaye viṣṇave dadāśati । yo jātam asya mahato mahi bravat sed u śravobhir yujyaṃ cid abhy asat ॥ RV 1.156.2 Whoever repeatedly performs rituals to the wise one to the ancient and the new one, Viṣṇu, … Continue reading

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Are civilizational cycles the norm?

Nearly two and half decades back, we used to have several conversations with a late śūlapuruṣīya professor, mostly on topics with a biological angle. While not a mathematician, he had a passing interest in dynamical systems, for he felt that … Continue reading

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On the rise of the mātṛkā-s and the goddess Cāmuṇḍā

The roots of the mātṛkā-s in the śruti and the Kaumāra tradition The standard list of 7/8 goddesses known as the mātṛkā-s is a hallmark feature of the classical religion: Brāhmī, Māheśvarī, Kaumārī, Vaiṣṇavī, Vārāhī, Indrāṇī, Cāmuṇḍā, sometimes with the … Continue reading

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Huns, Uralics, and empires of the steppe

A map by Savelyev et al. for the geographic orientation of the reader of the below article. The Huns of Europe “The lord of the Huns, King Attila, born of his father Mundzuk, lord of the bravest tribes, who with … Continue reading

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The Rāmāyaṇa in numbers: meters, sarga- and kāṇḍa- structure

In the extant Indo-European textual corpus, only in the Hindu collection do we find two complete early epics to complement the śruti. The Iranian epics come from a much later age than the core Avestan corpus, and in the Greek … Continue reading

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Sneha, snowstorms, the sun and the moon in enigmatic ṛk-s

That the Indo-European homeland was a cold place with snow is evidenced by widespread survival of two hon-homologous words for snow. Recently, a discussion on one of these words, sparked by some linguist, landed on my timeline on Twitter. From … Continue reading

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The strange case of the Āpastamba sprite

This is the second of the two stories that arose from incidents during the visit of Yaśaśravas, Somakhya’s cousin. With the autumnal vacations, Somakhya was having a good time with his visiting cousin, giving him lectures on the theory and … Continue reading

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Agni as the divine commander in the Veda and the Purāṇa

With the Sākamedha-parvan with the oblations to Agni Anīkavat having just passed, we present a brief note on Agni as the general of the deva army. Agni is presented as the commander of the deva-s in the brāhmaṇa literature. For … Continue reading

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The birth defects of Dhṛtarāṣṭra and Pāṇḍu and related matters

This note has its origin in a conversation with Sharada. We originally intended to incorporate the core of it into one of our usual fantastical stories. However, following a second conversation with her, we decided that it might be best … Continue reading

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The rise of Navyonmāda, the subversion of the Mahāmleccha-s, Cīnānusāra and beyond

The past The dynamics of the establishment of the counter-religious unmāda-s are of some interest. The pūrvonmāda of pharaoh Akhenaten arose from the moha in his own head and was imposed on the populace due to his imperial power. It … Continue reading

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Turagapadādi

This note stems from a recent conversation with a friend, where he pointed out that the graph representing all possible positions the horse (knight) can take on the chessboard from a given starting square produces interesting graphs. It struck us … Continue reading

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Twin Āditya-s, twin Rudra-s

This note originated as an intended appendix to the article on Rudra and the Aśvin-s we published earlier. The first offshoot from that work, which we published separately, explored the links between Rudra, Viṣṇu and the Aśvin-s in the śrauta … Continue reading

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Some further notes on the old Mongol religion-2

O fire mother, whose father is flint, whose mother is pebble, whose meal is yellow feather grass, whose life is an elm tree. An incantation to the Fire Goddess Ghalun-eke; translation from the Mongolian by Yönsiyebü Rinchen This note revisits … Continue reading

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Some talks at the Indic Today portal

We had a chat with with C Surendranath, Contributing Editor and (in part with) Yogini Deshpande, Editor in Chief of Indic Today. It is divided into four parts: 1) https://www.indictoday.com/videos/manasataramgini-civilization-counter-religion-continuity-collapse-i/ A few clarifications for this part: 1) We do not … Continue reading

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Matters of religion: Varuṇāvasiṣṇavam, Agnāvasiṣṇavam and the vyahṛti-s

Like the clouds lifting after the monsoonal deluge to unveil the short-lived comforts of early autumn, the metaphorical pall over the nation cast by the engineer’s virus was lifting. Somakhya and Lootika were at the former’s parents’ house, relieved that … Continue reading

