Sacred Sojourns: Songs of Vitthal (A Musical Journey in Faith)

"The Flag of Ananta (In Sugriva's Footsteps)" - by Mitra Desai

The main theme or the backdrop of this book is to bring people's attention to Sugriva's atlas/map; as detailed out in Valmiki Ramayan, the first original epic explaining Sri Rama's life. As in her first book, the central concept of this book is woven round a bhartiya naari trying to decipher her ancient roots, skeptical at first, but slowly getting comfortable with awesome facts, research thrown at her as time goes by. The same writing style was followed by Mitra Desai in her earlier book as well.
The story revolves around 'Bhuvaneshwari', who is a BA History student; also a trained kalari and martial arts person. Due to a sudden time-travel experience, Bhvaneshwari's close relatives help her to reveal some of the most astounding facts and geographical connotations hidden in the Ramayan literature. The protagonist, initially skeptical of the details highlighted in our epics, grows curious and continues her quest for the facts and stumbles upon various advances made in the interpretation of the geography of the Ramayana. Along the way, many ancient maps (esp. the Piri Reis Map), ancient petro glyphs, tribal people depictions help her unravel the truths hidden in plain sight in the Valmiki Ramayan. 

As for the story, which is written in an engaging style, busts many myths and wrong understanding of the Ramayana details - like for e.g, the meaning of 'vanaras' is one thing that stood out for me personally, the book clearly brings out what the term "vaanara" meant and with facts weeds out all related events which are dependent on the wrong interpretation of this word. As written by Venkatesh Rangan in the back cover, this book is a MUST READ!

Mitra Desai's writing has improved considerably from her first book "Sitala", the description of which I have covered in an earlier section.

"The Rishi Tradition of Bharat" - by Dr. Sampadananda Mishra

Bought this book as I have immense respect for the work being done by Dr. Sampadananda Mishra ji. I first heard him in a talk at IISc, how Sanskrit is an absolute gem. It was one Saturday afternoon and I was at the fag end of my PhD and it was just before COVID. See the twitter post here - https://x.com/IISc_CSP/status/1234518558656253958
He gave a talk on March 6th 2020, ten days for lockdown. His talk that day invigorated the thought in me to set towards understanding sanskrit, and our bhartiya culture in general. I bought this book of Mishra ji in the same thought, to continue my studies into our samskriti.
This book stands true to the title and gives out life details and rishi vaakyas, rishi's contributions in the vedas, of various Rishis of bharat till the current age. He also explains who is a rishi and how one can identify modern rishis. One can think about this book as a compendium into how Bhaarat is a land of rishis and truly, the rishi rna is something that we must all be cognizant about. One can feel it, understand and realize it if one has lived a bhaartiya life. 

'The Walking Brahmin' - by Maneesh Madhukar Godbole

( Reading of this book done in Pitru Paksha 2024, finished reading this book in record 7 days!)

'The Walking Brahmin' is a compelling retelling of माझा प्रवास by Vishnubhat Godse, a Brahmin from Varsai who travelled to Gwalior, Jhansi, Kanpur, Kashi and surrounding areas in 1857. His Marathi memoirs of what he saw of the 1857 war were published in 1907. 

This is a translated version of the memoirs, but the author has made it more presentable. He has included maps of the complete route followed by the Godses', their family history and added an epilogue as well. Also the whole memoir is in third person!

Being ritual practicing Brahmins, Vishnubhat Godse and his uncle Rambhat Godse set out on a completely uncertain journey to Mathura (via Gwalior). They see this journey as their only way to earn some money (by doing homas and other rituals at Mathura yajna) and pay off family debts. Their journey takes them to Pune, Mahu, Indor, Gwalior (across the Satpuda/Shatpura range of mountains) and into the heart of the 1857 war. They happen to be in the wrong places at the wrong times. Though they had the option to return home after reaching Gwalior., the fear of not being able to fully pay back the family debts make them go even further in order to find work and make enough money from daan and dakshina. Their initial plan was to attend a yajna organized by the Gwalior queen (at Mathura), but midway when the 1857 rebellion breaks out, this yajna gets cancelled. This is when the Godses' find themselves at Gwalior stranded, not knowing what to do. They take the hasty decision of travelling to Jhansi and end up seeing the attack on Jhansi and the Rani's counter attack on British and the complete siege of Jhansi. When they escape unharmed they decide to move to place called Kalpi, then Lucknow, Kanpur, Banda etc. Bad luck follows them everywhere and they mostly end up in tough situations and see the 1857 war at very close quarters. They also face innumerable challenges to sustain, being without food for days, surviving the British atrocities, escaping a close call from getting hanged, being robbed of all money, belongings etc. Through all this hardship, their belief in almighty stands out and they try to do their dharma/karma wherever possible. 

Being Brahmins not trained in warfare, they are unable to fight but their journey has given us a survivor's account of what really happened during the 1857 war (the first war of Independence). Their detailed account clearly brings out the following facts about 1857 war and people during that era:

1. People were religious and had immense faith in dharma/karma and almighty

2. They were extremely fit and had immense physical capability, several orders of magnitude when compared to our generation of Indians. This can be gathered from the sheer distances that the Godses travelled on foot, inspite of all harsh weather conditions. Our generation of Indians is so pampered and unfit. We are truly a blessed lot, compared to what our ancestors have gone through. Just for this, I feel Pitru Paksha is not just a ritual, it has deep meaning and huge emotional value attached to it. It justifies the fact that every generation gets to enjoy the riches generated by the older generations and every generation gets that headway from the previous generations! One generation gives it life to the next and the cycle continues. We bow and pay our respects to this cycle of life and the experience/learning of our previous generations (that has helped us grow). 

3. Coming to the 1857 war, it indeed was the first war of independence [and not a sepoy mutiny, as the Brits call it]. Though it started with a reason which angered the Indian soldiers working in the British army, it later took on a shape which gave rise to Kashtriyas like Tatya Tope, Rani lakshmibai of Jhansi. 

