Revisiting Ashoka-II: Ashoka’s Rise To Power
[contextly_sidebar id=”698SYlgAUt1bn3LtrT7kEfu53XbGK1z7″] Our story begins in the city of Champa (Champaran), where a Brahmin named Pilindavatsa (also called Janasana) had a very beautiful daughter, named Subhadrangi (also called Dharma or Janapadakalyani). Astrologers foretold that she would marry a king and have two famous sons, one of More...
How to Celebrate Navaratri
There is an endless variety of modes of worship and observance for Navaratri, the nine nights of Devi. During these nine days and nine nights, Ma Durga is worshiped for the first three days, then Ma Lakshmi for More...
Prana, desha, anna: the origins of spiritual agriculture- I
“Pressed (by men at the helm of affairs) in the words ‘Let food be given again and again and (also) article of wearing apparel of various kinds’ many men in that sacrifice did as they were told More...
The Epoch of Śaka Era: A critical study
The Śaka era was popularly used for dating in the ancient and medieval period inscriptions and literature in India, Nepal, Burma, Cambodia and Java (Indonesia). It is generally believed by the historians that the More...
Hygiene in Ancient India as in Ganeśa Purāṇa
Hygiene is a very important part of life as it keeps each one of us healthy both physically and mentally. Some people have a tendency to believe that modern man knows best, and that our ancestors were unaware of More...
Importance of Pitr Karma
Every year during the second fortnight of the lunar month of Bhardrapada, right after the Ganesha puja, a period of 14 days is set aside for offering reverence to ancestors, known as pitrpaksha. During this time, More...
Bhartrihari’s Maxims on Wisdom
[contextly_sidebar id=”Z5SDsQvVFytQHiQVB1F39oN0AzfQS3yj”] In the previous article, we saw Bhartrihari’s maxims on Morality taken from his Niti Shataka, which he wrote, after he realized the fleeting More...
Nari – an exploration in ancient etymology
“यत्र नार्यस्तु पूज्यन्ते रमन्ते तत्र देवताः” A very famous sentence from Manusmṛti (3/56) . Though it has been always difficult More...
Bhartrihari’s Maxims on Morality
Legends have it that Bhartrihari once ruled the city of Ujjain. Although a loving ruler, his mind was always engrossed about Love and Romance. He had over 100 beautiful women for his wives. No wonder he spent negligible More...
Understanding Modi’s Sanskrit Epithets – Part II
Have you noticed that Modi’s speeches are sprinkled with many phrases that are not in Hindi? Here is an occasion, worth watching, where he quoted several verses in succession, as his Idea of India, like “Tena More...