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...
Strength has always been one of the most admired qualities , and one has only to read history or mythology to see how much importance has been given to strength and the display of strength. One can find many temples all over India, all testifying to a victory of a god over a demon, or some special exhibition of greatness. There is a set of eight temples in the south of India, situated near Mayiladudurai, Thiruvarur and Thiruvannamalai, all of which are associated with displays of the strength and greatness of Shiva. At all these temples, Shiva has either vanquished a demon, or punished another god. These are collectively called the ‘ Ashta Veeratta Sthalams’ . Each of these temples is fascinating, and has special points of interest. What I find especially interesting is that 6 of these 8 temples have bronze statues depicting the story of the temple. These are statues that are absolutely invaluable and must be seen to be believed. Let’s take a tour of six of these temples that are situa...