By Dr. Devdutt Pattanaik – Author, Speaker, Illustrator, Mythologist In a typical Hindu temple, we do not find just one image. We find multiple images. For many people, unfamiliar with Hindu tradition, this looks like polytheism. But for Hindus, these are various manifestations or expressions of the same divine principle. Broadly there are three categories…

By Dr. Devdutt Pattanaik – Author, Speaker, Illustrator, Mythologist As a child in Mumbai, I watched Rajan Uncle perform Chakyar Kootu. My parents were economic migrants from Odisha. My neighbours were from Maharashtra, Kerala and Tamil Nadu. And we got to see cultural performances that no one in Odisha or Maharashtra, would have had access…

By Dr. Devdutt Pattanaik – Author, Speaker, Illustrator, Mythologist 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…

By Dr. Devdutt Pattanaik – Author, Speaker, Illustrator, Mythologist Harappan civilisation, which thrived over 4,000 years ago, had seals of as-yet-unidentified Goddesses emerging from trees and Goddesses riding tigers. Vedic religion that thrived 3,000 years ago, however, was primarily a masculine religion dominated by worship of Indra, Varuna, Agni and Soma, even Prajapati. Goddesses play…

By Dr. Devdutt Pattanaik Hindutva historians insist that the Harappan cities, that thrived 4,500 years ago across Punjab, Sindh, Rajasthan and Gujarat were full of Aryas chanting Vedic hymns and pouring ghee in fire altars made of brick. These convoluted theories have not been accepted in any peer reviewed international journal — but this is…

By Dr. Devdutt Pattanaik – Author, Speaker, Illustrator, Mythologist In Hinduism, the Markandeya Purana is one of the oldest puranas, roughly 1,700-years- old. It is special because it contains the earliest reference to the Devi Bhagavata story in which Durga defeats the buffalo-demon Mahishasura. This reference though is only 1,300-years-old, so it must be a…

By Dr. Devdutt Pattanaik – Author, Speaker, Illustrator, Mythologist When we read stories of Shiva, there is a constant reference to how he is forced to marry and produce his children, Kartikeya and Ganesha. When Shiva gets married, he comes down from the mountain Kailasa, which is cold, where no vegetation grows. He descends with…

By Dr. Devdutt Pattanaik – Author, Speaker, Illustrator, Mythologist Persia refers to countries now known as Iran and Iraq. In ancient days, Iraq was called Mesopotamia, the fertile river crescent where one of the first civilisations was built around farming. Because of the repeated flooding, the gods were seen as capricious, making the lives of…

Dr. Devdutt Pattanaik – Author, Speaker, Illustrator, Mythologist Everybody sees the world through a frame of reference. No one, but the Gods, perhaps, have the full picture. Fate, free will, God — three frames of references that have sustained cultures for centuries; references that can never be proved or disproved; they have to be believed….