News, articles and Essays on Sanatana Dharma, Hinduism and Indian way of life.
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.
The story of Rama, Sita, Lakshmana, Hanuman and Ravana did not remain confined to the Indian subcontinent. Through merchants, scholars, priests, artists and maritime networks, the Ramayana crossed the Bay of Bengal and reached the Khmer world. There it was lovingly adapted into Cambodian language, dance, sculpture and courtly tradition. The result was not a simple copy of the Indian epic, but a living Khmer expression of dharma, kingship, loyalty, moral duty and cosmic order.
The exhibition was inaugurated by India’s Ambassador to Azerbaijan, Abhay Kumar, along with Anna Soave, Head of Country Programme at UN-Habitat Azerbaijan. The event was attended by diplomats, members of Azerbaijan’s Parliament, business representatives, travel industry stakeholders, media professionals, social media influencers and members of the Indian diaspora.
The word Tali in Kerala’s historical setting commonly refers to an important Shiva temple associated with an established settlement or regional centre. Such temples often became focal points for worship, community gatherings, learning, land administration and cultural activity. The presence of a Tali temple therefore indicates the former importance of Angadipuram as a well-organised religious and social centre.
Triprangode is remembered as one of the important Shiva temples of Malabar. Traditional accounts associate it with the 108 Shiva temples of Kerala linked to the Parasurama kshetra tradition. A temple history source records that inscriptions of Later Chera ruler Goda Ravi Varma from the 10th century CE are seen at Triprangode Shiva Temple, giving the shrine a strong historical depth beyond oral tradition.
The most important literary form of the Indonesian Ramayana is the Kakawin Ramayana, an Old Javanese rendering of the epic composed in the refined kakawin poetic style. Academic work on the Old Javanese Ramayana treats it as a major classical text of Java’s Hindu-Buddhist literary world, and OAPEN lists C. Hooykaas’s scholarly edition The Old-Javanese Rāmāyaṇa Kakawin, showing the importance of the text in global Ramayana studies.
Purakkad lies in present-day Alappuzha district, close to Ambalappuzha and the Kuttanad backwater world. This region was not merely a quiet coastal settlement. It stood between the Arabian Sea, the inland waterways and the fertile paddy lands of Kuttanad. Such geography gave the rulers access to maritime trade, river transport, agrarian wealth and military movement through boats and canals.
