This isn't a part of my temple series but this is a must visit one Thiruvaheendrapuram!!

I first saw Devanathaswamy & Hayagreevan in 2016. In fact when I first went there Devanathaswamy refused to see me, only Hayagreevan saw me but since then both of them have made me..

..visit 73 Divya Desams!

But not many people (apart from Sri Vaishnavaites) about the Ramar Sannidhi inside this temple complex.

One of the many reasons why it is a must visit is because the great Vedantha Desikar composed Raghuveera Gadhyam here!

Today since it's Saraswati Poojai. I will post about a must visit small but powerful temple.

The Koothanur Saraswati Temple!!

Many people know about this temple but not many know about the great poet who hailed from that region and who was blessed by the Saraswati here! The poet I'm talking about is Kavichakrvarthy, Ottakoothar.

He was born as Koothar Mudaliyar. He was born into the Sengunthar Kaikolar community who were traditionally warriors and textile merchants. They formed the Kaikolar regiment of the Chola army.

Another gem that many people aren't aware of!

Singirikudi Narasimhar temple

This is the temple that Prahlada worshipped Lord Narasimha after visiting Thiruvaheendrapuram

This is also the place where Sage Vasishta was liberated from his curse! King Nimi Chakravarthy of the Surya dynasty wanted to perform a yagna and wanted Sage Vasishta to perform it for him. But Vasishta wasn't available on that day and the king invited sage Koushika to perform the yagna.
Sage Vasishta was angered by this.

From today I thought I'll put out information on temples that people usually arent aware of.

Kokilambal sametha Thiru Kameshwarar temple, Villianur (11kms from Pondicherry) This temple was built by the Cholas in 12th Century when Villianur was called Vilwahnur, meaning city of Vilva trees.

The legend goes : Brahma and Vishnu were trying to establish supremacy over one another & approached Shiva. Shiva transformed into primordial flame &

Let's tackle this one by one!

If you had done a search using AI you would've got the answer but you didn't cos your quest isn't knowledge but just quibbling!

"Killing of Bhishma using Shikandi"

The original text of Mahabharata gives the perfect explanation for Bhishma's death that differs significantly from popular misconceptions. According to Vyasa's narrative, the strategy was not devised by Krishna through deception, but emerged through a dharmic process that involved Bhishma himself.

The Dharmic Process Leading to Bhishma's Death

Yudhishthira's Initiative, Not Krishna's Deception

Contrary to popular belief, it was Yudhishthira who proposed going to Bhishma to seek his counsel on how he could be defeated, not Krishna. The text explicitly states that this idea came from Yudhishthira "unprompted by anyone, all on his own". Yudhishthira recalled Bhishma's earlier promise to provide counsel, and suggested: "Therefore, let's again ask Bhishma about how he can be killed – you and all of us together".

Bhishma's Own Guidance
When the Pandavas approached Bhishma unarmed and with reverence, he freely provided the strategy: "Keep Shikhandi before Arjuna, and let Arjuna release his arrows and pierce my body. I will not fight with Shikhandi". This was Bhishma's own dharmic guidance, not a deceptive plot.

Krishna's Dharmic Justification: The Atatayi Principle

When Arjuna initially refused to implement Bhishma's suggestion, Krishna invoked the fundamental principle of dharma from the Brihaspati Niti Shastra:

"Even if he is someone senior to you or an aged person, or someone endowed with virtues, if he comes to you to kill you and thus becomes an ātatāyi, you must kill him. This, O Arjuna, is the eternal dharma of the kshatriyas".

The term ātatāyi refers to "a great sinner" or "anyone who is making an attempt on your life, even though he may not be a sinner otherwise". This principle establishes that when someone becomes a threat to your life in battle, regardless of their personal virtues or relationship to you, stopping them becomes a dharmic duty.

Vyasa's Moral Framework
Bhishma's Own Desire for Death

Vyasa presents Bhishma as ultimately desiring his own death. On the tenth day, Bhishma himself tells Yudhishthira: "I have totally lost all interest in this body, O Bharata. I have spent too much time killing men in battles. For that reason, if you want to do what will please me, please endeavor to get me killed".

The Reality of Battle
The text makes clear that Bhishma continued fighting with full strength - "Like enraged snakes filled with poison and projecting their tongues out, these arrows pierce my very vitals. No, these arrows are not Shikhandi's... These arrows are Arjuna's". Bhishma explicitly acknowledged that it was Arjuna's arrows, not Shikhandi's, that were defeating him. //killing Karna when unarmed// - another "beaten to death" narrative

What Happened: The Mahabharata’s Account

During the climactic battle, Karna’s chariot wheel became stuck in the mud due to a curse.

