TimeLensPodcast

A 2,300-year-old royal edict, carved into rock, in a place where almost no one lives. We travel to Brahmagiri in Chitradurga, Karnataka to trace one of Emperor Ashoka's Minor Rock Edicts — and open the question this whole series is built on: why would an emperor leave his message in the middle of nowhere? In this episode: The Brahmi-script edict at Brahmagiri, and what it actually says Suvarnagiri...

Stone steps, hand-built through granite boulders, leading to an edict no one visits. Two kilometres from Brahmagiri, a second Ashokan edict sits on a rocky hillock at Siddapura — so remote that even local villagers wouldn't take us there. One farmer finally did. In this episode: The search through farmland, fences, and muddy fields to find Siddapura The Brahmi inscription, two kilometres from Brah...

An hour's climb up a steep hill — and a Ramayana connection nobody expected. A third Ashokan edict sits atop Jatinga-Rameshwara, near Chitradurga. But the real story on this hilltop reaches back further than Ashoka — to the Ramayana itself, confirmed in part by ASI's own signage. In this episode: The steep, hour-long climb to the third edict in this corridor Jatayu's hill, on the adjoining peak Wh...

Two Shivalingas, side by side, on a hilltop in Karnataka. Local tradition has a precise answer for why. At Jatinga-Rameshwara, oral tradition tells of a dying Jatayu, an emergency stone linga placed by Rama himself, and a second one Hanuman carried back from Kasi. We trace the story — and the geography that may support it. In this episode: Jatayu's last wish, and Rama's emergency installation Hanu...

Two paths, one story — Ravana's flight route, and Rama's ground journey, mapped side by side. We test the Ramayana's geography against the modern map: Ravana's likely flight line from Rishimukha through Jatinga-Rameshwara, Tumkur, Srirangam, and Madurai to Rameswaram — and Rama's own route along the Kaveri, through Srirangapatna and Shivanasamudra and a story of Rama's symb...

These "remote" hilltops weren't remote at all. They were marketplaces — for gold, pearls, and gems. An ASI guide's own words reframe everything we thought we knew: a Bauddha stupa, now called Suli Dibba by locals, once stood beside a thriving trade in muttu, ratna, and vajragalu — pearls, gems, and diamonds. In this episode: The Bauddha stupa and the marketplace beside it Suli Dibba — the renamed...

Why is it called Brahmagiri? The answer reaches back further than Ashoka — and further than the Ramayana. We return to where the series began. The name points to Saptarishi Gautama and his wife Ahalya, who tradition says lived and meditated on this very hill — alongside one hundred and eight Swayambhu Shivlings said to be hidden in nearby caves. In this episode: The Saptarishi Gautama and Ahalya l...

What happens when you discover that epic events from the Mahabharata unfolded just hours from where you grew up—and you never knew? Nagendra takes us to Chitradurga, where Bheema married the rakshasa princess Hidimbi, revealing a hidden landscape of ancient mythology backed by historical evidence. Learn the crucial distinction between "Lipi" (historical inscriptions) and "Nambikke" (living belief)...

Hosts: Nagendra Nagarajayya and Akul Nagendra Source: Based on travel account by Nagendra Nagarajayya Introduction: Join us as we explore the hidden layers of Hampi that most tourists never see. While millions visit the famous Vijayanagara Empire ruins, few know about the ancient mythological sites connected to the Ramayana that lie just beneath the surface. Based on Nagendra's personal journey to...