The Science behind Indian Traditions and Practices- by K.R.Sekar

Introduction

Very often people opine that Indian Culture and ancient Indian practices has no connections with science etc.  Recently I read a Tweet ( I don’t want to name) where a series of tweets by so called social thinkers derided Indian Culture, Indian Ancient History and came to their own conclusion that but for the Western Culture and Western world, India would be suffering in science etc. It was a belief shared by lot that Indian traditions, practices and system lack scientific reasoning etc and all science came to us from outside India.

I am not expert on science as i studied commerce and post qualification I took Taxation. I am also not an expert in Vedas or any of the Shastras etc. but due to my interest I saw few great temples which are architecture marvels, listened to few experts, and read few books. In this process I was amazed to know about our culture, our ancientness and how our culture is interlinked with science etc. Unfortunately lot of us are still living in ignorance and it is time that we wake up from the slumber and try to understand our rich ancient culture and tradition.

Indian ancient system have everything whether it is astronomy, architecture, Mathematics and Science etc. Many people are not aware that Panchang is an astronomy and a branch of science. Some of the experts do Panchang Sadas ( Group of Experts) where they discuss the planets position for a year and also delve into scientific aspect on the implications of such planet positions.  We get Panchang one year in advance explaining the positions of planets on day to day basis, predicting the full moon day, time of sun rise and sun set and moon rise and moon set. Even today the experts say time of Sunrise and Sun set in every place of India much in advance.  Many of us may be aware that sun rise and sun set timings may not be uniform in all places in India.  Vedic Pandits who are expert in Panchang indicate the time in advance on Sunrise and Sunset in different cities in India. Is it not a science?

I was privy to a conversation between a Vedic Scholar and a leading scientist where the discussion was how Panchang Sadas (means Group of Experts ) discuss various planets positions, distance between the planets etc. not for today or tomorrow but for the next few years.  Unfortunately due to our ignorance we consider planets as related to astrology and consult astrologers and we look at Panchang for auspicious time for Rahu Kalam /Yamagandam time etc.  Due to lack of knowledge and  ignorance we don’t consider Panchang as Science.  We need to blame our ignorance and not our ancient systems and ancient literature in the form of Vedas, Shastras etc.

Science and Temples

In our culture we have “Shilpa Shastra” which is a science related to construction of temples etc. Again I was a listener few months back at Andhra Pradesh where the intricacies of “Shilpa Shastra” was discussed by various Stapathies under the auspices of Kanhi Kamakoti Mutt. (Stapathies are one who are specialized in Temple Construction.). In that entire conversation I listened to conversations on how the stones are to be selected, how the temple needs to be constructed, procedures and methods on how a building other than temple to be constructed etc.  Some of them quoted verses from our Shilpa Sastra and explained it and explained the scientific side on construction of temples.

 Due to my limited knowledge I could follow only some and not all, but I could come to one conclusion that even before the B.Arch which is part of Engineering Cuuriculum, we had Architecture science in our tradition and culture.

I give three examples of great temple construction which are architecture marvel.

1. Brahadeeshwarar Temple at Tanjore constructed by Raja Raja Chola. The Shadow of Temple Tower will not fall on earth.  Shiv Linga is a tallest one. Even after many centuries the temple is absolute beauty. One can also look Madurai Meenakshi temple for its architecture beauty.

2. Lepakshi Temple near Bangalore. This Temple is constructed on Hanging Pillar and even today it is visible. Britishers did not believe it and they tried to shake the pillar and temple moved little bit. There are many more beautiful aspects on this temple but due to limited space I am not talking about it. If we don’t have architecture in our ancient culture and system we could not have constructed such a magnificent temples which stands for many centuries.

3. Third is absolute science. In Tamil Nadu at Tirunelveli district there are famous places called Nava Tirupati which means nine temples dedicated to Lord Balaji. One of the temple has a brilliant architecture and a small statue is engraved in the pillar. This is temple is one of the oldest temples. The beauty of the statute is that one can have live experience how Ear Nose and Throat (ENT) is connected. We believe ENT has come only after we started studying Medicine. But that statute will give guidance on ENT is connected in our body and this was oldest temple and explains ENT as a part of “Human Anatomy”.

