Artha

Sengol is a staff of royal authority. We can call the symbol of justice in the spirit of wordplay, when a symbol of monarchy is made the symbol of democracy. The one currently in the news is topped by the image of a bull. The bull cannot be domesticated (answerable to no one), hence it is a symbol of Hindu royalty. This bull is Nandi, mount of Shiva. Shiva, in Tamil Nadu, is rather regal, very different from the Bhola (guileless) Bairagi (mendicant) of North India. He is seen as the enabler of kings, for more than a thousand years, since the days of the ..

Published on 21st May, 2023, in Mid-day. In Hindu mythology, during the battle between the devas and asuras, the guru of the asuras, Shurkracharya, is about to use Sanjeevani Vidya to resurrect all dead asuras. To prevent this from happening, the gods beg Shiva to help. Shiva swallows Shukracharya and keeps him in his body. But Shurkracharya manages to escape in the form of semen. This is why “shukra” means semen. In another story, the asuras kill Kacha, the son of Indra, and get Shurkacharya to eat him. But Shurkacharya’s daughter is in love with Kacha. She begs her father to bring him back to ..

Published on 19th May, 2023, in The Hindu. The naked philosophers: the reason some Indian ascetics renounced their robes The naked ascetic in India is euphemistically referred to as Digambara or sky-clad. These are men who have rejected the material world totally: not just relationships and property, but also clothes. The earliest images are found in Mathura’s Kankali Tila and are about 2,000 years old. They belong to the Jain faith. The idea of naked ascetics is an old one, familiar to the Buddha who forbade monks from wandering in the nude. So the idea of nude ascetics is at least 2,500 years old, if ..

Published on 14th May, 2023, in Mid-day. There is one temple of Sachi, wife of Indra. And it is a Jain-Hindu temple, located in Osian, Rajasthan, near Jodhpur, where she is revered as clan goddess of local Jains, Rajputs and other communities. In the Veda, Sachi is the wife of Indra. Not much is known about her until post-Vedic, and even Buddhist, literature. Here we learn that she was the daughter of an asura called Puloma, who didn’t want to marry the commander Vritra, who was defeated by Indra. She chose Indra instead and so is called Indrani. As the husband of Sachi, Indra is ..

Published 13th May, 2023, in the Economic Times. As the stock market rises and falls, as wars and riots do not yield the desired results, as foreign ties sweeten and sour, the word "amrit" is being used a lot in political circles. It reveals the human inability to accept the truism of impermanence. It is not just an Indian idea, or a Hindu idea - it is a global idea. Chinese mythology speaks of the 'peaches of immortality' that exist in the garden of Jade Heaven, and the eight immortals, who perhaps inspired the concept of Chiranjeevi, or legendary immortal heroes. In Rig Veda, the ..

Published on 6th May, 2023, in Times of India. When we talk about Bengal, we speak of its partition. The eastern part became Muslim Bangladesh, the western part became communist West Bengal. It almost seemed as if Hinduism had been wiped out in this eastern corner of India. Yet, this is where Hinduism was defined and refined a hundred years earlier. Colonial period In the 19th century, one group of Bengali intellectuals saw Hinduism in need of reform. They spearheaded Hindu reform movements which opposed child marriage and promoted widow remarriage and women's education. This was the Brahmo Samaj group led by men like Raja ..

Published on 29th April, 2023, in Economic Times. The oldest seals depicting ahimsa (non-violence) are found in the Harappan cities of the Indus Valley (2500 BCE to 1900 BCE). These are the M-478B seal from Mohenjo Daro and the K-65 cylinder seal of Kalibangan. Both show women separating two men from fighting. In the Mohenjodaro seal, the two men are fighting with trees, while they use spears in the Kalibangan seal. This imagery depicting opposition to violence is unique as well as significant. Relative to Egypt and Mesopotamia, which are contemporary civilisations and trading partners, Harappan cities show remarkable lack of violence - no indicators ..

Published on 22nd April, 2023, in Times of India. Somnath, on the Gujarat coast, is the spot where the moon-god, Soma, prayed to Shiva when he suffered the wasting disease. He was waning and feared he would disappear. But Shiva placed him on his forehead and thus helped him regenerate or wane. This is where a great Shiva temple was built. As per legend, the sacred Shiva-linga would float in air, between ceiling and floor, making it a wonder of the world. A thousand years ago, it was raided and desecrated by Mahmud of Ghazni. As per Persian lore, it was believed this is where ..

Published on 21st April, 2023, in The Hindu. In the past 30 years, the donkey population of India has dropped by 90%. It’s sad, considering large donkey fairs have been held annually for centuries in Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Punjab and Uttar Pradesh. We rarely think of donkeys as cultural icons. Yet, they are. The wild donkey of Rann As per Atharva Veda, gods such as Indra and Agni rode wagons pulled by donkeys, but the tempestuous horse always overshadows this humble hardworking beast. No great hymns for the donkey. The horse is linked to kings and warriors, while the donkey is linked to washermen, potters, ..