KUNG-FU AND KANCHIPURAM: THE SECRET CONNECTION
Kanchipuram. A small old temple-town in South India that always bustles with Hindu pilgrimage tourists and that is known for its silk saris. Kung Fu. A Chinese martial art that is practiced for self-defense and mental strength, primarily by the Buddhist monks at the Shaolin monastery in China. What could be common to Kanchipuram and Kung Fu? Nothing at all?! You should think again, or should flip some historical accounts- well, not Indian, but Chinese or Japanese accounts! What could that secret connection be??
When you think of Buddhism, all that comes up in mind is the Buddha, in a meditative pose, sometimes with long earlobes and tiny, wide eyes. Oftentimes red-robed, head-shaven peaceful Chinese monks also cross the mind. Contrary to this, Buddha was actually an Indian Prince, and we know this fact. However, seldom would we dare to think that Buddhism had its flourishing times in Tamil Nadu! (“What?? Most of the Tamilians were Buddhists?!” Is this what you’re thinking right now?) In fact two out of the Five Great Epics in Tamil (Aymperumkaapiyangal) were on Buddhism (none of those were on Hinduism!). Between the 3rd and 6th centuries AD, Buddhism was at its height in Tamil Nadu, and thus it splashed some beautiful hues on the vast and elaborate canvas of Tamil and South India’s history. As centuries rolled on, people started embracing different religions and thus culture and literary works evolved along. Now there is literally no trace of Buddhism here. Well, now what would be even more surprisingis to know that a Tamil Prince from Pallava dynasty in Kanchipuram was the 28th father of the Buddha line, and also the Zen master, who taught Kung Fu (Shaolinquan) martial arts to China!
You might have known that the world-famous shore temple in Mahabalipuram in Tamil Nadu was built by the Pallava king Narasimhavarman. But we have forgotten another mighty one from the Pallava heir line- Bodhidharman. He was born inKanchipuram as the third son to the Pallava King. After wearing the red robe and becoming a Buddhist monk, he travelled the seas for 3 years and reached China during the 4th-5th centuries AD. He was the 28th patriarch of Buddhism, with the lineage tracing back to Gautama Buddha himself. In most of the art forms- be it Chinese, Japanese or Vietnamese- he is portrayed to be a profusely bearded and ill-tempered person always, as opposed to the tranquil-looking Gautama Buddha. After being in Liang dynasty in Southern China, he proceeded north, where he taught Shaolin Kung Fu martial art techniques to the monks in the Shaolin monastery. Staring at a wall, he continuouslymeditated for 9 years in a cave near Mt. Song (which is a famous holy pilgrimage spot in China today). After that he died at the banks of Luo River when he was around 150 years of age. Some claim the death was natural, some say his leg atrophied after the long meditation, and some say he was a victim of a mass execution!
One of the most intriguing incidents happened when an official in the kingdom spotted Bodhidharma walking on a mountain, three years after his death. When questioned, he claimed to be returning “home”, and also predicted the impending death of the Kingdom’s ruler. He also noticed him carrying one sandal in his hand. Bodhidharma’s prediction came true soon after that; and when his tomb was dug open, all that remained was the other sandal!
Bodhidharma was the first patriarch of Zen. According to Zen, you become a Buddha (you attain enlightenment) when you attain “self-realization”. It also emphasizes that Zen is a special transmission out of scriptures, and cannot be “taught”by anyone. All that someone could teach is just the method to achieve Zen.
While China, Japan, Vietnam and other countries revere and follow Bodhidharma, Japan has intertwined him with its culture and tradition. Daruma dolls are the famous hollow, round, red-colored Japanese dolls that depict Bodhidharma. These dolls are believed to bring luck, and have been in place since the 18th century in Japan. The interesting thing is that the eyes of the doll are just blank when sold. After someone buys it, one eye is drawn in black, upon making a wish. Once the wish is fulfilled, the other eye is supposed to be drawn. Moreover, these dolls always return to an upright position when tilted, symbolizing persistence (oh yes, these are very similar to the good old “Chettiar dolls” and the bobblehead “Thalayaati bommai” of our tradition that you threw out, when you dusted your store-room last year!). It’s a pity, when it’s a big tradition in Japan to reminisce and celebrate a great man from our land while here we are crazy about buying those Chinese “Laughing Buddha” dolls for homes!