4. One thing that clearly stands out in the war is the lack of unity, organization among Indian kings. Most of the kingdoms south of Jhansi were pro-British which is what made it unsuccessful. Only Tatya Tope, the Peshwas and Rani Lakshmibai fought till the end without relenting. And moreover, it was mainly concentrated in and around Jhansi and never reached down south. Had it spread like wildfire and been more extensive, the British would have been probably defeated. But unity, as always has never been our cup of tea. Stands true even today. We are a cursed land in this respect. Right since the time of Chanakya, who upheld unity of all kingdoms at the highest pedestal (and advised people on it), we have been under-performing in this aspect. We clearly need to change.

'The Beautiful Tree' - by Sri Dharampal - book review

'The Beautiful Tree' by Sri Dharampal is the fourth book in the 'Dharampal Classics Series' curated by Rashtroththana Sahitya.  This book presents document-proof based picture of indigenous or 'bhartiya' educational scenario of the time period 1800-1900. 

This book extensively quotes the three major surveys carried out in the Indian subcontinent by the British Administration. These surveys are from Madras Presidency (covers 1820s), Bengal and Bihar (covers 1830s) and Punjab (covers 1850-1882), all the three collectively covering the whole 19th century. The observations from the survey and selected documents from them are reproduced in the book. The observations are carried out on various aspects  -like the number of schools in each village, district, number of higher-learning centres, the number of males and females registered in schools, books taught, subjects taught, caste-wise division of students (!), language-wise division etc. All these parameters are compared with the statistics available for the same-era British education scenario. It also extensively explains the funding/revenue sources for the schools and institutes of higher learning. It also comprehensively covers the letter exchanges between a Brit official Mr. Philip Hartog and MK Gandhi regarding the state of education in India and how Britain has made India more illiterate than when they weren't in control of India. 

The book touches upon various aspects of Bhartiya education, how it was when the British had just entered India, what caused it's downfall from there on. The glimpse is enough to show that even after the onslaught of Islamic invasions, education in India was of the highest order. Further, it was also rooted to the culture, as is clearly seen from the subjects taught at these schools. It is sad to know how British cleverly destroyed it and uprooted this 'Beautiful Tree'. This book teaches us how we should see the past, leran from it and try to streamline our current education scenario, which is heavily colonized version. Also, the author remarks that going back to the complete bhartiya education model may not be feasible now and hopefully we can find useful and feasible elements of it which can be merged into our current education model.

The book is voluminous and tough to cover in one reading!

Makar Sankranti

In Sanatana Dharma (a.k.a Hinduism in present day) has a solid foundation in science. The rituals, practices are all grounded in firm scientific principles - most of our festivals celebrate one or the other aspect of nature. Makar Sankranti is the pinnacle of such festivals. Today, in the present generation - touted as a harvest festival, it's basically a festival celebrating a celestial event - yes, heard it right - 'celebrating'. The celestial event in consideration is the transition (Sankranti) of Sun (Surya/Aditya/ etc etc) to Makar (Capricorn) Constellation. This transition is a result of the revolution of earth around the Sun. If in gross terms we see Sun as a fixed body, the earth's revolution brings it a certain position such when the Sun is viewed, it always has the Makara 'raashi' in the background (for 1 Solar month, i.e.). See the pic below:

There are 12 Sankranthis in a year corresponding to the Sun being seen in the foreground of each of the 12 raashis. However, only the Makara sankranthi is celebrated as it shows that the Earth is certainly going to experience Uttarayan 😀 (as though this is not a certain event!). Hinduism, I tell you, is a refined/perfected human exploration that it leaves no chances to amaze. 

The most famous dish or food ingredients that every Hindu eats on this day are sesame seeds ('Til', 'Yellu'), jaggery ('Gud', 'Bella'). Sesame seeds, which have enormous significance in Ayurveda, is considered a representation of Saturn ('Shani') and Jaggery (made from sugarcane) is a representation of Sun. They are eaten together either as a mixture or as sweets ('TilGud', 'Tilkut') which signifies the 'union' of Sun and Saturn. Now, why is this done? Makara raashi is known as the house of Saturn and Sun 'enters' this raashi - he enters the House of one of his sons! So, to mark this union, tilkut, til and bella mixture are eaten all over India. This is a common thread/aspect that binds the whole country and civilization. The same aspect, in different forms, all pointing to the same overarching goal - celebrating the Sun entering a constellation - isn't it wonderful?

For more details - see this video by Rapper Pandit (@RapperPandit) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fgVCyVTW8iU&t=492s and follow the Twitter thread - https://twitter.com/RapperPandit/status/1746418115557404675

However, there is some correction needed in our calculations. When viewed with night sky apps, the sun is still far away from Makara rashi - it is around ~8-10 days away from entering Makar (Capricorn). This is mainly because of the wobbling effect of Earth. So when is real Makar Sankranti i.e. when will sun enter Makar?   Around Jan 22nd 😀😀😀😀

Makara sankranthi is often also associated with Uttarayan - the logic used to hold - the coincidence was long back in around 320 A.D when both events used to coincide. Now, no longer so. 

Our Earth's wobbling (not rotation) is slowly changing equinoxes. Hence Uttarayan (which is winter solstice) is no longer in Jan. It probably was the case in Gupta era when our astronomy was at its peak, not now. 

By 2040, winter solstice would move further away from Dec 22 to Dec 20. In 14000 years, we will have winter solstice in June and Summer Solstice in December. Our pole star would no longer be static too. 

This is due to Earth 's slow wobbling that takes 28000 years to complete. So now the two events - Sun entering Makar(Capricorn) and Uttarayan (winter solstice) no longer coincide. Hence it is better we use the term 'Makara Sankranthi' only and desist from using Uttarayan for the same.  A look at the daylight durations in December 2023 and January 2024 will confirm this. The shortest day in India was on Dec 23, 2023. (see here - https://www.timeanddate.com/sun/india/bengaluru?month=12&year=2023). This implies Uttarayn happened on Dec 24, 2023. Hence, our Indic Renaissance needs "corrected" calendars !!!!! See a discussion here - https://twitter.com/OnlyNakedTruth/status/1746746194901246273.

