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Published in First City Delhi June 2008
Shiva’s third eye has always fascinated people. It stands there dramatically on his forehead ready to release a missile of fire and destroy the world. Many people assume that is why Shiva is called the ‘destroyer’. They also assume that this eye opens when Shiva is angry. Typically, in [...]
Published in First City Delhi in May 2007
The Mahabharata from Orissa, written by Sarala Das in 15th century, mentions how Krishna appeared before Arjuna in the form of a composite beast of 9 parts – rooster, peacock, lion, tiger, bull, elephant, antelope, serpent and human. Arjun was so overwhelmed by the sight of such a [...]
Published in Sunday Midday 28 September, 2008
Often the words Asuras and Rakshasas are used interchangeably by most of us to refer to demons in Indian mythology. But there is a big difference. Asuras live under the ground, Rakshasas live above. Asuras are enemies of the Devas, who live in the sky while Rakshasas are enemies [...]
Published in Sunday Midday 21 September, 2008
Imagine a lion but with the head of an elephant. Such a creature does not exist in nature but it does exist in mythology. It is called a Yali and is found in many South Indian temples. It is the vahana of Budh, or mercury, who like the Yali, [...]
Published in Sunday Midday 14 September, 2008
Animals fight for food and territory and mates. Humans fight over the same thing. It is the animal side of us – that side which seeks domination. Sometimes, however, war is noble – fought to defend independence, to defend honor. Greed or need, there is no escape from war. [...]
Published in Sunday Midday 7 September, 2008
If the sun was a god in Greek mythology, then the moon was a goddess. He was Apollo and she was Artemis. They were siblings. Far away, across the Atlantic sea, in South America, the Aztecs, whose civilization thrived almost a thousand years after the Greece civilization had collapsed, [...]
Published in Sunday Midday 31 August, 2008
In Roman times, Sunday was the first day of the week, an important day named after the sun-god. Helios or Hyperion was the Greco-Roman sun-god who later merged with the another Greek god, Apollo, the youthful, energetic, beautiful god who shot arrows that got rid of the darkness. When [...]
Published in Sunday Midday 24 August, 2008
Kubera is not worshipped today as he once was in ancient India. So popular was he that even after the rise of Buddhism and Jainism, he remained a part of their mythology as guardian and fertility gods such as Manibhadra. Hindu, Jain and Buddhist stories are full of Yakshas [...]
Published in Sunday Midday on 17 August 2008
The story of Samson comes to us from the Book of Judges in the Old Testament of the Bible and from the Tanakh (the Bible of the Jewish people). It took place many centuries before the birth of Jesus Christ, but much after Moses led his people out [...]
Published in Sunday Midday 10 August 2008
The phrase Matsya Nyaya in Sanskrit texts literally means the law of the fishes and it refers to jungle law – where the strong dominate the weak, where one has to survive using strength or cunning and where might is right.
The difference between a jungle and a society is [...]
