The Dharma Dispatch

From Independence to the Emergency: The Sordid Journey of the Downfall of Indian Cinema --- The downfall of Indian cinema can be traced with a cutoff point: the Emergency of 1975 and its aftermath.   Depravity, soullessness and nihilism are being actively promoted in the name of cinema. All these are being dictated by a vile soup made up of wokeism, megalomania and demonstrable insanity on the part of elite production houses and armies of deranged writers and directors. What are the topics that our contemporary filmmakers select? They mostly revolve around crime, sex, more crime and even more graphic sex. Subtle romance has been replaced by grunts and groans. Depravity has slaughtered sensitivity. Deafening cacophony has triumphed over deliberate silences both in voice and music. Suggestion is nonexistent. Small wonder that the current crop of movies have become mock-worthy memes instead of works of art. In fact, the emergence and rise of new-age directors like Maniratnam, Ram Gopal Varma, Sanjay Leela Bhansali, Ashutosh Gowariker, Rakesh Omprakash Mehra & Co is just a continuation of a downward phenomenon in Indian cinema. It can be described using this phrase: from Independence to Emergency. -- Do read the full piece! 🔖📽🎬🙏📖🔖 https://www.dharmadispatch.in/culture/from-independence-to-the-emergency-the-sordid-journey-of-the-downfall-of-indian-cinema

The Destruction of the Indian Aesthetic Tradition has Culminated in Artistic Famine in Indian Cinema   The Indian aesthetic tradition based on universal principles, was systematically destroyed and has left its pernicious imprint on Indian cinema as well. --- The Indian aesthetic tradition provides insights into art that are experientially verifiable. Tradition is the river that feeds, nurtures and sustains culture, and tradition is not “created” by one person or one institution or one book. To axe or weaken tradition based on individual whim or ideology or politics or what “feels” currently trendy is to drain out the source of this perennial river. This engineered drought cannot be undone.   “Interpreting” our literary corpus using prisms other than aesthetics had the other calculated outcome: of destroying standards. How would you like it if scrap-dealer Syed Pasha used his expertise to diagnose a heart condition? If something like that happened in real life, both Syed Pasha and the hospital would face criminal charges. But this has precisely occurred in the realm of art, literature and cinema. --- Read the whole piece! 🔖🛕✍️🎥📽   https://www.dharmadispatch.in/culture/the-destruction-of-the-indian-aesthetic-tradition-has-culminated-in-artistic-famine-in-indian-cinema

Nizamuddin Auliya & other Sufi Shaikhs strongly emphasised on a practice named Nazar-ilal murd, meaning, “gazing with intense concentration on good looking beardless boys” aged between 12 - 16. What followed next can't be mentioned. Hashish was liberally distributed and wine flowed like a river in these sessions. It was not uncommon for some Sufi Faqirs to enter into “love affairs” with newly-wedded brides of other men. -- Do read the whole piece! 🕌✍️🔖 https://www.dharmadispatch.in/history/the-awful-world-of-the-ulema-and-the-shocking-decadence-of-the-sufi-mashaikhs

Stability as a Contemporary Metaphor in the Downfall of Indian Cinema Stability is the bedrock of the Indian aesthetic tradition. Its gradual erosion is one of the singular factors contributing to the decline and downfall of this tradition. Nowhere is this more visible than in Indian cinema. --- STABILITY WAS THE BEDROCK of Indian cinema. Stability is what produced hundreds of eminently watchable family dramas which were not only commercially successful but some also became classics. Stability is what prevented movies with repetitive themes from becoming tainted with staleness. Stability is what disbarred the ennui that comes from over-familiarity.   Stability was the bedrock of Indian cinema because it has its durable roots in the Indian aesthetic tradition itself. It is precisely what birthed the hundreds of Ramayanas and Mahabharatas and derivative literature and art over several millennia, sprawled across the entire sacred geography of Bharatavarsha in multiple languages. Poor A.K. Ramanujan who wrote his masterly nonsense titled 300 Ramayanas failed to grasp this fundamental truth of the Indian aesthetic tradition. The erosion of stability is perhaps the single largest contributor to the near-comprehensive destruction of Indian cinema. Stability is also a great, contemporary metaphor of the decadal decline of Indian cinema. Its most visible manifestation is what is known as Bollywood. -- Do read the whole piece! ✍️🔖🎦🎬🎥📽 https://www.dharmadispatch.in/culture/stability-as-a-contemporary-metaphor-in-the-downfall-of-indian-cinema

