The Dharma Dispatch

The Tears of the Poralavoor Adithiri and Rama Varma’s Victory Against Tipu Sultan   PORALAVOOR ADITHIRI WAS THE NAME of the aged Vaidika that the boy Karthika Thirunal Rama Varma spotted on the ghats of the Kalyani. In his time, Poralavoor Adithiri was a legendary Sōmayāji and a Dviyāji.    When Rama Varma was thirty, Tipu Sultan the tyrant of Mysore, invaded Travancore and met with his first humiliation there. In a battle fought across the flooding river of Aluva, his superior force was severely battered by Rama Varma’s nimble but ferocious army. The damage was so extensive that Tipu himself fell into a ditch twice and had to be carried away by his soldiers to safety. That fall broke his leg and subjected him to painful bouts of lameness for the rest of his life.   Recalling this victorious battle later in his life, Rama Varma said, “Now I truly feel the blessed tears that the venerable Adithiri had shed over my head.”  -- Why did the Adithiri shed tears on Rama Varma's head? Read the full essay to know the answer! 🛕🕉🪔   https://www.dharmadispatch.in/history/the-tears-of-the-poralavoor-adithiri-and-rama-varmas-victory-against-tipu-sultan

Dharma Raja Karthika Tirunal Rama Varma’s Gift   The first episode narrating a profound incident that occurred in the childhood days of Travancore king Karthika Tirunal Rama Varma -------   The Travancore Samsthānam rose to glory first under the legendary Martanda Varma (1729-58) who battered the Dutch East India Company and built a modest empire from scratch.   Martanda Varma’s befitting successor was his nephew, “Dharma Raja” Karthika Thirunal Rama Varma. Rama Varma earned the epithet “Dharma Raja” on the merit of his steadfast adherence to our Dharmasastras.   The greatest service that he performed for the Sanatana community was giving refuge to thousands of Hindus and Christians fleeing Malabar during Hyder Ali and Tipu Sultan’s savage Jihadist incursions.    When Karthika Thirunal Rama Varma was just nine years old, he had a profound experience that would transform his whole life. -- Read the whole story! 📑🙏🕉🛕🪔   https://www.dharmadispatch.in/history/dharma-raja-karthika-tirunal-rama-varmas-gift

As always, it was lovely speaking with Abhijit on a range of historical topics including the long term impact of colonization on the Hindu psyche. https://youtu.be/D-inm5QXSoU?si=Nv0jDlaWyEfgyhcA

The Secularist History-Sheet on Ayodhya   A lowdown on the sordid history of the cultural vandals who tried to block the construction of the Sri Rama Mandir and why we need to keep this memory alive ----   When Narendra Modi tweeted that "in my lifetime, I will witness this historic occasion, he voiced the sentiment of millions of Hindus throughout the world. What he left unvoiced was his own significant role in the long train of momentous events that will fructify on January 22, 2024 when the grand Sri Rama Mandir will be consecrated in Ayodhya.    What made thousands of ordinary Hindus depart from their faraway homes to travel to Ayodhya with just a brick in their hands and unshakeable piety for Sri Rama in their hearts?   What made them suffer the gruelling plight of filthy train travel in the chaotic '90s and brave the bullets of police forces let loose by insensitive governments manned by people with Hindu names?   What made them die by the hundreds when Mulayam Singh Yadav hunted them down like street dogs?   What fuelled their spirit and kept the light of their fight aflame in the face of multiple hostile governments supported by a global cabal that has explicitly declared its intent to dismantle Hindu Dharma?   What made them persist, despite knowing that they might never witness the dawn of success in their own lifetime?    It was Sri Rama... but it also transcended Sri Rama... it was their stainless faith in a spiritual civilisation that created Sri Rama.  -- Read the powerful essay in full! 📑🙏🕉🪔🛕   https://www.dharmadispatch.in/commentary/the-secularist-history-sheet-on-ayodhya

If you were a Politburo member, you got to own a private beach. Sordid details from communist history. https://youtube.com/shorts/lJAuBguFgks?si=qFM4kuKVbjpSzE_J

