The Dharma Dispatch

*The Profound Value System of Kuvara-Lakshma and his Heroic Unit of Garudas* The Garudas were a select unit of bodyguards who safeguarded Hoysala kings. Kuvara-Lakshma was the head of one such unit comprising 1000 bodyguards. When his master Vira Ballala died, Lakshma and his unit gave up their lives in his honour. https://www.dharmadispatch.in/history/the-profound-value-system-of-kuvara-lakshma-and-his-heroic-unit-of-garudas

A moving review of my book Stories from Inscriptions: -- "First, my repeated namaskaras to the author for stringing together such a garland of gems from the unknown pages of Bharatavarsha's glorious history. I especially had tears of joy when I read the stories of Govindaraja and also of the Hoysala King who made a munificent grant to the Kashi Vishwanatha temple in troubled times" -- If you haven't already bought it, please click the link below to purchase. 🛕🕉🪔 https://www.amazon.in/dp/B0BLVQK7Y5/ref=cm_cr_dp_d_vote_lft?ie=UTF8&csrfT=hC6K6Xg8jiJK7GnUXA%2Fl8gkPgJ8D5YKmr11tf8%2BQpJatAAAAAGWc7s4AAAAB&reviewId=R3GW9I90NXD8AL#R3GW9I90NXD8AL

The Unknown Hoysala Hero Kuvara-Lakshma’s Ultimate Sacrifice   This essay series narrates an ennobling story from a Hoysala inscription dated 1220 CE. First discovered in 1900-01, it narrates the extraordinary tale of Kuvara-Lakshma, a minister, general and close confidant of the Hoysala monarch, Vira Ballala II.   The inscription is engraved at the bottom of a pillar in the western enclosure of the Hoysaleshvara temple complex in Halebidu.   Kuvara-Lakshma was the commander who stood rock-solid with his master till the very end — in war and peace. The aforementioned inscription, technically called the Garuda Pillar Inscription describes Kuvara-Lakshma in both laudatory and moving terms. -- Read the whole story! 🙏🛕🕉🪔 https://www.dharmadispatch.in/history/the-unknown-hoysala-hero-kuvara-lakshmas-ultimate-sacrifice

Does a Politician Need Literature?   This is an English translation of D.V. Gundappa's 1950 essay in Kannada titled, "Does a Politician Need Literature?" It has much valuable advice both for aspiring and serving politicians.   The study of literature is thus a prequalification for political life. Literature is the summit of dignity amid the din of everyday, street-level political sloganeering which often clouds judgement and blurs the line separating right from wrong.   Public service without the aid of literature is akin to a dumb person serving a feast in a dark room. -- Do read the full profound essay! 📑🙏🕉🛕🪔 https://www.dharmadispatch.in/culture/does-a-politician-need-literature

The Unknown Order of Arjun Singh that Prevented the Excavations at Ayodhya: Here's the Full Story   In 1992, Arjun Singh, the Human Resources Minister, ordered the Archaeological Survey of India to halt the excavations at the site of the disputed structure in Ayodhya in order to appease the Muslim vote bank. This is a story that has received little attention.   Uncover the dark secrets and historical significance behind this controversial decision! 📑😡🛕🕉🪔 --- https://www.dharmadispatch.in/culture/how-arjun-singh-blocked-the-ram-temple-excavation-the-full-story

The Best of Dharma Dispatch: 2023   A curated list of the most read articles published on The Dharma Dispatch for 2023 ranked by the volume of traffic. --- AT THE OUTSET, The Dharma Dispatch wishes all its readers a happy, healthy and prosperous 2024. In September 2023, we celebrated the fifth anniversary of launching our sacred initiative dedicated to serving the Sanatana cause.   These five years have been an eventful journey involving much learning, insights, and the sheer joy of digging into and offering rare stories and other content from the inexhaustible treasure-trove of the Sanatana annals.   The response from you, our readership, has only grown by leaps and bounds. We continue to receive much affection and unstinted support from all corners of the global Hindu community and from all strata of society. So, once again, a heartfelt note of gratitude to everyone who have been a part of our journey.  --- Happy reading! 🙏🕉🛕📑🪔 https://www.dharmadispatch.in/dispatches/the-best-of-dharma-dispatch-2023