As Karna struggled to free it, he requested Arjuna to pause, appealing to the rules of war.

Krishna urged Arjuna to shoot, reminding him of Karna’s own disregard for dharma when Abhimanyu was killed unarmed and helpless by Karna and others.

Arjuna shot and fatally wounded Karna at Krishna’s behest.

Primary Source Perspective: Karna Parva Narrative

Vyasa’s narrative does not describe Arjuna’s act as adharma (unrighteous). Instead, Krishna justifies Arjuna’s action based on previous violations of dharma by Karna and the Kauravas, especially in the brutal killing of Abhimanyu.

Krishna directly addresses the ethical dilemma: He tells Arjuna, "Remember how Abhimanyu was killed when he stood weaponless?"

He implies that the rules apply reciprocally and that one who disregards dharma cannot expect others to uphold it in turn.

Curse and Karmic Cycle
The epic also describes several curses on Karna, notably by his guru Parashurama and a Brahmin (whose cow Karna killed inadvertently), both of which prophesied that Karna would die helpless and unarmed. The narrative suggests that these curses were being fulfilled, framing his death as a result of his own past actions, not as an unprovoked adharmic act by Arjuna.

Dharmic Justification in Vyasa’s Mahabharata

Vyasa presents Karna’s death as an outcome of his actions and the workings of cosmic justice (karma and nemesis). The sense is that Karna reaped what he sowed—the violation of war codes against Abhimanyu resulted in a similar fate for himself.

Krishna’s justification:

Krishna explicitly tells Arjuna not to hesitate, emphasizing that the ethical balance needs to be restored, and that dharma is not a shield for those who themselves violated it.

Nowhere in the critical edition of Vyasa’s Mahabharata is Arjuna blamed or accused of sinning; rather, the act fits within the logic of retributive justice that the epic upholds.

A month ago I visited 14 Divya Desams in and around Nangur in the Sikazhi belt. Thirumangai azhwar has sung mangala saasanam in 11 of them.

1. Kaazhicheeraama Vinnagaram - Thirivikaraman Perumal

The moolavar is Trivikraman The Thayar is Lokanayaki. The Theertham is sangu chakra pushkarini and the Vimanam is Pushkalavartha Vimanam.

The legend is that Lord Vishnu blessed Romasa Muni with a vision of Trivikrama.

It is believed that Thirumangai Alwar won a debate with Thirugyana sambandhar.

Last weekend was one of the best ones that I've had in a long time... Visited Trichy and finished all the Divya Desams inside and around it... And finally got to see the most beautiful Vaduvur Ramar and Mannargudi Rajagopalaswamy!

Thread! Like everyone started with Sri Rangam!
Everyone knows about Sri Rangam so I'm not going to add much.

This is the greatest wonder of this world of any period! All the Sannadhis have withstood the test of nature, islamic invasions and humongous crowds!

Just so that everyone knows,

The dargah on the hilltop at Thiruparamkundram is built around the grave of Sikandhar Shah of Madurai Sultanate

It was established in 1335 and ended in 1378 and in a span of 43 years it had 8 rulers!

The last one was Sikandhar Shah The Madurai Sultanate was a feudatory of the Delhi Sultanate but after the financial stress faced by the Delhi Sultanate worsened the Madurai Sultanate led by Jalaluddin Ahsan Khan broke away and declared independence.

Mind you Jalaluddin was called an Afghan!

I've been thinking a lot on the lack of "cleanliness" of a lot of cities in India, and something really struck me!

Indians were never unclean. There are documented/archeological records of the Indian civilization having the best sanitation facilities amongst all civilizations! When Rome was ridden with plague, Indians used to send waste water away from the civilization to keep the people infection free

When Europeans used to defecate on the street, Indians used to bathe twice daily and used incense sticks!

Sathyaraj, being the agenda driven puppet that he is, plays his part in telling lies through this low IQ medium!

India exports Buffalo meat doesn't export Cow meat at least officially/legally!

Let's look at some of the facts!
Most of it taken from HMA Agro's DRHP Buffalo meat forms 69% of the animal products exported from India

Export Volume is ~1.2MT & value is ~25,000 crores

6 to 7 players dominate the industry with ~77%+ market share

The top exporters are
1. Allanasons
2. HMA Agro
3. Fair Exports
4. Rustom Foods
5. Al-Hamd Foods

A lot of views are going around talking about how people align with a political party and what makes them change their affinity!

