Whiteline Journal - October 2010 by AMCHI MUMBAI

Whiteline JOURNAL

Vol. 4

Issue 8

October 2010

Price : Rs. 15

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Importance of Indian Festivals

Founder Editor

Suresh H. Kondeth Chairman Anil Raghavan Chief Editor Premlal Editor C. Vimal Kumar Sub Editor P.B. Radhakrishnan Associate Editor Nanappan Manjapra Consulting Editor (Business) Dr. Raja Roy Choudhury Consulting Editor (Health) Dr. Pranav Shimpi Subscription Sindhu J. Mannadiar Pune Bureau M.V. Parameswaran Jayaprasad Thiruvananthapuram Bureau Monayi G.K. Baiju S. Pattathanam Kochi Bureau Dr. V.M.R. Nair

India, that is ‘Bharath’, is a unique country maintaining unity in diversity. It is the union of various linguistic states having a large population with different religions but enjoys happiness through the festivals. Though Hindu festivals are more in number, other festivals like EID, Christmas and Parsi New Year are enjoyed collectively, without any discrimination of caste or colour. Ganesh Chaturthi is widely observed. The starting of any function will be with a prayer of Ganesha to safeguard from obstruction to its smooth culmination. Navarathri is conducted with different names like ‘Kali-puja’ in Bengal, Dassera in Karnataka and Saraswati-puja in Kerala. All the10 days the worship of ‘Parashakti’(Almighty Goddess) is done with different names and the last 2 days are meant for ‘Saraswathi’. ‘Vijayadashami’ is good to begin new learning and seek blessings for existing activities.

Thrissur Bureau M.N. Rajendran Middle East Bureau Chief Preman Illath Layout & Designs Sudhi K. Jayaprakash Staff Photographers Dani K. Davis Lenin Joseph

September 2010

Chief Editor

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Inside COVER STORY

7 Indian Festivals

................................................................Rema Nair

New Year is celebrated as a Nation on the 1st of January every year. Vaisakhi, Gudi Padwa, Republic day, the Onam from ’the God’s own country’ have become state festivals.

and Vijayadashami 8 Navarathri .................................................P.B. Radhakrishnan In Hindu mythology, though the function of creation, maintenance and cessation of the universe with all its animate and inanimate objects are performed by the 3 male Gods –vis-a-vis- Brahma , Vishnu and Maheshwara , they all feel powerless in front of the feminine power as they draw the power from the Mother Goddess for their successful performance. In other words, devoid of the power of Goddess, they are incapable to do anything.

An Uncommon Genius Behind The Very Common Man .........................................................K R Narayanan

Sir David Low is considered the father of the Cartooning World and K Shankar Pillai the pioneer of Indian Cartooning. R. K. Laxman, on the other hand, is a universally acknowledged one-man institution of political humour and a national resource of satire. For about seven decades, he has been exposing every morning, the vanity of the windbags, who rule the country and manage the state affairs. The ability to caricature was a natural instinct in Laxman. He did not have to go to Art Schools or other institutions to learn cartooning. It was already within him ever since he was born.

Great Parallels 20 The .......................................................Dr. C. N. N. Nair Vasushena – also known as Vrusha-, grew up as a fine warrior. He acquired special mastery in archery. In this, he became disciple of the Kaurava gurus, Dronacharya and Kripacharya. That extra affection which Dronacharya bestowed on Arjuna, his favourite disciple, was the starting point of intense rivalry and mutual jealousy between these two towering masters of the art of archery. To excel Arjuna, Karna sought the disciple-ship of another master, Parasurama and fraudulently obtained same. But that only ended in disaster.

31 Insights ..................................................V.N. Gopalakrishnan Dr. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan (1888-1975) was a profound scholar, renowned philosopher, voluminous writer, gifted speaker, distinguished diplomat and above all a moderate humanist. As a philosopher, he introduced the thinking of Western idealist philosophers into Indian thought. He served as Vice President of India for two terms and the President of India for one term.

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Inside

Ideas are Good 25 New .................................................. Deepika Shrivastava Actually we are suffering from a tendency called (or as I call it) ‘going ahead looking back’ syndrome. Even a kid can tell the consequence of this kind of practice. We fall down, right! If we look ahead in the direction we are going even if we are not very sure of the right direction,

in Samba Land 28 Gita .......................................................... Priyadershini S

Death of The Typewriter !! ....................K D Skandan I started with the manual typewriter, went on to the electric and then electronic typewriters , and finally ended with the computer during a span of over four decades.

Y 26

A 'HIJACK' of Fe stival Gaiety

Gloria, who is visiting Kalady, with a group of 28 students, has been to Kerala before. A disciple of Swami Chinmayananda and of Swami Dayananda, Gloria’s entry into the world of spirituality was after she heard Swami Chinmayananda’s talk on Vedanta in Rio.

The Healing Yagna 34 Agnihotra: ........................................................... Suresh Kumar Agnihotra can be performed during sunrise and sunset at a clean and neat place. The changes happening during sunrise and sunset have an effect on all living things in the nature. So these two timings are considered ideal for

September 2010

............................................... N. Rajasekharan Nair

It was only when Sukhlal’s ‘body’ was being put on a hearse that one of the relatives heard him gasp for breath. The shocked relatives called a doctor who examined the ‘corpse’ and found that the pulse was still beating.

My Bond with Daughter .............................................. Anandavalli Chandran

Shobha’s thoughts, now, went back to twenty four years back.Aruna’s parents, Nirmala and Madan came to the city, after their marriage, from Uttar Pradesh. They have got four children, two sons and two daughters.

....................Pachu Menon Even the Gods have not been spared; the less said about the prurient ways of the keepers-of-faith the better! Let us for a moment stray from the realms of the Gods and his ministers and be more concerned with the deeds of the mortal earthlings. How has man in his fervor to celebrate the blessings of the Almighty changed over the years in observing the various occasions as festivals?

Some 'Grave' Errors

Irinjalakuda Koodalmanikyam Shree Bharatha Temple ......................................................... Gopalakrishnan

Koodalmanikyam Sree Bharatha Temple is situated 25 km away from Thrissur in the Kodungallur route. The ‘Mukkidi Nivedyam’ and ‘Brinjal Nivedyam’ offered on the day of ‘Avittom’ star in the Malayalam month of ‘Thulam’ is famous.

Yoga ........................................................ Sethu Madhavan

Close your eyes and take few minutes to relax your whole body. Now bring your attention to your abdomen and begin to breathe slowly and deeply without any noise in your nose. Feel you’re breath from the nose to the navel and navel to the nose. 5

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COVER STORY

Indian Festivals Rema Nair

Mob-9920060657. India is considered as the oldest of human civilizations; Greek , Messopotamian or Egyptian culture stands second to it only. The vastness of our social relations is unbelievably large and that is why when outsiders refer to our festivals, they are wonderstruck and would exclaim “incredible”. Our myths and legends have influenced our thought process and the festivals have taken shape with the help of our intelligence. There are various levels for our festivals like- family festivals, village festivals, religious festivals, state festivals and National festivals. Our people are so social minded that they want to share the enjoyment with others irrespective of the community they belong to. We inherited the “Sindhu Valley” civilization and the people there have been called by outsiders as ‘Hindus’ and many festivals also have been named by them as ‘Hindu festivals’, but there is no colour of the castes in it. The ‘Ganesh Chaturthi’ is celebrated by all the communities residing September 2010

in a particular state- for instance, say ‘Maharashtra’. Dusserha in Delhi has become so universal that people call it ‘Ramaleela’ now -a -days. ‘Makara shankranti’ is named as ‘Kite flying festival’ while the chariot journey of Lord Krishna (Jagannath) and ‘company’ at Puri- Orissa is called ‘Car festival’. New Year is celebrated as a Nation on the 1st of January every year. Vaisakhi, Gudi Padwa, Republic day, the Onam from ’the God’s own country’ have become state festivals. What all these show? The Work of Art of Taj Mahal , edifices of old temples and churches through out the country, boat-races, Dance and Music , Yoga and Ayurveda have become part and parcel of Indian heritage. We take pride in the ‘Vedas’, the discovery of ‘Aum’ sound and the zero(0) in Mathematics, as they all stand in testimony of our traditional thoughts. We wish: “Loka samastha sukhino bhavantu”!.

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COVER STORY STORY COVER

ď &#x201C;

P.B. Radhakrishnan pbr30@hotmail.com

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Seasonal Festival 8

n Indian culture, love towards Mother has occupied a noble and prominent place from time immemorial. When compared, Motherâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s love stands higher and nobler than any other emotion enjoyed by human being. Mother lovingly takes care of the child in its activities, protects from dangers

and forgives the mistakes it commits and literally brings him up to an able person. In return for all these care and sacrifices, we keep Mother at a reverent place equal to that of God. In Hindu mythology, though the function of creation, maintenance and cessation of the universe with all its animate and inanimate objects are performed by the 3 male Gods –vis-a-vis- Brahma , Vishnu and Maheshwara , they all feel powerless in front of the feminine power as they draw the power from the Mother Goddess for their successful performance. In other words, devoid of the power of Goddess, they are incapable to do anything. That is why the Gods along with all Devas worship the Mother Goddess as “Parashakthi”( ultimate power/ almighty) and seek the help and blessings of her for performing their functions successfully. September 2010

Some believe that Parvathi – the better half of Shiva, is appearing as Durga. Even in Ramayana mention is made that Sri Ram had worshiped Durga to get success in the fight with Ravana and in Mahabharatha, it is said that Pandavas had worshiped her while they were hiding in the forest (living incognito) for getting success in the ensuing war with Kauravas.

The power of almighty Goddess is worshiped in various forms from the Veda period onwards. At the time of the origin of universe, it is said that the creator of the worldMahavishnu as a child was lying over a leaf of banyan tree and the Mother Goddess had appeared in front of him in great splendor with 4 arms and carrying in them Conch, Wheel, Club and Lotus flower and protected him to do his functions. According to another opinion, Goddess has five different incarnations namely – Durga, Lakshmi, Saraswathi, Savithri and Radha. It is believed that Durga is the embodiment of all powers and is worshiped in 64 forms by the devotees. Some believe that Parvathi – the better half of Shiva, is appearing as Durga. Even in Ramayana mention is made that Sri Ram had worshiped Durga to get success in the fight with Ravana and in Mahabharatha, it is said that

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Pandavas had worshiped her while they were hiding in the forest (living incognito) for getting success in the ensuing war with Kauravas. Arjuna also had worshiped her specially at the start of the Mahabharath war on the advice of Sri Krishna. Durga is worshiped in her sober form as ‘Gayatri’ – the Mother of Vedas, as ‘Mahalakshmi’ – the owner of beauty and wealth and as ‘Saraswathi’ –the bestower of the knowledge and all forms of arts. ‘Parvathi’, ‘Bhavani’, ‘Jagadambika’, ‘Shankari’ and ‘Hymavathi’ are also her names for worshiping in the sober form. She appears in ferocious forms, holding names like ‘Kali’, ‘Durga’, ‘Bhavani’, ‘Chandika’ and ‘Shyama’. In Kerala the name ‘Bhagavathi’ denotes a common name of Durga worshiped with various attributes and expressions. It is known that Parasurama had constructed 108 Durga temples in Kerala alone. Chottanikkara, Kodungallur, Kollur, Malayalappuzha, Thirumanthamkunnu, Kumaranallur, Kannyakumari and Palakkad are famous temples of Durga. Durgashtami, Navarathri and Vijayadashami are observed in that order for 10 days. In the month of Kanni (Malayalam month) from the first day of the new moon, the ten days are devoted to worship the

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The students, artists and workers (if possible) keep books and tools in front of the Goddess at an elevated place and pray lighting lamps and distribute the blessed food items to all who are present. If this also is not possible , at least for some time on the 9th day the workers conduct a prayer collectively and feel that they are also blessed. This method has a tremendous effect on the well being of those persons also. This is the shortest form of “weapon-pooja” which others conduct for 3 days. almighty Goddess. On each day the Goddess is worshiped with a different name, though they are all the names of Goddess but aimed to get a specific blessing. The names on the chronological order are Kumari, Thrimurthy, Kalyani , Rohini, Kalika, Chandika, Shambavi, Durga and Subhadra. Since the ultimate aim is to get knowledge and blessings through prayers, not only students and artists but also anybody 10

desiring well-being can worship the deity continuously for all the nine days. It is even advised by the creator Brahma in Devimahatmyam that Saraswathi holds superior abilities to grand boons to the worshipers. There is no difference in the deity though called in various names. It is customary to restart the knowledge process on the tenth day, that is on Vijayadashami day. In Northern India, particularly in Delhi and Varanasi, Dussehra is also celebrated as “Ramaleela” for ten days in the accompaniment of plays, dance performances and scriptural discourses and people of all communities participate in the celebrations. There are well established committees to conduct this festival. The effigies of Ravana are erected with his characteristic ten heads and it is assumed that on each day his one head is cut away and the tenth day Ravana is destroyed fully by Rama. The Vijayadashami day is considered as ‘Victory day’ and is symbolised as the triumph of Good over Evil. There would be fireworks to culminate the festival and sweets are distributed lavishly. A special mention has to be made here for the enthusiasm with which the people of Gujarat conduct the Navaratri festival in accompaniment of pooja, Garba and Dandiya raas dances with music throughout the 9 nights. It is always a feast to the eyes and ears to witness such superb dances lasting till 12 a.m. in the night and you can observe a variety of colours in the attire of the dancers. In Kerala, the first 3 days are earmarked to worship ‘Bhadrakali’ , next 3 days for ‘Lakshmi’ and the rest for ‘Saraswathi’. Kali pooja in Bengal and Chamundi pooja (Dasssera) in Karnataka are festivals related to the 9 days’ festival of Navarathri. Along with the normal pooja, in various places of north India, ‘Kanya’(virgin) worship also will be performed selecting 9 girls of age between 2 and 10 and are worshiped assuming that they are

Devi’s different forms and they will be gifted with some presents in the function. If all 9 days cannot be taken up for penance (vrutha), the last 3 days (7,8,9) are a must to conduct the formal worship(pooja). The students, artists and workers (if possible) keep books and tools in front of the Goddess at an elevated place and pray lighting lamps and distribute the blessed food items to all who are present. If this also is not possible , at least for some time on the 9th day the workers conduct a prayer collectively and feel that they are also blessed. This method has a tremendous effect on the well being of those persons also. This is the shortest form of “weaponpooja” which others conduct for 3 days. There is a story prevalent to support the importance of the 9th day September 2010

prayer –that Goddess Durga had appeared in front of Devas on the 8th day and promised to kill the troublesome assura” Durggavan” on the 9th day, to the relief of all. So the prayer

on the 9th day is very auspicious for the believers. Vijayadashami is celebrated as victory day of the 11

Devas. There is another story also connected to Vijayadashami that it is on this day that Mahishasura was annihilated by Devi and the world is relieved from his atrocities and hence the celebrations. However the tenth day is good to start any new venture. While conducting poojas it is customary to recite certain portions of the religious books to please the Goddess. The portions from Lalitha-sahsranamam, Devi Mahatmyam and Soundaryalahari are recommended to recite during the worshiping. A prayer worth reciting on all the days may be by-hearted by students: “Saraswathi namsthubhyam varade kamarupini, Vidyarambham karishyami siddhir bhavatu mae sada”.