You might have known that the world-famous shore temple in Mahabalipuram in Tamil Nadu was built by the Pallava king Narasimhavarman. But we have forgotten another mighty one from the Pallava heir line- Bodhidharman. He was born inKanchipuram as the third son to the Pallava King. After wearing the red robe and becoming a Buddhist monk, he travelled the seas for 3 years and reached China during the 4th-5th centuries AD. He was the 28th patriarch of Buddhism, with the lineage tracing back to Gautama Buddha himself. In most of the art forms- be it Chinese, Japanese or Vietnamese- he is portrayed to be a profusely bearded and ill-tempered person always, as opposed to the tranquil-looking Gautama Buddha. After being in Liang dynasty in Southern China, he proceeded north, where he taught Shaolin Kung Fu martial art techniques to the monks in the Shaolin monastery. Staring at a wall, he continuouslymeditated for 9 years in a cave near Mt. Song (which is a famous holy pilgrimage spot in China today). After that he died at the banks of Luo River when he was around 150 years of age. Some claim the death was natural, some say his leg atrophied after the long meditation, and some say he was a victim of a mass execution!
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| Japanese Daruma doll & Tamil Chettiar dolls |
Had we remembered Bodhidharma’s work and recognized him to be from our land much earlier, it would be of no surprise if the Hollywood blockbuster animation movie Kung Fu Panda’s plot was set in Kanchipuram- as if Po, the panda amuses with its usual antics while roaming in the quaint streets of Kanchipuram, intermittently uttering Tamil words and fighting atop the grand golden gopurams of Kanchi Kamakshi temple!This could be difficult to imagine for a few, but such a thing would have been definitely adorable, in its very original form. Well, anyways, that’s a trivial offshoot of a much more humongous yearning.
Now what’s the “secret connection”? The Enlightened Niche blog takes pride to be the truth-revealing “Dragon Scroll” here. But there is no “secret” connection. This whole thing has been a well-known fact to the rest of the world. It’s just us, who forgot a great soul from our land, failed to recognize him, his life and his work, and let him out of our history. Know not who to complain. Sheer indifference perhaps.
SEP 3, 2011
The lost world of ‘Kumari Kandam’ –Revisited and relived.
Year 2065. I suddenly wake up after a sound sleep. I rise from my comfy Nexcruzer bed that makes constant motions to guide a peaceful sleep. I see that it’s already 9 in the morning, and I didn't realize that it’s so late. My Adaptive Room-Ambience-Conditioner also had to be blamed since it had continuously adjusted the room temperature and lightings over the night, based on my tiredness- calculating that I needed a long sleep. It was definitely a tough and tiring Friday, yesterday. I quickly rise up and walk to my multi-utility LED TV/Computer panel and switch it off, to see through it and peek outside of my bedroom.
Sunlight is reflected by all the steel-clad skyscrapers around my apartment in the 148th floor. Squinting my eyes, I see flocks of tourists and local people accompanied by their kids board into a Street-zoomer transit vehicle. The glass surface of all the sides of the street-zoomer displays a Flash-X video ad of something called “Trip to the legendary Kumari Kandam”. Within seconds, the whole ad is neatly repeated in Tamil. Apparently it’s a shuttle service to a lost continent calledKumari Kandam or Lemuria continent which submerged into the Indian Ocean over thousands of years ago. The whole world has been going gaga about this place since recently. Remembering that my Emerald Corporate universal benefits card already entitles me to take this trip, I get ready quickly and wait for the next street zoomer to arrive.
As I board the 09:42 street-zoomer, I see that there are almost 400 people seated already, each of them seeming very excited about their trip to this lost land. Within seconds as I board the vehicle, my RFID zoomer-pass beeps automatically and I reach to a free seat nearby. Having no idea about what this place is, I join the bandwagon just to experience the fad with the rest of the crazy people in the world. Apparently it’s a two-hour journey, and it was just two minutes ago when I learnt that the street-zoomer would stop to a conduit which would lead to a Kumari Kandam Submarine. As I sit back with my fingers crossed about this trip, a 3D laser show (over dry ice) organized inside the street-zoomer starts up with a historical introduction of this lost continent:
“There had been many legendary cities that today’s world has lost in time. Some of those were the city of Atlantis, and the city of Dwaraka that is mentioned in Mahabharata. But out of all these, there existed one huge land mass to the south of today’s Indian peninsula extending from Kanyakumari in the north, and its sides touching as far to the west as Madagascar and as far to the east as Australia. This huge continent of the Tamil people was called Kumari Kandam or the Lemuria continent that was swallowed by the seas, and eventually lost forever.
