Abhishekam of Sri Varadaraja perumal at Kanchipuram temple .

I attended the abhishekam of Sri Vardharaja perumal at Varadhrajar  temple at Kanchipuram recently.I had expected 1 to 2 hour long ritual but it was over in 30 minutes !
Saw  Varadar without his ornaments , flower garlands and garments  .He doesn't look jet black the way his images tend to portray him .but is grey with flecks of white like the stone grinders we used once  upon a time to grind batter for idli .
He is huge and tall moorthy but is housed in a small sanctum with just a little space above his long crown .I used to think that the crown was separate adornment but no ,the moorthy himself has along crown on his head sculpted in stone.He has four hands . Two in the back hold the sanku and chakram .Their gold covering was not removed .Of the two in front the left hand rests on a Gadha /mace and the right hand is in the blessing posture.The gold shield on gadha was also not removed .Only the hand blessing his devotees was free of any ornaments or covering in gold .
The moorthy of Vardar has a number of ornaments carved on to it starting from crown , to ear rings to necklaces , poonal --the sacred thread,armulets , anklets and pithambaram .On the right side of upper chest is a small carving of his consort viz Mahlakshmi.Only a small white dhothi was tied around his navel.
There were nearly 40 or more people who had paid to attend this ritual that takes place every Friday after 12 noon They  were all asked to sit on the steps and on the floor of a hall right at Vardar's front .The utsavar and his two consorts were taken away from the sanctum and placed on a table at the end of the hall .They were facing the moolavar/prime deity .I got a place very near the sanctum , just a step away.It was so near that i could have a very good view of his sacred feet that was long with human like  but beautifully shaped nails in his  toes .But to look up at Varadar's face i had to crane up my neck .He is so tall .Could be 10 feet tall.He has long fish like eyes that look straight ahead and has smiling lips.

Without all his finery Varadar looked vulnerable .The constant reiteration of our azhwars and acharyas that Sriman Narayana is easily accessible to his devotees seems to be very true since i felt very close to him as i beheld his beautiful and majestic form in that of  Varadhar.

A  young priest asked us all to repeat the 'sankalpam' enmasse after each of us placed our hands on a silver vessel holding milk and after we announced our gotrams .The priest asked each family head to tell their gotra ..All those present mentioned the usual gotras except one devotee who said that he belonged to Siva gotra which means that he didn't know his actual gotra or did not have one .This is what i learnt from the Internet that persons who didn't know their gothram because their family heads have forgotten it or no elder was present to enlighten them use either the names of one of the two gods viz Siva or Vishnu as their gotra .

My first initiation into the great store Hindus lay upon Gotra  was when i read the Sagothra act in my college days at law university.It formed a part of  the course on Family laws That bill was passed by Britishers maybe in 1930's .This bill removes the bar on marriages between members of same Gotra , holding such marriages as valid
Next was when jats in Haryana were in news [maybe 2010-2011]for going on a rampage over marriages between lovelorn couples of same gotra.They were revolted by marriage between brother and sister since that is what Sagothra implies .Till such time i had thought that only brahmins had gotra it is not so.Every Hindu has a gotra .
What is gotra .Mahabharata the great epic  is actually the story of Bharat .It has been wrongly translated to mean a account of warfare  .In its early chapters a lot of sections are devoted to origin of mankind and the immediate descendants .It mentions manu  as the progenitor of all mankind and he populated the world with the help of seven rishis.sWe have all descended from one of the seven rishi's and we bear his name as our gotra.
I knew of Adam and eve because as i t is used widely in popular culture but i did not know whom Hindus considered as their progenitors ,till i read Mahabharata ,this is the case of most Hindus. Due  our long long history we seem to have forgotten  the meaning and importance behind  some of the basic belief's of hinduism.of course i knew about gotram  but didn't know as to what was its actual significance .
One has to state one's gotra before ,alliance is fixed and during marriages and other ceremonies  and in archanas performed in temples .

Some may say that it was Christian conspiracy that induced British to pass the Sagothra act that it was their intention to axe age old  Hindu beliefs that it is   just opposite to Christian view on birth of mankind.We have seven different forefathers though all sprang up at same time and not just one and eons before .Next we do not consider our birth to be sinful but a highly prized gift  and are therefore   proud of our primogenitors and hold them in such reverence  that we keep remembering them  in all our important ceremonies whether at home  at home and  or at temples .

Practically speaking due to rolling of centuries and tremendous increase in population it is possible that i could be removed from my sagothrist by a gap of 100 generations!Our common ancestor could have been a person who lived 1000 years back .Hence there would not be any biological connection between us now.So i do not fault Sagothra act.

I also wondered about jats going in such a rampage over gotra.I read in history that they were descendants of  tribes  of central Asia(may be Huns) who often attacked India in first century BC.Apparently they have been absorbed into Hindu society  over the centuries so much so that they are fiercely guarding the basic beliefs of Hinduism but they seem backward who seem to  keep their women under veil
 Brahmins community in Tamil nadu  is considered as forward, grandmothers watch cricket,mothers perform classical arts like bharatnatayam and carnatic musics and play tennis whilst daughters live on their own in US to study and earn,and are all highly educated scholarly  with innumerable legal luminaries etc but when it comes to fixing an alliance the first step is to exchange horoscopes to calculate the suitability and if the gotra stated in it is similar then that alliance would be rejected outright.

Whether a Hindu is backward or forward his revulsion  to sagothra marriage  is same.This is the importance a gotra has in Hindu's life

Sagothra Act  may validate a marriage but it has not succeeded in stopping the Hindu belief that marriages between same gothra is no no .

Browsing the internet i came upon a enterprising Tamil astrologer .He says he will find out the gotra of any one with the help of his birth star.Birth star can be found out by stating ones date of birth and time of birth .Some of our astrologers are terrific .they predict and calculate the exact time a lunar or solar eclipse occurs a year  before it actually occurs  .Temples issue a panchangam every new year Tamil new year that has  these dates  .it always tallies with  the date and timing given by modern astronomers  .This shows the systematic and keen observation of the skies and cosmic happenings in the skies  by our anscestors in ancient times .They must have spent an enormous time spanning centuries scaning the skies in order to enable astrologers to predict and calculate the date and time of occurence of eclipses every year . 'Pazhia panchangam' is a derogatory name ascribed to traditional and orthodox people.It must be given by those who cannot appreciate the exact calculations made by astrologers with regard to occurrences of celestial events .it could also be used to deride the Hindu practise of remembering thier pitrus and conducting simple ceremonies on such days viz new moon, eclipses .

He has assigned a gotra or its subsidiary gotra to every each of the 27 stars in the Hindu almanac which are taken as our birth star.I know my  gotra .i tried finding if my birth star tallied with the gotra he has listed .It didn't.
How ever those who do not know their gotra or those who are outside the gotra can use this table and acquire a gotra   and  feel one with   Hindu society.




In a way the belief in gotra and bar on sagotra marriages creates a feeling of kinship across this vast country . Any one living up North or East or West ,speaking a different language, eating different cuisine from mine will however be  considered to be my brother or sister if we have the same gotra .although our common ancestor from whom our families branched apart may have taken place 100 's  of generations before and 1000's of years back!And  for the reason  of belonging to same gotra ,marriage alliances between our families will be barred !.