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People

AN UNCOMMON GENIUS BEHIND THE VERY COMMON MAN

K R Narayanan

Laxman with his wife, Smt. Kamala

“If newspapers are the sentinels of democracy, cartoonists are the torch bearers of freedom of speech and expression”, observed S.C. Jamir, former Governor of Maharashtra, when he was releasing the biography of India’s greatest cartoonist (titled “R.K.Laxman – The Uncommon Man”) by Dr. Dharmendra Bandari. Here is a document, on the creator of the world-famous uncommonly common man, based on and compiled from various literature / publications on him.

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“I’ve had no masters, no guidance, and no training schools. I am a self-taught, self-made and shall I say a self-drawn man”, he is reported to have said once. While in the High School, Laxman chose drawing for his optional subject. In those days, this subject was looked upon as something fit only for predetermined high school dropouts, who never had any aptitude for painting, drawing or for that matter any subject taught in the school.

ir David Low is considered the father of the Cartooning World and K Shankar Pillai the pioneer of Indian Cartooning. R. K. Laxman, on the other hand, is a universally acknowledged one-man institution of political humour and a national resource of satire. For about seven decades, he has been exposing every morning, the vanity of the windbags, who rule the country and manage the state affairs. The ability to caricature was a natural instinct in Laxman. He did not have to go to Art Schools or other institutions to learn cartooning. It was already within him ever since he was born. “Not apples, as we have heard for so long, but it is a cartoon a day that keeps the doctor away”, observed the Indian Express News Service, while referring to Laxman, who was the chief guest for distribution of prizes for an inter-school health essay contest in Pune (1999). ``Perhaps one day the society will be cleansed of all doctors, if you all continue sincerely in your efforts,’’ quipped the Magsaysay award-winner cartoonist, R. K. Laxman, referring to the health awareness programmes of the then two-year-old Symbiosis Centre September 2010

of Health Care (SCHC), which had organized the essay contest. ``If the Jayalalithas and Karunanidhis succeed in giving us an ideal society, I’ll have to go and sit next to the jobless doctor,’’ added this great cartoonist of our time, with a mischievous smile, on that occasion. “It was the mosquitoes and politicians that enabled doctors and cartoonists to survive……. What subject will I sketch to earn my living if disease, poverty, ignorance and corruption are eradicated?” wondered this pragmatic cartoonist with a social purpose.

A Born Cartoonist Attributing the origin of cartoon drawing as an art to Britain, Laxman says, “We acquired this art from the British during the Raj.” On his own evolution as a cartoonist, he says, “As a child, I had a penchant for drawing and over the years perfected this skill. As a student in middle school I used to draw cartoons for a Kannada magazine called Koravanji and later for My India, an English periodical of those days. I’ve had no masters, no guidance, and no training schools”. “I am a self-taught, self-made and shall I say a self-drawn man?” tells Laxman very often. Caricaturing had been innate in Laxman. He vividly remembers (in his autobiography: The Tunnel of Time), drawing on the floors of their big house in Mysore, which he feared would invite the wrath of the elders in the household. He also remembers the incident about his primary teacher asking the pupils to draw a leaf in their free period. “When it was my turn”, writes 13

Laxman, “he (the teacher) stared at the drawing for an alarmingly long time and asked me, “did you draw it yourself, Laxman? I was frightened and stepped back, expecting a shower of blows. I replied, you asked us to draw, Sir....... I sat there and drew..... Fumbling for a safe excuse”. But to my great surprise and joy he held my slate up before the class and announced: ‘Attention! Look how nicely Laxman has drawn the leaf! He turned to me and said, ‘You will be an artist one day. Keep it up”. And the teacher’s prediction did not go wrong! Laxman was inspired by this unexpected encouragement and he began to think of himself as an artist in the making, and never doubted his destiny. Also, Laxman notes in his autobiography that : “I drew objects that caught my eye outside the window of my room - the dry twigs, leaves and lizard-like creatures crawling about, the servant chopping firewood and, of course, and number of crows in various postures on the rooftops of the buildings opposite”. While in the High School, Laxman chose drawing for his optional subject. In those days, this subject was looked upon as something fit only for predetermined high school dropouts, who never had any aptitude for painting, drawing or for that matter any subject taught in the school. His drawing class had hardly five pupils. When the then drawing teacher ( a product of the famous J.J.School of Arts) set a wooden cube to teach the perspective and illusion of parallel lines, meeting at infinity, Laxman was the only one to draw it, as he had already learned drawing in his

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own way, without a teacher or going to drawing schools.

The Tunnel of Time – Laxman’s Autobiography Like his brilliant brother, R.K.Narayan, this creator of the Silent but observant Common Man - also has made substantial contribution to the Indian English writing. But it is his silent caricature and cartooning that speak in a thousand tongues about the inadequacies of the social, economic and political systems of the country. Most of the literary works of his elder brother carried Laxman’s illustrations. Who can forget the impressive sketches of the Malgudi Railway station, Lawly Statue, the streets, horse-drawn carts, the shops and the inhabitants of Narayan’s imaginary world so beautifully enlivened by his sibling? The cartoons of Sir Low had influenced Laxman greatly in his childhood. He speaks about this in detail in his autobiography (The Tunnel of Time). Accidentally, when he was a child, he had happened to come across a cartoon depicting three figures in a boat in a stormy sea. He looked for the name of the marvelous artist. It was written Low in brief and bold. But the L seemed to Laxman more like a C and he presumed that the cartoonist was one Mr. Cow. He became an avid follower of this great illustra-

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tor’s works. It was much later that Laxman realized the name was not Cow but Low – the world-renowned Sir David Low. Though Laxman had great desire to meet Sir. Low ever since he started seeing his cartoons, he met Low only after about five years of his joining the Times of India. That too in an unexpected and unusual way. There is a vivid description of this meeting in his autobiography. “……I always went to the office at 8.30 in the morning before any one had arrived. That day as I entered my room I was astonished to see a couple sitting in the chairs opposite my desk. It was Mr. and Mrs. David Low. This was the man I had dreamt of seeing somewhere, sometime one day without much hope since childhood… certainly not casually right in my own room in the morning. After the initial shock the wonder and disbelief alternating inside me blinking lights subsided. I gathered my wits and talked to my visitors with strange continuity…….”.

Laxman’s Common Man

India’s Common Man created by Laxman The Common Man, the legendary protagonist of Laxman has been representing the ordinary Indian citizen – Aam Aadmi - from the late 1940s. As a mute, or at times confused wit14

ness, along with his wife, neighbors, politicians, or many other characters, he brought out very effectively the public grievances, inflation, corruption, deteriorated/collapsing infrastructure, common poverty, official greed, apathy of the rulers to the peoples’ sufferings, man-made disasters, natural catastrophe and the like - with uniform intensity. Laxman is the uncommon creator of that embarrassed and voiceless common man who represents the millions of this country. The common man’s birth was about four or five years after Laxman’s joining the Times of India. What he says about the genesis of the common man is: “There is so much variety among Indians – there are people with beards, turbans, moustaches – south Indians are different from north Indians, etc, etc. There is no single attribute that is common to all Indians. So I created a mythical character in a striped coat, with a bushy moustache, a bald head with a white wisp of hair at the back, a bulbous nose on which is perched a pair of glasses, and he has thick black eyebrows permanently raised, expressing bewilderment. He stands for all Indians and goes through life without uttering a word, but watches with amusement the ironies, paradoxes and contradictions of the human situation”. “What is common about this character”, as Laxman said once, “is that like most Indians, he sees his country being forced through endless indignities by its leaders and yet doesn’t even whimper in protest. He has perfected docility as a survival strategy”. Can there be a better comparison to the average Indian than Laxman’s Common Man? For half a century, the Times of India thoughtfully provided an antidote to all the bad news brimming on its front pages. It’s a sketch, a single box, inked by R.K. Laxman - the country’s sharpest cartoonist and political satirist. Each morning, Laxman’s Common Man, confronts India’s latest heartbeat with a kind

of wry resignation. This meek and always puzzled simpleton, with his bristles- like moustache, remains a mute witness to everything around him, like the scheming politicians, rapacious bureaucrats and gossiping housewives. In 2008, as India was getting ready for its annual budget exercise, M.J. Akbar, the then Editor-in-Chief of The Asian Age and Deccan Chronicle wrote in the Khaleej Times : “The Common Man is getting a budget; does the Common Man have a face? Actually, yes!!......It struck me that Laxman’s Common Man, who has appeared for decades on the front page of the Times, is a variation of Gandhi. Gandhi redefined India and Indian nationalism, took it away from the grasp of elites and handed it over to the Common Man for safekeeping. Six decades after his death, the Common Man is getting one budget out of five. I suppose the Common Man should be grateful for small mercies.” About seventy years of cartooning has not dimmed Laxman’s brilliance or the bafflement of his check-coated man, who blinks at the socio-political scenes of India from his front-page corner in the Times of India

mon bird.” They are smart and have a strong survival instinct”, he once wrote. “As far back as I can remember the crow attracted me because it was so alive on the landscape, standing out black against the green trees, blue sky, red earth and yellow compound wall. The common crow is really an uncommon bird.” He has held exhibitions of his drawings of crows of different shades of black in varying posters.

A Crow by Laxman Though not much religious, Laxman’s favorite deity has always been the playful elephant god Ganesha. He drew this God with great dexterity and vigor. For his artistic eyes, the rotund form seemed to manifest itself everywhere - in a tree trunk, a weather beaten boulder, a drifting cloud, etc.

Fascination for Crows Laxman’s fascination for crows is well-known. He talks passionately about his first love – the crows: “I get away from every thing by drawing crows.” says he. He loves its color, voice and activity, “Without Knowing, I started liking the crow.” Laxman is said to have said. Once he commented upon his own fascination for crows as : “All my life I have painted crows. Singly, in pairs, threesomes, whole murders of them.” He broke off to chuckle at the word ‘murder’ and continued “Don’t look so horrified. Murder is the collective noun for crows. Even as a child I had been fascinated by them. They are smart, lively and have a strong survival instinct. The common crow is really an uncomSeptember 2010

Laxman’s Ganesha

The Undisputed Genius If anybody asks what is so special about Laxman, the celebrity Cartoonist has his ready answer: “My genius, what else?” “A little humility is not a bad thing if you are at the top,” feels Sudhir Dhar, another leading cartoonist of India, in the Illustrated Weekly of India. He re15

counts another story as well in this conjunction. When the American cartoonist Ranan Lurie asked him who the best Indian cartoonist was, Laxman flashed back, “I am.” The second, third, fourth, fifth.. The best man on the job? Laxman continued to repeat, “I am.” At the same time, the very same Laxman has no hassles about his own greatness or a sense of superiority over others who are not able to see things as he sees them. Laxman has been receiving awards after awards. Some of them are: B. D. Goenka Award (Indian Express), Durga Ratan Gold Medal (Hindustan Times), Padma Bhushan ( Govt. of India), Padma Vibhushan (Govt. of India), Ramon Magsaysay Award for Journalism, Literature and Creative Communication Arts – 1984, Lifetime Achievement Award for Journalism-CNN IBN TV18, etc. The conferring of titles makes no impression on a man of his caliber who has carved a niche for himself in the hearts of millions of readers of newspapers and magazines in the country and abroad. It is said that when somebody asked him about his awards, he chuckled and said: “What is a life time achievement? Drawing?” But, the genius cartoonist enjoys watching people go up and down the corridors of life from his corner wondering where streams and streams of human population are heading and for what. It makes him depict them in his own way. Laxman could find innumerable targets during the epoch of the protected market, the Permit-license-quota Raj and quasi-socialist political experimentation. He continued to offer enlightenment and amusement even in the changing era of globalization. But for a brief period of Emergency (1975-1977), when censorship rendered his role difficult to sustain, Laxman has been continuously at work for about seven decades, recording the foibles of India’s ruling elite with an unsparing, fiercely

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independent eye, deflating the egos of politicians and self-styled gurus, exposing the hypocrisies of pompous mandarins and rapacious business barons. According to him, “A cartoonist enjoys not a great man but a ridiculous man. Or maybe someone like Morarji Desai and his various habits and idiosyncrasies. I used to go and meet Pandit Nehru and he really liked me. I was once given five minutes to meet him and he spent more than an hour with me. With Indira Gandhi, of course, I had problems during the Emergency”. Laxman however, does not seem to be optimistic about the future of cartooning, when he said “Cartoon as an art is dying. There is no originality in the cartoons of today”

