It is not your typical Tuesday afternoon. There is intrigue in the air as a beautifully-illustrated deck of cards is laid out on the table. On one is a smiling Rukmini adorned with flowers, her eyes brimming with devotion, while on another is Yama atop his buffalo, his mighty stature prepared to avenge, rising from a circle of fire. The familiar characters from Indian epics are eye-catching, but they come bearing questions and life lessons for the self.
Proceed with caution, for the deck in question is an ‘oracle’.
Titled Wisdom from the Epics of Hind, the deck-and-book set, brilliantly illustrated by artist Rahul Das, has 50 cards and a small booklet that narrates the arc (for the lack of a better word) of characters from The Mahabharata and The Ramayana.
For the skeptics, it is a fun retelling of India’s very own epics, peppered with anecdotes and stories that we have all grown up listening to. As for the believers, it strives to be more by asking questions and offering solutions to curveballs that life, sometimes, throws. And to those in need of reassurance, it offers words of affirmation.
One of the cards from Wisdom from the Epics of Hind | Photo Credit: special arrangement
Psychologist Pankhuri Agarwal, who hails from Chennai, and refers to herself as “merely the channel” is the mind behind this deck. A tarot reader who has multiple decks published, she says, “Epics of Hind was written for everyone, even those who have not been initiated into the world of tarot. One focus was definitely self help. Two, the more independent you are and the more you learn to help yourself, the lesser are your chances of being exploited. Third, bringing Indian wisdom in healing to the world and claiming it as Indian was very important for me.”
She believes that a lot of the new-age philosophy of therapy and healing comes from ancient Indian wisdom. “The new-age tarot market is valued currently at 1.2 billion dollars, and India is not very significant in it yet,” she says, adding when she was a young reader, even though some decks referred to Indian gods and goddesses, it was disappointing to see that they were not by Indian creators.
Psychologist Pankhuri Agarwal, who hails from Chennai, and refers to herself as “merely the channel” is the mind behind this deck. A tarot reader who has multiple decks published, she says, “Epics of Hind was written for everyone, even those who have not been initiated into the world of tarot. One focus was definitely self help. Two, the more independent you are and the more you learn to help yourself, the lesser are your chances of being exploited. Third, bringing Indian wisdom in healing to the world and claiming it as Indian was very important for me.”
She believes that a lot of the new-age philosophy of therapy and healing comes from ancient Indian wisdom. “The new-age tarot market is valued currently at 1.2 billion dollars, and India is not very significant in it yet,” she says, adding when she was a young reader, even though some decks referred to Indian gods and goddesses, it was disappointing to see that they were not by Indian creators.
In Epics of Hind, the first cards she along with Rahul created were Kali’s Anger and Kali’s Awakening: “I have picked up so much from these stories that led me to think that maybe this deck should be an oracle. Even people of my generation are clueless about such stories unless they are mythology enthusiasts,” she says.
For each card, the booklet that begins with an explainer on how to read the cards, offers a synopsis of the story, followed by questions to ask oneself and actions to take, rounded off by a concluding message.
Dream come true
The publisher, US Games Systems Inc, is helmed by Stuart R Kaplan who popularised the Rider-Waite tarot deck. “So to be published by them was more than a dream come true for me,” says Pankhuri, who is working on her third deck which she hopes to publish by the end of 2023.
Swagatham, her second deck of tarot, is not for the uninitiated though it comes with a DIY booklet guide. Based on the Indian philosophy of birth and death, it will be released in India by March.
The minor arcana (secret) cards of Swagatham that are designed as a “crash course on the Indian subcontinent”, has all the aces as mudras, twos as jewels, threes as tastes, fours as colours/natural dyes, fives are weapons, sixes as festivals, sevens as geographical elements, eights as trees, nines as flowers, tens as seasons, pages as dances, knights as musical instruments, queens as animals and kings as layers of existence.
You do not need to believe in tarot and oracle cards to enjoy Epics of Hind. For the skeptics, among us, the deck imaginatively uses art to tell stories. All you need to do is pick a card.
Wisdom from the Epics of HInd is available on amazon.in
