Mythologist | Author | Speaker | Illustrator
-
Articles
The Global Resurrection of Islam
Earlier, Islam was sustained by rulers. In the modern era, it is sustained by communities. Authority shifted from courts and empires to classrooms, print networks, voluntary organisations, and individual conscience…
-
Articles
Why lotus remains India’s simplest yet most profound symbol
The lotus today is a symbol of a leading political party in India, but for thousands of years it has been part of Indian myth, ritual, architecture, and craft. At the village level, the lotus thrives as a simple floor drawing made with rice flour. …
-
Articles
How Did the Guru Become More Godlike Than God?
Today, we find gurus speaking about gods like Ram and Krishna in their Ram-katha and Bhagavat-katha, yet the guru has become the focal point. …
-
Articles
The Many Horse Invaders of India
India has been invaded several times, for over 3,000 years, by horse-breeding tribes from the steppes, grasslands north of the Himalayas, the last of whom were the Mughals, and the Mughals came only 500 years ago…
-
Articles
Akbar the Jogi
Depending on the perspective, Akbar’s behaviour was explained as either the result of his being a Hindu sage in a previous life or as the outcome of him being tricked and brainwashed by sorcerers, or being a pragmatic king who saw the value of collaboration and communal harmony…
-
Articles
Sultan, Badshah and Shahenshah: What These Titles Say About India’s Muslim Rulers
Politicians usually refer to the Islamic period (1000 to 1800) as the Mughal period (1500-1800), but that is not quite correct…
-
Articles
Bhairava in Baghdad
We have often heard about the great Islamic Caliphate, established by the Abbasid Empire in Baghdad in the 8th century and destroyed in the 13th century by the Mongols. What is less discussed is how Buddhism played a pivotal role in both the rise and fall of Baghdad, the centre of the great Islamic Empire…
-
Articles
A Starry Network of Arabian Trade
The word monsoon comes from the Arabic word ‘mausam’, meaning season. Incidentally, the word ‘ara’ in Sanskrit means desert…
-
Articles
Crescent Moon of Rome
Many Islamic nations choose the Crescent Moon as their symbol, a reminder of when Islam overpowered the Christian city of Constantinople, the second Rome. We can say the Crescent Moon is not so much about Islam as it is about the Muslim victory over Christendom…
-
Articles
Month of Muharram
The month of Muharram marks the first of twelve months of the Islamic calendar, and it has very different meanings for the Shia and the Sunni communities…
-
Articles
When Spitting on Someone Is Considered Good Luck
The idea that Muslims spit on food is now spreading virally across Indian social media. It is seen as some kind of Islamic practice to contaminate Hindu food, the claim is made by people with a long history of trying to demonise the Muslim community and therefore needs to be taken with a large dose…
-
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…
-
Articles
Cheraman Juma Masjid, the Temple-like Mosque of Kerala
Mosques were built by sailors during the lifetime of the Prophet, since the 7th century, along the coasts of India. The most famous of these is the Cheraman Juma Masjid in Kerala’s Thrissur district, widely believed to be the oldest mosque in the subcontinent…
-
Articles
Influx of Islamic Ideas
Today, when people talk about Indian knowledge systems, they usually refer to Indian knowledge systems which originated in India. In the process, we forget the major contribution that happened to India in the Islamic period…
-
Articles
Is Green an Islamic Colour?
Since green is the dominant colour of the Pakistan flag, many Sanatani Hindutva folks see it as the colour of Islam. …
-
Articles
Retelling Tales of Temple Plunder
While we want to reduce communal tensions created using history, we should not try to overstretch a point to make it seem like Muslim invasions did not bring about a major cultural shift in India’s past. …