Towards the end of the SandhyAvandanA, I remember reciting the following:

bhArgava, chyavana, ApnavAn, aurava, jamadajnya, pancha rShi pravarAnvita
vatsa gotrOtpannaha
AshvalAyana sUtra, shAkala shAKhAdhAyih
gautama sharmaH
ahaM bho abhivAdaye
Which translates to:
Hailing from the lineage of the five excellent rShi’s namely BhArgava, chyavana, ApnavAn, aurava, jamadajnya,
Born into the vatsa GOtra,
following AshvalAyana’s sutras, student of the the shAkala shAKha,
I Gauthama Sharma,
Offer [...]

The Hindu Calender is divided into 12 Months which are called Maasas.They are Chaitra, Vaishaka, Jyestha, Aashada, Shravana, Bhadrapada, Ashvija, Karthika, Margashira, Pushya, Maagha and Phalguna.
Today is an auspicious day for us, as it is the first day of the Chaitra Maasa, and thus the beginning of the New Year. We celebrate this day as [...]

Update: Do check Hari’s comments to this post. They correct the misinterpretations of quite a few things mentioned in this post.
Having finished reading Sri Shankaracharya’s Bhagavad Gita Bhasya, I am motivated to learn the Bhagavad Gita by heart. I intend to read the other commentaries, especially by Sri Madhvacharya,  and also intend to learn the [...]

The war at Kurkshetra in the Mahabharata has been termed as Dharmayuddha, which means the battle fought in order to uphold the principles of Dharma. Before the combat, both the sides agreed to the terms and conditions regarding the rules of engagement. However, by the end of the battle, people from both sides showed disregard [...]

I finished reading S.L.Bhyrappa’s AvaraNA yesterday. This is my first Kannada Novel. Yeah, despite being in Karnataka for almost a quarter century now,  I didn’t bother to check out the literature apart from whatever was being taught in the school. The last Kannada book I read was my 10th grade Kannada text book . [...]