Mythologist | Author | Speaker | Illustrator
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Articles
Naming the Land Beyond Indus
The word India originates from Sindhu, meaning river. In Persian regions, Sindhu was pronounced as Hindu, while the Greeks referred to it as Indu. …
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Articles
The Evolution of Mythology and History
If history is the objective study of the past, does that mean myths have no value? Can ancient traditions, which shaped the identities of civilisations for centuries, simply be dismissed as fiction?…
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Why Are Historians Averse to Mythology?
Historians refuse to engage with mythology generally. In fact, many hold it in contempt. History emerged as an opposition to folklore, mythology, and memory cultures in the 19th century when these subjects were invented…
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A Walk Through Delhi’s Historical Tapestry
When we think of Delhi today, we think of it being the nerve centre of political activity and India’s capital. But it was not always so. …
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Articles
If India Was Five Days Old
If the 5,000-year-old history of India can be reduced to five days, this is how events unfurled…
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Articles
Uniting India with Itihasa-Purana
In India, the phrase ‘itihasa-puranaʼ has been used for 2,500 years to refer to transmitted memories. Many assume that this is an ancient division between history and mythology. However, the split between history and mythology happened only in the 19th century with the use of the scientific method to unravel the past…
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Articles
How Did Invasions Change Indian Culture?
The invader generally takes wealth away from a place. He also takes people as slaves. An invasion can take over the economic and political systems, changing the culture of the land over time…
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Articles
What Do We Really Know About Shankaracharya?
Comic books and popular mainstream films have created the impression that we know a lot about Adi Shankaracharya. But we know very little…
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Articles
A Fascinating History Of Coins In India
Ever since the existence of civilisations, humans have been trading to facilitate exchange. But trading can happen without coins by recording debt. In fact, it is debt or rinn — the word found in the Rig Veda — that played an important role in the creation of coins…
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Articles
No Harappan Kalidas In Sight
We confuse literacy with wisdom. This is because when subjects like history and archaeology and linguistics were being invented in the 19th century, colonial scholars declared civilisation begins with writing…
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Articles
Giving Tilak His Due
The idea of Aryans coming from outside is often seen by nationalists as a racist idea fabricated by Europeans, such as Max Mueller and John Marshall. They ignore that the original nationalist, Bal Gangadhar Tilak proposed this same idea in his book ‘The Orion, Or Researches Into The Antiquity Of The Vedas’ and ‘Arctic Home…
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Articles
How We Tell Our Histories
A lot of history depends on consensus and institutional approval. No nation-state, for example, will present a history that shows it in a negative light…
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Articles
How Faith Destroys Historical Facts
Believers always prefer matters of faith and get irritated with matters of science…
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Articles
Three Aryan Invasions
When people speak of the Aryan invasion, it is important to clarify which Aryan invasion they are talking about. Believe it or not, there are actually THREE…
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Articles
Lives of Adi Shankaracharya
With all these different sources, one wonders what the truth about Shankaracharya is…