Ok back to abhishekam It was swift and hasty .A priest started reciting some slokas whilst a older priest went behind  Varadar and stood on a high stool .The young priest chanted the first few slokas of Vishnu shasarnamam --Shuklam baradharam ---i don't know why i found this inappropriate maybe due to the injunctions of our elders that  sahsarnamam has to be chanted  only in evenings and aren't priests in temples more strict than we are?May be it is that temple's practise which i do not know of .First the milk from the silver vessel which we had all touched earlier was poured over the crown of Vardar whilst the other priest started  chanting Purush suktum but cut it short after chanting only the first four lines ! This was again out of the ordinary ..It is the normal practise to recite Purushasuktum when abhishekam of moolavar or processional deity is performed .The abrupt termination of this ancient mantra seemed to be out of place and uncharacteristic .It sort of punctured the ancient aura around this ritual .I felt disappointed.

Several pots of milk was poured over Varadar over his crown .The white spray laced his face ,dripped down his shoulders , running down drenching his broad chest and slim waist and then flowed down his long tapering legs ,washed his feet and formed a small puddle on the floor .Several of us scooped a bit of the milk and sprinkled it over our heads.Milk was followed by curds and then by sandal paste and finally by honey .Water was  poured intermittently to wash away the fluids.

Then it was all over ! No fragrant paste was applied to the  body of Varadar.In the madri [replica] telecast of abhishekam of Srinivasar at Tirumala on every Friday a priest very lovingly and gently smears fragrant bathing paste made from haldi , chandan ,etc to the entire body of Srinivasar starting from his face .It is thrilling to watch it.In here this was not done .Nothing was applied to Varadars body , The priests did not make any physical contact with Varadar  They were pouring the liquids without any contact .This was also disappointing . It was a pleasure i was looking forward to.

Despite all these disappointments the abhishekam or bathing of Varadar was a touching sight.The majestic deity to whom we take our woes and seek protection looked vulnerable and as frail as  we are by allowing himself to be subject to bathing in full glare of his devotees , by exposing every part of his body to us.This is a humbling experience .
This made me feel closer to Narayana  who is some where up there beyond my mind and grasp .I am sure that i would have to take several re births to cure myself of my various karma's so as to reach him .but  for the present the essence and form of Sriman Narayana which has been consecrated in this tall moorthy of  Varadar - is within my reach and grasp.This is a great consolation.

My explanation to Athi Varadhar mystery.

I have visited Sri Varadharajar temple at Kanchipuram several times spanning several decades.My usual practise i s to enter the gopurum /entrance after  placing my slippers outside .Then join the queue near the flag post after walking , quite some distance  then enter the temple , go behind it [unlike other temples entrance to the sannidhi is like a maze.one has to go around a small hill and enter the sanctum from back .This arrangement is confusing to new comers who go round in circles .it is also mystifying.Was it built thus to confuse invaders?]climb up 40 or more stairs ,reach a hall and then climb few more steps to the sanctum , be awestruck by the gigantic and pleasing moorthy of Varadhar ,adorned with silk clothes ,garlands , ornaments and  see only the exposed part of his body viz smiling face , the sanku and chakra , gadha held in his hands and be tongue tied  before his right hand blessings us and then go down ,perumbulate the temple in its wide and long circumbulatory passage and then return back.


I visited this temple a week or two back .The place was very quite .The lakhs of devotees who had thronged this place in july have all disappeared since the main attraction--viz  Athi Varadhar is in  hibernation in the depths of  his watery abode --the temple tank and will be woken only after 40 years.  .But his aura lingers on as i observed that devotees who visit Vardaar also make it a point to search for the hall where Athi varadar was housed for 1 and half months and then pay thier reverential obseince to the empty hall which is locked .They then circumbulate the hall .Though a freshly painted notice board near the temple tank  points to the exact place where Athi vardar is laid there are  very few takers . This time  around i had plenty  of time at hand as the abhishekam of Varadhar we had booked to attend was several hours away. Hence i stopped to have a close look at carvings on the pillars of two open stone mantaps .One outside the main entrance and one inside the entrance.Both are in a straight line .The mantap outside the main Gopuram is occupied by flower sellers and vendors of puja materials.This mantap has several pillars with carvings of men, women , rishi's hanuman, narsimhar, and other lesser gods from top to bottom .They are all very small in size and one has to look closely to make out as to whom a carving represents .The carving of Vishnu with his sanku and chakram stood out .The first carving i saw of vishnu had a oblitetred nose .I thought it must be due to passage of time These pillars could be 500 years or more older .I went around examining carvings on the other pillars supporting the mantap It shocked me to note that every vishnu carving had its nose sliced off  whilst the other carvings were intact.This is not the result of passage of time .This was a deliberate act of defacement  .This is also the fate of Vishnu's small carvings in the mantap inside the temple grounds , right in front of the main entrance and near it. Athi Vardhar is Vishnu .In tamilnadu each Vishnu temple have different names .The main deity is Vishnu/Nrayana but they are called by different names.
This selective defacement of only Vishnu could not have been the working of enraged hordes attacking Kafirs place of worship blindly,breaking all the idols on its way .A lot of thought and time seems  have gone in this defacement ..Those who did it knew which carving in the pillar represented the main deity within the sanctum and went about defacing only those that would cause maximum damage to Kafir's pshyche.The kafir idol worshippers  were  taught a lesson in a  systematic manner .

This temple has very few sculptures unlike the temple at Melkote in Karnataka .Any one visiting Melkote temple can seen the defacement of rows upon rows of figures carved on the boundary wall, and inside the temple .That temple is full of carvings so the defacement is obvious. In here the main sculpture like Srinivasar temple at Tirumala is the main presiding deity viz Athi Vardhar.
when i saw those tiny carvings with out its nose it shocked me that who ever wanted to desecrate the temple knew which sculpture need to be defaced  viz those carvings in stone that represents the main deity within .
This who ever must be Muslim invaders of 16 or 17 th century  since many connect the immersion of Athi Varadhar in the temple tank to the invasion of Muslim rulers On seeing the selective slicing off or the defacement of carvings of Vishnu on the pillars outside the temple i am sure that the Muslim rulers and hordes marched right upto the sanctum of Athi Varadhar and sliced off his wooden nose and cut his right hand .What they wanted was desecration of the temple and its main deity and they achieved it , hence may not have gone further in destroying the idol in total .They must have known that defacement is sufficient to stop the worship of the moorthy.
It is the  practise  in my community[Brahmin] to drop worn out sacred thread like the thread holding the mangalyam of a married woman into a well when replacing it with a new thread.Several decades back nearly every house in chennai had a well.Maybe the same custom was followed with regard to Athi Varadhar .The original Deity  was sacred one .That he was worshipped way back in 7th -9 th cent comes to knowledge owing to the Tamil hymns or pasurums written upon him by aazhwars like Tirmangai aazhwar who has written several hymns on Athi Varadhar .Desikan anSri Vaishnavaite  acharya of 13 th cent AD has written pasurums in Tamil and slokas in sanskrit in praise of this original wooden deity of Vardhar.So this deity was intact till 14 th century .

