Mythologist | Author | Speaker | Illustrator
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Articles
Bandra Mythology
Published on 29th January, 2023, in Mid-day. There was a Marathi film based on caste. The songs were catchy; they set the dance floor on fire. But it was a gut-wrenching romance that ended with honour killing. Despite its dark theme, it was a super hit, so successful that it had to be turned into…
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Articles
Why Goan Hinduism Is Unique in India?
Published on 18th November, 2022, in Times of India. Goa is a sliver of land between the Western ghats and the sea, divided by rivers opening up to estuaries, much like Kerala, visited by sea traders for the past 4,000 years. Goan Hinduism is unique in India. The village structure that the Portuguese encountered five…
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Articles
How a ‘Ram Rajya’ Was Established In South
Published on 27th August, 2022, in Times of India. About 700 years ago, on the banks of Tungabhadra, in Karnataka, as per legend, two brothers known as Harihara and Bukka, saw hares turning around and attacking hunting hounds. They realised that land was special – a place of resistance. So they decided to build a…
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Articles
History of Bharat in Seven Days
Published on 10th July, 2022, in Mid-day. When you compress India’s history to one week, we gain a rather delightful perspective of our past. Indian history from Harappan times till today is approximately 5,000 years, so each day of the week is approximately a period of 700 years. On Sunday, in Northwest India, farming appears.…
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Articles
From Shrinathji to Jagannath: How Krishna Avatars Change Across India.
Published on 29th January, 2022, in Times of India. Five hundred years ago, when the Mughals ruled north India, there was an explosion of Bhakti poetry across India. From north to south, people expressed their devotion to different forms of god using emotionally charged language. One of these forms of God was that of Krishna.…
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Books
Marathi: Dharma Artha Kama Moksha
Translation of Dharma Artha Kama Moksha : 40 Insights for Happiness Artha-shastra is about generating food, i.e. wealth, by creating goods and services; Kama-shastra is about indulging our hungers with this food. Dharma-shastra insists we consider the hunger of others, while Moksha-shastra is about outgrowing our hungers, in order to be detached and generous. Together, these…
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Books
Marathi: Pilgrim Nation
Translation of Pilgrim Nation: The Making of Bharatvarsh राष्ट्रवादी आणि देशभक्त यांच्याही पूर्वीच्या, वसाहतवादी आणि घुसखोर यांच्याही पूर्वीच्या, सम्राट आणि राजे यांच्याही पूर्वीच्या अशा भारताचे ‘वस्त्र’ तीर्थयात्रेच्या मार्गरूपी धाग्यांनी विणले गेले होते. आत्मज्ञानाच्या शोधार्थ बाहेर पडलेले साधक आणि ऋषिमुनी उत्तर-दक्षिण, पूर्व-पश्चिम असे पर्वत ओलांडून, नद्यांच्या काठाकाठाने कृत्रिम सीमांकडे दुर्लक्ष करत देवाच्या शोधार्थ फिरायचे. विख्यात पौराणिक-कथाकार…
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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
Does Hindu Meal Include Dalit Food?
Published on 28th December, 2020, in Mid-day. Have you been offered Hindu meals on flights? What is it? North Indian food, or South Indian? Does it include Dalit food? What is Dalit food? The word “Dalit” homogenises hundreds of communities that are listed as Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes. Some North Eastern restaurants do try…
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Books
Marathi: Shyam
Translated version of Shyam: An Illustrated Retelling of the Bhagavata भागवत म्हणजे कृष्णकथा. कृष्णाच्या काळ्यासावळ्या वर्णामध्ये ज्यांना सौंदर्य, चातुर्य आणि प्रेम दिसतं त्यांच्यासाठी तो श्याम आहे. श्याम प्रेम आणि कर्तव्य यात संतुलन साधणारा कर्तव्यदक्ष प्रेमी आहे. या पुस्तकात देवदत्त पट्टनायकांनी श्रीकृष्णाचं बहुआयामी आणि काहीसं गूढ व अतिशय सुंदर रीतीनं उलगडून दाखवलं आहे. या पुस्तकात…
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Books
Marathi: My Hanuman Chalisa
Translated version of My Hanuman Chalisa Every time we experience negativity in the world and within ourselves, every time we encounter jealousy, rage and frustration, manifesting as violation and violence, we hear, or read, the Hanuman Chalisa. Composed over four hundred years ago by Tulsidas, its simple words in Awadhi, a dialect of Hindi and…
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Books
Marathi: The Pregnant King
Translated version of The Pregnant King महाभारतात युवानाश्वाचा उल्लेख आहे, जो निपुत्रिक आहे आणि त्याच्या पत्नीसाठी, ती गर्भवती व्हावी म्हणून तयार केलेले जादुई औषध अपघाताने तो स्वतःच प्राशन करतो आणि एका पुत्राला जन्म देतो. देवदत्त पट्टनायक यांची ‘गर्भवान राजा’ ही पहिलीच कल्पित कादंबरी या अद्भुत पेचाची कहाणी सांगतानाच; प्रिय मित्राची पत्नी होण्यासाठी आपले पुरुषी…
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Books
Marathi : Myth = Mithya
Translation of Myth = Mithya: A Handbook of Hindu Mythology Hindus have one God. They also have 330 million gods: male gods, female gods, personal gods, family gods, household gods, village gods, gods of space and time, gods for specific castes and particular professions, gods who reside in trees, in animals, in minerals, in…
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Books
Marathi : My Gita
Translated version of My Gita In a world that seems spellbound by argument over dialogue, vivaad over samvaad, Devdutt highlights how Krishna nudges Arjuna to understand rather than judge his relationships. This becomes relevant today when we are increasingly indulging and isolating the self (selfimprovement, selfactualization, selfrealization–even selfies!).We forget that we live in an…
