The Pancatantra as a Nitishastra
[1] The Pañcatantra does not need an introduction for Indian readers. Most Indians are familiar with its narratives since childhood, having heard it from an elder or having read it in some abridged and lucid form, most commonly in the famous Amar Chitra Katha series. As a result, the Pañcatantra suffers from the problem of atiparicayāt avajñā (familiarity More...
How India Went From World’s Education Capital to Depths of Illiteracy – Part II
[contextly_sidebar id=”Dkqmny02wMQu9jcquzzmRwh2F8Lnr2AE”] Choices, choices A student who completed basic education in ancient India and wished to learn more, had a plethora of institutions to choose More...
Bhagavad Gītā – Reconciling the Interpretations of Tilak and Śaṅkara
[1] The Bhagavad Gītā is the most commented text in sanātana dharma, on account of its popularity and intellectual depth, as well as its harmonising of the different paths available within sanātana dharma into More...
Book Review: Learn Sanskrit Through Your Favorite Prayers
Recently, while sifting through my hoard of Sanskrit books, my grandfather suddenly burst into a recitation of the amarakośa, shooting off half a dozen verses from the kāla-varga, while I watched incredulously. More...
An Account of Democratic Practices in India
The article by Rakesh Goyal on the ideas of democracy in ancient India, while useful in providing a theoretical construct, is inadequate in putting forward the practical constructs of these ideas in ancient India. More...
Shastras and the tale of Sridhara Venkatesa Ayyaval
It was gratifying to see the heartwarming story of Sridhara Ayyaval in modern media. The article in question was written by Indic scholar Shri Aravindan Neelakandan and focused on a famous incident in the seer’s More...
The upodghāta (introduction) of Śaṅkara’s Īśā Upaniṣad Bhāṣya
This post is an elucidation of the upodghāta (introductory) section of Śaṅkara’s Īśā Upaniṣad Bhāṣya. Such texts give us insights about how the ancient Indian scholars approached the sacred texts, More...
Marathas & Bundelkhand- I: Chhatrapati Shivaji and the Rise of Chhatrasal Bundela
चमक उठी सन सत्तावन में, वह तलवार पुरानी थी, बुंदेले हरबोलों के मुँह हमने सुनी कहानी More...
Fallacies of Proto-Indo-European
There was a P(roto)I(ndo-)E(uropean) language 10.000 years ago. Its reconstruction is impossible now despite enormous efforts by fanciful scholars. The closest extant language is (old) Sanskrit. 1. I do not belong More...
Access to Ritual & Knowledge in Hinduism: The case of veda and āgama
One of the most prevalent misconceptions extant in modern discourse is that the brāhmaṇa-s monopolized “religious resources” at the expense of others. Now, broadly speaking, we can identify two types of the More...