Mythologist | Author | Speaker | Illustrator
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Books
Itihasa: A History of Hindu Mythology
Deeply researched and painstakingly put together, this magnum opus by Bharat’s foremost mythologist, Devdutt Pattanaik, explores: how Hindu mythology changed with history; how Indian history changed with mythology; how arguments about Indian culture and Hindu civilization reveal the myth inhabited by historians, rationalists, nationalists and activists…
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Articles
When Women Told the Story Backwards
Teej means the third day of the lunar fortnightly cycle — Tritiya. What made the monsoon cycle interesting was that three important Teej festivals occurred on three different Tritiya tithis: Hariyali Teej on Shravana Shukla Tritiya (waxing half), Kajari Teej on Bhadrapada Krishna Tritiya (waning half), and Hartalika Teej on Bhadrapada Shukla Tritiya (waxing half)…
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Articles
Northern Purification of the Southern Murugan
Visakhapatnam probably gets its name from Vishakha, twin of Kartikeya. The Mahabharata tells the story. Kartikeya had defeated Taraka, Indra’s enemy. An insecure Indra, struck Kartikeya with his vajra, viewing him as a potential rival. From the wound emerged Vishakha, frightening Indra even more. …
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Articles
Ballads of Breeze and Breath
In Hindu thought, Vayu, Marut, Vata, and Prana represent different ways in which breeze as well as breath were imagined…
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Articles
The Surgery of Shushurta
Ancient India really did make important contributions to medicine. These achievements are well documented and respected by historians. But the story also has another side. …
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Articles
Prithu’s Cow, Ashoka’s Lion
Dharma is being equated with development, with the destruction of forests and rivers. The literal cow is honoured with melodramatic sentimentality while the earth-cow is plundered for minerals and timber, her air and water poisoned. She is crying, and there is no Prithu with a balanced bow to save her…
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Articles
The Areca Nut in The Betel Leaf
After meals, a quid of betel leaf wrapped around some areca nut and lime, perfumed with cardamom, clove, nutmeg, mace, and camphor — the five aromatics known collectively as pancha-sugandha — served to aid digestion and sweeten the breath. …
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Articles
Taxing Varuni, the Goddess of Intoxication
Varuni, the goddess of wine, churned out of the ocean of milk, joined Indra and transformed Swarga into paradise. So say the Puranas. However, very little is mentioned about Varuni in popular lore. Scholars believe this was grape wine imported in vast quantities from Rome to the western coast of India around 2000 years ago…
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Articles
Brahmins In Jain Memory
In the Brahminical tradition, the Brahmin stands at the apex of creation, born from the mouth of Prajapati, custodian of the sacred fire by divine right. Jainism offers a different account entirely. It does not deny the Brahmin’s existence; it explains his origins. It explains his origins. And in doing so, it places him firmly…
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Articles
The Itihasa of Prithviraj Chauhan
Long before the nationalist imagination got to work, two older traditions had already told very different stories about the same king, and neither of them had any use for a hero…
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Articles
Djinns Amongst Us
The Quran describes jinn as beings created from a “smokeless flame of fire,” while humans were created from clay and angels from light. The Arabic word jinn comes from a root meaning “hidden” or “concealed.” They inhabit a parallel dimension that humans generally cannot perceive. Unlike angels, they possess free will. They can choose faith…
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Articles
Indian Roots of Pythagorean Theorem
This geometric truth was discovered independently by several ancient civilizations, each arriving at the same insight through their own practical needs. India’s contribution, recorded in a set of ancient texts called the Sulvasutras, is genuine and impressive. But it was not the first…
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Articles
The Shambala Prophecy
In a world that seems to be hurtling from one crisis to another, many people are talking about the Shambala prophecy. This appeared in the early 11th century in a Buddhist Tantric text called the Kalacakratantra. …
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Articles
The Rise of Marble Temples
Marble has never been a traditional material in Hindu sacred architecture. In Tamil Nadu, the great storied temples were built in granite. In Odisha, the material was khondalite. In Karnataka, soapstone. Across North India, red and yellow sandstone. Marble was, in fact, long associated with animal bones and was deliberately shunned by traditional artisans…
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Articles
Who Invented Zero?
Ask any Indian schoolchild who invented zero, and the answer will usually be: India did. This is one of the most common beliefs taught in schools and repeated in public discussions…