The discourse on the issue of beef ban in various states of India and the ensuing political war is strangely negligent of the ethos behind the enactment of these laws.
Author: Ashish Dhar (Ashish Dhar)
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Caste: Purusha and Varna
The dominant school of academic scholarship on the caste system makes very serious mistakes in understanding and conveying the meaning of the most fundamental Indic concepts of Purusha and Varna.
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Caste in stone – Part 1 (Introduction)
Caste politics derives sustenance from centuries of erroneous scholarship that began with the British colonial project in India. The theories so derived have since been challenged by many scholars but the associated myths persist as strongly as ever.
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This business of naming
Renaming roads and buildings is an important exercise in decolonization and the urge is just another expression of language and cognition.
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Science, Secularism and Saturn
The interplay between rationality, politics and Hindu tradition is much more complex than westerners or elitist Indians imagine. The worship of reason at the expense of traditional wisdom of the diverse communities in India creates artificial fault lines in the social fabric of the country and can have serious long term implications.
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Age of Empires version 2.0
British and Islamic conquests of India were achieved through fundamentally different strategies and both continue to influence contemporary politics in India in different ways.
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An open letter to Ma Durga
How the original 'idea of India' is no different from the reverence for Durga, the mother of the Universe.