Mythologist | Author | Speaker | Illustrator
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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
Hinduism in Nepal
Published on 24th November, 2019, in Mumbai Mirror There are primarily three differences that one observes. First, you notice that Hinduism and Buddhism are not separated from each other within the local population. Second, one does not find any influence of Islam. Third, one does not find the influence of Bhakti traditions, although people do…
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Articles
Vedantic attachment and Islamic Idolatry
Published on 21st November, 2019, in The Hindu In Mecca, a large number of historic sites, including mosques, and even sites associated with Prophet Muhammad’s life, are being broken by the guardians of the Kaaba. This is being done to prevent these sites from becoming shrines, for that would amount to idolatry, which is forbidden…
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Articles
Is Hinduism timeless?
Published on 10th November, 2019, in Mumbai Mirror. Hinduism is called Sanatan Dharma in popular understanding. It is based on the line from the Bhagavad Gita where Sri Krishna describes the wisdom he is sharing assanatan, which means timeless. Any attempt to ask when this idea was articulated in history is seen by Hindutva politicians…
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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
The Shudra Inside Us
Published on 15th September, 2019, in Bangalore Mirror Bureau The gesture of namaste means to salute the divine within people. It is also a gesture of humility, humiliation, submission and petition before power. Namaste between equals has the former meaning but the latter meaning is evoked through the namaste of a junior to a senior,…
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Articles
Aryavarta
Published on 24th August, 2019, in Mid-day The word ‘Aryavarta’ has become quite popular. There are novels written about it, tele-serials based upon it, and it is increasingly being associated with an extremist Hindu vision of the past. But, the word ‘Aryavarta’ means land of the civilised people. Those who spoke Sanskrit were considered civilised,…
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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
Raising Hindu kids in America
Published on 21st July, 2019, in Mumbai Mirror How do you teach a child about Hinduism? There are no easy answers out there How does a child in India learn Hinduism? Unlike Bible classes of Christians and madrasas of Muslims, Hinduism is not ‘taught’. You acquire it by living it — participating in household rituals…
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Articles
Declaration of faith
Published on 7th July, 2019, in Mumbai Mirror Declaration of faith is part of many religions. It means publicly stating one’s belief. In Judaism, which is the oldest Abrahamic faith, it is a reiteration of monotheism, the ‘Shema’. In Christianity, it means making the sign of the cross to show one accepts Jesus, who was…
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Articles
Sacred Seven
Published on 7th July, 2019, in Mid-day Once Vishnu and Laxmi had a quarrel. Laxmi left Vaikuntha in a huff, and came down to earth. Vishnu followed her and tried coaxing her to return, but she refused. So, Vishnu decided to remain on earth, until he could convince her to return. He looked for a…
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Articles
Where Hinduism and Sikhism meet
Published on 9th June, 2019, in Mumbai Mirror. WHO IS A HINDU? If you ask a Hindu extremist, he will say that Sikhism is very much a dharmic religion like Hinduism, under the umbrella term, Sanatan Dharma. However, if you speak to a Sikh extremist, especially in the UK and Canada, he will deny this,…
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Articles
Not quite division of labour
Published on 14th April, 2019, in Mumbai Mirror. Many assert that the caste system (jati pratha) is essentially ‘division of labour’. However, this will never be said by those involved in manual scavenging, cleaning sewers without proper gear, being forced to take up this job because that is the only vocation made available to them.…
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Articles
Remembering the contribution of Courtesans
Published on 6th April, 2019, in Economic Times. In ancient Indian scriptures, we find a description of three kinds of women. Women who were chaste and devoted to a single man (even if the man had many wives). The second were women who kept away from men and lived as nuns. The third kind were…