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Published on 6th March, 2018, on Scroll.in . Every fiction, whether a novel, a play or a film, is a writer’s attempt to reinforce or challenge mythic structures around him. The most dominant mythic structure in the Western world is the biblical one, of Adam and Eve being cast out of Eden, the perfect garden, by Yahweh, God of Abraham, because they succumb to the serpent’s temptation and eat the Forbidden Fruit. It is the Original Sin, an act of transgression. The quest for ‘happily ever after’ in modern retellings of ancient European fairy tales is essentially a yearning to return to that perfect Eden. ..

Published on 16th November, 2017, on scroll.in . The celebrated guru Ravi Shankar recently spoke about sexuality in a way that shocked even his ardent supporters. Assumed to be a supporter of LGBTIQ rights, he referred to sexuality as a transitory tendency: gay people can become “normal or straight” and vice versa. In doing so, he tacitly, intentionally or accidentally legitimised the unscientific conversion therapy used by quacks around the world to torture gay and lesbian people to fit the heteronormative mould. He went on to advise a victim of homophobic abuse to consider rising above sexual tendencies and seek his true identity, by which ..

Published on 11th June, 2017, on www.scroll.in. Leo Varadkar, who is set to take over as Ireland’s prime minister later this month, is a person of Indian origin, with roots in Maharashtra. He is also gay. His election reveals how even the most conservative Catholic republic can change over time. Does this election have something to do with Irish mythology, which speaks of how Ireland has been home to waves of immigrants, just as we can argue that the discomfort of Indians with immigrants and foreigners (ironically amplified in many Indians who emigrate to the US), and the tendency to even claim gay behaviour came ..

Published on 26th April, 2017, on www.scroll.in . They say Jesus could walk on water, and turn water into wine. Many have postulated that he was a yogi, with siddha powers. That he must have learned it in a Hindu or Buddhist monastery in India during his missing years. This yoga-of-power is very different from the popular, and sanitised, yoga-for-fitness of the global village, or the yoga-for-devotion of the religious and the spiritual. Often dismissed as tantra, yoga-for-power remains under the radar despite its widespread popularity owing to its association with the paranormal, the sexual, and the hierarchical. No one wants to suffer the sneer ..

Published on 22nd January, 2017, on scroll.in . The celebration of the female form abounds in traditional Hindu temples. On the walls, in every corner, in every bracket, there are beautiful women. Some holding the branch of a tree (salabhanijka). Some indolently stretching themselves (alasakanya). Some dancing (nartaki). Some making music (sangitavadini). Some looking into the mirror (darpanasundari). Some fondling their own breasts (svasthanasparsha). Some exposing themselves (vasanabhramsa). Some with babies (putravallabha). Some with swords (khadgadhari). Some meditating (tapasvini). Who amongst these women could be a lesbian — a woman who desires another woman erotically and emotionally? Not a couple, just a single autonomous woman ..

Published on 22nd September, 2016, on scroll.in. Those who insist that history is real, and mythology false, go against the very grain of Adi Shankaracharya’s non-dualist maxim: Jagat mithya, brahma satyam, which means the world, including measured scientific conclusions, that we experience is essentially illusory or rather, mind-dependent epistemological truths. The only mind-independent ontological truth is brahma, variously translated as God, soul, consciousness, language, or the infinitely expanded, eternal, unconditioned mind. This doctrine of reducing the world to mere illusion, popularly known as maya-vada, enabled Shankara to do something remarkable: unite a land with diverse communities and diverse, seemingly irreconcilable, worldviews — from the Buddhists, ..

Published on 5th September, 2016, on scroll.in . Shift the vowels slightly and the Sanskrit word for trader (vaishya) becomes the Sanskrit word for prostitute (veshya). The one sold goods and the other sold pleasure, to the highest bidder. Neither was loyal. Naturally, feudal authorities despised them both, and turned the word bazaru, or commercial, into an insult. In all societies, there are two main sources of wealth: land and the market. Feudalism depends on the land and trade depends on the market. Land-owning communities (kshatriyas) and trading communities (vaishyas) have always competed for control of society. It accounts for the division between Old World ..

Published on 27th August, 2016, on Dailyo.in . The concept of "values" comes from the corporate world. And every corporate world, even the most corrupt, has "values" printed on its annual general report. This can be traced to the notion of "commandment" which comes from Abrahamic mythology, where God of Abraham puts down a set of rules (and values, when there are no rules) of how humans are supposed to live their life. This set of rules is transmitted by messengers known as prophets. Sadly, no one is sure what the correct set of rules and values are which is why Jewish people fight with ..

Published on 12th August, 2016, on www.scroll.in . The popular model of a patriarch is derived from Greek and Abrahamic mythologies. Like Zeus, king of Greek gods, the patriarch is a serial rapist. Like Jehovah, God of Abraham, he demands absolute submission. Many feminists, Western and Indian, impose this Western model to explain patriarchy in India, especially within Hinduism, and call it Brahminism. They tend to assume that monastic faiths, such as Buddhism and Jainism, and monastic orders of Hinduism, are non-patriarchal, even feminist, as they propagate pacifism and non-violence. Yet, it is in monastic orders — Buddhist, Jain, and Hindu — that we can ..