By Dr. Devdutt Pattanaik – Author, Speaker, Illustrator, Mythologist Elections are a time to express desire, while the time in between is to face our destiny. For the arrow of our desire creates the noose of our destiny. In Hindu mythology, desire and destiny are the two principles governing all life. Desire propels action; action…

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 In Hindu astronomy, the sky is divided into 28 parts or nakshatras, based on 28 different constellations, one of which is supposed to have disappeared so effectively that there remain only 27. These constellations or houses are visualised as Goddesses. It is said that the Moon…

By Dr. Devdutt Pattanaik – Author, Speaker, Illustrator, Mythologist Draw a square on a piece of paper. Now draw another square over this square, rotating it at a 90-degree angle. You will get an eight-pointed star, pointing to the four cardinal and four ordinal directions. In tantric yantras, this represents the Lotus, which simultaneously symbolises…

By Dr. Devdutt Pattanaik – Author, Speaker, Illustrator, Mythologist Whenever archaeologists uncover a site of human habitation, they invariably come upon artifacts and monuments that are neither simply utilitarian nor merely aesthetic. These include ritual objects and structures such as charms, talismans, sacrificial altars, temples and tombs. They make little sense to the outsider, but…

By Dr. Devdutt Pattanaik – Author, Speaker, Illustrator, Mythologist When one speaks of Krishna, one usually speaks of North Indian traditions of Surdas and Mirabai, or South Indian traditions of Andal and the Alwars. Chaitanya Mahaprabhu dominates eastern traditions of Krishna, just as Vallabhacharya and Dyaneshwara dominate the Western traditions. But we rarely pay attention…

By Dr. Devdutt Pattanaik – Author, Speaker, Illustrator, Mythologist In the Ramayana, when Dashrath asks his son, Ram, to go into exile and Ram obeys, one wonders what is Ram’s motivation. Is he obeying his father? Or is he taking an action that ensures that the integrity of the royal family is never questioned? In…