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On MB vs Ramayana

Today barring deep south, Ramayana is more popular

But MB is a more important text
Includes tracts like Bhagavad Gita, Shanti Parva
Quasi-historical recollection of Middle Vedic period

Al Biruni in 11th cen discusses MB/vAsudeva a lot
Barely mentions Ramayana
Al Biruni spent most of his time in the Northern Plains, where Ramayana reigns supreme today

So it is a surprise he is primarily focused on the Bharata epic and its protagonist vAsudeva, and not Ramayana
When did the equations change?

When did Ramayana shoot up in popularity relative to Mahabharata in North India?
Did the change happen during the age of Ramananda, when an intense devotional following likely developed around Shri Ramachandra?

Or did it happen a couple of centuries later when Tulsidas published his famous Ramayana rendering in Avadhi?
Mahabharata unlike Ramayana did not have a popular vernacular retelling in North India (at least not that I am aware of)

Ramayana's rendering in Avadhi likely caused it to move past Mahabharata in the popular North Indian consciousness
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Śrīkānta Kṛṣṇamācārya
@shrikanth_krish
Population density of any region is a direct function of the antiquity of civilization of that region

If a region has been home to continuous agrarian culture for many millennia, it will likely be very dense

Which is why Bihar is very dense. So is England

But not US or Canada
In India the "super dense" regions are Bihar, West Bengal, UP, Tamil Nadu, Punjab, Haryana, Kerala

Kerala is a bit of an exception here.

But the other regions mentioned were likely "cleared" for agriculture more thoroughly and also earlier than other parts of India
With Kerala this model sort of fails.

It is a hilly state. So I can't quite fathom what accounts for the very high density. Despite so much of the land being unavailable for agriculture
Read 3 tweets
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Śrīkānta Kṛṣṇamācārya
@shrikanth_krish
Debating on which book to splurge money on -

Gita Press's Mahabharata with verses and Hindi translation

or

Bibek Debroy's 10 volume set (in English, but without verses)
My hindi proficiency is middling, and am a very slow reader

With respect to Debroy : Feels odd to read a translation without the verses by the side
Having the verses by the side gives you a chance to improve one's Sanskrit to some extent, and enrich one's vocabulary

You miss out on that in a Debroy-like translation
Read 4 tweets
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Śrīkānta Kṛṣṇamācārya
@shrikanth_krish
As India has had a fragmented polity for millennia until the last couple of centuries, the names of provinces in India have cultural connotations

E.g. Tamil Nad, Odisha, Gurjara-Rashtra

In China, province names are purely geographic

Let's take a look at China's political map
The key to understanding Chinese province names is to be familiar with a few words

Bei - North
Nan - South
Xi - West
Dong - East
Shan - Mountain
Jiang - Territory
Xin - New
Guang - Large territory
Jing - Capital city

Qualifier : Some of these words may have multiple meanings
Now let's start with the major provinces of China -

He-Bei : North of Yellow river (Hwang He)
He-nan : South of Yellow river

Hu-Bei : North of the Hu Lake
Hu-Nan : South of the Lake

Bei-Jing : Northern Capital
Nan-Jing : Southern Capital (this is a city not a province)
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