Sabrimala

Published on 11th November, 2018, in Mumbai Mirror. There is a very famous philosophical problem popularly known as the Ship of Theseus, or the Theseus's Paradox. Imagine a ship is brought to a museum, an ancient vessel discovered in an archaeological dig and identified as the ship of Theseus. Over time we find that some parts of the woodwork are rotting and need to be replaced. After some time another piece needs to be replaced and then another... This goes on until finally, a couple of years later, no portion of the original woodwork is left. The ship looks the same, but it comprises new ..

Published on 30th September, 2018, in Mumbai Mirror Men who choose not to shed semen are ‘holy’. Women who shed menstrual blood are ‘polluted’. This assumption is an integral part of the various ritual practices found in many Hindu sacred spaces. There are monastic institutions across India, known as matha and akhara, where young boys are turned into hermits at a young age and told to live like a sanyasi (a celibate, detached lifestyle), long before their bodies even know what it means to be sexual beings. They are thus made ‘pure’ and given the rights to certain religious duties, including worshipping images of specially ..