Hundreds of thousand years ago, continents started drifting, and different continents were formed. And after a much long time, the earliest human beings were born on the earth about 400,000 years ago. During the end of the last Ice age, earth’s temperature started rising, large icy masses and glaciers started melting, and thus sea levels started rising. During this period, 12000 years ago, India's Dravidian peninsula was swallowed by the ever rising seas. Various oceanographic researches have shown that the sea level in the Indian peninsula has risen by 100 meters within the past 14,500 years. There had been three major episodes of sea level fluctuations resulting in the submergence of the Kumari continent which existed to the south of Kanya Kumari (About 14,500 years ago, Sri Lanka was connected with Peninsular India!)
The area had been ruled by the Pandya kings, and there are lots of scattered literary evidences to this lost land of the Tamils. As per Adiyarkunallar, a huge landmass extending from Kanyakumari to a distance of 700 kavatams (unknown, obsolete unit) got sunken in the sea. During this civilization, Kumari Kandam land was divided into 49 territories (nadu). It had mountain ranges, and also had two main rivers- Pahruli and Kumari. "
"The earliest civilization that we know of today is the Sumerian civilization established in Mesopotamia (today’s Iraq) around 4000 BC. After this were the Egyptian civilization, and then the Indus valley civilization. But the Tamil civilization around Kumari Kandam had been much earlier than this, which would put it to the first in the time scale of civilization of mankind. What is even more interesting is that, many world-renowned researchers also claim to have deciphered the Indus script to be Tamil! 12
As per Nakkirar’s Iraiyanaar Akaporul the three Tamil Sangams (Academies of Tamil poets) functioned for 9990 odd years!
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| Click to enlarge |
However, very sadly, all that is extant today is the Tamil literature works from the third Sangam. Everything else is lost in the sea, and in time; the people of the civilization were swallowed by the seas. It’s a tragedy of a huge magnitude. The quality of life of the ancient Tamils in Kumari Kandam should have been extraordinarily sublime". As I got myself submerged into the poignant historical introduction of the magnificent lost continent, the 3D show suddenly went off, and the street-zoomer stopped to a sudden halt. An announcement followed:“However, fortunately, some significant parts of the Kumari Kandam have been preserved and restored, thanks to technological advancements, and most importantly because of the vision, perseverance and passion of some individuals- a trip to the magnificent world of Kumari Kandam is possible today! Please follow the signs and walk towards the front.”
It’s been exactly two hours now, and along with the rest of the crowd, I walk into the conduit that leads to the Kumari Kandam submarine, with a melancholic mood and a heavy heart. Within seconds, the huge submarine with its fully transparent walls starts moving slowly inside Indian Ocean’s dark blue waters. With a deep sigh, I lean on the glass wall of the submarine with my hands pressed on it. As I unblinkingly stare through the glass wall, I start encountering places that I couldn’t have ever imagined in my life- height of magnificence- treasure haven – quaintly exotic palaces, temples, and squares. Some portions of the submarine’s glass walls are overlaid with Augmented Reality (AR), rendering how magnificent this place could have been, lively with ancient Tamilians, in the richest of ancient Tamil tradition! As I stare breathlessly, my jaws drop, and I’m inexplicably pulled into the world of first Tamil Sangam era on the Kumari Kandam…
NOV 18, 2010
THE Truth about Indians!
Scene: 1
9000 miles away from the Himalayan country. Far to the west. Silicon valley. A refreshing evening at Microsoft office. An Indian software engineer enjoys his first team dinner with his American colleagues. Suddenly when a discussion on cultural identities strikes, the Indian strongly claims, “I’m PROUD to be an INDIAN!” A white guy sitting opposite, quickly asks, “I’ve heard that the Indus Valley Civilization had sophisticated cities 4,500 years ago! Do you know more about that? Can you share with us…?” Before he could complete, a British teammate interrupts, “I’ve heard from my father that the Chola Kings had such a vast empire that even includes today’s Indonesia and Malaysia! Can you tell us more about that please…?” The interested and earnest eyes stare at the Indian with so much expectation. But the “Proud” Indian software engineer has no clue what they are talking about. He blinks. He has no answer. He murmurs with embarrassment- “Sorry, I don’t know”.
