The Panchakacham and the Paradox: An Unfiltered Look at the Community That Gave Us Shankara and a Whole Lot of Rules.

<p>From the Banks of the Cauvery to the Boardrooms of the Bay Area...</p><p>Who are these people?</p><p>They are the folks who wake up at 4 AM to chant Sanskrit verses essentially claiming they are the Supreme Lord of the Universe only to spend the rest of the day worrying about the price of tomatoes.</p><p>They are the community that gave the world Nobel laureates mathematical geniuses and the CEOs of Google and Pepsi all while sustaining themselves on a diet of logic curd rice and zero onions.</p><p>The Panchakacham and the Paradox is an unfiltered witty and deeply researched dive into the world of the Iyer. It is a journey that moves from the high-altitude philosophy of Adi Shankaracharya&rsquo;s Advaita (Non-Dualism) to the ground-level warfare of the Iyer-Iyengar Sambar rivalry.</p><p>Rajesh Seshadri peels back the layers of a community that is a walking contradiction: ancient yet hyper-modern ritualistic yet scientifically rigorous frugal yet intellectually extravagant.</p><p>Warning: This book acts like a mirror. If you are an Iyer you will likely buy one copy for yourself read it with a mix of pride and nostalgia and then immediately buy ten more copies to gift to every cousin uncle and in-law you know&mdash;mostly to prove that you were right about the Sambar all along.</p><p>Grab a steel tumbler of coffee. It&rsquo;s time to figure out the Paradox.</p>