Mythology For The Millennial

Mythology for the Millennial: On the absurdity around karwa chauth, and blaming women for every wrong

Karwa chauth is sanctioned romance, a way for a woman to be the centre of attention in a way that she is not on every other day of her life.

Mythology for the Millennial: On Mahabali's fate, and the politics at play behind the story on the origins of Onam

The gods in Indian mythology frequently show up as more human than human. In the case of King Mahabali, son of Virochana, grandson of Prahlad, yes, that Prahlad, the same one who invented Holi basically, he was, unfortch, also an asura.

Mythology for the Millennial: On Shakuntala, Dushyanta and the one ring that bound them both

On Shakuntala, the heroine of perhaps one of the best-known love stories in Hindu mythology.

Mythology for the Millennial: How Lakshmi, a fierce, Beyonce-esque creature, was transformed into a 'good wife and mother'

Lakshmi was the first Indian woman to be exploited by men — in one of her creation stories, she emerges from the creator god, Prajapati, only to dazzle all the other gods by her beauty and power, who immediately want to murder her and appropriate all her gifts.

Mythology for the Millennial: From Gujarat's folktales, a strange fable topped with backwards feminism

As someone who likes to look up old folktales, I can tell you all stories are the same, whether they're from Greece or Britain or France or India | Read Meenakshi Reddy Madhavan's new #MythologyForTheMillennial column

Mythology for the Millennial: On Devyani, a sage's daughter, and Kacha, an undying man who would not commit

This is the story of one emotional f*ckwit, all the way back in ancient India, when the world was divided into devas, the gods, and the asuras, the demons.

Mythology for the Millennial: The magical power of an old woman's story, and a baby girl who heard it

In this edition of Mythology for the Millennial, a look at a Telugu folktale about an old woman telling stories in praise of the sun god — and the consequences of not listening to her. Ramanujan's English version is called A Story In Search of an Audience but really, it could also be called You Too Could Be An Influencer, Just Follow This Easy Step.

Mythology for the Millennial: Narada may be a trickster, but he deserved better than a life of illusions

While the Norsemen have Loki as their trickster, Hindu mythology has its very own Narada, not a god, but a sage hobnobbing with the who's who of the divine world.

Mythology for the Millennial: On Aravan, Arjun and Ulupi's son, who is celebrated by the transgender community in India

Aravan, a young man born of a clever mother and an absent father, who decided to give up everything, just because he wanted to help his family.

Mythology for the Millennial: Why Kaikeyi, the Cersei Lannister of Ramayana, is the epic's most interesting character

Kaikeyi is a flawed woman, the most human of all the characters you encounter in the Ramayana.