4 ODE TO INDIC CULTURE
FOREWORD
It is my sowbhagyam, good fortune, to have known Shri Varadaraja Venkata Raman. He is my senior by ten years. He has been an outstanding teacher and mentor to generations of students. I have read their impressive tributes to him, on his 90th birthday. He has gone far beyond his professional discipline. His interests have kept widening to languages, places, history, culture etc. He is a polyglot. A Renaissance man. It is a privilege and kartavya: duty, to write this Foreword.
Dr. Mrityunjay Athreya
Padma Bhushan
PROLOGUE
O ancient land, where arts and thoughts
have flourished for ages!
You are blessed with Nature’s beauty,
and with poets and sages.
You have touched the lives of millions
who respect and love you, all.
Some of your many glories and stories,
I would now like to recall
You have enriched the world’s culture:
we know that this is true.
And You yourself have been enriched
by contacts with others too.
In the pages that are to follow
I wish to bring to mind
People, places, and visions
That one will interesting find.
Whether one knows these or not,
if one reads these pages through
One will be reminded or informed of them,
and perhaps entertained too.
For, in every quatrain one reads,
Are some simple rhythmic rhymes
That may be pleasant and nice to read
Aloud with others sometimes.
I INVOCATION
I start by paying homage,
first to Lord Gaṇesha
For he is the one we regard
as the First of all Hindu Īsha.
He blesses all new projects,
aids them in their execution.
He protects them from all hurdles,
and guides them to full completion.
Other Divinities of our culture,
I sure should not forget.
I will invoke them One by One,
Their blessings also to get.
I start with Creator Brahmā
who made this, our Universe.
With Him is Sarasvati,
Goddess of Music and Verse.
Then I invoke Lord Vishṇu,
Source of every activity,
And His Consort Mahā Lakshmi
Who bestows prosperity.
Now I invoke Lord Shiva
Who causes every eon to dissolve.
Thus making the physical world
through the Yuga-cycles revolve.
His consort is the Pure Energy:
The One that we call Pārvatī.
She is the dynamic power
Whom we also call Shakti.
This vision in our culture
Is referred to as Trimūrti,
Each of the triple pair may be
called a part of the Indic Trinity.
II BEGINNINGS
PROLOGUE
O ancient land, where arts and thoughts
have flourished for ages!
You are blessed with Nature’s beauty,
and with poets and sages.
You have touched the lives of millions
who respect and love you, all.
Some of your many glories and stories,
I would now like to recall
You have enriched the world’s culture:
we know that this is true.
And You yourself have been enriched
by contacts with others too.
In the pages that are to follow
I wish to bring to mind
People, places, and visions
That one will interesting find.
Whether one knows these or not,
if one reads these pages through
One will be reminded or informed of them,
and perhaps entertained too.
For, in every quatrain one reads,
Are some simple rhythmic rhymes
That may be pleasant and nice to read
Aloud with others sometimes.
I INVOCATION
I start by paying homage,
first to Lord Gaṇesha
For he is the one we regard
as the First of all Hindu Īsha.
He blesses all new projects,
aids them in their execution.
He protects them from all hurdles,
and guides them to full completion.
Other Divinities of our culture,
I sure should not forget.
I will invoke them One by One,
Their blessings also to get.
I start with Creator Brahmā
who made this, our Universe.
With Him is Sarasvati,
Goddess of Music and Verse.
Then I invoke Lord Vishṇu,
Source of every activity,
And His Consort Mahā Lakshmi
Who bestows prosperity.
Now I invoke Lord Shiva
Who causes every eon to dissolve.
Thus making the physical world
through the Yuga-cycles revolve.
His consort is the Pure Energy:
The One that we call Pārvatī.
She is the dynamic power
Whom we also call Shakti.
This vision in our culture
Is referred to as Trimūrti,
Each of the triple pair may be
called a part of the Indic Trinity.
II BEGINNINGS
HARAPPA AND MOHEN-JO DARO
It is my sowbhagyam, good fortune, to have known Shri Varadaraja Venkata Raman. He is my senior by ten years. He has been an outstanding teacher and mentor to generations of students. I have read their impressive tributes to him, on his 90th birthday. He has gone far beyond his professional discipline. His interests have kept widening to languages, places, history, culture etc. He is a polyglot. A Renaissance man. It is a privilege and kartavya: duty, to write this Foreword.
With the read
With the readers’ and author’s permission, may I use the initials VVR to refer to him, from now on. VVR first invokes the grace of Bhagavan Ganesha, the remover of obstacles in any task, especially, writing a complex book like Ode to Indic Culture. That too, in quatrain verse form. And, on such an impossibly wide range of themes. Ganesha is one of the most popular Hindu icons, which are collector’s items, not only for Indians, but also foreigners from many lands. The others are Siva, Krishna, Hanuman and so on. Also, Goddesses like Saraswati, Lakshmi, Durga, Sita and more.
….
Dr. Mrityunjay Athreya
Padma Bhushan
PROLOGUE
O ancient land, where arts and thoughts
have flourished for ages!
You are blessed with Nature’s beauty,
and with poets and sages.
You have touched the lives of millions
who respect and love you, all.
Some of your many glories and stories,
I would now like to recall
You have enriched the world’s culture:
we know that this is true.
And You yourself have been enriched
by contacts with others too.
In the pages that are to follow
I wish to bring to mind
People, places, and visions
That one will interesting find.
Whether one knows these or not,
if one reads these pages through
One will be reminded or informed of them,
and perhaps entertained too.
For, in every quatrain one reads,
Are some simple rhythmic rhymes
That may be pleasant and nice to read
Aloud with others sometimes.
I INVOCATION
I start by paying homage,
first to Lord Gaṇesha
For he is the one we regard
as the First of all Hindu Īsha.
He blesses all new projects,
aids them in their execution.
He protects them from all hurdles,
and guides them to full completion.
Other Divinities of our culture,
I sure should not forget.
I will invoke them One by One,
Their blessings also to get.
I start with Creator Brahmā
who made this, our Universe.
With Him is Sarasvati,
Goddess of Music and Verse.
Then I invoke Lord Vishṇu,
Source of every activity,
And His Consort Mahā Lakshmi
Who bestows prosperity.
Now I invoke Lord Shiva
Who causes every eon to dissolve.
Thus making the physical world
through the Yuga-cycles revolve.
His consort is the Pure Energy:
The One that we call Pārvatī.
She is the dynamic power
Whom we also call Shakti.
This vision in our culture
Is referred to as Trimūrti,
Each of the triple pair may be
called a part of the Indic Trinity.
II BEGINNINGS
HARAPPA AND MOHEN-JO DARO
….
Spurts of Thought 