Abrahamic
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Pagans In Christmas
Published on 20th December, 2020, in Mid-day. The word “pagan” was used derisively by colonial powers to refer to non-Christian faiths, especially polytheistic ones that celebrated divinity through nature-plants, animals, rivers, mountains, stars. Yet, paganism contributed greatly to what we…
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What Does Haraam-Khor Actually Mean?
Published on 20th September, 2020, in Mid-day. ‘Haraam’ is an Islamic concept, which means sin, a breaking of rules, God’s rules specifically. It is the opposite of ‘halal’—following God’s rule. But then, what does ‘khor’ mean ‘Khor’ comes to eat,…
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Why Hindus Should Read Islamic Mythology
Who Is A Hindu? Why Hindus should read Islamic mythology. Published on 24th May, 2020, in Mumbai Mirror. People often challenge me to write on Islamic mythology. These ‘challengers’ don’t realise is that Wikipedia already has an entry called Islamic…
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Quran and Hadith
Published on 17th May, 2020. in Mid-day Fourteen hundred years ago, an Arab trader who lived in the city of Mecca went to meditate in the caves outside the city. There, he suddenly found himself being caught by an angel…
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Seven Abrahamic influences on contemporary Hinduism
Published on 2nd February, 2020, in Mumbai Mirror When someone passes away and people say, Rest in Peace, or RIP, they are being part of a paradigm where death is followed by waiting in purgatory till the final day of…
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Mythology of White Hindus
Published on 5th January, 2020, in Mumbai Mirror We may claim to be free of colonial rule, but we are still spellbound by Caucasian people. We link their skin to beauty and power. So it is not great surprise that…
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Did Cain really kill Abel?
Published on 26th December, 2019, in The Times of India Two hundred years ago, in America, many white people justified the slavery of Africans arguing that their black skin was the ‘mark of Cain’. That they descended from the first…
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Hindu Conversion: A New Idea
Published on 22nd December, 2019, in Mumbai Mirror Once, Hinduism was inclusive, and memorising hymns didn’t turn you into an ‘instant Brahmin’ Christianity and Islam spread through conversion. A Christian missionary comes to the village and speaks of the virtues…
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The Crocodile-Wrestling Hero
Published on 15th December, 2019, in Mid-day In Egyptian, Persian, Assyrian and Sumerian imagery, kings are often shown hunting lions and defeating them with their bows to establish their power. Images of the epic hero Gilgamesh often show him holding…
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Pakistani Mythology
Published on 3rd November, 2019, in Mid-day Pakistan was the first modern republic to declare itself ‘Islamic’. It imagines itself as the Eastern edge of Arab civilisation, when in fact, it is the Western edge of Indian civilisation. No Pakistani…
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The Arya in Iran
Published on 13th October, 2019, in Mumbai Mirror Ancient Hindus called themselves Arya and their homeland Arya-varta, which, according to Manusmriti, stretched from the Himalayas in the north to the sea in the south. But Manusmriti does not refer to…
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Swastika in the Stars
Published on 22nd September, 2019, in Mid-day If you look to the sky, towards the north and want to identify the Pole Star, you have to first seek the Big Dipper constellation. Dipper means a ladle, the kind used to…
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Hells of Garuda Purana
Published on 1st September, 2019, in Mid-day The Garuda Purana is one of the 18 Puranas composed by Ved Vyasa in order to explain Vedic principles. It was in a forest called Naimisha, where the narration happened for the first…
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Equating Paganism With Hinduism
Published on 11th August, 2019. in Mid-day Christian missionaries used the word ‘pagan’ and ‘heathen’ to derogatorily describe all non-monotheistic pre-Christian religions that indulged in nature and idol worship. Hinduism came under this category. Today, many Hindutva followers want to…
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Varuna in Iran, Indra in India
Published on 4th August, 2019, in Mid-day Varuna is known today as the god of the sea and Indra as the god of the rain. Varuna is associated with saltwater, located on the ground, and Indra is associated with freshwater,…
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Two Prophets, two visions
Published on 28th July, 2019, in Mid-day The Old Testament of the Christian Bible tells the story of two prophets: one is Jeremiah and the other is Ezekiel. Jeremiah is called the Weeping Prophet. He lived in Jerusalem and mourned…