Scene: 2
9000 miles away from the Pacific. Far to the east. Bay of Bengal coast. A humid and scorching mid-week afternoon at Chennai city. An uncontrollable crowd fills the neighborhood. Amidst this is a cinema theatre whose façade is totally covered with huge movie hoardings. Two young high school guys come out of the theater with so much pride, after watching ‘Endhiran, The Robot’ movie the third time. As soon as they get past the crowd, they rush to a nearby shop to watch a cricket match between India and Pakistan. It's nerve-racking, well enough to shoot up their blood pressure to its abnormal levels. Patriotism sees its height in the hearts of those young guys. It’s the final over and the match ends with a sensation - India wins. There is a mad rush of adrenaline. One of them leaps high in the air and shouts, “INDIA ..INDIA ..INDIA !!!” The other one says with exuding pride, “I’m PROUD to be an INDIAN!”. On the way back home, one of them says, “the afternoon was very nicely spent!” The other one quips, “Of course! Who would attend a long, dreary session on ‘Indian Freedom Struggle’?! What a bore!” Yes, their afternoon was earned by bunking off their history class at school. While they walked back home, they continued reviewing ‘Enthiran, The Robot’ movie.
What is the inference that stands out clear as a crystal here? We, today’s Indians, SPEAK-OUT-LOUD to be 'Indian', but don’t really know anything about its proud, long history. However, we love watching movies a lot, and we are patriotic at least when it comes to cricket! The bottom-line is that history, patriotism and knowledge can be fed to today’s Indians only in a “delicious version”- mixed with honey – set in the right tenor- and pampered with the most fashionable format of the day!
That happens to be one of the primary missions of the Enlightened Niche. As a first step, “Indian history in 5 minutes” video has been created. As a first step to be a “Proud” Indian, why don’t you know India’s history today?
OCT 30, 2010
Is your distant cousin in Indonesia, aunt in South Africa and grandfather in West Indies?
My Canadian friend boasts of his ancestry to be a mix of Scottish and Norwegian. But I’m more than glad of what I am, and what my genes are composed of.
The first humans on earth are said to have originated in Africa/ India 70,000 years ago. This has been bolstered by the tests done on the tribes of a village in Tamil Nadu, India who all carry the M130 gene which is one of the oldest genes of the humans. Dravidian (people of South India, majorly) gene characteristics have been preserved relatively well, unmixed with other races for a very long time. But that doesn't infer that Indians, in general remained intact their places and did not migrate. The country has seen huge waves of migrations throughout its long history.
The capital of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu is Madras (Chennai). There is also a city called Madras in the Oregon state of the US. There is a Madras Street in Canterbury, New Zealand. There is a Madras Road in Cambridge, England and also in Glasgow, Scotland. There is a Madras Place in Islington, England and also in Glasgow, Scotland. There is a Madras Way in Southern River, Australia and a Madras Crescent in Port Kennedy, Australia and a Madras settlement road in Cunupia, Trinidad. How on earth did these places in different corners of the world get the name of an Indian city?? Was it because of contemporary immigrants, or because of a historical settlement of a much older time? We don't have an idea. Had family trees been piously created and preserved by our ancestors, we could have had an answer today.
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| Madras in 1925 |
The capital of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu is Madras (Chennai). There is also a city called Madras in the Oregon state of the US. There is a Madras Street in Canterbury, New Zealand. There is a Madras Road in Cambridge, England and also in Glasgow, Scotland. There is a Madras Place in Islington, England and also in Glasgow, Scotland. There is a Madras Way in Southern River, Australia and a Madras Crescent in Port Kennedy, Australia and a Madras settlement road in Cunupia, Trinidad. How on earth did these places in different corners of the world get the name of an Indian city?? Was it because of contemporary immigrants, or because of a historical settlement of a much older time? We don't have an idea. Had family trees been piously created and preserved by our ancestors, we could have had an answer today.