Science and Traditions and Practices

Many of us remember Bhopal Gas Tragedy which happened in 1984. I was studying college at that time. I read a news item in “The Hindu” ( those days ”The Hindu” was really good and informative) and an article in one of the magazines that a “particular location” or “family” is not impacted by Bhopal Gas Tragedy as they do and practice agnihotra every day. Later when I did a google search for the news item, I found it https://twitter.com/2LiveHolistic/status/953441719369924608 . One can read the news item and may take a conclusion. ( Agnihotra is a form of offering to god through fire and the belief is that it purifies the atmosphere. Please note there is a process for lighting the fire by Agnihotries and they will not light the fire by normal Match Box or through lighter etc.  There is an exclusive stone and wood used for that).

My parents used to insist on me washing my hands, legs when I come back to home from outside and after that only she will allow me to touch anything. Similarly when I return home from hospital or from any place (depending on the place) she used to insist on me having bath. I used to question it but during COVID time we relaised the importance of cleanliness. Similarly elders used to fast on particulars days in a month like Ekadasi/ Kritigai or Amavasya day or one day in a week and we never knew the reason as we believed it is a ritual or religious practices. Now people practice intermittent fasting for the purpose of better health.  In our every practice there was a science but we were completely ignorant.

Connect between Veda and Quantum Theory in Mathematics

There is another theory that India did not have science and India would have been scientifically under developed as we did not have roots. I was astounded when I read the following real time experience of a great mathematician with Kanchi Mahaperiya Jagadguru Sri Chandrasekarendra Saraswathy 68^th pontiff of Sri Kanchi Kamakoti Peetam.

I am reproducing the incident which I read and also the source. (Source: https://mahaperiyavaa.blog/2016/07/14/quantum-theory/- This incident has been vividly described by Shri Thiruvannamalai Gowrishankar Mama and translated by Sri Suresh P)

I once went to a place called Vaasangere in Karnataka to have His darshan. He was camping in the mines area which belonged to Sandur Maharaja. His Holiness Swamigal was a sitting on a tarpaulin along with the other devotees. Annathurai Iyengar of Veda Raksha Nidhi Trust was also there with a few students from his Veda Patashala. It was around 10.30 in the night.

The Sandur Maharaja, Maharani and their son were also there. His son was a Reader in the Department of Mathematics at Yale University in the US. He had a PhD degree in Maths. His parents were standing there respectfully before Him but he appeared to be quite casual. Swamigal conversed with the Maharaja and Maharani in Kannada for a while.

After a while He turned towards their son and asked, “Where do you live? What are you doing?”

“I am a Reader in Maths Dept at Yale University”, he replied.

“What have you studied, you have done your PhD in which branch of Maths”, He asked.

Their son did not answer for a minute, hesitating to reply as he was unsure if Swamigal could make sense of what he had studied. His father goaded him to reply.

“Quantum Theory.”, he said, matter-of-factly.

Swamigal drew a +ve sign on the mud and circled it; He also drew a -ve sign and circled it. Pointing to the two signs Swamigal asked him,

“Did you use the positive or the negative approach in your Quantum Theory PhD thesis study?”

Their son who was a bit indifferent until then, was startled to hear this from Him. He was trembling for words and suddenly became more respectful and replied, “Positive Approach.”

“Why did you not take the Negative Approach, will you do you it later”, He asked.

“It is difficult to use the Negative Approach”, he said.

Swamigal looked at Annathurai Iyengar and said, “He is saying it is difficult; can you ask the Veda students to recite this particular verse from Rig Veda?”,and prompts them with first two words.

The students recited that particular verse for 5 minutes. After this He turned to their son and said, “you must have obtained your PhD in your 24th or 25th year correct?”

“In my 25th year”, said he.

“Rig Veda, the verse which you heard now, talks both about the Positive and the Negative approaches”, He said.

The son was astonished and requested the students to recite the verse again.

