Sultanate / Articles
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Donation of Courtesans
Published on 17th February, 2023, in Economic Times. Chanakya’s Arthashastra talks about appointing a superintendent for the ganika, variously translated as pleasure women, prostitutes or courtesans. This is done in a matter-of-fact way. No morality is attached. Ganikas were valuable…
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The Mountains That Stopped Eagles
Published on 23rd October, 2022, in The Times of India. The mountains that stopped eagles and killed Hindus – Was Hindu Kush where millions of Hindus died? The Hindu Kush mountains separates South Asia from Afghanistan. These are the mountains…
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Cholas In Focus
Published on 16th October, 2022, in The Hindu. Cholas in focus: 12th century war poem ‘Kalingathu Parani’ celebrates the dynasty’s exploits against the Kalinga kingdom. The poem is narrated by ghosts who are companions of a fearsome goddess called Anangu.…
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How a ‘Ram Rajya’ Was Established In South
Published on 27th August, 2022, in Times of India. About 700 years ago, on the banks of Tungabhadra, in Karnataka, as per legend, two brothers known as Harihara and Bukka, saw hares turning around and attacking hunting hounds. They realised…
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The Jogi As Seasonal Hermit
Published on 23rd April, 2022, in The Hindu. In North India, especially in the Gangetic plains, in what is now Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, we find songs known as Baramasa. It is a 12-month cycle in poetry, expressing the…
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The Jain Monk and His Saka Saviours
Published on 25th March, 2022, in The Hindu About two thousand years ago incidents took place which involved the Jain community that inspired an epic ballad that was put down in writing a thousand years later in Prakrit and local…
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Mythology of Bengali Pirs
Published on 24th January, 2021, in Mid-day. Islam reached Bengal somewhere in the 13th century. Mongol raids forced migration of Sufi Pirs, also known as Ghazi, from Iran via Delhi. They spread their faith, in regions that were far away…
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View: The Sacred Balance Of Power
Published on 6th March, 2020, in The Economic Times Across religious scriptures, we come across the concept of balance of power in the unlikeliest of spaces. We hear of charismatic kings who control people (at least warriors) that enable them…
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Mapping mythology, history and art with Wendell Rodricks
Published on 3rd March, 2020 in The Hindu I find it hard to believe that Wendell is gone. The news was a shock. But then, Wendell has always surprised me. From his habit of waking up very early in the…
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Is samosa Indian, or Vedic?
Many ingredients and dishes came to India from foreign lands. Likewise, many ingredients and dishes went from India to foreign lands.
