Tradition, Culture, Religion & Law in Indian Society

[Cyrano]

I haven't watched the first one but did watch the bhoota kola song on YT and I was fascinated.

Then check this out

https://youtu.be/oYK6JU7Nx38?si=JWPNQEosKlVMWvK-

[Cyrano]

And this one takes it to another level

https://youtu.be/g18l2w83l7E

[Hriday]

I did not like Kantara at all. It had a fantastic concept but terribly poor execution.

Are all of you talking about the first picture Kantara or the recently released Kantara: Chapter 1 which is a prequel as per Wikipedia?

I haven't watched the first one but did watch the bhoota kola song on YT and I was fascinated.

Yes my post was about the first picture Kantara.

[uddu]

Sabarimala Gold 'Scam' Rocks Kerala: BJP Chief Rajeev Chandrasekhar EXCLUSIVE | Plain Speak
A sacred shrine like Sabarimala would end up with 4.5kgs of gold missing is shocking to start with and is unforgivable to say the least. But I think there is an overall systematic culture of corruption that has crept into the Kerala government.

Neither has the Devaswom Board chief resigned, nor did the Devaswom minister. Pinarayi Vijayan is a weak CM, he can't even make these ministers in his government resign.

This is not an issue of control of the government but about the accountability that a government takes. Under the constitution, the state government has the control of the Devaswom Boards, with that comes accountability.

[Rudradev]

viewtopic.php?p=2662016#p2662016

Yes, I was talking about the original movie Kantara as well.

[Manish_P]

One pillar of the Indian state, the Media, commenting on the other pillar, the Judiciary

A snippet of an Ajeet Bharti interview

[A_Gupta]

[chetak]

[chetak]

[chetak]

Happy Deepawali to all

[Cyrano]

Deepavali shubhaakankshalu to all the BRF members and their near and dear.

Crackers phodo our BIF ke bhoot bhagao !

[Hriday]

Sri Ramakrishna Paramhansa once remarked, if tears appear when you tell the name of God then no further work is required for Moksha. Your own nature will carry out the work of Sadhana (penance).

Though the above state is too high for the common man there are still some rare temporary occurrences of this state. One example is Feroz Khan who played Arjun in B R Chopra's Mahabharat serial. After his work in Mahabharat, Feroz changed his name to Arjun as he felt deeply affected by his role as Arjun. As per him his mother also calls him Arjun in their home. There is a YouTube video of him crying after the shooting of the last scene in Mahabharat. The soul stirring music in Mahabharat, the realistic and very dignified performance by actors all created a glimpse of the spiritual aura of ancient India. For a newcomer with a developed mind this sudden meeting with Hinduism with its teachings of universal love, its long glorious history etc will be overwhelming. It is like one suddenly entered the land of Devas and then realising one day that the stay is over and have to return to the gross world.

YouTube video of 3.39 minutes duration given below.

[VKumar]

Pankaj Dhir, who played Karan in the epic, sadly passed away last week. May he attain moksha

[chetak]

Resplendent Ayodhya

[Vayutuvan]

Diwali Dazzle Worldwide
DD India



A very nice special from DD News on Deepavali celebrations across the world

NZ, Australia, Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Germany, The Netherlands, Paris, Madrid, and Toronto.

[Vayutuvan]

Diwali in Trafalgar Square London 2025 || ट्राफलगर स्क्वायर में दिवाली || Dancing in the Sq || DIL

Oct 13, 2025 #london #diwali2025 #trafalgar

Trafalgar Square celebrated the Mayor of London’s annual Diwali on the Square on 12th October 2025, right in the heart of London.

Diwali, the Festival of Lights, is an important celebration for Hindu, Sikh, and Jain communities. It symbolises the triumph of light over darkness and good over evil. Diwali on the Square brought people from all over the UK and abroad together for a joyful day of light, hope, and unity.

The day was packed with exciting activities that included
• a colourful opening dance sequence with 200 dazzling dancers
• a main stage showcasing music, dance, and performances from London’s Hindu, Sikh, and Jain communities
• family-friendly activities like sari and turban tying, yoga, meditation, puppet shows, and dance workshops
• comedy, cookery theatres, and henna
• a bustling market and food stalls offering tasty vegan and vegetarian treats.

