News, articles and Essays on Sanatana Dharma, Hinduism and Indian way of life.
The achievement comes more than 28 years after the Archaeological Survey of India submitted Sarnath to UNESCO’s Tentative List on July 3, 1998. The long journey from tentative recognition to full inscription involved archaeological documentation, conservation planning, preparation of the nomination dossier and evaluation of the site’s historical significance, authenticity and long-term protection arrangements.
The location of the temple gives it a character different from that of an ordinary village shrine. It occupies sacred ground within the remains of Balussery Fort, once connected with the political centre of the Kurumbranad rulers, also known as the Kurumbiathiri royal house.
For generations of pilgrims from Nepal and India, Janakpur represents the maternal home of Sita. Ayodhya is remembered as the kingdom of Rama, while Janakpur is cherished as the city from which Janaki entered the royal household of Raghu. The sacred relationship between the two cities has shaped pilgrimage routes, devotional songs, wedding customs and family traditions across the Himalayan and Gangetic regions.
More than a local place of worship, Valayanad Devi Temple preserves memories of the long rivalry between the Zamorin of Kozhikode and the Valluvakonathiri, the ruler of Valluvanad. Its origin legend connects the shrine with Thirumandhamkunnu Bhagavathy, the tutelary goddess of the Valluvanad rulers, and with the centuries-long contest for political authority over central and northern Kerala.
The ruler of Valluvanad appears under several titles and spelling variations in historical records. These include Valluvakonathiri, Valluvakkonathiri, Vellattiri, Vellatiri, Velatra, Velnatera, Arangottu Udayavar and Vallabha Raja. British-era treaties and administrative documents frequently referred to the territory as the kingdom of Vellattiri and used Vallabha Raja as a formal designation for its ruler.
Archaeology documents Sri Lanka’s ancient settlements, temples, maritime connections and religious institutions. The identification of individual landscapes with particular Ramayana episodes comes primarily through sacred tradition, temple practice, folklore, place memory and pilgrimage literature. Together, these different forms of heritage make Sri Lanka one of the most important countries in the global Ramayana tradition.
Paper manuscripts constitute the largest part of the collection, reflecting the widespread use of paper for recording religious, philosophical, literary, scientific, administrative and historical knowledge during different periods of Indian history. Palm-leaf manuscripts represent another major category, especially in regions where palm leaves served as the principal writing material for centuries.
The name Parappanad referred both to the territory and to the ruling swarupam, or royal lineage. Like several ruling houses of medieval Kerala, the dynasty consisted of different branches residing in separate kovilakams, the palace households through which political authority, property and succession were organised. The collective legacy of these branches reached far beyond the boundaries of their original kingdom.
The Ramakien is Thailand’s national epic and a Thai adaptation of the ancient Indian Ramayana. The story was reshaped through Thai language, Buddhist ethics, local geography, court culture and Southeast Asian artistic imagination, yet its central soul remains connected to the story of Rama, Sita, Lakshmana, Hanuman and Ravana. The version most studied today was completed at the court of King Rama I in the late 18th century, after earlier versions were lost during the fall of Ayutthaya in 1767.
Desinganad was more than a local chieftaincy. It represented the Kollam-centred branch of a larger royal world that connected the old Chera legacy, Venad, the port economy of Quilon, temple patronage, martial politics and Kerala’s transition into the Travancore age. Kollam’s position on the Arabian Sea gave these rulers access to trade, diplomacy and wealth, making the region one of the most important political landscapes of southern Kerala.
