Authorship and Copyright Notice

All the work on this site is my original work. All rights reserved: Satya Sarada Kandula.

Where other sources have been quoted, they have been acknowledged.

2010 in review

The stats helper monkeys at WordPress.com mulled over how this blog did in 2010, and here’s a high level summary of its overall blog health:

The Blog-Health-o-Meter™ reads This blog is on fire!.

Crunchy numbers

The average container ship can carry about 4,500 containers. This blog was viewed about 22,000 times in 2010. If each view were a shipping container, your blog would have filled about 5 fully loaded ships.

 

In 2010, there were 8 new posts, growing the total archive of this blog to 56 posts. There was 1 picture uploaded, taking a total of 34kb.

The busiest day of the year was September 15th with 202 views. The most popular post that day was Hampi, Karnataka, India to Pāmban Island – Google Maps : did Sri Rama walk thru Banagalore?.

Where did they come from?

The top referring sites in 2010 were ancientindians.net, ancientindians.wordpress.com, en.wikipedia.org, oldthoughts.wordpress.com, and en.wordpress.com.

Some visitors came searching, mostly for deccan plateau, deccan plateau map, kishkinda, map of deccan plateau, and the deccan plateau.

Attractions in 2010

These are the posts and pages that got the most views in 2010.

1

Hampi, Karnataka, India to Pāmban Island – Google Maps : did Sri Rama walk thru Banagalore? February 2010
1 comment

2

Dhanushkodi (Dhanushkoti) – Where the Rama Sethu begins October 2009

3

Ramayana Sites in Sri Lanka December 2008

4

Hanuman crosses the ocean and reaches Sri Lanka : Sampurna Ramayanam May 2010
3 comments

5

Map of Valmiki’s Kishkinda: by Jijith N.R. December 2008

Rama’s and Bharata’s Journey Maps as described in Valmiki Ramayanam : from Ramakandam by Prof. Kandula V.N. Sarma (Kavana Sarma) – English) (via Ancient Indians – Satya Samhita)

See Index : Ancient Maps These maps have been taken from the historical work in novel form Ramakandam by Prof. Kandula V.N. Sarma (Kavana Sarma). It is copyrighted. You may use it for your personal use, but may not reproduce it without his permission. You can find the Telugu Version of the Maps Here : Ancient India Map (3) Rama’s Journey At the requests of many readers of Ancient Indians, Prof. Kandula V.N. Sarma has kindly re-created these maps … Read More

via Ancient Indians – Satya Samhita

Bhagavad Gita Online Classes : Ancient Indians University – eGurukula (via Ancient Indians University – eGurukula)

This week starting 4th Oct 2010, I am teaching Bhagavad Gita from 7.30 am to 8.30 am on Mon, Tue, Thu and Friday IST. Wed is a holiday. These are paid classes, but exemptions and rebates will be offered to deserving students. Requested payment is 7 USD or Rs 250 per class. The venue is skype., you can send me your skype-id if you wish to join. Chanting, word-by-word meanings, verse-by-verse meanings, discussions, s'ankara's Gita bhASya and some i … Read More

via Ancient Indians University – eGurukula

Hanuman crosses the ocean and reaches Sri Lanka : Sampurna Ramayanam

Sampurna Ramayanam :

Hanuman was  so powerful that his great grandfather Brahma ruled that he would not know his own strength unless someone reminded him of it. So it fell to Jambavantha, Angada and others to tell him that he could do it. And he grew in size enormously  and made it across in one giant leap! You can see this version in the lovely movie clip.

My thoughts and investigations:

• First I searched for the The fastest living primate and I found the Patas Monkey could do  55km/hr. I also found that it lives in groups of 12 as did Sugriva with Hanuman and others on RSyamUka, parvatham.

