Mythologist | Author | Speaker | Illustrator
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Articles
How Hindutva Threatens the History of Hindus
Who is a Hindu? How Hindutva threatens the history of Hindus Published on 5th July, 2020, in Mumbai Mirror. Hindutva history makes the history of Hindus fragile — people whose temples were destroyed by Muslims and who need Hindutva politicians to help them recover. It gives power to Hindutva politicians but strips Hindus of power…
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Articles
How Was Hindu Rajdharma Different From Turuku’s?
Published on 26th April, 2020, in Mumbai Mirror People often speak of a civilisational rupture that took place when Islam came into India. The easiest way to understand this is to go back in history and figure out the different ways in which kingship was perceived, in medieval India and medieval Persia, before 1,000 AD.…
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Articles
View: Why Indians do not innovate
Published on 4th April, 2020, in the Economic Times Despite being highly creative, there are two reasons why Indians did not, and do not, innovate beyond the idea of ‘jugaad’ – contextual improvisations born of limitations that are generally not scalable. The first is caste (jati), and the second is the doctrine of contentment (santosh).…
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Articles
The Arya in Iran
Published on 13th October, 2019, in Mumbai Mirror Ancient Hindus called themselves Arya and their homeland Arya-varta, which, according to Manusmriti, stretched from the Himalayas in the north to the sea in the south. But Manusmriti does not refer to another Aryan community that lived at the same time in Iran. Iran, in fact, is…
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Articles
Harappan and Aryan Roots of Rig Veda
Published on 15th September, 2019, in Mid-day DNA studies are now showing that Harappans did not have genes of steppe pastoralists (Aryans). But these Aryan genes are found in about 30 per cent of the Indian population. This means the Aryans came after Harappan cities had collapsed. They did not invade Harappa, but many Aryan…
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Articles
Who is a Hindu? Making of a Hindu king
The king brings order. But how does one establish himself as a ruler?…
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Articles
Who is a Hindu? How Hinduism was enriched by rivalry
Every religion is an outcome of many historical and geographical forces. Every religion has a past and transforms over time…
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How Brahmins helped create temple-states and kingdoms in South India and Southeast Asia
It is fashionable nowadays to use the word ‘Brahmin’ with contempt … But this outrage (real and imagined) must not blind us to the contribution of Brahmins …
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Articles
Listening to the Buddha’s hands
In the early days of Buddhism, Buddha was represented by a symbol: a footprint or a wheel or a pot or a tree…
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Articles
A Hinduism before Bhakti
A thousand years ago, India was very different from what it is today. North India had yet to face significant conquest by Muslim warlords from Central Asia…
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Did arrival of Muslim invaders a thousand years ago destroy Hindu culture?
Published on 31st May, 2017, on www.dailyo.in . The arrival of Muslim invaders a thousand years ago dramatically transformed the Hindu culture. Like in any invasion, there was destruction, mayhem and trauma. Hindu Kush in Afghanistan literally means ‘killer of Hindu (slaves)’ during early phase of this invasion and the ruins of Vijayanagara by a…
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Articles
Is Hinduism the same as Hindutva?
A crude, but useful way to understand the relationship between Hinduism and Hindutva is to study Hindu history…
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Articles
China’s Buddhist Goddess
In China, a female Bodhisattva, Guanyin, came into being. This is her story…
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Articles
Do Hindus lose their caste when they travel abroad?
If you value caste, then this thought can be depressing, even terrifying. If you are indifferent, it will not matter…
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Articles
Was Harappan civilisation Vedic, or Hindu?
This is an extremely tough question to answer as it depends on what you consider Harappan, Hindu and Vedic…