It was a fantastic day out for everyone to enjoy – Wishing you a Happy Diwali 2025

I feel that PIOs of the UK are very confident. They are way more confident than the PIOs of the US. They have more experience with the British than we in the US have with the Americans. Moreover, UK PIOs are there by right of being oppressed for two centuries in India itself. Here we are as much usurpers as the Europeans who came here before us and exterminated the native Americans.

[S_Madhukar]

Pankaj Dhir, who played Karan in the epic, sadly passed away last week. May he attain moksha

Indeed! I recall in an interview it was his idea to not blink when delivering his lines when playing Karna. Also he got this role because he refused to shave his moustache when he was being offered Arjun/Brihannala!

[bala]

Fireworks Fourth of July IshStyle..

https://x.com/marinebharat/status/1979914812852486546

// watch the video by Maharashtra Navnirman Sena on occasion of Diwali

[Hriday]

Diwali and Holi are the biggest festivals in India but look totally disconnected from the Hindu roots. So disconnected that even seculars who don't want anything to do with Hinduism had the comfort to wish on these holidays.
What surprises me is that even the right wings in social media seems not bothered about it.

[uddu]

https://x.com/MumukshuSavitri/status/19 ... 8035668407

@MumukshuSavitri
Sabeer, don’t venture into subjects that you know nothing about - you sound like a pompous fool.

Your claim that fireworks “arrived” in India with the Mughals is completely blown to pieces by evidence - fireworks were already blazing across the skies of India centuries before the Mughals. In 1442 CE, the Persian ambassador Abdur Razzak, was sent by Timurid ruler Shah Rukh, to visit the Vijayanagara Empire and recorded his travels in Matla-us-Sadain wa Majma-ul-Bahrain. He described the Mahanavami festival at Vijayanagara as a spectacle of pyrotechnic fireworks and regal illuminations. This is an irrefutable evidence that proves there were organized firework displays during festivals in India a century before the Mughals came to India.

Several decades later, Portuguese chronicler Domingo Paes (c. 1520 CE) witnessed the same grandeur at Hampi, writing of “many fiery rockets and different sorts of fires… castles that burn and fling out bombs and rockets.” That was 6 years before Babur. These firsthand accounts offer irrefutable proof that India’s mastery of fireworks and rocketry was already flourishing long before any Mughal atishbazi.

The Sanskrit scientific texts reinforce this with older evidence. The Śukranīti (written earlier than 4th c.) gives the exact proportions for gunpowder - 5 parts saltpetre, 1 part sulphur, 1 part charcoal. The ancient Rishi Vaiśampāyana referred to exploding smoke-balls used in war, which later commentators identify as gunpowder devices, while the Rājalakṣmīnārāyaṇa Śraya of the Atharvaṇa Rahasya uses the explosive blending of sulphur and charcoal as a metaphor for illumination through knowledge.

Linguistically, Sanskrit agnicūrṇa (“fire-powder”) and Tamil marundhu / Kannada maddu / Telugu mandu/ Malayalam marunnu are all ancient terms which show how the science of combustion with gunpowder was well known to Indians millennia ago. Plus with ancient expertise in saltpetre extraction, India clearly possessed both the materials and the know-how of explosive chemistry well before such knowledge reached the Islamic or Chinese worlds.

Dr. Gustav Oppert, in his study of the Nītisāra (3rd c.) noted that the Indian formula for gunpowder closely matches the one found in the Chinese Wujing Zongyao (1044 CE) which gives the first Chinese specific chemical formulas for gunpowder. This suggests that India’s formulation predates the Chinese recipe. Meanwhile, Chinese Taoist alchemists stumbled upon gunpowder accidentally while experimenting for the elixir of immortality - yet much of Taoist alchemy itself had absorbed Ayurvedic and Rasāyana Śāstra influences. The usage of mercury and cinnabar in Chinese alchemy (waidan) elixir recipes was directly derived from Indian metallurgical and rasāyana methods transmitted by Buddhist monks centuries earlier.

