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Devdutt Pattanaik

Devdutt Pattanaik

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Pigeon spirituality

Pigeon spirituality

But beneath this layer of piety lies a troubling contradiction

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Midday

Devdutt Pattanaik

Column by Devdutt Pattanaik | Kailasa in Cambodia

Column by Devdutt Pattanaik | Kailasa in Cambodia
18.10.2025 10

The Hindu

Devdutt Pattanaik

Abandoned twins: Kripa and Kripi

The ancient story challenges “modern” gender roles. It is a far more fluid imagination.

12.10.2025 9

Midday

Devdutt Pattanaik

Is Sanatan dharma a Pagan faith?

They face Mecca, and Mecca alone, the seat of the god of Arabia

28.09.2025 8

Midday

Devdutt Pattanaik

Column by Devdutt Pattanaik | The horseman of Kanchi

20.09.2025 20

The Hindu

Devdutt Pattanaik

Shaped by myth, shaped by history

They are worn by brides, not widows and nuns. Their uninterrupted presence indicates continuity of Hindu ideas

14.09.2025 10

Midday

Devdutt Pattanaik

Ramayana: The World’s first whodunnit

So, the first piece of information Ram receives is that a man called Ravan has abducted Sita in a flying chariot and taken her southward

31.08.2025 10

Midday

Devdutt Pattanaik

Reality of imagination

30.08.2025 10

The Economic Times

Devdutt Pattanaik

Coil of endless serpents

But there was no explicit reference to serpents. Instead, Vedic altars were designed like grand eagles, flying east

17.08.2025 10

Midday

Devdutt Pattanaik

The head on the temple | Column by Devdutt Pattanaik 

16.08.2025 20

The Hindu

Devdutt Pattanaik

Dravidian iron for the Aryan horse

16.08.2025 30

The Economic Times

Devdutt Pattanaik

Ashoka’s afterlife

These Greeks established relationships with local Indian kings, even the mighty kings of faraway Magadha, who had rode elephants

03.08.2025 10

Midday

Devdutt Pattanaik

What the left gets wrong about Islamism

22.07.2025 20

The Times of India

Devdutt Pattanaik

How is knowledge transmitted?

The Hindu Matsya Purana is transmitted by the fish form of Vishnu to Manu

21.07.2025 10

Midday

Devdutt Pattanaik

Historian’s myth

Hundreds of scholars seek out astronomy data, such as information on eclipses, from old manuscripts to date the war at Kurukshetra.

06.07.2025 10

Midday

Devdutt Pattanaik

Why Kubera is not Ganesha

So war-rooms are being established in schools and enterprises, in homes even, to survive in the dog-eat-dog world, the rat-race, the shark tank

22.06.2025 10

Midday

Devdutt Pattanaik

God as generator, organiser, destroyer

20.06.2025 10

The Economic Times

Devdutt Pattanaik

Column | Biblical tales in the Puranas

13.06.2025 10

The Hindu

Devdutt Pattanaik

Buddhas no one talks about

For example, no one tells us that Ashoka visited sites linked to TWO Buddhas, not just the one!

08.06.2025 20

Midday

Devdutt Pattanaik

From sanskritisation to backwardation

06.06.2025 9

The Economic Times

Devdutt Pattanaik

Forgotten Mandala kingdoms

Tamil merchants even built a Shiva temple in Quanzhou, China, around 700 years ago.

25.05.2025 20

Midday

Devdutt Pattanaik

Incomplete Marriages

Of course, it is difficult to corroborate. What is interesting, however, is that the folklore speaks of an incomplete marriage

11.05.2025 10

Midday

Devdutt Pattanaik

Horse before petrol

10.05.2025 10

The Economic Times

Devdutt Pattanaik

Whose shrine is it, anyway?

At the same time, the Bodh Gaya site has only been partially handed over to the Buddhists—with Brahmins still playing a key role in the management

27.04.2025 20

Midday

Devdutt Pattanaik

ASAP in eternal time: Timelines & appointments depend more on who, not what

26.04.2025 20

The Economic Times

Devdutt Pattanaik

Papas and politics

22.04.2025 10

The Times of India

Devdutt Pattanaik

Secrets of goddesses and trees

There are other influences (pre-Aryan tribal, Jain, Hindu, Islamic) that can be seen in Chamundeshwari temple of Mysore kings.

