As I look back on their lives, I can now see, more clearly than when I was young, how my parents affirmed, in practice rather than in theory, the spirit of fraternity and non-discrimination Ramachandra Guha’s tribute to his parents. May their souls rest in peace This column stays away from mentioning my family, but… Read More Quiet luminescence
By Mohan Murti As Indians schooled in the Queen’s English but raised in the Republic’s reality, we’ve turned the language of Shakespeare into something gloriously, unapologetically our own. We bend it, twist it, stretch it—and occasionally, reinvent it altogether. The result is Indian English, a tongue so inventive that it confuses the Brit, bewilders the… Read More Divided by a Common Language: The Indian Edition
Composed between the 10th and 12th centuries, these moral observations from old Kannada texts show great care about how to be properly charitable. Chandan Gowda ‘A person of understanding gives in charity without wondering, “What do I stand to lose?”, without hesitation, without the weight of self-doubt, and without any dampening of enthusiasm.’ “The one… Read More The grace of giving
NB: Vishwaguru’s India: Thou shalt not think without prior clearance from the Headquarters of Truth, located in Nagpur. DS What happened to Orsini may appear, on the surface, to be an ordinary incident, but the signs it carries are deeply frightening. Yogesh Pratap Shekhar The morning after the festival of lights, Diwali, came news of… Read More Stopping Francesca Orsini From Entering India is an Insult to the Very Concept and Culture of Knowledge
First posted October 26, 2019 Soon after Rama enters the aranya, Sita delivers a lecture on Kshatriya dharma. A rare instance.. when Sita advises her husband to be cautious… Sita warns that his use of force may damage the forest and his own reputation. Of three grave evils, she notes, two – the “habit of telling specious… Read More Ashutosh Bhardwaj: On Diwali, Ramayana show us the light
Amid soaring Hindu-Muslim tensions in the BJP-ruled northeastern state, Zubeen Garg’s music served as a rare unifier. In Garg’s music, the idea of an Assam for Hindus and Muslims, Assamese speakers and Bengali speakers alike, was not an illusion. “Zubeen’s songs did not merely entertain, they also addressed the depths of what it means to… Read More ‘Zubeen was for all’: Singer’s death unites India’s religiously torn Assam
NB: A beautiful and profound meditation on some of the deepest insights of Indian culture. Thank you Professor Mehta. DS Both reached the same uncomfortable truth — the moral exemplar often stands outside the logic of power This year, Gandhi Jayanti and Vijayadashami coincide. Gandhi Jayanti has long been marked by formal pieties, yet it… Read More Pratap Bhanu Mehta: The loneliness of Ram and Gandhi
Akbar ने संत दादू-दयाल से 40 दिन क्या बातचीत की थी. Dadu Dayal ने Akbar से मिलने से क्यों मना किया? An insightful discussion with Purushottam Agrawal on his recent book (So Says Jan Gopal), the Bhakti Movement, Akbar, history, and modern-day politics. Aditya Sangwan in conversation with Professor Purushottam Agrawal An excerpt from So… Read More Akbar ने संत दादू-दयाल से 40 दिन क्या बातचीत की थी ? Aditya Sangwan in conversation with Professor Purushottam Agrawal
First posted October 27, 2011 ‘The essay is a marvellous account of the hundreds of ways in which the Ramayana has been told, complete with examples of this narrative diversity. I can’t imagine that the vice-chancellor, a member of that urbane cohort, the Class of ’75, wanted the essay removed because he agreed with the Akhil Bharatiya… Read More Mukul Kesavan: Delhi University and the purging of Ramanujan
By Tora Agarwala in East Khasi hills, Meghalaya Excited chatter and the clattering of steel plates drown out the din of the monsoon rains: it is lunchtime in Laitsohpliah government school in the north-east Indian state of Meghalaya. The food has been cooked on-site and is free for everyone, part of India’s ambitious “midday meal”… Read More Fish mint, Himalayan chives and berry pickle: how wild ingredients are transforming school dinners in India
After the truth-shower 