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
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.

Communal Echoes in ‘Secular’ Discourse : Tropes and Themes in Naseeruddin Shah’s ‘Secular’ Rants
In the next essay of the series of articles on minority-progressive celebrities, Sriram Chellapilla dissects Naseeruddin Shah’s polemics to expose a familiar pattern in India’s “secular” discourse: the distortion of arguments, selective outrage, and the reflexive defense of Mughal icons like Aurangzeb. Through close textual analysis and historical context, the essay shows how misrepresentation, straw-manning, and moral asymmetry function as tools of what the author terms the Minority-Progressive Celebrity (MPC) narrative. At its core, the piece interrogates how Hinduphobia is normalized under the guise of liberalism while minority fundamentalism is minimized or denied.

Citta-Vṛtti-Nirodhaḥ: The Discipline of Stillness in Pātañjala Yoga
The author explains that Yoga is not a technique of suppression but a disciplined process of stilling the mind’s fluctuations - Citta-Vṛtti-Nirodhaḥ. Drawing on Vyāsa’s Bhāṣya, nirodhaḥ is presented as a progressive settling of mental modifications back into their unmanifest source. As the vṛttis dissolve, puruṣa is no longer obscured by reflection in citta and abides in its own svarūpa. Yoga thus culminates not in transformation, but in the revelation of the seer’s ever-present clarity.

Explorations of Quantum Physics and Its Weave into Advaita Vedanta Tenets
In this article, the author Priyavrat Gadhvi argues that what we perceive as solid matter is not fundamental reality, but an effect generated by deeper, unseen quantum fields. At the most basic level, humans, objects, and even space itself are excitations within an all-pervasive field rather than independent substances. This understanding blurs the boundaries between physics, metaphysics, and philosophy, revealing reality as relational and emergent. Gadhvi contends that modern quantum field theory echoes Advaita Vedanta’s insight - that multiplicity is apparent, while the underlying essence of existence is singular and indivisible.
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Search for Savarkarite Conservatism
Was Vinayak Damodar Savarkar a conservative? Exploring this question, this article by Chandravir Pandey delves into Savarkar's concept of Hindutva, and its alignment with conservative principles. The essay also examines the paradoxes in labeling Savarkar a conservative, given his revolutionary zeal and progressive ideas.
Mapping civilizational responsibility through Hindutva
The civilizational ethos of this land which is rooted in Hindutva is the only reason Indic culture has survived.
The inertia of symbols
Interpreting the symbolism of the cow in the contemporary Hindu worldview with the help of the Samkhya philosophy leads to interesting insights about the recent political outcry around the government regulations concerning cattle trade.
Recent excavation of ancient temple – Mahabalipuram Part III
Recently discovered temple complex provides intriguing proof of temple construction dating back more than 2000 years in Mahabalipuram.
Bhima Karna Yudha – Part 3
The battle between Bhimasena and Karna continued on the 14th day even as Karna kept getting defeated repeatedly and one of the sons of Dhritharashtra got caught in the cross-fire.
A wife's dilemma
Swarnima's and Vaamdeva's visit to the hermitage of Rishi Shukamukha turns out to be an extraordinary pilgrimage, which changes the meaning of their relationship forever.
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.
The Cosmic Wheel
The metaphor of the wheel nearly transcends the limitations of language to ably capture the paradoxes and nuances of the Indic view of the Universe.
A.M.Hocart’s ‘Caste: A comparative study’
A look at the caste-system from perhaps the only unprejudiced European from colonial times, anthropologist Arthur Maurice Hocart.
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.
S. L. Bhyrappa: A Tribute to The Man, His Life, and His Stories that Keep Flowing…
S.L. Bhyrappa’s life was a dialogue between art and existence, where suffering became insight and truth found voice through story. From a childhood scarred by loss to a literary career of rare depth, he turned pain into philosophy and realism into revelation. Even in his final words, he taught us that death too can be an act of grace, and meaning, the highest form of art.
What does it mean to be ‘Indian’?
Indians have always had the capacity to create knowledge by reflecting on their own experiences without any foreign influences.
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The Eteranal Dasas of Sree Padmanabha Swamy – V (Making of Modern Travancore – Continued)
The modern state of Kerala owes a lot to the past rulers of the region.
The Beautiful Tree and Putana’s milk
A brief view of the history of education in India, the impact of Christian education and the attitudes that it inculcates.
The fatuity of hubris: who art thou?
The identification with the ego in terms of accomplishments and possessions serves no real purpose.
Feminism and Hindu Tradition
The influence of neo-Christian values through liberal doses of feminism is causing irreparable damage to Hindu society.
Śaṅkara Charitam – a re-telling – Chapter-13 – At the feet of the Guru
Chapter 13 of Śaṅkara Charitam takes us through Śaṅkara’s experience with his Guru, Govinda Bhagavatpāda, the completion of his education, and Guru's blessings and final teachings for Śaṅkara to take with him in the world and tackle the thick forest of ignorance enveloping the minds of the people.
Gauḍapāda as Brahmarākṣasa finds Govinda Bhagavatpāda acceptable as a disciple, and the teaching starts atop the pipal tree in which the Brahmarākṣasa resides..........
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.
Am I still a Hindu?
What makes me a Hindu in daily life and in practice beyond ethnicity, legality, philosophy?
Arya and Swastika
Maligned and associated with the Nazis, the Swastika symbol and the Aryan people have long been the sufferers of anti-Hindu rhetoric.
Aavarana (The Veil) By S. L. Bhyrappa – Translated by Sandeep Balakrishnan – A Review
Rohan Raghav Sharma reviews SL Bhyrappa's "Aavarana - the veil" translated from the original Kannada into English by Sandeep Balakrishnan. He explores the multi-layered plot, the flow of the story, and evolution of the characters while also touching upon salient points of criticism along with his own critique of the book.
Sanatana Dharma – Through the eyes of travellers
Various distinguished scholars in their travels have written about the honesty, idealism, and magnanimity of the followers of Sanatana Dharma.
Effects of Colonization on Indian Thought – Part 2
This Indian genius has now begun to percolate back to the West, where it inspires new approaches, deeper thoughts, though not yet the transforming Shakti. Perhaps the tide of colonialism will be reversed, after all.
Destruction of Idols and Idol-Temples in Jihãd: The Evidence of the Sunnah
The call to raze temples and destroy idols is very well established in Islamic texts though strangely it isn't directly connected to Jihad.
