King Bali (Mahabali) was born to Devamba. The asura king was trained by was mentored by his grandfather, Prahlada and eventually succeeded him to the throne. As an asura king, Mahabali was revered for his morality and administrative prowess. He was known to be the most generous kings alive. Being overtly ambitious, he wanted to…
Category: Trivia
Meaning of GOD
So during my recent trip to Halibeedu, I had the good fortune to meet with a wonderful guide, Uma, who helped us decode the mystery of the ruined temple of the Hoysala dynasty. She told us, pointing at this statue, that this the Hindu meaning if the the word GOD: the Generator or creator (lord…
Makara, The Hoysala Mascot
Makara is a mythical animal, which was the mascot of the Hoysala dynasty and is featured prominently across all Hoysala temples. The animal has the mouth of a crocodile, ears of a cow, eyes of a monkey, body of a pig, feet of a lion and tail of a peacock.
The Original Bahubali
The first Jain Tirthankar, the story of Bahubali is nothing short of amazing. It is believed that he shed all his material belongings and stood in the open for a full year to become a Digambara monk and began meditating to attain omniscience. After a year long fast, and creepers and ants growing over him,…
Spice It Up
This in a miniature version of a traditional Indian spice box. We love flavors in our food and such boxes you will find in every household. It has spices commonly used in everyday cooking such as turmeric powder, chilli powder, mustard seeds, cumin seeds, fenugreek seeds, fennel seeds, and coriander seeds just to name a…
Through It All
~Smile Music by Charles Chaplin, Lyrics by John Turner and Geoffrey Parsons Smile, though your heart is aching Smile, even though it’s breaking When there are clouds in the sky you’ll get by If you smile through your fear and sorrow Smile and maybe tomorrow You’ll see the sun come shining through for you Light…
Don’t Look Back In Anger
“If our goal is to be tolerant of people who are different than we are… then we really are aiming quite low. Traffic jams are to be tolerated. People are to be celebrated. Glennon Doyle Melton
Nizami Pride
When cities grow rapidly in a short span of time, the infrastructure needs to grow proportionally. While that hasn’t happened in Pune yet, Bangalore and Hyderabad are fast catching up. As the airport goes out of city bounds, there are several air-conditioned buses plying across the city. This one in Hyderabad had one of the…
Shabari Ke Ber
Meera Bai’s love for Krishna is epic and the devotion of Shabari for Lord Rama is just as popular. Shabari was a tribal girl, looking for her spiritual calling. After days of hunting, she met Sage Matanga at the foot of the Mountain Rishyamukha and accepted him as her guru. As she grew old, the…
Naga Nrithya
The story of nag nrithya is very popular in Indian scriptures. Kaliya was said to be a multi-headed poisonous snake that had made Yamuna river in Vrindavan his home. The snake had spread its venom and poisoned the river, ensuring no living creature could use the water. Garuda, the foe of all serpents was cursed out of Vrindavana and…
Snapshots of my World 