2020
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Does Hindu Meal Include Dalit Food?
Published on 28th December, 2020, in Mid-day. Have you been offered Hindu meals on flights? What is it? North Indian food, or South Indian? Does it include Dalit food? What is Dalit food? The word “Dalit” homogenises hundreds of communities…
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Sea of Spices: How Trade Gets Intertwined With Myths
Published on 26th December, 2020, in Economic Times. There was a goddess called Harsiddhi Mata who resided atop a hill, overlooking the sea in the coastal areas of Gujarat and Sindh. She would see ships sailing by. There were those…
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Pagans In Christmas
Published on 20th December, 2020, in Mid-day. The word “pagan” was used derisively by colonial powers to refer to non-Christian faiths, especially polytheistic ones that celebrated divinity through nature-plants, animals, rivers, mountains, stars. Yet, paganism contributed greatly to what we…
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Hinduism Beyond Vedas
Published on 20th December, 2020, in Mumbai Mirror. Hinduism is typically taught through a historical lens. We are told that there was a Harappan period 4,000 years ago, followed by Vedic Period 3,000 years ago, followed by the Puranic Age,…
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VAHANA: Gods and Their Favourite Animals
A read-and-colour children’s book, which talks about the favourite animal companions of various gods and how these companions became their vahanas. The gods needed animals to travel around the world and the animals needed the gods to learn how…
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Mothers and Daughters of Rishi Bharadvaja
Published on 13th December, 2020, in Mid-day. Bharadvaja is a famous Rishi in ancient Hindu lore, listed as one of the Sapta Rishis, or the seven celestial sages. Bharadvaja is one of the sages that Ram meets on his exile.…
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Of Thrill-Seekers and Deer Hunters
Published on 11th December, 2020, in Economic Times. In the forest, chasing the deer (mriga) creates a path (marga). Hence in Vedic texts, deer embodies a goal: the object of desire. In the Manusmriti, kings are warned not to indulge…
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Hindu Parliament and Churning the Ocean of Milk
Published on 6th December, 2020, in Mumbai Mirror. The design of the Parliament building in Delhi was based on yogini shrines of North India that were built over 1,000 years ago. They are circular without a central roof, very different…
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Mahasiddhas Of Tantrik Buddhism
Published on 6th December, 2020, in Mid-day. Buddhism has a vast history of 2,500 years. The earliest form of Buddhism is called Theravada Buddhism. Here, Buddha is visualised as a monk. Gautam Buddha was a prince, who abandoned his kingdom…
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Fox With Nine Tails
Published on 29th November, 2020, in Mid-day. In ancient China, the belief was that as the common red fox grew older, it would get supernatural powers. Its colour would change and its tails would multiply. Therefore, with the passage of…
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View: Can America Be Hindu Holy Land?
Published on 28th November, 2020, in Economic Times. In the 19th-century, Joseph Smith argued that he had found gold plates buried in the Americas. These gold plates, he said, told the secret history of the Christians. That during the Babylonian…
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Marathi: Shyam
Translated version of Shyam: An Illustrated Retelling of the Bhagavata भागवत म्हणजे कृष्णकथा. कृष्णाच्या काळ्यासावळ्या वर्णामध्ये ज्यांना सौंदर्य, चातुर्य आणि प्रेम दिसतं त्यांच्यासाठी तो श्याम आहे. श्याम प्रेम आणि कर्तव्य यात संतुलन साधणारा कर्तव्यदक्ष प्रेमी आहे. या पुस्तकात देवदत्त…
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Hinglaj Mata In Pakistan
Published on 22nd November, 2020, in Mid-day. We often forget that there are still many Hindu temples in Pakistan, despite the state being avowedly Islamic, with clear blasphemy and anti-idolatry laws. These temples existed before Islam arrived in the subcontinent…
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The Origins of Bharat Mata
Published on 22nd November, 2020, in Mumbai Mirror. Every Indian village is personified as a grama-devi. So, we have Chandigarh associated with the goddess Chandi. Calcutta is associated with the goddess, Kali. Mumbai is associated with the goddess, Mumba Devi.…
