Names, Places, Events, Things: Ruminations and Essays on Hindu Mythology

While the world is under siege, and peering into an abyss of uncertainty; and while I am, like most of us, working on finishing a whole lot of backlog activities pending for ages (now that we have some time at hand); I also decided to come back to some of the activities that are quite dear to me but for which I usually find precious little time. Right on top of these is the act of storytelling, and so here we are, with one more story post on this blog after a really, really long hiatus. The day of Mahashivratri for this year has just passed a couple of weeks ago, an occasion which is celebrated in Nepal and India and some neighboring countries with a lot of fanfare. I managed to see the crowds gathering at Pashupatinath temple in Kathmandu for the festival this year, and the scale of festivities is like on other in that little hill nation. This post is about the reasons of celebrating Mahashivratri , and the myths surrounding them. We will leave the metaphysical aspects o...

Several stories in the Indian Mythology appear in several places and in disjoint forms, often contradicting each other. This creates further confusion in the minds of the reader, if there are any readers in this time and age, and further alienates these wonderful narratives from even the casually curious minds. It has been my endeavor here to try and put some of these stories and parables in simple, user-friendly language. I do not think it as a 'modern re-telling' - as it has become popular these days and quite lucrative too, if I can add ... but simply going over the stories that I know from childhood to have a fresh look. Today, the story I want to revisit is the well-known story of Shunashepa (शुनःशेप) , the poor boy who was sent for sacrifice by his own father in exchange of livelihood. Shunashepa literally means the 'tail of a dog'. There is no explanation that I am aware of that explains the etymology of this rather peculiar name. Anyway, the story begins wi...

Yama and Yami ---------------------- Yama is the Hindu God of Death - Mrityu . But unlike other cultures, religions etc. it is interesting that he has precious little in the overall mind-scape of a religious Hindu. The apathy is intriguing. He is not worshiped, which may be understood at some level. But he is not even feared or dreaded - unlike other cultures where Death has a great deal to do with the doctrine of fear or retribution. Yama is not an object of terror. Now how is that? There are hardly any temples of Yama - except a few in South India. At least you don't find one in the famous teerthas or clusters of temples. There are no specific rituals, or pujas assigned to him. Apart from Vata-Savitri that is usually followed in Maharashtra and South India, Yama does not come in the top-of-mind recall in terms of deities. And all this, in spite of his prominent role in the epic Mahabharata. Not only is the main protagonist - Yudhishthira Dharmaraja - Yama's son, th...

Recently, I was studying about the Third War of Panipat (1761) for some reason, in which the Maratha forces led by Sadashiv Bhau - Balaji Bajirao 'Nanasahab' Peshwa's cousin brother - and the Rohilla Afghan forces of Ahmed Shah Abdali fought a decisive battle to the worse of Marathas. This battle is considered to be one of the largest fought in the 18th century, and also perhaps had the largest number of casualties in a single (half) day of the battle - leading to a loss of almost 100,000 human lives. Personally, the battle has a lot of historical interest to me, as the course of Maratha history as well as the history of my country took a different turn on that fateful day. Among various reasons that historians attribute to the loss of Maratha side in this war - a much smaller force compared to the enemy and yet not following the Guerrilla tactics but meeting the enemy head-on, slow-moving camps carrying not only soldiers but also civilians, lack of a proper strategy thr...

While traveling in North India, we came across a temple at Gokul that has the idol of Balarama with his wife Revati . This seems to be the only temple to boast a joda (pair), and so I decided to write about this largely unknown wife of Balarama. Revati was the daughter to king Raivata , a mighty king who ruled the kingdom of Kushasthali and Anarta - the ancient name of Dwarka in Gujarat. Some accounts suggest that Kushasthali was a powerful and prosperous kingdom under sea - something like the Atlantis, while Anarta corresponds to the present-day North Kathiawad region of Gujarat state. Raivata, also called Kakudmi , was the last known ruler of the dynasty of Sharyatas , who claimed their descent from Sharyati, a son of Vikukshi, son of Ikshvaku (founder of the surya vamsa and ruler of Ayodhya), who in turn was the son of Vivasvan Manu, son of Surya. Sharyati had three sons: Uttanabarhi, Anarta, and Bhurisena. Raivata was the son of Revata, son of Anarta. It is said that R...

It so happened that by chance (or you can say by providence, depending on your inclination) that we took a short road trip to Mathura on the day of the Choti Teej - also called Hariyali Teej in North India. This festival is celebrated on the 3rd day of the Shukla paksh of Shravan month - and although not as grand and superflous as Badi Teej - which comes only 5 days before the largest festival in Mathura - Krishna Janmashtami, Choti Teej has its own charm. The weather at this time of the year is usually very pleasant, with the monsoons making the nortern plains look sparking green (hence the name - Hariyali Teej), and the people in the five villages of Brij - Mathura, Vrindavan, Govardhan, Barsana, and Gokul - especially Gokul - have a sparkle in their eyes in anticipation of festivities and also of good business during the times. Apparently a visit to this region is equivalent to a complete Char Dham yatra, since this is the root of the tree - a place where Lord Krishna spent his...