Mythologist | Author | Speaker | Illustrator
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Articles
Hinduism: Pre-Modern, Modern, Postmodern, Or Post-Postmodern?
What exactly is the best phrase to describe Hinduism? Or, what is the best approach to arrive at an appropriate description?…
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Articles
The complete man
There are two Krishnas… The first is historical (a person), the second mythological (an idea)…
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Articles
How many eyes do you have?
‘With a woman by your side, you are like the three-eyed Shiva. Without her, you are the one-eye Shukra, though you may look like the two-eyed Kama.’…
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A lesson from Ravana
People often argue on motives of heroes and villains. They become lawyers and judges. But in doing so they miss the overall architecture of Hindu epics. And their conclusions are usually their own personal beliefs, rooted in their own prejudices…
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Articles
Superstition and the inherent cruelty of rationalists
Rationality, secularism, religion, and superstition are parts of the same continuum called culture…
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Articles
The terror of Bhairava
In nature, there is terror, but no terrorists, there is violence, but not violation. Bhairava makes us question who the terrorist is…
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Articles
Scanners for menstrual blood
The practice of restricting access to menstruating women is rooted in the pre-modern belief that links purity and power to bodily fluids…
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Articles
Intolerance: the Movie
Nobody is interested in countering the menace. Everybody seems to be more bothered about branding!…
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Articles
Two endings of the Gita
Krishna’s conclusion is rather psychological. Sanjaya’s conclusion is very material…
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Articles
The Transformation of Murugan
In Murugan, Shiva, the distant stoic sage, unites with the vibrant demanding goddess Shakti…
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Articles
The invisible violence of vegetarianism
Many people are of the opinion that eating vegetarian food is indicative of kindness and non-violence. That is not so…
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Articles
Breaking the royal pillar
Stories are not created in vacuum. They respond to a historical context and emerge to communicate a point of view…
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Articles
Debutante ball & puberty rites
We would like to imagine patriarchy as a religious phenomenon. But it also thrives in ‘secular’ societies, in the richest and most developed nations, with a hunger for status. And status is often attached to the woman as in the most primitive barbaric societies. …
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Articles
14 things historians taught me
The best thing they passed on is that no knowledge is fixed and finite…
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Articles
A Psychological Fortress
A good leader is sensitive to the disempowering ecosystem created by large technology-based corporations. He brings in the emotion that corporations are incapable of having…
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Articles
Indian, single and parent
it is important to keep ourselves informed about the many stories of successful single parents – male and female – in Hindu mythology. …
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Articles
The glory of Odisha’s Gosani jatra
Delving into history takes us to the festival’s Odia roots…
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Articles
Stories in the language of ghosts
The original collection of many fairy tales known as Brihat-katha, or the ocean of stories, was written in a language called Paisachi, the language of ghosts, which is neither Sanskrit nor Prakrit…