Since the original Varadhar was ancient , sacred no one had the heart to destroy it after it was defaced and became unfit for daily worship, So it was dropped into the temple tank and a new moorthy in stone was carved and enshrined in the sanctum on Athi Vardhar  and worship was commenced and is being carried on till today .
In a interview  to tv channel a brahmin who helped lift athi varadhar 40 years back said that the right hand of athi varadhar was cut off from the main deity .It lay separately .When i visited Kanchipuram to have a  darshan of Athi Vradhar in july who was in a reclining position , i observed that a brown band was wound around his right hand .Maybe it was to hold the sliced off hand in place.

Many stories were floated around the mystery of Athi Vardhara's immersion in the pushkarni .Many famous Sri Vaishnavaite scholars gave different views ,One scholar said that because Athi varadar arose out of heat of Yagna performed by Brahma, his efflugence was scorching every thing around hence he was immersed in the cool waters of temple tank to cool him  and is still kept there  , becuase he has not yet cooled down! whilst another scholar said that he was hidden due to fear of muslim invasion and then forgotten, if so why wasnt he re installed once he was discovered? The processional deity of athi varadar was hidden for decades in a forest but once discovered he was placed in the sanctum of this very temple and is being worshipped ever since.In srirangam temple the moolavar of mahalakshmi was also hidden in the temple garden owing to fear of malik kafur in 13 th cent ad and then forgotten .A new moorthy was installed .several decades later the original moorthy was discovered and she has been placed in the same sanctum and is being worshipped .There  are two moorthies of Ranagnayaki/mahalakshmi  at present in Sri Rangam temple. It has been obviously re installed because she was not defaced.Hence if original athi varadar had not been defaced he would have been re- installed. Even learned men seem to gloss  over this basic and simple explanation  may be due to fear of charges of communalism being  slapped upon them .A Muslim filed a complaint in a court against a  srivaishnavaite brahmin temple  priest of a small town for speaking his mind openly on this matter and for stating that Athi varadhar was defaced by Muslims.According to the complainant this priest was disrupting communal harmony .This  came in the news papers.Poor priest , he  must be climbing up and down the courts steps ever since the complaint was lodged to the detriment of  his duties to the deity in that  temple .

Rama's temple at Ayodhya

When i read the Supreme court's verdict regarding Ram temple at Ayodhya as  a short headlines news on the morning it was delivered i couldn't believe my eyes .Few days earlier when i read the names of the 5 judges who constituted the bench which was to deliver the much awaited verdict i concluded that it would be a split verdict as some of the judges in the bench are known for delivering off beat dissenting judgments .To put it candidly some of the judges are considered to be modern day liberals who would take sides with minorities.so i resigned myself to another long bout of dispute and wasn't much eager to know about the decision thinking that it would be yet another rigmarole.
I was totally taken by surprise when i learnt that the decision to allow construction of Ram temple at the disputed site at Ayodhya by handing over the property rights to the Hindu petitioners and the centre , was unanimous!All the five judges were of one mind!
Despite constant warnings from political and other leaders not to celebrate or protest when  the verdict is delivered i couldn't contain my happiness .I clapped my hands loudly hoping my Muslim and christian neighbours would hear it and then topped it by popping in a sugar free Amul chocolate and kept beaming from one end of my face to another .Our neighbour hood however was silent.

People i know of are generally either bhakths /devotees of Ram or Krishna .That is both are revered but it is only one of the two viz Rama or Krishna that a person cherishes very  fondly and adores him more than the other.
I belong to Ram bhakth category .Since teens at some time or the other when i walk on the ground i get the feeling that i am walking on the soil sanctified by Rama's sacred feet .OK where i got this feeling may not be the exact place of Rama's route in his vanavas but nevertheless  i got that thrilling   feeling of sacredness and link to the ancient past of this country that made me feel comfortable and secure.It thrilled me to the core to be thus blessed.

I have no doubt none what so ever that Rama did live as a mortal like any of us although unlike us he was a also immortal, being a avatar of Vishnu .That is he had some extraordinary facets to his nature and form that a human being cannot have.At the very thought of Rama's endearing qualities , nature and handsome form my heart often wrings  and  my eyes  moisten. .That is the effect Rama has on millions of Hindus  also.I am not alone.

Several question about his existence .This is not new .This questioning was also raised as early as 8 th century AD !Tondar adi podi aazhwar the Sri Vaishnavaite saint of 8-9 th cent AD has mentioned it and has  expressed his angst against such people in his Pasurums/Tamil hymns on Sriman Narayana , cursing them and thier progeny to  be burnt to ashes for disbelieving the existence of Lord Rama .Peria aazhwar who was prior to Tondar adi podi aazhwar and ardent devotee of Sri Krishna has directed the doubting Thomases to Thiru Pullani [which is in Ramanathapuram district] --the beach where Rama lay in meditative penance for taming the rough seas in order to build a bridge to Lanka to rescue his wife Sita and says that people there have actually seen  Rama  .He has devoted a whole chapter in his pasurums about explaining the reality of avatar of Maha Vishnu in human form as Rama  .Neither of them mention doubts regarding existence of Krishna by others may be such a doubt never existed in minds of people then .

Some say that Rama is only a hero of a epic Ramayana .That he is nothing but a fictitious character .Hence it is foolish to revere  and, worship a figment of imagination thus.
Mahabharata an epic that was written after Ramayana gives a detailed list of kings who have ruled India even prior to Rama .Historians do take this list as a evidence of lineage of kings who ruled India in several centuries in  BC.They are taken as authentic information even by historians who are known for their leftist 'secular' leanings. This list mentions Rama and names of rulers before him and after him.
The is also a story in Mahabharata in this very chapter where a bereaved father beseeches  a muni to bring back his young son to life and that Rishi gives a exhaustive account of the generosity of 16 kings  in the yagnas they performed .They all lived and ruled many centuries before the Pandavas.A king called Shibhi is said to have given gifts to all his subjects and to all those who attended his yagnas equal to sand grains found in rivers and seas but he had to ultimately face death !He says Rama a valorous , generous and kind  king  who made thousands of gifts also had to die one day The rishi  asks the bereaved father" What gifts have you or your son has made and what good deeds did you or your son  perform that would surpass the deeds done by above mentioned kings that you are seeking to defy death?When such noble kings have all met death who are you and what are you in face of death?"
The very fact that Rama's passing away is mentioned to illustrate the inevitability of death a mortal has to face is  a proof that Rama did live once upon a time .

If Rama was only a fictitious character who assumed a halo around himself down the ages  due to the poetic excellence of Valmiki ,the author of the epic Ramayana  then why didn't the main characters , the hero's of very many plays, dramas and poignant stories written in Sanskrit by skillful poets and writers before and after the Ramayana was written didn't assume a halo?

Are Hindus fools that they are worshipping a hero of a story blindly by putting him up in a altar?Does the collective memory of millions of Hindus from far flung places in this sub continent  that Rama did live and rule Bharat have no value?

Maybe the dating of Rama  as per Hindu traditions that of 7 lakh years or more is unbelievable and is cause of much derision and Rama has been pushed  into realms of Mythology.I do not believe that date myself .Is it possible for human brains to carry the memory of a person's life etc who lived 7 lakh years back  ?First of all did any civilization exist any where in this world 7 lakh years back?