Life and Career Rasipuram Krishnaswamy Iyer Laxman, called as Dudu in the family, was born on 24 October 1924, in Mysore, as the youngest of six sons. His strict headmaster father Rasipuram Venkataraman Krishnaswamy Iyer was imperious and remote, preoccupied with his work to bother much about his youngest son. The mother Smt. Gnanambal, was the Mysore Maharani’s favorite partner in tennis, bridge and chess. Laxman’s eldest brother, R.K. Narayan, was one of India’s best known novelists in English. Laxman was engrossed by the illustrations in magazines such as Strand Magazine, Punch, Bystander, Wide World and Tit-Bits, even before he could read. Soon he was drawing on his own, on the floors, walls and doors of his house and doodling at school. Another early influence on Laxman (as mentioned earlier), were the cartoons of the world renowned Sir David Low . An alumnus of the then famous Maharaja College of Mysore, Laxman graduated with Philosophy, Economics and Politics, which perhaps gave him the right mixture of understanding, estimating and en-

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larging the peculiarities of human nature with his tongue in his cheek. Having launched off as a freelance cartoonist in Mysore, he had hoped to work in Delhi. He first came to Bombay only to look at the sights. But his tourist adventure acquired a more serious edge when a friend, who worked for B.G. Horniman’s Bombay Chronicle, offered to take him to the Stock Exchange. He walked down Meadows Street, where he saw a large board spread across several windows: it read “The Free Press Journal” and, as he says, “Surely created darkness for those within”. He went in to meet the editor, was taken on, and joined those in darkness behind the board, doing a variety of daily cartoons, caricatures and Sunday specials. India had achieved Independence, but at the cost of partition and the caricaturist had a field day with Gandhi, Jinnah, Mountbatten, Nehru and the other popular and unpopular actors in those momentous dramas. Within a month, however, he left the Free Press Journal, in response to a hint that he should cease to lampoon certain leaders. He walked up the Hornby Road (today’s Dadabhoy Naoroji Road), and reached the impressive porch of Bennett, Coleman and Company Ltd. “No one stopped me, so I wandered in, came up to the third floor, and asked to see the editor,” recalls Laxman. He was asked to meet Walter Langhammer, the Central European Jewish expatriate who was then art Director of the Times. Langhammer already knew him and his works and hired him immediately. From that day in 1947, Laxman’s cartoons have poured from this majestic building — ranging from political commentary through the social satire of manners to humor at the expense of inefficient municipal officials and bumbling babus — except for that brief interlude during the Emergency. It must be said here that the Times of India’ never had a cartoonist before Laxman came in. Laxman virtually created his own 16

job definition in the Times of India and within 10 years, had become indispensable. He worked for nearly six decades at the large table, with its angled drawing board and Tsquare that had been made for him when he joined the staff. His basic equipment always consisted of his pencils, brushes, black waterproof drawing ink and two glass jars (that might have held pickles or marmalade) which hold the water for his brushes only. Some decades ago, when the establishment provided him with a new computer, he was not comfortable and would look askance at the intruder. Laxman is married to author Kamala Laxman. He lives in both Mumbai and Pune. In September 2003, Laxman was affected by a stroke, which left him paralyzed on his left side. He has partly recovered from its effects. On the evening of June 20, 2010, Laxman suffered another stroke and was admitted to Breach Candy Hospital in Mumbai after being transported by an air ambulance from Pune. His condition has improved since.

The Other side of the Genius Laxman is often blunt and transparent in his dealings with others. Hypocrisy is something that has never come near this great personality. He is kind, soft, very emotional, and cries easily. At the convocation of the Bombay University, when Dr. Kalam (the then President of India) hugged him, Laxman just cried and cried, so Dr. Kalam said, “Laxman you make the world laugh every morning, how can you cry now?” Khushwant Singh once wrote in a column: “Both R. K. Narayan and Laxman conceal enormous self-esteem and inflated egos. I have to concede, though, that neither has anything to be modest about. Laxman is the pillar that sustains The Times of India. The day his cartoons stop appearing on its front pages, Indians who start their day with a smile will have nothing left

to smile about.” Some people, however, feel Laxman needs to do more than just make people smile. “He doesn’t take a debate forward,” said cartoonist and Malayalam littérateur O V Vijayan once. “There is no political comment, only political statement,” echoed “his nephew Ravi Shankar, cartoonist and Deputy Editor, India Today. But The Hindu’s cartoonist Keshav argued: “Laxman puts us on the spot. The common man is helpless in the country; he chokes with frustrations and fury. Laxman’s cartoons convert this rage into humor.” While he has a keen eye for the idiosyncrasies of others, he takes great care to safeguard his own: conservative in his tastes, he has never shared in the general obsession with rapid change. The fluctuations of fashion do not register on his oscilloscope. He saw no reason, for instance, to vary the costume of white bushshirt and black trousers that he wore to work for 50 years, although he would dress quite nattily for the occasional cocktail party or art-world opening that he attended. “No polarization is healthy,” feels Laxman, on the communal cauldron that hangs like a Damocles’ sword over the country. “Only unity is a healthy phenomenon.” But then can he see at least a flicker at the end of the tunnel? “Not really. He feels that there is no leadership in this country and adds (with sardonic humour) that the likes of Narendra Modi will help. He often adds as an afterthought that at least in India some of us are aware as to where we are heading but the US is unaware of where it is going. This genius has his own reservations on the brilliance of our techno-whiz youth who are all geeks with appalling general knowledge. He has nothing against the pursuit of technical excellence but feels it should not be at the cost of simple general knowledge. In the olden days the youngsters were quick-witted abounding in general knowledge September 2010

about everything around them. But, today the so-called techno-savvy youngster draws a blank when asked a plain question about his neighborhood! “If this generation is to be called smarter than the forefathers, God bless them”, opines Laxman. The environmentalist in Laxman came to the fore when he vociferously denounced the commercial hoardings that strike a visitor to Hyderabad. “There are two things that have made the twin cities ugly: hoardings and loud music. Those monstrous hoardings blocking every structure have ruined Hyderabad. The city seems to be sick with commercial hoardings screaming consumer durables’ advertisements. They distract the attention of the commuters and overshadow the ambience of anything and everything. Should concern for commercial advertisements bypass all aspects of aesthetics in this city?” he questions.

and R.K. Laxman? N. Ram, coauthor of the biography of R.K. Narayan and a close friend of both brothers, seems to have given a detailed explanation: “R.K. Narayan is India’s greatest writer in English of this century, one of the world’s major literary figures. His youngest brother, R.K. Laxman, is way and ahead India’s finest cartoonist, and one of the world’s best. Their autobiographies, Narayan’s My Days, published in 1974, and Laxman’s The Tunnel of Time, which I have just read, provide clues towards an explanation of how one family can produce two such outstanding creative figures. It happens very rarely but it has happened hereabout. They express individual genius, which has always defied explanation, but they are also products of a particular family and social milieu that has been congenial to creativity: liberal and modern in outlook, yet imbued with strong values and laidback integrity and respectful of independence and originality”. While the entire world praises his cartoons, Laxman does not seem to agree with them, as according to him he hasn’t drawn his best cartoon yet.

The Writer Laxman

The common man and his uncommon creator

The Genes of Greatness IT is a matter of considerable interest that two of India’s most outstanding achievers - each preeminent in his field - are brothers. What is it about their background that played a formative part in the creative geniuses of R.K. Narayan 17

In addition to his immortal caricatures, Laxman has been a very good writer as well. Many feel that Narayan’s works did have some influence on him, as he had been illustrating for most of the works of Narayan.. Like his elder brother, Laxman too wrote in simple English, which any one could understand and relish easily, without the help of a Dictionary or Thesaurus. He never perplexed or confused the reader with bombastic or high sounding words, or pompous style According to Laxman, R K Narayan’s writing is worthy and so also are the works of Graham Greene and Vikram Seth. But Laxman confesses he does not read, as much as he used to. It’s the same for the travels too. “No one has traveled as much as me, but I find aeroplanes very un-

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HAPPINESS! comfortable now”, says he. He has written books / travelogues and published many compilations of his cartoons, under different titles. You Said It (Many series), Best Of Laxman, Brushing Up The Years: Laugh With Laxman, Common Man Takes A Stroll, Common Man Seeks Justice, Common Man Stands In Queue, Common Man Casts His Vote, Common Man Balances His Budget, Common Man At Large, Common Man At Home, The Common Man Goes To The Village, Laughter, Common Man Meets The Mantri, Common Man In The New Millennium, Common Man Tackles Corruption, A Cartoonist’s History Of India 1947, To The Present, Dose Of Laughter, Servants Of India, Collected Writings, Tunnel Of Time (His Autobiography), Lakshmanrekha (His autobiography in Marathi), Management Of Management, In The Wonderland Of Indian Managers, Hotel Riviera , The Distorted Mirror, Messenger, Collected Writing, Exclusively Yours, Penguin India Millennium Yearbook, etc. Etc. are some of his famous books / cartoon compilations.

The Nation Salutes The “Lifetime Achievement Award” “For being one of the most incisive observers of post-independence India; for making millions of Indians smile every single morning for over 60 years; and for giving the common man of this country, a face, a voice, an identity and a con-

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sistent presence and importance in every aspect of our lives.” was bestowed to him at a ripe age of the 84. Laxman virtually broke down and wept like a child, as the former president Dr.A.P.J. Abdul Kalam and the Vice President Hamid Ansari joined the audience in standing up and saluting a common man who has become uncommon in modern India. No one seems to have been honored in this manner in any country before. There all lies the greatness of this uncommonly common man called R. K. Laxman.

Source: Books: 1.“The Tunnel of Time. An Autobiography”. R.K.Laxman (1998) 2. “R.K.Laxman - the Uncommon Man”. Dr.Dharmendra Bhandari (2009) Articles: 1. R K Laxman -- A cartoon a day keeps the doctor away! Express News Service (1999) Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd. 2. Through A Coloured Glass (A Summary of an article in the Readers Digest on R. K. Laxman) 3. Colossus of Cartoons by Ranee Kumar in the Hindu 4. A Brush with R.K.Laxman. Harmony Magazine, 2004. 5. Laxman’s World. An article by Ranjit Hoskote, The Hindu. 6. The Sky is the Limit. An Interview of Farzana Contractor with R.K.Laxman

Adv. Prakash Nair

appiness is a state of Mind . It is often not achieved by material comforts. If material comforts alone can give Happiness and peace of mind then we will not find so many well to do people flocking to seek advise and solace from various religious gurus. Wealth is no doubt required for our day to day existence. But it should be for our NEED and not for our GREED. Once we realize this, life becomes full of JOY. But we loose sight of these by often repenting about the past and worrying about future and forget to live the present. Once you take good care of the present, the future takes care of itself without leaving to repent for the past. So Let us live every moment truthfully and Love all human beings. There is more pleasure in giving than in taking. Once you start working for your needs your actions are righteous. Your need includes being of use to the society. Your need should be towards welfare of all human beings. Your need does not stop at attending to your personal requirements for existence. Meditation plays a great role in having equanimity of mind and synchronized functioning of heart, mind and body.

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Mythology

THE ! S L E G L L THE GRREA ! S A L E R L L T E A A A R T P P P THE GREAT PARALLELS! A A T R A T A R E L R L A E A G L E E S L H ! T R L E G L E S H ! T A Dr. C. N. N. Nair Tel: 022 - 28676400

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nationâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s heritage is stored and reflected in its literary past. Every major literary work in any time and in any place mirrors the lives and times of the people of whom the work is composed. Much can be deduced from apparently simple and innocuous references. Thus we refer to the great ancient literary works of every nation to know much more than the story content. Mythologies, epics and legends thus aid us to explore the seamless minds of the ancient seers through their works which may not 20

be evident in the preliminary glances. And, once we proceed in that direction, we are astonished at the parallels that existed in the thought process of our ancestors who were geographically and physically far apart. No convincing explanation can satisfy this ‘convergence of great ideas’ which only can come from a common source which bind the whole of humanity. Thus we notice some very striking similarities in situations, incidents and stories recounted in our mythologies and those of the west, especially from the Greek. In this article, we will examine one such story, all too familiar to Indians and one, not so very popular even to the lost Greek civilization. The Indian story is about Karna, the un-wed son of princess Kunti and the sun god Surya, the highly lamented hero of Mahabharata. The corresponding hero is Greek mythology is ION, son of an un-wed prince Creusa and their son-god, Apollo. Although the story of the ill-fated prince Karna is too well-known, we will encapsulate it in the following paras for easy retrieval. It was the practice in those days to employ royal maidens in the service of honoured guests like sages in royal families. Princess Kunti, the adopted daughter of King Kuntibhoja was, once, thus employed to serve the redoubtable, angry sage Durvasas. In the end, the sage was extremely pleased with her service and when departed, he taught her five charms -mantras- of great power. The effect of each was, by chanting it, a specific god would be drawn towards her and out of this union, she would beget a son. Soon after the sage left, princess Kunti, though unmarried, out of mere curiosity, experimented with one of the charms. She invoked the Sun god who manifested in all glory in front of her. Though Kunti tried to protest that her intensions were innocent and it was only a maiden’s folly, the power of the mantra prevailed; Sun god embraced her and September 2010

a son was born her. Fearing scandal, the unwed princess, reluctantly though, had to get rid of the child. She set afloat the infant (%) in the nearby river Aswa, which eventually merged with the river Yamuna. Downstream, a childless couple Adhiratha and his wife Radha spotted this infant, took it home and brought During an initial exhibition of prowess, Karna had displayed dexterity in archery superior to Arjuna and he demanded to have a duel with him. But Karna’s apparent low birth stood between him and glory and he was thoroughly humiliated. Kunti, who was present, did recognize her first son in Karna, but maintained her silence. On this occasion, realizing that Karna will be a tower of strength at his side against the Pandavas, Duryodhana came forward with unbound generosity and crowned him as King of Anga.