Winter 2023 Trip to Andaman and Nicobar

Andaman and Nicobar Islands are part of India and located east of the mainland in the Bay of Bengal. These Islands lie rough on the same longitude as east Bangladesh. 

Though these islands find mention in Ramayana, they have been developed only in 1800s and been part of our country only after Independence. Developed majorly by Britishers for their vested interests (read as cellular jail), it has been heavily developed as a tourist destination after 1960s. Currently, it's development is on par with any other tourist destination in India, which is quite remarkable, considering that it is very far away from the mainland.

Let's look at the map first, the Andaman and Nicobar islands are a cluster of islands, having two major groups - the Andaman group and the Nicobar group. As I assume, Andaman is well developed compared to Nicobar, due to obvious geographical location. Nicobar may be slightly isolated, though places there also have been renamed. But majority of the flights from mainland India only connect to Port Blair.

The above map shows only the Andaman cluster of Islands. We (Swapnil, Shwetha, Manish, Anaya, Ganesh, Priyanka, Tanvi, Trisha, me) mainly visited Port Blair, Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose island (prev. Ross Island), Swaraj deep (Prev. Havelock island) and Shaheed Dweep (prev. Neil Island). The trip duration was for a week, though to cover more places one requires more days, because there are lot of things to see.

One thing I am proud of, this trip was done taking the help of all modes of transport -  by air, on water, on road. I flew into Port Blair from Bengaluru (Indigo operates here) on 6th Dec 2023. It is 2.5 hour flight from Bengaluru and as announced by the captain the distance covered was 1200 miles (approx 1600 km). It is indeed far! All others arrived at the airport around the same time as I arrived and we all took a cab to our hotel (far from the main city market area as we realized later). Night was spent in just roaming around and visiting Corbyn's cove, a small beach near our hotel. The next day we went to NSCB dweep and North Bay island. Both these islands are visible from Port Blair flag point and a ferry from flag point takes tourists to these two islands one after the other. The ferry gives an hour of time for tourists to see NSCB island after which the same ferry will continue towards North Bay Island. At north bay island, around 3hours time is given to explore. Tourists are advised to join the same ferry on the way back (they have an organized way of keeping track of tourists for safety reasons). 

NSCB island has lot of British-era office buildings (now in ruins), a beautiful lighthouse and lot of deers which freely roam around on the island. It is a very small island and can be fully explored in an hour. North bay island is famous for water activities like snorkelling, scuba diving, sea walking, and glass boat rides. These activities are well organized with fixed prices and ample facilities for changing clothes, eateries etc. Also activities as I experienced are very safely done with an instructor explaining all safety tips and communication signs before the dive/snorkeling/scuba diving etc. Also each person has 1 instructor accompanying. If a tourist does not want to go with the activity after the instruction session, money is refunded! Quite good, I would say.

The next two days were spent in Swaraj dweep, where we arrived at using a ferry from Port Blair. This island is north of Port Blair and the Govt ferry that we took was extremely good with a top open deck for viewing.  Though the ticket buying system is extremely erratic (the site allows only few days before journey), only Swapnil could crack it and book the tickets on time. Even for Swaraj to Shaheed dweep he was successful in booking Govt ferry tickets. Though this luck did not last for Neil to Port Blair journey, where we went on a private ferry service (named Makruzz). Swaraj dweep has excellent beaches (Radhanagar beach being one of them) which are well maintained. Also to reach one of the beaches (Elephant beach) we also did a small nature walk which was a trek to remember! It was a trail full of wet mud and slippery slopes (adventurous), but worth it! Elephant beach has again lot of water activities with very good facilities. The next two daya was spent in Shaheed dweep which again has very good beaches for both sunrise and sunset. Our hotel in Shaheed dweep was close to sunrise beach and we had the luck to get to see a very good sunrise. The sunset beach (Lakshmanpur beach) was unqiue and mesmerizing with unique movement of waves. All beaches that we visited in Andaman were extremely well kept and clean even though crowd volume is high, and also not very commercialized like in Goa. 

After this we returned to Port Blair to see Cellular jail, chidiya tapu and flag point. Also did lot of souvenir shopping both days. Staying near flag point is beneficial as it is close to many important tourist spots and restaurants. This trip mainly had beach darshan but Andaman has more to offer. With more time, one can visit mud volcanoes and limestone caves in Baratang, which is middle andaman. The route to Baratang is also unique as it goes though forests inhabited by Jarawa tribes. This is a guarded place with tourists allowed only in cars and accompanied by patrol vehicles. It is a journey worth doing though it requires one complete day for to and fro travel. For the people who are more adventurous and have ample time can also manage a trip to Barren Islands, which have the only active volcano of India. 🌋 But, even the small time that we spent, it was very good. Weather was hot and sultry but comfortable, when compared to the summer heat. It is infact healthy and none of ius faced any health issues during the trip. Dehydration is very normal and one needs to have ample amount of lime juice, aampanna etc near the beaches to replenish. All beaches have good eateries where dehydration can be taken care of!

