Lipi vs. Nambikke

Rediscovering Ancient India — one field visit at a time

We travel to historical sites across India, collect oral traditions from locals and ASI guides, and cross-reference them against inscriptions and physical evidence.

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Now Streaming — All 3 Series

Latest episodes

Series 3 — Chitradurga: Ashokan Minor Rock Edicts

S3 / E1
Brahmagiri — An Emperor's Message in the Middle of Nowhere
A 2,300-year-old Ashokan edict in Brahmi script, sent from Suvarnagiri, carved by Capada — on a hilltop almost no one visits today.
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S3 / E2
Siddapura — Deeper Into Nowhere
Two kilometres from Brahmagiri, a second edict on a rocky hillock. Hand-built stone steps lead to a place nobody visits anymore.
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S3 / E3
Jatinga-Rameshwara — The Climb and The Revelation
An hour's climb to a third edict — where ASI's own signage points toward a Ramayana connection nobody expected.
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S3 / E4
The Two Shivalingas — Rama, Jatayu and Hanuman
Two Shivalingas side by side. Local tradition preserves a precise account — Rama's emergency installation and Hanuman's journey to Kasi and back.
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S3 / E5
Rama's Two Trails — Rama's Seal on a Rock?
A stone near our family farm in Shivanasamudra may bear Rama and Lakshmana's own seal — kept alive in local memory for generations. We map it against Ravana's flight route and Rama's Kaveri ground journey: geometry, geography, and a discovery still waiting to be properly studied.
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S3 / E6
The Marketplace on the Hill
Pearls, gems, and diamonds were once traded at a Bauddha stupa beside these edicts. The hills weren't remote — the people left when the river ran dry.
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S3 / E7
The Brahmagiri Revelation
Why is it called Brahmagiri? Saptarishi Gautama, Ahalya, 108 Swayambhu Shivlings in hidden caves — the name reaches back further than Ashoka and further than the Ramayana.
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Series 2 — Chitradurga: Mahabharata

S2 / E1
Chitradurga — Where Hidimbi Married Bheema
Hoysala temples, a mysterious giant tooth relic, and defensive caves where the Pandavas worshipped — the Mahabharata marriage of Bheema and Hidimbi, traced to a real place.
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Series 1 — Hampi: Ramayana

S1 / E1
Hampi — Anjaneya's Birthplace and Ancient History
A 575-step climb at dawn to Hanuman's birthplace, a crossing to Rishimukha cave, and the surprising overlap between Kishkindha and the Vijayanagara Empire.
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Field notes & research

From the blog

Series 3 — Chitradurga: Ashokan Minor Rock Edicts

S3 / E1 Ashokan Edicts
Brahmagiri — An Emperor's Message in the Middle of Nowhere
An emperor's edict, carved 2,300 years ago, in a place nobody visits anymore — the question that opens the whole series.
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S3 / E2 Ashokan Edicts
Siddapura — Deeper Into Nowhere
Two kilometres from Brahmagiri, a second edict reachable only by following a farmer through his own fields.
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S3 / E3 Ramayana
Jatinga-Rameshwara — The Climb and The Revelation
A steep climb, two strangers resting in the shade, and a Ramayana connection nobody expected — confirmed in part by ASI's own signboard.
Read on Blogspot →
S3 / E4 Ramayana
The Two Shivalingas — Rama, Jatayu and Hanuman
Why two Shivalingas instead of one? The worship order itself preserves the answer, passed down for generations.
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S3 / E5 Ramayana
Rama's Two Trails — Rama's Seal on a Rock?
Two trails — one in the sky, one on the ground — and one of them leads straight to our own family's farm.
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S3 / E6 Marketplace
The Marketplace on the Hill
The ASI guide's own words reframe the whole series: this hilltop wasn't remote. It was a marketplace.
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S3 / E7 Finale
The Brahmagiri Revelation
We return to where the series began to finally ask: why is this hill called Brahmagiri at all?
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Series 2 — Chitradurga: Mahabharata

Series 2 Mahabharata
Chitradurga — Where Hidimbi Married Bheema
Hoysala temples, a mysterious giant tooth relic, and defensive caves where the Pandavas worshipped — tracing a Mahabharata marriage to a real place a few hours from home.
Read on Blogspot →

Series 1 — Hampi: Ramayana

Series 1 Ramayana
Hampi — Anjaneya's Birthplace and Ancient History
A 575-step climb at dawn to Hanuman's birthplace, a crossing to Rishimukha cave, and the surprising overlap between Kishkindha and the Vijayanagara Empire.
Read on Blogspot →

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Reel series

S3 🪨 Brahmagiri edicts S3 📜 Siddapura S3 ⛰️ Jatinga-Rameshwara S3 🦅 Jatayu's hill S2 🏔️ Bheema-Hidimbi sites

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Our approach

The Lipi vs. Nambikke framework

Lipi
Inscribed evidence
Physical inscriptions, epigraphy, and archaeological record
vs.
Nambikke
Oral tradition & local belief
What ASI guides, archakas, and village elders carry in memory

Significant knowledge was lost through invasions, natural disasters, and time. We recover it by travelling to sites, recording what people carry in living memory, and cross-referencing those traditions against physical inscriptions. Neither source alone tells the whole story.