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| Hungarian Gypsies |
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Immigrant Indians in Guyana ca. 1850
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Since the abolition of slavery act left a void of laborers in their colonies, starting from the 19th century, the Britishers orchestrated the successive migrations, in the name of indentures. The first wave was in 1834 when Indentured workers from India (Bhojpuris) were sent to Mauritius to work in the sugarcane fields. (A century earlier, the Tamil construction workers had been sent here, by the French). Now these people form 70% of the country’s population. In 1838, another huge migration of indentured workers was initiated by the British. Starting with Guyana, there was an influx of over half a million to the Caribbean islands (Trinidad & Tobago, Jamaica, etc.). Most of them were from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, while people from Tamil Nadu forming the majority in Guadeloupe and Martinique. 1860 saw the first substantial migration to South Africa, of which the majority were from Tamil Nadu, forming a population of 1 Million today. In the later years, the Sikhs from the Punjab region were recruited in the British Indian army and most of them were working in Shanghai and Hong Kong. During Queen Victoria’s diamond jubilee celebrations in 1897, they got to visit Canada, and this attracted a huge migration into Canada and the US. After independence, many Punjabis migrated to the UK mainly in the 1950s. Today, over 4.5 million of Sikhs live outside India. All these Indian diaspora have been complemented by immigration of professionals since the 20th century.
Indulge yourself in building your family tree and a littlegenealogy research. No wonder if you happen to find your distant cousin in Indonesia, aunt in South Africa and grandfather in West Indies today!
Indulge yourself in building your family tree and a littlegenealogy research. No wonder if you happen to find your distant cousin in Indonesia, aunt in South Africa and grandfather in West Indies today!
"Do you know the name of your great grandfather’s father?"
A conversation with an average man:
"Do you know about the lives of the mighty Indian kings of the Chola kingdom and their history"?
"History about the kings?? Who cares about a king who ruled my country 1000 years ago? He is not related to me by any means. I’m an earnest family man. It’s a competitive world. I care only about my family. And I don't feel bad to be selfish."
"Agreed. So only your family is important for you. OK, so what is the name of your great grandfather's father?"
"Well.. Err….. ?!?!?!?????!!"If indifference to history is reasoned to be because of selfishness, what could be one good reason behind not even knowing one’s own family’s history?
Today there are over 25 million people of Indian origin, who live in different countries of the world. They have emigrated to the Malay archipelago, South Africa, Caribbean islands, Canada, US, UK, Australia and to many other countries. But most of these people have lost their Indian identity, ethnic authenticity and forgot their ancestral connections. Blame them not, when someone in your household doesn’t know the name of your great grandfather’s father.
Oh, is that YOU I’m referring to, here?!
OCT 12, 2010
My Naadi astrology experience- a truly bewitching one- Part II
As I was totally immersed into reading the article on the wall, I didn’t notice a hand coming towards my shoulder. “Tap!”
Someone patted at my back. My contemplation was instantly disturbed. “Please stand in the queue!!”, a distant voice yelled. I joined the long queue stretching out to the street. Finally when it was my turn, I was taken to the ‘pooja’ (prayer) hall. As I entered, I was awestruck to see thousands of old palm leaves stocked inside a series of cupboards. A big picture of siddhar Agathiyar quickly caught my attention. Then my right thumb impression was taken on a small card and my initial and place of residence were also noted down on the card (my full name wasn’t asked). Then I was asked to wait in the lounge along with the rest of the crowd. Time rolled on, and lot of people in the lounge were called out at regular intervals, informing that their leaf had been identified. As for me, it had been two hours, and no news yet.
Someone patted at my back. My contemplation was instantly disturbed. “Please stand in the queue!!”, a distant voice yelled. I joined the long queue stretching out to the street. Finally when it was my turn, I was taken to the ‘pooja’ (prayer) hall. As I entered, I was awestruck to see thousands of old palm leaves stocked inside a series of cupboards. A big picture of siddhar Agathiyar quickly caught my attention. Then my right thumb impression was taken on a small card and my initial and place of residence were also noted down on the card (my full name wasn’t asked). Then I was asked to wait in the lounge along with the rest of the crowd. Time rolled on, and lot of people in the lounge were called out at regular intervals, informing that their leaf had been identified. As for me, it had been two hours, and no news yet.
I was pondering about how I would prove to my friend that this is fake and convince him tonight. Soon it was lunch time, and I went for a light meal, and returned to the place again. I had whiled away five hours in that strange place, and no news yet! I sighed, and almost confirmed that this whole thing was just a poor old trick. Suddenly, one of the employees appeared in the lounge and called out, “Sanatorium – H, your leaf has been found. You may proceed to the room downstairs!”. Sanatorium was the place where I lived, and H is my initial. Yes, it was me. My palm leaf had been found out.
