Culture
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How Metaphors Reveal Ancient India’s Cultural Secrets
Early Indian metaphors emerge from three very different cultural zones: the Vedic northwest, the Tamil south, and the Prakrit-speaking Deccan. Each region had its own climate, flora, fauna, settlement pattern, and historical rhythm.
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China’s Eternal Loop
Just as India is torn between the academician’s truth and the politician’s truth, so is China. But relative to India’s history which is strongly based on diversity, Chinese history is a product of unification.
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Brahmin Wars Beneath Vande Mataram
We already have a national anthem, ‘Jana Gana Mana’. Why then the ruckus over a national song, ‘Vande Mataram’? Could it have something to do with the caste of the respective poets, both Bengali Brahmins, but one lesser in ritual…
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Brief History of Rasa, India’s Aesthetic Theory
Ancient Indians analysed the experience of beauty (aesthetics) using the rasa theory. Rasa means juice. Just as the mere thought of food makes the mouth water, the experience of art generates a flow of aesthetic juices (rasa) in the audience…
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When the Sky Remembers What Humans Forget
Over generations, people realised that constellations did not rise at the same place during the same season. Spring was once marked by one set of stars, but later by another. This shifting sky puzzled ancient observers until they learned to…
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Decolonising India’s Erotic Heritage
We were never a culture of shame. We were made into one. Not just by the British. But also by their Brahmin collaborators. Both found common cause in attacking powerful rich independent Hindu women, the women who gave India its…
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Why lotus remains India’s simplest yet most profound symbol
The lotus today is a symbol of a leading political party in India, but for thousands of years it has been part of Indian myth, ritual, architecture, and craft. At the village level, the lotus thrives as a simple floor…
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Was Macaulay Anti-India Or Anti-Brahmin?
The debate around Macaulay, English, and education is not just about colonialism. It is about whether India wants a future shaped by open inquiry or a past shaped by inherited authority.
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Pigeon Spirituality
Who funds these monks who promote non-violence and vegetarian food? Those who make money from industries that pollute rivers, seas, and air. India’s biggest industrialists are vegetarians.
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Is Lingayat a caste or a religion?
The Lingayat community today insists it is a separate religion. They refuse to be placed within the Veerashaiva fold, or being seen as a subset of Hinduism. This demand has upset those who seek to unite Hinduism under a single…
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How Merchants Shape the Satvik Holiness
The richest families in India are strictly vegetarian and belong to the vaishya varna. They are supported by politicians committed to the cause of vegetarianism or Satvikism, a new form of Hinduism. As these rich communities take control of temples…
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How Beer Established Civilisation
We are told that the dawn of agriculture was about bread. That our Stone Age ancestors settled down to plant wheat and barley so they could bake loaves. But a growing body of research suggests that this may not be…
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The Non-Brahmin Priests of Hinduism
Hinduism has many groups and communities. Different castes and tribes have different gods. Each of these gods have different priests.
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The Horsemen Of Kanchi
For over 3,000 years, horses were imported into India. They were critical to govern empires and, therefore, were always in demand. But a little known fact is that horses are difficult to breed in our country, which explains the need…
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How Afghan and Turkic Invaders Transformed Indian Warfare
We know that from the 10th century, horse‑breeding groups from Afghanistan and Central Asia invaded India in successive waves. The early invaders simply looted the gold‑rich temples of the land. The later invaders, after the 12th century, established Sultanates to…