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Newasa - Encountering an unique form of Vishnu, and Sant Jnaneshwar

The year was 1290 . A crowd had gathered around a clearing, where broken down pillars marked the presence of an ancient temple, now long gone. A young boy, just 14 years old, leaned against one of those pillars, deep in thought. Then, he began speaking, and the crowd fell silent, listening to his every word. He spoke without any notes, translating the Bhagavat Gita, from Sanskrit, which only the pundits knew, to the language everyone in the village knew and spoke – a variety of Prakrit which developed into the Marathi language. Even as he spoke, one of the men in the audience realized how momentous this event was, and how important this composition would be. He began writing down the words the young boy spoke, and this composition was named by its author and composer, the Bhavartha Deepika – the enlightening meaning (of the Bhagavat Gita). Now, the ancient, holy text, was no longer restricted to the pundits, but accessible to all, understood easily by them, composed as it was, in their...
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Peacocks

The first half of this year has been especially good as far as travel is concerned. I have visited so many places in the last 6 months that for the very first time, I am actually worried about forgetting details of the trip before I write them down! Which reminds me that I am seriously lagging behind with my posts ! 



As you read this, I have returned from a short trip down South and am away on another one.....This photo is from a village near our hometown near Rameswaram. This place abounds in peacocks, and we usually see a few whenever we visit, but this time I doubted seeing them, since it was so hot. However, there they were, in the fields, happily feasting on the grains, completely unaware, or unconcerned about all the attention they were garnering from us.......





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Location: Ramanathapuram, Rameswaram, Tamilnadu, India

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