Ramayana 5114 BCE - My talk in Chanakya English

 Rama was born on 5114 BCE

I have explained how I derived this date. 

In this interview to Chanakya English, I have replied to a range of questions from the rationale of 11,000 years of Rama Rajyam to the language spoken by Hanuman and Sita in the Ashoka Vana to resolving the Yuga issue. Watch and share.

My talk about Nalanda University - the historical and the present (ChanakyaTV)

Watch and share my interview given to @ChanakyaaTv about the beginnings of Nalanda University, the Buddha and Mahavira connection, the people who studied there and the subjects taught there.

 

Its vihara-s and archaeological findings are also explained. Also spoken about how Nalanda served as an international University by attracting students from SE Asian countries who had taken a course in Sanskrit in Srivijaya (Sumatra) before coming to Nalanda. The probability of people from Tamil speaking regions attending this University is discussed based on inputs from Silappadhikaram and Manimekalai. Kumarila Bhatta's case is cited to show how Brahmins could never be implicated with destroying places of learning such as Nalanda.

Nalanda suffered raids in the 6th and the 7th century which were contained well in time. However, the 3rd raid in the 12th century was a result of bigotry by Bakthiyar Khilji who killed all the persons in the university seen with a shaven head. This is an obvious reference to the Bhikshus of the Buddhist order which was erroneously recorded by the contemporary historian of Persian origin as Brahmins. The 3 buildings of the Dharmaganja containing libraries, of which Ratnodadhi, a 9-storeyed building, housing lakhs of manuscripts were all reduced to ashes by Khilji setting fire to them.

The escape of a few Bhikshus with some manuscripts to Tibet could save only a fraction of the manuscripts stored in Nalanda. What happened to Khilji after that is discussed further. In the course of the talk, I have given the probability of Vedic deities becoming part of Tantric Buddhism and taken to East Asian countries upto Japan in modified iconography. The astronomy /astrology of Vedic society also was taken to East Asian countries, a visage of which is seen in the 60-year cycle of Barhaspatyamana found in Tibet and China in their language. I also talked about the background of the revival of Nalanda University, the issues in restoring its past glory and the probable ways in which the University can be developed in the coming decades.

The talk is in Tamil. English version will be released soon with more info.

Did Rama eat meat? (My talk in Tamil / Thanglishin Chanakya English Channel)

 Did Rama eat?

This question has blown up in the wake of the film Annapoorani and was hotly debated in Tamilnadu asserting that Rama did eat meat. Mr. Karti Chidambaram also tweeted certain verses from both Valmiki and Kamban that Rama ate meat.

In response to these views I gave an interview in Tamil that Rama didn't eat meat anytime during his vanavas. The only verse interpreted to mean that he ate before his vanvaas was also not true. The verses on cooking a black antelope before Rama entered the newly built parnashaala in Chitrakoot was to satisfy Bhuta ganas. I have cited Cheraman Perumal inscription to show why animal sacrifice is done to Bhuta gana-s. I also responded to Mr. Karti's version.

Requesting interested persons to share this video to dispel the wrong notion about Rama.

I will soon make this in English too. This topic will form a separate chapter in my upcoming book on the Date of Rama covering all contentious verses quoted by others to say that Rama ate meat.

My talk in 'Sanatana Thamizhar Sangamam'

 In response to Udhayanidhi's abusive talk on Sanatana Dharma, a conference was arranged by Pesu Thamizha Pesu on 17th September, 2023 in Chennai. Named as 'Sanatana Thamizhar Sangamam-2023' this conference was inaugurated by the Adheena-karta of Suryanar Kovil and participated by 16 speakers. I was also invited to speak in this conference.

Even though the concept of the conference was 'Why I support Sanatana Dharma', we were given a choice of a topic relevant to Sanatana Dharma. I decided to speak about what Sanatana Dharma is and address two issues that are raised by the DMK. The DMK keeps blaming Sanatana Dharma as the cause for the (occasional) practice of Sati and the caste formation and caste conflicts.

