Prachyam Papers

Arise,O lion, and embark upon your divine mission.

ISSUE 01 | APRIL’23

WWW.PRACHYAM.COM
PRACHYAM PAPERS

Love is a beautiful thing, don’t let the west ruin it

~Deepali Patwadkar

V alentine’s Day, Promise Day etc.

have become popular with the
youth in the past few decades. This
festival is named after at least two 3rd
century saints named ‘Valentine’. One of
them, disregarded the ban imposed by
Romans on the marriage of soldiers and
officiated the weddings of many. The
second one was imprisoned and sen-
tenced to death for preaching Chris-
tianity. While in prison, he magically
cured the daughter of an official. Be-
fore his death, he wrote her a letter and
signed it as ‘yours Valentine’. The ‘Val-
entine Feast’ was started in the mem-
ory of these two. Later, people started
celebrating it as a festival of love be-
tween husband and wife.
According to some, the lovers in an-
cient Rome celebrated 14th February
to welcome the approach of spring. In
the 4th century, the Church converted
this into a religious feast in the name
of Saint Valentine. With time, the reli-
gious context was lost and it became
a secular festival to celebrate love be-
tween couples. Meanwhile, in 1969, the
Catholic Church discontinued the feast
which took place on the 14th of Febru-

If you didn’t recieve it from Prachyam’s mail then you can sign up for weekly subscription of the
same here: www.prachyam.com
Sita and Rama, by Monal Kohad
PRACHYAM PAPERS
Rati and Madan by Raja Ravi Varma
ary since no official information about
the saint was available to them. In the
recent 40-50 years, American consum-
erism has transformed this festival into
a ‘Shopper’s day’. Now greeting cards,
chocolates, roses, teddy bears etc. are
sold in large numbers on 14th of Feb-
ruary.
Here, we try to bring forth a short re-
If you didn’t recieve it from Prachyam’s mail then you can sign up for weekly subscription of the
same here: www.prachyam.com
It describes the marriage of Surya, the together, work together, attain victory
daughter of the Sun, and Chandra, the together and gain prosperity together.
moon. It has the vows of the bride and May your souls connect with each oth-
the groom and the blessings given to er! Go for a walk where the beautiful
them by the bride’s father. In this Sukta, birds sing melodious songs. Have lov-
during the wedding ceremony, Chan- ing conversations with each other. Be-
dra says -”I take the hand of my bride come an ideal husband and wife!” What
in mine with Agni as the witness. May is love? How should one express love?
all deities bless my bride! Oh Surya! How should husband and wife interact
May you always remain by my side. We with each other? The advice given by
shall build our home together. We shall the Rishi is applicable even today.
nurture good progeny together. Your
companionship in carrying out the du- The Rigveda (10.95), Shatpath Brahman
ties of married life is an honour for me. (11.5.1) and a few Puranas tell the tragic
We shall together ac- love story of Pururava
quire wealth (health, and Urvashi. It is the
cattle, money, grain, “I take the hand of my bride story of mortal King
house, etc.) May we in mine with Agni as the Pururava and the im-
live together for a witness. May all deities mortal Apsara of In-
hundred autumn sea- bless my bride! Oh Surya! dra’s Court, Urvashi.
sons! May we never May you always remain by Kalidasa has written a
separate from each my side. We shall build our play named Vikramor-
other. If I am the sky, home together.” vashiya on this story.
you are the Earth! If I In this story, Pururava
am a song, you are its ~Vivah Sukta” (10.58) meets Urvashi while
lyrics! We shall be in- going to the court of
separable like them!” Indra. They both fall in
Even today, these are sung as vows in love with each other. Urvashi descends
Hindu weddings. upon the Earth to live with Pururava,
but cannot stay long and has to return
Arthaveda has prayers to attract some- to Heaven. Pururava is left on Earth,
view of Indian love stories and these
one you love; and to make them fall in wallowing in his loneliness. In Kalidasa’s
are some of the best love stories in In-
love with you! Atharvaveda also con- version, she gets transformed into a
dian literature that have been told and
tains a ‘Pati-Patni Sukta’ (2.30). In it the climber and Pururava wanders in search
retold since ancient times. There are
husband prays, “May my wife stay with of her in this form.
many beautiful love stories in the Vedic
me for eternity, may she love me forever,
literature, in Puranas, dramas, stories
may she never leave me and let me ex- The epic Mahabharata tells many love
and poetry.
perience the pain of parting.” The Rishi stories. One of them is of Krishna and