European historians like Johann Beckmann and M. Langlès have even acknowledged that the Arabs most likely obtained gunpowder from India, not vice versa.

The bottom line is that Hindus had both fireworks and gunpowder centuries before the Mughals even existed.
We had mastered the art of turning light, knowledge, and chemistry into joy through fireworks at our important Hindu festivals like Mahanavami and Deepavali. This was perfectly in sync with the tradition of Ulka Dāna as specified in the ancient Skanda Purāṇa. Ulka-dāna meant offering or holding blazing firebrands and fireworks to light the way for our Pitris (ancestors) to return to the heavenly realm during the time of Pitṛpakṣa, Mahalaya, and Dīpāvalī.

Next time you watch a Diwali firework pierce the night sky, remember - that blaze is way older than the Mughals, their empire or Islam, and far brighter than the darkness of your ignorance.

So cut the nauseating fake historical Gyaan already - this ain't Hotmail - outdated, overhyped, and permanently out of service.

[uddu]

President Droupadi Murmu offers prayers at Kerala’s Sabarimala Temple
Kerala: President Droupadi Murmu offered prayers at the famous Sabarimala Temple during her visit to the state. The President’s temple visit marks a moment of spiritual significance and respect for Kerala’s revered pilgrimage site dedicated to Lord Ayyappa. Devotees and officials welcomed her with traditional rituals and warm hospitality.

[uddu]

https://x.com/ShefVaidya/status/1981233458321195089
@ShefVaidya
Think my home state of Goa is just about beaches and beer? Think again. Beyond the beach lies a Goa that carved its story on stone long before there was even a word for history.

Down by the serene banks of the Kushavati River, near Rivona in South Goa, lies Ponsaimol. On an ancient laterite riverbed, archaeologists found Goa’s oldest storytellers, geoglyphs, etched into rock perhaps 20,000 years ago, maybe even older.

Most prehistoric carvings in India cling to cave walls or boulders, hidden from the sun. But here in Goa, our ancestors chose open skies and flowing water as their canvas.

See carefully and you will notice humped bulls, graceful deer, labyrinths, giant footprints, and mystical human figures etched on the stone. The Ponsaimol geoglyphs whisper of a time when humans lived by the river, hunting, fishing, and foraging, watching the stars wheel above them.

These engravings link Goa to the larger Konkan geoglyph tradition, creating a silent map of memory that tells us people have lived, dreamed, and created here for tens of thousands of years.

So, the next time you head to Goa, skip the shack and sunscreen for a morning exploring the geoglyphs of Drive Ponsaimol. Stand on the river bed, and look beneath your feet. You’re standing on the earliest pages of Goa’s story.

Follow me for more such stories about Goa, that very few people outside Goa know.

[Vayutuvan]

...

(Sorry for reposting the image, but read on.)

This image is exactly what we used to draw as children of the famous padmavyooham AKA chakravyooham described in mahaabhaaratam in which abhimayu is murdered.

[Amber G.]

^^^ @uddu et-al - Thank you all so much for sharing these fascinating images! The visuals were deeply appreciated and it provided a wonderful glimpse into genius of the ancient texts. It's amazing to see how such complex formations like the Chakravyuha and Padmavyuha were visualized .

FWIW For future reference, and just for clarity some additional comments:

- The archaeological facts about the carving itself are same as Archaeological Survey of India, (& Wikipedia citing multiple sources).

- The location ( Ponsaimol/Usgalimal, on the banks of the Kushavati River etc) are correct. It is a petroglyph of a unicursal labyrinth. It is officially the oldest known labyrinth.

- Dating estimates are generally in the Mesolithic to Neolithic period (e.g., 8,000 BCE to 1,500 BCE), with some pinning the labyrinth specifically at around 4,500 years old) Nit-Pick: The exact date is impossible to confirm using carbon dating as there are no carbonaceous artifacts on the exposed rock. The dating is an estimate based on comparative archaeology and IMO not 'Pre-historic').

