Category Archives: Language & Thought
The Small Coin of a Loud Era: A Lament for the Castration of English
Mind your language, please !
Canonisation of the Divya Prabandhams through Maṇipravāḷam: A Double-Edged Sword?
The canonisation of the Āḻvār hymns as the Nālāyira Divya Prabandham preserved an extraordinary body of Tamil devotional poetry, sustained its temple life, and generated the sophisticated bilingual tradition of Maṇipravāḷam.
Yet the same process also placed the hymns within a specialised theological interpretive grammar, limiting their wider circulation as literature.
This essay examines that double-edged legacy and asks how the Divya Prabandham might be restored to the broader Tamil literary imagination without diminishing its Śrīvaiṣṇava identity.
The “Pentagon Smokescreen”: The World’s Best-Selling, Most Expensive Literary Genre
A sharp, tongue-in-cheek satirical spoof inside an elite military academy, revealing how the Pentagon rebrands raw violence, failed excursions, and exorbitant budgets into clinical, bureaucratic corporate synergistic spin.
When Ideology Blinds Us to Beauty: In Defence of “Sangha Tamizh”
By Sudarshan MadabushiSeptember 10, 2026, Chennai, India “நீ ப்ரணதார்த்திஹரனோடா? நீ ப்ரணதார்த்திகரனாக்கும்.”“Are you with the Lord who removes devotees’ distress?No—you’re the one who causes distress to those around you!” This was a Sanskrit teacher’s favourite way of reprimanding a naughty classmate while tweaking the boy’s ears — And the incident was narrated to me with nostalgicContinue reading “When Ideology Blinds Us to Beauty: In Defence of “Sangha Tamizh””
The Brahma–Brahman Knot / பிரம்மம்–பிரம்மா முடிச்சு
A Light-Hearted Guide for the “Incompetent Reader” of Sanskrit / சமஸ்கிருதத்தின் “அறிவில் இன்னும் பயிற்சி பெறாத வாசகருக்கு” ஒரு நகைச்சுவை கலந்த வழிகாட்டி By Sudarshan Madabushi August 31, 2026: Chennai, India 1. The Day I Became an “Incompetent Reader” / நான் “பயிற்சி குறைந்த வாசகன்” ஆன நாள் It began innocently enough. I was reading about the Upaniṣads, where BrahmanContinue reading “The Brahma–Brahman Knot / பிரம்மம்–பிரம்மா முடிச்சு”