Archive for 2007
Vishnu as Leader
Published as 'Worldly Affairs' in Corporate Dossier (Economic Times) on Friday 3, August 2007 Case studies appeal to the rational side of the mind. But the mind has another side, the intuitive side, which is informed by various emotive, metaphysical, cultural and personal truths. This side rapidly understands concepts presented through mythology. Mythology is a little exploited teaching [...]
Leaders as myth-makers
Published as 'Promised Land' in Corporate Dossier (Economic Times) on Friday 27 July 2007 Visualize this. A slave in Egypt in 1500 BCE (Before Common Era, formerly known as BC or before the birth of Christ). He hears a man, once a prince, now an outlaw, declare that God has instructed him to take all the [...]
Lustful Intentions
When Ramanand Sagar made his Ramayan, he had loud music to mask a particular dialogue between Sita and Laxman, perhaps because he did not want to court controversy. The episode is fairly well known yet few people like to talk about it. It happens in the forest in the final year of Ram’s 14-year exile. [...]
Tales from Ireland
In Irish myths, the fictional history of Ireland can be divided into three periods. The Mythological Cycle or the Book of Invasions, comprised of successive settlements of early Celtic people on Ireland, particularly the Tuatha Dé Danann and the Milesians.The other two cycles were supposed to be set at a later time. The Ulaid Cycle [...]
Mistress of the Deep Sea
They were once called the Eskimos. No more. For the word is taken to mean ‘eaters of raw meat’ and is considered pejorative. Today the ‘Eskimos’ of Alaska, Canada and Greenland prefer to be called ‘Inuit’. The Inuit today follow Christianity. But it is a Christianity that is adapted to their own cultural worldview that [...]
Elephant Lore
She dreamt of an elephant entering her womb, and the next day the queen declared she was pregnant. The child grew up to become the Buddha. In his previous lifetime, so says the Jatakas, the Buddha was Vessantara, prince of Sivi, who had in his stables a magical elephant that drew rain clouds wherever it [...]
Brahma in Bangkok
Most people know that Hindus do not worship the god known as Brahma even though he is created the world. The story goes (one of the less controversial ones though) that he lied about finding the tip of an endless fire pillar. The pillar represented the infinite power of Shiva. Enraged, Shiva cursed Brahma that [...]
People or Processes
Published in Times of India, Consumer Edge, Mumbai, 30 Dec, 2006 After palace intrigues forced Rama to leave Ayodhya and go into the forest, his father, Dasharatha, lay in bed a broken man, wailing, “Rama is gone. I will die soon. O, what will happen to Ayodhya?” Kaushalya replied, “Don’t worry. It will survive. We [...]
Food for the Kitchen Goddess
Published in Times of India, Consumer Edge, Mumbai, December 2006 Gods in India love food. Rituals such as yagna and homa are all about providing spoonfuls of butter to a chosen deity. No puja is complete without bhoga and prasadam. Gods in India are also rather fickle about what they are served: Ganesha wants modakas, [...]