it up under the name Vasushena. Adhiratha was just a stable manager attached to the Kuru palace. The child had, since birth, shining armour and golden ear-rings on it – divine gifts. Vasushena – also known as Vrusha-, grew up as a fine warrior. He acquired special mastery in archery. In this, he became disciple of the Kaurava gurus, Dronacharya and Kripacharya. That extra affection which Dronacharya bestowed on Arjuna, his favourite disciple, was the starting point of intense rivalry and mutual jealousy between these two towering masters of the art of archery. To excel Arjuna, Karna sought the disciple-ship of another master, Parasurama and fraudulently obtained same. But that only ended in disaster. He had to return with a curse that that art which he learnt from Parasurama would be of no avail to him at his critical moment. Again, he unwit21

tingly incurred the wrath of another sage who cursed him that at the fatal moment, his chariot would sink in the earth. Thus, besides being unfortunate in being cast away by his own mother and brought up in low situations in life unworthy of his princely birth, Karna also was chased by these curses like his own shadow till his end. Karna was the embodiment of strong will, supreme confidence of mastery, dedication to true friendship, endearing behaviour and above all, unselfish generosity. During an initial exhibition of prowess, Karna had displayed dexterity in archery superior to Arjuna and he demanded to have a duel with him. But Karna’s apparent low birth stood between him and glory and he was thoroughly humiliated. Kunti, who was present, did recognize her first son in Karna, but maintained her silence. On this occasion, realizing that Karna will be a tower of strength at his side against the Pandavas, Duryodhana came forward with unbound generosity and crowned him as King of Anga. In return, Karna offered eternal commitment of friendship to Duryodhana. Even when he was sure that Duryodhana was in the wrong, Karna stood by his side. In the infamous scene of game of dice and subsequent disrobing of the queen Draupadi, Karna was seen fully supporting Duryodhana. After thirteen years of exile, the Pandavas returned demanding half the kingdom. Duryodhana stoutly refused. Despite all mediations, war became a reality. Lord Krishna personally visited the Kaurava durbar and pleaded dispassionately for peaceful settlement of the issue to avoid a disastrous war- but to no avail. There followed three major developments which would have shook even the most determined. From Lord Krishna Himself first and later from Queen Kunti, his own mother, he came to know the truth about his birth. That he was the first son of Kunti and hence the eldest of the

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Pandava’s thoroughly unsettled and disturbed him. Both Krishna and Kunti attempted to persuade Karna to switch loyalty over to the Pandava camp where he would be respected as the eldest and would be crowned as the King. Karna’s resolve was not to be shaken. True, he now had to fight his own brothers whom he had all along wronged along with Duryodhana. He gently told Krishna that conscious as he was that he would have to meet his end in the war, he would not desert his dear friend and benefactor Duryodhana who had all along trusted on his might. To Kunti, he promised that changing side at this juncture was impossible but he would ensure that his arrows would not kill any of the Pandavas excepting Arjuna, so that ‘ Both before and after the war, Mother, you will have five sons. Either Arjuna or Karna only will survive this war. I will not kill the other four even if I get ample chance.’ On his part, Karna extracted a promise from Kunti that she would continue to keep the secret of his being her eldest son because, ‘If Yudhishtira knew the truth, as one who is a

His moral dilemma was clear. To them, he was the feared warrior whom they kept on taunting as ‘Sutaputra’ – son of a charioteer. While fighting them, he was always remembering the promise given to his mother and he playfully toyed with them, cornering them to a state of total helplessness and then kept laughing at their incompetence on their face to their great annoyance and disbelief! stickler to Dharma, he would never fight me and would retire from war. Anything I would get, I would surrender to Duryodhana. So better let the war take place and righteousness prevail in the end.’ It was well known that as long as Karna had the ear-rings and the

breast plate which were divine gifts from his birth, he was invincible. Lord Indra, father of Arjuna, Karna’s chief rival, was perturbed about this aspect. It was also well known that Karna could not refuse if any one asked for anything from him. This unmatched generosity had earned him the title ‘Daanvir Karna’. So, Indra decided to approach Karna seeking his two congenital gifts in the guise of a brahmin. Karna’s father, the Sun god, knew of Indra’s plans and in a dream cautioned his son but Karna decided that even at the cost of his life, he would certainly never refuse a Brahmin anything he asked. When next morning, an old Brahmin approached him and asked for some gifts of his choice, knowing fully well who he was, Karna granted his wishes. Indra manifested and demanded Karna’s breast plate and the ear rings. Without hesitation, Karna severed them from his body and handed over to the Brahmin. Pleased with his devotion to stick to his promises even at peril to his own life, Indra presented him in return with a matchless spear –Vyjayanti Sakti- which

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could be used just once. The war began. For the initial ten days, Karna kept away from the battlefield as long as Bhishma was the commander in chief. After his fall and with his blessings, Karna joined the war. Drona fell on the fourteenth day. On the fifteenth day, Karna was installed as the commander in chief of the Kaurava army. True to his word, though he got opportunity, he let off his four brothers. His moral dilemma was clear. To them, he was the feared warrior whom they kept on taunting as ‘Sutaputra’ – son of a charioteer. While fighting them, he was always remembering the promise given to his mother and he playfully toyed with them, cornering them to a state of total helplessness and then kept laughing at their incompetence on their face to their great annoyance and disbelief! Even the deaths of his beloved sons Chitrasena, Satyasena and Sushena who fought for Kauravas and were killed by Pandavas, could not change his resolve. He had only one goal – to fight and kill Arjuna, to prove that he was the superior warrior; to settle a score which began during that early childhood exhibition match. He was, at the same time, prepared to welcome a hero’s death in this pursuit should it so happen. He had specially reserved the spear - Vyjayanti sakti to be used only against Arjuna but, on one occasion, on the heat of the war, he had to use it in order to save the Kaurava army from decimation by a son of Bhima –Ghatotkacha. He had kept a special arrow , Naagastra- to be used only against Arjuna but at a critical moment, Krishna, Arjuna’s charioteer, miraculously saved him from this deadly dart. As a special favour and on his specific request, another great warrior, Salya, the uncle of Nakula and Sahadeva in the Kaurava camp, was persuaded by Duryodhana to be Karna’s charioteer during the crucial sixteenth day of the war. Much of the time, while driving his chariot, Salya engaged in derisive comments about Karna’s bragging and lack of skill so as to September 2010

demoralize him when confronting Arjuna. There was no way to defeat Karna and on that day, he appeared truly invincible. And then fate intervened. Karna’s hour had come. During the fierce battle between Arjuna and Karna, both were bleeding profusely and both were determined not to yield or withdraw. Then suddenly, Karna could not recall the crucial art of special archery learnt from Parasurama whose curse began operating on him. While he was thus strug-

Erichtheus, king of Athens, was the son of Erichthonius. He had a beautiful daughter Creusa. While a maiden, Phoebus Apollo, the sun god was infatuated of her beauty and he ravished her in the Long Rocks. Creusa became pregnant, but had to keep quiet as per Apollo. After the child was born, she had it abandoned in the same rock cradle where she was ravished. gling, suddenly the second curse too descended on him. The wheels of his chariot sank in the muddy field. It refused to move. Karna had to drop his bow and arrows and descend from the chariot and attempt to help raise it from the mud. While doing so, he pleaded with Arjuna to cease fighting and hold his arrows until he is back on the chariot with arms. ‘That is fair warfare’- he pleaded with Arjuna. When Krishna heard this, he began recapitulating the various scenes in the past when Karna, in utter disregard to Dharma, perpetrated iniquities on the guileless Pandavas. ‘Where was your sense of Dharma and fairness, when queen Draupadi was dragged into the royal durbar by Duhssa23

na? Didn’t you encourage him and laugh in derision at her plight when she was being disrobed? What right have you got to talk about Dharma now. Does it become handy only when it suits you?’ Krishna went on. Arjuna, recalling those moments was incensed. ‘No enemy is more dangerous than him. He deserves no mercy. Shoot now.’ Krishna told him. Somewhat reluctantly, yet impelled by the burning, accumulated anger of thirteen long years, Arjuna shot an arrow at the unarmed Karna and severed his neck. Thus fell on the battlefield of Kurukshetra, one of the finest warriors whom destiny mocked since his very birth most undeservingly. He kept his word. His dedication to Duryodhana was absolute. He knew that his subsequent royal status – as the King of Anga- was a gift from that senior Kaurava prince at a very crucial moment of his public humiliation and not even his very life was adequate reward for that generosity. Therefore he sacrificed every possession for that friendship. In fact, his burning anger was against destiny all throughout. His response to his mother Kunti’s request showed the noblest side of his character. The awareness that he has to fight with his own brothers would have shaken his will. A number of adverse factors conspired against him and failed him at the crucial moment. But, nothing mattered to him and, in the end, he repaid the debt with his life. Humanity honours Karna as it does few other warriors because of his nobility, valour and dedication. What the poet of Pausanias Periegeta sang of the end of Hercules – a Greek hero of immortal fame‘He is now a god, his woes and his toils are over, He lives where the other dwellers on Olympus live, Immortal and ageless..’ Seems to be equally true of Karna! * * *

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Interestingly, there is another story with a similar baseline in the Greek mythology. The great tragedian, Euripides (484-407 BC) had written a play based on this – “ION”. It varies in the conclusion inasmuch as while Karna had to suffer a glorious death, Ion was just saved at the critical time and lived on in full glory. The treatment of two almost identical stories by these two great civilizations exhibit the inherent nature of value systems enjoyed by them respectively as we will see from below. * * * Erichthonius was believed to have been the son of mother Earth. As an infant, the gods sent two serpents entwined to guard him. Thereafter, all sons in his lineage were adorned with a golden necklace with entwined serpents. Erichtheus, king of Athens, was the son of Erichthonius. He had a beautiful daughter Creusa. While a maiden, Phoebus Apollo, the sun god was infatuated of her beauty and he ravished her in the Long Rocks. Creusa became pregnant, but had to keep quiet as per Apollo. After the child was born, she had it abandoned in the same rock cradle where she was ravished. But the child was adorned with the golden twin-serpent necklace and was wrapped in a shawl woven by Creusa as a young girl. Creusa was, naturally scared to enquire what happened to the child. Apollo managed to get the child in all wrappings, transported to the temple gate at Delphi with the help of Hermes, the divine Messenger. The child, named ION, was taken care of and brought up in the temple of Apollo by the chief priestess. He knew none but the priestess and the deity – and had little to do with the passing visitors. The temple at Delphi was considered as the centre and naval of earth. All manner of visitors thronged to consult the oracle of Delphi to solve the various riddles of their lives. Ion grew up within the temple doing minor services like sweeping the temple

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precincts and other related services. He considered himself as Apollo’s slave.

Still Ion wanted more proof directly from Apollo but instead, goddess Athena appeared and clarified to all that Ion was Apollo’s son by Creusa. Apollo gave him away to Xuthus to establish him in royalty. Goddess Athena told Creusa to install Ion in throne in Athens.

Creusa eventually married king Xuthus, son of Aeolus. The couple had no children. They both came to consult the oracle of Apollo at Delphi regarding this. Creusa had a secret question to Apollo too. What happened to their child? Was he alive? Where? But she had to be discreet. She introduced this topic with Ion who chanced to meet her. Then her husband, Xuthus came. After consulting the oracle Xuthus came out and sighted Ion and then he rushed at him and embraced him. Ion was nonplussed! Xuthus told him that he requested the Oracle of Apollo at Delphi to give him a son and he was told the first person whom he saw after coming out would be his son! Ion had to believe the oracle. Despite his protests that Creusa would be unhappy, Xuthus declares a celebration party. When Creusa came to know about Apollo’s oracle, she was terribly unhappy because she too was hoping to get news about her long 24

lost son. Then her ladies convinced her that Ion must be a son of Xuthus by some slave girl and he was keeping it a secret from her so long. Enraged, Creusa entrusted her confidant slave to poison Ion’s cup during the celebrations. The plan misfired; the plot was uncovered. The slave, caught red-handed, admitted it was Creusa who handed over the poison. The whole assembly was after her for revenge. She took refuge in the sanctuary of Apollo, hotly pursed by the aggrieved Ion and others. At this stage, the prophetess appeared appealing for calm. She produced the cradle clothes packet with which she originally found him as infant at the temple gate and asked him to locate his mother using the same. This was given to him as per Apollo. Creusa saw them and instantly recollected that it was the same in which she wrapped her infant while leaving it in the rock cradle. After some arguments and explanations, the truth was known. Ion was the infant which Creusa left at Long Rocks and Apollo brought to Delphi. Ion was exceedingly happy to have found his mother; and was happy further that he escaped matricide. Creusa rejoiced at getting back her son. Still Ion wanted more proof directly from Apollo but instead, goddess Athena appeared and clarified to all that Ion was Apollo’s son by Creusa. Apollo gave him away to Xuthus to establish him in royalty. Goddess Athena told Creusa to install Ion in throne in Athens. She further told that Creusa and Xuthus would have two sons – Dorus and Achaeus, who will establish illustrious lineage. * * * As we have noted, the parallel of God Sun having a son through unwed, virgin princess and that son surviving initial attempt to snuff out his life and growing up to glory is striking in the case of our Karna and the Greek’s Ion.

