Untangling Myths

There are hundreds or thousands of mesmerizing Hindu temples across India. India is known for its rich Hindu culture and tradition. So, all these temples are in different shapes, locations, and designs but today not all of these temples are built as described in Vedic literature. Ancient Hindus never built a temple just to please the Gods. They built it to connect with the Gods, to get a calm and better mindset, or in other words to get recharged. We have to understand that an ancient Hindu temple was not a place of prayer. There was nobody in the Hindu temple in that era to lead a prayer and nobody to lead your prayer. (Temples did have priests. Their main duty was to assist worshipers in performing rituals or ceremonies. Moreover, they have traditionally been the final judge of purity and caretakers of temples. But connecting with God is something you have to do without any help).   Paying 5 rupees and telling God what he should do, we started that recently. Otherwise, our cult...

In Hinduism, Vetala (Betal) is a powerful semi-demonic creature. Vetala is also venerated in some temples and can resurrect dead people. They take control of the cremation ground's corpse and act via it. According to certain Hindu religion academics, he is a favored deity of tantriks and black magic practitioners. Vetalas, according to Hindu mythology, are the companions of Virabhadra, Shiva’s ferocious creation. They have a wide range of magical abilities. Vetalas are also thought to be servants of Hindu gods such as Goddess Kali, Hanuman, Ganesha, and Virabhadra. Vetala is one of the Shiva Ganas in the epics and Puranic literature. According to a narrative in the Shiva Purana, he is an incarnation of Bhairava himself. According to the Shiva Purana, Goddess Girija and Shiva were enjoying each other's company in the solitude of their dwelling. One day when Bhairava was delegated to guard its entrance, goddess Girija came out of her dwelling as she was under Shiva’s comman...

  Vanaras are one of the most important characters in Ramayana. As described in Ramayana, Vanaras are special species that looked like monkeys. But Ramayana never mentions Vanaras as monkeys. These species were dominant in the southern part of India and rules South India including Thailand, Myanmar, Malaysia Indonesia, etc. What does Vanara mean? Vanara is a Sanskrit word having two-part “Van” means “Forest” and “Nara” which means “Human” so the literal meaning is “humans who lived in the forest”. Vanaras were definitely not monkeys since the monkey is called Vankapi / Kapi or Markata in Sanskrit.  Why finding evidence of Neanderthal man is difficult in India? Archaeological and Scientific Revolutionary studies say Neanderthal was a species that inhabited Europe, Africa, and Western Asia starting some 2,30,000 years ago. Neanderthal man had hyoid bones , which enable them to speak and look like humans very closely. Though some evidence of Neanderthal man was found in I...

Ganesh or Ganapati, we all know the story of Ganapati losing his head. When Shiva came to Manasarovar from a long journey and wished to see his wife and this boy tried to stop him, Shiva took off his head. Distressed Parvati asked Shiva to replace the head, he took off the head of some other creature and put it on the child. This other creature is described as an elephant. But we need to understand that no one called him Gajapati (Lord of Elephants). He is always called Ganapati (Lord of Ganas). But who are the Ganas? In the yogic lore, the Ganas are all Shiva’s companions. They were the ones who were always around Shiva. Though he had disciples, a wife, and many other admirers, his private company was always Ganas. Ganas are described as distorted, demented beings. It is said that they had limbs without bones coming out of odd parts of their bodies, so they are described as distorted and demented beings and were not like any human beings. It is said that these people spoke som...