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Huntington and the clash: 21 years later

This note is part biographical and part survey of the major geopolitical abstractions that may be gleaned from the events in the past 21 years. Perhaps, there is nothing much of substance in this note but an uninformed Hindu might … Continue reading

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Notes on miscellaneous brāhmaṇa passages from the Yajurveda

The upasthāna ritual is performed to let the sacrificial fire remain in residence after the primary oblations are complete. In the triple-fire śrauta rite this is done at the āhavanīya altar with several incantations specified in the saṃhitā-s of the … Continue reading

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The Aśvin-s and Rudra

The twin Aśvin-s and Rudra are both Indo-Aryan reflexes of two deity-classes which can be reconstructed as likely being present in the Proto-Indo-European religion. Both are likely to have even deeper roots going back to even earlier religious traditions across … Continue reading

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The roots of Vaiṣṇavam: a view from the numerology of Vedic texts

While glorified with a 1000 names in the famous stotra of the early Sātvata tradition of the Mahābharata, in the texts of an even earlier period the god primarily went under that name Viṣṇu. Indeed, even the litany of the … Continue reading

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Matters of religion-3

Lootika seeing Somakhya contemplating something remarked: “That great clash of men is upon us, where, as the śruti says, our flag will be mingled with that of the enemy in close combat.” Somakhya: “It’s almost as if your mind is … Continue reading

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Indo-Iranica: epic ruminations

PDF version of article Prologue We first began our observations on the shared motifs in Indo-Iranian traditions when we were around 8 years of age after our mother introduced us to the Iranian epic, the Šahnāme. Over the years we … Continue reading

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Kaiṭabha, poison and death: meanderings through tradition

For better reading try PDF version The medical Suśruta-saṃhitā, kalpasthāna, chapter 3 contains an unusual mythologem about the origin of poison. It clearly belongs to the Prājāpatya tradition and presents some unusual features. It presented in full below: prajām imām … Continue reading

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The Platonic culmination of Euclid and the pentagon-hexagon-decagon identity

Why did great sage Pāṇini compose the Aṣṭādhyāyī? There were probably multiple reasons but often you hear people say that he wanted to give a complete description of the Sanskrit language. That was probably one of his reasons but was … Continue reading

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Śiva-gaṇa-s and Andhakāsura-vadha in the Vāmana-purāṇa

On Twitter, one of our acquaintances going by the name @GhorAngirasa had a discussion on the significance of the number 66 in śaiva tradition. That reminded us of an unfinished article where we had noted this number in the context … Continue reading

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The maṅgalācaraṇam of the Mānasollāsa

In PDF format A conversation with a friend brought my mind back to the Mānasollāsa, the encyclopedia of the great Cālukya emperor Someśvara-deva. Below is the maṅgalācaraṇam of that work. The last verse is where the author announces himself. There … Continue reading

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A poll on peoples’ beliefs on reincarnation

Using the Twitter’s poll tool we conducted a poll which gave the below results: Reincarnation happens: Believe so but there is no evidence for it: 52% Sure, have the evidence for it: 20% No, just mumbo-jumbo: 11% Do not know: … Continue reading

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A note on āmreḍita-s in the Ṛgveda and issues of word distribution

sa darśataśrīr atithir gṛhe-gṛhe vane-vane śiśriye takvavīr iva । janaṃ-janaṃ janyo nāti manyate viśa ā kṣeti viśyo viśaṃ-viśam ॥ RV 10.91.2 by Aruṇa Vaitahavya He, with visible auspiciousness, a guest in house after house, in forest after forest lurking like … Continue reading

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Sītā in the pyre

It was quiet, early Saturday evening. Vidrum, Jukuta, Sharvamanyu and Lootika were hanging out on the parkway of Somakhya’s house. They had assembled there for some curricular preparation on differentiation. Somakhya and Lootika had covered the chain rule and the … Continue reading

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Frustrations and ramblings ensuing from Cretaceous amber

Time and again I have been frustrated by the inability of Hindus to make the most of the riches that are available in their own land or right next to them. One such case is that of Cretaceous amber from … Continue reading

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Of lives of men; of times of men-II

Of lives of men; of times of men-I Vidrum: “When we attended the discussions at the Right Wing Debate club we heard the president Rammandir Mishra repeatedly emphasize that South Asian civilization was not a ‘history-centric’ civilization and that history-centricism … Continue reading

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Of lives of men; of times of men-I

