Latest news with #DevduttPattanaik
Scroll.in
01-08-2025
- Entertainment
- Scroll.in
Scroll Adda: Why Devdutt Pattanaik thinks humans can't live without mythology
Play As a prolific mythologist with more than 60 books, Devdutt Pattanaik has single-handedly created a new genre of writing in India. His thoughtful commentaries on India's epics have allowed everyday people to think and reflect on their mythology. In this 1.5-hour conversation with Shoaib Daniyal, Pattanaik explains why Indians might have a genius for mythology and why we all live in mythos. Many rationalists merge the idea of myth and fiction but Pattanaik argues that both are very different. Myth can be thought of as an operating system for humans, he explains. Pattanaik says that he faced censure from Brahmins for writing about Hindu scriptures as a non-Brahmin. He also opens up about his own experiences of growing up gay and how that informed his view on mythology.
Time of India
21-07-2025
- Politics
- Time of India
What The Left Gets Wrong About Islamism
What The Left Gets Wrong About Islamism Devdutt Pattanaik Jul 21, 2025, 21:39 IST IST Activists who slam Islamophobia are silent on homophobia in some Islamic groups. But human rights are not a one-way street So Türkiye, a Muslim-majority secular nation, has banned Pride Parade since 2015, on religious and moral grounds. Hungary, a Christian-majority secular nation, tried banning Pride Parade this year, but millions of citizens turned out in protest at the Budapest Pride. In India, many cities from Mumbai and Kolkata to Lucknow and Vadodara saw Pride Parades, but permission was withdrawn in Amritsar following opposition of a Nihang Sikh organisation. Meanwhile, something interesting happened in Hamtramck, a small enclave north of Detroit, US. Once predominantly Polish, the Hamtramck council had worked hard to establish non-profits to feed, clothe and house Muslim immigrants from Yemen and Bangladesh, in the spirit of multiculturalism. In 2021, the city voted an all-Muslim council. In 2023, the council voted to ban the display of Pride Flag on city property. In 2025, the council refused to be part of the Pride marches. A lesbian, former councilwoman was shocked and outraged. She vented on X (formerly Twitter) about 'being stabbed in the back'. Her tweet went viral.
Indian Express
27-05-2025
- General
- Indian Express
Puri, halwa and dignity: Bhandaras offer a glimpse of the sacred, as well as food security
The annual celebration of Bada Mangal, which honours Lord Hanuman, is in full swing in Uttar Pradesh. The festivities take place on Tuesdays during the Hindu month of Jyeshtha, with the celebrations at the historic Hanuman temple in Aliganj, Lucknow, being most well-known. People gather to chant the Hanuman Chalisa, offer prayers, and take part in rituals. The temple is decorated beautifully, and the air feels charged with faith and celebration. There are many stories and local legends around the temple's origins, but what remains central is the spirit of harmony that defines the city. The festival reflects Lucknow's Ganga-Jamuni tehzeeb, a phrase that captures the city's long-standing tradition of coexistence between Hindu and Muslim communities. On Bada Mangal, the city comes alive with bhandaras, community feasts where people from all backgrounds participate, offering food, water, and goodwill. Prasad, sherbet, and water are distributed by volunteers, the simple offerings conveying the message that compassion, unity, and the deep-rooted belief that serving others is a form of worship in itself. For me, the most striking feature is the tradition of community feeding. Every religion has its own version of this, whether it's called a bhandara or langar. It is a way of seeking blessings, not directly from the divine, but through service to people. In India, food is not just an offering to the gods. Food is, in and of itself, divine. Food has long been equated with the goddess; as Devdutt Pattanaik writes, 'Food is Shakambari, born of Bhoo-devi, and served by Annapurni.' Ancient texts refer to 'Annam Brahma' or 'Annam Parabrahmaswaroopam'. Food doesn't just fill the stomach; it is an offering in the yagna of life. Without food, nothing exists. Even today, in many households, the kitchen remains a sacred space. Rituals continue, quietly, often without explanation. At the heart of the tradition of community feeding is a simple idea: Free food, served to anyone who walks in, without question. No one asks about your religion, caste, gender, or background. Last week, while travelling through Lucknow, Sitapur, Gonda, and Malihabad, I noticed the same pattern at every bhandara. It reminded me of what I've seen at various other community feasts in and around India, whether it's at Hazrat Nizamuddin Dargah, the