Jain sites in Tamil Nadu

Over the last three months, two rock art sites, two caverns with Jaina Beds, and Dolmens have been discovered nearby this area of Tamil Nadu. The discovery of Jaina beds confirmed the earlier view that the area was once a prominent centre of Jainism. The presence of rock art sites and dolmens shows that the area had been under continuous human occupation for 3,000 years.

On June 1st, 2008, researchers found a big cavern with Jaina beds and rock art on a hillock called Pancha Pandavar Kal, near Vadagal village located 15 km behind Gingee fort. The hillock is part of a chain of hills in the area. The team found a series of Jaina beds on the floor of the cavern and pre-historic paintings on the boulder surface opposite the beds.

Jaina beds found in a cavern

The beds are about 2,000 years old. Raised “pillows” had been hewn out of the rock-floor at one end of the beds. Channels were cut to drain out rainwater from the beds or the floor was scooped out to collect rainwater.

The rock art (about 1,000 B.C.) consists of a painting of a deer (three feet by three feet) done in white kaolin with outlines in red ochre and smaller drawings of deer and lizard on the adjacent rock surface, as if to contra-distinguish their size. The paintings are believed to have been done by pre-historic men hunter-gatherers, who used to live in the cavern. Which much later were occupied by Jain monks.

Jaina Beds have also been recently discovered at Thirunarungkondai, Paraiyanpattu and Melkudalur and remains of Jaina Temples at Melmalayanur near Tiruvannamalai, Tirunarungkondai, Melsithamur and Thondur.

Varakh (Edible Silver Foil)

This posting comes about as a result of an email I received from a regular reader of Arunachala Grace, Yoges from Malaysia. As a vegetarian and lover of good Indian sweets, she was concerned about news she had read about Varakh, edible silver foil sweets which are much appreciated in India and around the World. I read Yoges' information with interest and also did some research on the Web, and found that information about non-vegetarian Varakh is readily available on diverse sites such as 'Jain websites' and 'Beauty without Cruelty'.

As mentioned previously sweets in this country are a very important part of everyday life. Sweet shops such as the one below located on Car Street near the front of Arunachaleswarar Temple, do excellent business in trying to satisfy the community's sweet tooth and the demands of functions, festivals, holidays and birthdays. Generally sweets are selected by the customer and thereupon packed in half kilo or kilo boxes.

The Rolls Royce of sweets is Varakh, a sweet covered with edible gold or silver foil. Naturally one would assume that in Indian sweet shops, one would automatically be always purchasing vegetarian sweets, but according to the below article, and corresponding articles of reputable vegetarian orientated organisations readily available on the Web, this does not seem to be the case. So, to understand exactly what you are purchasing when you buy Varakh sweets throughout India vegetarians should read the following narrative.

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“Can Vegetarians have sweets topped with Varakh (Edible Silver Foil)??"

"A couple of years ago, Indian Airlines, the domestic air-carrier of India issued instructions to its suppliers to supply sweets without silverfoil called VARAKH. Do you know why??? Silver is widely used for various purposes in the market today. Silver is considered precious and its utility is enormous. The reason behind this is that silver reflects back 95% of the light energy that falls on it.

The silver foils used for edible purposes is called VARAKH So what's so special about VARAKH? This is what I would like to bring to your notice. If you keenly observe this VARAKH under a microscope don't be perturbed if you happen to see traces of blood, stools and saliva of a cattle or ox.

VARAKH is a silver foil and we have no second questions on this, but to prepare this VARAKH important parts of the Cattle/Ox is made use of. Intestines of Cattle/Ox are obtained from the slaughterhouse. This is obtained after butchering to death the cattle/ox for beef and the part, which cannot be consumed: the intestines are pulled out of the animal and handed over to the manufacturers of VARAKH. Before handing over the intestines, they are washed in the slaughterhouse to get rid of the blood and other remains on these intestines in the limited facility that is present in the slaughterhouse. We are not sure how neatly this job is carried out. Intestines are cut into small pieces and then are bound together as pages in a notebook.

A silver block is placed in the middle of these bound intestines, and the hole thing is placed in a leather bag and sealed. Experts, who know how to make VARAKH, pound the bag with wooden sticks, till the entire bag flattens out. The silver block would by this time be turned into silver foil.

This Silver foil would now be separated from the intestine pack and will be placed on paper. This is VARAKH, which reaches the market ready for use. Even staunch vegetarians, who shy away from egg, unknowingly consume this as a part of sweet, pan and arecanut. Some unknowingly consume this because of the additional taste that VARAKH provides. Now the question is "Why the intestines of the cattle/ox? Why not something else?" The reason behind using the intestines of the cattle/ox for preparing the VARAKH is because of the elasticity of the intestines. They do not get cut even after a severe pounding.

