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Profiles Jul 27, 2018

Mirza Saheb’s Gurubhakti

It was night-time. Sometime during 1914-15. Venkatanaranappa visited my house and said, “I had been to Mysore the day before yesterday to attend the senate meet...

D V Gundappa | Trans: Manjunath Hegde Balgar

Epics Jul 26, 2018

Mahābhārata – Episode 25 – Vāsudeva meets the Pāṇḍavas in the Kāmyaka Forest

Kirmīra was an asura endowed with magical powers who inhabited the Kāmyaka forest. He was a brother of Bakāsura and a friend of Hiḍimba; Bhīma killed him. When...

A R Krishna Sastri | Trans: Arjun Bharadwaj, Hari Ravikumar

Profiles Jul 25, 2018

M L Shreekantesha Gowda

In an earlier episode, while discussing the revival of modern Kannada, we reminisced about Mysore’s GTA, the university graduates’ association. One among the ma...

D V Gundappa | Trans: Dhruva Somayaji

Literature Jul 24, 2018

Avadhānam – An Aesthetic Perspective

Avadhānam and Audience Avadhānam sets a higher bar for an audience than most arts. It is probably at the other end of the spectrum to music, whose bar is the l...

Vasuki H A

Literature Jul 23, 2018

Avadhānam – An Aesthetic Perspective

Avadhānam is an ancient art/sport of India. It involves extempore creation of metrical verses on a variety of topics under myriad aesthetic constraints. It is a...

Vasuki H A

History Jul 22, 2018

The Era of Heroism: The Splendour of Shashanka

Age of Glory In the recent writings on Indian history, there are several episodes and events that have been given undue respect and importance. Several details...

Shatavadhani Dr. R. Ganesh | Trans: Sandeep Balakrishna, Hari Ravikumar

Profiles Jul 20, 2018

Sri Vasudeva Sastri and his Family of Disciples

From what I’ve heard, Sri Vasudeva Sastri hailed from Doddaballapura. His Highness the Maharaja of Mysore bestowed upon him the title of “Vidyanidhi” (literally...

D V Gundappa | Trans: Sandeep Balakrishna

Epics Jul 19, 2018

Mahābhārata – Episode 24 – Pāṇḍavas Reach the Kāmyaka Forest; Maitreya Curses Duryodhana

ARAṆYA-PARVA After the Pāṇḍavas lost the game of dice, they took their weapons and set out along with Draupadī in a northern direction, leaving Hastinagara beh...

A R Krishna Sastri | Trans: Arjun Bharadwaj, Hari Ravikumar

Literature Jul 18, 2018

Timeless Romance of the Gāhā-Satta-Saī – Part 3

Here we see a fluttering of the left eye of a woman separated from her husband. For women, this is a good omen indeed! Anticipating the return of her husband, s...

Shatavadhani Dr. R. Ganesh | Trans: Srishan Thirumalai, Hari Ravikumar

Literature Jul 17, 2018

Timeless Romance of the Gāhā-Satta-Saī – Part 2

One has to really admire the cleverness of some of these two-timing women. One of them turned in a fine performance of bawling after having, apparently, been st...

Shatavadhani Dr. R. Ganesh | Trans: Srishan Thirumalai, Hari Ravikumar

Literature Jul 16, 2018

Timeless Romance of the Gāhā-Satta-Saī – Part 1

We shall now go back in time by nearly two thousand years. Behold! Godavari flows in a mellifluous melancholic tune. Swaying the entire countryside near Pratiṣṭ...

Shatavadhani Dr. R. Ganesh | Trans: Srishan Thirumalai, Hari Ravikumar

History Jul 15, 2018

The Shield of the Senas and the Advent of the Rajputs

The Shield of the Senas Ramapala was the last of the Pala emperors and he was overthrown by the rise of the Senas, who were kshatriyas from Karnataka. The forem...

Shatavadhani Dr. R. Ganesh | Trans: Sandeep Balakrishna, Hari Ravikumar