Narasimha the Lion Man

By R. Suryanarayanan

Dharma is an immigrant in France from Mauritius with heavy roots in India. He meets Ram, a scientist, also an immigrant from India, in a supermarket. Dharma pretends that this meeting was arranged by God. He needs Rama's help to locate a temple in India. They seek the help of an African medium to talk to the spirit of Dharma's grandfather. The answer is given on a paper but needs to be decrypted. Surprisingly, Ram's wife finds the name of the temple. Ram feels that these two families are quantum entangled. Strange things happen during their visit to this temple in India. Ram, the scientist, is obliged to accept interconnection exists between people, and Dharma's intuitive power wins.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris UK
• Release date: Jul 31, 2015
• ISBN: 9781514462065

R. Suryanarayanan

With a passion for science, religion, history, and India, the author, a retired scientist with a doctorate degree in physics from the University of Paris, blends fiction into historical facts in a unique way, building on intercultural links, circulation of knowledge between the East and the West.

Book preview

Copyright © 2015 by R. Suryanarayanan.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to any actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

Rev. date: 07/29/2015

Xlibris

800-056-3182

www.Xlibrispublishing.co.uk

719092

CONTENTS

SELECTED REVIEWS

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

FOREWORD

GLOSSARY

REFERENCES

Chapter 1   Dharma

Chapter 2   Mauritius

Chapter 3   THE MEDIUM FROM MALI

Chapter 4   LAKSHMI

Chapter 5   VISHNU

Chapter 6   BREAKING THE CODE

Chapter 7   VIMALA MEETS VISHNU

Chapter 8   THE PILGRIMAGE

Chapter 9   STRANGE DREAMS

Chapter 10 NARASIMHA JAYANTHI

Front cover Design: by the author

CENTER : The Lion Man, Comparison to Justify Chracter and Manners, Copy of the Painting by Charles Le Brun, a French Painter of the 18th Century from a picture card, King Sarfoji Museum, Thanjavur, India. Art work by the author.

BOTTOM LEFT : Statue depicting Narasimha killing Hiranyakasipu, Belur, Karnataka, India; Picture credit: author

BOTTOM RIGHT : At the top of the Ahobilam mountain showing the pillar out of which Narasimha was believed to have emerged. Picture credit: author.

To my parents

Ayloor S. Ramanathan

Dharmambal

Two other novels by the same author

image002.jpg

Published by www.authorhouse.co.uk

image004.jpg

Published by www.xlibrispublishing.co.uk

SELECTED REVIEWS

DREAMS AND REALITIES 2009 AUTHORHOUSE UK AND FROM LEADING PUBLISHERS

For reviews see, https://sites.google.com/site/parissury/treviews-

of-my-book

Selected reviews:

The author has vividly sketched a panoramic canvass of the cultures of India and Europe covering the days of antiquity to modernity as the back cover page of the book adequately outlines it.Apparently, it is the first book written by this author who is past 70y.Reading in between the lines I admire his rather suggestive approach. L. Gopalan, Rtd.AGM, BHEL, India

"I finished reading it on the immediate sunday after I bought the book. It is written in such an interesting style. The narration is so lively that it made me feel like you are sitting next to me and narrating the story. One thing I have noticed is you have very good research skills in not only physics but also in history and culture. Your book has inspired and educated me about science, culture and life." Neela Sekhar, Doctoral student, University of Paris, Orsay

It is an interesting read giving an excellent prologue about the diverse cultural and religious traditions of India. He gave some flavor about the philosophy of Rig Veda and Upanishads (philosophical literature of the Hindu religion) and also discussed the subtle connection between the Indian classical music system and mathematics. Three stories in the book beautifully illustrated the gap between dreams and realities. He discussed many scientific laws and discoveries by Newton, Faraday, and Ramanujan at layman level which make this book quite mesmerizing. Dr Jagdish Thakur and Dr Archana Thakur, Michigan

Respected Sir. I have managed to read your short story, entitled, Asoka’ s Last Dream.(Dreams and Realities). I have thoroughly enjoyed the read with is steeped in history, religion, politics and philosophy. It must have taken you marathon hours to come up with a story so beautiful. Your deep reverence for Saivism and Hinduism is interwoven into the story. There is that denouement I was waiting for - when the ailing Asoka embraced Buddhism and altered his war-lord attitude. Buddhism like Hinduism have tenets of peace. On the other hand his fear of foreigners invading his Kingdom. His last dream very clandestinely told to his daughter who on her own discretion decides not to reveal his last wishes. Congrats Prof. I look forward to purchasing your other novel. I’ve already made enquiries in the UK. Once again many thanks for sharing your short. Lots of love regards. I have cherished memories of you. It’s as though we’ve met in our past life. Om Namah Shivaya. Ravi Naicker, English Teacher, Kwahluzingqondo High School, South Africa

