This is a fanmade gladiator card made by me. If you want to see more cards just keep an eye on me.
Wednesday, May 30, 2018
CR Gladiator Card
Saturday, March 12, 2011
KathaSaritSagar - An Ocean of Stories
Who doesn’t love stories? From children to adult all of us love stories. For those who are in my age group and grown in either villages or small towns of India, the childhood memories will be full of stories that they would have heard from their mother, father, grandmother, grandfather, aunt, uncle, teacher or anybody else. Also there were comics and books like Chandamama, Balamitra (Chandoba in Marathi) and Amarchitra katha.
These stories used to take us into the world of imagination, where we used to see kings, queens, wicked witches, ghosts, rakshasas and what not. These used to build our imagination and they were our only source of entertainment other than the street games. Television came much later, with a single channel doordarshan!!
Most of my childhood, I used to spend more time in library rather than playing. I used to love reading books. Stories are a good tool to teach, make a point clear and also build good qualities in the reader. Unknowingly, the sub-conscious mind will absorb the teachings, when reading something interesting. We would not forget these teachings very easily. Compare it to a boring PPT presentation in corporate world!! You will understand what I mean.
One might have read about stories of Panchtantra, Eesopes fables, Vetala Pancha vimshati, Raja Vikramaditya’s stories or the students of Sanskrit might have read about the drama such as Swapna vasavadatta. Did you know that source of all these stories is same and it is a work created around 1st BC or 1st AD? Some may know or some may not. Even those who know, may not know what that original work is about and how captivating, imaginative it could be. I bet it is much better than the currently popular Stories of Narnia or Harry Potter series, authors of these stories would have got influenced by this original work, at some time or the other.
What I am talking about here is a work called “Brihat Katha”, originally written around 1st BC or 1st AD, when Shatavahana dynasty had started. It was written in language called “Paishachi”, a tribal dialect spoken by the “Pishacha” tribe living in the jungles. It was written by a author called “Gunadya” in his own blood, so that it is not stolen by Vidhyadharas and also as he had no ink in the forest, as stated in KathaSaritSagar.
The prevalent language for creating any literary work in that era was either Sanskrit, which was majorly used or at the most Prakrit. Gunadhya chose to write in Paishachi language as he had taken a vow at that point time, that he would not speak in any of the prevalent languages such as Sanskrit, Prakrit and his native language(Desh). This description is also part of this book.
This great literary work has then travelled to different parts of the world and hence even today we can find some similarities between our folk tales and the folk tales from other parts of the world. This work was later translated into Sanskrit by a poet by name Somadeva Bhatta in the court of Kashmiri king.
To give you a glimpse of the size of this work, it consists of 18 books of 124 chapters and more than 21,000 verses in addition to prose sections. (Wikipedia)
The story narration style is also very interesting. To all those geeks out there, to explain in your own language it is like a main program which is running and then there would be a function call, which will call one more function, which further calls one and the flow subsequently returns back successively to the main program. Main program would continue for some more time with again with a fresh nested function call.
To make it clear to all those non-geeks, there would be a main story running. A character in the main story, to illustrate what it is saying would start telling a story. In that story again a character to make a point clear would tell one more short story. As the stories get over the flow returns back to the main story and main story continues. It is very interesting style of storytelling and very captivating too.
This story is about the story of 7 Vidhyadhar kings and associated stories. At present only the story of 1 Vidhyadhar king, Naravahanadatta, son of famed kind Udayana. (Do you remember famous Sanskrit play “Swapna Vasava Datta”?) All other stories were burnt by the Gunadya himself and why he did so is also part of the story. Originally it contained 700,000 couplets and it took seven years for him to complete this work.
I was lucky to get the copy of translated Katha sarith sagara, translated into Kannada, printed and published in 1936 by Pandit Chidambara Shastry. I read it during my second year of Engineering and it mesmerized me so much, I am a great fan of it. I regret, I could not get other volumes then. But now I have found a scanned copy of original English translation, by C.H. TAWNEY, Published in 1880. I can’t wait to read it.
I will sign off here and do share with me your memories of stories heard in childhood.
These stories used to take us into the world of imagination, where we used to see kings, queens, wicked witches, ghosts, rakshasas and what not. These used to build our imagination and they were our only source of entertainment other than the street games. Television came much later, with a single channel doordarshan!!