“Are you now thinking that you need not have spent lakhs and lakhs of rupees for your 25 years of education and if only you had studied the Vedas you would have learnt this Truth in just 7 years?!”, replied His Holiness.

It is great to know our Vedas talked about quantum theory of Mathematics also. This story tells us that how science is interconnected with Vedas.

Connect between Chidambaram Nataraja Temple and Quantum Theorem in Physics

Few weeks back I received a Whatsapp video talk by a former Vice Chancellor of Annamalai University and he was explaining about connect between Science and Chidambaram Temple. ( Chidambaram Temple is a famous Natarajar Temple. Many of us may know that Chidambaram has a temple dedicated to Lord Natarajar. But many of us may not be aware that entire temple is based on Human Anatomy and we should spend time in that temple understanding the science behind the temple.)

After listening to the conversation I bought the book “ The Tao of Physics” An exploration of the parallels between Modern Physicals and Eastern Mysticism” by FRITZOF CAPRA.[1] ( He is a P.hd in Theoritcal Physics from University of Vienna).  In his chapter on Cosmic Dance[2] he drew parallel to Lord Shiva Dance in Chidambaram and Cosmic Dance. He drew parallel between Lord Shiva dance  and a dance of sub atomic matter. He explains the science behind Lord Shiva’s dance in page 270. “

The dance of Shiva symbolizes not only the cosmic cycles of creation and destruction, but also the daily rhythm of birth and death which is seen in Indian mysticism as the basis of all existence”. In his book he explains about atomic dance and sub atomic in Physics and concludes that “ For the modern physicists, Shivas dance is a dance of subatomic matter”.

Who knows if we do research, the latest in computer science which is Generative Artificial Intelligence may have the roots to Vedas too. !

Conclusion

Our Indian Ancient Culture, Vedas have lot of science and we are ignorant due to various reasons. Our ignorance cannot be the basis for deriding our culture, values and science in vedas. As my living god and Jagatguru says Bharat- Punyabhoomi, Karmabhoomi, Dharmabhoomi, Yogabhoomi, Tapobhoomi, Devabhoomi and Dhanyabhhomi.  Let us first learn to respect our culture, traditions and our ancient systems which has everything.

---

[1] https://www.fritjofcapra.net/about/ ( To know about him and his works)

[2] Chapter 15-Page 249 to 272

My life learnings Part 3

 

My life learnings- Part 3

 

 

Very often I used to wonder about concept of or the meaning of Karmayogi. I read about this concept in my younger days in some of the Tamil Novels like Kalki’s Thyaga Boomi which became a movie in 1940 or Madisar Mami by written Devibhala one of the Tamil Author. But I was not sure whether I could follow it in real life as, very often, we are influenced by our own thoughts and personal prejudices. However, this concept was explained through simple story which I read in a book:

“A sage was offering his morning prayers on a river bank. During that time, he observed an insect struggling to get out of the river water, as it could not withstand the strong currents of river. The sage tried to help the insect by taking in his hands and leave the insect by in river bed. But as soon as the sage leaves the insect on river bed, it would go back into the river. Every time the insect went into water, it started struggling and the sage kept on helping it by taking it out. And every time sage tried to help, the insect would bite or sting the sage’s hands and sage used to ignore. Despite the pain he felt, the sage kept trying to help the insect to take out of the water. One of the disciples of the sage, who was observing this, asked ”Every time you help the insect out, it stings you bites you and goes back in the water and struggles. Yet, you persist on helping the insect. Why?” The sage replied ”Pricking and stinging my hand is the insect’s dharma and protecting the insect from trouble is my dharma”. He taught to the disciple “Never stop your duties to others just because other person pricks you or other person tries to ignore or humiliate you”, the sage advised. I understood the concept of Karmayogi from this.

