The Sacred Art of the Wrestling Pit: The Techniques of Malla-Yuddha in Hindu Scriptures In the Hindu tradition, physical strength was never separated from spiritual and moral discipline. The body was regarded as a vehicle for dharma, and the cultivation of strength, endurance, and skill was considered a duty for those born into the warrior temperament. Wrestling, known as malla-yuddha, occupied a special place in this worldview. It was not mere sport but a disciplined art combining technique, willpower, and an unshakeable sense of duty. The two most celebrated wrestling encounters in Hindu itihasa are the duel between Krishna and Kamsa in the Bhagavata Purana, and the famous fight between Bhima and Jarasandha described in the Sabha Parva of the Mahabharata. These accounts are not simple tales of combat; they preserve a detailed technical vocabulary that reveals how sophisticated this art truly was. The Encounter Between Bhima and Jarasandha The Sabha Parva narrates that before...

The Curse of Greed: Lessons from Vibhavasu and Supratika The story of Vibhavasu and Supratika is told by Sage Kashyapa to his son Garuda in the 25th chapter of Astika Parva, which is part of Adi Parva of the Mahabharata. Vibhavasu was a Maharishi who got angry very easily. His younger brother Supratika was a great ascetic. Supratika did not want to keep the family wealth jointly with his brother, and he was always talking about dividing it. Vibhavasu was not happy with this demand. He told his brother that many people ask for division of common property because of delusion. After the wealth is divided, they become more deluded by love of money. Selfishness makes them ignorant, and enmity enters even if friendship looks the same from outside. Other people, when they see two relatives are separated over property, add fuel to the fire and increase the enmity on other matters also. In this way divided relatives meet their downfall. Vibhavasu said that is why learned people never approve of...

The Self as the First Frontier: Hindu Wisdom on Inner Mastery Before a warrior steps onto any battlefield, before a seeker claims victory over the world, Hindu scriptures insist on a prior conquest: the self. The senses, the restless mind, and the ego are described as the truest adversaries a person faces. Without mastering them, every outward achievement remains hollow, and a person becomes their own greatest obstacle. Scriptural Proof The Bhagavad Gita addresses this directly. Krishna tells Arjuna: "Let a man lift himself by his own self alone, let him not lower himself; for this self alone is the friend of oneself, and this self alone is the enemy of oneself." (Bhagavad Gita 6.5) He continues: "For him who has conquered the self by the self, the self is a friend; but for him who has not conquered the self, the very self will act in enmity, like an enemy." (Bhagavad Gita 6.6) These verses make clear that the self can either be one's closest ally or...

Honouring Ancestors the Vedic Way: Brahmanas, Pindas and Their Meaning - Shraddha and the Vedic Schools: Why the Ways of Offering Differ Shraddha is the ritual in which a Hindu remembers and thanks his ancestors, called pitrus. The word comes from shraddha, which means faith and sincerity. So the ritual is really an act of faith done with a clean heart. Traditional texts say that the way of completing a shraddha is not exactly same for every Vedic school. What Each Veda Emphasises For the followers of Rigveda, a shraddha is considered accomplished when they honour worthy brahmanas. Here, brahmana does not mean a person by birth or caste. It means a person who has knowledge of Brahman, a self realised soul. Feeding and respecting such a person is the main duty. For the followers of Yajurveda, pindadana is more important. This means offering cooked rice balls to the pitrus. Rice, sesame seeds, ghee and sometimes barley flour are used to make the pindas. The followers of Samaveda are ...

Sangili Muniswaran: Symbolism, Sculpture and the Philosophy of Protection Sangili Muni, also called Sangili Muniyappan or Sangili Muniswaran, is among the many manifestations of Muneeswaran or Muniyandi venerated across Tamil Nadu and by the Tamil diaspora worldwide. As a grama devata, or village deity, he belongs to a vast and ancient tradition of folk worship that runs parallel to, and is deeply interwoven with, the larger Agamic and Puranic streams of Hinduism. Far from being a minor or isolated cult figure, Muneeswaran traditions represent the living continuity of pre-Agamic, indigenous Tamil spirituality fused with classical Shaiva philosophy. Iconography and Sculptural Form Sangili Muni is traditionally depicted in a seated posture, adorned with a karanda makuta, a tiered crown resembling a woven basket, and jatabhara, the heavy matted locks associated with ascetics and with Shiva himself. His moustache marks him as a fierce, masculine guardian figure, distinct from the gentl...

