2020 / Articles
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Five Unheard stories from the Ramayana
“Ramanand Sagar’s Ramayana is based on the Awadhi retelling by Tulsidas, but it is not the ‘National’ Ramayana ”
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Quran and Hadith
Published on 17th May, 2020. in Mid-day Fourteen hundred years ago, an Arab trader who lived in the city of Mecca went to meditate in the caves outside the city. There, he suddenly found himself being caught by an angel…
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The myth of giving
Published on 10th May, 2020, in Mumbai Mirror Once upon a time, there was an asura called Bali, also known as Mahabali, who conquered the three worlds, and was famous for his generosity. Nobody remembered Indra, king of the celestial…
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Four-headed Vishnu of Kashmir
Published on 10th May, 2020, in Mid-day The Chaturmukha Vishnu is a very rare form of Vishnu once worshipped in Kashmir from the 8th and 9th century, when it was an important centre of Hinduism. The image shows Vishnu with…
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India’s Tribal Mythologies
Published on 3rd May, 2020, in Mid-day When speaking of Indian mythology, the focus is on the stories, symbols and rituals of major religions such as Buddhism, Jainism and Hinduism. We ignore the mythologies of the various tribal communities of…
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How the migratory patterns of the Brahmins, the weavers shaped Indian culture.
Published on 2nd May, 2020, in The Economic Times Whenever we speak of migrations, we think of the Aryan migration into India 3,500 years ago. The British colonialists insisted, for their politic reasons, that this was an invasion. But, scientific…
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Revisiting Mahabharata with Devdutt Pattanaik
Revisiting Mahabharata with Devdutt Pattanaik is an exclusive presentation by Audible. “Mahabharata” is a story that communicates Vedic Ideas such as dharma and karma. It narrates the epic quarrel over property between five brothers (the Pandavas) and their hundred cousins…
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How Was Hindu Rajdharma Different From Turuku’s?
Published on 26th April, 2020, in Mumbai Mirror People often speak of a civilisational rupture that took place when Islam came into India. The easiest way to understand this is to go back in history and figure out the different…
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Lion King Of Sri Lanka
Published on 26th April, 2020, in Mid-day Once upon a time, there was a princess of Kalinga, who was abducted by a lion who forced her to bear him a child. The child, Sinhabahu, killed his own father and, for…
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When the Vedas Reached South
Published on 19th April, 2020, in Mid-day The mention of southern states is conspicuously absent in vedic literature. Hymns of the Rig Veda date back to 1500 BCE. They refer to the Saptasindhu or Indus Valley region. Shatapatha Brahmana, dated…
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Islam’s Agricultural Contribution
Published on 17th April, 2020, in the Economic Times Nabi Bansa is a Bengali epic written over 300 years ago that narrates the tales of Islamic prophets. Here we are told that when Adam was cast out of Eden, he…
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Tea is for us what Soma was for Vedic Aryans
Who is a Hindu? Tea is for us what Soma was for Vedic Aryans Published on 12th April, 2020, in Mumbai Mirror The Rig Veda has about 1,000 hymns composed as groups of Indo-Aryans migrated in waves from the Indus…
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Dharma During Crisis
Published on 12th April, 2020, in Mid-day As we go through a global pandemic which demands a major change in our lifestyle and which will have a major impact on the economy, it is a good time to remember a…
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The Love-God’s Mother
Published on 5th April, 2020, in Mid-day Between the 5th and 10th century C.E., we find the development of Puranic literature. Many stories explained the relationships of Vishnu’s many avatars. One story that merits attention is the story of Pradyumna,…
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View: Why Indians do not innovate
Published on 4th April, 2020, in the Economic Times Despite being highly creative, there are two reasons why Indians did not, and do not, innovate beyond the idea of ‘jugaad’ – contextual improvisations born of limitations that are generally not…
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How ‘dharma’ manifests in Vedas and Puranas
Who is a Hindu? How ‘dharma’ manifests in Vedas and Puranas Published on 29th March, 2020, in Mumbai Mirror The word ‘dharma’ first appears in the Rig Veda; but in a collection of a thousand hymns, the word dharma occurs…