देशद्रोही

In what would go down as one of the most embarassing episodes in recent history of the nation, no less than the chief of the Army himself has admitted that the country has a toothless force.
In the chain of events that followed, it turns out that the cheif himself has not admitted to leaking this ultra secret letter, written to the Prmie minister, but alleges that it is the handiwork of some malicious elements, hostile to him.
That being the case, the defence minister has rightly said that the people involved in this leak are anti- national elemens.
This news report quotes the defence minister as saying:
"My first priority is to find out who leaked the letter. I appeal to you not to demoralise our soldiers. We should maintain the prestige of armed forces. The prestige of armed forces should be protected. Defence has no relation with politics,".

Woever has leaked this letter, has committed an act of treason to the nation and that reminds me of this metaphoric Sanskrit two-liner:

कुठारमालिकाम् द्रुष्ट्वा सर्वे तरूकम्पिता: ।
व्रुद्धतरूरूवाच स्वजातिर्नैव द्रुष्यते ।

The crux of this shloka is like this:
In old time India, blacksmiths would prepare an axe with the top portion made up of a sharp peice of iron and the bottom portion made up of wood. The wooden rod would hold the sharp iron portion. This deadly combo of iron and wood then be used to bring down large trees.
The shloka is a conversation between trees located near the house of a blacksmith. The blacksmith has piled up a few peices of freshly casted iron that will be used for preparing the axe. Looking at this pile, the younger trees are shaken to the core. They suspect that thse iron peices spell doom for them and will be used to kill them. The more sane senior of them assures them : Guys, don't worry yet. Unless our very own breed, the wooden rod joins this weapon, we are safe.
This is a message that death and destruction is guarenteed even if some of the people in a huge nation join the enemy forces.
Yes, Mr. A.K. Antony has a point is calling these people as anti national. They are like these woodden rods that combine with the iron to bring down its own breed, the wood itself.

A take on linguistics:
कुठारमालिका : A set of axes.
तरू : Tree.

ॐ शान्ति: शान्ति:!

Time and again, the most learned head of the state in world, our respected prime minister Dr. Manmohan Singh is accused of 'deafening silence'.

The silence of Sardar Singh manifests itself in various forms like silence on the 2G scam , silence on the Mullaperiyar Dam issue , silence on the Batla encounter case.

Jokes are getting viral on the web, some about a ringtone called Manmohan Singh, that is actually an alias for the 'silent mode', a text editor, with 'Manmohan' font, that is never visible, a funeral of Dr. Singh, whence people would be asked to put their TV on 'mute' as an obituary.
However, let us not forget that 'silence' is a virtue of the Greats.
Etymology of the word 'Laconic' (which is used in literature to refer to a very concise statement), comes from a Greek legend.
When Philip II of Macedon proclaimed before the Spartans:  "You are advised to submit without further delay, for if I bring my army into your land, I will destroy your farms, slay your people, and raze your city."
The Spartans, known for their silence and less talk only replied with one word - 'If'
Subsequently both Philip and Alexander avoided Sparta entirely.

And now, a sanskrit two liner, on this topic probably from the पन्चतन्त्र:

नि:सारस्य पदार्थस्य प्रायेणाडम्बरो महान्।
न सुवर्णे ध्वनिस्ताद्रुक् याद्रुक्कन्स्ये प्रजायते।

The translation goes like this:
A copper or a steel vessel makes a lot of noize when hit or fallen down. However, such is not the case with golden vessel, which does not make any sound.
A person without any substance and without any knowledge invariably makes a lot of noize, but the learned one, the real 'Pundit', the one with the real shine, the one with real value, speaks rarely (makes no sound).

Linguistics:
नि:सारस्य पदार्थस्य : A hollow substance, metophorically used for a senseless person.
प्रायेण अडम्बरो : A superficial show.
सुवर्ण : Gold

ॐ शान्ति: शान्ति:!

महत्पापम्

This is another news related to the infamous Gurgaon kidney racket scandal.
This is nasty example of the life savers - doctors turning into killers.
These couple of lines from an unknown source might be very well suited for one of these doctors:

चिताम् प्रज्वलिताम् दुष्ट्वा वैद्यो विस्मयागत: ।
''नाहम् गतो न मे भ्राता कस्येतद् हस्तलाघवम्?''

The meaning goes like this:
A very cunning doctor of ancient times sees a burning pyre of a man and ponders over it. He thinks, ''I don't remember treating this man, neither do I remember my brother attending him for treatment. Has a new doctor arrived in the town to deny us of the honours of robbing and killing people in this town?''