Indian Martial Arts

1. Kalaripayattu - http://www.hindustankalari.com/ (mentioned by J Sai Deepak)

2. Mallakhamba

Bharatiya Hand Painting Traditions

1. Pattachitra

2. Lippan

3. Pichwai

4. Tanjore Paintings

5. Madhubani

6. Vrathapani

Modern Day Gurukulas

1. Om Shanti Dham (https://omshantidhama.in/ , )

2. Anandavana Gurukula (https://twitter.com/anandavanag?lang=en, https://purnapramati.in/anandavana/english/anandavana-a-dream-campus-for-purnapramati/, https://twitter.com/singhsahana/status/1721931686626378155 )

3. Vidyakshetra  (https://twitter.com/vidyakshetra?lang=en , https://vidyakshetra.org/)  

4. Ekam Sanatan Gurukul - https://www.sanatangurukul.org/

5. https://vaidikabharata.in/ Vedhpaathashaala , https://twitter.com/vAIdikabhArata

6. Chandramouli Charitable Trust 

7. Kalaivani Kalvi Maiyam , ZOHO Trust Gurukulam based on NIOS at Tenkasi

Puppetry

1. Yakshagaana Puppetry - P. Kamath (http://yakshaganapuppets.org/)

2. Tholu Bommalata - Andhra puppet tradition

3. Togalu gombeaata - Karnataka

4. Chamadyacha Bahulya - Maharashtra

5. Rabana Chhaya - Odisha

Tholpoovakuthu:

This is usually performed in Bhadrakali temples in Palakkad, Thrissur, Malappuram districts of Kerala. It is a play of    leather puppets. There are dedicated permanent theatres for this purpose, these are referred to as 'Koothumaadam'. This puppetry art has its roots in a legend, known as 'Darikavadam' (killing of Darika). While Kali was engaged in a battle with Darika, simultaneously, Lord Rama was engaged in a battle with Ravana. Since, kali could not witness this war, Shiva blessed her and said that henceforth the epic would be retold in her temple. 

A troupe of performers enacts the story of the Ramayana, divided into 21 parts, over a span of 21 nights. Generally, every temple of Kali in Kerala requires the prescence of an oracle or 'velichappadu', who functions as a vehicle of the goddess when possessed. On the first night of play, the oracle brings the flame from inner sanctum, accompanied by drums, approaches the shadow theatre and gives his blessing and the flame to the senior puppeteer or Madapulavar. Behind the cloth screen, on which shadows would be cast, extending along its length, there is a wooden beam, or vilakkumadam, carrying 21 coconut-oil lamps - made from 11 coconuts and fueled with coconut oil - placed equidistant to each other, to provide uniform illumination. With the help of the tukkuvilakku brought out from the temple, for as long the lamps burn for the many nights after, the performers believe that the goddess is seated in each of the lamps and that she is their audience. Therefore, the performances take place even without human audience. Through the vivid and masterly interplay of light and shadow, artists retell the epic and bring its various characters to life. See Ramachandra Pulavar's site for more details. He is one of the Tholpovakoothu artists of Kerala.

Gauprem

गावो ममाग्रतो नित्यं गावः पृष्ठत एव च । 

गावो मे सर्वतश्चैव गवां मध्ये वसाह्यहम् ॥ 

(Mahabharata, Anushasana Parva 80-3) 

"Let there be cows in front of me, behind me and all around me. I live with the cows."

This is the essence of Sanatana Dharma. Cow protection is extremely important !

In today's India, gauvamsha is exploited, milked endlessly by unfair means, artificially inseminated and made weak, tortured to produce milk daily, injected with hormones for running commercial dairy farms. Ultimately when they are weak and old enough, stop giving milk, they are brutally sent to slaughterhouses. Also they are illegally transported to neighbouring Bangladesh for the same. 'Peacefuls' take advantage of this situation and sell beef and 'secular', adharmik dhindus fall into the trap of beef eating. Our greed is to blame, as that is the root cause of either the dairy industry or the slaughter industry. One necessarily does not have to consume milk, ghee and beef, ...., people stay alive and healthy even without all these foods. So, why ingest something that is unnatural to our body and a food which is produced by exploiting other animals? I am ashamed and angry that in this land of dharma, the basic principles of sanatana dharma are not being learnt and followed, we have basically become greedy and ego-centric, our worldview is now pyramidal rather than being circular. See the image below to understand what I am talking about. Once we realize this basic value of sanatana dharma, half the problem is solved. Gauvamsha is no longer safe in the land of 'Gopal' and 'Govinda'. This greed needs to end 🥺. 

These are the problems, are there any quick-fix solutions - 

• One can slowly cut down on milk intake, by reducing the consumption of Paneer, cheese, milk-based sweets, ghee. Loss in demand will automatically bring down the supply, so going vegan is an important thing. Atleast this will reduce the constant life-long torture cows endure. 

• But, slaughter problem cannot be completely tackled in this manner. Here also, reduction in demand is a long-term solution, but there is a second-angle to this problem, which is the M demography. This cult is barbaric and will do everything to tease H community. They lure Hs to start consuming beef which slowly becomes a necessity for people. To buy beef, H shell out money and that is how 'jaziya' continues. Dhindus are paying 'jaziya' in the form of beef cost, just so that they can maintain a 'secular' image in front of their so-called 'peer' group. The situation I am talking about is highly predominant in Kerala, UP where M population is high. 

• To tackle the second angle, it requires an institutionalized support and constant legal methods to prevent cow slaughter. Before legal protection is enforced strictly, only solution is to protect gauvamsha from mlechchas. This is where organizations like Dakshin Vrindavan, Dhyaan Foundation and GauNandiSewa come in. These are NGOs which specifically rescue, rehabilitate and serve cows lifelong. Follow them on Twitter/Instagram and FB. They accept donations and are quite active in bringing out the work they do for gauvamsha. I have personally visited the rescue house of Dakshin Vrindavan and I am speechless at the sewa that they do. It is truly Madhava seva. They celebrate life at their gaushaala by rescuing bulls, cows, low milk-line cows, orphaned gauvatsa. Upon reading their tweets, I cannot hold my tears. While Dakshin Vrindavan is active in kerala and TN, Dhyaan Foundation is very active along Assam border, one of the hotbeds for illegal cattle transport. GauNandiSewa is active in and around Delhi. I have personally contributed many times to Dakshin Vrindavan (managed by Ashwin Sampathkumaran) and Dhyaan Foundation. See the sewa of Dakshin Vrindavan on their twitter handle, one is amazed to see how healthy the gauvamsha is in their gaushaala. See Dhyaan Foundation Twitter handle to know what risky work their volunteers do!

