Mythologist | Author | Speaker | Illustrator
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Articles
Life Of a Stupa
The Buddhist stupa originated as a very simple idea. After the Buddha was cremated, his bones were collected and placed in caskets, which were then covered with a mound…
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The Many Lives of the Buddha
There are many versions of the life of the Buddha, with people assuming the Pali version to be original and authentic…
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Articles
Secularising Ramayana and Mahabharata
When we study Buddhist and Jain lore, we realise many stories there are quite similar to stories found in Ramayana and Mahabharata…
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Articles
If You Are Truly Hindu, You Can’t Hate
Hatred is easy to justify, when you see yourself as the victim. But the idea of victimhood does not exist in Hinduism, from a structural point of view…
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Legacy Of Those Denied Success By Heartless Gods
This is a story from Sumerian mythology. Sumer is a region in southern Iraq where the world’s first cities were established around 3500 BC…
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From Ram to Jagannath
As the chariot rolls out of the Jagannath temple in Odisha this year, some may ask, is Jagannath now the favoured ‘national’ god, overshadowing Ram of Ayodhya?…
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Gita is all about Family, Property and Inheritance
How do we decide who is an insider in a family, and who is an outsider? Who is mine, and who is not mine?…
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Articles
Three Dimensions of Greatness
Wisdom prevails only when we listen to each other, find ways to accommodate each other, which is why the Jain community survived despite great hostility in its long history…
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Articles
That Holy City Which Never Unites
As we march towards constructing that single city, using social media, it feels like a new Hinduism is being forged, one that erases the female principle…
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Articles
The Maleness of Shiva
This leads to questions if Shiva and Shakti are equal halves or is she the inferior half? Are they talking about men and women, or about mind and body?…
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Articles
Rishi Pippalada of the Atharva Veda
Atharva Veda is the collection of hymns containing spells for helping, healing and even hurting, composed by the Rishi who was generally excluded from the list of Seven Sages (Sapta Rishi): Atharva, Angirasa and Bhrigu…
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Articles
Loss and Recovery of the Vedas
The conch-shell trumpet heralds the shift of time: a great battle that witnesses the end of Dwapara Yuga and the start of Kali yuga. …
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Articles
No Dharma Without Dharma-sankat
Yagna is the primal ritual of the Veda. Mistranslated as sacrifice, it is a ritual of exchange and reciprocity. …
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Articles
From Vedic Soma to Puranic Amrut
Early scholars wondered what this Soma was, leading to rather colourful research. Was it a magical drink?…
