Yantra , Tantra, Mantra

Regrettably no account of Chandragupta Maurya's campaigns against Seleukus Nicator survive ala Caesar's Commentaries on his decade long wars against the Gauls. So this gives agenda driven Western historians a further face saving measure about the ultimately pitiful and fruitless Greek adventure in India. Firstly historians neglect to mention that Alexander's rival Porus was not even a proper king with an empire but just happened to be a glorified chief of a frontier republic who only took on the Macedonian warlord because he alone in that area had the traditional four division army. And Alexander very nearly lost even this engagement. Now there are Indian nationalist historians who see his disengagement from India as a strategic retreat and some go as far as to claim that he was defeated by Porus but I am inclined to give Alexander benefit of the doubt. Bactria and Persia were the verge of rebellion and Porus was apparently pacified so Alexander saw fit to deal wit...

I would like to start off with the title which to my mind is itself misleading because I don't think there exists a specific dichotomy between Puranic and Vedic Hinduism. To be more precise the dieties associated with the Puranas such as Shiva,Brahma,Vishnu,Ganesha, Karthikeya, Durga are not theologically distinct from Indra, Agni,Vayu, Varuna et al but a continuation and or amalgalm of them. One of the reasons I prefer the Ramayana  apart from the fact that it reads as  a great thriller and adventure story is that it is more concise, linear,coherent and has sense of continuity and parallel story of the "Vedic era" as opposed to celebration of inconsistencies, jumbled structure and confusion that comprises much of the narrative of the Mahabharata. As with all great kings, the geneology is of prime importance hence we see the Ikshaku stalwart Sagar defeated the mlecchas from northwestern India, brought Ganga down to earth on the physical and spiritual realm and host...

While different versions of the Ramayana or even later editing can explain any mention of Buddhists or Charvakins,I am going to try to prepare a list of reasons why I think the stories are not fiction:                   1) The ancestries are longer than necessary for fiction            Even considering that Rama's descendants forged their identity,            there is really no need for Rama's ancestry to extend as far back            as Sagara from the point of view of fiction.  If Rama was            the King of Ayodhya and an incarnation of Vishnu, he needed            no further introduction.            ...

Other recipients: Mr. Gurupdesh Singh has questioned whether the agrarians of Bihar can prove that they have ancient roots in Bharat, suspecting that we may just be descendants of the Indo-Scythians. Certainly, proving a descent prior to the arrival of the Indo-Scyth Mr. Gurupdesh Singh has questioned whether the agrarians of Bihar can prove that they have ancient roots in Bharat, suspecting that we may just be descendants of the Indo-Scythians.  Certainly, proving a descent prior to the arrival of the Indo-Scythians would be quite easy if one accepted the lineages as described in the Puranas.  But being from the northwest, Mr. Gurupdesh Singh has no faith in things like the Ramayana, Mahabharata or the Puranas having any authenticity whatsoever.  According to him all these are figments of Brahmins'imaginations. :-) So given the above constraint, I have given some thought to how I could determine if I, a Kurmi from Bihar, was descended f...

Kammas were kings belonging to the Solar,lunar and Haihaya clans of Kshatriyas(warriors),who ruled over a famous land called Kamma rashtra or kamma nadu .They were basically an amalgam of the lunar clan Chalukyas and the solar clan Cholas who initially fought ferociously for the coveted land of kamma nadu, and later on made peace by entering into marital alliances.   Every one claims such lofty pedigrees but it is difficult to show any continuance from the decline of those dynasties to the establishment of these relatively petty kingdoms. The only one in Indian history I can think which has any credibility is the Mauryas of Konkan named for the erstwhile Maurya empire 400 years prior. Interestingly Cholas were Tamil and Chalukyas were Kannada and yet you have a purely Telugu dynasty, odd is it?     Practically all the ruling families of South India as well as Sri Lanka excepting Kerala were related to the Kammas.   More unsubstantiated claims...

Surprisingly despite the presence of so many erudite religious VHP/RSS Hindu scholars nobody seems to have bothered posting anything regarding Rama Navami.  So I figured I should post it, as apparently it seems quite like 'Chat', 'Rama Navami' is apparently another Hindu festival which can now be termed 'Bihari' as others don't seem to bother celebrating it anymore. I am not talking about high culture of Thyagaraja etc but of common rural folk. Immediately following the Chata celebrations in Bihar, Ramanavami iscelebrated which marks the birth of Rama.  In the city of Patna duringRamanavami various temples encourage participants to come andcelebrate the event and a small mela is held near the Patna railwaystation near the Hanuman temple.  However, the event seems to be more visible outside of Patna in the rural areas. Strangely, Ramanavami is marked more by the worship of Hanuman, Rama's greatest devotee, than by the worship of Rama himself.  And as ...

I often wonder if the myth of indomnitable Afghans/Pathans had been fostered by the British to make up for their own lackluster performance in that region. And this had in time turned into some sort of self fulfilling prophecy especially involving super powers such as Russia and now U.S where the opponents use this powerful piece of propaganda to undermine their opponents. But how true is the narrative of the tough and unconquered Afghans? The earliest ethnic group associated with Afghanistan are the Kambojas who were defeated by Sagara and were forced to maintain short hair and beards as a sign of submission. They were thus excluded as mlecchas or barbarians to whom Vedic rites and rituals were to be denied. However that region was deemed strategic enough to maintain a presence of  Kshatriyas from the heartland and the location of Taxila university suggests that it was firmly under Indian political and cultural influence. Alexander invaded and conquered this area wi...