The story grips. As I anxiously proceeded to the room, an astrologer who seemed religious with his simple outfits and a wide forehead fully covered with holy ash, beckoned me inside. He had a set of old, crippling palm leaves (written invatteluthu Tamil script). He claimed one of those palm leaves to be mine (WHAT?!). He flipped through the hundreds of palm leaves in the set one by one, and read out some info. Every time before he moved on to the next leaf, he asked if any of the information was about me. After several such questions, he said he brought a wrong piece, and that he’d bring the right one. I could almost hear a loud cynical laugh from my deep insides.
The story grips. As I anxiously proceeded to the room, an astrologer who seemed religious with his simple outfits and a wide forehead fully covered with holy ash, beckoned me inside. He had a set of old, crippling palm leaves (written invatteluthu Tamil script). He claimed one of those palm leaves to be mine (WHAT?!). He flipped through the hundreds of palm leaves in the set one by one, and read out some info. Every time before he moved on to the next leaf, he asked if any of the information was about me. After several such questions, he said he brought a wrong piece, and that he’d bring the right one. I could almost hear a loud cynical laugh from my deep insides.
He was back soon with a new set of palm leaves. He asked me so many yes-or-no questions and I almost lost interest in this game, and frantically shook my head for all his questions. As he flipped through the leaves, suddenly he uttered a name and questioned me if that was my dad’s name. I slowly raised my head, looked at him in astonishment and nodded. This was indeed the moment of truth. My dad has a very unique name that is often misspelled, but he uttered my dad’s name in its perfect spelling! I was totally flabbergasted how in the world my dad's name could have been written on that leaf!
Then he sat back, now seemed even more poised, and said that he had identified my own naadi leaf. He continued reading an ancient incomprehensible Tamil poem from the leaf and I was put to shock again- I heard him uttering my mom’s name. He read on, to say that I’ve sought Naadi at my age of 21. ("well, it's not rocket science to say what my age was, after looking at me. But how come my dad and mom’s names?!") He read out a hymn as Agathiyar praising Lord Shiva, and then came my name, what I was studying, how many siblings I have, what my dad and mom’s professions were, etc, etc, etc. I had an uneasy feeling that I was starting to lose the battle. He read out the exact date when I was born, and all the planetary positions during my birth. He also added that I was born on aFriday. But to my joy, this one wasn't true!
I quickly said to him that it was wrong and that I was almost sure that I was rather born on a Wednesday, and not a Friday. With a confident smile, he replied back that he was just reading what’s written on the leaf and asserted that the leaf says that I was born on a Friday and that couldn't be wrong. Then he continued reading. He started to read about my future- when I would start working, where and what will be my profession, whether and when I will fly to a foreign country, when would I get married, so on and so forth, up until the end of my life. I gasped at the moment he uttered my dad’s name, and I remember I breathed again only after he completed reading about my whole life.
Then he sat back, now seemed even more poised, and said that he had identified my own naadi leaf. He continued reading an ancient incomprehensible Tamil poem from the leaf and I was put to shock again- I heard him uttering my mom’s name. He read on, to say that I’ve sought Naadi at my age of 21. ("well, it's not rocket science to say what my age was, after looking at me. But how come my dad and mom’s names?!") He read out a hymn as Agathiyar praising Lord Shiva, and then came my name, what I was studying, how many siblings I have, what my dad and mom’s professions were, etc, etc, etc. I had an uneasy feeling that I was starting to lose the battle. He read out the exact date when I was born, and all the planetary positions during my birth. He also added that I was born on aFriday. But to my joy, this one wasn't true!
Thousands of questions were spawning and proliferating in my mind, from several directions. Is this real, or am I still dreaming?? I could wake up right now, right at this moment and prove that this is all fake! But well, my excited heart rate asserts to me that I’m awake. This is happening for real. But how could it be possible? How could someone have written each and every detail about me, my family and my future, several thousand years ago? My senses were eating me for finding an answer, but in vain. After an hour’s time, I was given a notebook where the whole manuscript was copied on to.
