The Three Magi: A Carol (To a Gypsy Air) – Unknown

This regional spin off is interesting. Though the mention is of Bohemians, it's not Bohemians per se, but what are called as Parne who intermingle with Gypsies and live their life. They are considered as vile and inacceptable as like the Gypsies. This carol talks about the Three Magi who were supposed to have visited …

For the Great Friday – A Greek Carol

Notice the specific mention of a gypsy. Such things made them the regular stuff of persecution all over. The Panaghia sits alone, alone she sits and lonely ; She prays, and all her prayers are for her only Son beloved. A noise she hears, and tumult loud, and very great confusion ; And forth she …

Kunthap Sukta – Atharva Veda

Misinformation rules the day in this Kali Yuga. Whether it is for good or for bad, the point is, we are seeing misinformation is being spread day in and day out. To achieve what, god only knows. Now, look at this. Someone shared me reference to Prophet Muhammad in Atharva Veda. The main points mentioned …

The Definition of Brevity – Scriptures in a Single Sloka

This is the beauty of Sanskrit literature. There are instances of a story written in 25000 slokas and there are instances were the same story was told in one sloka. Below three are a single sloka recitations of Ramayana, Mahabharata and Bhagavata. I am not sure who wrote them, but the case is that all …

Muhammad Iqbal – Shikwa(Protest)

Well, something happened and Iqbal one day, composed a poem complaining about Islam in 1909. The clergy, as expected, was up in arms and four years later, he had to gratiate himself by posting a reply to it. Stanza (1) Kyun Ziyaan Kaar Banun, Sood Framosh Rahun Fikr-e-Farda Na Karum, Mahw-e-Ghum-e-Dosh Rahun Why should I …

Awake! – Sarojini Naidu

Well, another one over Jinnah as well... Waken, O mother! thy children implore thee, Who kneel in thy presence to serve and adore thee! The night is aflush with a dream of the morrow, Why still dost thou sleep in thy bondage of sorrow? Awaken and sever the woes that enthrall us, And hallow our …

Two Couplets from Either Side of the Horizon – Extreme Secularism or Extreme Hypocrisy?

Maharaja Kishen Pershad, Diwan of Hyderabad Na main Hindu, na main MusalmanHar mazhab hai mera imanShad ka mazhab Shad hi janeAzadi azad hi jane I am neither Hindu nor MuslimEvery religion is my faithShad alone knows of his religious beliefsAs only a freeman can fathom the true value of freedom Mirza Ghalib on Varanasi Ibadat …

Prataparudra Gajapati’s Prayer for Radha

I will become an ornament on your body, the ankle bells upon your feet. I will become the cakora who gazesat the moons of your fingernails, the bee who buzzes around your lotus feet. I will become the mirror you look into, the whisk that fans you. And I have yet another desireLet me become …

Sonnet written on Shivratri – Maharaja Karan Singh

The mount Kailash, upon whose snowy height a figure broods, inscrutable and still, but charged with vibrant power that seems to fill the universe with glory and light, the eyes half closed, the body pure and bright like to the sun which from the distant hill its golden homage pays, as angels thrill to gaze …

God – Gavrila Romanovich Derzhavin

O Thou, who's infinite in space, Alive in ever-moving matter, Eternal in the flow of time, God faceless, with a trinity of faces! Soul unified and omnipresent, Who needs no place or reason, Whom none can ever comprehend, Whose being permeates all things, Encompassing, creating, guarding, Thou, called by us God. Although a great mind …