In my real life I have come across only few people who were Karmayogis. To achieve this a person should have faced more challenges in life or a person should have made lot of sacrifices to attain this level. The reason is simple. In my view people gets matured and attain wisdom only by facing and learning out of challenges. One of my real life heroes was my parents and they were real Karmayogis. Some of the learnings from my parents made a significant difference to me in my life. Let me be honest in this confession. It took time for me to realise the importance of their teachings and follow it. In my formative days I could not accept some of their teachings but later I realized the importance of those teachings. I realized the importance of it when I faced the difficult and challenging situations.

I just pick up few learnings from my parents which left an indelible mark on my life and helped me to overcome many challenging situations.

·       Have a focus on what you do and do that with utmost sincerity, honesty and with a passion. It is the hard work, passion and focus that will make the difference in life.

·       In life Relationships are more important and never spoil any relations and don’t burn bridges with anybody.

·       Duty comes first and rights need not follow with duties.

·       God brings the man in deep waters not to drown him but to cleanse him.

·       Help or support anybody without expecting anything in return as any expectations behind the help or support will lose the love and charm on relationships.

·       A person whom we help or support may go against us. But never bother as the help is a Dharma and that Dharma will protect us as an invisible hand forever.

·       Our path should be righteous path and don’t bother about the path chosen by others be a competitor or contemporary. Their path may be incorrect but your path should be correct and righteous path.

·       If any person insults or humiliates us or speaks bad about us just learn to ignore. It is as good as a person spitting on Sky by lying on floor and  facing sky. (I could not follow this advice in my earlier days as I used to have a Tit for Tat policy. But it took years for me to accept this as I realized it is futile to be confrontational.)

Failures and disappointments are part of life

Failures are part of life and in real life we face with more disappointments and more challenges. As written in my earlier blogs I have more trophies of failures and disappointments than success. Every failure and disappointment taught me to look at life in a different way.

 

My first disappointment or challenge was the day when I lost my father. I passed CA in January 1989. My father motivated me, encouraged me and he used to stay awake when I was preparing for CA exams.[1] Getting a hot milk in flask, be awake till I finish my studies in night despite he was an early riser. I got the results on January 14,1989 and I passed successfully and I was about to take my first employment on February 15 1989. Unfortunately I lost my father on February 14, 1989 morning. The only night I was away from my dad was on February 13^th night,  as I used to be with my dad and sleep in a small bed next to him from the day, I know this world. I was completely devastated and it took three to four weeks for me to overcome the loss. I listened to Adi Sankara’s song Bhaja Govindam song sung by M.S.Subbalakshmi multiple times and I listened to one para “Punarabhi Jananam Punarabhi Maranam”.

 

I realized that the best way for me to overcome is follow what my dad taught me in my life. The wisdom that I received out of all the disappointments is to leave the disappointment behind me and focus on life and go ahead with life with what I like most and what I am passionate about. The moral of the story for me from all challenges, failures and disappointments is that “ You create your own space in life. You have a role to play in life. God has created role for everybody and you fulfill that role in a more accomplished manner”. If I need to explain in practical way we are driving in highways and the road guys keep the board “Take Diversion”. We will not stop travelling and we chose the said route due to diversion and ultimately, we may reach destination. It may take time to reach but reaching destination is certain. Never ever compare our destination with other destination as the god has created destination for each person.

 

I can give  an example of great Cricketer S.Venkatraghavan. He was a great off spinner and but unfortunately, he was treated not so well by the BCCI powers at that time. The worst thing that could happen to him which cannot happen to any Cricketer was that he had to know his removal from Captaincy from Air India Pilot when he announced in flight after 1979 England Tour. I always rate his cricketing intelligence, Cricket knowledge and Cricketing Hard work as far superior to any of his contemporaries. His focus on Cricket was so high that he became the only cricket player in world to have don various roles: Indian player, Indian Captain, Indian Cricket Administrator, Indian Cricket selector, Indian Cricket Manager, Cricket Commentrator and finally the most acclaimed International Cricket Umpire.  His focus on Cricket game brought laurels to him and to game.

 

The moral of the story “It is the passion and focus that brings best from us and nothing else.”

