The Dutch adventure (1648-1653) on Lord Thirusenthil' s 2nd abode -Thiruchendur, Tamilnadu, India
M. Rennel, the French author of A Description, Historical andGeographical of India (published in Berlin, 1785), gives a picture ofthe temple which he says he got from a soldier in the service of theDutch Company. He relates an incident which offers a reasonableexplanation of the Thiruchendur tradition and miracle. "In a sea attack by the Dutch in 1648, the Dutch camped in the ancienttemple and tried their best to destroy it by fire and heavy bombardment.But they only partially succeeded and the high tower defied all theirefforts." As a matter of fact, the capture of the ancient statue of LordThirusenthil was one of the Dutch short lived achievements. The Portuguese were the earliest European traders to land at Thirumalai(1623-1659AD) . The Tamils were eager to have foreign trade relations withthe Portuguese and signed a business agreement in 1639AD. Another business agreement was also signed with the Dutch in 1646 byterms of which the Dutch were allowed to build a fort at the same area.This brought the Dutch into war with the Portuguese. After the war, thePortuguese seized a Dutch boat laden with goods and chase the Dutch outof their fort and destroyed it.
****
Later the Dutch sought the aid from their headquarters in Sri Lanka. TheDutch came in 10 boats and landed at Thirumalai. They also seized thePortuguese Church and occupied the ancient Temple of Lord Murugan atThiruchendur and fortified the Temple with guns. The Tamils were sorely distressed and they appealed to Thirumalai Nayak.The Nayak sent a word to the Dutch to vacate the temple. The request wasrejected and the Dutch nevertheless ravaged the country all around itand demanded 40,000 reals as a ransom to quit the place. The amount wasalso pressed for payment but only a small amount could be raised.
****
So the Tamils at Thiruchendur gathered an army consisting of 4elephants, 60 horses and 600 men to chase the Dutch out of the temple.The attempt was unsuccessful with the loss of 50 men of the Tamil Army.The people were utterly helpless and sorely tried.**** So the Tamils are defeated and the Dutch carry away the statues ofThirusenthil Muruga and the statue of Siva Nataraja. The Dutch wasdreaming the statues was made of gold. In 1648 the Dutch leftThiruchendur, taking all the temple icons and demanding an enhancedransom of 100,000 reals.
****
The popular tradition goes that the Dutch tried to melt the gold statuesbut proved hard. So the Dutch decided to sail back to Sri Lanka with thestatues. On their way back, the sea suddenly grew boisterous and rockedthe ship violently. Unable to control the ship, the Dutch decided tothrow the statues into the sea to save their lives.
****
Soon after the Dutch released the statues into the sea, the seaimmediately turned calm. The Dutch were surprised by this miracle.Knowing the statues are gone, the Dutch sailed away.
****
In 1653, a local administrator of the Nayaks at Thirunelveli,Vadamalaiyappa Pillaiyyan had a dream. In the dream, Lord ThirusenthilMuruga advised him to find the lost statues under the sea. In the dream he was informed that the icon would be found at the spotwhere a lime fruit would be found floating and the place marked by thecircling overhead of a kite, the bird of Lord Vishnu.
****
Acting to the advice conveyed to him in the dream, he put out to sea andfollowed the instructions. Suddenly they found the lime fruit and a birdflying on a spot!
****
An so Vadamalaiappa Pillai recovers the original icon exactly asforeseen in his dream. The people rejoice and return the icons to theTemple.
****
In 1653, Vadamalaiappa Pillai reinstalled the original icon in thetemple.
received via forwarded e-mail
acknowledgements: n.balasubramanian, arumugam manickam (original sender)
srini
Friday, July 27, 2007
Wednesday, July 18, 2007
Modern Panchathanthra Story
Once upon a time, there was a software engineer who used to develop programs on his Pentium machine, sitting under a tree on the banks of a river. He used to earn his bread by selling those programs in the Sunday market.
One day, while he was working, his machine tumbled off the table and fell in the river. Encouraged by the Panchatantra story of his childhood (the woodcutter and the axe ),
He started praying to the River Goddess. The River Goddess wanted to test him and so appeared only after one month of rigorous prayers. The engineer told her that he had lost his computer in the river.
As usual, the Goddess wanted to test his honesty. She showed him a match box and asked, " Is this your computer ?" Disappointed by the Goddess' lack of computer awareness, the engineer replied, " No."
