Mythologist | Author | Speaker | Illustrator
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Articles
Brahmin Scripts, Bania Scripts
Right now the Harappan script decipherment is divided into two groups: those seeking consonants, alphabets and syllables (the Brahmin school) and those seeking trade symbols, codes and stamps (the Bania school). …
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Articles
Aryans Did Not Invade Harappa; They Came Much Later
Harappan cities were never invaded by Aryans, as postulated by the British a hundred years ago. Archeological, linguistic and genetic studies indicate that Aryans came to India and Iran with domesticated horses after the Harappan cities had ceased to exist…
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Articles
When Harappans Had Unicorns
Harappans used seal-based administrative technology like the Mesopotamians. The most common seal — almost 80% of the 2,000-odd ones found till date in the wide area — has the image of a one-horned bull-like creature, the unicorn…
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Articles
Ancient Indian Fashion Today
How old is Indian fashion? It is extremely difficult to prove continuity in the realm of fashion history…
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Articles
A Fascinating History Of Coins In India
Ever since the existence of civilisations, humans have been trading to facilitate exchange. But trading can happen without coins by recording debt. In fact, it is debt or rinn — the word found in the Rig Veda — that played an important role in the creation of coins…
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Articles
No Harappan Kalidas In Sight
We confuse literacy with wisdom. This is because when subjects like history and archaeology and linguistics were being invented in the 19th century, colonial scholars declared civilisation begins with writing…
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Articles
Saraswati, Sister of the Indus
In 1947, India was partitioned. The major sites of the civilisation, Harappa and Mohenjo-daro, went to Pakistan. The artefacts were divided between the two nations. The Priest King went to Pakistan; the Dancing Girl came to India…
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Articles
Giving Tilak His Due
The idea of Aryans coming from outside is often seen by nationalists as a racist idea fabricated by Europeans, such as Max Mueller and John Marshall. They ignore that the original nationalist, Bal Gangadhar Tilak proposed this same idea in his book ‘The Orion, Or Researches Into The Antiquity Of The Vedas’ and ‘Arctic Home…
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Articles
Purusha-mriga and Other Fantastic Beasts
Harappan seals depict many monsters: unicorns, sphinx, and horned tigers, and these may have been inspired by their trading relations with West Asia…
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Articles
Three Aryan Invasions
When people speak of the Aryan invasion, it is important to clarify which Aryan invasion they are talking about. Believe it or not, there are actually THREE…
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Articles
The Politics of Ghosts
The spirits of the dead people were considered to be powerful, and these spirits are channelized during special ceremonies by special groups of people who are associated with singing, dancing, playing drums and going into trance. …
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Articles
The Forest and the Field
Increasingly, we find laws that protect forests being cut down, giving way for industries. This brings tribal communities into conflict with the state. …
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Articles
Alone As the Rhinoceros’ Horn
We know the one-horned rhino is the state animal of Assam. As per a folk poetry in the Terai region, Vishwakarma created this beast by mixing elephant skin, horse hooves, crocodile eyes, bear brain, lion heart and a bull’s horn…
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Articles
The Ahimsa Seal of the Indus
Published on 29th April, 2023, in Economic Times. The oldest seals depicting ahimsa (non-violence) are found in the Harappan cities of the Indus Valley (2500 BCE to 1900 BCE). These are the M-478B seal from Mohenjo Daro and the K-65 cylinder seal of Kalibangan. Both show women separating two men from fighting. In the Mohenjodaro…
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Articles
Gujarat’s Violent, Historical Relationship with Muslim Warlords
Published on 22nd April, 2023, in Times of India. Somnath, on the Gujarat coast, is the spot where the moon-god, Soma, prayed to Shiva when he suffered the wasting disease. He was waning and feared he would disappear. But Shiva placed him on his forehead and thus helped him regenerate or wane. This is where…
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Articles
No Hymns for the Donkey
Published on 21st April, 2023, in The Hindu. In the past 30 years, the donkey population of India has dropped by 90%. It’s sad, considering large donkey fairs have been held annually for centuries in Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Punjab and Uttar Pradesh. We rarely think of donkeys as cultural icons. Yet, they are. The wild…