Culture

Hegemony: Kerala’s Bharatapuzha as a political stage

Unlike the North Indian Kumbh, the Bharatapuzha by contrast has never functioned as a Pan-Hindu pilgrimage centre. It has no historical association with mass ritual bathing, no priestly networks that regulate sacred time, and no inherited mythological mandate that binds the river to cyclical purification rites. The introduction of the Maha Magha Mahotsavam is a clear cultural imposition by Hindutva

Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala to Malerkotla in Punjab, spontaneous community initiatives celebrate harmony & syncretism

Examples of interfaith solidarity and harmony arise from Kerala to Punjab as collective efforts by communities on-ground spread love in an era which has witnessed perpetrated hatred.

Incidents of everyday harmony from Punjab to Lakshadweep Islands

 India’s diverse communities and their aspirations for a diverse and harmonious society is revealed in the multiple events of interfaith harmony organised by citizens from West Bengal to Punjab, and from Lakshadweep to Tamil Nadu.

The sound of music

This was an exclusive in depth interview done in 2008, 16 years ago with the indomitable Ameen Sayani who passed on February 20,2024 at the ripe old age of 91. Teesta Setalvad speaks to Ameen Sayani about the 4 decades old journey in politics, music and life with nuggets of India’s freedom struggle in which Sayani’s mother was a close associate of Gandhiji. A product of the New Era school Mumbai, Sayani’s is a tale more precious in the re-telling

Light a Lamp to rescue Plural India: An Urdu Story, “Diya Baati Ki Bela”, by Zakiya Mashhadi

The author has not been awarded the Urdu Sahitya Academy’s award, possibly because the story harks back to a reality that rulers want Indians to obliterate, and forget

Reason, emotion and history

First published on: June 10, 2022(In March 1994, as...

Muzaffar Ali and his English language autobiography, Zikr:  hope for a beleaguered India?

The author, a History professor at AMU, writes on the discussion that took place at the prestigious university last week, on January 25 and 6, 2024 with young students faced with the divisive politics of today

Bhagat Singh, the Tradition of Martrydom and Hindutva

First published on: MARCH 23, 2016March the 23rd (2016)...

A Fast & Penitence: 72 hours of Love & Sorrow to fellow Muslims, pride in My Moghul heritage

This powerful Video Statement that takes just 36 plus minutes to listen to listen to and just ten minutes to read is real India’s response to what the author, Suranya Aiyar

Roots of the Knowledge Tree

What some of us have learnt from BN Goswamy

Three hundred Ramayans

The epic story’s spectacular journey through the ages: An extract from The Collected Essays of AK Ramanujan

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Data is real, true wealth: SC issues notice in yet another plea challenging DPDP Act; highlights privacy concerns

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Religious Freedom: How the USCIRF continues to designate India as a Country of Particular Concern (CPC)

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USCIRF’s Call for Sanctions on the RSS Is a Major Moral and Political Marker

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Draconian Law!

Evicted, Accused, and Deleted: The shrinking space for Muslim citizenship

From migrant workers and small vendors to university classrooms and electoral rolls, the architecture of suspicion –for the Indian Muslim--now stretches across everyday life

Union government revokes Sonam Wangchuk’s detention under NSA after nearly six months!

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Allahabad High Court orders 24/7 armed protection for Bareilly Muslim man allegedly prevented from offering namaz at home

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35 civil society groups oppose Maharashtra’s proposed anti-conversion law, warn of threat to women’s autonomy and constitutional freedoms

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