By Dr. Devdutt Pattanaik - Author, Speaker, Illustrator, Mythologist
When one faces the rising Sun, the back faces the West, the Left hand represents the Northern side and the Right hand represents the Southern side. In Hindu mythology, the left hand is called the Vama-patha or the path of the left hand, which is associated with Tantra. However, the right hand is not called the path of the right hand, but is called the Southern path: Dakshina-patha, which is the right-handed path or the orthodox Vedic path. In politics, right stands for those who value traditional hierarchy (much like Vedanta) and left stands for those who overturn structures (much like Tantra).
