Mythology
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Agni In Hiding
We find a great number of hymns where there is anxiety about loss of fire…There are many stories where fire runs away. The hungry gods chase him and beg him to return and do his sacrificial duties.
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Kings Who Hide in Kitchens
Have you ever wondered why, in many parts of North India, the cook is called a Maharaj? This may have something to do with the way the cook treats the kitchen as his sovereign territory that no one can trespass.…
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Accounting Rivals and Saints
Balancing the Ledgers of Karma, and the Economy: The history of record keeping and accounting in India is the story of Brahmins and Kayasthas, with their skills linked deeply to the cultural & spiritual beliefs, as well as their services…
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Seasonal March of Festivals
Festivals around the world have a number of intimate links to seasons, legend and history. From Indian celebrations linked to the sun’s path, weather and mythic legends, to Christian reflections of a spring rebirth, seasonal festivals worldwide are a manifestation…
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Did Rishi Agastya Colonise the South?
Nowadays two ideas are being pushed by social media intellectuals. First, that mythology is history. Second, that Indian culture needs to decolonise itself from foreign influence. This makes rishi Agastya, a highly-venerated Vedic sage, a problematic figure in South India.
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Pleasure, a Brief Indian History
Atharva Veda says, “Desire gives. Desire receives”. Kama, we are told, is what stirs the first being to create the world.
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Why is Holi celebrated more in north India than south India?
Holi is indeed celebrated mostly in north India, not south India. No one knows the reason why.
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It Is Not Just Hindus Who Love an Imagined Past
Imagined history has always served ideologies. Colonial powers have sought to present precolonial states as barbaric and savage to justify their imperial outreach. Muslims insist that a society before conversion to Islam is ignorant (jahila). For Marxists and Cultural Marxists,…
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Glamorising Violence, Gamifying Debate
For the past thirty years, that is what we have been consuming from Hollywood.
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Vikings Saga on Combat and Curiosity
Like the Greeks, life was tough for the Vikings, and they were fiercely independent people.
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Indian Knowledge Systems
The first list of an educational syllabus in India comes from the Chandogya Upanishad, when the Sanatakumar sages ask Narada what subjects he is proficient in.
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Were Our Hindu Gods Meat-eaters?
Hinduism is a plural religion, an umbrella term for many jatis, sampradayas and paramparas, some of whom may be vegetarian some of the time, or not at all.
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How We Tell Our Histories
A lot of history depends on consensus and institutional approval. No nation-state, for example, will present a history that shows it in a negative light.
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The Many Mythologies of God
Hindus have a very complex idea of god. God is not all powerful. Nature and karma serve as the background in which God exists.
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How Faith Destroys Historical Facts
Believers always prefer matters of faith and get irritated with matters of science.
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How Ramayana and Mahabharata Spread the Idea of Dharma
The earliest Ramayana retellings do not refer to the Lakshman rekha. The earliest Mahabharata retellings do not refer to Draupadi’s vastra-haran.