The Sacred Bond: How the Ramayana Lives Within the Mahabharata The Mahabharata, composed by Sage Vyasa, stands as one of the greatest epics in Hindu tradition, encompassing not merely the tale of the Pandavas and Kauravas, but serving as a vast repository of dharmic wisdom, historical accounts, and sacred narratives. Among its treasures lies an extraordinary feature that many devotees may not fully appreciate: the epic contains multiple tellings of Bhagavan  Sri Rama's story, weaving the Ramayana into its expansive narrative fabric. These retellings serve not merely as stories within stories, but as profound spiritual teachings that illuminate the path of righteousness across different contexts and circumstances. The Ramopakhyana: The Complete Narrative in Vana Parva The most comprehensive retelling of the Ramayana within the Mahabharata appears in the Vana Parva (the Book of the Forest), in a section known as the Ramopakhyana. When the Pandavas were enduring their forest exile,...

Worshipping Durga on a Shora: Clay, Colour and Faith In Hindu tradition, God can be worshipped in many forms. Some people worship a big idol, some a small stone, and some a painting. Goddess Durga is sometimes worshipped as a painting on a Shora. This is mostly seen in Bengal and nearby regions like Odisha and Assam. What is a Shora? A Shora is a round vessel made of terracotta, which is baked clay. Its shape is slightly concave on one side and convex on the other. The concave side is used to carry offerings during ritual, like flowers, fruits, rice and sweets. The convex side is used for painting. The picture of the God or Goddess is drawn there, and devotees worship that picture. Hindu Teachings Behind It Hindu philosophy teaches that the Divine is not limited to one shape. The formless Brahman can be seen through many names and forms, and a devotee can choose the form that is close to his or her heart. Durga is the form of Shakti, the divine power that protects the world and destroy...

Within, Beside, Among, Inside: How Good and Evil Travel Through the Yugas In Hindu thought, all of manifest existence is woven from three gunas, sattva, rajas and tamas. These are not simply "good," "neutral" and "evil" as English forces them to be translated; they are qualities of nature itself, sattva being clarity, harmony and illumination, rajas being passion, activity and restlessness, and tamas being inertia, darkness and resistance. Krishna explains this directly in the Bhagavad Gita: "Sattva, rajas and tamas, these gunas, born of prakriti, bind down the imperishable embodied soul to the body" (Bhagavad Gita 14.5). No being, however exalted, is entirely free of these three forces until liberation; the gunas are always present together, only their proportion changes. This is why the question is never whether good and evil exist in an age, but how closely they stand to one another.  In modern simple terms, good and evil are always present; w...

 The Diplomacy of Strength: Krishna's Lesson on Avoiding Needless Bloodshed When Yudhishthira sought to perform the Rajasuya yajna and declare himself emperor, one obstacle towered above all others: Jarasandha, the powerful king of Magadha. No ruler could claim universal sovereignty while Jarasandha remained undefeated, for he held many kings captive and commanded an army of immense strength. A direct war against Magadha would have meant catastrophic loss of life on both sides. This was the dilemma Krishna had to resolve, not through brute force, but through intelligence. Krishna's Approach: Precision Over Power Krishna understood a fundamental truth of statecraft: the destruction of an army is not the same as the removal of a threat. The true source of Magadha's danger was Jarasandha himself, not his soldiers, many of whom were unwillingly conscripted kings. Rather than wage a prolonged war that would devastate both kingdoms, Krishna chose precision over power. Disgu...

 The Supreme Goal: Self-Awareness as the Essence of Hindu Spiritual Practice In Hindu religion, one truth stands paramount: the ultimate goal of human existence is self-awareness, the recognition of one's true nature beyond the transient world of names and forms. The Brihadaranyaka Upanishad (1.4.10) declares, "Aham Brahmasmi" – I am Brahman – encapsulating the profound realization that individual consciousness is not separate from universal consciousness. This self-awareness is not merely intellectual understanding but a transformative awakening that dissolves the illusion of separation between the individual soul (Atman) and the cosmic reality (Brahman). The Mundaka Upanishad (3.2.9) illuminates this path: "When the seer beholds the brilliant maker and lord of the world as the Person who has his source in Brahman, then he, having become wise, shakes off good and evil, becomes stainless, and reaches the supreme unity." This verse emphasizes that true spiritua...