The North - South Rhetoric is a War against Hindu Dharma in Disguise   In 2016 in a pamphlet titled United States of South India was published by News Minute. It revived the old Dravidian template of a North and South India divide. Its key themes are now being peddled as talking points on TV debates.   When we peel off the layers, at the core, we find that it is nothing but a variant of the familiar anti-Hindu narrative. -- Read the full essay! https://www.dharmadispatch.in/commentary/the-north-south-rhetoric-is-a-war-against-hindu-dharma-in-disguise

The Worst Nightmare of the Congress Party is the Building of the Ram Mandir at Ayodhya. I wrote this in 2019. And now, look at loony behaviour of the Congress and its ragtag INDI partners. 😂😂🕉️🕉️🕉️🚩🚩🚩 https://www.dharmadispatch.in/commentary/the-worst-nightmare-of-the-congress-party-is-the-building-of-the-ram-mandir-at-ayodhya

Banana: How the Food of our Devatas became an Inseparable Part of the Sanatana Social Life   The banana is such an inseparable part of the cultural and social life of Bharatavarsha that we have taken it for granted and do not pause to inquire into its hoary history and imprint in our daily life.   An example is given below.   Just our Devatas, even ghosts were fond of bananas. The annals of our profuse folklore all the way up to the delightful Chandamama comics authoritatively declare the fondness of ghosts for milk, sweets and plantains. Ghosts can be invoked or made to leave after satiating them with this feast. If a ghost is feeling particularly greedy, it possesses a man or woman and departs only after a gluttonous bout.  A real-life episode illustrating this ghostly propensity occurred sometime in the late 19th century in Kolhapur. -- Read the concluding episode of this series! 🙏📑🕉🛕🪔🍌 https://www.dharmadispatch.in/culture/banana-how-the-food-of-our-devatas-became-an-inseparable-part-of-the-sanatana-social-life

Dear friends: I'm happy to announce the publication of my debut novel in Kannada titled *Dootavakya*. For more information, see the announcement below, by my publisher. Seeking your wishes and blessings. Thanks! 👇🏼👇🏼👇🏼 👇🏼 ಶತಶತಮಾನಗಳಿಂದ ಅಡವಿಯ ಹೊಕ್ಕುಳಲ್ಲಿ ತನ್ನ ಪಾಡಿಗೆ ಇದ್ದಂತಹ ಅಜ್ಞಾತವಾದ ಒಂದು ಪುಟ್ಟ ಸಂಸ್ಥಾನವನ್ನು ವಿನಾಕಾರಣ ಮುಘಲ್ ಸಾಮ್ರಾಜ್ಯವು ಕೆಣಕುತ್ತದೆ. ಆ ಸಂಸ್ಥಾನದ ಅಸ್ತಿತ್ವಕ್ಕೇ ಕಂಟಕ ಒದಗುತ್ತದೆ. ಈ ಕೇಂದ್ರಬಿಂದುವಿನ ಸುತ್ತ ಹೆಣೆದುಕೊಂಡಿರುವ "ದೂತವಾಕ್ಯ", ೧೭ನೇ ಶತಮಾನದ ಒಂದು ಕೀಲಕಘಟ್ಟದಲ್ಲಿ ನಡೆಯುವ ಕಾದಂಬರಿ. ಅನೇಕ ರೋಚಕ ಘಟನೆಗಳನ್ನೊಳಗೊಂಡ ಈ ಕೃತಿಯು ಆ ಕಾಲದ ಭಾರತದ ರಾಜಕೀಯ ಪರಿಸ್ಥಿತಿ, ಸಮಾಜದ ಚಿತ್ರಣ, ಜನಜೀವನ, ಸಂಚು - ಒಳಸಂಚುಗಳು, ಮುಘಲ್ ಅಂತಃಪುರದ ಒಳಗುಟ್ಟುಗಳು ಹಾಗು ಇನ್ನೂ ಅನೇಕ ವಿವರಗಳಿಂದ ಪರಿಪ್ಲುತವಾಗಿದೆ. ಈ ಎಲ್ಲದರ ನೇಪಥ್ಯದಲ್ಲಿ ನಡೆಯುವ ಕಥಾನಕವು ಮಾನವಸ್ವಭಾವ ಹಾಗು ಧಾರ್ಮಿಕ ಮೌಲ್ಯಗಳ ಹಲವು ಪಾರ್ಶ್ವಗಳನ್ನು ಸ್ಪರ್ಶಿಸುತ್ತದೆ. ಈ ಕಾದಂಬರಿಯ ಮುಖ್ಯವಸ್ತುವಿಗೆ ಅಂಟಿಕೊಂಡಿರುವ ಇತಿಹಾಸದ ಕೆಲವು ಸೂಕ್ಷ್ಮ ಅಂಶಗಳು ಕನ್ನಡದಲ್ಲಿ ಬಂದಿರುವಂತಹ ಐತಿಹಾಸಿಕ ಕಾದಂಬರಿಯ ಪರಂಪರೆಗೆ ವಿನೂತನವೆನ್ನಬಹುದು. ಇತಿಹಾಸ ತಜ್ಞರೂ ಇಂಗ್ಲಿಷ್ ಲೇಖಕರೂ ಆಗಿ ಹೆಸರಾಗಿರುವ ಗಂಭೀರ ಚಿಂತಕ ಶ್ರೀ ಸಂದೀಪ್ ಬಾಲಕೃಷ್ಣ ಅವರ ಮೊದಲ ಕನ್ನಡ ಕಾದಂಬರಿಯಿದು! ಅದೂ ಹೃದ್ಯ ಮತ್ತು ಆ ಕಾಲಮಾನಕ್ಕೆ ಸೂಕ್ತವೆನಿಸುವಂತಹ ಸೊಗಸಾದ ಕನ್ನಡದಲ್ಲಿ!! ಓದಿ ಸವಿಯಿರಿ! https://sahityaprakashan.com/product/doota/ ಅಥವಾ 9448110034 ನಂಬರಿಗೆ 340/- ರೂ ( 2 ಪ್ರತಿಗಳಿಗೆ) ಫೋನ್ ಪೇ / ಗೂಗಲ್ ಪೇ ಮಾಡಿ, ವಿಳಾಸ ವಾಟ್ಸಾಪ್ ಮಾಡಿದರೂ ಸಾಕು! 10 ಪ್ರತಿಗಳಿಗೆ 1700/- ರೂ ಕಳಿಸಿದರೆ ಸಾಕು!! https://sahityaprakashan.com/product/doota-10-copies/ ನಮ್ಮ ವೆಬ್ ಸ್ಟೋರಿನಲ್ಲಿ ಈಗಲೇ ಬುಕ್ ಮಾಡಿ, ಹೊಸವರ್ಷದ ಮೊದಲ ಓದಿಗಾಗಿ ಇಂಥದೊಂದು ಅಮೋಘ ಕೃತಿ ತಮ್ಮ ಕೈಯಲ್ಲಿ!!