I'm just telling you about my experience here:

Early 2000s - turned 18, was totally uninformed politically, but was friends with many mid-20s ppl.. ..all of them were ADMK or DMK supporters, but I don't think they were well informed. None of them were BJP supporters. For the matter of fact I remember one of them cracking a joke when L.K.Advani's name appeared in the most wanted list in Pakistan

timesofindia.indiatimes.com/why-l-k-advani…

Parimala Rangam, one of the Pancha Ranga Kshethrams, is an architectural marvel. Each pillar depicting a scene from Ramayana!

And they say Rama is not a very important God in the South!

Rama breaking the Siva Dhanush during Sita's swayamvaram Sita garlanding Rama once he breaks the Dhanush

Goa has to be renamed "Gomantak." The word "Gomantak" means "land of gods."
The Sahayadri kaand in Skandapurana talks about this land.

Parasurama stood on the Sahayadri mountains and asked the seas to recede till the point where his arrow touched! (1/5) The arrow landed at "Baan Halli". "Baan" meaning arrow; "Halli" meaning settlement. Baan halli later came to be known as Benaulim!

Parasurama also got Brahmins from banks of river Saraswati to settle here. Hence the name Saraswat Brahmins! (2/5)

I've always wanted to do the Sapta Sivalayam Darshanam in one evening, and I accomplished it today!

I urge everyone to do it when they have the time

It is said that Saptarishis have prayed to Shiva here!

A thread! 1. Karaneeswarar
This temple is the abode of Sri Karaneeswarar and Porkodi Amman. Karana means cause. Karana + Iswara = Karaneeswara, the Lord who is the Cause.
He is the primordial cause of this universe. He teaches us the causality behind all events.

The latest Supreme Court judgment on CEC is a classic example of how a government with a simple majority can be relegated to the sidelines by an unbridled judiciary!

I do not know what's on the minds of the govt now, but whatever it is, this doesn't paint a great picture! People who say "trust Modi, to do the right thing" do not seem to understand the seriousness of the issue.

Case 1: Indian parliament passes a legislation to mine lithium or some rare earth that will give us a head start in the EV race. The SC can derail it...

Glanced through the #EconomicSurvey report. A very detailed report covering many parameters, a few of them from chapter 1:
1. Global Economic crises were severe but spaced out but since 2020 we have faced 3 of them. 2000s - Dotcom Bust, Great Recession; 2010s - taper tantrum; Trade tension between China & US; 2020s - COVID 19, Russia-Ukraine conflict, Monetary Tightening & its just 2023 we still have 7 more years! so, interesting times

2. Commodity prices post the pandemic have risen and not gone back to pre pandemic levels so inflation is high

This rebuttal definitely deserves a rebuttal!

https://twitter.com/nishthavishtha/status/1619298722567057409

Here goes!
First tweet
I'll tell you why I have my doubts with the 2-year timeline.

For e.g.
1. Information is already publicly available - there was an "alleged" scheme in 2004-05
2. Downloading & cataloging Mauritius shell entities won't take 2 yrs

https://twitter.com/nishthavishtha/status/1619298722567057409?t=if3jXSUpJOeDFP2V0UCdvg&s=19

I went through the entire #HindenburgReport (comes to 100 pages if you try to save it as a pdf)

My first set of observations:

1. I don't know why this would take 2 years to publish this report unless you had multiple other projects to work on in parallel 2. Timing of the release seems dubious, especially when Adani is looking to raise capital

3. A similar type of research on any conglomerate in the world would yield similar results - so, nothing unique in the findings

4. The phrase "Stock Manipulation" is used frequently..

My conversation with a Chennai Corporation worker responsible for cleaning the roads.

**The background**
This woman had parked the garbage buggy in front or my gate and was at a shop next door and I was taking my bike out to go to work!

Me: who's parked this vehicle here? Woman: I parked it to get something from the shop

Me: why can't you park it in the side & not in front of the gate?

Woman: I pick your garbage only no, will you lose your life in those 5mins that my buggy is parked in front of your house?

Me: will you pick your garbage &

#November26 or the 26/11 will always be a date that I wouldn't forget. I did not experience the terror attack but my extended family did. In fact that family broke!

It was my father's maama living in #Mumbai , he lost his life in the blast that ripped through the train ..and I saw the family suffer quite a lot post that, selling their only property, eldest son & daughter in law passing away and my father's maami having no place to go but to an old age home!
I'm sure many families would've gone through worser times post the #MumbaiTerrorAttack

If one were to search the Globe for a community or sect or clan that for more than 20 centuries has done the same religious, social and cultural activities and is domiciled in the same place throughout the 2000 years (1/18) One would not find such a community until one zeros in on the geographic coordinates 1.399686°N, 79.693622°E, the exact location of the ancient temple town of Chidambaram, Tamil Nadu, in South India.(2/18)