Ancient Indian Guilds as Banks and Trusts: The Final Episode The final episode of this series on the business and corporate history of India offers details of how guilds also acted as banks and executors of trusts and wills. --- GUILDS AND CORPORATIONS IN ANCIENT and medieval India also functioned as local banks that accepted public money and paid interest in the range of 9 - 12%.   Larger guilds extended their banking services throughout India. Enough evidence exists to show that there was an impressive network of such banking guilds dotting the entire geography of Bharatavarsha. Their organization was coherent, well-linked and above all, they operated on the basis of strict honesty, integrity, fair dealing, and had a fear of incurring paapa. Measured on the parameters of professional competence, organizational efficiency, customer service, and delivery, these banking guilds can hold their own against contemporary banking systems.    Another significant feature of these corporations was the fact that they had a system similar to travelers’ cheques. Then there was another side to it as well. For example, if a traveler ran out of money in a faraway land, he could take a loan from a local guild and repay it to a guild back in his native town or village. That local guild was in turn connected with the guild from which the traveler had taken out the loan. -- Don't miss reading the whole essay! 🛕✍️🔖   https://www.dharmadispatch.in/history/ancient-indian-guilds-as-banks-and-trusts-the-final-episode

Incorporating a Guild or Corporation in Ancient India: Their Profoundly Dharmic Charter This episode provides some eye-opening details about the process of incorporating a guild in ancient India and the exalted scope of their charter. ---   A soulful verse in the Brihaspati Sutra says that a corporation should also perform works of public utility such as: (1) building a house of public assembly like a town hall (2) a rest house providing free accommodation and meals for travelers and pilgrims (3) pools for supplying water to animals such as cows, bulls, buffaloes, horses and elephants (3) constructing temples and gardens (4) funding poor people (Daridrāṇām) for helping them perform sacred Samskaras such as Chaula, Namakarana, Upanayana, Antyeshti, or various Yajnas. All these were formally written down in the corporation’s charter and was legally binding. The profounder element is the fact that guild members were liable for judicial punishment if they failed to perform these Dharmic duties! And so, wherever any guild was located in Bharatavarsha and wherever a guild travelled to, it invariably carried out one or more or all of the aforementioned acts of Dharma. 🛕✍️🙏🕉🛕🛕 https://www.dharmadispatch.in/history/incorporating-a-guild-or-corporation-in-ancient-india-their-profoundly-dharmic-charter

Krishna-Katha for Kids: New Course Announcement VIBHU ACADEMY announces a new programme for children titled Krishna-Katha, meant for children aged between 5 and 13 years. It covers an extensive repertoire of stories from the life of Sri Krishna drawn from Srimad Bhagavatam and the Mahabharata. It is a highly engaging and delightful programme woven in our familiar story narration format, at once appealing to kids. It is led by Dr. Arati V.B., whose expertise in this field is well-known. The course is offered in English and Kannada. Hurry up and enroll your children in the programme! 🛕🛕🙏 For full details, click the link below. https://www.dharmadispatch.in/dispatches/krishna-katha-for-kids-new-course-announcement

A Peek into the Legal and Judicial Aspects of Guilds and Corporations in Ancient India -- This episode offers broad glimpses into the nature of the legal and judicial facets of guilds and corporations in ancient India.   Tradition, custom and usage of each guild or business community played the most decisive role in two major areas: 1. While adjudicating disputes. 2. When the Government allowed the starting or expansion of a new business or commercial project, while levying specific classes of taxes, etc. The primacy of guild-specific traditions, usages and customs throughout the commercial history of India has to be mandatorily grasped in order to derive a well-rounded and accurate understanding of the subject. Every charter, document, inscription and epigraph found in any Hindu historical period throughout Bharatavarsha concludes with a strict injunction on the maintenance of tradition. In fact, tradition is the only, the most effective vehicle for preserving continuity, stability and order. The literate but irredeemably ignorant “reformers” who tried to “create” a “new India” in 1947 tried to do so not only by bypassing but axing the very roots of tradition. -- Read the extraordinary story in full! 🛕✍️🔖🛕🕉 https://www.dharmadispatch.in/history/a-peek-into-the-legal-and-judicial-aspects-of-guilds-and-corporations-in-ancient-india

PHOTOESSAY: The Stealthy Encirclement of a Timeless Dharmic Civilisation -- A commentary on how a global nexus of anti-Hindu forces have encircled the ancient Sanatana civilisation and why it must be the last chance for Hindus. 🛕🕌💒✍️🔖 https://thedharmadispatch.substack.com/p/photoessay-the-stealthy-encirclement?sd=pf

The Daring Saga of the Kshatriya-śrēṇis Kshatriya-śrēṇis or armed guilds form an important part of the history of Hindu corporate and social life. Their vestiges have endured till this day. -- Guilds and corporations played a central role in executing what are today known as community projects, and they took this role seriously, and punctiliously left behind stellar track records inscribing their demonstrated spirit of public service.   Kshatriya śrēṇis or guilds which lived by the profession of arms played a significant and decisive role in Indian politics. The Chola Era reveals an outstanding scene of the power and prestige that these armed guilds enjoyed. The Vēlaikkāra community dominated the business and political life of the tenth and eleventh centuries. Two of its most powerful subgroups included the Vaḷaṅgai (Right Hand) Iḍaṅgai (Left Hand). Both Rajaraja Chola I and Rajendra Chola I named their army regiments after these two military guilds. -- The Third Episode of our series on business and corporate life in ancient India. ✍️🛕🔖   https://www.dharmadispatch.in/history/the-daring-saga-of-the-kshatriya-%C5%9Br%C4%93%E1%B9%87is

