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, different facets of divinity expressed…

By Dr. Devdutt Pattanaik – Author, Speaker, Illustrator, Mythologist In early 19th century, in a society dominated by men, mostly wealthy landed Brahmins, and by the Colonial rulers of the land, a woman called Rani Rashmoni rose to be a successful business leader in Kolkata. She built the famous Dakshineshwar Temple where Swami Ramakrishna Paramahamsa,…

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…