-Chakravyuha/Padmavyuha Connection - No doubt about visual Similarity! The formation and the subsequent battle are detailed in the Drona Parva of the Mahabharata.   The vyuha is described as a multi-tiered defensive formation resembling a blooming lotus (Padma) or disc (Chakra), with seven concentric rings that rotate to trap the enemy.

अहं हि सम्प्रवक्ष्यामि व्यूहं दुर्भेद्यं सुरैरपि।
चक्रव्यूह इति ख्यातो येन मृत्युर्विनिश्चितः॥

(Rough Translation/sense - Chakravyuha, its characteristic (impenetrability), and its grim purpose (certain death for the one who tries to enter. And geometric shape is described....where Dronacharya creates the formation and where the tragic story of Abhimanyu unfolds.

[Hriday]

I had posted a short description of Graham Hancock's book, Fingerprints of the Gods. The main theme of the book is the destruction of the ancient advanced civilizations about 12,000 years ago and the description of that catastrophic event in the many ancient writings and societies all over the world. Link to my post given below.
viewtopic.php?p=2639148#p2639148

In his website Graham presents Bibhu Dev Misra's article on the same subject.

https://x.com/Graham__Hancock/status/17 ... DQYbQ&s=19

Bibhu Dev Misra's latest article on my website (linked below) explores comet impact mythology within Rigvedic legends, examining the similarities with this type of mythology found all over the ancient world.

Link below.
https://grahamhancock.com/dmisrab16/

Some excerpts given below without quote function. My comments in braces.

Indra Killed Vritra in 9703 BCE: The Rigvedic description of the Comet Impact that ended the last Ice Age

Around 12,900 years ago (10,900 BCE), temperatures suddenly plummeted to glacial-like conditions for a period of nearly 1200 years. It was as if some giant freezer switch had been flipped. The glaciers began to advance to their Ice Age positions. This period of sudden cooling is called the Younger Dryas (YD) period..

In 2007, a team of international scientists led by Richard B. Firestone found compelling evidence that that the earth was bombarded by multiple fragments of a giant disintegrating comet nearly 12,900 years ago, (c.10,900 BCE) which destabilized the Laurentide Ice Sheet and triggered the Younger Dryas cooling. The shock waves and biomass burning generated by this catastrophic impact even led to the extinction of 35 genera of North American Pleistocene megafauna, and ended the prehistoric Clovis culture.

The Younger Dryas period, which extended for roughly 1200 years from c.10, 900 to 9,700 BCE, ended as abruptly as it had started, for reasons not clearly understood. Geologists from the Niels Bohr Institute of the University of Copenhagen, studied the Greenland ice-core data in 2008 and concluded that the Ice Age ended exactly in 9703 BCE. Ice Core researcher Jorgen Peder Steffensen wrote that, “Then, finally 11,703 years before 2000 AD, the climate flipped back into a warmer mode where it has remained ever since.
In spite of the fact that the end of the last Ice Age has been narrowed down to a specific year i.e. 9703 BCE, scientists don’t know what caused this sudden reversal in temperatures. However, the legends and sacred texts left behind by our ancestors provide some tantalizing clues.
The Rigvedic legend of Indra killing the dragon Vritra, which has been repeated in many hymns of the Rig Veda, appears to be describing a blistering volley of impacts from a comet swarm as being the causative agent for the end of the Ice Age. The echoes of the same story can be found in the Mesopotamian legend of Marduk slaying the water dragon Tiamat, the Cherokee folktale of the God of Thunder killing the monstrous water serpent Uktena, and the Greek legend of Zeus killing the serpent-headed monster called Typhon.
...
The foremost achievement of Indra, for which he had been extolled in many hymns, was the smiting of the dragon Vritra (“the enveloper”), and releasing the waters of the Seven Rivers that had been “imprisoned” by Vritra.
..
It is obvious that the hymns describe an event of monumental importance that occurred in the Himalayas in the distant past, for there are unambiguous references to the “Seven Rivers”, which are the seven tributaries of the Indus River that are collectively called Sapta-Sindhu. For instance,
“He, men, is Indra, Who slew the Dragon, freed the Seven Rivers, and drove the kine forth from the cave of Vala” (RV 2.12.2-3).
..
One of the earliest observations along these lines came from geologist B. P. Radhakrishna, who wrote in the book Vedic Sarasvati: Evolutionary History of a Lost River of Northwestern India (1999) that,
..As and when the climate became warmer, the glaciers began to break up and the frozen water held by them surged forth in great floods, inundating the alluvial plains in front of the mountains. This was a great event and no wonder, the early inhabitants of the plains burst into song praising Lord Indra for breaking up the glaciers and releasing water which flowed out in seven mighty channels (Sapta Sindhu). The analogy of a slowly moving serpent (Ahi) for describing the Himalayan glacier is most appropriate.
..
The name Marduk was pronounced as Marutuk,7 which sounds uncannily similar to Marutvat, an epithet of Indra, which means “the leader of the Maruts” (the Maruts are a group of sky-gods who accompany Indra).
..
Marduk’s thunderbolt and the “vajra” in the hands of Indra look exactly similar; both resemble double tridents.
..
The Rigvedic hymns inform us that Indra had hurled “the bolt with thousand spikes and hundred edges” to shatter the body of Vritra and release the imprisoned waters. This seems to imply that a shower of large, sharp projectiles – most likely stony meteors or cometary debris – had impacted the Himalayan ice-caps and triggered the collapse of the ice dams, and the subsequent meltdown.
..
Even though the Rigvedic hymns generally describe Indra as a powerful god riding a chariot pulled by a pair of horses, one of the hymns praising his feat of slaying Vritra describes him as a “horse’s tail”:

