Greek
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Dogs, Rats, Unicorns and Other Animal Guilds
Published on 30th April, 2022, in Economic Times. Animals have a close relationship with human corporations and guilds. Nearly 4500 years ago, in the Harappan cities of Northwestern India, archeologists have found hundreds of soft stone seals, barely an inch…
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Creepy-Crawly Lore
Published on 1st May, 2022, in Mid-day. The story of Bhramari Devi comes to us from Andhra Pradesh’s Mallikarjuna temple. It is said that there was an asura called Arunasura. He had asked for protection from all creatures that have…
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No, It’s Neither a Sin Nor Un-Indian to Drink Alchohol
Published on 1st April, 2022, in Times of India. There are two types of alcohol. One produced by fermenting flowers, fruits and grain (Desi Daru). The other produced by distilling (English Daru). The former was produced in kitchens across India…
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The West Believes History Has a Direction, a Purpose, an End. But Indian Worldview Is Different
Published on 2nd April, 2022, in Economic Times. Conventional leadership frameworks begin with the notion that there is a problem to be solved, which leads to strategizing, planning, organising, implementing, regulating, motivating, enabling, and reviewing along the way. This model…
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An Eclipsing of History That Frightens Many Hindus
Published on 26th March, 2022, in Times of India. People forget. If you go to Northwest Pakistan today, the region on either side of the Khyber pass, few will remember that in the Bronze Age, 4000 years ago, it connected…
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How Do We Know What We Know?
Published on 20th March, 2022, in Mid-day. How do we know what we know? This subject is called epistemology. Here, we try to understand how knowledge is created. This subject was a part of intellectual discourse in ancient India, under…
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How Do We Know What’s History, Myth or Legend?
Published on 12th March, 2022, in Times of India. In ancient times, ‘itihasa’ meant stories ‘witnessed’ by the storytellers. So Ramayana is ‘itihasa’ because it was witnessed by Valmiki who wrote the story. Mahabharata is ‘itihasa’ because it was witnessed…
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How Bindumati, a Courtesan, Made Ganga Flow in Reverse
Published on 8th January, 2022, in Economic Times. The story of Bindumati comes from the Buddhist text known as Milinda Panha, or questions of Milinda (Menander) which is a conversation between the Indo-Greek king Menander and the Buddhist monk Nagasena.…
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Was the Harappan Civilisation Hindu?
Published on 28th November, 2021, in Mid-day. We often trace the origin of Hinduism to Rig Veda, dated to 1,500 BCE. But the Rig Veda contains ideas that we can trace to Harappan civilisation. For example, Rig Veda mantra 8.47.17…
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Study of Myths: How Has Mythology Evolved Over the Years
Published on 14th November, 2021, in Mid-day. The subject of mythology emerged in the 19th Century, as the world discovered the subject of history. Before that, memories, legends, myths, parables, folklore and history were all bundled together in one basket.…
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Activism, Monotheism and Intolerance
Published on 17th October, 2021, in Mid-day. Have you noticed that academicians who say Hinduism is casteist, and promotes inequality, rarely talk about intolerance of monotheistic faiths like Christianity and Islam which dominate the world? Monotheist religions endorse the worship…
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Collaborators Succeed in History
Published on 16th October, 2021, in Economic Times. In Hindutva’s political history, the Mughals were dacoits, who came from the North-West. A peer-reviewed history of India, of course, says that is not true. Foreign tribes have been entering through the…
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Should a Deity Have Two Arms or More?
Published on 9th October, 2021, in The Hindu. In Kushan coins, minted over 1,800 years ago, we come across images of a woman holding the horn of plenty. She is identified with the Roman Goddess Fortuna, the Greek goddess Tyche,…
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Why India Needs To See Marital Relationships in Political and Economic Terms
Published on 4th September, 2021, in Economic Times. Zeus, king of the gods, in Greek mythology had children by many women, both mortal and immortal, nymphs and goddesses and titans. But he had only one wife. The Roman Empire celebrated…
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Privileging Political Independence
Published on 15th August, 2021, in The Hindu. The story of the eagle Garuda stealing the nectar of immortality from Indra’s paradise to liberate his mother from slavery reminds us of Greek heroes who go on quests to fight monsters…