Ram-Rajya

Published on 27th August, 2022, in Times of India. About 700 years ago, on the banks of Tungabhadra, in Karnataka, as per legend, two brothers known as Harihara and Bukka, saw hares turning around and attacking hunting hounds. They realised that land was special - a place of resistance. So they decided to build a city there, known as Vijayanagara that would resist the southern march of ‘Turuku Dharma’ that had overwhelmed much of North India. They were, as per later legends, inspired by Vidyaranya of Sringeri, head of a Hindu monastic order, that had been established by Adi Shankara, who 1300 years ago, again ..

Published on 17th March, 2019, in Mumbai Mirror. King Nriga was cursed to be a lizard because he, without realising it, stole from one of his subjects. Nriga was known for donating cows to the sages of his kingdom. One of the donated cows slipped out of her master’s cowshed and returned to the royal cowshed. Since the royal cowshed had thousands of cows none of the royal servants noticed her return. Nriga then gave the same cow to another sage. When this sage was returning to his hermitage with Nriga’s gift, the first sage recognised his cow, claimed ownership over her, and accused the ..