Mythologist | Author | Speaker | Illustrator
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Articles
Misunderstanding Saraswati
In social sciences, the study of Lakshmi becomes economics and study of Durga becomes politics. The study of Saraswati becomes philosophy…
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Articles
The hermits of Samanar Hills
Devdutt Pattanaik hikes up a hill in Madurai to map its height in 2,500 years of Jain history in Tamil Nadu…
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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
Virgin Mary in Vailankanni
At her shrine in Vailankanni, Tamil Nadu, devotees bow to her, stretch out their hands and crawl to her shrine to express their devotion and faith…
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Articles
Ramayana in OLPS
Do the corruption, cynicism and rage of elders eventually seep into stories we tell our children? Do we now edit stories to make them more politically correct? Is there now a censor board monitoring school plays too?…
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Articles
The Queer in Ramcharitmanas
‘Purush napunsaka nari va jiva charachara koi, sarva bhaav bhaja kapat taji mohi param priya soi.’…
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Articles
Leveraging the Aryans
The theories of how the ‘Aryan race’ is leveraged to explain various social phenomena…
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Articles
Holy cow, unholy violence
The cow has been converted aggressively into a symbol for a religious orthodoxy demanding its place in a secular nation state…
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Articles
A Classical Language
Languages are like rivers, transforming and changing as they enter new terrain, mingling and merging like tributaries, and breaking out as branches…
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Articles
On Stories we Tell
Humans tell stories, because we need to. They tell us who we are in this world by giving the world a structure. Stories transform us into heroes, villains, victims and martyrs…
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Articles
Ramayana when it Rains
In Kerala, the traditional month of Karkidakam that falls in July-August is associated with heavy rains. It used to once be a time of scarcity, wetness and disease. There was no work in the fields and staying at home doing nothing meant boredom and quarrels for no reason. To cope with this, people began reading…
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Articles
Is he fresh ? (Kaula hai ?)
Mercifully, sometimes, a perceived flaw is a blessing in disguise. (A fictional short story)…
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Articles
The song of the crow
The search for the answer to that most eternal of all questions “why ?!”…
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Articles
Different Expressions
Sometimes,it is not so much about what is being communicated, as it is about how it is done so !…
