NavDharmyug

Writer: Graham Greene Genre: Fiction, Classis Rating: Must Read Every writer has a story to tell. It is all about a story which finds its way to the paper. We all tell stories. What makes a story well-told and great, to my mind, is the connect the writer establishes between the story and the environment which sets the context of the story. Once we understand the world in which the story unravels, we are immediately hooked to it. In a subtle view, the writer sets the context which helps the reader learn the micro as well as macro contexts of the story. A great story like Stendhal' s Red and Black is not only the story of the protagonist, but it also narrates the French revolution, the sudden absence of Napoleon from the french world within which the protagonist falls in love and out of it.  The Quiet American by Graham Greene is one such exceptionally told story which contextualizes the murder of an idealist, tentatively a propagandist, American, Alden Pyle in Viet...

Goddess Gayatri  Biggest problem which Hinduism faces when it is being evaluated through the western prism of Abrahamic faith . I was watching a speech by Sadhguru where he mentioned a very critical defining feature of Hinduism. He says, unlike Western faiths, Hinduism did not place anyone at a pedestal where questions would not reach. Forget the Prophets and Masters, even Gods were received with affection and a list of questions. Nothing was ever beyond debate in Hinduism, not even Gods. This very nature of Hinduism has often been cause of concern and confusion for Western thinkers, troubled by a religion, which is seeped so deep into our culture of exploration of truth through investigation and examination. When the western scholars approach the Vedic Indian wisdom, oftentimes their approach itself is based on the assumption that they are approaching a civilization, a religion which is inferior to theirs. This makes it hard for them to accept a society which was an intelle...

Ever sat down in the dark of the night besides vast and violent river Ganga and watched a lonely earthen lamp floating its way into oblivion? When I look at the way world has changed in the recent centuries, and two leading younger religions overwhelmed the globe, I often feel, India as that singular, silent lamp floating amid turbulent waves in a hostile world. When I look at the way things happen all around, makes me believe even more on that.  We mostly look at the small, mischievous gestures and wave it off as routine impertinence of the intellectual elites. But the meanings often are deeper and the game, much bigger. We always think a small piece does not matter, a little giveaway here and there, after all, life is but a criss-cross of well-meaning mutual compromises. But what we miss is the key term- mutual. Unless it is mutual, it is not compromise, it is subjugation, even if it means yielding an inch. That is what Five villages meant for the Pandavas in The Mahabhar...

(This is the 4th Part in the Series after: Part 1- Geographical Formation of India - Read Here Part 2- The formation of Rig Vedic India- Read Here Part 3- The vedas - Read Here  ) The Chronology of Vedic India We now try to establish the chronology of the formation of the Vedic World. Historians lament that the Vedic Indians were terrible in keeping the records (as against the Egyptians and Greeks). The reason behind this could be a very long history before the establishment of proper monarchies wherein the Monarchs might be interesting in keeping their histories, real or invented, preserved for the posterity. Another reason could be the inherent nature of Vedic thought, which was more concerned with spiritual exploration and search, than about empire building. The affiliations of later scholars also did not help much. Christian scholars found it hard to accept a world before Genesis, which was around 4500 BC. Communist scholars, which India had post-independence,...