2021
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Chanakya’s Ritual Suicide
Published on 26th December, 2021, in Mid-day. Chandragupta Maurya would always eat only what his guru Chanakya provided. One day, out of love, he gave this food to his favourite queen who died instantly. Chanakya rushed to the spot and…
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There Is No Yagna Without Yoga
Published on 25th December, 2021, in Economic Times. In the Vedic world, to practice dharma meant performing yagna. Yagna was translated by European Orientalists as sacrifice. But in sacrifice, you give something to appease a deity who needs nothing from…
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Marathi: Dharma Artha Kama Moksha
Translation of Dharma Artha Kama Moksha : 40 Insights for Happiness Artha-shastra is about generating food, i.e. wealth, by creating goods and services; Kama-shastra is about indulging our hungers with this food. Dharma-shastra insists we consider the hunger of others, while…
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When Horses First Came to India
Published on 19th December, 2021, in Mid-day. The horse is not native to the Indian subcontinent. It has been the most prized import from the northwestern regions, from Arabia, Central Asia and from Eurasia. This is why the kings who…
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Is Celibacy Unnatural or Supernatural?
Published on 18th December, 2021, in Times of India. Celibacy is an unnatural act in nature. All living organisms are meant to reproduce. The sexual act is critical for the survival of the species. Thus, nature does not endorse celibacy.…
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Neither Mythological Fiction Nor History
Published on 12th December, 2021, in Mid-day. People often confuse mythology with mythological fiction. Mythology decodes ancient stories, symbols and rituals to understand how our ancestors imagined the world. How does Ramayana and Mahabharata fit into Hinduism’s dharma framework? Mythological…
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Hybrid Work Model in Rig Veda
Published on 11th December, 2021, in Economic Times. Rig Veda refers to two types of kingship: that of Indra and that of Varuna. Indra is the warrior-god who loves the energising Soma as he rides into battle to kill demons…
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Eden: An Indian Exploration of Jewish, Christian and Islamic Lore
Eden is the garden of happiness that humanity was cast out of when Adam and Eve, the first human couple, disobeyed the one true God, and ate the fruit of the forbidden tree. To this garden we shall return if…
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Gods of the Week
Published on 5th December, 2021, in Mid-day. The seven-day-week is not based on any natural phenomena. The ancient Mesopotamians decided that the 7th, 14th, 21st and 28th days after the new moon were days of rest and that is how…
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Why Does Hindutva Not Like Historians?
Published on 4th December, 2021, in Times of India. The subject that we know as history emerged only in the 19th century. Before that, memory, legends and evidence-based history were all combined as a single unit. They were stories from…
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‘Dharma’ Always Comes With ‘Dharma-sankat’
Published on 4th December, 2021, in The Hindu. In a crime, the victim accuses the villain. But when the villain counter-accuses the victim, and insists the victim is villain too, we call it ‘whataboutery.’ This word is a neologism, first…
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Do Vedas Permit a Man to Marry a Man?
Published on 30th November, 2021, in Economic Times. The world’s oldest wedding hymn is found in the Rig Veda. A thousand year later, dharma-shastra speaks of eight ways in which a man can marry a woman. One of them, not…
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Was the Harappan Civilisation Hindu?
Published on 28th November, 2021, in Mid-day. We often trace the origin of Hinduism to Rig Veda, dated to 1,500 BCE. But the Rig Veda contains ideas that we can trace to Harappan civilisation. For example, Rig Veda mantra 8.47.17…
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Marathi: Pilgrim Nation
Translation of Pilgrim Nation: The Making of Bharatvarsh राष्ट्रवादी आणि देशभक्त यांच्याही पूर्वीच्या, वसाहतवादी आणि घुसखोर यांच्याही पूर्वीच्या, सम्राट आणि राजे यांच्याही पूर्वीच्या अशा भारताचे ‘वस्त्र’ तीर्थयात्रेच्या मार्गरूपी धाग्यांनी विणले गेले होते. आत्मज्ञानाच्या शोधार्थ बाहेर पडलेले साधक आणि ऋषिमुनी उत्तर-दक्षिण,…
