Apart from bringing relief from summer’s toasting dry heat and filling the air with the heavy perfume of jungle – a cushion for the muffled cries of birds – rain is also a force that calls forth from us that most essential of human qualities:...
This is the first in a series of articles intended for all those with an interest in yoga and in widening their understanding of Sanskrit words used in connection with its practise. Yoga has now for a long time been one of India’s best known export goods...
Just as colours exist in many-stepped gradations produced by the different capacities for light absorption possessed by different types of matter, so are the wavelengths of vowels shaped into tiers of light and shade by the high or low and front or back...
This article is intended as a follow-up to yesterday’s article entitled Sanskrit words for animals: haikus of first impressions. Its subject is a device employed in traditional Germanic verse, such as the poetry produced by the Anglo-Saxons or of their...
Sanskrit has many words for animals and trees that do nothing else than describe one of their characteristic features. These words always consist of a noun or adjective, to which the shortened form of a root is added (for this process c.f. the article...
The word avatar is certainly, and especially since the advent of 3D cinema, one of the most commonly known Sanskrit words among people who otherwise have no dealings with the classical language of India. It is true, the word has by itself an ominous aura of...
