Mythologist | Author | Speaker | Illustrator
-
Articles
The Women In Buddhism
Published on 4th November, 2022, in The Hindu. All religions insist they respect women. However they all have stories, art and laws that are rather patriarchal, if not outrightly misogynistic. When this is pointed out, believers and followers tend to become defensive and insist this is not the fault of the religion’s original essence, but…
-
Articles
The Mountains That Stopped Eagles
Published on 23rd October, 2022, in The Times of India. The mountains that stopped eagles and killed Hindus – Was Hindu Kush where millions of Hindus died? The Hindu Kush mountains separates South Asia from Afghanistan. These are the mountains that make India a relatively isolated zone and it is through its mountain passes that…
-
Articles
Why East India’s Contribution to Hinduism Remains Forgotten
Published on 24th September, 2022, in Times of India. Whenever we talk about Hinduism of India, most of the attention is taken over by talk of North India, with Rajput lands to its west and Gangetic plains to its east. Attention then shifts to South India, followed by talk of the Aryan-Dravidian divide. Hardly any…
-
Articles
Tales of the Horned Sage
Published on 18th September, 2022, in Mid-day. The story of Rishyasringa Muni is found in the Ramayana. Dashratha had three wives, but no children. So, he called a sage to perform the ritual that would get him children. The rishi selected was Rishyasringa Muni. In Odia miniature paintings, Rishyasringa is depicted as having two horns.…
-
Articles
How a ‘Ram Rajya’ Was Established In South
Published on 27th August, 2022, in Times of India. About 700 years ago, on the banks of Tungabhadra, in Karnataka, as per legend, two brothers known as Harihara and Bukka, saw hares turning around and attacking hunting hounds. They realised that land was special – a place of resistance. So they decided to build a…
-
Articles
When Somnath Temple Was Being Raided, Chola kings Were Reaching Vietnam
Published on 15th August, 2022, in Times of India. As per Brahmin lore, all civilisation in Tamil lands emerged in a mystical past after Agastya brought grammar from the Himalayan regions, along with mountains and rivers which became known as Southern Kailasa and Southern Ganga. But these are clearly later tales, composed less than thousand…
-
Articles
What You Need to Know About Buddhist Capitalism
Published on 6th August, 2022, in Economic Times. We have always been taught that capitalism was invented in Europe. But the capitalism that we see today is the outcome of the Industrial Revolution. Before the Industrial Revolution, capitalism thrived in trading routes controlled by the Arabs. These routes extended from Southeast Asia, right up to…
-
Articles
Can Indians Really Decolonise Their Mindset
Published on 31st July, 2022, in Times of India. Of late, politicians, journalists and actors are trying to rewrite Indian history. They argue that freedom fighters aligned to right wing ideology deserve their due. Some even suggest that the freedom fighters we are told to admire gave India a raw deal. The more creative ones…
-
Articles
Ending the Fast
Published on 24th July, 2022, in Mid-day. Fasting is a very important spiritual practice. It is about denying the body the pleasure it seeks. It is supposed to earn merit and help us rise up in the karmic ladder. This thesis is an essential part of Buddhism, Jainism and Hinduism. And so, in all three…
-
Articles
Purva Paksha and the Art of Winning Arguments
Published on 23rd July, 2022, in Economic Times. The New Testament was finalised about 1500 years ago. About the time when Puranas started being composed in India. But what was new about it? The Church said that the old testament was the Jewish Bible. All that was prophesied there had been fulfilled in the body…
-
Articles
Did Aryans Migrate Out of India to the West, or to the South?
Published on 16th July, 2022, in Times of India. Three kinds of people love the word Arya even today. The first is the local Hindutva folks who insist ‘Arya’ refers to the best of Hindu civilization. The second is the White Supremacist of the Western world; they prefer the word ‘Aryan’ to Arya, and insist…
-
Articles
History of Bharat in Seven Days
Published on 10th July, 2022, in Mid-day. When you compress India’s history to one week, we gain a rather delightful perspective of our past. Indian history from Harappan times till today is approximately 5,000 years, so each day of the week is approximately a period of 700 years. On Sunday, in Northwest India, farming appears.…
-
Articles
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 these are images of fierce goddesses. The most popular of these shows a goddess riding…
-
Articles
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 Krishna and Godavari. These temples became popular as the old Vedic form of Hinduism gave…
-
Articles
Economics Of Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva That Businessmen Across the World Need to Know
Published on 25th June, 2022, in Economic Times. The Puranas were composed 1500 years ago, between 5th and 10th century AD. What differentiates the Puranas from the Vedas is the value placed on temple worship, pilgrimages and stories to express a philosophy. The chief protagonists are the trinity of Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva and their…