Our house... is a very very very fine house

House of the rising fun
Kathmandu


New house blues. They put the carpet in where it shouldn't be. They made the bathroom floor all wrong for drainage. There's no bolt lock on the door, yet. I had to insist on one being installed (easier than replacing all my belongings, yes??) Then there are the usual Nepali problems everyone is having, like electricity only 10 hours a day if you are lucky, and connectivity issues.
There's not a stick of furniture in it, yet. I have to buy stove, fridge, gas cylinder for the stove, bed, mattress, chairs and all. For some reason they were kind enough to install a huge heavy wooden armoire in one corner, taking up precious dance space. Armoire, but no bed or chairs. Aunties are very big on armoires.

And so on. No date for a new-house puja yet, nor a housewarming party. Here are a few photos.This is the living space, complete with coffin-like intrusive armoire that i did not ask for. But essential things like a floor? That you have to beg for.


This will be the sleep-chamber. I could have a double bed but then there will not be room to have a nightstand AND open the door.

Kitchen area, brand new kitchen with tiles and marble. Loving it.

Type INTP

Just took another personality test. The result: I fall into a category that includes Abraham Lincoln, Einstein, Charles Darwin and so on - Intellectual-Engineer. My primary purpose in life is Deep Thinking.

No, I'm not sure where I went wrong....



And on the Learning Styles test - how can I be100% on three categories?

Fun with anagrams

This is great. Go to the Beyondananda site to check out the whole thing.

....when we scramble the letters in “Barack Hussein Obama,” we get “Abraham is back: One U.S.”

Hymn to Her

Fun with liturgy
Kathmandu

Here's one of the Charya Giti I have been transliterating and, partially, translating. Not because I am good at it (I'm not really), but so that I can understand the dances I am learning. There are no English versions of these songs and poems. For those who've just tuned in, I am here studying the Newari Buddhist Charya Giti or Buddhist devotional dances.

Most of the lyrics I can "feel" but don't think my literal translation will do them justice. This is my attempt. There is a chance that this gita appears translated/literated in Kvaerne's 1977 Anthology of Buddhist Tantric Songs (Oslo) but as I can't locate this publication, I don't know.

My goal is to create an illustrated book of the Giti with Sanskrit, English phonetic and English translation, some background and illustrations of each Deity.
 

Sri Kurukulla Devi

Raga: Nata .... Tala: Jati

(the Raga is the South Asian equivalent of the key or "mode." This set of notes determines the "mood" of the melody much as the key does in western music - imagine playing "She Loves You" in Eminor instead of Emajor.

Tala is the rhythm or time signature of the piece. Again, imagine playing "She Loves You" in Waltz-time instead of 4/4. Changes everything. Every dance student must know their talas and ragas to some extent, though not as thoroughly as music and singing students.)

Tribhuvana jananii sri kurakullaa devii

Svetavarna makuta keshii trinayanaa

Mother of the three worlds, Sri Kurakulla goddess...

White-coloured with a crown of hair, three-eyed....

Namami devii sri kurakullikaa taraa

Chatura bhujaa karti khatpara shara dhanudharii

We bow to goddess Sri kurakulla the deliverer

Four-armed, holding chopper, knife, bow and arrow.

Rahu mastaka sthita nrtyapada dharii

Natha shodasha bhujaa aalikngana chun.

Tribhuvana vyapita niilavarna dehaa

Tumha varna devi anuttara sangama

Tempting Rahu (?), standing in a dance-pose

Permeating the three worlds, with blue-coloured body...

(This part confuses me. At one point she's red, at another blue....Sodasha means sixteen; the verse seems to say she has 16 arms but elsewhere she is described as "looking 16 years old.")

Piivad re mahaarasa sudrishta dehaa

Namami sri devii loka udharitaa

Drinking Maharasa (amrit), her form pleasing to see

I bow to the Goddess who uplifts the world

Bhanayikulishaa ratna giita charitaa

Namami sri devii loka udhaaritaa.

(This verse is an attribution stanza telling the name of the Gita composer; and again I bow to the goddess who uplifts the world.)

Here is more about Kurukulla from Vajranatha.com, which appears to be a cool and informative vajrayana web site.

And here is a fun "message from Kurukulla" which was received by Akkarri at Spontaneous Combustion. I especially liked this part:

"I am DANCING. This is to show you how to manifest divine energy for benefit of all....itting in uniform rows reciting rote attribute-lists of the results of human male ego-trips is not a Divine Activity, because it has nothing whatsoever to do with the acknowledgement of MY DANCE."

Related reading: 
Meditation auf Kurukulla 

''lisa simpson goddess population of tiny people watch''

Defining Random
Kathmandu


...Someone landed on this blog by typing the above words into a Google search. From Turkey, no less.