Source : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patas_Monkey

“The Patas Monkey (Erythrocebus patas) is a ground-dwelling monkey distributed over West Africa, and into East Africa. It is the only species classified in the genus Erythrocebus. The Patas Monkey avoids dense woodlands and lives in more open savanna and semi-deserts. The Patas Monkey grows to 85 cm in length, excluding the tail, which measures 75 cm. Reaching speeds of 55 km/h, it is the fastest runner among the primates.

This monkey lives in groups of about twelve individuals.”

• Then I looked for monkeys of Sri Lanka and I found that Sri Lankan Purple Faced Langur has a very long tail and a loud roar.

Image Source : http://flickr.com/photos/birdworld/2478593850/

Information Source : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Purple-faced_Langur

“The Purple-faced Langur (Trachypithecus vetulus), or Purple-faced Leaf Monkey, is a species of Old World monkey endemic to Sri Lanka. This is a long-tailed arboreal species, mainly brown with a dark facemask and paler lower face. The loud barking call, particularly of the highland form, can be mistaken for the roar of a predator such as a Leopard. “

Information Source : “http://www.theprimata.com/trachypithecus_vetulus.html “The purple-faced langur is a folivorous species, but it will also consume fruit, flowers, and seeds (Hladik, 1977). This species prefers immature leaves to more mature ones because they are high in protein and low in lignin”

• The meditating snow monkeys of the Himalayas (that I saw on Discovery channel) do look like how I imagined Hanuman. Take a look at these pictures.

http://www.markhemmings.com/MarkWebsite/snowmonkeys/pages/Snow_Monkeys_10.htm

http://www.flickr.com/photos/rachelt/1389226478/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/rachelt/1389226478/

• The current scientific opinion is that “The Homo Sapiens have been in existence from 250,000 years ago till today and they lived overlapped with H.Neanderthalensis, Erectus and Floresiensis. But from about 20,000 years ago only Homo sapiens on the planet.” - Scientific American From this I concluded that other human species co-existed with the human species at least till 20,000 years ago.

• I found that Myanmar fossil primate, Ganlea megacanina suggests the common ancestor of humans, monkeys and apes evolvedfrom large-toothed primates in Asia and not Africa.
  

  http://dsc.discovery.com/news/2009/06/30/human-ape-ancestor.html

Source : “June 30, 2009 — A new Myanmar fossil primate,Ganlea megacanina, suggests the common ancestor of humans, monkeys and apes evolvedfrom large-toothed primates in Asia and not Africa, according to new research published in the latest Proceedings of the Royal Society B.

If Myanmar, formerly called Burma, is confirmed as being the ancestral homeland of higher primates, or close to it, the discovery points to a circuitous migration route for some early primates, which must have gone to Africa and then come back to Asia.”

I realised that I was looking for a superintelligent human like being, with excellent speech with a long tail and with superlative strength and that was why I was looking among monkeys.

• Then I worked on Hanuman’s ancestry and found that genetically he was the son of Anjana, the daughter of Gautama Maharshi and of Vayu Deva. Hanuman had no Vanara genes at all. His legal father Kesari, the king of Sumeru was the Vanara. See Hanuman for more details.
• I read that the The Vanara Tribes that exist today are all humans.
• I read in the Valmiki Ramayanam, that the Vanaras had no tails when they went to Ayodhya and that they had long tails when they went to battle. Valmiki Ramayanam. See Vanaras in human form at Rama’s coronation.
• Then I started wondering whether the Vanaras were in fact humans who attached long tails at battle time and who commanded armies of monkeys!
• I started thinking of Rama Bantu Hanuman as a powerful, super – brilliant, highly educated, half Brahmin - half Deva, who was faster than everyone, possessing amazing atheletic abilities, and was totally pure and devout.
• 
• When I looked at this close up image of the Rama Sethu, that connects India and Sr Lanka, I noticed that it had a series of tiny hoppable islets.
• I found that in the Valmiki Ramayanam, Hanuman did for a fact make a few stops on the way. It was not one continuous leap. eg Mainaka, Simhika etc.
• Then in I have seen animations on the site historicalrama.org, which showed how the setu could have been built.. filling in the gaps. This story explains that very well : Hara Hara Mahadeva : The Ramayana War through the eyes of a small Vanara. (For other information that I have collected on Rama Setu, please see : Rama Sethu – A Vanara Achievement).

