S. Aruna is the author of the book titled – Sons of Gods – The Mahabharata Retold. One of her favorite characters in the epic is Karna. Below is an interview with her to understand the complexities of the character of Karna. Hindu Blog - Karna is often referred as the unsung hero of Mahabharata. Some call him antihero. There are many books glorifying his character, the main reason being his abandonment by his mother as a child. But am more concerned here is about a major character flaw in Karna. He is obsessed with Arjuna, the archer. How do you see this aspect of Karna? Is not Karna insecure throughout the Mahabharata that he might come second to Arjuna in the list of the greatest archers in the world? We see all around us people who are jealous of their colleagues, family members and neighbors. Don’t you think Karna is a representation of this jealousy and insecurity? S. Aruna - Indeed, you are right: insecurity and jealousy are the so...

Sons of Gods – The Mahabharata Retold by S. Aruna is a condensation of the epic Mahabharata. Below is an interview with S. Aruna – to understand what new she offers to the reader through the book, the language, the women characters etc. To those who have already read the Mahabharata or know the story, what new aspects does your book offer?  Every writer who attempts a condensation of the Mahabharata will have a certain vision of which elements of the vast epic are essential, which less essential. Thus each condensation is unique in itself, since each one moulds together a different set of story elements. In my case, I was motivated to achieve three goals: first: it should essentially be a whole, rounded story similar in structure and style to a modern novel: that is, to bring the central story to life through the characters and dialogue while omitting almost all of the hundreds of “side-plots”, and avoiding the sermonising which, to my mind, detracts from the stor...

I am pleased to post the following interview with a website associated with Hindu Religion – Poojas.in . This e-commerce website provides spiritual remedies and spiritual solutions. Nearly a dozen such portals help devotees in performing puja and rituals. The interview is an attempt to understand the concept of online puja how the services are provided and what all services they provide. Interview with Mekhala .V. Jois of poojas.in She was kind enough to give a detail explanation on how pujas are performed and the effort they take to make sure they follow the Shastras while conducting the pujas. Q1) Why a website like poojas.in? How is it beneficial to Hindu clients? We have been offering services in the spiritual remedies space for over 15 years through the offline mode. An increasing trend in the number of problems of people across the globe, compelled us to go online. Now with our online presence, it has become easy for people who genuinely need spiritual remedies a...

I am pleased to post the following interview with a website associated with Hindu Religion – Sadhana. This New York based organization is working since 2011 in building a progressive Hindu moment. Sadhana is a mechanism and a platform for progressive Hindus to speak up and act for progressive social values and social justice. Hindu Blog  – Hinduism is a living religion. So what do you mean when you say you are attempting to build a progressive Hindu religion? Sadhana – We feel that many Hindus may be doing work for social justice -- helping the poor, and those that are discriminated against, protecting the environment, etc -- but do so quietly. Many Hindus stand opposed to discrimination based on race, religion, caste, gender, sexual orientation, but don't speak up as Hindus. Sadhana is building a platform of progressive Hinduism so that others can join us. We think it is critical that those of us for whom our Hindu faith is centered in pluralism must speak up. N...

I’m pleased to post the following interview with one of the Hindu bloggers that I’ve admired for some time – Jayasree Saranathan writes the blog Non-random thoughts . She introduces herself as Sanathanist. This is a new section that we are starting in Hindu Blog. We plan to interview our readers, people who comment regularly, writers and editors associated with Hinduism, Hindu bloggers and editors, Saints, skeptics and other religious people. There is a particular reason for starting the interview with Jayasree Saranathan – it is women who have always kept the flame of Santana Dharma steady. It is they how have always protected the flame of core teachings and tradition from numerous attacks from within and outside. And it is they who always passed the flame from one generation to another. It is through our mothers that we come into contact with this great tradition. Hindu Blog – When you say I am a Hindu, what does it mean to you? Srimati Jayasree Saranathan - Whe...