Month: March 2018

The Lord of Arasavalli,a painting

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The deity

…A painting in the maṇṭapa (of Sri Sūryanārāyaṇa)

The image in question: The deities in here are(spelt in Harvard-Kyoto conventions)

  • Sūryanārāyaṇa
  • Piṅgala,Daṇḍin(Citragupta,Yamarāja)
  • Mahāśvetā(between Sūryanārāyaṇa’s feet)
  • Uṣā and Pratyuṣā(the two archer Goddesses at the side,also called the Māricī-s)
  • Surya’s charioteer Aruṇa
  • The seven horses
  • Brahmā and Śiva at the sides (the central Aditya being implicitly identified with Viṣṇu)

More can be noted here for those interested in an introduction https://manasataramgini.wordpress.com/2015/08/12/a-note-on-the-pantheon-of-the-indian-saura-tradition/

Some nāma-s that are particularly recommended for constant smarana/japa from the Padma Purāṇa

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This is from before its Viṣṇu sahasranāma begins. I’ll post only the relevant ślokas

नामोच्चारणमात्रेण महापापात् प्रमुच्यते।
राम रामेति रामेति रामेति च पुनर्जपन्॥
स चाण्डालो’पि पूतात्मा जायते नात्र संशयः।
कुरुक्षेत्रं तथा काशी गया वै द्वारका तथा॥
सर्व्वं तीर्थं कृतं तेन नामोच्चारणमात्रतः।
कृष्ण कृष्णेति कृष्णेति इति वा यो जपन् पठन्॥
इह लोकं पैर्त्यज्य मोदते विष्णुसन्निधौ।
नृसिंहेति मुदा विप्र सततं प्रजपन् पठन्॥

In IAST

nāmoccāraṇamātreṇa mahāpāpāt pramucyate।
rāma rāmeti rāmeti rāmeti ca punarjapan॥
sa cāṇḍālo’pi pūtātmā jāyate nātra saṃśayaḥ।
kurukṣetraṃ tathā kāśī gayā vai dvārakā tathā॥
sarvvaṃ tīrthaṃ kṛtaṃ tena nāmoccāraṇamātrataḥ।
kṛṣṇa kṛṣṇeti kṛṣṇeti iti vā yo japan paṭhan॥
iha lokaṃ pairtyajya modate viṣṇusannidhau।
nṛsiṃheti mudā vipra satataṃ prajapan paṭhan॥

I got this(and the sahasranāma of the Padma Purāṇa) in a book titled শ্রীশ্রীবিষ্ণুর সহস্রনাম published by অক্ষয লাইব্রেরী. The author seems to be a certain দীন ভক্তদাস. Incidentally,this same version of the sahasranāma(with a different introduction) is also found in the North Indian Kṛṣṇa centred Nārada Pāñcarātra. The links to it are below

Sridevi and other stuff need not be pushed as normative queer icons

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Trigger warning:Religion. You can frankly speaking,sod off if you are anti-religious and moan about whatever -ist or patriarch or whatever I am in your cubbyholes.

(It’s primarily a reaction to this glorified blog that is a newspaper column: https://www.hindustantimes.com/bollywood/thank-you-sridevi-our-queer-icon/story-Oy6SST3RhHpSfrWSh9MZZM.html)

we saw the promise of a future where we wouldn’t lie about who we were and what we liked

All of that passes away. Though I wish I had someone in my arms,and someone who I could talk with/at-on the same level.

My queer icons are more off the beat than what activists would put forward. My icons would be the poet Raskhan,and the author Mishima. Only one muddled by activist babblings can not appreciate Mishima’s vīryam(a pale reflection of Samkarṣaṇa’s bala*),or the devotion that Raskhan put to Mādhava,which makes even every single shackle insignificant before long. It is that devotion which grants the freedom from every single shackle as easily as one breaks a rotting thread. And it’s this devotion which is in the very form of jñāna which is very rare to obtain. The yati who carries Lakṣmī’s husband in him has more freedom than any of us will ever have! (Need not even be a yati strictly speaking,Aghoremani Devi is a living testimony to that).

I do recognize that this path(and my inclinations) are not for everyone,though.Few would care,anyway. Maybe I am crazy.

*A reference to Saṃkarṣaṇa’s two predominating qualities amongst the vyūhas.