SquareShooter

The rail station at Khajuraho is relatively new, and it isn't still very well connected. I took a train from Varanasi and the scheduled arrival was 5.20 am. I knew nothing about the station, and was hardly prepared for the journey. As I have done in the past during some of my solo trips I thought I would spend the time at the station till the dawn and then step out to catch a rickshaw. But, it was winter and I had no idea if the station had a good waiting room. I went to sleep and not quietly, but cursing the person in the next seat for he was playing some you tube clip with the phone audio. By CR Pushpa - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=51825812 Next morning the train reached Khajuraho ahead of its scheduled time. As I was getting out of the compartment the guy who was in the next seat asked if I was going into the town, and my destination. He said there is an auto that has to come to pick him up and there is another more per...

This post should be in Tamil. But, it is in English for two reasons. One, I can type faster in English. Two, I do not know how many Tamil readers would like to read this post. This post also comes two months late. I met Tamil writer S. Ramakrishnan in February, at the Gateway LitFest. I was asked if I can be present at the festival for the session in which he would be speaking, to be an interpreter. I was in two minds. How can I say no to one of the contemporary writers I have been following since the days of his serials in Vikatan, whose writings I liked? But Sanjay Subrahmanyan was singing at the Chembur Fine Arts that evening, which I was in no mood to miss. I had told the organizers that even if I am not required for the session, I would like to come over to meet S.Ra. I hunted for ‘Upa Pandavam’ the first book that I had read of S. Ra and it had made a big impact on me. Coming from North Tamil Nadu with a rich tradition of Mahabharata recitals and therukoothu ‘ U...

                                                                 Badami Cave III  Discussing the ‘Vishnu Cult in Karnataka’ Shrinivas Padigar gives the first epigraphic record to establish that the Badami Chalukyas could have been Vaishnavas or Bhagavatas – the Mudhol copper plate record of Pulekesi I’s son Pugavarma from Malkhed that records renewal of grant to god Varahidevasvamin. This Varaha temple he infers could have existed much before the 6 th century inscription. Their affinity towards Varaha is evident from the fact that the royal emblem of Chalukyas was the boar. The Mangalesa Kalmane or the Mangalesa Cave in Badami records the direct affiliation wherein he is called a “parama bhagavata”. That cave, Badami Cave III has the all important inscription that helps date (dated 578 CE, reign of Kirtivarma...