Article 142 of the Constitution of India gives the Supreme Court a power of its own. The court “may pass such decree or make such order as is necessary for doing complete justice in any cause or matter pending before it.” Such an order “shall be enforceable throughout the territory of India.”
The Maid’s Advice
In the Ayodhya Kanda of the Valmiki Ramayana, King Dasharatha prepares to crown his eldest son, Rama. Manthara, a hunchbacked servant of Queen Kaikeyi, hears the news. Valmiki calls her jnatidasi, a servant of Kaikeyi’s family who had lived with her since her birth.
Manthara tells the queen: “think of a solution to get your son Bharata the kingdom and to send Rama, your enemy, to exile.” Kaikeyi acts on her advice, and Rama is sent into exile.
The Uncle’s Plan
In the Sabha Parva of the Mahabharata, Duryodhana envies the wealth of his cousin Yudhishthira. His maternal uncle Shakuni offers him a plan: “I promise to win all that wealth of his, and thou, O Duryodhana, shalt then enjoy the same.” He adds: “I will defeat him repeatedly at every throw by practising deception.”
Duryodhana takes the plan to his father, King Dhritarashtra, and presses him: “It behoveth thee to grant him permission to do so.” The game of dice follows.
Nine Jewels
Tradition holds that the Mughal emperor Akbar kept nine jewels at his court, the navaratna. The usual list names Birbal, Abul Fazl, Faizi, Tansen, Raja Todar Mal, Raja Man Singh, Abdur Rahim Khan-i-Khanan, Fakir Aziao-Din and Mulla Do-Piyaza.
The list is uncertain. Sources do not agree on the names, and the term is said to be absent from the Persian chronicles of Akbar’s time.
Near the Fire
Agalaadhu anugaadhu theekkaaivaar polga igalvendharch chernthozhugu vaar. Those who live close to kings should be like people warming themselves at a fire, neither too far nor too near. This is couplet 691 of the Thirukkural, the first in its chapter on conduct in the presence of kings.
Spoons and Courtiers
Chamcha. A spoon, and also, in the Rekhta dictionary’s words, a “yes-man, sycophant.”
Darbari. A courtier, “one entitled to a seat in the royal court, one who attends royal court.”
In 2019 the news agency IANS wrote that a durbari culture had no place in the Congress party until Indira Gandhi took charge. “And thereafter started the coterie culture.”
Guru and Govind
Guru Govind dou khade, kake lagoon paay. Balihari guru aapne, Govind diyo batay. Guru and God both stand before me. Whose feet should I touch first? I give myself to my guru, who showed me God. The couplet is attributed to the poet Kabir. Its wording varies slightly between editions.
The Teacher’s Full Moon
Guru Purnima, the day to honor teachers, falls on the full moon of the month of Ashadha, in June or July. It is also called Vyasa Purnima, because it marks the birthday of Veda Vyasa. The Hindi newspaper Patrika describes Vyasa as adiguru, the first guru.
All Men Are My Children
One of the edicts of the emperor Ashoka at Dhauli, in Kalinga, reads in D.C. Sircar’s translation: “All men are my children.” Ashoka goes on that he wants for all men what he wants for his own children, “welfare and happiness in this world and in the next.”
Amma, Didi, Behenji
Amma. Mother. Jayalalithaa, chief minister of Tamil Nadu, was hailed as Amma, “an epithet that she deeply ingrained in the public mind,” the news site DailyO wrote.
Didi, elder sister: Mamata Banerjee. Behenji, sister: Mayawati. Chacha, uncle: Jawaharlal Nehru, “to India’s children.”
Such names, DailyO wrote, create “a sense of belonging and familiarity.”