I would urge everyone to shun greed and move towards a cyclic view of life which makes one much more peaceful and dharmik. Please contribute to the above organizations and help them do sewa of gauvamsha in the land of gopal! See some of the cute babies at Dakshin Vrindavan !!!

A story of Elephants!

This book by Lawrence Anthony and Graham Spence gives a sneek peek into life at an African game reserve. People not familiar with the term game reserve, do lookup for it on the web. “Elephant whisperer” details Lawrence’s journey and his learnings while accommodating and rehabilitating a wild herd of elephants which were under the threat of being killed had Lawrence not agreed to adopt them onto his reserve. Lawrence by profession is a conservationist and had little knowledge of caring for elephants when he got the offer. The initial hostile treatment from the herd, slowly how the herd starts trusting him despite the herd’s horrifying encounters with humans earlier, forms the crux of the book. 

The details of the various animals on the reserve, their interactions with the herd, details on managing day to day affairs of the reserve, handling safaris and also the african rural people - these details are strewn all over the book. How the elephants start trusting Lawrence, how his game rangers also play a big role in his work, how elephants manage their own family, what behaviour they display and how Lawrence and his rangers tirelessly work for keeping the financial resources of the game reserve going is an essential part of the book. Though these are interesting to read, for a city dweller like me the details are too exhaustive. I found it hard to follow and many chapters I had to just skim through without putting my head. The details are given down to the individual movements of Lawrence and other rangers - like for e.g when an elephant charges at Lawrence how he tries to escape using his Land Rover, how he maneuvers his vehicle, what shouting does he do, how he talks to them etc.  The learnings from the herd are given in terms of encounters and only in the last chapter does the author summarize what Lawrence learnt through these encounters. Otherwise it would have been hard to follow. I somehow could not connect with the book, probably due to the overwhelming details in each chapter and regarding each encounter. Although there are instances where one feels for the herd, this feeling does not come because of the writing, it is more because some humans are softer towards other beings. 

For me it was very difficult to pick up and connect the details as much as I tried. One has to live in the bush to appreciate these details and I am not the one who has done that. The book in no way is poor, only the intended audience of the book is limited. 

I bought this book on Amazon after seeing Shefali Vaidya's recommendation. Also asked Akhila and Akshatha about the book.

Educational and Vaccination Heritage of Bharat

Recently I had the opportunity to read two books - one by Sahana Singh ("The Education....") and the other, written by Mitra Desai on vaccination in bharat ("Shitala"). I bought Sahana Singh's book after I listened to her talk on Sangam. The books basically contains all the details and information which she brings to light in that talk. Though the book does not contain any more details than what she has highlighted in her talk, the organization of the chapters gives a more better picture of the educational heritage. It covers in details the number of universities which were spread over the entire country, the mode of education and knowledge transfer,  the documentation by foreign students, the mode of entry of students to these universities etc. The book also touches upon the various knowledge disciplines, how scholars travelled far and wide, fuelled knowledge revolution in China and Tibet as well. The last part of the book covers how Islamic rule caused lot of damage to the advancement in science and arts while the deathly blow came with colonial rule. After reading the book, my heart sank and my eyes welled up.  Only way to revive our ancient tradition and improve literacy is to get decolonised!!! Bharatiyas need to tear down this colonial lens and start urgent reforms in education, which sticks to our roots - this is high time!

The "Shitala" book is in similar genre. It brings to light how Bharat used to carry out vaccination for small pox, much before the Europeans- again trying to break the colonial lens. The writing is story-based, similar to SL Bhyrappa's style (though less dense). The protagonist here is the usual Indian, totally ignorant of Bharatiya accomplishments. The protagonist's chance discussion with her grandfather and her exploration thereafter forms the crux of the book. Historical details are slipped into the conversations and the protagonist's life as well. The idea is about how smallpox had it's own deity in India and what doid the symbolism of this deity indicate. The book also covers how vaccination was done for smallpox in bharat from around 15th century and how only Jenner's contribution is brought out in education (again coloniality). I was motivated to read this book and bought it during the second wave of COVID-19 in India (May-June 2020). I realized that covid vaccine has saved lives (my own father had got infected but had mild symptoms, the vaccine saving him from severe complications) and this book seemed very apt for me at that point of time. Also, India's own vaccine (CoVAXIN) produced by Bharat Biotech seemed like a great achievement for me. To commemorate this effort, I was keen to read this book by Mitra Desai !!

ಕೈಮಗ್ಗ , sustainable dyeing, hand embroidery and hand printing

For millenia, bharatiyas have been wearing garments woven by hand, colour dyed using natural colours. Hand embroidery and hand printing have also developed over centuries. Being a rich culture, it is astounding to know that abundant number of weaves, dyeing processes, embroidery and printing techniques have sustained over centuries with each of these being a vehicle for transmitting the knowledge of sanatana dharma. 

With Mughal rule, colonial impositions, this sector has had considerable setback. The problem faced is multi-dimensional - the first being the economic impact on weaving, the second being that the knowledge of many dyeing processes  have been lost in time, the third is that natural colouring raw materials are scarce, and the fourth being that this sector is labour-intensive, skill-intensive and creative-intensive! In order to survive, there is a dire need to support and enhance this sector. Many private entrepreneurs, big corporates, weaver artisans and e-commerce shopping sites are easily available to support this sector. See this post for more detailed information.

However, these entrepreneurs, artisans can survive and create magic on weaves, produce sustainable garments only when there is demand. I have gathered preliminary information about weaves, techniques in dyeing, embroidery techniques available etc and collected them  in this document. Also the document has contact of weavers, artisans and shopping sites which market authentic hand woven and sustainable garments. This is my starting contribution to this sector. I have also started buying handwoven sarees and plan to advertise :) them on my FB page, just to arouse the curiosity of my friends. This way I hope to inspire atleast some of them to support handloom (effort inspired from Shefali Vaidya). 