also tells the husband and wife in this Rukmini. Rukmini, the princess of Vidar-
In the RigVeda, the Rishika Surya Savit-
Sukta- “May you two live together, walk bha, wrote a letter to Krishna saying, “In
ri has written the “Vivah Sukta” (10.58).
If you didn’t recieve it from Prachyam’s mail then you can sign up for weekly subscription of the
same here: www.prachyam.com
PRACHYAM PAPERS
the heart of my hearts, I see you and
only you as my husband. But my brother
wants me to marry another man. I re-
quest you to come take me away from
here. If I marry, it shall be only to you.”
With the backing of that love letter, Kr-
ishna, cleverly eloped with Rukmini to
Dwaraka where they got married. The
daring Rukmini took the first step to
propose and later marry Krishna. This
wedding became the subject to many
novels. The story of the wedding of
Arjuna and Subhadra, wherein Krishna
helped Arujuna to elope with his sister
Subhadra is just as gripping. Then there
is the story of the wedding of childhood
sweethearts Abhimanyu and Vatsla with
the help of Ghatotkacha and his mayavi
forces, which is an excellent romcom.
And there is another serious tale of Du-
shyant and Shakuntala. Dushyant mar-
ried Shakuntala in the Gandharva way,
and later refused to accept her as his
wife. Instead of cowering and crying
Shakuntala openly challenged him and
called upon his conscience. Dushyant
realized his mistake and accepted her
as his queen. Amongst all these narra-
tives, I love the story of Nala and Dama-
yanti who are equal partners. And even
in this story it is the lady Damayanti who
displays courage, love and strategy to
find her husband and reunite with him
to live happily ever after.
Kalidasa’s account of Aj and Indumati
in Raghuvansh is a sad and tragic love
story. His story of Malvika and Agnimitra
If you didn’t recieve it from Prachyam’s mail then you can sign up for weekly subscription of the
same here: www.prachyam.com
Madan and Rati
We Indians celebrate so many love
is another romantic comedy while the
stories. Like Vivah-Panchami is to cel-
narrative of Yaksh and his wife from his
ebrate the wedding of Ram and Sita.
Meghadoot is a fervent story of love and
Vata-Purnima is to celebrate the im-
separation. Then there are many plays
mortal love of Satyawan and Savitri.
about king Uadayan like – Swapnavasa-
Hartalika is the festival to celebrate the
vadatta, Pratidnya Yougandharayana,
ideal marriage of Shiva and Parvati. And
Priyadarshi, Ratnavali that tell tales of
then there is Karwa Chaut, Deepawali,
his romantic adventures. The ancient
Gaurihara puja, Mangala-Gauri puja etc.
dramas also speak of the Madan who is
to celebrate the love between husband
the Devata of Love. He holds in his hand
and wife. Throughout the year these
the sweet bow made of sugarcane and
events give the husband and wife an
love arrows in his quiver. Madan-Utsav
opportunity to express their love for
was celebrated at the advent of spring
each other. These festivals teach the
by young men and women of India with
lessons of ideal love.
lots of enthusiasm.
We are sitting at the feet of a Kalpavrik-
Yet, the finest love story ever is the
sha that can fulfil all our desires. We
story of Sita and Rama. Rama and Si-
have grown in the lap of a liberal and
ta’s unconditional love for each other is
generous culture that knows the needs
unmatched. Sita leaves the pleasures of
of every stage of life and caters to it
the palace to be with Rama even in ex-
by providing various celebrations and
ile. While in exile, Rama takes great care
festivals. And yet, instead of royally
to keep Sita happy. Rama is not fasci-
flaunting our cultural festivals we like a
nated by the beauty of Shurpanakha
beggar went to the West to get a new
who has proposed marriage to him. And
festival of ‘Valentine’s day’. A festival
Sita does not find the wealth of Ravana
that instead of admiring lovers, mis-
attractive when Ravana proposes mar-
takenly celebrates the bachelor, who
riage to her. When Ravana imprisoned
plays the role of a qazi, about whom the
her in the Ashoka forest, Sita was ready
Church has said it knows nothing oth-
to accept death rather than be unfaith-
er than his skull. ...Surely we have gone
ful to Rama. While in order to regain Sita,
wrong somewhere. For our young gen-
Rama gathered an army, built a bridge
erations have grown up without listen-
over the sea and fought the all powerful
ing to these splendid love stories ...
Ravana! There is no better and nobler
example of love than this.
Arjun - Subhadra by Raja Ravi Varma
If you didn’t recieve it from Prachyam’s mail then you can sign up for weekly subscription of the
same here: www.prachyam.com
PRACHYAM PAPERS

