Have you heard of King Hala? He was a ruler of the Satvahana dynasty, a dynasty, which lasted for ~300+ years starting 1st Cent BCE in the Deccan.
Now we know painfully little about the kings who came before and after him.
But King Hala? He wrote a beautiful compilation of poems about love and other topics in his ‘Gaha Sattasai’, here’s one I found quite poignant-
Though he had no more work in the fields,
The farmer would not go home,
To spare himself the pain
Of finding it empty
Now that his wife was dead
King Hala, passed down a window into his world (As did so many other ancient writers and poets). A world which, while very different, was very same to the world of the intended Indian readers of the site- the spectacles of religion, the wrath of the elements, the uncertainty of being not too poor but not too rich either, the gilded cage of family, the ever-present inequality.
And of course, alcohol.
Enjoying a surprising consistency in our society since Vedic times, people today have wide ranging, borderline extreme reactions to it. I believe our strong reactions mask a deeper story, about us, you and me, about how history and society have shaped us to preach the ill effects of this vile liquid or down entire khambas of this opulent elixir- and everything in between.
The more we understand ourselves, about our condition and our place in history, the more educated a decision we can take on what comes next.
The more we understand ourselves, the more we understand those unlike us and concepts of hate and division start to lose currency.
This non-blog-site aims to be just that. A place to understand ourselves by slowing down, to provide an anchor to reflect critically and deeply, to retain our ever-shrinking attention spans.
A site to understand our own biases which allows us to empathize with others so that the differences of tomorrow are settled over a Feni-Limca rather than bloodshed.
Lastly, I am not looking to instill pride derived from our past, nor am I looking for judgement on history. Both end in violence. I am simply looking for understanding as a viable path often buried in the decibels of the other two.