2020 / Articles
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Middle Eastern Mythologies
Published on 12th July, 2020, in Mid-day. The Middle East includes Mesopotamia (Iraq), the area watered by the Euphrates and Tigris. To its East is Persia (Iran); to its South is Arabia; to the West is Levant (Near East); and…
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Brahmins As Kingmakers
Brahmins as Kingmakers: A glimpse into the political scenario in ancient India. Published on 11th July, 2020, in Economic Times If you read Indian history, you would often come across stories in which a king, wanting to coronate himself, or…
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How Hindutva Threatens the History of Hindus
Who is a Hindu? How Hindutva threatens the history of Hindus Published on 5th July, 2020, in Mumbai Mirror. Hindutva history makes the history of Hindus fragile — people whose temples were destroyed by Muslims and who need Hindutva politicians…
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Sacred Footprints And Footwear
Published on 5th July, 2020, in Mid-day. In the Mahabharata, there is the story that the sun-god invented the footwear, and the parasol, to protect people’s feet from getting burnt on the ground heated by the summer sun. Sages were…
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Let Me Sleep And Dream
Published on 28th June, 2020, in Mid-day. A long time ago, in the rivers and ponds of Europe, there lived a special creature called Ondine. She, one day, fell in love with a human. He was a handsome man; but…
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Financial lessons from Satyabhama
Published on 27th June, 2020, in the Economic Times. Krishna was raised by cowherds and then he moved from Vrindavan to Mathura and thence to Dwarka, where he married many women, often princesses from surrounding kingdoms. But his status in…
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An Unsuitable God
Published on 21st June, 2020, in Mid-day. In Vedic mythology we hear how the Ashwin Kumars were unsuitable gods, not allowed to partake the Soma offering. To get the offering, they approached Dadichi, who said that if he chanted the…
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Gods Who Remove Suffering
WHO IS A HINDU? Gods who remove suffering Published on 21st June, 2020, in Mumbai Mirror. Once upon a time, Vishnu came looking for his wife, Lakshmi, who left their house after a fight. During his search, he took residence…
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Being J. K. Rowling Today
Published on 14th June, 2020, in Mid-day. As long as JK Rowling tweeted against Trump, she was the darling of the liberals. Then, she expressed her views on transgenders, in December 2019, in a tweet that created an outrage. Suddenly,…
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View: Fake News & Politics & Economics Of Faith
Published on 13th June, 2020, in the Economic Times. The Knights Templar was an order of warrior knights that existed nearly 900 years ago. It owed its allegiance to the Christian Church. In its 200-year history, it also established one…
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How ‘Breaking India’ Started
WHO IS A HINDU? How ‘breaking India’ started. Published on 7th June, 2020, in Mumbai Mirror. At the heart of Hindutva is the idea that Hinduism is under threat from external and internal forces and they must be countered at…
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When Shiva Used His Trident
Published on 7th June, 2020, in Mid-day. Some of the oldest and most spectacular images of Shiva are found in Elephanta and Ellora, cave temples built by Chalukyas and Rashtrakutas roughly 1,500 years ago, when a new form of Hinduism,…
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World’s First Queer Non-binary Superhero
Published on 31st May, 2020, in Mid-day. Nearly 4,000 years ago, the land between the rivers Tigris and Euphrates was known as Mesopotamia. It is now called Iraq. This is where some of the world’s most ancient civilisations such as…
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View: Seva For People, Or For Afterlife?
Published on 30th May, 2020, in the Economic Times. The idea of religious institutions doing ‘seva’ and serving the people is an old one. The idea of social work, as we know it today, emerged with the Christian Church and…
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Why Hindus Should Read Islamic Mythology
Who Is A Hindu? Why Hindus should read Islamic mythology. Published on 24th May, 2020, in Mumbai Mirror. People often challenge me to write on Islamic mythology. These ‘challengers’ don’t realise is that Wikipedia already has an entry called Islamic…
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Did the Harappan know to write?
Published on 24th May, 2020, in Mid-day. Writing in India emerges only in the Mauryan period, 2,300 years ago. It is in the Ashokan edicts that we find the Brahmi script. Vedic hymns and Buddha’s lectures, before that, were orally…