Golden Temple in Amritsar, or even in homes during festivals or after rituals. The meal always began with something to cool the body, like a rose sharbat (often Rooh Afza). Sometimes, it was just cold water. Next is steamed rice, with subtle local variations depending on the place, followed by varieties of bread, puris or rotis. A seasonal vegetable, usually mixed with potatoes, comes after this, followed by dal, often chana dal or kali moong. The meal ends with a sweet: Halwa, sheera or boondi. This pattern is not random. There is an emphasis on hydration and satiation, through simple carbohydrates, fibre and sugar. The meal may not be fully balanced, but it is certainly comforting. It is also practical. These ingredients are inexpensive, easy to cook in bulk, and familiar to the palate. Boiling rice, simmering dal, frying puris, all of it scales easily to feed hundreds, even thousands. The staples remain the same. Rice, wheat, potatoes, lentils, sugar, and oil. They are accessible and affordable, but more importantly, they come together in a way that feels both humble and generous. There is no garnish, no show, and yet the plate carries a quiet dignity without sacrificing taste or nutritional balance. Bhandaras are not just a cultural tradition. They also act as a food safety net for those who cannot fend for themselves, the poor, the homeless, the ill, and the underprivileged. But their relevance goes far beyond that. In cities, these meals are equally important for those involved in physically gruelling labour: Rickshaw-pullers, daily wage labourers, delivery boys, people who spend their days on the road with little time or means to arrange a proper meal. You see this clearly outside hospitals, at dargahs, temples, gurdwaras, where people gather with hope and need in equal measure. For most, these community kitchens are not just about food. They are about something deeper. They hold up a kind of social fabric. They reinforce the idea that everyone deserves to eat. That service is not about charity. It is about dignity. Of course, food has become political in recent times, and community feasts too have not remained untouched. Despite this, one thing still holds true. These kitchens feed people without asking who they are, serving food without weighing the worth of the person in front of them. The writer is a chef and the author, most recently, of Masalamandi: A Guide to the World of Indian Spice Blends
Indian Express
09-05-2025
- General
- Indian Express
Cultural significance of elephant and horse
(The Indian Express has launched a new series of articles for UPSC aspirants written by seasoned writers and scholars on issues and concepts spanning History, Polity, International Relations, Art, Culture and Heritage, Environment, Geography, Science and Technology, and so on. Read and reflect with subject experts and boost your chance of cracking the much-coveted UPSC CSE. In the following article, Devdutt Pattanaik, a renowned writer who specialises in mythology and culture, explains the cultural significance of elephant and horse.) The elephant and the horse have played a major role in shaping Indian culture. The elephant is native to India; the horse is not. The elephant loves the hot tropical climate in India and thrives in the rich tropical forests, where it grazes for up to 16 hours a day. These wild animals posed great threats to early human settlements in the Gangetic regions and were trapped and domesticated. As domesticated animals, they helped create pathways through the forests, as a result of which the idea of an elephant god who removes obstacles emerged. Over time, the elephant became a magnificent animal, favoured by merchants as it could travel over mountains and even swim across rivers. It therefore became a major beast of burden and came to be associated with the goddess Lakshmi (first seen in railings of Buddhist stupa), even the later forms of Indra, and his guru, Brihaspati. The elephant was used by kings to create armies, as the elephant leader could lead his herd, destroy villages, and crush anyone who opposed him or refused to pay taxes and tributes. This made the elephant a royal animal, favoured by merchants and kings alike, and it became a symbol of power and prosperity in India. It was also the symbol of spirituality. Elephants of white colour, with many trunks and tusks, appeared in dreams of women who gave birth to great Buddhist and Jain sages. The problem is that the elephant cannot be bred in captivity, and therefore the wild elephant plays a key role in sustaining the supply of elephants in India. Every king in India has always seen the elephant as the royal animal. Even the Mughals, who came from Central Asia, used the elephant to proclaim their royal status, riding into battle