Please see this images below (courtesy Radha Rajan-ji)..No comment is needed, I think.
This image shows the logo and the letter-head of the Kalakshetra Foundation once upon a time; notice the images of Ganapati and Sanskrit verse…

…this subsequently morphed into…

..and finally to what you see below; shorn of all “non-secular” imagery…

**
And in case you are wondering why does this matter (courtesy, Radha Rajan; emphasis added)..
…(these violate) something fundamental to classicism – the essential Hinduness, particularly the bhakti that inspired classicism and inspires continuing adherence to the tenets of classicism in our …

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 …

Start your weekend with these excerpts from a conversation between Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru and an IAS probationer, Shri Yuvaraj Karan in 1950, reproduced from the print edition of the monthly magazine “Secularism Combat” (thanks Jiggs).
…Shri Yuvaraj Karan, a former IAS Officer, who is also one of the escapees from Pakistan has written a book “Understanding Partition” published by Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan. When he was at the IAS training institute in Dehradun, in the first batch IAS trainees, Jawaharlal Nehru was invited to address them. At the end of Shri …

This weekend, please find a selection of articles from the North-East, touching on some of the topics previously discussed here. More “Notes from North-East” next week. Stay tuned.
The first extract on Majuli, the world’s largest riverine island in the world and its “Satras“:
Majuli was one of the nerve-centres of the Neo-Vaisnavite Movement during its heydays. It was at Majuli (then known as Dhuwahat, Ahom territory) that Mahapurusha Srimanta Sankaradeva met his foremost disciple and apostolic successor, Madhavadeva for the very first time, in the 16th century. This event, referred to …

This is what I’m reading as I find myself stuck in a travel black hole…
1. R Jagannathan on why “Manmohan Singh is the dynasty’s fall guy” (emphasis mine)…
Both the prime minister and the home minister have minced no words in calling a spade a spade. While Manmohan Singh has called the Maoists the biggest security threat to the country, P Chidambaram has promised tough action to deal with it. But here’s the point: months after launching Operation Green Hunt, it is not clear who’s hunting whom. The Maoists have been …