Mythologist | Author | Speaker | Illustrator
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Articles
Menstrual Taboos Are Not Unique to Hinduism
Who is a Hindu? Menstrual taboos are not unique to Hinduism Published on 16th August, …
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Articles
Remembering the contribution of Courtesans
Published on 6th April, 2019, in Economic Times. In ancient Indian scriptures, we find a …
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Articles
The gallery of female rogues
Women can be dangerous forces of nature, or hypersexual beings, who take away the power of men, chain them to the material world and prevent them from walking the spiritual path…
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Articles
Who is a Hindu? Hindu ship of Theseus
Traditions may change every few years, but one school of thought says the essence of Hinduism will remain the same…
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Articles
The nymph and the hermit
The most visible form of connecting with the material world is the sexual act…
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Interviews
Exclusive | Verdict rejected value of diversity: Devdutt Pattanaik on Sabarimala
In an exclusive interview to Thestatesman.com, Devdutt Pattanaik speaks on mythology, Sabarimala, Ram temple, Section 377 and many other subjects…
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Articles
How sex became unholy
Today, we equate celibacy with social work. The popular belief is that a person who does not have sex has transcended desire. That such a man is more concerned with the welfare of the larger public world than his personal, private, selfish welfare…
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Articles
Who is a Hindu? The politics of bodily fluids
By using body physiology to create a spiritual hierarchy, some Hindu orders have placed men above women…
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Articles
Who is a Hindu? Why do intellectuals scorn Hindu deities?
Hindus as it doesn’t comply with their preconceived notions of what god and religion should be…
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Articles
Krishna As a Girl
Strivesha is a depiction of Krishna as a woman, writes DEVDUTT PATTANAIK, and narrates stories related to the form of Krishna that displays joy and showers affection…
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Articles
Power Helped Women Change World Religions
Roughly 1500 years ago, femininity became a major force, not because men became enlightened, but because women secured positions of power…
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Articles
Homophobia is subtle in Gurudom
Most of these gurus do oppose the criminalising of homosexuality, and so appear to be modern. However, they do see homosexuality as a deviance (or its Sanskrit equivalent), or a ‘fluidity’ that needs explanation, management and re-alignment…
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Interviews
‘Lazy minds often confuse mythology with history’
In this interview with Latha Srinivasan, author Devdutt Pattanaik talks about the central role mythologies play in shaping societies, and how liberal values can be derived from tradition…
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Articles
Shunning the feminine
How many of us know that the Indian Parliament’s circular shape was inspired by a Yogini temple? How many of us have been told the story from the Mahabharata of Sulabha … (or) the story from Yoga Vasishtha of Chudala?…
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Articles
Is Hinduism feminist or patriarchal?
In Hinduism, God is not a judge and so feminism is not about judging men…
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Articles
India’s New Age gurus believe sexuality may be fluid – but not brutal structures of caste, gender
They have fine-tuned Indian philosophy to pacify middle-class guilt about wealth and power while amplifying guilt over pleasure that could disrupt social norms…
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Articles
Chef Nala
Once upon a time, there was a man who cooked so well that a woman decided to marry him… His name was Nala…
