By Dr. Devdutt Pattanaik – Author, Speaker, Illustrator, Mythologist Historians say that Islam started 1,400 years ago, with the rise of the Prophet Muhammad. However, Muslims will say that Islam started when Allah created the world and gave his laws to the first Prophet, Adam. Prophet Muhammad is the last of the long list of…
Dharma in the forest
April 28, 2017By Dr. Devdutt Pattanaik – Author, Speaker, Illustrator, Mythologist In the beginning was the forest. Humans domesticated the forest to create culture, a space where they could feel secure. However, as societies around the world are becoming unsafe for immigrants, travellers, minorities, women and queer people, it is time to ask ourselves what is culture?…
Who made God Perfect?
March 30, 2017By Dr. Devdutt Pattanaik – Author, Speaker, Illustrator, Mythologist I recently heard an Odia song where Lakshmi and Parvati tease each other by mocking each other’s husbands. Lakshmi wonders about the health of Shiva’s mount, Nandi, who she describes as an old weak bull. Parvati retorts by describing Vishnu as a cowherd who should know…
What is the opposite of intellectual?
March 23, 2017By Dr. Devdutt Pattanaik – Author, Speaker, Illustrator, Mythologist Globally, we are seeing a wave against intellectuals, those whose rationality overthrew the priests of yore, who saw the world through a mathematical prism, and sought to create a fair and just society by redistribution of wealth and power, using logic. In Vedic theory, one can…
Classifying Jati
March 16, 2017By Dr. Devdutt Pattanaik -Author, Speaker, Illustrator, Mythologist For thousands of years, Indians have followed the jati system. By this system, your birth determines your vocation, hence your status in society, and only members of your jati will share food (roti, in Hindi) with you and give their daughters (beti) to marry into your household. This…
So many mothers, and tongues
March 2, 2017By Dr. Devdutt Pattanaik -Author, Speaker, Illustrator, Mythologist The devas were threatened, as usual, by the rise of yet another asura. This time it was Taraka, and he was exceptionally powerful. He had declared that only a six-day-old child could kill him. The devas wondered who could father such a powerful child and they concluded it…
Last hymn of the Rig Veda
February 23, 2017By Dr. Devdutt Pattanaik – Author, Speaker, Illustrator, Mythologist The Rig Veda has over a thousand hymns (sukta) that are arranged in ten chapters (mandala). The first and the tenth mandalas have precisely 191 hymns, indicating that the arrangement of hymns is not random, but deliberate. This organisation of hymns is attributed to Vyasa. Internal…
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