Mudgalopanishad

Most of India's historical sites are poorly maintained or completely neglected with just a rudimentary sign-board by ASI indicating that these are protected monuments...which by itself is a huge joke..

Tall claims by Governments (state/central) in India about literacy levels and the educational system has to be taken with a pinch of salt. Wherever I traveled I saw BPL children were mostly on the streets and not in class-rooms..
When I visited Mudgal on a weekday, hordes of children were playing on the streets or were..
On spotting a camera on my person dozens of the urchins volunteered to take me to the top of the fort...
Mudgal was a Rajarishi who wrote one of the 108 Upanishads called, rightly so, Mudgalopanishad.
The major part of the fort is in the plains and is well populated...
Most of the forts I visited, typically, were surrounded by villages with Muslim majority population - and Mudgal was no different.
The Hill top was reserved for the Royals..
The outer fort has a wide moat, which is filled with water. The width of the moat varies, being as much as 50 yards at several places.
Mudgal is also known as Lord Ganesha's teacher.
Mudgal was an important outpost of the Kakatiya kingdom. Malik Naib, after seizing Devagiri, captured Mudgal along with Raichur. After the establishment of the Bahamani Dynasty, the Bijapur kings took possession of the western and southern parts of the territory of the kingdom including the forts of Raichur and Mudgal.
 I bid farewell to the Fort and wished the kids well and headed back to Raichur.
The Guru shall impart this in a pure place, on a sacred star, after regulating the vital airs to the humble disciple, in the right ear. It should not be done too often – it would become stale but as often as needed, in the ear.

Thus both the teacher and the taught will become Purusha in this birth.

This is the Upanishad.

Om ! May my speech be based on (i.e. accord with) the mind;
May my mind be based on speech.
O Self-effulgent One, reveal Thyself to me.
May you both (speech and mind) be the carriers of the Veda to me.
May not all that I have heard depart from me.
I shall join together (i.e. obliterate the difference of) day
And night through this study.
I shall utter what is verbally true;
I shall utter what is mentally true.
May that (Brahman) protect me;
May That protect the speaker (i.e. the teacher), may That protect me;
May that protect the speaker – may That protect the speaker.
Om ! Let there be Peace in me !
Let there be Peace in my environment !
Let there be Peace in the forces that act on me !

Here ends the Mudgalopanishad, as contained in the Rig-Veda
Location: Mudgal, Karnataka 584125, India

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Battle of Raichur - One of the bloodiest battles in Indian History

Image
A battle caused by 40,000 gold coins led to more than 40,000 casualties. The Battle of Raichur was one of the biggest battle fought in medieval India in terms of scale and ferocity with the total number of soldiers involved approximating a million. The fertile doab region of Raichur lying between the Krishna and Bhima river was much sought after land by the kingdoms of yore because of the potential of huge revenues. The rich soil of the region yielded many types of  crops including oilseeds,cotton,sorghum,groundnut etc. The Bahamanis had recaptured Raichur fort while Sri Krishnadevaraya of Vijayanagar Empire was on a campaign in Odisha. The trigger for war Old King Saluva Narasimha Raya expressed a wish in his testament that the city of Raichur be recaptured. This has been in the mind of Krishnadevaraya since his coronation in 1509. In the year 1520 Krishnadevaraya sent Seyed Maraikar, a Muslim in his service to Goa with a large sum of money to buy horses. Imag
Read more

The Badshah who was a Jagadguru

Image
The general opinion the majority of Hindus have about Muslim rule in India is largely based on prejudice and ill informed impressions.A balanced perception is lacking even among the educated class. IMHO both good and bad things happened during that era. It is amazing how we hold on to opinions without ever venturing to check the veracity of it. (-avalok) Consider this. A Muslim King who tried to bring in cultural harmony, between the Shias and the Sunnis and between Hindus and Muslims through music. He was a great lover of music, played musical instruments, sang and composed praises of Hindu deities Saraswati and Ganapati. He wrote the book Kitab-E-Navras (Book of Nine Rasas) in Dakhani. It is a collection of 59 poems and 17 couplets. He was Bahmani King Ibrahim Adil Shah II - aka Jagadguru Badshah! According to his court-poet Zuhuri, he wrote it to introduce the theory of nine Rasas, which occupies most important place in Indian aesthetics, to acquaint people who were onl
Read more

A Vibrant Village Jatre

Image
India is perhaps the most colorful country in the world and certainly is a photographer's delight. Just walk down a busy street or a market and shoot and you will end up with a bunch of incredibly colorful snaps. Not only India is diverse in terms of natural bounty as well as topography, Indians themselves are diverse in their facial characteristics, physical attributes etc. And their dress sense invariably veers towards extreme and vivid colors. I was on my way out of Raichur when I rode into a village where a Jatre was going on.  Jatre - a word with its root in the Sanskrit word 'Yatra' - is typically held annually in many villages in Karnataka to worship their local deities. But a jatre is more a cultural festival than a religious event. It is the time when farmers forget their problems and spend time happily with their family and friends. In fact, many of them go on a shopping spree. Besides essential commodities, they purchase clothes for the whole y
Read more