Tag: Mahabharata

The heritage of ancient India

The Draupadi Dream Trust founded and chaired by Neera Misra of Kampilya-Panchali’s birthplace organised the first Indraprastha Festival in November 2016 to highlight the need for recovering and showcasing evidence of this millennia old city. Besides a performance of the Indonesian “Wayang Kulit” depicting how Indraprastha was built according to the legend in Bali, an...

November 19, 2017

Deconstructing key women characters in Ramayana and Mahabharata

The idea is to question one’s innermost desire and believe in ourselves as women, says Sunaina Bhalla on her work.

November 13, 2017

In the festive spirit

The season of Autumn and the months of October -November, brings to us another much celebrated festival in North India, the Chhath Puja. It is the festival of the sixth day of the Bengali month Kartik (October-November) when Hindus worship the Sun god or the God of light. There are also many mythological stories revolving...

October 26, 2017

Ancillary stories in the Mahabharata

Hiltebeitel’s devoted shishya Adluri and his chela Bagchee have edited a superb collection of papers by 12 Mahabharata (MB) scholars with Hiltebeitel at both ends. The theme is his proposition that “sub-tales” are not fringe episodes but are central to the MB’s architectonics. Goldman’s Foreword notes that thematic proximity characterises these stories. Adluri’s fine Introduction...

October 15, 2017

Love and loss in vanished times

Both Indonesia and India share the Mahabharataas a common text, but with differences. The Amba episode in India results in the creation of the first epic transgender Shikhandi whose task is to kill the man who ruined her life. Bhisma remains the common target for revenge, but in the Indonesian text, Amba remains a woman...

September 10, 2017

Village with Mahabharata connection re-named ‘Pandu Pindara’

Haryana Government has decided to change the name of village ‘Pindari’ in district Jind to ‘Pandu Pindara’. An official spokesman said that Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar has approved a proposal in this regard. He said that the gram panchayat of Pindari had requested that the name of the village is famous as ‘Pandu Pindara’....

August 31, 2017

Ahimsa in the most violent of epics

Hiltebeitel has been keenly interested in parts of the Mahabharata (MB) usually considered tedious philosophical discourses added in later times. The discovery of the Spitzer manuscript in the Qizil caves of Xinjiang (circa 100-300 BCE) in Brahmi listing the parvas of the MB (except Anushasana and possibly Virata) indicate that Shanti Parva was then part...

August 20, 2017

Celebrating togetherness

Knot of protection Raksha Bandhan or simply termed as ‘Rakhi’ is one of those rituals, full of myths and beliefs and is celebrated all over India with great zeal and fervour. It is the highlight of eternal love. On the full moon of Sravana (June – July) the festival marks the bright light of togetherness...

August 3, 2017

Teachings from the past

Ethics are moral principles that govern the behaviour of a person and prove whether he or she is human in the truest sense. In spite of being more civilised as compared to ancient times, the ethos of epics seems to have much more morality than some of us. This article discusses one of the greatest...

July 26, 2017

A result of meticulous research

He has been likened to the mythical Abhimanyu of the Mahabharata, who was trapped in a sinister plot by the Kauravas, and like John Galt, the protagonist of Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged. Jignesh Shah, chairman, Financial Technologies India Limited, like Galt, celebrated the idea of innovation. “Both fought against the system and paid a heavy...

June 10, 2017

PIL against Kamal Haasan for comments on Mahabharata

Film actor Kamal Haasan is in trouble again with his allegedly derogatory remarks on the Hindu epic Mahabharata. A Public Interest Litigation (PIL) has been filed against Haasan in the Tirunelveli District Court by members of the Hindu Makkal Katchi for allegedly hurting Hindu sentiments. During an interview to a Tamil channel recently Haasan expressed...

March 21, 2017