The Dharma Dispatch

This is my heartfelt tribute to Dr. S.R. Ramaswamy, a national treasure who lapsed into eternity yesterday. 🪔🕉 https://www.dharmadispatch.in/commentary/the-calming-strength-of-his-palm

[COMMENTARY] For half a century, the Mysore University was revered as a Jnana-Kashi. And then, a bunch of vandals seized it and transformed it into a crematorium of knowledge. This is the full story of that destruction. https://www.dharmadispatch.in/commentary/how-caste-politics-communism-and-congress-transformed-mysore-university-into-a-crematorium-of-knowledge

[HISTORY VIGNETTES] A Forgotten Vijayanagara Heritage: The Ancient Haridra Dam and Crumbling Kalleshwara Temple of Devarabelakere. https://www.dharmadispatch.in/history/photoessay-a-bridge-on-the-river-haridra

Pather Panchali would've never been made but for the help of Satyajit Ray's mother who was friends with a Congress Chief Minister's concubine. The CM raided taxpayer money to fund a movie that romanticised India's poverty. https://www.dharmadispatch.in/commentary/the-dark-side-of-a-classic-why-pather-panchali-is-overrated-poverty-porn

On the auspicious festival of Sri Ramanavami, don't miss reading this evocative real-life episode of the Triumph of Sri Venkannayya’s Rama Bhakti. 🕉️🛕🪔 Sri Rama Jayam https://www.dharmadispatch.in/culture/the-triumph-of-sri-venkannayyas-rama-bhakti

Stalin is Desperate. Joseph Vijay is an Incipient Chiranjeevi In Tamil Nadu’s highly unpredictable 2026 Assembly elections, Chief Minister M.K. Stalin is fighting a desperate battle for survival amid a deep leadership crisis in both DMK and AIADMK. Compounding Stalin’s troubles is film star Joseph Vijay’s aggressive entry into politics with his party TVK, that lacks a clear ideology or strong organisation. He is loud and flashy but might suffer the fate of Chiranjeevi whose Praja Rajyam Party ended before it began. — Read the powerful analysis in full! https://www.dharmadispatch.in/commentary/stalin-is-desperate-joseph-vijay-is-an-incipient-chiranjeevi

Busting the Spurious Narrative of 300 Ramayanas A.K. Ramanujan's infamous essay "300 Ramayanas," was a deliberate fabrication to rob Maharshi Valmiki's authorship of the Sanskrit original. https://www.dharmadispatch.in/culture/busting-the-spurious-narrative-of-300-ramayanas

This is what Subramania Bharati wrote about K.A. Nilakanta Sastri in 1915: "I must pity Sri Nilakanta Iyer. The wonder of persons who cannot speak their own language straight, teaching the sciences may be seen only in our country… we cannot but laugh when a few of us pronounce that the Tamils are inferior to the other sections of Indians." This is just the teaser. Read the whole delightful piece! 😀🪔 https://www.dharmadispatch.in/history/ka-nilakanta-sastris-maiden-encounter-with-jadunath-sarkar

On the sacred birthday of DVG, reposting my old tribute to the Vanasuma who taught us the Yoga of Life 🕉️🪔🛕🙏 https://www.dharmadispatch.in/culture/commemorating-rishi-dvg-the-forest-flower-whose-fragrance-teaches-us-the-dharma-and-yoga-of-life

Stalin in Panic! https://youtu.be/2EiIasCGMYc