A Few Basic Guides for Decolonising the Hindu Psyche   India’s experience with alien invasions and regimes dates back to nearly a millennium. The story of the all-round oppression of Hindus by these regimes is as prolonged and painful as it is well-known. Yet, throughout that period, not one alien philosophy or religion has managed to influence our philosophical core even one bit.  The Hindu society still hasn’t perhaps realized that this is the unmatched strength that it has at its disposal and that it needs to rediscover it.     Decolonisation cannot be taught through books or in classrooms. Those are crutches at best. Decolonisation is a civilizational endeavour in which the entire Hindu society should consciously participate.  -- Read the concluding essay of this series! 📑🕉🛕🪔 https://www.dharmadispatch.in/commentary/a-few-basic-guides-for-decolonising-the-hindu-psyche

The Hindu System of Philosophical Inquiry Contrasted with the Western Intellectual Milieu --- There is a fundamental difference between the Western and the Indian intellectual tradition. The Western intellectual tradition, which developed as a consequence of a revolt against Church hegemony, completely rejected the Christian God and replaced him with materialism. This opposition to God does not exist in the Santana tradition because we had harmonized the material with the spiritual and we elevated the spiritual to the philosophical. Thus, each had their well-defined places. From the very ancient times, Bharatavarsha has always had a tradition of emperors and kings who renounced everything and became Sanyasins and Brahmajnanis. However, in the entire history of the West (including its pre-Christian past), we don’t find a single king like Janaka or Vishvamitra or Dhanga. Rishis are a far cry. And so, when we talk about intellectual discourse, decolonization, etc., we need to begin here, at the fundamentals. 🕉🛕🪔📑 -- Read the whole piece and share it widely. https://www.dharmadispatch.in/commentary/the-hindu-system-of-philosophical-inquiry-contrasted-with-the-western-intellectual-milieu