Knowing Dr. Kalam from two books

Although Dr. Kalam is not a new person in my household, there are many unknown facets of him which I could know through two books written about him. One book is by P. M Nair, his secretary during the presidential years, while the other by Srijan Pal Singh, his mentee during post-presidential years. These books cover a large part of Kalam's life, that too the last years of his life. 

The first book "Kalam Effect" written by P. M Nair brings out the struggles and accomplishments of Dr. Kalam during the stint as the President of India (2002-2007). India knows these years as the time when it got the best President of all times. Dr. Kalam's enthusiasm, the zeal to stay in touch with people, his vision for India are in public knowledge. This book brings out very simple but important characteristics of him - always ready to help genuine people, being humble, recognizing talent, always seeing the positive aspects of life etc. Also how he, being a scientist was able to survive the delhi politics and even give dignity to the office is brought out so well in this book. It gives an insight into his exceptional qualities as well as shortcomings (these being very few). These glimpses show that Dr. Kalam was such an exceptional President, the best India has ever got, since Independence.

The second book "What Can I Give?" written by Srijan Pal Singh shows us Kalam from Srijan's perspective - how he met Dr. Kalam, what were his impressions during the first meeting and how Kalam inspired Srijan to work towards contributing to the society. Along the way, Srijan gives us insights into Kalam's thought and what we can learn from him. Surely the idea of "WHAT CAN I GIVE" seems powerful enough and can bring out humungous changes if people realize it. Srijan gives anecdotes and crisp interactions with Kalam which bring out the essential take-away point. The description covers all the years right upto the time of his passing away - sadly I desisted from reading the last few chapters precisely because they cover the last few hours of Dr. Kalam's life. But one can use the earlier chapters to understand so much and implement in whatever way possible the idea of "what can i give?".

My tryst with Ayurveda

Bharatiya food is innately built on Ayurveda principles. Ayurvedic concepts seep into our food through the usage of appropriate ingredients, cooking methods, usage of seasonal vegetables and fruits, etc. For many ailments, cure is through food. However, if one is under the  impression that ayurvedic healing is only through food intake (mainly kashaayas), then my following writeup will show otherwise.  

Ayurveda shalya tantra described in the texts of Charaka, Sushruta and Vaagbhaata constitutes the surgical methods in our ancient ayurveda system. One of the procedures taught in shalya tantra known as uttar basti is a family of procedures for curing physical ailments in the body using medicinal herbs, usually developed for lower body ailments. This procedure utilizes medicinal herbs infused oil to improve the physical aberrations caused in hard-to-reach areas of the body. My father had one such ailment, caused by allopathic TURP operative procedure. This procedure had caused the urethral lumen narrowing as a side-effect of removal of a portion of prostrate organ (prostrate had enlarged). The lumen narrowing is an irreversible side-effect (till now), because allopathy has no cure for it. Narrowing of lumen leads to urine-flow rate reduction and if not identified, can lead to complete urine retention in bladder (and kidney thereafter). So it leads to life-threatening complications if not handled well.

To maintain the lumen, the patient has to do dilation procedure, which is usually possible to do at home. This dilation procedure has to be carried out lifelong (doctors do not mention this) using a plastic tube and anaesthetic gel. Basically, the urethra having an elastic lining, can be kept dilated in an enlarged state by passing a plastic non-sharp tube through it. This dilation procedure has to be done periodically, often like once in a week, two weeks or even daily. If the lumen narrows over time, then there are emergency  dilating surgical operations (like visual internal urethrotomy, urethroplasty) which will again get the patient back to the self-dilation state. Thus, basically the only non-invasive solution that allopathy has for urethral stricture is self-dilatation. My father did this annoying self-dilation procedure for six years and got frustrated doing it. He wanted some solution through which it is possible to avoid the above self-dilation procedure.

Urethral stricture : It is a mechanical problem caused due to scratching of urethra inner muscle - often due to surgical tools, or injury, bladder stones etc. Once scratched, the inner skin develops granular repair skin (just like normal healing skin on the skin of the body). This extra growth (called as fibrosis) usually is flattened out by the body when it appears on the outer skin. However, in case of the urethral skin, this extra growth is not flattened out and leads to loss in elasticity of urethra. Then the urethra becomes incapable of stretching at the point where these extra growth is formed. Usually the urethra is in a collapsed condition and opens out when urine has to be passed (triggered by opening of sphincter valve).  When the elasticity of urethra is lost at the point of extra growth, the urethra cannot expand like a plastic tube and enlarge. Hence urine flow rate is reduced. The extra growth is exacerbated by dilation if dilation is not done smoothly ! Thus, dilation is both the cause and solution in a way. With time, this extra growth hardens and further reduces the elasticity of the urethra. The following figure shows the exact condition which occurs.

Personal experience with Uttar basti : Uttar basti utilizes the combination of various herbs infused into a medicated oil to restore the elasticity of the urethra. The method involves passing this herb-infused oil into the urethra at regular intervals for a number of days. These oils are passed into the bladder as well (reverse direction of urine flow), which mixes with urine and flows out normally. Whenever the urine flows out, these oils touch the urethra skin and are observed to have the desired effect. My father underwent this treatment for 40-50 days last year (2020) at a private Ayurveda setup in Gujarat. The same procedure is available at other well-known ayurveda hospitals, but not developed to a great extent. Please check out this link for the required information. My father had mixed results with this treatment. The urine flow rate improved and he does not need to do self-dilation procedure now. However, after the treatment the flow rate was extremely good and my father was voiding the urine well. But due to an infection, the flow rate reduced and it has been the same since then. The issue is that the urethral stricture problem is a mechanical problem and becomes harder to treat with time. Usually the hardness of the mucosal lining and the loss in elasticity determines the effectivity of the uttar basti treatment. 

References:

1. Brahma Ayurveda Urology Research Centre , Nadiad, Gujarat

2. Ayurveda Clinic, Bansko, Belgium

The past, present and future of Sanskrit !

