Mythologist | Author | Speaker | Illustrator
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Funeral practices across faiths and regions in India
Different cultures imagine the afterlife differently and so have different funeral practices…
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How Is Knowledge Transmitted?
Knowledge can be transmitted orally or in the form of texts. Hindus preferred the oral form…
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The Sindoor Goddesses of India
The oldest image of Durga, dated to the 1st century BC, was found in Nagar near Chittorgarh, Rajasthan. It shows the goddess with two hands, plucking out the tongue of a buffalo. …
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Elephants As Symbols Of Wealth and Power In Indian Culture
We cannot imagine India without elephants. Elephants have been a powerful symbol of wealth and power since ancient times. …
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Consonant-gods and Vowel-goddesses of Many Brahmi Scripts
Hanuman wrote Ram’s name on rocks while building a bridge to Lanka. The Mahabharata was written by Ganesha who used his tusk as his stylus. This gave rise to the community of scribes known as Kayastha in North India and Karanam in South India. To save themselves from Parashuram, many warriors became scribes and turned…
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Rise of the Brahmi Script
The ancient Indian writing system or the Brahmi is unique in that it is an abugida – which falls between an alphabet (vowels and consonants are separate) and a syllabary (vowels and consonants are merged)…
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Cultural Significance of State Trees
Every state in India has a tree. Unfortunately, when you go to the various railway stations and airports in the capital city of each state, you do not find the state tree…
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Men with Shaved Heads
According to legend, when Shankaracharya went to meet Brahmin scholar Mandan Mishra, around 700 AD, Mishra refused to look at him because his head was shaved. This is why the Shankaracharyas cover their heads with cloth even today, as shaven heads are still seen as symbols of bad luck and inauspiciousness…
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Incomplete Marriages
Incomplete unions ensure the hero is not a monk, but married (auspicious) and also celibate (auspicious). His shrine can therefore be visited by women too…
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Cultural Significance Of Elephant and Horse
The elephant and the horse have played a major role in shaping Indian culture. The elephant is native to India; the horse is not…
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Horse Before Petrol
Horses cannot be bred easily in India because of the climate. Most of the land is taken up by farms; therefore, horses can only be bred in stalls. The hot and humid climate of the monsoon is unfavourable to horses. It softens their hooves and leeches the grass of selenium, a vital nutrient. The rich…
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Secrets of Goddesses and Trees
Jamboo Savari is the great elephant procession of Mysore kings during the post-monsoon festival of Dussehra. Many people think Jamboo or Jambi comes from the word “jumbo” which means “extra large” and was the name of a large African elephant imported to Victorian England…
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How Mythology Impacts Notions of Social Justice
It is important to understand how mythology impacts our notions of social justice. Modern social justice has its roots in monotheism, not in atheism…
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The Many Horse Invaders of India
India has been invaded several times, for over 3,000 years, by horse-breeding tribes from the steppes, grasslands north of the Himalayas, the last of whom were the Mughals, and the Mughals came only 500 years ago…
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12 Children In 12 Castes
Caste (jati) is a reality in India. People in India for at least 1500 years could not change vocation or marry outside caste. This led to social stagnation…
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Binding Bharat With a Vegetarian Canteen
Many pilgrim spots are being turned vegetarian. First Jain sites. Now Hindu sites. The assumption being vegetarian food is non-violent (it is not), eggs, fish, and meat are impure and polluting (they are not) and gods prefer vegetarian food (since when?)…