DesiPundit

Gopal takes his camera down to Magadi Road and brings back an eyeful of the statues in the temple.

Akshay visits Bylakuppe, the biggest Tibetan settlement outside Tibet.

The facade of Bylakuppe, brought three monumental chortens into view: symbols of the Nyingma Buddhist faith displaced from the trans-Himalayan highlands and planted here, among coconut groves and betelnut plantations. The settlement first took shape in 1959 when many tibetan refugees were given the opportunity to re-shape their lives and preserve their culture. This sleepy little town is deceptive for it is a home to twenty thousand tibetan and to eleven monasteries, making it undoubtedly the capital of Tibetan culture in exile.

On seeing a critical edition of Mahābhārata, Dr. Arvind Sharma notes that this Western trend is an artificial concept in the Hindu context and the misguided pursuit of Western methodology has created something which never existed.

To begin with then, the Mahābhārata is plural document available in at least five recensions according to the critical edition; now how can there be one critical edition of a text with five recensions to begin with? This conclusion is a bit overwrought but it makes an important point. It is overwrought because the critical text claims to restore only one version of it – the one publicized by Vaiśampāyana.

Syrian Christians are one of the earliest known Christian converts in India with the conversion believed to be done by St. Thomas. Kochuthresiamma, a Syrian Christian, wonders why they walked with a certain pride and finds an unusual answer.

And I realized that this nazrani pride is not about being converted by that revered Apostle, or about a long tradition of Christianity practiced by our ancestors or about the jewish/Syrian heritage. It is all about laying a claim to the upper caste. Caste is at the bottom of it all.

The administration has told government-run temples not to celebrate the traditional Tamil New Year tomorrow, saying the year began three months ago and this should be noted by the people and legal authorities in the constitutional law because first time a state government is interfering in the religion of a community to placate the separatists and anti-Indian forces.

The government mandating when the new year should begin? You cannot make this stuff up as even Orwell might wonder why didn’t he think of that before. Vasisth50 bemoans the death of secularism in Tamil Nadu. Strangely I hadn’t heard much about this in the news websites or the blogs. Offstumped is surprised that the Karunanidhi government would interfere in religious matters given its atheist leanings [hat tip: Ramya].

Where are these leaders. Nobody expects them to deliver fiery speeches but they can take up issues and try to resolve them. But they are never seen or heard. I wonder what they do. And many other Muslims like me also wonder. What’s their use? Is it just for their Muslims names do they survive!

Indscribe at An Indian Muslim’s Blog profiles some of the prominent Muslim leaders in India. Definitely not a comprehensive list but you can see the commonalities [hat tip: Kaveri].

Bhagamandala is sacred for the confluence of the three rivers, Cauvery, Kannike, and the mythical Sujyoti. A stone plaque at the entrance to the confluence notes the Cauvery as being ‘revered as one of the Sapta Sindhu or seven holy rivers and is considered to be the Ganges of the South. A dip in this holy Sangam completes the Hindu Shraddha rites for the departed soul.’

Anil at Windy Skies takes a trip to Bhagamandala and talks to several people including priests of this holy temple town [hat tip: Satyen]. Excellent pictures as well.

Meet Sheena Chouhan, ‘renowned Indian model’ and the newest scientology recruit determined to bring some real help to our country.

Woke at Mutiny.in reveals India’s answer to Tom Cruise i.e. Scientology-wise [hat tip: Manish]. Bah! As if we hadn’t enough religious and spiritual scams already. Now if they get one of the Khans involved…

If Islamic law as codified by Muslim jurists of medieval ages is applied, it will create more problems for Muslim women. Our ‘Ulama voice stiff opposition to any change in the law in keeping with the Qur’anic spirit, it can certainly better the modern laws pertaining to marriage, divorce and property rights. But problem is our jurists and ‘ulama are too rigid to agree for any re-thinking even in the sprit of Qur’an.

Asghar Ali Engineer at Indian Muslims Blog examines the potential impact of applying Islamic Shariah law in the West [via].

Lightpixels posts some nince pictures of the Erumbeeshwar temple,

 The Trichy - Thanjavur belt, on the banks of the Cauvery River was the seat of power of the mighty Cholas who were great patrons of art. Under their rule, they built and revived innumerable temples like the Brihadeeshwarar temple, SriRanganathaswamy Temple. This area also has a lot of hidden treasures - small temples, seeping with history, and architecture. Many of these small temples are currently patronized by the locals of the area who take great pride in its history. One such temple is the Erumbeeswarar Temple located on top of a small hillock midway between Trichy and Thanjavur. 

Hat Tip: Pooh