Adichanallur Excavation

A brief introduction to Jean -Jacques Rousseau

Image
(I had gone to the KGS grocery store in Madagadipattu with Kandavel (it was Kandavel who knew of that Chettiar’s shop and took me there). A photograph of a man was hung on the wall of the shop. I glanced at the picture naturally; I had indeed bought goods from the Chettiar depicted in it. The image bore a resemblance to the French philosopher Rousseau. Seeing this, I wondered if a discussion regarding the article on our website was perhaps underway. (I had posted a note about Rousseau, along with a picture showing his head and shoulders, on my blog). That night, I dreamt of a large wedding hall. I saw many people lying down, sitting, and standing there. As I looked for a spot to lie down, Rousseau smiled and said something. I understood his words to mean, "Here is a space; lie down." In this dream, I encountered Rousseau, the voice for human rights. In many of my dreams, I understand what people say; even when foreigners appear and speak, I am able to comprehend them. It give...

 Ramalinga Swamigal


Popularly known as Vallalar, Ramalinga Swamigal or Ramalinga Adigal (1823–1874), was born in Marudhur, a village near Chidambaram. After his father’s death, his family moved to his brother’s house in Chennai. Despite having no formal education gained immense scholarship. Ramalinga emphasised the bonds of responsibility and compassion between living beings. He expressed the view that ‘those who lack compassion for suffering beings are hard-hearted, their wisdom clouded’.  He showed his compassion and mercy on all living beings, including plants. This he called jeevakarunya. He established the Samarasa Vedha Sanmarga Sangam in 1865, and it was renamed “Samarasa Suddha Sanmarga Satya Sanga”, which means “Society for Pure Truth in Universal Selfhood”. Ramalinga also established a free feeding house for everyone irrespective of caste, at Vadalur (1867), in the wake of a terrible famine in South India in 1866. His voluminous songs were compiled and published under the title Thiruvarutpa (Songs of Grace).

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

The Village Gods of South India