Halley Profile picture
28 Dec, 4 tweets, 1 min read
What do people do if they need to look for translation of a particular Sloka from Mahabharata?

I didn't realise even this simple task can be challenging.

I don't do this usually. But am trying to tap into wisdom of the crowds here.

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Am reading the below from महाभारत - शान्तिपर्व .

Looking for a good English translation of these Slokas. Any help appreciated.

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जात्या च कर्मणा चैव दुष्टं कर्म न सेवते
जात्या दुष्टश्च यः पापं न करोति स पूरुषः

जात्या प्रधानं पुरुषं कुर्वाणं कर्म धिक्कृतम्
कर्म तद् दूषयत्येनं तस्मात् कर्म न शोभनम्

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I am trying to read multiple translations to get multiple interpretations of this.

I do have one version with me and some rudimentary understanding of Sanskrit. So I understand one meaning. But am looking to see how others understood these passages.

/End

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More from @halleyji

31 Dec
One of the topics that has interested me this year is the treatment meted out to the Shamans of the indigenous peoples in Siberia by the then Soviet communist state.

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The tussle between Christianity and Communism back then is well documented. But this part of history is not as well known. Atleast no one told me.

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The famed telugu Marxist objective historians and authors seem to have ignored atleast two pieces from the Soviet chapter as they took inspiration from communism and perpetrated their hegemony in the telugu literature world

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Read 10 tweets
30 Dec
Our education system reminds me of తాంబూలాలు ఇచ్చేశాం ఇక తన్నుకు చావండి.
Translation:
Now that the betel leaves have been exchanged the wedding is solemnised and it can't be called off. What you do afterwards is your problem. We are done with our part of the deal.

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At best the state can ensure education of some kind. What happens after that is between the invisible hand of the free markets and the individual. Some get jobs some don't.

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If some folks don't get jobs perhaps they aren't good enough. May be they lack merit. They should re-skill, upskill, fight it out. State is not your father or mother to provide for you. There is no free lunch.

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Read 4 tweets
29 Dec
Reminds me of Ananda Coomaraswamy:

"How can there be either arrogance or snobbishness where there is no social ambition? It is in a society whose members aspire to “white collar” jobs, and must “keep up with the Joneses” that these vices prevail"

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This is a very modern day predicament. Not many understand this.

We live in the age of free will (atleast on paper).
"Go to a good school. Find out your passion. Work hard. Sky is the limit. The world is yours to conquer"

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That advertisement is very different from reality. But we don't blame the sales pitch. We tend to blame ourselves.
"I am unhappy or not rich enough or unable to make it big because I am not good enough"

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Read 6 tweets
12 Dec
Yesterday was the Nobel winning author Solzhenitsyn's birth anniversary.

I love these lines from one of his lectures.Kavi Samrat Viswanatha Satyanarayana pretty much said the same thing through his Telugu literary works.But ofcourse we brand him Brahminical and sideline him.

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Solzhenitsyn was a dissident against soviet tyranny so he was useful for cold war west. But he was also anti-west in the sense of criticising a godless materialistic civilisation. That part of him doesn't get as much attention.

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Excerpts from his lecture:

"On the way from the Renaissance to our days we have enriched our experience, but we have lost the concept of a Supreme Complete Entity which used to restrain our passions and our irresponsibility.."

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Read 9 tweets
11 Dec
This part of our past doesn't get the attention it deserves. Very under studied. Limited to some academic journals, publications and few activist groups.

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This is an important part of our cultural memory. Jatis played a key role.

Oppressor-oppressed, Brahminical hegemony, Hierarchical tyranny narratives don't do justice to this reality.

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Sample this from
"Perspectives on Work, Home, and Identity From Artisans in Telangana: Conversations Around Craft" by Chandan Bose (Available on Google Books)

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Read 4 tweets
11 Dec
I find Karpatriji far more helpful on this.

अवतारवाद भावना मात्र नहीं है। वह कल्पना मात्र नहीं है अथवा कोई दिमागी फितूर भी नहीं है , किन्तु सूर्य-चंद्र से भी ज्वलंत सत्य है जिसका परम प्रमाण भूत वेदों में वर्णन है। उसमे प्रारम्भ और अंत का कोई भेद नहीं है।

-Ramayana Mimansa
इन लोगों के अनुसार अवतारवाद मिथ्या हैं | अवतारवाद क्रम विकास का प्रतीक हैं |
राम और कृष्णा पहले विभिन्न जातियों के नेता थे | पश्चात क्रमशः जातीय नायक हुए , अंत में देव मान लिए गए |

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पाश्चात्य विद्वानों विशेषतः यहूदी , ईसाई तथा इस्लाम मतानुयायियों के लिए अवतारवाद कठिन पड़ता हैं

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Read 5 tweets

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