In the consciousness of India, this city symbolises a seat of great civilisational churning which throws up new directions, leaders of new thought and of new epochs Varanasi has, in the last few days, assumed a certain centrality in the national political discourse. In the Indian civilisational experience Varanasi continues …

The spirit of Indianness finds expressions in many ways. But for the biased and the blinded, it has been reduced to symbolism and is exploitable When Mirra Alfassa (The Mother) of Pondicherry (now Puducherry) declared that India was her “true country, the country of my soul and spirit” and that …

The country is yet to be comfortable with her culture and civilisation, and seriously engage in uplifting its people out of a long phase of deprivation and scarcity A few days ago, a motley group of activists and academics of the Left and extreme Left persuasion came together to issue …

The contours of a Fascist political system in West Bengal are fast crystallizing under Mamata Banerjee . What remains to be seen is when such a system poses a final challenge to Mamata Banerjee herself and to her degenerative brand of politics. It is difficult to say whether the periodic …

It is good that the political discourse has at last gradually begun to move us nearer to our true and essential political and cultural self On a visit to southern India last week, I crossed the small town of Utthiramerur in the district of Kancheepuram in Tamil Nadu. A nondescript …

The study of the evolution of Indic civilisation, and how it influenced a number of spiritual movements across the world, is what a university of this kind must advance The governing idea behind the revival of Nalanda University should not merely be to promote ‘international understanding’, which in any case …

I am not in the habit of rebutting every ill-informed position taken on crucial episodes of Indian history, more so if they happen to be articulated by half-baked intellectuals and public personalities with quarter degrees, awarded under aliases from foreign universities. But at times even some ignorant comments made by …

India’s cultural icons must be effectively reached out to and rediscovered in the present struggle to narrate the new story of a changing India  Kenyan thinker, author and a leading voice of Africa’s cultural struggle, Ngugi wa Thiong’o, in his celebrated book, Decolonising the Mind (1981), has talked about the ‘cultural …

The sharp protests against Wendy Doniger’s convoluted and confused reading of the history of Hindu religion are justified Writing on October 12, 1836, Thomas Babington Macaulay gleefully informed his father that their schools were “flourishing wonderfully” and that the “effect of this education on Hindoos is prodigious” because “no Hindoo …

To offer the crutch of minority status to the Jain community which has excelled in most fields of human action, is to belittle its achievements The Eastern phalanx at the World’s Parliament of Religion at Chicago in September 1893 was a formidable one. Against every Western and missionary onslaught on …

By demonstrating its callous attitude towards the promotion of Sanskrit, the Government is insulting our rich cultural heritage The recent forming and dumping of the Sanskrit Commission by the present dispensation displays the latter’s suppressive spirit when it comes to nurturing the traditions, languages and culture of India. In short, …

Freedom-fighters of the pre-Gandhian phase have largely received a raw deal in history. It is time for us to remember their sacrifices As the West prepares to mark the centenary of World War I in 2014, we would do well in India to observe the centenary of other efforts undertaken …

Had Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel lived longer, he would have resolved many issues that continue to trouble the country even decades after independence Like October, this December too saw a renewed debate and discussion on the life and legacy of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel. Such a debate augurs well for our public …

In the words of Dr. Syama Prasad Mookerjee, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel was “the most valiant champion of India’s freedom and the strongest unifying force in our national life.” It is to commemorate him as the architect of India’s unity that Hon’ble Shri Narendra Modiji has given a galvanizing call for …