Anecdotes from Sri Visvesvarayya's Life   Fortunately for us, there are literally hundreds of anecdotes about Sri Visvesvarayya. They are quirky, astounding, inspirational and ennobling.   Sir M.V. declared Obbattu as India’s national delicacy and suggested the best method to eat it. Only the softest core of obbattu – which was also its sweetest – was to be eaten, its hard edges discarded.   Over the last 75 years, there have been scores of Bharat Ratnas, but by any yardstick, Sir M.V. epitomises the title. This is what Visvesvarayya told Nehru who offered the award to him: “I will accept this award on the condition that it will not restrict my freedom to voice unpopular views.” -- Read the full piece! 📑🙏🕉🛕🪔   https://www.dharmadispatch.in/culture/anecdotes-from-sri-visvesvarayyas-life

Ennobling Facets from Sir M. Visvesvarayya's Life and Legacy   This is the first episode of a series showcasing various ennobling and inspiring facets from Bharataratna Sir M. Visvesvarayya's life and legacy. ---   It is amazing how Sir M. Visvesvarayya is omnipresent in the Indian national life. Till date, his photograph adorns every home in the Mysore – Mandya region right next to the photos of our Gods.    Sir M. Visvesarayya was one of the world’s greatest engineers of his era who also became an accidental statesman… anything he touched, he turned into gold… it was gold that he created for the use of others… he kept little for his personal use. He was an extraordinary wealth-creator who lived like a monk. -- Read this hugely inspirational essay in full! 📑🕉🛕🪔   https://www.dharmadispatch.in/history/ennobling-facets-from-sir-m-visvesvarayyas-life-and-legacy

From the West's War against Breastfeeding to Puberty Blockers   From the 1950s onwards, Corporate America declared a war against breastfeeding. It instilled fear about breastfeeding in the minds of young American mothers. Breastfeeding would “destroy their beauty and figure,” and that it was “a little disgusting.”   The fear-mongering worked like magic as we shall see.  It also has an Indian side. The Western war against breastfeeding arrived here roughly in the 1980s. It continues to wrest a powerful psychological servitude most notably from the dry-cleaned brains of Bollywood bimbettes who had the misfortune of becoming mothers. But the carnage is not confined only to these fashionable classes. Over time, it has ensnared the psyches of middle class urban Hindu girls and women as well. The consequence has been the whirlwind erosion of a timeless civilisational value known as Creation — in the sense of giving life.  --- Read the whole piece! 📑🕉🛕🪔 https://www.dharmadispatch.in/culture/from-the-wests-war-against-breastfeeding-to-puberty-blockers

[VIDEO] How Maharaja Ranjit Singh Shattered Afghan Power in Multan https://youtube.com/shorts/0BQxEYhHE9k?si=OLjCfw_IRFNz5opJ

[SUNDAY READING] Read this inspiring and thrilling saga of how the fearless history scholar and Marxist critic, Sita Ram Goel challenged Romila Thapar and her gang to prove their wild assertions about medieval Indian History. -- An excellent read! 📑🕉🛕💪🪔 https://www.dharmadispatch.in/commentary/why-sita-ram-goels-challenge-became-a-nightmare-for-marxist-historians

Puranas and Woke: From Sanctifying the Mundane to Perverting Sanctity   ON ANOTHER LEVEL, the Manu-Nauka story beautifully reflects a fundamental tenet of the Sanatana ethos — that all creative endeavours are futile unless they culminate in infusing life. In other words, creative work attains fruition in actual creation and not abortion.    We observe and experience how this principle operates in our sculptures, classical performing arts and literature.  A partially completed Murti is not fit for consecration notwithstanding its beauty.  Raw rice becomes Akshata by the simple addition of haridra (turmeric powder) or kumkuma (vermillion).   Food becomes Naivedya the moment it is offered to our Devatas and then it becomes Prasadam after the Devatas eat it.   Unless the raw, instinct-driven act of copulation culminates in creating new life, it devours itself and the person through bestiality.    Kama (sexual desire) should be elevated to Shringara (beauty) and both should culminate in Srshti (creation). When the whole process is regarded as Srishti Yajna it becomes sanctified.    WHEN YOU BURGLE A CULTURE of all such symbols and metaphors, you regress towards multiple forms of societal lunacy.    Today, it is known as the Woke phenomenon.   “Woke” is what you get through the deliberate desiccation of culture.  -- Read the full essay! 📑🕉🛕🪔 https://www.dharmadispatch.in/culture/puranas-and-woke-from-sanctifying-the-mundane-to-perverting-sanctity

