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”
Tag Archives: Language and Culture
The Twin Pillars of “Bharatiya Sanskriti”: Mapping the “Purusharthas” through Epic Thesis and Anti-Thesis, the “Yin and the Yang”
by M.K.Sudarshan August 12, 2026: Chennai, India 📌 At a Glance: The Architecture of Indian Civilization “What is Bharatiya Sanskriti? Look no further than the two epics. The Ramayana is all about what Dharma is, and the Mahabharata is all about what Dharma is not.” ⚖️ DHARMA (Virtue): The unyielding standard of absolute self-sacrifice (Rama’s exile)Continue reading “The Twin Pillars of “Bharatiya Sanskriti”: Mapping the “Purusharthas” through Epic Thesis and Anti-Thesis, the “Yin and the Yang””
“Ekam sath viprah: bahudah vadanti”: is not about Inclusivity but Universality
Arguing that the Rg Veda’s ideal of “Ekam Sath” is not an inclusive one and that it refers only to the various gods mentioned in a specific line of the concerned Rg Veda text is founded on misunderstanding. If the argument is to be accepted then the Universality of the very idea of Dharma upon which the Vedic Faith is founded gets negated!
Reading the short-story “The Choice” (சாய்ஸ்) through a Vedantic Lens … with Indira Parthasarathy and J. Raghunathan
J. Raghunathan’s short story The Choice is compelling not merely because it stages a conflict between patriotic duty and domestic love, but because it leaves the moral structure of that conflict unresolved in a fruitful way. The story’s emotional power lies in the fact that the reader is never allowed the comfort of a simpleContinue reading “Reading the short-story “The Choice” (சாய்ஸ்) through a Vedantic Lens … with Indira Parthasarathy and J. Raghunathan”
Tamil Iyengars’s Quixotic squabbles
A note on the 500 years old Thenkalai Vadakalai wars of Southern India A Substack blog post on “Amaruvi Aphorisms“ is copied here below ⬇️ Sudarshan Madabushi https://mylapore.substack.com/p/tamil-iyengarss-quixotic-squabbles AMARUVI DEVANATHAN MAY 23, 2026 Subscriber Note Let me begin with a personal note. I belong to the Vadakalai school of thought. When I had sought toContinue reading “Tamil Iyengars’s Quixotic squabbles “
The colonial mindset of the Editors of UK’s ‘The Economist’ needs fresh lessons in Indian History
As usual, the UK Economist peddles once again in its columns a perversely colonialist perspective on Indian History. Will some learned Indian historian please impart to these washed up editors of this fossilised imperialistic relic of British journalism, fresh lessons in understanding the nuances of Indian History and Culture? The Economist suggests that there areContinue reading “The colonial mindset of the Editors of UK’s ‘The Economist’ needs fresh lessons in Indian History”
சோம்பரை உகத்தி போலும்….” and “lazy bones”: transformation from the Ravanesque to the Rama-like .
For the last couple of years it’s been my privilege and personal delight to be corresponding via WhatsApp messages with the well-known writer, novelist, playwright and scholar, Sri. Indira Parthasarathy (pen name “Eepa”) almost daily while we casually discuss a whole range of subjects of mutual interest — mostly Tamil and English literature but occasionallyContinue reading “சோம்பரை உகத்தி போலும்….” and “lazy bones”: transformation from the Ravanesque to the Rama-like .”
India: “no country for intellectuals”?
https://open.substack.com/pub/thedigitalmeadow/p/the-death-of-the-public-intellectual?utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web The above article is an excellent commentary on the subject of the waning vigour of the traditions of intellectualism in public debate within the general life of societies right across the globe. Why is the modern public intellectual a dying species? The above essay traces the cause to many reasons in America. But afterContinue reading “India: “no country for intellectuals”?”
Yesterday 10 July 2025: Happy 95th Birthday greetings to Sri Indira Parthasarathy (Eepa): My gift to a very dear friendly guide and outstanding doyen of Tamil literature
“The Middlemen of Vedapura”: A Masterful Translation That Transcends the Original By Indira ParthasarathyTranslated by M.K. SudarshanBlueRose Publishers, 2025★★★★★ (5/5 stars) A Translation That Becomes Transformation There’s something audacious about claiming that a translation surpasses its original, yet M.K. Sudarshan’s English rendering of Indira Parthasarathy’s 1995 Tamil novel “Vedapuratthu Vyaabaarigal” achieves precisely this feat. TheContinue reading “Yesterday 10 July 2025: Happy 95th Birthday greetings to Sri Indira Parthasarathy (Eepa): My gift to a very dear friendly guide and outstanding doyen of Tamil literature”
The “bounty-killers” of Keezhadi archaeology
There was this Rediff Op-Ed piece on the subject Dt. June 2nd 2025 which elicited a lot of discussion amongst a small group of email-friends of mine yesterday. https://www.rediff.com/news/column/n-sathiya-moorthy-why-stalin-is-pushing-keeladi-over-indus-valley/20250602.htm One of the friends … a retired senior bureaucrat, corporate executive, international consultant, government advisor , all rolled into one as a man of many distinguishedContinue reading “The “bounty-killers” of Keezhadi archaeology”