Inherited x Ishva, Devaprayag (2026)

29/10/2025

गांगं वारि मनोहारि मुरारिचरणच्युतम् ।
त्रिपुरारिशिरश्चारि पापहारि पुनातु माम् ॥

Ganga Aarti, Rishikesh

Every evening, people gather by the river. The priests come out in red robes, carrying brass lamps shaped like serpents. The flames are fed with ghee and lifted slowly, tracing circles in the night air.

This is the Ganga Aarti. An old ritual of offering light to the river. No one knows exactly how long it has been done, only that it began when the river was first seen as sacred. Fire meets water. The human greets the divine.

The sound of bells and chants fills the space. Marigold petals are scattered on the steps. The smoke rises and drifts over the water, carrying the prayers with it.

It’s a small act of remembrance, of everything the river has given, and everything we still take.

15/08/2025

Happy Independence Day! Here’s to freedom from old narratives, and to telling our own!

India’s spirit was shaping the world long before it was ever partitioned or colonised. So much of our story lives outside our borders.

PS: if you’re in London, don’t miss this exhibition at the British Museum. Superbly curated. Visually stunning. The museum’s free, but this exhibition is ticketed. Put your money where your mouth is, it’s worth!

09/08/2025

Not saying it’s a lungi… but it’s a lungi.

18/04/2025

Ishva x Inherited Journeys

I’ve been to Japan several times. But it wasn’t until I stood at the base of Mount Fuji and offered a cherry blossom at a quiet shrine, that I remembered how we do the same back home in India.

We don’t just have similar rituals. We share a worldview. And that is powerful!

In Shinto, they call them kami.
In Hinduism, we call them devis.
Different names. Same reverence.

I’ve been holding onto an idea for a while now…
Not sightseeing but a kind of remembering. A reconnection?

This is just one of many India-inspired journeys I’ve been dreaming of — and I’d love to craft one for you

Are you planning to travel Japan soon? Get in touch!

18/01/2025

I’ve always believed India’s greatest soft power is its people.

Everywhere I live, travel, and work, I see fellow Indians killing it - chilling in cafés, delivering slick presentations, brewing amazing coffee.

Giving a sh*t. Owning it.

But the learning never stops.

Especially when it’s about staying rooted in your culture.

You’ve got to take what’s uniquely yours and blend it with a modern mindset.

No matter where you show up.

That’s how we turn our heritage into a soft power the world truly admires. Not by forcing it, but by living it.

Helping people find that balance, is what I truly LOVE doing!

10/01/2025

Scattered across Japan’s serene landscapes and bustling streets, shrines like these honor deities, ancestors, and forces of nature.

Coins are left as offerings, stones revered as sacred, and the air is thick with reverence.

As a person of Indian origin, standing here, I can’t help but reflect on how often we give ourselves a hard time about our own practices of idol worship.

Japan, one of the most modern, tech-savvy nations, holds onto this deeply spiritual fabric unapologetically, and blends tradition with progress.

We’ve been made to feel embarrassed about bowing to sacred stones, dismissed as ‘idolatrous,’ even mocked for our deeply symbolic rituals. Over time, many of us internalized this shame, believing that revering the divine through tangible forms somehow made us ‘backward.’

And yet here I am, thousands of miles away, witnessing one of the most developed nations embrace the very essence of what we’ve been told to reject. These shrines stand proudly, embodying humility, gratitude, and connection to something larger than oneself.

And it makes me ask—where did it all go wrong for us? When did we stop valuing the beauty of our traditions because someone else didn’t understand them?

Perhaps we need to see our stones, idols, and rituals not as relics of the past but as living proof of a culture rich in depth and spirit.

Because, just like these Japanese shrines, our heritage is sacred, enduring, and worthy of love.

Happy New Year!!!

07/02/2023

India’s finest philosophers…

Vedanta as in vogue today is based on what is known as Prasthana Trayee, the three texts of knowledge for emancipation.

1. The Upaniśads
2. The Brahma Sutras
3. The Bhagavad Gita

There has been many scholars and realized souls who have commented upon these texts in one time or the other. But it so happens very rarely, there has been an attempt to reconcile all the three texts into a single mould.
In the history of India so far, only three people have been accorded that recognition.

They are Adi Sankarācārya, Ramanaujācārya and Madhvācārya.

🌟They are revered as Paramācāryas, as the supreme ācāryas because they were the only three who completed the mighty task of unifying the Prasthana trayee into one tangible structure in the last two thousand years.

❤️Their work is the basis of today’s Indian religio-philosophical structure.

❔What makes their achievement mighty ?

First, they had to show how the Brahma Sutras, 500 in number, are consistent with each other and also justify their sequence. Then, they had to reconcile the sutras with the twelve principle Upaniśads. Finally, their whole thesis had to be reconciled with the statements of the Bhagavad Gita.

☑️ But the biggest litmus test of the times was that the doctrine should also be valid in terms of human experience (be your own lab!) and be immensely practicable - the practicality being justified with the help of the Itihasas, namely Ramayana and Mahabharata.

Not surprising then that we have only had three ācāryas in the last two thousand years!

👋 Read all about these three great personalities, their lives and philosophies - in our next big feature in the Inherited Newsletter coming soon. Subscribe (link in bio!)

29/01/2023

🌞Our current Sūryadeva …

Small statured and copper bodied, the solar deity Sūrya Deva travels on a chariot driven by seven horses and the divine charioteer Aruna, or dawn.

❔But is Sūryadeva the same as the fiery globe we know as the Sun?

Hindu cosmology generally distinguishes a planet body from its pre-dominating deity. Sūrya Deva, then, is the jiva-soul who is not the Sun itself, but presides over and puts the Sun on its appointed path.

