Mythologist | Author | Speaker | Illustrator
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Articles
Who is a Hindu? Life, death and afterlife
Rebirth and liberation are the twin fates that await the Hindu dead, but there are temporary sojourns to heaven and hell as well…
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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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Articles
Emperor Xi a mandate of heaven
Xi Jingping seems to be creating heaven on earth, making China a powerhouse in geopolitics, restoring the glory of China since the infamous ‘hundreds years of shame’ in the 19th century. …
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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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The Hindu concept of debt
This idea of a karmic balance sheet is not found in the Vedic period but emerges in the Upanishadic period, especially after the rise of monastic orders…
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Descendants of Chitragupta
In one story, popular in the Gangetic plains, the god of death, Yama, wanted a scribe to help him keep a record of people’s karma. And so Brahma created Chitragupta (he who knows the secrets of diagrams i.e. scripts), who held in his hand a pen and inkpot…
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Articles
Is tribalism better than casteism?
While people decry the lower rate of inter-caste marriages in India, they don’t decry the low rates of inter-tribe marriages in India. The former is seen as indicator of casteism but the latter is not seen as indicator of tribalism…
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Articles
A good leader is one who rules with a sense of detachment
A leader is appointed by the people, from the people, and for the people… However, his success depends on whether he is aligned to wisdom…
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Articles
Even the Gods played sport
We can safely say that sport in India began in both agricultural communities as well as martial communities…
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Who is a Hindu? Diversity unites, homogeneity divides
Unlike Westerners, Hindus have been comfortable seeing unity in diversity for thousands of years…
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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
Belief shapes our behaviour
Belief shapes behaviour. When we see behaviour we can decode the underlying belief. However, the opposite is not true…
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Articles
How to Conduct a Same-sex Wedding Based on Indian Rituals
The idea of ‘wholeness’ in Hinduism is not necessarily a matter of the union of two bodies in marriage or even two souls in love; rather, wholeness or completeness in Hinduism can be understood as rising to the fullness of one’s true self and expanding the arena of one’s selfhood (brah — to expand, manas…
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Articles
Who is a Hindu? Hinduism’s DIY kit
It is time to reclaim the diversity offered by the four-spice model of purush-artha…