Most of my childhood, I used to spend more time in library rather than playing. I used to love reading books. Stories are a good tool to teach, make a point clear and also build good qualities in the reader. Unknowingly, the sub-conscious mind will absorb the teachings, when reading something interesting. We would not forget these teachings very easily. Compare it to a boring PPT presentation in corporate world!! You will understand what I mean.
One might have read about stories of Panchtantra, Eesopes fables, Vetala Pancha vimshati, Raja Vikramaditya’s stories or the students of Sanskrit might have read about the drama such as Swapna vasavadatta. Did you know that source of all these stories is same and it is a work created around 1st BC or 1st AD? Some may know or some may not. Even those who know, may not know what that original work is about and how captivating, imaginative it could be. I bet it is much better than the currently popular Stories of Narnia or Harry Potter series, authors of these stories would have got influenced by this original work, at some time or the other.
What I am talking about here is a work called “Brihat Katha”, originally written around 1st BC or 1st AD, when Shatavahana dynasty had started. It was written in language called “Paishachi”, a tribal dialect spoken by the “Pishacha” tribe living in the jungles. It was written by a author called “Gunadya” in his own blood, so that it is not stolen by Vidhyadharas and also as he had no ink in the forest, as stated in KathaSaritSagar.
The prevalent language for creating any literary work in that era was either Sanskrit, which was majorly used or at the most Prakrit. Gunadhya chose to write in Paishachi language as he had taken a vow at that point time, that he would not speak in any of the prevalent languages such as Sanskrit, Prakrit and his native language(Desh). This description is also part of this book.
This great literary work has then travelled to different parts of the world and hence even today we can find some similarities between our folk tales and the folk tales from other parts of the world. This work was later translated into Sanskrit by a poet by name Somadeva Bhatta in the court of Kashmiri king.
To give you a glimpse of the size of this work, it consists of 18 books of 124 chapters and more than 21,000 verses in addition to prose sections. (Wikipedia)
The story narration style is also very interesting. To all those geeks out there, to explain in your own language it is like a main program which is running and then there would be a function call, which will call one more function, which further calls one and the flow subsequently returns back successively to the main program. Main program would continue for some more time with again with a fresh nested function call.
To make it clear to all those non-geeks, there would be a main story running. A character in the main story, to illustrate what it is saying would start telling a story. In that story again a character to make a point clear would tell one more short story. As the stories get over the flow returns back to the main story and main story continues. It is very interesting style of storytelling and very captivating too.
This story is about the story of 7 Vidhyadhar kings and associated stories. At present only the story of 1 Vidhyadhar king, Naravahanadatta, son of famed kind Udayana. (Do you remember famous Sanskrit play “Swapna Vasava Datta”?) All other stories were burnt by the Gunadya himself and why he did so is also part of the story. Originally it contained 700,000 couplets and it took seven years for him to complete this work.
I was lucky to get the copy of translated Katha sarith sagara, translated into Kannada, printed and published in 1936 by Pandit Chidambara Shastry. I read it during my second year of Engineering and it mesmerized me so much, I am a great fan of it. I regret, I could not get other volumes then. But now I have found a scanned copy of original English translation, by C.H. TAWNEY, Published in 1880. I can’t wait to read it.
I will sign off here and do share with me your memories of stories heard in childhood.
Saturday, March 5, 2011
The joy of giving
Hello Everybody!!
Recently there was news of Chairman of Wipro Ajim Premji donating 8.6% stake to his own charity foundation, dedicated for education. This translates to approximately 8,846 crores at present market price. Similarly you might have read about Bill gates has donated more than US$ 2 billion to Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation having Global Health Program as one of its activity. Warren Buffett, who was world’s richest person in 2006 has donated shares worth US$30 billion for philanthropic purposes. (Source: Wikipedia)
What drives these great people to donate such huge sums for philanthropy? At dizzying heights of their successful careers, there is always a void, a search for inner peace. This is achieved by giving away what they have earned, through the years, giving back to society. It is like returning the water taken from pool back to the pool. For those who have heard Carnatic music, you may recall the famous composition of Purandara dasa, “Kereya neeranu kerege chelli, varava padedavarante kaniro”. It means in kannada, by returning the water taken from the pool, back to the pool, they got the boons.
The boons may be in any form. It might be a simple joy, inner peace or sense of achievement, sense of gratitude. I remember a phrase from a Sanskrit Subhashita read in childhood, “Paropakarartham idam shariram”. To rephrase the content of this subhashita, it says, for the benefit of others the trees gives fruits, for the benefit of others the cows give milk, for the benefit of others the rivers flow. This body is meant for the benefit of others.
