By Dr. Devdutt Pattanaik – Author, Speaker, Illustrator, Mythologist In the month of Shravan, many people visit Shiva temples, especially on Mondays. Pouring water on the Shivalinga is seen as an act of piety. Water is carried from rivers. The pot with the water is never placed on the ground until water has been poured…

By Dr. Devdutt Pattanaik – Author, Speaker, Illustrator, Mythologist The Tamil poet-saint Andal is identified by the parrot in her hand. The bird is the symbol of Kama, the god of love, lust and sensuality. The same god who in Buddhist works is called Mara, the enemy of Buddha. The same god who is burnt…

By Dr. Devdutt Pattanaik – Author, Speaker, Illustrator, Mythologist The Chamundeshwari Temple in Mysore used to receive a Salam Aarti, which is believed to have been instituted by Tipu Sultan. Now it has been renamed as the Namaskara Aarti, as part of the growing wave of anti-Muslim sentiment across the country. It’s tit-for-tat politics. In…

By Dr. Devdutt Pattanaik – Author, Speaker, Illustrator, Mythologist Kumbh Mela reveals a side of Hinduism that is often not talked about. There are no temples, no gods, no devotion, no songs, no saints. It is primarily a ritual, dominated by boisterous masculine energy embodied in naked ascetics (digambara), covered with ash (bhabhut), with matted…

By Dr. Devdutt Pattanaik – Author, Speaker, Illustrator, Mythologist Lions have long been symbols of royalty across the world. In India, kings sat on lion thrones (simha-asana) and Durga, the patron goddess of royal households, is shown riding into battle on a lion. Uniquely, in our country, lions are also linked with ascetics and their…

Dr. Devdutt Pattanaik – Author, Speaker, Illustrator, Mythologist The four yugas of Hindu mythology (Krita, Treta, Dvapara, Kali) are based on the numbers on traditional four-sided dice: four, three, two, one. They refer to the four legs of the bull of dharma. In the ideal age, the bull stands on four legs, in the age…

By Dr. Devdutt Pattanaik – Author, Speaker, Illustrator, Mythologist Once upon a time, there was a king called Trishanku who wanted access to Swarga, the paradise of the gods, located in the sky. But unfortunately, he was not good enough. Different versions give us different reasons: that he had committed adultery, that he had consumed…

By Dr. Devdutt Pattanaik – Author, Speaker, Illustrator, Mythologist For nearly 2,000 years, Arab traders used the monsoon winds to travel across the sea to India. Along the Western coasts, in Kerala, Karnataka and Goa, they met people who allowed them to marry their daughters, but did not let them take these wives back home….

By Dr. Devdutt Pattanaik – Author, Speaker, Illustrator, Mythologist In the popular understanding of Ramayana, Sita gave birth to twins Luv and Kush who challenged their father and defeated him in battle and restored the dignity of Sita. However, in the many re-tellings of Ramayana found across the world, we learn Sita delivered only one…