To me a computer astrologer's calculation of Rama's birth date to be in 5000 BC ,which is 7000 years back is plausible and acceptable.The dating of Sri Krishna's birth by this father of computer atrology is at 3000 BC .This is also very much plauisble.and acceptable.

What makes Rama so special that he has captured millions of hearts in India as well as  in South east Asia?

On the face of it Rama was a specialist killer . He killed all those who troubled his subjects . He had no qualms in shedding blood to protect any one taking refuge in him.It is said that he killed thousands of asura's who were harassing  rishis 's living in forest sanctuaries and who were preventing them from conducting yagnas , worship and meditation.Since the rishi's sought his refuge he proceeded to protect them.He was a king by birth and upbringing and it was his duty to protect his land and subjects and he did this by using his skill archery .His valorous deeds add to his general charm.It makes him a brave hero to all of us.There is a tendency amongst many to gloss over this fact by portraying only Rama's other virtues.It is like as if they are ashamed of his bravery and would like to project him like Buddha or Jesus.We Hindus are  not in least ashamed of his killing evil men. we are actually proud of his valiant deeds .We go into raptures over his skill in archery .We cheer his beheading the ten heads of Ravana and enact it every year.

To Sri Vaishnavaites .Rama is none other than Vishnu/Narayana .Though Narayana is capable of annihilating the enemies of his devotees from his abode at Vaikuntum , he takes human form now and then so that he may please his devotees with his pleasing form and nature by mingling freely with them .To SriViashnavaites his avatars are real and not illusory unlike some sects in Hindus who deem him to be a maya.[illusion].And the two  most important avatars amongst the many avatars of Vishnu are that of Rama and Krishna.

Apart from his bravery it is his gentle nature of instant obedience to his father, the total absence of any regret in losing his kingdom overnight, his patience in putting up with the harsh life in the forest to which he was banished for 14 years, his courage in rescuing his beloved wife Sita from the clutches of a powerful ruler without any regular army or money at his disposal and the glowing accounts of several persons down the ages regarding his golden rule at Ayodhya endears him to millions .
It is said that no ruler before Rama was equal to his glorious rule of peace and prosperity nor will any ruler after him has surpassed his golden rule and no one will ever surpass it.He is a class apart.Hence it is impossible for a man of such ideals to get out of our collective memory .It didn't happen in 7 th -8 th cent AD  and it will not happen now nor will it happen in future.

Regarding Ram janma bhoomi movt my reactions were tepid even at its height.Yes i knew that Rama was born in Ayodhya but i live in Tamilnadu and not in UP up North and there many temples dedicated to Rama in here and  i could feel the connection with Sri Rama when i visited Thiru Pullani few years back.When i saw the small strip of beach near a calm and placid sea i could very well visualize a grief stricken Rama lying on the sands with his head on Lakshmana's lap , praying to Samudra raja to pave way so that he could build a bridge across the sea  to Lanka and rescue Sita.Nearby there is temple of Vishnu in which Rama lakshmana and Sita have a sannidhi.

In fact i was in the thick of the rath yatra taken in 1990's that is we were living  in Ranchi where the yatra was to pass on its way to ayodhya.As the yatra neared Ranchi all the residents of our colony who were mostly Sikhs were highly nervous and lined the rooftops with guns , expecting a angry mob of Muslims from nearby slum that house more than a lakh Muslims .to attack us.There was news of some tribals being killed in that slum by Muslims and that rattled us all even further and all of us spent a sleepless night.Thankfully curfew was imposed the next day and tensions abated.

When Babri masjid was demolished we were back in Chennai.I wasn;t even following the news and came to know of its demolition only from my dark Christian neighbour, a house wife, who came running towards me to impart the news .She was highly agitated and nearly in tears .She wailed and lamented loudly and remarked that i was being too cool about it and asked whether i was in BJP .I said no .She didn't like my indifference and i was wondering at her  agitation at the destruction of a old mosque some where up North.How did it affect her? Did the act of destruction of a mosque by Hindus  deliver a pshycological blow . Did it make all realize that this is not Mughal or British India so as to lord over us all but  is Independent India?
One way or the other the Ramjanma bhoomi movt didn't bother me .
Next day  when i visited nearby mofussil court  a Christian junior ,a young dark woman  seated in the bar room kept abusing loudly all those who demolished the masjid whilst her Iyer colleague kept consoling her and joined her in abusing the masjid destroyers.The rest mostly non brahmin Hindus looked on indifferently .It didn't touch any of them .Nobody discussed it None of them belonged to BJP.It just didn't matter .our daily life was more important than some happenings up North..

It is only recently  that i started taking interest in the dispute over Rama's birth place at Ayodhya specially so after the attempts to convert me to Christianity on one hand and on the other the attempts to throw a purdah on me by Muslims to  stifle my freedom.Whilst former was coercive the latter was persuasive but the intent was one --that i should not pursue my religion Hinduism.It is still going on .It is all cloak and dagger making me suspect the hands of authorities and politicians  in this continuing never ending attempts to disrupt my leading a peaceful life .

Till the time of cloak and dagger conversion i was subject to in 2014 September i kept away from such topics conceding to the sensitivities of Muslims and Christians in the typical manner of  a person subject to Congress and communist influences .But the line was crossed by those who got it into their head that the best way to punish me is to convert me!.I lost my natural reticence.
I started thinking thus--I am a Hindu .why should i feel apologetic about it? Why shouldn't i please myself and my religious beliefs .What is the compulsion on me to tone down my religious beliefs? For what?Some Christians , Muslims and their secular Hindu  backers have done the worst to me.Why should i humour such people?The fear or in other words my secular inhibitions have gone as i have been pushed too far .Since it is still going on it is only hardening me day by day .
I have started developing the attitude that if your religious practises , religious leaders advise etc are important so are mine and my  religious leaders advise.If standing up for my Hindu religious beliefs is  going to be viewed as communal , so be it .What is the maximum these persons trying to scuttle all my freedoms do ,kill me? I am not daunted by it .When my son died three fourths of me died  along with him what is left of me , more so after mind was battered with high decibel sounds in 2012 and pierced with electric shocks in 2014 both of which was done on me arbitrarily and forcibly in a undercover shadowy manner ,is hardly worth worrying about.If any one is searching for a victim of dictatorship no need to go far , here i am right in middle of smart city-Chennai .

OK back to Ram a.I often wonder about the mean mindedness , adamant and foolish nature of th e Muslims  who are clinging on to that masjid [which they may have never seen nor prayed  within it ]whilst surrounded on all sides by millions of Ram bhakths who are eagerly waiting to retrieve the sacred birthplace of beloved Rama , build a temple for Rama and restore its ancient glory .
It shows clearly the  patience , tolerance and non violent nature of Hindus.Hindus are like huge elephants that has been tamed .Patient, gentle and obedient who  shy away from displaying their enormous strength.viz their gigantic numbers .

