Mythologist | Author | Speaker | Illustrator
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Books
Marathi: How to Become Rich
Translated version of How to Become Rich: 12 Lessons I Learnt from Vedic and Puranic Stories Lakshmi is worshipped as the goddess of wealth. Her arrival is considered auspicious, while her departure is bad and inauspicious. In temples, gods are bedecked with jewels; during festivals, our houses are decorated with flowers, lamps and lakshmi’s footprints.…
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Articles
Why India Needs To See Marital Relationships in Political and Economic Terms
Published on 4th September, 2021, in Economic Times. Zeus, king of the gods, in Greek mythology had children by many women, both mortal and immortal, nymphs and goddesses and titans. But he had only one wife. The Roman Empire celebrated monogamy and legitimate children, but the reason for this was not moral, it was legal.…
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Articles
China’s Rabbit Gay God
Published on 6th June, 2021. in Mid-day. In Beijing, during the autumn festival, people buy images of a rabbit god who is said to have been sent by the moon-goddess to save people during an epidemic. But in Taiwan, there is memory of another rabbit god, Tu Shen, one who is matchmaker for homosexual men.…
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Books
Hindi: Yoga Mythology: 64 Asanas and Their Stories
Translation of Yoga Mythology: 64 Asanas and Their Stories…
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Articles
Why Do Hindu Gods Never Give Sermons?
Published on 22nd May, 2021, in Mumbai Mirror. Buddhism speaks of the discourses given by the Buddha to thousands of monks, nuns and lay people at Jetavana. Jainism speaks of samavasaran, when the Tirthankara reveals Jain wisdom to all creatures, earthly and heavenly, who sit around him in a circle. Jewish folk speak of Moses…
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Articles
Power Points and Excel Sheets in Jataka Tales
Published on 14th May, 2021, in Economic Times. In the venture capitalist industry, it is known that all things being the same, a tall handsome man who presents well, preferably with an American accent, is more likely to get funds than a short, fat, dark woman with a heavy Indian accent. This is true of…
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Articles
The Transformation Of King Ashoka and Bill Gates
Published on 25th July, 2020, in the Economic Times. Stories of transformation are very impressive. Let’s take the example of Ashoka. Ashoka was a Mauryan prince who, 2300 years ago, killed his brothers to become the king of Pataliputra. He established a great empire through violence. He used brutal force to suppress all those who…
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Articles
India’s Tribal Mythologies
Published on 3rd May, 2020, in Mid-day When speaking of Indian mythology, the focus is on the stories, symbols and rituals of major religions such as Buddhism, Jainism and Hinduism. We ignore the mythologies of the various tribal communities of India, who have lived in the subcontinent long before the arrival of Aryan migrants. Their…
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Articles
A Pair Of Goddesses
Published on 9th February, 2020, in Mid-day Across India, there are many temples where the goddess is worshipped as a pair of women. In Nainital, Uttarakhand, we find the temple of Nanda and Sunanda Devi. At this temple, we find the goddess worshipped as a pair—Nanda and Sunanda. In Gujarat, we find the temple of…
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Books
Hindi : How to Become Rich
Translation of How to Become Rich: 12 Lessons I Learnt from Vedic and Puranic Stories…
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Articles
Ancient incest in the sky
In the Vedas, long before people knew about gods such as Shiva, Vishnu and Brahma, there was a story of how the god of heaven committed incest with the goddess of dawn, his daughter…
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Articles
Men and women in Hindu mythology
God cannot exist without Goddess. Goddess cannot exist without God. Indian author Devdutt Pattanaik sheds light on Hindu mythology…
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Articles
About Indigenous People, Invaders and Immigrants
Published on 13th July, 2018, in The Economic Times. In Canada the indigenous people reject the scientific study that says that Asians entered America via the Bering Straight over 10,000 years ago and populated the land because by this account they become immigrants to the land and therefore, have no special claim over the land…
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Articles
8 stories about Lord Krishna you have never heard before
In his new book, Shyam, mythologist Devdutt Pattanaik finally puts together the whole story of Krishna. What you will read below is not an excerpt from the book, but eight things that Devdutt himself learned about one of Hinduism’s most popular gods…
