Handbook of Hindu Mythology

"The ivory tower of Hindu tradition, which largely came from scholarship back in the late 1800s and early 1900s, had this tendency to define Hinduism only through the lens of Sanskrit texts. A lot of the vernacular texts were rejected or not looked into. Given that the religion is truly the social, cultural religion that lives in the bodies of Hindus, we need to study Hinduisms also through the lens of mythology, of folklore, because that’s where we get this fabric of Hinduism, where we truly get the essence. The mythological stories and the folklore bring forth the diversity that we know for Hinduism. So if you want to get a sense of Hinduism, we must include women, we must include the stories of people from other castes, we must also look at mythology and the stories that come through the land, so to speak. These are stories that are being narrated by a grandmother to her grandchild as bedtime stories. And in these stories is dharma. In these stories is where we return to the duties of a Hindu. And it is in these stories that the essence of who Hindus are, or should be, resides. I was initiated into a particular lineage at the age of eight. When I was born, the predictions made in the astrological chart were that I would become a guru and that I would have my own temple. Now I believe I am an excellent negotiator, and I also truly believe that the divine play has been written for us. We come with a play, but we can negotiate and tweak the role. So instead of a temple, I asked for a university. Instead of devotees, I asked for students. So that is why I was initiated. I was a practitioner for the longest time. I returned to studying my own tradition as part of my PhD, so I only became a scholar of my own tradition in the last fifteen years or so. Up until then, I was a pure practitioner; by this, I mean I never really critically looked at my lineage, let alone read about it critically. That is part of my story, and I own the story. I identify very loudly and clearly that I’m a practitioner-scholar. It raises a lot of questions for many people, but I say that’s a them problem, not a me problem. Being a Hindu, it’s me, it’s my identity, it’s my existence. Every DNA cell of my body is a Hindu body. So the way I breathe, the way I live, the way I think, the way I move around in this world is from the Hindu dharma that is my righteous duty. I don’t worry about karma, because I genuinely believe that if I do my duties right, everything else will be taken care of. And as I said, I have a shoe problem, so I’m not getting moksha anyway. I can only try so much in this lifetime and hope for a worthy return. I am so happy with it and the way it came out, the colour looks so pretty. It is called The Serpent’s Tale: Kuṇḍalinī, Yoga, and the History of an Experience . The comma between Kuṇḍalinī and Yoga is very important. I had never heard of Kundalini for the twenty-five years that I was a pure practitioner, but when I became a scholar and came to the United States, everybody spoke about Kundalini. The co-author, Anya Foxen, and I start with problematising the very term, Kundalini. What is Kundalini — is it an energy, is it the divine energy present in us? The book traces a history from early 600 CE texts all the way to social media. We look at how Kundalini becomes a product in the marketplace where different gurus are competing with one another. In short, the book documents the experience of the experiencer and seeks to present a history with ultra-fuzzy boundaries. The only thing I would like to say is that if and when our readers are meeting a Hindu, don’t be shy about asking questions, and don’t assume. For example, it frustrates me when people assume that I’m a vegetarian because I’m a Hindu. I want to eat the meat that you’re eating. Yes, I won’t eat the beef, but I do want to eat the fish. My request to our readers would be, if you meet someone who is a Hindu, just go ask questions. I don’t think any question, when asked from the right place in the heart, is ever offensive."