I decided to challenge them on these two topics from the Tamil perspective and hence titled my talk as "Thamizhar Marabil Sanatana Dharmam".

The talk can be viewed here: 

Each speaker was honoured with a memento containing the model of Ram Janma Bhumi temple and two books, Dravida Mayai and Brahmin Genocide. 

 

The entire conference was very lively with a galaxy of speakers presenting various view points. An award was instituted by name 'Sanatana Thamizhar'. This year's award had gone to Mr. Subbu, the author of 'Dravida Mayai'.

This conference is likely to be an annual affair. Udhayanidhi & co must be cursing themselves for the rise in awareness about the greatness of Sanatana Dharma that their talks have led to. 

Bharat or India: Which is correct? My interview in @ChanakyaTv

 Bharat or India - which was the original name of our country?

What do these names mean?
Any evidence to pinpoint the time we started calling our country by these names?
Is it right to change the name from India to Bharat?
Jambu Dweepe, Bharata Varshe, Bharata Kande... what are they? where are they?
Did the olden Tamil people recognize 'Bharat'?
How did we get the name 'Hindu'?

My interview regarding these in @ChanakyaTv 

My talk in English on Kashi Vishvanatha and Gyanvapi (Chanakya TV)

Abridged version of my interview on the antiquity of Kashi Vishwanatha and the demolition of the temple in different periods ending with Aurangzeb building the current structure on top of it.

The narration is in English.

My interview to Chanakya TV on history of Kashi Vishvanatha and Gyanvapi

 My interview to Mr. Arun in Chanakya TV covers 

* the antiquated history of Kashi

* the history of the Swayambhu lord Vishvanatha

*the oldest evidence for the temple in the Mahabharata

* the evidence from the life of Tulsidas who presented his Epic poem Ram Charit Manas to Lord Vishvanatha on whose temple now stands a mosque

* frequent destruction of the temple since the 11th century ending with the final destruction by Aurangzeb in the 17th century

and many more...

Watch here  

Simultaneous origin of Tamil and Sanskrit from a Proto language - My talk in Chanakya TV (English)

Regular readers would have read my views on simultaneous origin of Tamil and Sanskrit in my different blogs. Recently I got an opportunity to speak about it in Chanakya Channel (English) that was aired as two parts on 18th and 20th of November 2022. I am sharing the links in this blog.

The above link takes you to the 1st part in which I am giving the evidence from Tamil literature of simultaneous origin of the two languages as siblings, by none other than Lord Shiva, as Somasundara, the ruler of the Pandyan capital of Southern Madurai. The time of that development is also discussed in this part based on Thirumular's Thirumandiram. 

In this link to the 2nd part of the talk, I speak about the presence of Sanskrit words as part of Tamil compendium, by citing examples such as Mantra - how that word is common to both Tamil and Sanskrit by highlighting the definition given in Tholkappiyam and etymology found only in Sanskrit. The definition in Tholkappiyam puts at rest the controversy on insistence on use of 'Tamil Mantras', as a mantra is not dependent on language but on who has conceived it. The Mantras are universal sounds that are and can be written in Sanskrit or Tamil or any language but by themselves they are beyond the scope of language. This is explained by means of the Pranava Mantra - AUM.  

In the course of the talk I have made brief references to how Manu smriti is not the code book. That status was given to the book of Danda Neeti given by none other than Lord Shiva (as Somasundara) while he developed Tamil and Sanskrit by sitting under a banyan tree - as Dakshinamurthy, I have also spoken about the presence of Varnas - not just four but seven as given in Tholkappiyam. This Varnashrama Dharma was also given by Lord Shiva in Southern Madurai. 

Finally I have indicated 'Paali' as the proto language from which Tamil and Sanskrit were made. 

Hope the readers and viewers will have a fruitful time in watching these short videos. For any doubts and questions you can reach out to me through the comment section of this blog.