And just as the governor of a state is called rāja-pāla but also has his own individual name, Sūrya, the sun-god also has his own particular name.

According to Srimad Bhagvatam, Vivasvān is the name of the present predominating deity of the sun, i.e. the current deity occupying the post of Sūryadeva. Fascinating, no?

Even more fascinating is the family tree of Vivasvān : his list of children include some glorious personalities such as Shani, Manu, Yama, the Ashvins, Sugriva, Revanta and Karna, among others. Coming up soon!

18/01/2023

When Śarabha met Sandalwood… or did He❓

🌟The iconic Mysore Sandal Soap is undoubtedly one of the most enduring images of Indian bath-time nostalgia.

There’s a lot written about the soap’s legendary status, the savvy marketing campaigns and that unmistakable festive, sandalwoody aroma.

🔎 But take a closer look at that little mascot on the soap box. The little fella is a mythical creature, bearing a lion’s body and an elephant’s head.

Known as Śarabha, the motif was borrowed by NSDL (the company that makes Mysore Sandal Soap) from the Mysore Royal Coat of Arms - designed by a certain Robert Taylor during the colonial era. The coat of arms depicts a ‘Gandabherunda’ and is held up by two ‘Śarabhas’. And it makes perfect sense for these two creatures to be together, courtesy a fascinating Puranic legend.

‼️Except that Śarabha is in fact a half lion-bird, not a lion-elephant! The lion-elephant is a Vyala or Yali.

So why did the Royal coat of Arms (and the soap) depict a Yali, instead of a Śarabha? Is it a case of mistaken identity? Or a naughty colonial era distortion? A design error, perhaps? Or was meant to be a Yali after all?

❤️We solve this mystery in our latest feature article. Link in bio shortly!

❔🤔 What do you think? Let us know in the comments.

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📸 ii. Śarabha, Munneswaran Temple
iii. Royal Coat of Arms, Kingdom of Mysore
iv. Mysore Sandal Soap!

15/01/2023

🏹 Part of the Yuddha Kanda in Valmiki's Rāmayana, the Ādityahṛdayam stotram was recited at the most pensive moment for Lord Rāma, during his final battle with the King of Lanka Rāvaṇa.

Through the stirring lines of this hymn, Agastya spoke of the glories of Surya to Rāma establishing the essence of the Vedantic dictum - The individual self is not distinct from the universal self.

🌼In efficacy, In efficacy, this stotram is considered equivalent to the Gayatri Mantra - only more expansive in the portrayal of the 'Supreme Effulgence' (Varenyam Bhargah) mentioned in the enigmatic Gayatri.

🌟The pansophical Rishi Agastya was aware that Rāma was none other than Nārayana yet chose to initiate him as any mortal Sādhaka into the Mantric traditions by their respective Gurus.

❤️ This Makar Sankranti, as the Sun transitions from the zodiac of Sagittarius (Dhanu) to Capricorn (Makara) we revisit this ancient homage to the sun, with help from our friend at the who needs no introduction to anyone interested in learning the Sanskrit language, right from the source.

🚩Read, recite and reflect upon all 31 verses of the Ādityahṛdayam stotram (link in bio!), and let us know in the comments how this pivotal moment in the Rāmayana makes you feel.

💮 Happy Makara Sankranti!

_____________________

11/01/2023

💎The Glamorous World of Golconda Diamonds

⛰️Throughout the ages, the Golconda mines in South-Central India were a byword for fabulous diamonds. Many of history’s most celebrated diamonds have come out of these fabled mines. And these ain’t no chump change rocks.

🌟We’re talking about stones that were once buried thousands of feet below the surface of the Earth & can fetch millions when auctioned off. These diamonds are as celebrated for their beauty as for the historic trials by which they were bought, won, stolen & lost.

💎Rosy and rough, burnished and unblemished, Indian diamonds have enjoyed an unwavering fascination with the Bling Hos worldwide.

😀Take a look at some of the most famous natural diamonds - rosy and rough, burnished and unblemished - sourced from Golconda I. our latest Big Feature post from Inherited Newsletter Edition 06. (Link in Bio!)

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📸 Daria-e Noor (Sea of Light) Diamond © Photo: Collection of the national jewels of Iran

Marilyn Monroe sporting Moon of Baroda ©Photo: Getty Images

An advert from Levinson's Jewelers Inc in Chicago from the late 1960s showcasing the blue Idol’s Eye diamond from 'the famous Indian Golconda mines'.

________

10/01/2023

🎵 Ballads of Bidyapati

✍️Vidyapati or Bidyapati was the first Sanskrit composer to use Maithili as a literary language. His Maithili poems on the romantic exploits of the Radha & Krishna are imbued with delicate sentiments and emotions, especially exploring the female imagination.

❤️They often describe love as a kind of madness or addiction, one that can make you do things you never thought possible and one that must be treated carefully lest it consumes you entirely.

🔥The themes he explores - love, lust, and betrayal have been around for ages but what sets apart his creations is the uncanny ability to invoke the feeling of being in love with a freshness and immediacy exclusive to Radha & Krishna.

🌼 Love is a many-splendored thing. Take a moment to celebrate this complex emotion captured in the incredibly romantic Ballads of Bidyapati (Link in bio!)

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📸 RADHA AND KRISHNA, Kangra, Mid to late 19th century

Inherited x Ishva

29/10/2025

15/08/2025

09/08/2025

18/04/2025

18/01/2025

10/01/2025

07/02/2023

29/01/2023

18/01/2023

15/01/2023

11/01/2023

10/01/2023

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