If the Princess Had Lived

There had been rumours spreading through the village in the last couple of days, and finally, there it was—an actual television set.

Love

Had I known love only in its form of making four walls and eight corners of the world, I would have felt a warmth instead of tasting so much gutter in that song.

The Story of Maveli

Maveli is an important symbol of the rejection of brahmanism by the avarna peoples, and is a marker of the dissonance that underlies Hindu myths. Illustration by Shrujana N Shridhar Maveli or Mahabali or Bali is a mythical figure and a folk hero across Maharashtra and Kerala. He is mentioned as the “King of Asuras” […]

Who Were Our Deities?

Bahujan deities around the subcontinent did not concern themselves with the ideas of sacredness, nor with notions of purity. Nature was central to Bahujan spirituality. Illustration by Ajinkya Dekhane Bahujan deities around the subcontinent did not concern themselves with the ideas of sacredness. Subaltern oral traditions are filled with stories of natural elements deified. Often elements […]

Who Were The Asuras

In so many ways, the history of asuras and rakshasas is a history of marginalised castes and tribes, one that was grotesquely misrepresented by brahmins. Illustration by Ajinkya Dekhane Asuras, rakshasas and rakshasis find repeated mention in Hindu scriptures as ugly, villainous creatures that are the embodiment of evil. These scriptures have served as a […]