I would like to share one of my personal experiences. In my earlier organization, there was an organization wide initiative called “Healthy Mind in a Healthy body”. Under this initiative, the company was offering free medical checkup for all senior executives, above the age of 35 years. For getting this medical checkup done, one fine Saturday morning I went to the Apollo Hospital in Malleshwaram, Bangalore. Malleshwaram is at the heart of the city and one of the most beautiful old residential areas of Bangalore. I reached hospital and finished the tests before taking food. I was asked to go to nearby canteen to have breakfast and then come back for remaining tests.
I was having breakfast at the small canteen adjacent to hospital. I saw a woman, lean and thin standing near the entrance. She was like pity personified and hesitation was showing on her face and she was looking to be in deep sorrow. She was having some hospital related documents in her hand and trying to talk to the cashier, who was apparently trying to shoo her away. Then she came inside asking people to help her. One are two people gave some two or three rupees, which she received with gratitude. Then she came near my seat. I enquired what her problem was. She said that her husband has been admitted in the hospital and she has deposit some money at hospital for treatment. Somebody had pickpocketed her money in the bus and she did not have any money at all. She said she needs money to go to her village and bring back the money for depositing at hospital. I asked her the details of her village, the bus fare to get there and her husband’s condition. She said bus fare is 70 rupees. I was convinced it was a genuine case and gave her 100 rupees. When I gave her the money, I could notice her eyes filled with tears of gratitude. The satisfaction I got by this deed was worth more than any other activity, a 100 rupees can buy. In this era, when prices are sky rocketing, a 100 rupees can buy very little.
After this incident, I was thinking, what would have happened at that time and at that location I was not there. Probably nothing would have happened. She would have found some means to reach her home town, but I would have missed an opportunity to give.
In a recent scientific research, it has been proven that endorphins get released in our body, when we indulge in the act of giving. Endorphins are secreted by pituitary gland in our body, which act as neurotransmitters. They create a feeling of well-being and peace in the body. What is given is not important, but the act and selflessness in the act of giving is important. One should not give with hidden motivation of getting something in return. Do not expect anything and give with your full heart and experience the joy!! I am sure we all have had many such instances of joy in our life till now. It is in our hand how we can increase that joy within ourself and in our surrounding. Selflessness is the key.
When I mean giving it may not be a physical item, it could be a selfless service you provide to your customers, your friends, colleagues, family or society. Or it could be the kind words to pacify some body in distress, without any hidden motive. It could be lending your ears and listening patiently to your subordinates and colleagues.
In many companies, already many senior executives are involved in philanthropic activities. I got a chance to speak to number of such executives, who mentioned that they are working towards mobilizing funds for the eduction and other such philonthropic works. In my company, the HR VP, Sanjay Khorate has a blog created for providing support for the school where he had studied and group of their friends providing all kind of support, both monetary and service.
There is some responsibility associated with the act of giving. When we are giving we need to ensure that the receiving party is worthy of receiving. Otherwise it will become “Apartha Dan” or donation given to not worthy people.
I will sign off here with wishing you all good luck and happiness. Discover the joy of giving and share your experiences. I would love to hear your personal experiences where you have experienced the joy of giving. Please leave your comments.
Recently there was news of Chairman of Wipro Ajim Premji donating 8.6% stake to his own charity foundation, dedicated for education. This translates to approximately 8,846 crores at present market price. Similarly you might have read about Bill gates has donated more than US$ 2 billion to Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation having Global Health Program as one of its activity. Warren Buffett, who was world’s richest person in 2006 has donated shares worth US$30 billion for philanthropic purposes. (Source: Wikipedia)
What drives these great people to donate such huge sums for philanthropy? At dizzying heights of their successful careers, there is always a void, a search for inner peace. This is achieved by giving away what they have earned, through the years, giving back to society. It is like returning the water taken from pool back to the pool. For those who have heard Carnatic music, you may recall the famous composition of Purandara dasa, “Kereya neeranu kerege chelli, varava padedavarante kaniro”. It means in kannada, by returning the water taken from the pool, back to the pool, they got the boons.
