Ashoka and the Unifier of China

Over 2200 years ago, two rulers on opposite ends of Asia confronted a similar problem: how to hold together vast, diverse territories emerging from long periods of conflict. Qin Shi Huang in China and Ashoka in India both inherited states forged through conquest. Yet the solutions they offered to the problem of unity could not have been more different…

Tirthankar: Jain Dharm Par 63 Vichar

by Devdutt Pattanaik (Author), Mihir Nilum Jajodia (Translator) …

The Forgotten Women Who Helped Shape Jainism

Jainism follows the path revealed by 24 sages known as Tirthankara, who appear in every …

Diwali Sale

  • Chandala’s daughter, Arundhati

    Chandala’s daughter, Arundhati

    Arundhati is remembered today as the ideal wife, the tiny star beside Vasistha in the Saptarshi constellation, shown to every new bride as a model of fidelity. But beneath this polished image lies a far more unsettling story. …

  • Persia was a Civilisation Long Before Islam and Rome

    Persia was a Civilisation Long Before Islam and Rome

    Zoroastrianism traced its teachings to the prophet Zarathustra (Zoroaster), who is believed to have lived many centuries earlier, perhaps around 1200 BC, according to some scholars. …

  • Did the Mughals invent Hindi?

    Did the Mughals invent Hindi?

    Hindi is often described as a language born in Mughal barracks, as if it were simply the speech of imperial camps. This is an attractive phrase, but it is historically incomplete. The story of Hindi is much older, far wider, and far more layered. …

  • A Colonial Category Called Religion

    A Colonial Category Called Religion

    Hinduism did not become a religion by organic evolution. It was forced into becoming a religion by colonial definitions, Christian templates and Brahminical reinterpretations. What had functioned for centuries as a civilisational ecosystem of caste, ritual, myth, kinship, land and livelihood was squeezed into the narrow mould of “religion” as understood in the industrial West.…

  • If Usha Vance became Christian, would she be American enough?

    If Usha Vance became Christian, would she be American enough?

    Sensing the shift in public narrative following the killing of Charlie Kirk, now seen as a Christian martyr, Vice President JD Vance declared publicly that he hoped his wife, Usha, daughter of Telugu Brahmin immigrants, would convert to Christianity. But in today’s America, that is not enough…

  • The Ravana of Ratanpur

    The Ravana of Ratanpur

    At Ratan-gad, or Ratanpur Fort, near Bilaspur in Chhattisgarh — once part of Madhya Pradesh — there exists a rare and striking sculpture of Ravana. He is shown cutting off several of his 10 heads and offering it into a sacrificial fire. This scene does not come from Valmiki’s Ramayana, but from a later imagination.…

New Books

  • Flower of India: Ways of Seeing the Lotus

    Flower of India: Ways of Seeing the Lotus

    In Flower of India, bestselling author and renowned mythologist Devdutt Pattanaik examines the lotus as one of the most pervasive and resonant symbols of the Indian subcontinent. Through its many avatars—as plant, resource, metaphor, design, and sacred form—he traces how the lotus has shaped India’s cultural imagination across history, religion, art, and everyday life. Concise…

    Amazon
  • Astra Shastra: Weapons of the Hindu Gods

    Astra Shastra: Weapons of the Hindu Gods

    Well-known mythologist Devdutt Pattanaik introduces young readers to the wonderful weapons of Hindu gods with his unique art and easy-to-read text…

    Amazon
  • Escape the Bakasura Trap : Let Contentment Fuel Your Growth

    Escape the Bakasura Trap : Let Contentment Fuel Your Growth

    This book re-discovers this path, first revealed by Hanuman in the Mahabharata. Insightful and inspiring, Escape the Bakasura Trap is another classic from one of our great mythologists and thinkers…

    Amazon
  • लंकेश: रावण संग एक रोमांचक यात्रा

    लंकेश: रावण संग एक रोमांचक यात्रा

    यह पुस्तक भारत के सबसे विख्यात महाकाव्य रामायण और इस कारण भारत के सबसे बड़े खलनायक, रावण, को विस्तार से जानने की राह खोलती है।…

    Amazon

Devdutt Pattanaik writes and speaks on the relevance of mythology in modern times, especially in areas of management, governance, and leadership.