Celebrate Diwali with Light, Love & The Divine Protector
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Did Aryans Know About Same-Sex Behaviour?
In a story from Brahmanas, when the world was split into three, men went on top with the sky, women stayed below with earth, in between was the third sex,…
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Hanuman Jayanti
As a child, Hanuman wanted to learn everything about the world. He asked his mother how he could do so and his mother pointed to the sun and said that…
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Bharat’s Mercantile Heritage
India’s oldest civilisation was the Harappan civilisation, which was a merchant civilisation. Over 4,000 years ago, in the Bronze Age, several planned brick cities stood along the Indus, the now-dry…
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Jainism
Mahavir was conceived in the womb of a Brahmin woman, but according to Jains, a Tirthankar can only be born to a Kshatriya. So, the foetus must be transplanted by…
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The Fire-born Rajputs
The Rajputs themselves have many stories about their origin. Raghuvamsi Rajputs claim descent from the solar dynasty of kings. Chandella and Yaduvamshi Rajputs claim descent from lunar lines of kings.…
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Why Pots Are Integral to Understanding Culture
Pottery is a sign of culture. It allowed humans to transport food and water. Besides cooking or storage — it serves ritualistic purposes in both marriage and death ceremonies. This…
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Where Is Bharat In Sugriva’s Atlas?
The Valmiki Ramayana has layers of information, included in different historical periods, that saw the location of Sugrivaʼs kingdom and Ravanaʼs kingdom shift.
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Stage-Managed Spirituality
The trees have not changed. The animals have not changed. Humans have not changed, either. Only technology has changed. Spirituality is essentially about coping with anxiety and finding meaning.
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Flames of Fidelity
No one knows when the pan-Indian practice of warrior widows burning themselves with (sahagamana) or without (anugamana) the corpse of their husband came to be known as ‘sati’ — a…
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So Many Types of Nagas
Naga ascetics of Kumbh Mela are now world famous. These are the ascetics who arrive at the confluence of rivers wearing no clothes and bearing weapons. They are smeared with…
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When Gurus Cling to Opinions
In nature, no land belongs to any plant or animal. Everyone fights for territories and the strongest wins. In nature, no one has rights over their body: it is food…
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Old Babas and Young Babas
In mythology, the rishi or sage comes in all shapes and sizes. A sage can be a child, a youth, or an old man, and the same applies to gods.
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Sodom, Lut and other Islamic myths
What was the wickedness of the Sodomites? They wanted to have sex with Lotʼs male guests, who were actually Godʼs angels. Lot offered them his daughters instead.
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Mythology of the Fish
Across India, the fish is a sacred symbol–all kinds of fish…Fish is linked with autonomy as it cannot be tamed, and with fertility and prosperity.
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Mandala System of Governance
Have you dropped a pebble in a pond? Have you seen the ripples, appearing in concentric circles, one after another? This is how the ancient Indians imagined the mind responding…
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Did Buddha Inspire Jesus?
Many believe that Jesus spent several years of his life travelling east, engaging with Buddhist monks and monasteries, and possibly even travelling as far as Kashmir.