This aspect is brought out in the magazine "Beauty without cruelty" and the Television show of Maneka Gandhi, "Heads and Tails". In India, an estimate indicates that 275,000 kilos of "VARAKH" is consumed. Can you estimate how many cattle/ox are sacrificed for just a bit of taste? If you are as surprised as I am, after reading this article please inform as many as possible so as to ensure that we unknowingly don't consume beef.”

[Courtesy: Taranga Magazine
Authors: Nafiza Joseph and Shailaja N Raj]

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For vegetarian lovers of Varakh, my online research also found this fascinating website Kanishka Varakh - 'Serving vegetarian needs in a humanitarian manner'.

The below photographs are from their website and their products are 100% vegetarian Varakh.

They say: "Kanishka Varakh is produced using an innovative procedure that utilizes 100% purely VEGETARIAN means to produce the most pure silver and gold foil or Varakh as opposed to the ordinary varakh otherwise available."

-- and --

THIS IS THE ONLY PROCESS IN THE WORLD that is capable of producing truly vegetarian Varakh untouched even by human hands. The procedure excludes every process of animal component contamination as well as human contamination by touching.

You couldn’t make it up!

A State Government official who tried to get a transfer through the backdoor was conned by officials in Coimbatore.

The lady wanted a transfer to her native Tiruvannamalai District, but couldn’t get it as there was a ‘price tag' for transfers in the Department. A temporary staff member working under this lady happened to be a politician's daughter and thus volunteered to help -- but for a price. The lady desperate to move back to Tiruvannamalai District, paid Rs.30,000 to the temporary worker to arrange the transfer –- but it did not materialize. Amazingly the lady asked for a refund in lieu of the failed transfer, and in fact was reimbursed Rs.20,000. Only in India would a Government official ask for reimbursement of a failed bribe – you couldn’t make it up!

Evening Walk

Well, its evening and most of the goats that graze around Samudram throughout the day, will have returned home -- so, the 'kids' (my doggies) and I can go for a nice evening walk. The doggies know each thorn of every acacia bush of the area - so absolutely no worry about them getting lost. So the six of them and I, head out. Its always a grand adventure. During the rainy season this whole area is several feet under water and at that time, you can find freshwater crabs, shrimps and fish. During the hot summer months the water reservoir is slowly drained of its water supply, and what was a submerged area, suddenly becomes the haunt of rabbits, foxes and mongoose. My doggies are very well fed and quite plumpy, and not keenly tuned hunters.

But they love the adventure of it and are aware of the scents of interesting game and occasionally we may even 'bump' into a fox or mongoose which gives the doggies a bit of a workout, but no danger of them catching anything.

Most evenings, its just a sedate and leisurely walkabout.

The next photograph is of Victor, our German Shepherd who we adopted from the Animal Shelter where he was living after being confiscated from abusive owners. He is filling out nicely. Happy Victor, has now learnt all about 'walkies' and swimming and has in fact turned out to be the biggest fan of the evening walk.




In countries near the equator sunrise and sunset throughout the year varies by only about half-an-hour, so there are none of those short winter, long summer days of the West. So, now that the goats have left, and my 'kids' can't get into too much mischief, we stroll and enjoy the gathering dusk and beautiful Arunachala.

Absolutely the BEST time of the day!

The Weather

Just put a nice weather widget for Tiruvannamalai at the bottom left column of this page which gives the current and upcoming long range weather for this area. So, if you plan on visiting soon, check out the weather first.

Tiruvanamalai and Salem Districts Mining

Farmers and environmentalists are fighting an iron-ore mining project at Kanchamalai in Salem. Farmers with their families converged on the District Forest Office at Salem yesterday (Tuesday, June 17th, 2008) to file individual applications, seeking details of the proposed project to mine iron-ore from the pristine surroundings of the Kanchamalai hills by a joint venture company floated by Tamil Nadu Industrial Minerals Corporation Ltd (TIMCO) and the private steel major Jindals.

The magnetite ore to be mined is to be used for manufacturing iron ingots at the Mecheri plant of the South India Iron and Steel Co Ltd (SISCOL), a Lakshmi Mills-TN government JV taken over by the Jindals.

The applications contained five questions pertinent to the project and the Forest Department’s response to the forest clearance petitions filed by the company, besides the department’s EPA (Environmental Impact Assessment) documents.