She next showed him a pocket-sized calculator and asked if that was his.
Annoyed, the engineer said "No, not at all!!"
Finally, she came up with his own Pentium machine and asked if it was his.
The engineer, left with no option, sighed and said " Yes."
The River Goddess was happy with his honesty. She was about to give
Him all three items, but before she could make the offer, the engineer
Asked her, "Don't you know that you're supposed to show me some better computers before bringing up my own ?"
The River Goddess, angered at this, replied, "I know that, you stupid donkey! The first two things I showed you were the Trillennium and the Billennium, the latest computers from IBM !". So saying, she disappeared with the Pentium!!
********
Moral :If you're not up-to-date with technology trends , it's better to keep your mouth shut and let people think you're a fool than to open your mouth and remove all doubt.
srini
One day, while he was working, his machine tumbled off the table and fell in the river. Encouraged by the Panchatantra story of his childhood (the woodcutter and the axe ),
He started praying to the River Goddess. The River Goddess wanted to test him and so appeared only after one month of rigorous prayers. The engineer told her that he had lost his computer in the river.
As usual, the Goddess wanted to test his honesty. She showed him a match box and asked, " Is this your computer ?" Disappointed by the Goddess' lack of computer awareness, the engineer replied, " No."
She next showed him a pocket-sized calculator and asked if that was his.
Annoyed, the engineer said "No, not at all!!"
Finally, she came up with his own Pentium machine and asked if it was his.
The engineer, left with no option, sighed and said " Yes."
The River Goddess was happy with his honesty. She was about to give
Him all three items, but before she could make the offer, the engineer
Asked her, "Don't you know that you're supposed to show me some better computers before bringing up my own ?"
The River Goddess, angered at this, replied, "I know that, you stupid donkey! The first two things I showed you were the Trillennium and the Billennium, the latest computers from IBM !". So saying, she disappeared with the Pentium!!
********
Moral :If you're not up-to-date with technology trends , it's better to keep your mouth shut and let people think you're a fool than to open your mouth and remove all doubt.
srini
Wednesday, June 20, 2007
Contrary proverbs
Every Action has an equal and an opposite reaction... ( Newton 's third Law)
Similarly, every proverb has an equal and an opposite proverb!
Contrary Proverbs
All good things come to those who wait.
BUT
Time and tide wait for no man.
The pen is mightier than the sword.
BUT
Actions speak louder than words.
Wise men think alike.
BUT
Fools seldom differ.
The best things in life are free .
BUT
There's no such thing as a free lunch .
Slow and steady wins the race .
BUT
Time waits for no man .
Look before you leap .
BUT
Strike while the iron is hot .
Do it well, or not at all.
BUT
Half a loaf is better than none.
Birds of a feather flock together.
BUT
Opposites attract.
Don't cross your bridges before you come to them.
BUT
Forewarned is forearmed.
Doubt is the beginning of wisdom.
BUT
Faith will move mountains.
Great starts make great finishes.
BUT
It ain't over 'till it's over.
Practice makes perfect.
BUT
All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.
Silence is golden.
BUT
The squeaky wheel gets the grease.
You're never too old to learn.
BUT
You can't teach an old dog new tricks
What's good for the goose is good for the gander.
BUT
One man's meat is another man's poison.
Absence makes the heart grow fonder.
BUT
Out of sight, out of mind.
Too many cooks spoil the broth.
BUT
Many hands make light work.
Hold fast to the words of your ancestors.
BUT
Wise men make proverbs and fools repeat them.
srini
wisdom
Similarly, every proverb has an equal and an opposite proverb!
Contrary Proverbs
All good things come to those who wait.
BUT
Time and tide wait for no man.
The pen is mightier than the sword.
BUT
Actions speak louder than words.
Wise men think alike.
BUT
Fools seldom differ.
The best things in life are free .
BUT
There's no such thing as a free lunch .
Slow and steady wins the race .
BUT
Time waits for no man .
Look before you leap .
BUT
Strike while the iron is hot .
Do it well, or not at all.
BUT
Half a loaf is better than none.
Birds of a feather flock together.
BUT
Opposites attract.
Don't cross your bridges before you come to them.
BUT
Forewarned is forearmed.
Doubt is the beginning of wisdom.
BUT
Faith will move mountains.
Great starts make great finishes.