Few years back i came across a bit of information about my grand father M.A.Ayengar .He was member of a trust formed to retrieve the birth place of Krishna at Mathura UP from Muslims who have built a mosque over it .He became a member of this Krishna janma bhoomi trust  when he was elected to constituent assembly of India , during Nehru's time.
This news shocked my secular sensitivities .Was my grand father communal?That is how he would be bracketed as per norms set for Hindus by  secular pundits .
Later i read quite extensively about Sri Ramanuja[11 th cent ad] the most important acharya of Sri Vaishnavaites .A great intellectual , philosopher, reformer, as well as a great  devotee Vishnu /Narayana.He has advised his followers to repair and restore and maintain all the temples that have been visited by Tamil saints --aazhwars Such places are known as divya desams or sacred lands  .Ayodhya and Mathura are divya desams. My grand father was a orthodox Sri Vaishnavaite who had deep knowledge about the visishta dwaita philosophy propounded by Ramanuja .Any one reading the philosophical works  of Ramanuja will be amazed by his intellect and would automatically develop a deep reverence for him .Hence if such  an great acharya exhorts his followers to renovate or rebuild temples will we falter behind to do so?
I realise now after grasping the true importance of Ramanuja 's brilliance that my grand father was not communal , he was merely following the advise of his acharya.If  persons belonging to other religious communities lay so much store on their religious leaders advises to the point of killing and changing others beliefs and are not called communal but are praised and also feared  at  their faith why shouldn't my grand father obey his  religious leader's  advise ?How less important is Ramanuja .He is hugely important to Hindus and Sri Vaishnavaites .Is being true to one's religious leader communal?I asked the question to myself and found the answer No .
                 
I hope now that Krishna's/ birth place is also duly retrieved and a beautiful temple is built at that spot .Krishna gave us Gita to remove our grief and fill us with happiness .. Can we not do something in return for him as simple as building a temple for him at his birth place??

Finally how did all pieces fall into line all of a sudden?Viz the decks cleared for building Rama's temple over his birth place that has seen a tug of war since 1850's?Maybe Rama sitting in Vaikuntum as Sriman Narayana on the soft bed of Adi Seshan  decided that this was the right time to re  claim his birth place as he felt that the unpleasantness associated- with such a claim is a thing of past .True to his nature he has willed it to happen when his claim will not be detrimental to his subjects welfare .A hero to the core .
 The heart of the pleasant rulers of heart has finally melted .It is ultimately Rama's doing.

                                           ***************

I wanted to write the above the very next day of the verdict but i was feeling unnaturally fatigued .My brain seemed to be constantly jammed every day there after and i couldn't shake off that very uncomfortable , depressing pressure in my head .Walked , recited slokas , heard music ,applied hot water  towels to my forehead and eyes ,read paper , but no the pressure didn't ease .I knew that somebody was jamming my head .They didn't want me to write or blog.The fact that i was myself in dilemma fanned the unease even more.On one hand i felt that if i wrote it would be a compliment to the very same people who may have screwed my head a for a month with painful electric shocks in 2014 at night in a cowardly shadowy manner , since it was enacted to me that it was the centre that did it .Don't know as to how far it is true.as no one is comig forward to clear my doubts.If it was true why should i praise such torturers.?Or even if it was the handiwork of the state here, why should i placate its allies  for its  sake ?I  have no fondness for either AIDMK OR DMK , or BJP or the current Congress ,or Communists so why should i be in this tug of war with many whom i hardly care for ?Why do they think that all have a right over me ? Specially AIDMK?
As far as aidmk is concerned they get   good results for themselves from my writings[ without my intending to do so ] but they will show their gratitude by carrying out a hotchpotch type of conversion on me and constantly  encourage with great enthusiasm extra marital mental relations with persons from other communities specially with Muslims and scheduled caste,/Christians and non Brahmin's, ever since 201 2.None of whom liked Vidat my late son,[ i mean my flat neighbours] and me also  but are so morally corrupt that they are very desirous of using the fame or recognition i got from blogging in the blog he made for me few months before he passed away ,to their benefit.
It is however very puzzling as to how that despite  AIDMK being in power that are unable to ward off thier deadly rivals DMk from putting suggestions into me.Isnt the party in power in complete control of my house?viz elecrticity , cctv,audio transmitters  and so on ?.Then how come DMK often get a line into me/ There are neighbours in my flat who are loyal to DMK who often stand below my flat with a mobile and talk animatedly .It seems deliberate.Is it sufficient to drop suggestions etc into my head just with a mobile ,without my being aware of it?Strange .The moral and ethical corruption f those indulging in this is revolting .On the streets outside are a group of unemployed youths whose work is to hold a smart phone  in a angle from me .They keep looking southwards .This smart phone attack is upon me where ever i go .God knows as to what  suggestions or crap is dumped into me or control is being exercised  that i often feel  terribly nauseated just on hearing few persons voices,  living in my flat.complex., mainly men.

Because of this dilemma i decided to write only about whether Rama was myth or reality .Even then i couldn't sit down to write ,Fatigue kept assailing me with sleep constantly disturbed at night by sound of auto's and vans' screeching to the tune of loud sounds of take offs.I also wondered if it was anything to do with defence.If it was it is crazy and even scary to think that i am in middle of a defence problem! Even then , has any one apart from me have a right over my body , mind and thinking so as to take forcible possession of it  ?i ll keep on lamentimg and sounding off now and then but nobody cares or bothers.So i have to take Sri Krishna's advise to Arjuna--Due to  senses, pain will come and go .Just ignore it and fight.

Suddenly on 18 th my brain felt free .I knew i was released from some terrific brutal grip .All this is happening in a democratic country!It is is pure dictatorship.with no one to question.Who ever is exerting so much pressure on my head is dictatorial, having scant regard for our constitution-the freedom it grants, laws and humanity.

I came out from a haze i was in for 10 days! The wooliness disappeared and i felt free!It was only then that i observed that parliament was in session!Who ever jammed my head for 10 days  felt that  during an obviously democratic ritual/process my democratic rights should be restored!How very gracious !It could also be coupled with the fear that if jamming was continued in this manner i may suffer a brain hemorrhage .It is sure to happen one day or the other.I doubt whether blood capillaries can withstand this sort of jamming i am subjected to quite often, can withstand the pressure Maybe i am being too charitable  to my brain and head jammers who actually would have  loved such a scenario..My thoughts are easily read and it must have been known that i was eulogizing Rama who is a allergen to seculars and what if i caused a riot with my openly celebrating Rama's re reinstatement  immediately after the  verdict in my   blog?.Poor Kausalya's Rama. We  couldn't even celebrate the  historic return of his birth place back to him  happily and spontaneously...
                The relief was tremendous and i also wondered whether my original urge to write on Rama was also unnatural .and deliberately induced , so i parried for a day .But with my energy back , i decided let any one gain or lose from my writing ,  that is only an un intended consequences of my need to write to express my opinion. i shouldn't bother about it.isn't this a free country after all ?Moreover the news that a political party of Muslims was allowed to hold a protest /Dharna against the verdict right in the middle of Chennai on 17 th was another very strong inducement to write and blog.my celebratory mood.