Innovation

NEW IDEAS ARE GOOD Deepika Shrivastava deepika.k.shrivastava@gmail.com

e as a human culture are at a very confused state of mind. We are progressing but we are not happy about it. In my opinion, this is because most of the time we don’t know what to do with the progress. Say for example, we are now living an average life span of 60 -70 years. This is almost double of what was the case four generations back. But we still feel that we are quite fragile in comparison to our forefathers. So if I have to believe that then they were healthier than us. But if that was the case how come they used to die at a young age of 40 or so. Do we ever stop to realize that it might be because of the fundamental rule of the nature ‘Survival of the fittest’? The grand pa, whom we are admiring so much, has witnessed the loss of many of his brothers and sisters or cousins at a tender age. He survived only because he was fit of them all. But nowadays we get a change to have a longer life even when we are not the fittest of the lot, thanks to the very science we condemn so September 2010

The point that I am trying to make here is that as a society, as a culture we should be open to new ideas/inventions. There is no invention that cannot be misused or that have no ill effect.

much. If this is a mistake then Stephen Hawking is the worst example of this. And this is true for every aspect of life. Actually we are suffering from a tendency called (or as I call it) ‘going ahead looking back’ syndrome. Even a kid can tell the consequence of this kind of practice. We fall down, right! If we look ahead in the direction we are going even if we are not very sure of the right direction, we can save ourselves from 25

dropping into a pit, or tripping over an obstacle and breaking our nose in the process. Besides, there is a good chance of finding the right direction of where we want to go. In any case, a much better option is there than looking backward or going blindfold, don’t you agree? But our general attitude towards progress is that of suspicion. The moment we hear about a new idea or a new invention, our first reaction is to reject it. To assume that this is something to hurt us, this is something out of order. As a result any open discussion about the pros and cons of the new idea/ invention become impossible. So, what does the inventor do? He only tells us what we want to hear, the good news either hiding the ugly truth or distorting it. The point that I am trying to make here is that as a society, as a culture we should be open to new ideas/ inventions. There is no invention that cannot be misused or that have no ill effect. The need for us is to minimize the negative effects to the maximum level and make it truly good for the society.

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Straight from the Heart

Y A ‘HIJACK’ OF FESTIVAL GAIETY PACHU MENON

eople just won’t tire of blaming everything on the blatant commercialization that has hitherto redefined every aspect of life. But with economics evolving from the social science concerned with the production and consumption of goods and services it was purported to be earlier, into a discipline that grossly underlines the necessity for profits by the efficient administration of the resources of an individual, community or country, by fair means or otherwise, all considerations have but naturally boiled down to the net fiscal worth. It is all about money and nothing but money! Even the Gods have not been spared; the less said about the prurient ways of the keepers-of-faith the better! Let us for a moment stray from the realms of the Gods and his ministers and be more concerned with the deeds of the mortal earthlings. How has man in his fervor to celebrate the blessings of the Almighty changed over the years in

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observing the various occasions as festivals?

Considering the public aspect of the festival, the Ganesh Ustav continues to be seen as a harbinger of communal harmony; only to have an acute accent on the last syllable missing, so to say. With each passing year various pandals displaying Vigneshwara in all his glory smacks of a political redolence that is peculiar to the class we are discussing. With a systematic erosion of the cultural ethos of the nation, a distinct mannerism by those who make a profession or a game of politics 26

has led to an inevitable ‘hijack’ of the festivities. Fortunately it has been political parties more than individuals who have ‘made off’ with the revelries associated with the festivals by giving a political tone or character to the event. Today money and muscle power have taken over all vestiges of devotion and spirituality. With regret though, one has to add that these two features, an unending flow of funds and clout, characterize a prototypical political faction that owes allegiance to a particular ideology – what we have come to identify as the multifarious parties that dot the Indian political horizon. Let us for instance take the most eagerly awaited spectacle of the Gokulashtami gala! The birth of Lord Krishna, Janamashtami, for that matter, has been celebrated for ages now with the traditional ‘breaking of’ the Dahi-Handi. The only difference today being that the curd in the pot hung high up on the tightrope is replaced with cash – the

winner takes it all! These ‘financial gratifications’ can only be seen as means and ways devised by various political parties to enhance their popularity amongst the masses, which has got nothing to do with the upholding of traditional values. The uniforms for the participants and the banners fluttering around in the vicinity ensure that! It was more amusing to read about insurance policies planned for the members of different groups who formed awe-inspiring humanpyramids to reach the prize money! From the plain mimicry of Krishna’s childish pranks of the distant past, politicization of the festival in modern times has led to a fiery competition amongst the participants for that pot of money slung high above. The Ganapati festival may have been given a pronounced political face by Bal Gangadhar Tilak during the pre-independence era, but it was envisaged as an attempt to unify the countrymen against the oppressive Raj-regime then. Considering the public aspect of the festival, the Ganesh Ustav continues to be seen as a harbinger of communal harmony; only to have an acute accent on the last syllable missing, so to say. With each passing year various pandals displaying Vigneshwara in all his glory smacks of a political redolence that is peculiar to the class we are discussing. Come Navratri season and the late evenings and nights come to life with the young and old alike partaking in the traditional folk dances that typify the festival in Western India. This tradition of late has metamorphosed into kitschy dance recitals - a far cry from the traditional Dandiya Raas and Garba that one generally associates with the Navratri fiesta. Virtually turning into a street carnival, various stages set up across the localities play host to a horde of lads and lasses gyrating to amplified musical beats late into the night. Celebrated with great pomp and show in West Bengal, the Durgapooja is a dominant element of a September 2010

Bengalese’s cultural almanac. With the passage of time however, it has turned into a literal mêlée of ‘one upmanship’ between the Communists, Congress - and now the Trinamool Congress! More than the public interaction, it has been the confrontation between the sympathizers of these parties that has added colour to the festival. It is even alleged that party literature is freely distributed during Durga-pooja at various public stalls giving one an impression that it is not Goddess Durga who is being revered, but the parties that constitute the political distinctiveness of the state.

Various non-Muslim political leaders in their individual capacity as spokesmen and mediators for their parties have been hosting Iftar parties during the Islamic month of Ramadan, without actually understanding the true concept behind this act. “The Prime Minister hosts an all-party Iftar meet,” scream the headlines!

Why, for that matter, even the Muslim brethren have not been spared the embarrassment of a cultural invasion that has permeated into their highly orthodox mores. Various non-Muslim political leaders in their individual capacity as spokesmen and mediators for their parties have been hosting Iftar parties during the Islamic month of Ramadan, without actually understanding the true concept behind this act. “The Prime Minister hosts an all-party Iftar meet,” scream the headlines! “Iftar is one of the religious observances of the Islamic holy month 27

and is often done as a community, with people gathering together to break their fast.” If these affairs by other communities are meant to celebrate the role of faith in the lives of the people and to draw strength and a sense of purpose from their beliefs, then such solemn social experiences are welcome more frequently. However, seen in a wider perspective, such gimmicks put on by the ‘political Diaspora’ give one a very hazy picture of their true intentions. A festival is a time of celebration and often one with religious significance. The programme of cultural events held is purely commemorative in nature and the merriments suggesting a gratitude to the Supreme Being for all his kindness bestowed on mankind. With almost all festivals going public with inter-community participation nowadays, but naturally, the glam and sham related to the jamboree is an instant fodder for the publicity seeking local politicos who make sure that they (and their party) get the maximum mileage out of the occasion. The proximity to the public – their electorate that is – and the importance of being seen and acknowledged for contributing to the success of the show is of paramount importance when it comes to smartening up their image and consequently the party’s. What better a platform to showcase their political ‘talent’! Sponsoring various festival parties, they are assuring themselves their political longevity. God and Godliness is hardly of any relevance here! I chanced upon an article posted on the net which I thought was refreshing in its appeal! I quote, “Indian fests - breeding ground for the political pests.” “Maybe it has always been a political gimmickry since my younger days, but it wasn’t as blatant and as shameless as it is today.” It concludes with the line: “Gimme the simple aarti at home any day, the way my ma does it.” I can’t but concur with the views of the writer.

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Spiritual

Gita in Samba Land Priyadershini S

SpiritualitySanskrit scholar and Vedanta teacher Gloria Arieira

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he Bhagawad Gita in Portuguese? Well, why not? Gloria Arieira, a Brazilian and an authority in Sanskrit has translated the Bhagawad Gita and parts of the Vedas to Portuguese, enabling her students across Brazil and Portugal to access the depths of this great philosophy. So if you are seeking spirituality in the holiday resort of Copacabana, Rio, then you will find it at Vidya Mandir, a school of Vedanta studies founded and run by Gloria. Gloria, who is visiting Kalady, with a group of 28 students, has been to Kerala before. A disciple of Swami Chinmayananda and of Swami Dayananda, Gloria’s entry into the world of spirituality was after she heard Swami Chinmayananda’s talk on Vedanta in Rio. That was in 1973. Gloria felt that her search for the greater meaning to life was answered. With her curiosity aroused she wished to delve deeper into the philosophy of the Vedas and found her way to an ashram in Mumbai (Powai). Here she studied the Vedas and lived the ashram way of life. “It was a simple life and I felt at ease,” recalls Gloria who began teaching the Vedas when she went back to Rio in 1979. It was five years later that she started Vidya Mandir on land donated by one of her students. From eight students to start with, the numbers kept increasing. Soon the school became a centre where people came seeking spirituality. Raised in a western way of life, what exactly drew Gloria to this foreign philosophy and way of life? “I was looking for answers to life itSeptember 2010

self. I thought it could not be only for pleasure, nor could it be only for ‘dharma’. There had to be something else.”

winning smile. She carries an aura of compassion and understanding of the complexities of life.

Drawn to Vedic ways

The course followed at the school is an initial study on Tatthva Boddha of Sree Sankara and then the Bhagwad Gita, with Gloria quoting high and low from the texts and explaining them to her enthusiastic students. She has done two commentaries on Gita in Portuguese. Earlier in 1996 she had visited the char dhams, along with her group. Later in 2007 they took a pilgrimage to Gangotri, Gomukh and Badrinath. This time she plans to visit Kedarnath, Yamunothri, Kalady and Kanyakumari. Gloria, 57, is married and has three children, a lawyer, an engineer and one studying social sciences. Her husband is a yoga teacher. Does her family practise her way of life? She says that there is no compulsion to change. “The Vedic dharma does not ask for conversion. But the understanding of the Vedas changes life completely.” Her children are proud of her work and value the Vedic tradition. Has her Indian inspired spirituality taken her away from Brazil? “How can it? I am a Brazilian except that I see the logic, the higher order behind my learning Vedanta and teaching it to students in Brazil”, she says. Gloria in a strange way belongs to the ‘parampara’ or lineage of the women Vedic expertsthe great lineage of Gargi, Ghosha, Lopamudra and Maitreyi.

Dissatisfied with her search in other philosophies she was drawn towards Vedic ways. Was this attraction to another completely new way of thought strange? Gloria believes that at the start of this journey itself she was able to identify with the food, people and life in the ashram. Gloria learnt Sanskrit because it was the only way she could reach the depths of knowledge that she was seeking. The Bhagvad Gita and the Upanishads had to be read in the language they were written in. Once having mastered Sanskrit, Gloria translated the books into Portuguese so as to propagate the meaning of the text to her group of students. The number of her students increased as she could now reach out to them in Sanskrit, Portuguese and English. “I could find a change in my students. They were all beginning to enjoy the goodness and greatness in these books. Vedanta studies had become popular,” she says. Her student group comprises office goers, married couples, twenty year olds and also people who are in their eighties. “There’s this 80 year old gentleman who was my student once but comes daily to hear the talk on Vedanta.” Gloria dresses like an Indian. Her teacher-mother-guru charm comes from her kind face, her thick neatly plaited salt and pepper hair, a gentle, slightly accented voice and a 29

Commentaries on Gita

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Poem

The night is my darkened eye, From looking forward to the road. The sparkling stars are The tears of my eyes. Of nightâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s embrace I sprang out The patience yellowed

THE NIGHT Adv. Prakash Nair Mob: 9867424675

Like sunburned weeds. You are going away Tearing my heart On the borders of happiness Not constructed yet. Into the sky I jumped high, Weeping from missing. On the wings of the wounded hopes Being somewhere imprisoned He would not have a pity. We are subject to be drowned Into the well of the griefâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s bottom. Oh, my brave who used to hide My tears from the night. Lets go back to the residence Of the soul and the spirit.

