Mohini

Published on 11th August, 2022, in The Hindu. The earliest story of the grand churning of the ocean of milk, samudra-manthan, for the nectar of immortality, amrita, is found in the Mahabharata. But strangely there are more images of this mythological episode in Southeast Asian temples than in India. There is no artwork in India to match the grand Angkor Wat corridor in Cambodia that shows devas and asuras holding the serpent-king Vasuki with Vishnu overseeing the entire enterprise. At Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi airport one finds Vasuki (or Adi Sesha) take the shape of a Chinese dragon. In India, at best, we find images of Vishnu ..

Published on 28th October, 2018, in Mid-day. To be or not to be celibate is an important concept that emerged in India, and, although it is attributed to Buddha, it is perhaps an older concept that existed even during the Vedic times, when there is reference to narcotic-drinking hermits, who stayed away from the material world. The most visible form of connecting with the material world is the sexual act. The story of Vishwamitra and Menaka draws attention to the relationship between asceticism and worldly life, between spiritualism and materialism. The celibate man, who withdraws from the world, is the hermit, he of the controlled ..