Puranic
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Guardian Yakshis of Jainism
Published on 31st July, 2022, in Mid-day. Jainism is a monastic order. Historically, it emerged 2,500 years ago, with most scriptures written 1,500 years ago. However, as per mythology, Jainism is an eternal religion (sanatan dharma), with 24 Tirthankaras appearing…
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Why Goddess Kali Has Many Faces?
Published on 6th July, 2022, in Times of India. The images of Puranic gods only started appearing on cave and temple walls after the 5th Century AD. We find such images in Odisha, Karnataka, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu, and among…
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A Brief History of the Lion-Kings of Andhra
Published on 3rd July, 2022, in Times of India. Everyone knows about the famous Venktateshwara Balaji temple of Tirupati located in Andhra Pradesh. What is less known are the Narasimha temples found in coastal Andhra, flanking the rice-rich deltas of…
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How Hinduism Flourished in Kerala
Published on 18th June, 2022, in Times of India. As per legend, the western coast of India, Kerala especially, came into being when the sea recoiled in horror on receiving Parashuram’s axe soaked with the blood of the many kings…
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What Our Upside-Down Ancestors Say About Justice and Dharma
Published on 4th June, 2022, in Times of India. Though dharma is often translated as justice in modern translation, there is a fundamental error in such an understanding. Dharma presupposes karma, hence rebirth. Justice does not. In the dharma discourse,…
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Why Scholars Don’t Agree About the Origins of the Shivlinga
Published on 18th May, 2022, in Times of India. Orientalist academicians love describing the Shiva-ling as a ‘phallic symbol’ because it irritates the Hindu who prefer to see the object of their devotion as something spiritual, not sexual. For the…
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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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Geography of God
Published on 6th February, 2022, in Mid-day. In north India, as per politicians, three major pilgrimage sites are important. The first is Ayodhya, where Ram was born and the kingdom of Ram was established. The second is Mathura where Krishna…
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From Shrinathji to Jagannath: How Krishna Avatars Change Across India.
Published on 29th January, 2022, in Times of India. Five hundred years ago, when the Mughals ruled north India, there was an explosion of Bhakti poetry across India. From north to south, people expressed their devotion to different forms of…
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Gods of the Week
Published on 5th December, 2021, in Mid-day. The seven-day-week is not based on any natural phenomena. The ancient Mesopotamians decided that the 7th, 14th, 21st and 28th days after the new moon were days of rest and that is how…
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Marathi: How to Become Rich
Translated version of How to Become Rich: 12 Lessons I Learnt from Vedic and Puranic Stories Lakshmi is worshipped as the goddess of wealth. Her arrival is considered auspicious, while her departure is bad and inauspicious. In temples, gods are…
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How Did Hinduism Come to Dominate India?
Published on 20th November, 2021, in Times of India. Nearly 2,000 years ago, there were Buddhist stupas across India. Nearly 1,500 years ago, there were Buddhist caves in the Deccan. But 1,000 years ago, Buddhist structures were overshadowed by Hindu…
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Is Hinduism Answerable to Western Gaze?
Published on 10th September, 2021, in Times of India. The word religion initially applied to only Christianity. Everyone else was either heretic or pagan. But in the 19th Century, Europeans were forced to acknowledge the validity of Japanese faith if…
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A Brahmin in Kerala
Published on 21st August, 2021, in Economic Times. The Puranas tell the story of an asura king called Mahabali who gave people whatever they desired. Mahabali had thrown out Indra, king of devas, who ruled the skies, and now controlled…
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How Did Tantra Spread from India to Tibet?
Published on 14th August, 2021, in Times of India. Tibetan Buddhism is called Vajrayana Buddhism, which is sometimes also called Tantrik Buddhism. Here, women play an important role, which is why the symbols of Vajrayana Buddhism are a double-sided dagger…