Have you heard the names of two Heroes named Rabindranath Vasisht and Devabrata Vasisht from Haryana? Or the brutality they suffered during the #Emergency? 🙏🙏😒📓 -- Makes for disturbing reading. https://www.dharmadispatch.in/commentary/the-unknown-media-heroes-named-rabindranath-vasisht-and-devabrata-vasisht-and-the-continued-downfall-of-rajdeep-sardesai

The Emergency as a Seedbed of Separatism -- The aftermath of Indira Gandhi's #Emergency birthed a frightening growth of separatist forces who acquired enormous political clout 📖📃👓 https://www.dharmadispatch.in/commentary/the-emergency-as-a-seedbed-of-separatism

The Extraordinary Universe of Artisan Guilds in Ancient India This episode introduces the magnificent world of artisan guilds in ancient India with details of their organisation, functioning and the laws and regulations governing them. — In fact, artisan guilds or corporations were also a powerful force to reckon with in both politics and society. An eminent proof of this fact emerges when we observe town planning methods in ancient and medieval India. Entire townships, villages, streets, and quarters were named after specific artisans. Even until recently, it was common to find streets with such names. In Karnataka, every city and town had a Ganigara-Keri (quarters of oil millers), Kumbarara-beedi (carpenters’ street) and so on. We once again notice how this even facet indicates the Hindu civilizational continuity viewed from the perspective of our commercial history. For example, in ancient India, the word Kammara-Gaamo meant a village of ironsmiths. The Kannada word Kammara even today means an ironsmith. An intriguing fact is that these guilds were also highly mobile and could move or migrate to long distances at astonishing speeds.  — Read the full story! ✍️✍️🔖🛕 https://www.dharmadispatch.in/history/the-extraordinary-universe-of-artisan-guilds-in-ancient-india

Please join me in exploring the Exciting World of Gāna, śrēṇi, pūga and Corporate Bodies in Ancient India. -- ONE OF THE MOST ENDURING and ubiquitous corporate organizations was something known as the Shreni. Shreni was a guild or commercial body in ancient India. A highly interesting facet of Shrenis is the fact that while its legal character was a guild or corporation, its members belonged to the same or different Varnas and Jatis. But all of them followed the same trade or industry. -- Episode 2 of our series on business & corporate life in ancient India. 🛕📓😊🛕 -- https://www.dharmadispatch.in/history/the-exciting-world-of-g%C4%81na-%C5%9Br%C4%93%E1%B9%87i-p%C5%ABga-and-corporate-bodies-in-ancient-india

Please join me in exploring the Exciting World of Gāna, śrēṇi, pūga and Corporate Bodies in Ancient India. -- ONE OF THE MOST ENDURING and ubiquitous corporate organizations was something known as the Shreni. Shreni was a guild or commercial body in ancient India. A highly interesting facet of Shrenis is the fact that while its legal character was a guild or corporation, its members belonged to the same or different Varnas and Jatis. But all of them followed the same trade or industry. Episode 2 of our series on business & corporate life in ancient India. 🛕📓😊🛕 -- https://t.co/VZdN8cgQS0

Day Three of my lecture series on Acharya Jadunath Sarkar delivered at Gokhale Institute of Public Affairs. https://youtu.be/mpRDXa6jsKY

As India faces Agnipath protest, it’s time to study how Left manipulates political system -- My column in Firstpost 🙏📖 https://www.firstpost.com/opinion/as-india-faces-agnipath-protest-its-time-to-study-how-left-manipulates-political-system-10817151.html

Corporate and Business Life in Ancient India: A Brief Journey -- This is the first episode of a series tracing the history of corporate and business life in ancient India. As the title of this piece indicates, it is a brief journey into the exciting, enriching and sprawling world of business and corporate life in ancient India. The subject is as vast as Bharatavarsha itself and is spread over several millennia beginning with the Vedic Era. In my limited explorations, it clearly has enough research potential to produce at least ten full volumes, and if that feat is accomplished, it will be nothing short of national service. -- Do read the full story 😊🛕📓 https://www.dharmadispatch.in/history/corporate-and-business-life-in-ancient-india-a-brief-journey

Day Two of my lecture series on Acharya Jadunath Sarkar delivered at Gokhale Institute of Public Affairs. https://youtu.be/J02qtpNXqZc

The Wonderful World of Vipravinodins: The Forgotten Brahmanas of Vijayanagara -- Vipravinodins were Brahmanas in the Vijayanagara Era whose profession was jugglery. This essay attempts to trace their chequered & tragic history using inscriptional evidence. 🛕🕉🪙🛕 https://t.co/dt0a1wFiRU