The boons may be in any form. It might be a simple joy, inner peace or sense of achievement, sense of gratitude. I remember a phrase from a Sanskrit Subhashita read in childhood, “Paropakarartham idam shariram”. To rephrase the content of this subhashita, it says, for the benefit of others the trees gives fruits, for the benefit of others the cows give milk, for the benefit of others the rivers flow. This body is meant for the benefit of others.
I would like to share one of my personal experiences. In my earlier organization, there was an organization wide initiative called “Healthy Mind in a Healthy body”. Under this initiative, the company was offering free medical checkup for all senior executives, above the age of 35 years. For getting this medical checkup done, one fine Saturday morning I went to the Apollo Hospital in Malleshwaram, Bangalore. Malleshwaram is at the heart of the city and one of the most beautiful old residential areas of Bangalore. I reached hospital and finished the tests before taking food. I was asked to go to nearby canteen to have breakfast and then come back for remaining tests.
I was having breakfast at the small canteen adjacent to hospital. I saw a woman, lean and thin standing near the entrance. She was like pity personified and hesitation was showing on her face and she was looking to be in deep sorrow. She was having some hospital related documents in her hand and trying to talk to the cashier, who was apparently trying to shoo her away. Then she came inside asking people to help her. One are two people gave some two or three rupees, which she received with gratitude. Then she came near my seat. I enquired what her problem was. She said that her husband has been admitted in the hospital and she has deposit some money at hospital for treatment. Somebody had pickpocketed her money in the bus and she did not have any money at all. She said she needs money to go to her village and bring back the money for depositing at hospital. I asked her the details of her village, the bus fare to get there and her husband’s condition. She said bus fare is 70 rupees. I was convinced it was a genuine case and gave her 100 rupees. When I gave her the money, I could notice her eyes filled with tears of gratitude. The satisfaction I got by this deed was worth more than any other activity, a 100 rupees can buy. In this era, when prices are sky rocketing, a 100 rupees can buy very little.
After this incident, I was thinking, what would have happened at that time and at that location I was not there. Probably nothing would have happened. She would have found some means to reach her home town, but I would have missed an opportunity to give.
In a recent scientific research, it has been proven that endorphins get released in our body, when we indulge in the act of giving. Endorphins are secreted by pituitary gland in our body, which act as neurotransmitters. They create a feeling of well-being and peace in the body. What is given is not important, but the act and selflessness in the act of giving is important. One should not give with hidden motivation of getting something in return. Do not expect anything and give with your full heart and experience the joy!! I am sure we all have had many such instances of joy in our life till now. It is in our hand how we can increase that joy within ourself and in our surrounding. Selflessness is the key.
When I mean giving it may not be a physical item, it could be a selfless service you provide to your customers, your friends, colleagues, family or society. Or it could be the kind words to pacify some body in distress, without any hidden motive. It could be lending your ears and listening patiently to your subordinates and colleagues.
In many companies, already many senior executives are involved in philanthropic activities. I got a chance to speak to number of such executives, who mentioned that they are working towards mobilizing funds for the eduction and other such philonthropic works. In my company, the HR VP, Sanjay Khorate has a blog created for providing support for the school where he had studied and group of their friends providing all kind of support, both monetary and service.
There is some responsibility associated with the act of giving. When we are giving we need to ensure that the receiving party is worthy of receiving. Otherwise it will become “Apartha Dan” or donation given to not worthy people.
I will sign off here with wishing you all good luck and happiness. Discover the joy of giving and share your experiences. I would love to hear your personal experiences where you have experienced the joy of giving. Please leave your comments.
Friday, March 4, 2011
Beauty of Vedic Mathemetics
Blog is a wonderful way to connect with people. There are some nice blogs posted on the internet. I had been busy and lazy all these days and had not written anything. After a long gap I am writing. Hope you would enjoy this.
Well, I wrote this blog after I moved to Pune, in Maharastra state, from Bangalore. I wrote this blog on the third day, after relocating to Pune. I joined a company called Vertex and am already feeling at home! Certainly, here at Vertex I have felt the warmth of all Vertexians and thank to all for making me feel at home.
The idea of this blog occurred to me, when I was reading the blogs by other vertexians. I was chatting casually with my colleague, Chaitanya and team and they mentioned about a vertexian currently in Japan and he has written a book about mathematics, which led to discussion of Vedic mathematics. That small chat made me to write this blog, thanks to Chaitanya!
Mathematics was not my cup of tea in childhood. It always used to be a difficult subject and I am sure many of you would agree with me. With all the complications of algebra, arithmetic, analytical geometry, trigonometry and number of formulae to be memorized, it used be like an unsolved puzzle.
