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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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Brahminy Starling

It looked just like a myna from a distance. However, there was something different about it. It took some time for me to realise that we were seeing a Brahminy Myna or Brahminy Starling.






It has a sort of a crest and black cap which distinguishes it from our usual myna. Besides, the bill is yellow with a bluish base, which also makes it look different. In fact, once we saw these a couple of times, I began wondering how I had mistaken it for the common myna in the first place!!!










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  1. Bhavesh ChhatbarAugust 5, 2011 at 5:58 PM

    You reminded me of my visit to Chaitanya Dham [AKA Prati Pandharpur] where I saw Brahminy Starling parents. If you remember, I published the photos on my blog [see Brahminy
    Starling]. You asked where the place is. Did you manage to go there? It's beautiful!

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  2. Anu ShankarAugust 5, 2011 at 7:29 PM

    No, Bhavesh! have yet to make that long delayed trip to Pune and around ! the time doesnt seem to come!!! I remember seeing your Brahminy starling pics! they are certainly much better than mine :)

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