BUT
It ain't over 'till it's over.
Practice makes perfect.
BUT
All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.
Silence is golden.
BUT
The squeaky wheel gets the grease.
You're never too old to learn.
BUT
You can't teach an old dog new tricks
What's good for the goose is good for the gander.
BUT
One man's meat is another man's poison.
Absence makes the heart grow fonder.
BUT
Out of sight, out of mind.
Too many cooks spoil the broth.
BUT
Many hands make light work.
Hold fast to the words of your ancestors.
BUT
Wise men make proverbs and fools repeat them.
srini
wisdom
Thursday, April 12, 2007
Analogy of life (and death) with a train journey
From time immemorial philosophers have tried to understand, theorise life and have tried to draw analogy from various processes - especially a journey or voyage.
That life is analogous to a journey is not a tough thing to perceive; butunderstanding the death part is a bit tricky. Folks, to me the life appears to be analogous to the travel in an eternal train journey in which we mortals have embarking and disembarking timings assigned (many of you - especially the atheists may differ on the topic of a third party control over the above!) which we may or may not be aware of. The travel in the train corresponds to the duration of life; the embarkation corresponds to birth (not berth!) and disembarkation the death. The beauty is that once we settle down in a berth after our birth, we wish to have our journey eternal without a disembarkation as we do not know what it would be like after getting out - and more so because we can no more interact with our co-passengers in the travel domain and we think that all our memories about the travel would be washed out, deleted, reset etc. It is the fear of the unknown. One who can conquer this fear can conquer the fear of death - Mruthyunjaya!
The process of death can correspond to different possible modes of disembarkation -
the super-power dislodging you in a state of sleep or in a state of wakefulness but with your reluctance in most cases, or a violent way say an accident or terrible physical pain. In these cases, the life is snatched away. But imagine, if you can prepare yourself to the fact that death may be inevitable and consent to the taking it back by the super power, the disembarkation would be least painful and would not resemble the case of someone thrown out of the train by a train ticket examiner. This requires a lot of guts, wisdom and detachment.
Of course, there can be a case of the travel becoming unbearable for someone who might jump out of a (burning) train. That corresponds to suicide. If someone throws him out, it is murder.
If other non human causes are involved, it is called an accident. Finally, if one is thrown of the train but manages to get back into it after say a brief interlude, it is said to be a miracle and is called resurrection.
Again the operation of the life train by the super power may have some punctuations (afterall god too needs some break yaar!) which may be called the mahapralayams punctuating the ages or the yugams as they are called.
more later
srini
That life is analogous to a journey is not a tough thing to perceive; butunderstanding the death part is a bit tricky. Folks, to me the life appears to be analogous to the travel in an eternal train journey in which we mortals have embarking and disembarking timings assigned (many of you - especially the atheists may differ on the topic of a third party control over the above!) which we may or may not be aware of. The travel in the train corresponds to the duration of life; the embarkation corresponds to birth (not berth!) and disembarkation the death. The beauty is that once we settle down in a berth after our birth, we wish to have our journey eternal without a disembarkation as we do not know what it would be like after getting out - and more so because we can no more interact with our co-passengers in the travel domain and we think that all our memories about the travel would be washed out, deleted, reset etc. It is the fear of the unknown. One who can conquer this fear can conquer the fear of death - Mruthyunjaya!
The process of death can correspond to different possible modes of disembarkation -
the super-power dislodging you in a state of sleep or in a state of wakefulness but with your reluctance in most cases, or a violent way say an accident or terrible physical pain. In these cases, the life is snatched away. But imagine, if you can prepare yourself to the fact that death may be inevitable and consent to the taking it back by the super power, the disembarkation would be least painful and would not resemble the case of someone thrown out of the train by a train ticket examiner. This requires a lot of guts, wisdom and detachment.
Of course, there can be a case of the travel becoming unbearable for someone who might jump out of a (burning) train. That corresponds to suicide. If someone throws him out, it is murder.
If other non human causes are involved, it is called an accident. Finally, if one is thrown of the train but manages to get back into it after say a brief interlude, it is said to be a miracle and is called resurrection.
Again the operation of the life train by the super power may have some punctuations (afterall god too needs some break yaar!) which may be called the mahapralayams punctuating the ages or the yugams as they are called.
more later
srini
Friday, March 9, 2007
Thursday, February 15, 2007
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