I like to write .I d like it to be short, light  with taste full choice of words with light humour like PG Wodehouse or RK Narayanan  , .Like a  hobby .Which i was doing prior  to 2010.But this excessive pressure exerted on my head specially after 2012 for days together and its abrupt release makes me write long , long blogs  like a river in spate with anger, emotional fight for rights etc etc boring me as well i suppose those who read my blogs..Sound of airplanes seems to encourage this urge to keep on writing .
One of these days [ no time limit it could even be 5 years from now] if my profile photo adorns the obituary column of Hindu paper with the words -passed away  kindly read between lines .It should mean that i either had a brain haemorage or a heart attack --courtsy my contant torturers exerting pressurre on my brain and heart.If it says that i  passed  away in a accident it should mean that the constant questions etc posed to me as i walk pushed  up my bp and made my  head whirl making me lose balance on   the roads or pavement and that  it was preceded by sleepless nights owing to this  revolting and immoral mind to mind talks by dirty and, greedy minds .

It was o n 19 th  Nov ,that i wrote the above piece on Rama..

Economic down turn?

Is the economy going down ? I am not a economist .I am a consumer and have observed the following in the city where i live.
As a consumer i have observed that prices of food grains  started rising since Rajiv Gandhi's rule.It rose and rose and has sort of tanked now.Yet we[ middle class] were and are able to afford to pay the price then as well as now.It is ditto with clothes .
But what has changed in the past decade and more is  that persons with lower incomes , like those living in the  slum tenements opposite to my flat seem to be able to afford to war new clothes , not for just one or two main festivals like Deepavali Or Pongal but for nearly all festivals in the calender! The entire family wears it.There are multistoreyed shops in nearby Tnagar which have decent and nice looking clothes to every section of economic starta and they are mobbed before every festival. like Tamil new year, Navarathri, karthigai etc.
Crackers are costly yet they are bought and lit during Deepavali and then watch joyfully as money turns to ashes .All that which was affordable only by the middle or higher classes two or three decades back is now within the reach of  lower income groups.Indians as a whole seem to enjoy spending money , once they have it .
The recent crowds at Athi Varadhar festival in Kanchipurum , running into lakhs per day is the evidence to the fact that every one has information  in thier tips[mobiles . tv's ] and the money to spare to undertake the pilgrimage facilitated by good roads and transport facilities.The private transport like by car , vans , buses  etc out did the public transport .Every one doesn't refer only to city people but to villages as well as i saw  villagers and  people from small towns in very large numbers  .
In 1990'sthere was a sudden change in the economic conditions .The servant maids wearing rags and whose livelihood solely was dependant on what we gave , suddenly started to wear good polyester clothes  , carry handbags  as they found jobs in small factories that had also suddenly sprung up around us .in Porur.  IT offices and car manufacturing factories also sprung up and did super markets  .                                When i visited Tirumala the crowds had increased tremendously.I was amazed to see such crowds and very surprised to see that my milk man had bought  50 rs tickets for his entire family and was standing next to us.!In those days 50 rs ticket is equal to the 300 rs tickets that are available now.and i had thought that 50 rs ticket was within only our reach.Things had definitely changed .That milk man also used to hire a van and cart several families along with his, to Ooty and , camp there for few days!When i visited Brindavan gardens in Mysore which i remember from my childhood to be sparsely visited , in 1990's i was shocked by crowds of people milling and pushing around.

That breath taking changes in economic condition is missing now.Since 2010 i didn't see  any new offices coming up here in Tnagar .Many supermarkets  selling groceries cum house hold goods cum vegetables came up . so did health clubs, gyms but they all folded up in past 3 -5 years . But  corner stores that sell groceries are still around .and supermarkets that sell vegetables in Ac hall are still around .
There was a lot of hue and cry over introducing multi brand FDI in retail  when it was sought to be introduced few years back I   understood FDI in retail   to mean  that the supermarkets will have array of  products from various countries. I was greatly looking forward to buying things if the prices were reasonable. Why shouldn't I as a consumer get the best quality products from a  variety of products to choose from when i spend my money?..
Recently i searched for figurines /idols in white metal .but couldn't find any .The rage for white metals  seems to have abated and shops are no longer stacking them .The few of those i did find were not well crafted .and the eye to details was missing.Instead i found a figurine of Srinivasar in China clay made in China!..   I was amazed to see every minutest detail one sees in image of Srinivasar was carved out in clay!Nothing was amiss  viz ornaments,weapons Sri Devi Bhudevi on his chest etc except the fact that the face of the Srinivasar figurine had a slightly Chinese look .   There were figurines of other gods also made in China and reasonably priced  .                                                                                                                                               I wonder why no one has thought of selling flowers used in daily puja in such AC shops.  It is still the monopoly of street vendors .                                                                                                                      In the past 2 decades houses and flats came to be  constructed in a break neck speed  in suburbs of  Chennai swallowing all the green fields and also factories.In here at Tnagar many bungalows 0f British times dating back to 1900 were demolished and high end flats constructed .But now for past few years there are many buildings  that seem to have been abandoned half way in here.
It is puzzling to see how the govt struggles to acquire land for the benifit of  public whilst private property developers acquire huge swathes of land s, acres and acres of  even agricultural lands and mark layouts for housing colonies  with great ease .If one  travels beyond limits of Chennai one can see these innumerable layouts  dotting the landscape. 

But there have been some remarkable changes that has made travelling across the city and shopping easier.The sudden profusion of  uber ola etc in past few years has made travelling within city pleasurable .earlier we had to book a tourist car if we planned to  travel across the city and that came at a high price Minimum was rs 500 whether it was for a km or 50 kms .Autos were available but one has to bargain with them as they refuse to use the meter and the journey turns unpleasant with all that arguments and justifications.This new way of travelling is nice .One needs a smart phone but nearly every one seems to a have one .The fee  is very  reasonable and it is as per distance travelled  .There is no haggling, which is a great relief and the journey in a Ac car  to those who do not own cars adds  to one's prestige and social standing.
This concept seems to have caught up earlier and faster in Bangalore where even uber , ola autos are available easily unlike in here .
Next is the wide spread use of cards instead of money in shops.Having  been used to carrying  cash i found it difficult to let go of the feel of the security of  a wad of cash in my purse for a thin card .To feel cash was very important to assure me of my spending status and it was also coupled with the fear that i may spend more than what i intend to if i use a card  .Gradually i found that using a debit card in heavy transactions [for me] like buying jewellery or silk Saree's  was easier, than first drawing money and then  carrying it in person and to hold the bulging purse  tightly  lest it  be  pick pocketed .But the fear that i may spend more than if i had cash is still very much there as the temptation to spend  more whilst carrying a card is very strong.
Another dramatic change is scooters whizzing past delivering snacks, food etc ,apart from pizza  from popular restaurants to one's home.This trend of ordering food from home seems very popular with youngsters  .This reminds me of the courier services that suddenly took us by storm doing away with our immense reliance upon postal system .There were courier  offices at every nook and corner similar to xerox shops but now many of the small offices which were near at hand have all been closed down ,Ditto with xerox shops .Those that have survived are those xerox shops that combine document typing with it.

OK has inflation affected me?Not much.Has it affected those living in front?It doesn't seem so.Not in the way they dress or eat.All are decently clad and look healthy and stout.All have two wheelers and i see bullet motorbike a very costly motorbike driven in droves in Chennai .I even  see  fellows clad in dirty lungis and dirtier banians driving down majestically upon these noisy beasts down my road .By the look of it  these fellows appear like those living in cramped  huts on pavements .Several houses in opposite tenements have AC's but they are yet to reach our level where each of us have more than one.

