The Mahabharata is not merely an epic or religious text but a civilizational framework through which Indian society has long understood power, morality, and human conflict. Rather than offering rigid moral binaries, it presents dharma as contextual and relational, shaped by responsibility and awareness. Through complex characters and difficult choices, the epic explores the burdens of power, the psychology of action, and the consequences of ethical failure. In doing so, it functions as a living guide to navigating moral ambiguity within society.
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Nuwari of a Story!
A single mustard-and-maroon saree becomes the thread weaving together generations of memory. As a mother recounts its journey - from saree to half-saree, curtain, cushion cover, and album cover—her daughter discovers how fabric can carry family history. Each transformation holds laughter, sisterly love, and the ingenuity of making do with what one has. In the end, the saree becomes more than clothing - it becomes a living archive of relationships, creativity, and continuity.

Inventing the Oppressor: Social Theory and the Logic of the UGC Regulations
Aryan Anand argues that the debate around the recent UGC guidelines has remained confined to immediate political reactions, ignoring the deeper intellectual frameworks shaping such policies. Drawing on strands of critical social theory, he contends that contemporary policy increasingly operates through rigid oppressor–oppressed binaries. Applied mechanically to the Indian context, this framework risks misreading the complex realities of caste and society. Anand suggests that policies built on such assumptions may ultimately deepen social divisions rather than address them.

Gaffe or Gambit – Did A R Rahman Cross a Line While Keeping Within Others?
Was A.R. Rahman’s reference to a “communal thing” in Bollywood a careless gaffe—or a calibrated signal within a larger minority-progressive discourse? Situating his remarks within a broader pattern of celebrity secularism, this essay argues that selective invocations of intolerance often coexist with studied evasions on questions of history, identity, and civilizational memory. Rahman’s diplomatic silences—on Aurangzeb, on cultural politics, on ideological alignments—appear less accidental than strategic. The result is a familiar cycle: grievance, outrage, clarification, and international amplification. At stake is not merely celebrity speech, but the narrative framing of Hindu-majority India itself.

