Over 21 countries represented by leading scholars, teachers of spirituality and religion, venerable bhikkus, political leaders and former heads of state converged for the Global Hindu Buddhist Initiative on Conflict Avoidance and Environmental Consciousness in New Delhi early this month. Pointing to a deep civilisational challenge or crisis, the initiator …

The renaming of Aurangzeb Road is a tribute to the syncretism that Dara Shikoh symbolised and the path that he perhaps aspired to chalk out, when destiny cruelly snuffed him out. Abdul Kalam, signified, a Dara Shikoh of our times, an example to be emulated and celebrated  An interesting document …

Indian revolutionary nationalist Jatindranath Mukherjee shaped a united revolutionary zeal and nearly succeeded in evolving a pan-Indian and international revolutionary network that challenged the British empire, and would have changed India’s destiny had it not failed Among the early Indian revolutionary nationalists Jatindranath Mukherjee or Bagha Jatin (1879-1915) was perhaps …

It would be interesting to avoid adding to the surfeit of reference to Machiavelli and to Sun Tzu, and peer instead into our Bharatiya texts whose articulations of civilisational goals of India’s polity and aims of its rulers retain a vibrant breath of life and contemporary energy It would be …

In the preface to his three-volume classic, History of the Freedom Movement in India, RC Majumdar (1888-1980), one of India’s most distinguished 20th century historian, made a very telling remark, especially relevant to teaching the history of the Indian freedom  movement to young learners. “I have not hesitated”, wrote Majumdar, …

A recollection of the totalitarian and violent regime of Communists in Bengal. Communist paradises of proletarians have essentially been backwaters of violence and victimization with stagnating waters of cultural, educational and ethical degeneration. While the story of Communist violence in the state of Kerala is now being told – with …

Congress leader Shashi Tharoor was right on the exploitative nature of British rule, only he is not the first Indian to say so or to study it. Indeed, a large corpus of work exists, written by forgotten thinkers and scholars, on the adversities of colonial rule The exploitative nature of …

For a public intellectual, who professes to have internalised Rabindranath Tagore’s worldview, Amartya Sen’s refusal to accept that he has miserably failed in shaping and nurturing the one project entrusted to him, shows his own diminishing capacities of rational judgement Upon approaching a certain age, the Bharatiya civilisational philosophy stipulates …

When he had just been two years in office, Prime Minister Nehru once wrote to a close colleague expressing a view which would, 15 years later, in a sense define the decadent political legacy he would eventually leave behind. “I have repeatedly made a mess of things, but, I hope, …

A batch of students at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy at the National University of Singapore, prepared a detailed report on ‘Governance and Policy for Ganga Rejuvenation’. It was a laudable effort When a number of ‘Ivy League’ universities in the West and their academic cartels are …

India’s civilisational message and approach to civilisations of Central Asia has been one of true partnership, respect for and enrichment of diversities and the perpetuation of essential civilisational identities. Modi’s Central Asia focus is an occasion to cement such a relationship  Central Asia, which was always central to civilisational India …

One of the starkest manifestations of the Nehruvian consensus has been the marginalisation, in our national discourse, of non-Nehruvian or non-Congress leaders, both of thought and of politics. These were the leaders who challenged Nehru’s political methods and direction; the ones who dared to evolve an alternative framework for national …

So intricately designed is the miasma of deception or so complete has been the control of the system by the intellectual cheerleaders of those who carried out the Emergency, that its history was hardly ever taught. It is essential to introduce a study on the Emergency June 25 to June …

Historian H G Rawlinson made a crucial observation in his study on Indian historical studies (1931) which not only continues to remain relevant in the current academic and civilisational discourse in India, but also seeks redress. “Under the system in vogue in most Indian universities,” observed Rawlinson, “the student knows …