Sharvamanyu and Vidrum arrived at the campus where Somakhya and Lootika were in their final days of college. Sharvamanyu had already been working for several months while Vidrum had just completed the last but one of his major exams for … Continue reading

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A note on the asterisms forming the nakṣatra-s

In Hindu tradition the ecliptic is divided into 27 parts of which correspond to 27 asterisms known as the nakṣatra-s. In the earliest extant layers of our tradition this number is 28 implying division into sectors of or insertion of … Continue reading

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loka-nīti-carcā

pdf in Devanāgari (loka-nIticharchA) vijaya-nāma mahā-mlecchānām bahuprajāvān bahupatnīvāṃś ca vyāpārī gṛha-krayāc chailūṣa-pradarśanāc ca mahādhany abhavat । sa marūnmattair abhibhṛtāṃ pūrvatana-mleccha-rāja-patnīm atikrāntvā rāja-nirvācanam ajayata । so ‘bhavat mlecchādhipatiḥ । virodhakās tasya+anekāḥ । tasya vijayasya ca paṭṭābhiṣekasyānantaraṃ vṛṣṭy-ante puttikā ivo(u)tplavante bahavaḥ saṃkṣobhakāḥ … Continue reading

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Matters of religion: “he becomes Naravāhanadatta”

Somakhya’s mother (SM) and Lootika’s mother (LM) ran into each other during their visit to the shrine of Rudra beside the river on a Monday evening. They sat at the platform below the vast aśvattha tree beside the subsidiary Viṣṇu … Continue reading

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Syllable, number and rules in the ideal realm

This note is neither meant to be complete exposition of this matter nor a complete view of all what we have realized in this regard. Nor can it be completely understood by those who are not insiders of the tradition. … Continue reading

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Some meanderings among golden stuff

There are some angles that we often encounter in the construction of the golden ratio and its use in religious art. The first is the most obvious is the angle which is the angle made by the diagonals connecting a … Continue reading

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Some words on “para-Rāmāyāṇa-s”-I

I use the hybrid Greek-Sanskrit word para-rāmāyāṇa for all rāma-kathā-s other than that of Vālmīki. These span a great diversity of literature going back to relatively early times in Indo-Aryan tradition. Lots of people have said a lot of things … Continue reading

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A commentary on the vairin-s and the like of Viṣṇuśarman’s tradition

In one sense Viṣṇuśarman’s political presentation was nothing short of revolutionary. One may rightly ask: why so? One could say after all he was merely encapsulating in tales the principles already laid out by the ancient ārya-s and thoroughly presented … Continue reading

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An astronomical interpretation of the anaḍvān sūkta

This may be seen as a continuation of this note: Anatomy and heavens in the boomorphic universe. The anaḍvān sūkta is an enigmatic sūkta from the Atharvaveda which falls in the same class as other sūkta-s which describe a “boomorphic” … Continue reading

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Food and drink at the sea-side bacchanal of the yadu-s

Sections 2.88-89 of the Harivaṃśa (Viṣṇuparvan) gives a graphic description of the bacchanal of the yadu-s at the sea-side or their celebration of the samudrotsava. It has a beautiful ring to it and gives a feel for the festive culinary … Continue reading

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The giants among the lilliputs

For long, despite protestations and assertions to the contrary, people have known that men are all not born equal. There are few men who tower over the rest in one or more of the axes of distinction. For over a … Continue reading

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Some notes on the heathen Lithuania and its demise

Clinging to the inner coast of northern Europe lies Lithuania, a nation which at best only marginally figures in the Hindu historical and geographical consciousness. Conquered twice by the Soviet “empire” it had all but ceased to exist as an … Continue reading

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Der singende Knochen: śūlapuruṣāṇāṃ śūletyādi

That afternoon Vidrum was returning with a bunch of other friends whom he had taken through a tough course of climbing at a hilly locale. As they neared a certain road, he, Sharvamanyu, Somakhya and Lootika bade good bye to … Continue reading

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A note on lost Śaiva centers: consideration of examples from Magadha and Vaṅga

To be read in conjunction with this handout: Harihara in the Indosphere One of the poorly understood but immensely important facets of Hindu history is the role of the saiddhāntika Śaiva-s in the cultural unification of the Indosphere within the … Continue reading

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A note on the agrarian management in Hindavi svarājya