The ravages of iron ore mining

According to official sources, TIMCO and SISCOL joint venture wants 1,000 acres of mineral-rich hills in two places in Tamil Nadu. While 638 acres is sought at Kanchamalai, revered for the indigenous medical practitioners and rich herbs, 330 acres has been asked for at Tiruvannamalai District (Vediappanmalai/Kauthimalai). Around 90,000 trees at Kanchamalai and 200,000 trees in Tiruvannamalai District will be felled if the project is cleared by the Forest Department.

Indicating that the Forest department has given its green signal for the project (which it rejected earlier), officials said, “Things are no more in our hands but with the Supreme Court, which sent a Committee on May 29th and 20th to Kanchamalai to make a report.”

'Thiruvannamalai' Movie

Today at Kumbakonam work started on a movie directed by Perarasu and entitled ‘Thiruvannamalai”.

The director says, 'there are no sentimental scenes in the movie. It is an out and out commercial venture, but quite different'.

The story has the famous Tamil movie actor Arjun playing a local television cable operator who has a troubled relationship with politicians. The narration delves into the animosity with corrupt politicians and follows the hero's struggling path to victory. The heroine of the movie is the debutante Sania and the music composer is Deva.

It was earlier reported that in the movie the hero, Arun, would be displaying Shiva-like qualities. That may be so, but the poster of the actor is quite alarming! We wait for further developments and news of when filming will occur locally at Tiruvannamalai.

Walking Home

Walking back after early morning darshan at Sri Nannagaru Ashram, decided to take a shortcut through the fields to get back to my place. Passed by brick makers who have set up in an area that will eventually be developed into housing plots. Brick makers are never popular because of the smoke and smell of the burning brick kilns. In the below photograph a big brick kiln (under white wraps) is waiting for the time that it will be fired up.

The below photograph is of the remains of a brick kiln which has already been fired up. The fired bricks are being gradually transported by lorry to nearby building sites.

Labourers at brick kilns work very hard because they get paid by the brick. Generally a family, or group work together to produce the bricks. First the red clay is made into the right consistency.

And then with the use of moulds, is pressed into brick shapes and laid out to dry.

The moulds have identifying initials of the brick merchant, so each brick can be identified as to where it was made.

I leave the brick making venture and turn back onto Perumbakkam Road, where I notice an earth mover and truck parked by the side of the road. As there is so much construction activity at Tiruvannamalai, there is a lot of sand quarrying going on, generally by stealth late at night.




After I pass the lorries, I see the quarry located on a hill spur of Arunachala. I recently heard that the quarry has been given notice by the State Pollution Control Board that they have to close within a year. In this respect will post fuller information in this upcoming Arunachala Grace Newsletter which will be sent direct to email inboxes at the end of the month. (For your free subscription please go to the facility at the left hand margin of this page).

The cute kids below belong to a family that work at the quarry. Their hut is located opposite the quarry and when not at school, the kids are always hanging around eager to have a quick chat with folk passing by.

Nearby a neighbour is making a new cow house with lots of sturdy bamboo for their two cows.

And then after all the noise and confusion of the trucks, brick kilns and quarry, nearby a farmer has planted marigolds in his field.

Electrical Problems?

If you are experiencing computer difficulties - it could be due to an electrical crossed line!

You think?!?!

Chavin De Huantar

A regular reader of Arunachala Grace, S. Damodharan sent us the following information which will be of interest to all Arunachala devotees.

"In his book of reminiscences Sadhu Arunachala (Major Chadwick) mentions that Bhagwan was so sure that the Holy hill had its other end at the exact opposite spot on the earth and in fact asked for an Atlas brought to verify the lattitude and longitude at the other end. The exact spot was in the sea to the West of Peru and apparently there was no hill. The matter was dropped there. After the demise of Shree Bhagwan the Sadhu learns that there was a secret spot in Andes where somekind of spiritual worship was done. No mention of the exact place and there was no follow up.

Recently, while viewing the Holy hill in Google Earth by a sudden inspiration I checked the opposite point of the Hill. (The Hill is 79' 03" degrees East and 12' 13" North) Though the exact opposite point lies west of Peru in the Sea as described in the book, I came across another spot close by called "Chavin de Huantar" which is also a hill located at 77' 13" West and 9' 33" South, a difference of 2 to 3 degrees on either side.But the real interesting information is a look at the hill of Chavin de huantar.

I attach the Wikipedia image of the hill. See for yourself and come to your own conclusions. I shall be glad if interested people can through more light."

