The Dharma Dispatch

Lighting Lamps versus Violent Punishment: A Slice of Hindu Jurisprudence The primary impulse of Hindu jurisprudence was spirituality, humane treatment and reform. Violent punishments were prescribed for the gravest of crimes. Unlike today's Supreme Court Chief Justices who are unaccountable and squat on official property even after retirement, our kings voluntarily subjected themselves to public censure and punishment. The vision of Hindu lawgivers was to mitigate ill-will within the society as far as possible through a determined pursuit of spirituality. Conscious forgiveness on the part of the survivor and conscious expiation on the part of the perpetrator are two sides of the same coin. -- Read the whole ennobling essay! 🕉🛕🪔 https://www.dharmadispatch.in/commentary/lighting-lamps-versus-violent-punishment-a-slice-of-hindu-jurisprudence

A Portrait of Hindu Village Administration and Jurisprudence For hundreds of centuries, every village in India was a self-contained and self-sustained world in itself. The extraordinary feature in this regard is that the structure and setup of village administration was almost uniform in the realms of both space and time. In 1012 CE under the Chalukya king Vikramaditya V, the Ummacchige village (now in Yellapura, en route to Goa) was a great educational hub. The 104 Mahajanas of this village were entrusted with the smooth conduct of temple worship, imparting education, feeding the ascetics, water supply, and punishing criminals. The king had only a nominal say in all this. Do read the whole informative essay! 🙏🕉🛕🪔 https://www.dharmadispatch.in/commentary/a-portrait-of-hindu-village-administration-and-jurisprudence

A Portrait of Hindu Ministers as Models of Administrative Excellence The Hindu civilisational continuity is also seen in the organisation of its administration, which was helmed by some extraordinary ministers: from Kautilya to the Ashta-Pradhans of the Maratha Empire. We have an incredible grant of the 11th Century Pala king, Ballalasena, which gives a long list of Government officials in his administration at various levels. This number is exactly 28, as mentioned in the Arthasastra. In the 13th century, we see the legendary Hemadri (or Hemad-Pant as he’s fondly known to the Marathi people), the Chief Secretary of the Sevuna king, Ramachandradeva. He led the Elephant Squadron, fought wars, wrote an encyclopedic legal treatise and founded a separate school of Temple architecture. The details are simply mind-boggling! Do read the whole essay. 🙏🕉🛕🪔 https://www.dharmadispatch.in/commentary/a-portrait-of-hindu-ministers-as-models-of-administrative-excellence

From Kautilya to Chhatrapati Shivaji: The Unbroken Continuity of Hindu Political Institutions IN THE 18TH CENTURY, Amatya Ramachandra Pant, Chhatrapati Shivaji's Finance Minister, authored an encyclopedic Ajnapatra (Royal Edict). It was a rather extraordinary user manual detailing every minute nuance of statecraft and administration. Shivaji’s grandson, Sambhaji II consulted it for guidance on all administrative matters. It is loosely modelled after Kautilya’s Arthasastra and it shows the awesome civilizational continuity of Bharatavarsha in the realm of statecraft, politics and administration. This is a fine example of this continuous flow of the Sanatana institutional heritage. I won't spoil the suspense. 😃 Do read the whole essay! https://www.dharmadispatch.in/commentary/from-kautilya-to-chhatrapati-shivaji-the-unbroken-continuity-of-hindu-political-institutions

Hindu Civilisational Self-Discovery through Political, Administrative and Legal Institutions We begin a brand new series delving into the history of Hindu Political, Administrative and Legal Institutions. This topic is more relevant — urgent in fact — today more than ever before given the ongoing rampage of Adharma throughout the world. Here are some excerpts. ---- Bharatavarsha is the only civilisation in which food is a sacred institution in itself. In the West and in non-Hindu societies, we see an exact inversion of this. There, food is meant for sensual enjoyment and no higher value is attached to it. It is thus unsurprising that the United States is the largest abuser of food in the world. The history of ancient Indian political thought is the story of great minds that evolved political institutions and guided Hindu society for nearly three millenniums. This by itself entitles our study to considerable respect at our hands, especially when we compare the longevity and stability of our institutions. Do read the entire essay and share it widely. 🙏📑🛕🪔🕉 https://www.dharmadispatch.in/commentary/hindu-civilisational-self-discovery-through-political-administrative-and-legal-institutions

An Analysis of DVG’s Renunciate Poetry DVG's poem Daarigara Haadu adheres to the spirit of Bharthari’s Vairāgya śatakaṃ. We can also characterise it as a poetic commentary of sorts to Vairāgya śatakaṃ. DVG composed it in an era when Hindus were rapidly abandoning their roots, being dazzled by English education and the British society. The spoon and the fork had become the ultimate arbiters of refinement and barbarism. In this poem, DVG has donned the part of a seasoned wayfarer who is also a renunciate who shows the path to the world. The Song of the Wayfarers is pregnant with possibilities; it is a pathfinder, a lesson, a discourse, a fable, a philosophy and an earnest guide, which shows the path to facing destiny’s blows with tranquility, compassion and humility. I was deeply elevated after reading it. I hope you too, will. 🙏🕉🛕🪔 https://www.dharmadispatch.in/culture/an-analysis-of-dvgs-renunciate-poetry

