By Dr. Devdutt Pattanaik – Author, Speaker, Illustrator, Mythologist Swarga or paradise of the gods, full of wish-fulfilling trees, damsels and musicians, is described in Buddhist and Jain mythologies, not just Hindu mythology. When Buddha attains nirvana, he first travels to the heaven of 33 gods where he meets his mother (reborn as a god)…

By Dr. Devdutt Pattanaik – Author, Speaker, Illustrator, Mythologist In Hindu mythology, during the battle between the devas and asuras, the guru of the asuras, Shukracharya, is about to use Sanjeevini Vidya to resurrect all dead asuras. To prevent this from happening, the gods beg Shiva to help. Shiva swallows Shukracharya and keeps him in…

By Dr. Devdutt Pattanaik – Author, Speaker, Illustrator, Mythologist Jainism thrived in the western part of India, along Gujarat coast, around 10th century CE. While Jains thrived amongst merchants, Hindus thrived amongst kings who controlled the agricultural economy. This avoided conflict. However, over time the two became rivals, competing for positions in the royal courts….

By Dr. Devdutt Pattanaik – Author, Speaker, Illustrator, Mythologist Hinduism can be divided into three major eras. Veda dominated 3,000 years ago, Vedanga dominated 2,000 years ago and Vedanta became central 1,000 years ago. These are approximations of course, but a good rule-of-thumb to remember Hindu history. The Veda refers to a set of mantras…

By Dr. Devdutt Pattanaik – Author, Speaker, Illustrator, Mythologist In the famous mini-series, Game of Thrones, everyone loved the queen Daenerys Targaryen who was the mother of dragons. She rode these amazing creatures and watching her fly made everyone feel powerful. If you upset this queen, she could get her dragons to release fire and…

By Dr. Devdutt Pattanaik – Author, Speaker, Illustrator, Mythologist Once Vishnu and Laxmi had a quarrel. Laxmi left Vaikuntha in a huff and came down to earth. Vishnu followed her and tried coaxing her to return, but she refused. So, Vishnu decided to remain on earth, until he could convince her to return. He looked…

By Dr. Devdutt Pattanaik – Author, Speaker, Illustrator, Mythologist The images of Puranic gods only started appearing on cave and temple walls after the 5th Century AD. We find such images in Odisha, Karnataka, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu, and among these are images of fierce goddesses. The most popular of these shows a goddess riding…

By Dr. Devdutt Pattanaik – Author, Speaker, Illustrator, Mythologist Of the thousand songs in the Rigveda, we find 200 songs praising Agni. In fact, the first song of the Rigveda is a praise to Agni, who is called the priest and messenger of the gods. Agni must be placed in the eastern direction and it…

Dr. Devdutt Pattanaik – Author, Speaker, Illustrator, Mythologist In Gujarat, there is a river called Saraswati that originates in the Aravalli mountains and runs for 350 kms. In Uttarakhand, there is another Saraswati river that is a tributary of the Alakananda that joins the river near Badrinath. There is another Saraswati river that flows through…

By Dr. Devdutt Pattanaik – Author, Speaker, Illustrator, Mythologist No conversation about Harappans and Aryans is now complete without discussing the Oxus civilisation. Cities of the Oxus civilisation, in what is now Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, traded with cities of the Harappan civilisation to their south, until Harappan cities ceased to exist by 1900 BCE. They…