Aditya Raj Sinha reviews Sibashis Mahapatra's book on Odia history.
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Excerpts From History Of The Freedom Movement In India By R. C. Mazumdar – Criticism Of Gandhi – Part 5
Dr Pingali Gopal uses R. C. Mazumdar's book "History of the Freedom Movement in India" as reference to evoke interest in the truth behind the popularised version of the history of India's independence.
Part 5 is a critique of Gandhi - his political origins, his role in the freedom struggle, his multiple calls for mass movements, and his misses and blunders at multiple moments of high impact.
When Scientism Overshadows Science: An Orthodox Critique of the Sophistry of Evolutionism
"It is a modern tendency within religious factions to seek a synthesis and synchronization between the domains of Religion and Science. This inclination manifests in the attempts of forceful amalgamation of both domains, with the rejection of traditional interpretations of Religion and deliberate efforts to reformulate it to seamlessly align with the framework of Science."
Śaṅkara Charitam – a re-telling – Chapter16 – Ōṃkārēśvar to Kāśi
Śaṅkara sets off on his own towards Kāśi, at the behest of his Guru who tells him to spread the knowledge of the Vedas in Kāśi, because Kāśi is the epicenter of Dharma, the place where Śiva, dwells in every stone, tree, building, air, water, and soil.
How long did the demolition of the Kashi-Vishwanath Temple take?
In this paper, D Shrinivas uses the Maasir-i-Alamgiri of Saqi Mustad Khan to determine the dates on which the order for the destruction was given and the time it took for the destruction to actually be carried out. Based upon the above he hypothesizes about the resistance that Aurangzeb’s military likely faced from the local Hindu populace while carrying out the orders to destroy this Hindu temple.
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Buddha, Shankara and Vivekananda – Milestones of Indian spirituality
The three great sages of the Indic spiritual tradition, while reacting to the times they lived in, gave expression to the same truth in different ways.
Fate and Free-Will
We have the choice to either remain bonded to Nature or go beyond it and realize our innate capacity for liberation.
Nobody should be persecuted BY a faith
The recent World Watch List by a company called Open Doors falsely implicates India as being a country where Christians encounter massive persecution.
An Indic Reading of Nietzsche’s Thus Spoke Zarathustra – Part II
Knowledge is not merely to be read or heard as words; on the contrary, it is to be lived, experienced and thus renewed.
Purandara Dasa’s Wife: Ushering A Miserly Rich Trader Into A Tamboori-Wielding Mendicant Saint-Poet
This the story of Purandara Dasa's wife Saraswati Bai, the woman who transformed a rich miser who sat on wealth for his entire life into a barefoot mendicant Dasa of Sri Hari. Purandasa Dasa, also known as the 'pitamah of Carnatic music', is known to have composed 4,75,000 devotional songs, all attributed to Purandara Vitthala, of which at least 1,000 songs still survive.
Is Indian Culture Obsolete?
Can Indian culture still feed its country's malnourished soul which has been decaying amidst the onslaught of western society's social norms and ethical values?
The Military Genius of Babu Kunwar Singh
One of the most accomplished military leaders of the First War of Independence, Babu Kunwar Singh, feared by the British more than any other, did not get his due in recorded accounts.
This post is an analysis of his methods as well as victories, establishing his military genius.
Nature’s Basket
Ancient India relied on an elaborate knowledge system to conserve and manage ecology.
Hymns to Brahman – Part 1; By Rabindranath Tagore
These verses are selected and translated from the poet Rabindranath Tagore’s vast repertoire of Bengali Brahamsangeet song lyrics. These song lyrics are rich in terms of literary finesse, outstanding as musical compositions of a classical or semi-classical nature; and, they demonstrate an intense religious longing in the poet – a yearning to attain and dwell in a constant state of union with the Divine.
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.
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.
Rukmini’s Letter to Sri Krishna: A Translation
One of Pandit Narendra Sharma’s last poetical works showcasing the prowess of the Śuddha Hindi language.
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The Treaty of Hudaybiyyah
Islam clearly spells out its terms of engagement with the non-believers by following the template laid out by the Treaty of Hudaybiyyah. We ignore it to our peril.
Understanding Indian Economy: Ancient To Modern – Part 4
The previous parts were an attempt to summarise the Indian economic story from its ancient roots until the end of British rule from various sources. The understanding of the Indian economy after independence also tends to be a little complex for a layperson to understand because of conflicting opinions. However, the overall story is one of hope and pride rather than shame and disappointment. This part also includes selected references and further readings for those interested.
