Nature in Indian and Western Traditions
This excerpt has been taken from Indian Culture and India’s Future, DK Printworld, New Delhi, 2011 I lived in the Nilgiri hills of western Tamil Nadu for over two decades, and as a beautiful tropical rainforest—a Shola, as it is called—was getting ruthlessly destroyed at our doorstep, I could not help getting dragged into forest conservation. More...
The Sarasvatī: One key to Indigenism
The Sarasvatī in the RV (Ṛgveda) is a very large river fed by many tributaries. Along its banks thrived, says the RV, the 5 Aryan tribes, chiefly the Purus. The river dried up c1900 BCE. The name is cognate with More...
Manu Smriti: locating dharma and adharma in the light of modernity
The Manu Smriti, the ancient treatise on dharma has been the subject of enormous traditional pre-modern veneration and immense modernist revulsion. The more than 2000-year-old text whose antiquity rivals the oldest More...
An Introduction to the kāvyaśāstra Tradition
For readers unfamiliar with the kāvyaśāstra tradition I present here a brief summary of its concepts and history, including the Vedic origins of kāvya and the important sampradāyas (schools) of kāvyaśāstra, More...
Excuse me, there is nothing wrong in worshipping phallus or yoni
Last week, as I prepared for going on a week’s holiday, a friend of mine drew my attention to an article provocatively titled “Excuse me, I do not want to worship a phallus anymore”, which purported to show More...
Remembering the Great Pitamaha on Bhishma Ashtami
In the Indian calendar, February 4 2017 happens to be a Shukla Paksha Ashtami, the 8th Day in the brighter half of the lunar month. It is mentioned in the Mahabharata that one of the the most revered persons, Pitamah More...
Yamuna: A Study of Its Links from the Sarasvati Findings- III
[contextly_sidebar id=”WmhYkSinzLoIBY5utjqVxLcYRAnqq2IE”] Sarasvati: Rain fed river or Snow fed river? As per the studies based on the hydrology research of Peter D Cliff, Yamuna did drain into Sarasvati, More...
Marathas & Bundelkhand II – Chhatrasal Bundela & Peshwa Bajirao!
।। प्रस्थापित स्वराज्ये शिवाजीना बाजिरावेण साम्राज्ये परिवर्तितम ।। The swarajya established More...
Conservative Interpretation of Indic Past using the Pañcatantra
This is a revised version of a speech I delivered at Indic Academy, Bangalore on 22 January 2017. We are gathered here for a discussion on my new book called Natural Enmity – Reflections on the Nīti and Rasa More...
Hindu Political Thought: Liberal, Conservative and Reactionary
Introduction This essay is intended to provide a theoretical introduction to the three varieties of political thought that have emerged among the Hindus in modern times. The circumstances of modernity naturally More...