In Japan, there are number of educational TV programs and in one such program, I saw a professor teaching integration. Lot of graphical pictures and graphs were used to explain, what the equation really means. Always visualization makes things more interesting. Where as in India, we learn mathematics my memorizing tables and formulae and most of the time we are not sure, why we have to learn and where it can be applied.
Talking about the mathematics learnt in a western way, there is one more method, which was used in ancient India. In the second year of my engineering, I got a chance to read a book on Vedic Mathematics, thanks to my roommate Amit. That book changed my perception about mathematics and made me to appreciate the beauty of numbers and mathematics.
This book called “Vedic Mathematics” is written by JAGATGURU SHANKARACHARYA SHRI BHARATI KRISHNA TEERTHA, who is a seer passionate about mathematics.
Following is the quote from the preface of the same book.
“Revered Guruji used to say that he had reconstructed the sixteen mathematical formulae from the Atharvaveda after assiduous research and ‘Tapas’ (austerity) for about eight years in the forests surrounding Sringeri. Obviously these formulae are not to be found in the present recensions of Atharvaveda. They were actually reconstructed, on the basis of intuitive revelation, from materials scattered here and there in the Atharvaveda.”
(Courtesy: http://www.hinduism.co.za/vedic.htm#Vedic Mathematics )
Using the above said 16 formulae, any of the mathematical problems can be solved with great ease and one can calculate long multiplication and division problems mentally.
Let me show you this with an example:
There is a Sutra called “Ekadhikena Purvena”, which means one greater than the previous one.
Applying this to the squaring of numbers ending with 5, one can mentally calculate and give the answer.
For example we know that 152 = 225, 252 = 625, 352 = 1225, 852 = 7225.
The above can be calculated by applying above sutra as follows:
In the number 85, the number adjacent to 5 is 8, which needs to be increased by one. This increased number is multiplied by the original number, that is 8 X 9 = 72. In front of this add square of 5, which is 25. This gives the answer 7225. Now you can try mentally calculating the squares of 45, 55, 65 and so on and cross verify with calculator.
In vedas, the slokas have encoded meaning, since in Sanskrit each alphabet has a numerical value. So while a sloka might be praising lord Krishna, when decoded it could give a solution to a complex mathematic problem, architectural problem etc., such was the wisdom of ancient India.
Following URL has more such information on Vedic mathematics and some problems.
http://www.hinduism.co.za/vedic.htm#Vedic Mathematics
I will sign off here and have a nice day!! Do let me know your feedback.
Friday, November 27, 2009
Why this blog?
Hello world!!
I have stepped into the world of blogging.
Phew!! am I nervous? Yes. I am. Am I thrilled. Very much.
The thought of writing and sharing my ideas itself is filling energy into me. All these years I had thought of writing, but never had the courage to write. I was thinking may be nobody would be interested in what I would write. May be my thoughts are childish. May be.. May be..
Now I have realized that it is better to share the thought and let it flow out. The more I share the more I learn. Yes. I feel I will be a student for my entire life and want to learn from any available source. What I know is so insignificant when I think of the vastness of this universe. So, never we are masters in any discipline. We know so little, still we are so proud of ourselves.
By the way, I named my blog as vicharalahari. The reason is, I plan to blog as the thoughts come into my mind. Like waves of the sea!! The thougts (Vichara in sanskrit language) come as waves (Lahari in sanskrit) and keep bombarding.
So, let me see how far I can go in this vast sea!!
I have stepped into the world of blogging.
Phew!! am I nervous? Yes. I am. Am I thrilled. Very much.
The thought of writing and sharing my ideas itself is filling energy into me. All these years I had thought of writing, but never had the courage to write. I was thinking may be nobody would be interested in what I would write. May be my thoughts are childish. May be.. May be..
Now I have realized that it is better to share the thought and let it flow out. The more I share the more I learn. Yes. I feel I will be a student for my entire life and want to learn from any available source. What I know is so insignificant when I think of the vastness of this universe. So, never we are masters in any discipline. We know so little, still we are so proud of ourselves.
By the way, I named my blog as vicharalahari. The reason is, I plan to blog as the thoughts come into my mind. Like waves of the sea!! The thougts (Vichara in sanskrit language) come as waves (Lahari in sanskrit) and keep bombarding.
So, let me see how far I can go in this vast sea!!
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