Regarding down turn in auto sales.Earlier on cars could have been bought out of black money ,People were buying a car for each one of the family. With demonetization maybe circulation of black money is hit  or curbed and there fore there is a slump in demand..It is a blessing in disguise .Our roads will be freer . therefore lesser traffic jams and air around us in cities and towns  will be less polluted .

Some econmists say that heavy spending on social welfare schemes leads to stagnation in development of economy.I have no idea as to how that affects economic development  .But i have observed that successive govts at centre or in here spend a lot on social welfare schemes .freebies like tv laptops etc are offered to entice voters.My only angst is that  why should a person to be in power use resources of the govt which is common to all of us ,use it for self aggrandisement?But that is how it is .Since i am not in the receiving end of such schemes and promises i am questioning it but what if i belong to the category that is  in receipt of such free goods, food, health,reservations etc , i would welcome it and vote for such parties  and not bother about ethics , nation first etc.How much ever economists bleat against excessive spending on welfare schemes i doubt whether it will toned down in near future .

Imposition of Tamil.

There is so much news and uproar about imposition of Hindi in here that it got me thinking about it .Whilst the other states in Southern part of India are not against  Hindi why is that there is so much allergy  towards Hindi in here?Is it due to pride in antiquity and distinctiveness of Tamil , the mother tongue of people in here?Or was it turned into a emotional issue to unite Tamilians  deliberately by Dravidian politicians in quest for power in the manner in which they advocated separatism  to give a mega boost to Tamil pride, self respect  and Tamilhistory before coming to power?

There is a lot of debate and emotional battles as to which of the following languages came first in India viz Sanskrit or Tamil .In here Hindi is considered as a highly Sanskritised language.Sanskrit is the language of Vedas and Brahmins are the custodians of Vedas .So i guess the self respect movement which was primarily aimed at dislodging Brahmins from the high position they held in society and mainly in the economy found its natural and logical succesor in this anti hindi movement.

There was a GOI committee set up several decades back by Congress govt at centre to look into common strands and unifying factors  in Indian languages .My late  Grand gather M.A.Ayyengar  on his retirement was made a member of this committee .After a lot of research this committee came to the conclusion that all major languages in India including Tamil originated from Sanskrit and submitted thier report .The above information is available in internet if one searches for M.A.Ayengar.
I am not going to entangle myself in this issue .

This  uproar  over imposition of a language   made me think about the imposition of Tamil upon Sri Vaishnavaites  including Brahmins 1000 years  back by our own Brahmin acharyas .

Though numerous litrery masterpieces like Kalidasa 's works , Banas' Harshcharitra which has nothing to do with religion is in sanskrit since Vedas , slokas, in Ramayana, Gita , Puranas  recited as prayers   are all in Sanskrit this language is also considered as a sacred language.I don't buy the argument that sanskrit is like any other language and thus whittle down its importance in Hindu religion .It is the language of vedas with special emphasis on its pronunciation to reap its benifits , and in that context  sanskrit is also  regarded  as a sacred language.

Brahmins generally chant slokas only  in sanskrit and i guess  that is how it was till 10 the century  AD when Nathamuni the first acharya of SriVaishnavaites in South hailing from Tamil nadu 's Kattu mananar koil made it mandatory for all Brahmin priests to recite Pasurums viz hymns in Tamil  of all 12 Azhwars  viz Tamil Sri Vaishnavaite saints belonging to 5 th to 9 th cent AD, in all temples in the sanctum , every day in the morning and every evening and on birthdays of the aazhwars.
Brahmins and non Brahmins are all expected to recite these Tamil hymns in praise of Sriman Narayana in his various forms, avatars and in his enshrinement as wood and stone idosl [moorthy] in temples acorss Tamil nadu and India .
Other famous achrayas down the ages , like Alavandar, Ramanujar , Desikan and so on complied with Nathamunis diktat  , continued with it and fostered with greater enthusiasm this imposition of Tamil in Sri Viashnavaites daily  religious and spiritual lives .When ever rebellions rose  regarding such imposition and about granting a seat to the idols of aazhwars  who belonged to various castes , including scheduled caste ,within the temple s sanctum it was put down by acharyas like Desikan who dipped into thier vast knowledge of shastras to  overawe thier opponents with evidences from shastras to defeat and quell such revolts.

There could have been any number of reasons for Nathamuni to make it compulsory for all of us to recite Tamil hymns daily . I have no idea .He has also made it mandatory to recite Pann aazhwars Tamil hymns daily at temples in the evening as well as at home .Panna aazwaar was  a untouchable .A scheduled caste devotee of Narayana.Like other aazhwars his10 hymns are all in  exquisite  language with a delectable description of Sri Ranganathar's  idol from head to foot  at Srirangam.temple.

What ever the reasons maye be for our acharya to impose Tamil on us in our daily pujas it is because of  him that we Sri Vaishnavaites recite Pasurums /hymns in Tamil .Since Tamil is our mother tongue it is easier than sanskrit to understand the meanings , appreciate the poetic nature  and , bhakthi  of aazhwars and to assimilate it .My grand father MA Ayengar knew sanskrit very well at the same time he also  knew all the Tamil Pasurums.Similarily my great grand father an erudite sanskrit scholar who wrote number of books in sanskrit has also written philosophical books in Tamil. 

In my days at Ranchi the LKG teacher of our kids who was eating gol guppas sold in a open handcart by a dirty vendor near a huge open sewer  near the school where we had gone to fetch our wards upbraided my husband's collegues wife , a swarthy and stout woman for not knowing Rashtra basha viz Hindi and looked down upon her like as if she was a worm  .
Poor woman  an highly educated person kept quiet and cringed at the onslaught.This teacher with unhygenic habits un becoming a of a teacher may have studied only upto 12 th or even less where as my Tamil friend had done Msc in Maths and was   fluent in English .

I am not against Hindi. I have learnt it because it was compulsory  in the schools i studied in states like Karnataka and Andra pradesh  and i find no harm in students learning Hindi at school .

But the sneering uppity attitude of that teacher who thought that her mother tongue  should  be learnt by those  whose mother tongue it is not and who are not comfortable with it , as a matter of right, irked me. I still remember that incident with anger .   .She was no match for my  non brahmin Tamilian friend's ,academic achievments yet she was looking down upon her merely because she did not know her mother tongue .The limit.
Maybe it is this sneering uppity, attitude of some of the Hindi speaking populace reeling in thier own self importance about thier language  that puts off Tamilians.

Statue for Buddhist monk at kanchipuram.