I will review two books that I have looked at in the last two months. One is "The Wonder that is Sanskrit" by Dr. Sampadananda Mishra, Vijay, while the other book is titled "The Battle for Sanskrit" by Rajiv Malhotra. Why have I clubbed my review of these books together? The obvious answer is that these two are about the common topic of interest - Sanskrit. But then, there are other reasons as well, which will become clear as I describe the content of these books in the way I have understood.

I was motivated to read the book authored by Dr. Sampadananda Mishra after attending his talk at Centre for Society and Policy, IISc. In that talk, he touched upon topics which are described in detail in this book. The irony is that this book is about Sanskrit, but is written in English (unfortunate)!  But for ignorant people like me, this book is a blessing. It explains in detail the glory of the language. I would like to appreciate the book cover graphic and the paper quality - they are awesome! Even after flipping the pages multiple times, the book remains new without crumpled pages.

The introductory remarks are a prelude to the book contents. The authors remark about the feeling of ecstasy that one experiences upon just hearing Sanskrit words. This is true, I myself have had this experience. They also mention the inhibition and bias that novice speakers/readers/learners of Sanskrit feel when they initially start to understand and learn the devabhaasha. For this, I found a convincing explanation in Rajiv ji's book. I too have felt intimidated in the past while learning and ever since then, I have not made an effort to learn it. Only in the past few months, since the time when lockdown started, I have participated in courses by Sri Aurobindo Foundation for Indian Culture (SAFIC). What I have gathered from this recent experience is that if taught properly, it is easy to be fluent in devabhaasha. This is more like learning carnatic music, it all depends on how it is taught!

The book introduces the trimuni - Panini, Katyayana and Patanjali, instrumental in writing Sanskrit grammar commentaries.  The  initial chapter also highlights the alphabets, their arrangement order, nuances of grammar, how do words come about and the most essential ideas driving the language. The authors provide some useful insights on ekvachan, dvivachan and bahuvachan, which reveal the thought process behind the language. Also the idea of "synonyms" in Sanskrit vs other languages is very well explained. Following this, the book uncovers hidden gems in literature, arts, science and daily life. These are what Rajiv ji's book terms as "paramarthika" and "vyavahaarika". The descriptions in Sampad ji's book is concise and serves as a pointer to the vast knowledge available. The next part of the book covers human upliftment through sanskrit, it's viability as a national language and the sacredness of the language.  This part is filled with mantras, shloka excerpts. Also covered is the ability of Sanskrit to grow and imbibe new words, it's influence on vernacular languages. 

Overall, this book exposed me to so much information about sanskrit works, it's beauty and charm, the power it has and how it has sustained an entire civilization. I wish Sanskrit would have been our national language. Then people would have made a sincere effort to learn it, use it and also create new literature in it. However, now, learning, using Sanskrit should become a people movement, a wish that is echoed in the "Battle for Sanskrit"!

"The Battle for Sanskrit" is one of the most focussed, well-edited and informative book that I have read so far. Kudos to the author and editing staff. I can truly feel the hard work done by Rajiv Malhotra in understanding Pollock's works.

The author gives the background events which motivated him to write this book. Along with this, Rajiv ji highlights purva paksha of Pollock's works, the stakes involved for the "insiders" of the sanskriti tradition and what is the key take-away of his efforts.

The first chapter defines the "insiders" and "outsiders" as viewed in this book. Rajiv highlights their individual positions on the aspects of Sanskrit discussed in the book. Each of these are dealt with in subsequent chapters. The second chapter describes european and american orientalism - how they originated, how they are different and yet similar.  While Sir William Jones pioneered European orientalism, Sheldon Pollock is the epitome of American orientalism. How both types of orientalism trated Sanskrit is also described in the same chapter - the American one is described in greater detail in the book. 

In the next few chapters, Rajiv ji does purva paksha of Pollock's works, his intent and his objective for Sanskrit studies and what does he wish for future of Sanskrit. These chapters also contain uttara paksha from the insiders for each of these aspects. I found these chapters to be a good primer on the basic principles of sanatana dharma. They also serve as pointers for advanced study. Another key take-away is the debating tradition, which was so well honed by our sanskriti. A debate is presented in the form of  a book! :)

I was motivated to read this book when I read about Murty classical library and also came to know of a signed petition against it. Further, Sumanjay also recommended reading this book. This book is a tough read in the core chapters and is dense. However, the ideas presented, the arguments given with references compensate for all this. I spent lot of time reading each page, sometimes repeating twice or thrice just to get a better understanding of the issues raised. 

The book does not end at purva and uttara paksha. It goes beyond that and highlights the efforts required for retaining the adhikara to sustain Sanskrit studies in our own sanskriti!! 

Lockdown Musings - Part 2 - 24/07/2020

I will review the two related books on Raama as shown above. The Supreme Court of India verdict on Ram Mandir led me to read the second book. But the pertinent question in my mind from time immemorial is to understand whether Rama was historical or mythological. This question arose in my mind when I read a book on Ramayana by Rajagopalachari (bharatiya Vidya Bhavan). The curiosity to understand historicity of Raama led me to read the first book.

Let us start with the book by Dr. B B Lal. Who is Dr. B B Lal ? -  he is an archaeologist with the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) and was in his active days the prime person to discover and analyze sites associated with Harappa, Mahabhaarata. This book of his is very simple and nicely compiled. It finishes the matter in a mere 87 pages unlike Gen. Bakshi's book! Dr. B B Lal has explained the Ramayana sites he was able to excavate and what inferences can be drawn from it. He also raises some questions regarding it and gives the reader ample evidence from which they can draw their own conclusions. The sites excavated are the janmasthan, nandigram, bharadvaja ashram etc. The book also talks about Ram Setu and what geological evidence suggests that it indeed was a man-made bridge. The book gives the clear picture of the evidence and leaves it to the readers to have faith in historicity of Raama.