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Tradition

INSIGHTS V.N. Gopalakrishnan

Dr. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan (1888-1975) was a profound scholar, renowned philosopher, voluminous writer, gifted speaker, distinguished diplomat and above all a moderate humanist. As a philosopher, he introduced the thinking of Western idealist philosophers into Indian thought. He served as Vice President of India for two terms and the President of India for one term. He was a man of intellect recognised September 2010

and rewarded not only by his own people but by the world at large. When he became the President of India, he accomplished Platoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s concept of the Philosopher-King of modern times. By writing commentaries on the Prasthanatrayi, viz. theBhagavad Gita, the Upanishads and the Brahma Sutra, he could aptly be called a Jagadguru or the Sankara of modern India. Dr. Radhakrishnan was held in

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the highest esteem within the prestigious portals of academia. As a tribute to this distinguished teacher, his birthday is being observed as the Teacher’s Day on September 5. When his students and friends sought his permission to celebrate his birthday, he asked them to do so as the Teacher’s Day, honouring the efforts of teachers across the country. Dr. Radhakrishnan was born on September 5, 1888 at Tirutani, Madras in a poor Brahmin family. As his father was poor Radhakrishnan supported most of his education through scholarships. He studied philosophy by chance rather than by

choice. He did his post-graduation in Philosophy and his M.A. thesis - The Ethics of the Vedanta and its Metaphysical Presuppositions - was published when he was only 20! After completing his post-graduation, he took up the post of Assistant Lecturer at the Madras Presidency College in 1909. In the college, he mastered the classics of Hindu philosophy including the Upanishads, the Bhagvad Gita, and the Brahmasutra besides the Commentaries of Sankaracharya, Ramunujacharya and Madhvacharya. He also acquainted himself with Buddhist and Jain philosophy and philosophies of Western thinkers such as Socrates,

Plato, Plotinus, Spinoza, Kant, Bradley, Whitehead and Bergson. He also studied Marxism and Existentialism later on in his life. In 1918, Dr. Radhakrishnan was selected as Professor of Philosophy by the University of Mysore. Three years later, he was nominated as Professor of Philosophy at the Calcutta University. He completed his first book The Philosophy of Rabindranath Tagore believing that Tagore’s philosophy to be the “genuine manifestation of the Indian spirit.” His second book, The Reign of Religion in Contemporary Philosophy was published in 1920. In 1923, the Indian Philosophy was published in

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response to a request made by Prof. J. H. Muirhead for the Library of Philosophy. The book was hailed as a “philosophical classic and a literary masterpiece.” Dr. Radhakrishnan was called to Oxford University, to deliver the prestigious “Upton Lectures” on “The Hindu View of Life.” The lectures were followed by an invitation to head the Department of Comparative Religion at Oxford. A philanthropist, Spalding, created a professorship for Dr. Radhakrishnan to teach Religion and Ethics at Oxford and in 1939, he was elected Fellow of the British Academy. Dr. Radhakrishnan used his lectures as a platform to further India’s cause for freedom. He also argued that Western philosophers, despite all claims to objectivity, were biased by theological influences from their wider culture. He established that Indian philosophy, once translated into standard academic jargon, is worthy of being called philosophy by Western standards In 1931, Dr. Radhakrishnan was elected Vice-Chancellor of the Andhra University. In 1939, he became the Vice-Chancellor of the Benares Hindu University founded by Pt. Madan Mohan Malaviya. In 1946, he was appointed as Ambassador to UNESCO. He was also a member of the Constituent Assembly of India. After Independence, Dr. Radhakrishnan was requested to chair the University Education Commission in 1948. The Radhakrishnan Committee’s suggestions helped mould the education system for India’s needs. In 1949, Dr. Radhakrishnan was appointed Ambassador to the Soviet Union. The appointment raised many eyebrows because people wondered what kind of an impression Dr. Radhakrishnan, a student of idealist philosophy, would make on Joseph Stalin, a passionate Communist. In 1950, Dr. Radhakrishnan was called to the Kremlin to meet with the Premier. At the meeting, Dr. Radhakrishnan told Joseph Stalin: September 2010

“We had an emperor in India who, after bloody victory, renounced war and became a monk. You have waded your way to power through force. Who knows that might happen to you also.” Dr. Radhakrishnan was referring to Stalin’s infamous “bloody” purges. Stalin smiled and replied: “Yes, miracles do happen sometimes. I was in a theological seminary for five years!” On April 5, 1952, a few days before Dr. Radhakrishnan’s departure for India, Stalin called on him. Radhakrishnan records Stalin’s face being bloated. Radhakrishnan patted him on the cheek and on the back. Stalin said: “You are the first person to treat me as a human being and not as a monster. You are leaving us and I am sad. I want you to live long. I have not long to live.” Stalin died six months later. Dr. Radhakrishnan’s legacy in Moscow was a firm and friendly understanding between India and the Soviet Union. Dr. Radhakrishnan was married to Sivakamuamma, a distant cousin in 1904 at the age of 16. As per tradition the marriage was arranged by the family. In 1956, she passed away after sharing 50 years of married life and the couple had five daughters and one son, Dr. S. Gopal, a prominent historian. Dr. Radhakrishnan was elected first Vice-President of India in 1952 and the President, General Conference of UNESCO, from 1952 to 1954. He held the office of the Chancellor, University of Delhi from 1953-62. After serving two terms as Vice-President, Dr. Radhakrishnan was elected President of India in May 1962. He was honored with the highest civilian title Bharat Ratna in 1954 and the Order of Merit in 1963. Around the same time, an 883-page compilation titled The Philosophy of Dr. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan was released in America. Though he was knighted by the British government in 1931, he never used the title. Instead he used only his academic title ‘Doctor’ throughout his life. He received 33

the Peace Prize of the German Book Trade in 1961 and the Templeton Prize in 1975. He donated the entire amount of the Templeton Prize to Oxford University. In 1989, the Oxford University instituted the Radhakrishnan Scholarships in his memory. Dr. Radhakrishnan wrote books on Indian Philosophy according to Western academic standards. Some of his books include The Hindu View of Life, The Idealist View of Life, Religion and Society, Eastern Religions and Western Thought and A Source Book in Indian Philosophy. In Idealist View of Life, he made a prominent case for the importance of intuitive thinking as opposed to purely intellectual forms of thought. He had also contributed articles in some of the reputed international journals likeThe Quest, Journal of Philosophy and the International Journal of Ethics. In The Hindu View of Life, Dr. Radhakrishnan observed: “The Hindu civilization is so called since its original founders or earliest followers occupied the territory drained by the Sindhu (the Indus) River system corresponding to the Northwest Frontier Province and the Punjab. This is recorded in the Rig Veda, the oldest of the Vedas, the Hindu scriptures, which give their name to this period of Indian history. The people on the Indian side of the Sindhu were called Hindus by the Persians and the later Western invaders. That is the genesis of the word Hindu”. Dr. Radhakrishnan used his lectures as a platform to further India’s cause for freedom. He thundered: “India is not a subject to be administered but a nation seeking its soul.” He would graphically describe the “shame of subjection and the lines of sorrow” apparent on every Indian’s face. He died on April 17, 1975. (The author is a freelance journalist and social activist. He is Director, Indo-Gulf Consulting and can be contacted on teleguld@ gmail.com

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Knowledge

Agnihotra: The Healing Yagna Suresh Kumar

ave you ever thought of the medicinal values of discarded items? Scientific studies have proved the socio, environmental and psychological results of such products if utilised properly. When used for old yagna like Agnihotra, cow dung helps in environmental purification. A live demonstration of ‘Agnihotra’ was performed at Sreeramakrishna Sevasramam the other day. Sharath Nathu of the Institute of Vedic Science, Solapur, Maharashtra, led the demonstration and answered queries. Agnihotra is a scientific process for the purification of the atmosphere based on the science of bio-energy as specified in the Vedas. A pinch

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of unbroken rice grains (preferably raw rice) smeare with a few drops of cow’s pure ghee is offered to the fire specially prepared from dried cow dung cakes in a semi pyramid shaped copper pot. It has been proved that copper has anti bacterial powers and it is a good conductor of electricity and temperature. And the electric and magnetic powers are related to Agnihotra. The fire should not be extinguished after the ritual. It has to die down on its own. The chemical released from the pot will absorb carbon, kill bacteria and purify the atmosphere. The performance of Agnihotra cleanses the negative effects of pollution on prana. It relaxes the mind

and unburdens stress and strain. Regular practice activates a healing cycle, making plants and animals happy. “The EEG and ECG of patients taken before and after Agnihotra have shown marked improvement. It protects us from radioactive waves,” Sharath Nathu says. Agnihotra ash, which is used for ecological farming, can be put into wells, canals and rivers for purifying water. Yaga or yagna involves an offering of special organic substances to the fire accompanied by the chanting of mantras. Agnihotra can be performed during sunrise and sunset at a clean and neat place. The changes happening during sunrise and sunset have an effect on all living things in the nature. So these two timings are considered ideal for the ritual. The vocal waves created by chants in any language other than Sanskrit would not yield the desired result. ‘Agnihotra’ is now practised in many European countries. March 12 is celebrated as World Agnihotra day. There are no barriers like religion, caste, creed, sex or age for performing Agnihotra, says Sharath Nathu.

Remember

do you forget me?

Death of The Typewriter !! K D Skandan

â&#x20AC;&#x153; In life, it is important to move ahead and embrace modernity, but it is equally important to respect the roots and traditions â&#x20AC;&#x153;

September 2010

hat is what came to my mind , when I read an article published in a Bombay newspaper recently. It was about the typewriter, once a sacred (to me) inevitability in offices , along with presumably less important file drawers and steel almirahs ! But the official phasing out of the typewriter struck me as revolutionary a move as the one that brought it in.

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It has now become official. With all things old giving way to the new, the typewriter is to be a thing of the past in the government offices in India. The computer has steadily been replacing the typewriter in most offices. Just a few days ago, the Indian Government announced that the typing test would now be administered on the computer. So it is curtains for the typewriter. Truly end of an era. And what an era it has been! I started with the manual typewriter, went on to the electric and then electronic typewriters , and finally ended with the computer during a span of over four decades. Meanwhile, I ‘grew’ from a mere typist to a steno-typist, to a Stenographer to a Secretary and finally ended as a Personal Assistant. I go back to the early years. The British had vision. They knew that some day Tamil Brahmins and Malayalees would escape their States and come to Mumbai, mispronounced by a bad dictator as “Bombay” !! They would need a skill to survive in the metropolis. So, was sent Robert Clive first and McCaulay later, to market English and shorthand ! I wonder why their pictures are not among the pantheon of deities on the walls of the puja rooms in Mumbai Chennai and back home in Kerala. Even when I was working on computer, I had a manual typewriter somewhere in a corner of my table. My boss was allergic to the rattling of typewriter and he asked me once to get rid of it. I did not, because I thought one day in an emergency , “she” will be useful to me. And, . it happened. Due to heavy rains, our office building was cut off from Flora Fountain. . Our office building looked like an anchored luxury cruiser When I stepped into the cruiser, I could see the Managing Director of our electric companies rolling up sleeves and trousers to go into the basement to give directions to the electricians and engineers to restore power. He suddenly saw me

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He suddenly saw me and told “ Skandan, I don’t know how you are going to do it. I want you to paste a notice on the main entrance door to say that my employees working in this building, should report to another divisional office opposite Victoria Terminus Building.” That building had managed to keep its head well above the water level Power shut down, everything was dark, lift was not working and my office was on the fourth floor . and told “ Skandan, I don’t know how you are going to do it. I want you to paste a notice on the main entrance door to say that my employees working in this building, should report to another divisional office opposite Victoria Terminus Building.” That building had managed to keep its head well above the water level Power shut down, everything was dark, lift was not working and my office was on the fourth floor . I 36

managed to get out and from a little wet shop ( the vendor had nowhere to go) got two big candles. I walked up to the fourth floor, lit the candles, and prayed . to ‘her’ ..”Devi, this is your best chance to show your power ; please help”. I managed somehow to type the notice and was about to paste on the main door when the big boss arrived. He asked me “ Skandon, what are you doing “ ? I explained the whole situation. I did not hesitate to remind him that he had advised me to throw it away. The gentleman that he was, he patted me with a smile. I compare a typewriter to our cotton textile industry which is the mother of all other industries in India. Take for instance, Tatas, Birlas, Mafatlals, Shrirams and today’s many big corporate companies all started with textiles and then diversified to other industries. As we all know, the textile industry is finished in India, except in the Manchester of South India, Coimbatore. I remember a friend of mine arguing “but mother dies, and children move on” Does it mean that the dead and useless are forgotten? Or should we look to learn from them and remember them for those learnings gratefully? Old may not glitter, but it may still be Gold! Jai Hind

September 2010

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Some ‘Grave’ Errors N. Rajasekharan Nair nairrajasekhar@yahoo.com

What would be your instant reaction if you were to witness a ‘dead’ man suddenly come alive? Most people, for sure, will have the shock of their lives, as happened recently in an incident in Kerala. (DNA 27-9-2010).

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he nurses at the Medical College Hospital in Thrissur were stunned when they saw a man walk out of the mortuary on the Onam night. They had gone there to fetch a stretcher and were horrified to see a body rising from the inquest table. They began to scream in fright alerting other hospital staff who called the police. Police sources said that it was not a ghost, but, a middle aged man from Malappuram who was fooled into sleeping in the mortuary, by an auto rickshaw driver. They said, the man hired an auto rickshaw at Thrissur railway station. He was so drunk that he forgot his destination midway through

the journey, but got into a nice conversation with the auto driver. They even shared a bottle of liquor. However, the auto driver soon decided that he had had enough and took his newly befriended passenger to the hospital premises and pushed him through a window of the mortuary. He assured the inebriated man that he could sleep there undisturbed as it was a work shop closed for the night. In the middle of the night when the nurses went to the mortuary, the ‘confused’ man began walking towards the hospital gate. The nocturnal visitor was detained by the police, but let off after registering a case of tress -pass. Another bizarre incident was reported from Lucknow a few years ago. A man declared dead in a government hospital was shifted to the mortuary and kept there with other dead bodies for over eight hours before his kin discovered that he was alive. .The hospital staff hastily took back the death certificate issued to the ‘dead’ patient’s family members and re-admitted him for treatment. It was only when Sukhlal’s ‘body’ was being put on a hearse that one of the relatives heard him gasp for breath. The shocked relatives called a doctor who examined the ‘corpse’ and found that the pulse was still beating. The doctor hurriedly took back the death certificate without even apologizing for the grave error. The Chief Medical Superintendent of the hospital, Dr. P.N. Mehrotra however, denied any lapse and maintained that when Sukhlal was shifted to the mortuary, he was actually dead. “That he came back to life is a sheer miracle. This is the first such case in my medical career “, he said. “ ‘Dead’ man sits up and asks for beedi “, ran a headline in the Malayala Manorama dated 4-11-2005. The report from Kollam (Kerala) said that a youth who was in a critical condition was being taken in an ambulance to the Medical College September 2010

Hospital in Thiruvananthapuram when on the way, he got up, tapped the driver on his back and asked for a beedi. The driver and the others in the van were shocked. Suspecting that he was dead, relatives back home had even made arrange-

