Jataka Tales – The Monkeys and the Ogre (Nalapana-Jataka)
There once was a water-ogre living in a lake within a thick forest. This particular water-ogre would hide in the lake and would attack and devour any creature that would come down to the lake to drink water. In this same forest, the Buddha in a previous birth lived as a monkey king who reigned over a troop of 80,000 monkeys. In this forest there More...
Kalaripayattu – World’s Oldest Martial Art created by Sada Shiva
Kalaripayattu is a martial art, which survived in the hinterlands of Kerala-India despite ruthless efforts of the British imperialists to obliterate it. The word kalari first appears in the Sangam literature More...
The happening of Kurma Avatar
The Ten Avatar (Dasavatar) of Lord Vishnu are: Matsya, Kurma, Varaha, Narasimha, Vamana, Parashurama, Rama, Balarama, Krishna, Buddha and Kalki. Kurma Avatar is the 2nd avatar that Lord Vishnu took to bring an end More...
The Astika School of Thought – Nyaya School
Leading Human Beings to Ultimate Reality Ancient India was clear about the goal of life – to end suffering and experience liberation when living (Jeevan Mukthi). To enable this, depending on the mental model More...
The story of Ashtavakra and his father Kahola
The life of Ashtavakra is narrated in the Ramayana of Valmiki, the Vana Parva of the Mahabharata, the Ashtavakra Gita and Bhavabhuti’s play Uttararamacarita. Rishi Uddalaka, mentioned in the Chandogya More...
Overcoming Diabetes with Yoga
Diabetes is a serious issue to be addressed in our society. Especially as we are seeing drastic increases in the number of people developing the disease in modern times. According to World Health Organization, the More...
Siravyadha Chikitsa (Bloodletting) – Treatment in Ayurveda
Ayurveda has two major lines of treatments – shodhana (detoxification of the body to prevent the disease) and shamana (curing the disease by internal medication). The Shamana line of treatment is followed More...
The Extremely Simplified and Modern Ravana
The name Ravana conjures an image of a ten headed villain, cruel and proud, a Rakshasa king who abducts Sita and is finally killed by the hero Rama. His gigantic effigies are burned during festivals every year to More...
Sita and Mandodari: A character study
The role of women in Hinduism has always been one of strength and divinity. Nowhere does one find stronger female characters than in the great Hindu epics, Ramayana and Mahabharata. In Mahabharata, in the Adi Parva, More...
Agastya’s Perfect Woman – Lopamudra
Lopamudra, also known as Kaushitaki and Varaprada, is described in Vedic literature as a great scholar and philosopher. She and her husband Rishi Agastya (Agastiyar) lived during the Rig Veda period and she is More...