Dhīti is a blog for long form essays, expressions of civilizational voice, cinema and literature review, and more.
Kalaripayattu
Kalaripayaṭṭu must be elevated, as a traditional psychophysiological discipline, as a ‘scientific’ system of physical culture, and as an arena of experience and self-transformation: the crucible of the individual’s experience where embodied practice helps shape a self.
Swarnakamalam and the Value of the Performing Arts
A glimpse into the timelessness of the traditional arts, conveyed through superior cinema: Swarnakamalam; and the discussion of modernity threatening the value of traditional systems in its lyrical expositions.
Our Deities are Waking Us Up – What Kantara Means to Hindus
Have no doubt; the deities are waking us up to their presence like never before. They are willing to travel from their forests, kśetras onto the screen and talk to us, to tell us: Oh children, don't remain blind anymore to our presence. Take refuge in us. We are here with you every moment.
Glossing Mind through Yoga 1 – Towards Happiness and Quality-of-Life Enhancement
Dr. Richa Chopra continues her series on Patañjali’s Yoga Sūtras and tells us why 'the quality of life is how the mind perceives it' and how to go about acquiring a better quality of life. By consciously building mental and physical habits that awaken us to the great goals of human life. Step by step, day by day, thought by thought. There is no easy way out.
Rāma’s Journey – the Avatāra in You, a Fractal Maṇḍala Essay
We celebrate the return of Rāma with a Festival of Lights, for if his journey- Rāma’s Ayaṇa- is recreated within us, it generates within us the Supreme Light. His journey within us is the journey from untruth to truth. From Darkness to Light. It is the rising of Agni from earth to sky, the ultimate union, or Yoga.
Colonial Education, Cultural Amnesia and Pathologies of the Raj
Education in post-colonial India, as Ashis Nandy argues, has become a means to inculcate a 'shared culture' in which, ‘the ruled are constantly tempted to fight their rulers within the psychological limits set by the latter.' This demonstrates the durability of the psychological aspect of colonial conquest, one that continues to remain below the surface all this while and cannot be repelled by force.
Ahoi Aṣtamī – How Hindu Dharma Teaches Deep Ecology through Festivals
The festival of Ahoi Aṣṭamī instills the deep sense in Hindus that our actions have consequences; that human civilization destroys Nature by the sheer act of living in great groups and thus has to make extra efforts to respect and protect Nature; and that we have to give back to Nature as we take much from it.