"I have learnt a lot from your book. The Ancient India and the Modern India, the way you have chosen to write.You have a flow which is amazing and erudite. Keep the good work and Alexandre Dumas will be proud of you. Post some of the fine quotes that you have so well written for the benefit of the facebook community." Ramkumar Nagabushanam, Lawyer, NY, USA

First of all, congratulations for the great work, I am happy to say that these stories opened my eyes. Because for an Indian citizen it is very educative. The way you narrated about Vedas and Buddhism in the story Asoka’s last dream is amazing; On the other hand, the stories help me to know my country. I am not an apt person to evaluate your work, but as a student i teaches me a laot of new lessons. Normally, people all over the world believe that scientists can only do research and can’t write but actually it is not true, your work is a great example. As a physics student, I don’t know how to express my happiness, I can only wish you continue your great work. Also your contributions(donations) to Sankaranethralaya is faboulous. May God bless you to continue the good work. Sreeram K. Padmanabhan, B.Sc., Physics, 2nd Year, Palghat, Kerala.

§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§

MURDER IN VENICE 2011 XLIBRISPUBLISHING, UK AND FROM LEADING PUBLISHERS

For reviews see https://sites.google.com/site/parissury/revies-on-my-book

Selected Reviews

Dr. V. S. Balanethiram, Automotive Engineer, Troy, Michigan, USA

Murderin Venice is a gripping account of how the thirst of knowmedge in the 16th Century brought peole together and how the intellectual exchanges crossed boundaries effortlesslyleading to the development of Science. The author brings out his rich knowledge of Indian culture, his linguistic command over Indian and European languages and his ability to tell an interesting love story to connect them all! I wish this is made into an interesting movie very soon for millions to enjoy! I was sad about the failed love of SAnkaran and even by Galilio. Antonio’s decision was un unexpected twist! It was a pleasure to read this book. Thanks for writing such a great book! Wish you luck of time to write many more!

Dr A. Jayaraman, Retired Senior Scientist, Bell Labs, USA

I just finished reading your book, Murder in Venice. It is a fascinating account, mixture of Science and fiction. It is written very well. You have infused life in to the characters and high lighted the Indian contribution to the subject of astronomy, Vedic Math and it’s deep rooted Vedic culture. I very much liked Your Malayalam renderings, as well as the Sanskrit quotes. Also it is a testament to the fine culture of Kerala. I feel I know now a little bit more of colloquial Malayalam. The Italian inserts bring one closer to Galileo and smoothly shifts the story to Italy and it’s culture. This indeed is a book which I will be recommending to my friends. Please accept our hearty congratulations for writing another fine piece. I immensely enjoyed it.

Dr. R. Krishnan, Retired Research Director, CNRS, Versailles, France and Mrs Lalitha Krishnan

The overall effect is captivating. The book is very well written and reading is a pleasure. We liked the turn of events which come unexpectedly and carries on the story, such as, Sankaran meeting the jewish family, contrary to his plans meeting Ananthan Namoodri. We learn a lot about Jewish customs, which I always thought resembled the Brahmin culture and way of life. The meeting between the three religions was interesting and you have nicely brought out several important points. You must have worked very hard to collect these details, digest them and putting it across in a simple manner!

Your plan of sending Sankaran to Italy to meet Gallileo is a very good and interesting contribution. You have nicely defended the greatness of Hindu astronomers and their contribution and lament how the only chance of making them known to the west through Gallileo was foiled by the loss of life of Sankaran. Not only that you have woven Guilia into the story well and she too lost her life. To top everything Antonio too ends his life by hanging himself leaving none to help the Italian Master to present Hindu contribution. You have dramatically chosen noon for Antonio so that he will not be completing the striking of the bell by which his death is announced. Had it been 2 pm then it would have been different. So you have paid a lot of attention to fine details.

It is nice to read Malayalam and Italian in between gives colour to the happenings.

As it always happens there are a few small mistakes in Sanskrit slokas. Sankaran’s father also seemed to be unaware of the Vimana used in Mahabharata by Salwa which had to be destroyed by Lord Krishna.

We congratulate you for this work. It is amazing that you have such a talent to right a fiction novel! Bravo!

Mrs. Lalitha Badrinath, President, Groupe de Reflexion Franco-Indien, Paris

I had some links with a project undertaken by Umberto Eco in a venture called Transcultura. I was reminded of his work as I started reading your latest book. Congratulations!

