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

Can Culture Exclude People, Even Our Neighbours?

Cultural practice does not recognise borders. Militarising it reduces...

M.F. Husain’s Brush with the Ramlila: In His Own Words

With the dominant public mood of the country, carefully...

A Muslim Kumbhakarna in Delhi’s Ramleela

Delhi’s Syncretism wins over Buldanha’s Sectarianism...for nowMuslim boy Mujibur...

एम एफ़ हुसेन की रामलीला

जब एक कमज़ोर सरकार कट्टरपंथियों के आगे घुटने टेक...

Rich & Working Class: When the Bombay Cinema Hall Enthralled them All

Popular cinema and public culture in Bombay Popular cinema in...

Can there be an ‘English Islam’?

'Englishness' is often set at odds with Islam, but...

Nawazuddin Siddiqui’s Ramlila programme cancelled over opposition

A ‘Ramlila’ programme featuring actor Nawazuddin Siddiqui has been...

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