By Dr. Devdutt Pattanaik – Author, Speaker, Illustrator, Mythologist The Chamundeshwari Temple in Mysore used to receive a Salam Aarti, which is believed to have been instituted by Tipu Sultan. Now it has been renamed as the Namaskara Aarti, as part of the growing wave of anti-Muslim sentiment across the country. It’s tit-for-tat politics. In…
Kumbh Mela is more about ‘Shakti’ than ‘Moksha’
February 6, 2025By Dr. Devdutt Pattanaik – Author, Speaker, Illustrator, Mythologist Kumbh Mela reveals a side of Hinduism that is often not talked about. There are no temples, no gods, no devotion, no songs, no saints. It is primarily a ritual, dominated by boisterous masculine energy embodied in naked ascetics (digambara), covered with ash (bhabhut), with matted…
In the Lion’s Royal Shadow
January 9, 2025By Dr. Devdutt Pattanaik – Author, Speaker, Illustrator, Mythologist Lions have long been symbols of royalty across the world. In India, kings sat on lion thrones (simha-asana) and Durga, the patron goddess of royal households, is shown riding into battle on a lion. Uniquely, in our country, lions are also linked with ascetics and their…
The Yugas Came Later
January 2, 2025Dr. Devdutt Pattanaik – Author, Speaker, Illustrator, Mythologist The four yugas of Hindu mythology (Krita, Treta, Dvapara, Kali) are based on the numbers on traditional four-sided dice: four, three, two, one. They refer to the four legs of the bull of dharma. In the ideal age, the bull stands on four legs, in the age…
A King called Trishanku
December 12, 2024By Dr. Devdutt Pattanaik – Author, Speaker, Illustrator, Mythologist Once upon a time, there was a king called Trishanku who wanted access to Swarga, the paradise of the gods, located in the sky. But unfortunately, he was not good enough. Different versions give us different reasons: that he had committed adultery, that he had consumed…
Recognising Hanuman
December 5, 2024Dr. Devdutt Pattanaik – Author, Speaker, Illustrator, Mythologist As per Hindu lore, to make the Veda accessible to women and ‘lowerʼ castes, the sages told stories — the Fifth Veda. The Fifth Veda includes Mahabharata, Ramayana and the vast corpus of Puranas. In Ramayana, there are two Vedic scholars, experts in Sanskrit. The first is…
Decoding Mythology: Feet of Fortune
November 28, 2024It is a practice mostly seen in South Indian Vishnu temples. After the devotee pays obeisance to the deity (darshan), the priest places a crown on his head. But it is not quite a crown. On top are the footprints of the deity. Since the devotee cannot enter the sanctum sanctorum, which is kept ritually…
Unfaithful wives across seas
March 21, 2024By Dr. Devdutt Pattanaik – Author, Speaker, Illustrator, Mythologist For nearly 2,000 years, Arab traders used the monsoon winds to travel across the sea to India. Along the Western coasts, in Kerala, Karnataka and Goa, they met people who allowed them to marry their daughters, but did not let them take these wives back home….
Sita’s three sons
February 1, 2024By Dr. Devdutt Pattanaik – Author, Speaker, Illustrator, Mythologist In the popular understanding of Ramayana, Sita gave birth to twins Luv and Kush who challenged their father and defeated him in battle and restored the dignity of Sita. However, in the many re-tellings of Ramayana found across the world, we learn Sita delivered only one…
The God who sprouted hair
January 25, 2024By Dr. Devdutt Pattanaik – Author, Speaker, Illustrator, Mythologist A king would visit the temple every morning to receive flowers offered to the deity at dawn, when the temple doors opened. But one day, the priest was so busy enjoying the company of the temple dancer that he forgot to perform the morning rituals. When…
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