on its back. From the Indian point of view, the elephant was the greatest war animal in the world, and a royal one. However, for outsiders, the elephant was a clumsy animal, difficult to control, and extremely dangerous when agitated — its movements could even kill its own troops. Seated on the elephant, the king became vulnerable to enemy missiles, and therefore it was not favoured by outsiders. Outsiders brought horses to India. The earliest horses were small and used to pull spoke-wheeled chariots. This horse is described in the Rig Veda, in Vedic literature, and in the Mahabharata and Ramayana. In the war with Ravana, Ram had no chariot, so Indra sent his horse-drawn chariot to him with Matali as the charioteer. In the Mahabharat, Krishna is Arjuna's charioteer. The archer and the charioteer on a horse-drawn spoke-wheel chariot was a military innovation from Eurasian grasslands that spread to Egypt, India and China after 1500 BC. Later, we see cavalry horses whose images appear in Sanchi and Bharhut. They came with Alexander's army, no doubt. What is interesting about these images is that there is no saddle or stirrup. There is a toe-stirrup, which was probably invented in India. The horse riders in the Sanchi and Bharhut images suggest the presence of Scythians, Parthians, Kushans, and even the Hunas, who dominated the war scene. While Surya, the sun-god is shown on a chariot, his son Revanta is shown riding a horse, going on a hunt. Both these gods were popular in present-day Rajasthan. The actual saddle and stirrup were invented around 300 AD in China and appeared in India with the Muslim warlords. The Turks and the Afghans came riding on wooden saddles with iron stirrups. This, along with archery skills gave them a military advantage. These horse-riders were the knights of the Sultanates and Mughal empire, enabling easy control of the countryside. Horse-breeding began in India only a thousand years ago, in the relatively dry lands of Gujarat, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Tibet and Punjab. This led to the rise of horse-riding hero-gods of India, such as Devnarayan, Tejaji, Pabuji and Goga Pir of Rajputs and Gujar communities, and Khandoba of Maratha. In the Uttarakhand region there is Golu-dev, and in Bengal, there is Dharma-thakur. In Tamil Nadu, terracotta horses are given to gods like Aiyanar. The horse-riding Kalki is an important part of Vaishnava theology. The horse-headed Vishnu is worshipped as Hayagriva, the source of knowledge, who defeats another horse-headed creature—a demon who had stolen the Vedas. The elephant-headed Ganesha is associated with prosperity and contentment and leads to Shiva. Meanwhile, in Tibetan areas and outside India, the elephant-headed Yaksha is seen as a demon who must be controlled because it is wild and difficult to manage. The horse and the elephant play a key role in establishing a new culture, which needs to be understood. In chess, we find the horse, the chariot and the elephant as critical to a king's power. This game was invented in India, the land of elephants, before it went to Europe via Arabs roughly around 600 AD. From the Indian point of view, the elephant was the greatest war animal in the world, and a royal one. How? How is the visual presence of elephants in early Indian art (like Buddhist stupa railings) indicative of their cultural importance? How did horses first arrive in India, and how were they initially used? What role did horse-drawn chariots play in ancient Indian epics like the Ramayana and Mahabharata? Images of cavalry horses appear in Sanchi and Bharhut but without saddles or stirrups. What does this suggest about the evolution of cavalry warfare and riding technology in ancient India? (Devdutt Pattanaik is a renowned mythologist who writes on art, culture and heritage.) Share your thoughts and ideas on UPSC Special articles with Subscribe to our UPSC newsletter and stay updated with the news cues from the past week. Stay updated with the latest UPSC articles by joining our Telegram channel – IndianExpress UPSC Hub, and follow us on Instagram and X.
Time of India
28-04-2025
- General
- Time of India
Are We All Just Raw Potatoes? Devdutt Pattanaik Explains Consciousness, Brahma & Saraswati in Hinduism
Devdutt Pattanaik shares a refreshing and eye-opening perspective on Hinduism, Brahma, and Saraswati. In this exclusive Times of India Lifestyle interview, he explains why Hinduism is the simplest, most adaptable religion — and why true knowledge isn't about memorizing scriptures but evoking deeper understanding. Discover how Brahma represents unread knowledge and why Sanatan Dharma is more about living consciously than following blind faith. Also, don't miss his brilliant 'raw potato' analogy explaining human consciousness!
