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Feb 3 • 9 tweets • 3 min read
The consort of Siva as Tyagaraja Swamy at the temple in Tiruvaroor is the Goddess Neelotpalaamba.

She is called in Tamil as Alliyankodhai from the Tamil word Alli for the flower Lily.

#ShortThread
Muthuswami Dikshitar, one of the Carnatic Trinity, and a Devi Upasaka composed hundreds of songs.

Pic: A stamp issued in honor of Dikshitar in 1976 on his 200th birth anniversary.
Well-versed in Sanskrit, Dikshitar composed groups of songs, with the first word beginning with noun declension in each of the 8 cases (vibhaktis) of Sanskrit.
The most popular of these is the Kamalaamba Navavaranas, 9 songs dedicated to the Goddess Kamalambika of the Tyagaraja Swami temple in Tiruvaroor.

I had written about them here:
indianexpress.com/article/opinio…
Slightly less well known are the Neelotpalaamba Navavaranas that Dikshitar dedicated to the Goddess Neelotpalaamba of the same temple.
Neelotpalaamba - Ambika who is as graceful as the blue lily

The Neelotpalaamba Navavaranas are also known by another name.

What is that?
Dikshitar composed all the kritis in ragams whose names end with the phrase "Gaula"

These are
NarayanaGaula
NareereetiGaula (2 kritis in this)
KannadaGaula
KedaraGaula
Gaula
MayamalavaGaula(known to all learners of Carnatic music)
PurvaGaula&
ChayaGaula
So, these Neelotpalaamba Navavaranas are also called Gaulaanta Raga Kritis.

Perhaps, we should explore these kritis dedicated to the Goddess of the Blue Lily, in detail this Navaratri.

Thank you for reading.
P.S - Here's a wonderful rendition of Sri Neelotpala Nayike by Dr. Balamurali Krishna

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More from @jeysundhar_d

Jeysundhar Profile picture
Feb 4
I'm sure if we take the date back a few centuries, we'd see that most food of the Old World depended on Pepper from India.

How do we know?

Pliny the Elder himself tells us!
"There is no year in which India does not drain the Roman Empire of 50 million sesterces"
#ShortThread
Pliny goes on to complain about pepper.
"It is quite surprising that the use of pepper has come so much into fashion... pepper has nothing in it that can plead as a recommendation to either fruit or berry, its only desirable quality being a certain pungency" Image
He continues, "and yet it is for this that we import it all the way from India! Who was the first to make trial of it as an article of food? and who, I wonder, was the man that was not content to prepare himself by hunger only for the satisfying of a greedy appetite?" Image
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Jeysundhar Profile picture
Feb 1
Aryabhatta's Aryabhattiyam contains several important principles of Mathematics.

It has a little over 300 slokas.

It begins with an invocation to God. #ShortThread
That's the translation of the first verse of the Dasagitika.

It begins with a tribute to Brahman.

In fact, it says Aryabhatta sets forth the book only AFTER having paid reverence to Brahman.
Brahmagupta was both an heir and counterpoint to Aryabhatta's legacy (One could write a whole book on Brahmagupta's criticism of Aryabhatta).

His seminal work Brahmasputa Siddhanta speaks about positive numbers, negative numbers, role of Zero, and Brahmagupta's Theorem(AF=FD)
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Jeysundhar Profile picture
Dec 16, 2021
The month of Margazhi begins today.
For these 30 days, temples and devotees celebrate the glory of the Lord in the month of Margashira.

Why this month?
Krishna says in Bhagvad Gita, among months He is Maargashira.

Maasanaam Maargasirsoham - BG 10:35 #Thiruppavai Image
The millenia-old Bhakti movement in the Tamil land found its supreme manifestation in the form of the 12 Azhvars and 63 Nayanmars.

Their literary contribution to Tamil, through the Tirumurais and NalayiraDivyaPrabhandham remains unparalleled. ImageImage
Andal was one of the 12 Azhvars, devoted to Vishnu, more specifically His form as Krishna.

She was the daughter of Vishnu Chithar, a devotee who is venerated as Periazhvar! Image
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Jeysundhar Profile picture
Dec 13, 2021
Shall we begin with a thread on the Visvanathashtakam?

(I'm using the spelling I'm comfortable with. Please forgive the non-use of diacritics)

Visvanatha is the Lord of the Universe, the form of Siva in the town of Varanasi. #KashiVishwanathCorridor
Varanasi, a city that is "Older than history, older than tradition, older even than legend, and looks twice as old as all of them put together", according to Mark Twain.

A city that is among the oldest continuously inhabited cities of the planet.
A city that like several others in the world, gets its name from the rivers which cradled civilisation on their banks.

The old town of Varanasi lies on the banks of the Varuna and Assi rivers.

(Ganga Aarti on the Assi Ghat)
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Jeysundhar Profile picture
Dec 12, 2021
You know how we hear about those songs-

with a palpable thread of sorrow woven into the tapestry of happiness that the song otherwise is.
That famed மென்சோகம், perhaps foreshadowing a latent loss.

This song from Rani Samyukta
With a Sitar, Samyukta sings about her muse, her lover, Prithviraj, about how his memory will last as long as her heart beats.

She sings about her love for him, about his love for her.
But...
But, we know, we know that the future holds tragedy.

Prithviraj will win the first battle of Tarain and then lose the 2nd one.

Their life together forever will come to a premature end.
Read 4 tweets
Jeysundhar Profile picture
Jul 20, 2021
Shall we do an Abhang thread on #aashadiekadashi ?
One of my favorites - Sundara Te Dhyan - Tukaram
This is a soothing rendition, almost as if Tukaram himself is meditating on the handsome form of Vitthala

Rahul Vellal is always a joy to listen to.
Yoga Yaga Vidhi - Dnyaneshwar

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