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...
Varanasi is a city which has always fascinated me, and I have been fortunate enough to visit it twice. The first time I was a school kid, and my memories are vague, but the second time, which was about two years back, I spent 10 memorable days there while my in-laws performed all conceivable rituals and prayers. I came back so full of information and enthusiasm, that I wrote 16 posts on the trip, and finally ended up making a separate blog for all of them. Once I was through with it, this blog was left forgotten and never updated, since I had nothing to add! However, I have been surprised by the slow, but steady response this blog has received over the last two years. People have not just been visiting the blog, they also leave comments, and mostly write to me asking for clarifications or telling me about their experience. A few people, in fact, came back to tell me that my blog had helped them plan and execute their trip. For a blogger, there i...