The Russian people have successfully managed to foil the latest attempt by the Global Covid Party to enforce its most current list of restrictions and vaccinations. The Covid restrictions were unleashed June 16, while Putin was away at the Geneva summit. Moscow Mayor Sobyanin announced that QR codes would be required to enter all cafés and restaurants, and f...
Nisar Ahmed Chaudhry, a resident of Maryland, was a well-known figure in diplomatic circles in the United States. He frequently interacted with think tanks and other institutes in Washington D.C. that shape U.S. foreign policy, organising roundtables and conferences on Pakistan with the contacts he cultivated in the U.S. and Pakistani officials. He often org...
China may have no short-term interest in contributing to guaranteeing security in parts of a swath of land stretching from Central Asia to the East coast of Africa, but that does not prevent the People’s Republic from preparing for a time when it may wish to build on long-standing political and military relationships in various parts of the world to project ...
Kargil Vijay Divas celebrations have commenced across the country; these events are held by Indian Army and civilians across the country to commemorate the great Indian victory in the Kargil heights against an enemy who tried to seize them duplicitously. The Indian Army began operations on 3 May 1999, and in less than three months, removed the Pakistani troo...
Periyaalwār (father of Āndāḷ) had sung two decads (Periyaalwār Tirumozhi: 4-2 &3) on Lord Vishnu residing in Tirumālirum Cholai, popularly known as “Azhagar Malai”, ‘the hill of Azhagar’. Tirumālirum Cholai means ‘the grove where Vishnu resides’. A surprising element in these two decads is that one decad makes specific mention of Then Tirumālirum Cholai (Tir...
We are in the middle of a discussion on the six verses of Pandikkovai that say that the Pandyan king Kon Nedumaran engraved the emblems of all the three Tamil dynasties on a peak in the Himalayas. After a discussion on “Panjavan” and “Pāzhi” in the previous article in this series, we are now taking up the next verse which gives a clue on Cheran kings. This ...
The verses of Pandikkovai say that Kon Nedumaran captured South Pāzhi. The word Pāzhi has the letter (zha) that is unique to Tamil. Adiyārkku Nallar in his commentary to Silappadhikaram mentioned it as South Pāli and not Pāzhi. The zhi-li change had happened. The zhi-li change is very much natural as even today the speakers of Tamil who cannot pronounce zhi,...
An early Pandyan king had reached the Himalayas and engraved the fish emblem of his dynasty and also the tiger and bow emblems of Chola and Chera dynasties alongside. The Tamil portion of the Sinnamanur Copper plates states that he engraved them on top of the Northern Mountain (Vada-varai in Tamil). This stands out from what the Cheran king Imaya Varamban ...
One king from each of the three dynasties of Tamil lands, namely Chera, Chola and Pandya, had gone all the way from Tamil lands to the Himalayas and engraved their symbols on the peak of the mountain. Three questions arise:
1) Who were the kings who made this journey? 2) In which part of the Himalayas did they engrave their symbols? 3) What...
The historical information contained in Tamil Sangam texts and even the later day texts like Silappadhikaram and the devotional verses developed during the Bhakti movement synchronize well with each other. They give better leads to get the correct interpretation of the epigraphic findings and other sources. For example, the presently available oldest ins...
Literature is considered one of the sources to decipher history as it mirrors the culture and the life of the people and also the events of the time when it was written. However this source suffers from two defects namely, the element of imagination that the author would have wielded as a matter of literary freedom and the creeping in of interpolations at so...
Recently Prime Minister Mr. Narendra Modi made an observation that Tamil language shows the ‘richness’ of our country. While acknowledging that Tamil is a very old language, he went on to emphasise the importance of acquainting oneself with other languages of our country for greater integration among countrymen to make “Ek Bharat, Shresht Bharat” a reality. ...
I love scientists but they will kill us all, said Jon Stewart on The Late Show with Steven Colbert. Science eased our suffering due to a pandemic that was most likely caused by science, he told the audience. (Here you can find an acerbic response to the show on the Unz Review) Is it true? Do science and the scientists save us or kill us? How far can we trust...
A major Muslim and Evangelical organization joined forces this week [July 13-ed] to significantly advance hitherto state-backed ceremonial inter-faith dialogues that seldom go beyond platitudes and lofty statements. This week’s launch at a Washington DC mosque of an inter-faith alliance and a book published by the Institute for Humanitarian Islam and the Ger...
One of the finest minds had left the world – I am referring to the demise of Stephen Hawking (14 March 2018). I used the word ‘mind’ to refer to him – wondering what his ‘mind’ or to put it precisely, his consciousness must be thinking now after having left his body and the world. The more he was talking about a role or no role for God in creation and Univer...
Security forces in Jammu and Kashmir led by the Indian army have, on many occasions, created a security environment conducive to revival of the political process. Sadly, many such opportunities have been lost by previous governments at the centre, mostly due to lack of political resolve and disconnect with the people leading to failure of initiatives taken a...
All too predictably, the crisis in Myanmar has rapidly spiralled out of control with what we were told were “peaceful” “pro-democracy” protesters transforming into heavily armed militants fighting Myanmar’s central government, its police force and its armed forces with war weapons. Of course, the protests were never peaceful. The Western media only claimed a...
The Summer Olympic and Paralympic Games in Tokyo are vying for the top-spot for the most troubled major sporting events in history. Not only did the coronavirus pandemic fall on the Japanese, due to which the Olympic Games had to be postponed for a year, but also the remaining days before the opening (July 23), there is still no clear understanding of the pr...
How we view the world around us is shaped – to a very large extent – by a culture that provides us with a very narrow aperture. It focuses our attention on the particular, the literal, the immediate. That is apparent in our public life as well as in our mundane personal lives. Go into a store to ask a clerk where in the mall a particular restaurant is locate...
The philosopher Aristotle trained the emperor Alexander the Great to respect the cultures and leaders of the conquered countries. His empire, so particular, never exploited its subjects. Each century of international relations is marked by the initiatives of a few exceptional men. Their approach to their countries’ foreign relations is based on common princi...