By Dr. Devdutt Pattanaik – Author, Speaker, Illustrator, Mythologist In popular lore, Lakshmi and Saraswati hate each other. Where there is fortune, there is no respect for education, and where there is education, there is no value for wealth. The courtesan’s house was the only place where the two lived together: she was well versed…

By Dr. Devdutt Pattanaik – Author, Speaker, Illustrator, Mythologist This is a story of two fat, Buddhist monks. One story comes from China and the other comes from Thailand. Many people link them with the Buddha, but they come from various local traditions that were absorbed into Buddhism. The first is the popular Laughing Buddha….

By Dr. Devdutt Pattanaik – Author, Speaker, Illustrator, Mythologist In ancient India, the village fields did not belong to any single person. There was no concept of individual land holdings. The entire land of the village belonged to the village community. Therefore, the village was dedicated to a Goddess. She was said to be the…

By Dr. Devdutt Pattanaik The Middle East includes Mesopotamia (Iraq), the area watered by the Euphrates and Tigris. To its East is Persia (Iran); to its South is Arabia; to the West is Levant (Near East); and to the North is Anatolia (Turkey). Egypt is also included in the Middle East due to close cultural…

By Dr. Devdutt Pattanaik – Author, Speaker, Illustrator, Mythologist Krishna was raised by cowherds and then he moved from Vrindavan to Mathura and thence to Dwarka, where he married many women, often Princesses from surrounding kingdoms. But his status in the Yadava clan was ensured by his marriage to Satyabhama, daughter of the richest Yadava…

By Dr. Devdutt Pattanaik – Author, Speaker, Illustrator, Mythologist In Vedic mythology we hear how the Ashwin Kumars were unsuitable Gods, not allowed to partake the Soma offering. To get the offering, they approached Dadichi, who said that if he chanted the verses, then his head would split into a thousand pieces. So, the Ashwins…

By Dr. Devdutt Pattanaik – Author, Speaker, Illustrator, Mythologist In Egyptian, Persian, Assyrian and Sumerian imagery, kings are often shown hunting lions and defeating them with their bows to establish their power. Images of the epic hero Gilgamesh often show him holding a lion firmly, as if it were a cat. That image establishes his…

By Dr. Devdutt Pattanaik – Author, Speaker, Illustrator, Mythologist The Chaturmukha Vishnu is a very rare form of Vishnu once worshipped in Kashmir from the 8th and 9th century, when it was an important centre of Hinduism. The image shows Vishnu with four heads. Three clear faces are those of Vishnu, the Narasimha or the…

By Dr. Devdutt Pattanaik – Author, Speaker, Illustrator, Mythologist Between the 5th and 10th century C.E., we find the development of Puranic literature. Many stories explained the relationships of Vishnu’s many avatars. One story that merits attention is the story of Pradyumna, the son of Krishna and Rukmini. The story is told very differently in…