“Rama of the Axe” by Ranjith Radhakrishnan – A Review
A comprehensive review of "Rama of the Axe" by Ranjith Radhakrishnan, and his treatment of plots and characters beyond what is mainstream, including but not limited to the protagonist Bhagwan Parashurama and the antagonist Kartyavira Arjuna.
Kashmir: An Overview of the Seven Exoduses of Hindus (Part 2)
An extremely brutal period for Kashmiri Hindus as various Muslim ethnic groups tried to completely Islamise the land of Kashmir.
Caste and the discourse of Casteism
Shudras in pre-colonial India were totally different from how they are seen in the popular imagination of modern India leading to a perverted discourse that looks for solutions to the problems of the marginalised sections of society in the vague past instead of the concrete present.
“Our Moon Has Blood Clots” by Rahul Pandita – A Review
Mayank Dhar, A Kashmiri Pandit, pens a nuanced and balanced review of Rahul Pandita's book "Our Moon Has Blood Clots", with praises where the author has earned them and pointed questions where the author deserves them.
On Fortresses In The Rigveda, Atharvaveda Śaunakiya And (Pre)Harappa And The Dating Of The Samhitas – A. A. Semenenko – Translation
This paper was originally written in Russian by Dr. Aleksandr A. Semenenko, a historian based in Voronezh, Russia.
Dr. Semenenko is one of the few Western scholars who have defended the Out-of-India theory which purports to explain the spread of the Indo-European languages. His work is ground-breaking, because he relies not only on textual or linguistic proof, but also on archaeological and material evidence. His researches have now provided a very solid archaeological underpinning for the OIT.
Dr. Semenenko has recently presented summaries of his findings at Sangam Talks:
Steppe Route of Indo European Dispersal:Preliminary Findings (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lgRdwkZnGqA)
The Tarimian Trace of the Indo European Dispersal (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jyY7EHotXto)
The Rigveda Chronology And The Indo European Homeland (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S1Bsm79cVvk)
Dr. Semenenko's original and far-reaching work has been endorsed by such pioneers of the OIT such as Shrikant Talageri and Koenraad Elst: see for example, the Sangam Talk "Getting serious about the "Aryan" debate" (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rDSy9gPAB3s)
The bulk of Dr. Sememnenko's work is in Russian. However, he has also written extensively in English as well, and interested readers can find his path-breaking papers at:
https://independent.academia.edu/AlexandrSemenenko/Articles-in-English
or at:
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Aleksandr-Semenenko-2
In this monograph, which is the first of his papers to be published in India, Dr. Semenenko shows that Rigvedic hymns mentioning forts being besieged or stormed do not occur in the oldest layers of the Rigveda. The oldest mentions of forts occur in a peaceful context. Dr. Semenenko also decisively refutes the AIT, according to which the earliest hymns should have described the destruction of forts. The author demonstrates that the description of fortresses in the Rigveda and the Atharvaveda reflect a unique chain of archaeological events in the history of South Asia — wherein a period when fortified settlements were besieged and burned down was followed by a period when they existed peacefully. This sequence of events corresponds to a transition from the Early Harappan period to that of Mature Harappa, and was never repeated again. With this insight, Dr. Semenenko has succeeded in establishing an absolute chronology for the Rigveda (which was hitherto not possible).
The translator dedicates his translation to the memory of his late lamented Russian teacher, Dr. Ganesh.V. Marathe. This translation was rendered possible only owing to Dr. Marathe's charity towards a schoolboy who could not have afforded to pay for the Russian lessons.
Espionage in Kautilya’s Arthaśāstra
The Arthaśāstra's exposition of state craft and intelligence gathering showed Kautilya's remarkable acumen and his treatise as the high-water mark of Indian polity.
The unpredictability of spiritual life
Jyotiṣa is a powerful and systematic method of predicting future events whose accuracy is highly dependent on the depth of the astrologer's intuition. However, it reaches its limits when it confronts adhyatmic (spiritual) dimensions of a person's life.
‘Tiruvannamalai Beckons’ and ‘A Month In Tiruvannamalai’ by Parag Shah – A Review
Rohan Raghav Sharma reviews two interconnected books, by the same author, on the same subject - 'Tiruvannamalai Beckons' and 'A Month In Tiruvannamalai'.
He critiques the writing style as well as the content and delves into the lore of the mystic mountain of Tiruvannamalai, in this well-penned piece.
The Muslim birth rate
There is no indication that even one Muslim country will achieve a substantially lower growth rate than India's Hindu community within the next decades.
Footsteps of Ram at Rameshwaram
The Ramanathaswamy Temple will transport you back in time to live through the dramatic events that occurred in the lives of Ram, Sita, and Lakshman.