Those Hindus who were really benefited by Western contact were never unwise enough to denounce their own cultural achievements and contributions.🔖🕉🛕🪔 https://thedharmadispatch.substack.com/p/the-training-character-and-legacy

The Deracinated Nehruvian Power Elite Derails the New Indian Renaissance   In 1947, a deracinated power elite seized the Government and wrecked our social harmony by uprooting a moral and ethical order, which was based on the code of Dharma.    Roughly since the 1960s, our courts became flooded with disputes, which for centuries, had been resolved by a single angry glare from an elder in a village or community.   Even a superficial reading of the Privy Council judgements reveals the caution that the British took in sticking to these age-old customs and usages prescribed by our Dharmasastras.   “Independent” India has thoroughly abandoned even the notion of Dharma in areas which even the colonial British were scared to touch. This perversion was not only allowed but actively encouraged by the aforementioned power elite. -- Do read the full essay and share it widely! 📑🕉🪔🛕 https://www.dharmadispatch.in/commentary/the-deracinated-nehruvian-power-elite-derails-the-new-indian-renaissance

The Training, Character and Bequest of the Stalwarts of the New Indian Renaissance ---- THE SUNNY TRAIT COMMON TO all the luminaries of the New Indian Renaissance is this: they were polymaths in the widest sense. They had a solid training and grasp of the Bharatiya tradition and had also mastered the Western intellectual and philosophical milieu dating way back to ancient Greece, Rome and all the way up to say, Huxley. This command enabled them to confidently hold the fort in any argument or debate with Western scholars. To illustrate their mastery, majesty and sweep of knowledge, we have selected five glorious names: P.V. Kane, S. Srikanta Sastri, M. Hiriyanna and D.V. Gundappa. For example, here is how Hiriyanna defines Vedanta: Vedanta is the art of right living more than a system of philosophy. No British or European scholar who studied Hindu philosophy and was Hiriyanna’s contemporary, was able to supply this definition of Vedanta in his own mother tongue. --- Do read the whole essay! 📑🕉🛕🪔 https://www.dharmadispatch.in/commentary/the-training-character-and-bequest-of-the-stalwarts-of-the-new-indian-renaissance/

The New Indian Renaissance as a Guide to Decolonisation   A little-studied period of recent Indian history is the Golden Age of the New Indian Renaissance spanning the mid 19th to the mid 20th century. The jaw-dropping contribution of this period to Hindu decolonisation is a sure shot guide for our own time. --- As Indians began traveling to Europe in greater numbers, they got a first-hand experience of that society and its conditions. They were able to produce fine, comparative analyses with the Indian condition. One major finding was that the so-called “modern,” “scientific,” “rational,” and “progressive” British society was after all, none of these on the ground. The 19th and early 20th century British society was a deeply status-conscious society and London for example, was notorious for rampant teenage prostitution. But back in India, the same British had already compiled voluminous treatises about the inherent evils of the “caste system,” which they declared was the primary reason for the Hindu society’s backwardness. -- Episode four of our series on decolonisation. Read the full piece! 📑🕉🛕🪔 https://www.dharmadispatch.in/commentary/the-new-indian-renaissance-as-a-guide-to-decolonisation

Kalyan Singh is perhaps the only mainstream BJP leader, who truly emulated Sri Ramachandra and gladly gave up his Chief Minister’s throne in service of Sri Ramachandra. -- My old tribute to him on the Dec 6 anniversary 🙏🕉️🚩 https://www.dharmadispatch.in/commentary/kalyan-singh-a-civilisational-hero-for-all-seasons-and-reasons

The Lost Access to the Hindu Societal Past   THE CLEAREST DIFFERENTIATOR that marks an India before the advent of the British is found in the realm of social engineering. For the preceding six hundred years, successive alien Muslim regimes had not mucked around with the traditional and social institutions of Hindus.   By mid 19th century, the British initiated a generational project of social engineering. Among its chief outcomes was introducing a new education system, an alien legal framework, and dismantling traditional Hindu institutions and replacing them with British models. For example, the university system and the elaborate court hierarchies that we’re all familiar with now did not exist before the British disruption of India.   Until the British began vandalizing our social institutions, a king, a chieftain or a rich Zamindar would only tell a poor man, “you can’t build a bigger house than mine.” He never said, “you can’t eat more than me.” -- Episode 3 of our decolonisation series. Do read and share. 📑🙏🕉🛕🪔 https://www.dharmadispatch.in/commentary/the-lost-access-to-the-hindu-societal-past