» Articles from May, 2007 issue

Tanaji Malusare

Tuesday, May 1st, 2007

tanaji.gifTanaji Malusare (तानाजी मालुसरे), also known as Simha (Lion), was a renowned warrior and military leader in the army of Chatrapati Shivaji Raje Bhonslé, founder of the Maratha Empire in 17th century India.Tanaji was one of Shivaji’s closest friends; the two had known each other since childhood. In 1670, at Shivaji’s request, he pledged to recapture the fortress of Kondana near Pune. According to many accounts, he received the summons at his son’s wedding, and immediately left the festivities.

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Eternal Principles of AyurVeda, by Manjuma Raman

Tuesday, May 1st, 2007

ayurveda.gifAyurVeda is the medical system of the Vedic Sciences that originated in Hindusthaan (present day India) approximately five thousand years ago. Since Vedic Science views the whole universe as a single organism (macrocosm) and everything in the universe as a miniature replica of the universe (microcosm), the foundation science of every branch of Vedic Science from AyurVeda, Suchi Karma, Vastu to Jyotisha are the same and therefore each branch of Vedic Science is complementary to each other.

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In Pictures: Hindus in Pakistan

Tuesday, May 1st, 2007

In April each year, thousands of Hindus flock to the cave temple of Hinglaj Mata, situated in a remote, desolate and hilly area of Pakistan’s Balochistan province, 250km (155 miles) north-west of Karachi. The high point of the four-day pilgrimage comes on the third day when high priests chant mantras, inviting gods to accept the offerings of the devotees and bring them peace and plenty. Before the partition of India in 1947, more than 20% of the population of today’s Pakistan was Hindu. Today, there are roughly three million Hindus in Pakistan, or about 1.6% of the total population. Many Hindus say they are still discriminated against or forced to convert to other religions. Read the rest of this entry »

Kautilya for the 21st Century

Tuesday, May 1st, 2007

kautilya.gifThis article is a review of the book ‘Relevance of Kautilya for Today: Dr K.S. Narayanacharya’ By M.V. Kamath.

One of the saddest aspects of our educational system today is the near total neglect of our ancient history and the deliberate disconnect with our thinkers and philosophers. It is as if our “secular” scholars are ashamed of their own past. Vedic mathematics is laughed at. If authentic claims are made that such concepts as gravitation and the value of pi were common knowledge centuries ago eyebrows are raised. Kalidas, Panini, Bhasa, Bana, Varahamihira and Bhartrahari remain faint memories.

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Spoken Sanskrit-Lesson 3, by Anuradha Choudry

Tuesday, May 1st, 2007

Sanskrit is oldest language in the world which has retained its structure and vocabulary in the pristine form. Sanskrit is very much a spoken language today and it is spoken by an increasing number of people. Below is the third lesson in Spoken Sanskrit. In the second lesson covered in April, we covered many sentences we use in daily life. In this lesson we learn more such sentences.
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