Articles

Published on 22nd May, 2023, in Times of India. Manipuri dance is a popular classical dance in India, which shows Raas Leela of Krishna, a reminder that Vaishnav parampara and Krishna bhakti reached even the eastern most state of Manipur. Northeast India is full of hills and valleys, full of tribes, who have a contentious relationship with Hinduism of mainland India, Islam of Bangladesh, Buddhism of Burma and American Christian missionaries. Manipur is no exception. Krishna in the Northeast There are many places in Northeast India which are often connected with Vaishnavism. King Bhishmika, father of Rukmini, and father-in-law of Krishna, is said to belong ..

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 7th May, 2023, in Mid-day. Gandhi, Draupadi and Chanakya, all stood up to authority. But why? For revenge or justice? Chanakya and Draupadi refused to tie their hair, till they got what they wanted. This sounds so dramatic, but that is how stories are told. Most popular narrations of Gandhi’s life inform us that he was kicked out of a train in South Africa. He experienced apartheid on account of his Indian birth. The first class compartment of the train was reserved for white people only. Gandhi could not believe that an upper-class Hindu male would be treated no differently from black or ..

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 30th April, 2023, in Mid-day. Swarga or paradise of the gods, full of wish-fulfilling trees, damsels and musicians, is described in Buddhist and Jain mythologies, not just Hindu mythology. When Buddha attains nirvana, he first travels to the heaven of 33 gods where he meets his mother (reborn as a god) and then comes down to earth. Many artworks display this episode of Buddha descending from the realm of 33 gods. These are the 33 gods we learn about in Vedic literature. Their leader is called Indra or Sakra. This is his story as per Buddhist lore. Once upon a time, there was ..

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 ..