Varna and Caste: An Analysis-I
Varna and Caste are controversial issues today. But, this controversy is not so much because of the intrinsic concept, but instead because of what it has grown to become and how it is perceived today by many people. While treating Hinduism, many people- both practicing Hindus and outsiders- forget of a basic distinction between social practice and religious More...
Honoring our Gurus: Learning from the life accounts of Rishis-II
[contextly_sidebar id=”Zn5rVqu4gtXwYYvWaNOqI2cWIfrWk9l1″] In the previous article, I sketched the life accounts of Rishis like Bharadvāja, Agastya, Bhrigu, Dadhīchi, Pippalāda, Āruṇī, and Mudgala More...
The Andronovo cradle of the Indo-Iranians?
In 2006, the late Russian archaeologist Elena Kuzmina wrote a hefty book on the Origin of the Indo-Iranians (Brill, Leiden). It gives a very detailed history of the Andronovo culture and its surroundings in time More...
Honoring our Gurus: Learning from the life accounts of Rishis-I
This year Guru Poornima- the festival of honoring our teachers and masters- falls on July 19th. ‘Gu’ means darkness and ‘Ru’ means he dispels it and hence ‘Guru’ means ‘one who dispels darkness of More...
Saviors of Hindu Dharma in South India-I
Of all the numerous ancient temples sprinkled across the fertile land of Karnata desha, perhaps the greatest among them is the Shrine of Lord Shiva at Halebidu, the former capital of the Hoysala Empire, which reached More...
When God incarnated as Man-Lion
namaste narasiṁhāya, prahlādahlāda-dāyine, hiraṇyakaśipor vakṣaḥ, śilā-ṭaṅka nakhālaye Translation: I salute to Lord Narasiṁha, who gives joy to Prahlada and whose nails are like chisels on More...
Krishnadeva Raya- Golden Age of Telugu Literature
Sri Krishna Deva Raya was perhaps the tallest ruler produced by South India in the last thousand years. His rule, which was marked by victories, wealth, and prosperity, was a high point in the history of the Vijayanagara More...
Shankara Jayanti Special: Five Lessons from Sadhana Panchakam
Adi Shankaracharya is one of the most outstanding personalities that India has produced in last few thousand years. He was a teacher, scholar, poet, saint, philosopher, yogi, bhakta, tantrika, a jivanmukta, and More...
A new dating of Buddha based on the evidence of Sumatitantra
In my previous articles, I presented evidence to show that the currently accepted version of Indian history is deeply flawed due to wrong identifications of the two sheet anchors that have been used to fix Indian More...
Why is the world so obsessed with India’s caste system?
India’s caste system and ‘untouchability’ have been a matter of profound interest to a large number of social science researchers, historians, and even the general public in modern times. Perceptions of Indian More...