DVG - The Covert Saṃnyāsi and his Confessional By his innate temperament, D.V. Gundappa (DVG) was a renunciate or Saṃnyāsi. Almost every person in his close circle has testified to DVG’s anchorite nature; of how he mingled heartily with the world even as he inwardly remained detached from it. For more than three decades, DVG was thickly enmeshed in hardcore politics and remained a journalist for nearly seven decades. Yet, only a handful knew that he found solace in Valmiki, Vyasa, Kalidasa, Bhartrhari, Tyagaraja, and in the Iktara that he kept by his bedside. Indeed, only a true Virakta could reject numerous offers of high office that effortlessly landed on his desk. Read the whole ennobling essay in full! 🙏🕉🛕🪔 https://www.dharmadispatch.in/culture/dvg-the-covert-sa%E1%B9%83ny%C4%81si-and-his-confessional

Virakta Kavya or Renunciate Poetry in the Indian Literary Tradition Delve into the splendid tradition of Virakta Kavya or Renunciate Poetry in the Indian tradition since the Vedic times to the 20th Century. If the Bhagavad-Gita is the philosophical poetic Deity of Virakta Kāvyas, Bhartrhari’s Vairāgya śatakaṃ is its monarchial tributary. In the realm of Indian languages, the harvest of Renunciate Poetry is equally prolific. The songs of Mira Bai, although dedicated to her beloved Sri Krishna, emanated from the heart of a renunciate. The same remark is applicable to say, Akka Mahadevi and a marquee of similar saints. Then there are Avadhūtas, Yogis and Vedantins such as Vemana, Sarvajna, Allama Prabhu, and Sadashiva Brahmendra who each trod their own paths and left behind immortal poems and lyrical compositions. --- Read the whole enriching essay! 🙏🕉🛕🪔 https://www.dharmadispatch.in/culture/virakta-kavya-or-renunciate-poetry-in-the-indian-literary-tradition

A Survey of D.V. Gundappa as a Renunciate Poet First episode of a series surveying the contributions of D.V. Gundappa to the poetic genre that can be called Virakta Kāvya or Renunciate Poetry. Some excerpts follow. Among all the profound ideals and values that Sanatana Dharma has bequeathed us, perhaps only Sanyasa has remained the most enduring till date. To Hindus, Sanyasa is not merely an abstract or religious concept. Sanyasa is the very instinct of Hindus. It is also the fifth natural impulse after the āhāra (food) nidrā (sleep) bhaya (fear) and maithuna (reproduction) quartet. The societal history of Hindus shows that while our people obeyed the King’s commands, they worshipped Sanyasis. This balance has tragically been inverted today. ----- Do read the whole essay! https://www.dharmadispatch.in/culture/a-survey-of-dv-gundappa-as-a-renunciate-poet 🙏🛕🕉🪔

Kamal Haasan's Pathetic Slide into Irrelevance Parthasarathy Srinivasan alias Kamal Hasan is a lesson, a warning and a timeless truth applicable to public figures: do not become that person whom the public is forced to endure in your old age by waging a lifelong war against time and reality. When Kamal Hasan the actor, dons the role of a real-life intellectual, he's trying to sound profound about…everything: Hindu philosophy, atheism, communism, secularism, Periyarism, and even jurisprudence. And when Kamal Hasan the intellectual, dons the role of a politician, we bolt towards safety. His brand of politics defies both description and sanity. --- Read the whole brutal commentary! 😀📑🙏 https://www.dharmadispatch.in/commentary/kamal-haasans-pathetic-slide-into-irrelevance

The Swan Song of R.C. Majumdar In the last lecture of his life, Sri R.C. Majumdar foresaw the dangerous trends in Indian history writing and predicted the long-term damage that they would cause to India itself. Here's a direct quote from him: "During the post-Independence period, certain new trends are growing among a section of Indian historians which violate the high ideals of truth. The oft-quoted phrase ‘History is past politics’ is likely to be substituted soon by a new phrase ‘History is present politics.’ "History, divorced from truth, does not help a nation—its future should be laid on the stable foundations of truth and not on the quicksands of falsehood." --- Read the whole brilliant essay! 🙏🛕🕉🪔 https://www.dharmadispatch.in/commentary/the-swan-song-of-rc-majumdar

R.C. Majumdar’s Firsthand Experience of how Congress Distorted Indian History Here it is: straight from the horse's mouth. Read the full, dark story of how the Congress fabricated Indian history and invented the myth of an alleged eternal unity between Hindus and Muslims. This crime against Indian history was committed right before R.C. Majumdar's eyes. Here is an excerpt. "I KNOW from personal experience how the Government of India has sought to utilise history for the spread of ideas which they have elevated to the rank of national policy to their own satisfaction. All these are done in the name of national policy which is at best the policy of a political party." ----- Read and share widely! 😡🛕🕉🪔 https://www.dharmadispatch.in/commentary/rc-majumdars-firsthand-experience-of-how-congress-distorted-indian-history

When R.C. Majumdar Predicted the Invasion of Leftist Distorians Way back in 1968, the legendary R.C. Majumdar had unerringly predicted the eventual takeover of Indian History by the Leftist pamphleteers. His prediction came eerily true the very next year, 1969. That was when Romila Thapar & her Marxist mafia comrades published a scurrilous pamphlet declaring that they would rewrite Indian History. Read the whole piece for stark revelations! 😡📑🕉🪔 https://www.dharmadispatch.in/commentary/when-rc-majumdar-predicted-the-invasion-of-leftist-distorians