Mythologist | Author | Speaker | Illustrator
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Articles
Why is Marxism turning homophobic?
Marxist movements have always aligned with groups seen as oppressed by capitalist regimes. On one side, progressive left voices (e.g., queer activists, gender-fluid theorists) proclaim ‘no binaries, no genders.’ On the other, Marxist solidarity movements justify or ignore homophobia when practiced by anti-capitalist or anti-imperialist groups. Thus, a contradiction emerges: Oppressed peoples are granted the…
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Articles
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, neither this nor that. Indra once becomes third being “men to men and women to women” until a castrated ram is sacrificed and he is…
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Articles
The Happiness of Gay Lovers
Not everyone in India or Bharat views gays as terrifying threats to nature and culture and dharma, to be denied marriage rights. This invisible majority needs a voice…
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Articles
A King Called Trishanku
Once upon a time, there was a king called Trishanku who wanted access to Swarga, the paradise of the gods, located in the sky. But unfortunately, he was not good enough. …
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Articles
LGBTQIA+ Tales in Temples
For a long time, gatekeepers of Indian culture insisted that all things queer were Western. Then, people started reading the scriptures and realised, that was not quite the case…
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Articles
Does Your God Approve Homophobia?
Which message of God is true? There is no way to confirm any of this. They are matters of faith, based on myth i.e. cultural truths…
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Articles
History Of Transgender Representation In Indian Scriptures
In India, the trans-world has always been acknowledged as a third category, the Tritiya Prakriti (TP). We find this in ancient literature, from Panini to Kamasutra…
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Articles
Diversity and Inclusion is a radical idea in the West because of monotheism
In the USA, a section of activists prefer the word ‘birthing people’ to ‘mothers’. This is erasure of womanhood, say feminists. Such feminists are deemed TERF (trans exclusionary radical feminists). Inclusion of trans-women seems to demand rejection of traditional definitions of womanhood, which is seen as a social construct imposed by patriarchy. Feminists argue that…
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Articles
Discovering Gay Generals in Jarasandha’s Army
Published on 12th January, 2023, in Times of India. In 2018, when the Supreme Court decriminalised homosexuality, Akhil Bharatiya Prachar Pramukh Arun Kumar said, ‘Just like the Supreme Court, we also do not consider this criminal. But we do not support homosexuality, as same-sex marriages and relations are not in sync with nature. Traditionally too,…
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Articles
Queer Doorkeepers of Tantrik Nepal
Published on 11th December, 2021, in Mid-day. When one visits the many temples of Kathmandu, Bhaktapur and Patan, in Nepal, one notices something very peculiar. All goddess temples have guardians on either side of the door. On one side, the guardian is a skeleton. On the other side of the deity is a hermaphroditic figure.…
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Articles
Do Vedas Permit a Man to Marry a Man?
Published on 30th November, 2021, in Economic Times. The world’s oldest wedding hymn is found in the Rig Veda. A thousand year later, dharma-shastra speaks of eight ways in which a man can marry a woman. One of them, not approved but accepted, is rape (pisacha vivaha). This is not acceptable legally today, but marriage…
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Articles
What Is God’s Pronoun?
Published on 22nd October, 2021, in Times of India. Currently, across US college campuses, there is a strong movement to popularize the idea of gender fluidity. People are specifying their preferred pronoun. If you identify yourself as male, you choose he and his. If you identify yourself as a woman, you will use she and…
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Articles
China’s Rabbit Gay God
Published on 6th June, 2021. in Mid-day. In Beijing, during the autumn festival, people buy images of a rabbit god who is said to have been sent by the moon-goddess to save people during an epidemic. But in Taiwan, there is memory of another rabbit god, Tu Shen, one who is matchmaker for homosexual men.…
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Articles
Jataka on Same-Sex Love
Published on 16th May, 2021, in Mid-day. Scholars never talk about the homoerotic, homosocial and homosexual tales found in the ancient Buddhist Jataka collection. When men live together, even as monks, in a solitary spiritual pursuit, it is natural that some men would bond and become very close friends. The relationships were not always sexual,…
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Articles
Can Gay Marriage Be Part of Hindu Culture?
Published on 27th September, 2020, in Mumbai Mirror. Hindu culture forbids divorce. Yet Hindu personal laws permit divorce. Hindu culture allows gods, and men, to have many wives. Yet Hindu personal laws forbid polygamy. Does it mean Hindu personal laws are opposing Hindu culture? Or, does it mean they are being true dharmashastras, updating responsible…