Conclusion : I don’t think Hanuman swam across the sky as shown in the movie clip, I think he leaped at a very high speed across the little islets

Authorship and Copyright Notice : All Rights Reserved : Satya Sarada Kandula

Hanuman meets Sri Rama (Sampurna Ramayanam and Valmiki Ramayanam)

One of the much awaited incidents in any telling of the Ramayanam, is the meeting of Rama and Hanuman. When purity personified  meets purity personified. This is one of the things that makes Kishkinda-Vijayanagar-Hampi so special. When you wander about there you may stand on the very spot where they met! This is one more reason that I very badly want to go there.

In the video clip below you can see that Hanuman first approaches Sri Rama in the guise of  a brahman, but Sri Rama identifies him at once and Hanuman sings in delight.

My thoughts :

Hanuman was a brahman on his mother’s side. His mother Anjana was the daughter of Gauthama Maharshi. We know this from the Siva Purana. He was an expert in many languages of India of the south and north, as well as sanskrit. Did this master of disguise not hide the  golden ornaments that marked his royal service well enough? Sri Rama came to Kishkinda specifically looking for Sugriva. Was it easy for him to guess that a brahman in these parts had not much business here and that he must in fact have been a minister of Sugriva? Valmiki tells us that Sri Rama was extremely intelligent. As intelligent as Brihaspati himself. Wasn’t this an easy deduction for someone of his genius? And of course, though Rama and Lakshmana dressed in bark, they did carry the weaponry given to them by Agastya, which made them extremely conspicuous.

Let us now take a look at the original Sanskrit Ramayanam (Critical Edition by Gita Press).

Valmiki Ramayanam : kishkinda kAnDa : trtIyah sargah. Page 753, Gita Press 5th edition.

At Sugriva’s bidding, Hanuman approached Sri Rama and Lakshmana in a bhikshurUpam, (in the guise of a mendicant who lives on alms). He spoke in a soft and pleasing language. He praised the virtues of Sri Rama and Lakshman – their handsome forms, theri noble gait, their powerful bodies and their divine appearance and their divine weapons.

He then introduced himself as Hanuman the minister of Sugriva and sought their friendship on his king’s behalf.

Sri Rama then addressed Lakshmana and said, “Only a person who knows the meaning of the Rg Veda, knows the Yajur Veda by heart and knows the sAma vEda also can speak so beautifully like this. He has mastered grammar perfectly. Though he has spoken such a lot, he hasn’t made a single error, with his face, eyes, forehead, eyebrows or any other part of his body. His speech is clear, sweet and emanates correctly from the chest, throat and head.” (see Siksha Vedanga).

“Any person with such a minister is bound to succeed. Please speak well to him!”

Then Lakshmana said, “Oh Vanara! Oh Wonderful Hanuman!! We have heard of your king Sugriva and are here to meet him”

Authorship and Copyright Notice : All Rights Reserved : Satya Sarada Kandula

Rama Sethu Construction (Telugu Movie – Sampurna Ramayanam)

In this video clip from the popular telugu movie sampUrNa rAmAyaNam, you can see a popular representation of how the rAma sethu was built. For a more realistic representation of how the vanaras constructed the bridge you may read :

In Telugu : http://kathakanchiki.wordpress.com/2010/02/06/hara-hara-mahadeva-story-published-in-navya/

In English: Hara Hara Mahadeva – Story Published in Navya – Kavana Sarma – Satya Sarada (English Translation)

In the days to come we will look at the description found in Valmiki Ramayanam.

See Also Rama Sethu – A Vanara Achievement

My thoughts : When I think of Sagara allowing Rama to build a bridge across the sea, I think that Sagara was not so much the sea itself, as a king who ruled the seas in that area. He refused to let Sri Rama  build a bridge across to Sri Lanka for his own reasons, when asked politely.  However, he was not eager to battle Sri Rama and Sugriva and backed down from the threat of a battle or poetically speaking from the mere twang of Sri Rama’s bow!