Linguistics:
चिताम् प्रज्वलिताम् - The burning pyre
विस्मयागत: - Astonished
भ्राता - Brother
हस्तलाघवम् - Literally, ''sleight of hand'', used to emphasize that the doctor posseses the magic of killing a person, as much as he posses the magical sleight of hand of curing him.

Engineer

Today, while reading Amitabh Bachhan's Facebook page, I came accross this post from Amitabh: "The word "Engineer" is derived from "Anjaneyar" (or Hanuman), who built a bridge and didn't ever hang around with girls."

This evidently does not hold any meaning.

Merriam Websters tell that the word Engineer comes from Engine from Old French engin, which stands for 'skill, cleverness', and also used for 'Trick and deceit'.


A synonym for Deceitful person is 'crafty'. The sanskrit word that comes possibly closest to 'crafty' is 'कपटि' which is used for a sly and cunning fellow.
 
These days, medical profession has turned into the biggest hotbed for cunning, wealth hungry कपटि 'professionals'. This, evidently was as much true in ancient times as it is these days, as can be seen from this beautiful two-liner:
 
वैद्यराज! नमस्तुभ्य्म यमराजसहोदर:।
यम: हरति प्राणान, वैद्य: प्राणान, धनानि च।
 
The वैद्य, or doctor is compared with यमराज, the God of death Himself. But the poet places Yama in a higher enteem and respect, than the Doctor, beacuse, Yama completes his job by robbing rhe person on deathbed of his life, but the doctor (assumed to be a कपटि blinded by avarice) not only robs him of his life, but also robs him of money!
 
A good practical exmaple of ’कपटि’ or crafty person.

Etymology-2

In Mahabharat, when army of Shri Rama reaches Sri Lanka, Ram laments over his separation from the motherland India and says to Lakshman:

अपि स्वर्णमयी लंका न में लक्ष्मण रोचते
जननी जन्माभूमिश्च स्वर्गादपि गरीयसी

Translates to: Oh Lakshman, I am amazed by the spectacular golden beauty of Lanka, but its a trifle compared to my motherland (जननी जन्माभूमि), India which still holds the dignity, in my Heart, above even the Holiest of holy Heaven.

The word under focus here is 'जननी' which means mother. This word manifests itself in different languages, including English in different forms.
The basic form, a 'मूळ धातू’ of sort for this word is 'जनन', which is a generic word for anything related to birth. In marathi, 'जन्म’ means birth. 'प्रजनन’ in Sanskrit is the 'Act of reproduction'.
Intrestingly, English also uses this word in differnt form but with similar meaning. 'Genesis' is the 'Book of the begining' in Bible. 'Genesis' comes from the Latin 'Genus', meaning 'Birth'. Genetics is the science of the Genesis.
Medical science has adopted the word 'Gene' to represent a sequence of DNA, to represent the functional unit of inheretance.

Etymology-1

Here is the first attempt to satiate an inquisitive endeavor to discover a connection between etymologies of words used in English, Hindi, Sanskit and Marathi:

A beautiful Sanskrit verse in the praise of Devi Saraswati goes like this:

या कुन्देन्दु- तुषारहार- धवला या शुभ्र- वस्त्रावृता
या वीणावरदण्डमन्डितकरा या श्वेतपद्मासना
या ब्रह्माच्युत- शंकर- प्रभृतिभिर्देवैः सदा पूजिता
सा मां पातु सरस्वती भगवती निःशेषजाड्यापहा

The last word of this prose is निःशेषजाड्यापहा which has a सन्धि विग्रह as: निःशेष + जाड्य + अपहा
which translates to the destroyer(अपहा) of Indecision (निःशेष) and lethargy (जाड्य).
My curiousity revolves around the word 'जाड्य'. This word has roots in Marathi in the form of ’जड’ meaning 'heavy'. A noun derived from ’जड’ is 'जाड्य' which means heaviness, which in turn is the essence, in which the word is used here, that is 'Inertia'.
The more curious take on this etymology comes in the form of the English word 'Jade' which, according to m-w, translates to " to wear out by overwork or abuse ", which is in substance, is the very meaning of 'जाड्य'.

Interesting etymology

केरळ चे एक Typical चित्र!
केळीची अफाट ओळ आणि शेजारीच नारळाची बाग!
नाव अगदी साजरे ...
केळी + नारळ = केरळ!