The year was 1290 . A crowd had gathered around a clearing, where broken down pillars marked the presence of an ancient temple, now long gone. A young boy, just 14 years old, leaned against one of those pillars, deep in thought. Then, he began speaking, and the crowd fell silent, listening to his every word. He spoke without any notes, translating the Bhagavat Gita, from Sanskrit, which only the pundits knew, to the language everyone in the village knew and spoke – a variety of Prakrit which developed into the Marathi language. Even as he spoke, one of the men in the audience realized how momentous this event was, and how important this composition would be. He began writing down the words the young boy spoke, and this composition was named by its author and composer, the Bhavartha Deepika – the enlightening meaning (of the Bhagavat Gita). Now, the ancient, holy text, was no longer restricted to the pundits, but accessible to all, understood easily by them, composed as it was, in their...
Are women more interested in visiting temples than men are? I have been wondering ever since I returned from Chennai. What do you think? Please do let me know. Why am I asking you? Well, the reason is an incident that occurred in Chennai. We had all planned to go to a number of temples, starting early in the morning. We all woke up, only to realize that one by one, people were pulling out, citing various reasons. Finally, it was only me, my mom, and two of my aunts who actually started out. Of course, Samhith came along. He had no choice! However, this got me wondering – why is it that in most cases, it is only the women who want to visit temples? Or is it so only in our family? I really would like to hear your opinions on this……….. Coming back to the temples that we visited, we had a long list in hand, but all the discussions about who was coming along, delayed us, and we could visit just 5 temples. Much has been written about these temples by others more qualified to do so, and I ...