[S. Damodharan]

Place your LIFE

"Place your LIFE
at the feet of the Lord of the Universe
who accomplishes everything.
Remain all the time steadfast in the heart,
in the Transcendental Absolute.
God knows the past, present and future.
He will determine the future for you
and accomplish the work.
What is to be done will be done
at the proper time. Don’t worry.
Abide in the heart and surrender your acts
to the divine."

[Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi]

Sri Nannagaru Visit

Yesterday, 16th June, Sri Nannagaru arrived at his Ashram, Sri Nannagaru Ashram, Rajiv Gandhi Nagar, Tiruvannamalai for a ten-day visit. While here he will be available to devotees and pilgrims. Early morning is a favourite time for some of Swami's devotees, and he generally gives a long darshan in the early mornings around 6 a.m.

I hadn't visited Sri Nannagaru Ashram since Swamiji's last visit, so the new structure covering the roof came as a very nice surprise - definitely feel nervous about bamboo roofs since my own flew off during gale force winds a couple of months ago!

Very nice job too, and also much more comfortable in times of rain and inclement weather.

The below photographs is of Sri Nannagaru with a photograph of his Guru, Sri Ramana Maharshi, in the background.



After a long time sitting, Swami wandered about the roof looking at Arunachala.

To find out more about this Advaitic Master, please check out his website at this link. I have also made many earlier postings on Swamiji, which you can access through the new 'search box' at the top left hand column of this page.

More information on Swami's visit to come.

Sri Matrubhuteswarar Mahapuja

Today I visited Ramana Ashram to attend part of the celebratory Sri Matrubhuteswarar Mahapuja, commemorating the mukti (Liberation) of Sri Bhagavan’s mother Alagamma. It was observed at the Ashram today, Thursday, May 29th and according to the Hindu Calendar corresponds with Vaishaka Bahula Navami. Special abhishekam and puja to Sri Matrubhuteswara Lingam over the Mother’s Samadhi was performed. On the evening of the previous day, a Classical Carnatic style Ramana Music by Dr. Ambika and Dr. Sarada was performed.

Most of my photographs were taken after the occasion, when the crowds of devotees had decreased. To view the official Ramana Ashram photographs of both the musical evening and the puja, go to this link. To watch an official video of the puja, click here.

After a very delicious prasad lunch at the Ashram, I had a nice stroll of the beautifully maintained Ashram grounds. Of particular interest was a visit to the well (outside the samadhi hall) to see how the fishy inhabitants are doing.

In the below photograph, at the left is the Ashram kitchen where they cook all the delicious Ashram food, and to the right is a dormitory for longterm male sadhakas. At the background you can just see the tip of Arunachala peeping out from behind the trees.



In the next two photographs separate pictures of two different peacocks.

And then a walk around some more of the Ashram grounds.

The below yellow house, is the place Sri Ramana Maharshi attained mahanirvana in the evening of April 14th, 1950. You can peep in through the glass door of the mahanirvana house and see various artifacts used by Bhagavan during his life.

New Videos Posted

Thought it would be a good idea to update the vodpod at the bottom left hand margin of this page. So, have deleted the old videos and in their place now have:

1) Angel by Enya - which is very beautiful, soothing, inspirational song by a Celtic singer. The lyrics of the song are in a scroll immediately over the Video Pod.

2) Ramana Maharshi Rare Video - is the second video on the Vodpod. It has footage of Sri Ramana that I have never seen before. Probably one of the nicest video compilations I have seen of Bhagavan.

3) Chariots of Fire - The beautiful, inspirational theme song of a very old movie called Chariots of Fire which is about courage and dedication to one's beliefs. ''But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and be not weary; and they shall walk, and not faint." The composer of the music is a Greek man, and in this clipping he is the person playing the electronic piano in a wonderful Grecian setting.

4) India My Love - A music clip of the song "India My Love" by Shantam Arjun, with images of Arunachala. Its definitely one of the nicest musical videos I have seen of Arunachala - except for the part with the bullock!

Newsletter, June -- 2008

Yesterday, Arunachala Grace News for June, 2008 was sent out direct to subscribers' email inboxes. This month there is an extract from the Arunachala Mahatmyam, talking about the nature and glory of the Hill, Arunachala Tidbits full of local news and information about whats happening in the area, a short story about God's Will, poems and inspirational quotes. This month, information is given about the Drongo, a commonly found bird of this area and the properties and uses of the Papaya (which curiously enough is not indigenous and was actually brought in from Mexico). To become a free subscriber to the Newsletter please use the subscribe facility at the left margin of this page, and you will be sent a copy of the current issue.

