Eight generations of Tantrics

Image & Narrative contributed by Sharat Sundar Rajeev, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala. This photograph shows my great- great grand father’s younger brother Govindan Achari sitting with his grand nephews. Govindan Achari (c.1850s-1944) was better known as ‘Govindan Kanakkukaran’ and ‘Valiya Mandravadi’  which indicated his position as a veteran Tantric or an occultist. Born and brought up in […]

Rukmini, a princess, a great artist & the great grand-daughter of Raja Ravi Varma

Image contributed by Rukmini Varma, Narrative by Manu Pillai In a time when the Indian Subcontinent was still a land of splendid Maharajahs and fabulous courts, Rukmini Varma was born in 1940 into one of its most early royal houses, with an unbroken dynastic lineage of over 1200 years.Titled Her Highness Bharani Tirunal Rukmini Bayi […]