arumuka nalavAr
arumuka nalavAr, the dvaita saiddhAntika shaiva, a brAhmaNa in deed despite not being born in the brAhmaNa-jAti, reprimanded the brAhmaNas of TN for the rate at which they were giving up the veda, who produced vigorous critiques of the Christianity and impeded missionary activity. - “Born as an ornament of the highly cultured and refined shaiva vELALa-s, he grew up to become a scholar in both tamizh and saMskRta. He provided highly refined poetic, Tamil translations of quotes from saMskRta purANas. He was also highly competent in English, using that knowledge to study and master the the durAgama of both the Christians and yahudas. He teamed up with his friend and student who was learning Tamil from him, senthilnAtha iyer and published bibiliya kutsitam (disgusting things in the Bible)” - He was so respected that dharmapura AdhInam, who used to pay worship mainly to the caturtha guru parampara and shiva and did not focus much on tirumALigai dEvar (a brAhmaNa and author of one of many books of the shaiva Tamil canon), heeded his gentle reprimand and got proper respects to be offered to dEvar - he challenged vaLLalAr, even sued him…and even after he had passed away, he still had great influence. He had managed to create a pool of sufficiently charges orthodox shaivas who managed to prevent vaLLalAr cultists from installing his statues at mainstream shaivAgama temples
Hotii Vidyalankara
Born to ‘kulin’ brahmin family she was a widow from childhood . She became an authority on vyAkaraNa, poetry , smRti , Navya-nyAya and established her own ‘chatuspathi’ ( centers of higher learning ) at Varanasi ! Panditas bestowed her with the title of Vidyalankara . She died at an advanced age in the year 1810 . [IMG]
Hotu Vidyalankar
nee Rupamanjari: She was not a brahmin , but her father , Narayan Das noticed her exceptional intellgence and sent her at the ‘chatushpaathi’ of a brahmin pandit . There Rupamanjari mastered Ayurveda , vyAkaraNa and other branches of studies . Her fame spread far and wide and students used to come from far off places to learn or get opinions on Ayurveda , charaka-samhita and vyAkaraNa . Ayurvedic doctors of the age used to consult her on matters of medicine ! Rupamanjari never married and kept her head shaven with a ‘shikha’ ( Chuda / tuft of hair ) and dressed as a man . She died 100 years of age at 1875 . [IMG]
dayAnanda sarasvatI
founder of Arya-samAja, social reformer, vaidika proponent, cricic of the abrahamisms. - Flaw: rejection of image worship, sAyaNa and traditional thought.
svAmin vivekAnanda
who sought to offer vedAnta-centered sanAtana-dharma (which included hinduism) as a universal that could encompass all “religions” peacefully; and inspired many hindu-s to rise up and be proud of their world-view. His understanding and some claims did have flaws.
aravinda-ghOSha
aravinda-ghOSha, revolutionary, (mis)interpreter of the vEdas.
paNDit lekhrAm
paNDit lekhrAm of the Arya-samAja, who fought the war of words with muslims, brought some back to the tradition of the Arya-s and paid with his lives.
svamI shraddhAnanda
(wiki), successor of Lala Lekh Ram, the Arya samAjI, who let the return of over 1.5 lakh malkhAna rAjaputra muslims to devadharma, fought untouchability, went to kerala during the 1921 moplah rebellion and rescued hindus, before beign killed by a muslim fanatic Abdul Rashid (whom MK gandhi tried to save from hanging in vain).
- “Mohandas Gandhi criticised Sw Shraddhan for Ghar Wapasi saying- ‘You have made Hinduism a joke. Ms can’t become H’. Karma hit back. Mohandas’ eldest son Harilal accepted Islam, became Abdulla. Mata Kasturba went to Swami Shraddhanand’s disciples for help. Abdulla was made Hindu again.”
nAgaratna
a courtesan who excelled in music, dance and literature; whose high character and surroundings inspire ; “nāgaratna at birth, then bhogaratna (by youth), and now rogaratna! … rāgaratna, and then tyāgaratna” [DVG].
raghu vIra
father of scholar lokesha chandra, an outstanding scholar himself, who ensured safety of his family and killed many muslim assailants before escaping to India from TSP [KV16].
Lokesh Chandra
son of Raghu-Vira, a great scholar versed in 20 languages, who understood and elucidated the hindu-buddhist contemplative polycentric culture so clearly, delving into nuances (mUrti - manifest of the unmanifest vs icon ?decorative?) clear distinction from semitic monotheisms. [CV, interview]