Mythologist | Author | Speaker | Illustrator
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Articles
An Imagined Battle: The Violence of Ashoka and Yudhishthira
The oldest manuscripts of the Mahabharata are dated to a century after Ashokaʼs rule but the story refers to an earlier period, before Kali Yuga, which may be seen as code for a time before the rise of the Buddhist orders and the end of Brahmin patronage following the arrival of foreign kings like Yavanas,…
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Articles
Did the Tantrik King, Indrabhuti, Live in India or Pakistan?
Odisha’s deep connection with Buddhism is ignored even by Indian historians including the current politically powerful crop of Hindutva historians. This was not the elite Buddhism of meditation. This was the Buddhism of ritual magic to solve daily problems, bring luck and fortune, ideas that appealed to local merchants and common people a lot…
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Articles
Crescent Moon of Rome
Many Islamic nations choose the Crescent Moon as their symbol, a reminder of when Islam overpowered the Christian city of Constantinople, the second Rome. We can say the Crescent Moon is not so much about Islam as it is about the Muslim victory over Christendom…
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Shiva’s Sexuality and Buddha’s Celibacy
While Buddha had promoted monasticism and celibacy, Shiva’s story celebrated sexuality. Vishnu balanced the two extreme views…
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Fight, Flight and Freeze Responses Of Faith
When a human being is confronted with a problem, we either flee, freeze or fight. This is a physiological stress response, seen even in animals when confronted with a threat. In humans, our imagination transforms this natural response into expressions of faith. And so, we find that religions around the world offer three kinds of…
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Articles
Speaking of Shiva
In the Hindu epic, Mahabharata, Bhisma tells Arjuna the story of the fight between Shiva and Daksha. Shiva destroys the yagna of Daksha as he refuses to invite him to partake in a share of the sacrifice. This event happens at Ganga-dvara, which some people believe is Haridwar today…
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Articles
Hinduism Beyond Caste
In Hindu stories, the divine is the embodiment of contentment, the opposite of craving, conflict, and competition…
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Articles
Tracking the Tale of Padmasambhava from Odisha to Tibet
mages of Padmasambhava are found across Tibet. He appears very Shiva-like, with a trident and a string of human heads, and is linked with powerful female figures said to have come from various parts of Tibet, Nepal, India, and China…
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Articles
When Was the Buddha Born?
In writings, people assume that the Buddha lived about 2,500 years ago. But is that really so? Is that fact or belief?…
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Articles
How to Look At Manusmriti and the Caste System
Everybody talks about the Manusmriti nowadays and links it to the caste system. But what exactly is it? To understand this, we must understand a little bit of Indian history…
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Articles
The Significance of Vedas and Their Rituals
When we talk about the Veda, we have to differentiate between Vedic poetry, Vedic prose, and Vedic philosophy. …
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Articles
The Elephant-Headed Buddha
When one travels to Thailand and Japan, one occasionally finds images of Ganesha. Most Indians get very excited as it reveals how Hinduism spread to Southeast Asia and even the Far East. However, on closer examination, one realises the answer is not that simple. These elephant-headed deities worshipped in these countries have nothing to do with Shiva or Parvati. They are…
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Articles
Feet Of Fortune
After the devotee pays obeisance to the deity (darshan), the priest places a crown on his head. But it is not quite a crown. On top are the footprints of the deity…
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Articles
The Turtle In Shiva’s Temple
Between the Nandi Bull and the Shiva Linga is a turtle. No one quite knows the significance of this turtle, though many interpretations have been offered…
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Articles
Shiva and Vishnu in My Son, Vietnam
If one travels to Da Nang in Vietnam, then takes an hour’s drive to the city of My Son, one finds a cluster of Hindu temples made of brick. They are dedicated to Hindu gods. One realises these were built over a thousand years ago. In fact, these brick structures replaced earlier wooden structures. According…