This was truly a mind-boggling experience. All of these seemed to be unquestionably authentic and true, except for my day of birth. Interestingly, just this seemed to be wrong. I quickly sent a text message to my dad: “Dad, was I born on a Friday?!”. I was forced to think about all possible tricks that could have made this possible. I got reminded of a skill that a handful of people possess- ‘Mind-reading’. Some people are supposed to possess this extrasensory skill with which they could “pull out” words from one’s fresh memory. Before a mind-reader would tell what your name was, he would start with, “so, your name is...”. As your mind would be instantly waiting with your name to validate with his answer, a mind-reader can pull it out – as it is commonly believed. I was cross-checking my event with a suspicion of mind-reading. The naadi astrologer could’ve been a mind reader, and that’s how he was able to tell me my name and my parents' names. But there is no explanation for the future predictions. But wait- when I myself thought I was born on a Wednesday, why did he say that to be a Friday?! So, this cannot be mind-reading too. Sigh.. But why just my day of birth was wrong in the palm leaf? I left the place. Besides being thoroughly amazed, I was also confused.
During my journey back home, I was riding a local train that was too noisy and unusually crowded. But I was deaf to the external world. I didn’t hear a thing other than the millions of questions being asked within myself. I was deeply contemplating. “BEEP- BEEP!” My mobile phone’s SMS tone distorts my contemplation.
It’s from dad: “Yes, indeed”.
Now, only the amazement persists.
OCT 8, 2010
My Naadi astrology experience- a truly bewitching one!
It was 6 years ago. I was living with my college friends in the city’s suburb. We never got the real seriousness until it’s the final exam time of the semester. It was such a joyful evening when my friend dropped by my place. Soon my roommates also joined for a chat with him. As we were discussing, rambling and laughing about college trivia, he suddenly started a new topic that jumped off the track of our conversation- it was about ghosts and spirits.
Though I never believed in any of these stories, I did not ever miss a discussion on ghosts. These discussions invariably start with 2 or 3 people and end with a big crowd of 10-12 people. Spooky stories are always enchanting and definitely a crowd puller. Back to the story- my friend said that he had been long suspecting that his house was haunted by a spirit. He also cited some creepy unexplainable incidents like “black images”, “hollow space” “shadows without an object” moving hither and thither at his place. This was happening for long. Only later did he learn from his landlord that the house had been vacant for years, before he moved in. It had been occupied by a family which moved out after a 9-year old girl in the household committed suicide. Though his narrative made us hold breath at irregular periods and left us open-mouthed, to me, it was just a nicely concocted story.
Then he added that the spirit of a killed or a prematurely dead human would lament, cry aloud and beg, on seeing its body being cremated in grave yard, longing to get back to its body. It sounded so irrational to my senses and I argued back. My roommates also started making fun of him for all that he had been saying hitherto. It definitely kindled his wrath and being unable to prove anything that he said, he quickly stood up, and snarled, “You guys may laugh at me now. But you will understand very soon!” He added, “I’m sure you guys won’t believe if I said, you can even know what your previous births were, and where your next birth will be! Naadi astrology tells you that. Go, see it for yourself!” He quickly disappeared from the spot. Even after a long time after he left, his last sentence was haunting me during the darkest times of that night. Rest is the main story.
The word ‘Naadi’ kept resonating in my mind even the following day. I’ve heard about such an astrological practice many times during the previous years. But I was never so interested in seeking it, and even at times when I thought of giving it a try, I was indifferent or I had more important things to do. However, this time, this overwhelming force made me become all the more keen on seeking it. But only for one simple reason- to prove to my friend that all that was just a humbug. The next moment, I was standing in front of this place where Naadi astrology is sought. I couldn’t help myself.
It was just a big house, with a board ("Agathiya Naadi center") hanging in the front. I entered the building with some reluctance as I’ve never been to an astrology place before in life. The place was buzzing with activities and packed with people who I could easily identify to be of different cultures, and some were from different countries too. I noticed a picture of a king who I later understood to be the Maratha king Serfoji, who had preserved the naadi palm leaves. The wall opposite to it was almost left with no space as a lot of paper cuttings of magazine articles had been stuck. It was obvious that each of the paper cuttings was from magazines in different languages such as German, Japanese, Chinese, English, Tamil, etc. I was attracted to an article titled, “Is there a next birth?”. As I was totally immersed into reading the article, I didn’t notice a hand coming towards my shoulder. “Tap!”
source: the enlightened niche
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