Europe
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How India lost its rich maritime tradition to Europeans
Published on 22nd March, 2019, in Economic Times. Sea travel is mentioned in the Buddhist Jataka tales but not in the great epics Ramayana and Mahabharata, perhaps because the former was patronised by mercantile communities (vaishyas) and the latter by…
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Herding Indian cats in a non-compliant culture
Published on 9th February, 2019, in Economic Times. One of the things that you notice when you travel to countries like Australia and Singapore is the obsession with rules and regulations, and the rigorous implementation of systems
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Bypassing the womb
In Puranic literature, we come across the concept of ayonija, someone who is not born from the womb, and consequently, is able to bypass or rise above the cycle of birth and death
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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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Mountain of Vedas
Through stories of the mountain of Vedas and the blinking gods, Hindus were made aware of the scale of the universe and its wisdom, very different from the finite, closed word of ancient Greeks, inherited by the church
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Is post-truth same as myth?
Western myth, or the dominant worldview that shapes the long history of the West, remains singular and linear
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Trishanku in America or those betwixt and between
Trishanku is a famous character in Hindu mythology who hangs upside down between heaven and earth, belonging nowhere.
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‘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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Cultural leadership: hierarchy in the east and individualism in the west
A cultural understanding of leadership, an appreciation of cultural differences, work at a collective or statistical level, not at an individual level.
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How technology has turned the State into an all-powerful God
The only difference between Abrahamic religions and nation-state structure is that God is a supernatural entity established by faith in the former, while the state is an artificial structure established through reason in the latter.
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Who is a Hindu? The making of Hindu anger
Can a religion be objectively criticised? Whose criticism must be taken seriously — the outsider’s or the insider’s?
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Bromance is a strong part of Indian tradition, and different from same-sex attraction
Same-sex love is a strong part of Indian tradition and needs to be distinguished from same-sex attraction.
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Gender studies in ancient India
Gender studies was very much part of ancient India. The unique feature was the acknowledgement of the third sex: one that is neither male nor female.
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How Call me By Your Name reclaims Eden for gay people everywhere
Luca Guadagnino’s Oscar-nominated Call Me By Your Name, with brilliant use of narrative, visuals and music.
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Who is a Hindu? Economics of being Hindu
The Lingayats socio-cultural demand to be classified as different from Hindus throws up many interesting questions.
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Who is a Hindu? Can politics be spiritual?
Spirituality is kept out of all rational conversations because we still cling to 19th century definitions of it.