Mythologist | Author | Speaker | Illustrator
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Articles
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, someone who consumes. So, ‘aadam-khor’ is someone who eats Adam’s children—in other words, a man-eater.…
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Articles
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 mythology. And in academic circles, people speak of Islamic, Christian and Judaic mythology as freely…
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Articles
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 who forced him to read and recite. Being an unlettered man, he didn’t know what…
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Articles
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 Judgement, a concept found in Christianity and Islam. In Hinduism, the soul does not rest…
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Articles
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 Hindus seek validation of their faith from Caucasian scholars and converts. We place great value…
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Articles
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 murderer in recorded history. Before that, many Christians in Europe argued that Jews bore the…
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Articles
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 of monotheism, and the shortcomings of polytheism. An Islamic teacher turns people away from jahiliyyah,…
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Articles
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 a lion firmly, as if it were a cat. That image establishes his greatness, just…
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Articles
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 can buy land in Saudi Arabia, get a Saudi Arabian passport or marry a Saudi…
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Articles
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 another Aryan community that lived at the same time in Iran. Iran, in fact, is…
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Articles
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 put ghee in the yagna fire. This ladle-shaped constellation has seven stars. In Hindu scriptures,…
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Articles
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 time. In the story, Vyasa says that the Garuda Purana was narrated by Vishnu to…
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Articles
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 reclaim the word ‘pagan’ for Hinduism. Let us first understand the meaning of these words.…
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Articles
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, which comes from the sky. Varuna is the guardian of the western horizon, and Indra,…
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Articles
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 how the kingdom of Judah had moved away from the Sacred Word of God. Instead…
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Articles
Legends of Sikandar
Published on 30th June, 2019, in Mid-day There is a big difference between the words ‘legend’ and ‘myth’. Legend is a story of a heroic figure that has some historical basis but is largely fantasy. Mythology is not just stories, but also symbols and rituals, which helps a culture make sense of the world and…