2024
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Secularising Ramayana and Mahabharata
When we study Buddhist and Jain lore, we realise many stories there are quite similar to stories found in Ramayana and Mahabharata.
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Words of Savarkar
We are so spellbound by the Savarkar-Gandhi rivalry, the Veer-Mahatma competition, the violent/non-violent politics, we ignore the role played by Savarkar in creating new words for a new India, for he was part of the Hindi/Urdu debate, and he wanted…
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If You Are Truly Hindu, You Can’t Hate
Hatred is easy to justify, when you see yourself as the victim. But the idea of victimhood does not exist in Hinduism, from a structural point of view.
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Migration of Genes and Languages
In order to understand culture, we need to understand people. In order to understand India, we need to understand Indians. Where did Indians come from?
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Ancient Indian Fashion Today
How old is Indian fashion? It is extremely difficult to prove continuity in the realm of fashion history.
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Being Cultured In Japan
When we refer to culture, we typically refer to the packaging and the performance – music, costumes, food, dance, literature. We never talk about mindsets.
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Legacy Of Those Denied Success By Heartless Gods
This is a story from Sumerian mythology. Sumer is a region in southern Iraq where the world’s first cities were established around 3500 BC.
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How Pottery Offers Glimpses Of Cultures
Once pots were invented, humans could carry food and water wherever they went. This is why pots became objects of worship.
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From Ram to Jagannath
As the chariot rolls out of the Jagannath temple in Odisha this year, some may ask, is Jagannath now the favoured ‘national’ god, overshadowing Ram of Ayodhya?
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Gita is all about Family, Property and Inheritance
How do we decide who is an insider in a family, and who is an outsider? Who is mine, and who is not mine?
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Rediscovering the Unique, Prehistoric Sites
The word prehistory is typically used for pre-writing cultures and more specifically for cultures that existed before farming and the use of metal tools.
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Song and Dance For a Thai God
When you go to Bangkok, in the Sukhumvit area, you find a temple dedicated to a god called Erawan. The deity has four heads, eight hands, and he is associated with Brahma.
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Kashi Brahmins and the Maratha King
There are many complex stories of why and how Brahmins challenged the caste status of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj.
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Debunked Invasion, Ignored Migration
Academics, who accuse others of using imaginary stories and manipulating social constructs, need funding from politicians who have an agenda, so they select facts and present ideas to suit the ideology.