More Thoughts : The Uttarakanda of the Valmiki Ramayanam tells us that the Rakshasas were an exogenous race who agreed to protect the waters when asked to by Brahma. It is possible that the seas of that area were directly or indirectly protected by rakshasas. However popular view sees it as Sagara Deva, the Ocean personified.

Authorship and Copyright Notice : All Rights Reserved : Satya Sarada Kandula

Hampi, Karnataka, India to Pāmban Island – Google Maps : did Sri Rama walk thru Banagalore?

See Also : Distances coverable on foot

Hampi, Kishkinda to Rameswaram

View Larger Map

via Hampi, Karnataka, India to Pāmban Island – Google Maps.

The Ramayana War through the eyes of a small Vanara (in Telugu and English)

A story to delight the young and old..

Telugu : http://kathakanchiki.wordpress.com/2010/02/06/hara-hara-mahadeva-story-published-in-navya/

For English Translation See : Hara Hara Mahadeva – Story Published in Navya – Kavana Sarma – Satya Sarada (English Translation)

Kaveri

The links below lead to articles published By Jayanthi Mahalingam in States of India at http://dimdima.com/knowledge/kaveri.asp?tit=The+Shifting+Sands

Based on the first story in the links we can infer that Agastya was connected with the discovery of River Kaveri, in early Tretha Yuga or late Satya Yuga. When I say discovery, I want to be clear that the locals, Kishkindavasis already knew about Kaveri. Through Agastya, Kaveri became known to the northerners.

1. The Kaveri in Mythology
2. The Kaveri in Kodagu
3. Meet the Kodavas
4. The first Tributary
5. The Kaveri Enters Mysore
6. An Ancient Dam
7. Visweswaraya’s Dream
8. A Dream Fulfilled
9. Mysore’s Guardian Angel
10. In Tipu’s Domain
11. The Great Temples
12. The Shifting Sands
13. Sand Covered Temples
14. Shivasamudram
15. The Goat’s Leap
16. The Kaveri in Tamil Nadu
17. The Last Island
18. An Outpouring of Music
19. The Temple Trail
20. Journey’s End

This popular old Kannada Movie Song praises the River Kaveri well as a lady named after her.

At this link http://www.bangaloreorbit.com/rivers-in-karnataka/kaveri-river/kaveri-river.html, you can find interactive maps, photos, videos, directions, places of interest and places to stay and so on. All that you need for a Kaveri Darshan.

Authorship and Copyright Notice : All Rights Reserved : Satya Sarada Kandula

Dhanushkodi (Dhanushkoti) – Where the Rama Sethu begins

For photographs look here : http://satyaphoto.wordpress.com/2009/10/21/dhanushkodi-dhanushkoti-a-perfect-beach/

“Dhanushkoti, where Ram is said to have anointed Vibhishan the king of Lanka. To cover these places, usually people hire autorickshaws, drivers of which also double up as guides. Dhanushkoti was a Railway station in the eastern stretch of the island before 1964, when a massive cyclone not only devoured the town, but also uprooted the railway line. Old British documents are quoted to claim that there were visions to lay a railway line from Dhanushkoti to Srilanka. Now that seems like a dream, what with the current state of affairs.

The remnants of the meter gauge railway line along the road to Dhanushkoti were shown to us by the auto driver. At Dhanushkoti, lies a new temple built by some Calcuttan businessman, after the 1964 catastrophe, in which the original KodandRamar temple was inhumed, remnants of which are still visible overground. The Temple houses Ram, Sita, Lakhsman and Hanuman alongwith Vibhishan” (Source)

“Ram, local people swear, ground his dhanush (bow) in the sands after returning victorious from Lanka. And so the name Dhanushkoti.” (Source)

Another Dhanushkoti.