 

Aspire for Contribution and not appreciation

 

One of the important tenets of Karmayogi is to “ Aspire for Contribution and not appreciation”. Never expect appreciation on what you have done or contributed to others as in my view God has destined you to support or help others. In life everybody cannot help or support others as, in my view, God has given that trait, ability and relations only for few to help and support others.

 

Cho S Ramaswamy[2] in his “Vande Mataram” novel gives a few life teachings before each chapter. ( It is a great novel on the lines of Charles Dickens A Tale of Two Cities.) In that novel before each chapter he says four lines about life in Sanskrit and gives Tamil translation.[3] In Chapter 12 he mentions the following four lines:

 

Sanskrit Version	Tamil Version ( Translated in English)
Swakruthasyobhakarasya athma slakanane, mudhapraphanam adamatha.	Talking by self on  help or support done to others by self is a lowest trait.
Swakruthasyobhakarasya anyamukha slakanane, mudhapraphanam Madhyamatha.	Listening to others on our help or support to others is an average trait.
Swakruthasyobhakarasya sathyovismaranam Uthamatha.	Forgetting the help or support done to others is a greatest virtue.

 

The learning for me is that “In life it is better to forget what you have done or contributed to others. Keeping a memory of that creates an unwanted or undue expectations which would spoil the relations”.

 

 

Conclusion

 

God has created this life and has given this life to enjoy. Challenges, Disappointments and failures are part of life. I believe in having a passion in what I do and focus on what I do. I am sure God has created a lovely space and destination for all and for me too.  “With the blessing of my Living God Jagadguru Kanchi Sankaracharya and with the wishes of my parents I will reach the destination destined for me.”  Where it is and what it is. It is the wish of God and my Living God.

 

---

[1] He created the interest in me in reading Literature, listening to Carnatic Classical Music etc.  

[2] Cho is a great Tamil Political Satirist and has written fantastic dramas and editor of leading Tamil Journal “Thuglak”.

[3]g There is an important twist on this Sanskrit and Tamil Translation and since it is not relevant to this blog I am not mentioning here.

 

My life learnings -2

There is a purpose behind every action- Be Positive.

 Introduction

I was recollecting few instances in my life when I had a close call and the god has protected me. Every time after the survival I used to be happy and I always think there must be some purpose behind it. Digeo Maradona used to say “Hand of God” in his winning match against England in 1986 World Cup Football. The Hand of God was visible for me in every instance, when I recollect and the net result is that it gave me more positive energy and helped me to focus more on what I do. I am recollecting four situations in my personal life and how the God has helped me on my survival.

Situation 1

It was in 1995. I was working in Hyderabad and my wife was in Chennai for the delivery of our first son. I went to Chennai and had booked return to Hyderabad by Train. Those days I used to have migraine and used to get impacted badly on that. I went to NIMS Hyderabad and they diagnosed and they gave me tablets and informed me nothing serious. I know one of the best known Neuro Surgeon and Neuro Physician from Chennai as she was treating my mother. Since I was in Chennai I went to meet the doctor to get second opinion. Doctor advised me to take Digital EEG which was new at that time in 1995. The reports were that Digital EEG is more precise that other EEG and once the diagnosis is confirmed by Digital EEG, MRI scan is more or less final for just for formal confirmation. (Please note I am not an expert on all these and I am saying what I was informed to me by Doctors.) As advised by my doctor I went and took Digital EEG and the test was complete by 2 or 3 PM, but I had to return to Hyderabad as my train was leaving from Chennai at evening. Hence I informed the doc that i would be leaving and if it is anything critical I requested the doc to inform my brothers as my eldest brother and immediate elder brother came with me to doc. Due to some reasons I missed the train and I had decided to go back to Doctor to check on my reports with my brothers. Once I reached the Hospital and met the doctor, she was worried but she was happy that I missed the train and had come back. She informed me that she suspects “Brain Tumour” and it was also confirmed by top notch Neuro Surgeon in Chennai. Both of them have decided to go for surgery next day morning or immediately and Senior Neuro Surgeon has decided to do surgery because of my age in 1995 and I was 30 years ond. The only requirement for me was to take MRI scan to confirm the suspected “Brain Tumour”. But to my disappointment both the doctors confirmed and I also spoke with Senior Doctor and he confirmed me it was “Brain Tumour”  and he gave me counselling. My eldest brother was in tears and my immediate elder brother was also shocked but he did not show. I was managing my emotions. As requested I went to Hospital to take MRI and took MRI scan. I came back to doctor on same day evening as the Hospital authorities were instructed by both the doctors to complete MRI and expedite the report though it was a Holiday. Once I met the doctors with my scan to my pleasant surprise the doctors said the scan did not reveal Brain Tumour. But both the doctors were in disbelief as the Tumour which was visible in Digital EEG but not visible in MRI. In fact in my presence both the doctors spoke to MRI Technician and took lot of clarification. Both the doctors said it is only one in Thousand will have this sort of differences and I was one amongst them and finally to my and family happiness it was concluded that I did not have Brain Tumour. ( In my boss at Nagarjuna Group language they concluded that I have a brain but not used 😊 😊)

