Society
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Three Vedic women
In Rig Veda, we come across three women whose stories reveal a lot about the period.
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When a man loves a woman
We have always valued a woman dying for a man, but have never valued a man who dies for a woman.
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Radha In Space And Time
All Dharmashatras say, all traditions (riti) and laws (niti) must be subject to change depending on geography (desh), history (kala) and capability of communities (guna) involved.
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Who is a Hindu? Hinduism in the Caribbean
The easiest way to identify a Caribbean Hindu is to look at their house from outside:you will see a jhandi, a pennant of different colours that represent different gods.
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Who is a Hindu? The importance of Ubhaya Bharati
The scholar taught Adi Shankaracharya that one cannot gain real wisdom without understanding the household, the body and the woman.
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Who is a Hindu? Hindu ship of Theseus
Traditions may change every few years, but one school of thought says the essence of Hinduism will remain the same.
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Who is a Hindu?: Gods and judges
Rules are supposed to make us humans. It is unfortunate that those who came up with these theories and rules, both the Brahmins and kings, did not apply these principles of dharma on themselves.
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Hindu gods like Rama & Shiva have six packs now to kill bad guys, like American superheroes
Even Amar Chitra Katha’s new comics have abandoned the gentle sensuality of Raja Ravi Varma and embraced the hyper-masculine, angry, violent American superhero style to portray Hindu gods and goddesses.
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Vedanta and LGBTIQ
A selective understanding of the faith by those who control social discourse is the tragedy of Hinduism
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Who is a Hindu? Forgotten tales of folk-hero gods
Fascinating stories are not being told because of our fixation with Western concept of religion and pan-India narratives.
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Queer Gaze for the Indian Tourist
A manifestation of thought, temples like the hidden verses of epics, have unseen images on their walls. What you understand depends on what you want to see.
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How Brahmins helped create temple-states and kingdoms in South India and Southeast Asia
It is fashionable nowadays to use the word ‘Brahmin’ with contempt … But this outrage (real and imagined) must not blind us to the contribution of Brahmins …
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Trishanku in America or those betwixt and between
Trishanku is a famous character in Hindu mythology who hangs upside down between heaven and earth, belonging nowhere.
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The spread of Hinduism
By the time the Upanishads were composed, 2,500 years ago, there was a familiarity with the Gangetic Plain.
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Homophobia is subtle in Gurudom
Most of these gurus do oppose the criminalising of homosexuality, and so appear to be modern. However, they do see homosexuality as a deviance (or its Sanskrit equivalent), or a ‘fluidity’ that needs explanation, management and re-alignment.
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Yagna or Puja
Vedic yagna is conventionally translated as ‘sacrifice’ and Puranic puja is translated as ‘worship’. This translation is the basic problem.