The book by Meenakshi Jain is dense and gives lot of information about Ayodhya. She also describes how the Rama 'cult' developed over centuries, how Raama temples were built. It also gives ample evidence for a temple at Janmasthan disputed area. However, the main focus is on the court proceedings from 1948-2010. The book covers all evidences, arguments of both sides in detail. However it also ridicules the working and intent of the BMAC historians. One clearly sees the lie, agenda peddled by them through this book. The author gives a lot of references everywhere and describes in detail the evidences supplied in court making a case for the temple. There are only maximum one or two sentences about the demolition, while the rest of the book is regarding before and after events of the demolition. I thoroughly enjoyed reading it, but this book requires multiple readings to get a better picture. It makes one get amazed at the fact that our ancestors had so much faith. They also put in lot of hard work in keeping this faith alive. The thing to take away is that hindu dharma is eternal. Religion, faith has come from this dharma (dharma ≠ religion). Raama is an embodiment of dharma and worshipping him leads to faith, religion/cult. This is such a fundamental thing that we do not care to understand. The book teaches this subtly. The struggle of our ancestors described in the book is a lesson for the present generation to fight and live for the dharma one cares about. 

Once I finished reading the book, I wondered why were the BMAC historians hell bent upon proving that BM stood on virgin land and if at all a structure lay beneath it, it had to be another mosque ? Lot of prodding led me to understand that devaasura sangrama is eternal. So is dharma and the faith in dharma.

Lockdown Musings - Part 1 - 17/07/2020

Starting from April 15th, till now I have managed to read the two books as shown in the adjacent image! 

The first book ("Sapiens..." by Harari) is about evolution of homo sapiens in general. It nicely describes the evolution of this species of humans from the start to the present times. The book is well organized into four major parts with each part describing one drastic change in the lifestyle of humans. The first part describes the "hunter-gatherer" phase, next is about "agricultural" phase, then about "religion" phase and last is the scientific development phase. The author starts with describing about different species of human beings - this was new information for me and explains why Homo Sapiens emerged as the clear winner of all the species. Along with this it also describes the migration processes, which locations got occupied and when etc. All these details are interesting. The author is of the opinion that Homo Sapiens developed good cognitive abilities and hence were able to survive better. The next phase after hunter gatherer starts with agriculture and how sedentary the lifestyle became. At this stage the author seems to grieve about this change and makes the point that being hunter-gatherer was much better than being tied down to agriculture. From here on the author next describes how religions formed and then S&T revolution happened along with its side effects etc. I found the first two parts highly interesting and the last two parts very boring. Also the author makes us mourn the loss of the hunter-gatherer lifestyle - this opinion imposition is uncalled for. But yeah,! the author has to push his agenda. The author also repeatedly makes the point that the evolution of humans was harmful for every other species on planet. I understood this and hence put down the book after reading the first three parts. But the book is well written and edited - perhaps adding references at regular intervals in the text might help. I learnt some useful information in anthropology from this book and would recommend it to others.

Why did I combine the review of the second book ("Sarasvati Civilization" by Gen G D Bakshi) with the first book ? Both talk about humans - while the first is about evolution of Homo Sapiens, the second is about a civilization formed after the so-called mass migration out of Africa and after agriculture had set in. The author in the first book talks about how evolution of Homo Sapiens was disastrous for other animals etc. The Sarasvati civilization is a book on the civilization which transformed into the present-day Hindu religion - a religion known to be the most tolerant towards other beings on this planet and considering them as also forms of the supreme. This book is an answer to the first that not every religion sees man as a "sinner". Only Hindu religion can teach humans to live in harmony with other species and animals, i.e., a peaceful co-existence is possible. The second book discusses about a civilization which evolved into the Hindu religion - the religion that talks of peaceful co-existence of humans with other beings on this ancient Indian land. This is where the connection lies. 

Coming to the second book, specifically it talks about the famed Sarasvati river (considered to be mythical by some). Its existence is the key for the long-standing debate about an "Aryan Invasion" or "Aryan migration". The book clearly explains the river's importance in this aspect. It initially starts with presenting the scientific evidence for Sarasvati river- its existence, how was it when it did exist, its cause for disappearance etc. All these are very interesting and requires one to follow and understand the scientific evidence properly. Several counter-claims exist and this book serves as a starting point for the reader to do some more hardwork on this aspect. After this, it strives to prove the point that with a holistic approach of looking at evidences from various quarters like scriptures, linguistics, archaeology, DNA mapping studies, one can debunk the "Aryan migration/invasion" theory. The evidences from DNA mapping studies are hotly contested and this area is the current tool for both groups - "Out-of-India" theorists and "AIT/AIMT" theorists.

The above talks about the contents of the book. Now I will give my opinions about the other aspects. The author is highly emotional at times and writes a point repeatedly in many places. Hence the book needs much better editing. The author is frequently seen on TV debates and IMHO in this book, he goes a little overboard with his writings. A book is not a TV debate! Also I found that the pictures which are presented as proofs in the book (reproduced from original findings) are of very low quality. The author could have definitely incorporated much better images. Also the author does not cite the references in the text which annoyed me. This is the problem with the first book as well. As a PhD student from IISc, citing papers in the text has been ingrained in me and I look for it in such books too. Anyway, the point is that the book could have been edited better. Due to bad editing and poor images, the evidences about the river existence is highly confusing and I was forced to look at scholarly papers for the same images. I would suggest readers for other books on the same evidence - perhaps Michael Danino's book will be a better choice. Also Abhiit Chavda's talk on the same is available on YouTube which presents better quality of images.  His talk also highlights why DNA mapping studies is not a good tool for proving the direction of migration (whether it is "out of india" or "into india")! 

The reviewed book however gave me many leads and pointed me to papers which are worthy to read. Since the book premiered in 2019, I assume the references are fairly up-to-date. From this book references, I came across two papers - one by K. S Valdiya et al. (2019) and another by Sanjeev Gupta et al. (2017) which in my opinion might be good to read for understanding other scientific research as well. I hope to follow these papers for better discussion about the river geology. 

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS :  I got to know about Harari's book from Vishakha Patil. So thanks to her!