The woman’s father lodged a criminal case against Khefan and the police came to the conclusion that he had murdered his wife. Coincidentally, the police also recovered the body of a woman which was identified as Sita’s by her own father. However, the real Sita presented herself before the judge during the hearing of the case .Sita’s story was that in Uttar Pradesh, she had accidentally got separated from her husband and was rescued by one Sukhbir Singh whom she later married.

ments for his funeral. Tajuddin, a construction worker had made two suicide attempts. The first one was foiled by his relatives at home. In the second attempt he was severely injured and was rushed to the district hospital. Here the doctors found his condition critical and asked the relatives to rush him to the Medical College Hospital. Anxious relatives at home were surprised to see Tajuddin step out of the ambulance hale and hearty. In another incident, a grave mistake was committed by a hospital in Vapi (Daman). The doctored pronounced a patient dead when he was actually alive. To their utter surprise, relatives who came to collect the body found the patient breathing. 39

Lalit Paras Mali was admitted to the hospital for Kidney stone. He was operated and on the second day, the doctors declared him dead. However, a relative Kishan Mali went near Lalit and was startled to find him breathing. He informed the doctors, who too initially got frightened. Lalit Paras Mali was shifted to Surat for further treatment. Two years ago, on 30-9-08 to be exact, the newspapers carried a story captioned “Still born baby boy happily goes home”. Also published was a photo of a beaming young mother Sangeeta Das coming out of a hospital holding her bouncing baby Rik. The baby Rik Das had been declared still born by Kolkata’s Bellevue nursing home. Ten hours later he was shifted to CMRI, another hospital. Three months after the doctor’s mistaken verdict, the baby was discharged from the hospital in good health. “ I think I am the happiest father on earth”, said Manas Das, Rik’s dad. “Call it grace of God”, said Dr.Kakoli Acharya, the child specialist who was in charge of Rik. An interesting incident, this time from Malda, also in West Bengal, was witnessed by a criminal court. Khefan Mondal and wife Sita had left for Uttar Pradesh in search of work. Khefan returned to his village, but, without his wife. The woman’s father lodged a criminal case against Khefan and the police came to the conclusion that he had murdered his wife. Coincidentally, the police also recovered the body of a woman which was identified as Sita’s by her own father. However, the real Sita presented herself before the judge during the hearing of the case .Sita’s story was that in Uttar Pradesh, she had accidentally got separated from her husband and was rescued by one Sukhbir Singh whom she later married. She came to know of the murder case against her former husband when she met some people from her village. She then decided to come out with the truth.

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Instances of ‘dead’ men coming alive have also been reported from other countries. A premature infant given up for dead in Paraguay was found to have revived when he was taken for a wake (an occasion before a funeral when people gather to remember the dead person). Jose Alvarenga said his infant son was pronounced dead and the hospital authorities delivered the body to his home in a box four hours later. “ I opened it to look at his body and found that the baby was breathing” said Alvarenga. He rushed his son back to hospital where the nurses put the infant in an oxygen chamber and revived him. There are of course numerous instances of this kind. However, this essay will have a happy ending with the story of Jamie. For two hours after he was declared dead, Australian mother Kate Ogg hugged, touched and spoke to her still born baby, who miraculously opened his

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She added, “I took my gown off and arranged Jamie on my chest and just held him. He wasn’t moving at all and we just started talking to him. We told him what his name was and that he had a sister. We told him things we wanted to do with him. eyes and grabbed his mom’s finger. Kate Ogg gave birth to twins in a hospital in Sydney. They were delivered prematurely at 27 weeks and weighed just two pounds each. Though Ogg’s little girl Emily survived, her brother Jamie was not

breathing .After twenty minutes of trying to resuscitate him, the doctor said “We have lost Jamie, he didn’t make it, sorry”, After two hours of being spoken to, touched and cuddled Jamie began showing signs of life. The delighted mom said, “He is a little fighter as is his sister and both are doing amazingly well”. She added, “I took my gown off and arranged Jamie on my chest and just held him. He wasn’t moving at all and we just started talking to him. We told him what his name was and that he had a sister. We told him things we wanted to do with him. Then I felt him move as if he were startled. He started gasping more regularly”. Kate said, “I thought, Oh my God, What’s going on? A short time later he opened his eyes. It was a miracle. Then he held out his hand and grabbed my finger”. Jamie is now a healthy five month old.

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Astrology

Your predictions for the month of October - 2010 The astro forecast prepared for every Rasi, right from the adventurous and dynamic Aries to the calm and intuitive Pisceans. All you need is your zodiac sign (moon rasi or lagna rasi, whichever is stronger at birth) and we will tell you what you can expect out of your future, to be prepared for the likely adversities as well as the potential opportunities. Wish you a very great month. SUBHASH NAIR

Aries (Mesha) - This is trouble time for you, with widely varying emotions in store. The thoughts will be eclipsed leading you to make a wrong decision. Be cautious in communication with others. Health problems will be a major concern. Scarcity of liquid cash might be there. The money that is expected to come will get delayed due to some reason, bringing trouble in day to day life. Stick to current jobs and avoid attempting a change. Overall the emphasis will be on loss and expenditures. Prayers to Lord Krishna will provide mental peace. Taurus (Vrishabha) - Jupiter in the eleventh house will give professional benefits. Those who are in search of a job will be able to find openings or abroad offers, while the ones who are already working can expect improvement in position and even a salary hike. If you are trying to conceive, the result would be positive. Rahu, placed in eighth house, is eleventh house to the job. It will help you get benefits in the job, in a different and unexpected way. Gains in speculations are indicated. Overall the magic word is gains with least pains. Recite Vishnu Sahasranamam for the purest divine blessing. Gemini (Mithuna) - Maintain calm as much as possible and avoid getting into arguments. Expect expense of guest at home. Be vigilant about theft at home. This is the time of heavy ups and downs in job, back biting at offices; students will turn lazy in studies. Health may disturb you and food-related illnesses might strike. Relationship with spouse will keep you troubled. Reciting Sani Ashtothram or Hanuman Chalisa regularly gives good results. Cancer (Karka) - There will be gain in money with positive flows in business. Disturbances at office will force you to look out for Changes. But it is advisable to work sincerely and maintain good relationships. Be careful when communicating with your superiors. Even at home and in family, your words can hurt your elderâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s sentiments. Mental stress will lead to health disorders. Your spouse can be very supportive. Students will do well in studies and be creative. Expenditure will be on renovations, gold or machinery. Prayers to kula devata or ishta devata will earn blessings. Leo (Simha) - Investments in shares, child benefit policies for long term will benefit you in the first half of the month; profitable month for those in business. Vehicles or a new house can be availed through loan. Overall health will be good. Students can do well in martial arts or sports involving adventurous pursuits. Friends will be drawn closer to you. Avoid lending and beware of cheats. An appraisal at job can be expected for some. Recite Aaditya Hridyamantram regularly for benefits. September 2010

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Virgo (Kanya) - Personal egos will let you down resulting in losses. Care should be taken against accidents and ill health in the second half. However your children will keep you happy and you be getting a supporting hand from your spouse or partners in business. Children will benefit from spiritual and religious studies. Relationship with mother will be strained leading to a stressed home environment. Real estate transactions will be good only in the second half. Expense will be on clothes and jewellery. Performing sani archanas on Saturday at Ayyappa temples after sunset will reduce the effects of sade-sati. Libra (Thulam) - This phase will be good from job point of view. New commitments will be waiting for you and result in good earnings and recognition. Travel is on the cards, so get ready for it. In the work arena, meeting new people will prove to be a common trend. New thoughts will come in your mind and support the work you undertake. Long waiting cases in work will get completed and settled with creativity. Do not miss your regular health checkups or ignore advice from doctors. Students will do well in analytical mathematics and statistics. Pray to Lord Karthikeyan to mitigate the harmful effects. Scorpio (Vrischika) - This is an encouraging time for you, in which you will get all-round success. Going on a pilgrimage with parents or kids is on the cards. Charity spending will be on your cards. There are chances of meeting distant relatives and old friends as well. Changes will come in your life, without your permission for good. You will achieve remarkable success in the particular field that you have chosen. Children will earn good remarks and will fare well. Avoid litigation. Avoid speculations though you would be tempted to play the game. Love affairs can materialize in to marriage. Recite Om Namo Bhagavathe Narayana Namah! 108 times daily. Sagittarius (Dhanu) - Change of job for better or transfer on promotion is due. Investment in gold will benefit in the long term. Children will do very well in studies. Business would be brisk and profitable. All purchase transactions will give commendable returns in future. Religious involvements will invite Gods blessing in a great way, thus suggesting a key to prosperity. Home environment will be healthy and at peace. Judicial matters will turn out in your favour. Recite Vishnu Sahasranamam for the purest divine blessing. Capricorn (Makara) - Around this time, business will run normally without any partnership issues. New projects will take time to complete or pending ones will be totally abandoned. However watch against health disorders and accidental issues. Family life will be slightly disturbed and ego of your partner will be the main cause of worry and anxiety. Partners or relatives may provoke tension without any reason. However support from government officials can be expected. Women at work should be careful against sexual harassments from superiors. Pray to Lord Karthikeyan to mitigate the harmful effects and Lord Ganesha to clear off obstacles. Aquarius (Kumbha) - Businessmen will find it difficult to balance due to less cash liquidity. Hence commit only if you feel you can deliver it on time. Overeating and outside food will invite stomach related problems. Dubious, disturbing and dire situations would define this patch. Let the troublesome time pass by on its own and you will be able to over power your critics and enemies soon. However, hard work will not go unnoticed so just keep up with your hard work. Prayers and spiritual discourses will benefit you to some extent. Prayers to kula devata or ishta devata will earn blessings. Pisces (Meena) - This time will present you with all-round success. Parents will be delighted with the performance of their children. Social standing will improve as you come out with a winning streak. Around this time you will be at your romantic best, where your inclination towards music and fine arts will also get exhibited. Expecting mothers will be blessed with a male child. Investment in shares now will pay back good returns. Health of your spouse will be a concern. Blessings of your Gurus will promote harmony. Perform Guru archanas on Thursday at Navagraha temples. Whiteline JOURNAL

Story

My Bond with Daughter Anandavalli Chandran Mob: 9920851697 “My days are counted. I won’t be able to leave this hospital bed at all. Perhaps, I may end up h e re…here. Aruna’s horrid thoughts stopped abruptly. She saw her mother, Shobha, struggling hard to hide tears from her daughter. Aruna knows well that Shobha brought up her with great care and showered love and blessings on her abundantly. Shobha’s thoughts, now, went back to twenty four years back. Aruna’s parents, Nirmala and September 2010

Madan came to the city, after their marriage, from Uttar Pradesh. They have got four children, two sons and two daughters. Aruna is the youngest. They are staying two buildings away from my house. I am a south Indian, have two sons and no daughters. One day, I met Nirmala with a three months old daughter, Aruna. Our intimacy grew soon and I used to bring Aruna home daily and leave her with parents in the evening. Later on, Aruna started staying in 43

my house. She stays in her parents’ house for one day, once in a month. My sons have great affection for her. My husband treated her as his favourite pet. We had a nice flourishing time when all the three children were small. When Aruna completed four years, I got her admitted in kindergarten. Then, I had played the role of her teacher also at home. Every day, I used to drop her in the school and bring her back home. I had to dress her up

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and tie her hair neatly in style. She learnt our language and talks to us in Malayalam fluently. I noticed her liking for dance and she joined in a dancing class. She has learnt classic dance and does Bharatnatyam well. Immediately after her Aarangethram programme, she wanted to meet me. But I was in the crowd and she couldn’t trace me. Hence she started weeping bitterly. When others enquired her she told them that she wanted to meet me as soon as possible. They brought her to me and she kissed me on my cheeks, many times ardently in the midst of the crowd. How can I ever forget that, my dear girl? She was a bright student, you know. Still I put her in a coaching class and she got ninety percent marks in the tenth exam. After 12th, she took up B. Sc. Computer science in a college, not very far from home. But she had to travel to and fro by bus. I used to get worried whenever she came home a bit late. One day, she fell down from the bus while alighting. She was not able to move her right foot forward. She sat on the roadside. She didn’t want me to know about it as she is well aware of my emotional nature. After half an hour or so, her friend, Anisha informed me about the accident. I got in an autorikshaw and rushed towards her. Tears from my eyes fell on her face. She consoled me saying that nothing bad had happened to her. I took her to the hospital, as fast as I could. When doctor asked me I couldn’t say anything. I became pale and got fainted. When I regained consciousness, I saw her smiling at me and she patted on my back. The doctor told me that he was more worried about the mother than the daughter. She got discharged after a week without major complaints. She graduated with flying colours and joined MCA. My husband expired during that time due to kidney failure. Aruna covered her face on my sons’ shoulders and cried very bitterly. She didn’t eat anything for

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three days. I struggled hard to bring her back to normal. After MCA, she got a good job in an IT firm. One day when she came home, Ashok, her colleague, a Malayalee was with her.Anish, my younger son was at home. Ashok and Anish became good friends. Bipin, my elder son, is in London with his wife and daughter. After one year, Ashok asked Aruna’s hand for marriage. I informed Nirmala and Madan about it and they gave us green signal to proceed. Aruna and Ashok celebrated their first wedding anniversary just two months ago. Three days passed since Aruna is hospitalized. She has terrible pain in the abdomen. Doctor says that her kidneys are slightly damaged and she may require a kidney transplant soon. She is young and very sensitive. She can’t bear this much pain. I can not look at her worried face. Oh! God! Save her. God will hear my prayers. I am sure.Shobha couldn’t stretch her thoughts further as the doctor called her to the consultant room. Before doctor could say anything, Shobha asked him whether her kidney can be removed for Aruna’s kidney transplant. Shobha had undergone thorough examination. When doctor informed that Shobha’s kidney is matching, her joy knew no bounds. But she didn’t tell Aruna about it, fearing her reaction. Today is Sunday, a holiday for most of the people, Shobha recalled. But Aruna is lying on the operation table. She is administered anesthesia. We are impatiently waiting outside. Few hours passed. Then the doctor came out, congratulated Ashok and told him about Aruna’s successful kidney transplant operation. When Aruna recovered after four days, the doctor told her that it is Shobha who gave her a new life.Aruna started shedding tears. “Though we are not bound by umbilical cord, Aruna is my beloved daughter after all,”Shobha whispered to herself.

