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Guha, Godavari and Ganga - A myth, a king, and an epic.

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Guha, a character that needs no introduction to people who have watched or read something about Ramayana. Many of us remember this character as someone who helped Rama cross a river. But how many of us remember or correctly know which river Rama crossed with the help of Guha? I asked the same question on different social media platforms with the following options: Ganga, Yamuna, Brahmaputra, and Godavari.  The question received 60 votes as below: Ganga (33.9% - 20) Yamuna (14.3% - 9) Brahmaputra (3.6% - 2) Godavari (48.2% - 29) Godavari got the highest number of votes, but the correct answer is Ganga . Then how did we end up with Godavari getting the highest votes? This can be attributed to movies in regional languages and a slight mistranslation of the Valmiki Ramayana. So, what does Valmiki Ramayana have to say about Guha and his role in Ramayana? The episode of Guha begins in Ayodhyakanda, Sarga 50, with Rama reaching the banks of the Ganga. The intro of Guha goes like this: तत्...
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Putrakameshti - Birth of Rama

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Image source: AI generated by me with ChatGPT. We all know that Sri Rama Navami is celebrated on the 9th day of the ascending moon of Chaitra Masam in the Hindu calendar. We also know that Rama was born after Dasaratha and his three wives performed the Putrakameshti yagam. So, the question is, Rama, Lakshmana, Bharata & Shatrughna were born after how many months/years from the completion of Putrakameshti? When I asked this question on X, it received 38 votes. 15 people opted for 9 months, 15 others opted for 12 months, 4 people opted immediately, and another 4 opted for 6 months. I am not surprised, as I saw similar responses for earlier questions on Ramayana. So, what was written in the Valmiki Ramayana about Rama's birth date and the timelines from the Putrakameshti yagna? In Valmiki Ramayana, Balakanda, Sarga 13,14, 15 & 16 details the performance of Rajasuya yagna and Putrakameshti by Dasaratha and his wives under the guidance of sages Rishyashringa and Vashishta. Sarga...
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A king, A Juror, and a Launderer

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Once upon a time, there lived a king known for his judicious, courageous, compassionate and wise nature. He expanded the kingdom over a period. It extended 3000 km from east to west and 4000 km from north to south. Since he couldn't be everywhere, he started to administer the whole kingdom in bits and pieces by appointing governors, justices, administrators, tax collectors, and other supporting administration staff for each territory. Though the king was pious and honest, the people surrounding him were not so honest. Some used to do favours to their friends, family and relatives as and when possible. Some used to create new opportunities, jobs, and were favoured in establishing businesses, showing partiality for people of their community. Some others used to show partiality for the people who bribed them. Some others used to show partiality based on regionality, and so forth and so on. Though the king knew that some of his administration was corrupt and dishonest, the king didn...
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Book Review - Conversion, An Assault on Truth

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Book-1/2025 Title - Conversion - An Assault on Truth Authors - Dr S.L Bhyrappa, M. Chidananda Murthy, David Frawley, R Ganesh, N.S Rajaram, Swami Dayananda Saraswati. Publishers - Sahitya Prakashana, Hubli First Published Year – 2009 Image courtesy – www.exoticindiaart.com   The book deals with religious conversions in India, the Indian perspective and global phenomenon, and the impact of religious conversions on Hindu demographics.   Before going into a detailed review of the book, I want to express a little about my perspective on religious conversions, which I will later elaborate on and make into a book.   For me, there are three perspectives for analysing religious conversions.   Morality - To give a brief about the idea of morality from a non-religious perspective, in general, morality refers to the principles that define good or bad, right and wrong behaviour. If we remove the class and religious perspectives of individuals, the...
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The Journey of One Nation - One Election

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ONE NATION - ONE ELECTION The bill for ONOE (One Nation - One Election) has been passed in the Loksabha.  There is no need to explain the importance of elections in democracy. They are the vital step in sustaining democracy and the way they are conducted demonstrates the health of democracy.  What does this mean for the common man? This means that India has moved one step ahead in implementing ONOE. So, what is ONOE? To answer this, we have to look at the type of elections being conducted in India for electing legislative bodies. ECI conducts elections for three types of legislative bodies. They are:  1. Local bodies - Panchayats and Municipalities. 2. State Legislative Assemblies. 3. Parliament  (Lok Sabha or House of People). As we all know, we are having elections for these bodies at different times.  ONOE proposes to conduct elections for all three types of legislative bodies simultaneously and not at different times. This clearly doesn't mean that the whole...
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Ekalavya - Cinematic liberty v originality

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Recently, the name of Ekalavya has come to the foreground when the leader of opposition has taken his name in the Parliament.  So, Who was Ekalavya?  It's a rhetorical question. Right?  And what is the answer? I mostly get the rhetorical answer that Ekalavya was a tribal kid rejected by Dronacharya and gave his thumb to Dronacharya. Unfortunately, this image of Ekalavya, based on what was shown in TV serials and movies, was not true. It was too much creative liberty (I would like to call it distortion) taken by our creative directors.  So, who was Ekalavya?  The answer is this.  As per Udyoga Parva, Chapter 48 of the Vyasa Mahabharata, Ekalavya was born to Devashrava. Who is this Devashrava? He was a cousin of Vasudeva, the father of Lord Krishna.  This might be a revelation for many readers. But this was the reality. He was a cousin of Lord Krishna. The reality doesn't end here. Ekalavya was abandoned at birth by his parents as they saw bad omens. He...
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Viradha - A singer and a Rakshasa.

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 Who is Viradha? When I ask this question, I often get "We don't know".  So, who is Viradha?  Sorry, I am asking the same question again. Here is the answer.  Viradha was a demon mentioned in Ramayana, Aranyakanda Sarga 2,3 & 4. As per Valmiki Ramayana, Viradha used to live in Dandhakaranya. When Rama, Lakshmana, and Sita were roaming in Dandhakaranya during their exile, they were attacked by Viradha.  Initially, he picks up Sita and she trembles like a leaf in a violent wind. Looking at this, Rama and Lakshmana attack Viradha with bows and arrows.  But Viradha has a boon. He cannot be wounded with any weapon in the world. This is the actual reason for his attacks on every random person and animal.  Given this boon, Viradha was not wounded by Rama and Lakshmana's attack.  Further, he was so powerful that he took Rama and Lakshmana as hostages in both hands and started running into the dense forests. Looking at this, Rama and Lakshmana severed ...
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