Dr Arabinda Das, Physicist, Ottawa, Canada

I appreciate the detailed research that you have done for writing this manuscript.

The similarities and the difference between various cultures are also properly emphasized.

The book keeps a steady narrative momentum and at the same time puts in forefront the contribution of India in the field of science. Moreover, now I have got a glimpse of Kerala’s lifestyle.

Most of all I enjoyed the book, I liked this second book’s content and style but preferred the plot of your first book (Dreams and Realities)

Great job, congratulations again.

Prof. N. Venkatasubramanian, ex Professor of Chemistry, Madras Christian College, Tambaram, Chenai, Retired Principal, Vivekanada College, Mylapore, Chennai now in USA.

I just finished reading the book. It is a well-researched and well-documented attempt to get the reader interested in the hoary past of astronomy in India and in Vedic mathematics. I shall certainly recommend it to all my children. I have already brought it to the notice of a couple of my friends. My congratulations again for your fine literary skills, in addition to your scientific achievements.

Dr Sibajyoti Guha, Retired Scientific Director, CNRS, Gif sur Yvette, France

I started reading this novel assuming, because of the title, that it is going to be a sort of detective story. Why not? After all, a physicist like Dr. Suryanarayanan can well write a mystery story. The composite picture on the cover of the book contains a photo of a temple in Kerala and also one of Venice. One can guess the story stretches from Kerala to Venice. The cover page also contains astronomical sketches by Galileo and a quotation, in sanskrit (devanagari) scripit. The main protagonist of the story is Sankaran, a boy born in Irinjalakuda (kerala, India). The same village where the great mathematician Madhava was born about 250 years before him. The boy belonged to the Namboodri community. So he was destined to be a priest in a temple. But his father wanted to make him a scholar and was sent to Kozikhode to learn about the mathematical science. There he met a jewish boy, an Italian catholic priest and also a muslim from Iran. That made it possible to make a comparative presentation of the four religions. Here one has the impression that the author wants to insist on the tolerant nature of the hindu religion. Though on the question of casts he only says that in hindu society, initially, one could change their cast according to their professional practice (and also by prayer), though with time, cast became a immutable birthright. The author could well have insisted on the fact thet hindu religion, though divided by caste is not divided into sects. The difference between vaishnavites and shivaites, is bigger than that of shias & sunnis. But they do not have different temples. One is free to go to the temple of the other devotees to offer his own prayer. The Italian priest, Luigi, learnt that a Hindu astronomer, named Aryabhatta, enunciated the heliocentric theory about earth 800 years before Copernicus. He also knew that a contemporay astronomer in his country was having trouble with the Roman Catholic church because he has shown that his equations corroborated the heliocentric theory of Copernicus (revised later by Kepler). The idea that the earth moves around the sun is opposed to the teaching of christian faith, prevalent in Europe.

The boy Sankaran, a fictional character was younger than Galileo. That makes possible the meeting of both the persons, as the priest Luigi suggestd that the youngster, conversant of the hindu mathematics, should go to Italy to meet Galileo and exchange their knowledge. In spite of a religious ban to cross the seas & oceans he sailed forVenice. Once in Padova he met Galileo, who was a professor there, and impressed him with his knowledge of the Italian language and also with his knowledge in mathematics. He also gave, in short, an account of the Indian mathematicians worth mentioning To Galileo’s surprise, who not only ignored totally of Aryabahatta and his heliocentric theory but also that the Indian languages have scripts which are not ideograms. All the more that, in spite of his theory, Aryabhatta was not bothered by anybody. But some trouble was waiting for the boy. People from the church doubted that he is a spy from India. For his security, Galileo sent him to Venice. He went there accompanied by a girl named Julia who, in Padova used to take care of Galileo’s house hold. Then comes last chapter which justifies the title of the book. The end of the book is a story of love and frustration. I am not going to divulge the end. Only thing I can tell you that it does not ends well for any of the protagonist of the novel. To appreciate the story one has to go through the whole book.

As the whole proceedings of the sale of this book will to go the fund of Sankara Netralaya, a charitable eye hospital. I can only wish a tremendous sale of the book. I also wish that Dr. Suryanarayanan writes more books of this quality.

Mrs Ailsa Paterson, English Teacher (professional courses)

Paris, France

I much enjoyed reading Murder in Venice. It was a pleasure to find so many themes in a comparatively short story: a pleas for tolerance, a respect for learning, a denunciation of closed minds and much(for me) new information on Indian astronomical studies – the whole ina narrative full of human interest. I hope the book will be widely circulated – it ha lessons for us all, of whatever cultural background.