The great rājan, the founder of the last Hindu empire, can only be effectively compared to one figure in history, namely Chingiz Kha’khan. Both displayed the rare combination of military and administrative genius that in rarely manifest simultaneously in a … Continue reading

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The ghosts of Tulagiri

Vrishchika was taking a few days off to visit her parents’ town before proceeding with her fellowship. Lootika had nearly completed moving her lab to Somakhya’s institute. She was happy that they could finally be together for good again and … Continue reading

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Matters of religion-1

Indrasena had arrived at the house of Somakhya and Lootika for learning mysterious matters of religion. Entering their fire-room he saw Somakhya seated beside the square altar on a mat of bovine skin and Lootika seated beside the circular altar … Continue reading

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A reiteration regarding the heart of the fundamental conflict

We are somewhat zealous in recycling unused bits of writing lending a certain pleonastic touch to the material presented here. We are placing herewith a bit of unused writing concerning the topic on which we have just written a note, … Continue reading

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A note on the early expansions of the Indo-Europeans

There have been a whole lot of developments in ancient human genomics that have more or less solved key issues pertaining to the early Indo-European expansions. We would like to discuss these but then it would need a long article … Continue reading

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A geopolitical round up: last week of Nov 2015

Many turns of the sun ago, when we were still a kid in school, we had some classmates who had an unbridled admiration and enthusiasm for the Anglosphere and a rather deep-seated self-identification with it. While their English had little … Continue reading

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Rudra’s portion of the ritual offering, the Kaṭha Āraṇyaka and the Atharvaśiras: a brief journey through early śaiva thought

A version of this article was published first at India Facts There is a persistent motif of the deva Rudra (Śiva) being originally refused ritual offerings of the yajña to which the other deva-s were entitled. Rudra eventually acquires his … Continue reading

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The social, phantasmagorical and historical journey

It was some time just before the first vacations of Somakhya and Lootika’s first year in the pre-university college. Lootika’s family was visiting a nearby temple of the massive ape Hanūmat on a Saturday evening. In the sabhā-gṛha of the … Continue reading

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Pāṇini, Xuanzang, and Tolkāppiyaṉ: some legends and history

A slightly modified version of article was originally published at IndiaFacts Pāṇini stands at the pinnacle of Hindu intellectual achievement. His sūtra-pāṭha may be considered a monument in the same league as the invention of the śūṇya-based numeral system for … Continue reading

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A brief note on animal heads, Celtic human sacrifice, and Indo-European tradition

Our illustrious ancestor Dadhyaṅc Ātharvaṇa is supposed to have possessed privileged knowledge from the great Indra that even the twin gods, the Aśvin-s, sought to get it from him. However, speaking out this secret knowledge would have cost him his … Continue reading

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Indo-European miscellany: The Karṇa class of motifs

As we have said many times before most Hindus, despite being the last holders of the Indo-European tradition, have done little in recent times to use their unique position to develop further understanding of their ancestral system. In large part … Continue reading

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The ponderous tale of the tombstones

“Since you are recording the diverse Vaidruma-s would you record the tombstone variation? While other matters like the sloths of South America, the megalithic culture of India, cave paintings, or even WW2 might be more interesting to the occasional reader … Continue reading

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Exploring the history of Hindu festivals: the ancient strands of Holākā

Updated version of article published originally at IndiaFacts In Hindu tradition there is a clear demarcation of at least three distinct classes of ritual observances: 1) The most conservative of these are the śrauta rituals that deviate little from their … Continue reading

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Comet Lovejoy, C/2014 Q2

On pauṣa kṛṣṇapakṣa 11, kali 5115 (16th Jan 2015) around 8.10 PM, braving the cold of the height of winter (felt like -5°C) we caught sight of śvetaketu in the constellation of Taurus near the 6 mothers of our patron … Continue reading

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Notices of Hūṇa-s in kāvya and an excursus on their origins and ethnicity

This article was originally published in a slightly modified form at IndiaFacts. Starting sometime shortly before 200BCE all the way down to the 7th century of the common era, there occurred a series of irruptions of Inner Asiatic peoples, who … Continue reading

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Polycentrism, the many-one problem and the roots of yoga

An updated version of our earlier ramblings first published at: http://www.indiafacts.co.in/polycentrism-many-one-problem-roots-yoga/ One of the central problems Hindus face on the intellectual battlefield is articulating their position vis-a-vis the stances of their Abrahamistic foes. An important aspect of this problem is … Continue reading