The Path to Kingship: Valmiki Ramayana

~ Swamy Satyanand Mishra

B harat, the land of knowledge, has

produced many intellectuals who
proposed various theories and prin-
ciples relating to law, philosophy, sci-
ence, politics, economics and the art
of living. These philosophers were well
aware about the ground realities of the
society and were prudent to determine
the right principles to govern a certain
situation in a society. The theories pro-
posed by these scholars (Rishis) thou-
sands of years ago have passed the test
of time and still have their relevance in
the Modern day period. The theories
and principles pertaining to politics
and ethics especially for a king and his
kingdom are still followed and lauded
by present-day nations throughout the
world.
Every king or the head of a state is al-
ways compared with Lord Ram when it
comes to the question of efficient lead-
ership. Ram Rajya is an ideal state of
excellent governance which is still per-
ceived to be the best model of govern-
ance by the present-day political scien-
tists. The core principles of Ram Rajya
are discussed in Ramayana by Maharshi
Valmiki, who was great scholar and phi-
losopher of undisputed repute. The du-

If you didn’t recieve it from Prachyam’s mail then you can sign up for weekly subscription of the
same here: www.prachyam.com
ties and qualities of an ideal king which
is considered to be an important ten-
et of Ram Rajya are described in Ayo-
dhyakand of Ramayana in the context
where Lord Ram is teaching his younger
brother Bharat about the principles of
ruling a kingdom.
The treatise discusses the role of Intel-
ligence in the security of the kingdom.
It also talks about the Eighteen func-
tionaries of the enemy side and Fifteen
functionaries of the king’s own side
upon whom a king should deploy three
spies each to keep a check upon them.
The functionaries of enemy side are
The Prime Minister (Mantri), Chief
Priest (Purohit), Crown Prince (Yuvraj),
Commander-in-chief (Senapati), Gate-
keeper (Dwarpal), City Security chief
(Antarveshik), Superintendent of Prison
(Karagaradhakshya), Treasurer (Kos-
hadhakshya), Secretary (Sachiv), Head
of Guards (Pradeshta), Chief Securi-
ty officer of Town (Nagaradhayksha),
Chief Engineer (Karyanirmankarta), Re-
ligious Head (Dharmadhakshya), Head
of Council (Sabhadhakshya), Magistrate
(Dandpal), Head of Royal Fort (Durgpal),
The protector of the borders of a king-
dom (Rashtrasimapal) and Superinten-
dent of Forests (Vanrakshak).
The functionaries, except the first three
mentioned above, of King’s own side
should also be kept under vigilance.
A king should never underestimate his
enemies even after having defeated
them once. A king should never honour
materialistic intellectuals as these are
the men skilled in perverting the mind,
are ignorant and think themselves to be
learned. With respect to these persons’
If you didn’t recieve it from Prachyam’s mail then you can sign up for weekly subscription of the
same here: www.prachyam.com
logical acumen, they preach contrary to PRACHYAM PAPERS
the posited principles of eminent right-
eousness since their knowledge, being
against the principles of Vedas, is taint-
ed completely.
The economy of a kingdom is equally
important when compared with its oth-
er functionaries. A king should always
be vigilant about the economic condi-
tion of his kingdom. The businessmen
concerned with the commerce and
trade in his kingdom must be loyal to
him because they are the pillars of the
kingdom’s economy. The king should
always cater to the needs of the busi-
nessmen and traders who are indulged
in commerce and should prefer ad-
dressing their concerns promptly so
that the economy of his kingdom must
flourish. A king should always take care
of the income and expenditure of his
nation and should strive to
maintain a balance between them. The
king should serve his people with ut-