Prof. Mukunda Das, Theoretical Physicist, Australian National University, Canberra

The background of Namboodri Brahmin’s scholarship is very great. You have presented it as a piece of human interest story. Sankaran’s voyage to Italia and a great sacrifice of his life shows the intellectual superiority of an ancient Indian scholar. The modern world knows little about it.

Mr Madhav Vinod, M.Phil; Sri Chitra Institute of Medical Sciences, Thiruvanandhapuram

Your book is a great compilation of scientific melodrama entangling spirituality and divinity, with lively characters gives a feeling of drama act happening right in front us, where the prologues are so detail that every bit and every location gives us a feeling of real time experience, just like I felt many a times that I am right in front of them when any conversation takes place or just gets a feeling of traveling with Sankaran, where ever he goes etc. I can never believe this to be fiction rather it is fictitious to believe it as fiction, for the fact that the fiction part is confined only to the characters or characterization else the entire composition is greatly informative in terms of historic events and cultural outline. Alas I can say one thing, well! every reader if not many times at-least once would have had goose bumps while reading this book, I swear it happened to me many times, not exaggeration of course.

L. Gopalan, Retd., AGM, BHEL, India

Dr R. Suryanarayanan, as I know him professionally and personally for the past 30 years is a scientist and technologist of a higher order, a multi-linguist multi-culturalist, an ardent student of nature. Has a good appetite in systematically collecting and absorbing the literary, historical, philosophical, civilizational aspects and events of human efforts, and narrates them as a gripping story teller. That is what I felt when I read his novel Murder in Venice.

Mr Alexis Kittery, ORANGE TELECOM, PARIS

I did not like Asoka’s dream that much but for the slokas which were so inspiring and useful. You have adopted a different style that I found strange -distant and artificial. As for the Sanyasi’s earnest dreams and sad realities shows your story telling talent of revealing the interlaced life story of the Sanyasi with Nalini and Brigitte/ and the un revealed story of the professor with those two girls. Well related without many side track descriptions. The best among the three stories is still Easwaran’s unending dream’ I simply enjoyed reading that story - particularly in that story you used a very simple and straight forward style - it is like doing a pencil sketch, with a multitude number of small strokes, to bring out the picture, with thousands and one anecdotes, especially if the reader happens to be an Indian, lived in south-India, known Madras, Perambur and ICF colony, and the reader was lucky enough to have inspiring teachers like Eswaran, your story is a feast. - a nice story that would be a source of inspiration to any young school students… I would strongly recommend

In the very second book, you have reached a certain height in the art of story telling. You have achieved a full length novel connecting Religions, Maths, Astronomy, Kollam, Venice, Love and Death. Bravo Mr Suryanarayanan!

Inspiration blossoms like a secret flower. You say, the theme of the story popped up in an exhibition hall and in a conference room. You have given a beautiful shape to your imagination by giving numerous excerpts of The Knowledge. You paved a secret patch to discover the immense treasure of our Vedic and scientific documents, a legacy that any Indian can fell proud of.

In my opinion, whatever was written in the Vedas about planets and cosmos may be Mathematical theories but someone has to prove them scientifically to make them widely accepted . Steam and electricity existed from the very beginning of the earth; but we needed a Watson and Edison to give them a practical usage. As you have coated

"Ajyeshtaso aganishtasa ethe

Sam bratharo vavruthhuhu sowbhagaya!"

Wishing you all the best for your next book.

Princess Gouri Parvathi Bayi, Thiruvanandhapuram, India

I did read your novel and found it to be one with a difference, maybe even a twist at the end. Having lived all my life in Kerala, It was easy for me to understand the whole book with its special references & situations so peculiar to our way of life. Good luck to you and keep writing and enjoying it too.

image005.jpg

Thanking Note To The Reader

Dear Reader,

I would like to thank you for having bought my two books Dreams and Realities and Murder in Venice. Some of you were kind enough to send your comments. The Royalty fees and any profits made from direct sales have been donated to the Medical Research Foundation, Sankara Nethralaya – The Temple of the eye (www.sankaranethralaya.com). It is an institution conducting not only world class education in eye research but also provides eye care to the destitute and the poor in India and renders services to International patients from UK, USA, Oman and Mauritius. It is my pleasure to inform you that the sale proceeds from the present book also will be donated to the same institution.

