Dear All: It is my pleasure to publish this guest post by KV Sarma J on “Athirathram” – one of the most ancient and sacred ritual associates with Vedic Dharma.  I should confess that if you had mentioned the word “Athirathram” to me before April, I would have drawn a blank on it. Now, I know better – in large part due to the efforts of bloggers like KV and others. Below is a condensed version of the full series that appeared on KV Sarma J’s blog…Please read, share and …

Dear All: I am publishing this guest post by Dr Jyotsna Kamat with the express intention of soliciting your support for a young, hard-working, earnest Sanskrit scholar languishing in a small village in Karnataka.  Please read his story (originally published here) below and get in touch with me if you can help in any way. Regardless of whether you can personally help the young man or not, please do share widely with friends and well-wishers of Sanskrit (emphasis added).
*** Sad Story of Study in Sanskrit by Dr Jyotsna Kamat ***
Recently …

UPDATE: Added Nepali and Telugu translations to Hindi, Marathi and English ones below.
UPDATE II: Added Gujarati.
Dear friends, kindly consider translating this short message in your own language and circulate it amongst your friends…It would help us to spread awareness on this important issue and do our bit to keep Sanskrit alive…I have already included the message in Hindi, Marathi and English below…please also have a look at Practical Sanskrit (also on facebook) and Samskrita Bharati
*** Request in Hindi ***
प्रिय मित्रों,जैसे की आप ओ ज्ञात होगा, भारत की जन गणना …

…don’t forget to tell the young ones about its origins! This post has been pending for a very long time in my drafts folder. It was prompted by a statement I read by chance many months ago about the origins of this favourite children’s game. That statement prompted some digging which ended up as this post. To start with this brief extract, courtesy Wikipedia about the origins of this game (emphasis added throughout):
Snakes and Ladders originated in India as a game based on morality called Vaikuntapaali (stairs to Vaikuntha) or …

Happy VijayaDashami, Durgotsab, Durga Pooja, Dasra and Dussehra to all…
On this auspicious day, let us pledge to do our best to get rid of the three major evils that plague India – poverty, illiteracy and an ineffective, incapable & thoroughly corrupt political leadership – and promise ourselves to work towards building a proud, strong and united Bharat….
And as you go about your day today, please spare a thought for the forgotten residents of Deganga – “Humiliated and simmering with rage, abandoned and forsaken by their own“ – who are …

I am grateful to Sh Krishen Kak for giving me permission to publish his article titled, “MOTHER INDIA and MODERN INDIA – The Mother Tongues or a National Language?”. The article first appeared in Eternal India (India First Foundation), June 2010:77-90. This is a slightly revised version.  Please read on and share widely (emphasis mine).
*** CAUTION: Long Post ***
MOTHER INDIA and MODERN INDIA: the Mother Tongues or English? by Krishen Kak

Each and every window in the house of language opens to a different …