By Dr. Devdutt Pattanaik – Author, Speaker, Illustrator, Mythologist As per scientists, the world began 13 billion years ago with the Big Bang. Earth came into being about 5 billion years ago. And about 4 billion years ago, life emerged on Earth. What we mean by ‘life’ is the appearance of sentience, the appearance of…

By Dr. Devdutt Pattanaik – Author, Speaker, Illustrator, Mythologist If you travel to Cambodia, you will come across a folklore that a sage from India known as Kaundinya travelled across the sea to what is now called Cambodia, where he encountered a Naga princess, who fell in love with him. She happened to be the…

By Dr. Devdutt Pattanaik – Author, Speaker, Illustrator, Mythologist In the State of Chhattisgarh, in Khapri village  of Durg district, there is a temple dedicated to a dog. It is called Kukur Dev. The story goes that there was once a banjara (gypsy) who had a dog. During a famine, he had no money, so…

By Dr. Devdutt Pattanaik – Author, Speaker, Illustrator, Mythologist Notre Dame means Our Lady in French. Though popular as a name for the most famous Parisian Church, which recently caught fire, it refers generally to Mary, Mother of Jesus, who plays an important role in Catholic mythology and in medieval European history. The New Testament…

By Dr. Devdutt Pattanaik – Author, Speaker, Illustrator, Mythologist When one faces the rising Sun, the back faces the West, the Left hand represents the Northern side and the Right hand represents the Southern side. In Hindu mythology, the left hand is called the Vama-patha or the path of the left hand, which is associated…

By Dr. Devdutt Pattanaik – Author, Speaker, Illustrator, Mythologist In traditional Hindu society, dogs are considered inauspicious. This is most evident in dharma shastras, which were put together about 2,000 years ago. Dogs were associated with death, as well as with pollution and, therefore, belonged to the periphery of society. Dog-eater was a common way…

By Dr. Devdutt Pattanaik – Author, Speaker, Illustrator, Mythologist To understand Hindu mythology, it is critical to understand the metaphor of forests. Forests represent the default wild world, where might is right, where strong prey on the weak; while culture represents the world, where the forest has been domesticated, where might is no longer right,…