One of the interesting features of Sanskrit is that, in a sentence, the order of the words don’t matter. You can switch them around and the meaning remains the same. […]
Three Stage Evolution of Mahabharata – jayam, bharatam, mahabharatam
There are clues in Mahabharata which tells us about how the itihaas grew to become the longest poem with over a lakh verses. Mahabharata is divided into 18 parvas with […]
Western Mythology of Cortes, Pizzaro and James Smith
In Western mythology, Hernan Cortes is a larger-than-life hero. He was responsible for single handedly conquering the Aztecs with a small army. From a story telling perspective think about the […]
European Origins of Manifest Destiny
In the 19th century, American settlers moved West grabbing frontier lands. The term Manifest Destiny was coined, which claimed special virtues for American people. It was imperative that they fulfill […]
Revisiting Out of Africa, Hominins in Philippines
Around 200,000 years back, Sapiens evolved in Africa. Then around 60,000 years back they left East Africa towards the Arabian Peninsula and from there to India following, maybe a coastal […]
Movie: Spotlight – Exposing child abuse in the Catholic church in Boston
In the wild, a predator stalks a herd, identifies the weakest animal and then preys on it. It was the same tactic that Boston Catholic priests used to prey on […]
The Paninian Prakriya
(It is recommended that you read The brilliance of Panini before this article) रामः पठति – Rama studies. If it happened in the past, you would say, रामः अपठत् and if […]
Sanskrit Notes: Context
(This is the translation of a story which appeared in Sambhashana Sandesha magazine. The translation is mine) Once upon a time, a pundit went to the river to take a […]
Turmeric Gets Popular in the West
That was an Ad from Peet’s Coffee. Who would have thought about adding turmeric to coffee? But looks like that is a thing now. Costco, a popular wholesale store, too […]
Sanskrit Notes: Tenses
Like any language, Sanskrit has the three tenses: the present, past and future. They are called वर्तमानकालः, भूतकालः and भविष्यत्कालः respectively. For the present tense, there is just one way […]