Tag: Indian culture

How the RSS, Golwalkar & Hindu Mahasabha glorified caste: Devanur Mahadevan

Sabrangindia Laced with quotations from Golwalkar and Savarkar of the RSS and Hindu Mahasabha themselves, this work, now available  in Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam and English, sharply critiques the far right’s worldview on caste exclusion and discrimination [Devanur Mahadeva, The RSS- The Long & Short of It is available in English; Price Rs 199. To obtain a copy… Read More How the RSS, Golwalkar & Hindu Mahasabha glorified caste: Devanur Mahadevan

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Sarbpreet Singh: The Curious Connection Between Sikkim’s Lake Guru Dongmar & Guru Nanak

First posted on November 12, 2019 I am back in Gangtok after many years. As I grew up here, I call it home. During a whirlwind book tour in India to talk about my new book, The Camel Merchant of Philadelphia, I decided to take a few days off to go home. It is raining… Read More Sarbpreet Singh: The Curious Connection Between Sikkim’s Lake Guru Dongmar & Guru Nanak

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More Than A Mythical Persona: An Atheist’s Take On Shiva

For Ram Manohar Lohia, Shiva was more than a mythical persona, ‘without birth and without end’, compassion incarnate, an ardent lover. Despite being an atheist, Lohia’s political imagination drew from stories around Shiva Chandan Gowda The myths of a people are a record of their dreams and their sorrows, an inerasable register of their most… Read More More Than A Mythical Persona: An Atheist’s Take On Shiva

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Are professors not expected to be original thinkers? How the JNU VC has undermined her own role

Apoorvanand One can only sympathise with the vice chancellor of Jawaharlal Nehru University when she denies the originality of her ideas to defend herself. When attacked for thoughts expressed during a lecture on BR Ambedkar and gender on August 22, she said in exasperation, “I am only a professor, not an original thinker.” Which meant… Read More Are professors not expected to be original thinkers? How the JNU VC has undermined her own role

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Sabyasachi Bhattacharya: Antinomies of Nationalism and Rabindranath Tagore

First posted on May 18, 2016 NB: The late and much revered Professor Sabyasachi Bhattacharya’s Rabindranath Tagore: An Interpretation appeared in 2011. His most recent essay on Tagore deals with the much-discussed theme of nationalism. DS Antinomies of Nationalism and Rabindranath Tagore  In our endeavour to understand Rabindranath Tagore’s approach to nationalism we have to recognize three… Read More Sabyasachi Bhattacharya: Antinomies of Nationalism and Rabindranath Tagore

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Book review: Kabir and the Question of Modernity

NB: An excellent review of an excellent book. Purushottam Agrawal has done us a public service. DS Kabir, the famous religious poet of Varanasi, lived from roughly 1440 CE to 1518 CE. He first became well-known outside of India in 1915 when Rabindranath Tagore published an English translation of 100 songs, or bhajans, att­ri­buted to Kabir. Tagore’s translation… Read More Book review: Kabir and the Question of Modernity

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Atmaram Salve: sowing the sparks of revolution

There is a saying in the Marathi language: “बामणा घरी लिहिणं, कुणब्या घरी दाणं आणि मांगा-महारा घरी गाणं.” A Brahmin’s house has the alphabet, a Kunbi’s house has grains, and Mang-Mahar homes have music. In the traditional village set-up, the Mang community played halgi , the Gondhali played sambal , Dhangars were masters of dhol… Read More Atmaram Salve: sowing the sparks of revolution

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Seema Chishti’s book on her parents’ interfaith marriage, is a compendium of notes from another India

What can an interfaith love story from an India in another time teach us today? That, in order to get married, it is enough to be in love; that families might not only not object but welcome such a union; that far from being a hurdle to this type of marriage, the state can actually… Read More Seema Chishti’s book on her parents’ interfaith marriage, is a compendium of notes from another India

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