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March 12, 2026
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Latest Posts

Nuwari of a Story!
March 08, 2026March 8, 2026STORYBy Charu Uppal0 0

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.

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Inventing the Oppressor: Social Theory and the Logic of the UGC Regulations
March 05, 2026March 5, 2026PERSPECTIVEBy Aryan Anand1 0

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.

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Gaffe or Gambit – Did A R Rahman Cross a Line While Keeping Within Others?
March 02, 2026March 2, 2026PERSPECTIVEBy Sriram Chellapilla0 0

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.

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Inside the Temple Crisis: Governance and Preservation Challenges
February 17, 2026February 17, 2026PERSPECTIVEBy Rema Raghavan4 0

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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An Air of Social Doom: Political Propaganda Passed off as Moral Messaging
February 07, 2026February 13, 2026COMMENTARYBy Sriram Chellapilla1 0

An Air of Social Doom: Political Propaganda Passed off as Moral Messaging

This article by Sriram Chellapilla, the fifth in a series of essays on the subject, argues that celebrity anguish over press freedom, NGOs, and society functions less as moral concern and more as selective political signaling. Using Naseeruddin Shah’s statements as a framing device, the author exposes how unelected NGOs, opaque media ownership, and celebrity activism often mask ideological agendas behind the language of freedom. Chellapilla contends that scrutiny of NGOs and media is neither new nor authoritarian, having been pursued by successive governments. What is troubling, he argues, is the hypocrisy of invoking free speech only when aligned with preferred politics, while remaining silent on censorship and intimidation by “secular” regimes.

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Daily Feed

In PERSPECTIVE, LANGUAGE, OPINION

Mistranslation of Sanskrit Words: Misunderstanding and Absurdity

Western scholars and Indologists fail to grasp the essence of Hindu philosophy and history because despite their best attempts, words in Sanskrit are often non-translatable and meanings depend heavily upon context. Given their narrow-minded approach, while also accounting for personal biases, even the nearest translation in another language subverts the essence of the original text.

In TRAVELOGUE

Udayagiri-Khandagiri Caves – Syncretism of Indic religions

The harmonious co-existence of different Indic faiths depicted on the Udayagiri-Khandagiri Caves is a sight to behold.

In ESSAY

Why some books are rejected – The silence of higher-ups and the unknown reader

The nexus of power within various fields refuses to acknowledge the existence of realities outside their worldview.

In ESSAY

Harsha of Kashmir, a Hindu Iconoclast?

In the rush to show how Islam wasn't alone in plunder, many a secularist has pointed the finger at King Harsha.

In EXCERPT

Jihãd and Religious Riot

Inextricably linked to Jihad is the religious riot as it is central to its ideology.

In ESSAY

Islamic Expansion through Jihãd: The Evidence of the Sunnah

Jihãd is the supreme instrument for propagating Islam and its spread by peaceful means has always remained secondary.

In ESSAY

Nationalism in Indian thought

It is a popular myth that Nationalism is a concept alien to India and that it was brought to her shores in the imperial age. A reading of traditional Indic literature (Śāstras and Kāvyas) tells a totally different story.

In ESSAY

Bhakti Dampati – Divine Couples in Devotion to Sri Hari

The Vaishnava dampati gan help us understand the true essence of the conjugal relationship in a marriage.

In COMMENTARY

The hunchbacked goddess

Kubjikā̄ Mata, whose sadhana has nearly vanished from the popular Shakta practice owing to the secretive nature of the path, is a powerful form of the Devi whose grace greatly accelerates the progress of the serious sadhaka.

In BOOK REVIEW

‘Savarkar: Echoes from a Forgotten Past, 1883–1924’ – By Vikram Sampath: A Review

In this review of Dr. Vikram Sampath's book titled: "Savarkar: Echoes from a Forgotten Past, 1883–1924"; Rohan Raghav Sharma analyses and opines on Dr. Sampath's presentation of Savarkar's story, his approach towards Savarkar's sentencing and suffering; interspersed with the correct historical context.

In PERSPECTIVE

Clarity on Role Play (Hindi)

यदि सब मिथ्या और माया है तो परिश्रम करने से क्या लाभ?

In COMMENTARY

How NCERT covers up Islam’s role in temple destruction

NCERT history textbooks have progressed from a total denial of temple and idol destruction to a too clever by half cover-up of the Islamic roots of iconoclasm by Muslim invaders.

Daily Feed

In ESSAY

A storyteller’s experiences with divinity

The tradition of storytelling is as old as Hindu culture with its immense impact having defined our very way of life.

In PERSPECTIVE, FILM REVIEW

“Oppenheimer”, the Gita, and Dharma

Imbibing the spirit of true Dharma, one achieves communion with nature, the cosmos, and eventually the Supreme being. The eternal fight therefore, is not between good and evil, or between believers and non-believers, but between Dharma and Adharma.

In ESSAY

Unveiling The “Secular” Sheikh Mujib: The Butcher Of Bengali Hindus

Mujib was a true Muslim who saw Syed Ahmed Barelvi’s Wahabi movement as a justified rebellion and took pride in the fact that thousands of Muslim jihadists from Bengal marched barefoot to Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. He believed Pakistan was a just demand for the emancipation of India's Muslims, who were oppressed by Hindu landlords and moneylenders.

In INTERVIEW

Hindu and Muslim Rajputs and a pre-partition Panchayat: In conversation with my grandfather

The relationship between Hindu and Muslim Rajputs was one of camaraderie during pre-independence times.

In BOOK REVIEW

‘The Vow of Parvati’ by Aditi Banerjee: A Review

Rohan Raghav Sharma reviews Aditi Banerjee's book "The Vow of Parvati", and gives us his impression of the retelling as well as the writer's approach towards the different episodes in the life of Devi in her different births and roopas.

In ESSAY

Looking for Indianness

The essence of what constitutes Indianness is disappearing in the mutating mass of present day society, not helped by the Indians' own cultural bankruptcy, which might pave the way towards a regrettable future.

In COMMENTARY, CONVERSATION, ITIHASA

Trying to Understand Shri Rama

An analytical look at some of the more controversial actions of Shri Rama, from the lenses of ancient as well as modern thoughts.

In BOOK REVIEW

Book Review: ‘Perversion of India’s Political Parlance’ by Sita Ram Goel

Sita Ram Goel was an astute observer of the harmful repercussions of linguistic relativity in action.

In ESSAY

Kali Yuga or The Age of Confusion – Part 2

The Indian genius always endeavoured to spiritualize all aspects of life, including the social and political. If spirituality was of any practical value, why should it be kept out of governance?

In STORY

‘Flight of the Deity’ from Martand Temple, Kashmir – Part 1

A young woman's journey amidst the turmoil to reconnect with her past as she struggles to straddle the complexities of the present.

In EXCERPT

The Patron Saint of Indigenisation

Roberto de Nobili with typical missionary zeal launched his "Madurai Mission" at a time when the Portuguese were on a conversion spree post their conquest of Goa.

In BOOK REVIEW

Book review: Essence of the Fifth Veda by Gaurang Damani

Dr Pingali Gopal reviews Essence of the Fifth Veda, a captivating compendium by Gaurang Damani.

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