Thank you for joining me in this effort.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

F IRST AND FOREMOST, I would like to thank my wife Pushpa for the moral support without which I could not have written this story. My son Dharman painstakingly went through the manuscript. His numerous comments and suggestions were very useful. My second son Raghu urged me to read Richard Dawkins (The God Delusion) and Joseph Campbell(The Hero with Thousand Faces). My friend L. Gopalan suggested that I should read Amit Goswami (God is not Dead). The content of all these three books were useful to me in writing a part of this novel. I have also benefitted from interesting discussions on various topics with my brother R. Krishnan and with several others whom I might have met through Facebook, during a train journey in India or at temples waiting for dharshan.

But may be my story has no meaning.

There are no stories without a meaning….

Baudolino by Umberto Eco

All artwork, literature, science and historical references mentioned in this work are real and the rest is fiction.The dialogues attributed to any publicly recognisable persons did not actually occur.

FOREWORD

Yadha Yadha hi dhar masya glanirbhavathi bharata

Abhyusthamadarsaya thadhtmanam srujamyaham.

Parithranaya sadhunam vinashaya cha dushktitam

Dharma sansthapanarthaya sambhavami yuge yuge.

Whenever there is a decay of dharma (virtue)

and a rise of adharma (unrighteousness) I manifest Myself.

For the protection of the good, for the destruction of the

Evil and for the establishment of righteousness,

Bhagavat Geetha- Ch 4, v7,8

At the dawn of the first day of great Mahabharata war spoken by Lord Krishna to Arjuna.

Translated by R. Suryanarayanan

I HAVE THREE reasons to write this novel. First is the fact that I could write two novels encouraged me to set out to write a third one. Second is a picture card, I bought several years ago at the King Sarfoji museum in Thanjavur. It depicted a painting of a man evolving from a lion by Le Brun, a French painter. This reminded me the story of Narasimha (written also as Nrusimha ) in Hindu Mythology. The Hindus believe that Lord Vishnu took at least ten Avatars in different forms and descended from the heavens to the earth to annihilate the evil doers to the society and restore Dharma , the righteousness or justice, when evil becomes unbearable. Rama and Krishna are the well known Avatars to the western and far eastern world mainly through the epics Ramayana and Mahabharatha. The story of Narasimha, the half human-half lion, Avatar is less known in the West. It is believed that the Avatar of Narasimha took place atop the hill Ahobilam, in the current state of Andhra Pradesh about 250 km north west of Madras. Thanks to my wife, Pushpa who induced me to undertake the somewhat tedious journey to Ahobilam. It was there, the guide told us, that Narasimha surged out of a pillar to kill the evil King Hiranyakasipu. I was overwhelmed to see a tall rock standing alone in the woods, which is supposed to be the part of the broken pillar. Then a chain of events – the third reason - ran into my mind connecting the painting of Le Brun and Narasimha Avatar and I decided to relate them in this novel. Hope you will enjoy reading it and pass on your comments to me at [e-mail]

GLOSSARY

REFERENCES

For writing this novel, I have greatly benefitted by reading the following works:

And also listening to the lectures by Sukhi Sivam and Sri Sri Sri Murali Swamigal in you tube.

1

DHARMA

I F I HAD not met Dharma or rather if he had not me on that day at the supermarket Carrefour at Les Ulis, I would not be writing this to relate the remarkable chain of events that followed. No one would believe how this meeting solved a great number of problems in our families and further opened our eyes to understand some mysterious things that people don’t want to believe unless these things happen to themselves. On hearing only a part of what happened, one of my best friends suggested that I should write it down. In the following pages, I have tried to narrate the incidents that followed after I encountered Dharma at the supermarket.

We live in a small town called Les Ulis, about 25 Kms from Notre-Dame de Paris, France. The zero of the mile stone is fixed at the Notre-Dame Cathedral of Paris, the beautiful edifice that dominates the Seine river watching silently several events and the people since the 11 the century. Notre-Dame cathedral was built almost at the same as the great Brihadeswarar temple of Thanjavur in the south of India. What a difference in architectural style and yet both are examples of great art and skill. The great Chola King Raja Rajan was responsible for building this temple. I had read somewhere that the King brought the required stones far away from the north after conquering some parts of India close to the mighty river Ganges. Notre-Dame cathedral is much smaller compared to the temple but has its own beauty and charm standing on a small island in the river Seine. Even those who are on a short stay in Paris, even those who are not Christians and even those who were born Christians but no longer go to the church to worship, will never miss a visit to this beautiful monument. What struck me, when I saw it first about 40 years ago when I landed in Paris from India to do my doctorate in Physics, were the symmetry of the cathedral and the fine sculptures all around. I have seen the St.Thomas cathedral in Mylapore, Chennai and have been there inside too though I am not a