पश्यन्ति paśyantī

There is often a debate about the pronunciation of words like योग, राम, राग, धर्म, अर्थ, काम, etc. Some even blame it on the “north-south” divide and some Hindustani singers claim that there is no such thing as Ra-Gaa and that is just Raag. As most people know, these terms are in Sanskrit which is the basis of most of the Indic languages and their dharmic underpinnings.  Hindi had too many influences over the centuries. In many parts of the north, only urdu script was allowed until not too long ago. For much of the rest of India, the Urdu-ized Hindi was popularized by  writers of the Hindi movie industry. Over the course of these influences, the use of halants, nasals disappeared (  गङ्गा  has become  गंगा ) and also resulted in the “schwa deletion” ( राम  became  राम्   and started to rhyme with रहीम् ). While this is fine for every day use, it makes more sense to use Sanskrit pronunciation for dharmic terms, Indic literature and the arts. U...

Hindus celebrate Makara Sankranti as Uttarayana.  Sankranti means going from one place to another. When the sun goes from one constellation to another, its called Sankranti. When it leaves Dhanu (Sagittarius) and enters Makara (Capricorn), its called Makara Sankranti .  Source: https://spaceplace.nasa.gov/constellations/en/ Uttarayana  (movement of the sun to the North) is when the Sun (as seen from the northern hemisphere) has reached the lowest point on the southern skies. This day is the shortest day of the winter, and the sun begins its "northward journey". In modern parlance, it is the winter solstice. However, we know that winter solstice occurs on December 22. This is a scientific fact and is observable by anyone who cares to observe the path of the Sun. Why then, do Hindus celebrate Uttarayana in the middle of January? This is because it is mentioned in ancient treatises such as the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam ŚB 5.21.3 यन्मध्यगतो भगवांस्तपतपतिस्तपन आतपेन त्रिलोकीं प्र...