Situation 2

In 2003. I was driving in my car from Bangalore to Chennai to celebrate Diwali with my family. My wife and Kids were travelling in my car along with my friends family and I was on wheels. At Mulbagal, suddenly I did not know what happened. I was driving at 80 to 100 KMPH but god knows what happened. My vehicle went and hit the tree on the opposite side. The vehicle was badly damaged but fortunately nothing happened to me and my family and we did not have even a smallest injury. But unfortunately my friends family were badly impacted though all of us survived but they had injuries. I was guilty as due to my driving my friends family were impacted and I used to cry for months till I saw my friends family in action which took them three to four months.

Situation 3

In 2017. I was in wheels on my Jeep at Chennai. That was early morning 4 AM at Tambaram GST Road which is the most busiest road on Highway on 24 hours. I had put right indicator and I had put my gears on neutral and I was wanting to take right near MEPZ signal at 4 AM. Suddenly an LCV came at a massive speed from behind and hit my vehicle at back. The impact of the hit was so severe that my vehicle automatically moved on the opposite side. But to my surprise no vehicle on the opposite side came at that time and my vehicle went on its own due to the impact and hit a boulder. The only good thing I was not injured and I was alone in the vehicle. No injury to me except Vehicle got badly damaged.

Situation 4

In 2021. I was badly impacted by COVID Second Wave and I was very bad. I never thought I will survive COVID as I was seeing stars on various days. My oxygen level was low and I had a high temperature. But due to the blessings of my living god I survived.

Behind every action there is a purpose

If you look all the above situations I survived and running strong. All the situations were so close and I would have had a fatal attack but I survived. Thanks to my Living God I survived on all situations. Either I should curse myself for the situations or I should be happy that I survived and emerge stronger and I should thank my living god for the blessings which made me to survive. I chose the second and I am all positive come what may be situation. Yes. I may feel bad for few minutes on the situation but I will get back due to my positive nature.  The only lesson for me is that “Behind every action there is a purpose and sometimes we may not know the purpose behind action and sometimes we will not understand the purpose behind action”. May be there is a bigger purpose behind my survival which I do not know.  Yes. I may be disappointed for a day on a bad day or bad situation but I will get back to my routines immediately with full energy. I have had lot of failures in my life and I have more trophies on failures than success but when I think about the four situations, it makes me more focused on the goals on my actions irrespective of the outcome on my actions.

The four lines that makes me more stronger at times of adversity is the lines from famous Kannadasan Song “Mayakkama Kalakkamma” from the film Sumaithangi. In that song the last four lines motivates me to run faster are the following lines: (Tamil line and English Translation.)

Tamil lines

ஏழை மனதை மாளிகை ஆக்கி
இரவும் பகலும் காவியம் பாடு

நாளை பொழுதை இறைவனுக்கு அளித்து
நடக்கும் வாழ்வில் அமைதியை தேடு

உனக்கும் கீழே உள்ளவர் கோடி
நினைத்து பார்த்து நிம்மதி நாடு

English Translation

Make the poor heart a palace
Sing poetically about night and day (sadness and joy)

Dedicate tomorrow’s time/worries to god and
Look for peace in your present life

There are crores of people worse off than you
Think about that and feel grateful and peaceful.

