Nalanda University is ailing at childbirth
September 1 2014 was a day of pride for the people of India, and specifically the people of Bihar as the Nalanda University, once an ancient international centre for learning, finally started functioning eight centuries after it was looted and plundered by Bakhtiyar Khalji around 1193 CE. The first session for the academic year 2014-15 started with More...
Bipan Chandra: When Party Line becomes History
It is wise and polite to follow the adage De mortuis nil nisi bonum meaning, “of the dead speak only good.” I believe that is the reason fulsome praises were heaped upon historian Bipan Chandra who passed away More...
Debunking Hartosh Singh Bal’s Sikhism
Following RSS Chief Mohan Bhagwat’s statement that ‘all Indians are Hindus’, several famous secularists gave the expected response – ‘this is an attempt to impose majoritarian views on India’s minorities.’ More...
Behind the mask of the three hundred Ramayanas
Note: This is a translation of a November 2011 article by Shatavadhani Dr. R Ganesh in Kannada Prabha. Translation by Sandeep Balakrishna. There has been widespread and intense debate over A.K. Ramanujan’s essay More...
Attention Ajaz Ashraf: your “Hindu” guide doesn’t quite cut it
The article titled Attention Bhagwat, Swaraj et al: Here’s a guide to your favourite word ‘Hindu’(dated 26 August 2014) which appeared on Firstpost, was supposed to counter the recent statements More...
An “eminent historian” attacks Arun Shourie
D.N. Jha’s “Reply to Arun Shourie”, dated 3 July 2014, was published in shorter form as “Grist to the reactionary mill”, Indian Express, 9 July 2014. It starts as follows: “I was amused to read ‘How More...
Mohan Bhagwat is right: India is a Hindu nation
It’s that time of the year again. Actually, there’s really no time or season when this is concerned. Put another way, the more things change the more they remain the same. Narendra Modi’s blitzkrieg campaign More...
Mainstream scholarship in Hinduism: Challenges and solutions
I accept the following: 1. There has been, and continues to be, a deep antipathy against Hinduism amongst the academics, and those who occupy the intellectual space. This exists particularly in the departments More...
Left-Liberals, Bhagavad Gita and Social Media
Observing Left liberals is a favorite pastime of mine. Given the fact that I am Right of Center in my disposition, I like to track and understand the opposing view. To paraphrase Russell, I make it a point to read More...
Countering the West’s bias about Sanatana Dharma
When Shivani Desai invited me to speak here in Chapel Hill, she explained that the objective of today’s gathering was to “Create awareness about Hindu culture and heritage…” and to “Motivate More...