Anecdotal Evidence

  The devil can cite Scripture for his purpose  (The Bard, The Merchant of Venice) Context In the Drona Parva,  Bhūriśravas is engaged in a battle with Sātyaki. He renders Sātyaki unconscious and almost beheads him. Arjuna - urged by Krishna - intervenes to dismember Bhūriśravas's arm, leading to one of those excellent exchanges about the fuzziness of morality in the battlefield, that Mahabharatham is replete with. The enervated Bhūriśravas sheds his arms and begins to fast to death on the battlefriend.  But Satyaki regains consciousness and beheads him. The entire Kaurava army rails at him for his un-Kshatriya-like action. And Satyaki defends his actions elaborately. As a final point when making his case he says: M.N.Dutt translates the verses thus: Kisari Mohan Ganguly, who translated the Mahabharatham chapter by chapter says thus: In days of yore, Valmiki sang this verse on earth, viz., 'Thou sayest, O ape, that women should not be slain. In all ages, howeve...

  சிலப்பதிகாரம், வஞ்சிக் காண்டம், வாழ்த்துக் காதையில் மலையரையன் பெற்ற மடப் பாவை-தன்னை நில அரசர் நீள் முடிமேல் ஏற்றினான் வாழியரோ என்று வஞ்சி நகரத்துப் பெண்டிர் பாடி வாழ்த்துகின்றனர் கண்ணகிக்கு சிலை வடிக்க, வடக்கே சென்று கல் எடுத்து, அக்கல்லை கனக-விசயரின் தலையில் வைத்துக் கொணர்ந்த, தங்கள் மன்னனான சேரன் செங்குட்டுவனை இவ்வாறு வாழ்த்துகின்றனர். இதில் 'மலையரையன் பெற்ற மடப்பாவை' என்ற சொற்றொடர் என்னை ஈர்த்தது. சிலம்புக்கு சிறப்பான உரை எழுதிய ந.மு.வேங்கடசாமி நாட்டார் அதை இவ்வாறு விளக்குகிறார். மலையரையன் பெற்ற மடப்பாவை தன்னை  நிலவரசர் நீண்முடி மேல் ஏற்றினான் வாழியரோ - மலையரனாகிய இமவான் பெற்ற இளமை பொருந்திய பாவையை நிலமாளும் மன்னரது நெடிய முடியின்கண் சுமத்தினோன் நீடு வாழ்க.  இமயமலைக் கற்கொணர்ந்து படிவஞ் செய்தமையான், ''மலை யரையன் பெற்ற மடப்பாவை'' என்றார்.  என்று விளக்குகிறார். இவ்விளக்கம் எனக்கு நிறைவளிக்கவில்லை. வடக்கே இமய மலையினின்று கல் எடுத்துப் படிமம் செய்ததால், மலையரையன் பெற்ற , என்ற பொருள் பதிந்துவிடுமா என்ன? படிமத்துக்கான அக்கல் எந்த பாண்டியன்? நாம் நினைவில் வைத்துக...

 In the original story of Sakuntala, as told in the Mahabhratha, there is no ring. Sakuntala appears in Dushmanta's court with their son and requests Dushmanta to declare him the heir to his throne, as he had promised her, before their gandharva vivāham. Though Dushmanta very much remembers their encounter (and thus recognises legitimacy of the claim), he still pretends not to remember and asks her provocative, insulting questions in his court.  But he is ' being cruel only to be kind '. For, this sets the dramatic stage for  a fine articulation of her case by Sakuntala, which ends in the divine voice from the sky, declaring her to be true and for Dushmanta to accept her and their son. And then, Dushmanta tells his courtiers that he always knew but his word would have been insufficient proof to the court. We are of course, more aware of the storyline of KāLidāsa's play abhijñānasākuntalam, where the poet made significant departures. The elevation of the 'word/memory...

Akeel Bilgrami             Akeel Bilgrami, in his recent essay  attempting to unpack Gandhi's views on caste, frames the approach as one grounded in a view of the pre-modern, pre-capitalist society as distinctly different from viewing the members of society as merely constituents of an economy. This, he argues  is the key to understanding the evolution of Gandhi's stance on caste.             This instructive essay is, in some ways, an elaboration of his  interview to Frontline in 2018 , where he mused on the tension inherent in the slogan:   Liberté, égalité and fraternité, and the points at which the Marxian and Gandhian outlook towards this tension,  overlap and distinctly depart from one another.              The crux of Gandhi's conundrum that folks across the political spectrum can relate to is what Bilgrami succinctly states thus: to retain caste ...

Milan Kundera's passing took me back to the time I discovered - by sheer chance - his novel 'Life Is Elsewhere '.  The impact it had on my twenty year old self was nothing like anything felt from any other novel before - or since. It is easy to say 'before'.  But admitting to 'since' is an admission to inadequacies in tastes and maturity. Surely his Unbearable Lightness...  is a better novel. Surely there are greater litterateurs. But this is the novel 'spoke to me' the most. A feeling I sought in the other works I came to read later and was unable to connect with as well. But did you read 'Life is Elsewhere' again to see if your impression has changed over time? Or did you not do that, precisely because you worried it may not hold up? This may be fair gotcha questions to be ask about many other novels. But not about this one. For this novel is about maturity itself.  There are many works of art whose appeal to the reader's exaggerated s...