Eucalyptus Cultivation

I have recently made several postings on the Eucalyptus Tree and its cultivation in the Tiruvannamalai District. There is no doubt that the Eucalyptus is a fantastic tree with a host of ayurvedic properties and benefits – but perhaps it would have been better to have left the tree in its native Australia and Tasmania. Already there are several Eucalyptus plantations around Samudram Lake, (south of the Hill) which is probably not a good decision considering severe water shortages often experienced in this area.

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"The recent move of the Tamil Nadu Forest Department to reintroduce large-scale cultivation of Eucalyptus trees in the State invites stiff resistance from environmentalists on the ground it would create ecological imbalance.

Experts have raised concern over the extensive cultivation of this species. “Monoculture of Eucalyptus cannot be recommended. If the intention of the Forest Department is to increase forest cover in the State, it should plant indigenous species of trees and herbs and maintain the bio-diversity of the region,” said a representative of the Tree Foundation. In a study on ‘Eucalyptus in India,’ it was pointed out that extensive cultivation of Eucalyptus was introduced in the country in the 1960’s. Since then some of the States took advantage of the centrally sponsored scheme and raised Eucalyptus plantations by felling even moist deciduous forests.

The Forest Department wants to increase the forest cover in Tamil Nadu from the present 23,023 sq km (21.25%) to 33%. To achieve this target, it will have to promote social forestry on at least 20% of the total 75 Lakh hectares owned by them. “This project is to be carried out on privately owned land and trees will be grown like any other cash crop. Earlier the mass cultivation, was carried out on land possessed by the Government and hence there was an uproar against it,” said a representative of World Wide Fund for Nature.

Others believe that growing Eucalyptus in ‘vulnerable zones’ like arid areas, will destroy the hydrological balance of the region. The tree is water intensive and reduces water available for other species, effectively out-competing them. Particularly vulnerable are arid areas with annual rates of precipitation that correspond to the lower range of eucalyptus demand at about 700 mm.

Studies have revealed that in arid areas, the consequent suppression of other plant life, coupled with a high water demand, reduces soil moisture, preventing the recharge of groundwater and can reduce local water tables. This is exacerbated by a high transpiration rate indicative of the inefficient use of water. Being nutrient intensive, it creates deficits for other plant life, a process that is exacerbated by the low returns in leaf litter to the soil. It does not contribute to the long-term fertility of the soil, as other species might, resulting in an overall nutrient impoverishment of the soil.

Eucalyptus is toxic, due to allelopathic properties which inhibit the growth of other plants due to bimolecules released by it. The plant also is detrimental to soil micro and macro fauna."

[With thanks to G.G. Jens]

Water Sustainability

Extract from Report on Rain Fed areas by Planning Commission, New Delhi

“About 12 per cent of India suffers from the threat of desertification in the arid northwest and in a broad semi-arid zone from the Punjab in the northwest to Tamil Nadu in the south. There is an estimated 1.7 million km2 of arid land in India and Pakistan.”

With the huge increase of private borewells being sunk in Tiruvannamalai, the below extract from 'Report on Rain Fed areas by Planning Commission, New Delhi,' is very relevant and definitely something that needs to be considered by local Government.

“The most important aspect of groundwater is that it is a common property resource, the means of access to which is privately owned. We generally access groundwater through private wells and tubewells. But withdrawal of water from our source can adversely affect the water in our neighbour’s water source. Depending on the hydrogeology of the watershed, the question “who is my neighbour?” gets answered. If the watershed is in an alluvial tract, for example, my deep draw of water can affect a farmer even hundreds of metres away. Thus, how farmers decide to collectively manage the groundwater resources of the village could have a deep bearing on how long groundwater survives. It could actually determine the entire efficacy of the watershed programme. Indeed, one could go as far as to say that sustainable and equitable management of groundwater could be the key area of rural governance in the 21st century

The unique aspect of the situation is that water below my land is not "mine". Groundwater is a non-stationary, "fugitive" resource that merges into water under another's land in a fluid sort of way. By lowering the depth of his tubewell, my neighbour can squeeze all water out of my well. Without proper collective arrangements for groundwater use, there tends to be an infinite regress of competitive extraction, with farmers outbidding each other in depths of drilling. Competitive extraction of groundwater leads to disastrous outcomes, the worst of which are observable in coastal areas of Tamil Nadu and Gujarat, for example. Here, saline ingress of sea-water poses a virtually irreversible environmental hazard for farmers who have engaged in competitive pumping of groundwater.”