“A horse’s tail wast thou when he (Vritra), O Indra, smote on thy bolt; thou, God without a second” (RV 1.32.12).

This conjures up the imagery of a comet since the curvy, white dust tail of a comet bears a resemblance to the tail or mane of a horse. The Roman philosopher Pliny mentioned a class of comets called “hippeus” or “horse comets”12, having plumes much like horses’ manes in rapid motion.
..
{My comments: See the picture of the comet below and description below the picture given in the article.}


Figure 5: Comet McNaught, the Great Comet of 2007, over the Pacific Ocean as viewed from the ESO Paranal Observatory. The white dust tail of a comet can be imagined as the tail or mane of a horse in motion. Credit: ESO/Sebastian Deiries, (CC BY 4.0)
..
The Maruts as a Comet Swarm
The idea of Indra being a “horse comet” is aligned with the hypothesis of Prof. R.N. Iyengar of the Indian Institute of Science, who had argued with substantial evidence in the paper titled, “Comets and Meteoritic Showers in the Rig Veda and their Significance”14 that the group of Rigvedic deities called Maruts, who were the followers of Indra (Indra is called Marutvat i.e. “Chief of the Maruts”), were actually “meteoritic storms”.
..
There are 33 hymns dedicated to the Maruts in the Rig Veda. They are described as a group made up of 27 to 60 fierce sons of Rudra (Shiva). Most of the hymns describe them as brilliant celestial objects who move in swarms and appear like shining stars. Their roaring sound induces fear in the minds of men, and they hurl stones that disturb the oceans, shatter mountains and human dwellings, and kill animals. Once, they created an impact crater filled with water. They also eat up the forests with their bright red flames.