Conclusion

As I said in my earlier blog it is the positive optimism and positive elements in our life which will make us stronger in times of adversity. God creates both Good and Bad and we will emerge stronger at times of adversity only if we are positive and continue to talk positive. The power of optimism and positiveness will change our life and direction.

PS my blog series Part 1

Kalki's Ponniyin Selvan My blog series 1

As written in my earlier blog I wanted to write series of blog on PS as this is a story so close to my heart. This is just not about King & Kingdom and politics within but it is beyond. The Characterisations in novel was phenomenal and each character will teach something for us. I started reading this novel when i was studying 5th std in Kalki magazine  and i would have read multiple times. Even now i have hard copy of novel in my book shelf along with my other favourite books.  I pick up volume and read it whenever i feel like reading.

To start with blog let me give the character sketch on PS. I found this character sketch in Wikipedia on PS by Kalki and it depicts almost all the Characters. 

In my view  Raja Raja Cholan was the most famous king of Chola Dynasty after Karikalan and few other kings. But none of his predecessors or successors have achieved what he did during his rule 

.A few of his achievements for introduction. In subsequent blogs you may get to know more about this king his achievements, his approach etc.

1. Constructing Brihadeeshwar Temple in Tanjore which is very very unique both in terms of Architecture, beauty and size.

2. First king to create Naval fleet and spread his kingdom beyond the shores of India.  Expanded  his Kingdom through India and beyond the shores of India. Few months back there was an article on news paper that there were Chola inscriptions in China during his days and identifying Goddess Temple during his period.

3. King who taught Economics on how to manage drought period and levy of taxes without affecting citizens.

4. In sixth volume Kalki will explain his achievements 

5. while reading the novel one can understand the depth of his character and his greatness.

6. I compare this novel to two epics Ramayan and Mahabharat as it teaches a reader lot.

7. Hence subject to my time i will keep writing my blog on Kalki Ponnyin Selvan.

8. As a part of my introduction series i am giving character sketch and will start explaining each character and importance of this character in Kalki PS.

Hope Kalki pardons Manirathnam

 

Hope Kalki pardons Maniratnam

I went and watched PS 2 today with family and with two of my close family friends. I was stunned to see how Kalki's original story was changed in the movie. I understand the challenges of directors to make a movie of magnum opus novel of PS written by greatest author of all times Kalki. I would have read the story from my younger days at least around 6 times so far, as the original story has six volumes with more than 3000 pages. I still have all his novels along with Cho S Ramaswamy dramas and books. 

The  director had his own adaptation of novel but the movie is not the real story of PS authored by great author. When time permits i will write a blog on PS the original story as it is a story beyond politics and it teaches many things to a reader and not just about king and kingdom.

In my view the big differences which is critical for the story and unacceptable to me

1. Offering of crown by Raja Raja Cholan to Madurantakam (Rahman in movie) instead of Senthan Amuthan.

2. Death of Nandini in movies 

3. Aniruddha Brahmarayar was the most important character and he was chief strategist and man knows what will come in future and how he prevents. In movie he was completely sidelined. I equate Aniruddha Brahmarayar to Chanakya but nowhere it came in movie

4. Azhwarkadiyan was a great spy but in movie he was made like a comedian

5.Story line between Mandakini Aniruddha BrahamRayar Paranthaka Chola (father of Raja Raja Chola), Azhwatkadiyan etc.

The  only one good thing is that thanks to movies like PS 1 and PS 2 the younger generation started reading Kalki novels not only in Tamil but also the translated version in English. To that extent the soul of Kalki will be relieved but not on the movie. The original story talks about strategy in politics, strategy in developing an army, how a leader should lead without letting his emotions out, the qualities of great ruler Raja Raja Chola, how an advisor to leader should work behind the scenes etc.  By watching this movie the movie goer will not get anything except time pass of three hours. Let Kalki pardon the director for distorting his original story.😀