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September 17 - October 7, 2019
Not everyone has the spirit to keep their character strong when their stomachs are empty.’
You must use your heart to decide the destination, but use your head to plot the journey.
Don’t assume that the powerful are always bad or that the powerless are always good. There is good and bad in everyone.
1ST LESSON
Kaushik and Divodas
two friends,
teachers at the Gurukul of Mahari...
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naive,
reclusive
The Tungabhadra was a tributary of the Krishna River farther to the north.
Neanderthal or the valley of Neander.
‘Warriors thrive on admiration and hero worship. Without these, the warrior spirit, and with it, the warrior code, dies. Sadly, many in the latter-day Bhaarat society despised their soldiers and preferred to condemn them.
Every action of the army was vehemently criticised. Any form of violence, even dharmic violence, was opposed.
Too much of anything creates an imbalance in life. This is true even of virtues such as nonviolence. You never know when the winds of change strike; when violence may be required to protect your society, or to even survive.’
A society must always aim for balance. It needs intellectuals, it needs warriors, it needs traders, it needs artists, and it needs skilled workers. If it empowers one group too much or another too little, it is headed for chaos.’
pragmatism.’
tiger’s abdomen. Its outrageously sharp-edged
Lord Matsya, the first Vishnu.
Lord Narsimha, Lord Vaaman, Lord Parshu Ram,
Running away is never the solution. Confront your problems. Manage them. That is the way of the warrior.’
confines
Sita was aware that Sunaina was greatly concerned about her relationship with her younger sister.
One evening, after a long meeting in Sunaina’s chambers, Sita entered Urmila’s room, next to their mother’s. She had asked an aide to arrange a plate of black grapes. Urmila loved black grapes. Dismissing the aide, she carried the plate into the chamber.
‘It is said that we come with nothing into this world, and take nothing back. But that’s not true. We carry our karma with us. And we leave behind our reputation, our name. I want my name redeemed, Sita. And I want you to do it. I want you to bring back prosperity to Mithila.’
nine-day festivities of the Winter Navratra always included the day that marked the Uttarayan, the beginning of the northward movement of the sun. This was the day the nurturer of the world, the sun, was farthest away from the northern hemisphere. It would now begin its six-month journey back to the north. Uttarayan was, in a sense, a harbinger of renewal. The death of the old. The birth of the new.
UTTARYAN IN NAVRATRA
first hour of the first prahar. Just after midnight.
snack
perched
frosty
asphyxiated
manuscript
It chronicled the doomed love story of a courtesan and a peripatetic trader.
popular play throughout the S...
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capital of the Malayaputras: Agastyakootam.
Vishwamitra sat in the main ParshuRamEshwar temple in Agastyakootam.
The temple was dedicated to the one that Lord Parshu Ram worshipped: Lord Rudra.
Ashwapati, the king of Kekaya, was the father of Kaikeyi and Emperor Dashrath’s father-in-law. That also made him the grandfather of Dashrath’s second son, Bharat. ‘So, he has seen the light and seeks to build new relationships.
