पश्यन्ति paśyantī

Aliveni  - the lady with long black tresses Sometime in the 90s, I bought a set of CDs titled Gems of Carnatic. While I was familiar with several of them, there were many I had never heard before. Of them, one particular song composed by Swati Thirunal and sung by K V Narayanaswamy was my favorite - Aliveni . I would play it all the time. Since then, I have heard many renditions and liked some and did not like many. To me the sahityam , where u break the words, where u add emphasis, and how you use raga and gamakams to convey the bhava is critical. For example many sing the famous Tygaraja's composition Bantureeti by breaking it at the worn place (bantureeti kolu -- viyavayya rama has no meaning, instead people who understand the sahityam will always sing bantureeti koluvu - iyavayya rama). Even after understanding the sahityam, the deeper essence must be embodied in the singer otherwise the rasa will not be created. That can only be achieved by years of rehearsing to get your not...

The cosmology lessons that Rama learned from Sage Vasishtha परमाणाविदं भाति त्रिजगत्सवनाभ्रखम् । देशकालक्रियाद्रव्यदिनरात्रिक्रमान्वितम् ॥ १२ ॥ paramāṇāvidaṃ bhāti trijagatsavanābhrakham  | deśakālakriyādravyadinarātrikramānvitam  || 12 || But the world is said to be composed of atoms, which compose the land and woods, the clouds and the firmament. But there are no atoms to form time and space, actions and motions and revolutions of days and nights.    परमाणुः प्रविततस्तस्यास्ते तादृगेव च । भाति भासुरताकारि तादृग्गिरिकुलं पुनः ॥ १३ ॥ paramāṇuḥ pravitatastasyāste tādṛgeva ca   | bhāti bhāsuratākāri tādṛggirikulaṃ punaḥ   || 13 || Again the atoms (of matter) which fill the world, have other incipient atoms (of spirit), which are inherent in them, and cause them to take and appear in the forms of mountains and the like.   तत्रापि तादृगाकारमेव प्रत्यनुसंततम् । दृश्यमाभाति भारूपमेतदङ्ग न वास्तवम् ॥ १४ ॥ tatrāpi tādṛgākārameva pratyanusaṃtatam   | dṛśya...

My thoughts on: INTRODUCTION TO VEDAS A Course by Bhadarkar Oriental Research Institute September 14, 2020 I just had the opportunity of completing the final lecture on Rigveda by Dr. Ganesh Thite. He provides a broad introduction, scope, and a very scholarly overview of the history of the study of the Vedas. Dr. Thite spends considerable time discussing various translations and commentaries done by Europeans (orientalists) and their views. He also mentions Sayana’s bhasya on Rigveda very briefly. As a student of Sanskrit (and of Telugu mother tongue who is fluent in Hindi and Marathi), I particularly found his explanation of the differences in classical Sanskrit and vedic Sanskrit very interesting. I know now why the bahuvachanam of Deva can be DevAh or DevAsah .  Dr. Thite explains the overall structure of the 10 mandalas of the Rigveda. He provides a brief overview of mandalas 2-8 which are Rishi-based,  expounds a bit on the Deity-based 9th mandala where are the hymn...