[COURSE ANNOUNCEMENT] The fine folks at Vibhu Academy are launching a new online course titled Sanatana Dharma - A Comprehensive Study. -- Registrations are now open. Hurry Up! For full details, click the link below. 🕉🛕🪔 https://www.dharmadispatch.in/dispatches/course-announcement-sanatana-dharma-a-comprehensive-study

The Manu-Nauka Story and the Woke Gender-Benders: An Analysis   The first episode of a series featuring a comparative analysis of the immortal Manu-Nauka story and the guidance it offers for the contemporary era mired in mindless Wokeism. -- The central theme of Creation in the Manu-Nauka story is set in the backdrop of Pralaya (the Great Deluge), in itself a profound circumstance.   THE REASON MANU CHAKRAVARTI IS CHOSEN by the Maha-Matsya to protect all species in the world is ennobling.   Manu had renounced his kingdom and was engaged in a severe penance for ten lakh years. He was endowed with valour and universal compassion, and regarded pleasure and pain with equanimity. And when a pleased Brahma appeared before him and told him that he would grant him a boon, Manu said, “give me the strength to protect all the species. That is the only boon I seek.”   Manu was a true Rajarshi (Sagely King).     Casting Manu as the primordial Kshatriya who safeguarded all species also reveals the brilliant vision of our Puranas. The primary duty of a Kshatriya is protection and preservation, and here was a reclusive king who sought strength from Brahma himself so he could protect all of Creation. Compassion was the fount that motivated him to undertake this Cosmic endeavour.     The singular element that is conspicuously absent in our political democracies throughout the world is… compassion. -- Read the full piece! 📑🕉🙏🛕🪔 https://www.dharmadispatch.in/culture/the-manu-nauka-story-and-the-woke-gender-benders-an-analysis

What the DVG Letter Episode Teaches us about the Downfall of Indian Public Life --   WHAT STRIKES US about DVG's letters to B.D. Jatti and G.B. Pant is how vastly India has changed in just seven decades.   He operated on a simple but time-honoured principle: it is distinguished men and women who either elevate or sully politics. No bureaucratic rulebooks or state protocols can create eminent men nor confer eminence upon them.     In the final reckoning, it’s a question of too little, too late. By 1959, the Congress had already unchained far too many deadly forces and unleashed dangerous precedents.   As a historical record, DVG’s letter is a valuable primary source. As a guide for future political reform, it is equally valuable.  The cynic will ridicule his letter.  The coward will take fake solace in quoting philosophical verses. -- Read the concluding part of this series 📑🙏🛕🪔 https://www.dharmadispatch.in/commentary/what-the-dvg-letter-episode-teaches-us-about-the-downfall-of-indian-public-life

DVG's Portrait of the Servility of State Congress Ministers to the High Command   DVG was furious at B.D. Jatti’s servility towards the dictatorial Congress High Command and had chosen to insult Mirza’s memory. And so, even as he sent this missive to Jatti, DVG simultaneously dispatched a letter to the then Home Minister  on the same day: 12 January, 1959. THE REAL STORY BEGINS after DVG’s letter reached the Home Ministry. To its credit, the Joint Secretary Fateh Singh replied to DVG’s letter on February 4, 1959 affirming that “suitable action had been taken thereon.”  But what had transpired between the Home Ministry and Chief Minister Jatti from January 12 to February 4 reveals interesting insights into the India of that era.  -- Read the second episode of this series in full! 📑🙏🛕🪔 https://www.dharmadispatch.in/commentary/dvgs-portrait-of-the-servility-of-state-congress-ministers-to-the-high-command

Lessons from D.V. Gundappa’s 1959 Letter to B.D. Jatti and Sardar Patel   In January 1959, DVG wrote two acerbic letters to the then Mysore Chief Minister B.D. Jatti and sent its copies to the Home Minister, Sardar Patel. It triggered a chain of bureaucratic correspondence between Delhi and Bangalore. The episode offers brilliant and eye-opening insights into recent history.   DVG had raised a simple question which birthed an entire file — twenty-two pages thick — replete with notings and rules-quoting, and evidence of precedence and references and appendixes and back-and-forths between ministers and secretaries and joint secretaries.   It all began with the death of the former Diwan of the Mysore Princely State, Mirza Ismail on 5 January, 1959.  -- Read the full piece that reveals the suspense! 📑💪🛕🕉🪔 https://www.dharmadispatch.in/commentary/lessons-from-dv-gundappas-1959-letter-to-bd-jatti-and-sardar-patel