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The dance of the bhairava

bhairava on a cadaver from Nepal netrAku~nchana-sAraNa-krama-kR^ita-pravyakta-naktaM dino dik-chakrAnta-visarpi-sallari-saTA-bhArAvaruddhAmbaraH | hasta-nyasta-kapAla-kandara-darI-muktAbhra-dhArAH pibann unmukta-dhvani-bhinna-karNa-kuharaH kravyAd ayaM nR^ityati || netra= eye; Aku~nchana= closing; sAraNa= opening; krama= periodic; kR^ita= act; pravyakta= manifest; naktaM= night; dinaH= day; dik= direction; chakra= circle; anta= ends; [dikchakrAnta= … Continue reading

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Some comparative considerations on the Indo-European religion with a focus on the Roman religion

Studies on the Roman religion The Roman religion is important for our understanding of the early Indo-European religion which forms the basis of our own religion, tradition, and identity. Unfortunately, the religions of the western branches of Indo-European were destroyed … Continue reading

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A zarathuShtrian exit at a Hindu funeral

This note continues with the examples we have been providing on these pages illustrating the role of the kavi as a naturalist or an observer of nature. The verse below is a macabre one composed by one of  the greatest … Continue reading

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Some meanderings on early medieval history from the view point of nAstika compositions

A image of the goddess vajreshvarI from a Dilwara temple built by a jaina banker-businessman of the chAlukya period later embellished by bhAmA sAH This epistle is a brief discussion on the socio-political developments in early medieval India emerging from … Continue reading

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A mysterious verse of a siddha

The siddha tirumUlar or sundarnAtha is supposed to have journeyed from Kashmir to the Tamil country to teach a distinctive flavor of the shaiva mantramArga, which is encapsulated in his famous but obscure tirumantiram. While the tirumantiram is widely known … Continue reading

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The erotic, the warlike and the imperial in the tantra age

The primary paurANika text of the shrI-kula tradition is the famed lalitopAkhyAnam, which is tagged to the brahmANDa purANam. The text describes the exploits of the central deity of the shrI-kula system, tripurasundarI, who is simultaneously praised as simultaneously erotic: … Continue reading

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Some notes on the extra-military aspects of the Islamo-Hindu confrontation

Under the modern Indian practice of secularism it is common to hold the view that Mohammedanism and the sanAtana dharma can come close together to forge something termed as the Indian identity. Abroad, especially in the Anglosphere, it is common … Continue reading

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Idiosyncratic synesthetic experiences in some trivial trigonometric identities

Mathematical objects, despite existing in a purely abstract “Platonic” realm, have the ability (perhaps by the very virtue of their Platonic idealism) to produce synesthetic experiences. We have often wondered in our life as to why the realization or experience … Continue reading

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Some comments of on the vyapohana stava and its pantheon

The vyapohana stava is an important saiddhAntika purificatory incantation. It may be compared with other works composed by deshika-s of the Urdhvasrotas such as: 1) the vyomavApistava of the Kashmirian commentator bhaTTa rAmakANTha-II; 2) the shiva-pUjA-stava of j~nAnashambhu, a scholar … Continue reading

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The successors of the kaunteya-s in the national memory of bhArata-s and bhoTa-s and related discursions

As per the mahAbharata, the great war on the kuru field came to a conclusion with the smashing of duryodhana’s thighs by bhIma. While balarAma wanted to kill bhIma for unfairly defeating the kuru prince in the gadAyuddha, kR^iShNa convinced … Continue reading

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Anatomy and heavens in the boomorphic universe

The bovine species lay at the center of the existence of the early Indo-Aryan. After all he owed his very success in history to the strength of milk. Hence, rather appropriately payas means both milk and strength in saMskR^ita. Not … Continue reading

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A brief note on prahlAda, hiraNyakashipu and an early nArasiMhAkhyAna

The daitya-s prahrAda/prahlAda and virochana are known in the veda itself. The killing of prahlAda and his clan by indra in a battle in the high heavens is alluded to in more than one post-RV vaidika text. This great battle … Continue reading

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A Sayyid kills a Kashmirian yogin

The Kashmirian brAhmaNa jonarAja wrote a rAjataraMgiNi describing the rule of various Moslem tyrants in Kashmira after the end of Hindu rule. He is rather laudatory in his description of the Sultan Zayn al Abidin (reign 1418-1470 CE), who is … Continue reading

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The mayAbheda sUkta: a discursion