TIPS FOR HAIR CARE

 Use lukewarm water when shampooing. Hot water can open the hair cuticles, leading to moisture loss and making its texture resemble corn stalks.  Those with an oily scalp can shampoo daily, but if you have a dry scalp it’s not advisable to wash your hair every day. Alternate days work better. On the day that you do not wash, you can brush your hair from scalpto-ends with a natural bristle brush. This will stimulate the oil glands and allow the natural oils to coat the hair.

Mrs Geetu

Sajeev

Pilgrimage

Temples of India

Irinjalakuda Koodalmanikyam Shree Bharatha Temple Gopalakrishnan

oodalmanikyam Sree Bharatha Temple is situated 25 km away from Thrissur in the Kodungallur route. The ‘Mukkidi Nivedyam’ and ‘Brinjal Nivedyam’ offered on the day of ‘Avittom’ star in the Malayalam month of ‘Thulam’ is famous. This ancient temple is perhaps the only one in India dedicated to Bharatha, the brother of Sree Rama. Koodalmanikyam Temple is a marvel in architectural beauty. The impressive gates, round shaped Sanctum Sanctorum, the majestic Koothambalam and the Carvings in wood and stone on the walls all attract students of Art and Architecture. The murals on the walls on either side of the Eastern entry to September 2010

Chuttambalam also deserve special mention.

Legend A local chief Vakke Kaimal and legend found 4 idols on riverbank. One of them was directed to be installed at Irinjalakkuda by him. Though the idol looked similar to that of Vishnu the same was considered of Bharatha. In the temple idol holds sankhu, chakra, gada and japamala. The idol is having an Anki made by a goldsmith even without seeing the deity! He came from Tamilnadu for curing his stomach pain. The local chief gave measurements of idol through Thanthri and by the time he completed the anki his stomach pain had disappeared. The temple is very famous for getting the stomach pain cured. 45

Sangameswara The idol was installed at the junction of two rivers Chalakkudi river and Kurumali river. Hence the name sangameswara. Now the two rivers have changed course and Irinjalakuda is no longer on any riverbank, Arattu – the holy dip of the idol at the close of the Annual Festival, is held alternatively in these two rivers suggesting a previous connection with these rivers.

Samgameswara folklore There is another folklore relating to the name Samgameswara. One saintly person belonging to Talipa-

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with the one on the idol. The merging of two manikyams led to the name `Koodalmanikyamâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;. ( This story I have heard from one of my cousins during my child hood) Similar brightness is reported to have appeared on the idol once again, much later in 1907 also.

Temple architecture

rambu was on a strange mission. His objective was to collect the chaithanya of idols of important temples in Kerala for being transferred to the idol of the temple in his village. This he did by entering the Sanctum Sanctorum of the temples he visited and transferring the â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Chaithanyaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; on to the conch in his possession. When he took the conch at Irinjalakuda it accidentally fell down and the conch was broken instantly transferring the divinity of all idols he had acquired on to the idol at Irinjlakuda. Thus the idol in which merged the divine Chaithanya of several idols came to be known as Sangameswara.

Worship All the aspects of Devi , Vishnu and Maheswara are worshipped though people call it Bharatha Temple. Probably as Sri Rama had aspects of Vishnu and Siva, Bharatha too would have. The Ramayana story tells the humbleness and justice of Bharatha, which are the qualities of Vishnu and Siva. Bharatha was happy that he was relieved of the king ship when Sri Rama returned with Sita after14 years of forest life and after Ravana Nigraha. This happy form of Bharatha is worshipped in Irinjalakkuda temple.

Distinctive feature A distinctive feature of Koodalmanikyam temple is that there is only one single Prathista, even Ga-

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napathy is not be found inside the temple . The popularly known as Koodalmanikam of Sangameswara is supposed to be the Parabrahma moorthy. Even Vigneswara, usually found in all temples dose not find a place here.

Tidapilli Hanuman Hanuman is present at Thidappilly [the holy kitchen] . He is not enshrined separately.

Tulasi does not sprout Usually when Thulasi leaves are offered to the deity, its seeds invariably sprouts in the premises. How this has not happened in this temple any time is a mystery. One explanation is that Thulasi plant being sacred; it is worshipped wherever it is found. Probably it is to forbid even such an object for secondary worship in the temple precincts that Thulasi is not allowed to grow by some unforeseen power.

Koodalmanikkam Once some sort of brightness emanated from the deity similar to one from Manikkam. To compare it a manikkam was brought from the king of Kayamkulam. As they were comparing the brightness of the two, it is said the stone brought from Kayamkulam mysteriously slipped from the hand and merged 46

A straight stretch of 150 meters from Irinjalakuda Municipal Bus Station takes us to the Temple. The eastern gate (Gopuram) is an impressive structure in the typical Kerala style of architecture with tiled roof and white washed walls. Numerous carvings are embedded into the front wall of the gateway. From the Gopuram we enter the outer quadrangle. The Temple is situated inside a well-walled up TEN-ACRE PLOT with attractive gates on the East, South and West. The huge porches on the Eastern and Western approach ways to the inner temple can accommodate not less than twenty-one elephants. The Sanctum Sanctorum is round shaped and is covered with copper plates. A six-foot Thaazhikakudam at the pinnacle adds to the beauty and majesty of the total temple complex.

Historical references and administration The earliest historical reference to Koodalmanikyam Temple is found in a stone inscription attributed to the Chera king Stanu Ravi Varman dated 854 A.D, donating vast extents of land for the Temple. It is, therefore, reasonable to assume that the Temple must have been in existence for quite some time before this date and that even then Koodalmanickyam was occupying a place of importance among the temples of

Kerala. Another inscription reads Cheraman Perumal Bhaskara Ravi Varma has donated vast lands at Potta near Chalakudy to the Temple. The Temple was in the domain of the erstwhile Maharaja of Cochin; but the administration was under a person designated as Thachudaya Kaimal appointed by the Maharaja of Travancore. In 1971, the Government of Kerala, through a special order, took over the administration of the Temple. A Committee appointed from time to time by the Government of Kerala now manages the Temple.

Unnai variar Unnai variar, the author of Nalacharitam was a native of Irinjalakuda and an ardent devotee of Sangamewara. He has also composed a Sanskrit poem – Sree Rama Pancha Sathi that is an abridged version of Ramayana in fifty dasakas dedicated to Lord Sangameswara. Nala charitham of Unnai variar I have studied , during my college days, I think.

deity at Koodalmanikyam is a veritable Dhanwanthari moorthy. There are several stories about getting cure, and even incurable diseases of faithful devotees being cured.

Vazhuthananga(brinjal) Neivedyam Friends, I could read three stories from websites about it. One of them getting cure for Chembai of his stomach pain. This was by his offering of Brinjal Neivedyam, which is famous in the temple( I have not misread- It is Vazhuthanaga or Kathrikkai Neivedyam)

Specialities in the pooja Offering Lotus Garland In Koodalmanikyam temple there are only three Poojas and no Sribali. The deity is taken out for ceremonial procession only during the Annual Festival. There is no Deeparadhana. ( A new information to me totally!!) The floral offerings to the deity consist of Lotus, Tulasi and Chethi. No other flower is taken for Pooja or for making garlands.

Sangameswara as Dhanwanthari moorthy There is a popular belief that the

September 2010

Lotus garland, popularly known as Thamaramala is an important offering to the deity. A full garland will be around twelve feet long and will have not less than 101 lotus flowers. Full flowers (not plucked petals), are used in this garland. There is a strong and substantiated belief that if you offer a lotus garland before starting any new project or any important function like marriage, Koodalmanickyam deity will fulfill the wishes. Even other temples too offer Thamaramala at Koodalmanikyam before start of festivals and Kalasams at the respective temples!! Important Vazhipatus(offerings) other than Thamaramala are Brinjal Neivedyam , Vedi , Ghee lamp, Mukkidi and Meenuttu.

Temple festival and Mukkidi Neivedaym The annual festival is a 11-day event concluding on the Tiruvonam asterism in the month of Aries. Triputtiri - six months after the Tiruvonam aaraattu in Medom - in the Malayala month of Thulaam witnesses a great feast when newly harvested rice is cooked and offered first to the deity. The next day witnesses the offering of a proprietary Ayurvedic preparation known as Mukkidi, which is considered to be a miraculous cure for stomach ailments.

Nalanbalam Yathra Since the last decade Nalambalam Yathra has become in Vogue. It is a special kind of visiting 4 temples in Kerala – Sreerama Temple at Triprayar ,Koodalmanickam Bharatha temple at Irinjalakuda ,Lakshmana temple at Moozhikkulam in Ernkulam District and Payammel Sathrukhna temple near Irinjalakuda Temple opening time Darshan is possible from 3am 12 noon , and 5pm to 8pm. Temple contact address The Administrator Koodalmanickyam Devaswom Irinjalakuda – 680 121 Kerala- India Ph: 0091– 480 –2826631 contact@koodalmanikyam.com

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Health

YOGA Sethu Madhavan Email: sethukorambil@yahoo.co.in

Resting in butterfly - lie down on your back with your hands sides near body. Place your palms facing upwards. Now gently bring your feet together and open your legs. Drop your knees open to the sides. Place a pillow under your outer thighs, if you feel some pain or stiffness on the back or inner thighs. Close your eyes and take few minutes to relax your whole body. Now bring your attention to your abdomen and begin to breathe slowly and deeply without any noise in your nose. Feel you’re breath from the nose to the navel and navel to the nose. As you inhale your abdomen raise up and as you exhale your abdomen falls down. Breath in and out slowly through your nostrils. Do not rush, do not strain your breathe. Inhale for the 3-4 seconds and exhale for3- 4 seconds . Benefits: This pose helps open the pelvis and energies the entire pelvic area. This pose helps relieve pain n stiffness in the hips, thighs , knees and ankles. And the breathing technique is an excellent techniques

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to power each and every cell in your body. It is called ‘the diaphragmatic breathing’ . You use the exact muscle, the diaphragm that is responsible for your respiration. It is just below your ribs. Practice this breathing technique when you go to bed, helps give you sound sleep. This breathing technique helps improves the capacity of lungs, relieves stiffness or tension or fatigue, and relaxes your mind and body. Observe this breathing technique at all times (when you walk, talk, sit, when you listen, when you are alone, when you meditate, when you sleep) Note: If you are too busy and no time to do the prescribed exercise in somedays, at least stay practicing the alternate nostril breathing exercise and remember to observe diaphragmatic breathing at all times! This means ‘you are practicing yoga at all times’. Tips during pregnancy 1. Always observe deep diaphragmatic breathing every time even when you are not doing exercises 48

2. Keep yourself active but with your mind calm and relaxed 3. Do not watch horror movies, enjoy watching humor movies instead 4. Read some inspirational or spiritual uplifting books and know that your baby grows listening 5. Do not carry anything heavy. 6. Practice yoga with empty stomach or at least 3 hrs gap after meals 7. Exercise at least 5-6 times a week 8. Be joyful at all times 9. Keep smiling at all times Break the pre-conditioned mind thinking that the delivery is painful. Instead, allow your mind to be joyful, eagerly waiting to deliver a beautiful and a unique present of life on earth to this beautiful world! This is the unique gift that any man cannot even imagine! May all the family, friends, nation, nature, good spirits and Gods guide you towards having the most unique and blessed child in universe!

Wide leg Squat with or without chair Stand with your feet 3 feet apart. Hold the chair or simply place your hands on the knees. Point your toes slightly outwards. As you inhale squat down with your thighs parallel to the floor, bringing your hips and knees in line. As you exhale return to the starting position. Breathe in slowly with the nose and breathe out slowly with the mouth. Do this exercise slowly for 5-8 times.

Cat stretch Come on all four’s! Place your knees, hip width apart and your arms at shoulder width distance. As you exhale round you’re back pushing the upper back towards the ceiling and gently pulling the tail bone in. And as you inhale arch you’re back pushing the tail bone towards the ceiling with your arms straight and chinup. Do to your comfort! Inhale slowly with the nose and exhale slowly with the mouth. Repeat this for 10 times.

Benefit This will help relieve back pain and strengthens your back.

September 2010

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Butterfly pose Place a folded blanket or a towel under your seat bone. Sit comfortable! Bring your feet together in front of you. Hold your feet keeping your back straight. First begin by flying your knees up and down gently for a couple of times (10-15 times) like a butterfly. Now, as you exhale gently lean forward keeping with your back straight reaching your forehead to the toes, as close as possible. Stay here for 10 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; 20 seconds breathing slowly and deeply. Then return to the starting pose with your back straight. Do this 2-3 times.

Benefit It is an excellent pose that helps open the pelvis and improves circulation around the pelvis. It helps relieve stiffness on the lower back, hips and legs.

Published by C. Vimal Kumar for Sar Multimedia Pvt. Ltd., 7 Prem Bhavan, 2nd Floor, 234/236, Narshi Natha Street, Masjid Bunder, Mumbai - 400009, printed by him at Meenakshi Printers & Designers, 5, Sarvodaya Garden, Off. Manpada Road, Dombivli East - 421201. Editor : C. Vimal Kumar

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