Read about the plan of the State govt of TN to install a huge statue of Bhodhi dharma , a Tamil buddhist saint greatly revered by Chinese and other SE Asian buddhists in order to attract tourists from the above said countries.
It is to be .installed in Kanchipuram.The height of this statue will equal the abnormally gigantic height of the statue of Sardar Patel at Gujarat.The image of the saint who may tower over all looks ugly  and unkempt.
Why hasn't the govt thought of installing the two great acharyas Adi Shankara and Ramanuja  who have propounded the Advaita and Visishtadvaita philosophy , the two main schools of Hindu Philosophy, respectively?
These philosophers have a intimate connection with Kanchipuram , whilst Shankara set up a mutt which is still in place , Ramauja lived in this temple town for several decades.1000 years back
This town which is full of  ancient temples  is divided into Vishnu and Siva Kanchi respectively .One part is dominated by temples dedicated to Maha Vishnu whilst the other is dedicated to Siva.
So why not install the images of these bright luminaries who revived Hinduism and also propounded philosophies ?Their images  are pleasing , bright, and radiating tejas  . They may also draw  tourists from all over India and  abroad.
Oh i forgot .Our govts are all secular .So nothing doing.More over both were Brahmins ,so even more nothing doing.But Buddha is secular because he was against Vedas .So he was against Brahmins becuase it is Brahmins who are the custodians of Vedas.So Buddha and his saints the Brahmin despisers are  very welcome to Tamil nadu the state which was the  pioneers in anti brahminism in modern history.

However as per Vaishnavaite traditions Buddha is one of the 22 avatars of Maha Vishnu .It is stated in Vishnu Purana which is considered as a jewel -ratna amonst puranas that in times gone by Devas appealed to Vishnu to save them from Asuras , who were becoming powerful day by day  by performing vedic rituals.Moved by thier tapas  and prayers Vishnu appeared before them bearing shanku and chakram and assured them that he would de fang the asuras .
Narayana then assumed the Maya mohan  avatar and visited the banks of Narmada river where asuras where performing vedic rites with great concentration with the objective of gaining power .The Maya mohan shed all of his clothes and became a digambara muni and started preaching the asuras contradictory arguments and enticed them away from vedic fold .They were known as arhats who thence forward stopped performing vedic rituals .
Next he assumed a calm and peaceful countenanace and manner , wore red robes and approached the asuras who were performing homamas etc and asked them in a gentle manner to think in scientific manner saying how will stick that turns to ash in hom kund deliver messages to gods,if a animal is sacrifised and if it brings merit why not sacrifise your own father and derive greater merits and so on.In his gentle manner he explained the fallacies sorrounding the vedic rituals and the foolishness in having belief in God and  persuaded the Asuras  to stop performing yagnas and rituals .This was non other than Buddha who worked tirelessly to persuade the evil persons from acquiring powers by performing  Vedic rituals and cleverly diverted them away from rituals  and tapas and from believing in  existence of one supreme force viz Brahman or God.He acquired a huge following , who all turned away from Vedic rituals and thus safe guarded the Devas powers derived from performing Vedic rituals , the sanctity of Vedas and ancient traditions.


This Maya Mohan  avatar of Narayana has also changed several asuras into Paschandi's or atheists ,primarily  with view to protect Devas by making thier deadly enemies  the asuras, powerless.

If only the leaders of the other two religious communities were born in Bharat , this Maya Mohan avatar of Vishnu would have come in handy and would have  been used by wise and intelligent Vaishnavaites  forefathers to  absorb them into Hindu fold and would have rendered them powerless, faceless and without any distinct identity and totally assimilated into Hinduism in due course of time and i wouldn't be suffering constant attempts at conversion in thier hands now.
We revere Buddha as a avatar of Maha Vishnu . There is also a carving of Hieun stang the Chinese Buddhist traveller to India in 7 th cent AD in the walls of  Vaikuntanathar temple[ of 7 the cent AD  ]which is dedicated to Narayana/Vishnu.                                                                                                                               But Kanchi is town of temples .It is also known as the one of the seven towns across India that grants Mukthi to any one residing in it. Any one entering it is greeted by lofty and sublime gopurams viz temple towers  that infuses awe at its grandeur and inspires religioisity .
 A statue of a buddhist saint as gigantic as Sardar vallabahi patels statue would definetly eclipse these gopurums and dumb down thier age old importance .

If at all such a  gigantic statue has to be installed it is advisable to erect it outside this religious town .There are plenty of open spaces available at the outskirts of Kanchipurum for this purpose.

TV news channels

The English TV news channels have all become one mini battlefields with a lot of  ear  shattering noise.
Once i used to like prime time debates  since each one of the panelists were allowed to speak . Of course BJP was always cut short .Now there is too much interjection and cross talking and cutting short of all  that one can never gets to know the view of the panelists .Every panelist is cut down and one needs a hell of a lot of patience to make out as to who is talking and what he is talking  about when political or public issues come up for debate.The anchors will peddle only their views emphatically .
Earlier when two panelists shout at each other one of them would be shut off  so that we can hear what the person to whom the time was given is trying to convey .Now every one is allowed to shout at each other at the same time and the point that is sought to be made is never got across.Of course the glum anchor who is perpetually angry at Hindu hordes ,and whose eyes fills with tears  only and only when even a single hair of single non Hindu is touched like the delusional hypocrite presiding over prime time in India today /headlines TV  or over self confident  anchors views is clearly heard.

The most noisiest news hour discussion is that of Republic TV  .Its chief is such a narcissist that his image is always popping on the screen in a small window .He takes up very good topics for discussions but spoils it all by letting all his vociferous panelists shout at each other from beginning till the end of his shows.Maybe he is doing a tit for tat .that is shouting down the opponents of BJP in the manner in which other star anchors did earlier and are still doing to BJP.and right activists.Yet if he curtails this free for all i think it would do greater service to centre right view points , which he is clearly espousing.

The English channels are good when  they are dealing with science or diplomacy or analyzing election results .They line up a lot of experts and give then enough time to talk and convey a lot of information and knowledge to viewers .However when topic is to do with politics it is a irritating shouting matches that they are conducting.

The Tamil TV news channels were also as noisy as English news channels ,but they seemed to have calmed down lately .They are conducting debates on politics and public issues in a better manner .One can clearly hear each persons view points and arrive at his or her own conclusions.The panelists give very free frank opinions which is a treat to the ears that hears only cautious views on English channels .Here also anchors do thrust their views but since there is less interruption when panelists air their views , the Tamil news channels  are less irritating than the English channels .

Whats app snooping.

There is a lot of coverage in newspapers and TV channels for snooping with some malware on activists etc via whats app .The snooping was for a mere 2 weeks and there is so much hue and cry about it whilst snooping on me through all possible spy devices has been going on for 7 long years , non stop since 2012.[ may be even earlier ] though i do not belong to any movement or organization or political party .Nor am i a journalist!Was there even a tiny murmur of protest or support from any one around me or by journalists who must be reading my blogs or by opposition leaders.?Nothing .These activists and journos phones have been hacked .But for me my computer , TV,electric connection s, Internet connections have all been hacked  .Many of my electronic equipments like CD etc have been damaged owing  to these hackers who do not like me to hear carnatic music.
                                         I simply do not exist to all these plethora of  human rights activists  though i have to put up with low life's murmuring perverted crap into my ears with help of their mobiles and help from authorities day in and day out.I am not spared by these perverts even when i am in my toilet.Perverts to the core .

All the activists whose phones were  hacked do not seem all that innocent .They seem to be working in  places known for Maoists movements and strong holds.and the publicity and sympathy they are getting from some  journalists and politicians makes me wonder whether i should start shedding copious tears for all these naxals and terrorists and their backers  to get noticed not only in here but world wide . Maybe only then all these highly articulate people who seem to have so sympathy for such extreme elements  will shed their indifference towards me and my plight..