Mythologist | Author | Speaker | Illustrator
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Articles
Is a yogini a female yogi, or a wild erotic witch?
The answer depends on what feelings are evoked in you by these four words: yogi, wild, erotic and witch…
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Articles
Waiting for Ram
At her abode in the caves of Jammu, the Goddess manifests herself as three outcroppings of rock which represent its three forms Maha-Lakshmi, Maha-Saraswati and Maha-Kali…
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Articles
The faces of Mahalakshmi
While the word Mahalakshmi evokes images of the Hindu goddess of wealth seated on a lotus, the deity in Kolhapur, referred to as Amba-bai by locals, evokes Durga, the goddess of war…
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Articles
Beheading you, beheading me
Have you been noticing the rising number of politicians and ‘religious leaders’ who seem obsessed with lopping off heads: either their own or that of others. Are they influenced by tales of head-offering that we find in the Puranas?…
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Articles
A forlorn Yamuna
The restless Ganga complements the still Shiva and the still Yamuna complements the restless Vishnu…
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Articles
Good-deva-bad-asura divide misleading
The eternal battle between the two forces, both descended from Kashyapa, has many layers of meaning. It cannot be seen in simple moral or ethical binaries…
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Articles
Prosecuting the Gods
Conversations that seek to ‘justify’ the actions of mythic figures often miss the point…
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Articles
Divine domestic discords
The malaise of modern scholarship on Hinduism often comes from the assumption that Hindu sacred texts, like Bible and Koran, are instructive and seek to ‘reform’ humans…
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Articles
On Durga Puja, let’s not forget the glory of Odisha’s Gosani jatra
Delving into history takes us to the festival’s Odia roots…