most care and righteousness.
A king should have an abundance of
arms and ammunition and should al-
ways be ready for war. The forts should
be robust and impregnable. The king-
dom should always have a sufficient
quantity of food resources, efficient
king must ensure that an innocent who endeavor to abandon. Atheism, False
technology and trained army. The king
is falsely accused of any offence should speech, Rage, Carelessness, Procrasti-
should primarily spend the funds upon
never be punished in his reign. It is also nation, Not accompanying the intellec-
the maintenance of the armed forces
written in Ramayana that the tears fall- tuals, Indolence, succumbing to the five
and religious activities.
en from the eyes of those who are the sense organs, Taking the decision in-
While determining the punishment for
victims of false accusation destroy the dividually without consulting anyone in
any offence the king should be without
kingdom and the legacy of a prejudiced the affairs of the state, consulting with
prejudice and should never impose any
king. fools who have perverted insight, fail-
penalty or punishment without consult-
Maharshi Valmiki mentions about four- ing to promptly initiate the ascertained
ing the proficient scholars or without
teen flaws of a king which he should matters, unable to maintain the secre-
pondering upon the subject matter. A
If you didn’t recieve it from Prachyam’s mail then you can sign up for weekly subscription of the
same here: www.prachyam.com
cy of confidential consultations, failing term as “ideal” or “utopia”, and substi-
to organize auspicious ceremonies and tuted the realities, which were prop-
attacking all the enemies simultaneous- agated by the native institutions, with
ly are the fourteen flaws which a king their tainted and corrupt definitions of
should never incorporate within himself, pseudo truth. Having covered our eyes
even if he has to sacrifice his life. with the lenses of coloniality, we were
The king should appoint such ministers not able to see what was actually pro-
who are incorruptible, descendants of posed by our ancestors, and accepted
good family, full of integrity in matters everything which the Europeans, after
of great importance, wise, efficient and plagiarising each and every content
are not disowned by the public. The king from our ancient scriptures and taking
should appoint an ambassador who is the credit in their own name, presented
intellectual, efficient, qualified, prudent, before us. We have to understand that
endowed with presence of mind and he what the world knows today was known
should be the citizen of its own nation. in Bharat ages ago and what was not
It is also expected from an ambassador known in Bharat will never be known to
that he should only speak what is being the world because Bharat is, was and
told to him by the king. will be the producer of intellect till pos-
terity.
Maharshi Valmiki has explicitly de-
scribed the qualities of an ideal king
and its duties towards his kingdom
which is admired by the contemporary
political scientists and prevail through-
out the globe. The Arthashastra writ-
ten by Kautilya, the greatest political
scientist, is in fact an amalgamation of
the theories described in Ramayana,
Mahabharat, Manu Smriti and ancient
scriptures of Sanatan Dharma. The
Eurocentric institutions pretending to
be superior in quality pertaining to in-
tellect, in a period of 200 years, have
ideologically subverted the native insti-
tutions of Bharat which were, in reali-
ty, the oceans of knowledge having an
incalculable depth encompassing with-
in themselves the perception of truth,
which in its actual form was concerned
with the ideal definition and goal of the
human life, what we call in layman’s

If you didn't recieve it from Prachyam's mail then you can sign up for weekly subscription of the
www.prachyam.com
same here: www.prachyam.com