20.04.2025 30

Midday

Devdutt Pattanaik

Column | Kubera, the refugee from Lanka

17.04.2025 6

The Hindu

Devdutt Pattanaik

12 children in 12 castes

We are told that he had eleven siblings, each as remarkable and wise as he was. One of them was a woodcutter, commissioned by a royal family

13.04.2025 10

Midday

Devdutt Pattanaik

Akbar the Jogi

11.04.2025 10

The Economic Times

Devdutt Pattanaik

Royal Ram hunted deer, not lions

The Persian shahenshah adopted this symbol around 500 BC. India’s Ashoka adopted only the lion as a royal symbol in 250 BC, not the lion-hunting...

06.04.2025 10

Midday

Devdutt Pattanaik

Did Aryans know about same-sex behaviour?

These need not be read literally. But their use as metaphors indicates the Aryans were familiar with same-sex activity. 

30.03.2025 30

Midday

Devdutt Pattanaik

The fire-born Rajputs

This was when a great fire sacrifice was held by the Seven Sages (sapta Rishi).

23.03.2025 10

Midday

Devdutt Pattanaik

So many types of Nagas

The various mountain springs across Kashmir valley are also called Naga and have been worshipped by the local population since time immemorial.

16.03.2025 20

Midday

Devdutt Pattanaik

Column | Fire, fidelity and an inhuman heritage

13.03.2025 20

The Hindu

Devdutt Pattanaik

Mythology of the fish

In Buddhist Jataka, Buddha once turned himself into a red fish and offered his flesh to people to save them from starvation and cure them of a skin...

09.03.2025 20

Midday

Devdutt Pattanaik

Double-edged sword of Sikhism

Myth manifests not just as stories but also symbols and rituals. Sikhism is full of rich mythic symbolism. 

02.03.2025 10

Midday

Devdutt Pattanaik

Buddhism as prosperity gospel

28.02.2025 7

The Economic Times

Devdutt Pattanaik

Now an angry Parashuram?

Most likely, modern film adaptations will ignore the part why Parashuram picked up the axe (parashu) in the first place.

23.02.2025 30

Midday

Devdutt Pattanaik

The happiness of gay lovers

This film (U for Usha: U Ushacha) won the Satyajit Ray Short Film Award in 2019. It was described as “courageous”. 

16.02.2025 20

Midday

Devdutt Pattanaik

Column | Tales of marriage and murder

14.02.2025 10

The Hindu

Devdutt Pattanaik

Who did Draupadi love?

But it forms a love triangle: Bhima loves Draupadi, Draupadi loves Arjuna—or is it Karna?

09.02.2025 40

Midday

Devdutt Pattanaik

Insulting Ravan, Bollywood style

Lately, however, Ravan is being portrayed as a Muslim

02.02.2025 8

Midday

Devdutt Pattanaik

Work-life balance: Those who worked never enjoyed what they created. Now, they want their kids to do the same

31.01.2025 10

The Economic Times

Devdutt Pattanaik

All shades of Kumbh

30.01.2025 10

The Times of India

Devdutt Pattanaik

Tales of Aryan horses

The earliest images of riding stirrups in the world come from Stupa art of Sanchi in Madhya Pradesh dated to 2200 years ago

26.01.2025 20

Midday

Devdutt Pattanaik

World is a playground, life is a sport

Ram wins a wife by stringing a bow, Arjun wins a wife by striking the eye of a fish, and Krishna wins a wife by yoking seven wild bulls.

19.01.2025 10

Midday

Devdutt Pattanaik

The gratitude trick: Gratitude is a clever trick marketed to avoid taking responsibility & being accountable for one’s actions

17.01.2025 7

The Economic Times

Devdutt Pattanaik

Column | The parrot’s erotic secret

17.01.2025 20

The Hindu

Devdutt Pattanaik

The Kumbh Mela is more about ‘shakti’ than ‘moksha’

16.01.2025 40

Indian Express

Devdutt Pattanaik