-Oishee Bose Maa Manasa appears in the Bengali imagination not as a cosmically secure deity but as a goddess who has to forge her identity through strength, persistent storytelling, and the fearsome ability to chastise those who reject her. To study Manasa historically is thus to examine a point of conflict: between local worship and […]Read More
~ Debashri Mandal We know no less of the numerous braveries and legends associated with the kings and emperors who rose and fell in India. But do we know enough about the queens and female rulers in India? And Dandi Mahadevi, the Kakatiya warrior queen of Odisha, is one of the forgotten ones among them. […]Read More
~ Debashri Mandal We have heard about many ancient Hindu texts, starting from the Vedas and the Upanishads to the Mahabharata and the Maha Puranas, which provide stories, hymns, and principles of their time and beyond. Accordingly, the Vigyaan Bhairav Tantra, also known as the Vijnana Bhairava Tantra, an early medieval text believed to have […]Read More
~ Debashri Mandal “Alien Temple”—doesn’t this sound strange? Rather interesting. As we know, India has always been a land renowned for its spiritual diversity, and the blend of ancient traditions and cultural dogmas has long been questioned and tested for new religious movements and unconventional expressions of faith and beliefs. And in recent years, things […]Read More
~ Debashri Mandal With the welcome of long-awaited winter, several seasonal festivals are being celebrated by the people of different regions of India, and one of which is the Raulane of Kinnaur in Himachal Pradesh. Filled with pomp and show, this lies high in the remote, on the foothills of the Himalayas, settled in the […]Read More
-Aritra Biswas “Viman Shastra” also known as “Vaimanika Shastra” is one of the few texts that are at the border of admiration and controversy. To some, it is a symbol of lost scientific genius of ancient India; to others, it is an imaginative creation of a religious fanaticism instead of an engineering work. It is […]Read More
~Debashri Mandal Stories of female legends and warriors have been scarce in history, but they have never been absent. And Unniyarcha is one of them. Also spelled as Unniyarchaa, is a legendary female warrior and remains one of the most radiant figures in the pantheon of Kerala’s oral epics, celebrated in Malayalam folklores such […]Read More
~ Debashri Mandal One of India’s greatest festivals, Diwali, or Deepawali, lighten up every corner of the country with flowers, sweets, rituals, colorful rangolis, lots of crackers, and, of course, diyas filled with love, warmth, and happiness. However, the festival of lights doesn’t stop here and again re-emerges exactly after fifteen days of Diwali on […]Read More
-Bhoomee Vats The term ‘Ramlila’ literally translates to “Rama’s play”. It is a performance of the epic of the Ramayana in a series of scenes that does not just consist of acting but also includes song, narration, recitation, and dialogue. It is performed all around northern India during the festival of Dussehra, held each year […]Read More
-Bhoomee Vats Navratri is a major festival filled with symbolism about destroying evil and selfish nature, and about having deep respect for all aspects of life, including the things and objects that contribute to our well-being. The nine days of Navratri are divided on the basis of the three basic qualities of tamas, rajas, and sattva. The first […]Read More