During the early days of early days of formation, Buddhism didn't have many deities to deal with. The Predominant deities of those times were Indra and Brahma. In the Tripitaka, all these deties are shown completely subservient to the Buddha. They are potrayed as waiting and attending upon the Buddha, and as receiving many teaching from the Buddha himself. At one instance, it is even said the Maha-Brahma himself had advised a Brahmin who had reached the heavenly Brahma-realm, to clear his doubts with the Buddha instead of him !
 As Buddhism evolved over times, it had to face the new Puranic Brahmanism with the influence of the Vishnu, Shiva and other deities rising over time, compared to the other Vedic deities who were now often reduced to a tutelary status. Puranic Brahmanism was highly syncretic assimilating everything that came in its way. Even Buddha himself was assimilated to the Brahmanical Pantheon as one of the Avatar-s of Vishnu. At the same time, Buddhism had also attempted in assimilation of the Brahmanical Deities into its fold. However, this part is not that much widely known.
Buddhism in its Theravada version was more orthodox, and didn't officially expand beyond the already assimilated Indra, Brahma and other early deities. [Though Sri Lankan Theravada assimilated Vishnu as a Kshetra Pāla - Protector of the Land, but that was outside the Theravada Canon]. However, Mahayana Buddhism was highly assimilative in nature. The framework of Mahayana easily enabled the direct import of deities into its fold. When Mahayana was faced with Shaivism and Vaishnavism, it also had played its part of trying to assimilate Shiva and Vishnu in Mahayana.
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Remember Ricky Martin ? The Latin Pop hunk of the 2000’s.
His tracks were huge hits back in 2000’s. The guy was a craze back then. His crossover tunes from Spanish to English with such scintillating Latin rhythms were an instant hit with people. They used to play his tracks as a filler before our school events when I was a kid. Not to mention I learned my Un, Dos, Tres from him :-)
 The Cup of Life - FIFA 98’s anthem, Livin’ la Vida Loca and Maria - He is still remembered for these tracks. But the sparkle started soon fading away. His other albums didn’t make an impact as large as his debut tracks.
They guy who made people ’Livin’ la Vida loca’ is back making us all want ‘Mas Mas Mas a la Vida’ . He had recently released his Predominantly Spanish album with just two English tracks - Musica Alma Sexo (Music Soul Sex) : MAS a few weeks back.
The Album completely rocks. Though the lead feel-good single Spanish & English ”Lo Mejor De Mi Vidas Eres Tu” (The Best thing about me is you) sounds kinda 80’s out-of-date and too cheesy, not exactly the she-banging (err.. k..k.. now he-banging :-P ) we would all expect. But is kinda enjoyable after few times. Ricky’s is all now for Equality, feeling happy, blah-blah - after he came out as a Gay last year.
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 The Brahmanists have always regarded Sanskrit, as the Mother of Languages. As a matter of fact, this will be echoed in many of the Hindu bunch from Modern India. Latest to join in the Bandwagon, is the Tamil Dravidian nationalists, who claim Tamil to be the progenitor of all langagues. Even Though, no Indian Language or for that matter any other language, can truly claim as being the original Proto-Language of the World.
The existence of such a hypothetical Proto-World Language is itself contested. I prefer to view as Languages originally emerging as independant from each other, later influencing each other as different cultures spread around the cloud.
 It is not surprising for the Brahmanists to claim the Vedic language as the Mother of All Languages. For according to Vaidikas, Vedas are Apauruṣeya (Not [authored] by Men). It was heard by the Rishis, who were just instruments for writing the cosmic sound that they heard. Vedas are also considered as Anādi (Without Begninning). So for the everlasting and supreme Vedas to be supramundane, the language in which it is composed of is also deemed to be supramundane and perfect. It was language of the gods.
Now, coming to the Shramanic religions namely Buddhism and Jainism. They started out with the vernacular prakrita languages. They were more inclined to use the language of the masses to spread their teachings. In fact, many of the initial literature in the Indian regional language were produced by the Shramanas. At one instance, the Buddha is said to have explicitly forbidden his teachings to be Versified in Vedic Language (Chandas), but to be taught in the language of the masses. But as irony befalls, the Shramanas themselves fell into the same trap as their Vedic counterparts. They began considering their own version of liturgical Prakrit as the original source language !
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 Aah. One of my most favourite Animes. Makes me feel very nostalgic when I see it again :-/. I was back in 6th grade when they aired in Cartoon Network. Again, it was aired again when I was in 8th Grade. It is the God of All Mechas !
It brings back old memories. For an Absent Minded Professor, I still remember the entire series, episode by episode ! They used to to air it in Cartoon Network around 4 - 5 PM IST. I think they re-telecasts were aired in the Morning around 10 AM.
 The Basic Plot is as follows. In the near future, Mars is Colonized. It is ruled by a dictator. Three Teenagers namely Joe (The Protagonist), Reny & Mike live in Mars. An alien ships comes and lands in Mars. A crashed ship with a Alien princess and her crew lands in Mars when followed by attackers. These 3 some how end up in the Ship. In the encounters that follow, Joe & are able to control . The Robots that can be controlled only bt Ninjas. The aliens are actually from another planet which has been invaded. The attackers were the invaders who had followed the Spaceship These 3 help the Alien Princess Romina & the complex plot that follows includes lots of action with Giant Robots !!
One important central character is the Mysterious Cybertron, which appears at crucial moments when Joe & others in the verge of defeat. It fuses with the various Ninja Robots and produces several magnificent hybrid Robots which are several times much more powerful. In the earlier part of the series, Cybertron is Autonomous, but later Joe is able to control Cybertron. How the Sun God (Cybertron) and the Moon God (Mantis) fuse together forms the Climax. The series is left unfinished and does not exactly show how the invaders are defeated.
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 The śramanic Traditions namely Buddhism & Jainism had a great following in Tamil Nadu until the Early centuries of the Common Era. The early rivalry was chiefly between Buddhism and Jainism. However, the dominance of Buddhism gradually declined [Due to various reasons which needs to be discussed seperately] and Jainism gained a upper hand in Tamil Nadu. Jainism dominated the religious scene until 7-8th Century CE, with its main rival being the Vedic Shaivaite religion. As a dominant religion of that time Jainism had a great influence on Tamil Shaivism.
 In Tamil Shaivaite world, 63 nāyaṉmārs, are a set of 63 Legendary saints who are widely venerated. The 63 Nayanmars supposedly lived in a Time where the Shramanic Jaina religion was very popular. Traditionally the Nayanmars are said to be one of the reason for the downfall of the Jaina Religion and popularizing the Vedic Shaivism among the public.
The Tamil Epic "Periya Purāṇam" is a work which describes the legends of the 63 Tamil Shaivaite saints. The Epic was written by Sekkizhar around 12th Century CE. The Background story for the composition of this Epic is interesting. The Chola King Kulōttuṅka was very fond of the Jaina Epic called "Sivaka-chintamani (Sanskrit: Jīvaka Cintāmaṇi)". It describes the legend of the Jaina king Jivaka and explains the Jaina philosophy along with the narration.
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