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Showing posts from February, 2015

The Naga Princess

The Nagas (symbolically snakes) were a tribe who were well acquainted with life in forests and on rivers. They were said to be the ones who ruled the waters. Historically speaking, the Nagas lived in the northeastern parts of Aryavarta, close to Manipur, and extended their villages up to the land of Burma. The Naga tribe staying in the current state of Nagaland are proof of this. Now, this brings us to the story. The Naga Chief was Kauravya, who ruled the waters of the Ganges. His daughter was Ulupi. Some say she was a widow at a tender age, and some say she was unmarried. The Pandava prince Arjun was roaming around Aryavarta in exile, for he had broken a promise and entered his elder brother's intimate room with their Shared wife. The punishment was this. He roamed all the way from Indraprastha to the mystic lands of Manipur and Nagaland. Ulupi, like any other princess of that time, desired the handsome and brave prince of Hastinapur. On hearing of his arrival in their land, she w...

Epic Love

Shiva - Sati/Parvati:  The Destroyer of the Trinity, the supreme God of Gods, was a loner, vagabond, refusing to settle down and be tied down by earthly relationships. Enters Sati, the daughter of Prajapati Daksha of Kankhal. At such a young age, her love moves everyone except her father. The reluctant Shiva had to answer her calls, and for the first time, somebody wanted to marry him as a boon. What followed was wrath between Shiva and Daksha, a clash of egos that ended the soft maiden Sati's life. She chose death after overhearing her father insult her husband. Shiva's sorrow turned to the angry tandav that destroyed the world. He roamed around as a vagabond again, this time with a broken heart!  A few years passed by in her memory as he roamed the land of Aryavarta, making a Linga at every Sati Peeth beside her. In that way, this time, he will always be there by her side to protect her. Enters Parvati, the daughter of Parvat Raj. She was believed to be Sati reborn by everyo...

Indus Saraswati: A Mystery

A Railway route was being laid by the British Government in parts of West Punjab and Sindh (present-day Pakistan) in India. They came across a mound amidst the plains near the village of Harappa. Digging through the plain, they discovered burnt bricks of the exact shape and size. So many of them, as though there underneath the mound lies a huge wall of some fort. The Railway work was stopped, and ASI took over. A few years before this, an Italian youth had discovered some weird-looking seals at a site at Kalibangan. Unfortunately, before he could report it to the ASI chief, he was taken ill and died. With this discovery, the Indian subcontinent that Britishers believed had flourished only a few years before Alexander (some put the date around 800B.C.) was forced to shift the date of the beginning of this civilisation by almost a million years. The Vedas, Puranas, and local folktales were something the Indians were proud of; now, for the first time, they had proof of the actual historic...