In the great pravargya ritual the mAhAvIra pot containing the milk of a cow and a goat, i.e. the gharma offering, is intensely heated until it starts glowing. When the pot starts glowing the hotar looks at it starts reciting … Continue reading

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Time, world history, or the lack thereof

Many years ago in our old home we came across a book won by the bhArgava-trasadasyau in a contest that had the biographies of many a Euro-American figure. At that point we were impressed by certain threads in the German … Continue reading

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Vignettes of the wisdom of the kuru and the pa~nchAla

The defining element of our identity was the formation of the rAShTra by the kuru and the pa~nchAla, the foremost of the bhArata clans. It is the legacy of this rAShTra of the bhArata-s, rather than documents like the constitution … Continue reading

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A record of the nAstika attack on hi~NgulA

Hindu historical tradition holds that bauddha-s of the sindhu had made common cause with the the Arab marUnmatta-s as they launched invasion after invasion into jambudvIpa. This is not entirely surprising given that the bauddha-s (at least the sthaviravAdin-s) from … Continue reading

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Some anti-Astika stories of the jaina-s

The nAstika-s, smarting from their poor performance relative to the sanAtana-dharma, resorted to several distinct tactics: imitation, appropriation and distortion. But one of the problems they faced was that their hard-won converts tended to lapse back into the Astika ground … Continue reading

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kumAra gAthA

jaya atula-shakti dIdhiti pi~njara | bhuja-daNDa-chaNDa-raNa-rabhasa | sura-vadana kumuda-kAnana-vikAsanendo kumAra | jaya ditija-kula-mahodadhi-vaDavAnala | ShaNmukha madhura-rava-mayUra-ratha | sura-mukuTa-koTi-ghaTTita-charaNa-nakhA~Nkura mahAsana | jaya lalita-chUDa kalApa-nava-vimala-dala-kamala-kAnta | daitya-vaMsha-duHsaha-dAvAnala | jaya vishAkha vibho | jaya sakala-loka-tAraka | jaya devasenA-nAyaka skanda | jaya gaurI-nandana ghaNTApriya … Continue reading

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A brief note on the Spitzer manuscript and related issues

In his famed kAvya the buddhacharita, ashvagoSha states that when the tathAgata was about to renounce the world he had an “akShaya-dharma-jAta-rAgaH”, i.e., a “passion” of the indestructible dharma was born in him. When we encountered this term we realized … Continue reading

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A Hindu polemic against the pretamata

When the English gained ascendancy after the defeat of the marATha-s and the sikh-s they had gained military control over India but they knew well that their hold was still tenuous. Hence, in the period leading to the first war … Continue reading

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Some notes on the shaiva temple celebrations and an excursus on the fishing, diving and hunting festivals of rudra

An integral aspect of the life of the post-Vedic Hindu community was participation in the temple celebrations. It was considered highly beneficial in the tAntrika tradition, both to the individual and the community, and helps explain the basic premises of … Continue reading

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The vaishvadeva riddle of manu

In 8th maNDala of the R^igveda there is famous vaishvadeva riddle of father manu vaivasvata (RV 8.29) in the peculiar partial virAT (dvipada virAT) meter. In our tradition the one who identifies all the deva-s in it becomes the knower … Continue reading

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Macranthropy and the saMbandha-s between microcosm and macrocosm

May we first invoke indra that he might drive away the obstructions to the study: vajraM yash chakre suhanAya dasyave hirImasho hirImAn | arutahanur adbhutaM na rajaH || The thunderbolt, which he of golden mane and golden frame bore down … Continue reading

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prabhAvatI in puruShapura and nAstika myth-making

The nAstika teacher paramArtha who operated in midst of the chIna-s ~525-569 CE, wrote a hagiography of the famous dharmAcharya vasubandhu of puruShapura (modern Peshawar in the Islamic terrorist state). In this hagiography he gives a sthalapaurANika account for puruShapura … Continue reading

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The conversion

It was many many moons ago. We were seated upon the wall near the viShTa-parvata when the kR^iShNa-shUdra materialized in front of us. He was looking agitated. Just a few days before the English teacher had asked the class to … Continue reading

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Geopolitics of the tantra age: an attempt at a blunt assessment

The va~Nga-paNDita placed the following issue before ekanetra and me. He had seen a somewhat convergent theory amongst both Hindus and Hindu-haters. We lay this out as some kind of pUrva-pakSha for further study. -The beginning in the gupta age … Continue reading

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