He was disheartened by obstacles preventing him from finding a way to cross the sea.
He receives guidance from a local who asks him to visit Uppur Vinayaga temple:
‘You will recognize the temple by the first rays of the sun falling on the deity'
Ram prays to Vinayaka here who had earlier pardoned Surya's sins for attending Daksha's yagna. The temple is called Veyil Ugantha Vinayagar temple.
Uppur = Lavanapuram
As is customary, Ram propitiates Vinayakar before beginning his campaign.
Ram moves south to Devipattinam, to Kadal Adaitha Jagannatha Temple. Here, he examines his horoscope & finds that the planets are not favoring his journey.
He prays to the planets by making sand idols. However, each time Rama set the idols for pooja, the sea would wash them away
Finally, the Sudarshana Chakra in the temple recognised its master.
It came whirring at the sea, forcing it to recede so that Ram could consecrate the idols.
This temple is in Devipattinam & is often confused with the temple in Thirupullani.
After their victory and crowning Vibheeshana as prince, he requests Ram to destroy the bridge.
This is at Dhanushkodi, which literally means "Bow tipping over"
Every inch of Rameswaram & Dhanushkodi island is connected with Ramayana.
In an age where politicians say "I am from Tamilnadu and I do not know who Rama is", it is essential to educate oneself with the geography of this sacred land.
Jai Shri Ram.
Source: 1. In the footsteps of Rama by Vikrant Pande & Neelesh Kulkarni
Book Review of Dushyanth Sridhar's much discussed recent book: 'Ramayanam Vol 1'
In this book review, we'll discuss it all: What was exceptional, what was good, what was okay, what can be improved, and yes, what was controversial. And if this book is recommended or not.
(1/10)
This carefully planned volume has 108 chapters - and Dushyanth starts it off by paying obeisance to his Gurus.
The book doesn't start with Bala Kanda as usually narrated, but from a scene in Uttara Kanda & then ties back to Bala Kanda.
It ends with an underrated Pattabhisheka!
After establishing the groundwork on who Valmiki is, and the context in which he writes the Adikavya Ramayana, the story starts from 8th chapter onwards.
The entire book then follows this style: Where the narrator Valmiki tells the story and stops in between to clarify queries with Narada who accompanies him in the Ashrama as he composes this sacred text.
Some of their exchanges are information - dense, and are probably seamlessly integrated from commentaries of Vedanta Desika, Nampillai, Madhva etc. This is very well done.
What does the strategist and writer Cho have to say about the recent Ramayana dating controversy?
Although Cho isn't alive today, he has shared his opinion on this topic in the preface to his immortal work 'Hindu Maha Samudhram'.
And he does take a clear side. A thread (1/8)
Cho starts his 6 volume compendium of Hindu Maha Samudhram with the traditional mantra for Sankalpa, & proceeds to explain the math behind Brahma's 1 day equaling 4.32 lakh human years.
He contrasts the western date 14/1/2005 with the Sankalpa date as per Sveta Varaha Kalpa.
He says that this traditional dating of lakhs of years may seem untenable to the civilized mind which limits all of recorded human history based on Greek and Chinese civilizations to 3000 BCE.
Is this 3000 BCE dating free of errors - Cho asks.
And he answers it quite clearly.
Did Rama live in Treta Yuga lakhs of years ago, or in 5114 BCE?
Is there an element of truth in the astro-logical/nomical analysis that date Ramayana to our history?
Is there merit to this intellectual exercise of chronologizing an Itihasa or is it pointless?
A thread (1/8)
Every book must first know its audience and their intellectual context.
There's an Indic mind that's capable of visualizing one Brahma's day as 4.32 billion human years.
There's also a western educated skeptic mind that relies on scientific method to comprehend the world.
And we have both these minds.
Our cultural context helps us with the Indic mode of thinking, and Macaulay education mode trains us to byheart "21 Apr 1526" as the date for Battle of Panipat in exam.
History thus becomes 'If there is a date to it, it must really have happened'
Might be hard to believe today, but once upon a time, in 1971, Tamilnadu was one of the two states within the country, to have total prohibition of alcohol in force. Along with Gujarat.
This is the story of who implemented Prohibition in TN and who lifted it, and why : (1/8)
Again, it might be hard to believe today, but TN was once the bastion of Congress.
In the 1st Madras legislative assembly election in 1937, Congress won 159/215 seats - its most impressive electoral performance across all provinces.
Led by Satyamurthy and Kamaraj initially.
But Rajaji evinced interest at the last minute and took over the leadership.
He perhaps thought of this as a godsent opportunity to implement his ideas on prohibition in Madras Presidency.
Despite winning the elections, Congress was reluctant to form the government. Why?
According to sources, Film Companion is shutting down, as Anupama Chopra is moving on to Hollywood Reporter.
For those who don't know, what TNM is for "journalism", FC is for film reviews.
You couldn't find a more w0ke, biased film site even if you tried. A 🧵of their reviews:
FC Review#1:
The Kerala Story is not even a film since it is all propaganda based on "Whatsapp Forwards"
The film featured interviews of real victims of radicalization, grooming and LJ, and who were jailed in Afghanistan.
FC Review #2:
The Kashmir Files is a dishonest dive into the past that is a living room debate parading as a movie.
Yeah right, Kashmiri Pandits wanted to mass emigrate simply because Kashmir was too beautiful and
their pains aren't real unless a w0ke reviewer sitting in his air conditioned room at Worli acknowledges it.
Today is Thirunaaraiyoor Nambiyaandar Nambi's guru poojai (Vaikasi Punarapoosam).
The story of how Nambi was asked by Rajaraja to discover and compile the Shaivite Thirumurais is fascinating.
A thread on this miraculous Sthala Puranam (1/9):
Thirunaaraiyoor, a small village 20 km Southwest to Chidambaram houses a Paadal Petra Sthalam, Soundareswarar Temple.
In this temple, the son is more famous than his father – and goes by the name Pollaa Pillayaar.
It is not பொல்லாப் பிள்ளையார் as is commonly misspelt, but பொள்ளாப் பிள்ளையார் meaning “unsculpted”. This is because this Pillayar murthy here is believed to be a swayambhu murthy.
This temple’s priest from an Adishaivite family was blessed with a son and he was named Nambiyaandar Nambi.
The young Nambi grew to be devout and accompanied his father for his temple duties. One day, Nambi’s father had to go to a neighboring village and delegated the temple duties to Nambi.