'World Mythology'List of Related Articles with Summaries |
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Published as 'The Right Spirit' in Corporate Dossier, Economic Times, 20 June 2008
Of the five tenets of Islam, there is one that forces the believer to take cognizance of others around him. The first tenet is about the faith one must have – faith in one God and his final prophet, Muhammad. The second is […]
Published in Corporate Dossier, Economic Times, 18 April 2008
The Olympic motto ‘Citius, Altius, Fortius,’ is Latin for ‘Swifter, Higher, Stronger’. The roots of this ideal of continuous relentless improvement lies in the ancient Greek world, where the Olympic Games were a sacred ritual. Through participation, and especially through winning, the athlete reached the ‘zone’ that […]
Published in First City, New Delhi, April 2008
The people of the Polynesian islands believe that once the sky-father Rangi and the earth-mother Papa were locked so tightly in loving embrace that the children they produced were smothered between them. So the children decided to separate the parents – the trees pushed the sky-father up away […]
Published in First City, New Delhi, March 2008
Five thousand years ago, the kingdoms of Sumeria and Akkad flourished in the land once called Mesopotamia, the land between the two rivers, and now called Iraq. Inanna was the Sumerian goddess of sexual love, fertility, and warfare. The Akkadians called her Ishtar.
According to one story, Inanna […]
Published in First City, New Delhi, Feb 2008
Muhammad was a simple trader who hailed from the city of Mecca in Arabia in the 7th century AD. He was renowned for his honesty, fairness and piety. When he was around forty, his life changed completely. During one of his many retreats to desert caves, where he […]
Originally published in Corporate Dossier, Economic Times, 28 March 2008
Jain mythology refers to Shalakapurushas or worthy beings who regularly appear on earth to inspire and direct man to live a noble and fruitful life. There are 3 types of Shalakapurushas. The first type is the Vasudeva – a warrior who, advised by a wiser brother […]
Corporate Dossier, Economic Times, 8 Feb 2008
All cultural behavior is rooted in the subjective truth that the culture subscribes to. For example, the infamous Indian headshake has its roots in Indian philosophy where truth is contextual: depending on the situation, the answer to a given question can be either ‘yes’ nor ‘no’. Likewise, the Chinese obsession […]
First City, Delhi, Mythos, September 2007
July this year saw the thirteenth day of the month falling on a Friday. Deemed unlucky, people avoided all kinds of purchase and transactions on this day. Friday the 13 is considered so unlucky that there is even a word ‘Paraskevidekatriaphobia’ to describe fear of Friday 13. It has inspired […]
First City, New Delhi, Mythos, Nov 2007
Just after midnight on August 31, 1997, in Paris, a car carrying Diana, Princess of Wales, went out of control in a Paris tunnel and crashed. She died in a hospital soonafter. The world reacted. In his emotionally charged eulogy, Diana’s brother, the 9th Earl Spencer referred to the […]
21 Dec, 2007, 0444 hrs IST,TNN
Most people in the corporate world have been educated in the modern scientific education system. They have gone through school where they learnt language, mathematics, science , history and geography. Then they went through college specialising either in science or arts or commerce . And yet, despite a relatively standardised […]
First City, Mythos, Jan 2008
Nobody knew of Beowolf until Hollywood turned his tale into a film. Composed previous to the Norman invasion of England around the fifth century, the tale comes from lands now known as Denmark and Sweden, once the land of the dreaded and barbaric Vikings. The story begins in the grand hall […]
First Published in First City, New Delhi, August 2007
The number 18 keeps recurring in the Mahabharata. The epic has 18 sections and deals with a battle that is fought over 18 days and involves 18 armies. Krishna’s city, Mathura, is destroyed by Jarasandh after 18 attacks. Yudhishtir gambled away all his wealth in 18 games. […]
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 […]
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 has […]
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 […]
Published in First City, New Delhi, March 2006
Long ago, a ship sailed east from Greece across the unknown waters of the Black Sea to the faraway land of Colchis, inhabited by barbarians and home of the rising sun (according to the Greeks at least). The ship was called the Argo. The sailors, the Argonauts. They […]
First City, New Delhi, December 2003
It all began in Eden. Food restrictions, that is. God said, “You may eat of all trees expect that one.” Eve disobeyed. So did Adam. And since then we have been inflicted with cultures and traditions that judge us by what we eat, and what don’t eat. So we have […]
First published in First City magazine, New Delhi, July 2006
What does Tragedy mean? Goat’s song, said the ancient Greeks.
Long ago, the Greek god of nature, wine, creativity, intuition and imagination, was honored through a choral lyric called the dithyramb. These drunken ecstatic performances were said to have been created by the satyrs, half-goat beings […]
Film review in First city magazine, Delhi
“The gods are conspicuous by their absence,” said a friend after he watched the recently released film Troy starring Brad Pitt. And it is true. No Aphrodite. No Zeus. No Apollo – except as an idol enshrined in a temple. No myth or magic. None of the fantastic […]
Published in First City magazine, Delhi, September 2005 From Saturn comes Saturday. From the sun comes Sunday. From the moon comes Monday. But what is the origin of Tuesday? Wednesday? Thursday? Friday? The answer takes us to the mythology – known variously as Teutonic, Norse, Viking and Germanic – that dominated North Europe for centuries […]
Published in First City magazine, Delhi, April 2004
Eight hundred years ago, Europeans believed that a Christian priest-king called Prester John ruled India.
Those were the days of the Crusades. Under the spiritual leadership of the Pope, Christian soldiers fought to reclaim the Holy Lands, especially Jerusalem, which had been under the control of Muslims since the […]
Adam and Eve ate the Fruit of Knowledge and learnt how to differentiate good from bad. They began ‘judging’ God’s creation. They became conscious of their nakedness and covered themselves. They became mortals, destined to toil until the day they died. This story of the Original Sin has profoundly influenced Judeo-Christian traditions. Taken metaphorically, the […]
This article was published in First City Magazine, New Delhi, July 2005 You cannot avoid commenting on Dan Brown’s book, ‘The Da Vinci Code’ which has taken the world by storm. Especially when you are a mythologist, and everybody asks you, “Is it true? Is Mary Magdalene really the ‘Holy Grail’? Was she really […]
This article was published in First City Magazine, New Delhi, March 2004
Two thousand five hundred years ago, Prince Siddhartha Gautama of the Sakya clan wanted to know the cause of suffering. When he discovered it, he became known as the Buddha, the enlightened one, enlightened enough to forge a path out of suffering into bliss.
Two […]
This article was published in First City Magazine, New Delhi, in August 2004 It started as a tribute to dead warriors. Homer’s Iliad mentions that Achilles held funeral games on the shores of Troy in honor of his male lover, Patrolocus. Marcus and Decimus Brutus held the first gladiatorial games in Rome […]