Inside the Temple Crisis: Governance and Preservation Challenges
Across India’s temple towns, rising tourist footfall, evolving governance structures, and new revenue models are reshaping how sacred sites are administered and preserved. Temples, once self-sustaining civilizational institutions, are increasingly treated as revenue-generating assets, with properties sold, offerings monetized, and darshan commodified. Rema Raghavan writes that this commercialization displaces local communities, erodes ritual continuity, and weakens the organic moral oversight once provided by resident devotees. As temples transform from living centers of worship into tourist spectacles, the intimate bond between deity, devotee, and community frays. Restoring temples as civilizational epicenters, she argues, requires accountable governance, empowered local participation, and an uncompromising commitment to ritual and heritage preservation.
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Secularism as a colonial project
Jakob De Roover's recent book, 'Europe, India, and the Limits of Secularism (Religion and Democracy)' is a fine study of the evolution of the principle of secularism, its inherent limitations and its striking dissonance with the civilizational ethos of India.
The Sword of Kali by Chittaranjan Naik: Part 3
Dr Pingali Gopal encapsulates an old debate about the nature of Hinduism.
Ikat – The Ties That Do Not Bind
Ikat weaving is one of the oldest craft traditions of India with a very distinctive weaving technique.
Seeds that were to sprout
Marx's philosophy of a supposed harmonised social system garnered many followers, though in time people still connected with the Hindu ethos realised its severe limitations.
Jambukeswarar Temple- The Humble Abode of Goddess Akilandeswari
The Jambukeswarar temple, situated in Trichy, was built by the Sangam era Chola King, Kochengannan. It is here that Lord Shiva is worshiped as the manifestation of the element, Water.
Do you know your India?
Indians are generally either unaware or misinformed about their civilization and how it shaped the world historically.
SGPC Ban on portrayal of Sikh Gurus
Sikhism, since its advent, has looked down upon murti pooja. Guru Nanak himself has called Hindus ignorant for worshipping murtis made of stone, instead of the all-encompassing Almighty God.
The same belief is now being applied to pictorial, cinematographic, and animated depictions of Sikh Gurus, their kin, and other eminent Sikh personalities; by the SGPC.
Mahabharata War Date: Rebuttal to claim of 3067 BCE
A rejoinder to falsify the claim of 3067 BCE as the year of the Mahabharata war.
Can the Historicity of Ramayana be established?
A detailed analysis to legitimise the Ramayana as a historical event rather than just an epic.
The anatomy of the Left’s intellectual superiority complex
The Left and its culture of silencing opposing views through bullying tactics is rooted in its superiority complex.
India’s History: Part I, By Rabindranath Tagore
This is an English translation of the essay “Bharatbarsher Itihas” by Rabindranath Tagore, to be found in his anthology of Bengali essays entitled “Bharatavarsha”. The anthology contains several of Rabindranath’s longish essays concerning historical, cultural, and political dimensions of India, all written between 1901 and 1905, a period which can be described as the zenith of Bengal’s (and in turn, India’s) rebirth in the Modern Era. Each of these essays, though deeply embedded within the historical context of the author’s time and space, is largely relevant for all of India today.
Crisis in American higher education: Pitfalls and Opportunities for India
With the growing presence of the online teaching medium, India can reclaim its stature of being a knowledge producing hub, disrupting the hold of Western institutions and helping subject matter experts outside the walls of academic fortresses, have their voices heard.
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Abrogation of Article 370: Good in Law, better in Logic
The presidential order by the Indian government has much in common with actions of other political thinkers from across the world.
Śaṅkara Charitam – a re-telling – Chapter 08
In the 8th Chapter of Śaṅkara Charitam, Shri Ramesh Venkatraman leads us to the events preceding and foreshadowing Śaṅkara's Saṃnyāsa.
The Significance of the Bhakt and Bhakti in Hinduism
Bhakti, as a profound spiritual path within Hinduism, encompasses the deep love, devotion, and surrender to the divine. While the term "Bhakt" has gained popularity in political contexts, its use as a label for followers of a particular leader is objectionable as it trivializes the spiritual essence of Bhakti.
Gita Govinda of Jayadeva and the Bhakti Movement
The effect of Gita Govinda has been central to the development of Vaishnavism.
A Call for the Linguistic Decolonisation of Bharat
This essay investigates how the legitimacy of a language supports or facilitates symbolic violence and self-censorship among minority languages, as well as how language laws and practices legitimise languages and how they affect diverse social groups. It also considers what may be done to keep linguistic ideology as a multifaceted phenomenon.
When should Pongal/Makar Samkranti be celebrated and why?
An incomplete understanding and misreading of the Shastras in the modern age, has led people to celebrate Pongal on the wrong day.
Yoga Vasishtha
The sublime Vedantic text showcases how a young Rama was nurtured by his guru, Brahmarshi Vasishtha, to fulfill his future role.
The European view of the Indo-European Homeland
Two decades after initially releasing his book, the author still holds the same biases regarding AIT without having come to terms with recent developments.
Arasavalli Suryanarayana Temple – Part 1
As control of Hindu temples by the government gets more widespread, temple priests find it harder and harder to continue their ancestral occupation.
Kashi Corridor – From Spirituality to Materialism
Treating temples as just another structure that can be replaced is to give in to the adharma of disregarding and offending the divinity that resides within them.
Understanding Political Systems Of India – Part 2 – The Political Trajectory Of Post-Independent India
"Much of today’s normative ‘liberal democracy’ has clear theological roots and may not make sense outside the Western world. Universalising and secularising a theological theme may be problematic when applied to Indian culture. Independent India, ignoring indigenous political philosophy, inherited Western values, creating a story of contradictions clashing with the intensely traditional society of India."
In the second installment of the series titled "Understanding Political Systems Of India", Dr. Pingali Gopal brings us a summary of essays of Professor Bhikhu Parekh where he assesses post-Independent Nehruvian India.
Jawaharlal Nehru, Prime Minister from 1947 to 1964, constantly looked at the West as a template for India’s future, rejecting the indigenous past. The article analyses the effects of implementation of Western political thought and primarily British laws in the Indian society which wasn't structured the same way as the West. When implemented in India, the institutions of Western law encourage just the opposite of what such laws are meant to do: a vengeful, spiteful, and ‘selfish’ citizenry. Instead of promoting a cohesive society, such laws encourage divisiveness and conflict in society.
A Timeline of Ayodhya – Part 1
A chronological order through what several disciplines — archaeology, epigraphy and history in particular — have contributed to our knowledge of the ancient city of Ayodhya.
