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Lone Wolf Ratnakar

@sadaashree

Jun 15

Sri Kalahasti is one of the Panchabhuta Kshetras where Shiva is worshipped as Vayu Lingeswara, the others being Tiruvannamalai(Fire), Chidambaram(Space), Kanchi(Earth) and Jambukeswara(Water).

This post is about the story of Sri Kalahasti and Kannappa Nayanar who was associated with the place.

It gets it's name from the story that Shiva was worshipped here by a spider(Sri), snake(Kala) and elephant(Hasti). The spider used to weave webs around the Shiva Linga here. While the snake used to fetch precious stones and place it on the Shiva linga, the elephant used to worship it with water and flowers.

One day the snake seeing the elephant remove the stones it placed, bit the elephant. As the elephant rolled over in agony, it crushed the snake under it, as both died. The spider too passed away, and Shiva pleased with their devotion, blessed the three, leading to name of Sri Kalahasti.

The most well known story associated with Sri Kalahasti though is that of Kannapa, the tribal hunter, regarded as one of Shiva’s greatest devotees and is one of the 64 Nayanars, believed to be a reincarnation of Arjuna himself.

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Lone Wolf Ratnakar

@sadaashree

Jun 13

Today is Jayanti of Ganesh Savarkar, affectionately known as Babarao, elder brother of Veer Savarkar.

While we are familiar with the life and times of Veer Savarkar, not much is known about as Babarao, a true nationalist, who suffered and sacrificed as much, in fact more.

Babarao was born on June 13, 1879 in Bhagur near to Nashik, the eldest of the 3 brothers, followed by Vinayak Savarkar and Narayan Savarkar.

It was a hard life for him from beginning, with mother Radhabai passing away when he was just 13, and their father Damodar Pant, passing away in a plague epidemic couple of years later.

And he had to shoulder the family responsiblity, as well as look after his brothers at a much younger age. He gave up his own education due to the financial responsiblities, due to which his role in the revolutionary movement was initially limited.

However he began to actively take part in the revolutionary movement later and in 1906 he took up the responsibility of Abhinav Bharat, the organization founded by his younger brother Vinayak, when the latter left for London to pursue higher education.

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Lone Wolf Ratnakar

@sadaashree

Jun 13

Tirupathi my birth place, though I grew up in Vizag for most of my life, always had this bond with Tirupathi. Whenever I go there, it's like coming home for me. While most of us know about Tirumala Balaji temple, there are many other facts that are not so well known.

Tirumala is one of the 108 Divya Desams, and one of the 8 temples where Vishnu manifested himself in Swayambhu form.

Tirumala is located on the Seshachalam hill range, the 7 hills are believed to be the 7 heads of Adisesha. The 7 Hills are Seshadri, Garudadri, Vrishabhadri, Neeladri, Anjanadri, Narayanadri and Venkatadri.

Vrishabadri is named after an Asura Vrushaba killed by Srinivasa.
Anjanadri after Hanuman.
Neela after Neela Devi, a devotee of Shri Venkateswara.
Garuda after Garuda, Shesha after Adi Shesha.
Narayanadri is where the Srivari Padalu are believed to be located.

Incidentally the practice of tonsuring at Tirumala, as Mokku, is related to Neela Devi, a devotee of Shri Venkateswara. Apparently when Srinivasa was hit by a cowherd, a small portion of his scalp became bald. Neela a Gandharva princess, cut a part of her hair and placed it there

Venkateswara blessed Neela Devi saying that whoever comes to Tirumala would offer their hair to him, and she would be the recipient of all the hair. Hence when you are donating your hair in Tirumala, in effect it is for Neela Devi.

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Lone Wolf Ratnakar

@sadaashree

Jun 11

“Sarfarosh ki Tamanna ab hamare dil mein hai, dekhna ki zor kitna baazu-e-qatil mein hai”

Jayanti of Ram Prasad Bismil , one of the great revolutionaries in the Indian freedom struggle, the mastermind behind Kakori.

Though Sarfarosh ki Tamanna was written by Bismil Azimbadi , it was he who made that popular, and it became a rallying cry for the revolutionaries.

Ram Prasad Bismil was born in Shajahanpur on June 11, 1887, his ancestors hailed from Gwalior, and his native village was close to the Chambal valley. His father was a clerk in the Municipality, and later started a small business lending out money on interest.

He taught him Hindi, and he later sent him to a Moulvi to learn Urdu too. By 14 years of age, Ram Prasad was fluent in Urdu, and read many novels. He learnt the rituals of worship from a priest near to his home and later learnt Sandhya Vandana too from Munshi Indrajeet.

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Lone Wolf Ratnakar

@sadaashree

Jun 10

One of my favorite novelists, Frederick Forsyth is no more, his stories with political backdrop, were one of the reasons for me to get interested in geo politics. A brilliant storyteller, whose novels are backed up with solid research.

He started his career as a journo with Reuters in 1961, later with BBC in 1965. His first assignment was covering an attempted assasination of Charles De Gaulle, which would form the background of his first and best novel to date.

He would however gain fame for his reporting of the Biafra Civil War in Nigeria( 1967). When he was asked to come back after 6 months into the war, Forsyth quit BBC, covered the conflict as a freelance reporter, which also resulted in his first book The Biafra Story.

In a way his coverage of the Biafran Conflict, would define Forsyth's style of writing, attention to detail, well researched, a fast paced narrative without any distractions, sticking straight to the plot, that made him one of the top writers.

Unlike Robert Ludlum, whose novels were usually set against the backdrop of shady global organizations and conspiracy theories, Forsyth's novels were more realistic, with a backdrop of contemporary political events.

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Lone Wolf Ratnakar

@sadaashree

Jun 9

Banda Singh Bahadur is brutally tortured and executed on this date in 1716 by the Mughals for his revolt and refusal to convert to Islam. A true warrior who was a terror to the Mughals.

The great warrior was born as Lachmann Dev on October 1670 in Jammu’s Rajouri region to a Rajput family. It is believed he took to Sanyas, after seeing a pregant doe, he shot, writhing in pain and dying.

He met a Sadhu named Janaki Das and became his disciple, adopting the name of Madho Das. After travelling all over the North, he finally settled on the banks of the Godavari near Nanded.

Guru Gobind Singh was dissatisfied with the Mughal Emperor, Bahadur Shah for not punishing the Governor of Sirhind, Nawab Wazir Khan for the murder of his two sons Sahibzada Zorawar Singh and Fateh Singh.

He got the name of Banda Bahadur, because when Guru Gobind Singh, asked him,"Who are you" when they first met, he replied "I am your Banda( slave)" And he knew who the Guru was.

He was given a 5 member advisory council Baj Singh( a descendant of Guru Amar Das), his brother Ram Singh, Binod Singh( a descendant of Guru Angad Dev) and his son Kahan Singh, and Fateh Singh, which would guide him.

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