Prof. Iyengar believes that such hymns can only refer to a “swarm of meteors” that periodically enter into the earth’s atmosphere and cause widespread havoc. Let us review some of these descriptions from the Rig Veda, as documented by Prof. Iyengar:
..
They move the mountains and disturb the oceans (RV I.19.5, 6, 7).
..
All creatures on earth, along with their dwellings, shake in fear that they might get hit by the weapons of Maruts. The tearing weapons of Maruts hit animals like well-aimed darts. Maruts are visible at a distance, shining like stars (RV I.166). They come in thousands like waves on water (RV I.168.4). They came down to earth together, effortless, with burning looks and shook the mountains (RV I.168.5). Far be from us, your impetuous shaft. Far from us be the stone you hurl (RV I.172.2).
..
I would like to take the argument forward and propose that the Maruts were likely to have been a “swarm of comets”. This is because the Maruts were said to be a “fixed number of deities”, numbering between 27 and 60. If the Maruts were meteoroids (which are typically small grains of dust or fist-sized pebbles) they would have burnt up and dissipated on atmospheric entry or upon striking the earth’s surface. But a swarm of comets can come close to the earth, strike the surface with stony debris, and move away, thereby retaining the number of members in the swarm.
..
We now reach a rather incredible conclusion: Indra had killed Vritra in exactly 9703 BCE! It is quite amazing to realize that, it is, in fact, possible to assign a specific date to this famous Rigvedic legend, which has its counterparts in the traditions of many other cultures.
..
The Taurid Resonant Swarm
Prof. R.N. Iyengar, whose insightful paper on comet showers in the Rig Veda I had referred to earlier, had associated the Maruts with the Taurid meteor stream. He provided specific evidence from the Vedic texts to support his argument. He wrote that the Vedic text called Taittiriya Brahmana (which is a branch of the Krishna Yajurveda) “associates a season with Maruts, namely the hemanta rtu (i.e. autumn) the dewy season, which is the two-month period ending with the winter solstice”. As we know, this is the time of the year when the Earth passes through the Northern Taurid meteor stream.
..
He further pointed out that another Vedic-era text called the Taittiriya Aranyaka (which is also a branch of the Krishna Yajurveda) mentions two different groups of related sky deities – rudra-gana and marut-gana. Prof. Iyengar wrote,
..
As Prof. Iyengar pointed out, in the Vedic astronomical texts, the sky deities called Rudra-Gana, who appeared in the summer season, were described as “white-robed”. That’s because the Beta Taurids, which is active from June 5 – July 18, is a daytime shower, and the meteors, if at all they are visible, appear as white streaks of light. On the other hand, the Vedic texts describe the marut-gana, who appear in autumn, as being “red with anger”. This is because the Northern Taurid meteors, which blaze through the skies between October 20 to December 10, have a yellow, orange or reddish hue.
..
The research carried out by Clube, Napier, Asher, and their colleagues indicate that the giant progenitor comet of the Taurids still remains hidden in the center of the Taurid stream, moving within a tightly packed swarm consisting of several minor comets formed by the fragmentation of the progenitor (all of which are probably in a dormant state), and dozens of full-size asteroids up to 1 km wide. This dense cluster of comets and asteroids within the Taurid meteor stream is called the “Taurid Resonant Swarm”.
..

[Hriday]

One significance of the above post by me about the Vedic description of comet strikes is that many are suggesting that the same comet and its fragments which ended ice age will have a high probability of hitting Earth in 2030. Graham Hancock's book Fingerprints of the Gods presents a collection of such reports including the comments by astronomers Victor Klube, Bill Napier.
The other is by Craig Stone in X.

I will post their findings in Miscellaneous thread later if I am in the mood.

For now few links given below for a quick reference.
https://x.com/Graham__Hancock/status/14 ... y3rfQ&s=19

In Magicians of the Gods (2015) & America Before (2019) I wrote about the giant comet progenitor of the Taurid meteor stream, fragments from which sparked a global cataclysm 12,800 years ago.
Now "Taurid Smoking Gun" recognised:
sciencedirect.com/science/articl…
&
discovermagazine.com/the-sciences/s…

By Craig Stone,
https://x.com/nobulart/status/179980229 ... 42q8Q&s=19

In 2030 we will experience one of these gravitational lulls at precisely the time that Encke (and the Taurids) will be making one of its closest passes to Earth since the Tunguska event. Chart shows Encke-Earth distance (blue) and Sun-SSB distance (red, scaled).

https://x.com/nobulart/status/179807372 ... J5sXQ&s=19

This comet and its companions have been convincingly cast as the the actors in the Younger Dryas impact/airburst event.
researchsquare.com/article/rs-288…

Craig Stone had a detailed writing on this topic on website. Link below.

https://nobulart.com/comets-and-dragons/